hey, it's hump day. let's talk about some writing that means something.

I have two real life story reads for you folks today...

Many assume that to write an engaging memoir, you must have led a fascinating life, at least at some point. I don’t believe that’s true. I believe that a truly great storyteller can make any story appealing to his or her readers. Growing up in a cult or selling your body on the streets of Tiawana always helps make things exciting, of course. But you could also just be like Imran Ahmad, just an Islamic boy trying to get by.

The Perfect Gentlemen is Ahmad’s story of growing up as a Muslim immigrant in London. He is a fantastic writer, and at the beginning of every chapter he lists his age and the year, starting as a little kid and ending at the age of forty-three. I like a man who keeps things nice and organized.  Ahmad had all the same dreams as any typical boy. He wanted a pretty car, and a pretty girl (preferably someone his parents didn’t arrange for him). He wanted to be debonair and truly understand the faith in which he was raised. He had a lot of questions and he wasn’t afraid to address them. In a nut shell, The Perfect Gentlemen is light hearted, funny and you cannot help but eat up Ahmad’s charming personality.

We all have our special ways of handling stress and sadness that enters our lives. Some of us jog, some of us do artistic things, like paint, some of us drink heavily…etc. Kayak Morning is the story of a man who chose kayaking to help him deal with his daughter’s death.

Two years after his daughter’s untimely death, author Roger Rosenblatt is still healing. As a certified loner, he enjoys the solitude on the water. He writes to us his reflections on the grieving process.  It is as if this book is his therapy as he recalls everything he loved so much about his daughter. Rosenblatt shares with us his journey to find peace in a way that may help those suffering from loss find their own.