WOW:A Handbook for Living, review

WOW: A Handbook for Living by Zen Ohashi and Zono Kurazono

A useful and innovative handbook with exercises to get the reader thinking about how he/she can improve living through problem solving.

Book description: "A revolutionary new self-help guide from master management coaches Zen Ohashi and Zono Kurazono. In this volume they have created a method for living - a way you too can be successful and powerful in your everyday life. Thirty-one phrases are coupled with simple methods and short explanations designed to implement empowerment and change in the lives of readers. Designed to be carried with you and pulled out when you need it. WOW is the ultimate handbook for life."

Some of the methods proposed by the authors that I find helpful (in my own words):

thinking positively
asking yourself the right questions,
getting support,
keeping promises,
solving problems with quick,intuitive thinking,
answering your own questions on a problem
setting time limits for goals,
being selfish in a positive way,
making suggestions instead of complaints,
feeling free to hold on to or to change your plan.

My comments: This is the second self-help handbook with simple, straight forward instructions that I have read recently. It seems to be a new approach, getting readers to answer questions and record their responses in an easy-to-read format. I think it's useful and actually works very well for readers. I gave WOW 4 out of 5 stars for providing unique approaches to life and problems through this method.

The authors: Zen Ohashi is a business management coach whose methods have been used by major international corporations such as Exxon-Mobile, British Airways, Honda, and Mitsubishi. Zono Kurazono is a lyric writer, song producer, singer, and musician. The book was translated from the Japanese by Robert McGuire.

The Cadence Group provided an ARC of WOW for my objective review.

Publisher: One Peace Books, 212-250-4400
Distributor: Partners Publishers Group
ISBN 978-0-9785084-8-7

Challenges: 100 + Reading Challenge

Two New Books for March

The Writing on My Forehead: A Novel and The Solitude of Prime Numbers,
are two new books I promised to review for March, one for a tour on the 22nd and the other to meet the release date on the 18th.

The Writing on My Forehead is the story of Saira Qader, an American journalist of  Indo-Pakistani descent who discovers, with some emotion, the stories of her grandparents, aunt, and her parents - three generations of a Muslim family. The book, her first, is by Nafisa Haji, a writer who lives in California. Published by Harper Perennial in 2009.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers, a debut novel by Paolo Giordano, tells the story of two lonely teens, Alice and Mattia, who are damaged by childlhood tragedies, but feel a kindred spirit when they first meet. They are later separated by circumstances and reunited in adulthood by chance. Can these two "prime numbers" fit together or are they destined to remain separate?

The novel was first published in 2008 in Giordano's  native Italy. The English version will be released March 18.

Looking forward to reading both novels, and to a guest post by Nafisa Haji!

The Sunday Salon: Out of Hibernation, Award

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

This past week, I  reviewed The Brick Layer, a thriller by Noah Boyd, and posted a book giveaway of two copies, courtesy of Wiredset; posted a tricolor daylily for Wordless Wednesday, and commented on Nobel Prize authors, Orhan Pamuk and Yasunari Kawabata.

Not much for the week, but as of March 1 my days became busier and I am limited to a few posts and fewer books that I'll have time to read. Isn't it ironic. I had to wait for spring in order to emerge from  "hibernation"  and get out and about. But I'll miss the every-day postings that I did while I was snowbound in February.

I have to thank tenor Andrea Bocelli for keeping me company with the  songs on his Opera Album ~ Aria CD, with music from Rigoletto, Carmen, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and more. A big thank you, Andrea. You can sing for me any time, even when it's not snowing!

To top it off, Mysteries and My Musings awarded me the Prolific Blogger Award. This is the first time I've gotten this award and I truly value it. It came at just the right time. Thanks so much, A.F. Heart! Please visit her blog to find out more. I will try to pass on this wonderful award soon.

What have you done this past week?

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Nobel Prize Winning Authors: Pamuk and Kawabata

Orhan Pamuk's The Museum of Innocence was a new find. This is Pamuk's first novel after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006.

The translation from the Turkish by Maureen Freely is easy to read, flows smoothly, and I became engrossed in the first half of the book by a love story that became a story of obsession. I'm now bogged down, however, on page 340 of 532 pages.

Afer loving and leaving a distant poor relative, the beautiful Fusun,  and becoming engaged to a high society Turkish woman, the main character Kemal feels shame and guilt. But he also cannot control his need for Fusun and pursues her, scouring the streets of Istanbul to find her after she disappears.

I'm at this point hoping the novel will pick up after these few pages that has me tired of Kemal's obsession.  I want the novel to move along faster, but I think that Pamuk has a hidden agenda in this book - comments on Turkish society, the conflict between East and West, the old and the new.

In the meantime, I've picked up the book of another Nobel prize winner, The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata. Published in 1962, the novel was listed as one of three cited by the committee which awarded Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.

The novel is about Chieko, a young woman living in Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, who discovers at age 20 that she is adopted and was a foundling abandoned by her biological parents.

It's a slim book, only 162 pages long! I hope to finish both books though, and write longer reviews!

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

Can't wait for spring and summer!

Book Review: The Brick Layer, a novel by Noah Boyd

Visit Teaser Tuesdays for more quotes hosted by MizB.

The Bricklayer 

"That's the saddest thing about being young - you actually believe there is such a thing as hope." He raised his gun and fired one round that hit Dan West in the right temple." (ch. 2)

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd  is a "pulse-pounding novel introducing Steve Vail, one of the most charismatic new heroes to come along in the thriller fiction in many years. He's an ex-FBI agent who's been fired for insubordination but is lured back to the Bureau to work a case that has become unsolvable - and more deadly - by the hour." (publisher's description).

My comments: Tense thriller with a likeable but somewhat unbelievable, too nice to be true, main character. Nevertheless, the book sparkles with excitement as the killers use technological savvy to thwart the FBI, their target for extortion. Vail turns down any monetary reward or other incentives for this job, going out on his own to trap the killers afer several FBI agents have tried and been killed. A most unlikely hero, yes, but one who gets the job done!

I expected the villains to have a similar background as the main character, Steve Vail, in order to pull off the kinds of elaborate crimes they did and stun the FBI. Who the killers turned out to be was somewhat surprising!

About the author: Noah Boyd (a pseudonym) spent more than 20 years as an FBI agent, working on some of their toughest cases. He now works on cold cases when not writing.  He lives in New England. Source: Review copy provided free by Wireset for my objective review.

        This book was provided by the publisher for my objective review.

Challenges: 100 + Reading Challenge, Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge

Book Giveaway: The Brick Layer by Noah Boyd

Wiredset has offered to give away two copies of the new thriller published by RandomHouse Publishers, The Brick Layer by Noah Boyd. To enter the contest,

1) leave a comment with your email address AND
2) give the name of one of your favorite crime fiction/mystery  authors.

For an extra comment, follow my blog or let me know if you are already a follower.

For U.S. only; no P.O. boxes please. The contest runs through March 16. Winners will be emailed and asked for their U.S. mailing addresses for Wiredset to send the books. Good luck!

UPDATE: Final winners chosen at random - Deb and Scottsgal.