24 | March | 2020 | Berit Talks Books

My Thoughts

Just finished listening to the first episode of this new podcast and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dr. Judy ho has an engaging and relatable personality. Her approach was down to earth and informative. Listening to this was like listening to a conversation between good friends it was full of compassion, heart, and intellect. Would recommend, I am now a subscriber.

In this first episode Dr. Judy Ho interviews her sister Maria Ho who is a professional gambler. I love the banter between the sisters. I also love the fact that they both went to UCSD where my oldest will be graduating with a degree in psychology and economics in June. Maria was a super interesting guest. I loved her spirit and her desire to just go for it, she’s been on American Idol, the Amazing Race, and well I think it takes a gutsy personality to be a professional poker player. Can’t wait to see who the next guest is on this new compelling podcast.

About the Podcast and Judy Ho

About the PodCasts and Dr. Judy Ho:

Dr Judy Ho is a Los Angeles based triple board-certified Clinical Neuropsychologist and tenured Associate Professor at Pepperdine University. Her thought provoking insight and analysis of the human psychological condition has established her as a go-to television host, panelist and expert on numerous national broadcasts. She is the author of the best-selling book, “Stop Self-Sabotage,” a useful tool for anyone standing in their own way, who undermines their own interests and intentions and is looking for lasting change and meaningful success.

Dr. Judy will show you how to grab life with both hands and live it to the fullest. Whether she’s helping to navigate life with her patients, swinging from a flying trapeze, singing her favorite Broadway songs or taking on a new adventure; Dr. Judy walks her talk and invites others along for the journey.

“SuperCharged Life with Dr. Judy” is where she will dive deeply and fearlessly into guests’ issues in love, sex, friendships, work-career, bad habits, addiction, trauma, depression and anxiety. Sometimes it’s painful to uncover what’s really holding them back, but with Dr. Judy’s help they can discover a new way to take on life, inspire love and create happiness and fulfillment. Each podcast will give a tangible tool they can do that will “SuperCharge” their lives!

Possible Guests:

• Kourtney Kardashian

• Gwyneth Paltrow

• Dr. Phil

• Chrissy Teigen

• Kristen Bell

• Vivica Fox

• Dr. Travis Stork

• Brene Brown

• Dr. Drew Pinsky

• Sarah Pendrick (women empowerment coach)

Happy Tuesday all!

Delighted to share with you today this compelling story they gave me a lot to think about. 🚜

My Thoughts

A compelling story about an often forgotten part of history. John Desimone has skillfully captured time and place with his descriptive storytelling. 1968 the California central valley Jack is a high school senior determined to earn a baseball scholarship and make it out of his small town. Things have been hard for Jack and his mother after the death of his father. Resolute to save the farm Jack heads to town to sell some farm equipment when he runs across one of his fathers old friends who shares with Jack some information that his father was murdered. Jack wants justice for his father, but in pursuing it he gets his friend Adrian arrested. Will Jack be able to solve his father’s murder and save his friend from prosecution? Will he ever make it out of Delano or is this is destiny?

A well told, well researched genre potpourri . A little historical fiction, a little mystery, a little coming-of-age. Jack was a great character, an all American boy I could definitely get behind. I liked how Cesar Chavez, the labor struggle, and the striking field workers were infused into the story. It was interesting and disturbing how crooked and violent things got involving these labor disputes. I felt for the small town, for Jack, for his mother Shirley, and for Adrian. A captivating thought-provoking story that made me more aware of an important piece of our history.

This book in emojis ⚾️ 🚜 ☀️ 👨🏾‍🌾

*** Big thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

About The Road to Delano

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rare Bird Books (March 10, 2020)

Jack Duncan is a high school senior whose dream is to play baseball in college and beyond?as far away from Delano as possible. He longs to escape the political turmoil surrounding the labor struggles of the striking fieldworkers that infests his small ag town. Ever since his father, a grape grower, died under suspicious circumstances ten years earlier, he’s had to be the sole emotional support of his mother, who has kept secrets from him about his father’s involvement in the ongoing labor strife.

With their property on the verge of a tax sale, Jack drives an old combine into town to sell it so he and his mother don’t become homeless. On the road, an old friend of his father’s shows up and hands him the police report indicating Jack’s father was murdered. Jack is compelled to dig deep to discover the entire truth, which throws him into the heart of the corruption endemic in the Central Valley. Everything he has dreamed of is at stake if he can’t control his impulse for revenge.

While Jack’s girlfriend, the intelligent and articulate Ella, warns him not to so anything to jeopardize their plans of moving to L.A., after graduation, Jack turns to his best friend, Adrian, a star player on the team, to help to save his mother’s land. When Jack’s efforts to rescue a stolen piece of farm equipment leaves Adrian?the son of a boycotting fieldworker who works closely with Cesar Chavez?in a catastrophic situation, Jack must bail his friend out of his dilemma before it ruins his future prospects. Jack uses his wits, his acumen at card playing, and his boldness to raise the money to spring his friend, who has been transformed by his jail experience.

The Road to Delano is the path Jack, Ella, and Adrian must take to find their strength, their duty, their destiny.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Rare Bird Books

About John DeSimone

John DeSimone is a published writer, novelist, and teacher. He’s been an adjunct professor and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. His recent co-authored books include Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan (Little A Publishers), and Courage to Say No by Dr. Raana Mahmood, about her struggles against sexual exploitation as a female physician in Karachi. His published novel Leonardo’s Chair published in 2005.

In 2012, he won a prestigious Norman Mailer Fellowship to complete his most recent historical novel, Road to Delano. His novels Leonardo’s Chair and No Ordinary Man have received critical recognition.

He works with select clients to write stories of inspiration and determination and with those who have a vital message to bring to the marketplace of ideas in well-written books.

Find out more about John at his website, and connect with him on Instagram.