Billye Kay

An Invaluable Tool..Genuine Hope & Support

Revisado: 01-20-25

The Energy of Prayer (How to Deepen Your Spiritual Practice) is an amazing, comforting book. Thich Nhat Hanh is at his very best here. This book transcends lines of faith and beliefs. It is a valuable tool for any person of faith, regardless of their religion or their place on the spiritual path. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who is dedicated to finding a way to be in service to spirit and to others. In his quiet, loving way, the author encourages us to deepen our understanding of the practice of prayer. He shows us concrete ways to challenge and expand our spiritual practice and beliefs. The narration performance by Edoardo Ballerini is outstanding and greatly supports and enhances the wonderful, insightful material.

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Motherhood Can Be a Lonely Journey...

Revisado: 01-20-25

One Little Mistake: a Novella by Lucinda Berry is an engaging and exciting story. The writing is solid and the narration performance by Brittany Pressley supports and enhances the material very well. I especially liked the realism and plausibility of this story. Many mothers feel isolated and that may set them up for hard challenges. I would recommend this book as a great short book to read in between major selections.

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Don't Trust People Who Don't Love Candy

Revisado: 01-10-25

The Glitter Plan (How We Started Juicy Couture for $200 and Turned It Into a Global Brand) by Pamela Skaist-Levy, Booth Moore, and Gela Nash-Taylor is an interesting story that definitely held my attention.

I must say, though, that I am stunned that this Audible AudioBook was not narrated by one of the authors! This is the rare case where the narration performance does not adequately support the material and in turn, my overall rating is one star less because of it.

The story itself is very engaging and interesting…’like a modern, fractured fairytale’ as the authors put it. This book tells the story of Los Angeles during a very specific period of time in a way that is just the right amount of fantasy mixed with reality. I truly enjoyed the story.

The narration performance by Rose Itzcovitz was not at the same level as the story. When telling a story about fashion, it is very important to have the pronunciation of all of the brand names and all of the fashion terms correct.

Unfortunately, this performer did not receive the amount of guidance required to deliver a performance that would support and enhance the material. The following is a short sample of the mispronunciations; Karl Lagerfeld mispronounced as LagerFIELD. OP pronounced as Op (as in short for operations), instead of pronouncing it as the initials, which is the correct name of the brand. Petit fours pronounced as pet it fours instead of pe tea four. Other mispronunciations; the last name of Isabella Blow (the correct pronunciation is just like it’s spelled), the first name of Hamish Bowles (again, it’s correctly pronounced just like it’s spelled), entrepreneur (this is a basic business term that is widely used. The correct pronunciation of it should be included in any actor’s repertoire). There were too many other mispronunciations to list here.

Overall, I appreciated the story and the point of view of the authors. That said, it is important to point out that the authors seem to be tone deaf to certain aspects of their story. They seem to actually believe that they did not have exceptional access to capital, financial support, connections to the entertainment industry, and a leg up with regard to the retail business. This is very striking and strange.

In any case, these two women did blaze a trail and they grew a brand, even a brand supported universe from their imaginations and shared vision. Their collaboration is amazing and the story behind it is definitely worth telling. I am also impressed and grateful that these authors chose to tell what it was really like to sell their company to a huge conglomerate.

I would recommend this book to fans of Juicy Couture and 1990’s/Early 2000’s culture, and I would also recommend it to entrepreneurs as one of many books that tell unique stories of brand building and entrepreneurship.

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Cats Choose You...

Revisado: 12-26-24

NPR Driveway Moments Cat Tales: Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go brought all kinds of new knowledge and emotions that I did not expect. I chose this title because of the subject matter and the reliability and quality of NPR content. I expected to be entertained in a sort of Garrison Keeler kind of way. This collection of stories does contain some of that folksy brand of humor. However, it goes way beyond that and offers the reader a full spectrum of experiences and facts. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to spend some quality time away from their ordinary routine. This is not a happy book, although some moments will make the reader laugh out loud. The interviews and performances fully enhance and support the material in the best way.

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Things We Love...With a Twist

Revisado: 12-23-24

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman met my high expectations. It is an imaginative blending and twisting of familiar fairy tales and archetypal characters. This audible audio selection is a full cast production of the highest quality. The narration performances by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lara Pulver, Niamh Walsh are excellent and fully support and enhance the material. I would recommend this short, vivid production to fans of the author, readers who enjoy fairy tales with a modern twist, and anyone who would like an entertaining, thought provoking, high quality story.

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Mesmerizing!

Revisado: 12-11-24

The Abyssinians by Banna Desta is a fantastic journey that grabs the listener and draws them in immediately. The acting performances and production value are outstanding. This work should be expanded in detail and then made into a limited series on a major streaming platform. The acting performances by Danielle Deadwyler, Phillip Brannon, André De Shields, Chukwudi Iwuji, Zainab Jah, Arsema Thomas are top notch. I highly recommend this adventure to anyone.

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Short Order Suspense

Revisado: 12-09-24

Tell Her Story by Margot Hunt exceeded my expectations. I found myself being pulled into the story right away. In short order, the author introduces characters and situations in a manner that is easy, accessible, and engaging. I appreciate this novella as a high quality palate cleanser between longer books. The primary narration performance by Dakota Fanning enhances and showcases the work very well, as do the supporting narration performances by LJ Ganser, Vikas Adam, Emily Bauer, Ann Osmond, Fred Berman, Jonathan Davis, and Laura Darrell. I would recommend this to anyone seeking a short, engaging and suspenseful read.

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Ordinary, Magical Adventures

Revisado: 12-06-24

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman exceeded my expectations overall. This book is so realistic, clever, funny, sad and moving! The situations, characters, and relationships are both extraordinary and mundane.

The style of writing is beautiful and also restrained in the best way. Many writers who employ flowery descriptions show a lack of restraint. That is not the case here. Elements of fantasy and magical realism are blended and woven together in an expertly crafted, believable tale.

The rich descriptions draw the reader in and we experience all of the events as though we were active participants. The only reason that this book did not receive 5 stars from me was because of the rather abrupt and somewhat disappointing ending. However, Sarah Winman’s talent both as a writer and as a narrator is to be respected and enjoyed.

I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, and especially fans of richly detailed writing that contains a big range of emotions from funny to grief stricken and everything in between. I would not recommend this book to folks who are offended by depictions of graphic sexual situations. Trigger warning also for readers who have experienced trauma and sexual trauma specifically.

It is very rare for an author to do a great job with the narration. Sarah Winman is an accomplished actor if this performance is any indication. In addition to being a great writer, Sarah Winman’s narration performance was almost as strong as her excellent writing.

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Facts Without Feelings

Revisado: 11-06-24

Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Learner fell short of my expectations. This is a book filled with interesting facts and also devoid of emotion. I chose this book because I was interested in learning about these events. I was also interested in watching the limited series because it includes a cast of very talented actors.

I did learn a lot from this book. Laurence Learner did a magnificent job of organizing and retelling a vast amount of information in an engaging manner. However, because it was so fact driven, the material was dry at times and for this reason, I would recommend this book only to dedicated fans of Truman and his Swans. The narration performance by Carrington MacDuffie was supportive of the material and appropriate to the task.

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Judging Others Makes Us Blind - Dietrich Bonhoeffe

Revisado: 09-06-24

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa is mostly what it seems to be and then it takes a dark turn. If you are looking for a sweet, lighthearted book, this is not it. The writing is solid. The story begins sweetly and follows the unusual relationship between a confectionary shop worker and a sweet, somewhat mysterious elderly woman.

Cherry blossoms figure prominently as does the actual process of creating sweet bean paste. The story also includes a schoolgirl. The inclusion of this character was puzzling to me until after the dark turn of the story. There is no violence. Only angst and sorrow. This is a very heavy book and so it surprised me, but not in a pleasant way. The writing, narration performance, and characters were strong enough to keep me listening until the end.

I am grateful for Sweet Bean Paste. I think of myself as a person who harbors very little prejudice and yet this subject matter became a very uncomfortable mirror for me. I learned that I need to do more work!

The writing and research by Durian Sukegawa is very strong. However, the story does not really lend itself to such heavy issues and so I did not rate the story itself as high. The narration performance by Cindy Kay is very good and supports, even expands the material.

I would recommend Sweet Bean Paste to writers who are interested in starting social justice conversations with their work and to anyone who wants to be challenged about their own perceptions and prejudice.

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