Book Review: All is Calmish

Niro Feliciano, All is Calmish: how to feel less frantic and more festive during the holidays. Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2025.  ISBN: 9781506498348. 

Genre: self-help

Subgenre: seasonal, personal essay

Format: e-book galley

Source: Edelweiss Plus 

 

This is basically a self-help book to help you cope with the stress of the holidays.  For many, the holidays season is anything but merry and bright. The author, a psychotherapist you may have seen on the Today Show, offers strategies to help you survive and be well, or at least feel better in the season.

The book starts with a note to the reader. Author then offers 31 chapters, and ends the book with a list of "Ten Ideas to Keep the Holidays Simple and Memorable." The book overall follows a simple formula in the chapters: a story from the author, lessons to draw from the story, and some small exercise or practice to help or encourage mindfulness. 

The stories vary in quality. Some are interesting and relatable. Others to be honest feel like a privileged person complaining about champagne problems. There is a lack of consistency. On the positive, you don't have to read all the stories. This book is one you can skim and read a bit here or there. 

I will note there is quite a bit of Christian religion in the text. Part of it I am sure is a reflection of the publisher, a self-described Christian publishing house. I mention this in part because I have seen other reviewers mention it and because the author does lay the Christianity on the thick side. This may be fine for the devout, less so for other readers. 

Overall, the book just feels OK. Some of the stories are good, others are so-so, and a few honestly I could not care less. Some of it feels too sweet, treacly even. I'd consider this as highly optional for public libraries and a skip for academic libraries. It could've had potential, but the substance was not there. 

2 out of 5 stars. 

 

This book qualifies for the 2026 Netgalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge. 

 

 

 

 

Top Ten Nonfiction Books Read in 2024

Welcome to this week's list of books by category I read in 2024. Today I am looking at my top ten nonfiction books for 2024. I am a nonfiction reader, and I was fortunate to read some good nonfiction books last year. Here is the list below in no particular order and with links to the reviews, if available at this time, so you can check them out. The list does not feature any cartomancy or esoterica books. I did read some great ones, but I am writing a separate list for those books, so stay tuned.

Emily C. Hughes, Horror for Weenies. 

 A good book to help you learn more about the horror genre so you can hang out with your friends who enjoy horror. 

Ken Light, Delta Time: Mississippi Photographs

 A solid collection of black and white photographs focusing on the Mississippi Delta region exploring poverty, racism, rural living, religion, and resilience. 

Timothy Eastman, All the Past We Leave Behind. 

This is a beautiful and at times moving photography book documenting the lives of workampers. If you liked books like Nomadland, you might like this one too. 

Mike Caulfield and Samuel S. Wineburg, Verified: How to think straight, get duped less, and make better decisions about what to believe online.

As I wrote, in my review, "In these Hard Times where the internet and social media are full of scams, click bait, rage bait, and all sorts of assorted bullshit, this book gives you the tools to separate the crap from the few good things that remain. This guide can help you navigate the enshittified internet." 

Brian Keene, End of the Road. 

This is a book I saw mentioned on social media, Bluesky most likely, and I knew I had to read it right away. I am glad I did. If you are already a fan of Keene's fiction, you will likely enjoy this memoir and reflection on writing and publishing and more.

Austin Frerick, Barons.

Right after I read this book, I knew this account of 7 robber baron dynasties and the empires they created was going to be on this list. Robber barons love to portray themselves as self-made men, and they are mostly men, but read this book to learn what the truth is. 

Lenny Duncan, Psalms of My People. 

From my review: This book "offers an interesting and different way to look at the Black American experience of struggle and liberation through hip hop. I do recommend this one for all libraries."

 

 Colin Kaepernick, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, eds. Our History Has Always Been Contraband: in Defense of Black Studies. 

From my review: "This is book is essential reading not just for Black History Month but at any time. Black history is everyone's history, and this book makes it accessible for anyone to read it and start learning." 

Mitzi Szereto, Women Who Murder. 

From my review: "Very often in crime, folks tend to dismiss women or don't think the 'gentler sex' is not capable of deeds like extreme violence and murder. The editor shows in 14 tales that when it comes to crime females are not the 'gentler sex. '" 

Margaret Kaplan, Words to Win By

 From my review: "The book looks at campaign materials as a way to learn about American politics and society." This is one I recommend for all libraries.

If you read this far, thank you for stopping by. Coming up, I will be posting my top list of graphic novels, comics, and manga for 2024, and after that my list of cartomancy and esoterica books read for 2024. Meanwhile, have you read any good nonfiction? Feel free to share in the comments if you wish. 

Happy reading.

 

Top 5 books I have read and reviewed so far in 2024

This is the first time I do a half year check in of my reading for a year. After seen a few folks doing it, especially on YouTube, I figured I could highlight some of the good books I have read so far this year. For this list, I have picked out books that I rated 5 out of 5 stars. There are other books I recommend that may have gotten 4 out of 5 stars, but this time I am going with the best of the best so far. These are not necessarily books published this year; they are books I read this year and reviewed. The books are not listed in any particular order. I am including links to the reviews so you can learn more.

 

Our History Has Always Been Contraband

 Will You Give Me a Reading?

 

Tarot for the Hard Work.

Women Who Murder

Psalms of My People. 

Book Review: Psalms of My People

Lenny Duncan, Psalms of My People: a Story of Black Liberation as Told Through Hip-Hop. Minneapolis, MN: Broadleaf Books, 2024. ISBN: 9781506479026.

Genre: history, music, Black studies

Subgenre: poetry, religion

Format: small hardback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

"If you want to understand the Black experience in the US, you must understand hip-hop, and Psalms of My People is your guide" (from back cover). 

Author and scholar Lenny Duncan takes us on a learning tour of Black History in the United States through hip-hop. In the book, he selects key works in hip-hop and looks at them as religious texts. They then write a psalm on the specific work and look also at context and broader history. 

The book is arranged into 15 chapters. The first chapter mostly sets up the book and builds up the reader's expectations. The remaining 14 chapters then look at the specific works and artists. It does more than just look at artists and their works. Hip hop is the lens the author uses to give us a lesson in the Black experience in the United States. Along with the religious tone we get important history lessons. 

I picked this up mainly out of curiosity, and it was well worth reading. You may think the psalms are simple. They are easy to read, but they are filled with references, symbols, and signs. If you need a little help on the references, the author includes endnotes. At times, the endnotes are seriously interesting. Initially I was not sure what to make of the book, but once I started reading, it drew me right in. I just kept reading. It is an accessible text, and the psalms format gives the material a bit of rhythm. There is a musicality as you read. Along the way, depending on age, you may recall certain events. I often found myself nodding as I recalled certain stories and events. I did learn quite a bit along the way as well.  In addition, this book can inspire readers to search for other works and continue learning. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It is a small book that packs a lot of history and wisdom. It offers an interesting and different way to look at the Black American experience of struggle and liberation through hip hop. I do recommend this one for all libraries. 

5 out of 5 stars. 

 

Additional reading notes: 

What the book is: 

"The true history of enslaved Black peoples and our descendants here in america has been disputed, policed, destroyed, and written by our oppressors. Psalms of My People is a poetic liberation narrative history of Black america as told by our prophets: hip-hop artists" (4). 

The premise of the book: 

"That hip-hop is more accurately living scripture in the way theologians use the term than the King James Bible. That is has more authority than the Bible compared with most of the ways, meanings, and frameworks people use the Bible for. That hip-hop is the Holy Spirit at work-- for a people, for salvation-- and should be listened to closely" (15). 

By the way, this book may also send you back to find your CD's or mixtapes to listen to the hip-hop music the book discusses. 

A note on life: 

"Life is always more full of mystery, wandering gods, eldritch creatures, beings of old, ancient covenants, battles for the very cosmos, and sacred stories that are happening not in the distant path but here and now" (19). 

How revolutions start: 

"All sacred revolutions start in this way-- or continue, depending on your perspective. It begins when we each, in our own way, across time and space, step up for the liberation of humanity" (33). 

Quoting from James Baldwin, "The Artist's Struggle for Integrity": 

"The time has come, it seems to me, to recognize that the framework in which we operate weighs on us heavily to be borne and is about to kill us. It is time to ask very hard questions and to take very rude positions. And no matter at what price" (qtd. in 255). 

This book qualifies for the following 2024 Reading Challenge: