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Ann Skea's Bookshelf
The Memory Library
Antonia Pont
Spineless Wonders
shortaustralianstories.com.au
c/o NewSouth Books (dist.)
www.newsouthbooks.com.au
9780648398868, $22.21 PB 214 pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Library-Antonia-Pont/dp/0648398862
How would you like to share someone else's memories? No, not to just listen to them or read them, but to experience them, to be where they were, do what they were doing, hear what they heard (voices, birds, etc.), and feel the emotions they felt.
'You could join up!' the proprietor of The Memory Library, Charlie, tells Hiru, who has ducked into this 'shop' just to get out of the cold wind.
'...it's very low cost, relatively, but we do ask for a phone number and a few personal details. They are stored in my abysmal handwriting, so that's practically a guarantee of privacy.'
Hiru is taken aback by the 'substantial leaf of plastic money' Charlie requires as a deposit on the equipment, but he has told her to set it up when she's feeling either 'strained and preoccupied' or 'floaty and lateral'.
Hiru, who has been living through the 'wrung-out weeks of an ending', decides that she has spent most of these weeks in the former state and has been 'craving something of the latter'
'Maybe [she thinks] if I put the 'strained' to use intentionally, via the dubious equipment, it might give way to the 'floaty and lateral'? This prospect unleashed a swoon of solace, enough to allay my doubt regarding the kit's ability to extract, or document, anything that might be going on in my head.'
The equipment looks like an old 'discman' and has a number of thin cables with sticky buds on the ends to attach to various parts of the body. It has no play button, but Charlie has told her 'The equipment knows when to start.'
The old town where Hiru is living is beset by salt-storms which coat the buildings and make them look like 'ornate confectionaries'. And the Memory Library, as Hiru observes, is not one of
'those oddities from the previous century: aisles of paper books; reading tables; a certain kind of light and visitor. This one was full of cramped shelves that reached from floor to ceiling and was steeped in a dim luminescence as if something complicated and private went on there.'
Nor is Charlie an old-style librarian. From Hiru's descriptions, and those of Monin, a long-time user of the library, he seems eccentric and curiously detached; a mentor who, as he gets to know your taste, may exchange 'banter about what's on offer' but 'never recommends, only informs'; or he warns about responsible usage
He angers Monin, who has recently begun to visit the Library daily in her lunch-hour, by telling her one day that 'Remembering is no replacement for the world', and sending her away.
Monin is clearly disenchanted with the real world. 'The present went out of fashion a long time ago', she imagines telling him:
'The present is like a hole that you dig in dry sand. It's mildly thankless, and best left to the young or mentally undercooked.'
Monin, like Hiru, distances herself from others, and she has begun to find the memories she borrows 'temptingly meaningful' as she browses whole, unfamiliar, 'spectrums of feeling'.
So, what does it feel like to be immersed in someone else's memories?
Hiru describes part of one experience:
'The gaze pans up into the tree's vast dome. It is all russet and fluttering yellow. Each time the head moves, there's the tickle of a rough, real scarf. Down below, a wide black surface waits, an expanse of mesh. The hands let go and the body falls - sailingly. There's a jelly landing on the trampoline then gleeful rebound. Queasy exhilaration of descent and flying, of soaring and landing, in booming arcs.'
In order to borrow memories, members must contribute some of your own to add to Charlie's stock. Hiru makes her first contribution, remembering a day baking with her Oma when she was six. 'A pretty dull effort, sticky with sentiment', but Charlie takes it and checks it, as he checks all contributions for anything that might identify the contributor, and adds it to the shelves. Occasionally he slips up, and it is one such slip that catches Monin's attention and makes her determine to find the woman whose shadow she has seen in a window-reflection in a memory. She fails to return the loan and watches it repeatedly. So begins what she calls 'The Search', and it is her 'humpbacked secret', kept, especially, from Charlie.
Chapter by chapter we get to know Hiru and Monin better. Both are affected by the Library and both are changed by their new experiences, both start to find purpose in their days. One particular borrowing makes Hiru feel alive and she returns to it again and again, worrying that it is like an addiction, a 'cheap pleasure' that may turn out to be 'a costly one', but 'something heavy' has left her and she leaves the house for the first time for ages.
Monin's search and Hiru's new confidence finally produce a result and Charlie seems to have had something to do with that, although he remains enigmatic and his role is never clear.
This is a strange book. At first I was not at all sure what was going on, but I was intrigued by this ingenious idea and kept reading. Reading it a second time (it is quite short) was a delight, and with some of the mystery resolved, the characters of Hiru, with her cat, Silt, and Monin with her rages and her determination became distinct. I was also left with the thought that AI might well produce a Memory Library like this one in the near future.
Broadlands
Matt Howard
BloodaxeBooks
https://www.bloodaxebooks.com
9781780376882, $17.95
https://www.amazon.com/Broadlands-Matt-Howard/dp/178037688X
Cuckoo chic fed by a meadow pipit. Pete Walkden.
What is it like to hold a baby bird in your hands? In 'Nest Surveying, II, 17/4/17', Matt Howard writes of his 'every nerve' caught
'with the hot throb and scratch
of pin feathers, and the faecal sack
clamminess...'
This is the reality of it. Not just a romantic thrill, as you might expect, but the feel of a body and a reminder of its natural processes. Then, on this particular bird-protection nest survey, there comes a moment of mutual shock when suddenly the mother bird is back
'...bristling
perched on the gorse,
at our head-height, no less
than four feet away.
Her whole desperation
fixed at my own gape.'
'what am I midwife to?' he wonders as she stands and faces this 'ogrish outweighing of the odds' with an unwavering 'casting and re-casting' of 'ringlets of song'.
In another poem about an organised nest survey, Howard contrasts the careful documenting of data about nest location - 'note it all down' - with the need to follow 'the quick of a wren's mind', to ensure she is 'momentarily off' before touching the nest; then the emotional 'whelm' of placing his fingertips on 'four eggs' - new life that 'is the beginning of everything'.
Matt Howard is, as he said at a poetry reading, 'just an amateur with a passion for nature'. He lives and works close to the Norfolk Broads and has spent years exploring and getting to know the rich diversity of plants and animals in the meadows, reed-beds and marshlands of the Broadlands. He believes that there are many 'modes' of being an ecology activist, and, for him, poetry is an important one. He wants to let us be there with him in the field so that we feel nature and think about it, to put us into the conversation, and to provoke us.
In activist mode, one poem in Braodlands is, unusually, a list: a 'Chemical Chorus' - a chant in capital letters of all the 'safe'(?) DDT replacements we are still using as herbicides and crop desiccants in our farming practices. There are 20 of them in his list, which ends 'GLYPHOSATE GLYPHOSATE GLYPHOSATE'.
In another poem, not content with just noting hazards to our environment, he pronounces a heart-felt 'curse of losses' on 'the bastard or bastards' who dug up the milk parsley on which 'twenty or more' native swallowtail butterflies (restricted to this area of England) were living.
In contrast to this, there is a poem full of joy as he observes Field Teachers leading groups of young school children, 'liberated or herded', into a bare, rain-sodden, marshland meadow where they learn that the ground beneath their feet is 'only floating on all the grown and growing things', and that 'by jumping together, we move the whole world'. So,
'Up they go, bewildered and delighted
almost instantly landing, feeling the ground shift and righting.
Just look at the air about them, the peat spatters,
that earthy freshness catching the breath.'
Howard has a clear-eyed awareness of the complexity, beauty and resilience of the world around us and of our role in its ecology. 'See how the rotary ditcher is / making all this' he urges. How it excavates
'great lengths
of foot drains, shallow pools, fresh lymph nodes
off the main dykes There's a new fringe
already in the wing mirrors...'
But 'these muck scars will not last'. In a matter of weeks there will be grazing for the wild birds - 'wigeon', 'pink-feet', 'redshank', 'lapwing, and 'midge larvae' for their chicks. Here, 'We're no more than tending a body of water // that'll bloom the tumbling displays to come'.
Howard is a close observer of the insects and plants he has come to know well and his descriptions are beautiful as well as being biologically precise. In a poem about the 'Marbled Orb Weaver', he sees not only the sticky silkiness and the 'tensile strength' of the web that he accidentally disturbs, but also the spider's 'egg-bloated /green-cream abdomen'; the 'Jurassic proximity / of brain, venom gland, fang'; and 'each segment of forelegs' as she raises her 'fused cephalothorax' to strike at his 'chewed-raw-to-the quick' fingertip.
There is similar precision in his description of a parasitic ichneumon wasp laying her eggs in the 'pulsing / fleshiness of swallowtail larva'. The beauty of the wasp is in sharp contrast to the gruesome process, but the resulting emergence of the newborn wasp from its caterpillar host leads to a thought about our own, less fully formed, emergence into the world. It emerges
'sure
in its wasp rigging,
dripping still
with the other, fully born
from the other, as we could never be
made so young or so fully formed.'
Not all the poems in this collection are about nature, and the range of emotions evoked is astonishing. There is joy, anger, love, grief, irony and nostalgia. On wartime bomb-sites bursts of wild flowers are 'off looting / each annexed margin for living space'. An apocryphal story tells of a 'hot mid-morning' church service interrupted by a hobby falcon crashing though a stained glass window with an insect-feeding swift in its mouth. A transcript of the parliamentary 'Acte for the preservation of Grayne, 1566', details the birds and other animals for which bounty will be paid: 'for the heads of any old Crowes, Choughs, Pyes, or Rookes, for the heades of every three of them one penny'.... for the Heades of every Otter or Hedgehog, two pence'.
There is humour, too. In 'Odonatologists' Anecdote', the 'distinguished' dragon-fly specialist, Hansruedi Wildermuth, 'after all the flight seasons, mosquito bites, / sunburn, then / winters, wading through papers', and after chasing the insects 'down so many waterways and flyways', is attacked in his own garden by a dragonfly laying its eggs 'just under the ball of his left ankle'.
Some of the poems are personal memories, others respond to the work of other poets, and there are two remarkable longer poems in the collection.
In 'Queen Wasp', three carefully structured columns urge us to 'watch' and 'get close' to a queen as she chooses a nest site in a shed, masticates the wood and moulds it in her mouth to make 'the first papery nest strut' and 'inverted cup' of the nest-cells, then walls herself in until, amid 'the drone and thrum of her number', 'more queens more chances' have been created. Everything, as the poem repeats, is 'brighter in her wake'.
The second of these two poems is very different. Inspired by Hungarian poet Ferenc Juhasz's 'The Boy Changed into a Stag cries out at the Gate of Secrets', it is an account of the shooting and death of an old stag, as told by its hunter. 'It's time to bring the old boy home mother', he begins, and, as in Juhasz's poem, the repeated calling to the mother coveys the enormity and the pathos of this 'gate of secrets' which takes us from life to death. Unlike Juhasz, however, Howard ends the poem with the stark reality of the dismemberment which is the final result of this particular deer shooting.
By no means are all of these Broadlands poems biologically precise, or concerned with death. There are also poems prompted by history, boyhood memories, thoughts about museum exhibits, 'the snail in medieval manuscripts', and, about love.
A walk through the 'insect-business' of a loke (a Norfolk dialect word for a short lane), noting the foxgloves with their 'fuller, lower lips and separate freckles', the 'very last of the hawthorn' and 'the elder with each umbel so full of offers', leads to wondering 'how any of this ever works', and memories of 'our fist wind-blown glances' and 'all those years' 'through so much fruit-set and blossom fall'.
In the final poem, 'Though the singing season's done with', the 'spin and drift' of 'the bundling / cottony-white of back poplar seeds' through every part of the house, becomes 'what I most want to remember'.
'May they always. This evening and tonight
Darling there's no need to fuss or clear it,
let's sleep with the windows wider
as all our years, those before and to come,
let's wake to its mantling everywhere.'
Howard's special skill is to vividly bring to life the animals and plants that he knows so well and that belong to the precarious but strong world of nature, with its continuous cycle of renewal. We, too, are involved - sometimes helping, sometimes destroying what is essential. His language is clear and his descriptions are full of the small details that make images jump into the imagination, yet there are underlying thoughts or beliefs which make these poems well worth careful re-reading.
Matt Howard has worked in various roles for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He is a well-published poet, and has won a number of prestigious awards for his poetry. He has also been poet in residence at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and at the Wordsworth Trust, and was Douglas Caster Cultural Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds in 2021-3.
The Instrumentalist
Harriet Constable
Bloomsbury
https://www.bloomsbury.com
9781526675262, $28.99 PB, 336 pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Instrumentalist-Harriet-Constable/dp/1668035820
'Anna Maria della Pieta is destined for greatness.
At eight, she knows it as surely as string knows bow, as lightning knows storm, as water knows sky. She knows, like she knows that one of her toes sticks out at an angle, that the meat on Wednesdays tastes like fish, and that the note C is green.'
Anna Maria sees sounds as colours. The first time she hears a violin being played by a maestro she sees the bow 'fly back and forth' and 'the colours of her mind start to flow. Amber, gold, citrus and white, silver and ochre and puce. The shades blast past her eyes. She has to hold the doorfame to steady herself.' She has been learning the flute and the oboe, but the colours don't flow, they are 'all dull, muddied'. Now she is determined to 'get her hands on' a violin.
Anna Maria della Pieta, or to be more precise, Anna Marie della Pio Ospedale della Pieta (the Devout Hospital of Mercy), is one of the orphaned or abandoned children brought up by the nuns in this charitable convent. The girls are schooled in embroidery, lace-making and, especially, in music, and in the 17th century this convent was famous for it all-female orchestra, the figlie di coro.
The virtuoso violinist whose playing Anna Maria heard that day was twenty-four-year-old Antonio Vivaldi, an ordained priest who had just been hired by the Ospedale as a music teacher. One morning Anna Maria and her close friends Paulina and Agata arrive at the music room to find this young man waiting:
''I am your new teacher,' he says, 'moving toward the chalk-board in front of them.
....
He writes his name, tiny pieces of chalk dust drifting to the ground as he underlines it twice.
Anna Maria feels her breath catch. She has heard of him, of course. Everyone has heard of him. He is a maestro, renowned for his virtuosic violin playing throughout the Republic. Venice's one to watch.
....
But he is not what she expected. In her mind he'd been taller, more handsome. Instead, his shoulders slouch like he's in some kind of pain, and there's a weakness to his hands without his violin. He seems unsure what to do with them.'
So begins their first violin lesson, but Anna Maria, who had secretly stolen into the room where she first heard him and had been caught by him with his violin in her hands, is to be punished. The lesson is to progress but she is only allowed to watch as the other girls learn how to hold a violin and how to play a few basic notes on the Ospedale's battered instruments. She watches carefully, then, unable to stop herself,
'she lunges for the violin in front of her, lifts the sleek wooden form beneath her chin. Pleasure shivers through her at the feeling. An extension of her own body.
She fumbles to find the hand position, presses hard on the strings. Her nostrils are flared, her lips clenched with focus as she traces the colour trail he has left. Reds, yellows, greens and blues. Red, red, blue, green, blue, green blue. There is no violin any more. No Anna Maria anymore. Simply colour, sound and a feeling, something calm and certain, of a body finding its soul.'
Unlikely as this sudden skill sounds here, it is true that Vivaldi did, in fact, see something exceptional in eight-year-old Anna Maria della Pieta and nourished it. She became the youngest ever to join the figlie di coro; she was declared a maestro at eighteen for her exceptional violin playing; and, years later, she became the first female Maestro di Coro (Master of Music) when Vivaldi left the Ospedale for the court of Emperor Charles VI in Vienna.
In spite of her fame, little is known of Anna Maria's life and works, but in The Instrumentalist Harriet Constable takes what is known and builds on it to give her a full, exciting, and sometimes dangerous and traumatic life, full of colour, music, friendship excitement and betrayal, and full, too, of the richness and diversity and brilliance of eighteenth-century Venice.
Constable's Anna Maria is, from her earliest days, ambitious and determined to succeed. Vivaldi, too, sees her unique potential and fosters it. We meet her first as an unnamed baby whose seventeen-year-old, desperate mother is trying to drown them both in a canal:
'But the creature, shocked by the chill, by the wet, by the lack of oxygen, erupts. It's angry and alive and real again all of a sudden, struggling against her grip.
Just stop just shush, she begs. Not much longer now.
But it is a raging firestorm of a thing, and she cannot hold it back. Their heads tear above the surface as both of them scream for breath, for life.'
The woman that finds them 'was once a cortigna lume too, a hustler who lost her looks but kept her resilience.' She takes them in, promising to get the young woman work in her old brothel, but the baby must go to the nuns' orphanage. So, she is 'posted', together with a note and half a playing card, through a special hole in the wall of the Ospedale, and the nuns who collect her and record her arrival time and date, name her Anna Maria della Pieta.
Anna Maria remembers nothing of her earliest years in the convent. Her first memories are of playing games with Paulina and Agata; of their being the 'inseparable triplets' always getting into mischief; and of pretending to be a maestro, with Paulina and Agata as her enthusiastic audience. She knew even then, however, that she wanted to be famous and nothing, not even friendships, must stand in her way.
Vivaldi nourishes her ambitions and gives her private lessons. 'I have never known a girl to play like this.' he tells her after testing her by making her copy phrases that he plays. 'Not any so young as you.' 'Being a girl' is not something Anna Maria 'has given much thought to.' Being a girl, however, becomes a problem when, much later, she begins to compose her own violin pieces and wants recognition for them. For the moment, however, she is focused on becoming one of the elite figlie di coro girls, who 'play lots of concerts, and they make money. Real money, of their own'; they also have 'nicer clothes, more regular baths, better food.'
When she does gain entry to this famous group, Vivaldi, takes her to a workshop in the Arsenale of Venice to buy her a violin. Seeing violins 'hanging in a tall glass cabinet like clothes on a rail', Anna Maria feels that she has 'come to the land where instruments are born'. 'We are luthiers. Violin makers,' the owner, Nicholo Selles, tells her, 'each of us has our own skill'; and she sees the carefully chosen wood being carved into scrolls, the instrument shells being varnished, the bows being strung with cat-gut: 'Not actual cats' he chuckles, 'but intestines, yes, from sheep mainly'. He tells her, too, that 'choosing a violin is like choosing a spouse', and that musicians often 'spend months', returning again and again, until they find the one that suits them best.
Eventually, Anna Maria's violin is ready and Vivaldi takes her to collect it. It suits her perfectly. 'It is the first thing, other than the playing card and note, that has ever been truly hers', and she feels as if 'she has been handed her missing limb'. Through all the dramas that subsequently happen in her life, she will never be parted from it.
Anna Maria's skill is exceptional and she begins to play solos in concerts which are performed before important people. Vivaldi, seeing her complimented, becomes jealous and cold towards her. She and other members of the figlie work with him, imitating his style and elaborating on his compositions, but Anna Maria is composing her own pieces and, eventually, plays one of them to him, passing it off as something she found among old manuscripts he has given her. When he does discover what she is doing, he lets her perform in a concert but then acknowledges the applause himself, omitting to indicate that it is her work. Later, when she challenges him about this he is unrepentant:
'You are, after all, a girl, a woman. What did you think? That you were going to take a place in history as one of the greatest composers of all time? To have your work published in your own right?'
'That's exactly what is going to happen,' she says, heat flushing up her neck. 'I'm a maestro, I am the best there is.''
She is furious but he has control, and he takes the ultimate revenge which almost destroys her. The final pages of the book are full of drama as she deals with her devastation and, to her surprise, finds someone who is willing to support and help her achieve her ambitions.
The Instrumentalist is a remarkable debut novel. At times the events are almost too dramatic and too imaginative to be credible, but Harriet Constable has done her research well and uses concert reports from contemporary news-sheets, letters, and other resources to weave facts into this fiction. Her characters are full of life, and the drama, the music, the costumes, the brilliance of Venice, and its hidden darkness, all make her book absorbing and enjoyable. It is a story, too, that could well become a popular film or TV series.
Ann Skea, Reviewer
https://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
Arthur Turfa's Bookshelf
Father Elegies
Stella Hayes
What Books Press
https://www.whatbookspress.com
9798990014930, $18.99
https://www.amazon.com/Father-Elegies-Stella-Hayes/dp/B0DJGCF3S4
A double poignancy exists in and around this second book of poetry. The first is obvious from the title. A daughter mourns her father. The second involves where the book begins, in Ukraine, a nation engaged in a war that has global impact in several ways. However, the focus in these poems is on the narrator's father, family, and home, to include Chicago after the family immigrated from the Soviet Union, not all at the same time.
There are poems in different styles, all conveying a strong sense of place, family, the narrator's love for her father, and the at times difficult transition to life in a new country. Six poems in the Despair section pertain to a sexual assault suffered by the narrator shortly before her father's death. The primary focus of this well-written book is the narrator herself, mourning her father, missing friends she left behind, and the violent assault she endured.
The narrator is no Ophelia, to paraphrase the first line of one of the poems, The Shakespearean character was helpless in the face of personal loss. Here the narrator shows her resilience and craft in this book.
Arthur Turfa
Reviewer
Carl Logan's Bookshelf
The Extraordinary Life of Henry Mancini
David Calcano
Fantoons
c/o Fantoons Animaton Studios
https://fantoons.tv
9781970047288, $29.99, HC, 180pp
https://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Life-Henry-Mancini-Official/dp/1970047283
Synopsis: Henry Mancini is one of the most successful and groundbreaking film composers of all-time. From the humble beginnings of his father's flute lessons, to standing ovations at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl, "The Extraordinary Life of Henry Mancini" is graphic novel style biography by Fantoons that beautifully illustrates every step in the journey of Henry Mancini's pivotal and industry-shaping career.
Each page features vividly painted illustrations, with color that encapsulates each of the many emotions - high and low - of Henry Mancini's bold, musical adventure.
Henry Mancini's music has left an indelible mark on the film industry, transforming it for generations of new composers to come. Readers can learn the surprising, true stories behind the unforgettable scores of movies such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "The Pink Panther" and even pop-culture TV classics like "Peter Gunn".
Before the Grammys, Golden Globes, Academy Awards, and before becoming one of the highest regarded composers in the history of film, step into the shoes of the boy who would bravely set out to change cinema forever. Get swept away in the majestic, heartwarming and astonishing symphony that is the extraordinary life of renowned composer Henry Mancini, in this fully-illustrated,180 page graphic biography.
Critique: Fascinating, informative, fun, this large format (The Extraordinary Life of Henry Mancini, 2.31 pounds) hardcover edition of "The Extraordinary Life of Henry Mancini" is a 'must' for the legions of Henry Mancini fans -- and is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library American Musician Biography/Memoir collections.
Editorial Note: Originally from Caracas, David Calcano has been fusing still and moving pictures with music to craft meaningful stories for over a decade as the Chief Director of Fantoons Animation Studios. He's written for the page and screen, as well as directed animation for the likes of Disney, Universal, Warner, Westbrook (Will Smith's company), Publicis, Rush, Nat King Cole, Iron Maiden, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, The Beach Boys, Johnny Ramone, and more... the list goes on and on! His creative output includes award-winning animated music videos, advertising spots, album packages, concert visuals, and critically-acclaimed books. Beyond his professional delivery,
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Carolyn Wilhelm's Bookshelf
On Location: And Other Stories
Pam Geiger
Sutton Place Press
https://www.pamgeiger.com
B0DHJLDBMC, $9.99 Kindle, 246pp
9798338520260, $19.95, PB, 246pp
https://www.amazon.com/Location-Other-Stories-Pam-Geiger-ebook/dp/B0DHJ9GWXL
Decades of celebrities, exotic locations worldwide, travel, and sensational locations are described in this book of delightful stories from make-up and hair artist Pam Geiger. I had no idea I was about to learn the truth of the statement that you must suffer for beauty. The more beautiful, it seems, the more the suffering. Geiger provides the truth of what goes on to get those perfect photos that grace magazine covers and red-carpet events. Geiger shares what goes on to create various magazines (including Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Editions). I never realized how difficult the lives of those who work on photos, such as make-up artists, photographers, and models who must endure long hours of posing just so. Time away from family was part of the pain and adventure; sometimes, temporary families formed on many days or weeks of shoots. What they did to relax and the foods they ate are included, so it is also a travel book. A timeline of changes in modeling and make-up could be gleaned from the pages as products and society evolved. Although names are changed to protect the innocent, it is easy to imagine the people as Geiger describes the work vividly, including some of her past conversations.
Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
https://dementiapdfdownloads.com
Clint Travis' Bookshelf
Risks and Returns
Wilbur Ross
Regnery Publishing
www.regnery.com
c/o Skyhorse Publishing
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
Blackstone Publishing
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9781510781719, $32.99, HC, 368pp
https://www.amazon.com/Risks-Returns-Creating-Success-Business/dp/1510781714
Synopsis: Before being named President Donald Trump's Secretary of Commerce in 2017, Wilbur Ross had already earned a reputation as the "King of Bankruptcy" over his 55-year career on Wall Street. Often working on high-profile bankruptcies such as Pan Am and Texaco, Ross helped restructure more than $400 billion in assets, and was named among Bloomberg's 50 most influential people in global finance. After coming to Washington, Ross faced equally tough challenges, yet survived in his Trump administration post for all four years.
"Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life" explains how Ross got to the top and stayed there. Rising from humble beginnings in North Bergen, New Jersey, Ross applied simple principles with strict discipline -- something his readers can apply in their own quest for success.
Ultimately, Ross's strategies and dealmaking skills led to relationships with King Charles, Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, the Rothschild family, Steve Wynn, Lakshmi Mittal, Mike Milken, and many other famous personalities. Ross also documents his experiences with President Trump in the Oval Office.
Also covered in "Risks and Returns" is Ross's experiences as a neighbor of John Lennon in the legendary Dakota apartment building, celebrating with Sir Richard Branson on his private island, and his tumultuous time in Washington. "Risks and Returns" offers a candid reflection of a life lived at the pinnacle of Wall Street, New York, and Palm Beach society, and the Trump administration. Above all, anyone driven to find career success will learn from Ross's life the strategies and mentality to achieve it.
Critique: Of special and particular interest to readers with an interest in venture capitalism, economics, life in the Trump administration, and the art of compromise and deal making, "Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary American Biography collections. It should be noted for MBA students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life" is also readily available from Regnery Publishing in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Publishing, 9798228316157, $45.95, CD).
Editorial Note: Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. served as Secretary of Commerce in the Trump administration following 55 years of experience in investment banking and private equity. In this capacity, he advised President Donald Trump on commercial and economic affairs, and helped American entrepreneurs and businesses create jobs and economic opportunity. Secretary Ross's philanthropic work has included significant support for the Japan Society, the Brookings Institution, the Blenheim Foundation, and numerous entities devoted to the fine arts, including the Rene Magritte Museum in Brussels. He was also an advisory board member of Yale University School of Management. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Ross)
Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz
Solomon Schmidt
Skyhorse Publishing
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510780644, $32.99, HC, 480pp
https://www.amazon.com/Legal-Gladiator-Life-Alan-Dershowitz/dp/1510780645
Synopsis: "Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz" is the biography of arguably the greatest lawyer in American history.
It is the story of a poor, failing high schooler from Brooklyn who became the youngest professor in the history of Harvard Law School, where Ted Cruz, Natalie Portman, Mike Pompeo, Jamie Raskin, and others sat under his tutelage. It is the story of a passionate Zionist who advocated for Israel on the world stage and became a confidant of Israeli prime ministers, including Benjamin Netanyahu. And it is the story of a zealous young liberal who, as an old man, stood in front of the Senate to declare that they would be violating the Constitution by removing a Republican president he himself opposed.
As a lawyer, Alan Dershowitz has had a major impact on the most notorious legal cases in modern U.S. history. From Claus von Bulow to Mike Tyson to O.J. Simpson to Jeffrey Epstein to Donald Trump, he has devoted his life to championing the bedrock principle of the American justice system: that every person (no matter how despised) has the right to a rigorous legal defense. With the publication of "Legal Gladiator", biographer Solomon Schmidt explores Dershowitz's rise to prominence, gives the inside story of his most high-profile cases and controversies, and provides a shockingly intimate look into his personal life.
Alan Dershowitz gave Solomon Schmidt unprecedented access to his personal and professional life, including his private archives at Brooklyn College and dozens of interviews with him virtually and in New York City, Miami, Martha's Vineyard, and Israel. "Legal Gladiatory" also includes exclusive interview content from Bob Shapiro, Jeffrey Toobin, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Glenn Greenwald, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Eliot Spitzer, Justice Stephen Breyer, Mike Huckabee, Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky, Jared Kushner, Geraldo Rivera, Mark Levin, Mike Pompeo, Megyn Kelly, Mike Tyson, Ted Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., O.J. Simpson, and Donald Trump, among others.
Critique: A definitive biography of a man who impacted the American legal system as few others of his generation, "Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz" is an extraordinary, impressively written, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation. While also readily available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99), this hardcover edition of "Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz" from Skyhorse Publishing is a significant and unreservedly recommended contribution to community and college/university library American Biography collections and supplemental American Political/Judicial History curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Solomon Schmidt (https://historybites.com/whos-solomon) is the author of eight books in a series called History Bites. He wrote his first book at the age of 12, graduated high school at the age of 16, and was described by Fox & Friends as "the youngest child historian in America." In addition to running historical tours in England and Scotland, Solomon also hosts the History Bites YouTube channel, where he has posted over 150 educational videos and interviews, including with Jocko Willink, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Alan Dershowitz, Mike Tyson, and Dame Jane Goodall. Solomon has traveled to Tanzania, Norway, Nepal, Iceland, Greenland, Jordan, Australia, and New Zealand to film videos for his channel and has given lectures at over 50 conferences throughout the United States. Solomon is also working to help expand education in rural parts of Nepal through the JAPA Workbook Initiative.
Clint Travis
Reviewer
Debra Gaynor's Bookshelf
A Healing Touch
Suzanne Woods Fisher, author
Fleming H. Revell Company
c/o Baker Publishing Group
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
9780800745288, $17.99 PB, $12.99 Kindle, 304pp
9781420517897, $35.99 Library Binding (Thorndike Press)
https://www.amazon.com/I-Think-Was-Murdered/dp/0840712626
"A Healing Touch" by Suzanne Woods Fisher is a touching Amish romance. What makes this tale unique is the relationship between Amish and English.
In "A Healing Touch" we are once again transported to Stoney Ridge. We meet Ruth "Dok" Stolzfus. Dok grew up Amish but felt called to be a doctor. She chose to follow the call, went to college where she studied medicine. When she returned to Stony Ridge she married police officer Matt Felman. Dok and Matt are deeply in love, but he feels they aren't spending enough time together. Dok has a loving character; she always tries to do what is best for her patients, including house calls. She has both Amish and English patients. She is a very busy woman. Especially after a newborn baby is left at Dok's office steps. She and her husband Matt become foster parents for the child. The baby is a relative of Matt. Could God have brought the baby too them as a gift?
Bee Bennett was widowed eighteen months ago. She was still dealing with her grief when she discovered she had cancer. Dok thought Bee would benefit from a support system, so she put her in contact with Fern Lapp, also a widow. Fern is a sensible woman and doesn't believe in nonsense. Bee needed help with her horses. Damon Harding, her former Olympic rival, came to offer that help.
An important resident of Stoney Ridge, Hank Lapp is a loudmouth, and a know it all. He is ill but refuses the tests he needs.
Dok's office assistant Annie Fisher enjoys working for Dok but when she meets an Amish EMT she sees a way to enter the medical profession and help the community She must convince both her Bishop and her parents. She isn't sure Amish women can be EMTs.
This book is filled with a variety of stories, all with excellent messages. The messages deal with assurance, recovery, mercy, friendship, courage, confidence and the wisdom to listen to God and to depend on him no matter what. He is in control. I enjoy Amish stories, perhaps it is because we live in an area with an Amish community. This book is rather unique because it is several short stories with a connection. Not all of the stories are wrapped up in this book hopefully they will be in the next installment.
I Think I Was Murdered
Colleen Coble & Rick Acker
Thomas Nelson
https://www.thomasnelson.com
9780840712622, $31.99, HC, 352pp
9780840712578, $18.99 PB, $8.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/I-Think-Was-Murdered/dp/0840712626
Co-authored by Colleen Coble and Rick Acker, "I Think I Was Murdered" deals with grief, death, love, mourning and moving on. The main character, Katrina Berg, turns too an advanced AI chatbot to stay in touch with her deceased husband. A year ago, Katrina's world was satisfying. She and her husband deeply loved each other. She was very successful and wealthy. Her husband, Jason, died in a car crash. She was the general counsel at Talk Inc., a company that has created a sophisticated AI app.
With permission from the company's CTO, Katrina downloaded every piece of data she could find from Jason, pictures, emails, and social media backups. She trained the AI app to emulate Jason. The result was being able to chat with Jason every day. The chatbot even managed to pick up grammar and words that Jason would use. At times she could pretend he hadn't died. The chatbot took over her life. She felt better having the Chatbot, but she also knew she wasn't working through her grief.
Talk Inc began having problems. The CEO David Liang disappears, the FBI is investigating the company for fraud. When the CEO is indicted, the FBI comes in, takes over the company and locks her out of her office.
She receives information that her grandmother, Frida Berg (Bestemor) is very ill, Katrina rushed from Silicon Valley, but Bestemor passed away before she arrived. During the funeral Katrina sees many people from her past. It had been years since she saw Seb Wallace. She finds herself attracted to Seb. His father remembers seeing a car speeding across his land. Katrina is suspicious. One day she asks the chatbot to tell her something she didn't know; the answer sent
her into a tailspin, "I think I was murdered."
This is the first book I have read where AI is one of the main characters. Katrina is the main character. She pulls at the heart strings. She is grieving the loss of her husband and turns to AI. While it may seem romantic and sweet, I see it as dangerous. Katrina could not move on because of the AI; she became dependent on it. The plot of this book is fascinating. I enjoyed the romance; it is a slow burn. This book starts out slowly and then the excitement builds. Kudos to the authors Colleen Coble and Rick Acker.
Son of the Doomsday Prophet: A Fantasy Adventure in the Days of Noah
Steven J. Byers
https://stevenjbyers.com
Privately Published
9798988545712, $17.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 406pp
https://www.amazon.com/Son-Doomsday-Prophet-Fantasy-Adventure/dp/B0CLC6Q4C8
The plot of this book is wonderfully unique. The main character is Jayfeth, the oldest son of Noah. That's right, Noah, the one that built the Ark.
Noah was a prophet from God. He attempted to share God's message of turning away from their wickedness, a few were touched but they didn't completely understand. Many were wicked and refused to listen. The more he preached, begged and cajoled the angrier the people were. Noah and his family were unwelcome even in their own tribe. God has laid a heavy mission on Noah's shoulders. His mission was to build an ark that will save the ones that turn from their wicked way.
Noah takes his sons with him to purchase tools for building the Ark. There were Nephilim in the community. The ruler asks Noah to speak to the people. They cheered when they heard Noah's message. He gave them a gift, a beautiful wood carved eagle. It was so realistic it looked as if it would burst into flight, at any moment. But the people misunderstood the gift, and they turned to it in worship. Nephilim was evil. After Noah angered them, they threatened both Noah and his family.
Jayfeth is still young and immature in many ways, but his father is patient with him, encourages him and teaches him. As the oldest son he travels with his father and witnesses his prophesizing and people's reactions. But he also has his own doubts, he has questions but no answers. Noah takes the young man on a quest. They travel to an area that is beautiful with green everywhere. Noah realizes Jayfeth must face the bemouth. It is a learning experience for the young man. He has much to face in his future, things that will test his courage, strength and faith.
Author Steven J. Byers has forced me to look deeper into the Biblical story of Noah. Byers is very talented he brought the scripture to life. I felt as if I were walking beside Jayfeth. I never thought much about Noah's family. They faced hardships and abuse at the hands of others. They each must have doubted God's calling at one time or another.
Byers handles the pagan religion and wickedness in a superb manner. He didn't dwell on it he gave just the right amount oof description to imprint the degeneracy on readers. The characters were well done; they came to life on the pages of this tale.
I have always enjoyed Old Testament stories, such as Noah's Ark. Son of the Doomsday Prophet is an absorbing read. Kudos to author Steven J. Byers.
Unforgotten
Shelly Shepard Gray
Fleming H. Revell Company
c/o Baker Publishing Group
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
9780800746506, $29.99, HC, 304pp
9780800746032, $17.99 PB, $17.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Unforgotten-Shelley-Shepard-Gray/dp/0800746503
Eight years ago, Bethanne Hostetler faced a woman's worst nightmare. Peter Miller, a man she thought was a friend attempted to rape her. The memory has taken over her life. She barely leaves the house; she has panic attacks. Her parents and younger brother watch her closely. Jay was attracted to Bethy, but Peter was his best friend, so he hesitated to approach her. Neither did he try to stop Peter, he struggles with his feelings of guilt. The man that came to Bethy's rescue was arrested and sent to prison. Bethanne knows she should have testified in his defense but at the time she was broken.
Bethanne watched as her cousin was crowned Miss Crittenden County. When Jay sat down next to her, she tried to brush him off, but he refused to leave. She came to realize it was time to start living again; she wanted Jay to be part of her life.
A man is stalking Candace; he's getting more brazen. The local police new temporary officer in the police department, Ryan, the duty of escorting Candace from event to event. He is trying to keep a professional stance, but he is attracted to Candace. Both Candace and Bethanne are in danger.
When a woman is assaulted it affects not only her physical body but also her emotional psyche. It affects how her family and friends see her. In Unforgotten, Bethanne's family want to protect her, and yet they know she must get on with her life.
This book stands well alone however it would have been better to read the first book. The characters are well fleshed out. Bethanne and Candace are both naive, charming and modest. Jay and Ryan are strong male leads. The secondary characters add depth to this tale. The setting is Crittendon County in Kentucky. I watch for books set in Kentucky, too often people tend to stereotype Kentuckians deeming seeing citizens as red necks and hillbillies. I'm proud to be both.
Blood of Dragons (Death Series, Book 2)
Penelope Barsetti
Hartwick Publishing
www.hartwickpublishing.com
c/o Blackstone Publishing, Inc
www.blackstonepublishing.com
9798340000088, $18.99, PB, 418pp
9798228313958, $7.00 Kindle, $45.99 Audio Book
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Dragons-Death-Penelope-Barsetti/dp/B0DHQTYX9Z
Blood of Dragons is the second book in the series: it picks up where book 1 drops off.
We once again enter the world of Calista and the Death King, Talon. In this book readers are allowed a peek into Talon's past through flashbacks. Talon's background information is interesting and does help the reader to understand him and his actions. Talon was enraged at the end of book 1 but he is more thoughtful, calmer and not as angry in book 2. Much of his anger was toward Calista who he felt had betrayed him. He refuses to share his story with Calista. They are reunited briefly in some spicy scenes and declare their love for each other. While I want to trust Talon, I am still suspicious; he has captured and destroyed kingdoms without compassion. He made a trade with an evil spirit.
Book 1 ended with Calista and her dragon on their own, Inferno. The two return to her home kingdom (which was destroyed in book 1), where she discovers a map, her father left for her showing the location of the free dragons. Following the map, she travels to the area when she arrives, she finds a peaceful kingdom of Elves serenely occupying the forest. She is reunited with her uncle who is married to the queen with an unforgiving heart. Peace doesn't last long because an old adversary attacks the forest.
At the end of book 2 the reader knows what happened to Talon and why he is called Death King. He compares what he has been through with what Calista has gone through. What he went through was terrible but was nothing compared to what she has experienced, captured, beat, tortured and raped.
Fantasy is a dual genre; there are usually magical and mythical creatures as well as supernatural elements. In Fantasy the reader can escape to a world you can only imagine. I enjoy fantasy especially when there are Elves and Dragons. This tale ends with a cliff hanger. Author Penelope Barsetti has already set the stage for the third book in this series.
We Three Kings
Kristen Bailey
Storm Publishing
https://stormpublishing.co
1805086020, Paperback: $16.99, Kindle $4.99, 344pp
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Kings-hilarious-heartwarming-Christmas/dp/1805086820
Maggie is the supervisor of IT, she has 3 men that work under her. They are not just her employees they are her friends. The IT department gets left out a lot. The department is on the bottom floor, as in the basement. They were not invited to the Christmas party, and they are not provided with shiny Christmas trees like the other departments. Maggie does everything she can to keep spirits at a high level. She carried a Christmas tree on the METRO, she bought the decorations, and she planned a department party. The men appreciate all she does for them. Each one of the men invite her to stay with them for the holidays. She was looking forward to quiet Christmas in her London flat, but she couldn't resist getting to know them better.
As she started out the door on the last workday before Christmas break, HR calls her into the office. She has two weeks to decide which one of her team will be laid off. Maggie is very upset. Jasper has a cynical wit. Frank's world revolves around his work. Leo is gifted, professional, cute, reliable, and funny. She doesn't want to get rid of any of them but especially not Leo.
The team has planned a hilarious Christmas break for her. She pretends to be Frank's girlfriend at his sister's wedding, she helps rescue a baby fox on a country estate, and she chases a donkey on Christmas Day. With a team like this how can she ever decide who to let go.
I love the relationship Maggie has with each member of her team. She is the glue that holds the team together. Maggie is kind, charming and thoughtful. Jasper, Frank and Leo each have distinctive personalities. The team cares about her.
This is a delightful Christmas book.
With This Ring
Amy Clipston
Thomas Nelson Publishers
www.thomasnelson.com
9780840709066, $17.99 PB, $34.99 Library Binding, Kindle $7.99, 320pp
https://www.amazon.com/This-Ring-Sweet-Contemporary-Romance/dp/0840709064
The setting is Flowering Grove, North Carolina. Dakota Jamison helps brides make their day perfect, she always dreamed of running Fairytale Bridal Shop. She doesn't see herself ever marrying. At one time she was engaged to Hudson Garrity, but he left her in Flowering Grove to pursue his career in New York City. Dakota stays busy between the bridal shop and teaching roller skating lessons at the local rink.
Hudson started his own software company in New York City but now that he's sold it, he isn't sure what he should do. He's met his goal in life; he's made enough money to keep his little sister and their aunt comfortable for the rest of their lives. He returns to his hometown thinking he can ponder what lies ahead for him. His sister is getting married and needs his help planning the wedding that also puts him in the position of working with Dakota. As the wedding draws closer, Hudson remembers what he loved about Flowering Grove. He and Dakota can't help but wonder what life could have been like if they had made different decisions.
This story is charming. Like real life the two main characters in this tale are not perfect. This is a second chance romance which isn't my favorite romance genre however I enjoyed this book. Author Amy Clipston does a superb job in fleshing out the characters; she gives them realistic emotions, behaviors and actions. Both Hudson and Dakota are extremely stubborn. They know they are meant to be together and yet they each hesitate to admit it. I found myself rooting for them throughout this tale.
The Noel Bridge
Jenny Hale
Harpeth Road Press
https://www.harpethroad.com
9781963483116, $15.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, $0.99 Audiobook, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Noel-Bridge-Uplifting-Heartwarming-Christmas/dp/1963483111
Noel, Tennessee is located near the Smoky Mountains. Legend is there is a covered bridge that grants miracles. People come from near and far to ask for their hopes and wishes. Are they miracles or coincidences.
Alicia Silver is a nurse in Savannah. Nine months ago, she lost her fiance. She was devasted and still mourning his loss. She saw a news report on television about the covered bridge in Noel. She was born in Noel but moved when she was a teen. She still remembered going to the bridge and begging not to move. Her life has come to a lonely stand still. She decided to return to Noel and once again beg the bridge for a miracle. She wants to hear her fiance's voice just one more time.
She arrives in Noel late in the evening. She meets Leo Whitaker when she stops at a diner for dinner. There is a connection. Later when she visits the bridge, she once again encounters Leo. His father is missing; he has come to the bridge to ask that his father be found. A snowstorm cancels Alicia's return flight. She spends time with Leo; they grow closer.
This is a beautiful Christmas tale; it would make a delightful Hallmark movie. Emma Love did an excellent job narrating the audiobook. The bridge is associated with faith in God. I understand the connection, but God isn't a bridge, and a bridge doesn't grant miracles or wishes. Author Jenny Hale successfully demonstrates the pain of grief. In this tale Alicia navigated through her grief. Alicia is a tender-hearted soul. She is also very intelligent, organized and caring. Leo is the owner of the diner. He loves his father, who has early stages of dementia. The plot of this book was heartwarming. I listened to it in one sitting. I highly recommend The Noel Bridge.
Talmadge Farm
Leo Daughtry
Books Fluent
https://booksfluent.com
9781970157437, $16.95 PB, $0.59 Kindle, $0.99 Audiobook, 328pp
https://www.amazon.com/Talmadge-Farm-Leo-Daughtry/dp/1970157437
The setting is the 1950's-1960's in North Carolina, during the Vietnam era
Proctor Talmadge worked hard to establish the Talmadge Tobacco Farm; he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. His grandson, Gordon Talmadge inherited the farm. He and his wife Clair and two sons, Junior and David, didn't believe in getting their hands dirty, they were privileged white. Gordon has never cared much about what he considers the lower class: people that get their hands dirty, people that toil for a living, people like the sharecroppers that work his land.
Gordon prances around the bank, his family owns. He ogles lustfully after his secretary and expects the whole town to be at his beck and call, following his command, after all he's a Talmadge.
There are two sharecroppers, one is black, and one is white. Will and Louis do the hard, backbreaking work in the fields, raising the tobacco crop. Their pay is barely enough for their family to survive on. Ivy the wife of one of the sharecroppers is the maid for the Talmadge's. The men and their families live on the farm in cabins that are not much more than a shack. The cold air blows through the cracks in the winter; barely keeping the temperature above freezing.
This is the story of relationships, how the characters interact with each other. There is a message of tolerance and love hidden within the pages of this book. There was a lot going on in the late 50's and early 70's, the world was shifting fast: Vietnam War, integration, agricultural science, sharecropping, the decrease in tobacco production. Faith plays a large role in this tale.
Take Me Home For Christmas
Miranda Liasson LLC
Hawthorne House
www.Hawthornebooks.com
9780998634623, $11.99 PB, $6.99 Kindle, 254pp
https://www.amazon.com/Take-Home-Christmas-Heartwarming-Small-Town/dp/099863462X
Third year pediatric resident, Mia D'Angelo, fell hard for Dr. Braxton Hughes but he broke her heart. When she discovered her mother was fighting a battle with cancer, she told her all about her Mr. Right, she even told her mother his name was Braxton. Only Mr. Right was all in her dreams. She and Dr. Braxton worked together and were in competition for the same job. They had remained friends, but Mia wanted so much more.
Her mother was doing well and now wanted Mia to bring Mr. Right home so the family could meet him. Mia was beside herself. What could she do? How could she tell her family she had lied? She would have to find someone to pretend to be her boyfriend. A mutual friend told Braxton what was going on. Before she could invite a man that would be totally wrong Braxton stepped in and volunteered to help Mia. She was mortified to have to admit what she had done to Braxton.
What a delightful Christmas romance. The characters are well written. It was so sweet watching/listening to Mia and Braxton as they fell in love. I was particularly fond of Mia's family. They offered love no matter what. The narrators did a great job. Kudos to Ms Marni Penning and Mr. Noah Cumberland. This tale deals with some issues that are sure to bring tears, children in the hospital, some with cancer.
"Take Me Home for Christmas: A Heartwarming Small-Town Holiday Romance" would make a delightful Christmas Romance Movie.
What Goes Around
Michael Wendroff
Head of Zeus
https://headofzeus.com/home
9781035900084, $29.99 HC, $6.15 Kindle, 416pp
https://www.amazon.com/What-Goes-Around-Michael-Wendroff/dp/1035900084
When Jack Ludlum and Jill Jarred first met, they were rivals. After being paired together as detectives their relationship changed; they found they could work together and depend on each other although they still have many differences. Jill is brilliant and a great investigator. Jack is fast with his fists.
A woman is having car trouble; a man stops to offer assistance. When she hesitates, he tells her he is a pastor. He grabs her throws her to the ground and begins to rape her. A gun shot rings through the air; the rapist is dead. Who shot the rapist? Could it have been a hunter? Another comparable murder occurs, is a serial killer in their midst?
The local law enforcement shrugs his shoulders believing the murderer did society a favor. His deputy, Tracy, is the only one in the department that has a thought in her head. Tracy is a friend of Jill and discusses the case with her, however, Jill can do very little until the sheriff finally asks for help.
Jill has been looking into hate groups. It's a good thing Jack has been following her.
This tale was well written. The characters were unusual such as the small-town law enforcement came across as incompetent, lazy and sexist. Jack and Jill were well fleshed out, but I was surprised at some of their actions. Their relationship was one of hate turned to love. Jill is very intelligent and takes things in her stride. Jack depends on his muscles more than his brain.
The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene
Johnny Teagues PhD
Addison & Highsmith Publishers
https://histriabooks.com/addison-highsmith
9781592114504, $29.99 hc / $9.99 E-book
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Diary-Mary-Magdalene/dp/1592114504
While this is a work of fiction it is supported by scripture. Author Johnny Teagues introduces readers to Mary Magdalene. In his book The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene, the premise is her diary is found and translated. The diary is a recounting of her life including the time she spent with Christ.
Over the years there have been many things said about Mary Magdalene, most of them untrue. She has been called a prostitute, she wasn't, neither was she the wife, girlfriend or lover of Jesus. She was intelligent (she helped her father in the tax booth), she was possessed, now she is set free. There are several Mary's in scripture and at point in history someone grouped all of them together and called them by her name. So, who was Mary Magdalene?
"Mary was the daughter of Jared, a Jewish tax collector and Adraina, her Roman mom. The family was looked down on." They were called traitor heathen, dogs, and Jezebel. "They used to be our friends but that was when father was a fisherman." The Jewish men would have nothing to do with Mary, but the Gentiles and the Romans were willing and eager to lay with her. Mary would throw fits, break out in rage, she screamed, cursed, became violent, paranoid, saw things that were not there, heard voices, and spoke in many voices.
Then she met Jesus.
The first part of this book deals with Mary's family and possession. Once she meets Jesus she becomes a follower. She shares the hatred and jealousy the Jewish leaders had for Jesus. She shares the horror of the whippings, beatings and crucifixion. She heard Peter's confession. She witnessed the resurrection.
In this book Mary gave her hand in marriage to Atticus. She and her husband were martyred under the reign of Nero.
"Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. In the days that he walked these shores, I dropped everything to join the crowds to be with Him, to hear Him, to watch Him. I am about to drop everything again to join the crowds in Heaven, to be with Him, to hear Him, to watch Him. I know the eleven are there... I am leaving to join the crowd."
The Lake of Lost Girls
Katherine Greene
Narrators: Helen Laser, Frankie Corzo, Sara Young, Haley Taylor, David Bendena
Dreamscape Media
https://www.dreamscapepublishing.com
B0DDQJH3FL, $43.94 Audio CD, $14/99 EBook, $29.99 Hardcover
https://www.dreamscapepublishing.com/single-audiobook/?titleid=23509
Ten Seconds to Vanish is a podcast hosted by two women. The podcast focuses on true crime, specifically cold crimes. Their latest investigation is focused on four missing girls from the Southern State University in North Carolina. Tammy was the first to disappear. Next came Phoebe, then Megan. The last one and the one the podcast focuses on is Jessica Fadley. The body of one of the girls is found near a secluded lake.
The year was 1998. Jessica Fadley was a freshman at college. Jessica was always a daddy's girl, she was bubbly, made good grades; she was a high achiever. Then she wasn't. She became a party girl and a heavy drinker. Her grades were slipping; she was on the verge of failing. Her life was out of control.
Moving forward twenty-four years. Ten Seconds to Vanish is a true crime podcast. The two women that host the podcast have focused on Jessica. The podcast has stirred people up; the police have reopened the case. Lindsey still lives in her sister's shadow; she will always be the girl whose sister disappeared.
A journalist approaches Lindsey wanting to share information with her concerning her sister. But can she trust him? Does he have a hidden agenda?
WOW! I listened closely to this twisted tale. It is told from more than one perspective. The voices of Jessica and Lindsey were similar and at times made it confusing, as to who was talking. Among the suspects is a boyfriend, a middle age college professor, and possibly a boogey man. The professor was creepy. The boyfriend was a bit disturbing also. Jessica and Lindsey's mother wanted a strong relationship with her daughters but didn't seem to know how to accomplish that. The sister's father was strange; his relationship with Jessica wasn't natural. The police in 1998 were incompetent. While at times the podcast seemed intrusive it was what got the ball rolling on reopening the case. There is so much more I want to say about the plot but that would mean spoilers and that's a no-no so let me just say this is a must-read tale.
Silenced Girls (Agent Tori Hunter #1)
Roger Stelljes
Narrator: Kate Handford
Hachette UK Bookouture
www.bookouture.com
B08M6GSNMH, $12.99
https://bookouture.com/books/1946
Twenty years ago, Jessica, Tori's twin sister, disappeared. It was July 4, 1999; Jessica's car is found abandoned about three miles from her home; the car has a flat tire from a puncture. FBI Special Agent Tori Hunter's life has centered around her missing sister. Tori focused on her work and shut everything else out, until she received the letter. She had no way of knowing who sent the letter, but she knew it was time to face her fears. Tori wanted to solve the mystery of what happened to her sister. She returned to Manchester, Minnesota where it all began. Another young woman is missing.
In Manchester Tori works closely with the police to solve the missing girl. She works closely with the Shepard County Chief Detective Will Braddock in hopes of finding the link between the two missing girls. Someone wants Tori and Brock dead. Tori was taking a run when someone attempted to shoot her; Brock's vehicle was armed with a bomb, when he tried to start it was his key fob it exploded. As the police investigate more deeply, they discover more missing girls. Tori is convinced it is someone local.
When I read a police procedure or mystery book, I also attempt to guess who the culprit was, before the plot reveals him. In this instance I thought I knew who it was but until the final fourth of the book, I was wrong. I enjoyed the relationship between Brock and Tori. It was the perfect amount of romance without overdoing it. The plot is well paced, begins with a bang and follows up with a well written tale. There are quite a few characters in this tale. This is the first book in a new series, I am eagerly waiting for the next installment.
The Butcher Game
Alaina Urquhart, author
Narrators: Sophie Amoss & Joe Knezevich
Zando
9781638931249, $28.00 HC, $9.99 Kindle, 352pp
https://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Game-Wren-Muller-Novel/dp/1638931240
In The Butcher Game Dr. Wren Muller continues her pursuit of Jeremy Rose the Serial Killer also known as The Butcher. Jeremy is obsessed with Wren possibly because she was a target that got away. She suffers from nightmares where she re-lives her experience with Jeremy. He captured her, then released her so he could hunt her. An old friend of Wren that works with the Salem, Massachusetts police force contacts Wren about a murder that has similarities to The Butcher. Jeremy sets a trap for Wren and draws her in. He is determined to murder her. Jeremy teams up with a friend from his past and coerces him to help.
This is the second book in the Dr. Wren Muller series. While book #2 can stand alone, I suggest you read Book #1 first to get the backdrop information. The Butcher Game picks up where The Butcher and the Wren left off.
Wren is a medical examiner/forensic pathologist, she is smart, thorough, and brave. Jeremy Rose, The Butcher, is warped, cunning, demonic and brutal. Philip is intelligent and capable of manipulating others. The plot pulled me in from the first page. The ambiance in this tale had me looking at shadows and listening for footsteps. The atmosphere feels threatening as if Jeremy Rose was about to jump off the page and grab the reader. Terror slowly builds and increases the more you read. This tale is told through alternating points of view: Wren the medical examiner and The Butcher. Do not expect a conclusion to the story, instead it sets the stage for the next book in this series.
Debra Gaynor, Reviewer
www.facebook.com/bookreviewsbydebra
BookMark columns www.Hancockclarion.com
Eric Santorik's Bookshelf
The Tower Jockeys
Bruce Golden
Shaman Press
9798327591219, $18.95, HC, 171pp
9798327492264, $11.95 PB, $2.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Jockeys-Bruce-Golden/dp/B0D8GRNZ4D
Bitingly satirical and outrageously humorous, poignant and heartfelt, The Tower Jockeys by Bruce Golden skillfully encapsulates a tumultuous era in American history. Its pages take the reader on an engaging tour of duty during the closing days of the Vietnam War, following an unlikely collection of draftees and recruits to South Korea, where they are charged with guarding a nuclear missile repository outside an isolated Korean village.
It was a time when the reasons behind the war were still being questioned at home, and when the President of the United States felt compelled to declare, "I am not a crook!" In a first person narrative style that is, from the beginning, most engaging (what you'd share over a beer with a buddy) Golden builds a story within the story, which we discover applies as much to us as it does the teenagers forced to suffer through the military inanities at this isolated base.
Along the way there are cultural references about music, movies, TV shows, and politics that give you a taste of the era. The genre of this slim, punch-packing volume is hard to pin down. It's definitely a memoir -- as the author tells you it's based on actual events which occurred. But it's also a novel, in that he has dramatized these events and created characters who are "composites of various people" he worked with and heard stories about. Yet, most of all, this is an appealing and spirited slice-of-life story, a satirical romp full of irreverence and insight. So it's part autobiography, part historical fiction, part satire.
There are sections that will make you laugh out loud, and a couple of scenes that may even make you cry. This is not a tale of combat. There were no guns fired in either anger or alarm. The enemy these young men (boys?--too young to drink or vote) is boredom. They must endure hour after hour after maddening hour of tedium, alone inside their claustrophobic towers, devoid of creature comforts, presumably searching for non-existent invaders. Most learn quickly their psyches won't survive this monotony, so instead they sleep or read away the hours . . . or simply fire up a joint and get stoned.
What ensues is a clash between these conscripted young tower jockeys and the "lifers" who are in command.
When the author refers to the members of this Army military police company as possibly the "most infamous military unit" ever, it's not hyperbole. Of course infamy is determined by perspective. I won't give away any spoilers, but the events which take place validate such a description -- at least from the military hierarchy's point of view.
The narrator/protagonist refers to himself as the last draftee, and he might well have been. He's joined by a roster of unique characters such as Crash, Strayder, Porno Freddy, Wishi, and Pretty Boy, just to name a few. Each individual experiences his tour of duty in Korea differently, and each finds his own way through the absurdity and isolation... except the one that doesn't.
Golden's masterful use of dialogue and narration summons each character to life through moments of passion, rebellion, and human frailty. He goes into vibrant detail about life in and around this small base, and how the tower jockeys withstand the wretched duty shifts, waxing both philosophical and comical on observations of base routines, culture clashes with the Korean locals, and the romantic entanglement with the local "businesswomen," with sophisticated takes on issues big and small. His empathy and tolerance for those trying to get by in seemingly senseless and absurd circumstances shine through the book.
Most Americans have very little understanding of peacetime military service, and books like this one provide a look into a facet of Americana civilians think about very little, enlightening the reader, at least somewhat, about what such service was like in the post-Vietnam War era. This particular tale takes the reader back to a time when young men feared being drafted into the military and sent halfway around the world to die in a war they didn't necessarily agree with or even understand.
Through it all Golden weaves layers of perspective on topics beneath the storyline with a tale colored with humor, hi-jinks, and hypocrisy. Both funny and heartfelt, The Tower Jockeys is rife with the absurdity of military protocol, reminiscent of M*A*S*H (the book, movie, and TV show) in that it skillfully combines the comedic with the thought-provoking--and a whole lot to say about both the military and American society.
Some might find the occasional shift from amusing satire to wretched tragedy jarring. I found it true to life. One of those rare books that you can't put down once you start. You'll laugh, you'll gasp, you'll think.
Eric Santorik
Reviewer
Israel Drazin's Bookshelf
Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis 1-11
Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
Privately Published
9798334780545, $22.99, 625 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Rebirth-through-Genesis-1-11/dp/B0DG728KX9
M. L. Samuel's "Birth and Rebirth through Genesis 1-11"
Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel's books are superb. He reveals much that many people do not know and does so in a clear, easy-to-read fashion. He gives us deep and broad insights. He examines the Torah text from Jewish and non-Jewish sources. He follows the rational view that Maimonides (1138-1204) taught in his introduction to his Guide of the Perplexed: that the truth is the truth no matter its source. Maimonides had no scruple against accepting the philosophy of the pagan Greek Aristotle (384-322 BCE), one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western thought.
This was the thinking of not only rational philosophers but even mystics. The famed kabbalist Rabbi Haim Attar (1696-1743) asked in his book Or Ha-Haim, in his commentary to Exodus 18:21, why the Bible tells us the story of the Midianite pagan priest Jethro offering advice to the law-giver Moses and add that Moses implemented the priest's advice? Isn't there enough knowledge among Jews? Why go to non-Jews for advice? Rabbi Attar answered that the Bible teaches that there are non-Jews in all generations with more excellent knowledge than Jews.
Rabbi Attar states this teaching is also found in classical Jewish sources such as Midrash Rabba Eikha 2:13 and the Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 39b.
Rabbi Samuel follows this good advice to give readers brilliant ideas and lessons in Birth and Rebirth Through Genesis 1-11. The quantity and quality of what is contained in this book about Genesis one through eleven can be seen in his treatment of the story of Cain and Abel. The tale is in Genesis 4 and is told in only 26 verses. Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel focuses on Cain in 1,436 places. Some of his insightful discussions focus on the following.
What is the relationship between piety, the sacrifices the brothers brought, and bloodshed, Cain's murder of Abel? Didn't people and nations in the past kill people because their enemy did not practice their religion? Is there a natural human disconnect between the love that religions teach and the hatred it creates?
Are the lives told of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, and others intended to be role models for readers today? Do we learn to act appropriately by seeing how others misbehave?
In an ancient Sumerian myth, a shepherd-god combats a farmer-god for the love of a goddess. The goddess chooses the farmer-god as a suitable mate. Why does she decide to do something contrary to what happens in the Cain and Abel tale?
Does God have some blame for Cain's murder of Abel? Should God have foreseen the event and acted differently?
Is violence sometimes necessary for survival?
Why are so many biblical men and women unable to share their accomplishments and blessings with other people? Is this part of human nature?
The fruit Adam and Eve ate is not identified as an apple in the Bible. Yet many think it was an apple. Why do they think so?
What prompted the apple to be used frequently in world literature, such as by Shakespeare, Chaucer, William Blake, Snow White, and many more?
Why do Adam and Eve and Cain try to hide their misdeeds from God? Are they convinced that God will never know what they did wrong if they do not reveal what they did? Why does the Bible tell us this?
Did God act appropriately in giving Cain, a murderer, a chance to improve his behavior? Is this how humans should act?
Is the tale of Cain and Abel the most enduring depiction of evil in this world and of widespread family violence?
What does the Bible emphasize by calling Abel "Cain's brother" seven times?
Was Cain born in the Garden of Eden, as Rashi contends? What are the implications of this?
Is the Cain and Abel rivalry a myth about humans fighting over natural resources, a fight still fought today? Is there a solution in the story?
Why doesn't the Bible reveal why the brothers offered God a sacrifice?
Why did Cain choose the fruit of the ground and Abel, an animal?
Did Abel offer a superior sacrifice to compensate for his inferiority to his older and stronger brother? Is the offering of an animal superior to the offering of the first fruits?
Why did God like Abel's sacrifice?
The Jewish philosopher Philo noted that Cain brought his sacrifice "after some days." Is he correct in suggesting that Cain erred because he expressed long-overdue gratitude?
Does Cain personify the person who greedily plunders the earth for its natural resources?
Is Kahlil Gibran right when he states, "You give but little when you give of your possessions; it is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
Maimonides stated that Cain's offering reveals how spiritual worship can degenerate into a self-serving, perfunctory act. Is this an accurate interpretation of the events?
How did Cain come to know his sacrifice was rejected?
Is Philo correct that Cain immediately felt something wrong while Abel felt elated?
Why did the ancients want to offer sacrifices? Was it "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours," a bribe, or gratitude?
Why did Cain blame Abel for God's rejection of his present?
Marcus Kalisch suggested that Cain was jealous of Abel's easy life watching animals while he was squeezing scanty subsistence out of the womb of resisting soil. He was mulling over these feelings when he approached the altar. God rejected the fruits because his jealous feelings contaminated the gift. Is this what the Bible is saying?
Did Cain kill Abel as revenge against God, whom he could not kill?
Was the murder premeditated or accidental manslaughter?
Does the story of the brothers' rivalry teach readers to control rage, learn self-discipline, and the danger of jealousy and envy?
Ayn Rand describes our age as "The Age of Envy." People do not want to own your fortunes. They want you to lose it. Does this describe Cain?
Cain justifies himself by saying, "Am I my brother's keeper." Are humans supposed to be their brothers' "keepers"? What is a keeper? Does it require people to watch and protect others, as Thomas Mann, Emmanuel Levinas, and others maintain? Is Cain saying to God, "This is not my job? It is yours"?
God tells Cain that Abel's blood cries out from out of the ground. What does this mean? Why did Cain bury Abel?
The Christian scholar Jerome saw Cain's punishment as seven generations of suffering and tribulation. Killing, he wrote, would have been a kindness. Is this justice? Is he correct?
Did Cain regret his murder?
What was the "mark" that God placed on Cain? Why was a "mark" needed? How did it protect him?
Israel Drazin, Reviewer
www.booksnthoughts.com
Jack Mason's Bookshelf
Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament
Robin Baker
Cambridge University Press
www.cambridge.org
9781009098946, $99.99, HC, 506pp
https://www.amazon.com/Mesopotamian-Civilization-Origins-New-Testament/dp/1009098942
Synopsis: "Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament" by Professor Robin Baker and published by Cambridge University Press is an original, seminal and ground-breaking study that investigates the contribution ancient Mesopotamian theology made to the origins of Christianity.
Drawing on a formidable range of primary sources, Professor Baker's conclusions challenge the widely held opinion that the theological imprint of Babylonia and Assyria on the New Testament is minimal, and what Mesopotamian legacy it contains was mediated by the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish sources.
After evaluating and substantially supplementing previous research on this mediation, Professor Baker demonstrates significant direct Mesopotamian influence on the New Testament presentation of Jesus and particularly the character of his kingship.
Professor Baker also identifies likely channels of transmission and documents substantial differences among New Testament authors in borrowing Mesopotamian conceptions to formulate their Christology.
"Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament" is monograph is an essential resource for specialists and students of the New Testament as well as for scholars interested in religious transmission in the ancient Near East and the afterlife of Mesopotamian culture.
Critique: A massive work of detailed and meticulous scholarship, "Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament" is an extraordinary and unique contribution to New Testament Studies. Exceptionally informative, impressively organized, soundly documented, accessibly organized, "Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament" will prove to be of immense value to readers with an interest in the impact of ancient Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer legends, folklore, mythologies, and beliefs on the formation of a Christianity emerging from its Judaic origins. Also readily available for students, academia, clergy, seminary students, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, it should be noted for personal reading lists and supplemental New Testament Criticism & Interpretation curriculum studies lists, that "Mesopotamian Civilization and the Origins of the New Testament" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781009102018, $39.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $74.99).
Editorial Note: Robin Baker (https://winchester.academia.edu/RobinBaker) is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Winchester and a Fellow of University College London. He is also the author of "Hollow Men, Strange Women: Riddles, Code and Otherness in the Book of Judges".
Jack Mason
Reviewer
John Burroughs' Bookshelf
MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories
John Allen (MrBallen), author
Andrea Mutti, illustrator
Robert Venditti, contributor
Ten Speed Graphic
c/o Ten Speed Press
https://crownpublishing.com/imprint/ten-speed
9781984863423, $24.99, HC, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/MrBallen-Presents-Strange-Mysterious-Graphic/dp/1984863428
Synopsis: John Allen, known popularly as "MrBallen," has been enthralling audiences with his unique brand of storytelling ever since he burst onto the scene, covering strange and mysterious phenomena ranging from the unexplained screaming heard in parts of Nahanni Valley, the Kandahar Giant found in Afghanistan, UFOs appearing at a cattle ranch in Utah, and Allen's own brush with the paranormal.
Deeply researched and seriously compelling, his show rapidly gained a devoted fanbase for the raconteur himself and for the rarely-before-covered unsettling occurrences and true crimes that have taken place throughout the world.
With the publication of "MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories", Allen reveals the creepy underbelly of the human experience, charting bizarre and downright terrifying instances of the paranormal, the horrors of the natural world, and the danger of our own minds. With new, exclusive stories and in collaboration with graphic novelist Robert Venditti and acclaimed comic book artist Andrea Mutti, "MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories" is a haunting collection filled with twists and surprises that will leave the reader thoroughly spooked!
Critique: An impressive and unique compendium of horrific short stories told in a graphic novel format, "MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community and college/university library graphic novel collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of horror stories that "MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Editorial Note #1: Better known as "MrBallen," John B. Allen is a former U. S. Navy Seal, the founder of the multi-platform content company Ballen Studios, and the creator and host of the popular podcast MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories. Allen uses his platform to give back and founded the MrBallen Foundation with the mission to honor victims and support families of heinous crimes through education, training, and financial support.
Editorial Note #2: Andrea Mutti began his career illustrating the superhero comic DNAction for Xenia Edizioni, Sergio Bonelli Editore, and Star Comics. He's worked with Marvel, DC, Vertigo, MadCave, Stormking, Dark Horse, IDW, Image, BOOM! Studios, and more. His titles include Maniac of New York, Bunny Mask, Rebels, Batman Eternal, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He's a member of the National UFO Center.
Editorial Note #3: Robert Venditti is the author of more than three hundred comic books and graphic novels. Some of his works include the monthly comic book series Justice League and Superman '78, his own graphic novel Six Days, the adaptation of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and more. His graphic novel The Surrogates was adapted into a feature film by Touchstone Pictures.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Julie Summers' Bookshelf
Wild Wonder
Stephen Proctor
Ink & Willow
c/o The Random House Publishing Group
www.randomhouse.com
9780593581797, $20.00, HC, 192pp
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Wonder-Nature-Teaches-Slowing/dp/0593581792
Synopsis: The Earth is the first tangible gift we were given. Yet when did you last pause to appreciate the immensity of the ocean, wander in silence through an ancient forest, or behold the grandeur of a mountain? How long has it been since you've felt grass beneath your feet?
Accompanied by awe-inspiring full-color photography from landscape cinematographer and visual artist Stephen Proctor, "Wild Wonder: What Nature Teaches Us About Slowing Down and Living Well" from Ink & Willow (publishers), combines pastoral observations about creation with an exploration of how it can provide healing to our minds and bodies. Divided into five parts that are each devoted to a unique aspect of nature (oceans, forests, rivers, ice, and mountains) Proctor encourages his readers to recognize how being outside restores us and offers us a renewed sense of awe and wonder for the Creator.
In each of the thirty brief essays, Proctor points to some of the deep lessons nature can teach us. We can appreciate the gift of silence while observing a glacier, gain a new perspective on top of a mountain, learn the skill of slowing down from a river, and experience a metaphor of redemptive life after death through nurse logs. Each part includes an interview from an artist whose inspiration has been drawn from nature and ends with a "Time to Fly!" section that features reflection questions, simple action prompts, and sources for further exploration.
Whether outdoor enthusiasts or armchair adventurers, readers of "Wild Wonder" will be drawn into a more holistic and contemplative way of life and a deeper awareness of the beautiful world around them.
Critique: This large format (9.3 x 0.78 x 9.29 inches, 2.05 pounds) hardcover edition of "Wild Wonder: What Nature Teaches Us About Slowing Down and Living Well" by artist and naturalist David Proctor is enhanced for the readers benefit with an informative Foreword by Makoto Fujimura. A compendium of magnificent, full color, full page photography and thoughtful/thought-provoking commentary, "Wild Wonder" will prove of significant appeal to readers with an interest in landscape photography, nature themed essays, and reflective inspiration. While especially and unreservedly recommended as a very special addition to community and college/university library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Wild Wonder" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Stephen Proctor is a visual artist who specializes in landscape cinematography and aerial photography to curate calming, imaginative experiences. Many of his current collaborations are with film composers, ambient artists, and modern classical musicians. For the past twenty years, he has toured with various bands and authors, producing visually immersive experiences for live concerts and conferences all around the world.
The Peace Puppy
Susan Hartzler
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476694825, $19.99, PB, 233pp
https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Puppy-Memoir-Caregiving-Canine/dp/1476694826
Synopsis: As one of 67 million Americans who serve as caretakers to their elderly parents, Susan Hartzler cared for her dad for three years, gaining profound insight into Parkinson's disease and the multifaceted challenges of caregiving. Throughout this period, Hartzler's rescue dog, Baldwin (who was a precious gift from her late mother) provided unwavering support.
Published by McFarland & Co., "The Peace Puppy: A Memoir of Caregiving and Canine Solace" Susan's candidly insightful memoir that offers a personal roadmap for those facing similar caregiving decisions. Thoughtful, tragic, and funny, "The Peace Puppy" shows that, while demanding, caregiving can be a fulfilling endeavor, especially with a dog by one's side. Susan's story will better prepare others in similar situations and encourage them to consider the value of a canine companion on their caregiving journey.
Critique: A simply fascinating, engaging, informative, insightful, and inspiring read from first page to last, "The Peace Puppy: A Memoir of Caregiving and Canine Solace" is a unique and unreservedly recommended pick for community and college/university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of anyone with an interest in caretaking and the beneficial role that pets (especially dogs) can play in caregiving, that "The Peace Puppy" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Susan Hartzler (https://susanhartzler.com) is an award-winning writer, blogger, and a public relations professional. She trains her own dogs, two talented Australian Shepherds who are both working actors and models. She volunteers her time as an evaluator for Therapy Dogs International and escorts her dogs to hospitals and schools to visit children in need.
Julie Summers
Reviewer
Margaret Lane's Bookshelf
Curiosity and the Cat
Martin Treanor
Fire Hornet Codex
https://firehornetcodex.com
9781989960752, $26.99, HC, 294pp
https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-Cat-Martin-Treanor/dp/1989960758
Synopsis: Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know... they saw her first!
Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.
Critique: Aptly described as 'An ominous tale of faerie folk', "Curiosity and the Cat" by author/illustrator Martin Treanor is original, deftly crafted, memorable, and will prove of immense interest to readers with an affinity to fantasy. While also available for personal reading lists from Fire Hornet Codex in a paperback edition (9781989960738, $14.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $0.99), "Curiosity and the Cat" is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to community/public library Fantasy/Folktale collections.
Editorial Note: Martin Treanor (https://martintreanor.com) enjoys all things historical, archaeological and metaphysical, with a strong interest in quantum physics which he likes to introduce into his books and stories. His literary works include his conspiracy mystery, "The Logos Prophecy" (Fall of Ancients Book 1), his illustrated, political satire series, "The Tales of Trumplethinskin", his urban fantasy novel, "Hellmaw: Dark Creed", and his in metaphysical fiction novel, "The Silver Mist. From Ireland",
Immersion: A Linguist's Memoir
Linda Murphy Marshall
https://lindamurphymarshall.com
She Writes Press
www.shewritespress.com
9781647427207, $17.99, PB, 264pp
https://www.amazon.com/Immersion-Linguists-Linda-Murphy-Marshall/dp/1647427207
Synopsis: "Immersion: A Linguist's Memoir" by Linda Murphy Marshall is her personal story and takes her readers on a captivating emotional and physical journey through her life, including the longstanding, crippling impact of family members' low expectations and abuse, and then to her discovery as a young adult that she possesses special skills in foreign languages.
Linda is taught from an early age that she has little of value to offer the world. But her love of and affinity for languages enables her to create a new life -- to separate herself from her toxic environment and to build a successful, decades-long career as a professional multilinguist.
It's a rewarding vocation, but a challenging one: her assignments with the US federal government take her on some hair-raisingly dangerous journeys, some to countries with unstable governments and even active war zones. But these sometimes-harrowing experiences teach her how to open the "windows" around her, unearth her true self, and develop a healthy sense of self-worth -- and ultimately, paradoxically, her work and travel so far from home allow her to come home to herself.
Critique: A fascinating, informative, and ultimately inspiring memoir of an unusual life lived out in unusual circumstances, "Immersion: A Linguist's Memoir" is extraordinary and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Contemporary American Biography/Memoir collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of readers with an interest in memoirs of dysfunctional family survivors that "Immersion: A Linguist's Memoir" is also readily available in a digital book format from She Writes Press (Kindle, $12.99).
Editorial Note: Linda Murphy Marshall is a multi-linguist and writer with a PhD in Hispanic languages and literature, a master's in Spanish, and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, Maryland Literary Review, the Ocotillo Review, Chestnut Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bacopa Literary Review, PopMatters, Storgy [UK], The Bark Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Critical Read. She was featured in American Writers Review, where she was an Honorable Mention for the 2019 Fiction Contest. She was long-listed in Strands Publishers's 2021 International Flash Fiction Contest, and was a finalist in the 2020 Annual Adelaide Literary Contest for one of her essays. In addition, she is currently a reader for Fourth Genre and a translation editor for the Los Angeles Review. Her sketches and paintings have been featured in art shows and galleries. She lives in Columbia, MD.
Margaret Lane
Reviewer
Mari Carlson's Bookshelf
The Crooked Little Pieces, Volume 4
Sophia Lambton
The Crepuscular Press
B0CH78HYK2, $14.99 paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Little-Pieces-4/dp/1739286383
Now in their mid-thirties, in London, 1957, twin sisters Isabel and Annaliese lead separate lives. Isabel visits Annaliese in the hospital after an accident but Annaliese won't divulge its root cause. Annaliese stands Isabel up on their vacation. Nonetheless, these repelling poles hold the narrative together both attracting their opposites. Isabel, a passionate music teacher, is also a "tragedy magnet." She falls in - and out - of love in equal proportion. Annaliese, a psychiatrist, feels just as passionately about exonerating a killer, her patient, as she does about providing for his victim's family. Separately but equally, that is, in opposition, the sisters exemplify a love that pushes boundaries in every direction.
Most of the chapters are only a few pages long. Usually in one setting, over a conversation or one event, they read like stand-alone vignettes, in exquisite detail. (However, the series is far enough along that familiarity with characters returning from previous books helps.) Isabel's choir trip in New York city and an ensuing care for a music student receive protracted attention, as does Annaliese's moral arguments with her acquitted-murderer-patient. These focus the plot on the ongoing theme of empathy and compromises made in the name of integrity and justice.
Like opera dignifies and dramatizes a simple (and sometimes silly) storyline, Crooked Little Pieces dignifies soap opera. It is an entertaining and endearing immersion into complicated and entangled lives, adorned with neurotic, philosophical, and medical references in lieu of jewelry, costumes, and make-up.
Miranda Fights
Gail Ward Olmsted
Black Rose Writing
https://www.blackrosewriting.com
9781685135218, $21.95
https://www.amazon.com/Miranda-Fights-Quinn-Legal-Twist-ebook/dp/B0DBJ3DN4N
After stints as Assistant District Attorney, hosting a podcast, and radio show (previous books in the Miranda series), Miranda now works as a public defender in a Connecticut beach town. Her current client is Lennon, the daughter of a highschool chum, caught stealing lobster for her friend's going away dinner. Lennon's case is cut and dry; she's a good kid who's incarcerated-junkie mom didn't give her the greatest example in life. With Miranda's guidance, she won't do it again. The bigger case turns out to be the friend "going away"....
Human trafficking is the meat of the story, cushioned with a thick layer of human empathy. When she's not investigating what happened to Lennon's disappeared friend, and other missing girls, Miranda takes Lennon out to eat and on shopping adventures. Miranda's family and friends embrace Lennon into their fold. They teach her to drive, give her shelter, and work. They help her communicate with her mom and support her academics. Meanwhile, Miranda plans for her own impending move to London. The story pictures how morals are nurtured more than morals gone awry.
Miranda's casual style (often described wearing grunge-rock t-shirts and jeans) sets the tone. The writing is informal and conversational. Expressions of affection and jocularity season the text as heartily and frequently as coffee references. The serious subject matter, while researched and treated with respect, concern, and justice, is tempered by down-home charm. The book, via Miranda, welcomes readers into her crime-fighting - as well as full life outside of work. Like the woman of many talents that she is, the book is balanced, and balances out the others in the Miranda series.
Mari Carlson
Reviewer
Mark Zvonkovic's Bookshelf
The Book of George: A Novel
Kate Greathead
Henry Holt and Company
www.henryholt.com
9781250351029, $28.99, 272 Pages
https://www.amazon.com/Book-George-Novel-Kate-Greathead/dp/1250351022
A tale of millennial ennui.
The Book of George is a portrait of an uninspired man of millennial heritage shuffling his way through about twenty eight years of an uncertain coming of age drama. George, the protagonist in this novel, or more appropriately for millennial fiction, the slacker, moves in and out of a series of blundering romantic episodes with Jenny, his long suffering girlfriend, while he also searches haphazardly for a professional identity. As for his relationship with Jenny, George basically says all the wrong things. And as for his profession, he searches in all the wrong places. For anyone other than a millennial, George would be a tragic hero. But George doesn't try hard enough to be tragic. He haplessly treads water as he watches the collapse of the twin towers, a great recession, and the COVID pandemic stream past him. And then, by being at the right place at the right time, by happenstance, in fact, George succeeds at removing an animal carcass from the engine of Jenny's car.
Many generational novels fail as literature due to their epistolary presentation of annoying social commentary. The shelves are full of millennial stories with characters clawing their way toward social acceptance and financial stability in a world soaked in unjust class, race, and gender conformations. The protagonists in many of these novels may as well have neon signs flashing above them either their victimhood or, in the case of the antagonists, the inequity of their success. Greathead's The Book of George does not succumb to this faddish technique. The characters in her novel are nuanced, not pigeonholed into a generational milieu by gender or situation, and brilliantly designed to present a portrait of their positions in the world that a reader can experience without an accompanying lecture. Great novels about generations do this with their characters. For examples, one need only think about Fitzgerald's Gatsby or Hemingway's Jake Barnes, both of them flawed, haunted by inner turmoil, and trapped in their lost generation. While Greathead has not yet reached the literary status of a Hemingway or Fitzgerald, she is certainly on the road there.
No one trait defines George or Jenny. They are trapped in their millennial age, each of them pulled apart in different ways by turmoil that they create themselves in most cases. Greathead's prose beautifully paints their portraits, always focused on their individual strengths and weaknesses. Her depictions are never overdone or sensational. One can easily identify with George's skirmishes with anger and Jenny's deeply irrational love for George. The novel takes place over several decades but Greathead's extraordinary talent leaves the reader with the sense it has just been one long moment in time, like a viewing of a masterpiece hanging in a museum. And what a subtle irony Greathead creates at the end of the novel with her brilliantly masterful depiction of George finally doing something right. In the end, the reader wants to go back to the first page and read the entire novel again in order to soak up all the delicate images hiding in Greathead's words.
Mark Zvonkovic, Reviewer
https://www.markzvonkovic.com
Matthew McCarty's Bookshelf
The Normans: A History of Conquest
Trevor Rowley
Pegasus Books
http://www.pegasusbooks.com
c/o Simon & Schuster
simonandschuster.com
9781643136349, $27.95 Hardcover, $18.99 Kindle, 224 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Normans-Conquest-Christendom-History/dp/1643136348
World history is an area of study that is often overlooked. Many historians seem to think that the study of the big historical picture can take away from their study of particular events, eras, or people. The Middle Ages are an historical period that historians investigate, but many seem to limit their investigations to the end of the Roman era, the Black Death, or the interactions of the church. However, author Trevor Rowley, in his The Normans: A History of Conquest (New York: Pegasus Books, 2021, $27.95 US $36.95 CAN, 224 pgs.), has shed some much needed light on an essential group that played a huge role in the Medieval world: The Normans. Rowley's narrative does a good job of describing the Normans as a people who invaded and conquered England in 1066, but also left a lasting impact on such varied areas as Sicily, Italy, and North Africa.
The Normans seized the initiative and established a culture that would impact the course of history for centuries to come. The architecture, military might, and political skill of the Normans would become a foundational pillar of the later Middle Ages as the world transitioned into the Renaissance and the Modern period. Rowley does a good job in describing Norman genealogy, rulers, and government. He also describes how the Normans grafted their culture and civilization on to the Angles and other groups in England and how those groups were quickly given over to the rules and social mores of Norman society. Rowley depicts the Normans as conquerors and civilizing agents.
The Normans is a good example of narrative history that also contains semblances of an academic monograph. Rowley includes a seemingly well-studied bibliography with sources in both English and French. The narrative is full of interesting characters and drama that would invest themselves well in historical fiction. The Normans would be a great supplementary text in a Western Civilization or other introductory world history course. It is a little volume with a big story.
Matthew W. McCarty, EdD
Reviewer
Michael Carson's Bookshelf
You Better Watch Out
James S. Murray & Darren Wearmouth
St. Martin's Press
https://us.macmillan.com/smp
9781250286260, $28.00, HC, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/You-Better-Watch-Out-Thriller/dp/1250286263
Synopsis: Forty-eight hours until Christmas, Jessica Kane wakes up with blurred vision, ears ringing, and in excruciating pain. A gash in her head and blood running down her face, the last thing she remembers is going for a run and something or someone hitting her in the head.
It doesn't take her long to realize she is trapped in an unknown, deserted town with five other strangers who share similar stories of being attacked and stranded there. Unsure why and how they got there, she knows one thing for certain, she has to find a way out.
That becomes nearly impossible when someone is meticulously orchestrating their deaths, one by one, and the only thing Jessica can do is watch the life leave their eyes.
The fenced-in town is the killer's very own playground and there's nowhere left to hide... she better watch out because she could be next!
Critique: A deftly crafted suspense thriller of a read from start to finish, "You Better Watch Out" by co-authors James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth, will hold a very special appeal to readers with an interest in novels about psychopathic serial killers. Not for the faint-of-heart, "You Better Watch Out" is a recommended pick for community/public library Suspense/Thriller collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "You Better Watch Out" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note #1: James S. Murray is a writer, executive producer, and actor, best known as "Murr" on the hit television show Impractical Jokers on truTV and TBS. He is the owner of Impractical Productions, LLC and co-owner of Bad Woods Entertainment. He is the author of the international bestselling Awakened trilogy, the thrillers Don't Move and The Stowaway, and the children's sci-fi book series Area 51 Interns. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey. His books are listed at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17039546.James_S_Murray
Editorial Note #2: Darren Wearmouth is the author of numerous international bestselling novels, including Awakened trilogy, First Activation, Critical Dawn, and The Stowaway. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers Group and lives in Canada with his wife and daughter. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8198065.Darren_Wearmouth)
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Michellia Wilson's Bookshelf
The Under Hum
Simone Muench
https://www.simonemuench.com
Black Lawrence Press
https://blacklawrencepress.com
9781625570703, $17.95
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Hum-Simone-Muench/dp/1625570708
THE UNDER HUM; a diverse compilation of poetry written dually by Simone Muench and Jackie K. White. It is a book of the meeting of the minds - minds exercising in tandem, producing poetic literature in a book as unique as it is skillfully assembled.
This arc of poetry is crafted by using several poetic forms, including cento and the golden shovel techniques. A cento, introduced in the last half of the work, uses quotations from previous works and the golden shovel, a poetic form that pays homage to existing works by the authors' favorite poets. These poems are woven with images and skillful use of language that immediately draws the reader into its cocoon.
In section one, SELF PORTRAIT LINED BY ANNA AKHMATOVA it opens:
"The secrets of secrets is inside me again
spooling its prickly threads into twine
threat, a hanging loop, or cordon
of light around my neck as I rise..."
The sash of secrets wearing themselves into a textile across the chest, "...prickly threads/into a twine." A line worth mentioning twice as it draws a picture of something liken to a noose, and we are left hanging onto the lines to follow in this opening poem of Part I. We lift the golden shovel and dig around in this book to find the treasures of form and structure.
In ELEGY LINED BY ROBERT DESNOS, we read:
"Fighting friendly with animals and bottles,
with mirrors and seasons, this is the hour
of isolation, stuck between no way and anyhow..."
The reader becomes keenly aware that the visage changes with time and the looking glass reflects this progression. As a reader of this poem, we can feel age, "...fling us into the undertow/of towns going asunder --/.
THE ELEGY LINED BY MAXINE KUMIN - we are presented with great images as is crafted in the third stanza, "...Honeysuckle stings the humid air as if/henbane, punctuating what we don't say:" The honeysuckle poisoned by the henbane and birds fall from the sky.
In Section II, we leave the elegies and enter into a prepositional poem AGAINST TELEOLOGY wafting into the second poem, FROM GRIMOIRE:
"We become a gothic novel, black
lace over bird cage..."
"...we know the screech owl/means to harmonize with the needle/scratching on that old phonograph/"
The shrill of the owl, its needle of a beak scraping through the striations of a record disc. We hold our ears to the irritating sounds. The spell cast.
The poem, CLEAVE, paints itself with the shifting form that covers the page with its motion, and as the poem says, "too many things in two rows..." This poem visually shifts in two's.
Finally we are blinded by the golden shovel that is introduced in Section III, SLOW DIVE, ON A LINE BY EMILY DICKINSON; The powerful opening stanza sets a somber mood:
"I measure every Grief I meet/as if I could weather it - successor/to loss, where cobweb/& feather are sewn together,/ We envision a dreamcatcher, of sorts, quilt stitched together by a spider's web.
"...Debt/hisses like a mocking breeze/through spring with its thorny/harness."
Debt is prickly, debt wails, debt stings, debt swallows and in this poem debt "hisses".
In the poem, BOUND, we come back to the phonograph image, "...We mimic nothing more/than a stuck record, lives looping in a dirty/groove waiting for someone to lift the needle."
RECAST found in Section IV:
"Loss enters stage left in the form of violins/thrumming the past into forecast:..."
Present? Future? This line is presented backwards as the past supersedes the forecast.
"...We can't recast ruin./We have to sit in the wound. Survive it."
The Biblical man, Job, is an image recreated here as the author essentially sits in ashes and is clothed in sackcloth, festering in an open wound.
CHIAROSCURO, an artists' palette casts shade over this cento:
"to life when I am between trees and music?
Luxury, then, is a way
of light. You wake and the candles
are lit as if by themselves."
This poet's paintbrush strokes the page in shifting light and darkness as is the way of this literary creation.
THE UNDER HUM, dually written by two exemplary women poets, opens our minds to unique form and unorthodox rhythms. They aptly marry their works to present a book not only well written, but also presented well arranged. This is a book worth adding to any collection.
Michellia Wilson
Reviewer
Robert Doger's Bookshelf
Polystix Adventures: An Artist's Guide Through the Geometry of Hexastix and Beyond
Anduriel Widmark
www.andurielstudios.com
Privately Published
9781304518033, $30.00, pb, 108p
https://andurielstudios.bigcartel.com/product/polystix-adventures
Synopsis: An imaginative ride through the world of mathematical art, 'Polystix Adventures' combines high-level mathematical exploration with art and glass. At the center of the book are non-intersecting symmetric polystix rod arrangements. These tetrastix, tristix, and hexastix feature intricate geometry that the author uses to create unique math-inspired art. This book invites readers to view mathematics as an adventure, integrating art, science, and beauty with playfulness and rigor.
Each chapter spotlights a concept or theme, introducing readers to the principles that shape polystix mathematics. The book includes colorful pictures and instructional activities that bring these concepts to life in a hands-on way. Polystix Adventures also covers how mathematics can be used to make fantastic sculptures and explains how Anduriel's glass sculptures are made, with vivid illustrations of the glass pieces that capture the beautiful symmetry of the math in a stunning way. Anduriel shares insights into his design and creation techniques, making this book a visual and intellectual joy for math lovers, artists, and anyone fascinated by the beauty of geometric forms.
Critique: Polystix Adventures is a fantastic and visually stunning tribute to math and art, suitable for anyone intrigued by patterns, symmetry, and creative expression. Anduriel's storytelling feels personal and easy to follow, making complex ideas accessible and engaging for general readers and those interested in the mathematical side. The book is richly illustrated with close-ups and full views of Anduriel's intricate work, beautifully capturing the play of light on his glass sculptures. I would definitely recommend adding this book to collections in math, art, and design, it offers a fun way to explore different perspectives on the artistic potential of mathematics.
Robert Doger
Reviewer
Robin Friedman's Bookshelf
Whose Names are Unknown
Sanora Babb, author
University of Oklahoma Press
http://www/oupress.com
9780806137124, $14.39, paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Whose-Names-Are-Sanora-Babb/dp/0806137126
Dust In The Wind
Sanora Babb's novel "Whose Names are Unknown" is set in the Dust Bowl in the Oklahoma panhandle during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl and Babb's novel have long histories. With the Dust Bowl, many Oklahoma farmers moved from the panhandle to California, abandoning their homes. Babb (1907 -- 2005) witnessed first hand both Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl and their migration to California. She grew up in a poor Oklahoma family and served during the 1930s for the Farm Security Administration in California. "Whose Names are Unknown" was her first novel which was accepted for publication and then shelved with the publication and success of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath". Babb continued to write novels, stories and poetry and was politically active in Left-leaning causes, including membership in the Communist Party for a number of years. Her first novel finally was published in 2004 but received the attention it deserved only after it was included in a 2012 Ken Burns show on the Dust Bowl.
The novel is highly particularized and intimate with Babb writing in a lyrical, poetic, and descriptive style. The novel tells the story of the Dunne family in Cimarron County, Oklahoma and its valiant efforts over several years to survive the Dust Bowl before leaving for California. The first part of the book takes place in Oklahoma and features extended descriptions of the dust storms. The story also explores the lives of the characters, men and women, adults and children crowded together in a small room trying to survive and make ends meet. The Dunne's interact with other farm families, most of them poor, but some well-off, as well as with townspeople, including the grocer who extends credit and the bankers who hold mortgages. The story includes an elderly grandfather, and several women who hope to better themselves through education and to marry and have a loving sexual relationship.
The second part of the book is set in California with little attention paid to the journey from Oklahoma. The Dunnes and their companions seek work in migrant camps and again are faced with hardship, poverty, and exploitation. The story culminates in a lengthy labor strike by the migrants against a large landowning corporation. Again, the broad aspects of the story are interwoven with the personal lives of the characters. The story has a heavy political tone of protest but it is more. It is convincing through its writing and through its focus on characters.
The book still often is compared to Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" which delayed its publication for many years. It has been a long time since I have read Steinbeck, but his novel is much longer and has an epic sweep while "Whose Names are Unknown" is particularized and individualized. Babb's book stands on its own. I loved it for its simplicity, emotion, and lyricism. It tells the story of good people who struggle and suffer through no fault of their own. It is fortunate that the novel was preserved and published. There is ample room for more than one great novel about the Dust Bowl and the Depression.
Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1859-1861
Robert W. Merry, author
Simon & Schuster
http://www.simonandschuster.com
9781982176495, $20.99, hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/Decade-Disunion-Massachusetts-Carolina-1849-1861/dp/1982176490
The Divided America Of The 1850s
Historians often have the two-fold goal of increasing understanding about the past, and showing the relevance of aspects of the past to the present. Robert W. Merry's recent book, Decade of Disunion: How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1849-1861, fulfills both these objectives. Merry, the author of five earlier books on American history, worked for many years as a journalist in Washington D.C. and is a political commentator from a conservative perspective.
In Decade of Disunion, Merry tells the complex history of a complicated era in an engaging and thorough manner. With the broad events and movements of the 1850s, his book focuses on individuals, familiar and unfamiliar, who played critical roles. Merry introduces each of the many characters in the book with succinct, telling descriptions while following their activities through the course of the momentous decade. A short Epilogue takes the story of some of the profiled individuals to the years beyond the 1850s.
The book has three inter-related themes. First, the book studies the 1850s, the "Decade of Disunion," and shows how the events of those ten years cascaded into civil war. The book begins, where an earlier book by Merry, A Country of Vast Designs[1], left off, with the acquisition of large amounts of territory in the war with Mexico during President James K. Polk's administration. Issues arose immediately about whether the territory would allow slavery or not. The United States teetered on the brink of disunion until the Compromise of 1850, brokered by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas, seemed saved the day. However, the Fugitive Slave Act proved unpopular in the North, and Southerners despised the end of the slave trade in Washington DC. No one was satisfied. Then, with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the hoped for compromise began to unravel. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, based on the idea of popular sovereignty, led to violence in Kansas between pro and anti-slavery factions, including violence and voter fraud by the pro-slavery faction and a massacre committed by militant abolitionist John Brown and his followers. Subsequent events included the caning of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner by South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks on May 22, 1856; the notorious March 6, 1857, Dred Scott Decision by the Supreme Court; John Brown's October 16-18, 1859, raid on Harpers Ferry, and others. The traditional political alignments of the day broke down and the sectional Republican Party emerged leading to the election of Abraham Lincoln as president with a minority of the popular vote and Electoral College votes only from Northern states. This history has certainly been told before, but Merry tells it convincingly and well.
Merry's book adds to the historical account of this period by his focus on the prominent roles that Massachusetts and South Carolina played in the drama. The two states differed from the earliest days of settlement, with Massachusetts founded by Puritans and South Carolina by aristocratic Cavaliers. They were similar, Merry finds, in fostering extremism, meaning a willingness to dissolve the Union and the Constitution for an end rather than working within the system and toward true compromise. He discusses the strong secessionist movement in South Carolina from the early 1850s exemplified in figures such as Robert Barnwell Rhett. He also points to voices of moderation and union which struggled to prevail in South Carolina politics until near the end of the decade. In Massachusetts, Merry discusses the abolitionist movement of William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison believed the Constitution was "a covenant with death and agreement with Hell" for countenancing slavery and advocated for disunion from the slave states. Garrison was well outside the political mainstream in Massachusetts even for strong opponents of slavery such as Charles Sumner, who battled against the institution within American constitutionalism. Other radical elements in Massachusetts included the "Secret Six," a group of intellectuals and industrialists who surreptitiously financed and assisted John Brown's Harpers Ferry raid. Merry takes the reader through the intricacies of state politics and works to tie the South Carolina and Massachusetts histories to the broader history of the decade.
The third theme of Merry's book combines the earlier themes and is the most provocative. Merry is critical of those, North and South, who supported their positions by appealing to a "Higher Law," moral or religious, separate from constitutionalism, finding that it was critical to the polarization and divisiveness that led to the Civil War. While taking this position, Merry also recognizes the moral evil of slavery. His hero in the book is Abraham Lincoln, who, prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, stressed the moral evil of slavery and strongly opposed its extension to the territories while trying to respect the Constitutional protections given to slavery in the states where it already existed. Merry does not, in the final analysis find compromise on the slavery issue possible and he sees the Civil War as the probably unavoidable result of a Union trying to be half slave and half free.
In an article published at the time of the publication of this book[2], Merry warns of what he sees as the polarization and divisiveness of current American politics on several issues, none of which, in his view, have the moral imperative of the issue of slavery. The article draws parallels between the United States of the 1850s and what Merry sees as the United States of the present. Merry urges Americans to tone down the search for moral absolutes and certitudes and to work toward compromise and cooperation within the framework of American constitutionalism.
With Decade of Disunion, Merry has written a thoughtful book that will interest serious students of the Civil War and American history.
This review was published by Emerging Civil War on October 3, 2024, and is used here with permission.
[1] A Country of Vast Designs, James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent. Robert W. Merry, author. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2010.
[2] "Are We Living Through Another 1850s?" Robert W. Merry, author, "The American Conservative", July 22, 2024.
Perryville (Images of America)
Alan Fox, author
Arcadia Publishing
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com
9780738592046, $14,86, paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Perryville-Alan-Fox/dp/1531662153
A Small Town In Maryland's Cecil County
The town of Perryville in Cecil County, Maryland is on the Susquehanna River about 35 miles northeast of Baltimore. Alan Fox, a long time resident of Perryville, amateur historian, and a town commissioner selected the photographs and wrote the text of this short history of Perryville (2011) for the "Images of America" series of Arcadia Publishers. The series includes many photographic volumes preserving local American history. It offers an excellent opportunity to explore details of America and its geography and people.
The book offers a rare portrait of an American town and of the factors which make it unique. The focus of the book is on Perryville as a transportation hub on water and on rail. Readers who are fascinated by bridges will enjoy this book as it includes rare photographs of the many bridges built from Perryville across the Susquehanna River beginning with a bridge constructed by the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad in 1866. Many subsequent bridges followed over the years. The book also shows the extensive use residents of Perryville made of the river through fishing, logging, and waterfowl hunting through the early years of the 20th Century.
Perryville also served as a railroad hub, and readers with a fascination for trains will enjoy these rare photographs. The railroad bridges receive the most attention, but Fox also presents many photos of engines, roundhouses, coaling stations, freight yards, passenger terminals and other accoutrements of the age of steam. The photos are clear, unusual, and well annotated.
Subsequent sections of the book show the development of commerce and trade in the town during its busiest years before the building of a large new highway bypassed Perryville and brought about a commercial decline. Perryville was home to foundries and iron works as well as to the general stores, barber shops, drug stores, and small restaurants characteristic of a small American town. Fox also shows the community aspects of Perryville by his photographs of churches, schools, and social activities such as baseball and bands which have been part of the life of the town for many years.
With its character as a transportation hub, the military has had an important presence in Perryville. As Fox shows, during WW I, the army operated a large munitions plant at Perry Point on the outskirts of the town and built a development including over 300 homes for the workers. After WW I, the plant became a Public Health Department Facility and subsequently became a Veterans Administration Hospital which continues to function and to play a large role in the town's economy.
This little book will be of most interest to people with a connection to Perryville, which is where the book is primarily marketed. Fortunately, the book has broader distribution through Amazon, for example, and in my local public library where I found it. The book taught me about a fascinating small part of American life and history that I hadn't known before.
Maggie Cassidy
Jack Kerouac, author
Penguin Books
http://www.penguin.com
9780140179064, $9.38, paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Maggie-Cassidy-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0140179062
First Love
Jack Kerouac's autobiographical novel "Maggie Cassidy" is set in his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts in 1939. It is the story of a high school romance in all its innocence and sexual frustration. The book includes wonderful descriptive passages of winter in New England, of shabby urban tenements, of grizzled and failed adults, and of hope, love, and loss.
The book captures the yearnings of first love in its confusion and undirected passion. It talks about both how people change and how there are limits to the scope of their change. The perspective of the book is interesting and revealing. Kerouac, the grown writer, is recapturing something of the spirit of the first love of his youth. The story is mostly told in the first person in the voice of the adolescent. Then, abruptly at the end the voice shifts to the third person signaling, I think, the change from the perspective of youth to that of adulthood.
There is something poignant about the book in the description of a memory of pure love which doesn't fade, (think of the Buddy Holly song "Not fade away") and about the shift from innocence to overt sexuality. There is a deep conservatism in Kerouac for the familiar, the commonplace, and the local, something which is often overlooked by his critics and admirers alike. It comes through well in this book.
Many writers tend to become prisoners of their most famous books. In Kerouac's case, people frequently don't get past "On the Road". "Maggie Cassidy" is a book on a smaller, more conventional scale. In its own way, it is precious.
Pointing the Way
Martin Buber, author
Humanities Press
9781573924764, $TBA paperback (used)
https://www.amazon.com/Pointing-Way-Martin-Buber/dp/1573924768
Martin Buber's Pointing the Way
In his book, "Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life" (2008), the American philosopher Hilary Putnam rejects the sometimes-expressed notion that Martin Buber was a philosophical "lightweight". Putnam finds Buber's thought difficult and complex. Indeed Putnam describes his own religious standpoint as "somewhere between John Dewey in "A Common Faith and Martin Buber." In his book, Putnam gives a short but sympathetic reading to Buber's most famous work, "I and Thou" (1923).
After reading Putnam, I was moved to revisit Buber. But I did not turn to "I and Thou" or to Buber's other well-known work "The Tales of the Hasidim." Instead, I turned to an old and battered collection of essays that I had bought used many years ago called "Pointing the Way" which now is out of print. Many of the essays in the collection are undoubtedly available elsewhere. I struggled with the book when I read it and I struggled with it again when I reread it after reading Putnam. I will discuss it briefly here.
Buber (1878 - 1965) collected the essays in "Pointing the Way" in 1957. The book includes a selection of essays dating from 1909- 1954 which, Buber indicated in his Forward, "I can also stand behind today." The one exception is a fine essay on the "Teaching of the Tao" which Buber regarded as important, even though he subsequently rejected its monistic tone. The book consists of three large sections and comprises 29 essays which, in the breadth of their subject matter and in the long time period of their composition, constitute a good cross-section of Buber's thought. The essays predating 1938 were written in Germany. In 1938, Buber fled from the Nazis to what was then Palestine where he lived for the rest of his life.
The first section of the book as aptly titled "Towards Authentic Existence." There is an immediacy and an inwardness to these essays which develop Buber's concern with understanding what makes a human life meaningful. Some of the essays show Buber's interest in Eastern thought and in the teachings of Meister Eckhart. In these essays, Buber finds the value of life in shared human experience and intimacy with others. The collection opens with a 1947 essay "Books and Men" in which Buber compares the life of reading with the life of contact with one's fellows. He concludes "I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me."
The second section of "Pointing the Way" is called "Dimensions of Dialogue". It consists of seven short essays on a variety of subjects including the theatre, psychoanalysis, and education. But the most important essay in this collection is Buber's tribute to his colleague, the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig, with whom Buber collaborated in translating the Hebrew Bible into German. Buber discusses the attempt of Rosenzweig's thought to approach religious life through lived experience rather than through philosophical abstractions. Putnam as well adopts this approach in discussing Rosenzweig in his recent book mentioned above. This section also includes Buber's perceptive essays on Bergson and on Goethe.
The third and longest section of "Pointing the Way" is called "Politics, Community, and Peace." This section of the book probably constitutes Buber's most sustained collection of writings on political issues. The essays compare what today would be called scientific approaches to the social sciences with normative approaches which, for Buber, take into account the whole human person, the need for immediacy and directness in one's approach to others, and the importance of not seeing the whole of human experience as exhausted by history and politics. The best of these essays is titled "The Demand of the Spirit and Historical Reality" which Buber delivered in 1938 as his Inaugural Lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An open letter to Gandhi, in which Buber responds to Gandhi's criticisms of Zionism is also included here. The collection also includes a speech called "Hope for this Hour" which Buber delivered at Carnegie Hall in 1952 at the conclusion of a lecture tour in the United States. These essays stress the importance of trust and communication - what Buber termed "dialogue" in understanding between people during the Cold War years. They still make for difficult but valuable reading.
"Pointing the Way" will offer readers fortunate enough to acquire it an insight into the thought of an important and difficult Twentieth Century thinker.
Robin Friedman
Reviewer
S.K. Bane's Bookshelf
Media (Volume 18 in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture)
Allison Graham and Sharon Monteith, Volume Editors
Charles Reagan Wilson, Series Editor
University of North Carolina Press
www.uncpress.unc.edu
9780807871430, $40.00, paperback
https://www.amazon.com/New-Encyclopedia-Southern-Culture-Media/dp/0807834017
This estimable volume in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture examines such broad topics as cinema, radio, newspapers and magazines, television, and the internet. Specifically, Dr. Graham (University of Memphis) and Dr. Monteith (University of Nottingham) divide their book into 40 thematic articles and more than 130 topical entries. "Few forces," they contend, "have been more dynamic than the mass media in shaping and reshaping understandings of the American South."
Thematic essays include comic strips, the Civil War in film, Civil Rights in film, religion in film, journalism and Civil Rights, and internet representations of the South. Topical entries include James Agee, All the King's Men, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, The Birth of a Nation, Truman Capote, Hodding Carter, James Carville, The Defiant Ones, Deliverance, Designing Women, The Dukes of Hazzard, Horton Foote, Gone with the Wind, Billy Graham, the Grand Ole Opry, Andy Griffith, Hee Haw, In the Heat of the Night, Ralph McGill, Butterfly McQueen, Willie Morris, Bill Moyers, Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Elvis Presley, Burt Reynolds, Southern Living magazine, Sissy Spacek, A Streetcar Named Desire, To Kill a Mockingbird, King Vidor, The Waltons, radio stations WDIA and WLAC, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Oprah Winfrey.
In his engaging piece on novelist and media personality Truman Capote (1924-1984), University of Manchester professor Michael P. Bibler asserts, "Born in New Orleans and raised in Alabama, Capote rocketed to fame with his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948), and his career peaked, unquestionably, with In Cold Blood (1965)...while his gossipy nature and witty one-liners helped sustain his popularity, he appeared many times in public and on television drunk (or stoned) and incoherent. His alcoholism and drug use became as much a part of his public persona as his intelligence and wit. This combination of tragedy and brilliance has captivated the public imagination long after his death." And incisively assessing Willie Morris (1934-1999), Clemson University scholar William Moss observes that the "Mississippi-born journalist, editor, essayist, and novelist continued the long-standing tradition of the southern man of letters as explainer of the South to the rest of the nation, to itself, and to himself. Seeing the South as 'the nation writ large,' [Morris] probed the complexities of the region and of the country." Author of such books as North toward Home (1967), Yazoo (1971), My Dog Skip (1995), and The Ghosts of Medgar Evers (1998), Morris also served as editor-in-chief of Harper's Magazine from 1967-1971. According to Dr. Moss, Morris helped "make Harper's arguably the most significant magazine in America during a time of fundamental change."
Readers intrigued by the American South, especially those with an interest in media studies, should consult this outstanding volume. Happy reading!
S.K. Bane
Reviewer
Suanne Schafer's Bookshelf
Heaven, My Home (Highway 59 #2)
Attica Locke
Mulholland Books
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/mulholland-books
9780316363396, $16.99
https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-My-Home-Highway-Novel/dp/0316363391
Like Bluebird, Bluebird, the first in the Highway 59 trilogy, Heaven, My Home is the story of a Black Texas Ranger named Darren Matthews, but it is so much more than that. It's a thought-provoking novel - set in East Texas in the months post-election but before Donald Trump first takes office when White supremacy and hate crimes begin to surge - that takes on racial issues, justice, and personal ethics.
Matthews is ordered to the little town of Jefferson, which is caught in an outmoded - and in theory, gentile - pre-antebellum mindset. He is to surreptitiously investigate the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas under the guise of searching for a missing nine-year-old boy. The town's wealthy matriarch/businesswoman (and grandmother of the boy) has never had a Black in her home - except for servants - until Matthews interviews her. No one seems particularly concerned about the missing boy except his lowlife parents (the father, a member of the ABT, is serving a twenty-year sentence).
The story pits whites against blacks and local Caddo Native Americans, and Matthews must tiptoe through the racial overtones and layers of deceit and greed stemming from presumed slights dating from before the Civil War. He is a flawed but decent character who is juggling a career that he has been rebuilding after nearly having his badge taken away, a marriage that is returning from the brink of failure, and an alcoholic mother who is blackmailing him for money and for filial attention.
Heaven, My Home reeks with East Texas atmosphere and breathtaking descriptions of the cypress tress and Lake Caddo. Though the second in the series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone. As in Bluebird, Bluebird, the prose is spare but strong, often lyrical, and the thread of music that runs throughout (old Lightnin' Hopkins and Jessie Mae Hemphill blues numbers) reinforces the themes of the novel.
Guide Me Home (Highway 59 #3)
Attica Locke
Mulholland Books
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/mulholland-books
9780316494618, $29.00
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Me-Home-Highway-Novel/dp/0316494615
Guide Me, Home, the third installment of Attica Locke's Southern noir Highway 59 mystery series continues along the veins of the first two. Darren Matthews, a Black Texas ranger, is persistently drinking, is burnt out, and resigns his commission. He divorces his wife and begins a relationship with Randie, the wife of the murdered Black man in the first in the trilogy, Bluebird, Bluebird. He still has legal issues hanging over his head from Heaven, My Home, the second in the trilogy, in which he obtained a false confession regarding a murder.
On top of all the above drama, Bell, his drunken mother resurfaces after several years and claims she is both sober and working as a maid in a sorority house. She asks him to investigate the goings-on at the sorority as she believes a girl, the sole Black sorority sister, is missing. As Darren works with his mother to solve the mystery of a girl who seems to have vanished without a trace, he learns that a web of falsehoods underlie the sorority, a fraternity, and the girl's family. He also learns that his own family has its share of secrets, and that the people he most loves have lied to him.
Locke writes credible dialogue, but more, she writes with strength and conviction about racial relationships in East Texas and the growth of hate crimes during the Trump administration. Her descriptions of the East Texas landscape are powerful and awe-inspiring. Best, though, are her flawed, all-too-human characters; most, like Darren Matthews, are intrinsically good but haunted by family secrets and overt and subtle racial discrimination. All are fully-fledged and have credible character arcs.
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel
Vintage
https://knopfdoubleday.com/imprint/vintage
9781984898456, $18.00
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Thief-Story-Dangerous-Obsession-ebook/dp/B0BGN34TG7
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession is a fascinating psychological profile of Stephane Breitwieser and his girlfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, as they weave their way across Europe stealing art and artifacts from museums, averaging about three heists a month. Unlike other art thieves who steal for profit, Breitwieser steals because he loves art and wants to own it and his choices range from antique weapons to chalices to paintings. He was raised in a wealthy household among such objects and tries to replicate his childhood. He performs his heists in broad daylight, performing these acts more by sleight-of-hand than the heists seen in movies where larcenists dodge laser beams and alarms to steal works of art. He eventually amasses two billions dollars worth of these "gems."
The book includes insights from psychologists into Breitwieser's psyche as well as those of his mother and his lover and thoughts from the police who interrogated him. When his father leaves his mother, Stephane and his mother begin a much less lush lifestyle, and part of his obsession seems to be to replicate his early childhood and to out-do his father's collection. His mother spoils him, and his girlfriend tolerates his thieving enough to help him by standing guard or by taking their haul out in her handbag. His obsession is interesting to read and speculate about. His punishment, for the amount he stole, though, seems ridiculously light. A interesting, but fun, light read.
The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holiday
David Corbett
https://davidcorbett.com
Square Tire Books
9781960725080, $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Lost-Love-Letters-Doc-Holliday/dp/1960725076
John Henry (Doc) Holiday and his cousin, Mattie, are childhood lovers held apart by religion (her family is Catholic while his is Presbyterian) and consanguinity (they are first cousins). Doc moves West in an attempt to cure his tuberculosis but continues a long-term correspondence with his true love. In his absence, she becomes a nun. When he succumbs to the disease, she says she destroys their letters; however, they are eventually recovered from a safe deposit box belonging to the family of one of Mattie's family's slaves and left to a young woman, Rayella Vargas. These letters may or may not be genuine, and in fact, the book never clearly says one way or another. Tuck Mercer, a former rodeo rider turned art forger turned expert in authenticating artifacts from the Old West, tries to sell them for Vargas with the assistance of a creative property lawyer, Lisa Balamaro. The potential buyer, a judge from Tucson, nabs the letters when Balamaro takes them to him to inspect, setting off a black ops type operation run by Vargas's boyfriend and Tuck in a modern-day reenactment of the shootout at the OK Corral.
The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holiday is a genre-bending blend of romance, black-ops, art forgery, art heist, and thriller. The historical details here are accurate as are the contemporary aspects of vigilante groups protecting the US border from illegal immigrants. And the descriptions of the Arizona landscape are breathtaking. Through the interspersed letters between Holiday and Mattie, the reader gets some insights into both the famed gunslingers and his relationship with his true love as well as into the parallel relationship between Tuck and his own long-lost love, Melanie.
The Summer Before
Dianne C. Braley
Koehler Books
https://www.koehlerbooks.com
9798888244821, $19.95
https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Before-Dianne-C-Braley/dp/B0DBK133TR
The Summer Before deals with child sexual abuse in an unusual and somewhat oblique way. The story focuses on the family, specially the daughter, of the perpetrator of the abuse and the rippling effects of that abuse.
Madeline Plympton and Summer Starr are BFFs and have been since they were four or five. Summer's mother is a hairdresser and has financial problems and housing problems. The Plymptons, a wealthy New England family, takes them in and helps arrange affordable housing for them. From then, the two girls grow close, becoming sisters as far as they are concerned.
For some reason, Summer becomes depressed, develops an eating disorder, and begins seeing a therapist. But she doesn't share the root cause of her unhappiness even with her therapist. When the truth comes out, it - and the trial that follows - destroys her relationship with Madeline and, in turn, Madeline's own mental health and her relationships with her parents. As Maddie tries to deal with the fallout, first escapes to New York where she eventually attempts suicide. Through her own lengthy therapy, she learns she must confront her family and others involved in the trial before she can climb out of her personal hell.
The prose here is quite understated. The sexual abuse is alluded to more than described outright and is in no way glorified or used to titillate. An interesting read with an unusual approach to sexual abuse and its ramifications.
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Series Books 1 - 3
Rick Riordan
Penguin
https://www.penguin.com
9780241534236, $60.00
https://www.amazon.com/Magnus-Chase-Gods-Asgard-Books/dp/0241534232
With a teenager in the house again after many years, I've been reading some Young Adult books to encourage their reading and discuss with them. I have always enjoyed Rick Riordan's books, both his adult Tres Navarre mystery series and his many YA series. In the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, Riordan does for Nordic myths what he has previously done with Greek and Roman gods - brings them life with a contemporary twist and many heroic escapades spiked with humor.
The protagonist is Magnus Chase, the son of the god Frey and a human mother. He gives his life to save others and is grabbed by a Valkyrie, Sam, a Muslim girl who has long ancestral ties to Vikings, and taken to Valhalla. Like Percy Jackson, Magnus has to deal with many adventures to accomplish his task. In this case, he must prevent the god Loki from starting Ragnarok, a great battle in which many Norse gods will perish. In the first book, The Sword of Summer, Loki's wolf son, Fenrir, attempts to escape his bonds. Magnus and his buddies must prevent the wolf's escape. In book two, The Hammer of Thor, Thor has lost his hammer which he needs to prevent giants from wreaking havoc. Also, Loki escapes his bonds, despite all Magnus and his friends can do to prevent this from happening. In book three, The Ship of the Dead, Magnus and his friends must find Loki, and Magnus must challenge the trickster god to a flyting, an insult contest - and win.
Riordan deftly handles all these adventures while introducing with some heavy issues - like homelessness, Muslims and the wearing of hijabs and Ramadan, and LGBTQ+ issues - and handling them with a refreshing open-mindedness.
I Will Never See the World Again
Ahmet Atlan
Granta Books
https://granta.com/books
9781783785155, $15.99
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Never-See-World-Again/dp/1783785152
Ahmet Atlan is a Turkish author/journalist born into a family of authors. Like his father and brother, he was jailed unjustly after writing an article dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. After a failed July 2016 coup d'etat in 2016 against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's oppressive regime, Altan was arrested during Erdogan's purge of media personalities. He was charged with giving "subliminal messages" in favor of the coup when he appeared on a TV program the day before the overthrow attempt. Atlan spent over three years in pre-trial detention. Finally, in 2018, along with his brother Mehmet, Atlan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
I Will Never See the World Again is a series of brief chapters, written by hand and then smuggled from his prison, which describe his incarceration in a small cell from which his only view of the outside world is a square of sky visible through wire bars that form a cage above. According to the translator, Yasemin Congar, "Each piece was handwritten on white sheets of paper in blue ink." The book is short but packed with intense emotion rendered in sparse prose as he reflects on his life and how he escapes his prison with books and his mind. Atlan grew up in a household with an abundance of books, and for a period during prison, he was not allowed even the joy of reading. I particularly loved his description of his earliest memories of books: "Books were the wood sprites in a forest the essence of which I couldn't quite grasp, one that looked quite complex and boring to me. I liked the fairies bright charm, their air of mystery, their promising smiles more than the forest itself." He managed to retain his sanity because "like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through your walls with ease."
In July 13, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Cassation ruled that Turkey must free Ahmet Altan immediately and pay him €16,000 in damages for violating his rights to freedom of expression, as it found "no evidence that the actions of the applicant had been part of a plan to overthrow the government." He was released from prison on April 14, 2021.
I Will Never See the World Again is really a wonderful look at the love of literature contrasting with the starkness of imprisonment. It reminded me of Jack London's short novel, The Star Rover, in which Darrell Standing, a university professor, is serving life imprisonment for murder in San Quentin State Prison. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a straight jacket, and Standing copes with the torture by entering a trance-like state and wandering among the stars and experiencing past lives.
Songs for the Brokenhearted
Ayelet Tsabari
Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780812989007, $29.00
https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Brokenhearted-Novel-Ayelet-Tsabari/dp/0812989007
Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari is a dual time-line story, one set in the 1950s and the other in 1995, both concern Yemeni Jews who have immigrated to Israel and Israeli politics during both timeframes. The novel begins in a wretched, over-crowded immigrant camp. Here, Yaqub and Saida fall in love instantly, though she is married and has a child. The lovers are parted as Saida stays with her husband, and Yaqub, to avoid the consequences of falling in love with a married woman, runs away. In the camp, Saida loses her son in a heart-wrenching event: she leaves him at the hospital because he is slightly ill, and when she returns for him, he is gone. She's told he died, but no body is ever forthcoming. Later it's revealed that Israelis put Yemeni children up for adoption without consent because the parents were poor and illiterate and thus couldn't possibly provide adequate care. Saida goes on to have two other children: Lizzie is an obedient daughter, and Zohara is a rebel. Eventually Zohara goes to the United States for her education but comes home when her mother dies in 1995. Zohara learns unexpected things about her mother when she cleans out her mother's belongings.
This is a lovely story about a late coming of age, of learning about one's self only after returning home. It's also about discrimination and prejudice. One of my favorite quotes: "...when you experience casual racism and microaggressions so often that you can't tell when someone is being prejudiced or if something else is going on." Music is an underlying theme in Songs for the Brokenhearted, particularly the Yemeni women's traditions of singing and songwriting, to show how women can communicate despite their voices being silenced by the patriarchy. Zohara's mother, Saida, illiterate and constrained in by her community's norms, was able to express her true feelings in song.
Suanne Schafer, Reviewer
www.SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
Susan Bethany's Bookshelf
The Angel Scroll
Penelope Holt
Roundfire Books
c/o Collective Ink Books
https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
9781803415697, $19.95, PB, 264pp
https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Scroll-Prophecy-Destiny-Novel/dp/180341569X
Synopsis: After her husband's death, New York artist Claire Lucas has baffling dreams and waking visions as she channels an enigmatic and healing painting of a holy man in India at the deathbed of a young woman. When widowed antiquarian Richard Markson announces that Claire's canvas is one third of three paintings prophesied by a recently discovered Dead Sea parchment called the Angel Scroll, she is pulled into an international scavenger hunt to find the stolen scroll and the paintings it predicts.
As she pursues the paintings with Richard across historic and holy sites in America, Israel, and Europe, Claire encounters a series of remarkable teachers. A Buddhist, a Benedictine monk, and a professor of early goddess worship all provide rich explanations for the artist's compelling and perplexing psychic experiences. But it is not until the three paintings are finally assembled that Claire deciphers their inspirational message for the modern world.
Critique: A deftly crafted and original novel that blends romance, the metaphysical, and a questing adventure, "The Angel Scroll" by author Penelope Holt is a fully engaging and inherently fascinating read from start to finish. While also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), this paperback edition of "The Angel Scroll" from Roundfire Books is a solid pick for community/public library fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Penelope Holt (www.penelopeholt.com) was born and educated in the UK. She lives and works in New York and is also the author of The Apple, Angels in Harlem, and Business Intelligence at Work.
A Very Bad Thing
J. T. Ellison
https://www.jtellison.com
Thomas & Mercer
c/o Amazon Publishing
9781662520334, $28.99, HC, 495pp
https://www.amazon.com/Very-Bad-Thing-J-T-Ellison/dp/1662520336
Synopsis: A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.
With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she's lying dead in a pool of blood.
Columbia's death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on - at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author's illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won't stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?
Critique: Original, exceptional, memorable, "A Very Bad Thing" once again demonstrates author J. T. Ellison's genuine flair for creating psychological thrillers that are compulsive page turning reads from start to finish. While also available for the personal reading lists of the growing legions of J. T. Ellison fans in a digital book format (Kindle, $1.99) and in a paperback edition (9781662520310, $16.99), "A Very Bad Thing" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular pick for community/public library Contemporary Mystery/Suspense collections.
Editorial Note: J.T. Ellison is the author of more than thirty novels and the Emmy Award - winning co-host of the literary TV show A Word on Words. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker. With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Theresa Werba's Bookshelf
How to Raise Happy Neurofabulous Children: A Parent's Guide
Katy Elphinstone
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
https://us.jkp.com
9781805010920, $14.95 (Paperback) $9.99 (Kindle), 208 pages
https://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Happy-Neurofabulous-Children/dp/1805010921
This handy and practical book is overflowing with enthusiasm and the joy of parenting - even when it comes to the challenges and uniquenesses of raising children with neurodivergent conditions, such as autism as ADHD. It is not every day that a parent approaches parenting of any kind with such ebullience and energy. Many times I feel that parenting is perceived as a kind of drudgery and a chore, but not Katy Elphinstone!!!
Let's start with the name. Neurofabulous. I think it is wonderful that Katy sees her children as fabulous rather than contemptible. Without reading further, Katy Elphinstone has set you up for truly fabulous experiences with your child. She offers a positive and child-affirming perspective from which she draws her practical advice and wisdom. There is nothing negative or discouraging about this book! It is filled with such energy and enthusiasm for parenting neurodivergent children that Katy's vibrant spirit spills out of the pages.
The book is a compendium of advice and tips which can be used in your parenting journey. It is set up in a unique format - the tips are listed as separate entries with a little box to the left of each new tip. This way, when you read, you can grab a pen and check the box of the tip that resonates with you, and you would easily be able to refer back to what you have marked for reminders and inspiration. It is a ingeniously handy, customizable book!
I enjoyed Katy's conversational tone. It is like having a good friend talking to you and sharing from personal experience, the perspective she has gleaned through trial and error. It offers plenty of positive affirmation, encouragement, and reassurance. I like very much Katy's outlook, which is always seeking to work within your means to make the best of your present situation and the needs of your child. She comes up with interesting and creative ways to solve problems and provides ideas from which you can draw your own solutions and create your own outcomes. Her advice is born of real-life experience, and is not conveyed in an antiseptic or academic manner. This book is a gift from the real world, with actual everyday situations and providing guidance and suggestions for others with similar challenges in similar situations. Katy has great respect for the child, and an eagerness to rise to the challenge without self-pity or complaining.
Katy's chapters cover the gamut of real-world experience: Basics, At Home, Downtime and Hobbies, Out and About, Friendship, Communication, Learning and School, Food and Eating, Health, Hygiene, and Fitness, Physical Contact, Emotions, and Bedtime.
A few issues resonated with me particularly as person on the autism spectrum. She states that "communication between neurodivergent and neurotypical is like speaking two different languages ." She describes "infodumping," where an autistic person can talk "at length" about special interests. I never knew there was a name for it, and I have done it all my life!! She also address issues such as facial expressions, misunderstanding, bullying/abuse, gastrointestinal issues, masking, anger, self-harm, traumatic stress, meltdowns and more.
I wish my adoptive parents had had Neurofabulous when I was growing up. Although they both were professionals (a psychologist and a social worker) they were clueless on how to deal with me as an undiagnosed autistic girl in the 1960s. I wish this resource had existed back then! My parents would have found great relief and help and creative, practical options through it. Had they had this book, they could have been encouraged to raise me with positivity and understanding, rather than frustration and exasperation.
Neurofabulous includes neurodivergent therapists links in UK and US. (I will also add that Katy is British, so you get words like "pram", "nappy", and "how are you, love?" Make the book all that more personal and down-to-earth.)
As Katy says at the end of the book: "Just to emphasize once again: the tips I've given aren't ever intended as prescriptive or as 'rules' to follow. There are lots of things that may work for some but really wouldn't work for others - everyone's situation is unique!" And I would say Neurofabulous is unique, too! I am very glad that this resource exists for parents of neurodivergent children, who can use it for its wealth of inspiration, ideas, suggestions, encouragement, wisdom, and practical solutions to everyday problems and challenges.
Theresa Werba, Reviewer
www.theresawerba.com
Tristen Kozinski's Bookshelf
The Book Keeper
Sarah Painter
https://www.sarah-painter.com
Siskin Press Ltd
9781913676407, $12.99 pbk / $4.99
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Keeper-Unholy-Island/dp/1913676412
This book is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, a cozy little fantasy mystery. I like these kinds of books every so often, and as such thoroughly enjoyed this one. The stakes are just higher enough to invest in the plot, but there's never really a sense that things aren't going to turn out alright. The characters are likable, (Esme with her anxiety and fragility is particularly easy to invest in) and the magic implementation was surprisingly effective. It's a fairly soft magic system, but the author still manages to convey a sense of immense power or age in a couple scenes. There's a little bit of humor, just enough to help fill out the cozy feeling, and the mystery elements of the book were competently enough handled to keep me interested in their resolution.
Tristen Kozinski, Reviewer
Kozinskibooks.com
Willis Buhle's Bookshelf
How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down
Judah Taub
Wiley
c/o Wiley Professional Trade Group
www.wiley.com
Blackstone Publishing
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9781394278091, $29.95, HC, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/How-Move-When-Only-Down/dp/1394278098
Synopsis: A well-paid executive feels trapped in her very respected but unsatisfying job. A startup founder has paying customers, but knows that unless he 'fires' them and pivots the business, his startup won't make it. A senior government planner is tasked with undoing the nation's reliance on outdated infrastructure.
These are all examples of individuals stuck in a Local Maximum; we've reached a peak, but not the one that fulfills the highest potential. In order to move up in our pursuits, we must first move back down - a realization which can lead to frustration, decision-making paralysis and lost opportunity.
With the publication of "How to Move Up When the Only Way Is Down: Lessons from Artificial Intelligence for Overcoming Your Local Maximum", author and AI expert Judah Taub draws from his perspective guiding early stage AI startups, his years serving in military intelligence, and various experiences leading innovation throughout his career. With his off-the-beaten path perspective, Judah shares insights into how humans can achieve better decision-making by learning how AI overcomes local maximums.
What tech engineers already know is that with the rise of AI, we've developed new ways of addressing these limitations. These techniques, employed to save billions of dollars for global giants like Amazon and Google, are equally applicable to each of us.
To show how, Judah shares a variety of real world examples, involving Olympic high jumpers, the transition of Ethiopian immigrants from gas station attendants to high tech engineers, the evolution of playing cards into Nintendo, the development of ChatGPT, the link between wildfires and hedge fund managers - and much more.
"How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down" explores:
How to anticipate and identify Local Maximums
How to overcome psychological Local Maximum blocks and biases
How to build skills and apply strategies to succeed in complex decision-making
How Local Maximum thinking can help overcome major global challenges
Also, "How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down" is equipped to benefit anyone facing complex decisions, or obstacles to their personal or professional goals and is specifically designed to transform readers' decision-making by recognizing Local Maximums and skill building based on lessons from AI.
Critique: Impressively informative, exceptionally well organized, and throughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, "How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down: Lessons from Artificial Intelligence for Overcoming Your Local Maximum" must be considered essential reading for anyone with an interest in the role of Artificial Intelligence in business management, entrepreneurial decision making, and venture capitalism. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Publishing, 9798228317161, $39.99, CD), "How to Move Up When the Only Way is Down" is a core and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, corporate, and college/university library AI & Business collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Judah Taub (www.judahtaub.com) is the founder and managing partner of Hetz Ventures, one of Israel's leading early-stage venture capital firms. He has previously served in an elite IDF commando unit and a classified intelligence unit, and has lectured on creativity and strategic thinking at Wharton, Yale, Harvard Business School, and to the military.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
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