bookshelf

LESSONS FROM THE LIGHT

Name: LESSONS FROM THE LIGHT
Author: Myra Starr
ISBN: 978-0985935306

by Myra Starr John Mulkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2012

An optimistic story about a woman helping people regain spiritual balance in their lives.

bookshelf

Starr’s debut memoir delves into the world of alternative healing.

When co-author Mulkey’s friend, a nurse, told him in 1994 about a Native American healer named Myra Starr, he thought that Starr might somehow be able to help his granddaughter Lindsay, who’d suffered from cystic fibrosis for most of her young life. Mulkey was “desperate for a miracle,” and Starr was already gaining media attention as a healer attuned to angels and the spirit world. Although Starr failed in Lindsay’s case—the child eventually died—Mulkey was sufficiently fascinated that he took on the task of helping to tell Starr’s story from her point of view. Her life story takes up the bulk of this book, starting with the near-death experience that, she believes, put her in touch with heavenly beings who sent her spirit back to her earthly body and gave her new healing abilities. The book affectingly conveys Starr’s sense of rebirth: “An awakening stirred within me, as if I’d come from the deepest of sleeps, and I was able to view life in a way I’d never done before.” After a series of enlightening incidents (and stumbles), Starr learned more about both her mission and her powers, and quickly realized that she was a “channel” between her heavenly guides’ wisdom and the mortal world. She soon gained a large clientele seeking guidance on everything from marital troubles to dietary problems. She also mastered the art of meditation, which “helps us to get out of our own way so that we may feel our basic connection with everything else,” and the book includes some specific meditation instructions for beginners. Overall, the book does an effective job of explaining Starr’s very human refinements of the spiritual forces she claims are guiding her.

An optimistic story about a woman helping people regain spiritual balance in their lives.

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2012

ISBN: 978-0985935306

Page Count: 166

Publisher: Wisdom Works Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

bookshelf

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

bookshelf

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.