Blog Archives
Changing Course Gracefully: A Travel Journal A Guided Travel Journal for Calm, Clarity, and Self-Trust
Changing Course Gracefully: A Travel Journal is a guided travel companion built around the PARQS Method, a five-part framework that helps travelers cultivate presence, curiosity, and self-trust. The book blends personal stories, reflective prompts, and practical tools. It moves from pre-travel preparation into deeper guidance for handling overwhelm, emotional waves, cultural differences, and everyday stress. The author uses her own memories from Cambodia, India, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, and many other places to show how simple check-ins, grounding exercises, and honest self-talk can turn travel challenges into moments of clarity and calm. The journal prompts at the end encourage readers to apply the PARQS Method both on the road and at home.
I felt pulled into the author’s warm and steady voice. She writes in a way that feels friendly and grounded. The personal stories hit me the hardest. When she describes standing in a chaotic street in Siem Reap or crying alone in her hotel room in Varanasi, I felt that wobble in my chest, the kind you get when someone says something you’ve felt but never named. The honesty gave the book weight, and the small tools sprinkled throughout kept it from drifting into the abstract. I liked how she showed the PARQS Method in motion instead of just explaining it. It made the ideas feel practical, not preachy.
I also appreciated how gentle the writing is. The author never tries to impress or overwhelm. She steps carefully through each idea and lets the reader set the pace. Sometimes I caught myself nodding along because the language is simple and relatable. Some sections wrapped up neatly, and I found myself wanting the messier edges to be explored a little further. Still, the tone felt sincere, and I liked that she didn’t pretend travel is always magical. Her mix of humor, vulnerability, and practical advice made the book feel like a soft place to land.
This book feels like a gentle companion for anyone who wants to travel with more intention, or even just live with more intention. I’d recommend it to new travelers who feel anxious, solo travelers who want emotional support, and seasoned travelers who enjoy reflecting on the inner journey as much as the outer one. It’s also a great fit for people who like journaling and want prompts that feel personal instead of generic. If you’re looking for a travel guide that focuses less on where to go and more on how to be while you’re going, this book is a lovely choice.
Literary Titan Book Award: Nonfiction
The Literary Titan Book Award recognizes outstanding nonfiction books that demonstrate exceptional quality in writing, research, and presentation. This award is dedicated to authors who excel in creating informative, enlightening, and engaging works that offer valuable insights. Recipients of this award are commended for their ability to transform complex topics into accessible and compelling narratives that captivate readers and enhance our understanding.
Award Recipients
Just a Little Witch, Mostly a Mom by Diana Jonas
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Seven Blank Pages
Seven Blank Pages is a memoir that moves like a journey across continents, emotions, and inner landscapes. Whitney Joy begins with moments of adventure, like skydiving, climbing mountains, traveling across oceans, and layers them with the heartbreak of divorce, the weight of grief, and the stubborn hope of starting over. It is not just a travel story. It’s a meditation on risk, resilience, and the search for meaning. Alongside stories of luxury events in glittering cities and treks up rocky summits, there’s a raw exploration of loss, intuition, and self-discovery. Each chapter feels like both a leap into the unknown and a homecoming to the self.
Reading this book felt like sitting across from a friend who isn’t afraid to tell you the truth, even when it stings. The writing is vivid and alive, with scenes that pull you into the cold air of the mountains, the glitter of jewels, or the ache of an unraveling marriage. I admired how Joy didn’t polish her story into a neat, triumphant arc. Instead, she showed the messy middle. The contradictions. The laughter that comes right after tears. That made it feel honest, even when her choices or perspectives made me pause. At times, the spiritual themes like manifestation, energy work, and intuition felt a little far out for me, but they were written with such sincerity that I couldn’t dismiss them.
I also found myself swept up by the sheer energy of her life. The speed of her career, the intensity of her relationships, the extremes of both risk and beauty. It made me reflect on how often I play it safe. Her story cracked open that little voice in me that asks, “What would happen if I leapt?”
I closed the book feeling both stirred and unsettled, in the best way. Seven Blank Pages is for people standing at the edge of something new, whether that’s an ending, a beginning, or the wild in-between. It’s for readers who crave adventure and honesty more than tidy answers. And it’s for anyone willing to believe, even just a little, that magic might still be possible.
Pages: 297
The Courage to Begin Again: Resilience, Courage, and Reinvention
The Courage to Begin Again: Stories of Resilience, Courage, and Reinvention is an anthology of deeply personal stories from women who moved to Mexico and rebuilt their lives in unexpected ways. Each chapter explores a different perspective on starting over: the shock of cultural change, the struggle of loneliness, the bittersweet weight of leaving old lives behind, and the surprising joy of discovering new strengths. The voices range from lighthearted accounts of food and music to raw admissions of fear, loss, and self-doubt. What holds it all together is a theme of reinvention and resilience, showing that change, while often painful, can also be liberating.
Reading it, I found myself caught between admiration and empathy. The writing isn’t flowery or overly polished, which actually works in its favor. It feels honest. The women share their failures and embarrassments with as much detail as their triumphs, and that kind of vulnerability is hard to look away from. At times, I felt like I was eavesdropping on a conversation, with all the warmth and awkward pauses included. Some stories hit me hard, especially the parts about loneliness and feeling invisible in a crowd. I could almost feel the ache in my own chest. Other sections lifted me, like the small wins like finding a supportive friend, learning enough Spanish to laugh at a joke, or sitting at a long lunch surrounded by a new community.
What surprised me most was how much energy these women poured into reshaping themselves. Some leaned into self-care and spirituality, while others threw themselves into work, art, or friendship. At times, I thought the pacing of certain stories slowed as it circled the same lessons. But then again, maybe that’s the point. Starting over is messy. It’s not a neat arc, and this book doesn’t try to make it one. I respected that choice. By the time I reached the final pages, I felt a mix of exhaustion and inspiration, like I had traveled alongside them through the highs and lows.
I’d recommend The Courage to Begin Again: Stories of Resilience, Courage, and Reinvention to anyone standing at a crossroads, whether they’re moving countries or just moving into a new stage of life. It’s especially powerful for women who’ve had to leave something behind, be it a career, a home, or even a version of themselves.
Pages: 144 | ASIN : B0F7YM8QPL
You Don’t Have to Be Famous to Write a Memoir
Stephen Mark Silvers’ You Don’t Have to Be Famous to Write a Memoir is a warm and winding recollection of a life well-lived, stitched together from stories of family, travels, and career adventures. Silvers walks the reader through decades, from childhood in post-war America, through California’s cultural tides of the ’60s, to nearly four decades in Brazil, and finally back to the US in later years. The book blends humor, tenderness, and thoughtful digressions, all while painting portraits of the people who shaped him most.
Reading this memoir felt like sitting with a friend who is telling stories over coffee. Silvers’ writing is friendly and light, with just enough wit to keep you smiling without drowning the moments that deserve quiet. I enjoyed how he weaves in little asides like historical facts, pop culture nods, and odd statistics that give the sense of wandering through his mind. The structure is loose in a way that mirrors real memory. It’s not a linear march but a series of moments that ripple outward.
Some of my favorite parts were the glimpses into Brazil, like how he learned Portuguese, met his wife Neusa, and built a teaching career there. There’s a lot of love in those pages. The humor is understated, which I liked, though now and then a joke would sneak in that made me laugh. It’s the kind of humor that comes from knowing your own quirks and not taking yourself too seriously.
This book is for people who like gentle, meandering stories, who appreciate the small turns in life and the way memory makes meaning out of them. If you’ve ever thought your life was too ‘ordinary’ to write down, this memoir will nudge you to think otherwise. I’d hand it to anyone who enjoys memoirs that feel like conversations, or who simply likes a good, unhurried story told by someone with a big heart.
Pages: 288 | ASIN : B0FG9T83QB
Musings of Mannarkoil Professor: Now and then here and there
Musings of Mannarkoil Professor is a delightful collection of autobiographical essays by G. Srinivasan, a retired academic who traces his journey from a temple village in Tamil Nadu to a fulfilling professional life in Canada. The book skips across time and place with warmth, humor, and surprising insight, offering personal tales that touch on family, education, cultural identity, and the everyday absurdities of life. From playful musings on spelling and name pronunciation to deeply rooted reflections on migration and belonging, Srinivasan stitches together a life story that feels both intimate and quietly epic.
Reading this book felt like chatting with a wise, well-traveled friend who always has something interesting to say. The author’s recounting of being mistakenly addressed as everything from “Spinivasan” to “Scinivasan,” a result of bureaucratic misinterpretations of South Indian naming conventions, was both humorous and revealing. These anecdotes not only elicited genuine laughter but also prompted reflection on how names encapsulate identity, geography, personal history, and the enduring influence of colonial languages. Particularly memorable was his wry response to those inquiring about the pronunciation of his name: “Please don’t. I am alive.” It is uncommon to encounter a writer who so seamlessly blends self-deprecating wit with insightful commentary.
The childhood recollections are rendered with a poignant nostalgia that remains measured and never overly sentimental. The vividness of his descriptions evokes a tactile sense of the era; one can almost feel the cool surface of a slate or hear the distinctive tickticki of the itinerant barber’s clippers. His attention to detail, whether it is feeding pencil shavings to a peacock feather or applying ivy gourd leaves to a slate for their supposed medicinal properties, imbues everyday moments with remarkable vitality. These memories are layered with emotional nuance, effortlessly shifting the reader from quiet amusement to unexpected poignancy. His account of his mother calmly examining a cracked slate and pronouncing it fit for another year of use encapsulates both the affectionate pragmatism and quiet discipline that characterize life in a large, traditional Indian household.
What stood out most to me was how the author seamlessly connects the dots between the personal and the cultural, especially in the later chapters. His story about selling used notebooks to sweet vendors and then getting those same pages back as food wrappers was not just funny, it was such a vivid snapshot of frugality, circular economy, and childhood ingenuity in small-town India. An intimate knowledge of Tamil Nadu is by no means a prerequisite to appreciating his narrative. His storytelling possesses a rare generosity, inviting and inclusive, it resonates across cultural boundaries.
Musings of Mannarkoil Professor is a lovely, gently funny, and surprisingly profound read. It’s perfect for anyone who enjoys memoirs, especially those filled with culture, wit, and old-school charm. If you’ve ever migrated, struggled to explain your name, or just reminisced about the weird tools of your schooldays, this book is for you. I’d especially recommend it to diaspora readers and South Asians of all ages. Anyone with an appreciation for well-crafted narratives imbued with warmth and humor will find much to admire in this work. Though now retired, the professor’s storytelling remains as compelling and incisive as ever.
Pages: 161 | ASIN : B0F757C98J
Life in a Tumble Dryer: Living and Working in Khartoum, the World’s Hottest Capital (Not How I Planned It)
Life in a Tumble Dryer is Leoma Gilley’s vivid and deeply personal memoir of her years living and working in Khartoum, Sudan, specifically the sweltering, dust-choked, unpredictable chaos of everyday life in the world’s hottest capital. The book is structured around letters to her cousin Harriet and weaves together tales of linguistic research, cultural missteps, bureaucratic wrangling, unexpected friendships, and survival tactics in a place where the electricity vanishes with the heat and dust storms sneak up like petty thieves.
What really stuck with me from the start was how sharply Leoma captures the absurdity and humor of adapting to a totally different way of life. Her story about arriving in Khartoum with 256 kilograms of luggage, complete with solar panels, books, and fans, only to be delayed by a flat tire on the tarmac at 3 a.m. is a peak travel nightmare. But she tells it with a wink and grit that made me laugh out loud. Even funnier, she ends up in the wrong airport queue behind Orthodox Jews boarding an El Al flight, while she’s bound for Sudan, one of those “what even is my life” moments you just can’t make up.
But the memoir isn’t all quirky misadventures. What’s most powerful is the subtle unraveling of her own assumptions. Leoma is honest about her initial sense of control and expertise, especially when it comes to linguistics. But then, in a scene that humbled even me as a reader, she recalls how a colleague gently reminded her that it’s not her job to decide for people what their language or culture should look like. “It is their language and thus their decision,” she’s told. That moment comes back again and again, and it’s the soul of the book. She’s not there to fix anything; she’s there to walk alongside. That shift in mindset is deeply moving, especially when so many “aid” narratives fall into the trap of saviorism.
The book is more a series of letters and anecdotes than a tightly plotted memoir, so it’s best to read it slowly, maybe a chapter at a time. Still, that format is part of its charm. The chapter where she writes a parody song called “The Yellar Dust of Khartoum” had me wheezing, especially the line: “Your oily skin is daily dried by that abrasive touch, but one good thing about it, it doesn’t cost that much.” There’s something about surviving in a brutal climate with nothing but a fan, peanut butter on sour crepes, and a sense of humor that made me love this book all the more.
By the end, I felt like I knew Khartoum, its smells, its setbacks, its kindnesses, and I admired Leoma not just for what she did there, but how she let herself be changed by the place. Life in a Tumble Dryer is perfect for readers who love honest travel writing, especially memoirs with heart, humor, and a dose of humility. If you’ve ever tried to make a home somewhere wildly unfamiliar or wondered what it would take, this book is for you.
Pages: 319 | ASIN : B0DSLP2V12
Focusing on the Photos
Around the World in Eighty Photos is more than just a photography book; it’s a visual adventure that takes readers across the globe to view the often-overlooked corners of the world through the lens of an experienced traveler. What inspired you to create this pictorial travel book?
My previous book, On to Plan C: A Return to Travel, which documented my return to travel after the pandemic, was the first to include my photography. I really enjoyed the experience of putting it together, even though it required editing both the text and photos. For this book, I knew I wanted to include photography again, but this time make the photos the focus.
There are many books out there showing you photos of famous places around the world, but I wanted to steer the reader toward lesser known locations and give them some insight into how each photo was created—what caught my eye, what challenges I faced, how I dealt with less than ideal lighting in some situations, and so on.
I also wanted to include background information on each location for those less interested in the photography. For those interested, I disclose the settings I used for each photo along with a glossary of photographic terms at the end. So, it can be used as a guide to lesser known locations and/or as a guide to creating better travel photos.
What photo in this collection do you feel has the best “story” surrounding it?
The photo created inside Iglesia El Rosario in San Salvador, El Salvador. From the outside, the church looks like a concrete bunker. In fact, I wasn’t sure it was not abandoned and walked past it without much thought while exploring the area. When our local guide started eventually heading toward it, I was a little unsure of why he was taking my wife and I there.
Turns out, its nondescript concrete exterior conceals an arched roof that sheds a rainbow of natural light that spreads across the altar and bounces off the metal and rock inside. Designed by sculptor Ruben Martinez and completed in 1971, Iglesia El Rosario is radically beautiful and one of the finest churches I have ever visited.
As I don’t travel with a tripod, and it being a church with occasional visitors, made this a very challenging photo to create. I chose settings I felt would let in a good amount of light and used a shutter speed that wouldn’t cause blur being handheld. Situations like this I tend to hold my breath for steadiness and hope for the best.
What advice do you have for aspiring travel photographers?
Study the fundamentals and know your camera well so that you don’t have to hesitate when changing a setting. I have my camera setup so that I can change things like aperture or the type of focusing very quickly. Things can happen fast while on the road and you don’t want to miss them while fiddling around trying to change something.
I’m also a big believer in previsualization. This allows me to determine the lens and general settings before I even start to take photos. For instance, if a situation calls for street photography, then I’m going to use a lens in the 35mm to 50mm range with an aperture around f/8 to keep everything in focus and a minimum shutter speed of 1/250 to of a second to stop motion. This was, I can concentrate more on composition and less on adjusting settings.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from Around the World in Eighty Photos?
There are so many more places in the world than the handful that always seem to be promoted. Yes, Venice is a stunning location filled with canals, but so is Bruges in Belgium or Wuzhen in China. The world is full of surprises. For instance, the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá is a remarkable underground cathedral built within the tunnels of a salt mine just north of Bogotá. I hope this book inspires readers to seek out such places and take more inspired photos while there.
Author links: GoodReads | Instagram | Website
This captivating visual odyssey takes readers to the farthest corners of the earth, from bustling cities to serene landscapes, offering a window into the world’s most awe-inspiring sights. Each carefully curated photograph is paired with a short reflection or story, capturing the essence of diverse cultures, iconic landmarks, and hidden gems.
Whether you’re an armchair traveler or a seasoned explorer, Around the World in Eighty Photos is your passport to adventure, offering a unique perspective on the beauty and wonder that unite us all. Prepare to be inspired by the world’s splendor, one photo at a time.
LITERARY TITAN 