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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9 December 2013 - March 2014
Mind-blowing Animals Compared To Average Humans
The Works of Bernard Leo Remakus, M.D
What If Humans Were Like Animals?:
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The Amazing and Disgusting Life You’d Lead as a Snake, Bird, Fish, or Worm! By Marianne Taylor & Lauren Taylor Reader’s Digest, 144 pages, $9.99 What if Humans Were Like Animals? carries readers away with interesting, creepy, and gross facts about what it would be like to be some odd animal. For instance, how would you like to eat your way out of your mom’s stomach? Or, how would you like to be a babirusa pig with upper teeth growing up and out of your skin? And, yet another example, how would you like to grow more legs the older you got? I don’t know where she found all these wacky facts but these mindblowing, nearly impossible to believe, and mostly creepy facts take the readers to new places and leaves them begging for more by the time they turn the last page. Reviewed by ALYSSA ELWELL
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HIGHLIGHTS
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Authors Challenge 2013
CHILDREN’S Me, Salsa Dance?: Can You Imagine Learning How to Salsa Dance in 60 Minutes? (Volume 3) Michael Hickman, 67 pages, $5.99
Roscoe’s whole family loves to salsa dance. The boy’s grandparents act silly while they have fun dancing. Although he declines his grandfather’s invitation to try out some salsa steps, Roscoe begins to wonder, “Me, salsa dance?” As they dance to g e t h e r, Ros co e ’s mom looks beautiful in her stylish clothes and his dad huffs and puffs to catch his breath. They all offer the boy advice - keep the rhythm, smile, hear the music - and when Roscoe puts his family’s suggestions into practice, a salsa dancer is born! Find out where Roscoe practices his favorite new hobby! Despite practicing, Roscoe is still having trouble imagining himself performing in front of people, especially at dance competitions his family wants him to enter during upcoming vacations. Luckily Roscoe’s best friend Sara saves the day. She tells him that James Goodfeet Johnson is offering a dance class at the local library. Learn How To Dance Salsa!!! In 60 Minutes! But who will take over and teach the students? Me, Salsa Dance? by Michael Hickman is an ebook with lots of heart. It shows Roscoe’s transformation from a young boy unsure of his dancing skills into a dancer willing to learn and perform. Every child should be so lucky to have a supportive family like Roscoe does. The issues with Hickman’s book are very fixable and can be taken care of with a quick editing job. Mistakes range from incorrect and missing punctuation to distracting changes between verb tenses and missing words. The ebook’s formatting has one main drawback. Most of the pictures come before the part of the story that explains what is happening in the illustration. It would make more sense, especially to children, if the picture came after the story details. Once these corrections are made, parents can share Me, Salsa Dance? with their children and feel confident knowing that their kids are being exposed to a new concept (salsa dancing) in an educationally sound book with a multicultural cast and heartwarming message. KATHRYN FRANKLIN
The Fly Flew In (I Like to Read) David Catrow Holiday House, 32 pages, $14.95
Your child will laugh and laugh at the havoc one little fly can cause in The Fly Flew In. The fly lands on the man’s nose—a rather long and ugly nose. When the man
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sneezes, the fly flies off and gets in line at the party. The fly even flies in and out of someone’s ears and into another person’s ears (right through their heads!). He lands on a child’s lollipop that then the mother must take away. You can imagine the child’s reaction. The fly interrupted the band playing and created a ruckus. And from there it gets even messier. When the fly, finally flies away, everyone could not be happier.//The illustrations in this book are really divine. They are colorful, imaginative, detailed and funny. There is so much humor on these pages, your child will laugh and laugh. The words are simple and are repeated often, so that this would be a great book for a new reader or someone just mastering the gist of reading. The story line coupled with the illustrations make this book a winner! SENIYE GROFF
The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs Dr. Robert T. Bakker, Illustrated by Luis V. Rey Golden Books, 32 pages, $16.99
Many current paleontologists had as children the 1960 book Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles. But human understanding of the lives of dinosaurs has changed dramatically over the last half-century. The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs is essentially a remake, intended to update young readers on the science of dinosaur paleontology. From swamp-dwelling to self-supporting sauropods and tail-dragging to feathered theropods, this book covers the entire span of dinosaur time, from the rise of dinosaurs from their reptilian ancestors over 200 million years ago to their extinction 65 million years ago. Toward the end of the book, a tree of life shows where dinosaurs and humans both fit in the evolution of life, stressing that without the demise of dinosaurs, humans would not have evolved. Pterosaurs and sea-going reptiles are included, too, as well as a section on the history of the discovery of dinosaurs and changes in the field over the last two centuries. Robert Bakker’s text is active and appropriate for a younger audience, and Luis Rey’s artwork, a combination of traditional
paintings and digital illustration, is vibrant, action-packed, and wonderfully brings to life these exciting and mysterious creatures. The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs is highly recommended not only for younger readers, but adults as well. MICHAEL BARTON
Dog Loves Counting Louise Yates Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 32 pages, $17.99
Dog Loves Counting is the perfect book to introduce numbers to your child. Dog cannot fall asleep and loves his books so he tries counting sheep. But his book introduces him to other creatures to count, also. First he counts an egg. When the egg hatches there is Dog and Dodo, which makes two. They must then find three and meet the threetoed sloth. W h e n they meet camel, they meet number four. Many other creatures join the counting fiesta until they arrive at ten. When they lose number one in the desert, the creatures leave one by one (and your reader gets introduced to counting backwards). Finally Dog looks up in the sky and realizes he can continue to count forever. Dog Loves Countingmakes counting an adventure. Your little reader will be excited to meet all the creatures in the charming, colorful drawings. The creatures’ faces tell a range of emotions and your child will be able to connect the words to the pictures. Your child will learn counting forwards and backwards and the power of finding friends while laughing heartily at the cute story. SENIYE GROFF
vocabulary. You’ll also be able to use context clues found in the illustrations to help figure out definitions. Take the letter A as an example: The Abstract Alligator Always Aims Atrociously Askew. In the accompanying drawing, Pizzo shows the gator unsuccessfully flinging paint at a blank canvas using a slingshot. Even if you didn’t have a dictionary nearby to look up unfamiliar words, the details Pizzo includes in his illustrations make it possible to figure out the tongue twister’s meaning. After reading The Amazing Animal Alphabet to students, teachers can have their classes come up with their own tongue twisters and illustrations. Plus, what kid wouldn’t want to see their teacher stumbling over a bunch of sticky syllables? What fun! Whether you are meeting the Outlandish Octopus who Orchestrates an Oboe Orchestra of One, the Crabby Crab Cabbie who Cruises in a Cool Classic Checker Cab or the Fantastically Fearless Frog who Flaunts a Funny Fake-Fur Fez, you are bound to enjoy this book many times in your tongue-twisted future. KATHRYN FRANKLIN Continued on page 4
The Amazing Animal Alphabet of Twenty-Six Tongue Twisters Robert Pizzo Pomegranate, 32 pages, $17.95
Do you consider yourself a pro at tackling tongue twisters? Do silly sentences make you smile? Does wonderful wordplay make your day? If you are nodding yes in response to these questions, get ready for The Amazing Animal Alphabet of Twenty-Six Tongue Twisters! You’ll need a professional tool set to get your tongue untied after trying out author (and illustrator) Robert Pizzo’s unique tongue twisters staring a cast of unforgettable animal actors! Each tongue twister, one for every letter of the alphabet, features crazy critters cavorting around in a colorful scene. The ABCs have never been so captivating! Have your dictionary handy - even the best word wizards will likely come across some new
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LAYOUT & GRAPHIC DESIGN
IN THIS ISSUE Children’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 Historical Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Humor/Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Mystery, Crime, & Thrillers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7 Popular Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11 Sequential Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Brian Parker
Science Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13
COPY EDITORS
Young Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-14
Elizabeth Franklin Kathryn Franklin Lindy Gervin Whitney Smyth
COLUMN COORDINATOR FOR “WRITERS ON WRITING” AND “THE READER’S PERSPECTIVE” Joseph Arellano
Art, Architecture, & Photography . . . . . . 15-16 Biographies & Memoirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-17 Business & Investing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Health & Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Crafts & Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Cooking, Wine, & Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Current Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
FROM THE EDITOR NEW SERVICES FOR AUTHORS Have you ever wanted to write a book? Have you written a book but are not sure if it’s good enough to be published? Did you self-publish a book only to see little or no sales? Well, if you answered yes to any of these questions, have I got good news for you! Portland Book Review wants to partner with you, to come along side you and work with you to fulfill your dreams of becoming a published and successful author. It’s no secret that I have always wanted Portland Book Review to be involved in our community and to promote the writing dreams of those wishing to make it happen. We are going to offer a package at a very low cost that will include not only copyediting for grammar, spelling and punctuation but also developmental editing for storyline and character development. Portland Book Review will not be representative of the edit and the author’s voice will remain in tack. You will work directly with one of our Editors over an 8-week process. We want to work with you, the author, to make your work more marketable and enjoyable for readers. I am so excited about this new venture because it touches the heart of what we do. It will add a layer to the bigger picture of making better authors and promoting better books! I hope you will join me in this exciting new adventure and get you to write the next Great American Novel for all the world to read! Readers Unite!
M. Chris Johnson Editor In Chief
Science & Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Parenting & Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Spirituality & Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Poetry & Short Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Portland Book Review is published quarterly and is licensed from 1776 Productions, producers of the San Francisco Book Review and Sacramento Book Review. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Portland Book Review advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words © 2013, Portland Book Review. For Advertising inquiries, please contact info@portlandbookreview.com or call 503.539.9932
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December 2013 – March 2014
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CHILDREN’S Toys in Space Mini Grey Knopf, 32 pages, $16.99
It’s an age old question - Where do lost toys go? Just like those mysterious missing socks that never seem to make it out of the dryer, some toys seem destined to have adventures of their very own. It’s happened to every kid at least once - you go inside after a fun day of playing outside, but you forget to bring your toys back inside with you! Toys in Space, a fun book by Mini Grey, answers the question of what happens when you leave your toys outside in the garden at night! Little do you know, toys have secret lives of their own when their human companions are someplace else - but what do they do?
Together they lay on the grass, gazing up at the stars - Wonderdoll, windup robot, blue rabbit, pink horse, green dinosaur, small sheep and little cowboy. Because some of her pals are afraid, Wonderdoll begins to tell them a story about seven friends who are left outside on their own to stargaze for the very first time. The toys speak to each other using comic book-style speech bubbles as Wonderdoll weaves her spellbinding tale. Suddenly all the toys notice that one special star in the sky seems to be getting bigger and bigger! But that’s no star - it’s a spaceship! Soon they are beamed up and helping Hoctopize, a glove-shaped, pajama-wearing alien out searching the galaxy for Cuddles, his lost toy! Find out how the other toys
help cheer him up before they return back home to earth. Will the lonely alien find his Cuddles? Mini Grey, award winning author of the Traction Man children’s book series, returns to delight young readers with her humorous, heart warming story and whimsical illustrations. Hoctopize will surely be a reader favorite. Kids will appreciate that almost every inch of each page is filled with color, artwork or text. Toys in Space is a feast for the eyes. The book helps reinforce the importance of cooperation and kindness and the idea that working together can solve many problems. ELIZABETH FRANKLIN
HISTORICAL FICTION Igorotdo: The Enlightened Warrior Within Rexcrisanto Delson Cordi Heritage House, 297 pages, $15.95
Part mystery, part moral tale and full-on adventure story, Igorotdo: The Enlightened Warrior Within: A Novel of Spiritual Transformation is a satisfying and unique read. Alex, a successful businessman in the US, goes back to his Igorot ancestors’ homeland in a mountainous region of the Philippines, lured by the promise of a mysterious inheritance. Once there, he travels much more than he ever could have imagined--through different terrains and time periods, getting used to new languages and impulses with each new body he awakens in. The atmosphere of each location is created largely through action and impression and this helps develop Alex’s character. Readers will relate to this character from the get-go, before his adventures begin. They will be privy to his dreams, typical thoughts and one flashback from his childhood. This all foreshadows the nature of his future adventures. As a matter of course, Delson provides crucial historical information and includes how these events impact circumstances that Alex faces in the various bodies he inhabits. These details simultaneously bring up questions about our prejudices and mores and how they should be anything but taken for granted. At times Igorotdo applies too much of an expository tone. But overall the pacing of the story is superb and entices the reader to make it to the
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end. This book is recommended for those interested in a new and authentic genrebending narrative: a spiritual adventure with a contemporary voice. SARAH ALIBABAIE
The Patterer Larry Brill Black Tie Books, 340 pages, $15.00
As I read this book I found myself laughing out loud on about every page. The story takes place in 1765 with our main character, Leeds Merriweather, working as a patterer for the London Tattler-Tribune. A patterer, at least in this case, is a writer and seller of papers, with the motto that good patterers “...never, never let facts get in the way of a good story.” Author, Larry Brill, shows his tongue-incheek sense of humor throughout the book. One story describes the yacht named Minnow that “set sail that day for a three hour tour.” Our main character describes how his parents named their children by the places they were conceived. His brothers were named London, Lancaster, Lincoln, Leeds and his sister was named Hereford. When describing his parents, Merriweather remarks, “it was my unfortunate lot in life to have grown up with education, though my parents meant well.” He describes how his Dad passed away from a heart attack after being chased by an angry pheasant he failed to shoot down. Mr. Merriweather lives life on the streets looking for a glass where ever he can find it. In a tavern he runs across a character named Ben Franklin, as in the Philadelphia Franklin, and
they strike up a friendship. Brill and his style of writing brings to mind Dewey Lambdin and his outrageous character in the Alan Lewrie naval adventure series. Hopefully there will be a sequel with hints of meeting Mr. Franklin in the new world. BRIAN TAYLOR
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, which was largely influenced by The Decameron. SARAH HUTCHINS
The Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio, Translated by Wayne A. Rebhorn W. W. Norton & Company, 947 pages, $39.95
Master and God by Lindsey Davis is a historical fiction novel taking place in Ancient Rome. After Emperor Domitian’s seizure of the kingdom under somewhat suspicious circumstances, his distrust of nearly everyone in Rome begins to unravel his rule. As those around the Emperor begin to question his sanity, reluctant bodyguard Gaius Vinius Clo dianus finds himself torn: do his duty and protect the Emperor, or throw in his lot in a conspiracy to kill him in order to protect Rome herself. Despite the large amount of political intrigue, Master and God is at its heart a romance between Gaius and Lucilla, a hairdresser to the wealthy. The characters of Gaius and Lucilla are surprisingly sarcastic and their growing attraction to each other is enjoyable to watch. Much of the narrative has to do with day-to-day living in Rome, from, watching gladiatorial fights, putting out fires, to making hairpieces. The writing is simple and engaging. Master and God is a quick read for historical fiction fans, and tells a surprisingly sweet story amidst all the brutality of Ancient Rome. WHITNEY SMYTH
As the bubonic plague swept through Florence, Italy in 1348 and claimed the lives of 75 percent of the population, Giovanni Boccaccio began writing the one hundred stories, fables, parables and histories that would comprise The Decameron. It’s framed by ten friends, seven women and three men, who flee from the Black Plague to the countryside where they spend their days sharing these witty tales of seduction, trickery, misadventure, tragedy, magnanimity and revenge. Tr a ns l a to r Wayne A. Rebhorn, a professor of English and Italian at the University of Texas, shows great care in keeping the essence of the original work while making it enjoyable for modern Anglophone readers by keeping the sentence structure as close as possible and substituting puns and idioms for those more recognizable. In the notes, each story is given a source, the historical accuracy of the characters, archaic references are explained and translation choices are described in more detail. This is a must for anyone who enjoys
Master & God: A Novel of Ancient Rome Lindsey Davis St. Martin’s Press, 449 pages, $16.99
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HUMOR/FICTION Imperfect Bliss Susan Fales-Hill Atria Books, 296 pages, $15.00
With a heavy dose of sass, Bliss Harcourt returns with her young daughter to her parents’ home after a messy divorce leaves her vulnerable and wounded. To her dismay, her mother, obsessed with snagging first-class husbands for her four daughters, allows Bliss’s younger sister to go in front of the cameras for a Bachelorette style show in which the winner gets to marry the virgin Diana. The show brings a laughable amount of drama to the household and may hold a small surprise for Bliss’s dry love life. If she would stop judging every man she comes across.
Bliss is not a likable character despite her difficult circumstances, because she does a fair amount of pity-partying. Few of the family members were sane and the story took awhile to develop even though a flurry of activity occurred within the first few pages. It seems that an attempt to follow several different social issues was made, but too much was going on to allow any meaningful development. Finally, a lack of characterization created a disconnect between the reader and narrator, but the insanity of the cast made this quite an entertaining read. ISABEL HERNANDEZ
Literary Quotes
“Humor can alter any situation and help us cope at the very instant we are laughing.” -Allen Klein
MYSTERY, CRIME, THRILLERS The I.P.O. Dan Koontz Beverly Ann Publishers, 344 pages, $13.99
First grader, Ryan Tyler, is devastated when his parents are killed in a car accident. His problems worsen when he ends up in an orphanage. Then, much to his surprise, someone wants to adopt him. In fact, the perfect couple wants to adopt him. Unfortunately, his real legal guardian is not the couple but the CEO of a new stock exchange called AVillage and the gifted seven-year-old is his first publicly offered stock. His adoptive parents are paid by Ryan’s board of directors to care for him. Ryan will owe his investors a portion of his lifetime earnings when he begins what should be a promising career. But Ryan is not the only stock traded by AVillage. AVillage specializes in recruiting talented children from all over the world who have lost their parents—kids who might otherwise never reach success. The company is convinced that they are changing the course of history by sponsoring these promising would-be orphans. With AVillage’s guidance and support, the children will have access to the best educations and opportunities imaginable. But is AVillage simply adept at finding gifted orphans or does it make them? When several of the other AVillage recruits get together, they begin to ques-
tion some of the company’s practices and suspect foul play. Dan Koontz’s book, The I.P.O, is a unique, plot-driven story complete with plenty of subterfuge and a shocking ending. In many ways, it is the perfect read for a cold winter day. There are even moments of insight that are enlightening and make this book more than just entertainment. While I applaud the author’s brilliance, I was disappointed by what has become a common problem with print on demand technology. The book needs a professional editor. Koontz has talent and he also has a good story that could have been a great one in the right hands. SHELI ELLSWORTH
Justice JoAnn Welsh Versary Press, 376 pages, $11.99
Bobby Grant is a novelist. He has written a successful series of detective novels and is working on yet another. All in all, things are pretty good. He and his wife, Alicia, a linguistics professor, are fostering a damaged, but strong, 14-year-old named Crystal. Things begin to change, however, when federal agents show up on Grant’s doorstep with information about a young Middle Eastern man who was killed in a supposed traffic accident outside of Grand Central Station…and who had information pertaining to both Bobby and Alicia Grant on his person at the time of his death.
This is troublesome because, four years prior, Grant, his wife and some of his friends had been mixed up with terrorists and it resulted in the death of one of these friends. Since then the Grants have lived in fear. Having written a memoir of the incident, Bobby Grant’s involvement is public knowledge, but he and his wife have tried their hardest to put their lives back together and create a sense of normalcy — and, more importantly, of safety — for themselves and for Crystal. The death of this young man, supposedly a foreign exchange student, has thrown that all into question. So begins JoAnn Welsh’s Justice, a smart, readable thriller with a likeable and believable cast of characters and a plot line with complexity and nuance that is so often lacking in this genre. Welsh’s protagonistnarrator seems a bit too concerned with constantly reinforcing his left wing cred, and that can grow a bit cumbersome, but the majority of the characters in Justice defy stereotype. Welsh has chosen to flesh out each person to whom she introduces her audience. Stereotype doesn’t fly in this novel and we are confronted with a variety of characters who defy the conventional thriller notions of good guys and bad guys. This speaks to Welsh’s skill as an author. Justice is a meditation not only on right and wrong, but on the assumptions we make about others...assumptions that can lead to dramatic, and sometimes tragic, results. ASHLEY MCCALL
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The End, My Friend: Prelude to the Apocalypse Kirby Wright Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 284 pages, $3.99
This post-apocalyptic novel by Kirby Wright follows the journey of an ordinary man and his wife at ground zero as, in the narrator’s words, “all hell broke loose.” Tony and his wife, former Vegas showgirl Evo, have just discovered they are pregnant with their first child. Movie stars are dead, their estates ransacked and burned. Tony and Evo’s southern California dream predictably degenerates, with a proliferation of motorcycle gangs, religious fanatics, and teenagers with automatic weapons. Tony and Evo take off with their cancer-ridden Russian Blue cat in tow and encounter various friends and foes as they seek safer pastures. The End, My Friend contains good narration; Tony has a distinct narrative voice. The banter between him and Evo is realistic and fun, and the dialogue in general is s tro n g between characters. But as far as the book as a whole, it was too easy to get stuck on the vague and faintly realistic details -- like Evo’s seemingly symptomless pregnancy and her lack of anxiety over giving birth in a country wracked by violence, Continued on page 6
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MYSTERY, CRIME, THRILLERS not to mention the implausibly rapid degeneration of society on a global scale and the confusing and contradictory timeline -- and even easier to lose the ability to effortlessly appreciate the story. The characters’ lack of urgency in getting to a safe haven with the pending birth of their child detracts from the story’s tension, as they make detours and stop to bury their cat or give several rations of water to a thirsty llama, which when considered against the context of societal decline and the supposed dangers from other people, seems not only frivolous but ignorant. And while Evo’s striking the spontaneous yoga pose is cute at first, it gets old quickly and seems to have no bearing whatsoever on what is going on around her. While this might be a reflection of her character being free-spirited and endearing, if a person struck a yoga pose in random situations, you wouldn’t think they were hot but rather insane. More than that, there are some major flaws in the details that erode the reader’s suspension of belief. For instance, the Eifel Tower cannot be torched, as the narrator reports. Likewise, it does not seem probable that an army consisting of ex-cons and derelicts would be able to overtake a city the size of LA without massive tactical support. Also, the fail of media on a global scale, relatively simultaneously, seems a naïve portrayal of degeneration. While this is a fantastic idea, the experience of an ordinary man on the ground during a global collapse, this creative exercise in worldwide panic could have used further development and deeper exploration of the worldwide reaction as well as a more realistic depiction of the human reaction. AXIE BARCLAY
Rising Threat Roger Smith, 373 pages What a fascinating read!
Spring 1994. Dane Alexander is finishing his undergraduate studies at MIT in Chemical Engineering. He is a brilliant student and has a lot of job offers. Among many different opportunities Dane is considering the offer from Kinetics General. In the beginning of the summer break Dane goes home, to Portland, OR to talk with his grandfather about it. Their conversation brings up painful memories and a rather difficult matter. A little less than ten years ago Dane’s father, Adam was stabbed to death while being on a business trip to Boston. Adam worked in a small accounting firm in Portland that managed the Kinetics General account. Dane’s grandfather, a
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former police officer, was always suspecting that Kinetics General had been somehow involved in the accident, but couldn’t find a motive or evidence to prove it. After this talk Dane decides to accept Kinetics’ General offer to investigate if they indeed have had something to do with his dad’s death. During a few weeks Dane’s life turns into a nightmare. Being arrested and accused in an attempted murder and kidnapping of his girlfriend Janice and a murder of his father’s former associate Rick, Dane has been sold out to his persecutors by the corrupt police officer. However, it looks like Dane has managed to escape from the police car by himself. Dane can’t prove his innocence also because Rick’s confession and other gathered by Dane documents have been destroyed by Kinetics’ people. All the facts are against Dane and he becomes the most wanted man in the country. While on the run from both the real killers and the police Dane finds that behind the Kinetics’ secret stands a military threat to the US national security. He is going to Washington. The plot’s many unexpected twists would immediately grab your attention. Eager to find out where the threat is rising from and what helps to prove and neutralize it you wouldn’t put this book aside until the very end. GALINA ROIZMAN
Mister Rainbow in the Death of a Ladies’ Man C.S. Boag Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 188 pages
This is the second book in the Mister Rainbow series so some readers may already be familiar with him. For those who aren’t, he is also known as Mr. Smith and he always wears a fedora and knows Latin. He lives on a boat in Sydney Harbor. He doesn’t remember the exact age of his daughter but he is determined to keep her and his ex-wife safe and even goes to his daughter’s ballet lessons. He doesn’t carry any identification and it isn’t clear if he has a private detective license. It seems that he is afraid of crossing paths with police and other officials more than with criminals. While telling his story, Rainbow calls himself (and all other male characters) a joker. All female characters are dames. One day Mr. Rainbow gets a call from a dame. Annabel Franklin once saved Rainbow’s life and tells him that somebody wants to kill her boyfriend, Thomas Tycho. Rainbow hurries to help, but it is too late. He comes upon a beheaded body that is identified as Tycho by an unusual tattoo in Latin around the neck. Less than half an hour later Rainbow also finds Annabel dead in her apartment. Although Tycho was a trickster and everybody’s enemy, Rainbow feels that he has to find the killer to pay his debt to Annabel. While looking around Annabel’s apartment, Rainbow finds a list of names on her computer. All the criminals mentioned could be Tycho’s killer. Rainbow pays some
unpleasant visits to Sydney ’s underworld tycoons only to find out that none of them is responsible for Tycho’s death. Eventually, it is his knowledge of Latin that helps Rainbow crack this case. Although it is a little hard to fully enjoy this book without the knowledge of British-Australian slang (you can Google it), it is fun to follow Rainbow’s exploration. GALINA ROIZMAN
“Detecting’s a juggling act.” The Peaceful Affair Moshe Sipper CreateSpace, 324 pages, $12.99
The Peaceful Affair is most likely the best book ever. It is utterly ridiculous, completely hilarious and disarmingly clever. Subtle? Not so much. But who needs subtlety when you’ve got everything else in the world going for you? Not this book and not its author, Moshe Sipper, who has probably crafted the best book in the entire history of bookism. The novel tells the story of detective Noro Myx, who is recruited by the President of the United States, John Doe, to search for the missing, top-secret War Treaties, the absence of which could result in much-feared and wholly destructive nuclear peace. However, things are often not as they seem, and Myx — along with his assistants, the heart-stopping and enticing Miss Lipps, the tall dwarf and the small giant — find that the mystery of the War Treaties is much more complex than anyone could have guessed. With a cast of characters as wholly bizarre and entertaining as the plot — including a mental patient, pseudonym Edgar, who speaks exclusively in verses from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” — The Peaceful Affair is nothing less than a rollicking good time. Sipper’s cleverness and talent for wordplay works perfectly with the over-thetop storyline,
and there is no point where this book is anything but a pure joy to read. ASHLEY MCCALL
A Murder on Mardi Gras Jake Jasper Outskirts Press, 252 pages, $15.95
Jake Jasper is a travel writer. A pretty good one, really. Unfortunately, he is also a drunk. A pretty big one, honestly. When he’s sent on a redemption assignment to write a story about New Orleans and Mardi Gras, he is looking forward to booze, babes and a little bit of adventure. What he stumbles into, however, is murder, mystery and a terror plot with monumental ramifications. In A Murder on Mardi Gras, author Jake Jasper takes his alter ego on a wild ride full of debauchery and chaos — and one serious mystery. After a series of bizarre interactions, Jake and his contact Marco meet Cotty, a seemingly unhinged man quite a few years their elder, who feels the need to get out of town and then, bizarrely, ends up dead, stabbed in the gut on the festive New Orleans streets. This sets Jake and Marco on the run, and so begins the mystery that is the centerpiece of this novel, a mystery involving the city and a diabolical plot by a group of Islamic extremists. A Murder on Mardi Gras is overall a strong novel. The story line is fun and the characters are interesting. It does, however, have some weaknesses. Certain elements of the story just aren’t convincing — for example, it makes no sense why Jake and Marco would decide to let Cotty tag along with them in the first place — but by and large, the story is well thought out, well-paced and well done. The Islamic extremist angle is a little played out at this point, and while Jasper does well with his characters, it would have been nice to have villains of a slightly less predictable nature. But you can’t always expect perfection, and this novel certainly delivers on mystery and excitement. ASHLEY MCCALL
Literary Quotes
“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.” -Oscar Wilde
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MYSTERY, CRIME, THRILLERS Dimension M Scott Wyatt, 447 pages, $2.99
When Fatimah Ibrahim and Alden Frost break into Public School 32 in Uzbekistan to hang a flag symbolizing human unity, they have no way of knowing that they are stumbling into international conspiracy, for, as it turns out, Public School 32 is more than just a Sovietstyle schoolhouse. It is also a repository for the Sahin Diary, a document purportedly containing dramatic, graphic accounts of the Armenian genocide which is kept under lock and key by the Turkish government. Other people, however, are aware of this, and Ibrahim, famous beauty and heiress, and Frost find themselves imprisoned with very little idea why. So begins Scott Wyatt’s rollicking novel Dimension M, a well-written thriller with a literate international edge. There’s no posturing in this novel, no quasi-Da Vinci Code ambitions. What is presented is an intelligent, multi-faceted story with relatively realistic characters and a bit of a heart. Sure, as per typical thriller conventions, the female characters are portrayed as unrealistically attractive (not every woman is beautiful, authors) and vulnerable to the incomparable male pheromone scent, but overall, the novel is an entertaining read filled with twists, turns and surprises that keep the audience entertained and wanting to read just one more chapter. And if keeping the audience involved for just one more chapter isn’t the sign of a good thriller, I don’t know what is. ASHLEY MCCALL
The Fallen Angels Book Club R. Franklin James Camel Press, 256 pages, $14.95
Hollis Morgan is focused on getting her life back on track. She was sidelined when her ex-husband framed her for his fraudulent activities and she ended up in jail. She started a new life and is working on getting her record expunged – all with the help of her book club. The club is unique in that
only white-collar criminals are allowed in. When members start dying, though, Hollis must work to find out who is behind the murders before she ends up in jail – again – for a crime she didn’t commit. The Fallen Angels Book Club by author R. Franklin James is an enjoyable first book in the new series featuring Hollis Morgan. Hollis is a good heroine as she is smart, determined and resourceful. The supporting characters are more generic but work well with the story. The plot goes by at a nice pace and the mystery unfolds in a logical way for the most part. This book is not an edgy or shocking book but its enjoyable and pleasant to read. BARBARA COTHERN
The Mystery of Revenge G.X. Chen Tate Publishing, 164 pages, $12.00
The body of Yi-yun Lin, a young college student from China, is found on the floor of her boyfriend’s apartment. The boyfriend, Tom Meyer, is a cold, self absorbed musician, who is violent under the guise of passion. Lin has been shot to death, but the time of death cannot be precisely pinpointed. At the same time, Meyer recently, and maybe conveniently, left on a music tour. The pillow used to muffle the shot is found in a trash bin near the apartment and has only Lin and Meyer’s fingerprints on it. The murder weapon cannot be found. H o w e v e r, the bullet matches the missing pistol Meyer’s father gave him, and a neighbor heard loud voices in the apartment before Meyer left. It appears Detective Paul Winderman has an open and shut case on his hands in The Mystery of Revenge, or does he? Doubts will arise as Chen introduces Lin’s ex-husband, who loved her desperately and who she used so terribly that he threatened to kill her. Lin’s friend also defends her ex-husband almost too zealously. The waters become even murkier as more details about Lin’s current predicament come to light. Chen has written a small mystery. This book is a mere one hundred and sixty four pages. However, it is a tight, well-crafted mystery that definitely holds the reader’s attention. The characters are well developed and multi-dimensional. Furthermore, the resolution is not obvious until Chen is ready to reveal it. ||Chen dedicates this book to her daughter, who told Chen that it was not too late to pick up her writing after twenty
years. Her daughter gave sound advice. Mystery lovers, especially travelers looking for a shorter work, will definitely enjoy this new talent. If readers are fortunate, Detective Winderman is on his way to a long and productive career. ANNIE PETERS
Brandenburg Glenn Meade Howard Books, 482 pages , $15.99
If you are looking for a mystery-thriller that brings World War II Nazi memories and sinister international schemes to life, this is it. This fast-paced and remarkable work of historical fiction is well researched and crafted. The action moves smoothly along on several fronts, tying together the long history of the Nazi obsession with power at home and with immigrant connections to South America, specifically Paraguay and Brazil. A dark past embedded in evil power is about to come back to life. The characters include a host of older Germans with prior connections to the SS and younger ones who are either their children or their victims. There are European and South American journalists and police officers, intelligence operatives and international smugglers. They are all tangled up in a twisted and complex but believable plot. Some encounter tragic consequences while trying to untangle a series of strange and uncomfortable goings-on. Big money, murders and mayhem flow thick and fast here, enough to keep the reader fascinated and alert. As an author of historical mystery-thrillers, Glenn Meade does not disappoint. He is noted for doing his homework and for bringing strange but remarkably plausible plots to life. Brandenburg is one of his best. DON MESSERSCHMIDT
Literary Quotes
“Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.” -Henry Miller
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December 2013 – March 2014
7
The Works
of
Bernard Leo Remakus, M.D
The Malpractice Epidemic: A Layman’s Guide To Medical Malpractice Bernard Leo Remakus 221 East Publishing, 131 pages, $2.99
Many of us, whether as patients or as caregivers, have seen errors and problems occur within the medical profession. Some people are quick to label these experiences as malpractice. Dr. Bernard Leo Remakus, author of The Malpractice Epidemic: A Layman’s Guide to Medical Malpractice would like to help set the record straight. ||In his book, first published in 1990, Remakus attempts to define the term by cleverly using hypothetical cases to demonstrate what is and what is not malpractice. He analyses the role of the judicial system, legal profession and insurance industry in claims and offers suggestions as to what readers can do to end this “epidemic.” His continued use of “epidemic” is very purposeful. His goal is to get readers to see malpractice as a sickness in America. ||The book is very much for the layman. Remakus points out that the medical and legal communities use specialized vocabularies to discuss malpractice. This jargon confuses and excludes the average American from the conversation. So Remakus breaks down concepts and uses terms readers can understand. Since Dr. Remakus has been through years of education, training and spent years working with patients and families, he has seen what the malpractice “epidemic” can do to communities, the medical profession and individual doctors who are engulfed in malpractice claims/suits. ||At this point, readers should know that Dr. Remakus is very clear about concepts, terms and the purpose of his book (which appears to be to clarify what is and what is not malpractice). But towards the end of his work, he introduces his “cure” to the “epidemic” which could be an entire book in itself. Dr. Remakus asks readers to consider National Health Insurance. Under such a program, physicians would be employed by the federal government. Judicial, legal and insurance groups would
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December 2013 – March 2014
have limited involvement in malpractice claims. ||Overall, Remakus does a great job of breaking down malpractice for the layman. He challenges readers to consider the strain today’s health care system puts on our society and definitely puts ideas on the table that are appropriate to be thinking about, especially during this critical time when Americans begin to feel the impact of the Affordable Care Act. ELIZABETH FRANKLIN
Medicine From The Heart Bernard Leo Remakus 221 East Publishing, 178 pages, $2.99
Bernard Leo Remakus has practiced internal medicine for over 30 years. He has also lectured, coached baseball, raised a family, authored novels, a screenplay and works of non-fiction. He has written countless scientific and medical articles that have been read by physicians, med students and the public. Medicine From the Heart is an eBook that brings together many of Dr. Remakus’ articles, some written over 20 years ago. The result is a collection of stories, personal anecdotes and reflections on the state of America’s health care system. His essays cover issues including smoking, home health care, faith, psychiatry, malpractice, pro bono work, managed care, the Hippocratic Oath, research and funding, reform and a day in the life of a rural doctor. Don’t worry. It doesn’t feel like you are reading a scientific journal. Dr. Remakus personalizes each “chapter” so that he tells the story of a person, event or important point. He shares his frustration with insurance companies, hospital billing departments, Workmen’s Compensation, HMOs and Medicare. Readers who are pro-choice and advocates of end of life choices should know that Dr. Remakus’ personal interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t allow him to offer these services to his patients. Even though some pieces are over 20 years old, a majority of the issues are still relevant today. The fact that many problems
haven’t been solved certainly says something about the state of our medical system. But it is reassuring to know that there are caring practitioners like Dr. Remakus who put patients first. KATHRYN FRANKLIN
Medicine Between The Lines Bernard Leo Remakus 221 East Publishing, 206 pages, $2.99
Dr. Bernard Remakus has practiced medicine, written scientific articles, conducted clinical drug research, coached high school baseball and raised a family. He also served as a featured columnist for International Medicine World Rep or t for over 10 years. Medicine Between the Lines is a collection of essays that Re makus wrote during that busy decade. This retrospective covers topics surrounding our health care system, special interest groups, malpractice, government spending cuts and HMOs. All of the essays were important at the time they were originally written and they remain just as relevant today. ||Readers will enjoy Remakus’ clear and comedic writing style. While he makes his arguments, he throws in little jokes and anecdotes that will bring forth chuckles. Not all of the essays are lighthearted. The piece titled “Shocks and Aftershocks” challenges readers to think about privacy, specifically within the world of drug companies. In another essay, Remakus argues against limiting the United States’ use of foreign medical graduates. He shares personal experiences with drunk driving and discusses preventative measures created to keep drunk drivers off the road. The great thing about this eBook is that the essays can be read in any order. At just over 200 pages, readers can get what they want out of this book, when they want it. KATHRYN FRANKLIN
Bernard Leo Remakus, M.D.
is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He received his B.S. degree from King’s College, M.Ed. degree from East Stroudsburg State College, and M.D. degree from the Temple University School of Medicine. He completed a three-year residency in internal medicine at Abington Memorial Hospital which led to his certification as a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Remakus has practiced internal medicine in a rural, physician-shortage area of Northeastern Pennsylvania for more than three decades. During that time, he has published three novels – Keystone, Cassidy’s Solution and Mia; three works of non-fiction – The Malpractice Epidemic, Medicine From The Heart and Medicine Between The Lines; and one screenplay, Mia. He has also authored more than 200 scientific articles that have been published in: The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Newsweek, Medical Economics, The Archives of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine News, Consultant, Geriatrics, Medical World News, Hospital News, The American Magazine, Pride and Internal Medicine World Report. Many of these articles have been reprinted in popular newspapers and magazines. From 1991 to 2002, Dr. Remakus was the featured columnist and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the medical publication, Internal Medicine World Report. His column in that publication had the distinction of being one of the most widely read and longest running physician-written columns in America. When not practicing medicine or writing, Dr. Remakus serves as a professional speaker and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Temple University School of Medicine. In previous years, he has also performed clinical drug research, worked as a medical examiner and consultant, and coached his local high school baseball team to a league championship and four post-season district playoff appearances in six seasons. The recipient of numerous awards and citations, Dr. Remakus has been named to every edition of “America’s Top Physicians” since 2003. He is listed in multiple “Who’s Who” publications, including “Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare,” “Who’s Who in America,” and “Who’s Who in The World.” Dr. Remakus and his wife, Charlotte, have been married for 37 years, and their three children, Chris, Ali and Matt, are all physicians. Their son-in-law, Mark, is also a physician, and their daughter-in-law, Sanda, is a Ph.D. in medical microbiology. Their only grandson, “Earthquake Jake,” is the descendant of long family lines that originated in Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sicily and China.
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POPULAR FICTION Orbit Beach Jane Etarie Murder Island Press, 212 pages, $12.99
Jane Etarie’s Orbit Beach is an interesting specimen to say the least. It’s about a tormented young woman working a deadend job, living a dirty life. In a way, it’s about motherhood. It’s about relationships, platonic and romantic. It’s about many things, but is it worthwhile read? When picking up this novel, readers will instantly notice that it utilizes a great deal of mature language. Now, anyone who has read the work of author s like Chuck Palahniuk understands that there is indeed a way to take diction some may consider crass or vulgar and elevate it into something honest and elegant. Orbit Beach, unfortunately, does not succeed in doing this. Not only does the narrator’s language come off as obscenely immature, but after about the twentieth time she calls someone a “retard,” it also appears trite and repetitive. On that note, the narrator is perhaps the most infuriating character this reviewer has encountered in recent memory. Imagine Holden Caulfield being about ten times more whiney and a hundred times more violent and unpredictable. That’s this novel’s protagonist. She fakes pregnancy to keep her boyfriend from breaking up with her, then gets pregnant by sleeping around with dozens of other men. She constantly smokes and drinks while with child, yet she brags about what a great mother she will make. If such hypocrisy was not horrible enough, she also nastily takes advantage of her coworkers’ kindness while annoyingly proselytizing for the latest self-help fads. Furthermore, she engages several times in violent temper tantrums that result in those around her incurring serious physical injury. The narrator is clearly a character who has suffered a great deal of trauma and abuse throughout her life, but after seeing her make so many wretched decisions, it’s hard for the audience to retain any sympathy for her. That all being said, this novel is certainly not the worst this reviewer has ever read. In fact, there is one chapter that relates an anecdote about a hippopotamus and a vial of insulin which is actually quite darkly comedic. If the author had isolated and developed this chapter’s wit throughout the rest of the book, it would have most likely been much more successful. However, in its present form, Orbit Beach will simply not appeal to most readers. MICHAEL ALBANI
Second Chance Sister Billy McCoy Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 136 pages, $3.99
Unfortunately people break promises as often as they give them. However, Ashley Edmundson, the heroine of Second Chance Sister tries very hard to keep hers. Twenty year old Ashley, who grew up in a loving and supportive family, is innocent and naïve. She studies sociology and believes in universal justice. Ashley plans to marry the solid and promising Neal. But one day while she is at the local community center where she spends time helping the poor she meets Brandon. He is very attractive and wants to be a labor lawyer. They swiftly fall in love. Soon Brandon is severely injured in a car accident. Ashley rushes to help. She knows very little about Brandon and in spite of her mother’s warning, Ashley marries him. She thinks that she is mature enough to make her own decisions. How fortunate is she? In any case, you wouldn’t call Peyton Cresap, the hero of the second novel, Online Dating: a Memoir, fortunate at all. Belonging to the upper middle class didn’t make him happy. His father shot himself when Peyton was eleven. Then his mother died from years of abusive drinking. Recently, he lost his wife in a car accident. Alas, it was a drunk Peyton who drove the car. Moreover, the accident happened the night Peyton thought about leaving his wife. Money has saved him from the long term in jail but he is lonely and depressed. Suddenly Peyton realizes he is still deeply in love with his late wife. To distract himself he decides to try online dating. His attempts aren’t successful. With arrogance and disdain he also describes his encounter with the Church Hens. However, one day Peyton finds himself talking with St. Paul in a dream. Did this conversation help him? Both these novels aren’t sentimental. You won’t find straight didactics, either. Yet, after reading them you’ll think more than once while making serious decisions. Not all people have a second chance. GALINA ROIZMAN
Brood X: A Story of Love, Loss...and Insects Daniel Stockman CreateSpace, 170 pages, $4.99
Do not be intimidated by the title of this book. You’ll learn a lot about periodical cicadas (which you’ve probably never heard of) from author Daniel Stockman in Brood X: A Story of Love, Loss...and Insects. His book is a
wonderful read. The narrated story is awfully romantic and sad... Andrew Gardner is 34 years old and divorced. One evening Scarlett King appears at his door with a package of bratwurst and a bag of hotdog buns. She is one of Andy’s neighbors whom he barely knows. She is also divorced and attractive. It isn’t surprising that after a meal and a lot of beer they find themselves in bed together. What surprises them, especially Andy, is the noisy, screaming song of the cicadas they hear. These are periodical cicadas, called Brood X, that emerge once in 17 years. The cicadas’ song reminds Andy of memories from the summer that took place 17 years before. In the beginning of that summer Andy met and fell in love with Ashley. She and her mother rented a house just around the corner of Andy’s. The cicadas’ song became a symbol of their eternal love. However, Ashley suddenly disappeared before school started and never contacted Andy again. Andy has regretted every moment of his life since then. Now it appears the same thing is happening. Why has Scarlett appeared in his life about the same way as Ashley did? Will she disappear the same way, too? He is tired of being unhappy and wants a change. Scarlett’s appearance, though unexpected, has brought him hope. He doesn’t want to risk losing his relationship with Scarlett but figures the only way to be healed from his obsession with Ashley is to find her. Does he succeed? Although there are some clues in the narrative, it is hard to guess how the story ends. Read Brood X by Daniel Stockman to find out. GALINA ROIZMAN
The Sol of Jupiter Thaddeus J Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 126 pages, $4.99
The word “sol” can be interpreted differently. “Sun” is one meaning. However, if you think that The Sol of Jupiter by Thaddeus J is about our Sun or the biggest planet in our solar system, you’d be wrong. Jupiter is the name of a small town in Florida where Turner Michaels, the main character of this book, resides. He is fairly unique and almost a star. At twenty years old, Turner is smart, intelligent and a patriot. After 9/11, believing that he could and should give something to the country, Michaels joins the United States Marine Corps. Why the Marine Corps? He simply likes Dress Blue (just kidding, but who doesn’t?). He is a perfectionist. Michaels works hard to achieve the best results in his military training. His efforts are awarded by the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. When he is relocated to a training camp in the middle of the Mojave Desert he meets his old friend Jace Sozio who has recently returned from Iraq. As they rekindle their friendship, a mutual attraction grows. Though Michaels is confident with his sexual orientation, Sozio isn’t ready to admit it, even
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to himself, and they both keep their feelings secret. When they eventually reveal their true feelings to each other they don’t really know how to deal with the situation. Both men are afraid to lose their friendship and their military career. Their deployment is threatened. They are afraid of other people’s reaction as well. While other c h a r a c te r s , like Michaels’ friend, are suppor tive, Sozio’s Iraqi friend and roommate treat Michaels like the enemy. Do Michaels and Sozio have to end their relationship or keep it secret forever? Tough language, salty jokes, taunts, four letter words, stubbornness, fears, fights, concerns, frustration – you’ll find all these here. However this story is about trust, friendship and true love. Although this book doesn’t have any female characters, the plot is solid and can be read with interest by people of any gender. GALINA ROIZMAN
Brother Jim Murray Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 292 pages, $2.99
Brother is a story of revenge. A good one. Author Jim Murray tells the tale of two brothers, Dominic and Spencer, who have been battling each other on some level for their entire lives. The story opens with Spencer in a strained romantic relationship, looking for work and coping with the deep scars of a traumatic childhood. Things seem to take a turn for the better when he lands a job, but quickly become tense when he realizes his childhood tormentor, Mangan, a violent bully who spent time in the penitentiary after killing a classmate as a teen, holds a powerful position at the same company, but under a new identity. In the midst of this terrifying realization, D o minic is called to help with a family crisis. His brother Spencer, a recovering alcoholic, drug addict and constant thorn in Dominic’s side, has gone off the grid, MIA from a business trip to Thailand. Dominic begrudgingly agrees to take time off from his new job to retrieve his brother – a trip that, unbeknownst to Continued on page 10
December 2013 – March 2014
9
POPULAR FICTION him, will trigger the unraveling of his world as he knows it and put his entire family in jeopardy. Murray is a master storyteller. Brothers is a complex, fascinating and fast-paced story filled with well-developed, interesting characters. He skillfully weaves Dominic’s memories of his difficult childhood – from what he saw at Spencer’s unwelcome, family-shattering birth to the mental illness that seems to run in his family – and the events of their current-day lives with a deft hand. He explores tenuous family relationships that have been damaged by lifelong grudges, imagined slights and not-so-hidden resentments – and how they might actually be healed. REBECCA PARSONS
Breathless Dead Richard Magill Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 238 pages, $3.99
“I always suspected that I would die in a bleak and lonely place like this.” These are the words that begin Richard Magill’s novel Breathless Dead, which tells the story of Johnny, a directionless young man who hasn’t quite figured out what he wants to do with his life— but has clearly gotten himself in some trouble, finding himself injured in the snow, certain that he’s been murdered. Not the best way to go. Johnny’s life hasn’t been easy—half-Native American son of two alcoholic parents in a small New Mexico town, his mother was killed in a car accident when he was a child and his father, who was behind the wheel, has been punishing himself ever since—and he hasn’t quite gotten the swing of things. Sure, he’s been around, known some interesting—and occasionally dangerous—women, gotten really good at extreme sports, but he just doesn’t know exactly what to do with his life. And since, at the point we’re introduced to him, he believes his life is about to expire, Breathless Dead tells the story, beginning with a broken collarbone that ruined his plans to travel to California with his friends, of just what lead Johnny to the novel’s first lines. Certain elements of the story are troublesome. Politically slanted bits seem a bit out of place and heavy-handed, and there’s a political correctness in some of the descriptions of people that comes across less genuine than Magill intended. That said, the writing in Breathless Dead is conversational, relaxed and consistent. The plot and Magill’s talent push the story forward relentlessly and keep
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the audience interested. This isn’t a perfect novel, but it is a well-written, engaging and exciting one. And sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered. ASHLEY MCCALL
The Girl You Left Behind Jojo Moyes Viking , 369 pages, $27.95
Jojo Moyes has written an astoundingly great book. If you read “Me Before You” and were enraptured, get ready to be even more enamored with her latest book, The Girl You Left Behind. Sophie and Helene are barely surviving in a small French town during the German occupation of World War I. The sisters run the local restaurant, Le Coq Rouge, and are forced to feed the German soldiers every night. The Kommandant is mesmerized by a painting in the dining room by Sophie’s husband, Edouard Lefevre, called “The Girl You Left Behind”. It is a painting of Sophie when she was full of love and life after she first met Edouard. Sophie dreams of Edouard daily; hoping he is alive on the front. Sophie decides to make the ultimate sacrifice by offering her painting to the Kommandant in return for seeing her husband. Alternating chapters reveal Liv, a woman living in 2006 London. She is still struggling four years after the sudden death of her 38 year-old architect husband. David gave Liv “The Girl You Left Behind“ for their honeymoon and it is proudly displayed in Liv’s home. Liv’s life has essentially stopped. She is unwilling to make anything different in David’s house since his death. During a chance meeting, Liv meets Paul and finally gets a shot at the possibility of a “normal” life. But the mysterious painting plays an integral role in both Sophie and Liv’s life as events unfold in this engrossing novel. Moyes writes of love, sacrifice and loss with glaring detail. Her characters leap from the pages with the vivid writing of the author. The Girl You Left Behind// is fraught with deeper meaning and readers will be thinking of the characters long after they finish the book. SENIYE GROFF
The Aftermath: A Novel Rhidian Brook Alfred A. Knopf, 267 pages, $25.95
Rhidian Brook indulges the reader inThe Aftermathto details of 1946 Hamburg during the rebuilding and denazification of Germany. Colonel Lewis Morgan, a British officer, makes the unorthodox decision to live with the German family owning the house he has been stationed in, during his work in Ham-
burg. Soon after Lewis moves in, his wife Rachel and son Edmund join him in the very grand home. Herr Lubert and his daughter Freda, must move to the top floor servant quarters. Lubert is still reeling from his wife’s death two years earlier. Freda is combative and divisive with secrets of her own. At the same time, Rachel is still distraught over her older son, Michael’s, death. Rachel is lonely and lost in her foreign surroundings. Rachel is very aware of what the other military families think about her living with a German family. She is intent on keeping her distance from the household “enemy”. As Rachel slowly removes the imaginary wall, and gets to know Lubert, she discovers herself again. When Lewis must leave to take another assignment, Rachel decides to secretly travel. As she is fearful, but also free, she must share a secret that will change the path she has chosen.//Brook is a master with mixing the mundane details with characters’ trials and tribulations. His specifics are engrossing and the way he leads the reader down the path to be immersed is masterful. In the end, this story of passion, betrayal and ultimate truth and forgiveness will have you hooked.
i m p o r t a n ce than how possibilities and events are interpreted by the main characters. More a philosophical essay than a ps ycho lo gi cal thriller and more emotionally reflective than suspenseful, this is the story of a murder that is, at the same time, nothing more and much more. LINDA FREDERIKSEN
Flawed Characters Mixed with an Interesting Time in History SENIYE GROFF
The Infatuations Javier Marias, Translated by Margaret Jull Costa Alfred A. Knopf, 338 pages, $26.95
It is the habit of María Dolz, a prudent young woman who works in a nearby publishing house, to have breakfast every morning before work at a certain café in Madrid. There, she regularly and contentedly observes Miguel and Luisa Desverne, a husband and wife who she comes to think of as the Perfect Couple. Sometime later, she is shocked to learn that the husband has been brutally stabbed on the street near his home. While coming to grips with the sudden death of someone she barely knows, María meets Desverne’s wife and Javier, his best friend. As she becomes entangled with Javier, she gradually discovers that the murder was not random. In this contemplative and literary novel by award-winning Spanish author Marías what happens is of far less
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POPULAR FICTION The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith Pantheon, 256 pages, $24.95
Many writers, even very good ones, occasionally come up with a disappointing book or two. Alexander McCall Smith seems to be an exception - he manages to satisfy his reader fans without fail. Yet readers either love his writings or cannot go past page twenty - his writing style is so different. McCall Smith has five series, four in Scotland and one in Botswana. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon is in the Botswana series. No matter which series you are reading, you can expect great though mellow humor, excellent characters as if watching a movie, and his unbeatable, thought-provoking philosophy he frequently inserts into his
SEQUENTIAL ART We Won’t See Auschwitz Jeremie Dres Abrams Image, 198 pages, $22.95
We Won’t See Auschwitz by Jeremie Dres is a graphic novel depicting the true life trip two brothers take to their grandmothers homeland of Poland. They make the trip the year after she died in order to rediscover the country she had to leave during World War II. The brothers make a choice not to visit Auschwitz. Instead, they decide to make the trip about what it means to be a Jew in Poland now, not what it meant then. The trip is all full of revelations for the brothers as they discover each other and the world of their ancestors, and they come to realize that—unlike they thought—they are not the only ones searching. The story is very interesting. It brings to light how Poland has moved forward since the war and how both Jews and Gentiles alike have tried to rebuild and heal. The illustrations are a little on the simplistic side and sometimes some of the characters can be a little too similar. Even with this confusion the plot is not hard to follow. There are several Yiddish phrases that are fun to learn and the photographs in the back of the book—of Jeremie’s family and his trip help tie everything together. NICOLE GREEN
writing. His writing style is easy to read, his stories are thoroughly entertaining and his books are page turners. These are like very genteel mysteries without gratuitous sex and violence yet Mma Ramotswe, owner of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and her assistant Mma Ramotswe solve them all with ingenuity, warmth for their fellow human beings and passion. The landscape and people of Botswana and their deep love of their country shine through in every chapter of McCall Smith’s writings. Those reader fans who love this author will not be disappointed. GEORGE ERDOSH
The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan ECCO, 589 pages, $29.99
The story begins with Violet Minturn, a headstrong young Asian-American girl who lives with her mother in Shanghai, China. The year is 1905 and her mother is the owner of the Hidden Jade Path, one of the rapidly growing city’s premier courtesan houses. It is a time of political and social upheaval and as Violet reaches adolescence, she too becomes caught up in the turmoil. In the years
that both precede and follow Violet’s youth, a family story of uncertainty, abandonment, deceit and lies emerges. Spanning three generations of women and taking place in both China and the Unites States, Tan’s first novel in eight years is a powerful reminder of the author’s skill as a storyteller. Returning to themes familiar to readers of her previous books - mother- daughter relationships, family secrets, and East-West influences and illusions – Tan comes up with a page-turning account of the lives, loves and complications of three women who find themselves navigating their way through interesting times. LINDA FREDERIKSEN
TWEEN Literary Quotes
“Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
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Grave Images Jenny Goebel Scholastic, 208 pages, $16.99
Bernie has always been a bit of an oddity in her town – it’s hard to be considered normal when your family business involves carving headstones and your backyard is the business showroom. When a drifter, Mr. Stein, comes to town, however, things get even worse for Bernie. Somehow, he is able to create grave portraits for people before they have died. Bernie and her friend, Michael, start investigating and soon find that they are in over their heads – and in Mr. Stein’s line of fire. Will they be able to save the town and themselves? Grave Images is a delightful book by author Jenny Goebel. Bernie is a great character – she is bright, creative, and resilient. Her friend Michael is equally complex and balances her moodiness out with his persistent positivity. The story is absorbing and the author successfully creates a feeling of foreboding throughout the book. It also nicely touches on Bernie’s struggle with her depressed mother and her own feelings of inadequacy. This book is more geared for older or more mature children due to the content of the story. This was truly a wellwritten book that was wonderful to read. BARBARA COTHERN
December 2013 – March 2014
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SCIENCE FICTION The Seed & Other Fairy Tales Joseph Hillenbrand Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 110 pages, $0.99
The Seed and Other Fairy Tales by Joseph Hillenbrand is a collection of nine tales, some as short as flash fiction, others short story length, that give a modern twist to fairy tale-esque stories. For instance, the human who followed a girl into a pond and emerged among frog people, or the ogre who had daughters only to raise them up and eat them. These are strange, thought-provoking tales, which stray away from the simple morals of fairy tales. Daughters consume mothers, women consume fish smoothies, men consume their emotions, a couple squanders their three wishes and accidentally cause their noses to grow together. These are not children’s stories, but anecdotes to make the reader think more deeply about the world around us and our interactions with it. The book itself is formatted so each separate story has its own font and a lovely illustration to accompany it. It’s a short collection, but tightly constructed. The most difficult thing about this book might be in thinking about its purpose. Is it to entertain? To warn? To teach? Perhaps all three, perhaps merely to tell these odd, occasionally off-putting stories and entertain the circumspect reader. Whatever the cause, this collection might be the kind that the reader sees in it what they bring to it. Some may see inspiring tales; others might be turned off by the violence and unusualness of the stories. Others yet might be entertained by the ironic voice and turns of phrase the author uses, which evoke classic fairy tale language with the occasional “ef you” thrown in for jarring, but completely believable, modernity. Whatever you bring to this collection, it will likely affect you somehow. AXIE BARCLAY
The Seventh Equinox Matthew Warner Raw Dogs Screaming Press, 218 pages, $4.99
Bessie Henderson is recently divorced, vulnerable, lonely and is running away from her previous life. On the way, she has a car accident in a small Virginian city of Augusta. While she waits for her car to be repaired, she is charmed by the city’s Victorian architecture and unexpectedly buys a house. Suspecting that a big house built in 1885 that is filled with secret passages could be haunted, she is a little afraid. However, she isn’t disappointed.
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Bessie finds underground caverns in her basement the day after she moves in. She also finds an injured man who is hiding from the police. She considers calling the authorities but hesitates. Bessie is persuaded by several people to help the escapee. Bessie’s neighbor, an elderly eccentric woman, is convinced that he has a good aura. The other, a young African-American boy, is also in trouble with the police. Bessie helps the fugitive because she is attracted to him. She has been captivated by his perfect features from the first moment she saw him. It isn’t surprising that Robin Goodfellow is so handsome. He is actually a demigod. His real name is the Hunter. What brought him to the pastoral Shenandoah Valley? According to author Matthew Warner’s legend, Robin Goodfellow must carry out a ritual Hunt by the spring equinox. If he doesn’t, the planet will be destroyed. Robin has spent a long seven hundred years in search of his rival and has ended up in Augusta. There are only three days left until the spring equinox and Robin has been severely wounded. Moreover, he has found out that his prey is too big to be killed in a conventional way. But this is the Hunter’s last chance to save the world. You need to read the entire book to find out how Robin and Bessie’s mutual attraction helps Robin accomplish his mission. Most of the narrative is very original and this is a fine book. GALINA ROIZMAN
The Starlight Fortress Fiona Rawsontile Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 234 pages, $2.99
In The Starlight Fortress, young Queen Geneva of the Alliance battles it out with the Imperial Forces while navigating through a life filled with the various suitors and pregnancies. The story opens in the middle of a conflict between the two forces. which represent the forces of good, The Alliance, or democracy, represents the forces of good and the Empires represents the evil totalitarian state. Geneva, although a queen, has limited power--her
state is more a republic than monarchy. The backstory emerges gradually. Geneva and her allies and enemies are descendants of humans who destroyed the Earth, scattered throughout the universe and have been engaged in various battles since. Geneva leads the “good guys” and the mysterious Pompeii the “bad guys,” or the Empire. In addition to the various aggravations that the tirelessly diplomatic and compulsive eater Geneva has to deal with is “A Second Chance,” an environmental group intent on limiting the RA’s abilities to destroy another planet or planets. Geneva remains a skilled and brave soldier throughout, working with the various forces to broker peace. The novel is well-written. The author has a skillful style and knows how to build scenes and conflicts. Her characters are also threedimensional, not cartoons representing good and evil. The plot, although well-worn, takes on some variation in its conflicts, and a powerful statement about peace is made. However, one area of concern is how busy and complicated the plot becomes. It is very hard to keep track of all of the characters, their interests and cultures and the conflicts involved. I was well into the first quarter of the novel before sorting out the major RAEmpire conflict. This may be endemic to the genre, however when a reader opens a fantasy novel, she enters a new culture that she must acclimate to--even though its inhabitants also go on shopping trips and celebrate Christmas. Stacia Levy
City of Gods: Hellenica Jon Maas CreateSpace, 344 pages,$8.99
Every once in awhile a book comes along that is so impressive it helps define a genre, and that is the case with City of gods: Hellenica. This book tells the story of a world taken over by the gods of long ago. Sick of sitting passively, the gods have taken over various districts in the world and now use their followers as pawns in a game for power. Unique individuals play important parts in this world. The Horseman is a youth with amazing abilities and is tasked with saving the world. Kayana Marx is the master of death who is capable of killing with a single touch. Gunnar Redstone is almost as strong as Hercules. Tommy Alderon is a cripple with a mechanized suit that protects him from all poison and disease. Saoirse Frost is in tune with the world and has the entirety of nature at her command. These young people are ripped from their lives and sent deep underground to study at the last free academy in the world. There they are taught to fight, control their powers and lead the world against the gods to fight for mankind’s freedom. Many authors incorporate gods into their stories. Most notable is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. And many authors incorporate magical schools (hello Hogwarts). Few titles
have blended the two so seamlessly. Author Jon Maas has a vast knowledge of gods from all corners of the globe. Minor Mesopotamian gods trade blows with Loki and Zeus. The author also does a good job jux taposing the power of The Horsemen, a group from the m o n o t h e is tic pantheon, against the power of the polytheistic gods. Maas’ greatest strength shows in his world building. It’s not easy to imagine a world where gods exist, much less where they wage war against each other in an apocalyptic landscape. Maas portrays this world with such dexterity and beauty that the reader can’t help but crave to step through the pages and fight alongside Gunnar or talk to the animals with Saoirse. The gods themselves even come alive. Maas turns the gods into complex people with their own desires, motives and aspirations. Even the academy becomes a character hiding secrets and helping develop the heroes as much as the teachers. Every part of this book screams best-seller. Between the awesome concept, well developed characters, and beautiful writing, City of gods: Hellenica is destined to be read and loved by many. ANDREW KEYSER
Immobility Brian Evenson Tor, 256 pages, $24.99
Josef Horkai wakes up from a procedure designed to sedate people for a few days, a few months maximum. He learns that he has been “stored” for 30 years. The world is different now. The people he once knew are now dead. Horkai is a paraplegic and he can’t seem to remember how he got that way. Some type of catastrophe called the “kollapse” has destroyed everything he knows (or thinks he knows) to be true. A minute spent exposed to the outside contaminated air equals a year off the end of an already shortened lifespan. For some reason, Horkai is immune to the radiation and can be outside with no risk. It is yet another mystery for which he has no answer.
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Continued on page 17
SCIENCE FICTION Now, the group of men who woke him up from storage want to send Horkai to the Granite Mountains on a mission to retrieve a stolen item. He isn’t provided with many details but he is given two “mules” - Qanik and Qalik - men assigned to transport Horkai to his destination knowing full well that this means certain death from prolonged exposure to the elements. Just as Horkai knows nothing about his past or his mysterious mission, neither do readers. His purpose is gradually revealed over the course of the book, filling readers with tense anticipation. Even Horkai’s few memories and dreams are suspect. Horkai’s desperate need for information about his past is the driving force behind his actions and decisions. This well written, perfectly edited novel will keep readers guessing until the last page. The story’s twists and turns are suspenseful and numerous. In a post-apocalyptic world, one man must discover his role in humanity’s survival in Brian Evenson’s outstanding book Immobility. KATHRYN FRANKLIN
Vicious V.E. Schwab Tor, 364 pages, $24.99
College roommates Victor and Eli decided to turn their theoretical thesis on ExtraOrdinary people into practical application. Instead of simply looking for people with ExtraOrdinary abilities, they decided to become EO themselves, but first they had to die. Ten years later, Victor has broken out of jail and is determined to hunt down Eli in order to repay him for an old betrayal. Meanwhile Eli has begun a quest to rid the world of unnatural EOs: everyone except himself. Both men have had years to perfect their powerful abilities and the question re-
mains, who will survive the encounter? Vicious is at heart a study of villains. V. E. Schwab writes from both characters perspectives allowing the readers to see the motivations behind their actions. The entire cast of characters have unique personalities and motivations, but Victor and Eli’s complicated relationship holds center stage. This is an extremely fast paced book that is nearly impossible to put down and is recommended for readers of science fiction, fantasy, and anyone interested in the concept of who gets to decide who the heroes are, and who really is a villain. WHITNEY SMYTH
When Heroes are Sometimes Villains
Literary Quotes
“Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life.” - Simone Weil
YOUNG ADULT Crow in the Hollow Brian W. Parker Inkwater Press, 312 pages, $15.95
From a company of slaves bound in a mire of drudgery, a hero is destined to emerge. He is a hero who will not battle with sword alone, but rather with mystical wordweaving abilities which can shatter the very foundations of space and dimensions. He is Suqata, a young man said to be, “Watched by the Crow,” and he is the main character of Brian W. Parker’s debut novel, Crow in the Hollow. In this reviewer’s opinion, what truly sets a fantastic fantasy novel apart is solid characterization. There are, in general, certain stock character archetypes that have to be employed as elements of the fantasy genre. Luckily, Suqata acts as an excellent interpretation of “The Chosen One” trope. He is amazingly proficient in the use of wordweaving, using songs of primeval origin to manipulate the world around him. He is, however, not arrogant. He is actually quite humble and willing to admit when he makes mistakes, perhaps in part due to his harsh upbringing first as a slave, then as servant to the unrelenting Captain Graye.
Throughout his lifelong journey, the reader comes to truly care for Suqata along with some of the novel’s more interesting supporting characters like the aforementioned Captain Graye as well as Suqata’s love interest, the strong-willed and resilient Auralyn. Along with being well composed from a characterization standpoint, Crow in the Hollow shines in its world construction. Parker has crafted a unique, yet strangely familiar world that readers will be sure to want to know more about. He also augments his language with some breathtaking illustrations. Further, the plot flows at a near-perfect pace, balancing action-packed events with refreshing moments of quiet character interaction. Crow in the Hollow may not be an earth-shattering, genre-defying epic, but it is still quite the satisfying read and a fine debut for a fine author. It is certainly the best type of debut novel, the type that makes you want to see more from Parker. MICHAEL ALBANI
Aliens Are Real Sabrina Sumsion Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 175 pages, $0
Teenage Jasmine is an Air Force brat. After her mother’s death, she finds herself dragged from pillar to post by her colonel father—but Omaha is different. Aliens are Real explores the social dynamics of high school life along with the mystery of having a unique best friend. Author Sabrina Sumsion creates a plethora of interesting characters in this quick-paced adventure. Unfortunately, despite the intrigue of the plot, the book has a multitude of factual missteps. A reader’s willing suspension of disbe-
lief must extend beyond statements of fact to include formatting weakness, redundancy and poor editing. If an adept editor polished the book, it might have merit. However, in its current state it is a painful read. For example, the Air Force does not refer to anyone in its ranks as “private”, chauffeured cars in the military are a rarity and female Air Force officers don’t wear stripes, they have bars. There are also problems with attributions, ellipses and commas. And whoever heard of a school schedule that had seven classes with only two core subjects? I have no doubt that this author’s next effort will be better because the character structure is very good. A sequel would be welcomed. But overall, this book is weak. SHELI ELLSWORTH
Reaper’s Rhythm (Hidden: Book 1) Clare Davidson Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 216 pages, $2.99
Disoriented upon waking up in the hospital, Kim is stricken with grief when she finds out Charley, her older sister, has committed suicide. Kim was supposedly the one who discovered her sister; however, a mysterious Continued on page 12
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December 2013 – March 2014
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YOUNG ADULT gap in her memory keeps her from remembering what happened. What she is sure of, though, is that Charley would not have committed suicide - she was way too happy and popular. Something is seriously wrong about the whole situation and Kim is determined to find out what it is. When a mysterious boy shows up at Charley’s funeral, the high school, the local nightclub, and other strange things begin to happen, she wonders if she’s losing her mind, or if perhaps the supernatural world really does exist. Full of mystery, emotion, suspense, and magic, Reaper’s Rhythm is an enjoyable young adult novel by Clare Davidson that might change your perspective about the world beyond ours and the unseen forces that perhaps affect us more than we know. The author does a great job portraying the torment of dealing with a loved one’s untimely death, not only in the main character’s thoughts and actions, but also in the reactions of the family, friends and acquaintances. Well-written and interesting, this novel will draw you in and get you looking forward to the next one in the series. AIMEE RASMUSSE
The War Inside: Book One in the Horizons Trilogy M. Kircher Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 360 pages, $2.99
Life in the Valley is hard and Thea knows that the only person you can count on is yourself. When she starts having vivid dreams directing her to save a teenage girl, Thea initially ignores them. The dreams are persistent, though, and Thea soon finds herself going to the forest to save Viv, the injured girl. Viv has a secret glow where her heart should be and a deadly infection. Thea realizes that Viv will die without medicine. This is something that does not exist in the Valley. She must join forces with a boy named Caden to go in search of The Stronghold, a city they have only heard about. Along the way they meet Rain, another teen looking for something more. It becomes clear that they are all part of something larger and are caught in a battle between the good and the evil in the universe. Each person will have to ultimately decide whether to take up their destiny in the fight for earth. The strength of author M. Kircher’s The War Inside: Book One in the Horizons Tril-
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ogy is the characters. All four of the main characters are nicely written. The heroine, Thea, stands out because she is smart, wary and has a caring heart. Her relationship with Caden is fun and lively. Both of them are attracted to the other but they resist that attraction. Her sisterly relationship with Viv is touching and increasingly warm as the book goes on. The supporting characters, Enoch and Naomi, are more forgettable and generic. They have their purpose in the novel but may not have as big an impact on the reader. The concept of the book is a good one and a nice take on the typical hero-quest tale. The idea that the human race can lose touch with their empathy and love is an intriguing one. One area where the book falters is in the pace. The first half of the book is slow going, clunky and not nearly as interesting as the last half. The last half of the book has an interesting plot line and is fast-paced. Kircher nicely sets up the next book in the trilogy. Overall, fans of young adult dystopian novels will enjoy this book. Barbara Cothern
Knights of Legend (Jason Sheridan Chronicles, Vol. I) J. Scott Bradley Dynamic Page LLC, 380 pages, $24.99
Knights of Legend by J. Scott Bradley is the story of a young baseball player, Jason Sheridan, who is a part of the local league. But it isn’t just a normal League—the league is ruled by a very select, very secret group of players who make up the Knights of the round table. Jason is a member of the league, but changes are coming and most of them are not of this world. As Jason’s team progresses through the season, they discover magical baseballs, evil witches, monsters and hidden tunnels. Everything culminates in the final game of the season, a show down between the forces of good and evil and the choices that we all have to make. Bradley expertly depicts small town America and the tradition of baseball, where numbers are passed down from father to son. The book is well written and very detailed. It is a tapestry—woven between the threads of tradition, families and legacies. A lot happens in the book and sometimes it might be necessary to backtrack and reread some passages. With all that goes on in the book it can be hard to catch everything, but this is a minor issue. At first the mention of magic and the knight of the round table can seem a little odd, but Bradley does a good job of weaving the legend into everyday life. By the end of the book, the reader doesn’t even question the more outlandish aspects of the book. While baseball is an American pas-
time, it can still be boring. Bradley has taken all the best parts of the game, included them in the story and left out all of the bad. The reader does not need to understand baseball or even enjoy it in order to be able to enjoy this book. NICOLE GREEN
The Dark Between Sonia Gensler Knopf Books for Young Readers, 344 pages, $16.99
Kate, Elsie and Asher all find themselves at Summerfield College in Cambridge, for different reasons. Elsie is taken in by her aunt and uncle to relieve her family from their burden of her “spells”. Kate is given refuge after losing her employment and Asher is there after fleeing America and his father. They become friends and discover their own connections to a series of deaths in the area as well as the connection to a local spiritualism society. They begin investigating and soon find that the line between the living and the death is thinner than they could have ever imagined. The Dark Between is a wonderful gothic novel by author Sonia Gensler. The characters are complex and well-written. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses and they feel real to the reader. The storyline unfolds well throughout the book and the intensity and sense of foreboding builds as plot points are revealed. The book overall is intense, fast-paced and exciting. This is a wonderful effort by the author. Fans of gothic fiction will enjoy this book. BARBARA COTHERN
its members the local librarians, a writer, a Vietnam Vet, and a neurologist. He actively corresponds with an astrophysicist from the local university. He does not relate to kids his own age and often seems baffled by their behavior. Though at first glance, this novel may be marketed toward the young adult fiction genre, it may not be appreciated by this population. The novel deals with difficult themes that may not seem relevant to a youthful audience. While it is a coming of age story, it marries together the light and dark aspects of humor, faith and rationalism, and morality vs legaility. As all teenagers eventually do, Alex learns that the world is not as simple as he learned in childhood when he ultimately puts the needs of his best friend ahead of his own. RACHELLE BARRETT
The Universe Versus Alex Woods Gavin Extence Redhook, 407 pages, $26 .00
Gavin Extence, debut Brittish novelist, introduces the universe to his unique protagonist Alex in /the Universe Verses Alex Woods/. At the age of ten, cerebral singleminded Alex turns instantly into a celebrity when a piece of the universe attacks him. He is hit by a meteor and survives. The circumstances of his life and the people he comes into contact with all shape him into the compassionate, if still slightly awkward young man he is at the end of the tale. This is an incredibly enriching and moving novel that should speak to a wide cross section of humanity. What makes the story so engaging are the people who love Alex and ultimately teach him to move outside of this own mind. His mother, so unlike himself, is a fortune teller. He forms a book group that reads only the works of Kurt Vonnegut and counts as
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ART, ARCHITECTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent Edited by Ian Berry & Michael Duncan Prestel, 257 pages, $49.95
Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent is a gorgeous representation of what an art book can be. Opening with a detailed essay about the Catholic nun’s radical politics, pop art, and passion, it emcomp asses not only a the life work of an artist and teacher, but also offers a contextual look into the time in which she lived. Kent inspired those around her to create a movement of activists, as well as raised public awareness via large-scale murals that made visible racial and political injustices. The book is a visual example of how Kent articulated the feeling of a unrest of her time through colorful, evocative screen prints. Someday is Now is a full depiction of Sister Kent’s portfolo, with 300 prints full of neon colors, text, magazine cut outs, religious motifs. Interviews with Kent give insight into the heart of her work and her brave convictions. The colors and quality of this book are the next best thing to going to the retrospective of Kent’s art—an excellent specimen of an exhibition book. GIOVANNA MARCUS
William S. Rice: Art and Life William S. Rice Pomegranate, 214 pages, $60.00
Even though many people might not recognize his name, they will recognize his work; and that person is William S. Rice. An artist who lived in California at the turn of the 20th Century, who popularized wood block prints. This relativity inexpensive process of creating art made him easily collectable for home owners, and at the same time he created these prints of famous, and familiar, places. This book brings to life the story of William Rice and how he became an artist. He started off studying art as a practical tool, to draw pictures for newspapers and magazines before photography. He then moved to California to teach art in schools, and create art in his spare time. Over time he created the wood block print process and really started to become prolific. While he is not well known, because of the rise of modern art; his pictures are a joy to look at. People who enjoy American art without the highbrow Modernism will enjoy this work, and they might recognize a picture or two they have seen before. KEVIN WINTER
EarthART: Colours of the Earth Bernhard Edmaier Phaidon Press, 224 pages, $59.95
This large-format, beautiful book, Earth is likely to be the queen of your coffee table books. It was produced at no expense spared, and it’s simply stunning. It presents onehundred-and-fifty aerial photos by geologist/photographer Bernhard Edmaier with text written by Angelika Jung-Hüttl. Virtually every single photo is awesome, and whether you like great photographs, you love the Earth or simply enjoy looking at striking art pieces, paging through the book will be a rewarding experience more than once. The authors cleverly divided the book into nine chapters offering photographs in nine colors according to the landscape (thus the subtitle, Colours of the Earth). Most of the photos are nearly full page, 10x10 inches, some full page, 13½x11½ inches and a few are double spreads. Each chapter heading briefly explains the reason for such color in nature and each photograph’s caption gives you the location and a description of that picture, and scientific details in a few short sentences. The photos are from all over the world and must have taken many years to complete. This was a monumental undertaking, and the publisher was justified to present it at the highest possible standard. Good writing skill nicely complements the photographs. GEORGE ERDOSH
The Great War: A Photographic Narrative Mark Holborn & Hilary Roberts Knopf, 502 pages, $100.00
The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme by Joe Sacco is an illustrated panorama. That is to say that it is a 24 foot long drawing, folded accordion style, of the first 24 hours of one of the most devastating days during the war. The drawing comes with a short essay by Adam Hochschild that explains the history and an annotated version of Sacco’s work, explaining various details of the drawing. While all the reading that there is to be had in this “book” takes about fifteen minutes, the drawing itself could take hours to discover all of its details. Even then something new could be found every time the drawing is unfolded. This would make the perfect gift for any artist or history
buff. Sacco has a talent for capturing the unimaginable scope of the Battle of the Somme. From the preparations of the British, to the foot soldiers in the trenches, from the miles of barbwire, to the rations of rum he captures everything there is to capture. It is executed with sensitivity, gravity, and a keen understanding of the devastation of war. It is an incredible work of art. NICOLE GREEN
Habsburg Treasures Sabine Haag & Franz Kirschweger Vendome Press, 304 pages, $90.00
Habsburg Treasures is a lovely and in-depth compendium of the collections assembled by the house of Habsburg, and today held in the Vienna Kusnthistorisches Museum. Unlike many catalogs of large and diverse collections, this volume sticks to the basics. There is only one long essay, on the history of the collection and the men and women who assembled it, by Sabine Haag. The rest of the text is short annotations, most about half a page, that give a brief history and context of the item pictured on the facing page, and in some cases in the next couple of pages. These annotations do use some technical terms, but they should be accessible to anyone with a basic background in art history, or who is willing to look up the terms. This volume is a little expensive, but not out of line with similar texts, and it is beautifully assembled, and would look great on a coffee table for people who want to look smart. The items featured in the volume are diverse, and the artists vary from household names like Donatello, to much lesser known artists. This would make a great gift for an art historian or history lover, especially those who are interested in the late Renaissance period, when the collection was assembled. KATIE RICHARDS
The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany Paul E. Doros Vendome Press, 228 pages, $75.00
Twenty-five years of research resulted in The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany. The book opens with a history of how glass-making evolved. Louis C. Tiffany was influenced by ancient cultures and Venetian artisans and this influence led to Tiffany creating Favrile Glass in the mid 1890’s. His experimentation led to producing pieces for collectors and connoisseurs. This was during a time when collecting and displaying art work in one’s home became a popular thing to do. Louis declined to join the family business and instead wanted to be a professional
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artist. He became a successful painter and then decided to found an interior decorating firm which then became a leaded-glass window company. He signed an agreement with Heidt, the owner of a glasshouse in Brooklyn in 1881 that changed history. Tiffany participated heavily in design and production in Tiffany studios Since this reviewer knew nothing of the Tiffany story, it was fascinating to read how Tiffany evolved from artist to designer to glass maker. The 225 photos in this book are stunning and the research is comprehensive. Each photo is labeled with year produced, height, inscription and any other information available about the piece. There are thirteen chapters on the various Favrile Glass designs such as flowerforms, Byzantine and Peacock. Each piece of glass is unique and designed for aesthetics rather than function. This would be an ideal book for glass lovers, followers of the Tiffany style or anyone interested in learning about this art form and the amazing history behind this art. SENIYE GROFF
Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones Thomas E. Gilson & William Gilson Wesleyan University Press, 136 pages, $30
The 17th century Puritan settlers of New England left behind a great legacy, including a collection of carved gravestones depicting their understanding of death and the afterlife. From 1640 to 1810, hundreds of stone carvers created thousands of stone grave markers, many of which still can be seen today. When photographer Thomas E. Gilson discovered the wealth of history portrayed on these underappreciated works of art, he knew that he had to preserve the messages revealed on their stone faces with his camera lens. By teaming up with his brother (and author) William Gilson, the siblings created Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones. With 81 full-page photographs, readers will feel like they are walking amongst the gravestones in a New England cemetery. The book opens with a revealing and fascinating essay by William Gilson. He possesses a great talent for describing carved stone using vivid imagery and lively, precise vocabulary. Gilson shares how he became interested in burial grounds and stone carving, specifically the carving found on the stones Continued on page 16
December 2013 – March 2014
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ART, ARCHITECTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY of the New England Puritans, and offers a brief overview of early New England history and background information on some of the stone carvers. Gilson also tackles the question of how Puritan stones came to exist in the first place given the fact that the carvers’ religion dictated “no graven images.” Following his brother’s introductory essay comes the bulk of Thomas E. Gilson’s photographs. They capture the artistry and craftsmanship that went into creating each hand carved work of art. On display for readers to ponder and enjoy are shadows created by raised carvings, small flaws made by a real person working with a mallet and chisel, marks created by hundreds of years of exposure to the elements, varying textures and a wide variety of additional decorative
detail. Accompanying the photographs are passages from journals, diaries, sermons and other writings of the period’s religious leaders. While Carved in Stone deals with death at its core, it is never morbid. The Gilson brothers have nothing but respect for the departed. Over time, even the gravestones featured in the book will crumble and fall, but the Gilsons’ magnificent tribute will always be available for readers interested in an important part of history that is recorded in stone. This beautiful book deserves a prominent place on your coffee table or in your library collection. KATHRYN FRANKLIN
Literary Quotes
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” -Pablo Picasso
BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS Straight Lines: A Story of Illness, Addiction and Redemption Greg Sacchet, CreateSpace, 157 pages, $10.99
When all of your friends and even your boss are coke addicts or dealers, it is time to get a new group of friends and maybe even a new job. This lesson and others are just a few that jump off the pages of Gregory Sacchet’s Straight Lines: A Story of Illness, Addiction and Redemption. His story starts when he was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome at age 12. This is a heavy burden and the changes that this syndrome brings on can be life altering. For much of his life, Sacchet had a normal upbringing. He went to school, had friends and fell in love - all relatable events. However, when he was diagnosed with MS in his early 20s, it was another series of changes that he had to adjust to, not only physically, but mentally. With two concurrent issues to address, it became hard for him to manage all of his symptoms with prescription medication and general treatment. So he turned to dealers and the like and soon became a coke addict while on and off the job. Apparently all those years of Nancy Reagan and her “Just Say No” campaign had little effect on Sacchet and his friends. They probably rolled up those flyers to do lines of coke after work. As the book continues, Sacchet tells stories about dealers, scores and close calls. He looks back and is thankful that he is alive. This book will make anyone who isn’t on drugs think twice about experimenting with them.
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I have never done drugs and reading this book makes me glad that I never did. Doing drugs gets you nowhere and Sacchet isn’t afraid to say that. I like that he is forthcoming and blunt because that may be the only way to get people’s attention. There are real life stories of redemption, recovery, love and support in this story. But success was a hard won battle that Sacchet had to fight for everyday. If he didn’t fight, he wouldn’t be here to tell his story and it is one that needs to be told. ANNIE HICKS
The Motor City and Me: Our Story Mary Anne McMahon CreateSpace, 337 pages, $16.95
The Motor City and Me by Mary Anne McMahon traces her history and life and how it intersects with the upswing and downturn of Detroit. McMahon opens the book with a biography written by her mother. Her mother survived the Prohibition and the Depression in Detroit and wrote about how those events shaped her life. McMahon then shares the history of her great-grandparents who were immigrants from Ireland and Germany. Their experiences with hunger and persecution, and the lack of choice, eventually drove them to the city of Detroit. Her great-grandparents and her grandparents sacrificed so that McMahon’s parents and her own generation could take advantage of the fruits that Detroit and the United States began to offer. Detroit was the greatest manufacturing and wealthiest city at one time. The city was innovative—with the help of the automotive in-
dustry. Coupled with world events, such as the World Wars, Detroit was poised to flourish with its assembly lines and manufacturing credos. But as the nation and its habits changed, with the advent of newer technologies, the wealth and grandeur declined. McMahon also contends that poor leadership, racial tensions and government bureaucracy played a role in Detroit’s demise. McMahon shares many personal trials and tribulations she faced as a woman who married young, moved to Germany, returned to Detroit, divorced and remarried two more times. She had two daughters and often reflects on her own upbringing as she works through life’s challenges. The Motor City and Me is a history lesson, personal tale and challenge to today’s leaders. McMahon writes of the immigrant experience and how it shaped who she is today. Additionally, she acknowledges that Detroit wouldn’t have experienced the greatest that it did if the immigrants that labored tirelessly were not involved. McMahon hopes that Detroit can, once again, find its greatness. SENIYE GROFF
Keeping Laughter Alive: The Inspiring Story of One Woman’s Determination to Live a Happy Life Despite the Odds Marie Fator CreateSpace, 336 pages, $14.99
Keeping Laughter Alive is a detailed account of how generational abuse can compound and ricochet through families. It is also a true story of how one woman made it her mission to counter the damage done, even that acted out by her as a passive player in her husband’s violent outbreaks. As a coping mechanism, author Marie Fator normalized the pain she experienced daily, starting as a fetus, when her mother wished her to be a stillborn, to the moment her son, Terry, won America’s Got Talent. Keeping Laughter Alive is self-pub-
lished—again, a testament to Fator’s determination to tell her heartwrenching story as an act of catharsis. Spirituality runs deep in Fator’s narrative. Readers will note that Fator has the ability to clearly recount what the abuse looked like: an impressive feat considering the depth of the denial in her family. The humor in the memoir is darling, displaying the observations and cleverness of a woman to whom family is paramount to everything else. Her writing is clear and descriptive, helpful when trying to keep track of the revolving cast of family and people in Fator’s life, right up to the book’s end where Fator describes in detail her son’s award as the most talented man in America. GIOVANNA MARCUS
Glimpses through the Forest: Memories of Gabon Jason Gray Peace Corps Writers, 288 pages, $14.95
Jason Gray’s memoir, Glimpses through the Forest: Memories of Gabon, defies the widely held image of the Peace Corps that assumes it spends its time in regions far from civilization as we know it. During his time in the prospering West African country of Gabon, the author set out on his mission to promote the importance of protecting natural resources. In 2002, the Gabonese president designated vast swathes of land to National Park status making it imperative to demonstrate how to preserve and conserve this bounty.
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BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS Gray worked towards this end primarily by developing programs for children and their schoolteachers and working alongside the Smithsonian and other natural history research groups. The book’s appeal lies not only in the information that it imparts, but more in the poetic and imaginative quality of Gray’s writing. It is divided into two sections and is an absolute pleasure to read. In the first part, Gray details his experience as a ‘newbie,’ learning the ropes with the help of his local Peace Corps buddy. Despite a ferocious climate so unlike his home in Montana, Gray focuses on the positive. He write about his day to day life in Gamba, the small coastal town where he is centered. He details the task of learning the
fundamentals of regional languages. And once the introductions are over, he describes a growing expertise of the natural surroundings. He highlights an overnight trip to the beach with high school kids to watch leatherback turtles lay their eggs, forest elephants swimming across the river and rosy beeeater birds winging up from their nests. Above all, he is enthralled when he sees “…a five-fingered leathery shiny black hand, thick fingers grasping at a leaf. The amazing single sighting … a gorilla’s hand.”. In addition to the narrative and photographs (readers will wish there were more), Gray provides excellent lists for further reading and highlights the species mentioned in the text. Grammar errors may occasionally trip up the reader (the title
of Chinua Achebe’s celebrated book has suffered a typo) but otherwise, full marks. JANE MANASTER
Hell Camp Niki Smart iMay Productions, 285 pages, $8.99
Niki Smart is a singer, author and yoga teacher from South Africa who has lived what could euphemistically be called a colorful life. In her memoir Hell Camp, Smart relays tales of her traumatic childhood, marked by her mother’s lack of boundaries, manipulations, abuse, and fear mongering regarding her children’s deaths, and her wild, promiscuous years as a young adult. But, in a way, Hell Camp is also more than a memoir. It takes place largely in apart-
heid South Africa and gives intense and often brutal insight into the social and political climate of the time. The violence and upheaval in South African history is a great juxtaposition to Smart’s story, the craziness of the time and the craziness of her life working in conjunction to present a very vibrant, almost frightening, picture. Hell Camp occasionally suffers from being too glib, too casual, and there are portions of the book that could use a good tweaking. But the story itself is really pretty remarkable, and you can’t help but feel that Smart is lucky she made it out as well as she did — or at all. ASHLEY MCCALL
BUSINESS & INVESTING Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius Erik Wahl Crown Business, 224 pages $23.00
Erik Wahl wants you do things differently and he has writtenUNTHINKto convince you to do exactly that. Too often people either get into ruts or follow the prescribed paths in their lives and careers. Wahl shares his personal story and tells the reader exactly how he made the journey from the typical path to a destination of creativity with no boundaries. The book begins with how children learn and interact with their world. Children are driven by discovery and adventure and are not concerned with doing things the way it is “supposed” to be done. Wahl shares all sorts of research and studies to prove his points. Ignorance, mystery and play are paramount to children. They do not wait until the time is right; they just do it in the moment. The opposite spectrum is being an adult. As an adult, we have preconceived notions of who we are and what we “should” do. This belief stifles creativity. Wahl shares an example of a Microsoft manager trying to solve a problem but he was looking at it from the logical standpoint rather than really turning the process upside down. Once he turned it upside down, the answer came-and it made a big difference for consumers, as
well as, Microsoft. Wahl’s book is loaded with research and examples. His message is clear—question the status quo by stepping out of your comfort zone, being uncomfortable and taking the risk to do things differently. I found myself nodding, smiling, laughing and thinking about Wahl’s message. This is a powerful book and if you dare to accomplish what Wahl suggests, your life will be very different. And perhaps even better. Act through the fear. You might be surprised at the outcome. SENIYE GROFF
The Power of Storytelling Ty Bennett Leadership Inc., 160 pages, $19.95
Don’t be fooled by this book’s plain exterior and seemingly simple message. The Power of Storytellingoffers a humble formula that is easy to learn and to practice. The book is divided into three practical subsets: Mindset, Skillset and Toolset. In the Mindset section topics covered range from understanding influence to the science of storytelling to the five places to use stories. Under the Skillset section, foundation, blueprint and delivery are covered. Finally in the Toolset section making stories compelling, dynamic and memorable are explained.
Ty Bennett shares numerous examples of how stories can dramatically change the outcome of a presentation if the presenter (or influencer) is thoughtful about the story and how they use it. Bennett contends that the presenter or influencer must first understand that telling stories is entirely about the audience. If the influencer presents from the audience’s perspective, he will surely engage that audience. Bennett then shares the five tools of engagement. Concepts in the book are reinforced with video clips (links are provided in the book). The book shares all kinds of actionable tips and practical suggestions. If your goal is to become a master storyteller, this is a book you must read and implement. SENIYE GROFF
The Manager’s Guide To HR: Hiring, Firing, Performance Evaluations, Documentation, Benefits, and Everything Else You Need to Know Max Muller Amacom, 304 pages, $24.95
Max Muller’s second edition ofThe Manager’s Guide to HRhas been fully updated and expanded. Its 10 chapters offer information on just about every facet of human resources you need to know including: hiring, performance evaluations, training, benefits, compensation, employment s laws, hot-button issues, privacy issues, firing and separation and documentation/record retention. Each chapter is loaded with practical information. To reinforce the information, there are examples, checklists and legal advice. For example, for the topic of interviewing, the author offers a table with the subject of a question and the acceptable and unacceptable version for a potential question on that
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topic. Muller lists practical information like common rating errors when writing performance evaluations. He also poses thoughtful questions to the reader so that the reader is challenged to really think through an issue and how it will be addressed.The Manager’s Guild to HRis an indispensable tool for any manager, whether or not you have an HR department within your company. Its practical, no-nonsense advice and information helps the reader think through issues, set up processes and gives a simplified understanding of complicated employee laws. Seasoned or newbie, every manager needs this book so that they are fully armed to create sound workplace processes and procedures. SENIYE GROFF
“Hiring dumb is easy. Hiring smart is hard.”
December 2013 – March 2014
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HEALTH & FITNESS Rise From the Ashes: The Spiritual Path to a Smoke-Free Life Gary Peck CreateSpace, 285 pages, $14.99
Author Gary H. Peck was born to write this book. He spent thirty years as a clinical specialist in pulmonary/respiratory care and then served as an ordained minister for many years. After that, he continued his work bi-vocationally in respiratory care. He knows the medical ef fe c t s of smoking, as well as the emotional and spiritual challenges people face trying to quit. In Rise from the Ashes, Peck delves into the commonality of quitting smoking and making any other transformation in a person’s life; just like in nature, a caterpillar changes into a butterfly or the mythical phoenix has new life after bursting into flames. He states, “For transformation to occur, you may need to change your way of thinking – to adopt a spiritual worldview.” In his Stages of Change Model, there are six degrees of change: Pre-contemplative (not ready to quit), Contemplative (think-
ing about quitting), Preparation (ready to quit), Action (quitting), Maintenance (staying quit), and Termination (living quit). Similarly, the spiritual stages for change are Awakening, Conversion, Purgation, Illumination, and Union. Peck discusses in immensely researched detail how the psychological and spiritual models complement each other. It offers a more natural way to quit smoking, one that we, as humans, were designed to embrace for a successful transformation. Smoking is more about what’s missing in our lives than it is about getting rid of the bad habit. It’s a powerful tool in the quitting smoking process and becoming a more complete person. The 49 short chapters are designed to be read one a day, so by the end of seven weeks, if you’re serious about this journey, you will be a non-smoker. Many quotes fill the pages, causing readers to contemplate the significance and relevance in their lives. The Endnotes would fill another entire book, which is perfect for a self-study. As with most quit-smoking books, it is filled with all the usual frightening, albeit ineffective to smokers, statistics about smoking, but they are delicately woven throughout the chapters in a non-judgmental and not-too-clinical design. This is intense reading, but for anyone with addictions, or anyone who knows an addict, it’s worth the read! M. CHRIS JOHNSON
Rise From the Ashes: The Spiritual Path to a Smoke-Free Life Gary Peck Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 285 pages, $7.99
There are all sorts of methods people use to break habits. If you are like one of the millions of Americans who have tried to quit smoking only to find themselves lighting up again and again, Gary H. Peck’s Rise from the Ashes: The Spiritual Path to a Smoke-Free Life could be the guidance you need. In Peck’s own words, “Selfhelp formulas, positive thinking, and behavior modification methods may be helpful in overcoming addiction, but ultimately they may not be enough. What we may need is Divine help.” Peck takes a spiritual approach to smoking cessation. His goal is to offer new hope to those who need to break free from nicotine and tobacco. Peck is very qualified to offer guidance and advice on this topic. He has been a registered respiratory therapist for over 30 years and is a smoking cessation facilitator. And Peck’s writing is influenced by his personal
experiences with cancer. Peck’s research is very thorough. His citations are timely and relevant. He uses books, journals and reports to supplement his biblical references. Endnotes include paragraphs about The Noble Truths of Buddhism, Hindu and Taoist traditions and Chinese philosophy, all information that broadens Peck’s spiritual lens and offers more ways a reader can relate and find the motivation and hope they need to better their life and stop smoking. People who are ready to quit and who are very spiritual will find extreme comfort in Peck’s book. Those who don’t have as much spiritual knowledge may get overwhelmed and caught up in the religious references. Overall, this is a well written book by a qualified and passionate smoking cessation advocate. ELIZABETH FRANKLIN
CRAFTS & HOBBIES 30 Minute Crochet: What Can You Crochet in 30 Minutes or Less? Carol Meldrum Barron, 128 pages, $16.99
30~minute crochet- what can you crochet in half an hour or less?Well, according to Carol Meldrum you can make over sixty different delightful projects. Meldrum has designed easy to follow patterns for a variety of crocheted items ranging from practical and useful to decorative and just plain fun. The book includes patterns for items such as a table runner and napkin rings, bird and butterfly appliques, phone cases, earrings, necklace and bracelets, finger puppets and a slew of other crocheted treasures. The patterns range from beginner to experienced with plenty of intermediate as well. The patterns are primarily written ins tr u c ti o ns but many include handy diagrams for some of the more advanced items. Useful information is con-
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veniently located in a stand out boxed area informing readers of materials and equipment needed, gauge and finished sizes. The book is chock full of colorful examples of finished items of every pattern. Also, included in the back of the book are crochet instructions, information about equipment, yarn weights, how to read a pattern and other useful tips. Carol Meldrum has written the ultimate solution for the creative yet time challenged crocheters of today with her new book 30~minute crochet. KIMBERLY LOGAN-ELWELL
Idiot’s Guides: Weight Training Abby Fox Alpha Books, 274 pages, $19.95
Abby Fox has written a comprehensive guide to all things revolving around weight training in her book The Idiot’s Guide to Weight Training. The book opens with a Q&A section that addresses many common weight training questions. The book is organized by body part such as legs, chest, back, etc. and even includes trends like medicine balls, kettlebells and suspension bands. Lastly, Fox outlines two-day, three-day and various other targeted routines. Included in each body part chapter are numerous different exercises for that body part. Each exercise is demonstrated with ample color photos and
step-by-step directions to perform the exercise properly. There is also a diagram with the body part targeted and the level of difficulty. The “Be Careful!” text boxes are especially helpful to ensure the exercise is performed safely. The Idiot’s Guide to Weight Tr a i n i n g i s truly a book for someone in need of precise and detailed directions and information. Even as a seasoned weight lifter, this reviewer learned a few new techniques, though. If you are serious about learning a weight lifting routine or just want to learn something new, this book is a great starting point on your road to fitness. SENIYE GROFF
Invaluable Guide to Weight Lifting
Literary Quotes
“True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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COOKING, FOOD & WINE Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese Stephanie Stiavetti & Garrett McCord Little, Brown and Company, 211 pages, $30.00
At first glance Melt appears to be a cookbook for the food snobs with unlimited food budget and an accessible well-stocked cheese shop. This is only partly true. A hefty budget will help as most of the recommended artisan cheeses in the recipes are pricey imports. And most of them you may not ever have heard of. But authors Stiavetti and McCord give alternative cheeses and, blessedly, some you may find at a good cheese counter. For example, alternatives to fiscalini bandage wrapped cheddar are five equally uncommon cheeses but the sixth is “any stout aged cheddar.”
The book has a considerable collection of great recipes including wine pairing, all featuring cheese and pasta and supporting ingredients accessible to most dedicated home cooks. Most recipes are not easy to reproduce, and even the familiar ones (Tune Noodle Casserole) will take some serious kitchen time. The recipe writing, head notes and layout (with some exceptions) are excellent and so are the many food photos. The many extensive sidebars are informative and so are the first chapter and appendices, providing you with practically a seminar on cheese and pasta. The index is extensive and well cross referenced. This is a wonderful cookbook. GEORGE ERDOSH
“Macaroni and cheese has been an American obsession…”
HISTORY The Anglo-Saxon World Nicholas Higham and M. J. Ryan Yale University Press, 477 pages, $45.00
The Anglo-Saxon World is a lovely tome of a book devoted to an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the Anglo-Saxons and viewing their influence with fresh science, answering the central question, in a digital landscape, do the Anglo-Saxons still matter. The answer: yes. Authors Nicholas Higham and Martin Ryan convincingly argue that few other cultures have had such a long-lasting or far-reaching impact on the modern civilization as did the Anglo-Saxons. They changed the face of Britain, and, therefore, the Western world. Some forty generations since the battle of Hastings, when the line of Anglo-Saxon kings fell to the Normans, their influence can still be felt, not only in the English language, but in the monarchy, the English system of government, Christianity, settlement patterns and estates in England, and, most importantly, in the national identity. Higham and Ryan combine data from archeology, linguistics, numerology, art and architecture, and all manner of sciences to portray the most accurate, cross-disciplinary view of the AngloSaxons and their reverberating impact. While it might sound boring, it’s actually quite exciting, especially if you love anthropology, as this combines the historical record with science to create a whole new view of the period. AXIE BARCLAY
Tower: An Epic History of the Tower of London Nigel Jones St. Martin’s Griffin, 456 pages, $19.99
“Behind them on the torn ground lay the hacked bodies of England’s last Saxon king.
His body was so slashed and battered that only his mistress could recognize it by intimate “‘certain indications.’” begins Nigel Jones, historian, biographer, and journalist, as he describes the Duke of Normandy’s successful invasion of London in 1066 and the beginnings of the Tower that served as a royal residence as well as a prison during Medieval times. “ Jones’ graphic and almost gleeful depiction of the Tower’s bloody past with its constant jockeying of power, bloodshed and gore of Medieval England, becomes a woeful encyclopedia of savagery. Plotters against the crown,(which were many) were denied a swift beheading, “At Oxford, Sir Thomas Blount was hanged,cut down while still alive, and revived, his abdomen was slit and entrails drawn out and burned as he watched the grisly proceedings while seated on a bench.” If the reader can stomach sordid ventures, there are fascinating details of early menageries at the tower beginning during the reign of Henry I, 1100-1135-until 1835. These animals included: leopards, lions lynxes, camels, elephants, eagles, and even a polar bear that was allowed to fish for salmon in the Thames. Many of the tower victims entering and exiting the tower would hear the squawks, shrieks and roars of animals. Unfortunately, most of these animals died either of neglect, tiny cages, or insufficient food. Wedged inside the appendix of the book, Jones concedes in the existence of ghosts because the...“tragic, momentous, and violent events carry a charge.” One of the most famous victims of violence at the tower are the “little princes”who make their ghostly appearance dressed in white nightshirts and weeping softly.”
Five restricted stars, only for readers with the bravest of hearts, who will be rewarded with one of the most entertaining and grisly epic histories of the Tower of London. SHEILA ERWIN
Three Days in Gettysburg: An Intimate Tale of Lost Love and Divided Hearts at the Battle That Defined America Brian Mockenhaupt Byliner Inc., 77 pages, $1.99
The Battle at Gettysburg happened in the first three days of July 1863, 150 years ago. In this book Brian Mockenhaupt, himself a veteran, gives a short but detailed and dramatic account of one of the American bloodiest Civil War battles. Gettysburg occasionally becomes a battlefield, and citizens of this small town find themselves in the middle of the fight completely unprepared. They are frightened by the possibility of Confederates victory. Still, they provide both sides with water and food, care for wounded and after the battle bury thousands dead. However, the sad personal stories of the three town’s childhood friends killed during the battle make this book appealing. Fighting for the Confederates Wes Culp falls on the field named after his uncle. The captured and wounded Union soldier Jack Skelly dies in the hospital. Loving Jack Jennie Wade happens to be the only civilian victim of the battle. A lot of statistics and numbers that Mockenhaupt provides here are probably already known to historians and Civil War history fans but they are very successfully intertwined in the narrative. The vivid descriptions and many excerpts from witnesses’ letters and diaries make this book interesting for a broad spectrum of readers. GALINA ROIZMAN
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The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues, a History of Greenwich Village John Strausbaugh ECCO, 624 pages, $29.99
For many of the nearly 50 million travelers who flock to New York City every year, Greenwich Village is little more than a stop on the bus tour circuit. The (relatively) quiet and narrow streets, with an ever- changing array of commercial and cultural attractions, have brought visitors to the small area west of Broadway and below 14th Street for centuries. And while some tourists are drawn to the Village for the latest fashionable club, bistro, or boutique, others come to experience a little piece of its reputedly wild Bohemian past. Originally a rural outpost of Dutch New Amsterdam, the approximately 50 block area has also been the epicenter for transformational political and culture events in American history, ranging from the Triangle Shirtwaist fire to the outpourings of the Beat Generation to the Stonewall Uprising. Although New York writer and editor, Strausbaugh believes the Village’s golden age is long past, he is still able to affectionately trace the rise and fall of a unique, fascinating and now very costly piece of Manhattan real estate. This is a substantial but thoroughly enjoyable account of the many different facets of an iconic locale. LINDA FREDERIKSEN
December 2013 – March 2014
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CURRENT EVENTS New Security Challenges in Asia Edited by Michael Wills and Robert M. Hathaway Woodrow Wilson Center , 273 pages, $55.00
In a growing inter-connected world risks and challenges are becoming more complex, and more inter-related with one another. During the Cold War the security challenges that most states faced were the common ones that related to nation states (war, borders, etc.). With a globalizing world the challenges are becoming more complex, and new challenges are coming to the forefront. In this collection we explore new challenges that Asian countries are facing, most notably China and Japan. Everything
from food safety and internet security to climate change and water. Each of these are starting to have impacts on how states interact with each other, and also how they deal with internal problems as well. This is a book written both for the senior policy leader at a political level, and a student of government. Each of them will find something it in for them. With the senior policy leader having each chapter is independent entity, so they can read what they need to know now. And for the student a way to get a grasp of what is going on. This book should be read by anyone who wants to know the future relations in Asia. KEVIN WINTER
SCIENCE & NATURE Kindred Beings: What Seventy-Three Chimpanzees Taught Me About Life, Love, and Connection Sheri Speede Harper One, 272 pages, $26.99
Kindred Beings is the memoir of Sheri Speede, an Oregon-based veterinarian who started the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, Africa. The book gives an overview of Sheri’s early life and career, and her interest and increasing awareness of the need for a chimp rescue in Cameroon, where chimps are frequently caged and treated as pets, orphaned from their parents and, worst of all, sold for meat. With her partners, Dr. Speede worked to navigate the murky political and social waters to get access to land for the sanctuary and eventually successfully creates the rescue center. Dr. Speede’s determination, perseverance and commitment to her work are apparent throughout the book. Oddly, the real story in this memoir isn’t about Dr. Speede’s journey from veterinarian to activist; it’s in the relationship she develops with the chimps she rescues and her insights into their world. It’s clear from the start that the chimps are not unintelligent; rather they have quite a complex social network, culture and individual personalities. The stories Dr. Speede tells are heart-warming, endearing and, at times, heartbreaking displaying her love for the chimps on every page. This is a book that, once read, will never be forgotten. BARBARA COTHERN
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The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones Margaret Ann Lembo Llewellyn Publications, 440 pages, $22.99
If you are expecting a mineral identification handbook in The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones, you’ll be disappointed. Spiritual practitioner Margaret Ann Lembo’s book is a spiritual guide that focuses on new age and metaphysical, using crystals, minerals and stones. It’s a fascinating book, nicely organized, beautifully designed, wellwritten and thorough, printed on heavy, glossy paper stock with trade paperback covers. The first thirty-nine pages cover everything using crystals minerals and stones in the spiritual sense, and how they affect the owner’s spiritual, mental, emotional and physical being. The author presents the seven chakras with nice descriptions and illustrations. The rest of the book lists alphabetically a large number of crystals, minerals and stones, and how they are used in everyday life. Each one is illustrated by a small but pretty photo, and a sidebar gives physical description, chakra, planet, number (from numerology), element, hardness on the Mohs scale and the astro sign. A more detailed description follows giving affirmation, physical, mental, emotional and physical uses and its divine guidance, ending with a brief chemical and scientific description. The six appendices provide further information and the book ends with glossary, suggested reading, references and an excellent index. GEORGE ERDOSH
The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild Lyanda Lynn Haupt Little, Brown and Company, 352 pages, $26.00
When you live in an urban environment, there are many things to deal with: pollution, traffic, noise, and other people going about their business). Another public nuisance is the ever-growing presence of urban wildlife. Whether birds or mammals, they encroach on our yards, our gardens, in our homes, and threaten our pets. Humans have devised many ways to control these critters, most to no avail. In her latest book, Lyanda Lynn Haupt seeks to turn around our usually negative impressions of urban animals and see them as neighbors and visitors worthy of our attention. The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild is a defense of animals that essentially share our homes with us: from coyotes and moles and raccoons to pigeons and crows and owls (as Haupt describes them, The Furred and The Feathered). Each chapter shares general natural history, worldly mythology, and encourages us to be kind to our “gracious co-inhabitants.” She also includes chapters on trees and humans; unfortunately, perhaps due to space, The Scaled and The Segmented are not included. Haupt drives home that urban animals are simply doing what is natural: being animals. And like us, they are only seeking food and shelter and protecting their young. Considering that it is human activity that pushes us into closer proximity with wild animals and that our sacrifices are small, are our wild neighbors really asking for too much? MICHAEL BARTON
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PARENTING & FAMILIES
RELIGION
Raising a Self-Reliant Child: A Back-to-Basics Parenting Plan from Birth to Age 6 Dr. Alanna Levine Ten Speed Press, 246 pages, $15.99
Do What Jesus Did: A Real-Life Field Guide to Healing the Sick, Routing Demons and Changing Lives Forever Robby Dawkins Chosen Books, 256 pages, $14.99
Raising a Self-Reliant Child: A Back-to-Basics Parenting Plan from Birth to Age 6 by Dr. Alanna Levine is exactly what the title says – a back to basics approach to parenting. If you’re the type of parent wants a practical advice about child rearing, this is a fantastic resource. Dr. Levine helps parents by not only giving advice, but helping them conceptualize why these methods work. She encourages empowering children, helping them figure out from a young age just how much they’re capable of. She also tries to help caregivers minimalize potential points of stress before they happen, such as bedtime and toddler food wars, by strategizing ahead of time about how to set up their child for success. Her warm presence offers a steadying dose common sense in a reassuring authorial voice. When much of the information targeted at parents can feel like a cacophony of fear and anxiety, instilling a deep fretful-
ness in parents that they might screw up their children for life, Dr. Levine’s book offers the reassurance that even within struggles there are lessons to be learned, frustrations are normal, and balance is the key to raising a self-reliant child. AXIE BARCLAY
People who put their faith in Jesus can do the same works he did: heal the sick and injured, multiply food, cast out evil spirits, and break through to the hardest hearts with the love of God. Pastor Robby Dawkins tells how gang members in Aurora, Illinois, receive Christ’s love until this highly violent city becomes murder-free. Prostitutes, witches, atheists, and murderers experience God’s love and miraculous healing through ordinary people and gladly give their lives to Christ. It’s not a fairytale, and it’s not limited to pastor Dawkins’ ministry. It happens all over the world. But Do What Jesus Did emboldened this reviewer to proclaim and see breakthroughs for friends and strangers alike. Dawkins’ book bears some resemblance to Power Evangelism and Power Healing, (both by John Wimber and Kevin Springer). Dawkins’ book raises the bar with these revolutionary discoveries:
1. Even doubters can do miracles. 2. One doesn’t have to hear a message from God to proclaim a needed event into happening. 3. “Pushing to failure” builds spiritual muscles like nothing else. This book can change the lives of its readers and of all they touch. It dares them to take the plunge into God’s dynamic love. ROBIN LAYNE
SPIRITUALITY & INSPIRATION Modern Magic: Reclaiming Your Magical Heritage Matthew Krajewski Balboa Press, 171 pages, 14.99
It takes courage to remain true to what you know is true, especially when conventional thought is not in your corner. It takes more courage to write a book expressing your unconventional thoughts and philosophy and publish it in a world that has been trained to scoff automatically at what you hold dear. Matthew Krajewski has done just that with Modern Magic—Reclaiming Your Magical Heritage, an approach that uses common sense and common experience to convey evidence that humans are very much magical beings. Krajewski cites evidence that might just be supported by recent advances in the understanding and application of physics in general and quantum physics in particular. Information can be arranged to travel on waves of energy. That is a reality that becomes obvious every time we hear a radio, watch TV, answer a cell phone, or send a text message. Modern Magic surmises that information rides waves of all sorts, generated by humans, animals, plants, even wind and earth movements. Information travels across the universe. The
fundamental issue when discussing magic is how to perceive it without scientific instruments and then, how to interpret what is received. Modern Magic tells us that human beings are born with sophisticated equipment that receives this invisible information. We do it every day. Controversy begins when humans attempt to interpret what has been received. Consequently, intuition occupies a prominent place throughout the book and throughout the lives of magical people. The interpretations are felt, which makes purely rational people nervous and skeptical. Krajewski’s contention is that we are not purely rational beings. We are not logical beings with emotions, we are emotional beings who wield a tool called logic. Modern Magic is full of anecdotes, practical methods to apply objective reasoning to subjective experience, and offers some history regarding magic across the millennia of human experience. Krajewski’s voice on the page is compelling, yet familiar, and he leads us along at a comfortable pace. ||The overall impact of the book is not to demystify mysticism, but to let us know that we have tools to engage the mysteries of life and to interpret them in profound and meaningful ways. J.R. STEWART
Literary Quotes
“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.” - The Dalai Lama
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December 2013 – March 2014
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POETRY & SHORT STORIES This Mutant Life: A Neo-Pulp Anthology (Volume 1) Ben Langdon Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 205 pages, $2.99
This Mutant Life is an interesting collection of twenty-one short stories concerning the lives of various fictionalized heroes and the lives of those people that they come in contact with. Whether it is a vengeful Avon lady who can read minds or a super villain who robs banks and lives with a put upon wife, there’s plenty of variety and dark humor to keep you reading. Perhaps this collection is best summarized by its editor, Ben Langdon, who describes it as “…the collision of the ordinary with the extraordinary.” Fans of Alan Moore’s Watchmen will find these stories to be of a similar vein. This is imagination set free in the everyday. What-if scenarios played out to some logical but comically twisted conclusion. If you’re looking for something to add to
your short story reading list, pick up This Mutant Life and let yourself be taken on adventures, both big and small. JON SANETEL
Without, Haiku Leigh Herrick Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 99 pages, $2.99
Leigh Herrick’s Without, Haiku is full of brief, lovely poems. The writing is evocative and, due to the nature of haiku, stark. As a collection of poems, it is actually quite glorious. Broken down into three seasons — spring to autumn — each conveying a sense of time and place, and many imparting an emotional depth that requires skill and dedication, Without, Haiku has the potential to be a really great poetry book, but it just isn’t quite there. The problem does not lie in any way with the writing, but with the formatting. Haikus are short. One takes up only a few lines on a page, and the formatting of this eBook does nothing for the brevity of the form.
This may seem a shallow criticism, but the lack of aesthetic appeal — and the starkness of the white screen with only a handful of words — takes away from the experience. Without, Haiku would be best as a small print book and the formatting of the eBook could be altered to be more reader-friendly and appealing. Aside from that, Herrick has done a wonderful job integrating her interest in Zen haiku into a wonderfully readable and lovely book of haikus. ASHLEY MCCALL
Long Lankin John Banville Vintage, 100 pages, $12.95 John Banville has been writing fiction for over 40 years and those years of experience have served him well, earning him a Booker Prize in 2005, among other awards. Long Lankin, a collection of nine stories, takes readers back to the very beginning of Banville’s writing career. Originally released in 1970 this collection displays the early talent that paved the way for Banville’s continuing success.
Each of the stories collected are excellent in their own right, and together they paint a beautiful picture of Banville’s exceptional talent. His sparse dialogue and careful descriptions build a foundation for stories focused on the intricacies and turbulence of humanity. One of the greatest examples is a story title “Lovers” in which a young couple is preparing to leave their small hometown to make a new life. A few days before leaving they stop to visit the young man’s father in the hospital. The father, dying and alone, reveals he has left his company to his son. This revelation strains the couple’s plans and the story ends on an uncertain note. Banville’s observations and portrayals of human nature are the real star in this collection. For anyone interested in experiencing perfect writing and characterization, look no further than this excellent Vintage edition of Long Lankin by John Banville. ANDREW KEYSER
Seasons Greetings from Portland
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December 2013 – March 2014
Book Review
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Author’s Challenge 2013 Holidays Readers, the Author’s Challenge 2013 appeal is made in memory of Vivian Williams and her daughter Jan. I never had a chance to meet Vivian, but I got to know Jan and her husband Rob when I wrote Man of the Waterfront. Jan was an energetic philanthropist and remained an active fundraiser even as she battled the Stage IV cancer that ended her life. Reaching out across the country to appeal for help for children in the Pacific Northwest is something that Jan would not only have supported, she would have expected nothing less. So please give generously – you can help make a difference! – Ralph Harvey Seattle, WA
Please donate to Seattle Children’s Hospital
Use of the above images courtesy of Seattle Children’s Hospital. Copyright © 2012 Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Readers, Seattle Children’s Hospital is a world leader in pediatric care and recipient of numerous awards. Ranked as one of the nation’s top hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, it is also a world leader in research and teaching. But in these tough times Seattle Children’s Hospital needs your support. Please give generously at the official website:
http://www.seattlechildrens.org/ways-to-help/donate/ Portland, Oregon
Please donate to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
The Eternal Flame and famous child image at the entrance to Doernbecher. Image by the author.
Readers, since it was founded in 1926, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital has been recognized as one of America’s leading children’s hospitals. It provides a full spectrum of pediatric care, and famous for its deep commitment to children and families. Consider these impressive facts: • Performs pediatric bone marrow & stem cell transplants. • Performs Phase I clinical trials for pediatric cancer therapies • Provides comprehensive care for brain tumors for children Your support can help Doernbecher Children’s Hospital continue it’s world-class services to children of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Please give generously at the official website:
http://www.ohsu.edu/about/dchf/help/default.cfm Doernbecher Children’s Hospital is part of the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).