Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a part of the blog tour for “Shivers and Signposts: the Journey Continues” hosted by iRead Book Tours. As I signed up for the blog tour, I realised the book being featured is a sequel to “Raindrops Glimpses Moments” which is why I requested to see if I could read both together rather than to enter the narrative without knowledge of the former. I received a complimentary copy of “Raindrops Glimpses Moments” direct from the author Len Richman in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Seeking more non-fiction and memoir:
I started noticing that I was appreciating reading selected non-fiction and Creative Non-Fiction for awhile now, and before the New Year began I felt I should continue this quest to seek out writers who are penning their life story rather creatively moreso than traditionally. I become more invested when non-fiction is not set to the tone of traditional releases as I find them a bit difficult to get involved with personally as it’s more bone fact than personable touches of a lived life.
Whilst keeping my eyes open for non-fiction, I am also mindful of the fact I have been appreciating reading more literature by Canadian writers, as I enjoyed my discoveries through Rebelight Publishing in [2015]. I am hopeful to find a few more stories from them this year, but until they’re published, I am happily finding more #CanLit authors are being introduced on blog tours across the board. This is how I found myself interested in reading Mr Richman’s duology of memoirs.
Raindrops Glimpses Moments
Subtitle: An Unconventional Memoir of an Unplanned Journey
Len Richman creates an atmosphere of candor with a broad scope, describing inspirational people, books, moving flashes of insight, and passionate views of ordinary and extraordinary places, disclosing clues as to why life unfolded as it did. Richman's writing projects an attitude of appreciation for images of beauty, a participation in understandings achieved, a sharing of experiences assimilated, and obstacles overcome.
He has an unabashed love for people and nature, an unshakable confidence in life, and an abiding enthusiasm for communicating it. From working class asphalt-urban-immigrant beginnings to wilderness treks, literary explorations, international adventures and back to the wonders found close to home, this is a voyage of self-discovery, a passionate, probing, eclectic, and energetic journey. About the Author Born and raised in Montreal, Québec, Canada,
Len Richman finds joy transforming his "academic accumulations" into realities of "raindrops, glimpses, moments" with books, outdoor projects, overseas adventures, and more recently, the performing arts. He and his wife continue to juggle a varied schedule that includes three sons, six grandsons and a bonus granddaughter. Richman continues his association with the Thomas More Institute, and is currently writing a play.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781595268372
on 28th March, 2008
Pages: 192
Published By: Llumina Press (@lluminapress)
Formats Available: Paperback
The intangible nuances of ordinary life become the embodiment of Richman’s memoir as he allows time and memory to arch over the chronicles of his life to expound upon certain extraordinary lessons of clarity. It’s an internal respite from living life forward and turning introspective to ruminate about where you’ve been and how your experiences have both defined you and inspired you to be where you are now. It’s an interesting perspective to begin a memoir, as Richman takes a winding path towards arriving us into where he begins this part of his story; to begin is to remember and by remembering he tries to ground us in his mindset as he set down the bones of what would become this first volume of his living memories.
He states cardinal truths that anyone would appreciate, especially in regards to keeping the stories of our lives at a momentum of awareness where we do not lose hours nor forsake key distinctive epiphanies where we gain the most out of what we’ve endeared to understand of ourselves and of each other. Part stream of conscience and part inclusive journalling to an audience who can pick and choose how they feel about what is being shared, Richman talks openly about what he discovered as he began this journey as a segue towards a clue as to what laid the foundation to compose his thoughts and impart a bit of knowledge to those who read his story.
There is a moment shared about his adventures with his son in a hidden oasis against the harsh volume of city life just outside it’s sheltering nook of nature. Within this moment I could visualise my own journey inside the natural world that is set back from a city similar to his and completely inclusive of it’s own habitat to where you feel as if you’ve travelled through a portal into a new world or at the very least travelled back to a simpler time in history where chaos did not always rein over the joy of being still. Nature can be quite the alluring charmer, because in nature, time is set to a different speed of entry. It’s not beckoning to control you but rather to unwind you out of your routine and to follow the serendipitous serenity of simply ‘being lost in the moment’ without controlling the outcome. There is such beautiful harmony in disappearing for a spell and being caught up in the afterglow of the natural world.
As Richman became reflective of his intake of sunsets, I promptly remembered how much I enjoyed sharing my own blissitude for the natural world when I had read a formative book on Digital Nature Photography. For those of us of whom have become properly enchanted by the unexpected and the random joys of enveloping ourselves in the experience of ‘seeing’ something quite different than we previously have sought to see, nature is a bounty of acute observational perspectives.
His keen insight into the metamorphosis of society to turn away from the traditions of the past which upheld our humanity and our tangible communications with each other is well timed; especially considering I spent Tuesday referencing how much I love ‘throwbacks’ to the recent past such as postal mail and typewriters! For the observant eye, there is a declaration of sorts in my blog’s sidebar, as well. (if you were to view the main page) A sweet little mantra of how I will forevermore be more ‘lo-tech’ than most of my contemporaries, as despite appearances (i.e. being a book blogger and a girl who took to Twitter like a duck to water) I appreciate my downtime. So much so, I cherish it because for as much happiness I have found online, there are certain things technology cannot replace by singular curiosity and an itch to experience something firsthand.
Our acuity to appreciate the fullness of the everyday and the spontaneous nature of how we progress through our hours does occur as we live deeper inside our life’s journey. I believe at any age we can become in-tune with the larger scope of where our lives can take us and how dynamic our experiences can impact us. There is a mindfulness about how we approach our lives and how we accept the route our path takes us to traverse.
As I read further, I started to notice portions of Richman’s memoir speak in a tone similar to The Consolations of the Forest as it was set to the same level of introspection and cross-referencing of time, experience and mirth of insight as Raindrops Glimpses Moments; to collectively compile what is a living truth and what is a capstone of a human’s perspective from the whole of a life lived.
I do agree with Richman about being blessed by the duality of living in both the city and a place hugged closer to the natural world. If you only live in one or the other settings, you’ll miss half of what you could have experienced because each setting provides different layers of what can be seen, felt, heard and understood. To walk within both worlds and to anchour yourself to each equally is to be blessed as you are stepping outside the cycle of staying in one particular place for a set period of years. To expand yourself outside your known territory and immerse yourself in a different topography where nature can enfold you inside it’s arms is a legacy worth sharing.
I found good folly in the section devouted to exposing the unsuspecting and often refuted truths about the book world’s statistics on readers and preferences of readerly particulars (i.e. print vs ebook vs audiobook). I suppose I found this good folly because I actually wrote a bit of an essay about it myself, one that is a bit reclusive to my hidden archive of Drafts and one that I promise to release at some point as I ended it on a high note! Laughs. The debate will always soar as if a symphony has re-taken up it’s charge to reassert it’s presence during a climatic classical piece of composition. Yet, one thing is definitely being overlooked: the book climate of today is far more interconnected than it was of yesterday. I’ve found most of the book world is on Twitter and the other half is happily residing in the book blogosphere, whilst all of us collectively appreciate Indie book shoppes and the charming grace of book festivals, book fairs, book conventions and author signings or events. This is a wonderful age to be bookish and geeky in other words!
The ease in which you’ll alight inside this memoir will delight you by how it’s narrative inspires you to murmur over your own memories as you contemplate the ones Richman is sharing of his own life. You can take pause as you are guided through his personal mantra of how life yields chasms of knowledge within the small seed of thought that grants you a deeper connection to your humanity and to your soul. We can all takeaway treasured insights and recapture the times in which we caught onto something quite extraordinary if only we were to remember to stay pensively open to being self-aware and self-motivated to seek further than what is right before us.
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{SOURCES: Cover art of “Raindrops Glimpses Moments”, book synopsis, author photograph of Len Richman, author biography, and iRead banner were all provided by iRead Book Tours and used with permission. Conversations with the Bookish created by Jorie in Canva. Comment Box Banner made by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
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