and then there were three
Supriya Bhatnagar
Serving House Books, Lexington, KY
2010
119 pages
$12.00 (paper)
ISBN: 978-0-9825462-9-1
Reviewed by Carol Smallwood
The memoir, and then there were three, is a slim book, a breathtaking look at a childhood in a diverse, changing India by Supriya Bhatnagar. The three refers to the family loss of her beloved father when Supriya was nine and her mother moves the two daughters from Bombay to Jaipur: "Even though Jaipur was a metropolis where streets had been paved, the city retained the inherent quality of the earth it lay upon."
Indian culture is deftly expressed by funerals, tea, shopping, street cleaners, and details such as her grandmother's hair: "This had been her hairstyle since the time she got married; it was just that the chignon was the size of a grapefruit when she got married, and the size of a walnut by the time she died." Supriya experiences the blackouts of the 1971 war with Pakistan, the heat and cold of India, and learns the significance of skin color. The haunting memoir includes universal types such as nosey neighbors, lecherous storekeepers--and what it was to be Hindu woman and not going into any temple during her menstruation: "Customs and traditions become ingrained in us to such an extent that to this day I follow this restriction without questioning its logic."
The author does not have an arranged marriage but after a long traditional courtship marries Anil who lives on the next street: "I loved the smell of Old Spice, his after-shave, and it was a familiar and strangely comforting smell as Daddy had used it everyday." She concludes that the loss of her 39-year-old-white collar worker father from heart attack made her grow up sooner.
It reminded me of God of Small Things by the award-winning Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, with its insight into human nature, the portrayal of the enduring complexities of India, its touches of humor, life through a child's eyes. I enjoyed the author's sharing her wide reading and deep appreciation of the classics growing up and concluded how her well-educated parents couldn't but have had an influence on her becoming the Director of Publications for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs headquartered in Virginia which supports writers and writing programs around the world.
The reviewer is Carol Smallwood. Her latest books are: Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (ed.), American Library Association, 2010; Lily's Odyssey, All Things That Matter Press, 2010.
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
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, September 29, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Librarian Reviews Nonfiction Anthology for Women
Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages
Compiled & edited by Carol Smallwood & Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
All Things That Matter Press [Somerville, ME], 2009,
250 pages,
Price: (paper $18.99).
ISBN-13: 978-0984259434.
Reviewed by Marian Matyn
This well written, easily read, and interesting book is a compilation of articles by women, all well-educated. The themes of the book cover passages of the average woman’s life. This includes physical, emotional, family, career, empowerment changes and challenges, reconnecting, dealing with, and accepting parts of our lives and histories. Importantly, it also covers the relationships women have with others, friends, family, and foes, that cause us to change, or evaluate our options. Some of these topics, such as one’s aging body, or the stress of career choices, difficult relationships and positive, affirming relationships, are those to which all women can relate. Other topics, such as surviving sexual abuse or the loss of a spouse, and the accompanying emotional traumas, are topics some of us have suffered, but all of us can feel empathy for those who endure.
Why read this “women’s book” and not another? Hope. The hope that is so affirming and omnipresent in this book is an essential thread that runs through the entire work, binding the stories together. Through all the changes and challenges of life, all the people who help and affirm, and those who seek to denigrate women, the authors not only endured their experiences, but moved forward into the future with hope.
This is not a depressing victim story from the past, and while the stories are autobiographical in nature, it is more than that. A strong sense of spirituality, and of empowerment, accompanies hope throughout the book, encouraging the reader. “That despite what weighs us down, even the tiniest movement or the smallest decision moves us closer to the light.” (p. 152, “Closer to the light,” Hope Payson) This is what the book is all about: that each of us, with hope, can make a choice that empowers us to move towards a brighter, happier, more fulfilling future.
Two of the stories which I continue to ponder long afterwards are “I couldn’t walk, talk or read: becoming a crow again” by Katie McKy, and “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro. Both of these stories illustrate a turning point in the life of a girl or young woman. Katie McKy notes the moment she chose not to ridicule, but rather to befriend, a girl who fit in neither physically nor socially at school. Previously ostracized because of speech and walking challenges into a lowly school reading and social group called the crows, McKy chose to befriend another crow. As she notes “Suffering can bequeath us compassion. Of course, it can also curse us with bitterness. We get to choose. Of course, choosing well might mean becoming a crow once again, which I did. Rather, I just admitted to what I’d always been.” (p.7) McKy became a teacher, helping damaged children who had themselves become crows, and their parents.
The second story, “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro, is the story of a self-destructive fifteen-year-old girl who is drinking, using drugs, smoking, destroying her bedroom, and flunking school. With her mother, Renfro traveled home to her ill Russian grandparents. She lived with them for a summer in a tiny, cockroach-infested apartment, lacking air conditioning or privacy. Here, she became aware of others and their dismal living conditions. Renfro kept a detailed diary and, later, typed her observations. She returned to California greatly affected, began writing, and left her old ways behind. Later, with her own daughter, Renfro recalled returning to her destroyed teenage bedroom to find her mother had cleaned it and spread a bedspread on her bed to welcome her home. “Only now do I realize that through such small actions we impose order, which is a kind of love… [Of her daughter, Renfro notes] “She will run away from me, too, literally perhaps, but certainly figuratively, I can only hope that she will return home again.” (p. 95) To me, this story demonstrates another individual making a choice, becoming aware of others around them, and choosing hope for the future, and hoping for the next generation.
Too often, the books I read in college women’s studies courses were about a woman’s endurance, and acceptance of an unhappy life with a father who did not appreciate or respect his daughter, a husband who did not understand her, or a dream abandoned. Her life was misery. It was all about negative relationships with men, no options for work or life, not having choices, working for less pay than a man, working in an unsatisfying job, and being discriminated against in many ways. My male college housemates once commented on how all the books in women’s studies were sad and blamed men. Well, it is a new century since I took women’s studies, and clearly the women in this book are more self-aware and have more options than the suffering women of the past. Part of that difference is education, providing women a chance for a quality job with pay and benefits, and laws preventing gross discrimination and allowing a vote. Like the book’s cover image of a woman looking towards the rising sun, the authors figuratively and collectively look towards the new day with hope, for an improved, empowered life, not just for them, but for all women.
Overall the writers tell us that highly educated, modern American women have options that allow us to determine our future and follow our dreams. It would be interesting to read stories from the life of women who are not as well educated as these writers. What do the women without a degree working at WalMart, trying to pay their bills, think of their lives? Or, what about the women who make negative choices? Do they find their lives inspiring enough to write about for the benefit of other women? Do they have hope? Perhaps that is a topic for a future book.
Reviewer Bio:
The reviewer is Marian Matyn , Archivist of the Clarke Historical Library and an Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University. The author of a number of archival and history articles, Marian is currently writing a book on Michigan circus history.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Compiled & edited by Carol Smallwood & Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
All Things That Matter Press [Somerville, ME], 2009,
250 pages,
Price: (paper $18.99).
ISBN-13: 978-0984259434.
Reviewed by Marian Matyn
This well written, easily read, and interesting book is a compilation of articles by women, all well-educated. The themes of the book cover passages of the average woman’s life. This includes physical, emotional, family, career, empowerment changes and challenges, reconnecting, dealing with, and accepting parts of our lives and histories. Importantly, it also covers the relationships women have with others, friends, family, and foes, that cause us to change, or evaluate our options. Some of these topics, such as one’s aging body, or the stress of career choices, difficult relationships and positive, affirming relationships, are those to which all women can relate. Other topics, such as surviving sexual abuse or the loss of a spouse, and the accompanying emotional traumas, are topics some of us have suffered, but all of us can feel empathy for those who endure.
Why read this “women’s book” and not another? Hope. The hope that is so affirming and omnipresent in this book is an essential thread that runs through the entire work, binding the stories together. Through all the changes and challenges of life, all the people who help and affirm, and those who seek to denigrate women, the authors not only endured their experiences, but moved forward into the future with hope.
This is not a depressing victim story from the past, and while the stories are autobiographical in nature, it is more than that. A strong sense of spirituality, and of empowerment, accompanies hope throughout the book, encouraging the reader. “That despite what weighs us down, even the tiniest movement or the smallest decision moves us closer to the light.” (p. 152, “Closer to the light,” Hope Payson) This is what the book is all about: that each of us, with hope, can make a choice that empowers us to move towards a brighter, happier, more fulfilling future.
Two of the stories which I continue to ponder long afterwards are “I couldn’t walk, talk or read: becoming a crow again” by Katie McKy, and “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro. Both of these stories illustrate a turning point in the life of a girl or young woman. Katie McKy notes the moment she chose not to ridicule, but rather to befriend, a girl who fit in neither physically nor socially at school. Previously ostracized because of speech and walking challenges into a lowly school reading and social group called the crows, McKy chose to befriend another crow. As she notes “Suffering can bequeath us compassion. Of course, it can also curse us with bitterness. We get to choose. Of course, choosing well might mean becoming a crow once again, which I did. Rather, I just admitted to what I’d always been.” (p.7) McKy became a teacher, helping damaged children who had themselves become crows, and their parents.
The second story, “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro, is the story of a self-destructive fifteen-year-old girl who is drinking, using drugs, smoking, destroying her bedroom, and flunking school. With her mother, Renfro traveled home to her ill Russian grandparents. She lived with them for a summer in a tiny, cockroach-infested apartment, lacking air conditioning or privacy. Here, she became aware of others and their dismal living conditions. Renfro kept a detailed diary and, later, typed her observations. She returned to California greatly affected, began writing, and left her old ways behind. Later, with her own daughter, Renfro recalled returning to her destroyed teenage bedroom to find her mother had cleaned it and spread a bedspread on her bed to welcome her home. “Only now do I realize that through such small actions we impose order, which is a kind of love… [Of her daughter, Renfro notes] “She will run away from me, too, literally perhaps, but certainly figuratively, I can only hope that she will return home again.” (p. 95) To me, this story demonstrates another individual making a choice, becoming aware of others around them, and choosing hope for the future, and hoping for the next generation.
Too often, the books I read in college women’s studies courses were about a woman’s endurance, and acceptance of an unhappy life with a father who did not appreciate or respect his daughter, a husband who did not understand her, or a dream abandoned. Her life was misery. It was all about negative relationships with men, no options for work or life, not having choices, working for less pay than a man, working in an unsatisfying job, and being discriminated against in many ways. My male college housemates once commented on how all the books in women’s studies were sad and blamed men. Well, it is a new century since I took women’s studies, and clearly the women in this book are more self-aware and have more options than the suffering women of the past. Part of that difference is education, providing women a chance for a quality job with pay and benefits, and laws preventing gross discrimination and allowing a vote. Like the book’s cover image of a woman looking towards the rising sun, the authors figuratively and collectively look towards the new day with hope, for an improved, empowered life, not just for them, but for all women.
Overall the writers tell us that highly educated, modern American women have options that allow us to determine our future and follow our dreams. It would be interesting to read stories from the life of women who are not as well educated as these writers. What do the women without a degree working at WalMart, trying to pay their bills, think of their lives? Or, what about the women who make negative choices? Do they find their lives inspiring enough to write about for the benefit of other women? Do they have hope? Perhaps that is a topic for a future book.
Reviewer Bio:
The reviewer is Marian Matyn , Archivist of the Clarke Historical Library and an Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University. The author of a number of archival and history articles, Marian is currently writing a book on Michigan circus history.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Great First Impression Book Proposal
Subtitle: Everything You Need To Know To Impress a Publisher in Twenty Minutes or Less
ISBN: 9781453690956
The Great First Impression Book Proposal (The How To Do It Frugally series of booklets for writers)
is available for Kindle, too.
Yeah, this is my blog so I get to let you know about my new books here, too! (-:
Ta da! Here is a new booklet I just self published. It was once an Amazon Short, but Amazon gave up on their shorts and it became unavailable. So it’s back by popular demand. I hope you’ll all take a look at it. I know The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need To Know To Sell Your Book in 20 Minutes or Less works. Like all my books it’s based on my own experience with publishing, promoting and with working with my clients. And, if you love it, I’d love a review on Amazon—just a few sentences.
http://budurl.com/BookProposals
Anyway, I was able to bring this little booklet to you for only $6.95. These two booklets Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy (It's also available for Kindle), are the seeds of a new easy-and-fast-learn series of booklets for writers.
Happy Writing, Editing, and Promoting!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
----- 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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Subtitle: Everything You Need To Know To Impress a Publisher in Twenty Minutes or Less
ISBN: 9781453690956
The Great First Impression Book Proposal (The How To Do It Frugally series of booklets for writers)
is available for Kindle, too.Yeah, this is my blog so I get to let you know about my new books here, too! (-:
Ta da! Here is a new booklet I just self published. It was once an Amazon Short, but Amazon gave up on their shorts and it became unavailable. So it’s back by popular demand. I hope you’ll all take a look at it. I know The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need To Know To Sell Your Book in 20 Minutes or Less works. Like all my books it’s based on my own experience with publishing, promoting and with working with my clients. And, if you love it, I’d love a review on Amazon—just a few sentences.
http://budurl.com/BookProposals
Anyway, I was able to bring this little booklet to you for only $6.95. These two booklets Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy (It's also available for Kindle), are the seeds of a new easy-and-fast-learn series of booklets for writers.
Happy Writing, Editing, and Promoting!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
----- 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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Friday, September 24, 2010
Reviewer Lisa Lickel Raves about New Romance
No Other
By Shawna K Williams
c. 2010
ISBN – 978-1-936000-53-1
A Desert Breeze eBook
Genre: WWII Era Inspirational Romance
Reviewed by Lisa Lickel
From the Publisher:
In the aftermath of WWII all Jakob Wilheimer wants is to get over his pain, get on with life, and if at all possible, forgive those who've wronged his family -- including himself. But it's hard to do when there are constant reminders. One of them being his former schoolmate, now teacher, Meri Parker -- Miss Port Delamar Pearl, Mayor's daughter, Belle of the town -- Meri Parker.
After enduring the stigma and isolation associated with the internment camp, the awkwardness of going back to school should've been a cake walk. But Jakob didn't expect to find himself inexplicably drawn to Meri. Or to discover that the pain and loneliness of her life surpassed his own. She needed to be rescued from the wretched people seeking to control her life. And more than anything, he needed to be the one to save her.
Review:
And, wow. I haven’t enjoyed a read like this since I first picked up Tamera Alexander: one where I didn’t have to edit in my head as I read along; one where I wanted to finish the book in order, without skipping ahead. The couple of historical facts I felt compelled to look up were right on. Thank you, Shawna!
Shawna’s No Other is a fairly short read, but not a light story by any means. Immediately following World War II in Texas, Shawna doesn’t spare her readers the nastiness of the era, the suspicion that pervades our culture even today. Meri and Jakob fell in love, fell into temptation, but didn’t fall in to despair. And throughout their tangled romance, even when he allowed temptation to hold sway, Jakob kept his faith firmly fixed and wanted Meri know that his God was in charge like No Other.
Shawna’s writing technique is beautiful with well-rounded characters and well-established settings. I love unusual relationships, and although I tend to be a bit squeamish about teacher-student situations, in this case, Jakob returned to finish high school after the war years and was legally of age. The scene of Jakob caring for his baby neice is one that comes back to grab me often. Shawna’s theme of temptation, failure, and forgiveness wove a firm pattern across their lives.
I read this book in pdf format with no trouble.
~ Review first appeared on Goodreads.com, Barnes and Noble.com and on http://lisalickel.com/cgi-bin/blog
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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 Shawna K Williams
c. 2010
ISBN – 978-1-936000-53-1
A Desert Breeze eBook
Genre: WWII Era Inspirational Romance
Reviewed by Lisa Lickel
From the Publisher:
In the aftermath of WWII all Jakob Wilheimer wants is to get over his pain, get on with life, and if at all possible, forgive those who've wronged his family -- including himself. But it's hard to do when there are constant reminders. One of them being his former schoolmate, now teacher, Meri Parker -- Miss Port Delamar Pearl, Mayor's daughter, Belle of the town -- Meri Parker.
After enduring the stigma and isolation associated with the internment camp, the awkwardness of going back to school should've been a cake walk. But Jakob didn't expect to find himself inexplicably drawn to Meri. Or to discover that the pain and loneliness of her life surpassed his own. She needed to be rescued from the wretched people seeking to control her life. And more than anything, he needed to be the one to save her.
Review:
And, wow. I haven’t enjoyed a read like this since I first picked up Tamera Alexander: one where I didn’t have to edit in my head as I read along; one where I wanted to finish the book in order, without skipping ahead. The couple of historical facts I felt compelled to look up were right on. Thank you, Shawna!
Shawna’s No Other is a fairly short read, but not a light story by any means. Immediately following World War II in Texas, Shawna doesn’t spare her readers the nastiness of the era, the suspicion that pervades our culture even today. Meri and Jakob fell in love, fell into temptation, but didn’t fall in to despair. And throughout their tangled romance, even when he allowed temptation to hold sway, Jakob kept his faith firmly fixed and wanted Meri know that his God was in charge like No Other.
Shawna’s writing technique is beautiful with well-rounded characters and well-established settings. I love unusual relationships, and although I tend to be a bit squeamish about teacher-student situations, in this case, Jakob returned to finish high school after the war years and was legally of age. The scene of Jakob caring for his baby neice is one that comes back to grab me often. Shawna’s theme of temptation, failure, and forgiveness wove a firm pattern across their lives.
I read this book in pdf format with no trouble.
~ Review first appeared on Goodreads.com, Barnes and Noble.com and on http://lisalickel.com/cgi-bin/blog
-----
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, September 23, 2010
Sacramento News & Review Reviews New Mystery
Heaven’s Rage
By Tiffany Craig Brown, http://www.tiffanycraigbrown.com/
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 978-1432756963
Reviewed by Anna Barela for the Sacramento News & Review
He had it coming!
Heaven’s Rage opens like an episode of CSI, but quickly turns into a profound and eye-opening look at the nature of abusive relationships. Wrapped in an entertaining murder mystery, Sacramento author Tiffany Craig Brown digs deep, with story after story of the verbal and physical abuse suffered by several women and children at the hands of the man whose murder is being investigated. As the detectives begin to sympathize with the suspects, the list of women hurt by the dead man grows. Before ending with an ironic twist, Brown pulls in other abusers and their victims to paint a picture of the reality facing too many women and children. She underscores the role of child abuse in breeding new generations of abusers. Heaven’s Rage serves women well as a map to the warning signs of abuse at the beginning of a relationship, hopefully preventing yet another tragic story like the ones depicted here.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By Tiffany Craig Brown, http://www.tiffanycraigbrown.com/
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 978-1432756963
Reviewed by Anna Barela for the Sacramento News & Review
He had it coming!
Heaven’s Rage opens like an episode of CSI, but quickly turns into a profound and eye-opening look at the nature of abusive relationships. Wrapped in an entertaining murder mystery, Sacramento author Tiffany Craig Brown digs deep, with story after story of the verbal and physical abuse suffered by several women and children at the hands of the man whose murder is being investigated. As the detectives begin to sympathize with the suspects, the list of women hurt by the dead man grows. Before ending with an ironic twist, Brown pulls in other abusers and their victims to paint a picture of the reality facing too many women and children. She underscores the role of child abuse in breeding new generations of abusers. Heaven’s Rage serves women well as a map to the warning signs of abuse at the beginning of a relationship, hopefully preventing yet another tragic story like the ones depicted here.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Sunday, September 19, 2010
School LIbrarian and Author Reviews Mainstream Fiction
Lily's Odyssey
By Carol Smallwood.
All Things That Matter Press, Somerville, ME,
2010, 220 pages, $18.99 (trade paper).
Reviewed by Jan Siebold
Some authors use the word "odyssey" to simply represent a journey or a passage of time. In Lily's Odyssey author Carol Smallwood takes a more literal approach. Just as Odysseus spends years making his way home after the Trojan War, Lily struggles to find her true home in the world.
She has encountered her share of cannibals, lotus-eaters, sirens and monsters along the way, but it is her abusive Uncle Walt and his Cyclopic wife Hester (who turned her one good eye away from the incestuous situation years ago) that have haunted Lily's thoughts and dreams since childhood.
Smallwood's Homer-like use of a nonlinear plot is well-suited to the story since Lily's journey is rather like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle. With intelligence and humor Lily navigates the passages of her life which include marriage, motherhood, psychotherapy and education. She even spends time in Ithaca while working on a Master's Degree in Geology. In fact, geological references are abundant as Lily explores her lifelong fascination with the formation of the earth and her place on it. Readers can feel Lily's sense of frustration at the ever-shifting underground plates that prevent her from finding solid footing.
Orphaned at an early age and sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Lily later explores her obsession about abandoned animals and plants, and eventually discovers its root in her childhood. What may seem obvious to the reader is not as easily seen by Lily, whose vision of the past has been obscured by the trauma of abuse, insensitivity and denial.
The book begins with the death of Uncle Walt and Lily's return to the house where she had spent her childhood. It is there that Lily begins to think about reinventing herself without the existence of Uncle Walt in her life.
The author's use of imagery is at times stunning. "I heard the train whistle. I saw myself as a bird following the train as it wound its way through the landscape, leaving only smoke as evidence that it had passed." Referring to her aunt, Lily thinks about "Tulips closed as tightly as Aunt Hester's lips."
Smallwood's many cultural, historical, scientific and religious references are a nod to her readers' awareness, intelligence and curiosity. They elevate the story and allow us to discover more about Lily's world and our own.
On a basic level the reader can relate to Lily's awkward attempts at relationships, and to her wickedly funny observations about people. We cheer for Lily as she leaves behind her dismissive husband Cal, the lecherous Dr. Schackmann and other toxic people whom she encounters. We understand as she questions the tenets that were instilled during her strict Catholic upbringing, including "the duties and sufferings of women as wives." We yearn for Lily to find the illumination and peace of mind that she seeks.
In a particularly vulnerable moment Lily pens a letter to God. In the letter she writes, "Women need new paths. To find our way out of the old labyrinths requires more than one lifetime."
Through Lily's Odyssey, Carol Smallwood gives us hope that one lifetime might be enough for Lily and others to find their way.
Reviewer's Bio:
Jan Siebold, a school library media specialist in East Aurora, New York since 1977, received her MLS from the University of Buffalo. Jan has served as NYLA Secretary, and received the NYLA/SLMS Cultural Media Award in 1992. She is the author of Rope Burn (Albert Whitman, 1998), Doing Time Online (Albert Whitman, 2002) and My Nights at the Improv (Albert Whitman, 2005), three middle grade novels on numerous award lists.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By Carol Smallwood.
All Things That Matter Press, Somerville, ME,
2010, 220 pages, $18.99 (trade paper).
Reviewed by Jan Siebold
Some authors use the word "odyssey" to simply represent a journey or a passage of time. In Lily's Odyssey author Carol Smallwood takes a more literal approach. Just as Odysseus spends years making his way home after the Trojan War, Lily struggles to find her true home in the world.
She has encountered her share of cannibals, lotus-eaters, sirens and monsters along the way, but it is her abusive Uncle Walt and his Cyclopic wife Hester (who turned her one good eye away from the incestuous situation years ago) that have haunted Lily's thoughts and dreams since childhood.
Smallwood's Homer-like use of a nonlinear plot is well-suited to the story since Lily's journey is rather like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle. With intelligence and humor Lily navigates the passages of her life which include marriage, motherhood, psychotherapy and education. She even spends time in Ithaca while working on a Master's Degree in Geology. In fact, geological references are abundant as Lily explores her lifelong fascination with the formation of the earth and her place on it. Readers can feel Lily's sense of frustration at the ever-shifting underground plates that prevent her from finding solid footing.
Orphaned at an early age and sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Lily later explores her obsession about abandoned animals and plants, and eventually discovers its root in her childhood. What may seem obvious to the reader is not as easily seen by Lily, whose vision of the past has been obscured by the trauma of abuse, insensitivity and denial.
The book begins with the death of Uncle Walt and Lily's return to the house where she had spent her childhood. It is there that Lily begins to think about reinventing herself without the existence of Uncle Walt in her life.
The author's use of imagery is at times stunning. "I heard the train whistle. I saw myself as a bird following the train as it wound its way through the landscape, leaving only smoke as evidence that it had passed." Referring to her aunt, Lily thinks about "Tulips closed as tightly as Aunt Hester's lips."
Smallwood's many cultural, historical, scientific and religious references are a nod to her readers' awareness, intelligence and curiosity. They elevate the story and allow us to discover more about Lily's world and our own.
On a basic level the reader can relate to Lily's awkward attempts at relationships, and to her wickedly funny observations about people. We cheer for Lily as she leaves behind her dismissive husband Cal, the lecherous Dr. Schackmann and other toxic people whom she encounters. We understand as she questions the tenets that were instilled during her strict Catholic upbringing, including "the duties and sufferings of women as wives." We yearn for Lily to find the illumination and peace of mind that she seeks.
In a particularly vulnerable moment Lily pens a letter to God. In the letter she writes, "Women need new paths. To find our way out of the old labyrinths requires more than one lifetime."
Through Lily's Odyssey, Carol Smallwood gives us hope that one lifetime might be enough for Lily and others to find their way.
Reviewer's Bio:
Jan Siebold, a school library media specialist in East Aurora, New York since 1977, received her MLS from the University of Buffalo. Jan has served as NYLA Secretary, and received the NYLA/SLMS Cultural Media Award in 1992. She is the author of Rope Burn (Albert Whitman, 1998), Doing Time Online (Albert Whitman, 2002) and My Nights at the Improv (Albert Whitman, 2005), three middle grade novels on numerous award lists.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Title: The Good Side of Bad
Author: Beverly Olevin
Author's Web site link, http://www.beverlyolevin.com/
Genre: Fiction
ISBN, 978-1-935052-35-7
Review from Kirkus Reviews Discoveries
Three siblings balance family dysfunction and love in Olevin’s new novel.
Real families don’t function in vacuums, and during every crisis there are a dozen other smaller crises that need to be handled simultaneously—and are usually ignored. When baby sister Florence jumps off a bridge, her brother Peter must temporarily abandon the ferocious pace of his New York brokerage to fly to Seattle and help. Big sister Sara is used to managing Florence—the family division of labor has Peter responsible for their footloose mother—but this latest misadventure, an apparent suicide attempt, may signal an escalation in the family’s problems. Meanwhile, Peter can’t help but notice Sara’s rundown house; post-divorce, she seems resigned to poverty and a solitary life. At the same time, Florence takes note of Peter’s agitation, which the Xanax barely contains and the market crash of 2008 only exacerbates. Told over the course of an eventful year, this drama subtly and accurately examines the ways in which families interact. Alternating among voices, with chapters headed by each narrator’s name, the book reveals the layers of denial and habit that sustain patterns established in childhood. While all three characters come to life, it is Florence, with her delusions, who is the most intriguing. Olevin inhabits her fear—of the “black hoods,” of losing herself—with an artist’s touch, and her short-lived romance with Dennis, another troubled soul, is heartrending. As the cumulative crises break through each character’s reserve, we come to see that each is in crisis, a body in motion. Jarred from their accustomed paths, each takes risks and begins to grow. The resolution isn’t fairy tale perfection and shows how flawed humans may be able to find a fragile peace.
This true and telling novel is optimistic, realistic and sensitively told.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Author: Beverly Olevin
Author's Web site link, http://www.beverlyolevin.com/
Genre: Fiction
ISBN, 978-1-935052-35-7
Review from Kirkus Reviews Discoveries
Three siblings balance family dysfunction and love in Olevin’s new novel.
Real families don’t function in vacuums, and during every crisis there are a dozen other smaller crises that need to be handled simultaneously—and are usually ignored. When baby sister Florence jumps off a bridge, her brother Peter must temporarily abandon the ferocious pace of his New York brokerage to fly to Seattle and help. Big sister Sara is used to managing Florence—the family division of labor has Peter responsible for their footloose mother—but this latest misadventure, an apparent suicide attempt, may signal an escalation in the family’s problems. Meanwhile, Peter can’t help but notice Sara’s rundown house; post-divorce, she seems resigned to poverty and a solitary life. At the same time, Florence takes note of Peter’s agitation, which the Xanax barely contains and the market crash of 2008 only exacerbates. Told over the course of an eventful year, this drama subtly and accurately examines the ways in which families interact. Alternating among voices, with chapters headed by each narrator’s name, the book reveals the layers of denial and habit that sustain patterns established in childhood. While all three characters come to life, it is Florence, with her delusions, who is the most intriguing. Olevin inhabits her fear—of the “black hoods,” of losing herself—with an artist’s touch, and her short-lived romance with Dennis, another troubled soul, is heartrending. As the cumulative crises break through each character’s reserve, we come to see that each is in crisis, a body in motion. Jarred from their accustomed paths, each takes risks and begins to grow. The resolution isn’t fairy tale perfection and shows how flawed humans may be able to find a fragile peace.
This true and telling novel is optimistic, realistic and sensitively told.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Title: The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee
Author: Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall
Website: http://www.stuartbramhall.com/
Genre: memoir
ISBN:978-1-60911-858-7
Eloquent Books, New York, 2010
Reviewed by Nicky Hagar, Author of The Hollow Men
The FBI’s aggressive infiltration and disruption of political groups in the US since the 1960s has been an appalling episode of US political history. All manner of political groups have been wrecked after being manipulated and betrayed by government informers, while their members lived with strain and damaged relationships from never being sure who they could trust or what was really going on.
Stuart Jeanne Bramhall’s The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is an autobiography revolving around her 15 years as a political campaigner facing these problems of trust and infiltration in dysfunctional social movements in the 1980s and 1990s Seattle. It is a well written, thoughtful and very honest book about twenty years of her life, including these intensely destructive politics, relationships, life as a practising psychiatrist and being a parent.
The book is a ‘memoir of an American refugee’ because in 2002, as the Iraq War inexorably approached, she applied for and was appointed to a psychiatry job in faraway New Zealand. The book ends as she leaves the US, with grateful relief for the better life awaiting her. The other half of the title is from Rosa Luxemburg’s words: “The most revolutionary act is a clear view of the world as it really is.” It is probably impossible to have a clear view of something as murky as the infiltrated progressive politics she lived through, but in the book we see an intelligent person telling the story of these real and hard experiences as clearly as is possible.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Author: Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall
Website: http://www.stuartbramhall.com/
Genre: memoir
ISBN:978-1-60911-858-7
Eloquent Books, New York, 2010
Reviewed by Nicky Hagar, Author of The Hollow Men
The FBI’s aggressive infiltration and disruption of political groups in the US since the 1960s has been an appalling episode of US political history. All manner of political groups have been wrecked after being manipulated and betrayed by government informers, while their members lived with strain and damaged relationships from never being sure who they could trust or what was really going on.
Stuart Jeanne Bramhall’s The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee is an autobiography revolving around her 15 years as a political campaigner facing these problems of trust and infiltration in dysfunctional social movements in the 1980s and 1990s Seattle. It is a well written, thoughtful and very honest book about twenty years of her life, including these intensely destructive politics, relationships, life as a practising psychiatrist and being a parent.
The book is a ‘memoir of an American refugee’ because in 2002, as the Iraq War inexorably approached, she applied for and was appointed to a psychiatry job in faraway New Zealand. The book ends as she leaves the US, with grateful relief for the better life awaiting her. The other half of the title is from Rosa Luxemburg’s words: “The most revolutionary act is a clear view of the world as it really is.” It is probably impossible to have a clear view of something as murky as the infiltrated progressive politics she lived through, but in the book we see an intelligent person telling the story of these real and hard experiences as clearly as is possible.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Monday, September 13, 2010
Fantasy Author Publishes Second Novel
Title: Flaming Dove
Author: Daniel Arenson
Author Website: http://www.danielarenson.com/
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-9866028-1-8
Synopsis:
Outcast from Hell. Banished from Heaven. Lost on Earth.
The battle of Armageddon was finally fought... and ended with no clear victor. Upon the mountain, the armies of Hell and Heaven beat each other into a bloody, uneasy standstill, leaving the Earth in ruins. Armageddon should have ended with Heaven winning, ushering in an era of peace. That's what the prophecies said. Instead, the two armies--one of angels, one of demons--hunker down in the scorched planet, lick their wounds, and gear up for a prolonged war with no end in sight.
In this chaos of warring armies and ruined landscapes, Laila doesn't want to take sides. Her mother was an angel, her father a demon; she is outcast from both camps. And yet both armies need her, for with her mixed blood, Laila can become the ultimate spy... or ultimate soldier. As the armies of Heaven and Hell pursue her, Laila's only war is within her heart--a struggle between her demonic and heavenly blood.
Author Bio:
Daniel Arenson is an author of fantasy fiction, from epic to dark and surreal. He began his career writing short stories. He sold his first story, "Worms Believe in God", in 1998. Since then, dozens of his stories and poems have appeared in various magazines, among them Flesh & Blood, Chizine, and Orson Scott Card's Strong Verse.
Five Star Publishing, an imprint of Gale, published Daniel's fantasy novel Firefly Island in 2007.
His second novel, the dark fantasy Flaming Dove, was released in 2010.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Author: Daniel Arenson
Author Website: http://www.danielarenson.com/
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-9866028-1-8
Synopsis:
Outcast from Hell. Banished from Heaven. Lost on Earth.
The battle of Armageddon was finally fought... and ended with no clear victor. Upon the mountain, the armies of Hell and Heaven beat each other into a bloody, uneasy standstill, leaving the Earth in ruins. Armageddon should have ended with Heaven winning, ushering in an era of peace. That's what the prophecies said. Instead, the two armies--one of angels, one of demons--hunker down in the scorched planet, lick their wounds, and gear up for a prolonged war with no end in sight.
In this chaos of warring armies and ruined landscapes, Laila doesn't want to take sides. Her mother was an angel, her father a demon; she is outcast from both camps. And yet both armies need her, for with her mixed blood, Laila can become the ultimate spy... or ultimate soldier. As the armies of Heaven and Hell pursue her, Laila's only war is within her heart--a struggle between her demonic and heavenly blood.
Author Bio:
Daniel Arenson is an author of fantasy fiction, from epic to dark and surreal. He began his career writing short stories. He sold his first story, "Worms Believe in God", in 1998. Since then, dozens of his stories and poems have appeared in various magazines, among them Flesh & Blood, Chizine, and Orson Scott Card's Strong Verse.
Five Star Publishing, an imprint of Gale, published Daniel's fantasy novel Firefly Island in 2007.
His second novel, the dark fantasy Flaming Dove, was released in 2010.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Carol Upton Reviews Poetry for Those Who Love Horses
Blue Mountain Rider
By Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss
Publisher: Xlibris
Paperback, 2009, $19.99
Also available in Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-4415-7108
Reviewed by Carol M. Upton for Horses All
This collection of poems reflects our deepest emotions, ambitions, desires, hopes, fears, and dreams. It illustrates love and respect for an animal that has earned its way into our structure of life. ~ Hedy Strauss
Blue Mountain Rider is one of the few poetry collections dedicated to a celebration of the horse. Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss bring us an exceptional anthology that describes the countless ways in which these unusual creatures have enriched our lives.
In the opening section, ‘Horse Evolving’, we are treated to elemental images that remind us why we are often so drawn to horses. In ‘Wild Spirit’ Strauss writes one of several poems about the mustangs whose dramatic images appear in current news of round ups and herd management:
“The sound of hoofbeats
fill the air
Wild prairie phantoms – disappear!”
Benson offers us the ethereal ‘Night Ride’ plucked from childhood dreams:
“Oh, the desert sings to me
And I ride
In windswept flight, aloft and free
Forever in this enchanted land, Pegasus and me.”
Other sections include poems dedicated to specific types such as the Appaloosa, the hard-working mules of history, and the world’s wild horses, from the Steppes of Asia to the Moors of Brittany. Another cluster reminds us how horses have served throughout history, in city streets and country fields, on police patrol or cutting cattle. Special relationships between girls and horses are explored in such tender poems as ‘Pigtails and Ponytails’ and ‘Mane of Red and Gold’. There is sadness, too, in Benson’s pondering: “Oh, how will we say farewell?” and Strauss acknowledging how “It will break my heart the day you die.”
This book is a memorable gift for any horse-lover, but you’ll likely want a second copy for your bedside table, so you can savour these evocative lyrics whenever you wish.
Combining their love of horses and the outdoors, Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss immigrated to the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where they met. Whether it is preserving wild mustang heritage or saving horses from slaughter, both women are passionate advocates for animal welfare. Visit Mary and Hedy at http://www.bluemountainrider.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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss
Publisher: Xlibris
Paperback, 2009, $19.99
Also available in Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-4415-7108
Reviewed by Carol M. Upton for Horses All
This collection of poems reflects our deepest emotions, ambitions, desires, hopes, fears, and dreams. It illustrates love and respect for an animal that has earned its way into our structure of life. ~ Hedy Strauss
Blue Mountain Rider is one of the few poetry collections dedicated to a celebration of the horse. Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss bring us an exceptional anthology that describes the countless ways in which these unusual creatures have enriched our lives.
In the opening section, ‘Horse Evolving’, we are treated to elemental images that remind us why we are often so drawn to horses. In ‘Wild Spirit’ Strauss writes one of several poems about the mustangs whose dramatic images appear in current news of round ups and herd management:
“The sound of hoofbeats
fill the air
Wild prairie phantoms – disappear!”
Benson offers us the ethereal ‘Night Ride’ plucked from childhood dreams:
“Oh, the desert sings to me
And I ride
In windswept flight, aloft and free
Forever in this enchanted land, Pegasus and me.”
Other sections include poems dedicated to specific types such as the Appaloosa, the hard-working mules of history, and the world’s wild horses, from the Steppes of Asia to the Moors of Brittany. Another cluster reminds us how horses have served throughout history, in city streets and country fields, on police patrol or cutting cattle. Special relationships between girls and horses are explored in such tender poems as ‘Pigtails and Ponytails’ and ‘Mane of Red and Gold’. There is sadness, too, in Benson’s pondering: “Oh, how will we say farewell?” and Strauss acknowledging how “It will break my heart the day you die.”
This book is a memorable gift for any horse-lover, but you’ll likely want a second copy for your bedside table, so you can savour these evocative lyrics whenever you wish.
Combining their love of horses and the outdoors, Mary Benson and Hedy Strauss immigrated to the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where they met. Whether it is preserving wild mustang heritage or saving horses from slaughter, both women are passionate advocates for animal welfare. Visit Mary and Hedy at http://www.bluemountainrider.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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Friday, September 10, 2010
A New Waste Land: Timeship Earth at Nillennium by Michael Horovitz
A New Waste Land: Timeship Earth at Nillennium
By Michael Horovitz
Genre: Poetry, Art, Politics
ISBN: 978-0-902689-18-3;
Publisher: New Departures
Distributed by Central Books, London
Reviewed by Tony Benn (Time Out London)
In this book Michael Horovitz has deployed all his many talents to produce a passionate, poetic and immensely powerful polemic against Tony Blair's New Labour Administration for the policies he pursued as Prime Minister and in particular his wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, his threats to Iran and his consistent and deliberate deception of the British public and Parliament to justify his actions.
For those who have been advocating a War Crimes Tribunal to arraign him and President Bush this poetic charge sheet could be used by any lawyer as a brief to guide him in preparing his case, and since no such trial has ever taken place A New Waste Land will remain on the record as a reminder for all those around the world who do not wish these crimes ever to be forgotten.
Michael was disappointed that the hopes raised in 1997 were so quickly dashed and even those, who like myself, never expected as much as he did, find it hard to believe that it went as badly wrong as it did.
His style is brilliant using historical quotations, pictures, cartoons and poetry laid out in a way that elevates it to the level of art to make his point and it is effective in a way that no speech could do.
Thoroughly researched, with footnotes to justify his assertions, he tackles a wide range of subjects, ranging from atomic weapons to privatisation as a deliberate instrument to diminish the role of the electorate and transfer the power back to the powerful economic forces which, today, dominate the political process so comprehensively.
Reminded of Hiroshima, we see the decision to renew Trident in its proper historical context as a conscious decision to maintain weapons of even greater power that could – if ever used – inflict death and destruction on millions of innocent people.
Palestine's unanswered pleas for peace and justice feature strongly, and we are reminded of the wicked practice of unspeakable torture that we have come to accept, as well as the rendition process, which makes it easier to transport the victims to countries where it can be done in secret, leaving the perpetrators to deny their own responsibility.
A New Waste Land is published on the 250th birthday of William Blake and, wherever his spirit now rests, Blake will be proud to read such a clear re-statement of the principles which he enunciated and which have – as this book will have – a permanent place in the libraries of the world and in the minds of those who read it.
But horrific as the picture Horovitz paints may be, we must never allow it to drive us into pessimism about the future, for hope is the fuel of progressive movements and fear is a prison into which we confine ourselves.
Knowing Michael's indomitable spirit I am sure that he too retains the hope we shall need if a peaceful and just world is to be built – as it must be.
Tony Benn (Time Out, London)
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By Michael Horovitz
Genre: Poetry, Art, Politics
ISBN: 978-0-902689-18-3;
Publisher: New Departures
Distributed by Central Books, London
Reviewed by Tony Benn (Time Out London)
In this book Michael Horovitz has deployed all his many talents to produce a passionate, poetic and immensely powerful polemic against Tony Blair's New Labour Administration for the policies he pursued as Prime Minister and in particular his wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, his threats to Iran and his consistent and deliberate deception of the British public and Parliament to justify his actions.
For those who have been advocating a War Crimes Tribunal to arraign him and President Bush this poetic charge sheet could be used by any lawyer as a brief to guide him in preparing his case, and since no such trial has ever taken place A New Waste Land will remain on the record as a reminder for all those around the world who do not wish these crimes ever to be forgotten.
Michael was disappointed that the hopes raised in 1997 were so quickly dashed and even those, who like myself, never expected as much as he did, find it hard to believe that it went as badly wrong as it did.
His style is brilliant using historical quotations, pictures, cartoons and poetry laid out in a way that elevates it to the level of art to make his point and it is effective in a way that no speech could do.
Thoroughly researched, with footnotes to justify his assertions, he tackles a wide range of subjects, ranging from atomic weapons to privatisation as a deliberate instrument to diminish the role of the electorate and transfer the power back to the powerful economic forces which, today, dominate the political process so comprehensively.
Reminded of Hiroshima, we see the decision to renew Trident in its proper historical context as a conscious decision to maintain weapons of even greater power that could – if ever used – inflict death and destruction on millions of innocent people.
Palestine's unanswered pleas for peace and justice feature strongly, and we are reminded of the wicked practice of unspeakable torture that we have come to accept, as well as the rendition process, which makes it easier to transport the victims to countries where it can be done in secret, leaving the perpetrators to deny their own responsibility.
A New Waste Land is published on the 250th birthday of William Blake and, wherever his spirit now rests, Blake will be proud to read such a clear re-statement of the principles which he enunciated and which have – as this book will have – a permanent place in the libraries of the world and in the minds of those who read it.
But horrific as the picture Horovitz paints may be, we must never allow it to drive us into pessimism about the future, for hope is the fuel of progressive movements and fear is a prison into which we confine ourselves.
Knowing Michael's indomitable spirit I am sure that he too retains the hope we shall need if a peaceful and just world is to be built – as it must be.
Tony Benn (Time Out, London)
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Karen Cioffi Reviews Helena Harper's New Poetry Book
Title: Family & More - Enemies or Friends?
Author: Helena Harper, www.helenaharper.com
Publisher: Pen Press, http://www.penpress.co.uk/
Genre: memoir, poetry
ISBN 13: 978-1907172649
ISBN-10: 1907172645
Reviewed by Karen Cioffi originally for Amazon
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Family and More – Enemies or Friends? is more than a collection of poems, it is a story I enjoyed and learned from. As you read this book, it becomes clear that the author put a great deal of time and effort into the choice of every word used. Each poem has a melodic flow that moves smoothly into the next.
Family and More enlightens the reader to the conflicts and confusion that exist in a family divided by war. Being the child of a German mother and English father in the aftermath of WWII, the author delves into her family’s history by examining the lives of several family members as well as other personal relationships. Each poem is an intertwined life. With descriptive imagery these people come alive; you see their struggles and triumphs.
This wonderful poetic story goes beyond a family history; it depicts the futility, frustration and hardship of war, along with the frailties and strengths of the people that make up each of our families.
Family and More – Enemies or Friends? is a beautifully written book. I highly recommend it.
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Author: Helena Harper, www.helenaharper.com
Publisher: Pen Press, http://www.penpress.co.uk/
Genre: memoir, poetry
ISBN 13: 978-1907172649
ISBN-10: 1907172645
Reviewed by Karen Cioffi originally for Amazon
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Family and More – Enemies or Friends? is more than a collection of poems, it is a story I enjoyed and learned from. As you read this book, it becomes clear that the author put a great deal of time and effort into the choice of every word used. Each poem has a melodic flow that moves smoothly into the next.
Family and More enlightens the reader to the conflicts and confusion that exist in a family divided by war. Being the child of a German mother and English father in the aftermath of WWII, the author delves into her family’s history by examining the lives of several family members as well as other personal relationships. Each poem is an intertwined life. With descriptive imagery these people come alive; you see their struggles and triumphs.
This wonderful poetic story goes beyond a family history; it depicts the futility, frustration and hardship of war, along with the frailties and strengths of the people that make up each of our families.
Family and More – Enemies or Friends? is a beautifully written book. I highly recommend it.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Eloise Michael Review Book of Love Poems
A Book of Poems: The Inner Soul
By: Anthony F. Rando
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication Date: June 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4490-9991-6
Reviewed by: Eloise Michael for Feathered Quill Book Reviews
In A Book of Poems: The Inner Soul, Anthony Rando writes about love, fear, and loss, subjects that have moved authors for as long as people have been writing poetry. Here Rando shares his deepest feelings, exploring them through metaphor and simile. The voice of the poet is earnest throughout this collection. Readers will feel as though Rando
wrote the poems in the midst of the intensity of feeling that he describes. They are raw and honest, holding back no emotion; they are love and longing in real time. The author makes little attempt to temper his passion with balance or perspective.
Rando employs images of light and dark to speak of sadness and loss and to contrast that sadness with the joy he dreams of possessing once again. The majority of the poems in the collection are love poems, written for a woman he compares to an angel, of whom he writes, “She is my heaven, my earth. She is everything to my heart." Some of these poems are written in the second person, speaking directly to her, and many are
descriptions of this woman and the overwhelming feelings that the author has for her.
Rando showers his beloved with praise and adoration throughout the book. A reader will no doubt long to find someone so worthy or perhaps dream that a poet will one day write such a poem for her.
Though most of Rando's poems are celebrations of the love he has found, and the woman with whom he has found it, the poems speak also of sadness. Rando hints at the loneliness he felt before finding this love, the emptiness he feels without her. “The Rose from Afar” is an example of this tension between joy and emptiness.
The Rose from Afar
The sweet smell of her skin
A warm wind embracing my heart
Like a blanket wrapped around my soul
The morning sunshine surrounds the mountains above
A beautiful rose appears from afar
Colors so vibrant they illuminate your darkest days
Tears fill my eyes as I watch the rose disappear into the
night sky
Missing my rose, like love missing from my empty heart.
Rando truly writes from the heart, expressing his joy and his pain with equal intensity. The title of this collection, The Inner Soul is fitting, as this book is Rando's deepest and most personal emotions set on paper.
Quill says: Passionate poems about love, loneliness, and loss.
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By: Anthony F. Rando
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication Date: June 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4490-9991-6
Reviewed by: Eloise Michael for Feathered Quill Book Reviews
In A Book of Poems: The Inner Soul, Anthony Rando writes about love, fear, and loss, subjects that have moved authors for as long as people have been writing poetry. Here Rando shares his deepest feelings, exploring them through metaphor and simile. The voice of the poet is earnest throughout this collection. Readers will feel as though Rando
wrote the poems in the midst of the intensity of feeling that he describes. They are raw and honest, holding back no emotion; they are love and longing in real time. The author makes little attempt to temper his passion with balance or perspective.
Rando employs images of light and dark to speak of sadness and loss and to contrast that sadness with the joy he dreams of possessing once again. The majority of the poems in the collection are love poems, written for a woman he compares to an angel, of whom he writes, “She is my heaven, my earth. She is everything to my heart." Some of these poems are written in the second person, speaking directly to her, and many are
descriptions of this woman and the overwhelming feelings that the author has for her.
Rando showers his beloved with praise and adoration throughout the book. A reader will no doubt long to find someone so worthy or perhaps dream that a poet will one day write such a poem for her.
Though most of Rando's poems are celebrations of the love he has found, and the woman with whom he has found it, the poems speak also of sadness. Rando hints at the loneliness he felt before finding this love, the emptiness he feels without her. “The Rose from Afar” is an example of this tension between joy and emptiness.
The Rose from Afar
The sweet smell of her skin
A warm wind embracing my heart
Like a blanket wrapped around my soul
The morning sunshine surrounds the mountains above
A beautiful rose appears from afar
Colors so vibrant they illuminate your darkest days
Tears fill my eyes as I watch the rose disappear into the
night sky
Missing my rose, like love missing from my empty heart.
Rando truly writes from the heart, expressing his joy and his pain with equal intensity. The title of this collection, The Inner Soul is fitting, as this book is Rando's deepest and most personal emotions set on paper.
Quill says: Passionate poems about love, loneliness, and loss.
-----
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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Monday, September 6, 2010
On Reviews, Reviewers and Ethics
I thought those of you who subscribe to this blog or drop by as visitors would enjoy this article on reviews by guest blogger Leora Krygier.
Review or Skew?
By Leora Krygier author of When She Sleeps
Recently, an encounter with a book review blogger got me thinking about the subject of honest reviewing. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
Along with the democratization of book publishing in the last two decades and the proliferation of self-published books, has come the democratization of reviews and reviewers. No longer are reviewers sitting exclusively in the ivory towers of the New York Times, the New Yorker and other major publications. Reviewers abound everywhere you look -- on Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites, on Library Thing, and a host of other book blog sites. And this is good, yes? Well, yes and no.
So, back to my encounter. I’d asked a book blogger of a certain genre to give me some comments on an unsold, unpublished manuscript. Besides the fact that she reviewed the manuscript without my permission and put the review on her blog (she later removed it) the more disheartening aspect of this story were the prejudicial comments she made, based, I learned later, on her narrow world view. I won’t go into specifics, but let’s just say she advised me not to include certain characters, in order to have a “larger audience” of readers. This and some other strangely backwater comments alerted me to her skewed views. Besides feeling completely stupid for not picking up on some of this earlier on, and besides my wanting to expose this as a cautionary tale for authors, it also got me thinking about reviews in general.
Should reviewers disclose their leanings and prejudices, and their world view? And on the other side of the coin, what about all those reviews we authors ask our friends to write on Amazon? Should “friend” connections be disclosed in honest reviewing? What about blurbs that come from authors who have the same publisher? Is that a conflict of interest? And reviews for money? Do we just stack it all up to…”it’s okay because it’s just promotion?” or is this an ethical issue that needs addressing?
I went straight to my good friend (full disclosure here) Bob Stone, also known as “EthicsBob” who writes and blogs about all things ethical and asked him to weigh in on this.
EthicsBob says, "Reviewers should have a clear conscience—they shouldn’t hope that their background remains hidden. If I write a review on Amazon for my pal Leora’s book I must disclose that she’s a friend, because there’s a clear conflict here: I hope her book succeeds and I want to write an honest review. If my publisher asks me to review a colleague’s book I have a slightly different conflict: I want to stay in my publisher’s good graces and I want to be honest. If I’m being paid for a review I want to please my patron and I want to be honest.
"I’m not saying that I can’t be honest in my reviews; in fact I did love and admire Leora’s novels—only that my conflict exists. Readers are entitled to know she’s my friend. [Full disclosure: I hadn’t thought this through when I posted reviews on Amazon. I’ve just now corrected my ethical lapse.] If I’m paid by the author to write a review readers are entitled to know. Then they can decide whether to heed my review or to discount it as hopelessly biased.
"As far as reviewers disclosing their world view and leanings, I don’t think so, as long as they write honestly. Their reviews can speak for themselves, and their readers can decide. I think comments can be stupid, narrow minded and offensive without being unethical. If, on the other hand, a book is panned as dull, thin, or badly written without disclosing that the reviewer is offended, for example ,by homosexuality, blasphemy or sex, then the reviewer is being deceptive and unethical.
“EthicsBob” is Bob Stone. You can read about him at http://bobstone.us/ and read his blog at http://ethicsbob.com/
Leora Krygier is the author of When She Sleeps and New York Public Library pick, Best Books for the Teen Age. It is Juvenile Court: A Judge's Guide for Young Adults and Their Parents. Follow her breezy Starbucks blog at http://www.starbuckled.blogspot.com/ and read more about Leora at http://www.leorakrygier.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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Review or Skew?
By Leora Krygier author of When She Sleeps
Recently, an encounter with a book review blogger got me thinking about the subject of honest reviewing. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
Along with the democratization of book publishing in the last two decades and the proliferation of self-published books, has come the democratization of reviews and reviewers. No longer are reviewers sitting exclusively in the ivory towers of the New York Times, the New Yorker and other major publications. Reviewers abound everywhere you look -- on Amazon and Barnes and Noble sites, on Library Thing, and a host of other book blog sites. And this is good, yes? Well, yes and no.
So, back to my encounter. I’d asked a book blogger of a certain genre to give me some comments on an unsold, unpublished manuscript. Besides the fact that she reviewed the manuscript without my permission and put the review on her blog (she later removed it) the more disheartening aspect of this story were the prejudicial comments she made, based, I learned later, on her narrow world view. I won’t go into specifics, but let’s just say she advised me not to include certain characters, in order to have a “larger audience” of readers. This and some other strangely backwater comments alerted me to her skewed views. Besides feeling completely stupid for not picking up on some of this earlier on, and besides my wanting to expose this as a cautionary tale for authors, it also got me thinking about reviews in general.
Should reviewers disclose their leanings and prejudices, and their world view? And on the other side of the coin, what about all those reviews we authors ask our friends to write on Amazon? Should “friend” connections be disclosed in honest reviewing? What about blurbs that come from authors who have the same publisher? Is that a conflict of interest? And reviews for money? Do we just stack it all up to…”it’s okay because it’s just promotion?” or is this an ethical issue that needs addressing?
I went straight to my good friend (full disclosure here) Bob Stone, also known as “EthicsBob” who writes and blogs about all things ethical and asked him to weigh in on this.
EthicsBob says, "Reviewers should have a clear conscience—they shouldn’t hope that their background remains hidden. If I write a review on Amazon for my pal Leora’s book I must disclose that she’s a friend, because there’s a clear conflict here: I hope her book succeeds and I want to write an honest review. If my publisher asks me to review a colleague’s book I have a slightly different conflict: I want to stay in my publisher’s good graces and I want to be honest. If I’m being paid for a review I want to please my patron and I want to be honest.
"I’m not saying that I can’t be honest in my reviews; in fact I did love and admire Leora’s novels—only that my conflict exists. Readers are entitled to know she’s my friend. [Full disclosure: I hadn’t thought this through when I posted reviews on Amazon. I’ve just now corrected my ethical lapse.] If I’m paid by the author to write a review readers are entitled to know. Then they can decide whether to heed my review or to discount it as hopelessly biased.
"As far as reviewers disclosing their world view and leanings, I don’t think so, as long as they write honestly. Their reviews can speak for themselves, and their readers can decide. I think comments can be stupid, narrow minded and offensive without being unethical. If, on the other hand, a book is panned as dull, thin, or badly written without disclosing that the reviewer is offended, for example ,by homosexuality, blasphemy or sex, then the reviewer is being deceptive and unethical.
“EthicsBob” is Bob Stone. You can read about him at http://bobstone.us/ and read his blog at http://ethicsbob.com/
Leora Krygier is the author of When She Sleeps and New York Public Library pick, Best Books for the Teen Age. It is Juvenile Court: A Judge's Guide for Young Adults and Their Parents. Follow her breezy Starbucks blog at http://www.starbuckled.blogspot.com/ and read more about Leora at http://www.leorakrygier.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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Debut Novel Crestmont Reviewed
Crestmont
By Holly Weiss, http://www.hollyweiss.com/
Historical Fiction
ISBN978-1-935188-10-0
Review of Crestmont by Tiffany Schlarman for Review the Book
“Step into the lives of Gracie Antes and the Woods family of Eagles Mere Pennsylvania. Gracie, who decided to take control and live her life, left her sheltered family in 1925 to pursue her dreams. Crestmont was a summer job, a way to start earning money in order to follow her dream and sing. Little did she know she would find herself, friends, and a family of her own by taking a job at the Crestmont Inn. The woods own the Crestmont and spend their time keeping the dream of Mrs. Woods's father alive. The Crestmont is not just and Inn, but a place of happiness and solitude for many guest as well as the charming staff.
As you read this wonderful novel, you will be taken back in time to the 1920's. You will feel you are part of the Crestmont and its staff. As Gracie's' story unfolds you are vividly aware of the decade, its people, pastimes and its trials. The book is truly engulfing. You will not want to put it down. The characters are unique and charming, giving the book a truly small town feel with a get away to dream of.
I really enjoyed this debut novel. I felt I was actually part of Eagles Mere and the Crestmont Inn. The characters are charming and loveable. It makes you want to visit the modern day Crestmont, though I'm sure you would arrive and be disappointed. The book is a work of historical fiction, combined with actual history, The Crestmont is a wildly entertaining read. Everything is well presented and thought out. The descriptive nature enables you to envision life during this time. The author does a wonderful job at drawing the reader in and making them welcome, wanting to be part of the story and happenings. She has a way of making the business of running an Inn feel charming and delightful. It is a pleasure to read.”
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
By Holly Weiss, http://www.hollyweiss.com/
Historical Fiction
ISBN978-1-935188-10-0
Review of Crestmont by Tiffany Schlarman for Review the Book
“Step into the lives of Gracie Antes and the Woods family of Eagles Mere Pennsylvania. Gracie, who decided to take control and live her life, left her sheltered family in 1925 to pursue her dreams. Crestmont was a summer job, a way to start earning money in order to follow her dream and sing. Little did she know she would find herself, friends, and a family of her own by taking a job at the Crestmont Inn. The woods own the Crestmont and spend their time keeping the dream of Mrs. Woods's father alive. The Crestmont is not just and Inn, but a place of happiness and solitude for many guest as well as the charming staff.
As you read this wonderful novel, you will be taken back in time to the 1920's. You will feel you are part of the Crestmont and its staff. As Gracie's' story unfolds you are vividly aware of the decade, its people, pastimes and its trials. The book is truly engulfing. You will not want to put it down. The characters are unique and charming, giving the book a truly small town feel with a get away to dream of.
I really enjoyed this debut novel. I felt I was actually part of Eagles Mere and the Crestmont Inn. The characters are charming and loveable. It makes you want to visit the modern day Crestmont, though I'm sure you would arrive and be disappointed. The book is a work of historical fiction, combined with actual history, The Crestmont is a wildly entertaining read. Everything is well presented and thought out. The descriptive nature enables you to envision life during this time. The author does a wonderful job at drawing the reader in and making them welcome, wanting to be part of the story and happenings. She has a way of making the business of running an Inn feel charming and delightful. It is a pleasure to read.”
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Search for Consciousness Self Help Here!
Title: Conscious Footsteps
Subtitle: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters
Author Name: Dianne Eppler Adams
Publisher Name: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1147-9
Genre: Self-help – General; Religion – Spiritual
Synopsis
Conscious Footsteps is an idea generator for finding Spirit in ordinary life experiences, inspired by the author's deep, heartfelt search for life's greater meaning. Read it to awaken personal happiness and notice the interdependence and sacredness of everything. Discover how Spirit manifests in your daily affairs, bringing greater joy and fulfillment.
Underlying the book is the assumption that you won't find Spirit by moving away from the world; you find it by going more open-heartedly into ordinary life. Though written by an astrologer, you do not need to understand or believe in astrology to gain from the book. Those who want to know more will find answers to many common questions about astrology in the appendix. Open this book to any page at any time and use it to inspire your day.
Reviewed by Tracy Riva Book Reviewer for Amazon
RATING: (5) STARS
Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters by Dianne Eppler Adams is a unique find in the world of books of spirituality. Dianne draws upon her own heightened awareness and her experience as an astrologer to bring an entirely new refreshing perspective to books on spirituality.
Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters is a self-help book in that it does help highlight practices you could now be doing to help you and the world around you to achieve better balance and happiness. Adams recognizes we are going through difficult times and acknowledges that more of the same is likely, but she shows ways, such as focusing on the positive or helping with a charity, to get through these times. As she aptly points out the key to surviving these times is to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on someone, or something else.
Another thing Adams emphasizes is the fact it is better to say nothing at all than to tell even a "white lie." She uses the example of someone asking us how we are and the fact we almost invariably reply with "fine." Adams points out that it's better to say nothing than to answer that you are fine if you aren't. Don't be rude or anything, just come up with a true, but non-committal answer.
Adams also strongly emphasizes out uniqueness and how important our opinion is, even when it differs from that of the world around us. Voicing our opinion can help others see another side and may help bring balance, or a better resolution to a situation. She also points out that we need to honor ourselves in our lives, opinions, relationships and interactions with others and the world around us. We need to find ways to both give and receive in our relationships so we can be fulfilled and have an inner well of strength to draw on. We need to not allow fear to hold us back. That only brings about more fear and a constriction in the natural flow of things.
I'm giving away way too much of Dianne's book, but let me point out that these examples are only a very small portion of the life-changing examples of Adams work and these are all in the first few chapters. Also, you can use the book as a daily reference - or whenever you want/need to - just pop it open to a page and apply that point for the rest of the day. It works great.
What follows is an excerpt from Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters:
"I remind myself that I did not create myself. Therefore, I am not the beginning and end of the strength on which I can call to manage my life. I frequently call on Spirit during the day with an inner thought or wish or prayer. I ask for strength when I feel weak. I ask for clarity when I am confused. I ask for patience when I am frustrated.
The operation of Spirit is not something I fully understand, but I trust it. I consider it humorous that, with our little brains, we think we might understand the vast wisdom of Spirit. For this reason, I believe all religions and belief systems are only partially true. All mystics, seers, and prophets see part of the Truth but not the Whole Truth. They are trying to access the Truth with a puny (relatively speaking) instrument called "the human mind." When I am fearful, I call on the strength that comes from beyond me and trust that Spirit is handling everything."
Author Bio
Dianne Eppler Adams, CAP, is a certified astrologer, practical mystic and author of the book, "Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters." She writes a popular monthly New Moon newsletter (signup at www.SpiritinMatters.com) from which Conscious Footsteps was drawn.
Since 1995, Dianne has maintained an astrological consulting practice in Alexandria, VA using a Western psychological-spiritual approach and inspiring others to live in alignment with their authentic selves by recognizing life's higher purpose. She is certified by the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and also holds membership in the National Committee for Geocosmic Research (NCGR)and the Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA).
In 2004, after 35 years in the corporate world, she transitioned her astrology practice from part-time to full-time. Dianne is also the founder and director of the Holistic Entrepreneurs Alliance, an alternative business networking group in the Northern VA area.
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Subtitle: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters
Author Name: Dianne Eppler Adams
Publisher Name: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1147-9
Genre: Self-help – General; Religion – Spiritual
Synopsis
Conscious Footsteps is an idea generator for finding Spirit in ordinary life experiences, inspired by the author's deep, heartfelt search for life's greater meaning. Read it to awaken personal happiness and notice the interdependence and sacredness of everything. Discover how Spirit manifests in your daily affairs, bringing greater joy and fulfillment.
Underlying the book is the assumption that you won't find Spirit by moving away from the world; you find it by going more open-heartedly into ordinary life. Though written by an astrologer, you do not need to understand or believe in astrology to gain from the book. Those who want to know more will find answers to many common questions about astrology in the appendix. Open this book to any page at any time and use it to inspire your day.
Reviewed by Tracy Riva Book Reviewer for Amazon
RATING: (5) STARS
Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters by Dianne Eppler Adams is a unique find in the world of books of spirituality. Dianne draws upon her own heightened awareness and her experience as an astrologer to bring an entirely new refreshing perspective to books on spirituality.
Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters is a self-help book in that it does help highlight practices you could now be doing to help you and the world around you to achieve better balance and happiness. Adams recognizes we are going through difficult times and acknowledges that more of the same is likely, but she shows ways, such as focusing on the positive or helping with a charity, to get through these times. As she aptly points out the key to surviving these times is to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on someone, or something else.
Another thing Adams emphasizes is the fact it is better to say nothing at all than to tell even a "white lie." She uses the example of someone asking us how we are and the fact we almost invariably reply with "fine." Adams points out that it's better to say nothing than to answer that you are fine if you aren't. Don't be rude or anything, just come up with a true, but non-committal answer.
Adams also strongly emphasizes out uniqueness and how important our opinion is, even when it differs from that of the world around us. Voicing our opinion can help others see another side and may help bring balance, or a better resolution to a situation. She also points out that we need to honor ourselves in our lives, opinions, relationships and interactions with others and the world around us. We need to find ways to both give and receive in our relationships so we can be fulfilled and have an inner well of strength to draw on. We need to not allow fear to hold us back. That only brings about more fear and a constriction in the natural flow of things.
I'm giving away way too much of Dianne's book, but let me point out that these examples are only a very small portion of the life-changing examples of Adams work and these are all in the first few chapters. Also, you can use the book as a daily reference - or whenever you want/need to - just pop it open to a page and apply that point for the rest of the day. It works great.
What follows is an excerpt from Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters:
"I remind myself that I did not create myself. Therefore, I am not the beginning and end of the strength on which I can call to manage my life. I frequently call on Spirit during the day with an inner thought or wish or prayer. I ask for strength when I feel weak. I ask for clarity when I am confused. I ask for patience when I am frustrated.
The operation of Spirit is not something I fully understand, but I trust it. I consider it humorous that, with our little brains, we think we might understand the vast wisdom of Spirit. For this reason, I believe all religions and belief systems are only partially true. All mystics, seers, and prophets see part of the Truth but not the Whole Truth. They are trying to access the Truth with a puny (relatively speaking) instrument called "the human mind." When I am fearful, I call on the strength that comes from beyond me and trust that Spirit is handling everything."
Author Bio
Dianne Eppler Adams, CAP, is a certified astrologer, practical mystic and author of the book, "Conscious Footsteps: Finding Spirit in Everyday Matters." She writes a popular monthly New Moon newsletter (signup at www.SpiritinMatters.com) from which Conscious Footsteps was drawn.
Since 1995, Dianne has maintained an astrological consulting practice in Alexandria, VA using a Western psychological-spiritual approach and inspiring others to live in alignment with their authentic selves by recognizing life's higher purpose. She is certified by the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and also holds membership in the National Committee for Geocosmic Research (NCGR)and the Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA).
In 2004, after 35 years in the corporate world, she transitioned her astrology practice from part-time to full-time. Dianne is also the founder and director of the Holistic Entrepreneurs Alliance, an alternative business networking group in the Northern VA area.
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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 read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine 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 this little green retweet widget :
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
If I Had a Best Writers' Book of the Year Award, This Would Be the Winner!
It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences
Subtitle: a writer’s guide to crafting killer sentences
By June Casagrande
Ten Speed Press (2010)
ISBN: 9781580087407
Nonfiction/How-To (Writing)
Buy Link: http://budurl.com/GrammarSnobs
Publisher's Site: http://www.tenspeed.com/
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This Is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, a chapbook of poetry and the How To Do It Frugally Series of book for authors
Rules. Rules. Rules. I didn’t realize how tired I was of the same old writing advice until this little black book landed in my mailbox. I promised to review it fast, but this It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences book by June Casagrande isn’t a book a serious writer wants to flip through fast.
I could see from the subhead in the first chapter that this book would include something better than most. It read, “Thy Reader, Thy God.” What a concept that is! The Reader and not The Rule Book! Ahem! And it got better and better as Casagrande explored all the subjects I knew everything about. Or thought I did. She uses examples so a writer can see the differences between OK writing and acrylic-clear writing.
By the time I got to “Are Your Relatives Essential?” I was really sold. This is a Wow- Chapter, even for accomplished editors. The writing tips she gives in Chapter Twelve for using tenses effectively are just what I need to convince my students that I’m not the only editor/teacher in the world who believes that tenses needn’t match all the way through a story (or even a paragraph, for that matter!). That chapter is called “You Will Have Been Conjugating.”
I could go on and on, chapter by chapter. What isn’t new to a writer or what doesn’t elucidate will remind and amuse Casagrande’s God, The Reader. For those who know Casagrande’s work, this book isn’t as funny as her first one, Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies (www.budurl.com/GrammarSnobs ). Nevertheless, the reader will still occasionally get a good laugh. For chuckles read Chapter Nine, “Antique Desk Suitable for Lady with Thick Legs and Large Drawers.”
For Casagrande, the lesson is always that grammar needn’t be dreary. Why should it be when we love writing? How could it be when grammar is the nails and tacks, the color and structure of what we love? Writing.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.
Her book of creative nonfiction Harkening, won three. A UCLA Writers' Program instructor, she also is the author of another book essential for writers,USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't.(www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ). The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor ) covers writing successful query letters and includes helpful hints from twenty of the nation's top agents. Her book Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy (www.budurl.com/WordTrippersPB ) will appeal to the same crowd that falls in love with Casagrande’s books. Learn more about Howard-Johnson at her new site http://howtodoitfrugally.com/ .
Subtitle: a writer’s guide to crafting killer sentences
By June Casagrande
Ten Speed Press (2010)
ISBN: 9781580087407
Nonfiction/How-To (Writing)
Buy Link: http://budurl.com/GrammarSnobs
Publisher's Site: http://www.tenspeed.com/
New Book May (Should!) Replace Your Stunk and White!
Grammar Guru Offers Advice
Like None You’ve Ever Seen—All in One Place!
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This Is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, a chapbook of poetry and the How To Do It Frugally Series of book for authors
Rules. Rules. Rules. I didn’t realize how tired I was of the same old writing advice until this little black book landed in my mailbox. I promised to review it fast, but this It was the best of sentences, it was the worst of sentences book by June Casagrande isn’t a book a serious writer wants to flip through fast.
I could see from the subhead in the first chapter that this book would include something better than most. It read, “Thy Reader, Thy God.” What a concept that is! The Reader and not The Rule Book! Ahem! And it got better and better as Casagrande explored all the subjects I knew everything about. Or thought I did. She uses examples so a writer can see the differences between OK writing and acrylic-clear writing.
By the time I got to “Are Your Relatives Essential?” I was really sold. This is a Wow- Chapter, even for accomplished editors. The writing tips she gives in Chapter Twelve for using tenses effectively are just what I need to convince my students that I’m not the only editor/teacher in the world who believes that tenses needn’t match all the way through a story (or even a paragraph, for that matter!). That chapter is called “You Will Have Been Conjugating.”
I could go on and on, chapter by chapter. What isn’t new to a writer or what doesn’t elucidate will remind and amuse Casagrande’s God, The Reader. For those who know Casagrande’s work, this book isn’t as funny as her first one, Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies (www.budurl.com/GrammarSnobs ). Nevertheless, the reader will still occasionally get a good laugh. For chuckles read Chapter Nine, “Antique Desk Suitable for Lady with Thick Legs and Large Drawers.”
For Casagrande, the lesson is always that grammar needn’t be dreary. Why should it be when we love writing? How could it be when grammar is the nails and tacks, the color and structure of what we love? Writing.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards.
Her book of creative nonfiction Harkening, won three. A UCLA Writers' Program instructor, she also is the author of another book essential for writers,USA Book News' Best Professional Book of 2004, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't.(www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo ). The second in the HowToDoItFrugally series, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor ) covers writing successful query letters and includes helpful hints from twenty of the nation's top agents. Her book Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy (www.budurl.com/WordTrippersPB ) will appeal to the same crowd that falls in love with Casagrande’s books. Learn more about Howard-Johnson at her new site http://howtodoitfrugally.com/ .
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