Kyrosmagica Publishing – The Magical Home of Books, Writing, Photography and Inspiration
Many thanks to Smitha for this lovely detailed, thoughtful review of my poetry memoir Do What You Love. Delighted!
Do What You Love’ by MJ Mallon is a quick read of 58 pages. It’s a sweet reminder to live life, look back to see how far you’ve come, appreciate all that’s got you this far and look forward to the future.
To read the full review, thoughts and excerpts please follow the link to Smitha’s blog.
https://smithavpennings.com/2023/05/22/book-review-do-what-you-love-by-mj-mallon/
Blurb
This book is a collection of stories about some of Kaye’s first-time experiences with life’s most natural events. Told through the intimate conversational writing we’ve come to know from this author, poignant personal steppingstones to learning moments are revealed. She encompasses the heart of each matter with sincerity and sprinkled inflections of humor.
From first kiss to first car to walking in the desert with four-inch heels, Kaye’s short coming-of-age stories take us through her awakenings and important moments of growth, often without warning. Some good and some not, life lessons are learned through trial and error, winging it, and navigating by the seat of her pants.
My review
Fifteen first times is a lovely memoir by D G Kaye. Reading it I recalled many of my first times too! In this short memoir, she mentions memories such as her diets, first kiss, colouring her hair, Christmas tree, first apartment, getting her driving licence, travel to Israel and Europe and much more. It is a personal, and relatable collection which I enjoyed.
I think it would be enjoyed by all and in particular bloggers, writers (a lot of the content is female centric such as the short section on first period!) This is a topic that needs to be spoke about openly! So hats off to D G Kaye for being so honest sharing her personal memories.
She also shares her sadness at loss of several family members, a dear friend Alba and her much loved husband.
So, at times humourous, sometimes poignant, a sneak peak into the author’s life.
A recommended read. 5 stars.
And I’d also like to recommend Have Bags Will Travel which is one of my Christmas Book pics for this author. More about that here: https://mjmallon.com/2022/12/10/merry-indie-christmas-bookstoread-recommendations-writingcommunity/
D.G. Kaye was born and resides in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of Conflicted Hearts – A Daughter’s Quest for Solace From Emotional Guilt, Meno-What? – A Memoir, Words We Carry, Have Bags, Will Travel, P.S. I Forgive You, and her newest release – Twenty Years: After “I Do”. Kaye is a nonfiction/memoir writer and writes about her life experiences, matters of the heart and women’s issues.
Kaye writes to inspire others. Her writing encompasses stories taken from events she encountered in her own life, and the lessons that were taken from them. Her sunny outlook on life developed from learning to overcome some of the many obstacles that challenged her. From an emotionally neglected childhood, to growing up with a narcissistic mother, leaving her with a severely deflated self-esteem, D.G. began seeking a path to rise above her issues. When she isn’t writing intimate memoirs, Kaye brings her natural sense of humor into her other works.
D.G. began writing when pen and paper became tools to express her pent-up emotions during a turbulent childhood. Her writing began as notes and cards she wrote for the people she loved and admired when she was afraid to use her voice.
Through the years, Kaye journaled about life, writing about her opinions on people and events and later began writing poetry and health articles for a Canadian magazine as her interest grew in natural healthcare. Kaye became interested in natural healing and remedies after encountering a few serious health issues. Against many odds, D.G. has overcome adversity several times throughout her life.
D.G. began writing books to share her stories and inspiration. Her compassion and life experiences inspire her to write from the heart. She looks for the good and the positive in everything, and believes in paying it forward.
“For every kindness, there should be kindness in return, Wouldn’t that just make the world right?”
D.G.’s Favorite Saying: “Live. Laugh. Love …and don’t forget to breathe!”
When D.G. is not writing, she’s reading. Her favorite genres of reading are: biographies, memoirs, writing and natural health. Kaye loves to read about people who overcome adversity, victories and redemption and believes we have to keep learning–there is always room for improvement! She loves to cook, travel, and play poker (when she gets the chance).
You can find D.G. on social media and her author and blog pages:
http://www.goodreads.com/dgkaye
http://www.amazon.com/author/dgkaye7
http://www.twitter.com/@pokercubster
http://www.facebook.com/dgkaye
http://www.youtube.com/DebbyDGKayeGies
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dgkaye7
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Blurb
A young dancer’s naive dream of working in the Far East turns into a nightmare.
She finds herself in a plethora of situations which she is ill-equipped to deal with. Dancing her way across South Korea with two friends, she is propositioned by the Mafia, turned away by the British Embassy, caught in a student riot, and taken to Korean brothels.
At times both shocking and humorous, this is the story of a timid young girl finding her voice and learning to stand up for herself in a male-orientated world of alcohol, sex and seedy nightclubs.
Fishnets in the Far East: A Dancer’s Diary in Korea by Michele E. Northwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My eldest daughter spent a year in South Korea Teaching English As a Foreign Language so I was curious to pick up this memoir of the author’s experiences. I am glad that I did. It was so funny! Lighthearted and fun. There’s a lot to recommend Fishnets with the antics of the dancers, their differing personalities, all three: Michele, Louise and Sharon are so different.
Follow their crazy madcap adventures: the motorbike episode, strip bars, dancing disco spots, unsalubrious dives, food, (and the desire to eat!) kim chi, hooker hill, and details of the national drink – soju (which is lethal.)
The poor dancers experiences are absolutely horrendous with death threats, misognistic behaviour, danger, rats (furry and not.) The hysterical male performer and his furry g string will remain in my mind forever as will Sharon’s insatiable appetite for men, Mr. Lee’s ‘no work,’ the Korean’s love letter to Michelle and the threat of starvatian to boot!
And poor Louise and Sharon’s extra curvy figures being referred to in derogatory terms as the: ‘Travelling elephant Show.’
I listened on audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed.
5 stars
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AUTHOR SOCIAL MEDIA DETAILS
Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Authors Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L
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Goodreads synopsis:
“I hurt for her. She wasn’t much of a mother, but she was still my mother.”
Confronted with resurfacing feelings of guilt, D.G. Kaye is tormented by her decision to remain estranged from her dying emotionally abusive mother after resolving to banish her years ago, an event she has shared in her book Conflicted Hearts. In P.S. I Forgive You, Kaye takes us on a compelling heartfelt journey as she seeks to understand the roots of her mother’s narcissism, let go of past hurts, and find forgiveness for both her mother and herself.
After struggling for decades to break free, Kaye has severed the unhealthy ties that bound her to her dominating mother—but now Kaye battles new confliction, as the guilt she harbors over her decision only increases as the end of her mother’s life draws near. Kaye once again struggles with her conscience and her feelings of being obligated to return to a painful past she thought she left behind.
My review:
This is a very personal account of the author’s experiences of coping and coming to terms with the emotions experienced after the death of a narcissistic mother. D. G Kaye’s mother is herself a product of the terrible parenting she experienced as a child. My own mother struggled with many heartbreaking problems as she grew up. She overcame these and was and continues to be a wonderfully caring mother. I have a deep, unbreakable bond with her which I also have with my daughters.
As I continued to read further into this memoir I kept on comparing our circumstances. How sad and damaging such an uncaring, selfish parent is to her children. How can a mother behave in such a way? P.S. I Forgive You is an important read for all of us. This memoir is about letting go, releasing the emotional turmoil which began in childhood.
It is a compelling read. It courageously deals with the extremes of family relationships. Relationships are complex and difficult, even in what I would deem to be ‘normal’ families. There are many who struggle to understand or relate to their son or daughter, sister, brother, wife or husband.
But this memoir takes those problems to a whole new level that no one should have to experience. After such a damaging upbringing, D. G. Kaye has suffered but has learnt to forgive. She lives a happy, fulfilled life. That is a wonderful testament to her strength of character and her can do attitude.
My recommendation: Read this. 5 stars. I’d highly recommend this memoir to us all whatever our circumstances. Also read the first book in the series: Conflicted Hearts.
Authors Website: http://www.dgkayewriter.com
Authors Twitter: pokercubster
Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Authors Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-j-mallon Collaborative Group: https://www.facebook.com/pg/5SpiritualSisters/
Goodreads Synopsis:
The New Asylum is the third volume in a series of free-verse poetry anthologies and personal memoirs from Australian author Frank Prem (Small Town Kid, Devil In The Wind).
This collection is an exposé of life in the public psychiatric system, spanning five decades and describing sometimes graphically, sometimes ironically, often poignantly, and always honestly, a search for meaning in extraordinary and often incomprehensible circumstances.
The journey begins with childhood experiences of watching immigrant parents earn their living in the Mayday Hills Mental Asylum… progresses through the oddities and antics of psychiatric nurse training in the 1970s… on to the high-pressure coalface of managing regional centres facing an inundation of modern urban challenges… and finally, settles into the generally calmer waters of a small town residential facility.
Join Frank Prem on his New Asylum journey, and discover what it means to become that particular ‘mental health creature’ that is a psychiatric nurse.
My review:
I have the utmost respect for those who work with mental health patients. It must be one of the most challenging jobs to be a psychiatric nurse. The relentless and at times hopelessness of such an experience is delivered in poetic form in this memoir with a wry mixture of sadness, melancholy and just the right amount of humour. The free style verse is a perfect stylistic choice for this type of memoir.
Frank Prem’s poetry delivers a powerful punch – I also enjoyed Devil in The Wind: https://mjmallon.com/2019/06/17/book-review-of-devil-in-the-wind-by-frank-prem-poetry-blacksaturday-wildfires/
My rating of The New Asylum: 5 stars. #highlyrecommended
Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime
Social Media Links
Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative Blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
Well done to all the winners and to all the participants for joining in.
Here is the link to the winning entries: https://carrotranch.com/2018/11/16/rodeo-2-memoir-winners/
Here’s my entry which was inspired by a true life event – overcoming my fear of rollercoasters and taking my one and only ride with my two young daughters. I’ve never been on a rollercoaster since (and have no intention of so doing,) but the memory has stayed firmly in my mind as a massive accomplishment.
A true triumph over fear!
It’s a gut-wrenching fear of mine: Roller-coasters, a grim holding on, tempting death. Sometimes you have to face your fears and deal with them. I’m proud of the ride in Portugal. I was with my family, my two daughters and my husband. I had to be brave, and I was. I’ve got the photo to prove it but never ask me to do it again! Not now, not ever. It was a once in a lifetime moment, one I’ll treasure forever. But I still imagine what could have happened and an author’s imagination is the most dangerous, evil ride.
It’s no wonder that wicked old roller-coasters feature in my writing. You’ll have to read the second novel in The Curse of Time series to see what I am talking about! I’m still working on that.. I’m around the 70,000 word mark!
Buying link: http://mybook.to/TheCurseofTime
Unique Selling Point: Unique, Imaginative, ‘Charming, enchanting and richly layered this is purely delightful.’
“This delightful book will appeal to teens and young adults who love stories filled with magical crystals, dark family curses, and mysteries waiting to be solved around every corner. Each chapter leads you on a journey of discovery where Amelina earns the right to use three wizard stones to reset the balance of time and finally break the curse that holds her family hostage. A captivating tale!” – Colleen M. Chesebro (Editor)
Social Media:
Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
Facebook Authors/Bloggers Support Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1829166787333493/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon
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Sponsor of Carrot Ranch Literary Community
Buying Link: http://mybook.to/TheCurseofTime
Goodreads Synopsis:
I come from a country that was created at midnight When I almost died it was just after midday. .When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan. one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.On Tuesday. October 9. 2012. when she was fifteen. she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school. and few expected her to survive.Instead. Malalas miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen. she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel…
I don’t tend to read memoirs so this is rare for me. Perhaps, I picked this up because of circumstance. I was with my daughter in Topping and Company bookshop in Ely when I chanced upon this book. My daughter Natasha had been looking for travel guides as she’d just accepted a graduate teaching job in South Korea teaching English As A Foreign Language. This got me thinking about the power of education. If she had no education, she couldn’t have hoped to get such a job. With little or no education, her chances of travel and a good job would be limited. How powerful education is in shaping our future and our response to other people. Education helps us reach our goals and broadens our outlook, experience and enjoyment of life. That is why I bought this book. Education should be at the forefront of all we do. Education is the bedrock. Education is liberating. Education rocks.
My review
I Am Malala is a book that everyone should read regardless of their gender, age, or religion. It is informative, moving, and inspiring. Malala’s bravery shines through and there are wonderful examples of her selflessness. I cried in several places; I smiled too. I loved the special bond between Malala and her father, (especially touching and rare given some of the anecdotes that illustrate how women are treated as second class citizens with no voice, education or power.) I enjoyed reading about her family, her fights with her brothers and how her mother grew stronger and more confident too. More than anything I loved the message about education – how it should be available to all regardless of gender. I loved the bravery of this fifteen-year-old to stand up for what she believed in even if that meant risking such terrible danger.
Malala is an extraordinary young woman and an amazing role model, I am so glad I picked this biography up.
Goodreads Bio:
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known for human rights advocacy, especially education of women in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has since grown into an international movement.
Link: https://www.malala.org/
DISCLAIMER: “As of 13th September 2017 we are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
My opinions are my own and any reviews on this site have not been swayed or altered in any way by monetary compensation, or by the offer of a free book in exchange for a review.
Buying Links:
Amazon Kindle UK Edition: http://amzn.to/2whb54Q
Amazon Kindle Paperback: http://amzn.to/2k0hxvt
Amazon Kindle Hardback: http://amzn.to/2htEimU
Have you read Malala’s memoir? If you have I’d love to hear your opinion.
Bye for now,
My social media links:
Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Twitter: @curseof_time
Fellow Administrators of our Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club #ABRSC on Facebook, myself, my good friends Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies. Click on Colleen’s and Debby’s photos to be directed to their awesome blogs. These ladies rock!
My entry to Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge this week is inspired by a piece I am editing for Dan Alatorre’s Word Weaving Competition.
It is taken from a part completed memoir I’ve written of my dad’s early childhood before the Second World War, including his travelling adventures to the Far East, Middle East, Pacific region, Caribbean and Africa. This is a short nostalgic paragraph about him lamenting the loss of the forests that he used to play in plus a poem about the same subject using the words peace and tear.
Before the Second World war children used to play in extensive woodland. This treasured land is now an estate of houses, which encroach upon the sloping fields leading further and further into the now diminishing wood. Yes, land is at a premium, and builders build property upon every spare inch of space – forget about the Thousand Acre Wood, it’s more like postage stamp wood.
I think Eeyore would have this to say: ‘Here today and gone tomorrow.’
The once wooded area has now become a permanent car park for the nearby primary school, built well after the war.
Today, there is just one sorry playground, a tiny place for local children to play in among the houses. It sits like a sad apology to the past.
In my childhood, I remember a veritable playground of fields, marshy land, and hedgerows, where children dawdled for hours playing cowboys and Indians and Doctors and Nurses. One of my favourite childhood pastimes was to construct a pretend shelter with my pals. A local woman would inspect the shelter and play along with our game with a serious air.
Nowadays, children play with manufactured games, watch TV, engage in computer activities, and twiddle with their mobile phones, oh how the world has changed!
This freedom meant that during the war years we would play in strange places, some of which weren’t at all safe. The concept of health and safety didn’t exist! Nowadays children can’t even get a work experience placement without going through a minefield of paperwork, which is a sorry state of affairs if you ask me.
Children enjoyed the simple pleasures of life, such as collecting cigarette and royal navy cards. Though, some weren’t so innocent, one lad with the same name as me took great pleasure in bullying his parents and the poor unfortunate cat. He would set the cat’s tail alight. His parents appeared terrified of him. He behaved like a vandal before vandalism become popular. This bully never bothered me, on the contrary, he encouraged me to stay around. I concluded that he enjoyed an audience for his daily wickedness! I would play with many boys, but none so infamous as Gavin Vernon who stole the stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey on Christmas day 1950!
© Marjorie Mallon 2017 – aka, Kyrosmagica. All Rights Reserved.
If you’d like to join in the challenge:
https://colleenchesebro.com/2017/04/25/colleens-weekly-poetry-challenge-31-peace-tear/
Bye for now,
Thank you to Swagata Mukherjee from Kolkata, India who nominated me to take part in the 3 day Quote challenge.
Swagata is a PhD student in Physics who loves to travel and is passionate about photography.
Here’s a link to her blog: https://physicsswagata.wordpress.com/2015/08/07/3-day-quote-challenge-day-33/
I’ve been a bit slow in taking up this particular challenge what with one thing and another. I do hope to finish the challenge on Saturday but if I’m a day or two late I’m sure you’ll forgive me.
Thereafter I’m taking a bit of a blogging break, partly for a holiday, and also to help my mum out (she’s in hospital at the moment undergoing an operation.) So I’ll be donning my Florence Nightingale gloves and doing my daughterly best. I’ve just heard that she’s out of the operating theatre, so my anxiety levels are now back on an even keel. Goodness I’ve been stressed today, my leg was shaking earlier on in the day when I was driving. Somehow this is a million times more stressful than when I went in myself for an operation, that was nothing compared to this, this is my mum, so it’s not surprising that I’ve been worried. I tell you it’s been a strange day, I could write a massive blog post about it but I might be better to save that for later………..
The 3 Day Quote Challenge has been a great diversion for me as I needed something to take my mind off my mum’s operation.
I’m going to kick start this challenge by celebrating books, where would we be without them? Yes they work wonders, especially on stressful days.
This quote from Jeannette Winterson says it so succinctly, books are a home, a warm inviting home, a special place that only you the reader can imagine. Each reader has their own individual experience when they open up a book, and that is what makes books so brilliant and magical.
Courtesy of Goodreads:
Jeanette Winterson’s bold and revelatory novels have earned her widespread acclaim, establishing her as a major figure in world literature. She has written some of the most admired books of the past few decades, including her internationally best-selling first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the story of a young girl adopted by Pentecostal parents that is now often required reading in contemporary fiction classes.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a memoir about a life’s work to find happiness. It’s a book full of stories: about a girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night; about a religious zealot disguised as a mother who has two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the dresser, waiting for Armageddon; about growing up in a north England industrial town now changed beyond recognition; about the universe as a cosmic dustbin. It is the story of how a painful past, which Winterson thought she had written over and repainted, rose to haunt her later in life, sending her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It’s also a book about other people’s literature, one that shows how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, a life raft that supports us when we are sinking.
Witty, acute, fierce, and celebratory, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a tough-minded search for belonging–for love, identity, home, and a mother.
It sounds good doesn’t it? Haven’t read this yet…..
Oops forgot to add the rules, hastily adding this in now!
Rules for Three-Day Quote Challenge
I’ve decided to nominate some bloggers from #BlogBattle Rachael Ritchey’s Weekly writing battle.
My nominations:
https://darrenscanlon.wordpress.com/
https://phoenixgrey85.wordpress.com/
Feel free to take part in the challenge or not the choice is yours.
Thanks for stopping by today, do leave a comment.
I’d love to hear your opinion on Jeannette Winterson’s quote. Oh and if you’ve read the memoir do say, I’d love to hear your thoughts….
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
