Bookreview: Four Bittersweet Romances & A Four Act Closet Drama

 A very good read!

Summary

The Ballad of Calle and Maja - a tragicomic story: Maja sends crushes to Calle.
He becomes infatuated, but the fear of failing seizes him as his affection grows.
Lonely and vulnerable for as long as he could remember, Calle suffered a string
of ‪one-night‬ stands and relentless unrequited love. He bears psychological scars
after recently venturing on an online cat-fishing site. Calle decides to pursue
Maja's love. Meanwhile, Maja is unhappily in love with someone else. Calle is
however determined to win Maja’s love.

Two Girls in a Cafe: A young man becomes the subject of a contentious
conversation between Felicity and Ruth. They have different impressions
about the man's character. The question is whether Felicity and Ruth have
the right end of the stick. "Contemporary, witty, honest and ironic".

Binky's Reverie: The story is about loneliness, friendship, misunderstandings,
frustration—between Binky, a young Caribbean man, and Linda, a young
Swedish beauty. They first met in London, where their friendship blossomed
into regular dating, kissing and cuddling—happiness and fun. Linda invites
Binky to visit Sweden for a holiday. And Binky hopes for him and her to go
beyond kissing and hugging—developing a serious love relationship.

Getting It Right, If Ever - romance novella: A tragicomic fantasy tale.
The setting is the early 70s in two imaginary countries. 40-year-old Benji is
a gardener and an aspiring poet. By coincidence, he meets 45-year-old Molly.
They become pen pals, and Molly invites Benji to visit her homeland. Benji is
overwhelmed and seizes the opportunity to visit another country—for the
first time. Then one day, Benji catches sight of a beautiful woman and
becomes mesmerised by with her beauty. He attempts to win her affection.
His manner is anything but conventional: His wooing is courageous as it is
comical. And his approach is a mixture of play-acting, hope, and preservation.
Benji is determined to succeed.

Tell Me Who My Enemy Is — a four-act closet drama: The scene is an outdoor
café near a lake. It is early autumn in the 70s in Stockholm. Berry
(an Afro-West Indian) and Gun and Kerstin (two Swedish cronies) are socialising.
Sam, the Afro-American in time, barges in on the trio. The black men air
opposing views about life in Sweden. Berry becomes belligerent towards Sam:
suspects him to have something up his sleeve. Sam, on the other hand, is calm
and collected, though contemptuous. The girls are puzzled by the bickering
between the two men which escalates into verbal abusive.

My review

I just finished reading "Four Bittersweet Romances and A Four Act Closet
Drama" and I absolutely enjoyed it!

The book was written very detailed and the stories were all great! Although
they looked in the beginning different to each other they form a good whole.

Sometimes I had to laugh, other ways I really felt sad. 

Anyway it was a very good read and I would like to give a 5 star rating! 

The author

He was born in Guyana, immigrated to England in the early 60s.
Worked and studied in London, before taking up residence in Sweden,
in the early 70s.

In the early 70s, he wrote stories, a four-act closet drama,
a novella, and an unfinished (memoir) novel. He had then spent two years
nurturing the ambition to become an author of some repute.
But the going was tough, creating a feeling of insecurity for the future.

In time, he shelved the idea and got a job as a hospital porter.
He later did a BA (Eng. & Edu.). After a summer job at a psychiatric hospital,
he decided to do a 4-term course for mental-health carers, 

Following that he would complete the first of two stages of psychotherapy
education and several short courses in cognitive therapy. After retirement,
he did counseling work for several years.

Booktastes

I really want to thank Booktasters and the author as well for their free copy. It 
was a very good read! 

Bookreview: Kitty Counts Her Blessings

 A children's picture book about the joy of gratitude.

What a beautiful and colourful children's book

Summary

Children are experts at finding delight everywhere they look, even when
life gets a little dark. Kitty Counts Her Blessings celebrates that gift-and
shares a lesson in counting besides.

As the story begins, Kitty has no trouble counting her blessings, from the sun
on her nose to the zing of the bees. But when rain threatens to spoil her fun,
finding blessings isn't so easy. Then she remembers learning hide-and-seek,
and suddenly joys are around every corner-and before long, so is her boy,
ready to play and count along with her.

This cheerful, rhyming book invites children and the grownups who love them to
seek the blessings in their own world.

My review

When I started reading this beautiful and colourful children's book, I was thinking:
perhaps we all should count our blessings more often. So, it contains a lesson for
us all. I liked the way the book and the story was built and the pictures really
were amazing!

I would recommend this book to parents who like to read for their children. Together
with the amazing paintings, I give without any doubt a 5 star rating for this book!

Booktasters

I received a free copy of Kitty Counts Her Blessings via Booktasters. Thank you very
much!

The Book

Kitty Counts Her Blessings was published on 1 October 2021. It contains 36 pages. 

Source picture: Wikipedia

Bookreview: Green is good, Save Money, Make Money, and Help Your Community Profit from Clean Energy

compact but very interesting book  

Summary 

Renewable energy is good for your wallet. Those who see that opportunity
are already seizing it … all the way to the bank. Green Is Good is a no-nonsense
guide to how you, the average American, can easily incorporate clean energy
and energy efficiency into your daily life and in the process save money,
make money, and help wean your community off fossil fuels. Renewable
energy guru Brian F. Keane walks you through the cost-benefit trade-offs
that come with the exciting new technologies and introduces you to the
revolutionary clean-energy products on the horizon, making the ins and outs
of renewable energy easily accessible. He shows what you can do on every
level to seize the opportunity and profit from it. A renewable energy future
isn’t just good for the environment; it’s good for the economy, and
Green Is Good will show you how—before it’s too late.

My review

Green is good is a small book, but with a lots of interesting information.

It was clear that the author knew his stuff perfectly!

I enjoyed reading Green is good, due to the compact size of the book and
due to the suggestions of the author. It also has a beautiful book cover!

I will recommend this book to all who want to read about saving money

and helping your community profit from Clean Energy.

I give a 5 star rating to this compact and interesting book! 

The author

Brian F. Keane is president of SmartPower. He appears on White
House Chronicle and contributes regularly to the Huffington Post.
Twice named Connecticut's Environmental Hero by the People's
Action for Clean Energy, Keane speaks extensively with local and
national media about clean energy and energy efficiency. He lives
with his wife and their four children in Arlington, Virginia. 

Booktasters

I want to thank Booktasters and the author as well for providing me
a free copy. 

source picture: book cover