The New Book Review

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.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Growing Up Mixed: A Memoir About Intolerance

The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood
By Hugo Hamilton
Fourth Estate, 2003
ISBN: 0007149980
Adult/Memoir
Rating: 5 of 5



               The Best View for Understanding Intolerance


Growing Up Mixed



Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered



               How sharp are the knives that divide. The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood is about the effects of both sharp and blunt instruments on the lives of children. Religion. Borders. Language. Wars. Culture. And, yes, Love and Hate.

              
                Themes literally seethe through Hugo Hamilton's work. Part of the reason for that is the story itself. The narrator is a child, the product of a severe Irish nationalist and a German mother. The parents themselves are creations of their time and place no less than their offspring are. Young Hugo is allowed to speak only Irish and German in a land that is increasingly speaking English. He is dressed in Irish sweaters and Lederhosen. The identities of some of his relatives are secreted away in armoires and others are flaunted as exemplary models. He is inundated by rules, rules, rules and they are modulated by a mother with much love to give in spite of her own story set in Germany of the Third Reich; her history is slowly revealed to the reader as Hugo grows in understanding.

              
               Told with a child’s stream of conscious, this memoir requires careful attention. The reader unravels this family’s truths only when the child can finally grasp them for himself. This technique heightens our understanding of how affecting such an upbringing can be. The language is poetic in character. So is the structure: One situation reminds the narrator of another connection and we begin to see how this character and this family are strung together and—hopefully—also begin to see how similar dynamics might have affected our own lives. For, though very particular, this story is also general, one that still reaches beyond its time and touches ours.


               It seems as if children tend to grow up speckled in one way or another. That makes the general premise of this lovely little book close to the heart of us all. We have all been there in one way or another, felt unloved, apart at some time in our lives. It is apparent that children who grow up half-and-half, a potpourri, will always be marked. Some will turn these hardships into the stuff of insight, understanding, and—in the case of Hugo Hamilton—great talent.
 
          

~The reviewer’s first novel, This is the Place (www.budurl.com/ThisIsthePlace), has won eight awards. It, too, explores how one can grow up part of two cultures and never feel a part of either one. Harkening, a collection of creative nonfiction stories, is also an award-winner.  Learn more at:  http://www.carolynhoward-johnson.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 :

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Don Blankenship Calls Memoir "Best"

Title: South to Alaska: A True Story of Courage and Survival from America's Heartland to the Heart of a Dream
Author: Nancy Owens Barnes
Website: http://www.southtoalaska.com
Book Link: http://www.amazon.com/South-Alaska-Survival-Americas-Heartland/dp/098239022X
Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel
ISBN:
098239022X (Rushing River Press)

Reviewed by Don Blankenship, Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer, (http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1MC6BFHWY6WC3 ), written originally for Amazon
5 out of 5 stars


Nancy Owens Barnes stated in the forward of this work that "Some suggested I fictionalize the story. By doing so would allow me to drive drama to a higher level and to void my worries about maintaining truth."

Well thank goodness and lucky for us she made the right decision and went with the truth. I cannot imagine how adding a bit of fiction to this story would in anyway "add to the drama" or make this a more satisfying read. I have to tell you that at the end of each year I sort of do an informal review of the books I read during the past twelve months and rank them in order of pure reading enjoyment. I will tell you right now that this read made the top three and it is quite debatable whether or not I should stick it in first place. My goodness, this book has so very much going for it.

This true story, put in a nutshell, is the telling of the remarkable journey of her father - an odyssey really, starting from the time he was a young child; a child of the Great Depression, living in Oklahoma, through his remarkable voyage in a boat he built himself and sailed it from Fort Smith, Arkansas (of all places) all the way to Alaska...for the most part, completely alone. But the book is so much more than just a sea voyage; a scary one, I grant you, but a voyage never-the less. It is also the story of her mother, Cecil Marie, a rather remarkable woman in her own right.

The author's parents, Melvin and Cecil Owens had a dream. They wanted to live in Alaska. Both these individual lived the majority of their lives in either Oklahoma or Arkansas - they were not sea dwelling people. George Owens worked construction and was one of those individuals (alas, I am not one of them) that could build just about anything he set his mind to. We are taken through the three years, where in his spare time, Mr. Owens built the ship they named "Red Dog" in his backyard and then through his remarkable journey down the Arkansas River, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal and then up the western coast of Central America, America, all the way to Ketchikan, Alaska where he and his wife finally made their home. (They ended up living in a home built by Mr. Owens near the water and forest for over twenty some odd years - remarkable!)

We travel with Melvin as he navigates river ways, crooked customs officers in foreign ports, the open sea and rather evil conmen, storms, sickness, anxiety..... Speaking no language other than English this quiet but determined man made a journey of a life time against tremendous odds.

Now let me be frank and explain. When I first heard of this book and the homemade craft, the Red Dog, I had visions of something like what I would build which would have been hammered and wired together out of scrap lumber, orange crates and empty oil cans. Mr. Owens though was a craftsman and the boat he built with his own two hands and spare parts was actually quite a sophisticated and seaworthy craft. The building alone; the process he went through absolutely amazed me.

But don't think this book is just about his two year voyage. This is actually the story of a family; a family of like mine and yours. Good hardworking people; a close family full of love and respect for each other. The author has used the techniques of flashbacks throughout the book to bring a vivid picture of a family who made it through the depression, worked extremely hard all of their lives and above all, followed their dream. (I consider myself an amature historian when it comes to the Great Depression and I have to tell you that I learned much from this book. The author was able to capture the essence of those times perfectly. I felt she could have been writing about my own family at times). I also grew up in the same area (Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma) so I knew much of the physical background the author describes and can assure you she is spot on.

Furthermore, not only do we have a wonderful story here, but we have a story written by an author that can actually write and I might say, write extremely well. Her prose borders on lyrical and her ability to describe puts her on the same level with all the great travel writers....folks, this is one talented lady!

If you have not already read this work I would strongly suggest you do so. It is a great true story that has been written by a true master writer.



Learn more about author Nancy Owens Barnes, freelance writer and author, at www.NancyOwensBarnes.com and
www.SouthToAlaska.com  She blogs at WritingNorthIdaho.blogspot.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 :

Friday, February 17, 2012

Spiritual Help in Life, Faith, Hope

Life, Faith, Hope Beyond the Shadows of Life Author: Linda L.C. Giles
Author's Web site: www.life-faith-hope.com
Order directly from the publisher 
http://bookstore.authourhouse.com/products/SKU-000442168/life-faith-hope.aspx

About the Book
So much can happen in a single moment. Various interactions can be interpreted in so many ways. Here, in Life, Faith, Hope : Beyond the Shadows of Life, you just may be able to sift your soul into a place of healing, understanding, and comfort. Within each of these pages of luminous paintings, your soul can use pure sight instead of led-to-believe ideals. This compilation of visions is for every person, of every spiritual or religious background, perhaps even those with none at all. These paintings do not depict, but rather allow for your souls’ eyes to linger in the emotional beauty that only wants to speak to your heart. There are no negative connotations or meanings, just those of pure innocence without prejudice or concrete ideals. This book is open for your interpretation. Be still and let your eyes lead the way into your journey.
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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, February 16, 2012

Great Marketing Advice: Zero Stress Selling

Title – Zero Stress Selling: 5 No-Fail Strategies to Get More Clients and Fill Your PracticeAuthor – Sue KassonAuthor's website link – http://www.zerostresssales.com Genre or category – Business, Sales, MarketingISBN – B006LQUAAM (Kindle)
Available on Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Sue-Kasson/e/B006MMJHRM/
Your journey towards your thriving, full and successful practice will be simple yet practical – 5 no-fail strategies to help you achieve your goal of filling your practice with your ideal clients. You will learn the no-fail strategies of building your list, selling your services, doing profitable teleseminars, creating products, marketing with articles and how to connect with joint venture partners.

Zero Stress Selling is written for:

·       Business owners

·       Female business people

·       Solopreneurs

·       Entrepreneurs

·       Salespeople

·       Other Business and Sales people


Some of the topics you will find in Zero Stress Selling include: 

·       Developing a Zero Stress sales system

·       Strategies to build an effective email list

·       Strategies to hold profitable teleseminars

·       Strategic article marketing

·       How to participate in joint ventures

·       How to find effective and appropriate joint venture opportunities

You may wonder why Sue Kasson is qualified to write about these topics. Here is some information about her background.

About Sue Kasson

Sue specializes in helping coaches, Soloprenuers and Professional Service Providers get more clients by having relaxed, authentic and confident client enrollment conversations. She is on a mission to help business owners fill their practices and learn to enjoy getting clients without stress or fear. Sue has a 20+ year sales and sales management background with several Fortune 500 companies and, in the last 11 years, has trained and coached hundreds of people to help them get more clients and sell more of their products and services.

What Are People Saying About Sue Kasson and Zero Stress Selling –

“Great Strategies… A Must Read….”

“Follow these strategies, and your business will be busier than you could have ever imagined.”  Emma Garcia

“Clear, Concise and Extremely Helpful….”

“I like that each strategy was broken down in a way that made it easy and realistic for me to do. Each chapter is worth it’s weight in gold…” Susan Woods

“A Gem of a Book”
“This book reads as a detailed, step by step guide on how to make your business thrive with clientele!” Tracy from Canada

“Advice to Live By”

“… what I found inspiring in this book is how the author uses her personal experience to distill the basics of marketing down to clear, easy to understand and practical lessons.” Jeff

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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, February 15, 2012

Fred Warren Reviews Christian Nonfiction

Title: Why God Matters: How to Recognize Him in Daily Life
Author: Karina Fabian and Deacon Steve Lumbert
Category: Christian, devotionals, spirituality
ISBN: 9780982256534
Available from: Publisher (Tribute Books)
or Amazon or other online dealers
For More Info: http://whygodmatters.com
Amazon link: http://amzn.to/dI7jbp

Reviewed by Fred Warren for  http://frederation.wordpress.com/

I know Karina Fabian best from her speculative fiction–tales of dragon detectives, spacefaring nuns, superhero misfits, and zombie cookery, filled with engaging characters, sly puns, and wry observations on human nature. While her faith informs all her writing (her tagline is “Fiction, Faith, and Fun”), that faith is front-and-center in this very non-fiction collaboration with her father, Steven Lumbert, a Catholic deacon.

There’s still plenty of fun. Why God Matters is primarily a devotional guide, in the spirit of Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, but it’s also a personal memoir and meditation on the joys and challenges of life, shared by a father and daughter who love each other very much.

The book provides a series of topical meditations, “life lessons,” each with a scripture passage, an excerpt from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a pertinent quotation that summarizes the chapter’s main idea, and a vignette from Karina or Steven.

The vignettes are what really bring this book to life. Karina and Steven share some very personal moments when they’ve recognized God’s presence and intervention in their lives. Sometimes it happens in something as simple as a shared family meal or the give-and-take of a relationship with a friend. Sometimes it’s a life-changing incident, a momentous decision, or a miraculous answer to prayer. These are situations we all encounter, and it’s encouraging to read these accounts of how God met Steven and Karina there and strengthened their faith in the process. As they note in the introduction,

The stories you’ll find here are ordinary, because quite often, we find our faith in the day-to-day living. After all, what could be more ordinary than taking a step—or a breath? Yet, as St. Patrick said, “Christ’s breath in mine.”

This book is written from a Catholic viewpoint with a Catholic audience in mind. I think, though, that any Christian reader would enjoy and benefit from the insights it offers, which transcend sectarian borders. Protestant Evangelical Fred certainly gained a renewed appreciation of how important it is to be aware that God is working in my life every day, and of my corresponding need to respond to that work and cooperate with Him in my spiritual development, becoming more like Him, and participating in the divine nature. That’s what being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is all about.

It’s not complicated, but it takes commitment, and you’ve got to keep your head in the game. In its glimpses of one family’s faith journey, Why God Matters illustrates many practical ways to cultivate a daily walk with God. It’s helpful, it’s inspiring, and it’s heartwarming. A great combination, and well worth reading.

Author Bio:
Deacon Steve Lumbert and Karina Fabian are father and daughter who came to their faith in different ways. Karina was raised in it, while Steve discovered his calling later in life. Steve is a Deacon and parish administrator in Pueblo, CO. Karina is a writer, military wife, and mother of four.

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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 :

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Nonfiction Intrigues Veteran Reviewer

Title: From Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds (2011)
Author: Amy L. Peterson
Nonfiction
ISBN: 978-0-615-55589-8 (Smashwords)
 
Reviewed by Joy V. Smith originally for Amazon
5 out of 5 stars
I came across this book online; it sounded intriguing--and fun, so I got it. I enjoyed it from Amy and Mark's first meeting in the workplace when he rejects her proposal (for a study grant), their tentative attempts at getting to know each other and date--despite her understandable reluctance to get involved with a man with four children. She gives us the background too on why--though they worked there for five years--they never connected. (He was married; now he's divorced.) He persists, and together they overcome a variety of challenges. This story illustrates those challenges--her family, his children, the ex-wife, and the usual speed bumps, but Amy makes meeting them a fun read, while at the same time not being afraid to expose her conflicting feelings along the way. See Tip #11: "If your first meeting with the kids doesn't go well, rest assured that it won't be the last thing that won't go well." And that was why I wanted the book--for the funny takes on her life--reminding me of Erma Bombeck--and for what happened along the way and how they survived the challenges and succeeded. This is a romantic story, btw, and I sympathized with both of them as they felt their way along the path to marriage and beyond.

The tips for step-parents are helpful and funny. #1 sets the stage: "Behind every successful stepmother is a man with at least one child." There are 70 tips; #70 introduces the epilogue: "You won't be able to predict what the kids remember, or what they'll like the most. So try to enjoy it all." I believe she and her new family did enjoy it; and I enjoyed their story. Highly recommended.

Note: I read the paperback edition, which I received directly from the author.

~Learn more about the reviewer and helpful house and ecorating hints on her blog at http://pagadan.blogspot.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 :

Friday, February 10, 2012

Must Read for the Business Side of Writing

 
How to Write It
Second Edition
Subtitle: A complete guide to everything you’ll ever write
By Sandra E. Lamb
Ten Speed Press (2011)
ISBN: 9781607740322
Nonfiction/How-To (Writing)
Contact Reviewer: hojoreviews@aol.com
Publisher's Site: www.tenspeed.com



             

The Business Part of Writing—Down and Dirty


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


I wasn’t impressed by the title of How to Write It! It’s so general. And the subtitle? So all inclusive!  How could it be a guide to everything you’ll ever write?  And, truth be told, it isn’t. Not if you are a write of fiction. Or a poet. But even if you write those things, stop! Don’t go away. You’ll find in this book much that you need to know to build a successful writing career no matter what you write. And that was probably the intent of Author Sandra E. Lamb. She wants your writing career to soar. And this book will give you the tools to make sure it does.  At least the tools outside the box that might be labeled “craft.”


And here’s one more aspect of this very fat, very thorough volume. It has much in it that many books for writers don’t cover. I’m not sure why. Maybe “proposals and reports” and “orders, credit and collections” don’t have the sizzle that that creative hearts yearn for, but those hearts need to manage their careers, too.



So, don’t go off in a snit.  This book is an absolute must for freelance writers, but it is a darn good reference for writers of any ilk, especially those who don’t have a lot of business experience in those lives we often lead apart from our writing lives.  Hooray for Ten Speed Press for bringing this to our attention.

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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. Learn more about Howard-Johnson at her new site http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've 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 :