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Ann Skea's Bookshelf
A Great Act of Love: A Novel
Heather Rose
Summit Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschuster.com
9781668094914, $29.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle 481pp.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Act-Love-Novel/dp/1668094916
Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Great-Act-of-Love/Heather-Rose/9781668094914
Do not be fooled by the cover of this book. In spite of the pretty young woman gazing at you through a tangle of ribbons and the prominent word 'LOVE' in gold letters, this book is not about romantic love at all, and the young woman is far more interesting than that.
Caroline Colbert, whose life we follow, is clever, determined, caring and well educated by her father, who liked to discuss philosophy with her. Yet, at the age of 23, she has led, and is still leading, a life of duplicity and lies.
The book begins as Caroline is confronted by the sudden, terrifying appearance of her father with a bloody knife in his hand. Only later do we learn what has happened. We then jump to a room in a London house in which music, dancing and conversation are taking place in a downstairs ballroom. Caroline is poring over a map of the world:
And there she finds it, at the edge of the Western Hemisphere, a black mark at the 30th latitude smaller than a flea. Norfolk Island. The dream returns. Her father caught in a shaft of sand. The walls are collapsing and he is reaching up, calling her name.
So, it seems that Caroline's French father, Jacques-Louis Colbert, has been arrested, tried for murder, spared the death penalty but sentenced, instead, to life in the distant English penal colony on Norfolk Island. His story and his horrific experiences become part of the book; so, too, does the account of his childhood as the son of a French aristocrat and the way he and his older sister, Henriette, were smuggled from France to Scotland after their parents were beheaded in the French Revolution. These stories eventually become interwoven with Caroline's experiences. But for the present, suddenly,
Tante Henriette is at the doorway indicating they must depart. She is sporting a neat black beard, cravat and frock coat, and carrying a satchel.
I had to read this sentence twice, it seemed like a mistake. But no, when Tante Henriette and Caroline get back to Tante Henriette's apartment:
they shed their wigs and shoes, frock coats, braces, collars and cufflinks. They peel away beard and moustache. They brush out their hair and pin it up, then button and lace their dresses.
Clearly something strange is going on, and although it all sounds melodramatic, Rose handles these scenes with humour and care, and they offer glimpses of the character of Caroline and her father's older sister.
Over a game of chess Caroline broaches what has been preoccupying her.
She says: 'There are offers of passage for unmarried women to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.'
He aunt arches an eyebrow. 'You are not considering that?'
'I am,' says Caroline.
'But why?' asks Tante Henriette. 'He will never be released - and even if he was, he will not be the man you remember.'
'It is nothing to do with him,' says Caroline, progressing her attack on the board, keenly aware of her aunt's greater skill...
'Of course,' continues her aunt, 'someone of military rank may offer his hand. Perhaps he is blind in one eye from a wound he took for England as a young man. It oozes and smells. He has the gout, too... and four or five ugly children in need of a new mother...' She takes Caroline's knight...
'I could advertise,' Caroline says at last. 'Young woman of disreputable family seeks rich husband for colonial adventure.'
What Caroline chooses to do adds to the mysteries. Suddenly, she seems to have money. Disguised as a widow, and taking her Scottish mother's maiden name, she becomes Mrs Douglas and boards the brigantine Alliance in New York. 'I have the means to make a modest investment in the journey, if your ship were to continue on from Otaheite to Van Diemen's Land,' she tells the captain, and she asks his advice about acquiring 'a suitable cargo of goods'.
On her voyage via Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, Cape Horn, Valparaiso and the Pacific Island of Otaheite, she sees new lands, meets the other passengers, avoids the attentions of an unctuous Spanish widower, and gets to know and teach 10-year-old Quill, who has been assigned to her as cabin boy. When they arrive in Hobart, she agrees a sum of money with Captain de Hoog, and tells Quill that he can leave the ship and stay with her, if he wants that.
'Do you own me now?' Quill asks when she tells him that she has freed him from his debt to Captain de Hoog. They are seated at the small table in her emptied cabin, the table where they had sat so often together, where he had pursued his studies and learned to play chess.
'No, Quill,' she says. 'I do not. You are a free person. You belong to yourself, now and always.'
In Hobart, Caroline takes pains to remain as unobtrusive as possible in a town where gossip is common currency. She decides that Quill will be her 'ward': they will be 'Mistress Caroline Douglas and Master Quill Douglas from New York'. She buys a run-down cottage on the land of Captain Swanston, director of the Derwent Bank, and insists that he tells no-one that she owns it and that he keeps her investments in his bank a secret. She forms a business relationship with him and a friendship with his wife Georgiana. She also becomes friendly with Cornelius, the black blacksmith employed by Swanston, and Cornelius's past as an escaped slave from America, horrifying as it is, eventually becomes part of Caroline's story in a terrifying scene towards the end of the book.
Caroline loves the wildness, the strange animals, and the unpredictable weather of Van Diemen's Land. She learns of its early days, wonders about the people who were displaced by the colonisers, and sees the terrible conditions and cruelty the convicts endure, all the time aware that her father is suffering even worse conditions on Norfolk Island, where the commandant, Anderson, and his predecessor, Morrison, are known for their excessive brutality.
Having long known of Jacques-Louis's knowledge of wines and champagne-making, knowledge he was taught as grew up among the vineyards on his father's large French estates, Caroline notices the abandoned vines in the overgrown land around her cottage, and she determines to restore them. The hard, relentless work of clearing the land, learning basic skills from Cornelius, who had worked with the founder of this once flourishing vineyard, and managing the inevitable failures due to the climate, becomes Caroline's life. It is also her investment and that of Swanston, who is persuaded to support her in this project. Against them is the status of Van Diemen's Land as a convict colony and the reluctance, elsewhere, to accept anything 'tainted by convict labour'.
When, late in the book, Caroline does meet a young man she is attracted to, the dilemma about revealing her true story becomes acute. Accompanying him to a play at the Theatre Royal, she looks at the audience, and she knows that
Some significant portion must have served time for some crime or other. She knows she is little different from them, disguised now in their coats and gowns, tie pins and hat pins, cufflinks and tiaras. Except by some benevolent hand, she has not been caught.
A Great Act of Love is an unusual book. Rose weaves many stories into it and strands of poetry lighten some of the darkest parts. Caroline survives to look back on 'the canto of her life', and to muse on being: 'Dust, air, earth. Returned to the great wholeness. A fleeting presence who had seen this sparkling world and then was gone.'
Raising Hare: A Memoir
Chloe Dalton
Pantheon
c/o Knopf Doubleday
https://knopfdoubleday.com/imprint/pantheon
9780593701843, $27.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle 336pp.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Hare-Memoir-Chloe-Dalton/dp/0593701844
Chloe Dalton never expected to raise a hare. In her professional life as a foreign policy specialist and political advisor, she spent her time in offices, meeting rooms and airports. High on the adrenaline rush of responding to events and 'international crises involving people', she 'seldom considered animals'.
The Covid pandemic stopped all that and 'flung' her home to the countryside, where she owns an old barn that she has converted as 'a project [she] could fall back on' if 'swings in political fortune' affected her work. Confined there, she is anxious, restless and struggling to cope with the sudden change of pace. It is mid-February, with the snow-melt still on the ground, when she hears a barking dog and a man shouting and goes out to investigate the disturbance:
I had grown up with stories of poachers cutting locks and forcing open gates to drive onto farmers' fields and into the woods, hunting deer and rabbits and setting their dogs to chase hares. More benignly, dogs had been known to bolt from their owners walking down the lanes, in pursuit of a rabbit or simply drawn by the open spaces, scattering sheep or disturbing nesting birds in the process.
The dog and the man have vanished, so she sets off for a walk down an unpaved track along the edge of a cornfield. She is deep in thought when she sees a tiny creature in the middle of the track. 'Leveret' is the word that springs to her mind, although she has never seen a young hare before, and it seems abandoned, its mother perhaps scared off by the dog, but it is on an exposed part of the track and in danger from cars or predators. Not knowing what to do, she marks the spot and walks on, but when she returns the leveret is still there and she decides to take it with her and return it after nightfall in the hope that the mother will find it. Wrapping it in grasses she pulls from the field edge to keep her scent off the animal, she takes it home, then phones a local conservationist for advice.
He tells her that in spite of her care, her human scent will be on the animal and the mother will reject it. He also says that 'in decades of working on the land, he had never heard of anyone successfully raising a leveret', and it would probably die of hunger or shock.
I felt embarrassed and worried. I had no intention of taming the hare, only of sheltering it, but it seemed that I had committed a bad error of judgement.
So begins her responsibility for a small, helpless animal. She calls her farming sister and her mother for advice, both of whom had experience of caring for orphaned animals, and a new, absorbing and fascinating experience begins. Raising Hare records her progress as the hare grows, thrives, and, eventually, takes itself away from the barn/house into the wild and the company of other hares. It records, too, the beauty of the animal and the strange, trusting relationship that develops between them as Dalton does everything she can to allow the hare to remain wild.
Dalton's first problem is finding information on how to care for a leveret. The internet offers plenty of information about hares, but little about caring for one, other than confirming that leverets are easily frightened and that a common cause of death is stress due to noise and excessive handling. Then, in a 1774 poem by William Cowper, who kept three hares as a cure for his 'dejection of spirits', she finds lists of the food he fed them: milk, oats, lettuce, twigs of hawthorn for them to gnaw on to keep their teeth short, sowthistle, straw, apple, carrot.
I tried nearly everything on Cowper's list, with mixed success... I searched the verges for sowthistle, or hare's lettuce... which the leveret didn't seem to appreciate. It appeared politely uninterested in carrot, whether whole or sliced or shredded. I offered it parsley, which it nibbled, and coriander, which it devoured.
Caring for the hare, which she steadfastly refuses to name, because that would suggest it was a pet, becomes a full-time occupation, but it gives her the chance to observe it closely. Feeding it, as a tiny leveret nestling in her hand, she notices that every strand of fur is marked in alternating shades of dark and light, and she learns that this is called 'agouti', and is essential for camouflage.
Every possible distinct outline on the leveret was broken up or disguised by contrasting colours. The pale fur that ringed its eyes was surrounded with a band of kohl-black hair. The hair on its throat was of the softest grey, like cool ashes, and was shorter and finer than on any other part of its body. Its muzzle was edged in ivory, its mouth round, a small 'O' of perpetual surprise, trimmed in soot-coloured hair.
She learns, too, that adult hares can run at 50 to 70 kilometres an hour, and could outrun a cheetah; that they can leap 'two metres high and nearly three metres wide', and that captured hares can suffer myopathy, dying in an attempt to escape confinement. As the hare grows and she gives it the freedom of her small enclosed garden, it seems to enjoy chasing games with her, jinking and springing and leaping 'vertically in the air while running'.
Adapting to the hare, conscious of the dangers to it of noise and stress, Dalton's own life changes. She becomes aware of the birds and animals around her; turns off lights in the house and garden, conscious of the disturbing effects on the vision of nocturnal animals; worries about the loss of habitat that intensive farming and heavy farm machinery cause. She comes across Abraham Gottlob Werner's fascinating 1814 nomenclature of colours, which describes each colour in terms of animal, vegetable and mineral examples: the 'bluish green' of 'egg of thrush', the 'straw yellow' of 'the polar bear'. But she also reads everything she can find about hares, and learns of the superstitions, witchcraft, fear and false information that surround them. In an anonymous Middle English poem, the poet lists 77 'Names of the Hare' that must be chanted to ward off evil if you encounter a hare (Seamus Heaney has translated this). She records her own observations of the meticulous grooming even a young leveret performs, the protective stillness it instinctively adopts, and the importance of the home range a hare establishes and always returns to.
Chapter headings chart the hare's progress, from 'A Winter Leveret' through, for example, to 'One Month Old', 'Independence', 'Leveret no More' and 'Two Years Old: Wonder', to 'Harekind' and 'Secret Places'. In the chapter headed 'Ultimate Trust', Dalton describes the birth of the hare's own leverets, the first of which the hare hid behind a curtain in the barn/house that had become her home territory. Glimpsing a 'flash of white tail' and a slight quivering behind a long curtain near her desk, Dalton waits until the hare is temporarily out and investigates:
Holding my breath, I pulled it a few centimetres away from the wall, and looked behind it.
There, pressed closely together, with dark chocolate fur and bottomless, coal-black eyes, were a pair of leverets. They lay with their muzzles to the wall, their ears squeezed tightly to their backs... The floor around them appeared to be bone dry, without a trace of blood or afterbirth to stain the pale carpet, and they were immaculately clean, their fur standing out in thick protective haze around their sturdy little bodies. I dropped the curtain back with a prickle in my throat.
Of course the hare wins her heart, and she writes beautifully about it, so the reader, too, is enchanted by it. Throughout the book, the images of the hare, drawn by Denise Nestor, are a delight. But Dalton never wants to 'own' the hare, and she is gratefully aware of the insights about her own life that she has gained through her care for it. Towards the end of the book, she writes that
Under the subtle influence of the hare, my own wants have simplified. To be dependable in love and friendship rather than in work. To leave the land in a more natural state than I found it. And to take better care of what is to hand, seeing beauty and value in the ordinary.
Raising Hare is a beautiful book, unsentimental, thoughtful, and at times poetic, with the hare, of course, at its heart.
Everything Lost, Everything Found
Matthew Hooton
4th Estate
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9781460765869, $31.66 pbk, 304pp.
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Lost-Found-Matthew-Hooton/dp/1460765869
Longlisted for the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize, Matthew Hooton's novel traces memories of Henry Ford's experimental settlement in Brazil.
I know my grandson, Nicholas, thinks of my personal history as an exaggeration or tall tale. And why shouldn't he? He cannot smell the leaf rot after each seasonal flooding, the fish-tank reek as the tributaries dried and islands formed, nor hear the utter cacophony of parrot and monkey chatter from the palm and rubber trees.
Jack has been back in Muskinaw, Michigan, for seven decades, but still he is haunted by the terrible death of his mother and the ensuing madness of his father, by the jungle that surrounded Fordlandia, and by all he experienced as a young boy in the few years that he lived with his parents in Henry Ford's doomed rubber plantation experiment in Brazil.
'We lived,' he remembers, 'in a sort of Midwestern dream': a town in the middle of the jungle with asphalt streets, white brick bungalows with running water, and a sanatorium.
But the experience of Fordlandia lives inside me still, where it grows and wraps around my organs, creeping beneath my wrinkled skin - a physical religious conversion that has never properly faded... so there is always a green tendril tugging at me, and I fear that I am never truly here.
Memories haunt him - 'visitations', 'ghosts perhaps'. At night in Muskinaw he hears 'the impossible scraping of bat wings' along his bedroom windowsill, or 'catches a whiff of [his] mother's cold cream' and of her Craven A cigarettes.
Gracie [his wife] once told me that I was disproportionally haunted, that it seemed I had been assigned too many spectres, and that perhaps there had been some sort of mistake in the afterlife: a doubling up on a work order. We laughed at the time, but she wasn't wholly wrong.
Gracie, to Jack's distress, is currently in a hospice, suffering from the permanent disabling effects of treatment for cancer. Jack's vivid memories are part of his grief at not being able to look after her, and his growing awareness of his own age, especially when he forgets to unplug kitchen sink, floods the house, and slips and falls hurrying to turn off the tap, badly bruising his hip.
Jack has every reason to be haunted by his past. We know from the horrifying Prologue to Everything Lost, Everything Found that his mother bled to death after losing her arm to a caiman in the River Tapajos in Brazil. Jack's memories then skip back to the family's arrival by steamship at the growing Brazilian township of Fordlandia, to the dug-out canoes and small craft of the fishermen and fruit-sellers who greet them, and the assortment of people on the dock, which includes a Portuguese priest, Ford's managerial contingent in beige linen suits, women in red dresses with parasols who will travel upstream to a tavern not allowed in Fordlandia, some men his father calls 'boom-town seekers and would-be adventurers', and two men wearing light-coloured suits, highly polished shoes and hats pulled down over their eyes, who watch everything from the edge of the crowd. This is Jack's first sight of some of Ford's 'morality agents' - men employed to enforce Ford's strict morality rules, which they sometimes do with armed violence. 'Ford's secret police', Jack's father calls them.
Jack's father has worked his way up through Ford's car manufacturing empire in Muskinaw and has been given a two-year contract as managerial assistant to the foreman of Ford's Brazilian rubber plantation. He shows Jack around the plantation where the trees, unlike those in the jungle, are planted in strict rows, attended by American and native employees, and are doomed to failure from insect attacks, fungal blight and exposure to fierce sunlight. Beyond the trees, the jungle is being cleared, and as Jack's father explains 'burn-off' and planting techniques to him, 'a screaming parrot burst flaming from the surrounding trees' and flies so close to Jack that he smells the 'lit-paper acidity of charred feathers'. It is one of the images that will haunt Jack, and he likens it to old age, in which 'we are all slowly burning', and to life in which 'everything moves and changes'.
After the horror of his mother's death, his father becomes obsessed with hunting down the caiman that took her arm and with it the wedding ring that had belonged to his own mother. He disappears for days at a time, leaving 12-year-old Jack to fend for himself. Jack finds solace for his own grief and trauma doing routine laundry work in the sanatorium. There he becomes friends with Soo, a young Korean girl who slowly reveals how her family fled from Korea when the Japanese invaded. She tells him, too, that her family are direct descendents of a shamanistic group whose princess is well known in Korean legend and that the Japanese are still hunting them down to destroy them. Soo is a princess of that group, and her 'aunt', who is in Fordlandia with her, is not a relative but a shaman, there to protect her.
It is a strange story and when Ford's morality agents turn up looking for two 'Oriental terrorists', Jack wonders if what she has told him is true. But he sees Soo's aunt violently captured and knows Soo must flee into the jungle to escape. He goes with her, determined to find the river tavern where he believes his missing father is known and will help them.
On a maze of tapper trails, they happen on a disturbing native ceremony for the dead, a strange armed child who points them in a direction that may be wrong, and an American girl Jack had met once when he shadowed his father along the river, got lost, and came across her uncle's secret Confederate refuge. Aware of the danger from insects, vampire bats, snakes and jaguars, and not knowing whether they are lost or not, they are constantly afraid. They do get to the tavern and Jack's father does turn up to help them, but what happens next is terrifying and results in something that Jack keeps secret for the rest of his life.
Jack remembers all this vividly while trying to deal with Gracie's dying. His grandson Nick takes time off from his college courses to ferry Jack between the home he and Gracie have always lived in and the hospice where Gracie is being cared for. At times she is alert and she and Jack share memories and jokes, but frequently she is asleep, and there are increasingly times when she fails to recognise Jack.
Jack and Nick have an easy relationship with each other, but Jack's interactions with his daughter, Jess, are strained. Gracie, when she is awake and alert, is determined to heal this rift, and Jack too tries hard to make amends for what he sees as his constant 'absences' - real and psychological. An old game from Jess's childhood - 'Once Upon a Time', in which each finishes the sentence with an imagined story - sparks shared happy memories, but Jess is too worried about her mother and about Jack's increasing need for help for it to solve things quickly.
There is constant pressure on Jack to move out of his house to somewhere 'safer', which Jack resists, because his home is the place filled with memories of Gracie and also, as he admits to himself, out of his own pride, stubbornness and fear of change. The physiotherapist he sees for his bruised hip is blunt with him:
'Jack, I need you to see that where you live is a health issue. A matter of safety and of prolonging your life. If you fall again, you might not be so lucky.'
Lucky. Never been my favourite word. 'Right.'
'I'm not your doctor, but I can tell you that your odds of surviving a fracture are low - especially if it's a femur or your pelvis.'
I nodded. She was right. Which was annoying. And made for a difficult exit. 'Okay, I hear you. Give an old man a minute, though.'
Small changes in his renovated kitchen, however, make it seem strange and unfamiliar, and an episode in which the painkillers for his hip impair his judgement frightens him and Jess. So, he begins to accept that change must come.
Something Lost, Something Found is beautifully written. Things which sound unbelievable when described in a review are so easily made part of Jack's story that they are readily accepted, and many of these things, such as the existence of the Korean shamanic group, and the horrors enforced by Henry Ford on his workforce, are based on fact. Matthew Hooton brings the jungle and Jack's experience of it to life, but he also handles Jack's age, his interactions with his grandson, his daughter, and especially with Gracie, with beautiful empathy and love. And the distancing effect of the 'Once Upon a Time' story in the final pages of the book makes for a moving and satisfying ending.
This is a remarkable book by a master storyteller.
Dr. Ann Skea, Reviewer
https://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
Arthur Turfa's Bookshelf
Poems Talking to Poems: Setting Your Poetry Manuscript Apart
Jeffrey Levine and Kristina Marie Darling, editors
Tupelo Press
https://tupelopress.org
9781961209367, $19.95
What I enjoy most about attending a conference is the opportunity to meet new people and learn from them. Hopefully, they pick up a thing or two from me. In addition, if the presentations are outstanding, that makes it all the more wonderful!
Reading this book checks all of those boxes, except, of course, for actually seeing people in person. This time at least, it was nice not having to make travel arrangements, register for a conference, and deal with everything else.
A few words about structure are in order. Seven different poets/authors/editors contributed a total of 13 pieces of varying lengths; some can be read in one short sitting, others would require a longer sitting or two. Without exception, each one is valuable and offers insights no matter what style poetry readers use in their own poetry.
Regardless of where we are in our poetic journeys, this slender volume contains invaluable information about preparing a poetry manuscript. Speaking for myself, I wish I had known some of these things myself. While reading from time to time I nodded and was thankful that somehow or the other (perhaps a Muse whispered to me) I actually had done what the writer suggested.
Several selections speak of the necessity of printing out individual poems (something I had previously heard), speaking them out loud, and looking for progression or an arc within them. These pages can also be shuffled to find the best arrangement.
I close with one key insight I gleaned from the volume. There should be a connection between the title of the poem, the first poem in the collection, and the last poem in the collection. That was my "A-ha" moment. Too often poets may run out of steam, or want to stretch a manuscript by including something recently written or that garnered a prize even if it actually does not add to the thrust of the entire manuscript.
This behind-the-scenes look is invaluable, well-written, and useful
Arthur Turfa
Reviewer
Carl Logan's Bookshelf
Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to His Musical Language
Joonas Sildre, author/illustrator
Alle Tooming, editor
Adam Cullen, translator
Plough Publishing House
www.plough.com
9781636081342, $26.00, HC, 224pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Sounds-Journey-Language/dp/1636081347
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/between-two-sounds-joonas-sildre/1144607798
Synopsis: Published in a graphic novel style format, "Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to His Musical Language" by Joonas Sildre follows the life of world-famous composer Arvo Part from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music.
Based on years of research and close collaboration with Arvo Part himself, Sildre paints an atmospheric portrait of a restless artist who does not shy away from confronting state control or his own internal contradictions.
Arvo Part stormed Soviet-occupied Estonia's music scene in the 1960s as a brash young man pushing the limits of avant-garde modernism. Then he fell silent, no longer able to express what he felt through the musical language he had inherited. When he reemerged a decade later, he had found, in that silence between sounds, a new musical language inspired by ancient sacred music, the basis of his distinctive tintinnabuli technique.
"Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to His Musical Language" will appeal not just to fans of Arvo Part's music but to anyone who has known the struggle to remain true to oneself whatever the cost.
Critique: Ably translated into English by Adam Cullen and capably edited by Aile Tooming, "Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to His Musical Language" by author/illustrator Joonas Sildre is an extraordinary, unique, informative and fascinating read from start to finish. It is an especially and unreservedly recommended pick for personal reading lists, as well as community and college/university library Classical Musician Biography/Memoir collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "Between Two Sounds: Arvo Part's Journey to His Musical Language" from the Plough Publishing House is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).
Editorial Note #1: Joonas Sildre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joonas_Sildre) is an Estonian comic artist, illustrator, and graphic designer who specializes in biographical books.
Editorial Note #2: There is an online listing of titles edited by Aile Tooming at Goodreads -- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21523744.Aile_Tooming
Editorial Note #3: Adam Cullen is a freelance translator of Estonian prose, poetry, and drama. His translations include novels by Mihkel Mutt (The Cavemen Chronicle, nominated for the 2015 Cultural Endowment of Estonia's Prize for Literary Translation), Rein Raud (The Brother and The Reconstruction, nominated for the 2017 Cultural Endowment of Estonia's Prize for Literary Translation), Kai Aareleid (Burning Cities), and Tonu Onnepalu (Radio). Cullen's debut collection of original poetry, Lichen / Samblik, was published in 2017. Originally from Minnesota, he has resided in Estonia since 2007.
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Clint Travis' Bookshelf
The Grave Artist
Jeffery Deaver & Isabella Maldonado
www.jefferydeaver.com
www.isabellamaldonado.com
Thomas & Mercer
c/o Amazon Publishing
9781662518751, $28.99, HC, 396pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Artist-Sanchez-Heron/dp/1662518757
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-grave-artist-jeffery-deaver/1146612351
Synopsis: A wedding reception is coming to a close in the Hollywood Hills when the blissful day is shattered by the death of one of the newlyweds. Though the incident appears to be an accident, Homeland Security Investigations agent Carmen Sanchez and her partner, security expert Jake Heron, discover that the tragedy is the third in a series of similar deaths and conclude something far more sinister is at play.
The two uncover chilling evidence pointing to a serial killer who has taken evil to the next level. Dubbed the Honeymoon Killer, this man isn't interested in his victims but in creating his own macabre masterpiece from their graves -- focused on the survivors and reveling in their grief. And now his dark obsession has turned to Carmen and Jake...
The Honeymoon Killer has decided they are the perfect next target. Take one out and delight as the other crumbles. Time is running out as a deadly game between predator and prey begins.
Critique: Original, cleverly constructed, compelling, and a fascinatingly compulsive read from cover to cover, "The Grave Artist" by co-authors Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado is a masterpiece of suspense and especially recommended to fans of police procedural themed murder mysteries. While highly recommended, especially for community/public library Contemporary Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that this hardcover edition of "The Grave Artist" from Thomas & Mercer is also available in paperback (9781662518737, $16.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $4.99).
Editorial Note #1: Jeffery Deaver (www.jefferydeaver.com) is the author of numerous series, including Lincoln Rhyme, Colter Shaw, and Kathryn Dance, as well as the Sanchez & Heron series with Isabella Maldonado. Deaver's work includes fifty novels, more than one hundred short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. He was recently named a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, whose ranks include Agatha Christie, Elmore Leonard, and Mickey Spillane.
Editorial Note #2: Isabella Maldonado (www.isabellamaldonado.com) is the author of the Nina Guerrera, Daniela Vega, and Veranda Cruz series, as well as the Sanchez & Heron series with Jeffery Deaver. Her books are published in twenty-four languages. Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in her police department, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During her more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing.
Clint Travis
Reviewer
Debra Gaynor's Bookshelf
The Tarot Reader
Finley Turner
Crooked Lane Books
https://crookedlanebooks.com
9798892423076, $29.99 Hardback, $19.99 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Reader-Novel-Finley-Turner/dp/B0DPPHY24T
Jade Crawford and her sister Stevie live in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Jade claims to be a psychic (a fake psychic), Stevie helps her by gathering information about people and running the backroom where she controls certain aspects of seances, she helps sell crystals and occasionally reads tarot cards. They are barely making ends meet when they receive notice their rent is going up. Knowing they must find a way to generate more income, Jade comes up with an idea. The sisters hear a councilman is missing and there is a very nice reward for information leading to finding him. She calls the police tipline and tells them she is psychic and had a vision concerning a missing politician. Shockingly she gives actual details. The publicity does generate more business. Then the unthinkable someone breaks into their home. Could they be the killer's next target? One lie always leads to another. The sisters try to keep up their pretense as long as they can but when their father is released from prison their plan begins to implode.
One of the sisters has a secret which eventually comes to light. A psychologist lives next door to the girls. There were the beginnings of a romance; it was disappointing that it did not last. There were times when I suspected he was the culprit. It isn't until the end of the book when the real killer is revealed.
The plot of The Tarot Reader was interesting. The characters: I liked Jade even though she was a fraud. Stevie was ok but at times she seemed a bit selfish. The next-door neighbor seemed headed toward a romance with Jade but that never got off the ground, disappointing. At first their father seemed vindictive but toward the end I saw he was headed toward a change.
The Grave Robber
Time Carpenter
Harper Horizon
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/harper-horizon
9781400248636, $29.99 Hardback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Robber-Biggest-Artifacts-History/dp/1400248639
Author Tim Carpenter was the lead investigator on the FBI's Art Crime Team. He shares an disturbing case of art theft.
One man spent his life desecrating graves. Nothing was sacred to him; he traveled the globe gathering artifacts. He had thousands of arrowheads, but he didn't stop there. He took what he wanted including skulls and whole skeletons. He seemed especially interested in Native American.
The first few chapters of this book discuss how Carpenter discovered the theft of the artifacts and the retrieval. The FBI knocked on the thief and asked him to return the items. While the elderly thief did not want to he cooperated for the most part. From this point on the book discusses Carpenter's life both personal and professional.
There is a lot of emphasis on things I would consider trivial. I found the reaction of the Native Americans very interesting. This book has great potential, but the trivial details distract from the main story. I was caught up in the story to a point then I started loosing interest.
Imposter: An Alexander Gregory Thriller
LJ Ross
Poisoned Pen Press
c/o Sourcebooks
https://www.sourcebooks.com
9781464278686, $32.99 Hardback, $18.99 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Impostor-Alexander-Gregory-Thriller-Thrillers-ebook/dp/B0FLFCGG8J
Doctor Alexander Gregory was a Forensic Psychologist and Profiler. He was part of a unit of psychological profiles. After the unit was closed he began working in an elevated security psychiatric hospital in London. Dr. Gregory has a talent for delving deep into the minds of criminals and seeing the evil that lies there waiting for an opportunity to cause fear and havoc. In the town in Ballyfinny, County Mayo, Ireland, a young woman was murdered. The Gardai (police) are searching in vain for evidence or motives; they turn to Alex begging him to lend a hand by profiling the probable suspect.
Alex believes the murder scene was well staged. The victims were a mother and wife. He believes the culprit is someone local, someone who suffered a traumatic experience when they were young. There were no clues, no fingerprints, and no DNA evidence at either murder scene. Even knowing it was probably a local, the Gardai are having trouble pinpointing who commit the murders.
In this, the first book of the series, we meet Dr Gregory and some of his patients from the psychiatric hospital. I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting seeing things through Alex eyes. The narrator did a great job. This is a great beginning to a new series.
The Hostess: A Novelette
Cat Oyster
https://catoyster.com
Future Light Publishing
B0FRFTFTR9
9781969295003, $7.99 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Hostess-Cat-Oyster/dp/1969295023
The Hostess has an unusual and unique plot. In The Hostess we discover a dystopian society. I find the premise disturbing. A company pays people to allow someone else to inhabit it while they are sleeping. Michaela rents out her body while she is sleeping. When she awakens, she has bruises. She begins asking questions. The answers are dangerous.
This book could have been better developed if it had been longer. I believe the author wrote this book as an example of an authoritarian society. The book was well written. I enjoy dystopian tales and this one certainly meets that criteria.
Wishing You Rainbows
Sheri Fink, author
Bright Jungle Studios, illustrator
Whimsical World
https://www.whimsical-world.com
9781949213591, $24.95 Hardback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Wishing-You-Rainbows-Sheri-Fink-ebook/dp/B0FJ7RDZ4S
Whimsical World
https://www.whimsical-world.com/products/wishing-you-rainbows
Author Sheri Fink shares her love for her son Ethan with readers. Throughout this book you cannot help but feel her love and support for her child. As parents read this tale to their children, they will be sharing their love and support for their child. Wishing You Rainbows is a whimsical poem that will build a child's self-confidence. When a child knows he/she is loved they will feel good about themselves. Some days are hard and some days are stormy, we love our children through them all; reading this tale to your child is an excellent way to show them you will always be their strongest defender.
The illustrations are beautifully done with bright colors and whimsical animals. Your child will be delighted with the pictures.
"Feelings change like the weather,
they never last long.
I'll always be here for you cheering you on."
"If something bad happens and you feel you can't bear it.
You may find more peace
If you're brave and you share it."
What a wonderful message. Kudos to author Sheri Fink for sharing such a wonderful message with others.
Tame Your Thoughts
Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson
https://www.thomasnelson.com
9781400256235, $29.99 Hardback, $26.76 Paperback, $14.99 Ebook
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Tame-Your-Thoughts-Three-Transform/dp/1400256232
Our thoughts can affect every part of our life. When we have positive thoughts we have positive reactions, we are happier, and more productive. When we allow negative thoughts to take over, we can become confused, depressed, filled with shame, doubt, guilt and bitterness. When my husband was in the ICU with Covid, my mind was filled with sorrow, confusion, and doubt. I tried to pray but couldn't find the words to still my thoughts. I praise God, He could hear me even when I did not have the words. I wish I had a copy of this book at that time. Scripture speaks to us about our thoughts. Author Max Lucado offers readers a Bible Study that proposes three ways to tame the tumultuous thoughts that consume us.
This book contains illustrations and examples that clearly demonstrate real life experiences. Author Max Lucado keeps the style of this book light and uplifting. There are questions at the end of this book that encourage readers to think, to dig deeper and to ponder upon ourselves.
Author Max Lucado shares some useful steps for following the passage that tells us to "We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ." There is such wisdom written in the pages of this book. There is a section that encourages readers to write down and confess their sins to God. We are to ask him to search our heart for anything hidden. We have a good and perfect God. He offers us forgiveness, mercy and grace. Praise God.
The October Film Haunt
Michael Wehunt
St. Martin's Press
c/o Macmillan
https://us.macmillan.com/stmartinspress
9781250333698, $29.00, $35.99 Large Print Library Binding
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/October-Film-Haunt-Novel/dp/1250333695
Jorie Stroud loved horror movies. Ten years ago, she was a member of the October Film Haunt along with two of her friends. The group would travel to and camp out at the sites where horror movies were filmed. The three friends loved it to the point of obsession. Everything went wrong when they spent the night at the site where the movie Proof of Demons was filmed. It was thought the movie had a ritual in it that opened the gates of hell releasing demons. Something terrible happened at that site. It was so terrible Jorie swore she would never again participate.
Jorie completely left the world of horror films. It is ten years later; she has a son and a home in Vermont. One day a VCR tape was left in her mailbox.
This book gave me the creeps. The author tells the story through several points of view, which made this book feel off balanced and unsettling. The author had a unique way of using POV to tell the story; I found this very confusing, especially when you realize he did the same thing with the different movies. This book just didn't do it for me; perhaps if you are a great fan of horror, you might enjoy it. I just found it confusing, strange and boring.
He Sees You When You're Sleeping
Alta Hensley
Avon A
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063433953, $18.99 Paperback, $45.99 Audio
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Sees-When-Youre-Sleeping-Secrets_Where/dp/0063433958
Chloe is a jewelry influencer. But she is much more than an influencer; she is BlackChlo. She is a member of a BDSM website where she shares her fantasies; she has deep dark desires. She meets a man on the site. He seems to be everything she is looking for.
Jack stood outside her window and watched her. Jack knew her well. He knew her deepest darkest secrets. He was the fireman/first responder two years ago to the accident that took her family, leaving her alone. He has been watching over her for the last two years. He knows where she has coffee each morning and he makes sure he is there. Jack doesn't realize it, but he is obsessed with her.
I liked Jack; he and Chloe worked well together. I thought Tyler was a sleaze bag from the first moment he entered the picture. When Chloe discovered Tyler had been watching her, she became very upset. I can't share more on that without giving too much away. The BDSM seemed like fun until it wasn't. I know that many people have Dom/sub tendencies. It is kinky but risky. Society looks down on such desires. It is dangerous because there are a lot of sick people in this world.
I enjoyed this story. I was rooting for Chloe and Jack throughout the book. I can understand why she was angry but if she had just looked at how kind he had been to her and how he met her needs she would have made different choices. Kudos to the author, Alta Hensley for writing a hot steamy book filled with deep dark desires.
Love Wars: Clash of the Parents, A True Divorce Story
Matthew A. Tower, author
Tsuneo Sanda, illustrator
Raja Media LLC
https://lovewars.com
9798999503800, $27.99 Hardcover
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Wars-Parents-Divorce-Memoir/dp/B0FPZKVLSJ
In Love Wars: Clash of the Parents, A True Divorce Story, the kids are the ones paying the price either way. It doesn't matter whether the parents divorce or not the kids are going to get hurt. In Love Wars: Clash of the Parents, A True Divorce Story, author Matthew A. Tower shares what he and his brother went through when his parents divorce. I can only imagine the pain they faced when they were first told their parents were splitting. The author uses Star Wars to show the hell they went through.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker was the son of a Jedi; He craved a life of quest and commitment he joined the Rebellion and learned the ways of the Force from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke Skywalker had a mission and so did Matthew. He was shattered when his parents' divorce placed him in the midst of a custody battle. Taking his cues from Luke Skywalker, Matthew begins a mission to stop his parents' war of retribution. He needs the help of his younger brother Thomas Rabbit if he is going to successfully blow the Divorce War Death Star. But Will Thomas help?.
At times this book was humorous but at times it brought tears. The illustrations were perfect. The focus of this book is 9-12 but I highly recommend this book for any age including adults. Especially, adults that are going through a divorce.
Caller Unknown: A Novel
Gillian McAllister
William Morrow
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063338470 $30.00 Hardcopy, $34.00 Large Print Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Caller-Novel-Gillian-McAllister/dp/0063338475
In Caller Unknown we are introduced to the female lead character, Simone. She is a self-made entrepreneur from Great Britain. She grew up in a foster home where she was abandoned as well as ignored. She takes pride in the fact she is an independent woman. She is married and has a daughter preparing for university. Simone and Lucy decide to spend some time bonding. They fly to Texas where they have rented a cabin. While the cabin appeared comfy and cozy online, when they arrived, they realized they had maybe made a mistake. The door wouldn't properly shut.
Simone is tired after such a long flight; she quickly falls asleep. When she wakes up, she realizes Lucy is missing in her place was a phone. The phone rings. The person on the phone has Lucy. A video shows Lucy is alive but restrained. If Simone goes to the police, she will never see her daughter again. Simone is terrified and serious.
Simone contacts her husband in England. He promises to be on the next flight and encourages her to contact the police. Simone is afraid she will never see Lucy again. She deceives her husband and handles the situation as she thinks best. She expects the kidnappers to demand a ransom but what they want is much worse. They order her to commit a crime. Simone would do anything for her daughter, even break the law.
She knows something is terribly wrong, but she agrees to save Lucy. She is a tough self-sufficient woman-she will save her daughter no matter the cost.
WOW! What a ride! I was on the edge of my seat through the whole book. I could not lay it down and stayed up all night reading. The relationship between Simone and Lucy was complicated as was the relationship between Damian and Simone. Author Gillian McAllister is brilliant, talented and a master at characterization. The tension was non-ending.
The Blood of Others
Charity Eleson
Luxvida Press
9798989574919, $15.00 Paperback
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Others-Charity-Eleson-ebook/dp/B0FQ69H6ZH
This book is based on a historical massacre. The setting is September 11, 1857, Mountain Meadows, Utah. Almost 140 unarmed men, women and children were slaughtered. The Fancher wagon train was making its way from Arkansas to California. They took refuge and rest in Mountain Meadows before the last part of their journey through the Mojave Desert. The members of the Fancher wagon train were murdered. It was obvious the murderers wanted the murders to look like the Indians had committed the atrocities.
Mormons families lived and farmed the nearby land. The church leaders made up a story about the Paiutes (an Indian Tribe) committing the massacre. The church members helped to spread the lie. Malachai, a 15-year-old Shoshone boy, bought and owned by one of the Mormon farmers that knew the truth. He also knew he could not tell anyone, or he would be killed. It became hard to keep the truth to himself. Two of his friends a Paulet boy and a Mormon girl placed their own lives endanger when they tried to help him.
This book demonstrates daily life on the frontier, the position of women in the Mormon society and the manner of adopting native children. This was a dark stain on America. This is a story you will not want to miss. The massacre was shocking, tragic and sad. It didn't have to happen. It is shocking and appalling. Author Charity Eleson is a talented writer. She breathes life into the past, an event we should never forget.
Debra Gaynor, Reviewer
www.hancockclarion.com
https://www.facebook.com/book.reviews.by.debra.2025
Emily Patton's Bookshelf
Disappearance at Devil's Rock: A Novel
Paul Tremblay
William Morrow Paperbacks
c/o Harper Collins
www.harpercollins.com
9780062363282, $9.99 pbk / $6.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-at-Devils-Rock-Novel/dp/0063312476
I've read many of the online reviews of this book, and I tend to disagree with the glowing accolades most of them present. While I enjoyed the book - I read it in about a week - I did not find it scary or horrific, as some readers did. For me, it falls more into the crime fiction genre than horror fiction. It involves the disappearance of a 13-year-old boy and the trauma suffered by his single mom and sister, which I know can be particularly disturbing to some readers.
Tommy and two of his friends go into Borderland Park close to their homes one night. Only the friends come out. What happened to Tommy is the big question of the tale. His mother, Elizabeth, desperate to find her son, sees an apparition of him in her house. Later, she finds pages torn out of his diary dropped on the living room floor. Tommy's sister, Kate, sees a figure in her bedroom window during the night. Although these are spooky events, they did not particularly frighten me. I may be jaded, but truly little horror fiction frightens me anymore. Or I'm just old and have heard it all before. Ha!
Anyway, Tommy and his friends were fascinated by zombies and Minecraft. Tremblay's portrayal of the boys is realistic - their dialogue and behavior are spot-on. Tremblay clearly understands boys. It was nice to read an author who knows how to write children's characters.
Both the police and their parents question Tommy's friends, but they only reveal a little at a time. They are hiding secrets, things they are afraid to tell for fear of getting into trouble. When they finally reveal that an adult male had been hanging out with them, the ending becomes predictable. Still, there are some surprises along the way, including a particularly violent scene. The violence seems to come out of nowhere and feels a bit like the plot needed to have a death to support the feeling of dread in the reader. The revelation of what really happened comes through police transcripts of interviews. There's no dramatic climax. Instead, it's only sad.
Still, it's a good, easy read. Tremblay is an excellent writer. He writes fully developed, interesting characters. He's skilled at revealing what happened a little bit at a time, which keeps the reader involved in the story. I think I've become a hard-to-scare reader. If any of you have suggestions on what I should read to really become fearful, let me know. The last book I read that scared me was Furnace by Muriel Gray, published in 1997, but I didn't read it until 2018.
On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not at all scary and 5 is sleep with the lights on frightening, I give disappearance a 2.
Emily A. Patton
Reviewer
Fred Siegmund's Bookshelf
Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America
Robert B. Reich
Knopf
https://knopfdoubleday.com/imprint/knopf
9780593803288, $30.00 hc / $14.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Up-Short-Memoir-America/dp/0593803280
In his newest book, Coming Up Short, author Robert Reich offers readers a unique combination of personal memoir, U.S. history and policy discussion condensed into 350 pages. Born in 1946 he grew up as a founding member of the boomer generation. He lived through the Civil Rights and Vietnam War era while a student and then took an active role in politics, serving in judicial and administrative appointments during the Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations. While he never held political office, he made an unsuccessful run for governor of Massachusetts and served as an informal advisor to political candidates and office holders during his years as a professor in academia.
The narrative follows a rough chronology through his life divided into six parts that serve as chapters. Since he met bullies growing up in South Salem, New York and attending Lewisboro elementary school, standing up to America's rich corporate bullies becomes a theme guiding the narrative. Education at Dartmouth College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and Yale Law School and his work as a clerk to a federal judge, Assistant Solicitor General to Robert Bork, policy director at the Federal Trade Commission, and Secretary of Labor allowed him to meet dozens of future and current politicians and write opinion informed by personal experience.
Reich expresses his support for equal rights and social justice with the stories of his encounters with dozens of politicians and celebrities he met during his career. Boomers especially get a chance to reconsider old events in a new perspective. In 1965, as Dartmouth class president, he met Hillary Rodham, then a student at Wellesley College, and then introduced her to Bill Clinton six years later while they and Clarance Thomas were all Yale law students. While still a student he was an intern for Robert Kennedy, then volunteered for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign, traveled to England with Bill Clinton to be Rhodes scholars and figure out how to evade the Vietnam draft. He met Robert Bork while his law school student and then worked for him when Bork was Solicitor General. A 22-page saga of Bork's career and the origins of the term "Borked" follow. Reich suggests Bork deserved better than he got from the press and Congress.
Reich titles Part III, The Giant U-Turn, that identifies a 1971 letter of attorney and later Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommending a shift of corporate America to "mobilize for political combat." Before describing some of the resulting abuses and characteristics of corporate misconduct, Reich describes his work with the Carter administration and defends President Carter as not as bad as we think. In two other sections he discusses his relationship with John Kenneth Galbraith and a professorial tenure battle of his wife while at Harvard.
Part IV has eighty pages, the longest in the book, which Reich entitles Failure. It describes his work as a Democratic party advisor to Senator Gary Hart, Governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and Bill Clinton. After Clinton wins the presidential election he becomes Secretary of Labor, which he hoped would allow him to pursue an agenda to benefit the working class. Reich describes his failed efforts as Secretary of Labor by narrating his bureaucratic policy battles with Secretary Robert Rubin and with stories of Alan Greenspan and others.
One of his failures occurred at a Bridgestone tire plant in Oklahoma where a failure to install safety cutoff switches had killed and injured workers and remained as a risk to injure more. Reich responded to the failure by seeking an emergency order to require installation of cutoff switches and imposed a $7.5 million fine. The company denied all wrong doing and threatened to close the plant. Reich backed down: "The bullies won. I am haunted by our failure. All I had considered was the moral superiority of my position and the thrill of the spectacle. I hadn't imagined Bridgestone would take hostage the livelihoods of more than a thousand people." He was haunted because he made the wrong decision to give in! He left the job at the end of Clinton's first term to spend more time with his kids; a claim we can believe but readers might conclude, as I did, that he was worn out with Bill Clinton and his Wall Street tilt.
In the gathering storm, the title for Part V, readers get subtitled commentary on episodes of misconduct and cowardice by individuals in positions of leadership. Reich quotes from a speech he made to the Democratic Leadership Council where he warned them of a two tiered society of winners and losers. After the warning come stories of people who promoted or acquiesced in the two-tier society: Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barak Obama, Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and others.
About midway through Part V Reich switches to the aftermath of the Bush recession to discuss the tea partiers, occupiers and other angry people." There is special mention of the cowardice of Clinton and Obama: "Both Clinton and Obama stood by as corporations busted trade unions, backbone of the working class." Recall Obama did not prosecute the Bush era banking looters. Reich recounts visits to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina and the anti-establishment rage he found there. He goes on to discuss the end of the American Dream and the end of the Republican party as a political party. The final subsection offers the five elements that make fascism. He finishes with "Americans can preserve our democracy and share our prosperity only by attacking and countering concentrated wealth and the political corruption that accompanies it."
Part VI, The Long Game, ends the book with a smorgasbord of personal stories, a few suggestions, and a tiny slice of optimism. One story was his failed campaign for Massachusetts governor. As a political advisor he thought he knew elective politics but running for office taught him the essential personality traits he does not have: narcissist, extrovert, method actor, thick skin, and also avoid consultants and be respectful of media. He concluded "Running for office made me even more keenly aware of the role and responsibility of mainstream media in a democracy in danger of coming apart."
Other stories describe an aborted appearance with "Dr. Phil," his friendship and admiration for Bernie Sanders, the pleasure of seeing and remembering some of his students. The last pages have some broad suggestions for restoring capitalism, reclaiming patriotism, creating better workplaces, and sharing profits. The book ends with thoughts on growing old, 79, and the need for the younger generation to take over and restore democracy.
The Reich book is built on the same ethical principles as similar books and commentary by others like Arlie Russel Hochschild, Heather Cox Richardson, and recent books of Steven Brill and David Leonhardt. However, his 60 year career in politics and academia required him to confront an unusually long list of political disputes and meet an unusually long list of people who became colleagues, friends and adversaries. Unlike political memoirs in my experience Reich agonizes over his failures. Unlike corporate media he calls evil by its true name: campaign finance is bribery, Trump Republicans are liars, enablers and accessories to crimes against the constitution. Anita Hill was right, Justice Alito is the most cognitively dishonest justice since Roger Taney, Democrats Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Barak Obama are cowards; the Democratic party has failed for decades to protect the working class, and more.
In a section titled "My Illicit Affair" Reich describes his friendship with Republican Senator Allan Simpson of Wyoming, a political opponent he admired for "his sincerity and passion for democracy." Still friends in 2016, Reich asked why more Republicans weren't speaking out against Trump.
"They're scared," he said.
"Scared of Trump."
"No," he said, lowering his voice. "They're scared of the kind of people Trump is attracting and what he's bringing out in them."
"You mean they're scared of being physically harmed?"
"Friend it only takes one nut case?"
Enough said.
Fred Siegmund, Reviewer
www.Americanjobmarket.blogspot.com
Helen Cook's Bookshelf
Reviving Our Republic: 95 Theses for the Future of America
Mike Bedenbaugh
MAP Media
https://revivingourrepublic.com
9798991422604, $14.99, PB, 197pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Reviving-Our-Republic-Theses-America/dp/B0DHB7DM1M
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reviving-our-republic-mike-bedenbaugh/1146300429
America's democracy is fraying under the weight of political division, corporate influence and public distrust. With the nation's founding ideals at risk, Navy veteran and historic preservation leader Michael Bedenbaugh is sounding the alarm in his urgent book, Reviving Our Republic: 95 Theses for the Future of America. Drawing on history and offering actionable reforms, Bedenbaugh presents a nonpartisan blueprint for restoring accountability, liberty and unity.
"If we don't act now, we risk losing the Republic our ancestors entrusted to us," Bedenbaugh said. "This book isn't just theory - it's a call to citizens everywhere to demand reform and reclaim our Republic before the window of opportunity closes."
In Reviving Our Republic, Bedenbaugh draws inspiration from Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses and reinterprets the country's founding principles for modern challenges. The result is a blueprint for addressing pressing problems facing the nation today.
Grounded in lessons from Washington's Farewell Address to the 2010 Citizens United decision that expanded corporate influence on policy, Reviving Our Republic offers 40 proposals aimed at fostering a more responsive, accountable government. In this blend of practical experience and scholarly insight, readers will learn:
Proposals to reform the electoral system, including methods to ensure broader voter consensus in elections and changes to the Electoral College.
Strategies to curb corporate influence in politics, strengthen individual liberty and amplify a wider range of perspectives.
Plans to restore the balance between federal and local powers, reviving true federalism in government.
Methods to ensure fiscally responsible governance and address the national debt crisis.
Approaches to realign foreign policy with the constitutional vision of limiting foreign entanglements.
Written for concerned voters, community leaders and students of politics, history and economics, Reviving Our Republic offers a fresh approach to reform that Bedenbaugh hopes will inspire citizens to chart a path forward guided by shared principles and responsibility.
"Restoring our Republic is not optional - it's essential for America's survival," Bedenbaugh said. "This is a turning point in our history. Either we choose the hard work of responsible citizenship now, or we allow division and corruption to decide our future for us. The time to act is today."
Helen Cook, Reviewer
Ascot Media Group
https://ascotmedia.com
Israel Drazin's Bookshelf
Ezra-Nehemiah: Retrograde Revolution
Yael Leibowitz
Maggid
c/o Koren Publishers
https://korenpub.com
9781592647071, $29.95 hc / $8.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Ezra-Nehemiah-Retrograde-Revolution-Yael-Leibowitz/dp/1592647073
An eye-opening Jewish history from 539 to 443 BCE
Rabbanit Yael Leibowitz presents a fascinating interpretation of the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, relevant today, in her easy-to-read 2025 book, "Ezra-Nehemiah: Retrograde Revolution." She writes that during the period of Ezra and Nehemiah, life was filled with disappointment, "but discontent and gratitude...can coexist. The difficulties of the period are conceded, but the sorrow generated by those difficulties is not granted the power to drown out the joy of its triumphs. The community described in Ezra-Nehemiah savors the historic moments it is witness to, imperfect as they may be." This is a lesson we need to learn.
The title "rabbanit" is given to women rabbis. In this splendid, informative book, Rabbanit Yael Leibowitz shows that few male or female rabbis have the knowledge and understanding of biblical literature and secular scholarly works, as she does, and can communicate them in intelligible English that increases the reader's knowledge and enjoyment. Her book not only informs readers about the Bible, the history and mindset of the times, but also about the effects of all of this then and today. Most of the 286 pages are composed with the primary text in the top half, with an abundance of intriguing, informative details in the notes below.
The title of this book, "Retrograde Revolution," means moving backwards or reverting to an earlier stage. This is one of the volume's central themes. The only way that the ancient Judeans could improve was by adopting the lessons of the past. This was what Ezra and Nehemiah emphasized. The past, especially Torah teachings, is a signpost that guides Judaism's direction. It is the lesson we must not ignore. George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," a warning against forgetting history to avoid repeating mistakes.
There is scholarly disagreement about virtually everything in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. For example, there is no historical consensus on Ezra's existence or mission due to a lack of extrabiblical evidence and conflicting scholarly interpretations. The dating of events is debated. Some scholars even doubt that Ezra existed or that he was Jewish.
The books Ezra and Nehemiah were originally a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra-Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed Rabbinic Bibles in the early 16th century, when Jews copied the late medieval Christian tradition. That Jews copied a Christian idea should surprise no one. An example of many others is the fact that it was Christians who divided the Bible into chapters, and Jews accepted the idea. While the division of Ezra and Nehemiah posed no problems, the division of the Bible into chapters makes some readers think the innovators were drunk in many instances. An example is the second chapter of the Bible, where the opening verses speaking of the creation of the seventh day belong in chapter one, which describes the first period of creation.
The books are composed in Hebrew and Aramaic. They represent the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. Nehemiah is the last historical book of the Hebrew Bible. Although the book of Esther appears after Nehemiah in the canon, the events in Esther occurred during the period between Ezra 6 and 7, between the first and second returns of the people exiled to Babylon to Israel. The last prophet, Malachi, was a contemporary of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah was a layman, not a priest like Ezra nor a prophet like Malachi. He served the Persian king in a secular capacity before leading a group of Jews to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls. His story shows that even people with little religious background can make a successful contribution to Judaism.
The current single biblical book, Ezra, has eight chapters, and Nehemiah has thirteen. All twenty-three are challenging to understand. Scholars have different interpretations of the books. Rabbanit Leibowitz offers her own in her volume, and what she writes makes sense.
The history of the time, as she sees it, is as follows. In 539 BCE, Cyrus II (559-530 BCE) defeated the Babylonians, who had destroyed the first Jewish Temple in 586 BCE and brought many Judeans, living in Judea, later called Israel, into exile in Babylon. A year later, in 538, Cyrus allowed the Judeans to leave Babylon and return to Judea. Some Judeans returned in three waves, but the majority chose to remain. Cyrus was succeeded by Darius I (522-486).
That a sizable number of Judeans decided to remain in Babylon should surprise no one. The Judean exile to Babylon began with the destruction of Judea in 586 BCE. When Cyrus allowed them to return home to Judea in 538, the Judeans had been in Babylon for 48 years. They were a different generation from those who were exiled in 586. Most never lived in Judea. Even the older generation had little recall of Judea, which they had left as children.
The Judean situation in 538 was similar to that of American Jews in 1948 when Israel was reestablished. The Judeans were treated well and participated in cultural events like non-Judeans. They were not oppressed. Many, like Nehemiah, held high level government positions. They had no good reason to leave a happy existence to return to a land that had been devastated in 586, that was surrounded by enemies, and required much repair.
There were three movements home. Each movement had a leader or leaders, a mission, opposition to the mission, and the movement's mission was only partially successful. The first return to Judea was led by three men and occurred around 538-515. They rebuilt the Temple complex between 520 and 515 and restored Temple ritual. The primary leader of the first return was Zerubbabel, a descendant of King David. Cyrus appointed him as the governor of Judah.
The second group of returnees, under Ezra's management, reinstated religious law and the study of Torah in the Judean community. Nehemiah led the third which constructed the city walls around Jerusalem.
While scholars debate the dates, Leibowitz offers 458-457 as the year when Ezra the Scribe arrived in Judea. She gives the later dates for Nehemiah's governorship over Judea as 446- 433.
While the leaders Ezra and Nehemiah emphasized the need to learn from the past - one of the main themes of Leibowitz's book - another theme in her book focuses on Nehemiah's second return to Judea and finding that much of what he had worked so hard to accomplish no longer existed. It was as if the people took three steps forward, then two steps back. As a result, the book of Nehemiah ends with disappointment.
Rabbanit Leibowitz focuses on this and reveals an insight that will startle many readers. She shows that this discouraging ending is not unusual. Many biblical books close in disappointment, including each of the five books of Moses. She writes that this reflects human nature. The dance of three steps forward, followed by two steps back, is a common occurrence among people. It can and does discourage many people. But if we look to the lessons of the past, as Ezra and Nehemiah stressed, we will find that people will succeed despite failures.
Thus, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us an intriguing historical story and show that while the countries of Cyrus and Darius no longer exist, why Israel does. It was due to the Jewish focus not only on the future but also on the lessons, actions, and failures of the past, and the realization that there are many elements in Judaism, including the Torah, that are blazing, even flashing signposts indicating how life can be improved despite failures.
Kotsuji's Gift: The Daring Rescue of Japan's Jewish Refugees
Jundai Yamada
Maggid
c/o Koren Publishers
https://korenpub.com
9781592647101, $29.95, 380 pages
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Kotsujis-Gift-Daring-Rescue-Refugees/dp/1592647103
Kotsuji's Gift: The Rescue of Japan's Jews
Kotsuji's Gift: The Daring Rescue of Japan's Jewish Refugees by Jundai Yamada, published in 2025, is a powerful and touching work that sheds light on a unique figure in World War II history. Yamada shares the story of Setsuzo Kotsuji, a Japanese scholar, university professor, and Japanese government official whose moral courage and compassion helped save thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi and Japanese persecution.
Setsuz? Kotsuji (1899-1973) was a Japanese Orientalist and Hebraist, the son of a Shinto priest from a long line of Shinto priests. During the Holocaust, at enormous risk to himself, he assisted Jewish refugees - first in Kobe and later in Japanese-occupied Shanghai - and spoke out against Nazi-inspired anti-Jewish propaganda. As a Japanese government official, he helped many Jews to escape the Holocaust. He was discovered, tortured for his actions, and forced to flee Japan.
His life was one of conviction and transformation. His decision to study Hebrew, embrace Christianity in his youth, and eventually convert to Judaism in Jerusalem in 1959 all mark him as a bridge between worlds. He was a man of courage who transcended national and religious boundaries in search of morality, truth, and justice.
The basic statement of morality is the command "love your neighbor as yourself" found in Leviticus 19:18. Leviticus 19:34 clarifies that the command includes non-Jews, stating, "love strangers as yourself." It emphasizes the latter command by repeating it 36 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Hillel, who lived approximately from 110 BCE to 10 CE, rephrased the biblical command "love your neighbor as yourself" from a positive command to a negative one. Instead of focusing on what to do, it focuses on what to avoid. He told a man who was considering converting to Judaism, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. The rest is commentary."
Jesus repeated the Torah teaching in the New Testament in Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31. Matthew 7:12 restated it as, "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you."
There is also a saying in Bushido, the code of honor and morals developed by the Japanese samurai, "It is cowardice not to do, seeing one ought."
Kotsuji, who died at the age of 74, rests in a grave in Jerusalem. He had left these words to his family: "Within a hundred years, someone will come along who will understand me."
This book reveals his heroism without waiting a hundred years. It shows us that Kotsuji was a hero.
The author Jundai Yamada captures this great man's journey with remarkable sensitivity. The book is fascinating and inspiring. It weaves the life of this extraordinary man with historical detail.
The book's revelations are compelling, but what makes Kotsuji's Gift unforgettable is its humanity. Yamada writes with clarity and heart, honoring Kotsuji not as a distant hero but as a complex, compassionate man whose responses to horrors and immorality still resonate today.
Roughly 4,600 refugees arrived in Kobe, Japan, between July 1940 and September 1941, primarily from Eastern Europe, escaping Nazi Germany, en route to other destinations such as Shanghai. These included about 300 teachers and students from Mir Yeshivah. Japan was at first kind to the Jews, but this changed in 1941, just before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and joined World War II. Japan gave Jews only a two-week "visa for life" to leave Japan. Not all could do so.
Kotsuji acted.
Imagine if you saved the life of a single individual. You would be proud of yourself for the rest of your life. Although no exact number can be attributed to Setsuzo Kotsuji's efforts, it is estimated that he helped thousands of Jewish refugees.
Some years later, many guests crowded around beautifully set tables in Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz's small apartment at the Mir Yeshivah in Jerusalem.
Rising to speak, Rabbi Shmulevitz, Mir's illustrious head of the yeshivah, warmly called out, "Dear Reb Avraham, may you merit to grow in Torah and fear of Heaven, in line with the aspirations of your pure heart! May you become a true son of Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father), after whom you are now named."
This was no bar-mitzvah celebration. The celebrant was Setsuzo Kotsuji, now 60 years old, who had recently been circumcised upon converting to Judaism, taking on the Hebrew name "Avraham."
The rabbi continued, "We will never forget what you did for us when we were in Japan, nor how you risked your life to save us. The merit of that self-sacrifice is what stood in your stead and led you to seek shelter under the wings of the Shechinah (the Divine Presence) and to become a genuine member of the nation you helped so much."
On another occasion, also in Israel, Kotsuji's actions on behalf of Jewish refugees were remembered with appreciation. Former Deputy Speaker of Knesset and head of the Israel-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group, Zvi Hauser, stated: "Kotsuji showed rare public courage in standing up against antisemitism in wartime Japan, and worked to aid the thousands of Jewish refugees who found themselves in Kobe. His legacy demonstrates how an individual, even without official authority, can make a decisive difference in the fate of others."
At a time when the lessons of empathy and intercultural understanding feel more vital than ever, Kotsuji's Gift stands as both a history and a moral guide. It reminds us that the choices of one individual - even in the darkest of times - can illuminate the path for generations to come.
This is a fascinating book for people who enjoy unusual and inspiring stories, readers of World War II history and Jewish studies, and all who seek hope and joy and want to read about inspirational people.
The Art and Practice of Living Wondrously
Ronit Ziv-Kreger
Maggid Books
c/o Koren Publishers
https://korenpub.com
9781592647118, $29.95, HC, 280pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Practice-Living-Wondrously-Momentum/dp/1592647111
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-and-practice-of-living-wondrously-ronit-ziv-kreger/1148116740
How to find joy in life
The 2025 book "The Art and Practice of Living Wondrously", edited by Ronit Ziv-Kreger, is not just another inspirational book. It is a spiritual and psychological guide with a practical, well-stocked toolkit for navigating life's messiness with grace, curiosity, and courage, leading to growth and joy. It is a remarkable collection filled with wisdom that brings together articulate and fascinating voices from across the spectrum of Jewish thought and modern psychology to explore a deeply relevant question: How can we be happy, even in times of pain, uncertainty, conflict with others, or despair?
The book clarifies that "living wondrously," with feelings of joy, is not about escaping hardship. It is about engaging with life more fully, even in times of pain. Drawing on ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science, the contributors, all experts in their fields, make a compelling case that seeking happiness is not frivolous or naive. It is a survival skill, a source of resilience, and a radical act of courage, hope, growth, pride, and joy.
For example, Dr. Edith Eger, a psychologist and Holocaust survivor, reminds us that even amidst suffering, beauty and meaning are within reach if we have sufficient sense to look and act.
The book is structured not just to inspire but to equip. Each of the thirty-two essays, stories, and insights is carefully chosen to guide readers through essential themes such as finding meaning in small moments, fostering and maintaining friendships, caring for parents, drawing wisdom from times of loss, managing work and family, and becoming a source of strength and hope for others.
The contributors include luminaries such as the renowned Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau, who leads a team focusing on 929, an Israeli initiative that fosters discourse across all sectors of society by reviving and making relevant the 929 chapters of the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible.
Lau writes about the importance of children escorting their elderly parents, helping them find meaning, inviting them to share their stories, making room for their contributions, helping them with technology, and seizing time to be together.
While not mentioning the concept, Lau, in essence, is telling readers that honoring parents requires lifnim meshurat hadin, "going beyond the letter of the law."
A classic example of this requirement, also not mentioned in the book, is found in a talmudic story in Bava Metzia 83 involving Rabbah bar bar Channah and a group of porters. Some porters were carrying a barrel of wine for the sage Rabbah bar bar Channah. They negligently dropped and broke the barrel.
Since the strict letter of the law (shurat hadin) held the porters liable for the damage, Rabbah seized their garments as payment for the ruined wine. The porters, having worked all day and being poor, went to Rav, a leading Jewish authority, to complain that they were hungry and had received nothing for their day's labor.
Rav told Rabbah to return the porters' garments. When Rabbah asked if this was the law, Rav reminded him of the verse in Proverbs 2:20: "You shall walk in the way of good people." Based on this ethical principle, he instructed Rabbah to return their garments.
The porters then pleaded with Rav, "We are poor and have worked all day. Are we to get nothing?" Rav then ordered Rabbah to pay them for their work as well. Again, Rabbah asked whether this was the law, and Rav responded by quoting the second half of the same verse from Proverbs: "and keep the path of the righteous."[1]
Harry Rothenberg, Esq., discusses the different reactions of the patriarch Jacob, who mourned what he thought was his son Joseph's death for decades, while Moses' brother Aaron remained silent when he heard that his two sons had died. We learn much from his analysis about human nature and dealing with pain.
Award-winning Dr. Erica Brown, director of a center for values and leadership, offers nine pages of crucial advice on listening to others. Among a wealth of information, she warns us that in our enthusiasm to connect with others, we often don't allow them to finish a sentence. We regard a pause as an opportunity to jump in, to add, or to expand. She offers excellent advice, such as "mirroring," repeating one word of the speaker as a question,
"That meeting was really rough."
"Rough?"
"Yeah. All that arguing. It was pretty brutal."
"Brutal?"
"Honestly. I felt really bad about what I said."
Sivan Rahav Meir and Bruce Feiler, among others, offer a wide range of perspectives from spiritual leadership to positive psychology. Their collective wisdom makes the book feel both intellectually grounded and emotionally nourishing.
Whether you're a parent, educator, leader, or someone searching for more depth in everyday life, this book meets you where you are. It doesn't preach or offer pat answers - it invites you into a conversation grounded in Jewish values that resonates universally.
The Art & Practice of Living Wondrously is a rare book -- deeply soulful, immediately practical, and enduringly relevant. It deserves a permanent place on your nightstand, and, perhaps even more importantly, in your daily practice. Perfect as a gift, a guide, or a source of solace, this book reminds us that even in uncertain times, we should not search for miracles, but act appropriately with others because this is a powerful and transformative act.
[1] There are many other discussions of Lifnim meshurat Hadin. Another is found in the next chapter.
Israel Drazin, Reviewer
www.booksnthoughts.com
Jack Mason's Bookshelf
Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
Robert F. Smith
Harper Collins Leadership
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
9781400244102, $31.99, HC, 240pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Boldly-Principles-Martin-Luther/dp/1400244102
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lead-boldly-robert-f-smith/1146902422
Synopsis: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated more than 55 years ago, yet his words continue to inspire millions of people, young and old -- from all races and backgrounds. During his remarkable life, he embodies bold and compassionate leadership and achieved a level of influence few thought possible for a Black man born in Atlanta just before the Great Depression.
Now, with the publication of "Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." aspiring leaders can reflect on some of Dr. King's most impactful speeches and integrate his lessons into their modern leadership journeys.
Also, in the pages of "Lead Boldly" Robert F. Smith (Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners), offers his own insights and experiences on each passage on how themes like "The Beloved Community", "Economic Justice", and "Two Americas" played a central role in his own leadership development and why the visionary ideas of Dr. King espoused are so important for leaders to understand and apply today.
Critique: This large format (7.85 x 0.9 x 10.25 inches, 2 pounds) hardcover edition of "Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." by Robert F. Smith will be of special interest to readers concerned with political and social leadership, the civil rights movement, and motivational management within and in behalf of contemporary African-American communities. Original, informative, thought-provoking, inspiring, "Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." is a unique and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this hardcover edition of "Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." from HarperCollins Leadership is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note #1: Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.
Editorial Note #2: Robert F. Smith is an American investor, philanthropist and entrepreneur. He leads Vista Equity Partners, a global technology investor that specializes in enterprise software. Throughout his life, Smith's commitments to philanthropy and equality of opportunity have never wavered, and finding ways to make a difference in the communities where he lives and works is central to his character and approach to life. He is also the Chairman of Carnegie Hall and Student Freedom Initiative (SFI), co-lead of Southern Communities Initiative (SCI) and the founding director and President of Fund II Foundation. Smith was honored by being listed as one of Forbes' 100 Greatest Living Business Minds in 2017 and TIME100's "Most Influential People" in 2020. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Smith_(investor)
Jack Mason
Reviewer
J.J. Barnes' Bookshelf
That Van Helsing Girl
Jacob Van Helsing
Olympia Publishers
https://olympiapublishers.com
9781835431573, $15.99 PB, 283 pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/That-Van-Helsing-Girl-Jacob/dp/1835431577
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/that-van-helsing-girl-jacob-van-helsing/1147967915
That Van Helsing Girl introduces Jane Van Helsing, a glamorous, fiercely independent vampire navigating war-torn Europe, redefining the genre with a seductive, feminist twist.
Jane is no ordinary vampire. With her lilac eyes and silver-white hair, she commands attention as a descendant of both vampires and their hunters - a dual heritage that makes her both predator and prey. Raised in a world where vampirism is a hereditary legacy concealed within Europe's aristocracy, Jane navigates a treacherous landscape of political espionage, gothic intrigue, and bloodlust. Guided by her enigmatic aunt, Heleen Van Scheltinga, Jane learns the ways of vampires and men, but her Van Helsing lineage compels her to question who is friend and who is foe in a war-torn continent.
What sets That Van Helsing Girl apart is its fearless protagonist. Drawing inspiration from silver-screen sirens like Mae West and Jean Harlow, as well as the rebellious archetype of Lilith, Jane oozes sensual power and independence. She is a vampire who embraces her nature with pride, wielding her femininity as both weapon and shield. Unlike the brooding Edward Cullen, whose romantic melancholy once dominated vampire fiction, Jane is a vibrant, modern icon - bold, seductive, and unafraid to claim her place in a world that seeks to control her.
Jacob Van Helsing masterfully blends gothic atmosphere with historical depth, placing vampires at the heart of Europe's bloodiest conflicts. The novel, a stand-alone follow-up to The Van Helsing Heritage, immerses readers in an alternative reality where creatures of fantasy hide in plain sight, their intentions as murky as the battlefields of World War II. The author's literary flair and feminist lens elevate the story, making it both a thrilling supernatural tale and a commentary on power, identity, and survival.
That Van Helsing Girl is a triumph of originality and empowerment, leaving readers enthralled by Jane's journey and wondering if she might just claim the vampire literary crown. For those craving a fresh, intelligent, and intoxicating addition to vampire fiction, Jane Van Helsing is an icon worth sinking your teeth into.
J.J. Barnes, Reviewer
The Table Read Magazine
https://www.thetablereadmagazine.co.uk
John Burroughs' Bookshelf
Backyard Structures and How to Build Them
Monte Burch
The Lyons Press
c/o The Globe Pequot Press
www.globepequot.com
9781493091690, $27.95, PB, 288pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Structures-Build-Easy-Construct/dp/1493091697
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backyard-structures-and-how-to-build-them-monte-burch/1146817911
Synopsis: Does your backyard or garden look bleak and boring? Has your spouse ever told you that you need your own work building? Are your children's toys overflowing into the neighbor's yard because you have nowhere to put them? Have you ever thought about investing in a screened-in porch or a greenhouse? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need your own personal copy of "Backyard Structures and How to Build Them: Easy-to-Construct and Affordable Outbuildings for Any Builder, Beginner or Advanced" by Monte Burch.
We all know that hiring a contractor or builder to take care of backyard projects can be costly and frustrating. Monte Burch's "Backyard Structures and How to Build Them" will show you how to undertake these projects yourself (while saving time and money) and still end up with beautiful new outbuildings.
Here contained is everything you need to know from getting started. to purchasing tools and materials, to the final construction. It's all covered along with two dozen attractive and practical building plans with material lists are fully presented in this DIY instructional 'how-to' book.
Many of the structures are pole buildings, which require no foundation excavation, only limited grading, and few materials. They also allow for the use of sites not suitable for other types of construction and offer excellent structural integrity and wind resistance.
With sections on decks and patios, backyard decor, backyard playing, backyard shelters, and animal houses and feeders, you can learn to build:
Under-deck storage
Walk-through rose trellis
Classic picnic table
Playhouse
Picnic shelter
Attached carport
Drive-thru "mini" pole shed
Birdhouses
Suspended bird feeder
Poultry housing
Rabbit housing
One-stall horse stable
And many more
Burch's fresh ideas offer something for everyone. Better still, their simplicity and ease of construction make them ideal for the first-time builder.
Critique: This original, profusely illustrated, deftly crafted, this large format (8.5 x 0.85 x 11 inches, 1.55 pounds) paperback edition of "Backyard Structures and How to Build Them: Easy-to-Construct and Affordable Outbuildings for Any Builder, Beginner or Advanced" by Monte Burch is thoroughly 'reader/user' friendly in organization and presentation, making it ideal for the novice and invaluable for the more experienced home builder/craftsman. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.99), "Backyard Structures and How to Build Them: Easy-to-Construct and Affordable Outbuildings for Any Builder, Beginner or Advanced" from Lyons Press is a high-value pick for personal and community library DIY home improvement construction instructional reference collections.
Editorial Note: Monte Burch has been writing about the outdoors for four decades and is the author of thousands of magazine articles and more than fifty books - including Field Dressing and Butchering Upland Birds, Waterfowl, and Wild Turkeys; Field Dressing and Butchering Deer; Field Dressing and Butchering Rabbits, Squirrels, and Other Small Game; and Solving Squirrel Problems. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/84434.Monte_Burch)
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Julie Summers' Bookshelf
Journaling with the Holy Spirit
Bonnie Rickner Jensen
Paraclete Press
www.paracletepress.com
9798893480245, $19.99, PB, 232pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Journaling-Holy-Spirit-Scriptures-Devotions/dp/B0F7FP4RKQ
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/journaling-with-the-holy-spirit-bonnie-rickner-jensen/1147379105
Synopsis: The demands of the secular world can leave we Christians worn out physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We sprint through our days to prove our worth at home, at work, as friends, and on social media. This ongoing pressure to be the best we can be in every area of our lives can leave us feeling depleted.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is our air. God sent His Spirit to help us in this spiritual race, to be the oxygen that keeps every part of our being healthy, strong, and wise. The Holy Spirit is a gift and walks alongside us in times of need. He is here. He is beside us. His power is in us.
With the publication of "Journaling with the Holy Spirit: Scriptures, Devotions, Prayers, and Praise to Connect with the Spirit of God", Bonnie Rickner Jensen invites you into an intimate relationship with the Spirit of God through Scripture, reflections on the Word, Journaling prompts, coloring pages, prayers, and praise.
A perfect companion for individual devotions or group Bible study, "Journaling with the Holy Spirit" is a 12-month 'fill in the blank' journal that features:
A generous 8 x 10 trim size with plenty of space to write
Four full pages for each week of the year
52 coloring pages to help you meditate and reflect on God's Word
Six pages dedicated to Prayer Requests and Answered Prayers
Questions to help each reader reflect and record their growth in the Spirit
Over 150 Bible verses of encouragement and focus
Each week "Journaling with the Holy Spirit" features:
Scriptures -- an inspiring Bible verse to color, reflect and meditate on throughout your week, to help you become more grounded in the Spirit and claim the authority God intends for you to enjoy.
Devotions -- a thought-provoking reflection to help bring you into the presence of the Holy Trinity, tapping into Holy Spirit power for daily growth and interaction.
Journaling -- three pages to record your thoughts and responses, thanksgiving, highlights of your week, and how you wish to learn and grow in relationship with the Spirit.
Praise -- space for recording praise and answered prayers, so you can see the power of the Holy Spirit moving in your life.
In a world that often leaves us feeling anxious or without hope, the Bible clearly states that all followers of Jesus have access to the One who empowers, guides, directs, and intercedes on our behalf -- the Holy Spirit. With "Journaling with the Holy Spirit" as a resource, Christians can breathe deeply and experience the impact of Holy Spirit living!
Critique: Especially and unreservedly recommended for clergy, seminary students, and all members of the Christian community, this large format (8 x 0.8 x 10 inches, 1.66 pounds) trade paperback edition of "Journaling with the Holy Spirit: Scriptures, Devotions, Prayers, and Praise to Connect with the Spirit of God" is thoroughly 'user friendly' in organization, presentation, and application. Of special note is the inclusion of coloring pages, pages for Reflection, still other pages for Meditation, 'Quite Me' and 'Teach Me' entry sections throughout.
Julie Summers
Reviewer
Lauren McIlwraith's Bookshelf
No Homeless Problem and Other Poems
Seamus Fox
Arkbound Ltd
https://arkbound.ac.uk
9781912092550, $8.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 141pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/No-Homeless-Problem-Seamus-Fox/dp/1912092557
A gut-wrenching and necessary read, Seamus Fox's "No Homeless Problem and Other Poems" brings a much needed spotlight to the daily struggles and scarce delights of the UK's homeless population.
With 71 poems, crafted from the experience of over 40 Brits living on the streets, Fox details the general populations inclinations to dehumanize the homeless, leading to the normalization of blaming individuals, vandalizing the little property they have, and even violently attacking them.
In the verses of A Bowl of Noodles, the poet details the generosity of strangers, and the strength of the human spirit. This inspires us readers with how we could be helping our community, while addressing the fact that, as a systemic issue, the homelessness crisis must be tackled from the top down by those in power. The intervention of good samaritans should not be so few and far between, and should not be the only hope for those who are homeless to get back on their feet.
The collections titular poem, No Homeless Problem takes a jab at the wilful ignorance of right wing politicians, the general public, and their methods of "talking homelessness" by pretending it simply does not exist. Fox's collection demolishes this line of thinking by turning what hides in plain sight into something we cannot look away from.
Fox delivers each poem through varying anonymous voices, removing the threat of biases towards, gender, race or religion; this allows the harrowing experiences to be taken at face value, driving home the fact that homelessness can truly effect anyone.
Where this factor strengthens the collection, it also leaves something to be desired.
Despite the poets comprehensiveness, the collection doesn't account for the gender based violence experienced by the female homeless community. The rates of violence and sexual assault against rough sleepers is significantly higher in women than in men, especially in shelters and supposed safe-havens (Bretherton & Pleace, 2018).
With the lens of today's hindsight into the alleged sexual abuse and harassment of Emmaus Founder, Abbe Pierre, towards female employees and volunteers (Duhamel & Zengarini, 2024), it goes to show that there is still difficult conversations to be had. From the power imbalances involved in seeking refuge, to the treatment of the most vulnerable of the homeless population, I hope to see Seamus Fox continue to illuminate these topics with his writing.
Lauren McIlwraith
Reviewer
Margaret Lane's Bookshelf
Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore
Ashley D. Farmer
Pantheon
c/o Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
www.pantheonbooks.com
9780593701546, $35.00, HC, 496pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Queen-Mother-Nationalism-Reparations-Untold/dp/0593701542
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-mother-ashley-d-farmer/1146937403
Synopsis: In the world of Black radical politics, the name Audley Moore commands unquestioned respect. Across the nine decades of her life, Queen Mother Moore distinguished herself as a leading progenitor of Black Nationalism, the founder of the modern reparations movement, and from her Philadelphia and Harlem homes, a mentor to some of America's most influential Black activists.
And yet, she is far less remembered than many of her peers and proteges (Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ahmad, to name just a few) and the ephemera of her life are either lost or plundered.
With the publication of "Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore", celebrated writer and historian Ashley D. Farmer restores Moore's faded portrait, delivering the first ever definitive account of her life and enduring legacy.
Deeply researched and richly detailed, "Queen Mother" is more than just the biography of an American icon. It's a narrative history of 20th-century Black radicalism, told through the lens of the woman whose grit and determination sustained the movement.
Critique: Rescuing from an underserved obscurity one of the most influential women in the 20th Century American Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements, Audley "Queen Mother" Moore (July 27, 1898 - May 2, 1997) was friends with such civil rights leaders as Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Rosa Parks, and Jesse Jackson. She was also a leadng figure in the American Civil Rights Movement and a founder of the Republic of New Afrika. Original, exceptional, informative, and exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore" by Professor Ashley D. Farmer is an especially and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, community, and college/university library 20th Century American Biography & 20th Century African-American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that this hardcover edition of "Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore" from Pantheon is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).
Editorial Note: Ashley D. Farmer (https://www.ashleydfarmer.com) is a writer, researcher, and cultural analyst who explores Black history and its implications today. Her first book, "Remaking Black Power", was shortlisted for numerous prizes, and she has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the Whiting Foundation. Farmer's ideas and insights have appeared in multiple venues including Harper's Bazaar, NPR, The Washington Post, and Teen Vogue. Farmer lives, reads, and writes in Austin, Texas, and is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Margaret Lane
Reviewer
Mark Walker's Bookshelf
Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver
Harper Perennial
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063251984, $21.99 / $12.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Copperhead-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0063251981
The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books, as someone who has worked with missionaries and worked in Africa. But when I heard that Charles Dickens inspired her latest book, I knew I had to read it. Not a Christmas goes by that I don't insist that my children and grandkids watch several versions of "The Christmas Carol". And I'd read J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy not that long ago - making Appalachia a good place to go.
Dickens' work helped Kingsolver overcome a bad case of writer's block. She wanted to talk about orphans of an epidemic who became throwaway kids in a wealthy society. It took an ethereal visit from Dickens in his house in Broadstairs, where he said, "Look, nobody in my time wanted to hear about these orphans either, and I made them listen." He went on to say," Point of view is your tool. Let the child tell the story. And with that, Kingsolver started writing on his desk where Dickens had written David Copperfield.
The protagonist of this story is known as Demon Copperhead due to his fiery hair and fierce wit - born into poverty, addiction, and neglect, being passed from one foster home to another. His story is steeped in the despair of post-industrial rural America.
Despite the serious nature of the themes covered, the author employs Demon's sarcasm and observational wit as both a coping mechanism and a narrative engine, as seen when he describes his social worker's clipboard as "the magic want of doom," which is both hilarious and chilling. His commentary on school lunches, football culture, and the absurdities he encounters in the foster care bureaucracy evokes constant comic relief, allowing the reader to laugh even as we wince.
Through Demon's life story, Kingsolver dramatizes the opioid epidemic not as a backdrop but as a central antagonist. His descent into addiction is harrowing and unflinching. She shows that pharmaceutical greed, medical negligence, and systemic poverty conspire to destroy lives. The foster care system is depicted as a treadmill of exploitation, where children are shuffled, silenced, and seemingly forgotten, although it does not offer solutions, only the naked truth. She writes with both the clarity of a journalist and the emotional depth of a novelist.
As the daughter of a missionary, I was not surprised to see her explore how faith, both institutional and personal, can be both a source of solace and hypocrisy. Demon encounters religious leaders who offer platitudes more than help, but also moments of grace at the most unexpected times. She lets the power of religious conviction and the tension it causes to simmer below the surface.
At over 400 pages, this book could be a slog. Still, the prose propels the story forward, Damon's magnetic voice, and Kingsolver's ability to shift seamlessly from tragedy to comedy, from introspection to action, ensures there are never dull moments. The first-person narration is immersive, giving the reader the feeling that we're living alongside Demon. Until the very end, when he heads out towards the place he's wanted to see his whole life, but never could, the ocean, with what could be the love of his life.
Critics have called it "a tour de force" (NPR), "a masterpiece of voice and vision" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), and "a novel that speaks for a new generation of lost boys".
As for J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, she sees it as a reductive and politically opportunistic portrayal of Appalachia. She went on to say that Demon Copperhead was partly written to counter the narrative that rural poverty is a result of personal failure. Instead, she shows how structural forces - economic, cultural, and political - shape lives from birth. Her novel is a rebuttal, a reclamation, and a love letter to a region that has been so often maligned.
Demon Copperhead is more than a retelling - it's a reckoning. Kingsolver has taken Dickens' blueprint and built a land of Appalachian truth, humor, and heartbreak. It's a novel that demands to be read, remembered, and most of all, reckoned with.
The Author
Barbara Kingsolver was born in 1955 and grew up in rural Kentucky. She earned degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona and has worked as a freelance writer and author since 1985. At various times, she has lived in England, France, and the Canary Islands and has worked in Europe, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and South America. She spent two decades in Tucson, Arizona, before moving to southwestern Virginia, where she currently resides.
Kingsolver was named one of the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest, and in 2023 won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Demon Copperhead. In 2000, she received the National Humanities Medal, our country's highest honor for service through the arts. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages and have been adopted into the core curriculum in high schools and colleges throughout the nation. Critical acclaim for her work includes multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, a James Beard Award, a two-time Oprah Book Club selection, and the National Book Award of South Africa, among others. She was awarded Britain's prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) for both Demon Copperhead and The Lacuna, making Kingsolver the first author in the history of the prize to win it twice. In 2011, Kingsolver was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
She has two daughters, Camille (born 1987) and Lily (born 1996). She and her husband, Steven Hopp, live on a farm in southern Appalachia where they raise an extensive vegetable garden and Icelandic sheep.
Mark D. Walker, Reviewer
http://www.MillionMileWalker.com
Matthew McCarty's Bookshelf
Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam
Jake Anderson
Citadel
c/o Kensington Publishing
www.kensingtonbooks.com
9780806540054, $26.00, HC, 368 pp
9780806540061, $16.95, PB, 368 pp
9780806540078, $9.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Midnight-Mysterious-Death-Elisa/dp/0806540052
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gone-at-midnight-jake-anderson/1137077565
True crime has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment over the last several years. The increasing availability and popularity of the internet have given rise to a movement of true crime enthusiasts referred to as "webslueths." Author Jake Anderson, in his riveting chronicle, Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam, has added the odd case of Elisa Lam to the ever-increasing volume of writing and reporting on true crime events. Anderson does excellent work in recreating the events surrounding Ms Lam and her last movements. Anderson describes all of the facets of this odd death including paranormal and conspiratorial theories. The various theories presented within Gone at Midnight foster an interest in solving mysteries that can almost be pathological.
Elisa Lam was a young, idealistic, and mentally unstable adult. She was in Los Angeles on a trip that was supposed to help her clear her head and find herself. She rented a room at the Cecil Hotel, a downtown excuse for a hotel not far from Skid Row in L.A. She was observed on security footage acting strangely in an elevator and would later go missing. Elisa would be found days later in a water tank on the roof of the Cecil. This would begin the efforts of webslueths to try to figure out how and why Elisa died. The Cecil itself, would play a role in the investigation as it has a history of playing host to serial killers and other shady characters.
Anderson has crafted a narrative that reads like a novel. Gone at Midnight is a story that needs to be told and told in a way that makes sense to the reader. Anderson pays a critical respect to all of the theories surrounding Elisa's death while also attempting to understand why she died. Along the way, Anderson also addresses his own battle with mental health and its effects. Gone at Midnight is as complete a telling of true crime as the reader will likely find.
Matthew W. McCarty, EdD
Reviewer
Michael Carson's Bookshelf
Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles
Brian Walker
Fantagraphics Books
www.fantagraphics.com
9798875001338, $65.00, HC, 276pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Mort-Walkers-Beetle-Bailey-Smiles/dp/B0DXN147YS
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mort-walkers-beetle-bailey-brian-walker/1147164355
Synopsis: "Old cartoonists never die. They just erase away..."
This was one of Mort Walker's favorite sayings, and until his final days, he lived by his motto, engaging millions of readers through his beloved comics. Walker had the longest tenure of any cartoonist on his original creation in the history of comics. He produced Beetle Bailey for 67 years, 3 months and 12 days - that's 24,576 strips. He penciled his last week of daily strips on December 16, 2017.
Brian Waler is Mort's son and with the publication of "Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles" he presents a coffee table style retrospective commemorating his father's long and dedicated commitment to cartooning, spotlighting the anniversary of his most popular and beloved creation.
In addition to the 75 Sunday pages reproduced from color syndicate proofs, 135 daily and Sunday strips scanned from original artwork, and close to 200 additional images, this beautifully designed volume, impeccably researched and written by his son Brian, also includes rare photographs, historic debut character appearances, syndicate promotional materials, posters, merchandise, personal drawings and memorabilia from the family archives, as well as biographical sketches and anecdotes.
Dubbed "The Dean of American Cartooning," Mort Walker was one of the most prolific cartoonists in the comics business, with the creation of nine different syndicated strips during his lifetime, including Beetle Bailey, one of the most widely syndicated strips in the world. Beetle Bailey remains a popular feature in newspapers today and is currently produced by his sons Greg, Brian and Neal.
Critique: A large format (12.3 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches, 3.69 pounds) compendium filled from cover to cover with full-color and black-and-white illustrations, "Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles", written and edited by his son Brian Walker, will prove to be a treasured possession by the legions of Beetle Bailey fans and a welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Newspaper Cartooning/Illustration collections. It should be noted that this hardcover edition of "Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey: 75 Years of Smiles" from Fantagraphics is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $45.99).
Editorial Note: Brian Walker has a diverse background in professional cartooning and cartoon scholarship. He is a former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art, where he worked from 1974 to 1992. Since 1984, he has been part of the creative team that produces the comic strips, Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois. He has written, edited or contributed to forty-five books on cartoon art, served as curator for seventy-five cartoon exhibitions and is the founder and current chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Robin Friedman's Bookshelf
Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World
The Dalai Lama, author
Harper One
c/o HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780547844282, $15.99 pbk / $1.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Religion-Ethics-Whole-World/dp/054784428X
The Dalai Lama And Secular Ethics
The many books written by the Dalai Lama can be divided into two groups. In the first, the Dalai Lama writes specifically about the teachings and practices of Buddhism, particularly his own Tibetan Buddhism. In the second group, the Dalai Lama takes a broader approach and writes on a range of subjects such as ethics, happiness, and the scientific worldview that are not specifically tied to Buddhism or to any particular faith religion. Both groups of books are marked by accessibility and openness. The Dalai Lama in fact discourages Westerners from conversion to Buddhism and advises them instead to practice within their own traditions to the extent that is an option for them. Still, his teachings about Buddhist and about broader subjects is enlightening and humbling.
The Dalai Lama's "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (2011) lies within the second group of his books. Without giving up in any way his own religious convictions, the Dalai Lama writes to show the nature and possibility of ethics without a commitment to any specific religion or to a religious worldview. In other words, the book separates ethics and religion. Many books have been written taking various perspectives on the difficult question of the relationship between religion and ethics. The issue is also addressed in two of the Dalai Lama's earlier books to which he refers in this one: "Ethics for the New Millennium" (2001) and "Towards a True Kinship of Faiths" (2011). With its provocative title, "Beyond Religion" offers the Dalai Lama's fullest treatment of secular ethics.
The most challenging and important part of this book is the Dalai Lama's discussion of the need for ethics and for an ethics not tied to religious belief. He finds that increasingly in the modern world, scientific and technological ability has outpaced human, interior growth with the result that individuals and groups are increasingly discontented, unhappy, and belligerent in spite of the vast increase in human ability to control and understand the external environment. With a focus on materialism and knowledge of things, individuals lose sight of meaning. Religion has traditionally been a way of attempting to meet these issues. But religion has become difficult or impossible for many people due to the commitment to a scientific outlook and due as well to the sheer variety of religions with their competing and apparently inconsistent claims. The Dalai Lama's book is not written to dissuade any person from their faith. Rather the book is addressed to those without religious faith and, without judging them, to show the possibility of a universal, secular based ethics.
The Dalai Lama has undertaken a challenging task and he performs it well in this book. The chief insight in the Dalai Lama's approach is that beneath all the differences among people and the differences in identity, we are all human beings with the same wants and fundamental needs as human beings. We share a "common humanity". A secular ethics identifies and builds on the factors in our common humanity assisted to a degree by the sciences. Thus the Dalai Lama finds that all human beings want to by happy and need on another. He builds an ethics on the need for a compassion for all persons and develops how, in his view, compassion leads to qualities including justice, forgiveness, and understanding. He finds a secular ethics has much to teach both to individual human relationships and to political and international questions.
The Dalai Lama's vision of secular ethics is developed in the first part of the book, "A New Vision of Secular Ethics" while the second part "Educating the Heart Through Training the Mind" offers guides for increasing one's ability for ethical behavior. These guides focus on understanding one's emotions, on controlling emotions such as anger and envy deemed destructive and on developing positive emotions such as contentment, self-discipline and generosity. The Dalai Lama introduces meditation techniques derived from the Buddhist tradition. Still the practice of these techniques, to the extent presented in this book, do not presuppose a commitment to Buddhism or any other religion. Some forms of meditation are widely-practiced, and their introduction does not change this book's secular character.
This is a thoughtful, moving book. Some readers may question whether the Dalai Lama's ethics follows fully from the secular commitments from which he starts or, alternatively, whether there somehow is an unstated religious or metaphysical position lurking in the presentation. In addition, those holding to a secular worldview may disagree on proper behavior and fight, just as adherents of competing religions sometimes do. These questions are important but secondary. The teachings of this book are demanding and difficult. The Dalai Lama talks persuasively about the importance of ethics and of self-reflection and compassion.Most importantly, he reminds the reader of our shared, "common humanity". Much is to be learned from the goals of the Dalai Lama's book and from the simplicity of its presentation.
Toward a True Kinship of Faith: How the World Religions can Come Together
The Dalai Lama, author
Harmony
c/o Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com/imprint/harmony
9780385525053, $25.00 hc / $18.00 pbk / $4.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Toward-True-Kinship-Faiths-Religions/dp/0385525060
A Plea For Peaceful Coexistence
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has become a widely respected and revered figure by many people who do not practice Tibetan Buddhism. The many writings under his name explore a variety of topics from Buddhist belief and practice to secular ethics, and to the relationship between science and religion. In his new book, "Toward a True Kinship of Faiths" (2010), the Dalai Lama expands upon ideas in many of his earlier writings to discuss the nature of religious pluralism. The book moves both on a personal and on a community, world-wide level. The issue the book addresses is how individuals and religions may be committed to their own individual faith traditions, or their secularism, while respecting the faith traditions or the secularism of other people or religions. Of course, this is a difficult, multi-leveled inquiry that has been asked and explored many times. The question is important because all too often religion becomes a means of divisiveness and anger among individuals and groups rather than a source of shared humanity.
The book begins on a more personal level than usual with a work of the Dalai Lama and proceeds towards the more abstract. Thus, in 1959, when as a young man of 24 the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India, he had experience little of religious life beyond his own Buddhism. Over the years as he learned and gradually became an international figure, the Dalai Lama's horizons broadened. Early on, beginning in 1956 with a trip to India, he came into closer contact with other Asian religions such as Hinduism and Jainism and learned to appreciate them more than he had been able to do earlier with his strictly Buddhist education. Then, in the late 1960s, the Dalai Lama met and befriended Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk who had himself shown an interest in Eastern contemplation. The friendship with Merton was the beginning of the Dalai Lama's attempt to understand and appreciate Christianity. While living in India, the Dalai Lama also had the opportunity to get to know Muslim leaders and to gain respect for the peaceful, compassionate aspects of Muslim teachings. And the Dalai Lama saw the Jewish experience, with its long exile from the Holy Land as a model for the exile of his own Tibetan community. From various Jewish leaders, he learned as well about methods of Scriptural interpretation that paralleled his own experience and about Kabbalah -- the expression of Jewish mysticism.
In the first half of this book, the Dalai Lama expands upon his experiences with different religions and how these experiences taught him. He then moves to more difficult and broader inquiries. Many people see what they regard as the only apparent diversity in religious beliefs and argue that all religions are fundamentally the same under the variety. The Dalai Lama respects but rejects this view because it is difficult to say in what sense theistic religions, such as Judaism or Christianity, are "the same" as nontheistic religions such as Buddhism or Jainism. For the Dalai Lama, then, the metaphysics of religion are irreducibly plural. But the religions share, he claims, a common ethics based upon shared humanity, and a practice of compassion and the development of selflessness.
From trying to show how religions share a similar ethics of compassion, the Dalai Lama moves to a discussion of the importance of religions living in peaceful coexistence with one another, and he offers a rather vague programme of inter-religious learning and cooperation. The heart of the book comes in a chapter titled "The Problem of Exclusivism" in which the Dalai Lama struggles with the question suggested in the first paragraph of this review: how it is possible for a person to be committed to his or her own religious tradition while respecting and being open to the traditions of other people. This is a difficult question. Basically the Dalai Lama's answer turns upon a recognition by each person of the value of his own religion to him, and an appreciation that other people find similar values of compassion and love in the metaphysics and religion which they practice. There can be personal commitment without exclusivism. A person can follow the spiritual path he chooses based upon his background and experiences and culture and be committed to it while respecting and understanding that other people from different backgrounds and underlying predelicitions will make different choices. The different choices are metaphysical -- faith based -- but they each work their way to a basically shared human ethics of compassion. The Dalai Lama thus claims that faith based belief in a religion is fully compatible with respect for and an ability to learn from the faith traditions of others. The Dalai Lama expands the point in comparing faith based traditions to secularists who profess no faith. Secular metaphysics too works to teachings of compassion and respect. Hence, secular people and religious people can peacefully coexist with and learn from each other in common humanity.
The issues that this book raises are complex, especially in considering how religions can be pluralistic metaphysically and yet result in essentially parallel ethical teachings. While not minimizing the difficulties, the Dalai Lama writes in a down to earth, simple style. He explains the issues, in itself not an easy task, and writes eloquently towards a resolution. I don't know how this book was written, but an aura of sincerity shines through as the Dalai Lama speaks about himself and his own spiritual path and then generalizes his experiences so that others may share and understand. The book displays a since of urgency and importance in its message. The Dalai Lama concludes his book with a sustained appeal to believers and unbelievers alike. Here is a portion of it:
"Of my fellow religious believers, I ask this. Obey the injunctions of your own faith: travel to the essence of your religious teaching, the fundamental goodness of the human heart. Here is the space where, despite doctrinal differences, we are all simply human..... To all people, religious and nonbelieving, I make this appeal. Always embrace the common humanity that lies at the heart of us all. Always affirm the oneness of our human family.... Let not your differences from the views of others come in the way of the wish for their peace, happiness, and well-being." (pp.181-182)
This is a wise, deceptively simple book that will appeal to readers who have struggled with questions of religious belief and religious pluralism.
The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspetives on Cause and Effect
The Dalai Lama, author, Jeffery Hopkins, translator, Richard Gere, foreword
Wisdom Publications
https://wisdomexperience.org
9780861711734, $TBA pbk / $11.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Life-Dalai-Lama/dp/0861711734
Nonviolence, Wisdom, And Compassion
As with the other books of the Dalai Lama I have read, this book combines difficult and obscure teachings with the simplicity of the everyday. The book consists of the text of a lecture series the Dalai Lama gave in London in 1984, before he received the Nobel Prize. The title of the book together with its subtitle "Buddhist perspectives on cause and effect" give some idea of its breadth.
The first two lectures in the book, together with Professor Jeffery Hopkins's introduction discuss the fundamental Buddhist doctrine of Dependent Origination. The discussion is based upon an exposition of a famous Tibetan painting of the Wheel of Existence which is beautifully reproduced, in whole and in a number of details following page 40. Turn to the painting before beginning to read the book and refer to it while reading both Hopkins and the Dalai Lama.
The Doctrine of Dependent Origination teaches the both the impernanence and interrelationship of things we take in our everyday lives as substantial. It talks about the pervasive effect of ignorance and its immediate consequences, lust and hatred, in poisoning our lives and attitudes. It offers an antidote twoards breaking the wheel of selfishness in the doctrine of non-self.
If this sounds obscure, it is. In a famous Sutra in the Pali canon, the Buddha rebukes his disciple Ananda when Ananda thinks he understands the teaching. The Dalai Lama presents the doctrine not as a dispositive treatment, which can't be done, but to stimulate reflection and meditation by the reader. Following the discussion of Dependent Origination, there are almost equally difficult discussions of the Buddhist doctrine of Karma (causality and intentionality) and discussions of specifically Tibetan Tantric practices.
Interlaced with the specifically Buddhist doctrinal discussions are discussions of the goal of the doctrines which the Dalai Lama describes (page 34) as "to tame one's mental continuum-- to become nonviolent." This in turn is divided into two levels: altruism, or helping others, and, perhaps more broadly, doing no harm. According to the Dalai Lama (page 35) "The chief quality of a buddha is great compassion; this is why it is appropriate to take refuge in a buddha."
As always with the Dalai Lama, his goal is to teach and not to convert. He seems somewhat skeptical in this book with the rush of Westerners to adopt Tibetan Buddhism which, he points out, is a form of Buddhism adopted to the specific culture of Tibet rather than to Western culture. Although Tibetan Buddhism does not recognize a creator God, he urges those people comfortable with their own religions to adhere to them as proper sources of spiritual realization and inner peace. For those unable to adopt any religion, (those committed to Western secularism) he urges reflection and self-understanding as a means to end suffering.
Similarly, the Dalai Lama emphasizes that the Buddha taught different people in different ways depending on their background and their readiness for religious teachings. Many people, particularly those in the West, must find their path through life in the everyday workaday world rather than mediatating in a forest. The Dalai Lama recognizes and encourages people to work through to their salvation in a way appropriate to and consistent with their individual situation. Wise advice.
This is not one of the Dalai Lama's easier books to read. But it will stay with the careful reader. The painting of the Wheel of Dependent Origination is well reproduced, Professor Hopkins's introduction is valuable, and the book has a good bibliography for those wishing to pursue sources further. The teachings may not make the reader a Tibetan Buddhist; indeed that is not their intention. They may, however, bring some guidance and insight to the open reader.
The Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings
The Dalai Lama, author
Geshe Thupten Jinpa, editor and translator
Wisdom Publications
https://wisdomexperience.org
9780861712847, $16.95 pbk / $12.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Heart-Sutra-Wisdom-Teachings/dp/0861712846
The Dalai Lama On The Heart Sutra
In its enigmatic 25 lines, the Heart Sutra is one of the most difficult of Buddhist Scriptures but also one of the most rewarding. It is a basic text of Mahayana Buddhism and recited daily in monasteries and by practicing Buddhists throughout the world.
There are many commentaries, ancient and modern, on this text, but I found this recent book by the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra" an outstanding place for the beginner to start. The Dalai Lama's book also will reward study by those having great prior familarity with the text. The book is based on a series of lectures that the Dalai Lama gave at the Land of Medicine Buddhist center in California and at the Three Rivers Dharma in Pittsburg.
This work is much more than a commentary on the Heart Sutra. It is equally valuable as an introduction to Buddhism and as a compendium of the teachings of the Dalai Lama. It is instructive to see how the Dalai Lama weaves his broad material together into a coherent whole. Thus, in the first part of the book, the Dalai Lama offers broad-based comments on the spiritual dimension of life, of the relationship between Buddhism and other religions, and of the fundamentals of Buddhist teachings. It is inspiring to hear words of ecumenicism, tolerance, and willingness to learn from others. It is also important to read the Dalai Lama's exposition of the basic Buddhist teaching of Dependent Origination, which is, in later sections of the book, tied masterfully to the interpretation of the Heart Sutra.
The second part of the book offers a translation and commentary on the Heart Sutra. Consistent with his opening chapters, the Dalai Lama stresses the continuity between this Mahayana text and its earlier predecessors in Theravada Buddhism. (Many other commentaries emphasize how the Heart Sutra departs from and differs from its predecessors.) In addition, in a few brief pages the Dalai Lama offers great insight into the fundamental teaching of emptiness --- that reality is "empty of intrinsic existence." He points out clearly that the Sutra does not teach that nothing exists -- a nihilistic doctrine. Instead, the Dalai Lama relates the teaching of the Sutra to the doctrine of Dependent Origination -- stressing the lack of independent existence, substantiality, and ego. He discusses different ways in which various Buddhist schools interpret the doctrine of emptiness -- including the "mind-only" school and two variants of the "middle-way" school. This material is difficult but important and not stressed in various other commentaries that I have read.
The final part of the Dalai' Lama's study discusses the Bodhisattva path of Mahayana Buddhism -- the decision to dedicate oneself to the welfare of others -- and relates it to the text of the Heart Sutra. There are teachings and practices here on learning to practice lovingkindness, also set forth in other writings of the Dalai Lama, but informed here by the discussion of emptiness and nonclinging in the Heart Sutra. This discussion, and the short epilogue, tie together the ecumenical material in the book with the elucidation and analysis of the Heart Sutra.
This book presents difficult, profound teachings in an accessible readable way. It is ideal for the beginning student or for those who want to explore the Heart Sutra to see what it might offer. It also presents an exposition of this text by the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. For those who want to read further and compare and contrast other approaches to this inexhaustible text, I recommend Red Pine's study "The Heart Sutra" and Donald Lopez' "Elaborations of Emptiness", a detailed and difficult analysis of the Heart Sutra in light of its earliest Indian and Tibetan commentaries.
From Here to Enlightenment
The Dalai Lama, author
Guy Newland, translator
Shambhala Publications
https://www.shambhala.com
9781611809343, $20.95 pbk / $15.99 Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Here-Enlightenment-Introduction-Tsong-kha-pas-Teachings/dp/1611809347
The Dalai Lama Teaches A Classic Tibetan Buddhist Text
The Dalai Lama has become a revered spiritual teacher to many people, Buddhist and non-Buddhist. Some of his many books are written on an almost secular, general level with little explicitly sectarian content, for example Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World . Other books deeply explore Buddhism, specifically Tibetan Buddhism. The book under review here, the Dalai Lama's "From Here to Enlightenment: An Introduction to Tsong-Kha-Pa's Classic Text 'The Great Treatise on the stages of the Path to Enlightenment" is in the latter category. The book is based on the Dali Lama's 2008 lectures at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania.
Some background is necessary to understand the scope of the Dalai Lama's teaching in this volume. Tsong-Kha-Pa was a Tibetan monk who wrote prolifically about Buddhism, with his "Great Treatise" appearing in 1402. It is a massive work of 1200 pages. A committee of scholars translated the work into English for the first time in three volumes published in 2000, 2002, and 2004. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1) ; The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 3) ; The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 2) . The Dalai Lama agreed to give a series of teachings on the book to celebrate the completion of the translation. The "Great Treatise" was personally important to the Dalai Lama as it was one of the few works he was able to carry with him into exile when he fled Tibet in 1959. He has taught the book several times but never in the United States with the degree of detail of the 2008 lectures.
The lectures were given through an interpreter. Then, Guy Newland, Professor of Religion and Chair of the Department of Philosophy of Religion, Western Michigan University, translated and edited the work for publication from the Dalai Lama's Tibetan manuscript. Newland also added extensive notes and cross-references to other Tibetan and Indian sources. Newland participated in the translation of the "Great Treatise" and he has written on the concept of emptiness which plays the central role in "The Great Treatise."
At about 200 pages, the Dalai Lama's book is short but dense and difficult. The "Great Treatise" was written to synthesize the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and its different schools and the Indian philosophy from which Tibetan Buddhism derived. The Dalai Lama begins with a long introduction about the book and how it presents themes of interdependence and religious harmony which he finds critically important. He advises his audience that Tibetan teachings differ substantially from the theism of Judaism and Christianity in its stress on causality and interdependence as opposed to a transcendent creator God. The goal of the lectures is not to convert, which the Dalai Lama in fact discourages, but to explain.
The Dalai Lama quotes heavily and expounds on Tsong-Ka-Pha's text and discusses as well many other early Tibetan and Indian sources. The book moves from the relatively simple to the profoundly difficult. The Dalai Lama finds the key teaching of Buddhism to lie in the nature of selflessness, a difficult teaching with many possible interpretations that will be hard to grasp for Westerners. The Dalai Lama discusses at length the Buddha's teaching of Dependent Origination which is likewise central to the book and, as the Buddha himself warned his followers, deep and difficult. The book then ties these broad teachings into an exploration of the Four Noble Truths, into a discussion of the meaning of life, the path of the Bodhisattva, serenity and insight meditation and -- the nature of emptiness which is derived largely from the doctrine of Dependent Origination. The latter parts of the book explore briefly notoriously difficult eptistemological, metaphysical, and logical questions that arise from the teaching of emptiness.
The book is written lucidly, with modesty, and with the Dalai Lama's wonderful good humor and kindness. As an oral introduction to a long unfamiliar text, it is difficult reading indeed. The Dalai Lama advises his hearers that the Tsong-Kah-Pah's teachings take months if not years to understand and to try to practice. The effort is ongoing. For readers emboldened to read the three-volume work for themselves, the Dalai Lama counsels slow, deliberate reading studying perhaps one page per day. This pace would require between three and four years to work through the book.
Throughout the book, the Dalai Lama emphasizes his belief in reason, analysis, and critical thinking as a means to understanding, religious and otherwise. The book includes small sections of question and answer sessions between the Dalai Lama and his audience. In a passage I thought captured much of the book, an interlocutor says he is new to the study of Buddhism and asks the Dalai Lama how he might attain greater understanding. Here is part of the Dalai Lama's response.
"Read more. There are translations of Buddhist texts into English, as well as French, German, Spanish, and of course Chinese-- although I think there are fewer translations into Chinese than into English. There are many new translations into English. Read such texts daily for an hour or at least a half hour. Then turn your mind inward and contemplate what you have learned. Examine and investigate, comparing what the text says with your usual way of thinking and living."
This daunting book by the Dalai Lama is for readers with a serious interest in Buddhism and in Tibetan texts. Careful reading offers great insight into Tibetan Buddhism and, for those readers so inclined, into one's own practice.
Robin Friedman
Reviewer
Roisin Smyth's Bookshelf
The Music Box
Mary Bryan Stafford
Privately Published
9781732168237, $25.98 hc / $16.99 pbk
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Box-Mary-Bryan-Stafford/dp/1732168237
Synopsis: When the Civil War comes to Fredericksburg, Texas, two women as contentious as the North and South, are left by their husbands, brothers who fight on opposite sides. While trying to hold together the farm, they take in a motherless boy.
His father deserts his Confederate post to help at planting and harvest, but Comanche and the hangaerdbande (rogue vigilantes) threaten their lives and livelihood. Eliza and Katarina, in their quest for survival, commit acts they never believed possible.
Despite their antagonism, they must pull together to survive. A music box pays for their lives and changes the course of their relationship.
Critique: The heart of the story is the tense but evolving relationship between Eliza and Katarina, as they slowly grow to appreciate one another. The way this relationship progresses is very well-paced and realistic, helping you immerse yourself in the story.
Similar attention to detail can be found in the Civil War setting in which the story takes place - it's clear that Mary Bryan Stafford did a lot of research for this book, and the effort has payed off. This is a wonderful book.
Editorial Note: Mary Bryan Stafford is a seventh generation Texan and a member of The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia with degrees in English and Spanish but got back to Texas on the fast train. She and her husband now live the Hill Country near Austin. She also wrote the award-winning novels The Wasp in the Fig Tree and The Last Whippoorwill.
Roisin Smyth
Reviewer
S.K. Bane's Bookshelf
Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of The Smiths 1982-1987, revised edition
Simon Goddard
Titan Books
www.titanbooks.com
9781781162583, $16.95 pbk / $10.95 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Songs-That-Saved-Your-Revised/dp/1781162581
One of the iconic bands of the Eighties, The Smiths lasted just five years, 1982-87. Hailing from Manchester, England, and comprised of four key members - singer and lyricist Steven Morrissey, guitarist and composer Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce - they released four classic studio albums and three superb singles compilations during their brief time together. These included The Smiths (1984); Hatful of Hollow (1984); Meat is Murder (1985); The Queen is Dead (1986); The World Won't Listen (1987); Louder than Bombs (1987); and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987). Their most beloved songs include "How Soon is Now?," "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want," "Panic," "Ask," and "This Charming Man."
Frontman Morrissey, an outspoken anti-royalist, harsh critic of Margaret Thatcher, defender of eccentrics, loners, and outsiders, and ardent proponent of animal rights and vegetarianism ("people don't realize how gruesomely and frighteningly the animal gets to the plate"), often attracted controversy. But the group's fans fervently idolized the forthright singer.
According to Rough Trade, their record label, The Smiths aimed "to produce songs which were always instantaneous and listenable whilst also provoking deep thought." And in this, Morrissey and Marr remarkably succeeded, becoming, many devotees contend, the Lennon and McCartney of their time.
In Songs That Saved Your Life: The Art of The Smiths 1982-1987, author Simon Goddard provides an insightful and exhaustive examination of their records, "in all their inarguable brilliance, magic and beauty." He also discusses the group's concerts and tours, their appearances on UK television, and their BBC performances.
Goddard perceptively explores each song in the band's oeuvre. Consider just one example of the more than seventy songs the band recorded. Analyzing "Pretty Girls Make Graves," he asserts that Morrissey, an avid reader, cinephile, and pop music fan, took the song's title from Jack Kerouac's 1958 novel, The Dharma Bums. The phrase "nature played this trick on me" was probably inspired by a line from the 1961 Dirk Bogarde film, Victim. And, Goddard adds, Morrissey's lyric, "I'm not the man you think I am" was obviously borrowed from the 1967 Paul Jones song, "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy."
Eighties music enthusiasts will find this book interesting. Smiths acolytes will find it essential. Truly, "there is a light that never goes out."
S.K. Bane
Reviewer
Suanne Schafer's Bookshelf
The Architect's Apprentice: A Novel
Elif Shafak
Penguin Books
https://www.penguin.com
9780698182622, $27.99 hc / $15.99 pbk / $13.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Architects-Apprentice-Novel-Elif-Shafak-ebook/dp/B00LFZ8C4A
The Architect's Apprentice is a sprawling novel covering more than a century of Turkish history starting in 1540 when a twelve-year-old boy, Jahan, arrives in the city accompanying Chota, an Indian elephant gifted to the Sultan. The Sultan's architect, Sinan, notices the boy's native intelligence and arranges for his education as he continues to serves as the mahout (trainer) to the elephant. Sinan becomes a father figure, and Jahan eventually becomes his apprentice. A princess visits Jahan and Chota in their lodgings, and Jahan falls hard for this unattainable young woman. Sinan, while encouraging his four apprentices, also pits them against each other to produce bigger, better projects which also drives them apart. In the end, Jahan falls prey to the ambition of another apprentice and to the machinations of the princess and is driven from Istanbul to a new future in India and the building of the Taj Mahal.
Author Shafak's writing harkens back to a time of oral history and story-telling and magical realism, and the book has a bit of a Scheherazade and A Thousand and One Nights feel. The sense of being in another time and place is built with sights, sounds, smells, tastes. Despite the meandering, rambling nature of the book, I found it magical and could hardly put it down.
I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman
Transit Books
https://www.transitbooks.org
9781945492624, $16.95 pbk / $9.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Have-Never-Known-Men-ebook/dp/B09QJ8L8FF
I finished I Who Have Never Known Men several nights ago, and it's still rattling around in my brain. It's a superb example of feminist speculative fiction and a reflection on humanity itself. This short, 175-page read delves deeply into the human condition and what makes us human. The prose is taut, every detail necessary. A joy to read, though haunting enough to stay in your brain and heart for a long time.
Narrated by an unnamed female, I Who Have Never Known Men is the story of thirty-nine women and one child (the narrator) who are held in an underground cage after a never-fully-described apocalyptic event. Guarded by men armed with whips, the women have no idea why they are prisoners or even where they are or what happened to the men in their former world. They are provided with food and clothing, but little else. The women are not allowed to touch each other though they can converse with each other. Apparently picked by mistake, the child, unlike the women, has no memories of life before the cage and grows up entirely without physical contact.
One day their guards disappear, leaving the key to the cage in its lock. The captives escape but spend the rest of their existence wandering an unknown land. The child, now a teenager, slowly comes to realize that, as the youngest, she will someday live the remainder of her life in solitude.
Visible: A Novel
Darlene Corbett
WordCrafts Press
https://wordcrafts.net
9781962218382, $32.99 hc / $17.99 pbk / $5.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Visible-Darlene-Corbett/dp/1962218384
Written by a therapist, Visible deals with a therapist, Rachel Karem, who is leading a ten-week group therapy session in an attempt to get five of her clients who seem to have hit their individual impasses at dealing with their various emotional traumas. She hopes they will build enough of a rapport to open up completely to each other.
In addition to seeing the five clients' lives, the reader sees Rachel herself, with the aid of her own therapist, Alexandra, come to terms with her own family dynamics: the death of a beloved spouse and the abandonment by her twin sister as well as the deaths of that twin and their parents.
Because there are so many characters, I found it hard to get attached to any of them in any depth. Each of them has enough trauma to be a book in itself rather than being crammed into a single volume. There are multiple happy endings, with several of the therapy clients becoming involved with each other, and the author seems to have tried a bit too hard to achieve these. Rachel finds a new love on her first outing where she stretches herself to expand her horizons by learning to tango which in itself is highly improbable, plus a decades old failed relationship with her nephew (son of the twin sister) magically is healed with no effort on either her or the nephew's part.
Stone Blind: A Novel
Natalie Haynes
HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com
9780063258419, $18.99 pbk / $12.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Blind-Novel-Natalie-Haynes-ebook/dp/B09ZYG642M
As soon as the newest Natalie Haynes book comes out, I spring for it, full price and all. I've never been disappointed. She is a master at breathing new life into retellings of Greek myths. Stone Blind, a retelling of Medusa, is no exception. Haynes makes the reader look at the very meaning of the word monster. "...the hero isn't the one who's kind or brave or loyal. Sometimes - not always, but sometimes - he is monstrous. And the monster? Who is she? She is what happens when someone cannot be saved." Haynes belongs in the authorial stratosphere inhabited by Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles and Circe). Miller's writing soars to poetic heights while Haynes' conversational style makes the Greek myths very accessible.
Gorgons Sthenno and Euryale are amazed when a mortal baby arrives outside their cave. An actual baby with tiny wings and curly hair. Soon they realize she is their younger sister, deposited there by their father Phorcys as the newborn cannot live under the sea. These "monsters" learn to accommodate her mortality and raise sheep and learn to cook to feed her and come to love her. After the teenaged Medusa is raped by Poseidon in Athene's temple, Athene punishes the victim rather than the perpetrator by blinding her, turning her curls into snakes, and giving her a lethal gaze that can turn living things to stone.
Stone Blind is told in many points of view (the sea-nymph Nereids, Athene, Danae, Cassiope, the three Gorgon sisters, Gaia, Andromeda, and the Gorgoneion - Medusa's head after Perseus cuts it off) and covers far more than the story of Medusa, ranging from the Gigantomachy (the war between the Greek Gods and the giants), Perseus's life and "heroic adventures", and Cassiope who declares that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, resulting in her daughter, Andromeda, being punished by Poseidon and rescued by Perseus. Don't worry - the story of Medusa runs throughout this saga and ties it together.
Telegraph Days
Larry McMurtry
Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschuster.com
9781439141465, $25.00 hc / $10.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Telegraph-Days-Novel-Larry-McMurtry-ebook/dp/B003NE6HCU
Long a fan of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series, I'm working my way through his oeuvre. McMurtry demonstrates his mastery of writing female characters, ranging from Lorena Wood in Lonesome Dove to Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment. He brings this ability to Nellie Courtright in Telegraph Days. At the time of publication of Telegraph Days, McMurtry was seventy years old, writing a twenty-two year old female protagonist, yet this spunky heroine rings true with all the foibles and graces typical of young girls. A Southern belle, Nellie is transported by her father to a ranch in an ill-defined area of America - no one really knows which state either the ranch or the nearest town of Rita Blanca lie in. With the move come losses, including all but one of her siblings, servants, and her mother. Finally, with her father's suicide, Nellie sets "aside being a lady and had the grave half dug by the time Jackson [her seventeen-year-old brother] finished the coffin." The two abandon the ranch and set out for Rita Blanca where shrewd Nellie convinces her beau, the sheriff, to make Jackson his deputy while she becomes the town's telegrapher. Powered by common sense and being "organized," she's hired by Buffalo Bill to run his financial affairs while observing the exploits of some of the West's most notorious men (and being courted by some of them, including George S. Custer). And this is just the beginning of her adventures.
Nellie, a quirky heroine, is clearly out of touch with the expected role of women in the late 19th century. She can take down the raunchiest of men with a glare. She's not only sexually active but relishes it. She travels during her lifetime from the South to California and turns herself into a wealthy woman. This is a funny, rollicking read that, like many of McMurtry's other works, blows the lid of Western myths while being full of Texas dust and the fumes of rotgut whiskey. I couldn't put it down.
Call of the Camino
Suzanne Redfearn
Lake Union Publishing
https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/lake-union-publishing.html
9781662530210, $16.99 pbk / $4.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXG31DNR
Call of the Camino is a two-timeline, two point-of-view novel. In one, Reina Watkins is a budding writer trapped in a copyediting job. When a fellow journalist loses his passport and can't make the deadline for the trip, she impulsively volunteers to cover his story about the Camino de Santiago in Spain. With no training, she takes off on the 500-mile walk across rough terrain, following in her dead father's footsteps on the journey. In the second timeline, seventeen-year-old Isabelle Vidal flees for Portugal along the Camino when her life is threatened due to politics in her Andorran village. There are some readings from Reina's father's journal along the Camino where he meets Isabelle which provide a minor third point of view. The Camino becomes a metaphor for self-growth and healing.
The Spanish landscape, the friendships that develop along the Camino, and the hardships of the actual 500-mile walk seem authentic, perhaps because Redfearn did the walk herself. Early in the novel, the two timelines didn't seem to have anything to do with each other, but as the short chapters passed, the relationship between Reina and Isabelle became apparent and from there on, I really enjoyed the story.
A Storm in the Stars: A Novel of Mary Shelley
Don Zancanella
Delphinium Books
https://www.delphiniumbooks.com
9781504079372, $28.00 hc / $9.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Stars-Novel-Mary-Shelley-ebook/dp/B0D5V3FWW8
A Storm in the Stars purports to be a novel about Mary Shelley; it's right there in the subtitle: A Novel of Mary Shelley. In essence, it is more the story of her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and she plays a rather subservient female role. Mary comes from a strong literary lineage: her mother is the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her father is the philosopher William Godwin. After her mother dies in childbirth, her father remarries an overbearing woman and has additional children and eventually opens a bookstore, hoping to make enough money to support his family. Mary and Percy meet in this bookstore and fall in love. Though he is married with a child and another on the way, they run off together with Mary's half-sister, Jane (who assumes the names of Clara and then Claire), tagging along.
Having read Frankenstein and several retellings of that story, I was very much let down by this book. Though advertised as Mary's story, there are so many points of view that detract from her story, including those of Jeff Hogg, a school chum of Percy's; Claire; and Dr. Polidori, the poet Byron's personal physician. As these extraneous points of view seem to outnumber Mary's, they really detract from her story. I was disappointed, too, that story of Mary writing of Frankenstein was boring. Though a relatively short read at 349 pages, it felt interminable.
Poison Wood
Jennifer Moorhead
Thomas & Mercer
https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/thomas-mercer.html
9781662531422, $16.99 pbk / $4.99 Kindle
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Poison-Wood-Novel-Jennifer-Moorhead-ebook/dp/B0DK3XYJK3
Poison Wood picks up after Moorhead's debut novel, Broken Bayou, with the story of the one of its characters, the ambitious TV reporter, Rita Meade, who did a documentary series on the serial killer of Broken Bayou. She's pulled into a story based in her own past at a girls' school in a Louisiana forest. Rita was sent to this "therapeutic" institution by her father after he found in a compromising position. After a series of incidents, including a murder, the school is closed down. Though Poison Wood is a sequel of sorts, it can easily be read independently.
When a former schoolmate from Poison Wood reaches out via text to Rita about these incidents, she initiates the tumbling down of a house of cards, involving Rita's well-respected father who is a local judge and members of the upper echelons of Louisiana society.
Poison Wood is told in two timelines, 2002 (Rita's years there) and the present and includes journal entries from the girls in the school. Though it's a bit slow at the start, Poison Wood quickly builds up speed as secrets are revealed and the tension and danger amp up. The novel combines elements of family drama and psychological thriller as Rita uncovers both long-buried personal emotions from trauma after the death of her mother) and the secrets of the girls and staff of the Poison Wood school.
Suanne Schafer, Reviewer
www.SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
Susan Bethany's Bookshelf
A Passion for Sea Glass
C. S. Lambert
Down East Books
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
www.rowman.com
9781684752195, $24.95, PB, 96pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Sea-Glass-C-Lambert/dp/1684752191
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-passion-for-sea-glass-c-s-lambert/1102884278
Synopsis: Sea glass is physically polished and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. It consists of fragments of drinkwares or other human-made vessels, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. Weathering produces natural frosted glass. Sea glass is used for decoration, most commonly in jewellery. Sea glass takes 20-40 years, and sometimes as much as 100 - 200 years, to acquire its characteristic texture and shape.[
Some people's passion for sea glass goes beyond collecting -- they use it to create something of beauty. Originally published in hardcover (2008) by Down East Books and now newly available in a trade paperback (10.96 x 0.24 x 8.46 inches, 12.8 ounces) edition, "Sea Glass" by Carole Lambert gives us entree into the studios of those who do everything from gathering and amassing sea glass mulch for landscaping to designing stained sea glass windows.
This beautifully illustrated and informative volume will arouse a renewed sense of wonder in those who already possess a passion for sea glass and win legions of new sea-glass devotees.
Critique: An informative and fascinating read from start to finish, this new paperback edition of "A Passion for Sea Glass" by C. S. Lambert is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Glass Art & Mixed-Media Crafts collections. It should be noted for students, artists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "A Passion for Sea Glass" is also readily available from Down East Books in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.99).
Editorial Note: C.S. Lambert is a recognized expert on sea glass and the author of the Sea Glass Chronicles, Sea Glass Hunter's Handbook, Sea Glass Crafts, and Sea Glass Rare and Wonderful. She has also worked as an editor for the International Herald Tribune, French Times, and W Fashion Life. Her articles have appeared in American History Illustrated, France Today, Yankee, the Gloucester Daily Times, and the Camden Herald. She has collected sea glass on five continents.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Willis Buhle's Bookshelf
Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir
Hal Foster, author/illustrator
Brian M. Kane, series editor
Fantagraphics
www.fantagraphics.com
9798875001192, $49.99, HC, 112pp
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Hal-Fosters-Prince-Valiant-Sketchbooks/dp/B0DXSSKQCK
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hal-fosters-prince-valiant-sketchbooks-hal-foster/1147029166
Synopsis: In the works for several years, "Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir" is a compendium of never-before-published Prince Valiant art by the strip's legendary creator, Hal Foster, collected in a series of six annotated portfolio volumes.
Part sketchbook collection, part biography, part tutorial, part memoir -- "Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks" presents an unprecedented look into Foster's personal life and creative process during his final nine years on the strip. It's also a fascinating look behind the curtains as Foster coached and interacted with his chosen successor: John Cullen Murphy.
Produced with the full permission and participation of the Foster and Murphy families, this unique series is a testament to author and Prince Valiant historian Brian M. Kane's research prowess and determination to bring Hal Foster's creative process to light. This uniquely intimate view of Foster's creative process is a long-awaited dream come true for Prince Valiant fans.
Over the course of these volumes, Kane annotates with painstaking clarity and thoroughness 366 penciled layout pages, 40 character sketches, and 577 text pages of Foster's descriptions and instructions for each panel. Also featured are an additional 143 pieces of art, mostly by Foster, 100 photographs detailing his life and career, and 123 personal letters and notes, all adding immeasurably to this exploration of Foster's life and art, as well as his collaboration with Murphy.
Critique: The first of a new six-volume series collecting the sketches and notes behind Hal Foster's creation of the Prince Valiant comic strip and featuring pencil sketches and full-color illustrations throughout, this large format (10.6 x 0.7 x 14.3 inches, 3 pounds) hardcover edition of "Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir" from Fantagraphics is a magnificent and unreservedly recommended acquisition for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Illustrated Comic History/Graphic Illustration collections. Simply stated, "Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Sketchbooks: An Illustrated Memoir" is fascinating, informative, and 'must have' series for the legions of Hal Foster fans.
Editorial Note #1: Hal Foster (August 16, 1892 - July 25, 1982) created Prince Valiant in 1937. Though remaining involved with the strip until his death in 1982, Foster handed the bulk of the scripting and art chores over to his longtime assistant, John Cullen Murphy, in 1971.
Editorial Note #2: Brian M. Kane is a comics historian and adjunct professor at Ohio State University. He edited 18 volumes of Fantagraphics' collection of the Prince Valiant strip, as well as The Prince Valiant Companion.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
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