A knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide packed with strategies and encouragement.
A wide-ranging guide to enjoying college in the 21st century.
In his nonfiction debut, Felix draws on the extensive work he’s done with dozens of colleges and interviews he’s conducted with all kinds of students in order to present his readers with a vast amount of practical and personal information broken down into three broad categories: what you need to know before you go, general advice, and more pointed advice to meet the special needs of certain students—all with the aim of maximizing the value everyone can get out of “courses, campus, community, and career.” He notes, for example, how students with disabilities can get the necessary accommodations: “Many accessibility offices can be particularly helpful with the transition to college by orienting you to placement exams, housing options, and your school’s policies and processes—it’s really never too early to get in touch.” Each well-organized chapter includes bulleted points, tips, lined blank spaces for responses to discussion questions, and an ample list of references for further reading. Felix both instructs and supports his readers, reminding them to be patient with important social elements like fitting in or finding friends. He details the benefits and challenges of things like clubs, class projects, sports teams, and other group activities, and he lays out the basics of residence halls. He uses a vibrant, friendly prose style keyed to reduce the intimidation factor of college, and he consistently reassures his readers that “colleges and universities are full of people who want to help you….They are there for the mission and they are there for you.” The resulting atmosphere in the book is one of an open, confidential chat with a sympathetic expert on every aspect of university life. Particularly refreshing is Felix’s emphasis on the potential value of college: In addition to a degree, the college experience should also provide a “guided pathway” to a career.
A knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide packed with strategies and encouragement.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2022
ISBN: 9781735810768
Page Count: 246
Publisher: ThriveU Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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