Chandra Clarke

Award-winning entrepreneur. Author. Professional Optimist.

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What’s in Your TBR Pile?

January 21, 2020 By Chandra Clarke 2 Comments

My TBR piles on any given day. Image credit: Pixabay

I have one on an end table in my living room. Another on the night table in the bedroom.

And thanks to the digital age, there’s the virtual pile on my Kindle app. And oops, there’s also a library wish list and an Amazon wish list.

I’m talking, of course, about my To Be Read (TBR) pile. Er, piles.

Like many of you, I read for a number of reasons. To escape for a while. To occupy my mind when I’m waiting for something (like for the kids to finish their karate classes). To help me stay sane. So, what have I been reading?

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel, by Mohsin Hamid. A short, bittersweet slice of life piece about contemporary Asia, written as though it were a self-help book. It’s an unflinching look at the rural/urban divide, the sacrifices required to get ahead, corruption, environmental degradation, opportunities, and change.

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, by Dan Buettner. An eminently readable tour of several so called ‘blue zones,’ where people have long, healthy lifespans. Although fairly old now (published in 2010), it has some interesting implications for how we think about health care. Spoiler: There’s more to it than superfoods!

Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space, by De Witt Douglas Kilgore. A series of essays discussing the American tradition of technological utopianism in art, as a response to the sociological upheavals in the 20th century. Or, in other words, what all that gee whiz sci fi stuff was about. A good read for a sci fi/space race nerd like myself.

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood, by J. Michael Straczynski. Best known for Babylon 5 and Sens8, this is Straczynski’s astonishing autobiography. Straczynski is a consummate storyteller, so it’s a compelling read, but not an easy one by a long shot. That he was able to survive his childhood and go on to make so many cool things is something of a miracle. I’m even more of a fan now than I was before.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. This one had been in my TBR forever, as it was one of those books that is high on people’s recommended books list, but I never seemed to be in the right mood to pick it up. It’s an exploration of Hindu and Buddhist philosophies as told by one man’s journey through life. [As I’m writing this, it occurs to me that Hamid’s book (above) could be considered an updated version of Siddhartha.] I read an article in The Atlantic recently that suggested that a lot of Americans were exploring Buddhist practices like mediation as a coping mechanism. If that’s you, this might be a good starting point to learn the philosophies behind the practice.

The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market by Joseph F. Coughlin. This one wasn’t even in my TBR, as it was an impulse pickup at the library. An eye-opening read about how much media and marketing shapes our perceptions on aging, and how much potential those perceptions waste. Read this one now, even if you’re a long way from retirement, as it will help you consciously shape how you get older.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. This one is a slower read at times, so don’t expect high adventure and derring-do. It’s an excellent meditation on leadership, however. Recommended for anyone who wants an example of how to lead by, well, example, even when you’re surrounded by the proverbial vipers.

What about you? What are you reading right now? Answer in the comments below.

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Psst – Wanna Be On My Review Team?

January 23, 2019 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

I’m looking for a few good reviewers. Are you one of them?

Here’s the deal:

When I release a book or a short story, I’d like to send out a limited number of digital copies to reviewers. In return for a free copy of the book or short story, the reviewer should post his or her honest opinion of the work up at Amazon, or sometimes Kobo.

That’s it. Simple, eh?

If you have time to spare, you like receiving free books and short stories, and you have a Kindle (or can use Kindle for PC or Mac), sign up below. This email list is ONLY going to be used to alert you to review opportunities.

The sign up link: I want to be a reviewer for Chandra’s work.

 

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Mine

August 21, 2018 By Chandra Clarke 1 Comment

I’ve always been fascinated by how other people and other creatures perceive things. Thomas Nagel once famously asked “What is it like to be a bat?” We can’t know for sure, obviously, but it is fun to speculate. I’ve done just that in this short story.

Mine is tale of fierce canine love and loyalty, as told… by the dog. If you love stories about dogs, you’ll love this one.

Available now at:

Incoming search terms: stories about dogs, dog story, amazing dog stories

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Pas de Pudginess

July 3, 2018 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

If there’s any book that went flying off the shelves faster than “The Da Vinci Code” it was “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” The book explains the so-called “French paradox” — the ability of the French to eat seemingly rich food without getting a case of les grands buttocks.

I could summarize the book by renaming it “101 Ways to Lose Weight Painlessly.” I could, except that it would remind me that was going to be the name of the book *I* had planned to write along the same lines, if Mme Guiliano hadn’t beaten me to it. Oh, but for a little more writing time first thing in the morning…

The book could also be summarized with titles like “Non, Je Ne Veux Pas Fries With That” or “Everything Avec Le Moderation.” However, there are two reasons why it shouldn’t be: 1) To condense the book into a short phrase defeats the purpose, which is to get you to take a more holistic approach to life and eating and 2) The French grammar police would have to arrest me for language abuse.

Personally I always thought that the answer to the French paradox — and indeed other supposedly inexplicable phenomenon like the Mediterranean diet — was fairly obvious. There’s a reason why the French celebrate “joie de vivre” and not “joie de Super Big Gulp.” They, and a lot of other Europeans, try go to for quality over quantity. There’s no French translation for “supersize me,” and if there were, it would probably be fairly literal — and quite telling — like “donne moi les twenty extra pounds sur ma patoot.”

However, given the, er, increasing rates of obesity in North America, the answer apparently wasn’t so obvious. The book has arrived just in time to address that issue, and to provide hope for the no/low carb dieters who are about to fall off the wagon.

Yes, I am predicting that fad is about to end. This is because 1) There’s only so long a rational, right-thinking human being can hold out against the temptation of good garlic bread and 2) Bakers across the land are joining forces to launch a particularly underhanded advertising campaign that will include muffin-scented inserts in popular magazines.

Take heart though: Guiliano offered plenty of practical, easy-to-follow advice, some of which you’ll have heard elsewhere, such as: drink more water, and walk more often. What you haven’t heard is: don’t avoid chocolate altogether, just the cheap, low-quality stuff. Or how about: gyms are more like punishment, disdain them in favour of more physical activity in your life, like sex. You can see why this book has been popular, can’t you?

Some of her advice isn’t practical here in North America — not yet, anyway. For example, she suggests going to the market on a daily basis, and only eating produce that’s in season. I don’t know about you, but with a family to raise and a full-time job, I don’t think I could fit in daily trips to the market. And I live in Canada, where the growing season is approximately 15 minutes long. I couldn’t face a whole winter without at least one green veggie.

But just imagine the profound changes in the economy if the advice in this book was adopted! The market for those made-by-the-millions plasticky cupcakes would dry up, and darnit, wouldn’t freshly made pastries like Napoleon squares and eclairs have to take their place? Gone would be the drinks made with “2% real juice!” and something, a decent chardonnay perhaps, would be required to take up the shelf space. The spice section of your grocery store might finally offer something other than the standard salt, pepper, oregano, and mustard powder.

Women’s magazines would find that they’d actually have to produce editorial copy about important issues, instead of breathless coverage of the latest diet trend. Streets would no longer be littered with extra large coffee and soda cups.

Life would be good. Life would be “A Year in Provence,” well, all year round.

Now if only we could get Mme. Guiliano to write a book called “French Women Don’t Watch TV” in time to prevent a horrible new reality show.

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