Posted on by odylicious (Val)

Book Review ~ SAVE ME FROM MYSELF

Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story



by Brian Welch

SYNOPSIS – The amazing true story of an out-of-control rock star, his devastating addiction to drugs, and his miraculous redemption through Jesus Christ.

In February 2005, more than ten thousand people in Bakersfield, California, watched as Brian “Head” Welch—the former lead guitarist of the controversial rock band Korn—was saved by Jesus Christ. The event set off a media frenzy as observers from around the world sought to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light.

Now, in this courageous memoir, Head talks for the first time about his shocking embrace of God and the tumultuous decade that led him into the arms of Jesus Christ. Offering a backstage pass to his time with Korn, Head tells the inside story of his years in the band and explains how his rock star lifestyle resulted in an all-consuming addiction to methamphetamines. Writing openly about the tour bus mayhem of Ozzfest and The Family Values tour, he provides a candid look at how the routine of recording, traveling, and partying placed him in a cycle of addiction that he could not break on his own.

Speaking honestly about his addiction, Head details his struggles with the drug that ultimately led him to seek a higher power. Despite his numerous attempts to free himself from meth, nothing—not even the birth of his daughter—could spur him to kick it for good. Here Head addresses how, with the help of God, he emerged from his dangerous lifestyle and found a path that was not only right for his daughter, it was right for him.

Discussing the chaotic end to his time in Korn and how his newfound faith has influenced his relationship with his daughter, his life, and his music, Head describes the challenging but rewarding events of the last two years, exposing the truth about how his moments of doubt and his hardships have only deepened his faith.

Candid, compelling, and inspirational, Save Me from Myself is a rock ‘n’ roll journey unlike any other.

MY THOUGHTS – This is your typical rock ‘n’ roller makes good, with appropriate corresponding touring stories. But with a twist, as Brian “Head” Welch of the band KORN eventually finds God and gives up his longterm drug and alcohol addictions for good.

PUBLISHER – HarperOne – 242 pages

PUBLICATION DATE – Oct 13th, 2009

MY RATING – 4/5 STARS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR = Brian “Head” Welch was one of the founding members of Korn. In 2005, after an intense spiritual awakening, he was instantly delivered from years of substance abuse with almost no symptoms of withdrawal. Today he lives and prays with his daughter Jennea in Arizona.

Posted on by odylicious (Val)

Smuggler

Smuggler

This was an interesting story about a twenty-something guy who is looking around for work after college. He finds this job where he starts out thinking he’s going to be editing a magazine when he leaves town and kisses his girlfriend goodbye. But the situation soon gets squirrely and turns out to really be about smuggling heroin.

Nicholas needs money badly since the rent is due, but he struggles with his conscience. It’s international drug smuggling after all. Plus there’s a lot of risk involved, depending on the country it could be as high as death. It’s quite a dilemma, the money is insanely good. Nick does make the greedy choice and gets involved, begins lying to his girlfriend about where he’s actually traveling to and what he’s doing on these trips. He’s working with others and things soon get very dicey, as if they weren’t already shady enough.

Smuggler tells the real story behind Orange Is The New Black. The story is a good one and is well written along with being a good moral lesson. It would work for both memoir readers and true crime readers. My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by NetGalley, author Nicholas Fillmore, and the publisher for my fair review.

Publisher: IBPA. 292 pages.
RATING: 4/5 Stars

The Author– Nicholas Fillmore attended the graduate writing program at University of New Hampshire. A manuscript of poems was a finalist for the Juniper Prize and elsewhere. He co-founded and published SQUiD magazine in Provincetown, MA.

Fillmore is currently at work on Sins of Our Fathers, a family romance. He writes for Courthouse News Service and is a lecturer in English at Hawaii Pacific University.

Posted on by odylicious (Val)

Crazy Town

Crazy Town: Money. Marriage. Meth.

“But she seems to have arrived at the realization that this is the way adjusted people live, that we are all at best mildly unhappy, that human existence is not an uninterrupted series of incredible highs and lows. Life is dull but bearable and sustainable.”

Oh, this is twisted good. Drugs, sex and betrayal, it’s got all the basic food groups to make a good book, and it’s non-fiction. But you have to bear with it a bit and let it build. The chapters go back and forth between the history of amphetamines & methamphetamines, and then Sterling’s life. And at a certain point the stories do meet, or cross paths. Sterling Braswell and Lucille have history, the kind that went way back, all the way back to high school. They went steady, got drunk for the first time together, went skinny dipping, and lost their virginity together. Since then, Lucille had become a physician’s assistant, and Sterling had gotten rich in the technology boom. They hadn’t seen one another since they went off to different colleges and now it had been years, when she called after running into one of his friends. They make plans for dinner and later go meet some of his tech friends. When he takes her home later, she pays the sitter and he realizes that she’s a single mom now. This is the start of something, but what? It’s the start of a trip to Crazy Town. And it does get quite crazy along the way. There are some good points in the history part of this book, and Sterling’s story is an excellent lesson in itself. A good read for those interested in addiction stories, biographies dealing with such, and reads along those lines. I found it quite good.

“Narcissists also require unlimited admiration, are themselves arrogant, and most significantly, lack feelings of empathy.“

Kallisti Publishing 292pages
Pub:  Dec 17th, 2013

RATING: 4/5 Stars

The Author— Since I was young I had what I needed, but never what I wanted. The earliest that I could get a job, around 7 or 8 years old, I did, and I mowed lawns and weeded flower beds. Anything I could do to make money. And from age 15 on I worked at actual jobs, including all throughout my time at the university. I worked long hours and continued to put off everything else in my life for my career. And though some people call it luck, I took a job for little money but lots of stock options to work for Microsoft. And I worked 100 hours per week for years. And as hard as it was, it was also challenging and fun. So many people that I worked with could only take the life for a few years, then they would burn out. And I knew that I would eventually burn out too. But I knew that an opportunity like this would only come along once in a lifetime, so I continued day after day, year after year. And by the late 90s, I had millions in stock options and assets. I would never have to work again. By then, I had slowed down some, although I still worked at a pace faster and longer than most. But I did take time to get married to my high school sweetheart via sheer chance. We could would never have the money problems that break up so many families. Although she had experienced prescription drug abuse, she was a professional, and this is not uncommon. And she seemed to get through this time OK. Then she started using meth. The craziness of the next few years, which to me seemed even more horrible than my worst nightmares, left me almost completely broke. Financially, emotionally, and spiritually.