Category Archives: book

It’s been an interesting journey from an avid runner at age 47 to my 80th birthday. The road races have been replaced by the occasional walks and the writing of 5 books; the recent being my memoir, “Victims Make the best Birdhouses.” I don’t know what’s coming next. That’s my dilemma?

(Recent reviews from amazon.) Rishanshu 5.0 out of 5 stars Trauma, resilience, courage Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2022 I couldn’t stop reading it once I started, and stayed up the whole night. It took me hours to read this book. It also made me realize that even though it is difficult toContinue reading “Additional Reviews — Amazon”

Sorgel’s sleepless nights were mixed with the fear that it was a hoax, or possibly an illusion, and the longing hope that he might in some way become Shakespeare. Memories began to return as visual images and then, auditory sounds that issued from him when Sorgel sang a melody he had never heard before. InContinue reading “Mnemosyne: A Love Affair With Memory — Part III”

(Part II of the introduction to “Mnemosyne: A Love Affair With Memory.) Thorpe continued. “I am not an impostor. I am not insane. I beg you to suspend judgment until you hear me out. I was a military physician. I was in a field hospital when a soldier who had been shot twice was aboutContinue reading “Mnemosyne: A Love Affair With Memory — Part II”

Taken from Franklin’s Prologue “Shakespeare’s Memory” is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. While the work is fiction, Borges’ insights into memory are both precise and profound, and as real as life itself. Borges leads us through a maze of discoveries as bits and pieces and chunks of memory begin to unfold. *** ItContinue reading “Mnemosyne: A Love Affair With Memory — Part I–Larry L Franklin”

Blurbs taken from “A Path With Heart” by Jack Kornfield When we take the one seat on our meditationcushion we become our own monastery. We cre-ate the compassionate space that allows for the arising of all things: sorrows, loneliness, shame,desire, regret, frustration, happiness. When any experience of body, heart, or mindkeeps repeating in consciousness, itContinue reading “Thoughts taken from “A Path With Heart” by Jack Kornfield”

Larry Franklin’s memoir, “Victims Make the Best Birdhouses,” is a blueprint for moving from an abuse victim to a survivor; a place where injured souls can flourish when light is allowed to shine. The story is an emotion-packed tale designed to allow the curious reader to visit a different world. *** Franklin holds bachelor’s andContinue reading “An emotion-packed tale.”

Larry, focused and committed, would face the demons that ruled his boy, the boy with the bent neck and a dog whose tail wouldn’t wag. The two of them, Larry and his boy, began by holding hands and becoming familiar with the touch of their skin. The similarity in appearance was unfamiliar. Larry was lookingContinue reading “The boy with the bent neck and a dog whose tail wouldn’t wag. — IV”

It soon became obvious why Father Ramero had been so upset when they first sat together. Larry discovered his child, a little boy some seven-years old, dressed in scuffed shoes, a faded flannel shirt that hung lower on the left side because the buttons and holes were unmatched, and a cap made of brown vinly,Continue reading “The boy with the bent neck and a dog whose tail wouldn’t wag. — III”

Without hesitation, the man who we will call Larry, took the woman’s advice. Two days and two nights into Larry’s journey, he reached a small monastery with walls of reddish sandstone that blended into the mountainside. Surrounding the buildings were gardens filled with lush vegetation, donkeys, rabbits, dogs, cows, and several men dressed in brownContinue reading “The boy with the bent neck and a dog whose tail wouldn’t wag. — II”