The New Book Review

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Earth Day Reading for Kids

Unknown 01:36 0

Title: Trouble on Earth Day

Author: Kathy Stemke

Illustrator: Kurt Wilchen

Published by Wild Plains Press

ISBN: 978-1-936021-36-9

Genre: Children's Lit

Reviewed by Karen Cioffi

As a proponent of conservation and the environment, I love children’s books that approach this topic in an engaging and entertaining format. Trouble on Earth Day by Kathy Stemke does just that.

The story begins with the main character, Shelby the squirrel, winning the Earth Day poster contest; the young reader is quickly brought into the focus of the story, our environment. Shelby’s poster has “Rethink, Reuse, and Recycle” boldly and colorfully written on it.

As the story progresses, Shelby and her parents discuss the different ways individuals and families can conserve, such as using old clothing for a quilt.

It also delves into the effects of deforestation. When Shelby hears the cries of a “little bird,” she searches until she finds it, then asks the bird what’s wrong. The bird explains, “The workman cut down my tree and my nest. I found a new tree, but I can only find twigs to make a new home.”

Using ingenuity and what she learned from her parents, Shelby helps the bird build a new nest using recyclable items from her home. Trouble on Earth Day will quickly heave children asking about the environment and looking around their homes for items that can be recycled.

Adding to the invitingness of this delightful story are amazing full page illustrations by Kurt Wilchen. Each page has vivid and bold illustrations that will surely grab and hold a young reader’s attention. Along with all this, Stemke includes pages and pages of activities, and additional information about conservation and the environment, all to help children better understand the story’s theme. It even includes a song titled “The Fuzzy Squirrel” that children can sing to with the music from “I’m a Little Teapot.”

Some of the activities and information include in Educator’s Edition:

Reading comprehension activities
Original topic related lyrics that children can sing to the melody of classic favorites
Discussion topics, such as Why Trees are Important and What Things Can be Reused
Games, including the Going Green Game
Recycling activities, such as making napkin rings using recycled toilet paper rolls, recycling old CDs to make ornaments, and how to recycle old crayons
Dolch Sight Word activity page

My favorite information page in Trouble on Earth Day briefly explains what went on before the first Earth Day in April 1970, what the focus of Earth day is, and why it’s so important.

Learning how each of us can take steps to protect our environment is important for children and adults alike. It will take all our efforts to help improve the environment for a healthier tomorrow. Trouble on Earth Day is a great start for children.

~Reviewer Karen Cioffi is a published author, ghostwriter, and editor for 4RV Publishing. For writing and marketing information, and to find out more about Karen and her books, visit: http://karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com. While there, be sure to sign-up for her newsletter, A Writer’s World.

Learn more about the author, Kathy Stemke. She is an award-winning author, educator, and freelance writer. Her Trouble on Earth Day and Sh Sh Sh Let the Baby Sleep earned the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval. Sign up for her free monthly newsletter, Movement and Rhythm: http://educationtipster.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 :

Monday, 6 February 2012

Noir is Back!

Unknown 01:08 Fiction: Crime 0

Reel Life Crime
Author: Cary PepperAuthor’s Website: www.carypepper.comGenre: Fiction/Detective/CrimeISBN: 978-1-4658-4263-3
Amazon: B0068438WE

Reviewed by cemag originally for Amazon

Five-Star Review

A GREAT READ for those of us who love the old movies and this genre.

The author takes us back to the days of Spade and Marlow: nicely done with some surprising twists! Based on the story every movie-lover knows - The Maltese Falcon - the author builds on little-known facts about the movie's production and creates a new story around this well-known tale.

While taking us on a tour of San Francisco, a modern noir P.I. tries to put the pieces of this bird puzzle together. The dialogue is crisp, the characters are skillfully drawn and delightfully offbeat, and the plot, while intentionally tracking the original, is new and fresh. And, of course, there's a beautiful woman knee- (or thigh-) deep in the case.

Perhaps the beginning of a series...

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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, 3 February 2012

TALES2INSPIRE

Unknown 06:42 Tales2Inspire Reviews 0

TALES2INSPIRE

Read Author Tales

Reviews of Author Tales

Lois W. Stern has begun a new contest and service for authors called Tales2Inspire. The tales that she features will be reviewed on this blog, probably on Fridays. We hope readers find some new, short reading to inspire them in these busy times and that the autors who frequent this blog will support the Tales2Inspire program.

Thursday, 2 February 2012

Dark YA Comedy Given Five-Stars

Unknown 01:18 Fiction: Young Adult 0

Title: Going Bovine

Author: Libba Bray

Author's Website: www.libbabray.com

Genre/Category: Young Adult, Surreal Dark Comedy, Speculative Fiction

ISBN-10: 0385733984

ISBN-13: 978-0385733984

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Going-Bovine-Libba-Bray/dp/0385733984

Reviewed by Airiz Casta

Reviewer's Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Take a modern day Holden Caulfield diagnosed with the human equivalent of mad cow disease. Throw him in a mission to find his cure (and save the world!) with a hypochondriac dwarf and a Viking god cursed as a lawn gnome. Add a punk angel with a penchant for spray-painting misspelled messages on her wings, a cluster of fire demons, an enigmatic Wizard, and a wormhole that will bring the dreaded apocalypse. Stir well—and voila! You just prepared Libba Bray’s surreal dark comedy, Going Bovine.

There are many authors who attempted to concoct an effective formula that can render their stories both fall-off-the-chair funny and heartbreaking at the same time, but I believe only a handful of those who declared “Eureka!” got a positive response from the reading world. Libba Bray is one of them.

Speaking through the (vulgar) mouth of teenage lazybones Cameron John Smith,Going Bovine is a story of death, choices, friendship, and of course, life. Bray’s spot-on sense of humor is reminiscent of Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; her writing style is addictive and convincing. The characterization is astonishingly brilliant, and it proves to be more than enough in persuading the readers to root for the unlikable, unreliable narrator.

Cameron is perhaps one of the most irksome antiheroes in Young Adult literature. The ennui he builds around himself is perpetually backed up by his I’m-the-world’s-most-apathetic-jerk-and-I-know-it-and-you-can’t-do-anything-about-it attitude. Considering himself a ‘social paramecium’, he wants to survive high school (and life in general) just by, well, having mass and occupying space. Nothing more. The word ‘effort’ is nonexistent in his lexicon. Bray makes it so that Cameron comes off as a sardonic quipster that can give you the urge to punch him just for being who he is. That is until he finds out he acquired a fatal illness, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob variant BSE. Suddenly, he is forced to grow out of his shell of indifference; he is forced tocare. He has to face many questions, the most important being: have I lived a meaningful life? Have I ever lived at all?

Clearly, the answer is no. Cameron wasted a majority of his life existing, not living. With only a few time left before shifting off the mortal coil, he learns it is too late for him to taste the essence of life. He begins to despise everyone who will outlive him. But as in Pandora’s box, after all the bad news emerges hope: the angel Dulcie gives him a chance to live. He grabs this opportunity and sets off in an adventure like no other, to search for his supposed cure.

Most of the poignant moments occur while Cameron and his new found friends are on the road. Why is it only when Death is reaching out to you with open arms that you are finally noticing the things in life worth hanging on to? Cameron belongs to a dysfunctional family, and though he does not admit to hating any member, his attitude toward them is the usual “I don’t give a damn.” Everything changes when his impending death is confirmed. When Cameron talks with his father on the phone, you could almost hear his croaking “I love you.” He has a couple of touching moments with his mom too, but my favorite is the subtlest, when he dines at Konstant Kettle and misses his mom’s Grammar Nazi-sh pet peeve. He decides to call her:

There’s a pay phone in the way back next to the men’s bathroom. I drop in all the change I’ve got and make the call. It rings four times and goes to voicemail. I hear my mom’s familiar message.

“Hi, this is Mary Smith. I can’t come to the phone right now because I’ve probably been carried away by griffins. But if you leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you just as quickly as Hermes would.” There’s a pause, and then she says to me, “Cameron, did I do that right? Oh! We’re still recording! Oh my goodness…,” and her laugh is cut off. That message used to annoy the crap out of me, my mom being all spacey and mom-ish. But right now, hearing her voice is the best thing in the world, like waking up and realizing there’s no school. There’s a beep, and my stomach tightens.

“Um, hi, Mom. It’s me. Cameron. Well, you probably ﬁgured that part out,” I say, sounding like the biggest dork. “Anyway, I’m okay. I want you to know that ﬁrst. And, you know what? Keep grading those moronic English Comp 101 papers, because otherwise, we’re all gonna be getting our gas at the K-W-I-K S-E-R-V and drinking our E-X-P-R-E-S-S-Os at the Konstant Kettle, two K’s. Seriously, the world needs you. You matter. A lot. Okay, I gotta go, ’cause the grifﬁns are here and you know how much they hate to wait. Love you,” I add quickly, and hang up.

Halfway through the novel, Cameron is becoming a more pleasant person. He is still a potty-mouthed smartass, but he cares a lot now. He even loves. I enjoyed reading about their “stops” and how Cameron picks up a couple of lessons from them that he hasn’t learned in the past sixteen years of his life. However, it easily became clear to me that the story will take a Lewis Carroll-esque turn. I’m not certain if it’s because of the plethora of clues strewn across each chapter or the extreme surrealism of events, but either way it did not deter me from liking the whole thing.

Aside from carrying significant messages that will send you pondering, what makesGoing Bovine stand out from today’s flurry of cookie-cutter Alice in Wonderland tales is that it makes you question what really happened. That said, I absolutely love the concept of parallel worlds/alternate realities. In the readers’ perspective, everything is just a Don Quixote journey…but what is real, anyway? Bray poses that rhetorical question from the very start. Like Schrödinger’s Cat experiment, who’s to say only one reality exists? Can two realities not happen at the same time? Perhaps it’s only my inner kid’s happy-ever-after alarm going off, but I took comfort in the fact that this recurring element may also apply to the storyline itself.

There’s one thing I did not see coming: the identity of the Wizard of the Reckoning. I was shocked in a good way, and that’s plus points in my book. The final pages were amazingly bittersweet and thought-provoking. I was sobbing quietly, but a sense of eternal hope is also lingering there, making me smile (therefore making me look like a first class idiot, haha).

Going Bovine is officially taking its place in the bookshelf of my favorite novels. 4.5 stars out of 5 for an unforgettable read!

~Reviewer Airiz Casta blogs at

www.cinderellaincombatboots.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Cozy Winter Reading Recs from Mindy Lawrence

Unknown 01:37 0

Mindy Phillips Lawrence helps me edit my Sharing with Writers newsletter and writes a regular "Itty Bitty" column for it. Last issue she shared some of her recommendations for winter reading. See below. And if you'd like to receive the newsletter for great articles and tips on all things writing send a SUBSCRIBE message to HoJoNews@aol.com.

Mindy's Recommendation for Cozy Winter Reading

By Mindy Phillips Lawrence

One of the best activities to participate in when the wind and snow are blowing is reading. We have such a wealth of ways to read these days: Kindle’s, Nooks, other e-readers and actual books with pages to turn and covers to cuddle.

I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately and thought I’d share both that and other works that I’ve finally gotten around to.

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, Brian Kellow

Kindle and hardcover editions

Viking Adult

ISBN-13: 978-0670023127

Kael was the long-running film critic at New Yorker magazine who liked what she liked and disliked what she didn’t like—and didn’t mince words about it. I remember seeing her on TV when I was younger. I didn’t always agree with her but I loved the way she wrote. This is an interesting book on her slow but steady trip up the writing ladder.

THE SHIPPING NEWS, A NOVEL, Annie Proulx

Kindle and paperback editions

Scribner

ISBN-13: 978-0684857916

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, this story is about a third-rate newspaper hack that loses his wife and must deal with his two emotionally disturbed daughters.

THE BREATHE OF GOD, Jeffrey Small

Kindle and paperback editions

West Hill Press

ISBN-13: 978-1933512860

Based on actual historical evidence, The Breath of God is the fictional adventure of the search for ancient documents that could link the world’s great religious faiths.

AND SO IT GOES: KURT VONNEGUT, A LIFE, Charles Shields

Kindle and hardcover

Henry Holt

ISBN-13: 978-0805086935

Beginning with a letter sent to Vonnegut in 2006 asking permission to write a biography on him, Shields wrote the book based on 1500 letters to or from Vonnegut discovered after his death.

Many interesting books are coming out that make great winter reads. Whether you read fiction or nonfiction, Kindle or hardbound, let me know what YOU are reading on these chilly nights!

~ Mindy Phillips Lawrence, www.freewebs.com/mplcreative, is the author of the poetry collections One Blue Star and Above and Below. She is co-author of The Complete Writer, an editor and a publicist. She is in the process of putting together an e-book and paperback based on her Itty-Bitty Column for Sharing with Writers. Blogging at: http://mplcreative.blogspot.com/. She is also working on a book for the Military Writers Society of America on war correspondents. Her specialty is helping writers with their media releases. Reach her at mplcreative1@aol.com.

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Reviewer Lenz Takes on Translation of Marcel Pronovost Work

Unknown 01:50 Translations 0

Title: Hearth and Home:The tumultuous life of Mathieu Rouillard and Jeanne
Guillet
Author: Marcel Pronovost.
Translated from the French by Eileen Reardon.
ISBN 978-1-926945-37-8
Baico Publishing Inc., 2011
Publisher's Web site: www.baico.ca
$25.00, 349 pages.
Genre: historical fiction

Reviewed by lenz, original for lenz.hubpages.com.

When Marcel Pronovost’s ancestor, Mathieu Rouillard, arrived in New
France in 1661 after a three-month Atlantic crossing, he did not see the
gold he had been told would be lying about on the ground, but he knew it
could be made by those with strength, intelligence, a will to work hard
and ambition. Mathieu had all of these qualities in abundance but he was
up against two mighty foes: the unforgiving North American wilderness
and the rapacious French colonial government with its systems of trade
and feudal seigneurial land grants.

Mathieu and his wife Jeanne were two among a large number of Mr.
Pronovost’s Trois Rivières, Quebec ancestors, whose lives and times he
has spent many years researching. Intending at first to write a brief
history to be distributed among his own family members, he found the
huge catalogue of historical data he had collected made that project
untenable and so decided to make it a novel in which he could condense
the subject of his family’s habitant ancestors into a dramatic tale of
one couple whose experience encompassed the best and worst that the new
world had to offer. Hearth and Home: The tumultuous life of Mathieu
Rouillard and Jeanne Guillet is the result and a lively, fact-filled,
fast-paced account it is.

Jeanne is the eldest daughter of a prosperous carpenter who at first
welcomes Mathieu, a strong reliable farmhand at the time, to the family
(Mathieu has left his own back in La Rochelle, France), but regrets it
later when he finds that the young suitor has told a small lie about
having property in France and will not provide the financial support for
his daughter he had hoped for. Indeed, Mathieu will never be rich, but
will be in debt to lenders for the rest of his life, his ambitions being
more than even his strong back can bear. The newlyweds love each other
passionately, but even Jeanne will become sad and embittered as the
years go on and she is left alone for months at times to care for
children and harvest crops, while her husband leaves “hearth and home”
to pursue his true vocation.

After clearing a strip of land on the Batiscan River, near Trois
Rivières, and building a small cabin for Jeanne and planting some wheat,
he turns to the business that has captured his imagination since his
arrival. He will be a coureur de bois or voyageur, traveling by canoe on
the rivers that lead to the north and west to trade with the aboriginal
peoples cheap merchandise for valuable beaver pelts. (Pronovost uses the
term “Savages” for the natives, as the colonists did.)

He loves the hard, adventurous life, but learns that the fur trade is
not always profitable -- rarely, in fact. Still, he keeps going on
longer and longer trips while owing more and more to the merchants who
have lent him the goods with which he trades. The payment he receives
for the furs he brings back never seem enough to cover the cost of those
goods.

Between his trading voyages and brief returns to the ever-affectionate
Jeanne, there are battles with the Iroquois and the English. It is the
Iroquois who, at first, are the principle enemy of the French. They are
a constant menace to both French settlers and other aboriginal nations.
Many forts are built and local men are called up to join militias which
are mostly successful at fighting off the raiders, but many lives are
lost on both sides. The English forces to the south only enter this
narrative late in the story when Mathieu and his friends are forced to
smuggle furs to the English forts, where they can get a higher price.
The politics and religion of the day are portrayed in all their greed
and hypocrisy, although we do see how Jesuit priests did their best to
keep the colonists from moral decay. The growing cynicism of the
colonists is also shown as they realise how powerless they are against
the same social forces that existed in the Old France that they left, in
hope of greater freedom.

When Mathieu is in his fifties and feeling his age, his desire to see
places further west takes him to the Mississippi River and a trip south
to warmer temperatures and fertile land, where he dreams of bringing his
wife and children to live more freely and comfortably. Here he sadly
meets his end.

Mathieu Rouillard, 1638-1702, holds the dubious distinction of (perhaps)
being the first white man to have died and been buried in what is now
the State of Louisiana and what was, in 1702, a swampy outpost of the
far reaches of New France. A tragic end to a truly tumultuous life.

This semi-fiction (most of the names are of persons living in that time)
takes us quickly through the years between 1660 and 1702 with energy,
passion and a lively style that engages one completely but raises, to my
mind, more questions than it answers about the lives and times of the
hardy and adventurous people of New France; the role of women, both
colonist and aboriginal, is distinctly missing in the scheme of things.

Illustrations from the National Archives of Canada, maps and lists of
names of aboriginal nations and historical characters are included.
Eileen Reardon provides a translation from the French that matches the
spirit of the original. I recommend this first novel as a charming and
intriguing introduction to the period.

~The reviewer, lenz, contributes occasionally to Hubpages (www.hubpages.com, World Literature Forum
(http://www.worldliteratureforum.com ) and other sites and is a volunteer proofreader at Distributed Proofreaders (www.pgdp.net ) as
xlenz.

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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 :

Monday, 30 January 2012

Book for Writers, Linguists, Anthropolgists and Lovers of Language

Unknown 01:03 Nonfcition: Humor, Nonfiction: Language, Nonfiction: Writers 0

Euphemania
Subtitle: Our love affair with euphemisms
By Ralph Keyes
Little Brown and Co.
ISBN: 9780316056564
Nonfiction/ (Writing/Language)
Contact Reviewer: hojoreviews@aol.com

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson originally for MyShelf.com

If you don’t love language, it’s a good bet you aren’t a writer. But if you’re a writer, reading more about language (linguistics (?)) may not be high on your list of priorities. It’s so integral to the way you think, you believe you don’t need it.

I believe that Euphemania by Ralph Keyes will change your mind. Written with humor (because euphemisms are just naturally funny?) this book will certainly entertain. If you’ve ever wondered about the intricacies of our euphemisms—the origins as an example—this is the book for you. But who would have guessed that it also might be the perfect book to hone the skills of writers of dialogue and humor?

Academic writers? Use it as a quick-study on how to write a book that will sell to a wide market. The secret? Voice. Humor. Colloquialisms. Yep, and euphemisms. A book does not have to have the lack of moisture content (dry!) of a text book to be a textbook. I know about academic expectations. My daughter is a Ph.D. candidate. She explains it to me all the time. Having said that, if you’d like to actually sell something rather than giving everything away to unappreciative academic journals, try rewriting your brilliant theory for the general public!

Anthropologists and linguists will love this book, too. But mostly, it’s just fun learning why we use asterisks for words like sh*t and the euphemisms like the f-word. It’s also tons of fun to identify phrases we’ve stopped thinking of as euphemisms (love handles, anyone?), just because they are so part of our everyday language.

If I were rating this book for an Amazon review, it would give it a true (not a fake) five-star rating. For usefulness. For fun. For the love of language.

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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, 27 January 2012

Five-Star Review for Book Set in New York

Unknown 01:46 Fiction: Historical 0

Title: Fixer
Author: Ed Brodow
Author Website: http://www.fixerbook.com
Genre: Historical Fiction
ISBN: 978-1432717032

Reviewed by Erika Borsos originally for Amazon
Reviewer's Rating: Five Stars

This book provides a great visual representation of life in New York city at the turn-of-the-century. The author uses his words like an artist uses paint on canvas. This book leaves a great visual and colorful impact on the reader. The story is energetic, fast paced and filled with great human interest, overall a fascinating read. This is an historical era novel about a powerful charismatic politically connected figure who wielded a great deal of influence in New York city during the height of his career. It was a time when various people from Europe and Russia were clashing as they fought to create a new and better life for themselves and their families. They escaped the political forces and prejudices which held them back in the "old world" but faced new and different enemies and circumstances instead. Sometimes, the new circumstances were nearly as daunting as the old but as time marched on, the powerful walls which kept people of different cultures from achieving their potential cracked and broke apart. Times created situations where someone with a powerful personality who had major chutzpah and intelligence could work the system and become highly influential. This book is about such a man, his name is Harry Leonoff, a man of Jewish descent who beat the odds and made himself into a success. He become politically connected and indispensable to the politicians who needed major jobs done around the city. He hung around Tammany Hall with the Irish who got Harry hooked on politics. Harry's reputation grew as he strove to maintain his values and integrity while he got jobs done. Unfortunately, his strong need to maintain his integrity prevented him from backing down from a position once he took a strong stand and this became his undoing after clashing with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who also possessed a similar ego and style of behavior.

Harry Leonoff's rise to power and his fall from grace makes for a fascinating novel. Harry's early life began on the Lower East Side of New York in Jewish tenement houses and apartments. This milieu provided the foundation for Harry's developing a strong character. His character was tested when he developed polio and underwent rigorous stretching exercises, without benefit of analgesics. Fortunately, he eventually received more humane treatment from Andrew Craig a Scotsman who developed a successful home treatment for polio victims. Harry retained a limp due to this childhood illness. Perhaps this is where Harry learned to care so much about the poor and less fortunate. Harry's fearless reputation got him hired by a local group of Jewish leaders who wanted some anti-Semitic thugs taught a lesson. By age 23, Harry realized he needed education and hung out at a local Democratic Club, where he overheard Big Jim Connolly express that lawyers ran the city. This gave Harry the grand idea to become a law clerk. At the time there were several avenues to entering the legal profession, one was attending law school, another was graduating from college and preparing for the bar exam, and a third for those with little formal education, as was Harry's case, was to become a law clerk. Harry was hired to apprentice for Mr. Levine who had won some rather famous cases. This is where Harry's sense of fair play arose as he noticed not everyone was getting justice under the legal system ...in fact, the rich and powerful seemed to receive most of it. He concluded only those with political influence could correct the deficiencies in the system so Harry attempted to do just that. He returned to Tammany Hall to work for Big Jim Connolly. Harry's success continued as he gained experience and grew to have a reputation for getting the job done.

The author does a superb job of describing the rise and fall of Harry's fame. The stories are realistic and believable, most are serious, others are humorous. The author does a particularly excellent job of drawing the reader into the story from the beginning when Harry's grandson visits at the hospital where Harry resides. The description of the harbor, the weather, the landscape and views and then the inside of the mental hospital are very visually realistic and appealing. The author's description of how Harry's frame of mind flips from current reality into the past is highly accurate of how confused elderly people behave and react. The book was inspired by the life of the author's own grandfather. This book is most highly recommended. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

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Thursday, 26 January 2012

Valentine Gift that Lasts Better Than a Greeting Card

Unknown 01:41 poetry, seasonal books 0

Cherished Pulse
A Chapbook of Unconventional Love Poetry
By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Genre: Poetry
Available on Amazon at http://budurl.com/CherishedPulse
Available for Kindle

After throwing out another batch of high priced Christmas cards, I’m ready to put a formal ban on wasteful, expensive greeting cards in my house. With Valentine’s Day pending, it’s time we started giving real gifts that last and forget about fancy expensive packaging and syrupy cliché cards that make landfill.

For those looking for a deeper and more sustained gift for Valentine's Day, an inexpensive chapbook of poetry is perfect. Poetry has a transformative effect and it lasts. Cherished Pulse, a book of unconventional love poetry by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball, is pretty enough not to need any embellishments with beautiful artwork by watercolorist Vicki Thomas. It doesn’t have any calories, fits snugly on the shelf or looks lovely on a coffee table, and at only $6.95 for a paperback, or $2.99 for the Kindle version, it won’t more (or as much!) as a card on its own. Pair it with your own beautiful poem or a hand-picked flower from your garden for the most memorable and powerful Valentine’s Day gift you’ve ever given.

Review by Molly Martin:

Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s poems begin with the delicate refrain found in ‘A Woman's Heart.’ ‘Dreaming Lilacs,’ moves the reader into a scented, heart felt remembrance before moving on to a playful stanza ‘Hallmark Couldn't Possibly Get This Right.’ Poet Howard-Johnson’s last offering is a poignant introspective ‘Loving Lance.’ Other titles by this poet include; "Watching My Daughter Say Goodbye To a Fleeting Love," and " LA Love Story."

Magdalena Ball presents the first 10 poems; from the haunting lyric found in ‘The Ocean,’ strength of ‘Great Sky,’ and stark reality of ‘Dark Matter,’ poet Ball moves the reader toward her final though provoking reflective work; ‘Baker’s Dozen’. Other titles by poet Ball include; "Event Horizon," and "Oubliette."

Cherished Pulse :Unconventional Love Poetry is a pleasurable collection of buoyant, spirited poetry sure to pique the interest of the most discerning reader who is looking for a nice afternoon’s read. Each of the verses is a true delight. There is something for everyone. Language use is not predictable, nevertheless Cherished Pulse is an invigorating read of agreeably constructed stanzas presented in a satisfactorily rounded assortment. The reader will be drawn into the verses’ rich stitching of sentiment, passion, and sensation.

Pick up a copy at http://www.budurl.com/CherishedPulse. Add a grosgrain ribbon book mark and an early spring flower and you'll have a never-forgotten gift.

----- 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, 25 January 2012

New Book Is What Donald Trump and Dr. Oz Have in Common

Unknown 01:17 book tour, Nonfiction: Self-Help 0

Title: 5 Minute Motivator

Author: Dr. Eric Kaplan

Both Donald Trump and Dr. Oz have Dr. Eric Kaplan's books.

This story is unique in that it is a love story, a story of survival, dedication and positive thinking. After Dr. Kaplan and his wife were 100% paralyzed by Botox injections (Dying to Be Young, #1 Bestseller.

The couple were recently featured on Dr. Oz and hopes to appear on the show again with his new book. They have also appeared on Good Morning America, Primetime Live, CNN Anderson Cooper, Montel Williams, andThe Insider, just to name just a few. With his new book again he is expecting to do many shows which will be mutually beneficial.

The 5 Minute Motivator clearly demonstrates the power of goal setting, affirmations, positive mental attitude, love, commitment, while being of service to others. The 5 Minute Motivator is a book about self-empowerment, self-actualization, and success manifestation using spiritual short stories to portray the principles and conscious tools and techniques.

From Such Seeds of Adversity Can Come your Greatest Triumphs...

5 Minute Motivator was the result as they turned tragedy into a dream come true. It includes simple yet powerful steps you can follow to infuse your own life with treater abundance, joy, and happiness.

Dr. Kaplan believes you were born with everything you need to heal yourself. After millions of years of evolution, your body is equipped for any challenge that comes its way: germs, cancer cells, you name it. But a huge, profit-driven medical establishment has been built around healing from the outside in, instead of inside out. When you buy this book today, you'll also receive Dr Kaplan's other book - Imagine two books for the price of one plus 150 bonus gifts! 5 Minutes to Wellness will open up your power of self-healing and The 5 Minute Motivator, will motivate you to do so. Dr. Kaplan outlines a step-by-step, approach by committing "5 Minutes a day."

CHECK OUT THE GREAT BONUSES!

In "5 Minutes" a day:

you can live the life you dreamed.
you can be healthier.
you can be happier.
you could remove the toxins that are in your body.
you could lose 10 pounds--and more.
you could help others.
you could own your own business.
you could make a difference in your life and the lives of others.

Take that one step further. Follow in the great steps of Michael Jordan, and make winning a habit. This book will teach you how. Check it out now! http://bit.ly/y0nJVi

~ Book Tour by Denise Cassino
Publicist and Book Marketing Specialist
303 838 3399
skype: denise.cassino
www.BestsellerServices.com
www.spiritoftheseasoncatalog.com
www.mybestsellerlaunch.com
-----
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Best Books for Writers To Read in 2012

Unknown 10:25 Fiction: Literary, Nonfiction: Writers, Nonfiction: Young Adult Nonfiction: How-To 0

Obviously, I haven't read every new book out there for writers. Consider this a good little "get started" list for your 2011 reading.

Agni, a literary journal. Literary writers might pick any full book-size issue and study the selections to improve your poetry and short stories.. Published by Boston University. www.agnimagazine.org.

Outwitting Writer’s Block and other Problems of the Pen by Jenna Glatzer, Lyons Press, ISBN: 1592281249

Ignite the Genius Within: Discover Your Full Potential (with CD), by Dr. Christine Ranck and Christopher Lee Nutter, Dutton. ISBN: 9780525950943

Surviving Depression with Art Therapy by Joyce White, AuthorHouse, Really for artists of every ilk, but an interesting take on what the arts (writing) can do for our psyches. ISBN: 9781434320667

Concerning E. M. Forster by Frank Kermode. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book is for very literary types and really avoid Forster fans. ISBN: 9780374298999

The Essential Don Murray, edited by Thomas Newkirk and Lisa C. Miller, Heinmann Boynton/Cook. Don Murray is deceased. His sage advice to writers live on. ISBN 9780867096002

Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 things you need to know about the ABCs of writing fiction by Morgan St. James, Marina Publishing. A new book by the queen of mystery writing. ISBN: 9780983779001

Spice Up Your Writing: Write to Entice by Billie A. Williams. Published by Filbert Publishing. Williams is a mystery writer with several self-help books for writers to her credit. I especially love the chapter on perseverance in this, her newest. ISBN: 9781932794168

Note: For more outstanding books—not necessarily books for writers—please see Carolyn's MyShelf Noble (Not Nobel!) Prize list for 2011 in her Back to Literature Column (http://www.myshelf.com/backtoliterature/column.htm.)

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Monday, 23 January 2012

A Brand New eBook Women's Poetry Anthology

Unknown 01:40 poetry, Poetry: Women's 0

Title: Fire on Her TongueSubtitle: An eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women’s PoetryEditors: Agodon, Kelli Russell, and Spaulding-Convy, AnnetteEditor’s Website Link: http://www.ofkells.blogspot.com/
Genre: Poetry
ISBN-13: 978-1-937860-24-0Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Her-Tongue-Contemporary-ebook/dp/B006R8Q9JK
Two Sylvias Press, 2012
E-book

Reviewed by Paul David Adkins

Fire on Her Tongue: An eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry, (, ISBN: 13: 978-1-937860-24-0, 491 kb, approximately 460 pp) is an eBook edited by Kelli Russell Agodon and Annette Spaulding-Convy. The editors present the work of 73 poets, both well known and emerging artists. This first-of-its-kind collection, available on Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Sony Reader, and twenty-eight other eBook retailers such as eBooks.com, IndieBound.org, Powell’s and many others, provides an exciting overview of some of the best American writing today.

Fire on Her Tongue should not be confused with earlier comprehensive anthologies such as Hayden Carruth’s The Voice That is Great Within Us, or a college textbook published by Norton, lugged to every introductory American literature course known to woman. Agodon and Spaulding-Convy present the poetry of contemporary women exclusively: there is no Robert Frost, W.C. Williams, Carl Sandburg, or Robert Creeley here. The collection is vivid and immediate, and the writers are all still living. This eBook captures the incredibly varied talents of the women included.

Anthologies are normally associated with canonical writing. With the usual exceptions of Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Gwendolyn Brooks, general anthologies almost universally neglect the presence, much less importance, of women poets. The adage that one must be dead to be a famous author seems especially fitting for these types of collections, many of which stop at Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. It is as if American women suddenly ceased writing to eternally mourn the deaths of these twin icons. The fact that the press publishing this work is named Two Sylvias is doubly significant here. It marks the definitive passing of women’s poetry from the enigmatic, suicidal Plath to her matrilineal descendants, so to speak. Deference is paid to America’s colossal literary martyr, but it’s time to move on, the editors declare.

And move on, they do! Though the poets are presented alphabetically, Kim Addonizio is a perfect opening writer for this groundbreaking collection. Members of the canon such as Alicia Ostriker and Patricia Smith stand alongside deserving lesser-known authors including Ivy Alvarez and Kate Lebo. Rachel Contreni Flynn and Annie Finch comfortably coexist. This is a collection for people who love poetry. And while academics will certainly find it an invaluable tool for mapping current literary trends women are exploring, the real worth is in its ability to share wonderful work with other readers, not dictate what is canonical or worthy of scholarly attention.

Some people might consider the heavy concentration of writers linked to Seattle as a weakness. Over 30 of the authors are indeed directly connected in some way to this city and surrounding area, as, too, are Agodon and Spaulding-Convy. The question might arise as to why Two Sylvias did not simply present the anthology exclusively as a showpiece of the incredibly vibrant Seattle poetry scene; there is certainly enough material to do so. Such criticism misses the point of the collection, however. The anthology has more of a conversational than authoritative feel. Essentially, here are two highly knowledgeable women from the Pacific Northwest respecting their audience with questions such as, “Hey, have you read THIS writer? She’s awesome! This one, too. Do you know her? She’s really fantastic!”

Fire on Her Tongue is a celebration of women’s poetry, a party, not a granite monument. It’s not the work of two editors showing off how smart they are, but instead how excited they are about the current state of women’s poetry in America. Buy it! Read it! You’ll find their enthusiasm is catching.

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Writer Advises This Book as Brushup for Writers

Unknown 01:20 Nonfiction: Writers 0

Title: Punctuation
Author: G. Miki Hayden
Link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Punctuation+by+G.+Miki+Hayden
Non-fiction ebook on writing

Reviewed by Joy V. Smith originally for her writing blog

Reviewer's link: http://pagadan.wordpress.com/

Reviewer's rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Writers need this book!

As a writer, I take advantage of opportunities to refresh my knowledge of the basic rules of writing. Even though I’m an English major, I’m occasionally unsure of whether to use a comma or a semi-colon, etc., so I was grateful for the opportunity to read Punctuation by G. Miki Hayden. Btw, look carefully at the punctuation mark on the cover. It is not what you think. At least, it wasn’t what I thought. I confess I just glanced at it and thought I knew what it was. I was surprised to learn that I was wrong–and what it means.

The rules of punctuation are to make it easy for the reader. You don’t want to trip him up and stop his enjoyment of your story, because writing isn’t just words; it’s about how to emphasize them. I appreciated not only the easy-to-understand rules, but also the examples, which help you to understand them. I’m less fuzzy now about which punctuation marks go inside the double quotes and which don’t, among other things. And I won’t be puzzled when reading a book published in England.

Learning that you don’t need to use italics when writing thoughts was a relief. And I learned only recently that we probably don’t need to underline words to be printed in italics, and we now only put one space at the end of a sentence. That is a hard habit to break! (And you’ll notice that I’ve only used one exclamation mark so far. I tend to overuse them, along with parentheses.) Be sure to study the section on apostrophes, please.

The ellipsis explanation really helped me, and the serial comma explanation made me feel better. (I had never given up the last serial comma, btw.) A number of things were clarified for me, including what to use inside a parenthesis (brackets); I’ve been using more parentheses. And there are quizzes at the end, if you want to test yourself. This was an easy and enjoyable read, and the author was firm, but not dogmatic. Highly recommended for those who write, whether it’s fiction or reports or a blog. And it was a fun read.

Joy
My writing blog
http://pagadan.wordpress.com/

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Poetry That Refreshes the Soul Reviewed

Unknown 01:42 poetry 0

Book Title: After the Storm

Subtitle: Poetry that refreshes the soul

Author: Anthony F. Rando

Author’s Website Link: http://anthonyfrando.net/

Genre: Poetry

ISBN-10: 1613466412

ISBN-13: 978-1613466414

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/After-Storm-Anthony-F-Rando/dp/1613466412/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1

Reviewed by Jennifer E. McFadden (Katy, Texas)

I received this book from Anthony a few weeks ago and was amazed at his

raw honesty in each poem. Beautifully colored images throughout the book

add to Anthony's tender, poetic expressions of love, emptiness, remorse,

nature, and healing. I was also pleased at the quality of editing and highly

recommend this book."

Learn more about the poet on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnthonyFRando

Monday, 16 January 2012

Reviewer Suggests Sex and the City Fans Read This One

Unknown 20:38 Fiction: Contemporary, Fiction: Romance 0

Title: California Girl Chronicles: Brea & the City of Plastic

Author: Michelle Gamble-Risley
Author’s Website Link: http://www.3lpublishing.com
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romance
ISBN: 978-0-615-55787-8
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/California-Girl-Chronicles-Brea-Plastic/dp/0615557872

Reviewed by Sigmarie Soto originally for ZiggySoto

Book 1 of Michelle Gamble-Risley’s California Girl Chronicles is not what you’d expect—it sure wasn’t what I expected anyway. And I’ll admit I wasn’t disappointed at all. Everyone loves an entertaining, escape-for-awhile novel, and that is exactly what Brea & the City of Plastic is. Book 1 takes us through Brea Harper’s journey of moving to Los Angeles to make it as a screenwriter, while going through some fun, sexy, humiliating, and heartbreaking moments along the way. In a world where business and professional lines are blurred, this novel is more than appropriately titled, and there’s never a dull moment.

While Brea may be a born-and-raised Cali girl, women everywhere can relate to her on some level. She is genuine, unpredictable, good-hearted, at times fickle, and well-aware of her flaws, which makes her all the more likable. There are moments where she is vulnerable and other moments where she is strong. Who can’t relate to that? I found myself having shake-my-head moments when Brea knowingly makes mistakes as well as ha-take-that moments when she triumphs.

The characters Brea meets along the way are as equally intriguing and multi-dimensional as Brea, with some you will love to hate, others you will hate to love, and everything in between. While I was rooting for Brea every step of the way, I also couldn’t get enough of Brea’s love interests, especially Kale, the successful, sexy, almost too-good-to-be-true movie producer who is head over heels for her. And add into the mix Brea’s new and old friends, including Kale’s Latina housekeeper, Maya, and Brea’s straightforward roommate, Denise.

Michelle’s first novel is refreshingly honest. With Brea, we see and experience things that most women think but rarely admit. The narration is playful and humorous, though we can easily feel Brea’s conflict and dilemmas at the right moments. The dialogue is enticing yet real, which Michelle uses to bring more depth to her characters than initially meets the eye. Since Book 1 is such a fun read, I can’t wait to see what new adventure Brea will take in Book 2. I think I may like this even more than Sex and the City.