Crestmont
By Holly Weiss
Historical Fiction
ISBN 978-1-935188-10-0
Publication May 2010
StarPublish LLC
Reviewed by Betsy Rider, owner of Indie Bookstore, Otto Bookstore, Williamsport, PA
Can a Book Be a Vacation?
Take one with Holly Weiss in 1920’s Eagles Mere in the new book, Crestmont.
Four years ago, Holly Weiss, a music teacher and former opera singer, stayed at the Crestmont in Eagles Mere. She was captivated by the peaceful ambiance of today’s Inn and by the rich history of the founder and previous owners. So she wrote a book about them, filling out the known facts with fictionalized motivations and relationships.
After briefly sketching the Native American legend about the creation of the unique spring-fed lake from the tears of the mourning Great Spirit, Weiss re-creates the inspiration of William Warner, a visitor from Germantown who saw a challenge in the cyclone ravaged hill-top overlooking the crystal clear lake. Warner, who was driven by a need for excellence in all his endeavors, planned the Crestmont and hired two hundred carpenters to complete it in a year’s time. It was to be the very best in accommodations and in service. His staff was trained to anticipate every need and whim of the guests. His memory of the desires of the previous years’ visitors never failed to impress one and all.
According to Weiss’ fictionalized time-line, when Warner’s health deteriorated slightly more than a decade after the opening, his daughter, Margaret Woods and her husband, William, continued his legacy of outstanding hospitality. When Margaret Woods died in 1941, her daughter, Peg Dickerson, ran it until her health gave out, thus seeing it through three generations of the same family. It was sold in 1977 to a couple who replaced the “Big House” with condominiums.
But I get ahead of myself. The owning and running of the legendary Crestmont is only the background for a moving story of Gracie Antes, a young girl trying to find her place in the world outside her repressive family upbringing in Moravian Bethlehem. She could sing. She knew it, even if nobody else did. But she needed money to follow her dream of singing in the Vaudeville circuit. So she answered an ad for summer employment at the Crestmont in Eagles Mere. She left her home and didn’t tell anyone she was still alive for a month and even then she didn’t tell them where she was working.
Gracie grew from a shy, young dreamer with a pocket full of words she needed to look up and a notebook nowhere near full of the names of the friends she made, to an assured young woman who found her family and place in Eagles Mere, where she discovered singing was only one of her many talents.
Even more compelling for me was the character development of Margaret Woods, who was drowning in her father’s legacy of outstanding service to their clientele. She never took time for herself and didn’t discover until long after his death that her father had found a retreat in an attic hideaway. That he needed respite from his responsibilities too. When a mistake made by Gracie sends her into a debilitating depression, she barely copes until her family and a favorite older employee gradually help her recover her former energy.
The book is filled with just enough other characters to welcome you into their world: PT, the young manager of the Inn’s bowling alley (and all around go-fer) who escapes his murky past by pouring himself into his piano jazz; Dorothy, a teacher who leaves her classroom to wait on the pampered rich and oversee the young staff; Bessie, an angry housemaid who hides her hurt under her anger; Mrs. Cunningham, an elderly blind lady who needs Gracie’s help and care while providing love and understanding in return; and the most famous guest, Rosa Ponselle, an opera singer who also takes Gracie under her wing.
The author has researched her material with the same kind of thorough care that the legendary Inn provided. Her knowledge of the American culture of the “Roaring Twenties” serves her well. She liberally sprinkles references to neighboring towns and events. Her pace is leisurely and her characters lovable. Readers will feel refreshed after their vacation, reading “Crestmont.”
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Holly Weiss will be signing her book at the Otto Bookstore in Williamsport, PA, this Friday. Learn more about Crestmont on the bookstore's Web site www.ottobookstore.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
This blog, #TheNewBookReview, is "new" because it eschews #bookbigotry. It lets readers, reviewers, authors, and publishers expand the exposure of their favorite reviews, FREE. Info for submissions is in the "Send Me Your Fav Book Review" circle icon in the right column below. Find resources to help your career using the mini search engine below. #TheNewBookReview is a multi-award-winning blog including a MastersInEnglish.org recommendation.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Practitioner Describes the Art of Dreaming
Title – The Sorcerer’s Dream: An Initiation into the Sorcerer’s World
Author – Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield
Genre or category - Religion & Spirituality
ISBN – 978-1609101565
About The Sorcerer’s Dream: An Initiation into the Sorcerer’s World
This is the autobiographical story of a young woman bumping into the enigmatic sorcerer Running Deer and her initiation into the sorcerer’s world and mastering conscious dreaming. It takes the reader throughout the magic realms of the unknown and gives a new approach to the traditional training of women sorcerers.
The riveting autobiographical account The Sorcerer’s Dream written by Dreamshield takes the reader throughout the magic realms of the unknown and mastering conscious dreaming. This book, following the traditions of Carlos Castaneda and others, gives a new approach to the traditional training of women sorcerers.
The author describes her initiation into the surrealistic world of dreaming and magic, following the teachings of ‘Man of Knowledge’ Running Deer. In the heart of Amsterdam, a thrilling stride unfolds in obtaining the knowledge of the Second Reality on the way to the ultimate goal: finding the Totality of the Self!
The combination of unusual instructions and experiences within the sorcerer’s world and the level-headedness of a very Dutch woman offers the reader excitement and contemplation on the way to the source of this reality, finding the ultimate self through the experiences and understanding of Dreamshield herself. Up until the last page the reader remains intrigued whether Dreamshield will reach her goal.
Right by the author’s side or facing her stands the character of Running Deer. Sometimes mysterious, then challenging, strict as a guru, or vulnerable as a visitor in a foreign country. However, the precise description of these distinctive steps on the road to her initiation stand like milestones in the landscape of this unique history.
About Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield
Dreamshield (Alysa Braceau) studied social work and is a freelance journalist who writes for newspapers and magazines. She has a healing practice and gives workshops about the Art of Mastering Conscious Dreaming and Dream Healing.
About this first publication she says: "The theme of these passed four-and-a-half years have been the sorcerers tradition. I have carefully recorded my personal experiences which has finally led to this book. Apart from that, writing it has given me great pleasure. The Sorcerer's Dream has become more than a personal account because the interested reader is presented with the technique to learn and practice the North American tradition of the Art of Dreaming (the skill of conscious dreaming) him/herself.
---
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author – Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield
Genre or category - Religion & Spirituality
ISBN – 978-1609101565
About The Sorcerer’s Dream: An Initiation into the Sorcerer’s World
This is the autobiographical story of a young woman bumping into the enigmatic sorcerer Running Deer and her initiation into the sorcerer’s world and mastering conscious dreaming. It takes the reader throughout the magic realms of the unknown and gives a new approach to the traditional training of women sorcerers.
The riveting autobiographical account The Sorcerer’s Dream written by Dreamshield takes the reader throughout the magic realms of the unknown and mastering conscious dreaming. This book, following the traditions of Carlos Castaneda and others, gives a new approach to the traditional training of women sorcerers.
The author describes her initiation into the surrealistic world of dreaming and magic, following the teachings of ‘Man of Knowledge’ Running Deer. In the heart of Amsterdam, a thrilling stride unfolds in obtaining the knowledge of the Second Reality on the way to the ultimate goal: finding the Totality of the Self!
The combination of unusual instructions and experiences within the sorcerer’s world and the level-headedness of a very Dutch woman offers the reader excitement and contemplation on the way to the source of this reality, finding the ultimate self through the experiences and understanding of Dreamshield herself. Up until the last page the reader remains intrigued whether Dreamshield will reach her goal.
Right by the author’s side or facing her stands the character of Running Deer. Sometimes mysterious, then challenging, strict as a guru, or vulnerable as a visitor in a foreign country. However, the precise description of these distinctive steps on the road to her initiation stand like milestones in the landscape of this unique history.
About Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield
Dreamshield (Alysa Braceau) studied social work and is a freelance journalist who writes for newspapers and magazines. She has a healing practice and gives workshops about the Art of Mastering Conscious Dreaming and Dream Healing.
About this first publication she says: "The theme of these passed four-and-a-half years have been the sorcerers tradition. I have carefully recorded my personal experiences which has finally led to this book. Apart from that, writing it has given me great pleasure. The Sorcerer's Dream has become more than a personal account because the interested reader is presented with the technique to learn and practice the North American tradition of the Art of Dreaming (the skill of conscious dreaming) him/herself.
---
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Monday, June 28, 2010
Summer Reading: Short Stories for Beach or Bedtime
Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Publisher AmErica House
From Amazon.com's Reviews
"as evocative as music, November 24, 2002 (Copyright 2001)
Review by Mary Ann Mitchell originally for Amazon
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's, "Harkening," is as evocative as music. She uses words like an invocation, calling the past into the present so vividly that the memory is more alive and true in its re-visioning than it ever was in the living.
In her story, "Summerville," for example, she describes and recaptures each moment with an innocence that ony a nine year old could know, but with the poetry and wisdom that no nine year old could ever articulate.
In, "Grandma's Slip," one of my favorites, she captures the reader in a moment so transparent and exquisite it's painful, as only love can be. The moment when a great-grandmother, a grandmother, and a grandson, for one instant, can see through their generational differences and touch that "soft" something that connects them, that connects us all.
""Beautiful," she said, her voice soft like the tissue that had whispered like water." And all three of them are lifted, in that moment, into that beauty, and the reader is lifted along with them.
The whole book is about what bridges those gaps that separate us from each other and our world. Those gaps of age, gender, religion, time and place. Carolyn Howard-Johnson weaves them all together with her words, as perfectly as Mom Bertie sews together her quilts. "Harkening" is an act of redemption, bringing the past into the present and making it whole.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wesley Britton Loves to Revisit Rock 'n Roll
Psychedelic Days (1960-1969)
By Patrick Campbell-Lyons
GRA Publishing, Nov 25 2009
$19.99
Review by: Wesley Britton originally posted at Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook
Like everyone else, I’m sure, when I pick up a biography or history dealing with rock ‘n roll, I choose titles about performers, bands, or periods I’m interested in. Normally, I’m looking for the behind-the-scenes stories about how classic music came to be, whether written by stars like Eric Clapton, session musicians like Vic Flick, or historians who’ve done their due diligent homework.
But, last month, I received a review copy of a book called Psychedelic Days written by a performer from a band I never heard of—the British Nirvana of the late ‘60s. I had absolutely no pre-conceived ideas about the book as, then and now, I’ve never heard a bar of their music. But, as revealed in Patrick Campbell-Lyons’s fast-paced (240 pages) memoir, I’m far from being alone, at least in the states. While the original Nirvana made waves internationally, because Bell Records in the U.S. released the debut album with no publicity whatsoever, it disappeared without a trace, the band not even knowing an American version had been issued. So when I began reading the text of PD, what I knew about Nirvana wouldn’t fill a back-cover publicity blurb.
So here’s a bit of history: While a number of musicians came and went on stage and in the studio, Nirvana was essentially Irish guitarist Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Greek composer/ keyboardist Alex Spyropoulos. Before ELO and the “progressive rock” of the ‘70s, they fused rock ensembles with baroque instruments for a then fresh approach in popular music. Their Oct. 1967 album, The Story of Simon Simopath, is widely regarded as a predecessor to concept albums by the likes of The Who and The Kinks. The LP was produced by Chris Blackwell for his then-new Island Records, and Blackwell and his legendary label play a prominent role in Psychedelic Days.
Apparently a moderately commercial success, Nirvana’s single “Rainbow Chaser” was their biggest hit in 1968, the first rock single to use flange from beginning to end (flange being the sound you hear in the Small Faces “Itchycoo Park.”)Nirvana was nonetheless a critical favorite and the group was part of the heady days of late ‘60s counter-culture. So, while Campbell-Lyons’ memoir is told from a performer’s point-of-view, the tale is essentially a whirlwind tour of what life was like experiencing the exuberance of the times in England, Greece, France, South America, Morocco, and points in between. Campbell-Lyons paints a wide canvas of just how interconnected youth culture was around the world. No matter where you hailed from, you didn’t need to be Jimi Hendrix or Mick Jagger to have a good time, and Campbell-Lyons and most of the cast of players in his book were indeed having the times of their lives. The first paragraph sets the stage:
For me and Nirvana, the ‘60s were a trip indeed. Immigration blues, Paddies, navvies, booze, dope deals, thrills and pills, rhythm & blues, guitars and groupies, Mods and Rockers, free love and flower power, bohemian swagger boys and gypsy princesses, Ealing Art College, the local scenesters at Jim Marshall’s Music Store in Hanwell, Speedy Keen, Mitch Mitchell, John McVie, Cliff Barton, Jimmy Royal, Ron Wood and Kim Gardner with the Birds, the boss guitar man Terry Slater, Pete Townshend, Pete Meaden, Vic Griffiths (the best harp player in West London), the legendary Ealing Club, the Rolling Stones, the Speakeasy in Margaret Street W1, the Limbo Club in Soho, the Bluebeat Jukebox, Blackbombers in Hyde Park, 51 Club Great Newport Street, La Gioconda Café, Denmark Street and the Tin Pan Alley publishing houses, Regent Sound, St. Martins, the musical >>Hair>>, >>You Can All Join In>>, Jimi Hendrix, Guy Stevens, Mickie Most, Hamburg’s Star Club, Paris, Belgium, Rio de Janeiro with Jimmy Cliff, Stockholm, Tangiers and the “happenings” of Morocco, Island Records and Chris Blackwell, Alex Spyropoulos and I creating the band Nirvana.
Like I said, that’s just the first paragraph, and the roller-coaster ride to follow is just what the title claims—Psychedelic Days. This is one reason readers unfamiliar with a band pretty much a footnote in rock history would enjoy this trip. It’s not an introspective personal odyssey chronicling inner torments or regrets about any addictive excesses. It’s not a vanity trip either, but rather a lively series of vivid observations from the inside looking out. That alone is something different in the genre of rock memoirs. Yes, the book has the perfect title—it’s about a time that remains unique, whether you were a concert attendee or standing behind a mic. It looks at these heady days from a perspective I’ve not encountered before, that is how the youth scene expressed itself all over the world.
If you can get homesick for an era, this book can do that. If you weren’t there, well, this is a time capsule you’ll enjoy swallowing. For more details and ordering information:
www.psychedelicdays.com/PatrickBio.html
To read some samples from the book:
blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=85882077
Now, to see if I can track down some of this unheard music—
---
Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents” which features interviews with a wide range of entertainers. Past programs are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. He is also author of four books on espionage and runs www.spywise.net. Wes teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By Patrick Campbell-Lyons
GRA Publishing, Nov 25 2009
$19.99
Review by: Wesley Britton originally posted at Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook
Like everyone else, I’m sure, when I pick up a biography or history dealing with rock ‘n roll, I choose titles about performers, bands, or periods I’m interested in. Normally, I’m looking for the behind-the-scenes stories about how classic music came to be, whether written by stars like Eric Clapton, session musicians like Vic Flick, or historians who’ve done their due diligent homework.
But, last month, I received a review copy of a book called Psychedelic Days written by a performer from a band I never heard of—the British Nirvana of the late ‘60s. I had absolutely no pre-conceived ideas about the book as, then and now, I’ve never heard a bar of their music. But, as revealed in Patrick Campbell-Lyons’s fast-paced (240 pages) memoir, I’m far from being alone, at least in the states. While the original Nirvana made waves internationally, because Bell Records in the U.S. released the debut album with no publicity whatsoever, it disappeared without a trace, the band not even knowing an American version had been issued. So when I began reading the text of PD, what I knew about Nirvana wouldn’t fill a back-cover publicity blurb.
So here’s a bit of history: While a number of musicians came and went on stage and in the studio, Nirvana was essentially Irish guitarist Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Greek composer/ keyboardist Alex Spyropoulos. Before ELO and the “progressive rock” of the ‘70s, they fused rock ensembles with baroque instruments for a then fresh approach in popular music. Their Oct. 1967 album, The Story of Simon Simopath, is widely regarded as a predecessor to concept albums by the likes of The Who and The Kinks. The LP was produced by Chris Blackwell for his then-new Island Records, and Blackwell and his legendary label play a prominent role in Psychedelic Days.
Apparently a moderately commercial success, Nirvana’s single “Rainbow Chaser” was their biggest hit in 1968, the first rock single to use flange from beginning to end (flange being the sound you hear in the Small Faces “Itchycoo Park.”)Nirvana was nonetheless a critical favorite and the group was part of the heady days of late ‘60s counter-culture. So, while Campbell-Lyons’ memoir is told from a performer’s point-of-view, the tale is essentially a whirlwind tour of what life was like experiencing the exuberance of the times in England, Greece, France, South America, Morocco, and points in between. Campbell-Lyons paints a wide canvas of just how interconnected youth culture was around the world. No matter where you hailed from, you didn’t need to be Jimi Hendrix or Mick Jagger to have a good time, and Campbell-Lyons and most of the cast of players in his book were indeed having the times of their lives. The first paragraph sets the stage:
For me and Nirvana, the ‘60s were a trip indeed. Immigration blues, Paddies, navvies, booze, dope deals, thrills and pills, rhythm & blues, guitars and groupies, Mods and Rockers, free love and flower power, bohemian swagger boys and gypsy princesses, Ealing Art College, the local scenesters at Jim Marshall’s Music Store in Hanwell, Speedy Keen, Mitch Mitchell, John McVie, Cliff Barton, Jimmy Royal, Ron Wood and Kim Gardner with the Birds, the boss guitar man Terry Slater, Pete Townshend, Pete Meaden, Vic Griffiths (the best harp player in West London), the legendary Ealing Club, the Rolling Stones, the Speakeasy in Margaret Street W1, the Limbo Club in Soho, the Bluebeat Jukebox, Blackbombers in Hyde Park, 51 Club Great Newport Street, La Gioconda Café, Denmark Street and the Tin Pan Alley publishing houses, Regent Sound, St. Martins, the musical >>Hair>>, >>You Can All Join In>>, Jimi Hendrix, Guy Stevens, Mickie Most, Hamburg’s Star Club, Paris, Belgium, Rio de Janeiro with Jimmy Cliff, Stockholm, Tangiers and the “happenings” of Morocco, Island Records and Chris Blackwell, Alex Spyropoulos and I creating the band Nirvana.
Like I said, that’s just the first paragraph, and the roller-coaster ride to follow is just what the title claims—Psychedelic Days. This is one reason readers unfamiliar with a band pretty much a footnote in rock history would enjoy this trip. It’s not an introspective personal odyssey chronicling inner torments or regrets about any addictive excesses. It’s not a vanity trip either, but rather a lively series of vivid observations from the inside looking out. That alone is something different in the genre of rock memoirs. Yes, the book has the perfect title—it’s about a time that remains unique, whether you were a concert attendee or standing behind a mic. It looks at these heady days from a perspective I’ve not encountered before, that is how the youth scene expressed itself all over the world.
If you can get homesick for an era, this book can do that. If you weren’t there, well, this is a time capsule you’ll enjoy swallowing. For more details and ordering information:
www.psychedelicdays.com/PatrickBio.html
To read some samples from the book:
blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=85882077
Now, to see if I can track down some of this unheard music—
---
Reviewer Dr. Wesley Britton is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents” which features interviews with a wide range of entertainers. Past programs are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. He is also author of four books on espionage and runs www.spywise.net. Wes teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
The Smothers Brothers Story Reviewed by Wesley Britton
Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
By David Bianculli
Touchstone Books, Dec. 2009
ISBN-10: 1439101167
ISBN-13: 978-1439101162
Reviewed by: Wesley Britton originally posted at Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook
Books about the stars of stage and screen do run a wide gamut. There are over-priced volumes devoted to a specific actor, director, film, TV series. There are fan-oriented overviews of any given production complete with opinionated episode guides and production notes. There are memoirs and quasi-memoirs by performers, their families, or those who knew them. There are academic studies analyzing entertainment and how contributors have been influenced by or how they helped shape popular culture. Only every once in a while do we get a title that deserves the term “definitive,” that is, a focused history/biography that will become a standard reference that future writers will have to pour over should they take up the challenge of expanding on such books.
Such is the case of David Bianculli’s Dangerously Funny. It’s not surprising that a major publisher issued this contribution rather than a small house devoted to their genres of choice—The Smothers Brothers were and are an act worthy of serious consideration and Bianculli gave the act their honest and sometimes painful due. After all, while the classic late ‘60s “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” remains the high watermark for both the act and their place in cultural history, Tom and Dick’s legacy is worthy of attention for both what came before and after their legendary entertainment challenge to network decision making.
In fact, while the book’s title implies the “Comedy Hour” is the principal subject of the overview, Bianculli offers considerable background on the brothers formative years and the creative milieu in which they developed. Had they never hosted the “Comedy Hour,” Tom and Dick would still have played an important role in musical trends as they were true pioneers in the early days of the “folk revival.” Their interest in what is now dubbed “World Music” helped the new genre expand the pool of “traditional” standards heard all across America. In addition, their stage act was a transitional presence that bridged the generation of radio and stage vaudeville singers and comics with the “hip” interests of Baby Boomers purchasing vinyl albums and watching their favorite performers on TV variety shows. While Bianculli doesn’t make this connection, I was often reminded of the development of the Marx Brothers; the earlier ensemble started out as a musical group doing comedy and turned into a comedy group that sometimes played music. Likewise, the Smothers started out doing folk music akin to the Kingston Trio and ended up using the music to frame their comic routines. Likewise, Harpo Marx picked up the harp to have an instrument like his brothers as playing the instrument added $5.00 to the group’s appearance fees; Dick Smothers picked up the bass mainly as a prop while his brother taught him how to play it.
Then came the “Comedy Hour” and its importance cannot be understated. But can the circumstances of its creation, evolution and ultimate demise be clearly understood? In the hands of David Bianculli, we get the sense we’re hearing stories we’ve been hearing for years but in a context that is balanced, copiously researched, and drawn from primary sources like Tom Smothers himself. For example, the myth is that CBS was so loopy and narrow-minded that cancelling the “Comedy Hour” was a disastrous decision akin to NBC’s recent late night debacles. But, just as the evidence shows Decca Records had good reasons to reject The Beatles, the full story of the “Comedy Hour” demonstrates both sides of the controversy contributed to an almost inevitable parting of the ways. For their part, the network was flat-footed dealing with a younger audience seeking television with a freshness and variety showcasing younger faces and concerns. On the other side, Tom Smothers, in particular, made a point of challenging the hand that fed him so often and so stubbornly that the higher-ups almost yearned for an excuse to get this monkey off their backs. As a result, the so-called reasons for cancelling the show—an alleged late delivery of a particular episode—was simply a means to give executives an out to get relief from the ongoing battles over program content.
Bianculli, of course, isn’t championing network decision making but rather, as with the rest of his history, presenting the contexts of a multi-faceted career from a wide menu of perspectives. The Brothers obviously didn’t operate in a vacuum, and Bianculli is often at his best bringing in stories that flesh out how the Smothers Brothers fit into the continuum of both music and television. For example, he retells the story of Jack Paar briefly leaving “The Tonight Show” over NBC’s censorship of one joke several years before the Smothers Brothers entered the censorship fray. Bianculli sketches how Hal Holbrook had to wrestle with CBS over material he wanted to include in his “Mark Twain Tonight” special. He discusses the changing climate in tastes that contributed to the “Generation Gap” of the 1960s and how the brothers changed their program from a variety hour that mixed the old with the up-and-coming into a full-fledged participant of the “Counter Culture.”
The aftermath of the “Comedy Hour” cancellation might seem like a long denouement with two failed series in the 70s and 80s, but there are lessons here as well. For example—at least in my opinion—the Brothers were at their creative zenith when they came back to CBS in the late 80s with a superb re-invention of their earlier show, only to be undone by a Writers Strike and no fault of their own. (That is my most fervent DVD request—for the brothers to issue a full set of that outstanding series.) Not to overstate the case, one might be forgiven for coming away from this book seeing brother Dick as a virtual sideman to Tom, a performer more into his hobbies and outside interests than being a cultural motor. That’s not a criticism of the team’s straight man, rather a reality of what Dick did and didn’t do over the years.
Gratefully, when talking about the Smothers Brothers, comedy can’t be avoided, and there are plenty of laughs along the way, most notably the re-tellings of some of the benign and caustic routines they performed on stage and TV. This is an important book, an entertaining book, and readable for fans of the act, of an era, of television, and no library shelf should neglect it. To paraphrase Dick Cavett describing DVD releases of his own show, if you need more than the Smothers Brothers to entertain you, than I can’t help you very much.
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Dr. Wesley Britton is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents” which features interviews with a wide range of entertainers. Past programs are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. He is also author of four books on espionage and runs www.spywise.net. Wes teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By David Bianculli
Touchstone Books, Dec. 2009
ISBN-10: 1439101167
ISBN-13: 978-1439101162
Reviewed by: Wesley Britton originally posted at Wesley Britton’s Entertainment Scrapbook
Books about the stars of stage and screen do run a wide gamut. There are over-priced volumes devoted to a specific actor, director, film, TV series. There are fan-oriented overviews of any given production complete with opinionated episode guides and production notes. There are memoirs and quasi-memoirs by performers, their families, or those who knew them. There are academic studies analyzing entertainment and how contributors have been influenced by or how they helped shape popular culture. Only every once in a while do we get a title that deserves the term “definitive,” that is, a focused history/biography that will become a standard reference that future writers will have to pour over should they take up the challenge of expanding on such books.
Such is the case of David Bianculli’s Dangerously Funny. It’s not surprising that a major publisher issued this contribution rather than a small house devoted to their genres of choice—The Smothers Brothers were and are an act worthy of serious consideration and Bianculli gave the act their honest and sometimes painful due. After all, while the classic late ‘60s “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” remains the high watermark for both the act and their place in cultural history, Tom and Dick’s legacy is worthy of attention for both what came before and after their legendary entertainment challenge to network decision making.
In fact, while the book’s title implies the “Comedy Hour” is the principal subject of the overview, Bianculli offers considerable background on the brothers formative years and the creative milieu in which they developed. Had they never hosted the “Comedy Hour,” Tom and Dick would still have played an important role in musical trends as they were true pioneers in the early days of the “folk revival.” Their interest in what is now dubbed “World Music” helped the new genre expand the pool of “traditional” standards heard all across America. In addition, their stage act was a transitional presence that bridged the generation of radio and stage vaudeville singers and comics with the “hip” interests of Baby Boomers purchasing vinyl albums and watching their favorite performers on TV variety shows. While Bianculli doesn’t make this connection, I was often reminded of the development of the Marx Brothers; the earlier ensemble started out as a musical group doing comedy and turned into a comedy group that sometimes played music. Likewise, the Smothers started out doing folk music akin to the Kingston Trio and ended up using the music to frame their comic routines. Likewise, Harpo Marx picked up the harp to have an instrument like his brothers as playing the instrument added $5.00 to the group’s appearance fees; Dick Smothers picked up the bass mainly as a prop while his brother taught him how to play it.
Then came the “Comedy Hour” and its importance cannot be understated. But can the circumstances of its creation, evolution and ultimate demise be clearly understood? In the hands of David Bianculli, we get the sense we’re hearing stories we’ve been hearing for years but in a context that is balanced, copiously researched, and drawn from primary sources like Tom Smothers himself. For example, the myth is that CBS was so loopy and narrow-minded that cancelling the “Comedy Hour” was a disastrous decision akin to NBC’s recent late night debacles. But, just as the evidence shows Decca Records had good reasons to reject The Beatles, the full story of the “Comedy Hour” demonstrates both sides of the controversy contributed to an almost inevitable parting of the ways. For their part, the network was flat-footed dealing with a younger audience seeking television with a freshness and variety showcasing younger faces and concerns. On the other side, Tom Smothers, in particular, made a point of challenging the hand that fed him so often and so stubbornly that the higher-ups almost yearned for an excuse to get this monkey off their backs. As a result, the so-called reasons for cancelling the show—an alleged late delivery of a particular episode—was simply a means to give executives an out to get relief from the ongoing battles over program content.
Bianculli, of course, isn’t championing network decision making but rather, as with the rest of his history, presenting the contexts of a multi-faceted career from a wide menu of perspectives. The Brothers obviously didn’t operate in a vacuum, and Bianculli is often at his best bringing in stories that flesh out how the Smothers Brothers fit into the continuum of both music and television. For example, he retells the story of Jack Paar briefly leaving “The Tonight Show” over NBC’s censorship of one joke several years before the Smothers Brothers entered the censorship fray. Bianculli sketches how Hal Holbrook had to wrestle with CBS over material he wanted to include in his “Mark Twain Tonight” special. He discusses the changing climate in tastes that contributed to the “Generation Gap” of the 1960s and how the brothers changed their program from a variety hour that mixed the old with the up-and-coming into a full-fledged participant of the “Counter Culture.”
The aftermath of the “Comedy Hour” cancellation might seem like a long denouement with two failed series in the 70s and 80s, but there are lessons here as well. For example—at least in my opinion—the Brothers were at their creative zenith when they came back to CBS in the late 80s with a superb re-invention of their earlier show, only to be undone by a Writers Strike and no fault of their own. (That is my most fervent DVD request—for the brothers to issue a full set of that outstanding series.) Not to overstate the case, one might be forgiven for coming away from this book seeing brother Dick as a virtual sideman to Tom, a performer more into his hobbies and outside interests than being a cultural motor. That’s not a criticism of the team’s straight man, rather a reality of what Dick did and didn’t do over the years.
Gratefully, when talking about the Smothers Brothers, comedy can’t be avoided, and there are plenty of laughs along the way, most notably the re-tellings of some of the benign and caustic routines they performed on stage and TV. This is an important book, an entertaining book, and readable for fans of the act, of an era, of television, and no library shelf should neglect it. To paraphrase Dick Cavett describing DVD releases of his own show, if you need more than the Smothers Brothers to entertain you, than I can’t help you very much.
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Dr. Wesley Britton is co-host of online radio’s “Dave White Presents” which features interviews with a wide range of entertainers. Past programs are archived at www.audioentertainment.org/dwp. He is also author of four books on espionage and runs www.spywise.net. Wes teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Friday, June 25, 2010
Psychiatrist Tells Her Own Harrowing Tale
The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee
By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall
Review by Stuart Kreisman, author of Dick Cheney's Diary originally for Amazon.com
A simple sit-in at an administration building becomes the catalyst for a surreal, Kafkaesque, hellish fifteen years for Dr. Stuart Jeanne Bramhall in her compelling new book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee. Dr. Bramhall, a practicing Seattle-based psychiatrist tells in chilling detail how attending a seemingly innocent meeting to protest racial abuse at a local school triggers a covert government plot to destroy the cause and her life.
Dr. Bramhall's work confirms the myth of the "Vast right wing conspiracy" that was dismissed by the mainstream media when it was coined by then first Lady Hillary Clinton. It is a country where no person or secret is safe. People who you trust are not to be trusted. Harassment, violence and murder are tools used to subvert the Progressive agenda and the people who advocate it.
Lest you think The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is just tell the story of one woman's struggle to fight the system, it is much more than that. Dr. Bramhall's amazing tale also involves the Kennedy assassination, the government's "War" on AIDS, the plot against single player healthcare, suppression of African Americans and much more. Paranoia is real. Schizophrenia is not just a mental disorder, it' a weapon.
A psychological thriller of the first order, The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is also a cautionary tale. CIA and FBI operatives are indeed among us. Opposing the agenda of Corporate America is not tolerated. Those that try fight the good fight, but the establishment will stop at nothing to stay in power. Dr. Bramhall's harrowing tale is testament to that.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall
Review by Stuart Kreisman, author of Dick Cheney's Diary originally for Amazon.com
A simple sit-in at an administration building becomes the catalyst for a surreal, Kafkaesque, hellish fifteen years for Dr. Stuart Jeanne Bramhall in her compelling new book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee. Dr. Bramhall, a practicing Seattle-based psychiatrist tells in chilling detail how attending a seemingly innocent meeting to protest racial abuse at a local school triggers a covert government plot to destroy the cause and her life.
Dr. Bramhall's work confirms the myth of the "Vast right wing conspiracy" that was dismissed by the mainstream media when it was coined by then first Lady Hillary Clinton. It is a country where no person or secret is safe. People who you trust are not to be trusted. Harassment, violence and murder are tools used to subvert the Progressive agenda and the people who advocate it.
Lest you think The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is just tell the story of one woman's struggle to fight the system, it is much more than that. Dr. Bramhall's amazing tale also involves the Kennedy assassination, the government's "War" on AIDS, the plot against single player healthcare, suppression of African Americans and much more. Paranoia is real. Schizophrenia is not just a mental disorder, it' a weapon.
A psychological thriller of the first order, The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is also a cautionary tale. CIA and FBI operatives are indeed among us. Opposing the agenda of Corporate America is not tolerated. Those that try fight the good fight, but the establishment will stop at nothing to stay in power. Dr. Bramhall's harrowing tale is testament to that.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Monday, June 21, 2010
That's Entertainment! Horror Films, History and Scream Queens.
Book Review: Confessions of a Scream Queen
By Matt Beckoff
Bear Manor Media
ISBN-13: 973-1-59393-539-9
Reviewed by: Wesley Britton
For fans of nostalgia and entertainment, small presses like Bear Manor Media fill niches no other publishers will touch. For example, BMM books run the range from memoirs by child stars of the 1930s to extremely well-researched histories of radio, film, and TV series, to collections of interviews with actors from a variety of genres. As a result, many of these books appeal to specific audiences hungry for insights into the films and shows that influenced them years ago. These are readers who enjoy nostalgia conventions where they visit autograph tables and meet participants from the thrilling days of yesteryear. These buffs provide many bit or retired actors a second career—telling old stories for enthusiastic fans of projects completed before many of them were born.
So, typically, Bear Manor Media’s Confessions of a Scream Queen is a book for a particular—and loyal--fan base, in this case lovers of horror and Sci-Fi movies. In this collection, interviewer Matt Beckoff has assembled a sort of mini-con in print with 15 actresses recalling their most famous or infamous roles. Many of these ladies had careers and parts as hit-and-run as some of these interviews. As a result, with a few exceptions, film students will not get in-depth behind-the-scenes discussions of how horror films came to be. Instead, we get snapshots, glimpses into how the acting profession has changed since the early days of talking pictures to the present. One theme resonating through this book as a whole is how these working girls once found roles in pictures that none expected to have long-shelf lives, only to be happily surprised to learn they still have fans hoping to both see their work again and again and learn more about them personally long after the camera stopped rolling. For others, with more diverse resumes, their surprise is how they’ve become “Scream Queens” at all as their roles in horror movies are but a small section of their credits.
Appropriately beginning with the first talkies, Beckoff spoke with Carla Laemmle, Lupita Tovar, Janet Ann Gallow, and Elena Verdego who worked with the likes of Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi in the early horror films of Universal Studios. These are the shortest discussions in the book as these actresses had the shortest time on screen—first, young actresses who rarely spent time with the leading men, then married and raised families, and years later discovered themselves cult favorites. Then Beckoff moved into the noir era with Colleen Gray who appeared in such films as Kiss of Death, working with directors like Henry Hathaway and actors including Richard Widmark.
The book kicks into a higher gear with Kathleen Hughes as she appeared in a number of horror/Sci-Fi projects like IT Came From Outer Space and Judith O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead). Some devotees might be disappointed Hammer Films were represented by only one alumni--Ingrid Pitt (Vampire Lovers, Countess Dracula, Wicker Man). But “slasher” fans get Marilyn Burns (Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Betsy Palmer (Friday the 13th), and P. J. Soles (Carrie, Halloween). This trio are extremely erudite about the roles that made them famous and their appreciation for the audience response ever after. In fact, readers might raise an eyebrow to hear these actresses revealing how much professionalism they brought to movies none thought were more than a paycheck for a few weeks work.
For the wider film audience, the nuggets in the collections are conversations with actresses whose careers ran a wide range of genres such as Karen Black, Jessica Harper, and Dee Wallace. Black, for example, reminisced about her work on Five Easy Pieces, her time with Hitchcock in Family Plot, and her role as a country singer in Nashville. The final interview in the group, with Adrienne Barbeau, is the perfect finale as, in this crowd, she seems the Queen of Queens. After all, she not only appeared in four major John Carpenter films, she was married to him.
This isn’t a tome for research libraries, but it’s one to take with you for autographs at all those conventions. It’s enjoyable, and even more so for the pictures contributed by the interviewees and new photos taken by Beckoff—making this package attractive for every heterosexual male alive. Well, considering the subject matter, alive might be too restrictive an adjective. This collection was clearly a labor of love as Beckoff obviously did his homework and preparation by seeing all the movies and reading past interviews, some apparently twenty years old. So the book might not be indispensible reading, but it might give readers new appreciation for “Scream Queens”—even those who never did scream on-screen.
Order this book at bearmanormedia.bizland.com
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Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of four books on fictional espionage, owner of www.spywise.net, and co-host of the online radio show, “Dave White Presents” on KSAV.org and available for download.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By Matt Beckoff
Bear Manor Media
ISBN-13: 973-1-59393-539-9
Reviewed by: Wesley Britton
For fans of nostalgia and entertainment, small presses like Bear Manor Media fill niches no other publishers will touch. For example, BMM books run the range from memoirs by child stars of the 1930s to extremely well-researched histories of radio, film, and TV series, to collections of interviews with actors from a variety of genres. As a result, many of these books appeal to specific audiences hungry for insights into the films and shows that influenced them years ago. These are readers who enjoy nostalgia conventions where they visit autograph tables and meet participants from the thrilling days of yesteryear. These buffs provide many bit or retired actors a second career—telling old stories for enthusiastic fans of projects completed before many of them were born.
So, typically, Bear Manor Media’s Confessions of a Scream Queen is a book for a particular—and loyal--fan base, in this case lovers of horror and Sci-Fi movies. In this collection, interviewer Matt Beckoff has assembled a sort of mini-con in print with 15 actresses recalling their most famous or infamous roles. Many of these ladies had careers and parts as hit-and-run as some of these interviews. As a result, with a few exceptions, film students will not get in-depth behind-the-scenes discussions of how horror films came to be. Instead, we get snapshots, glimpses into how the acting profession has changed since the early days of talking pictures to the present. One theme resonating through this book as a whole is how these working girls once found roles in pictures that none expected to have long-shelf lives, only to be happily surprised to learn they still have fans hoping to both see their work again and again and learn more about them personally long after the camera stopped rolling. For others, with more diverse resumes, their surprise is how they’ve become “Scream Queens” at all as their roles in horror movies are but a small section of their credits.
Appropriately beginning with the first talkies, Beckoff spoke with Carla Laemmle, Lupita Tovar, Janet Ann Gallow, and Elena Verdego who worked with the likes of Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi in the early horror films of Universal Studios. These are the shortest discussions in the book as these actresses had the shortest time on screen—first, young actresses who rarely spent time with the leading men, then married and raised families, and years later discovered themselves cult favorites. Then Beckoff moved into the noir era with Colleen Gray who appeared in such films as Kiss of Death, working with directors like Henry Hathaway and actors including Richard Widmark.
The book kicks into a higher gear with Kathleen Hughes as she appeared in a number of horror/Sci-Fi projects like IT Came From Outer Space and Judith O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead). Some devotees might be disappointed Hammer Films were represented by only one alumni--Ingrid Pitt (Vampire Lovers, Countess Dracula, Wicker Man). But “slasher” fans get Marilyn Burns (Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Betsy Palmer (Friday the 13th), and P. J. Soles (Carrie, Halloween). This trio are extremely erudite about the roles that made them famous and their appreciation for the audience response ever after. In fact, readers might raise an eyebrow to hear these actresses revealing how much professionalism they brought to movies none thought were more than a paycheck for a few weeks work.
For the wider film audience, the nuggets in the collections are conversations with actresses whose careers ran a wide range of genres such as Karen Black, Jessica Harper, and Dee Wallace. Black, for example, reminisced about her work on Five Easy Pieces, her time with Hitchcock in Family Plot, and her role as a country singer in Nashville. The final interview in the group, with Adrienne Barbeau, is the perfect finale as, in this crowd, she seems the Queen of Queens. After all, she not only appeared in four major John Carpenter films, she was married to him.
This isn’t a tome for research libraries, but it’s one to take with you for autographs at all those conventions. It’s enjoyable, and even more so for the pictures contributed by the interviewees and new photos taken by Beckoff—making this package attractive for every heterosexual male alive. Well, considering the subject matter, alive might be too restrictive an adjective. This collection was clearly a labor of love as Beckoff obviously did his homework and preparation by seeing all the movies and reading past interviews, some apparently twenty years old. So the book might not be indispensible reading, but it might give readers new appreciation for “Scream Queens”—even those who never did scream on-screen.
Order this book at bearmanormedia.bizland.com
----
Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of four books on fictional espionage, owner of www.spywise.net, and co-host of the online radio show, “Dave White Presents” on KSAV.org and available for download.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Patient Shares Her Healing, Approved by Her Practitioner
It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge
By Yocheved Golani
Publisher: Booklocker
Genre: Self-Help
Reviewed by Andrea Kornfeld, CST
I happen to know author Yocheved Golani. I treated her before, during and after she wrote her book. I watched miracles happen to her for years after her harrowing surgery and shocking recovery. EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge , its blog, and their author have transparency, reputation and guts. She wrote her story and her tips on how to help her readers very realistically. The power of positive thinking that Yocheved teaches is limitless.
A CranioSacral therapist certified by John Ledger himself, I have seen improvements in my patients who followed the suggestions in Yocheved Golani's powerful e-book It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge . My patients tell me that the sensible suggestions and charming sense of humor in the text soothes them. They appreciate the pleasantly formatted appearance of the e-book. Two pages appear at the same time, making the reading very easy on the eyes and the reader's memory.
EMPOWER Yourself helps readers as powerfully as the title suggests. My patients love the calming ideas, and the money-saving information in the Global Resources section. It's a time-saving list of outlets that can help them to pay medical bills, get free medical transportation and appliances, or even medication and medical care. Everyone suffering illness can and should benefit from this book!
My office still sells the earlier print edition published in 2007. I proudly recommend the updated e-book to new patients.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By Yocheved Golani
Publisher: Booklocker
Genre: Self-Help
Reviewed by Andrea Kornfeld, CST
I happen to know author Yocheved Golani. I treated her before, during and after she wrote her book. I watched miracles happen to her for years after her harrowing surgery and shocking recovery. EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge , its blog, and their author have transparency, reputation and guts. She wrote her story and her tips on how to help her readers very realistically. The power of positive thinking that Yocheved teaches is limitless.
A CranioSacral therapist certified by John Ledger himself, I have seen improvements in my patients who followed the suggestions in Yocheved Golani's powerful e-book It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge . My patients tell me that the sensible suggestions and charming sense of humor in the text soothes them. They appreciate the pleasantly formatted appearance of the e-book. Two pages appear at the same time, making the reading very easy on the eyes and the reader's memory.
EMPOWER Yourself helps readers as powerfully as the title suggests. My patients love the calming ideas, and the money-saving information in the Global Resources section. It's a time-saving list of outlets that can help them to pay medical bills, get free medical transportation and appliances, or even medication and medical care. Everyone suffering illness can and should benefit from this book!
My office still sells the earlier print edition published in 2007. I proudly recommend the updated e-book to new patients.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Reader Decides How To Make Money Is Good Thing
Title: You Will be Forced to Become Wealthy
Author: Finifid
Genre: Non Fiction
Reviewed by Ray Bank
I purchased this book for one simple reason – to make money, because a lack of it is my constant problem! I had to read this book two times (slower the second time) until I fully realized that it is really about how to make money. That is my strong opinion. Moreover, I plan to read it again since I feel that this book realistically jacked up my mood and desire to move ahead in my endeavors. In fact, as a result of the influence this book has had on my life, I have recently started up a business of my own, and this is only the beginning! I am so impressed with this work that I had to share my excitement with other people and that is the reason I decided to post this commentary here. I recommend that everyone own a copy of this book. This is a tiny investment into endless possibilities.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author: Finifid
Genre: Non Fiction
Reviewed by Ray Bank
I purchased this book for one simple reason – to make money, because a lack of it is my constant problem! I had to read this book two times (slower the second time) until I fully realized that it is really about how to make money. That is my strong opinion. Moreover, I plan to read it again since I feel that this book realistically jacked up my mood and desire to move ahead in my endeavors. In fact, as a result of the influence this book has had on my life, I have recently started up a business of my own, and this is only the beginning! I am so impressed with this work that I had to share my excitement with other people and that is the reason I decided to post this commentary here. I recommend that everyone own a copy of this book. This is a tiny investment into endless possibilities.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Carlton Scott Helps Kids with His Books
Title – Glamour Girl From the Stars
Author – Carlton Scott
Genre or category – children’s book, children’s picture book
ISBN –0-9636652-4-3
About Glamour Girl
“After traveling to and fro across outer space’s unknown, PleeDee discovers her world is similar to our own. When little girls live up to their potential wherever they are, they’ll shine brightly with confidence no matter how near or far.”
Glamour Girl From the Stars is an out of this world rhyming story about a 3 foot tall alien girl named Plee-Dee who borrows her father's flying saucer to visit Earth hoping to enter the Miss Universe Pageant in LA. She visits different cultures around the world realizing she feels good about herself without having to enter pageants. The book intends to teach little girls self esteem. Illustrations in colored pencil and photos from the author.
About Carlton Scott
Carlton Scott has over fifteen years’ clinical experience as a traveling nurse (RN) with a specialty in critical care nursing and a focus on children’s health. He has worked with over 1000 children and teens in both mental health counseling and critical care nursing. Inspired by his desire to cheer up sick children, Scott has authored and illustrated three children’s books that teach kids the lessons of friendship, self-acceptance and adventure. As part of his commitment to supporting children’s health, he donates 50 percent of all profits from his books to children’s hospitals across the country.
Carlton is also the author of Grin’s Message, “On my days off as a lifeguard, I began swimming with dolphins and had found a secluded place where they gathered. I always thought they had a grin on their face,” says Scott.
He is also the author of Little Big Wolf, based on drawings taken from his hiking photos. He published both Grin’s Message and Little Big Wolf in hardcover. He created his newest book, Glamour Girl from the Stars, to foster self acceptance in young girls.
For more information about this virtual book tour, please visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/05/13/blog-tour-carlton-scotts-glamour-girl-from-the-stars/ Learn more about this author and purchase his books at http://www.carltonsbooks.com/index.html.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author – Carlton Scott
Genre or category – children’s book, children’s picture book
ISBN –0-9636652-4-3
About Glamour Girl
“After traveling to and fro across outer space’s unknown, PleeDee discovers her world is similar to our own. When little girls live up to their potential wherever they are, they’ll shine brightly with confidence no matter how near or far.”
Glamour Girl From the Stars is an out of this world rhyming story about a 3 foot tall alien girl named Plee-Dee who borrows her father's flying saucer to visit Earth hoping to enter the Miss Universe Pageant in LA. She visits different cultures around the world realizing she feels good about herself without having to enter pageants. The book intends to teach little girls self esteem. Illustrations in colored pencil and photos from the author.
About Carlton Scott
Carlton Scott has over fifteen years’ clinical experience as a traveling nurse (RN) with a specialty in critical care nursing and a focus on children’s health. He has worked with over 1000 children and teens in both mental health counseling and critical care nursing. Inspired by his desire to cheer up sick children, Scott has authored and illustrated three children’s books that teach kids the lessons of friendship, self-acceptance and adventure. As part of his commitment to supporting children’s health, he donates 50 percent of all profits from his books to children’s hospitals across the country.
Carlton is also the author of Grin’s Message, “On my days off as a lifeguard, I began swimming with dolphins and had found a secluded place where they gathered. I always thought they had a grin on their face,” says Scott.
He is also the author of Little Big Wolf, based on drawings taken from his hiking photos. He published both Grin’s Message and Little Big Wolf in hardcover. He created his newest book, Glamour Girl from the Stars, to foster self acceptance in young girls.
For more information about this virtual book tour, please visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/05/13/blog-tour-carlton-scotts-glamour-girl-from-the-stars/ Learn more about this author and purchase his books at http://www.carltonsbooks.com/index.html.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tie Die Queen Pens Unexpected Memoir
Book Title: An Eclectic Life
Author: Pat Holt
Pubisher: Burr Oak Publishing
Genre: Memoir
ISBN: 978-1451527674
This review is from the back of my book:
Endorsement from Jane Lilienfeld, PhD, Professor of English, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO:
“Delightfully funny, often unexpected, the incidents of Pat Holt’s life story will speak to and for many readers.”
----
Pat Holt is a memoirist and photographer. Also see her at Tie Dye Queen.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author: Pat Holt
Pubisher: Burr Oak Publishing
Genre: Memoir
ISBN: 978-1451527674
This review is from the back of my book:
Endorsement from Jane Lilienfeld, PhD, Professor of English, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO:
“Delightfully funny, often unexpected, the incidents of Pat Holt’s life story will speak to and for many readers.”
----
Pat Holt is a memoirist and photographer. Also see her at Tie Dye Queen.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Monday, June 14, 2010
It's My Crisis and I'll Cry If I NEED To!
It's MY Crisis! And I'll Cry If I Need To: EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge
by Yocheved Golani
Booklocker Publishing
Reviewed by Laureen G. Sussman
This is an inspirational self-help E-book full of information that people with an illness need. You can read it on your iPhone if you wish! That could be helpful when you're waiting at the doctor's or in long lines at a store. Booklocker Publishing thinks of everything.
Yocheved Golani has writen an excellent guide for people who are facing a medical crisis. As the parent of a child with multiple disabilities, I wish I'd had her book available to me when my son was born over 28 years ago. I discovered so much on my own and sought out or created the support network that my husband and I needed. With Yocheved's book, people in similar situations do not need to reinvent the wheel.
EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge informs you about how to see stressful events in healthier perspective. Some funny stories in the book made me laugh when I least expected to. Yocheved gives soothing advice and helps her readers to calm down so you can function better. The appearance of the E-book is good on the eyes. It looks like two open pages with pleasant fonts and graphics.
You'll really cope with a medical challenge better with this E-book. The back of the book lists worldwide resources that can help you to get free or low-cost top-quality medical care, medication and medical appliances, even medical air transportation! That saves so much time and anguish. The information is right there for you to use it!
The information is succinct and appropriate to various medical crises. I highly recommend it to anyone in need.
Find Yocheved Golani on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink
She tweets at: http://twitter.com/yochevedgolani and blogs at: http://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
by Yocheved Golani
Booklocker Publishing
Reviewed by Laureen G. Sussman
This is an inspirational self-help E-book full of information that people with an illness need. You can read it on your iPhone if you wish! That could be helpful when you're waiting at the doctor's or in long lines at a store. Booklocker Publishing thinks of everything.
Yocheved Golani has writen an excellent guide for people who are facing a medical crisis. As the parent of a child with multiple disabilities, I wish I'd had her book available to me when my son was born over 28 years ago. I discovered so much on my own and sought out or created the support network that my husband and I needed. With Yocheved's book, people in similar situations do not need to reinvent the wheel.
EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge informs you about how to see stressful events in healthier perspective. Some funny stories in the book made me laugh when I least expected to. Yocheved gives soothing advice and helps her readers to calm down so you can function better. The appearance of the E-book is good on the eyes. It looks like two open pages with pleasant fonts and graphics.
You'll really cope with a medical challenge better with this E-book. The back of the book lists worldwide resources that can help you to get free or low-cost top-quality medical care, medication and medical appliances, even medical air transportation! That saves so much time and anguish. The information is right there for you to use it!
The information is succinct and appropriate to various medical crises. I highly recommend it to anyone in need.
Find Yocheved Golani on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/yochevedgolaniink
She tweets at: http://twitter.com/yochevedgolani and blogs at: http://itsmycrisisandillcryifineedto.blogspot.com/
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Learning Techniques of Nude Photography
Title: True Confessions of Nude Photography
Author: A.K. Nicholas
Genre or category: Nonfiction: Arts & Photography > Photography > Subjects > Nudes
ISBN 978-1452808680
Publisher: Createspace
Includes 120+ pages, 170 nude poses, and 10 detailed lighting diagrams.
Author's Synopsis
Learn to photograph beautiful nude female models by reading this book.
It’s a step-by-step guide to recruiting beautiful women to model for you, lighting, photographing nudes, post-processing images, and maybe even getting paid to do it. The human body has been an inspiration for artists since before the invention of photography. Naturally, nudes were one of the first subjects of photography as well.
Prior experience with nude models is not required to benefit from this how-to guide. This guide can be enjoyed by anyone at any stage in their career, but is written for two main audiences: the accomplished photographer wanting insight from a peer, and the serious amateur wanting a guided introduction to the field.
A range of processes are explained step-by-step. It's more than just a collection of photos; you’ll see full lighting diagrams as well as frank discussions of techniques and pitfalls in making the images. The book explains how to prepare in the days and weeks leading up to making a nude photo shoot. From finding your first nude model to selling your first nude photo, the guide presents complete, concise instruction on lighting, posing, and-post processing with Photoshop.
The human body has been an inspiration for artists since before the invention of photography. Naturally, nudes were one of the first subjects of photography as well. Although the guide covers the basics of nude photography, it is assumed that you have a digital camera that is more advanced than a point-and-shoot and that you already understand the basics of operating your camera.
Nude photography entails more than just photographic technique, there is a huge interpersonal element; much more so than in any other kind of people photography. The guide addresses everything from finding models, to working with them long term. Most guides on photographic technique assume you've already found a willing model. This one assumes that you're having trouble - or at least having trouble finding a model that you feel takes your work to the next level. It contains techniques for finding and recruiting models.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author: A.K. Nicholas
Genre or category: Nonfiction: Arts & Photography > Photography > Subjects > Nudes
ISBN 978-1452808680
Publisher: Createspace
Includes 120+ pages, 170 nude poses, and 10 detailed lighting diagrams.
Author's Synopsis
Learn to photograph beautiful nude female models by reading this book.
It’s a step-by-step guide to recruiting beautiful women to model for you, lighting, photographing nudes, post-processing images, and maybe even getting paid to do it. The human body has been an inspiration for artists since before the invention of photography. Naturally, nudes were one of the first subjects of photography as well.
Prior experience with nude models is not required to benefit from this how-to guide. This guide can be enjoyed by anyone at any stage in their career, but is written for two main audiences: the accomplished photographer wanting insight from a peer, and the serious amateur wanting a guided introduction to the field.
A range of processes are explained step-by-step. It's more than just a collection of photos; you’ll see full lighting diagrams as well as frank discussions of techniques and pitfalls in making the images. The book explains how to prepare in the days and weeks leading up to making a nude photo shoot. From finding your first nude model to selling your first nude photo, the guide presents complete, concise instruction on lighting, posing, and-post processing with Photoshop.
The human body has been an inspiration for artists since before the invention of photography. Naturally, nudes were one of the first subjects of photography as well. Although the guide covers the basics of nude photography, it is assumed that you have a digital camera that is more advanced than a point-and-shoot and that you already understand the basics of operating your camera.
Nude photography entails more than just photographic technique, there is a huge interpersonal element; much more so than in any other kind of people photography. The guide addresses everything from finding models, to working with them long term. Most guides on photographic technique assume you've already found a willing model. This one assumes that you're having trouble - or at least having trouble finding a model that you feel takes your work to the next level. It contains techniques for finding and recruiting models.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Reader Review Amy Ferris's Memoir
Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis
By Amy Ferris
ISBN-10: 1580052975
ISBN-13: 978-1580052979
Reviewed by Katherine H. Hughes
I just finished Amy's book which came highly recommended by Carolyn Howard-Johnson due to her unique style of voice. That is an understatement for Amy...she writes how she thinks alright, but she is more than unique, which we are all scared to do.
I related to her voice because I sometimes slip and say a "f-word" as well. It was something I was worried about in some of my writing...should I take it out/ leave it in....I liked it in her book it was so funny(to me). It seemed true to her actual thoughts. Loved it even though it was on a mid-life crisis, I felt as though I am going through some of the things she went through in her life!
I have never laughed so hard I had to take a break from reading, only because I found myself relating to every thought, comment or the outfit memory in her closet. I have to say I did not expect the book to have the book have a sensitive side after all the humor in the book. It added another dynamic that hit close to home for me. My grandmother fought the same battle Amy’s mom did with Dementia. Growing up I saw how my mother had to be strong and preserver though the same thing Amy went through. I pray and prepare myself for the same battle hoping to absorb every memory I can along the way with my mother.
I have passed my copy along to my Mom. My mother is in a book club in AL so maybe they will read it...they read some of everything. I also have different friends who read ALOT more than I do(not that I don't want to) that I suggested they go and buy it. It would make great beach or summer reading for all. I laughed through the whole thing I have never done that in a book before, so she must be some kind of writer.
I guess this year here in Canada has allowed me to mediate get my thoughts together. I am amazed at how much I actually figured out: personal and professional. Both before and after reading Amy's book. I am just starting my writing journey as I have kept notes of my travels, work and personal experiences over the last several years. I look forward to perusing my own voice and staying true to myself as well. I have been working in the outdoor industry(in Wyoming, Africa, and now Canada) since I graduated from college in the South; it has been wonderful journey, but I see many crossroads in the future. May I take the high road and the road less traveled and have a unforeseen writing career. That is what life is all about, enjoy it!!
Author Bio:
Ferris is also the author of a young adult novel. A Greater Goode.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
By Amy Ferris
ISBN-10: 1580052975
ISBN-13: 978-1580052979
Reviewed by Katherine H. Hughes
I just finished Amy's book which came highly recommended by Carolyn Howard-Johnson due to her unique style of voice. That is an understatement for Amy...she writes how she thinks alright, but she is more than unique, which we are all scared to do.
I related to her voice because I sometimes slip and say a "f-word" as well. It was something I was worried about in some of my writing...should I take it out/ leave it in....I liked it in her book it was so funny(to me). It seemed true to her actual thoughts. Loved it even though it was on a mid-life crisis, I felt as though I am going through some of the things she went through in her life!
I have never laughed so hard I had to take a break from reading, only because I found myself relating to every thought, comment or the outfit memory in her closet. I have to say I did not expect the book to have the book have a sensitive side after all the humor in the book. It added another dynamic that hit close to home for me. My grandmother fought the same battle Amy’s mom did with Dementia. Growing up I saw how my mother had to be strong and preserver though the same thing Amy went through. I pray and prepare myself for the same battle hoping to absorb every memory I can along the way with my mother.
I have passed my copy along to my Mom. My mother is in a book club in AL so maybe they will read it...they read some of everything. I also have different friends who read ALOT more than I do(not that I don't want to) that I suggested they go and buy it. It would make great beach or summer reading for all. I laughed through the whole thing I have never done that in a book before, so she must be some kind of writer.
I guess this year here in Canada has allowed me to mediate get my thoughts together. I am amazed at how much I actually figured out: personal and professional. Both before and after reading Amy's book. I am just starting my writing journey as I have kept notes of my travels, work and personal experiences over the last several years. I look forward to perusing my own voice and staying true to myself as well. I have been working in the outdoor industry(in Wyoming, Africa, and now Canada) since I graduated from college in the South; it has been wonderful journey, but I see many crossroads in the future. May I take the high road and the road less traveled and have a unforeseen writing career. That is what life is all about, enjoy it!!
Author Bio:
Ferris is also the author of a young adult novel. A Greater Goode.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Friday, June 11, 2010
Something Different This Year: Poetry Chapbooks for Father's Day
Imagining the Future: Ruminations on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions
Series: Celebration Series
By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
ISBN: 144997774X
Chapbook: 37 pages
Genre: Poetry
How about literature for Father’s Day instead of ties or dinner?
We know ties are a cliché and in a few years, Dad won’t remember one Father’s Day dinner from another. Let’s face it, not all literature is created equal, thus some books are just as fleeting, though most would be a step up from a gift certificate and certainly would help support the industry that we believe important for the future.
I’m proposing—selfishly—poetry. Frugally!
First, you may have never given your father, grandfather, or a favorite father figure in your life a book of poetry. Thus, it will be memorable.
A small book of poetry will also be flattering. He will appreciate being treated tenderly. In fact, present a small chapbook with a single rose or gladiolus spray. Who says that only women want romance and tenderness in their lives!
Some of the readers of this blog could easily write a poem—even if they don’t think poetry their forte. Print it out on some lineny paper and present it with any other gift you may be giving.
You might choose to tuck it inside the cover of the Chapbook Imagining the Future: Ruminations on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions that Magdalena Ball and I wrote for our Celebration Series of chapbooks. Our idea for this series is to have small books written for those who prefer something a little a little more literary than the typical greeting card, but still accessible for those who didn’t study literature in school. And at an affordable price. With cover art (and sometimes interior art) chosen from among our circle of talented writing and artist friends.
Most of our booklets are $6.95. We now have one for mothers (She Wore Emerald Then: Reflections on Motherhood, www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook), one that says love (Cherished Pulse: Unconventional Love Poetry, www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse) and one for men and fathers (Imagining the Future, www.budurl.com/Imagining). We’re working on one for Christmas (not the holidays, but Christmas). It will be called Blooming Red.
Think of your poetry presentation to Dad as a Father’s Day card; it costs little more than a really nice one. Or think of it as a tuck-in gift or a tie-on as part of the wrap. Any poetry book you choose can be made more personal if you tie in a little grosgrain or satin ribbon inside the crease of the book to be used as a bookmark.
And don’t forget the hug.
Here is a sample poem from Imagining the Future (www.budurl.com/Imagining) : It was originally published by Dash, a literary journal.
Long Before They Shut the Napster Down
my father collected blursounds
get out of town
downloaded into the night soft jazzy
lights, sweet pink smoke
the smell of Jack Daniel's hot
satin doll
to real applause, nothing canned
found in the night a voice
like a staccato bass Wes Bowen
at KSL croons ella and shearing
at midnight to benefit a crowd
of one, alone at the wheel
make believe
marimbas, smooth
lullaby of birdland
sweet humanbaby-whine of clarinets
and a moon
no electronic nothing
humthrum of base, brushswish metal on cymbals
tell you what it's all about
lucky to get it before they shut the music down
smokey joe's
dispenser of joy, free of charge
cut me a rose
Happy Father's Day!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Series: Celebration Series
By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
ISBN: 144997774X
Chapbook: 37 pages
Genre: Poetry
How about literature for Father’s Day instead of ties or dinner?
We know ties are a cliché and in a few years, Dad won’t remember one Father’s Day dinner from another. Let’s face it, not all literature is created equal, thus some books are just as fleeting, though most would be a step up from a gift certificate and certainly would help support the industry that we believe important for the future.
I’m proposing—selfishly—poetry. Frugally!
First, you may have never given your father, grandfather, or a favorite father figure in your life a book of poetry. Thus, it will be memorable.
A small book of poetry will also be flattering. He will appreciate being treated tenderly. In fact, present a small chapbook with a single rose or gladiolus spray. Who says that only women want romance and tenderness in their lives!
Some of the readers of this blog could easily write a poem—even if they don’t think poetry their forte. Print it out on some lineny paper and present it with any other gift you may be giving.
You might choose to tuck it inside the cover of the Chapbook Imagining the Future: Ruminations on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions that Magdalena Ball and I wrote for our Celebration Series of chapbooks. Our idea for this series is to have small books written for those who prefer something a little a little more literary than the typical greeting card, but still accessible for those who didn’t study literature in school. And at an affordable price. With cover art (and sometimes interior art) chosen from among our circle of talented writing and artist friends.
Most of our booklets are $6.95. We now have one for mothers (She Wore Emerald Then: Reflections on Motherhood, www.budurl.com/MotherChapbook), one that says love (Cherished Pulse: Unconventional Love Poetry, www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse) and one for men and fathers (Imagining the Future, www.budurl.com/Imagining). We’re working on one for Christmas (not the holidays, but Christmas). It will be called Blooming Red.
Think of your poetry presentation to Dad as a Father’s Day card; it costs little more than a really nice one. Or think of it as a tuck-in gift or a tie-on as part of the wrap. Any poetry book you choose can be made more personal if you tie in a little grosgrain or satin ribbon inside the crease of the book to be used as a bookmark.
And don’t forget the hug.
Here is a sample poem from Imagining the Future (www.budurl.com/Imagining) : It was originally published by Dash, a literary journal.
Long Before They Shut the Napster Down
my father collected blursounds
get out of town
downloaded into the night soft jazzy
lights, sweet pink smoke
the smell of Jack Daniel's hot
satin doll
to real applause, nothing canned
found in the night a voice
like a staccato bass Wes Bowen
at KSL croons ella and shearing
at midnight to benefit a crowd
of one, alone at the wheel
make believe
marimbas, smooth
lullaby of birdland
sweet humanbaby-whine of clarinets
and a moon
no electronic nothing
humthrum of base, brushswish metal on cymbals
tell you what it's all about
lucky to get it before they shut the music down
smokey joe's
dispenser of joy, free of charge
cut me a rose
Happy Father's Day!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
www.howtodoitfrugally.com
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Well-Known Media Trainer Tells How To Do It
Title – Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training
Author – Jonathan Bernstein
Crisis Management Blog: http://bernsteincrisismanagement.blogspot.com
Genre or category - Business
ISBN – 978-1450582209
About Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training
Anyone who has achieved some degree of success in business, government work, helping run a non-profit organization, or any other field may be interviewed by the news media. This is a rich opportunity to gain positive publicity, but you can also find yourself in a position where you look bad. Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., has varied professional experiences, including public relations, crisis management, journalism, and covert military intelligence operations. Bernstein is a regular guest commentator and expert source for national media outlets and PR Week described him as one of 22 individuals nationwide "who should be on the speed dial in a crisis."
Joan Stewart, AKA The Publicity Hound, says, "Even if you think you’ll never, ever be interviewed by the media, buy this book and read it cover to cover. It isn’t a substitute for media training. But it will give you the tools and confidence to go head to head–—and possibly even defang—rabid reporters, blood-thirsty bloggers and social networking buffoons who are out to besmirch your good name."
Keeping the Wolves at Bay — Media Training is the definitive “how to” guide for anyone who may have to deal with the media – live, by phone or online – whether they want to or not. It brings readers the best of Jonathan Bernstein’s nearly three decades of crisis management and media training experience, written in a style that’s both entertaining and informative. The material in the book, in various earlier incarnations, passed the test of real crises for many years.
Bernstein takes the readers on a journey that starts “Inside the Minds of Journalists,” moving on to “Getting Ready to be Interviewed” and then segueing to “Media Tactics – Dancing the Dance.” He then provides detailed information on “Media Logistics” for all forms of interviews, and goes on to address some unusual situations – e.g., “Media Training the Untrainable” – in a section called “Special Circumstances.” Finally, he provides readers with bonus materials that they will be able to use, hands-on, right away.
While the author’s focus is on the crisis-related applications of media training, he notes that his clients, have found the teachings to have improved their ability to communicate with many different types of audiences, from town hall meetings to public hearings to investor events and more. His international training experience have demonstrated that the principles espoused in Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training are truly universal.
When you get well known for what you do, the media will want to interview you, which is a good way to get your message out or alternatively, to look really bad. You need to be prepared for interviewers who might tell your story straight — or who might do the opposite. I’ve found that Jonathan Bernstein’s book and training are real-life preparation for whatever can happen, and they’ve helped me get the real stuff out there, and helped keep me out of trouble! ~ Craig Newmark, Founder, craigslist
About Jonathan Bernstein
Bernstein has written an accessible, enjoyable book for anyone who may have to deal with the media, whether face-to-face, by phone, or online. Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training brings readers the best of Bernstein's nearly three decades of crisis management and media training experience, written in a style that's both entertaining and informative.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author – Jonathan Bernstein
Crisis Management Blog: http://bernsteincrisismanagement.blogspot.com
Genre or category - Business
ISBN – 978-1450582209
About Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training
Anyone who has achieved some degree of success in business, government work, helping run a non-profit organization, or any other field may be interviewed by the news media. This is a rich opportunity to gain positive publicity, but you can also find yourself in a position where you look bad. Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., has varied professional experiences, including public relations, crisis management, journalism, and covert military intelligence operations. Bernstein is a regular guest commentator and expert source for national media outlets and PR Week described him as one of 22 individuals nationwide "who should be on the speed dial in a crisis."
Joan Stewart, AKA The Publicity Hound, says, "Even if you think you’ll never, ever be interviewed by the media, buy this book and read it cover to cover. It isn’t a substitute for media training. But it will give you the tools and confidence to go head to head–—and possibly even defang—rabid reporters, blood-thirsty bloggers and social networking buffoons who are out to besmirch your good name."
Keeping the Wolves at Bay — Media Training is the definitive “how to” guide for anyone who may have to deal with the media – live, by phone or online – whether they want to or not. It brings readers the best of Jonathan Bernstein’s nearly three decades of crisis management and media training experience, written in a style that’s both entertaining and informative. The material in the book, in various earlier incarnations, passed the test of real crises for many years.
Bernstein takes the readers on a journey that starts “Inside the Minds of Journalists,” moving on to “Getting Ready to be Interviewed” and then segueing to “Media Tactics – Dancing the Dance.” He then provides detailed information on “Media Logistics” for all forms of interviews, and goes on to address some unusual situations – e.g., “Media Training the Untrainable” – in a section called “Special Circumstances.” Finally, he provides readers with bonus materials that they will be able to use, hands-on, right away.
While the author’s focus is on the crisis-related applications of media training, he notes that his clients, have found the teachings to have improved their ability to communicate with many different types of audiences, from town hall meetings to public hearings to investor events and more. His international training experience have demonstrated that the principles espoused in Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training are truly universal.
When you get well known for what you do, the media will want to interview you, which is a good way to get your message out or alternatively, to look really bad. You need to be prepared for interviewers who might tell your story straight — or who might do the opposite. I’ve found that Jonathan Bernstein’s book and training are real-life preparation for whatever can happen, and they’ve helped me get the real stuff out there, and helped keep me out of trouble! ~ Craig Newmark, Founder, craigslist
About Jonathan Bernstein
Bernstein has written an accessible, enjoyable book for anyone who may have to deal with the media, whether face-to-face, by phone, or online. Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training brings readers the best of Bernstein's nearly three decades of crisis management and media training experience, written in a style that's both entertaining and informative.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Aggie Villaneuva Reviews Romance Set in New Mexico
Love Finds You in Golden New Mexico
by Lena Nelson Dooley
$12.99 Paperback
349 pages
Also available in Kindle Format
Summerside Press, Spring, 2010, ISBN 978-1-935416-74-6
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Reviewed by Aggie Villanueva
I was first drawn to Lena Nelson Dooley’s new book, Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, because I once lived in the (no longer) ghost town of Madrid, right next to Golden, and spent much time also in Cerrillos, where some major scenes take place, and all along the beautiful Turquoise Trail that her characters bounced over by wagon.
Though her hungry characters never got to dine there as planned, the writer brought back fond memories of fabulous New Mexican cuisine and Sunday morning brunches as she described the only restaurant in Cerrilos where the train used to stop, and across the town square from Mary’s Bar, the old Saloon. This restaurant is still operating, though the train isn’t.
Ms. Dooley keeps us mindful of the historical setting in the early 1800s. Having lived next door, I know that you can now drive through Golden without knowing you have. But Dooley early on registers the fact with readers that in 1830 it was the bustling home of the first gold strike west of the Mississippi, predating both the Colorado and California gold strike by several years.
Her thorough research is as constant throughout the story as is the continual thumping of the gold stamping machine that backdropped each day of life in Golden. But its Ms. Dooley’s characters and unfolding suspense that drew me into the story, beyond just the familiar places she researched so well.
Boston’s elite, Madeline Mercer, is suddenly penniless after her seemingly healthy and definitely wealthy father dropped dead at his business. And then on top of that Horace Johnstone, longtime employee of her father’s, shows up claiming he is not only a full partner in the business but that Maddy’s father promised her to him in marriage should anything ever happen to him. He threateningly gave her a two-week deadline until their wedding day.
I in the process of checking out Mr. Johnstone Frank Sneed, one of only two servants she could keep, found a ray of hope – a mail order bride ad in the Boston newspaper. The advertiser was a miner in Golden, New Mexico.
If it weren’t for her only remaining servants, Sarah and Frank Sneed, more like Godparents than servants, she could have never escaped into the night to reluctantly answer that ad, toting the orphaned baby its mother had begged her to raise as her own.
The trials of the overland train ride and acquaintance of the advertiser, Phillip Smith, a Godly but aging wealthy miner, were behind her. Their friendship established and growing, Maddy looked forward to being like a daughter to Smith, who was already a grandfather to her baby. But she hadn’t factored in Smith’s best friend, the young Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, sure Maddy was after the old man’s money, set the Sheriff to investigating her. When a wanted poster with Maddy’s face on it arrived in Golden, along with the enraged Horace Johnstone, her world, once more, turned tragic just when Maddy (and readers) thought things were turning out well for her.
If you love inspirational romances, suspense to the end, and characters you care about then you’ll love Lena Nelson Dooley’s newest book. And you’ll anxiously look forward to her next.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
by Lena Nelson Dooley
$12.99 Paperback
349 pages
Also available in Kindle Format
Summerside Press, Spring, 2010, ISBN 978-1-935416-74-6
Genre: Inspirational Romance
Reviewed by Aggie Villanueva
I was first drawn to Lena Nelson Dooley’s new book, Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, because I once lived in the (no longer) ghost town of Madrid, right next to Golden, and spent much time also in Cerrillos, where some major scenes take place, and all along the beautiful Turquoise Trail that her characters bounced over by wagon.
Though her hungry characters never got to dine there as planned, the writer brought back fond memories of fabulous New Mexican cuisine and Sunday morning brunches as she described the only restaurant in Cerrilos where the train used to stop, and across the town square from Mary’s Bar, the old Saloon. This restaurant is still operating, though the train isn’t.
Ms. Dooley keeps us mindful of the historical setting in the early 1800s. Having lived next door, I know that you can now drive through Golden without knowing you have. But Dooley early on registers the fact with readers that in 1830 it was the bustling home of the first gold strike west of the Mississippi, predating both the Colorado and California gold strike by several years.
Her thorough research is as constant throughout the story as is the continual thumping of the gold stamping machine that backdropped each day of life in Golden. But its Ms. Dooley’s characters and unfolding suspense that drew me into the story, beyond just the familiar places she researched so well.
Boston’s elite, Madeline Mercer, is suddenly penniless after her seemingly healthy and definitely wealthy father dropped dead at his business. And then on top of that Horace Johnstone, longtime employee of her father’s, shows up claiming he is not only a full partner in the business but that Maddy’s father promised her to him in marriage should anything ever happen to him. He threateningly gave her a two-week deadline until their wedding day.
I in the process of checking out Mr. Johnstone Frank Sneed, one of only two servants she could keep, found a ray of hope – a mail order bride ad in the Boston newspaper. The advertiser was a miner in Golden, New Mexico.
If it weren’t for her only remaining servants, Sarah and Frank Sneed, more like Godparents than servants, she could have never escaped into the night to reluctantly answer that ad, toting the orphaned baby its mother had begged her to raise as her own.
The trials of the overland train ride and acquaintance of the advertiser, Phillip Smith, a Godly but aging wealthy miner, were behind her. Their friendship established and growing, Maddy looked forward to being like a daughter to Smith, who was already a grandfather to her baby. But she hadn’t factored in Smith’s best friend, the young Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, sure Maddy was after the old man’s money, set the Sheriff to investigating her. When a wanted poster with Maddy’s face on it arrived in Golden, along with the enraged Horace Johnstone, her world, once more, turned tragic just when Maddy (and readers) thought things were turning out well for her.
If you love inspirational romances, suspense to the end, and characters you care about then you’ll love Lena Nelson Dooley’s newest book. And you’ll anxiously look forward to her next.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Monday, June 7, 2010
Poetry, Myth and Vampires
Title: Crow/Woman and MudGirl
Author: VictoriaSelene SkyeDeme
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 978-1424122240
Reviewer's name: Erin O'Riordan for Amazon
VictoriaSelene Skye Deme is, I believe, the illegitimate love child of Sylvia Plath, Barbara G. Walker (who wrote the wonderful Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets) and American Indian writer Louise Erdrich.
CrowWoman and Mudgirl is an all-too-brief collection of poems steeped in myth and folklore. The theme, generally, is the reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of feminine archetypes: is a woman a sweet-faced angel, or a raging she-wolf goddess? In Skye Deme's poems, she is daughter, lover, monster, and more. These are big poems for such a tiny book, and deeply satisfying. My personal favorite is "Dreary Summer Day." What sounds like something perfectly mundane is actually a beautifully spun vampire tale.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author: VictoriaSelene SkyeDeme
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 978-1424122240
Reviewer's name: Erin O'Riordan for Amazon
VictoriaSelene Skye Deme is, I believe, the illegitimate love child of Sylvia Plath, Barbara G. Walker (who wrote the wonderful Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets) and American Indian writer Louise Erdrich.
CrowWoman and Mudgirl is an all-too-brief collection of poems steeped in myth and folklore. The theme, generally, is the reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of feminine archetypes: is a woman a sweet-faced angel, or a raging she-wolf goddess? In Skye Deme's poems, she is daughter, lover, monster, and more. These are big poems for such a tiny book, and deeply satisfying. My personal favorite is "Dreary Summer Day." What sounds like something perfectly mundane is actually a beautifully spun vampire tale.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Billie A. Williams Pens Another Myster, This with a Christmas Backdrop
The Capricorn Goat
by Billie A. Williams
Mystery
ISBN: 1-60813-090-8
Publisher: Publish America
Reviewed by J Gayle Kelly, author of Watermelon Patch and other novels
Mystery writer, Billie A. Williams, publishes mysteries as fast as a missile streaks across an ocean. The Capricorn Goat, one of her fairly recent releases, does not disappoint. She has assembled a book full of entertaining characters, as usual, who excite the reader and move the story forward. For the most part, these characters with such "fun" names, are intelligent, and especially, very human.
Williams’ protagonist, January Flannel, is a mystery author who finds herself immersed in an intriguing mystery which is far too real for comfort. Her good friend Sasha "Echo" Folio is accused of murder and although she entangles herself in the same danger Echo is in, January does not back away. A quote from The Capricorn Goat gives the reader a sense of January’s loyalty to a friend and a peek into her experience as an author: "As a writer, her mind puts the pieces of the mysterious murder together in a puzzle, all the clues interlocking."
Williams stealthily cuts a slice of political intrigue into the mix. How can she explain to her teenage daughter, Taylor, why her father who suddenly disappeared many years before, has suddenly resurfaced in such a profound circumstance? The story centers on the characters and their relationships with each other and the men that complicate their lives; the threats that curse their every day. January is run down by a "hit and run" driver which nearly takes her life, and puts her in a wheelchair. An intruder bullies his way into her house; shots are fired, bullets find their mark. A local teenager is kidnapped. All this at Christmastime when parties are planned and shoppers fill January’s gift shop, The Capricorn Goat.
The climax will keep the reader on the edge of his seat, and all the pieces of the puzzle finally slide into place and click at the end. I promise you, The Capricorn Goat, will make you glad you sat in a cozy chair with your favorite cup of tea and submerged yourself in Billie A. Williams’ gift for writing.
Find the author, Billie A. Williams, at http://writingwide.com.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
by Billie A. Williams
Mystery
ISBN: 1-60813-090-8
Publisher: Publish America
Reviewed by J Gayle Kelly, author of Watermelon Patch and other novels
Mystery writer, Billie A. Williams, publishes mysteries as fast as a missile streaks across an ocean. The Capricorn Goat, one of her fairly recent releases, does not disappoint. She has assembled a book full of entertaining characters, as usual, who excite the reader and move the story forward. For the most part, these characters with such "fun" names, are intelligent, and especially, very human.
Williams’ protagonist, January Flannel, is a mystery author who finds herself immersed in an intriguing mystery which is far too real for comfort. Her good friend Sasha "Echo" Folio is accused of murder and although she entangles herself in the same danger Echo is in, January does not back away. A quote from The Capricorn Goat gives the reader a sense of January’s loyalty to a friend and a peek into her experience as an author: "As a writer, her mind puts the pieces of the mysterious murder together in a puzzle, all the clues interlocking."
Williams stealthily cuts a slice of political intrigue into the mix. How can she explain to her teenage daughter, Taylor, why her father who suddenly disappeared many years before, has suddenly resurfaced in such a profound circumstance? The story centers on the characters and their relationships with each other and the men that complicate their lives; the threats that curse their every day. January is run down by a "hit and run" driver which nearly takes her life, and puts her in a wheelchair. An intruder bullies his way into her house; shots are fired, bullets find their mark. A local teenager is kidnapped. All this at Christmastime when parties are planned and shoppers fill January’s gift shop, The Capricorn Goat.
The climax will keep the reader on the edge of his seat, and all the pieces of the puzzle finally slide into place and click at the end. I promise you, The Capricorn Goat, will make you glad you sat in a cozy chair with your favorite cup of tea and submerged yourself in Billie A. Williams’ gift for writing.
Find the author, Billie A. Williams, at http://writingwide.com.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Friday, June 4, 2010
Historical Novel Inspired by Historical Crestmont Inn
Crestmont
by Holly Weiss
Historical Fiction ISBN 978-1-935188-10-0
StarPublish LLC
Plot synopsis
“A dream, after all, needn’t be fueled by particulars, only by desire.”
So notes main character, Gracie Antes, in CRESTMONT, a historical fiction gem set in the 1920s.
Determined to take control of her life, sheltered Gracie Antes leaves her unhappy home in 1925 to pursue her dream of a singing career. On her way to the big city, she accepts a job as a housemaid at the bustling Crestmont Inn. Once there, Gracie finds a life-changing encounter with opera singer Rosa Ponselle, family she never imagined could be hers, and a man with a mysterious past. Relive the 1920s with a colorful cast of characters. Discover with Gracie that sometimes we must trade loss for happiness.
Set in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, the story is interwoven with details about the town, the rich history of The Crestmont Inn, and the family who passed ownership from one generation to the next. Many attempts have been made to explain how the mountaintop lake nestled in this tiny town came to be. Crestmont gives a new twist to an old Native American legend, setting the tone of grace around which the story is built.
Let the period of the Roaring Twenties spark your interest with its unique social mores, fashion, jazz, and yes, a little bootlegging thrown in for pizzazz.
Review
Reviewed by Holly Connors for Feathered Quill Book Reviews
“Have you ever wished for a comfy, old-fashioned inn where the staff attends to your every need, there’s a nearby lake where eagles soar, and each night there’s a fabulous home cooked meal waiting for you? That special place is within the pages of Crestmont, the debut novel of Holly Weiss.
In the Author’s Note, Weiss acknowledges that she was inspired to write this book after staying at the real Crestmont Inn in 2006. Many of the characters are based on real people, although their “…characterizations…are wholly the author’s creation.”
With extensive attention to detail, the author creates a beautifully realistic world of the hustle and bustle at a busy inn in the 1920s. There is plenty within the pages of Crestmont to keep the reader interested. Indeed, by the end of the book, Gracie, Mrs. Cunningham, PT and the others are like family members and the reader will want to see what happens to each. Crestmont is a study of relationships...it’s a story of intersecting lives.
Quill says: "Reading Crestmont is like staying at a quaint old inn, curling up next to the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and an old friend and catching up on the day’s events.”
—
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
by Holly Weiss
Historical Fiction ISBN 978-1-935188-10-0
StarPublish LLC
Plot synopsis
“A dream, after all, needn’t be fueled by particulars, only by desire.”
So notes main character, Gracie Antes, in CRESTMONT, a historical fiction gem set in the 1920s.
Determined to take control of her life, sheltered Gracie Antes leaves her unhappy home in 1925 to pursue her dream of a singing career. On her way to the big city, she accepts a job as a housemaid at the bustling Crestmont Inn. Once there, Gracie finds a life-changing encounter with opera singer Rosa Ponselle, family she never imagined could be hers, and a man with a mysterious past. Relive the 1920s with a colorful cast of characters. Discover with Gracie that sometimes we must trade loss for happiness.
Set in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, the story is interwoven with details about the town, the rich history of The Crestmont Inn, and the family who passed ownership from one generation to the next. Many attempts have been made to explain how the mountaintop lake nestled in this tiny town came to be. Crestmont gives a new twist to an old Native American legend, setting the tone of grace around which the story is built.
Let the period of the Roaring Twenties spark your interest with its unique social mores, fashion, jazz, and yes, a little bootlegging thrown in for pizzazz.
Review
Reviewed by Holly Connors for Feathered Quill Book Reviews
“Have you ever wished for a comfy, old-fashioned inn where the staff attends to your every need, there’s a nearby lake where eagles soar, and each night there’s a fabulous home cooked meal waiting for you? That special place is within the pages of Crestmont, the debut novel of Holly Weiss.
In the Author’s Note, Weiss acknowledges that she was inspired to write this book after staying at the real Crestmont Inn in 2006. Many of the characters are based on real people, although their “…characterizations…are wholly the author’s creation.”
With extensive attention to detail, the author creates a beautifully realistic world of the hustle and bustle at a busy inn in the 1920s. There is plenty within the pages of Crestmont to keep the reader interested. Indeed, by the end of the book, Gracie, Mrs. Cunningham, PT and the others are like family members and the reader will want to see what happens to each. Crestmont is a study of relationships...it’s a story of intersecting lives.
Quill says: "Reading Crestmont is like staying at a quaint old inn, curling up next to the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and an old friend and catching up on the day’s events.”
—
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sick of Doctors? The Answer Is Here!
Sick of Doctors? Then Do Something About It!
by Lorene Burkhart
In this groundbreaking book, author Lorene Burkhart challenges each of us to enter the era of empowered patients by letting go of past practices and embracing outcome-based medical services. Being accountable for one's own body and health is a huge step toward improved medical relationships. She rejects the old authoritarian system of "handing it over" to a doctor as one that is no longer appropriate or wise, and that made its exit when the Internet made its entrance. Using a variety of resources as a guide, Burkhart encourages patients to be their own medical advocates with the ultimate reward being their own good health.
Author Biography:
Lorene McCormick Burkhart is a genuine entrepreneur. Her business career spans 40 years and features many notable achievements, which in their time broke traditional business boundaries. From becoming a female executive before the phrase “glass ceiling” was coined to founding her company, Burkhart Network in 2007 at the age of 73, Burkhart is a true trail blazer. She’s just published her fifth book Sick of Doctors? Then Do Something About It! A Prescription for Patient Empowerment, with two more book titles scheduled to be published in 2010. At the age of 75, Lorene McCormick Burkhart continues to challenge the status quo. Ignoring “old age-isms,” she forges ahead with her career of being an author, which originated at age 70 when she decided she probably had 20 good years remaining (so what was she to do?). She writes from the heart focusing on subject-matter areas that are meaningful to her.
Videos for Sick of Doctors? Then Do Something About It!
Learn more at these YouTube sites: Attitude Shift - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hMzNqv7zs0
What makes this book different? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp5Yt3ZWye8
Patient Empowerment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJ9gJKoU3k
What Medical Experts Are Saying About Sick of Doctors?
Sick of Doctors? shines bright light on the impactful but often flawed training received by our health professionals and empowers readers to clear away the prejudices — both naïve and pessimistic — that hinder our ability to form effective partnerships in the healing endeavor. ~
Mehmet Oz, MD, FACS New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia
… if I could select one sub-group to “assign” (this book) to, it would be the medical students throughout our land. It seems to me that the information contained herein would be extremely helpful to them in understanding the roots of our profession, the powerful forces that act on us now, and what they must do to be the kind of doctors that they want to be. ~ Dr. William Norcross, MD, Director of Physician Assessment and Clinical Education, University of California, San Diego
Sick of Doctors? certainly covers a lot of ground and makes a great deal of complex material readily accessible to large and diverse audiences. ~ Ora H. Pescovitz, MD., Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
by Lorene Burkhart
In this groundbreaking book, author Lorene Burkhart challenges each of us to enter the era of empowered patients by letting go of past practices and embracing outcome-based medical services. Being accountable for one's own body and health is a huge step toward improved medical relationships. She rejects the old authoritarian system of "handing it over" to a doctor as one that is no longer appropriate or wise, and that made its exit when the Internet made its entrance. Using a variety of resources as a guide, Burkhart encourages patients to be their own medical advocates with the ultimate reward being their own good health.
Author Biography:
Lorene McCormick Burkhart is a genuine entrepreneur. Her business career spans 40 years and features many notable achievements, which in their time broke traditional business boundaries. From becoming a female executive before the phrase “glass ceiling” was coined to founding her company, Burkhart Network in 2007 at the age of 73, Burkhart is a true trail blazer. She’s just published her fifth book Sick of Doctors? Then Do Something About It! A Prescription for Patient Empowerment, with two more book titles scheduled to be published in 2010. At the age of 75, Lorene McCormick Burkhart continues to challenge the status quo. Ignoring “old age-isms,” she forges ahead with her career of being an author, which originated at age 70 when she decided she probably had 20 good years remaining (so what was she to do?). She writes from the heart focusing on subject-matter areas that are meaningful to her.
Videos for Sick of Doctors? Then Do Something About It!
Learn more at these YouTube sites: Attitude Shift - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hMzNqv7zs0
What makes this book different? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp5Yt3ZWye8
Patient Empowerment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJ9gJKoU3k
What Medical Experts Are Saying About Sick of Doctors?
Sick of Doctors? shines bright light on the impactful but often flawed training received by our health professionals and empowers readers to clear away the prejudices — both naïve and pessimistic — that hinder our ability to form effective partnerships in the healing endeavor. ~
Mehmet Oz, MD, FACS New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia
… if I could select one sub-group to “assign” (this book) to, it would be the medical students throughout our land. It seems to me that the information contained herein would be extremely helpful to them in understanding the roots of our profession, the powerful forces that act on us now, and what they must do to be the kind of doctors that they want to be. ~ Dr. William Norcross, MD, Director of Physician Assessment and Clinical Education, University of California, San Diego
Sick of Doctors? certainly covers a lot of ground and makes a great deal of complex material readily accessible to large and diverse audiences. ~ Ora H. Pescovitz, MD., Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tim Bete says "Queen Jaw Jaw should be called Queen Ha Ha!"
Title: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Throne
Author: Georgia Richardson, aka, Queen JawJaw
By Georgia Richardson
Category: Humor
ISBN-10: 1932993185
ISBN-13: 978-1932993189
Reviewed by Sandra Gauci, "Queen Moonstone," for Amazon.
THE Funniest Book!!!!
Georgia Richardson better known as `Queen Jaw Jaw' has compiled this book of anecdotes and essays about life experiences. Whether you see yourself in this book or not, Georgia's humor throughout the book is infectious and gives us as readers a side splittingly funny account of everyday experiences. I found myself openly laughing out loud on more than one occasion while reading this book.
Georgia's unique humor shines through like a beacon on a lighthouse allowing reader's to see within themselves a humorous side to sometimes painful and embarrassing situations. We have all experienced similar events in our own life journey and how we react to them often determines our view on the world. If we took a page of two out of this book and viewed the world like Georgia, Earth would be a funnier and friendlier place to live.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and suggest you go take some time out to read it also. Humor is a precious tool that we all need in life and Georgia Richardson has a gift in her writing that brings this tool to life.
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Georgia Richardson is also associated with Pink Jasper (see the Amazon link on this page). And she monitors a fantastic (my opinion) forum for writers at www.boomerwomenspeak.com.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Author: Georgia Richardson, aka, Queen JawJaw
By Georgia Richardson
Category: Humor
ISBN-10: 1932993185
ISBN-13: 978-1932993189
Reviewed by Sandra Gauci, "Queen Moonstone," for Amazon.
THE Funniest Book!!!!
Georgia Richardson better known as `Queen Jaw Jaw' has compiled this book of anecdotes and essays about life experiences. Whether you see yourself in this book or not, Georgia's humor throughout the book is infectious and gives us as readers a side splittingly funny account of everyday experiences. I found myself openly laughing out loud on more than one occasion while reading this book.
Georgia's unique humor shines through like a beacon on a lighthouse allowing reader's to see within themselves a humorous side to sometimes painful and embarrassing situations. We have all experienced similar events in our own life journey and how we react to them often determines our view on the world. If we took a page of two out of this book and viewed the world like Georgia, Earth would be a funnier and friendlier place to live.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and suggest you go take some time out to read it also. Humor is a precious tool that we all need in life and Georgia Richardson has a gift in her writing that brings this tool to life.
---
Georgia Richardson is also associated with Pink Jasper (see the Amazon link on this page). And she monitors a fantastic (my opinion) forum for writers at www.boomerwomenspeak.com.
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Donna McDine Reviews Must-Have Scholastic Book
Title: If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America
Written by:Anne Kamma
Illustrated by:Pamela Johnson
Soft cover:64 pages
Ages: 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 13: 978-0-439-56706-0
Published: February 2004
Price: $6.99
Reviewed by Donna M. McDine
Imagine if you will being kidnapped at the age of eight and sold into slavery. Slavery? What is slavery you may ask? Slavery is when one person owns another and the slave must obey all orders from their owner.
Slavery existed well before the first slaves arrived in Jamestown, the fist British settlement in America in 1607. Captured in Africa, over 20 million Africans were forced to travel in terrible conditions on the sea voyage aboard crowded ships, where disease and beatings ran rampant. Many did not survive the trip and for those who did faced a horrible life as a slave.
If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America captures in fascinating detail the life of a slave and the deplorable circumstances they endured. Ms. Kamma presents the historical facts of slavery in easy to understand narrative and quotes from actual slaves. Blending the two into a journey back into time which the reader will NOT soon forget, thankfully so, because to have such a dreadful time to rear its ugly head again would be horrendous.
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More about the reviewer:
McDine writes the Write What Inspires You Blog and the
The Golden Pathway Story book Blog. She also offers the Write What Inspires You! FREE Newsletter: opt-in @ http://www.donnamcdine.com and receive FREE e-book “Write What Inspires You Author Interviews”
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
Written by:Anne Kamma
Illustrated by:Pamela Johnson
Soft cover:64 pages
Ages: 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic
ISBN: 13: 978-0-439-56706-0
Published: February 2004
Price: $6.99
Reviewed by Donna M. McDine
Imagine if you will being kidnapped at the age of eight and sold into slavery. Slavery? What is slavery you may ask? Slavery is when one person owns another and the slave must obey all orders from their owner.
Slavery existed well before the first slaves arrived in Jamestown, the fist British settlement in America in 1607. Captured in Africa, over 20 million Africans were forced to travel in terrible conditions on the sea voyage aboard crowded ships, where disease and beatings ran rampant. Many did not survive the trip and for those who did faced a horrible life as a slave.
If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America captures in fascinating detail the life of a slave and the deplorable circumstances they endured. Ms. Kamma presents the historical facts of slavery in easy to understand narrative and quotes from actual slaves. Blending the two into a journey back into time which the reader will NOT soon forget, thankfully so, because to have such a dreadful time to rear its ugly head again would be horrendous.
---
More about the reviewer:
McDine writes the Write What Inspires You Blog and the
The Golden Pathway Story book Blog. She also offers the Write What Inspires You! FREE Newsletter: opt-in @ http://www.donnamcdine.com and receive FREE e-book “Write What Inspires You Author Interviews”
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:
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