Photographer Brian Nice and "The B Nice Project"

I discovered the photography of Brian Nice in 2009, when he published Rescue Tails: Portraits of Dogs and Their Celebrities, a project that was inspired by his own dog, a Pug named Buster, who was losing his eyesight. Buster was later helped by the Humane Society and proceeds from the sale of Nice's book continue to benefit the organization.

Nice has been a photographer for thirty years. His career was originally launched in advertising and fashion photography. Nice was at the top of his craft when he suffered a series of severe, life-threatening traumatic brain injuries. After numerous surgeries, vigorous therapy and a life now spent in a wheelchair, Nice has remained undaunted in reinventing himself—personally and professionally. With great courage, inner strength and the support of a loving family, Nice is continuing to pursue his photography as a fine art, now with a completely new focus.

On September 27, 2013, Brian Nice and his team embarked on an exciting cross-country road trip to photograph the American landscape. Brian hopes his journey and the images he captures will inspire others, especially TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) survivors, to see past their own limitations and do what they love. The project will include the production and promotion of a gallery exhibit of photographs, a full-color coffee table book and a documentary film about Brian and the journey.

Link HERE to learn more.

Follow Brian's cross-country journey and see the world from his unique perspective.

Read a feature about Brian Nice in The New York Times

Follow Team Brian Nice on Twitter: @TheBNiceProject

To make a donation to "My Point of View/The B Nice Project" link HERE

Photograph by Brian Nice - TheBNiceProject

 Enjoy the journey, Brian! 
You're an inspiration to us all!

Rescue Tails: Portraits of Dogs and Their Celebrities by Brian Nice, Beth O Stern (Introduction)

Gallery Books,  $19.95, Paper, 9781439152768 , 176 pp

Publication Date: November 3 2009

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

The Lemon Orchard

Some losses we never get over. And when a parent loses a child, grief becomes all the more profound. In The Lemon Orchard, prolific author Luanne Rice explores this experience with creative compassion telling the story of Julia Hughes, a mother whose 16 year-old daughter, Jenny, dies in a car crash that also claims the life of Jenny's father and Julia's husband, a man whom she was in the process of divorcing.

Five years after the deaths, Julia, a professor of cultural anthropology at Yale University, is still unable to shake the loss. But when a beloved aunt and uncle ask her to house-sit for their Malibu property and lemon orchard, Julia packs up with her beloved dog and heads west. 

The natural, sensory beauty of the Santa Monica Mountains serves to intensify Julia's memories of Jenny and stir her presence. And when Roberto, the manager of the lemon orchard takes an interest in Julia--and vice-versa--the two, from different cultures, connect and bond through their shared pain of losing daughters. In Roberto's case, his daughter was lost and never found during their illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States. Julia and Roberto begin to fall in love, which inspires a renewed sense of purpose in Julia as she becomes determined to find answers about Roberto's daughter.

Alternating points of view lend intimacy to the romantic elements and suspense of the narrative. Rice has written a tender portrait of grief and loss that ultimately becomes a gateway to hope and healing, love and reinvention.

The Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice

Pamela Dorman Books,  $27.95, Hardcover, 9780670025275 , 304 pp

Publication Date: July 2, 2013

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (7/12/13), click HERE

Ask Bob

Peter Gethers' popular memoirs about his beloved cat, Norton, put his name on the literary map. In Ask Bob: A Novel, Gethers tackles fiction, telling the story of Dr. Robert Heller, a prominent New York City veterinarian who also authors a newspaper column called, "Ask Dr. Bob," which addresses the concerns and woes of pet owners. Dr. Bob is no-nonsense in the delivery and approach of his column--and with his patients and their owners--but he's not as direct in his personal life. He comes from a dysfunctional family that has made his role as son, brother, uncle and lover a muddled, thorny challenge. When Bob meets and falls in love with a woman whose family has more issues than his, he takes solace in their romance and the security of his job, concluding that he understands animals better than people. But when tragedy strikes, Bob is forced to step beyond his comfort zone and tend to the people he loves and cares for the most.

Gethers has written a smart, lively novel infused with romance and heartfelt, real-life complications of family and domesticity. The book centers upon the women in Dr. Bob's life who influence him the most during an eighteen-year period from when Bob is 24 years old until he turns 42. The interspersed addition of several of Dr. Bob's newspaper columns and his charming, insightful notes about certain clients and important people in his life add levity and humor to some heavier aspects and themes.

Ask Bob: A Novel by Peter Gethers

Henry Holt and Co., $24.00, Hardcover,  9780805093315, 320 pp

Publication Date: August 6, 2013

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (8/9/13), click HERE