Talking to the Dead is a short novel (200 or so pages) about two sisters, Nina and Isabel. Told from the point of view of Nina, the story takes place when she goes to stay with Isobel, who’s just had a baby. There are lots of flashbacks to their childhood days and in particular one rather sinister event, and Dunmore crafts the characters well. I don’t nomally go for ‘womens’ fiction’ but I really enjoyed this book, it was so well written (and very different fro the other Dunmore I have read – The Siege). The book is about post-natal depression and family relationships. I loved the way at the beginning of the story Nina’s reaction to the new baby (as someone who has no children herself) was excellently portrayed.
Welcome to Day Fifteen of Pump Up Your Book Promotion’s November Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by!
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Gringos in Paradise
Malana Ashlie, author of the travel autobiography, Gringos in Paradise: Our Honduras Odyssey, will be stopping off at The New Australian! Gringos in Paradise by Malana Ashlie is a delightfully amusing and lighthearted autobiography chronicling her move from Hawai’i to the Caribbean Coast of Honduras. When she and her husband decide to relocate to a more secluded paradise the fun begins. She shares the trials and triumphs of building a new life in Central America, in what can best be described as a spiritual journey of faith. You can visit her website at www.wisdompathway.com.
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A Preciious Jewel
Mary Balogh, author of the Regency romance novel, A Precious Jewel, will be stopping off at Book Reviews by Buukluvr81! She was unlike any woman he’d ever met in the ton or the demimonde. But Sir Gerald Stapleton frequented Mrs. Blyth’s euphemistically dubbed “finishing school” for pure, uncomplicated pleasure—and nothing else. So why was this confirmed bachelor so thoroughly captivated by one woman in particular? Why did he find himself wondering how such a rare jewel of grace, beauty, and refinement as Priss had ended up a courtesan? And when she needed protection, why did Gerald, who’d sworn he’d never get entangled in affairs of the heart, hasten to set her up as his own pampered mistress to ensure her safety—and have her all to himself? You can visit her website at www.marybalogh.com.
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Dust
Susan Berliner, author of the supernatural thriller, Dust , will be stopping off at Kay’s Bookshelf! While unloading groceries in her Rock Haven condo, Karen McKay notices a strange swirl of red, green, and blue dust. The swirl follows her inside, lifts a porcelain ballerina from her wall unit, twirls it in the air, and throws it to the floor, shattering it into pieces.The following evening, Karen hears her neighbor’s dog barking loudly. Upon investigation, she finds her neighbor, Marion, at the bottom of the stairs—dead. At the top of the stairs, a colorful whirlpool of dust circles ominously.Now the feisty librarian must consider the unthinkable: Could the dust be responsible for her neighbor’s death and, if so, would it kill again? You can visit her website at www.susanberliner.com.
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Moonbeam Dreams
Gina Browning, author of the children’s book, Moonbeam Dreams , will be stopping off at Libby’s Library News! Moonbeam Dreams is an intricately rhyming bed-time story written and illustrated by Gina C. Browning. It takes the reader and listeners on a magical, Dr. Seuss-like romp to the Land of Beddie-byes, where they meet all sorts of wonderful and interesting creatures. There are butterflies with gems dripping from their wings, dragons riding in red wagons, Lycra-wearing newts skating on moonbeams, unicorns, a frog climbing a kite-string, extra large snails and cats with fish-tails, and many, many more fun creatures to meet. It’s a positive, up-lifting and fun story that encourages children that almost anything is possible if you can dream it and believe in it strongly enough. It also encourages children to not be afraid of the dark, and that they have the ability to take control of their dreams. It also encourages children to welcome the weird and wonderful things that they might see in their dreams. You can visit her online at http://www.eloquentbooks.com/MoonbeamDreams.html.
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Hot and Irresistible
Dianne Castell, author of the romance novel, Hot and Irresistible, will be stopping off at Psychotic State! Bebe Fitzpatrick’s hard upbringing taught her how to take care of herself, how to tell true friends from false, and how to be a good cop. She can also sweet-talk a man like she means it…until she stumbles into the arms of a damn sexy Yankee who’s gunning for Savannah ’s favorite shady entrepreneur…You can visit Dianne on the web at www.diannecastell.com.
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Too Many Visitors for One Little House
Susan Chodakiewitz, author of the children’s picture book, Too Many Visitors for One Little House, will be stopping off at the Jen’s Bookshelf! The crabby neighbors of El Camino can’t bear all the music, fun and laughter at the house of the new family on the block as aunts, uncles, cousins and grannies arrive for a big noisy reunion. Too Many Visitors for One Little House is a joyful story about the importance of being included. You can visit her website at www.booksicals.com.
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Colonel Trash Truck
Kathleen Crawley, author of the children’s picture book, Colonel Trash Truck, will be stopping off at Associated Content! Kids love trucks and are most familiar with the truck that visits their house every week – the garbage truck. So, there is no better way to teach them to respect the environment than to introduce them to Colonel Trash Truck - a likable, fun-loving hero who is extremely focused about his mission to win the garbage war. He sees the world and nature as a beautiful gift that we all need to appreciate and protect. Colonel Trash Truck believes cleaning up trash and recycling is something we all must do and he wants nothing more than to have kids join him in his quest. Now’s the time to become a member of his Clean and Green Team! KARUNCH! You can visit her website at www.coloneltrashtruck.com.
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Shakespeare Ashes
Chris DeBrie, author of the fiction novel, Shakespeare Ashes, will be stopping off at Jen’s Book Talk and The Examiner! Donna wonders how she can forgive and forget. Charlene doesn’t quite know what she wants. Robbie is usually thinking about which honey he plans to bag. And Erven just does his best to obliterate the world. Their lives and histories interconnecting, these characters navigate that uncertain time between classrooms and the wide-open world. You can visit his website at http://www.washyourhandsproductions.com/.
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World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware
James Diehl, author of the historical nonfiction book, World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware, will be stopping off at Blogging Authors! World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware is a book unlike any other ever written. In its pages are profiles of 50 ordinary Americans who did extraordinary things during a time unlike any other in American history.These are men and women who today call southern Delaware home. In the 1940s, these brave Americans put their lives on hold to fight for freedom and democracy against the horrific threat imposed on the world by Emperor Hirohito of Japan and German Fuhrer Adolph Hitler. You can visit his website at www.ww2-heroes.com.
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The Peruke Maker
Ruby Dominguez, author of the horror romance, The Peruke Maker: The Salem Witch Hunt Curse (Outskirts Press), will be stopping off at The Examiner! THE PERUKE MAKER – The Salem Witch Hunt Curse is a compelling and suspenseful story that focuses on the infamous Salem Witch Hunt Curse, an ancient and evil practice which is unearthed from necromancy and violates the course of natural events in a modern day world. Inspired by true events, The Peruke Maker is a well researched screenplay about the spiritual and emotional journeys of Bridget Cane, a stunning 17th century red haired beauty, and Sarah, a thoroughly 21st century woman. Their paths become inextricably bound across time and space as Thomas Cane’s vengeful curse continues to threaten the virtuous during this relentless quest for an avenger of innocent blood. You can visit Ruby on the web at www.salemcurse.wordpress.com.
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Run at Destruction
Lynda Drews, author of the true crime book, Run at Destruction: A True Fatal Love Triangle, will be stopping off at Marta’s Meanderings and Crazy for Books and You GOTTA Read This! Deeply immersed in the close-knit culture of long-distance running, Pam and Bob Bulik were avid competitors. To all appearances, they were also a happily married couple, devoted to each other and their two young children. Then, Bob made a fateful decision. He began an extramarital affair that led to his wife’s tragic death and to one of the most sensationalized and heavily attended trials in Green Bay’s history. You can visit her website at www.lyndadrews.
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Purged by Darkness
Michael Estepa, author of the young adult crime fiction book, Purged by Darkness, will be stopping off at Booksie’s Blog! Purged by Darkness revolves around six friends in Melbourne, Australia, and their journey inside the organised crime syndicate known as the Triads. In the gang lifestyle, honor and absolute loyalty is demanded of all members, while fear, death and betrayal often follow. The group’s friendship endures as the six try to define their lives interwoven with their life of crime. In their world, no one ever wins and everyone involved finds it too difficult to ever get out. To them, the city represents violence and the countryside, peace. In this strange existence, love and loyalty among the friends flourish because they can only depend on each other. But friendship is pushed beyond all normal limits, as danger waits at every turn. You can visit his website at www.MichaelEstepa.com.
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Your Family Constitution
Scott Gale, author of the family values education book, Your Family Constitution : A Modern Approach to Family Values and Household Structure , will be stopping off at Book Nerd Extraordinaire! Just in time… a formerly stressed-out dad’s perspective provides a common-sense playbook to reach family harmony. As today’s parents cope with scores of competing obligations and responsibilities, raising kids with good core values is an extreme challenge. Combine this perpetual struggle with the effects of technological distractions, societal lack of discipline, and failures to communicate, and it is not hard to understand why so many parents throw up their hands in defeat and accept mere survival. You can visit Scott on the web at www.yourfamilyconstitution.com.
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The Cutting
James Hayman, author of the thriller, The Cutting, will be stopping off at Pump Up Your Book! Someone is Stealing the Hearts of Beautiful Young Women. NYPD homicide detective Mike McCabe left New York for Maine to escape his own dark past and to find a refuge from the violence of the big city for himself and his teenaged daughter, but on the fog-shrouded, cobblestone streets of Portland he finds far more than he bargained for. You can visit James on the web at www.jameshaymanthrillers.com.
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One Holy Night
Joan Hochstetler, author of the contemporary women’s fiction book, One Holy Night, will be stopping off at A Mom After God’s Own Heart! An unforgettable story of forgiveness and reconciliation, One Holy Night retells the Christmas story in a strikingly original way—through the discovery of a baby abandoned in the manger of a church’s nativity scene. Destined to become a classic for all seasons, One Holy Night deals compassionately with the gritty issues of life—war and violence, devastating illness, intergenerational conflict, addictions, and broken relationships. This moving, inspirational story will warm readers’ hearts with hope and joy long after they finish reading. You can visit her website at www.jmhochstetler.com.
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Hoodoo Sea
Rolf Hitzer, author of the supernatural science fiction, Hoodoo Sea, will be stopping off at Starting Fresh! The government of the United States of America is on the verge of startling the world. Billions of dollars had been invested in its space program. And now, the moment of truth has arrived… Scott Reed is the man for the historic mission. He is the Wing Commander chosen by the elite brass at NASA. The assignment to test flight the first speed of light craft, held top secret, was about to shock the world. The risk? Utter and complete failure. The reward? Being a part of the greatest human accomplishment ever known to mankind. You can visit Rolf on the web at www.hoodoosea.com.
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Tales for Delicious Girls
Barbora Knobova, author of the relationship nonfiction book, Tales for Delicious Girls, will be stopping off at The Book Connection! What’s in a word? Anything you want there to be! D for daring, E for enchanting, L for loving, I for inspiring, C for captivating, I for intriguing, O for outgoing, U for unique, S for sophisticated: DELICIOUS. Twenty-five exhilarating real-life stories about delicious women, eccentric men and stubborn dogs.This book is meant to entertain you. It will make you laugh until there are tears in your eyes. It will become your faithful companion, and will help you find yourself. It was written for you because you’re delicious – the most delicious girl in the world. You can visit her website at www.barboraknobova.com.
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Evolution of a Sad Woman
Gale Laure, author of the mystery suspense novel, Evolution of a Sad Woman, will be stopping off at Cym Lowell! Five very different men – all strangers – are drawn together to solve a murder by an uncommon thread – the love of the same beautiful woman, Kizzy. When she is murdered, they pull their past into their present, their present explodes, and their future is filled with surprise and changed forever! You can visit her website at www.galelaure.com.
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For the Love of St. Nick
Garasamo Maccagnone, author of the expanded and newly illustrated version of his fiction book, For the Love of St. Nick, will be stopping off at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews and Northern Mama! Two California boys, coping with the loss of their mother, find themselves uprooted when their father, a Navy Commander, is transferred to a base in Northern Michigan. With the youngest boy continuously sick, the family must survive military life and the northern elements as they dwell in their little hunter’s cabin on Lake Huron. When the boys’ father must leave prior to Christmas to fulfill his secret mission for the United States Military, the boys are surprised by a chance encounter that saves a life, and reunites a family. You can visit his website at www.garasamomaccagnone.com.
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Words at Work
Lynda McDaniel, author of the business writing guide, Words at Work, will be stopping off at AllVoices! In her latest book, Lynda McDaniel shares tools and techniques she developed over her long career as a writer and business writing coach. Words at Work helps fill in the gap between what’s taught in school and what’s needed on the job. Many topics covered in Words at Work are very different from those in most business writing books. You can visit her website at www.lyndmcdaniel.com.
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72 Virgins
Avi Perry, author of the terrorism suspense thriller, 72 Virgins (Gradient Publishing), will be stopping off at Reading for Sanity! 72 Virgins is a novel about Jihad terrorism and the security agencies’ struggle to thwart its stratagem and trounce the perpetrators. Abu Musa is an Islamic Terrorist with an agenda, a ticking bomb inside the US. Arik Golan is an Israeli who tries to bring him down and pull the plug on his terror organization. Stanley Cramer is an FBI agent on a hunting mission, seeking to place both Abu Musa and Arik within his crosshair. The FBI, the Israeli Mossad, the US-based Iranian clandestine terror network, and the Islamic Jihad fraternity are engaged in a timeless conflict, playing out to a crescendo that comes to a head before the dramatic conclusion.
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Sins of the Flesh
Caridad Pineiro, author of the sensual suspense novel, Sins of the Flesh, will be stopping off at The Plot! Caterina Shaw’s days are numbered. Her only chance for survival is a highly experimental gene treatment – a risk she willingly takes. But now Caterina barely recognizes herself. She has new, terrifying powers, an exotic, arresting body — and she’s been accused of a savage murder, sending her on the run. You can visit her website at www.caridad.com.
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Charlie and Mama Kyna
Diana Rumjahn, author of the children’s picture book, Charlie and Mama Kyna (Booksurge), will be stopping off at the Marta’s Meanderings! After Charlie the frog accidentally breaks his mother’s vase, he runs away from home. Charlie and his new best friends Leo and Joe, live in a little orange tent outside Mrs. Cupcake’s bakery. A homesick Charlie, Leo and Joe, journey far away to find Charlie’s mother. A delightful children’s picture book children of all ages will enjoy! You can visit Diana on the web at www.dianarumjahn.com.
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The Evolution Conspiracy
Lisa A. Shiel, author of the nonfiction book, The Evolution Conspiracy, will be stopping off at The Hot Author Report and Just Me! Evolution. One word, deceptive in its simplicity, has transformed the way we look at ourselves and everything around us. Once thought of as unique, man has become one of the animals with no special claim on the planet. As children, few of us question what we learn in biology class about the origins of life and the position man holds in the hierarchy. Science textbooks present evolution as fact–indisputable, inevitable, and incomprehensible to everyone outside the exalted few with PhDs in the appropriate fields.
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The Magic Warble
Victoria Simcox, author of the children’s fantasy chapter book, The Magic Warble, will be stopping off at The Life of an Inanimate Flying Object and Jen’s Book Talk! Twelve-year-old Kristina Kingsly feels like the most unpopular girl in her school. The kids all tease her, and she never seems to fit in. But when Kristina receives an unusual Christmas gift, she suddenly finds herself magically transported to the land of Bernovem, home of dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, talking animals, and the evil Queen Sentiz. You can visit her website at www.themagicwarble.com.
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100 Sporting Events
Robert Tuchman, author of the sports travel guide, The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live , will be stopping off atBooks Love Me! What do running with bulls in Pamplona, watching contestants scarf down record numbers of Nathan’s hot dogs and witnessing the crowning of the newest Vincent Lombardi trophy recipient at the Super Bowl all have in common? According to Robert Tuchman, they all deserve to be in his new book, The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live: An Insider’s Guide to Creating the Sports Experience of a Lifetime, published by BenBella Books this month. You can visit his website at www.100sportingevents.com.
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A Note from an Old Aquaintance
Bill Walker, author of the romance novel, A Note from an Old Acquaintance, will be stopping off at Take Me Away! Brian Weller is a haunted man. It’s been two years since the tragic accident that left his three-year-old son dead and his wife in an irreversible coma. A popular author of mega-selling thrillers, Brian’s life has reached a crossroads: his new book is stalled, his wife’s prognosis is dire, and he teeters on the brink of despair. You can visit his website at www.billwalkerdesigns.com/.
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Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor
Willow, author of the children’s fantasy novel, Tirissa and the Necklace of Nulidor, will be stopping off at Mama Neena and One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books! One day twelve-year-old Tirissa discovers that everyone in her village is under a spell. Everyone but her! Then she sees a mysterious stranger change into a huge bird, a bird with a beak like a sword. Did he cast the spell? Desperate to find someone who can break it, she flees, leaving her village behind. An old herbwoman tells her to seek help from a wizard who lives far away, and her journey takes her across the Three Kingdoms. Along the way she’s joined by a kindly troll and a short, fat palace guard. They are pursued by the twin princes of Kellayne, the best hunters in the Blue River Kingdom, as well as by the huge, dangerous bird. Meanwhile, an evil wizard watches Tirissa and her friends in his magic mirror and plans a second spell that will kill everyone in the Three Kingdoms. You can visit her website at www.tirissa.com.
Review of the novel The Year Of Numbers, published in The East African on June 8th, 2009.
There are some things that the Lonely Planet guide to Egypt does not prepare the traveller for, such as Cairo’s underbelly of refugees and illegal immigrants. The Year of Numbers follows Genevieve, a young Canadian documenting the stories of Dafurian refugees, as she struggles with her love for Alpha, a Sierra Leonean Muslim of mixed descent.
Writers of contemporary African fiction have drawn from the deep pool of Africa’s unending humanitarian crises even though there are not enough words to catalogue human suffering. This book which was written by Paulina Wyrzykowski, a human rights and refugee lawyer based in Kampala, is a tribute to the African refugees she worked with in Cairo.
Wyrzykowski’s book is parallel to the notable work of the English journalist Caroline Moorehead in her critically acclaimed book Human Cargo, which is about the global plight of refugees.
A disturbing aspect of the story is the role of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. It summarises refugee policy as being in a state of muddle and mess. Refugees fleeing persecution give a grim picture of life as outcasts, being arrested and tortured in Egyptian jails, humiliated in public as well as subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment.
Fadil, a refugee from Darfur, takes the reader through the controversial understanding of Islam as an ideology of conquest, depicting the exploitation of Islam in the conflict in Darfur. When a country is created out of the fragments of other people’s ideas, such as the orientalist dream of a Pharaonic north and darkest Africa beneath, people who forget who they are can be made to fight over dreams that are not their own.
There are also exciting glimpses into the rich culture of the region, from the commonplace to the exotic. A local market is described as a piece of spoiled fish overrun with ants. It smells like old sweat and crawls with people. We hear flowery descriptions of Cairo, unflattering depictions of the Pyramids thronged with tourists, and portrayals of delightful resorts. Taba is an idyllic holiday paradise where everybody gets along regardless of their ethnicities. Here young kids with dreads smoke pot openly on the beach, their surf boards stacked in lazy piles against palm trees. Women wear bikinis and let their boyfriends rub sun lotion into their backs.
There is a sense of sympathy with the characters. Wyrzykowski remarked about her book: “I wanted the readers to care about my characters when I wrote it, wanted them to be real people with all the psychological complexities and contradictions of real people.”
One of the few conflict-free features in the book is the cuisine, unifying all who live in Egypt. For the Epicurean, there are delicious narratives of exotic food and drink. Marissa the Sudanese beer, lamb and okra stews from West Africa, sheesha at Egyptian coffee houses, and even pretentions at Chinese food.
Despite the complex histories in the book, it is a page turner that is sensibly written and simple to read. The characters are blueprints for what could possibly happen to anyone in this troubled region from Chad to Cairo.
Wyrzykowski is working on another book, partly set in Uganda where she lives and works with IDPs. “Recently it’s occurred to me that I’m trying to write about hope,” she says. “The world seems to me like a mysterious place that defies purely intellectual understanding, where anything good or bad is possible. That means terrible things are possible and happen all the time, but it leaves the door open a crack for the possibility of change as well. In a less abstract sense I am writing about how big things like history, and especially violent history, affect individual lives in both obvious and subtle ways, and about the importance of acknowledging the past.”
One of the many reasons I read novels is because they provide a window into lives I could never imagine. Forbidden Colours depicts the life of a young homosexual in post-war Japan. It offers not only an insight into gay culture, but also an examination of the deeper implications of being attracted to members of one’s own sex. More broadly, it is a novel about secret lives, and of finding the balance between the gratification of desires, and ones social responsibilities.
Forbidden Colours is full of bold assertions. Mishima is the kind of novelist who is uncommon now days, who makes blanket statements about society, people and genders:
“Someone once said that homosexuals have on their faces a certain loneliness that will not come off. Besides, in their glances flirtatiousness and the cold stare of appraisal are combined. Although the coquettish looks that women direct at the opposite sex and the appraising glances they direct at their own sex have quite separate functions, with the homosexual both are directed at one and the same person.”
In fact, Mishima is a writer who makes almost everything explicit – the mindsets of characters, the reasons for tensions in a scene, the wider significance of small actions. His style and statements are bound to polarise people, especially considering his denigrating depiction of humanity.
The novel initially focuses on an aging novelist, Shinsuke Hinoke. Due to a string of failed marriages and affairs, Shinsuke has come to hate women, seeing them as creatures devoid of a soul. While pursuing his latest mistress to a hot-spring resort, he encounters Yuichi Minami, a young man tortured by his desire for other men. Shinsuke is so entangled in intellectualism as to be capable of despicable acts and self deception, and he sees in the devastatingly attractive Yuichi a perfect instrument to exact his revenge against the women who have scorned him. He instructs Yuichi in misogyny, and binds him to his will by offering much needed financial assistance.
At Shinsuke’s urging, Yuichi marries, and soon after sets about seducing two of his puppet-master’s former flames. It’s the kind of set up that would be familiar in 19th century English novels, a similarity that is furthered by the Japanese attention to social interaction, and the gentility of the characters.
However, the author is more interested in Yuichi’s struggle to maintain his dual worlds. In one, he is a young husband with a pregnant wife, an ailing mother and a promising future. In the other, he is “Yuchan”, with strings of lovers who grow increasingly infatuated with him. As the stakes are raised, his callousness strains the barriers between these two worlds, until his exposure seems inevitable. This tension energises much of the novel, and also offers a more universally relatable theme – the struggle between expressing one’s true self, and presenting a counterfeit self to the world to survive.
Shinsuke, too, presents a vastly different face to the world, writing as if he is not concerned with “All the fierce hatreds, the jealousies, the enmities, the passions of humankind”. In fact, he is consumed by these emotions. In contrast, the author, Mishima, seems to be concerned with little else. He is master of delving into his character’s baser motivations. It is the infrequent acts of kindness and tenderness that are left unexplained, as if they are as mysterious to the author as they are to the character. Nonetheless, each character’s outlooks and philosophies are fully realised. Their interaction is constantly compelling, due in part to Mishima’s breathtaking skill in choosing a setting and establishing atmosphere that will heighten the drama.
People unfamiliar with Japanese culture may be mystified by the social constraints that the characters take upon themselves. I lived in Japan for about a year and a half and have read a few Japanese books and novels, but still find it hard to grasp the intricacies of the culture. When reading Forbidden Colours, I often found myself unable to anticipate how characters were expected to act in certain situations. For the purposes of this book, I suppose it is most important to understand the Japanese notions of obligation and public face. In Japanese society, it is one of the highest ideals that one honour ones debts, which explains why Shinsuke can make Yuichi do his bidding. On the other hand, Public face explains why the possible discovery of Yuichi’s double life might be of greater consequence than the taboo acts themselves.
Forbidden Colours is a bleak and challenging novel. It offers only the hope of freedom in conformity, which may not sit well with a Western audience. The philosophies and lifestyles presented will probably be very foreign to most readers who experience the novel in English, but if you are someone who seeks out new perspectives, then you will be engrossed by this then this masterfully told, unconventional tale. Recommended.
Read Steven W. Beattie review of A.M. Homes’s story, ‘Do Not Disturb’ to see if the story is too disturbing for you to then go out and get your hands on to read: “Imagine you’re a 38-year-old doctor who has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. How would you react? Would you give in and wait to die or would you fight? Now imagine you’re that woman’s husband. Would you step up with unerring support or would you cut and run? Now imagine that your marriage has been on the rocks for some time leading up to the diagnosis. Would the life-changing advent of a potentially killing disease bring you closer together or push you further apart?” >>> the rest
Original Release Date: October 13, 2009
Publisher: LucasBooks
REVIEWER’S NOTE: It is nigh-impossible to talk about this book without giving away some pretty spoiler-iffic stuff, especially in the “Star Wars Characters and Locations” department. I have made the actual Scoring spoiler-free, so if you don’t want to know any of this pertinent info, skip down to that section. Otherwise,
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“Death Troopers,” the mixing of a Star Wars story and a zombie horror story, feels a little like meeting a supermodel might: your preconceived notions make you insanely excited for the big event, it seems so amazing and perfect from a distance, but after you spend some time with it, you find out that it’s definitely not perfect and you actually end up a little bummed out.
The book was written by Joe Schreiber, who (according to the book’s jacket) has written a few horror novels before, none of which I have read. I’m not sure how big of a Star Wars fan Schreiber may have been prior to this assignment, but if he was a fan, I would hope that even he feels a bit disappointed by the way this story turned out. The whole time I was reading this story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it felt…rushed. Like the book was rushed into production so the creators could make sure to “cash in” on the current zombie wave before it ended. Nothing is really fleshed out to enjoyable levels; the characters are bland and forgettable, the locations are basic and something a child could have conceived, and the action is actually pretty mundane. Don’t let the size of the book fool you: “Death Troopers” is only 240 pages long, and you are given 5 “bonus” chapters from some other terrible Star Wars story to help fill space. As I’ll talk about further below, if you take away the Star Wars aspect of the story, you are left with just another dime-a-dozen zombie story, pretty unoriginal and pretty damn predictable.
The Star Wars Universe is a vast place, full of interesting locations and a myriad of existing characters and different races from which to create unique characters. Unfortunately, “Death Troopers” doesn’t utilize any of this; there are six main characters, five of whom are human and one of whom is a Wookie. Before you get excited about a new Wookie to meet – it’s Chewbacca. And Han Solo is one of the five humans. That’s right, Schreiber felt like he needed to use “stunt casting” to help sell the book, which is truly a shame; don’t get me wrong, Han and Chewie fit well into the context of the story, it’s just sad that the only way Schreiber felt that he could make this a true Star Wars story was to have one or more of the “main characters” feature in the story. And if any of the peripheral characters in this story threw Darth Vader’s name around one more time, I might have just lightsabered my own eyes out.
Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT the first Star Wars horror novel to ever be written. In fact, this may not even be the first Star Wars zombie book ever written! In 1997 and 1998 there were twelve Star Wars novels released under the branding “Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear.” Granted, the books were geared towards “young adult” readers and were trying to piggy-back on the success of the “Goosebumps” series of scary novels, but they are out there. The second book in the series, “City of the Dead,” actually deals with undead monsters as well; in an odd twist of fate, this story also features Han Solo. He must be what we call a Zombie Magnet.
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All right, much like John Williams, let’s give this Star Wars the Score it deserves:
G: General Entertainment – Subtract the Star Wars elements of this story, and you’ve got just another standard zombie story. Deserted location? Check. Deadly virus? Check. Rag-tag group of survivors? Check. Fortunately, the addition of Star Wars makes pretty much everything better, but only for geeks – anybody remember the “Star Wars Holiday Special” from back in the day? Yeah, a terrible piece of televised craftsmanship, but now it’s loved by all the Force fans. Same rule applies here. 7/10
O: Original Content – Okay, even though we’ve established that this may not be the only Star Wars zombie book out there, it is definitely the first one geared towards adults, and it’s the first one that falls into the “rules” of what we currently accept about zombie stories. The story definitely does get credit for giving us the unique meshing of zombies at the Star Wars Universe, even if it does feel a bit forced (no pun intended!). 8/10
R: Realism – My biggest problem here is that I didn’t believe in any of the characters. None of them resonated with me, and Schreiber didn’t take enough time to give the characters enough back story to make you want to care about them. The “plucky” young kids are just annoying and random. The “rich girl” doctor is just an extra person in most scenes that really only exists to give the reader a “medical” perspective on things. Jareth Sartoris, the Captain of the Guard onboard the prison barge, is supposed to be evil, but we never get to know him well enough to know why, which also cheapens his shot at redemption at the end. The only characters that the reader does end up caring about are the ones mentioned above from the “established” Star Wars Universe that make their appearance here, and that’s only because the reader has come to know and love these characters before this story ever began. 6/10
E: Editing – The worst part of the story, in my humble opinion. In addition to the story being questionably short (only 240 pages, really?), it seems like every chapter in the first half of the book feels like it needs to end in a “cliffhanger” for some reason; worse than that, due to the way the book bounces around to the different characters’ point of view, the “suspense” of the end of the chapter usually wasn’t addressed until a few more chapters down the line, leaving the reader with frustrating questions to be thought about while reading about something else entirely. Once the second half of the book hits, Schreiber has left so many questions that have to be answered that the action feels haphazard, as if he was in such a rush to answer these questions that the actual story had to take a back seat. 5/10
Taking these scores and averaging them, we come up with a TOTAL SCORE OF 6.5/10 for “Death Troopers.” Re-reading this review, I actually sound pretty negative about this book, which was definitely not my intent; I guess I was just so excited about the melding of the Star Wars and Zombie genres that I was (still am) disappointed that the end result wasn’t executed as well as it could have been. This is still definitely a fun book to read, and I do recommend you pick it up if you are a fan of Star Wars and zombies; it’s a very unique read that you really won’t get anywhere else.
Can a tomato shaped timer enhance and improve your productivity? For Italian software designer Francesco Cirillo, it made all the difference in the world. In designing his “Pomodoro Technique” time management system, Cirillo developed a way to stay focused, lessen the severity of interruptions, and get more done during his work day.
I heard of this system last week when a Twitter friend directed me to a time management piece written by the Wall Street Journal. Columnist Sue Shellenbarger tried out three time management systems and then reviewed the pros and cons of each one. Included in the three were the venerable favorites, GTD (Getting Things Done) by David Allen and Stephen Covey’s “Focus” method. Sandwiched in between was “The Pomodoro Technique”. The system is named after a tomato (Pomodoro in Italian) and has its roots in the fact that it was through the use of a tomato shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo developed and perfected his system.
In a nutshell, the system breaks down into managing your time in short bursts of productive time with a brief interval of recovery (A Pomodoro). This isn’t unlike the recovery methods discussed in the book “The Power of Full Engagement” that I reviewed last year. And it’s very much like the “Power of 48″ method I’ve discussed where you work for 48 minutes and take a 12 minute break.
The real beauty in a system like this is its simplicity and the way it can integrate with methods you might already feel comfortable with. The technique, like any time-management system, requires you to keep a log of your tasks (an inbox to process), a list of activities to accomplish each day (a results or to-do list) and a record of your achievements that you can keep either on paper or through a spreadsheet so you can manage projects more effectively and budget the right amount of time for them in the future.
I particularly liked Cirillo’s method of handling both internal and external interruptions to your work day. This has many applications depending on your employment situation but is adaptable to any method.
You can purchase a bound copy of the book describing the method or you can go to Cirillo’s site and download a free copy of the eBook for “The Pomodoro Technique”. It’s 45 pages long and took me less than two hours to read after I downloaded it. It also includes sample forms for you to use to get started measuring your projects and actions in “Pomodoros“.
One observation from my first read: This system would seem like a no-brainer for people working in offices and tied to their desks all the time be it home office or work office. For a pastor like myself, I can see the benefit in timing out the administrative and study time I need by budgeting my mornings and/or afternoons and thus, freeing up other time for visitation or meetings. Since the nature of my work has me out for several hours at a time some days, it makes sense to minimize distractions when I’m at my desk to get things done in a timely fashion so I can move on to activities that involve people, which is my main business!
All in all, I like the idea of the “Pomodoro” technique. Cirillo has found a way to simplify tracking your tasks and getting more done with less distraction and the fact that he has made the system free for downloading is quite nice indeed. Download a copy of the eBook and share your thoughts on this new way of looking at time management.
And I wrote this piece in one Pomodoro! So now, I’m taking a break!
Publisher’s Synopsis: A poignant book about Savannah Rose and the lessons God taught me through her life and death. It includes my newest cd, recorded with my sister, Cheri entitled “Through God’s Eyes – Songs of Comfort and Praise for the Valley”. The book is written in a scrapbook format and includes lots of special touches like rhinestone stickers and mini-books, making this a book you’ll enjoy with your sense of sight, your sense of hearing and your sense of touch.
When Heidi asked me to review this book, I immediately said I’d be happy to do it. I’ve watched Heidi deal with the grief in the loss of her baby girl in such a beautiful way that it encouraged me in so many areas of my life. As a dear friend, I hoped to be able to share her encouragement with others.
However, I have to admit, I was a little concerned with how to review a book like this. How do you write a glowing review of a book about something so painful? What if the book wasn’t something I could honestly recommend? How would that work? It’s not like I can say anything negative about how someone grieves! Fortunately, Heidi’s book is a lovely glimpse into the beauty, the anguish, the faith of one family who went through the loss of their precious baby at birth. I think this book is exactly the kind of encouraging book that would be a perfect gift for those who are suffering through their own pain.
You can see the love that Heidi put into each page of the book. Full color pictures, arranged in scrapbook style, show you the journey from pregnant, through loss, and finally out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Included in the full-color book is a CD of ten original songs by Heidi Kaether and Cheri Fulton. For a sample of the music, you can visit Savannah-Rose.com.
In a world where death is so often combined with hopelessness and despair, Right Where I Belong is a refreshing glimpse into the life of those who know Who loves and cares for us most and the true Source of comfort in times that otherwise would tear our hearts to shreds.
There have been two distinct phases in Harry Crews’ literary career. The first, spanning from the publication of his first novel The Gospel Singer in 1968 to that of A Childhood in 1978, can be dubbed his early career. This includes eight novels and one memoir. Then there was a hiatus of nearly a decade, ending in 1987 with the publication of All We Need of Hell. This second blooming produced six full length novels, the last of these being Celebration, published in 1998. In the decade since then, only the novella length An American Family has been published. So, as you can see, Harry Crews has basically had two decade long bursts of publishing spanning the past 40 years. And while everything I have read from Crews’ early phase has been astonishingly good, I am yet to be convinced that the later phase produced work anywhere near the same quality. Body (published 1990) and Scar Lover (published 1992) are novels of this later phase, and while both have their moments, they are both flawed works.
In Body we are introduced to a character familiar to readers of Crews’ The Gypsy’s Curse, Russell “Muscle” Morgan. He is preparing a female bodybuilder, Shereel Dupont, for a Miss Universe competition. It turns out that Shereel’s real name is Dorothy Turnipseed, and that her family is about to descend on the hotel where the competition is to be held, with dangerous and eventually explosive results. There are a few memorable characters herein, the most memorable being Shereel’s fiancee Nail Head, who is a sight to behold.
Some people have found this to be an amusing, even hilarious book, but it didn’t do it for me. The characters feel like caricatures, the plot is thin, the book as a whole overladen with dialogue. Though it was true that Body did improve in the second half, I couldn’t help but feel that the younger Crews would have compressed this material into little more than 100 pages, like he did with Car. At 280 pages or so, this is a slow, bloated book, and a far cry from the exceptional The Gypsy’s Curse.
I wanted to like Scar Lover, and at first I wasn’t disappointed. Initially, this seemed to me to be a gritty, harrowing read quite unlike the breezy Body. The first part of the novel was excellent. Here we are introduced to our protagonist, Pete Butcher, a down-at-luck young man living in Florida in the 1950s. Interestingly, this is the first Crews novel I’ve read set in a different historical moment to the time of composition. Butcher is a little like Crews himself, or rather a little like how Crews might have been had he not made it through university after serving in the Marine Corps. Pete Butcher works in a boxcar unloading packages of cellophane (which we are told are very heavy) alongside a huge Jamaican man named George. Pete has also just started to fall for his neighbour, a woman called Sarah Leamer. Turns out that Sarah’s mother has breast cancer and, as Pete discovers, maybe Sarah has it too. As I said, the first half is gritty and real in a way that reminds me of Philip K Dick’s mainstream novels, like Humpty Dumpty in Oakland or In Milton Lumky Territory. But then it all falls apart.
The second part of this book is horrible. Words can’t describe. The plot is ridiculous (a pair of Rastafarians and their followers help Pete steal Sarah’s father’s corpse back from the mortuary, before burning it on a funeral pyre in a swamp), the characters thinly drawn (especially the dominatrix Linga), and the dialogue unending. For a writer who claimed, rightly, to have a ‘clean strong line of narrative’ in his novels, fashioned after Graham Greene, Scar Lover fails to live up to the mark. The further it goes, the worse it gets, which is a shame, as everything up to Harry Leamer dropping down dead is well worth reading. And so I conclude my short reviews of these two later Harry Crews novels with the observation that both books are half good: the second half of Body and the first half of Scar Lover.
Publisher’s Synopsis: When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands– in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm–and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life, even though their own storybook lives are about to crumble.
Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, and other than a vague curiosity about her strange life, he doesn’t expect her arrival will affect him much–or interfere with his growing, disturbing interest in a long-ago house fire that plagues his dreams unbeknownst to anyone else.
Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.
Will Tally’s presence blow apart their carefully-constructed world, knocking down the illusion of the white picket fence and reveal a hidden past that could destroy them all–or can she help them find the truth without losing each other?
Wow. I’m late with this blog review because I had to read it again. Yes, I read this book in two readings almost back to back. It’s that good.
There are several plots that don’t really seem as intertwined as they are until they come together at the end. Now honestly, I knew they would– the book doesn’t try to hide the plot ties– but they don’t seem like they should intertwine as they appear and develop.
Tally- She’s a very deep character– I felt a little “Rory Gilmore” meets Abby from NCIS in her. She carries a lot of mature weight on her shoulders. Her story alone is a fascinating one and could fill its own book. I love how Ms. Meissner doesn’t leave you with the impression that the girl’s life is to be pitied as much as you’d assume. She lets you see the positives too.
Amanda- She’s not just another suburban mother in a perfect little home. As I read her story, I saw how easy it would be for anyone to end up exactly in her place.
Neil- He’s such a wise man in parts of the story and such an ostrich in others. I can’t reconcile his personality clashes within himself.
Chase- I loved how she didn’t take the easy out with Chase and his struggles. I know it might seem like it, but she didn’t. She left just enough of the ugliness of the past touching him still and left us with the ending that few authors would have chosen. She truly had me doubting him for a bit– but not in the way I expected to.
Delcey- She captured a talkative, self-absorbed teenaged girl perfectly. Just when you were sure she couldn’t think about anything of any depth, the girl surprised you. Well done.
Matt- So much of him was perfect for carrying the story where it needed to go but there were parts that made me scratch my head with “huh?”
The Warsaw Connection- In order not to give away the plot, I just had to say that this MADE the book. I think it took a good story and made it great. Well done.
To be honest, I was frustrated with the writing at times. In particular, there was one paragraph with four sentences. The first started with a name… the next three with “she”. That kind of thing drove me crazy when the story wasn’t carrying me along with it (and therefore out of the focus that kept me from noticing if it was continual or not. So, I don’t know if there were just a few glitches here and there or if a really well told story hid writing problems. Frankly, I don’t care. It’s a really well-told story and I think one that any fiction lover (and a few non-fiction types) should sink their teeth into. And then grab it and sink them again. You won’t be sorry. I wasn’t.
I will mention that there were two different words used a few times that generally one doesn’t find in books by Waterbrook. Nothing earth shattering… you can find them in the Bible. But, I thought I’d warn you.
I do have two copies of this one, both provided for review by Waterbrook, but I’m keeping one. I have a few friends who would like it and I want to read it again. Post a comment and maybe you’ll win this puppy!
There are a few books that I’ve recently finished which are listed below with my brief review attached. They are all newer titles that currently sit on or very near the latest best seller lists. Friends will often ask me if I have read a particular title, or for the suggestion of a solid personal or book club read. Because it takes a lot of time and thought to do a detailed review of each book, I am posting these “quickies” for your reference and perusal.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
This is such a beautiful book by Verghese. Following his two non-fiction works (My Own Country and The Tennis Partner) Cutting for Stone follows the life of twins Marion Stone and his brother Shiva as their lives wind down different paths amidst the political and domestic unrest in Addis Ababa. An epic journey of the soul, Verghese’s characters attest to the innate longing and necessity our ties to family and homeland.
Both a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and holding an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop places Verghese in the two perfect professions to translate life into fiction. Graphic at times, Verghese’s medical knowledge brings clarity and precision to this broad work.
*I loved this book as a personal read. It is quite long and detailed at times but will keep your individual interest as small surprises and secrets constantly reveal. I would not choose this as a book club read only for the simple fact that some will no doubt say it is too long. With a slight potential for sag in the middle, you will have people drop out at the half- way mark.
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Very rarely do I not finish a book but unfortunately Sarah’s Key will fall into this category. A good story doesn’t always make a good book and this is one of those examples. I had such high hopes for this one and actually bought it to read in France (the setting of the book) but didn’t make it past the first few chapters. Trite, poorly written, and just plain cheesy, I can’t recommend Sarah’s Key for any reason other than the exposure to the mass violence of the Velodrome d’hiver Round-up, an actual gut-wrenching event that did in fact take place in Paris in 1942.
* I can’t suggest this book as a personal read. After hearing wonderful things I plugged on but just couldn’t take it anymore. That said, it is rocking the book club world so there is no doubt a mass appeal for this title. It’s merit must lie in the historical event rather than its literary value.
I hate it when a book flummoxes me. I hate it when I feel outsmarted by a book, too. Andrew Pyper’s novel The Trade Mission is probably one of those books which deserves to be read twice: once for the story and once for the deeper philosophical issues that I knew were there, but which somehow eluded me. Mostly, anyway.
Jonathan Bates and Marcus Wallace are childhood friends who have become dot com millionaires for their invention of something called Hypothesys.
“We feel that Hypothesys is something that is truly going to change the way we conduct our lives,” explains Wallace to investors gathered in Brazil. “It’s not another Internet site…Hypothesys helps you make the best decisions of your life.”
Ironically, when it comes to making moral decisions with real consequences, Wallace and Bates are left to their own devices. While playing tourist on the Rio Negro, deep in the Amazonian jungle, they (and their companions Elizabeth Crossman, their interpreter; Barry, their managing partner and Lydia, their European counsel) are kidnapped by pirates. What follows is a strange combination of violence and soul searching.
The Trade Mission is narrated by Crossman and she’s in a unique position; as the only one of the party able to speak the language she can embellish or omit. She also seems to love and hate Wallace in equal measure. Truthfully, he isn’t particularly sympathetic. His relationship with Bates is eerily sexual and he often seems smug about his intellectual prowess. As for Crossman herself, she isn’t the most accessible of characters and I have to admit that her role, when the story finally starts to unravel, seems a bit of a cheat. The novel’s section After was too sentimental for me, especially coming after the horrors the characters experienced.
Pyper’s a terrific writer. I’m a fan. I liked his novel Lost Girls, which I read several years ago. But I remember feeling somehow unsatisfied after reading that novel, too. The Trade Mission is billed as a ‘novel of psychological terror.’ Sure, some of it was squirm inducing, but it wasn’t a page-turner in that ‘oh my God, what’s gonna happen next’ way.
Thus the flummox. And the am I missing something. Still worth a read, though.
As a collector of time management ideas and tips, I picked up Dan Kennedy’s time management book on recommendation from a friend. Kennedy has made a bunch of money in sales and knows how to manage his time for maximum efficiency. The book is part of a series of books written by Kennedy under the “No B.S.” label. As a Christian, you might be offended by the label but long ago, I learned that you can mine the good stuff from literature and throw the rest away. Other than the title, there’s no language to deal with within the covers and the information here is pretty solid.
Kennedy’s methods are designed for the business professional but have value to ministers also. His tips on managing the phone, focusing on goals, and preparing your execution plans are all valuable nuggets to adapt to your situation. In Kennedy’s words, he looks for the “Time Vampires” in your life, those people or things that can suck the life right out of you, and he gives you workable advice for handling them.
The book pulls no punches. Kennedy himself says you might not like all of his ideas and that is perfectly alright. Take what you can and run with it. He gets to the point, gives you a problem, a solution, and the way to get there. Chapter done. Then, he discusses something else. He writes like he speaks and he doesn’t waste paper here.
One of the things I liked most about this book was Kennedy’s insistence to focus, focus, focus! In ministry, we can get caught up in the mundane and keep ourselves busy but if we aren’t making progress in certain areas, then we really are just spinning our wheels regardless of how busy we are. Near the end of the book, Kennedy shares his best advice when he says to identify three things you know will make you successful in whatever enterprise you are involved in. From those three things, identify an action you can take from each one and DO THEM. Focus on your goal, what it will take to get there, and don’t get sidetracked by meaningless details. This rang quite true to me as I’ve heard veteran church planter Steve Sjogren say essentially the same thing in his writings. As a church planter/pastor, I could easily get bogged down by the latest craze, endless ministry programs, and meetings with others than avail nothing. These aren’t bad in themselves but when they become the bulk of our execution for the day, they rob us of truly accomplishing what God wants to do in our church and our life.
Again, if you can get past the title, there’s much to be gained here. It’s a good book with good information.
Human Anatomy (From the Renaissance to the Digital Age), by Benjamin A. Rifkin & Michael J Ackerman
This book combines brief biographies of 20 or so important anatomists from the last 500 years with beautiful reproductions of their work.
It’s fascinating on several levels. Obviously, it traces the development of anatomical knowledge over the centuries. In today’s information-rich world, where it seems we can find almost anything online in a matter of seconds, it was interesting to be reminded of how difficult it was to gain that knowledge. It was also interesting to see the importance of religious references in some of the works (like Gamelin’s rather startled looking skeleton with the last trumpet blasting a couple of feet from his skull, and the caption Surgite mortui venite ad Judicuim – Arise, dead one and come to Judgement). And finally, I enjoyed the contrast of the delicate hatching with the dismembered bodies it portrays. For me, the reproduced drawings will provide lots of models to practice drawing the skeleton in different poses.
If you’re interested in historical anatomical art, you’ll also love the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s Historical Anatomies on the Web, as well as the site of their former Dream Anatomy exhibit.
The Well-Behaved Child, written by John Rosemond deals with how to discipline our children in a way that actually works. This book is an encouragement to parents and a tool for those on the brink of starting a family. The message that the author gives is one of love, mercy, and consistency. We need to understand that yes, children misbehave, but they also have the capability to be good, well behaved children, when given the right structure.
I personally felt that this book was a useful tool. The material the author gives helps to enable parents with the tools and resources needed to make a difference in the lives of their children. A highlight for me is the Q & A’s that author has though out the book. The questions come from people who are sincerely seeking ways to make things better at home, and the author addresses them in a loving, yet stern way and lets the parent know that their at times needs to be change. But instead of leaving it there, again, the author gives tools to help make the change.
To be adapted for the screen by Twisted Pictures of "Saw" fame.
To further incriminate myself, I recommend that you enjoy a funny SNL spoof of “Twilight.” (I am so looking forward to “New Moon,” I just can’t help myself.)
I also recommend you check out this article about Rick Remender’s Sorrow getting picked up by “Saw”’s production company, Twisted Pictures. To channel my students, “Oh. Em. Gee.” I <3 Sorrow big time. I also <3 “Saw” big time. Does life get any better than this? I may burst.
I suppose this would be the time to say that I read Sorrow when I was first doing the comic book thing. I saw that it was being compared with the psychological horror of “The Exorcist” and “Psycho” and thought it could only be but so bad. There are actually a good few graphic novels I’ve read that actually make my chest clench and make me say, “Oh, shit.” Sorrow was the very first of all that I’ve encountered so far. If you want to see real horror in graphic novel form, Sorrow is not a bad place to start.
I have to be in a certain mood to want to read a Jon Krakauer book. Usually, that mood is not a good one. I greatly admire his work which include: Into the Wild; Into Thin Air; and Under the Banner of Heaven. Krakauer’s latest: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman was definitely worthy of this author’s attention and talents. As I see it, the beat that Krakauer works is the intersection of Men, machismo, and testosterone and the likely result of the collision of these forces is – Tragedy. There could be no better places to mine these ores than in the NFL and the disaster currently called Afghanistan.
In his own machismo struggle, Krakauer took the photo that graces the cover of this latest.
The story follows the divergent timelines of unrelated events. For examples: 1) when Tillman was in highschool, Ramzi Yousef was doing this; 2) when Tillman was in college, Osama bin Laden was doing this.
The forces eventually meet. And predictably not to a good end.
This book troubled me almost as much as the Under the Banner of Heaven did. The intentional deceit perpetrated by our goverment about Tillman’s death in its unique way made the tragedy worse than in the earlier book.
And… the criminals in this latest book have not been held accountable.
Yesterday I posted about a Hornbook editorial. If you aren’t familiar with that gem of a magazine, go over to HERE and check it out. There are many things I love about Hornbook-the book reviews, the articles, the editor’s editorials and blog Roger Reads (and rants!)
If you are starting to think about books to buy as gifts, check them out.
If you are looking for the best Christmas books, check them out.
If you are wanting to know the newest and greatest releases for kids, check them out.
Subscribe to (and read) their free newsletter and you too can become the best aunt (grandma, uncle, dad, godmother…you get the idea) ever when it comes to giving books as gifts.
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins fits into the juvenile fiction genre and was published in 2009. It is recommended for readers ages 12 and up.
I first stumbled across the Hunger Games shortly after it was published in 2008 and waited, very impatiently, for the sequel to appear. I purchased Catching Fire the day it was released and finish it closely thereafter. I loved it even more than the first book, which I didn’t even think would be possible. It begins about six months after the Hunger Games ended. Katniss has returned to district 12 but nothing was like she expected it to be. Peeta, still hurt that she was pretending to be in love, spends as little time with her as possible. Gale, also hurt by what happened during the Hunger Games, won’t really talk to her either and avoids her as well. Everyone wants to move on with life and celebrate that everyone is still alive but they must do the Victory Tour, which is where the winner of the games goes to all the districts and makes a speech, reminding those districts that they lost not only the games but two of their children as well. Another hitch in the moving on plan comes when the president of the Capitol comes to visit Katniss and tell her that he was not convinced of her love for Peeta and that he thinks she is trying to start a rebellion. She must now prove that he’s wrong on both counts while battling the capitol and in a surprising twist the other victors as well. Through a series of unbelievable events and by trusting people she barely knows Katniss not only finds the truth about the rebellion and the districts but also commits herself to a side. Catching Fire is a fabulous book further exploring the ideas of societal unrest and the amazing things that one can do with the right friends. I highly recommend it as a quick and satisfying read.
Have you ever written a review for anything—hotels, books, restaurants? Here recently, I’ve written a few book reviews on amazon.com, and an application review on iTunes, but up until a few months ago, I hadn’t written a review on anything. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have noticed or cared about writing reviews, but one day, while reading a review for a doctor I was considering going to, I realized just how helpful the reviews of other people actually are. When I stop and think about it, every time I plan a vacation I carefully read hotel reviews and ratings, and I look for trends which, admittedly, have a huge impact the decision-making process.
For vacation planning, I prefer to check frommers.com and tripadvisor.com. Both sites provide excellent hotel and restaurant information, along with pictures and sight-seeing details, and the reviews are usually current and packed with useful insight. When trying to compare doctors, pet groomers, hair salons etc. kudzu.com is my go-to resource. If I have an important service I need performed I’ll usually make time to pour through reviews. The effort almost always pays off and helps me make the best possible decision.
So here’s the thing. If I find these reviews helpful, maybe other people might find my reviews helpful as well. The key, of course, is time. Usually, I get so busy my lofty ideas fall by the wayside. Rather than set an unrealistic goal for myself, I’ve decided to start small. My plan is to continue doing book reviews, and whenever we take a vacation that requires a stay in a hotel, I’m going to rate my experience and comment on the service I received. I figure if I start small, I won’t get overwhelmed and I’ll also be helping my fellow travelers and consumers.
Just out of curiosity, do you read book reviews before buying a book? Have you ever written a review yourself? How often do you write reviews and what websites do you prefer?
Related Posts:
From My Audio Library – Exposure by Brandilyn Collins
From My Audio Library – The Shack by WM. Paul Young
Next up on our book review wagon is “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto“ by Michael Pollan. Pollan has written this book as a follow-up to his previous book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma“, as a guide to what you should eat based on the issues he raised in his that book.
In this book, Pollan breaks out his defense of food into three sections. First focusing on the rise of “Nutritionism”, then the Western Diet (we’ll get to what that is later) and finally, his recommendations on how one should change their diet. In the spirit of this book, I’ll break up the reviews into three sections.
Nutritionism
First, in order to understand the focal point of this book, one must understand the meaning of nutritionism, which loosely interpreted is a mindset that believes that the key to all foods is the nutrients that make up food. Because science on nutrition always changes, this minimalist thinking which focuses only on specific nutrients leads to confusion amongst nutrionists, the general public, etc. Pollan says that this confusion leads to anxiety, which in turn leads to a society of orthorexics (people who are overly concerned with healthy eating; I could be one of those).
Pollan argues that nutritionism has also led to a reliance on eating processed foods that are low fat, high in Omega-3 nutrients or overloaded with our friend high fructose corn syrup in order to fill our nutrition requirements as dictated by science and by eating these foods that manufacturers are engineering, you are robbing yourself of the necessary natural nutrients of foods found in nature (you do need fat, etc. in your diet to survive). So, in its most simplistic form, you are depriving yourself by eating manufactured food-like substances and are not really eating food at all.
Speaking of science, that is the last focus of this section and without going into details (I’ll admit, I got a little confused at this stuff and it became very tedious), he shows how science has a repeated history of coming out with one study saying one thing and then later comes out with another study saying that the previous study was wrong and we have a new template for what food should be and what we need. For example, margarine has been re-engineered on countless occasions in order to fit the nutrition science of the times and that continuously changing nature is the only constant in food science.
The Western Diet
Pollan’s description of the Western diet is “lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added sugar, lots of everything–except vegetables, fruits and whole grains.” To put it simply, the Western diet is a diet based on foods that are heavily reliant on seeds (corn products, soy products, etc.) and not necessarily on leaves (fresh fruits, vegetables, etc.).
The point of this section of the book is to show that the aforementioned diet causes increases in diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. If you’ve ever watched TV or read a magazine article on health and/or diets, you already know this stuff but just to hammer his point home, Pollan discusses a study done using a group of unhealthy, Type 2 diabetic Australian Aborigines. What this study did was take a group of Aborigines who had been living in civilization for several years and return them to their secluded roots and have them live for seven weeks in the wild eating only foods they would hunt or gather in the wild. Health levels from before and after their stay in the wild were compared and it showed that this test group not only improved their health levels but also rid themselves of any diabetes signatures, thereby proving the point that our current diet of processed foods is what is making us unhealthy.
Also, despite evidence that is showing that this Western diet is what is killing us, no one is really doing anything changing dietary patterns. The only thing that is being done is creating newer and better medicines to combat these health issues, when in reality, the diet is where we should be the focus. Because of this pattern of using medicine and not diet changes, it may get to the point where Type 2 diabetes is just something that happens to you regardless, kind of like gray hair or wrinkles.
Getting Over Nutritionism
The final section of this book is Pollan’s recommendations on what we should do to reverse this trend of nutritionism and over reliance on what is in food instead of what we are eating. He does not give us a specific eating plan, but he does say that we should pattern our eating habits more like the French. The French eat smaller portions, eat more slowly, eat with others and their entire population is generally healthier than those populations that exist on the Western diet. For the French, it is more important to enjoy food than it is to simply deliver energy to yourself through food.
Also, he says that we should be prepared to spend a little more to get higher quality, fresh food instead of processed food. For example, the average American spends less than 10% of their income each year on food while the Italians and the French (generally healthier populations) spend close to 15% of their yearly income on food. This is because they are going for fresh and wholly nutritious items. Basically, this all falls under his eat less seeds and more leaves mantra.
Without going into more detail, the basic point is to spend more time shopping on the outside edges of the supermarket (or at a farmer’s market or CSA) where all the fresh products are instead of the inside of the supermarket where all the processed foods are. The general rule of thumb should be, if you great-grandparents didn’t eat that food, then you shouldn’t eat that food. If the box (you shouldn’t be buying food out of boxes anyway) advertises the fact that it is low-fat or low calorie, then don’t eat it because you are shorting yourself of essential nutrients.
Conclusion
Wow, I just realized how long this review was and this was my best effort at summarizing. For a book that was only about 200 pages and a quick read, it sure said a lot and I left out a lot for this review. The problem with this book is that it took the long route to describe a lot of things that are general knowledge (don’t eat processed foods, eat fresh foods) and read more like a college term paper than a book. Although, judging by the fact that this book was based on an essay in New York magazine, that was probably the intent.
For all recreational readers out there, I would not recommend tackling this book. It is very science heavy for the first two-thirds of the book and it is easy to get lost (I got lost many times). The only saving grace about this book was the final section where Pollan laid out a battle plan of how we should change our diets. If only he had spent the majority of the book writing about that instead of focusing on the science of nutrition, I would recommend it to others. But, if you are heavy into science or this topic in general, give it a shot. It definitely is interesting.
