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Andrea Kay's Bookshelf
Entertaining by Design: A Guide to Creating Meaningful Gatherings
Lorna Gross
Collective Book Studio
https://thecollectivebook.studio
9781685555788, $35.00, HC, 256pp
https://www.amazon.com/Entertaining-Design-Creating-Meaningful-Gatherings/dp/1685555780
Synopsis: From interior designer and style maven Lorna Gross, "Entertaining by Design: A Guide to Creating Meaningful Gatherings" is a collection of accessible gatherings, organized by season, from a small dinner to post-Christmas breakfast celebration. Each gathering is designed to be instructional, inspirational, and doable for anyone by using tableware and decorations you may already have along with carefully chosen decorative items like place cards or serving platters that can cost as little or as much as your budget allows.
Each gathering includes suggestions for the best way to invite your guests (sometimes, that's just a well-thought-out email) types of tableware, music suggestions to set the mood, and a color scheme to tie everything together. Lorna has shared a few of her favorite recipes that are satisfying, delicious, and certain to get the party started.
In a world where we are constantly busy, it's easy to think there is no time to plan a party, but with "Entertaining by Design" from the Collective Book Studio, Lorna proves that with her simple instructions, streamlined tips, and a little planning, any of these gatherings can be accomplished. Whether you believe you don't know how to create a gathering or you just think you don't have the time, gorgeous photos throughout "Entertaining by Design" encourage readers by showing how easy it can all be.
Critique: Elegant, gorgeous, and thoroughly reader friendly in organization and presentation, this large format (8.5 x 0.5 x 10 inches, 2.31 pounds) hardcover edition of "Entertaining by Design: A Guide to Creating Meaningful Gatherings" by Lorna Gross is a fascinating and inspiring combination of DIY party planning menu ideas and recipes. A pleasure to browse through and plan memorable party gatherings with "Entertaining by Design" is a very special and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, and community library collections.
Editorial Note: Lorna Gross (www.lornagross.com/) is an accomplished interior designer, speaker, and lifestyle authority. Her work has been featured by Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, among others. Lorna's designs have graced homes throughout North America and London. From childhood, she has been a lover of delightful gatherings for family and friends. Her path has taken her from bone China dinners in New York to raucous crawfish boils in Louisiana to political soirees in Washington DC and she wholeheartedly embraces every single one. She is sought out for her design aesthetic and adored for her savvy but down-to-earth disposition.
Andrea Kay
Reviewer
Ann Skea's Bookshelf
Depth of Field
Kirsty Iltners
UWA Publishing
https://uwap.uwa.edu.au
9781760802752, A$34.99 PB 300pp.
https://www.amazon.com/Depth-Field-Kirsty-Iltners/dp/1760802751
'If you want to freeze something fast, you increase the shutter speed - but it makes the image darker.'
Tom's memories of his first encounter with Adeline are sharp, but there is darkness all around.
Tom, now in his forties, remembers the ice-cream queue, the few minutes of youthful banter between them, the man ('Tanned. Muscular') ill-treating a puppy, Adeline's determination to 'save' it, and his own impulsive actions. The darkness is that Adeline is no longer with him; but also, as is clear when he re-tells this memory later, there are things and people left out, obscured, forgotten, perhaps deliberately.
'Bear with me', he says,
'My memories of Adeline are part of me, running though my blood and buried under my skin, but some of the specifics have become fragile and crumble at my touch. From scraps, I've had to build them into something solid. Fill in the blanks.'
Photography is important in Kirsty Iltners' novel. Not just as part of the story, but as a structure used to tell it. The three sections, titled 'Shutter Speed', 'Aperture' and 'ISO', reflect the definitions given in the pre-amble before the story begins. 'Shutter Speed' offers sharp snapshots of the present lives of two very different characters: Tom and Lottie. 'Aperture' prioritises the 'depth of field', getting deeper into their lives; and the 'ISO' chapters throw more light on everything, revealing facts which are dark and traumatic, and adding 'grain' and texture. Photography (like story - telling, one might add) is always 'a balancing act': there are always 'choices' and 'sacrifices'. You can manipulate the setting to 'curate' something 'flawless' but most of us just 'use it to remember', and memory is fallible.
Kirsty Iltners' novel is nothing like as contrived and manipulated as this sounds. Both Tom and Lottie come alive on her pages, and their thoughts, emotions, experiences and memories draw you in so that you feel you know them.
Tom seems like a nice bloke - mid-forties, living in a 'battered' old house that creaks in the wind, working as a photographer with a young real estate agent whose name he can never remember ('Some kind of precious stone': she becomes 'Ruby', 'Sapphire', 'Amethyst' 'Diamond', as the novel progresses), and surviving on greasy take-aways. He shares sex with Freya, whom he has known for three years but who, like him, desires not to become involved. He thinks of her, sadly, as being 'someone closer to being a stranger than a friend', because Adeline is constantly in his thoughts, and clearly something terrible has happened to part them, for which Tom blames himself. This tragedy haunts his life, but we do not learn what it is until the final pages of the book.
Lotte, a seventeen-year-old single mother, is totally different. Life is new for her, still full of dreams and possibilities, although these are gradually being destroyed by the trials of surviving with 6-month-old Carol in a poky, barely furnished flat, over a fish and chip shop, and by the impersonal, seemingly impossible, demands of social security staff she had thought were there to help her.
Lotte's first shock was being abandoned by her 30-year-old boss, who had seduced her. At home she had lived with an emotionally distant mother who was often 'physically present but completely checked out', a violent father who only noticed her when she managed to keep the house running, and a younger brother for whom she cared but who was her father's favourite. She had seemed almost invisible. Her boss had noticed her (the most important thing), courted her, bought her an expensive necklace, and treated her to nights in expensive hotels.
'I imagined a new shiny life with someone who saw me, understood me and loved me.
He had seemed like my ticket out.
But I was stupid and naive.
Still am.'
Lotte struggles with feelings of isolation. She is aware all the time that others are judging her. At the playgroup she attends, trying to comply with one of the requirements on which her social security support money depends, she feels different to other mothers with their partners, their cars, and their ease with money - none of which she has. She avoids phone calls from her mother, who always ends by complaining that Lottie never visits her and the baby will soon not recognise her. Lottie's mother never leaves the house, and 'does nothing', but her father controls all the money, and, it becomes apparent, controls her mother, too.
Lotte, however, is not about to admit defeat. As a way of gaining some control of her life she begins to write lists:
'Can opener
Photo frames.
Candles.
Plants.'
The things which get added to the list or crossed off chart what happens in her life as her story progresses. 'Beach toys', 'A five-dollar bill', and 'A sense of direction' get added. 'A sense of direction' and 'Photo frames' are among the things removed.
It is hard to convey the way Tom's and Lottie's stories grip you. Their childhood memories are very different; as are their personalities and their interests. Kirsty Iltner may have given us only snapshots of their lives but both have strong voices that draw you in so that you feel you know them and begin to care about them.
Towards the end of the book, there are hopeful signs that Lotte's life is improving. In Tom's case, the cause of his trauma remains in the dark areas of his memory until the final pages of the book. In these pages, too, unexpected events occur which for both Tom and Lottie suggest that a whole new future, complex but brighter, is about to unfold for them.
Depth of Field is a beautifully written, carefully crafted story, and an absorbing and moving reflection of life with all its joys and woes. That there are deeper meanings to it is suggested by two pages, unnumbered and unidentified as part of any chapter. It is not clear whether the voice is Tom's or the author's. Both are thought provoking.
The first, before the story begins, contains a statement about photography which also applies to life:
'In photography, you don't get to have it all. You are always making choices, always making sacrifices.
To capture the light.'
No matter how careful you are, the voice tells us, you don't always get the balance right, and others will always find something wrong and think they could do better. Then comes a challenge:
'Admit it. You do too.'
On the second of these pages, at the end of the story, the same unidentifiable voice comments on the fallibility of memories and our ability to 'judge the actions of others while making exceptions for ourselves':
'We lie to each other, but the person we lie to most is ourselves. If you're truly honest with yourself, you have to admit it.
You forget too'.
So, how have we judged Tom and Lottie; what have we forgotten about our own pasts; have we convinced ourselves that we would have acted differently; and would we have found a better balance between the dark and the light?
Dr Ann Skea, Reviewer
https://ann.skea.com/THHome.htm
Arthur Turfa's Bookshelf
Green Island
Liz Countryman
Tupelo Press
https://www.tupelopress.org
9781961209084, $21.95
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Island-Liz-Countryman/dp/196120908X
I was almost through with this impressive poetry collection when it hit me. Perhaps I sensed it before, but eventually there were echoes of Rilke's Duino Elegies. in the structure and language. This is not to imply that the poet intended that, or that anyone else would agree with me.
The concept of place intersects with memory in Green Island. There is fluidity between the present and the speaker's memories. Not that this causes concern or worries; the speaker is able to fashion poems that take the reader along in an examination not only of the speaker's past, of poetic archetypes, and contemporary issues.
These poems attempt to make sense of the past, to glean from the past something that will fashion a pleasant future. There is no time for either wallowing or regret, but rather to recall and look beyond.
Recollection occurs rapidly. In one verse from You Are In A Lake the speaker address someone in a flurry of images: first in a lake surrounded by hills, then in a bathtub, and finally in a child's pool, all within ten short lines.
Green Island is a collection to savor, to read and re-read a line or lines, not only to follow the speaker's journey through time, but also to reflect on one's own life: present, past and future.
Arthur Turfa, Reviewer
Saluda Reflections, Finishing Line Press
Booklife
Ojo
Donald Mengay
Saddle Road Press
https://saddleroadpress.com
9798990054325, $25.00 PB, $9.99 Kindle, 328pp
https://www.amazon.com/Ojo-Donald-Mengay/dp/B0DDR966XP
This moving, challenging novel of a young gay man coming of age in the 1980s pulses with moments of connection and freedom, explored in prose that exults in its own liberation: "Thus time, tortoise and torturous, hale and hare. Rich in paradox, it travels. At a rate of 67,000 miles per hour. It catapults us with a flaming center." The narrative explores the lives of gay men at the onset of the HIV pandemic in Ojo Caliente, a "neon mountain town" town whose stretch of New Mexico seems intent on "formaldehyding the past." The narrator, meanwhile, is facing past and present in incandescent sentences, as he makes new friends, explores his sexuality with an array of men - from those not openly "out" to those with women at home - and contemplates relationships he's left behind, all as he vows "to scramble, leave the state, go for good."
The flaming center here is Mengay's blazing style, a stream-of-consciousness gush studded with killer details - "the two of us press flesh to flesh, causing me to frot the horn in rhythmic beats, the sound intensifying on this barren spit below I-70" - wells of deep feeling, and reams of sharp-elbowed, unpunctuated dialogue that, in the briskest passages, offers a reprieve from the prevailing density. Mengay (author of The Lede to our Undoing) demonstrates a mastery of rowdy voices, in chatter and letters, sometimes offering scenes in script form.
But Ojo's power comes from Mengay's attention to the senses in scenes of home building, road tripping, boisterous get-togethers, earthy trysts ("Lips and beard abrade my skin, peel me like a tangerine"), and taking the dancefloor at a gay bar that's like a "studded - and-buckled Araby of the west." Especially moving is Mengay's stripping away at the cast's protective layers, revealing men who are wild and carefree with the narrator yet not free to be so in their everyday lives. Readers who relish uncompromising fiction of substance and ambition will find this wild, wise, and nourishing.
Editorial Note: Donald Mengay grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in a factory for a time and managed a bookstore. He began writing fiction in his early twenties. He taught Queer and Post-Humanist Lit at the City University of New York for over thirty years, as well as English at the University of Paris, Nanterre.
During his years teaching he published several articles of queer criticism in academic journals that include among others Genders, Genre, and Minnesota University Press. He also co-published a book entitled Dis/Inheritance: New Croatian Photography, from Ikon Press. The Lede to Our Undoing, his debut novel, was the first in a trilogy and Ojo is the second.
Booklife
https://booklife.com
Carl Logan's Bookshelf
Scandal of Vandals
Frank F. Weber
https://www.frankweberauthor.com
Book Baby Publishers
www.bookbaby.com
9798894433462, $18.00, PB, 306pp
https://www.amazon.com/Scandal-Vandals-Frank-F-Weber/dp/B0D86KFL1K
Synopsis: Debra Grant, the spouse of esteemed attorney Tug Grant, was brutally assaulted in her Minnetonka home on Wednesday morning and died later that afternoon at Park Nicollet Hospital.
Debra, a Macalester College graduate, was a scout leader, a member of the Scenic Heights PTA and a beloved member of the Christian Women's Ministry.
Then it is to be noted that Tug Grant was in the headlines in 2018 for defending a member of the Minneapolis Combination (MN mafia) after the boss was accused of murdering a Disciples gang member.
The police have not identified any suspects In Debra's murder. Violent crime is uncommon in this affluent community. What's to be done?
Critique: An impressive crafted story that is based on an actual crime in which a famous attorney was accused of hiring a hitman to kill his wife, "Scandal of Vandals" by novelist and forensic psychologist Frank F. Weber is an original, compelling, and memorable thriller of a read from start to finish. A work of exceptional literary elegance, "Scandal of Vandals" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Scandal of Vandals" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Frank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide, sexual assault and domestic abuse cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predators think, knowledge of victim trauma and expert testimony in writing his true crime thrillers. He has profiled cold case homicides and been interviewed on investigative shows such as Snapped and Murdered by Morning. His Award Winning books include Murder Book (2017) The I-94 Murders (2018) Last Call (2019) Lying Close (2020) Burning Bridges (2021), Black and Blue (2022), The Haunted House of Hillman (2023).
Beyond Eureka!: The Rocky Roads to Innovating
Marylene Delbourg-Delphis
Georgetown University Press
www.press.georgetown.edu
9781647124229, $29.95, HC, 392pp
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Eureka-Rocky-Roads-Innovating/dp/1647124220
Synopsis: One of the biggest problems faced by entrepreneurs and corporate executives alike is the conflation of entrepreneurship with innovation. The quest for innovation is often misguided by a variety of mantras, cliches and proclamations, often infused with notions of disruption and delusions of grandeur.
With the publication of "Beyond Eureka!: The Rocky Roads to Innovating", Marylene Delbourg-Delphis debunks the myths and conventional wisdom surrounding innovation, revealing its complex, non-linear nature and identifying ways to avoid common pitfalls.
Serial entrepreneur Delbourg-Delphis first defines innovation as the implementation of something new that is developed for and commercialized in a marketplace. She uses various case studies (both smaller scale and well-known) to unpack the common misconceptions surrounding innovation and guide entrepreneurs through the uncertainty of innovating in a potential market rather than a pre-existing one.
"Beyond Eureka!" brings a new perspective to understanding the nature and practice of innovation based on the author's extensive experience, historical knowledge, and conceptual analysis. Innovators, whether entrepreneurs or the strategic leadership teams of established companies, will benefit from the insights and guidance.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Beyond Eureka!: The Rocky Roads to Innovating" will prove to be of immense value to readers with an interest in entrepreneurship, business leadership/motivation, and the role of private equity in business. While also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $22.49), "Beyond Eureka!: The Rocky Roads to Innovating" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended pick for personal reading lists, as well as corporate, community, and college/university library collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Marylene Delbourg-Delphis (www.delbourg-delphis.org/) is one of the first European women to have founded (with Guy Kawasaki) a technology company in Silicon Valley. The CEO of three additional companies in succession, she has also helped over 30 companies (so far) as a "shadow" CEO, board member, and strategy advisor. A graduate of l'Ecole Normale Superieure in France, she holds a PhD and earned minors in mathematical logic and history of sciences, which she studied under the tutelage of French academician Michel Serres. In 2018, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, the highest French order of merit for military and civil accomplishments.
Carl Logan
Reviewer
Clint Travis' Bookshelf
The Usual Silence
Jenny Milchman
Thomas & Mercer
c/o Amazon Publishing
9781662518423, $16.99, PB, 367pp
https://www.amazon.com/Usual-Silence-Arles-Shepherd-Thriller/dp/1662518420
Synopsis: Psychologist Arles Shepherd treats troubled children, struggling with each case to recover from her own traumatic past, much of which she's lost to the shadows of memory. Having just set up a new kind of treatment center in the remote Adirondack wilderness, Arles longs to heal one patient in particular: a ten-year-old boy who has never spoken a word -- or so his mother, Louise, believes.
Hundreds of miles away, Cass Monroe is living a parent's worst nightmare. His twelve-year-old daughter has vanished on her way home from school. With no clues, no witnesses, and no trail, the police are at a dead end. Fighting a heart that was already ailing, and struggling to keep both his marriage and himself alive, Cass turns to a pair of true-crime podcasters for help.
Arles, Louise, and Cass will soon find their lives entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated. And when the collision occurs, a quarter-century-old secret will be forced out of hiding. Because nothing screams louder than silence.
Critique: An emotionally compelling and impressively crafted psychological suspense thriller of a read from start to finish, "The Usual Silence" by novelist Jenny Milchman is original, compelling, and a highly recommended pick for community library contemporary fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists of anyone with an interest in domestic thriller, kidnaping, and serial killer fiction that "The Usual Silence" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Jenny Milchman (www.jennymilchman.com) is the Mary Higgins Clark Award - winning author of the psychological thrillers Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, As Night Falls, Wicked River, and The Second Mother. Her work has received praise from media ranging from the New York Times to the San Francisco Journal of Books; earned spots on Top 10 lists from Suspense Magazine to the Strand Magazine; made Best Of lists from PopSugar to PureWow; and garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Shelf Awareness, in addition to numerous other mentions.
FDR and High Treason at Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's Scandal
Charles Sprinkles & Nhan Thanh Thi Nguyen Sprinkles
Pen & Sword Books
https://www.penandswordbooks.com
Casemate (US distribution)
www.casematepublishers.com
9781399050876, $42.95, HC, 240pp
https://www.amazon.com/FDR-High-Treason-Pearl-Harbor/dp/1399050877
Synopsis: The traditional story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a fallacy that needs to be corrected. Americans have been taught in school that this was a surprise/sneak attack by the Imperial Japanese government on the United States Navy and Army at Pearl Harbor; nothing could be further from the truth. FDR help orchestrate and instigate the attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
There was more than enough information that passed before FDR eyes from 1933 to 1941 that showed that Japan was going to attack the United States in Hawaii and just how weak the United States defenses were at Pearl Harbor.
Important information was ignored such as the war games at Pearl Harbor in 1932 and 38, the book "Winged Defense" by General William Mitchell in 1925, exam question for cadets to graduate the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy "How would you conduct a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor," which FDR knew about, the Panay Incident and the Nan King Massacre, all the intercepted codes that said Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor and yet FDR did nothing to stop Japan.
After the war there was an investigation into the attack on Pearl Harbor, however all the information had been classified and could not be released to investigate in the late 1940's. This is not the case today.
Critique: Iconoclastic, documented, candid, compelling, informed and informative, "FDR and High Treason at Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's Scandal" is a very worthwhile and recommended addition to the growing body of World War II histories and biographies. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $25.00), "FDR and High Treason at Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt's Scandal" is strongly commended for personal, community, and college/university library World II collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Charles Sprinkles has a double master's degree in Military History/Global History from American Military/Public University. He went to school on an Army ROTC scholarship and served 20 years as a United States Army Reserve Officer most in the IRR. He is currently working on his PhD from Liberty University. He is a member of the Historical Studies Honor Society and a Mason/Shriner. He lives with his wife and research co-author Nhan Thanh Thi Nguyen in Lexington, Kentucky. Charles Sprinkles' first book "Shiloh 1st Day: Turning Point of the American Civil War" argues very successfully that this was the battle that determined who would win the American Civil War.
Clint Travis
Reviewer
Israel Drazin's Bookshelf
The Judges
Elie Wiesel
Alfred A Knopf
https://knopfdoubleday.com
9780805211214, $15.00
https://www.amazon.com/Judges-Elie-Wiesel/dp/0375409092
Many reviewers found Elie Wiesel's 1999 book "The Judges" difficult and abandoned it before reaching the end. They enjoyed the dozens of this Nobel Peace Prize winners' books but dismissed this one, although it is in easy-to-read English, because they could not understand what was happening. Who were the seven people in the drama? What do they want? Is this a crime novel? Is it a tragedy? They are both right and wrong. True, the first hundred pages of this 209-page work reveal less than it exposes.
But this is not bad. It is good. If something is easy, it is probably wrong. If it is difficult, it builds character. In his Guide for the Perplexed 3:24, Maimonides states that the Hebrew Bible mentions people experiencing trials six times. "People generally have the notion that trials consist in afflictions and mishaps sent by God to man... as a punishment for sins." But this is not correct.
Trials should be understood as experiences from which we can learn. "The sole object of all the trials mentioned in Scripture is to teach man what he ought to believe; so that the event which forms the trial is not the end desired; it is an example for our instruction and guidance."[1] Difficulties do not harm us; they are experiences from which we can learn and improve. This reassurance should make readers feel at ease, knowing that the book's challenges are not harmful but beneficial.
Psalm 126, sung by many Jews before saying grace at the end of the Shabbat meal, thanking God for the food, put the thought this way: "Those who plant with tears will reap with glee."
Yes, each of the seven people in the tale who are flying from the US to Israel has a past that is obscure, troubling, and a reason why they are traveling to Israel, but we do not know who they are, their past, their distresses, concerns, and why they are making this trip. This disconcerted some readers. But those who persevered and continued to the book's second half got answers. And they learned from understanding the experiences of the seven and improved themselves.
The plane they were traveling in encountered a severe snowstorm and needed to land in a rural US area. Passengers are told they must be boarded in different locations until the storm passes, which may be more than a day. Five of them end up in the home of a bizarre man and his deformed servant. The owner imprisons them and forces them to perform strange activities. Readers will wonder if the strange man who is imprisoning them is crazy or if he has a rational reason for his behavior. They will also wonder about the servant. Why is he misshapen? Why is he more like a slave than a servant? Again, facing the difficulty in unraveling the mystery yields much that improves our thinking and behavior.
The Testament
Elie Wiesel
Simon and Schuster
https://www.simonandschuster.com
B00JH60312, $26.40
https://www.amazon.com/Testament-Novel-Elie-Wiesel/dp/B00JH6C312
Eli Wiesel is an excellent writer. His novel The Testament is brilliant. Everything about it is fantastic. The plot is interesting, enlightening, and engaging, a delight to read. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 because of what he wrote about the horrors of the Holocaust, Russia, and other subjects. He paints his characters in words artistically, as Rembrandt painted in oils. His Nobel citation reads: "Wiesel is a messenger to mankind. His message is one of peace and atonement and human dignity. The message is in the form of a testimony, repeated and deepened through the works of a great author."
He certainly deserved this Nobel Peace Prize. However, readers of this book and others will lead many of them, as they lead me to feel that he should have also won the Nobel Prize for literature because his books are so good.
The Testament focuses on the Russian leader Stalin murdering Russia's greatest Jewish poets and novelists on August 12, 1952, and before that date. He gathers the lives, thinking, and acts of these martyrs by telling the tale of one of them, a Jewish poet who, despite devoting himself to communism, was murdered by the communist leader. Readers will wonder why the Jewish intellectuals were killed. They will gain many insights from this book about Jews and non-Jews.
Readers will enjoy Weisel's manner of writing. While undoubtedly easy-to-read prose, his writing often feels poetic, even dream-like, like good poetry usually saying more than what the words are saying. His writings prompt us to think.
We read about the poet's upbringing. He was raised in a Jewish Orthodox Russian home, studied with rabbis, observed all the Jewish rituals, and put on his tefillin daily when he recited prayers, except on Shabbat and holidays, as Jewish laws require. But he soon abandoned Jewish practices for communism, as I will discuss below. Even during the many years of abandonment, he always took his tefillin in his suitcase when he traveled or placed it in his drawer at home, unable to abandon his father's life completely.
Is this why Stalin hated Jews who loved, glorified, and aided communism because he could not stand the idea that their communism contained a Jewish seasoning?
We read about the pogroms the poet and his family experienced, the murders, the vicious manner in which non-Jewish mobs treated Jews on the holiday of Christmas, the rapes, mutilations, robberies, destruction of homes, and other repulsive acts that Wiesel depicts artistically.
Similarly, we read how our poet went to war in Spain on the side of communism when Spain was involved in a civil war between those who adopted Nazi ideas and those who endorsed communism. Each side committed inhuman cruelties. The same occurred when he joined the Russian army against Germany, with the same atrocities, deaths, and mutilations.
What struck me the most of all the many revelations Elie Wiesel gives us is the ease with which religious Jews turned from the wisdom and goal of Judaism to communism. The psychology is evident today, both among Jews and non-Jews.
The Jewish youths in Stalin's Russia, both those who were mistreated and those who lived in prosperity, those with Jewish education and those who had little Jewish knowledge, were filled with the desire to see a messianic age, which Judaism saw as a goal for humanity. They felt correctly that the age would not come miraculously. It required work. But they stumbled in the wrong direction when they listened and believed that communism would create their desired messianic age. They naively believed communism would create equality, luxury, and freedom - the sun would shine brighter, the air would be fresher, and the water clear.
This problem exists for all people today, not only Jews. People need goals to survive, but the goals must be sensible. Even if the goals are ideal, people must be careful what path they take to accomplish them.
Communism is not seen as a path to the Valhalla today, but a diluted version of it, socialism, is. Jewish intellectuals were murdered by Stalin in 1952 under the banner of communism; all society will suffer and drown in its watered-down version.
The Eye Begins to See
Lauren Small
Ethics International Press
https://ethicspress.com
9781804411094, $124.64, 266 pages
https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Begins-See-Lauren-Small/dp/1804411094
The Nuremberg Nazi Doctors' Trials
The Nuremberg Nazi Doctors' Trials, called United States of America v. Karl Brandt et al., occurred from December 9, 1946 to August 20, 1947. There were twenty-three defendants. Twenty were medical doctors. They were accused of performing Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia. The trials resulted in seven acquittals and seven death sentences. The remaining nine received prison sentences of 10 years to life imprisonment.
Dr. Lauren Small, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, offers a very informative, splendid fictional account of the trial in her 2023 novel "The Eye Begins to See." The book's title is based on a statement by the American poet Theodore Roethke: "In Dark Time, the eye begins to see."
Although Dr. Small's novel is fiction, with some invented characters and events, the actual chief counsel to the prosecution, Dr. Leo Alexander, the lead defendant Hitler's chief physician, Dr. Karl Brandt, Brigadier General Telford Taylor, who headed the American prosecution team, appear in the novel. Although Dr. Small fictionalizes some of their activities, she perfectly captures the spirit of the trial and the contribution that Dr. Alexander gave to world medicine. This contribution is a universal ethical code known as "The Nuremberg Code," which affects every person a physician treats today. He was the principal author of the Code.
Dr. Small reveals many things about Germany, the Nazis, and the trial. Still, her foremost gift to readers is her narrative skill in showing why the Nazi doctors felt that euthanasia, that is, the killing of sick children, which led to the butchery of six million Jews and others, was proper medical treatment. What made healers become killers?
Before and during World War II, many Germans accepted and acted according to Hitler's desires for different reasons. Hitler almost hypnotized some. Others felt they must obey because of their love of Germany, or they were affected by the German loss of World War I and the vast inflation that followed, or by a feeling that German culture was far superior to others whose people were less than human, or anti-Semitism, the belief that Jews are worthless.
Readers who read Eli Wiesel's "The Testament" or my review of it may have been struck as I was with the ease with which religious Jews turned from the wisdom and goal of Judaism to communism. What happened with the religious Jews in Russia happened with many doctors in Germany.
The Jewish youths in Stalin's Russia, even those who had little Jewish knowledge, were filled with the desire to see a messianic age, which Judaism saw as a goal for humanity. They felt correctly that the age would not come miraculously. It required work. They thought they were working to create a messianic age for everyone, but they stumbled in the wrong direction when they listened and believed that communism would make what they desired: equality, luxury, and freedom.
So, too, the Nazi doctors, Brandt among them, felt strongly that their goal was to treat their patients. Still, they stumbled into the wrong behavior, a twisted and perverted behavior where they saw murder as a medical duty when they felt that one way to relieve their pain was to kill their patients. They thought that this was both for the good of the painful patient and the common good. Mentally ill people, individuals with disabilities, Jews, and Romani who are worthless, less than human, are disposable for their good and for the sake of a healthy society. This, they felt, was so self-evident that it was foolish to think doctors needed to ask their permission or that of their families to lend their bodies to be experimented upon and die for the common good.
Israel Drazin, Reviewer
www.booksnthoughts.com
Jack Mason's Bookshelf
Shooting for the Stars
Richard Danne
ORO Editions
www.oroeditions.com
9781961856134, $50.00, HC, 248pp
https://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Stars-Richard-Danne/dp/1961856131
Synopsis: In the 248 colorful pages comprising "Shooting for the Stars: Six Decades of Timeless Designs" by Richard Danne there are countless award-winning, successful design programs and projects which have stood the test of time. Over six decades of global corporate clients (like AT&T and DuPont) to smaller not-for-profit organizations (like F.I.T. and Third Street Music School); Huge budgets to tiny, but all with strong concepts and enduring design solutions. Each design example is dated so one can appreciate the longevity of the work.
In addition, this edition of "Shooting for the Stars" from ORO Editions contains many stories of how the projects evolved, some in unique and surprising ways. i.e.: NASA where we presented only a single Logo solution, but with multiple supporting applications; Or this author being stranded after a presentation in Saudi Arabia, with a full lock-down of airspace. Other stories have a decided teaching role and offer counterpoint to the diverse design presentations.
There is also much about Danne's design leadership and service, a commitment which goes well beyond his own practice, for the good of all. Simply put, it's an animated long view of our graphic [visual] design profession, its history and evolution.
Critique: Published in a coffee-table style large format (9.7 x 1 x 11.7 inches, 3.8 pounds) hardcover edition, "Shooting for the Stars: Six Decades of Timeless Designs" is a fascinating book to browse through and will prove to be an immediate and enduringly welcome addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Branding/Logo Design collections and supplemental Design History/Criticism curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Richard Danne is well-known as Design Director of the iconic 1975 NASA redesign program. He was President of AIGA, founding President of AIGA/NY; U.S. President of AGI; A design consultant to FAA, Fashion Institute, AT&T, Paramount Pictures, Seagram. Richard enjoyed a six-decade independent career and won three U.S. Presidential Awards. (http://www.designculture.it/interview/richard-danne.html)
Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega
Laura Davis-Chanin & Liz Lamere
Backbeat Books
c/o The Globe Pequot Press
www.globepequot.com
9781493072484, $40.00, HC, 384pp
https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Dreams-Life-Alan-Vega/dp/149307248X
Synopsis: Best known for co-founding the early punk duo Suicide, Alan Vega lived a complex and labyrinthine life, driven by a desire to express himself uncompromisingly through art. From his first sketch in art class at Brooklyn College to the 2021 release of the album Mutator five years after his death, Vega continues to shock and inspire.
Featuring an informative Foreword by Bruce Springsteen, "Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega" is the first-ever biography of Vega and tells the story of the man's life and art, beginning with his early attempts to live a "normal" life and his epiphanic encounter with Iggy Pop in 1969.
Although becoming a performer on stage had been at the bottom of Vega's list of lifetime ambitions, Iggy changed his mind: he needed music to truly express his vision. "Infinite Dreams" goes on to describe Vega's many experiments across a variety of media, including the partnership with Marty Rev that became Suicide, which challenged audiences to look deep inside themselves and to not settle for distractions.
Critique: "Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega" is an impressively candid, informative and engaging exploration of a man whose artwork, music, and philosophy inspired thousands. Co-authored by Laura Davis-Chanin together and Liz Lamere (Alan Vega's wife and long-term creative collaborator), "Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega".is a prized pick for community and college/university library Punk Rock History/Biography collections. It should be noted for the late Alan Vega's legions of fans that "Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega" is also readily available from Backbeat Books in a digital book format (Kindle, $30.27).
Editorial Note #1: Laura Davis-Chanin (www.facebook.com/LDavisChanin) is the author of The Girl in the Back: A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene, which was a Billboard top ten music book for 2018 and won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. She is also the co-author of I Am Michael Alago, the story of the unique man who brought us the band Metallica. She is currently working on a screenplay adaptation of The Girl in the Back.
Editorial Note #2: Liz Lamere was Alan Vega's wife and long-term creative collaborator. They met in 1985 when she was a corporate lawyer at a major Wall Street firm and played drums in a punk band, SSNUB. She co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded numerous songs with Vega. Now, she spearheads the ongoing release of recordings from the "Vega Vault," a vast library of unreleased albums, songs, and sound recordings. She oversees the Vega archives of works on paper, extensive writings of lyrics, poetry and fine art Vega created until his passing in 2016.Lamere has recorded two solo albums "Keep it Alive" and "One Never Knows" on In the Red Records. She has toured internationally with Alan Vega and as a solo artist.
Jack Mason
Reviewer
John Burroughs' Bookshelf
A Refiner's Fire
Donna Leon
Atlantic Monthly Press
c/o Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
www.groveatlantic.com
9780802162540, $28.00, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Refiners-Fire-Commissario-Brunetti-Mystery/dp/0802162541
Synopsis: Around one AM on an early spring morning, two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice's squares. Commissario Claudia Griffoni, on duty that night, perhaps ill-advisedly walks the last of the boys home because his father, Dario Monforte, failed to pick him up at the Questura.
Coincidentally, Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy friend of Vice-Questore Patta to vet Monforte for a job, triggering Brunetti's memory that twenty years earlier Monforte had been publicly celebrated as the hero of a devastating bombing of the Italian military compound in Iraq. Yet Monforte had never been awarded a medal either by the Carabinieri, his service branch, or by the Italian government.
That seeming contradiction, and the brutal attack on one of Brunetti's colleagues, Enzo Bocchese, by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti's attentions. Surprisingly empowered by Patta, supported by Signorina Elettra's extraordinary research abilities and by his wife, Paola's, empathy, Brunetti, with Griffoni, gradually discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte's past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.
Critique: "A Refiner's Fire" showcases author Donna Leon's remarkable storytelling talents as an novelist and her imaginative ability to create memorable characters and take a work of suspense and mystery and raise it to an impressive level of literary elegance. While especially and unreservedly recommended for community/public library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Refiner's Fire" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.24).
Editorial Note: Donna Leon, born in New Jersey in 1942, has worked as a travel guide in Rome and as a copywriter in London. She taught literature in universities in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. Commissario Brunetti made her books world-famous. Donna Leon lived in Italy for many years, and although she now lives in Switzerland, she often visits Venice.
The Sultan of Garbage
Brian Belefant
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9798891323889, $24.99, HC, 86pp
https://www.amazon.com/Sultan-Garbage-Brian-Belefant/dp/B0D9Z32JN5
Synopsis: Alex Jamieson, is a disillusioned product photographer, who seeks an escape from his unfulfilling life. After learning about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an island of discarded debris in the ocean, Alex charters a yacht to explore it, accompanied by his indifferent girlfriend Candice and her shallow friends, Evan and Nadine.
Determined to confront the true clutter in his life, Alex endures judgment and betrayal from his traveling companions and the physical challenges of the garbage island.
"The Sultan of Garbage" by Brian Belefant is poignant tale delves into the profound connection between our wasteful habits and our struggles to find purpose and meaning in a cluttered world.
A captivating exploration of self-discovery and a reflection on the immense garbage we generate both externally and internally, "The Sultan of Garbage" urges readers to contemplate their own paths amidst the chaos of modern life.
And no, according to the author, the irony isn't lost: How many trees were destroyed in order to print this book? Maybe you should buy the digital version.
Critique: Written with wit, "The Sultan of Garbage" is original, extraordinary, deftly crafted, and timely. An inherently interesting work of fiction that will resonate with real world readers with an interest in environmental issues in general, and the bizarre formation of a plastic wasteland in the Pacific Ocean that is as large as the state of Texas, "The Sultan of Garbage by Brian Belefant is especially and unreservedly recommended for community and college/university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this edition of "The Sultan of Garbage" from Atmosphere Press is also readily available in a paperback edition (9798891322806, $15.00) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Julie Summers' Bookshelf
Problem Solvers: 15 Innovative Women Engineers and Coders
P. J. Hoover
Chicago Review Press
www.chicagoreviewpress.com
9798890680068, $12.99, PB, 218pp
https://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solvers-Innovative-Engineers-Coders/dp/B0CKYGDS9S
Synopsis: When engineers are faced with an impossible problem, they don't quit. They look for solutions.
The15 women featured in "Problem Solvers: 15 Innovative Women Engineers and Coders" by P. J. Hoover are coders and engineers who have faced impossible problems and found solutions.
They are each doing amazing work in technical fields while facing unique challenges that are not equally faced by men. Some have faced work/life balance offsets and long-distance relationship challenges. Others have faced teen pregnancy, homelessness, and domestic abuse. Many may have not had the same technical encouragement growing up that their male colleagues had.
Science has typically and historically been considered a man's field of study. There are all sorts of reasons why this is the case, though none of them is valid in today's society. Women can and should be anything they want to be.
Problem solving with science and math is everyone's field, and it's time for the world to see powerful women succeeding in it.
Critique: Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in style, organization and presentation, "Problem Solvers: 15 Innovative Women Engineers and Coders" will prove to be of immense and special value for introducing young women to the possibilities of their having careers in science generally, and engineering/coding particularly. Originally published in hardcover (2022), this new paperback edition, which is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99) is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as highschool and community/public library Jobs/Careers collections for readers ages 12-18.
Editorial Note: P. J. Hoover (www.pjhoover.com) holds undergraduate degrees in both computer engineering and history, and a master's degree in electrical engineering. She worked for 15 years as an engineer, designing computer chips for Motorola and Intel. She is now the author of over 30 books for kids, teens, and adults. In addition to her own books, Hoover actively writes social studies and science curriculum articles for various educational publishers.
Women in Politics
Mary Chung Hayashi
https://www.maryhayashi.com
MKC Press
9798989003921, $38.99, HC, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Politics-Breaking-Barriers-Representation/dp/B0CJN79W6P
Synopsis: "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made."
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's words reflect a reality that has plagued the United States for centuries: We have work to do when it comes to gender-political parity.
Still, trailblazing women in government have laid the groundwork for other women to follow in their footsteps, one inspirational example at a time.
With the publication of "Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation", author, activist, and healthcare leader Mary Chung Hayashi offers a riveting exploration of the strides made by women in government. This essential, contemporary analysis bridges the gap between past and present, blending Mary's personal journey as an Asian American immigrant and former California State Assembly member with the inspiring stories of trail blazing women in political leadership.
Featuring interviews and insightful discussions, Mary brings to life the trials and triumphs of these women, showcasing their invaluable contributions to political landscapes and the transformative power of their perseverance. Her work sheds light on the ongoing struggles for gender-political parity and serves as a call to action: we must actively participate in shaping our democracy.
"Women in Politics" is not just another political biography or science book. It is a tribute to women's political journey and a compass guiding us all toward a future of inclusive leadership and a truly representative democracy.
Critique: Informative, inspiring, timely, well written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Women in Politics: Breaking Down the Barriers to Achieve True Representation" will prove to be of immense interest to readers concerned with the issues of women in politics in these contemporary times in local, state-wide, and national American politics. Highly recommended as an essential addition to personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary American Political Science collections, it should be noted that "Women in Politics" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9798989003907, $18.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Mary Chung Hayashi (www.maryhayashi.com/) is an award-winning author, national healthcare leader, and former California State Assembly member. With a distinguished career in public service, Mary has spearheaded substantial reforms in mental health services, championed gender equality, and forged powerful, unprecedented partnerships for social causes that previously had no financial or public backing. Recognized as "Legislator of the Year" by the American Red Cross and the California Medical Association, Mary has also been featured on Redbook's "Mothers and Shakers" list and Ladies' Home Journal's "Women to Watch." As Principal of Public Policy & Advocacy Solutions, she has successfully advised business and policy leaders on some of today's most complex public policy matters. Mary remains a steadfast proponent of social justice expansion and the rights of under-represented communities.
Under the Goddess of the Sky
Judith Glyde
Coffeetown Press
c/o Camel Press
www.camelpress.com
9781684921751, $16.95, PB, 202pp
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Goddess-Sky-Judith-Glyde/dp/1684921759
Synopsis: In the fall of 1999, Judith Glyde spent three months in the Khumbu region of the Himalayas. Following in the footsteps of the Buddhist teacher who enters contemplative isolation to study, she experienced these months in a secluded village, Sengma, re-exploring the six suites for solo cello by Bach.
Upon her return, Judith wrote: "Where shall I start? Sengma was a remote, isolated Sherpa village of only several houses facing tremendous 22-23000-foot peaks. My accomplishment was considerable: memorizing the six Bach suites; meeting many challenges, physical and spiritual; and living with a Sherpa family. Trekking to see Mount Everest was an extraordinary experience and the fulfillment of a grand obsession. I was in awe of this top of the world-the 'Land of Snows.'The experience, once put into hindsight (as I am still affected by the isolation of those three months), will remain the adventure of a lifetime-the most inspiring task I have ever accomplished."
To go outside of one's comfort zone while communicating with nature and with those around you is a gift. I have no regrets -not for things past, only for those that I will not accomplish.
Critique: Part Nepal trail guide, part travelogue, part memoir, "Under the Goddess of the Sky" by Judith Glyde is an inherently fascinating, thought-provoking, and inspiring read from start to finish. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99) from Coffeetown Press, "Under the Goddess of the Sky" is especially recommended for personal reading lists of classical music fans and armchair travel guide enthusiasts, as well as and community/public library Travel/Memoir collections.
Editorial Note: Judith Glyde (https://judithglyde.com/), originally from Toronto, Canada, was a founding member of the Manhattan String Quartet in 1970. In residence at Town Hall and at the Music Mountain Summer Chamber Music Festival from 1981-88, the quartet performed over 80 concerts a year, appearing throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, the former Soviet Union, and South America. The Quartet's discography includes 25 recordings for the labels Naxos, Sony, Koch, Newport Classics, and Centaur Records, including six ESS.A.Y. discs featuring the 15 string quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich, the first recording of the complete cycle by an American quartet. From 1992, the Professor of cello and chamber music and Chair of the String faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder, she performed as teacher and guest artist with festivals including the Fairbanks (AK) Summer Arts Festival, the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival (IT), the Australian Chamber Music Festival in Townsville (AUS), and the Castleman Quartet Program. Judith was formerly Director of the Winterschool program of the ACMF and often presented pre-concert lectures for the Boulder Philharmonic and the CU Artists Series.
Julie Summers
Reviewer
Kirk Bane's Bookshelf
LBJ's America: The Life and Legacies of Lyndon Baines Johnson
Edited by Mark Atwood Lawrence and Mark K. Updegrove
Cambridge University Press
www.cambridge.org
9781009172530, $29.95, hardcover
https://www.amazon.com/LBJs-America-Legacies-Lyndon-Johnson/dp/1009172530
In this superb anthology, editors Mark Atwood Lawrence (Director of the LBJ Presidential Library) and Mark K. Updegrove (President and CEO of the LBJ Foundation), trenchantly observe that, "We live in LBJ's America. More than any other individual, Lyndon Baines Johnson shaped the era of American history that has played out since the 1960s and established the political and social milieu within which we live." LBJ's "seminal accomplishments" included "protecting civil rights, fighting poverty, expanding access to medical care, [and] lowering barriers to immigration." And then, of course, there is the tragedy of Vietnam.
The book is comprised of an Introduction, an Afterword, and eleven essays by such leading scholars as Geraldo Cadava (Northwestern University), Peniel E. Joseph (University of Texas at Austin), Laura Kalman (University of California, Santa Barbara), Fredrik Logevall (Harvard University), Joshua Zeitz (Politico Magazine), and Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton University). Essays include "The Great Society and the Beloved Community: Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Partnership That Transformed a Nation," "Lyndon Johnson, Mexican Americans, and the Border," "The War on Poverty: How Qualitative Liberalism Prevailed," "LBJ's Supreme Court," "The Politics of Escalation in Vietnam," and "Compassion, Power, and Lyndon Johnson's Struggle to Make Sense of the Third World."
Perhaps the most intriguing piece in this collection is "Power and Purpose: LBJ in the Presidency" by Marc J. Selverstone (University of Virginia). Dr. Selverstone explores "LBJ's persona, delving into the ways in which his character and early experiences informed his transformative presidency." Moreover, he examines "Johnson's shifting place in popular culture and political memory." Professor Selverstone contends that "the force of [President Johnson's] personality and the magnitude of his impact make him a character of operatic proportions. From his foundational achievements on civil rights, health care, education, and the environment, to his role in expanding a disastrous war in Southeast Asia, to his imprint on the role of government in American life, Johnson occupies a central place in the modern history of the United States." Well stated.
Readers interested in the 1960s, especially those curious about LBJ's life and his immensely consequential presidency and its enduring legacy, should consult this excellent publication. Happy reading!
Kirk Bane
Reviewer
Margaret Lane's Bookshelf
Colon Procedure Recipes: Low Fiber-Low Residue Meals
M. D. Wells
Covenant Freelance Services
9780970666130, $6.99, PB, 62pp
https://www.amazon.com/Colon-Procedure-Recipes-Fiber-Low-Residue/dp/0970666136
Synopsis: "Colon Procedure Recipes: Low Fiber-Low Residue Meals" was created by M. D. Wells specifically for those seeking a handy source of recipes for pre and post operative colon procedure menus.
The doctors may give you a single sheet of DOs and DONTs but nothing really useful. They use terms like soft diet, low-fiber diet, low-residue diet. But what does it all mean? Better yet, have you tried to find tasty recipes meeting their criteria?
When the husband of M. D. Wells was scheduled for a colonoscopy, followed by a colon resection, she knew a special diet was required. After researching the guidelines, she created her own recipe book to make the process easier and more enjoyable. Some of the recipes are so good, you'll want to keep them even after you get back to 'normal.'
Whether you are scheduled for a simple colonoscopy, or a major surgical procedure, this book is your go-to source. You will learn:
The difference between low fiber, low residue, and soft diets
DOs and DONTs of food choices
Easy to digest foods to promote healing
Recipes meeting the doctor's criteria
Meal suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks
Essentially "Colon Procedure Recipes: Low Fiber-Low Residue Meals" is the result of extensive research by M. D. Wells so you can be the best caregiver you can be when dealing with colon issues!
Critique: In addition to thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' recipes medically appropriate for anyone having to deal with colon issues or procedures, "Colon Procedure Recipes: Low Fiber-Low Residue Meals" also has a section laying out menu suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. A slender booklet of 64 pages, "Colon Procedure Recipes: Low Fiber-Low Residue Meals" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library health and medicine oriented cookbook collections.
Editorial Note: M.D. Wells spent over forty years involved in the medical profession. Before retiring, she was the Program Manager for a Vascular Fellowship Program. Having assisted in training future vascular surgeons, she understands the methods for achieving the best possible patient outcomes. Her experience in medical research has aided her in compiling her books and articles.
A Little Time Apart
Tony Gallagher
China Books & Periodicals, Inc.
www.chinabooks.com
9780835103206, $18.95, PB, 278pp
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Time-Apart-Lessons-Chinese/dp/083510320X
Synopsis: A Chinese saying goes: "Reuniting after a little time apart surpasses being married for the first time."
In the 1990s, Australian teacher and educator Tony Gallagher found himself in a bit of a midlife crisis: away from Australia and his family while teaching at the prestigious Peking University in China for three years. While there, eight Chinese women, all with unique backgrounds and life experiences, welcomed him into their professional and private domains, sharing their attitudes about life, love, and work; their feelings, families, and relationships.
Published for an American readership by China Books & Periodicals, "A Little Time Apart: Lessons on Living from Eight Chinese Women" is Tony Gallagher's remarkable and candid memoir about his unforgettable years in China.
More than that, it shows how his daily life experiences, intersecting with those of his eight female friends, affected him profoundly.
Tony's drive to tell this story begins with his yearning to explain how his friends' Chinese heritage both inspired and touched his own. Discovering their approaches to living revealed much more than originally intended. "A Little Time Apart" is a rare and candid work which explores personal growth and professional development in cross cultural education and communication, and will prove to be of particular interest and relevance to anyone involved in these fields.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "A Little Time Apart: Lessons on Living from Eight Chinese Women" is an extraordinary, memorable, thoughtful and thought-provoking memoire that is personally candid while having a universal resonance that will be particular appreciated by students of cultural exchange with respect to education. This paperback edition of "A Little Time Apart" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Contemporary Biography/Memoir collections and supplemental Cross-Cultural Education curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Currently residing in Australia, Tony Gallagher is also the author of "In Their Own Words: Profiles of Today's Chinese Students".
Dreaming in Russian: A Memoir
Anya Gillinson
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510782129, $28.99, HC, 288pp
https://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Russian-memoir-Anya-Gillinson/dp/1510782125
Synopsis: A violent crime shattered Moscow native Anya Gillinson's world when she was thirteen years old, urging her family to leave Russia for the American dream.
As a teenager raised in a deeply patriarchal Russian society, Anya found herself grappling with a fiercely independent America. "Dreaming in Russian" is her candid and heartfelt memoir and delves into the clash between these two cultures through the stories of her family.
"Dreaming in Russian" explores how her upbringing in Russia, and the subsequent immigrant experience, shaped her sense of femininity -- a concept with vastly different definitions on either side of the Atlantic.
"Dreaming in Russian" pits the two competing identities of her immigrant self against one another. After over thirty years of living in America, in the grip of its indefatigable modernism, Gillinson has come to understand that her bones, brains, and womanhood remain deeply rooted in the soil of Russian patriarchy.
Anya's journey forces questions, yet in the end it leaves her without answers, but at least with a personal resolution - that three decades of living in America have brought her back to her Russian past, which forever predetermined her present and outlined her future.
Critique: An exceptionally well written and inherently fascinating life story, "Dreaming in Russian: A Memoir" is itself truly memorable and extraordinary read from start to finish -- and one that will be of immense value to readers with an interest in true life stories of the immigrant experience. While especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library Biography/Memoir collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Dreaming in Russian: A Memoir" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Anya Gillinson was born in Moscow, Russia, into the family of a renowned physician and a concert pianist. When she was thirteen years old, her father was killed during a botched robbery on his first and last visit to New York. Two years after his death, Anya moved to New York with her mother and younger sister and went on to graduate from high school, college, and eventually law school. She considers it a privilege to practice law and to be able to be useful to people, but literature has always been her true calling. In 2015, she published a volume of poetry in Russian, Suppress in Me the Strive To Love.
Margaret Lane
Reviewer
Matthew McCarty's Bookshelf
White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy
Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman
Random House
penguinrandomhouse.com
9780593729144, $32.00 Hardcover, $13.99 Kindle, 320 pages
https://www.amazon.com/White-Rural-Rage-American-Democracy/dp/0593729145
America is truly the greatest nation on Earth. Our country has accomplished much in its history that has benefited the world as a whole. However, the last several years have not been kind to the image of America as a guiding light for the people of the world. Many American citizens view America as a dangerous and harmful place that has lost touch with the ideas and intentions of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and the other founding fathers. White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy (US $32.00, CAN $42.00) from authors Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman is an accurate chronicle of the changing attitude and concerns of the "rural white" portion of the American population that so often complains about an ever-changing America.
The authors describe in detail how rural America is perceived by politicians, celebrities, and by folks in urban and suburban areas. White Rural Rage depicts a rural swath of America that is frustrated with the direction of local, state, and national affairs. This segment of the country feels alienated and mistreated by those deemed "different." This mistreatment seems to go a long way in how rural America votes and seems to explain why rural Americans vote for politicians who pay lip service to their concerns but do nothing to help alleviate the problems in rural America. This has resulted in an odd mix of political and community behavior.
White Rural Rage is a must-read for the academic interested in the "why" of voter behavior and the general reader who is interested in the "who" that makes up the rural communities of America. The authors provide research-based information that supports their arguments and assertions with great detail. The narrative, while well-written, can almost give the impression that everyone in rural America is alienated and disillusioned. However, that does not detract from the importance of this volume. White Rural Rage is the quintessential tool for explaining how America has become more fractured than at any point since the Civil War.
Matthew W. McCarty, EdD
Reviewer
Michael Carson's Bookshelf
AI Sapien: Variations on Architecture and the Future
Robert Cha
ORO Editions
www.oroeditions.com
9781961856363, $35.00, PB, 192pp
https://www.amazon.com/AI-Sapien-Variations-Architecture-Future/dp/1961856360
Synopsis: With the publication of "AI Sapien: Variations on Architecture and the Future", architect Robert Cha unveils a paradigm-shifting vision of the future where artificial intelligence (AI) transforms architecture into thinking machines. "AI Sapien" is an experimental book that features an alchemy of 128 original AI-generated artworks along with insightful dialogues and evocative poetry created in collaboration with AI, all set to Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Through this mixed media approach, "AI Sapien" explores the future of architecture and its relation to these ontologically mysterious machines that are beginning to simulate sentience. Presenting a future where AI and habitat are inextricably linked, "AI Sapien" reveals new insights into AI's enigmatic "Black Box."
Critique: Inherently fascinating, novel, replete with full page, captioned color illustrations, this large format (9 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches, 1.6 pounds) paperback edition of Robert Cha's "AI Sapien: Variations on Architecture and the Future" from ORO Editions is a truly extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, and college/university library Artificial Intelligence & Contemporary Architecture collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note: Robert Cha (https://robertcha.com) is a Korean American architect and artist. He was educated at Princeton University and SCI-Arc. Cha's work was exhibited at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale. His interests include architecture as technology and its relation to music.
Conquist
Dirk Strasser
https://www.dirkstrasser.com
Roundfire Books
c/o Collective Ink Books
https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
9781803416038, $20.95, PB, 360pp
https://www.amazon.com/Conquist-Novel-Dirk-Strasser/dp/1803416033
Synopsis: Capitan Cristobal de Varga's drive for glory and gold in 1538 Peru leads him and his army of conquistadors into a New World that refuses to be conquered. He is a man torn by life-long obsessions and knows this is his last campaign.
What he doesn't know is that his Incan allies led by the princess Sarpay have their own furtive plans to make sure he never finds the golden city of Vilcabamba. He also doesn't know that Hector Valiente, the freed African slave he appointed as his lieutenant, has found a portal that will lead them all into a world that will challenge his deepest beliefs.
And what he can't possibly know is that this world will trap him in a war between two eternal enemies, leading him to question everything he has devoted his life to - his command, his Incan princess, his honor, his God.
In the end, he faces the ultimate dilemma: how is it possible to battle your own obsessions -- to conquer yourself?
Critique: An original and riveting read from start to finish, "Conquist" by author Dirk Strasser will have a very special appeal to readers with an interest in sword & sorcery style heroic fantasy. An action/adventure fantasy novel raised to an impressive level of literary excellence by the storytelling talents of Dirk Strasser as a novelist, "Conquist" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended pick for community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of all dedicated fantasy fans that "Conquist" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99) as well.
Editorial Note: Dirk Strasser (www.dirkstrasser.com) is the author of the fantasy trilogy The Books of Ascension (Zenith, Equinox and Eclipse) which was published in German (Heyne Verlag) and English (Pan Macmillan). His short stories have been translated into several European languages. 'The Doppelganger Effect' appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Dreaming Down Under (Tor). Dirk was born in Germany but has lived most of his life in Australia. He works in educational publishing, has trekked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, and studied Renaissance history.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
R. K. Singh's Bookshelf
The Ten Hands of a Fuchka Seller
Daipayan Nair
Penprints
www.penprints.in
9788197403620, (300) $35.00, PB, 80 pp. (12 years & up)
https://www.amazon.in/Ten-Hands-Fuchka-Seller/dp/8197403627
Haiku has been a flourishing genre of poetry writing in India. Among the several new practitioners of the Japanese art form, Daipayan Nair has established himself as a remarkable new voice. He creates truly Indian haiku rooted in where he belongs in a fluid urban space. He captures varying haiku moments from quotidian experiences, and effectively images them, underlining the native sociocultural ethos, as part of Indian kigo with global appeal. For instance,
Kolkata street corner--
the ten hands
of a fuchka seller
bhel poori
this misunderstanding
between us
skipping across
the rain-washed terrace
her alta feet
evening adda
I sip the first line
of her recital
Bhetki Fry
layer upon layer
of your lies
Daipayan Nair explores the complexities of living 'Here and Now' and draws the inner nature in outer events:
graffiti art--
an old beggar pees
on revolution
red blouse
a safety pin between
her lips
returning home
on a hand-pulled rickshaw
school song
scattered fishbones...
a young waiter gathers
his thoughts
a jute bag
filled with cauliflowers
uncle's greetings
raining petals...
the street sweeper stretches
her spine
Indian vision and imagination predominates the poet's perception. His aesthetically pleasant book testifies to the poet's oneness with haikuists elsewhere, irrespective of what he shares as senryu, which is his forte. Highly recommended.
Editorial Note #1: Daipayan Nair (https://hellopoetry.com/daipayan-nair/) is freelance writer/columnist, poet, fiction writer and essayist. His works have been published in a lot of anthologies and poetry journals like The Poetry Breakfast, The Galway Review, Tuck Magazine, 1947 Literary Journal,
Editorial Note #2: Dr. R. K. Singh is a retired Professor of English at the Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad, India. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Krishna_Singh)
Dr. R. K. Singh, Reviewer
rksinghpoet.blogspot.com
Retired Professor of English, Indian Institute of Technology - ISM
Robin Friedman's Bookshelf
The Beloved Community
Patricia Spears Jones, author
Copper Canyon Press
https://www.coppercanyonpress.org
9781556596667, $17.00 paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Community-Patricia-Spears-Jones/dp/1556596669
A Poet's Beloved Community
"The Beloved Community" was an ideal famously articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, while the term was used considerably earlier by the American philosopher Josiah Royce (1850 -- 1916). My interest in these thinkers and in the Beloved Community prompted me to read this book of poems "The Beloved Community" (2023) by Patricia Spears Jones (b. 1955), (Neither King nor Royce are mentioned in the volume.) A poet, playwright, anthologist, educator, and cultural activist, Spears Jones received the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers. This book is her fifth published collection of poetry.
It is valuable to read the title poem of the collection for an example of Spears Jones's poetry and for a way to understand her concept of the Beloved Community.
"The Bangladeshi man walks slowly, so slowly
I know he is ill. He shuffles a broom about
The laundromat, than sits in front of the largest dryer.
Then a Latina comes in frantic pointing at the flier posted
on the laundromat's window.
"What happened?" she asks.
The attendant says -- "She died."
"But when, how?"
"Two weeks ago. Two weeks," he says.
He knows only this. Dead, two weeks.
The Memorial is for later in the day, in a place
Far from Halsey. The flier's crisp image of a Black woman's face
Smiling, young looking, but she was not young. "Two weeks."
La senora shakes her head, her purple-streaked
Hair tamed by her sadness.
"She always said hello. She was always smiling."
She says this to me. I nod and try to smile with her memory.
She looks once again at the image, black and white, utilitarian
On the glass surface. Then walks out onto the sidewalk.
Undone by new grief."
The poem is set in a humble setting, a laundromat, and recounts a conversation between a Bangladeshi man and a Latina woman about the recent death of the attendant at the laundromat, a Black woman, and the Memorial, far from the scene, planned in her memory. They are saddened by the woman's death and remember her kindness. The poem is of a particular place and features two people of different backgrounds coming together to mourn a third person of another background. The "Beloved Community" of the poem begins in particularity but has a potentially broad reach.
In the volume, which consists of two parts together with an introductory poem, Spears Jones explores both particularity and breadth. On the whole, the poems work best when there focus is narrow. Many of the poems explore small scenes in Brooklyn streets, homes, or business, similar to the laundromat. These poems include "Morning Glory", "Hannah's Cigar Box (memory & invention)" and "Walking on Avenue A on the Tompkins Square Park Side". Other poems focus on a single person including, for example Aretha Franklin or Geri Allen (1957 -- 2017) an American jazz pianist and composer. Some poems address broad social themes such as "Green Ribbons", which commemorates the Atlanta child murders that occurred from 1979-- 1981, and "Fred Hampton Born this Day", which commemorates the Chicago police murder in 1969 of the Chairman of the Black Panther Party, age 21. The tone of the poems ranges from thoughtful and reflective to strident and angry. The poems are short, largely unrhymed and rhythmical with many allusions to the blues, other music, and poetry.
The poems were written over the course of years and many were first published in literary journals. Thus, they were not initially conceived as reflecting upon the specific theme of Beloved Community. Still, a poetic vision emerges from this collection. Spears Jones stresses, for me, the specificity of the Beloved Community in relations between people, friends and neighbors, which then expands to larger places, such as Brooklyn, and then to the United States and beyond. The vision becomes more difficult as it becomes broader and there have been many missteps along the way.
I enjoyed thinking about the Beloved Community with Spears Jones and placing it in the context of King, Royce, and others. I found the book in the local public library which is a prime example of a possible source of a neighborhood Beloved Community. The book is published by Copper Canyon Press, a non-profit independent publisher of poetry since 1972. Copper Canyon states on its website: "We believe poetry is vital to language and living."
Play it as it Lays
Joan Didion, author
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
https://www.us.macmillian.com/fsg
9780374529949, $16.49 paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Play-As-Lays-Novel-Classics/dp/0374529949
Joan Didion's Great American Novel
On March 14, 2024, "The Atlantic" published a list of "The Great American Novels" of the past 100 years. As novelist John William De Forest had stated in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War, the "Great American Novel" would be one that "accomplished the task of painting the American soul." "The Atlantic" approached many scholars, critics, and novelists, and ultimately produced a list of American novels from the past 100 years that "say something intriguing about the world and do it distinctively, in intentional, artful prose". Rather than an arbitrary round number, "The Atlantic" identified 136 American novels that "stand the test of time".
After "The Atlantic" published its list, I had the opportunity to read one of the novels I hadn't read before in a longstanding book group. This novel was "Play It as It Lays" (1970), the second novel of the revered late American writer Joan Didion (1934 -- 2021). The novel is included in the Library of America's compilation of Didion's writings from the 1960s and 70s, the first of two LOA volumes devoted to her work. In explaining the reason for the inclusion of "Play it as it Lays", Atlantic journalist Elizabeth Bruenig described the book as
"A stylish, pitiless tour through an arid West seething with artifice, Didion's Hollywood gothic is at once claustrophobic and anomic. Readers join the distant and ironic narrator, Maria, on a journey that takes her from the cocktail parties of Los Angeles's glitterati to sizzling wide-open highways to a psychiatric institution where she begins atoning for a life half-lived. Didion withholds explicit judgment on Maria's behavior; the sum of her actions and motives is for readers to determine. But her world is a dark vision of American discontent at a moment of turmoil and transition."
"Play it as it Lays" has provoked strong and mixed reactions among its readers from the outset. It was nominated for the National Book Award. In 1972, the film version of the book appeared with a screenplay by Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne. Tuesday Weld starred and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and Frank Perry directed but the film, unlike the novel, remains little-known. With its bleak portrayal of Hollywood, Didion's novel reminded me at first of another novel on "The Atlantic" list which I had read years ag in the book group: Nathanael West's "Day of the Locust" (1939). Both West's novel and Didion's novel have their own voice.
Didion's novel tells the story of Maria Wyeth, 31. She was born in a tiny, vanished Nevada town to her craps-playing father and moved to New York City where she became a model followed by a brief career as an actress. She married her director, Carter, who went on to a successful Hollywood career. The couple have a daughter, Kate, age 4, who is institutionalized. Maria has a friend, Helene, who is married to a wealthy producer, BK, who helps bankroll Carter's films. The novel is set in Hollywood, Las Vegas, New York City, the desert, and on the highways where Maria restlessly drives in an attempt to pass her days.
The book consists of 84 short chapters, each of which is a vignette. The first three chapters are written in the first person in the voices of Maria, Helene, and Carter, respectively. When the reader first meets Maria, she is in a mental institution after a lengthy emotional deterioration and collapse. Following the three opening chapters, the book moves to the third person in a voice that sounds much like Maria.
The book features brilliant, succinct writing with sharp, harsh observations of people and places. The writing and the vignettes leave much unsaid but show the nature of Maria's life. She has been unhappy and lonely through the glitter of Hollywood with her sexual promiscuity and that of the other characters, drug and alcohol abuse, a bad marriage, divorce, an abortion, which she procures at the insistence of her husband, and a suicide. The characters are almost unremittingly portrayed as shallow and as interested only in their own immediate desires. It is not difficult to understand why Maria becomes institutionalized.
The many difficulties and ambiguities in the novel center on "nothingness" or as Maria says at the end, "I know what nothing means, and keep on playing." This seems to suggest a purposelessness and lack of meaning in life, a theme which comes through each of the many short scenes of the book. With the recognition of the abyss, Maria may be tougher than her fellows as she has dreams of living with her daughter Kay and of carrying on.
The book has a disconcerting, troubling tone, as befits a work from the late 1960s. It shows a fragmented society with little human connection. I wondered whether it was meant as a portrayal of Maria, of the shallowness of Hollywood, or more broadly of the nature of American society, which of course was floundering and widely criticized during the late 1960s and continuing to our day. Perhaps the novel is broader still with spiritual themes about the nature of human desire, rather than the shortcomings of a particular human society. This would suggest a philosophical reading of the story along the lines, say, of Arthur Schopenhauer, among other thinkers. Maria, for all her issues and unhappiness, does seem in some ways to be more perceptive into her situation than are the other characters.
"Play it as it Lays" is a difficult, troubling novel that provokes thought and emotional response. I was glad to get to know the book. The novels on "The Atlantic's" list were chosen to "represent the best of what novels can do: challenge us, delight us, pull us in and then release us, a little smarter and a little more alive than we were before. You have to read them." Didion's novel amply deserves its place on the list of Great American Novels.
From Here to Enlightenment
The Dalai Lama, author
Translated, edited, and annotated by Guy Newland
Shambhala Publications
https://www.shambhala.com
9781611809343, $19.95 paperback
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 epistemological, 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 and 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.
The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command
Edwin B. Coddington, author
Touchstone
c/o Simon & Schuster
https://www.simonandschusterpublishing.com
9780684845692, $35.00 paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Gettysburg-Campaign-Study-Command/dp/0684845695
Still The Essential Account Of The Gettysburg Campaign
Edwin Coddington's (1905-1963) "The Gettysburg Campaign" (1963) remains not only the seminal account of the Battle of Gettysburg but also a model of Civil War and historical writing. The book is an inspiring example of scholarship at its best. Coddington writes in a clear, eloquent, yet non-polemical style as he explores his subject. He does not back away from offering opinions and conclusions, which flow clearly from his narrative account. The reader can understand the basis of the judgments which Coddington offers. The account is detailed and yet selective. Coddington focuses on the broad picture of the Gettysburg story without getting bogged down in the minutae and legends that mar some otherwise excellent treatments of this battle. Coddington focuses on "why" things happened as well as "what" happened. The reader is given a context for the Gettysburg campaign and is seldom at a loss over the reason the author is discussing and devoting time to an issue. The book is thoroughly documented and the footnotes include much essential material.
Coddington begins with a lengthy consideration of the factors that led Robert E. Lee to propose an invasion of the North following the Battle of Chancellorsville. He concludes with a discussion of the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg, culminating in the return to Virginia on July 14, 1863. He discusses well the Union pursuit and considers judiciously whether Meade should have been more aggressive in trying to cut off the fleeing foe.
I found the factual account comprehensive on the major points of the Battle and careful and circumspect in its conclusions. Coddington allows the reader to see the deficiencies in the Confederate command structure (lack of coordination) and the overconfidence of the Southern forces at virtually every level as contributing factors to the defeat at Gettysburg. He is more critical of General Longstreet's role in the Battle than are many more recent accounts. On the Union side of the line, Coddington is highly critical of Third Corps General Sickles and his salient on July 2, which came close to costing the Union the Battle. The longest critical section of the book consists of an examination of the dispute between Meade and Sickles and his supporters following the battle regarding the wisdom, or lack of it, in Sickles' movement of the Third Corps.
Coddington has high, but careful praise for Commanding General Meade, for Hancock, Reynolds, Buford, Howard, and Slocum. He shows how the Army of the Potomac, for all its awkward structure (seven Corps at Gettysburg compared to the Confederate three) and for all the rivalries between its leaders was able to function as a coordinated unit when it needed to do so and hold the Union position at Gettysburg. Coddington has high praise for the valor of the fighting troops on both sides of the line.
Sometimes implicitly and sometimes explicitly, Coddington's book comes to grips with many competing accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg. He points to the tendency of many students to view the battle as a series of speculative "ifs" -- if General Early, Longstreet, what have you, had done this at the time, the result would have been different. Most such analyses, Coddington argues, are fruitless, Furthermore, they tend to ignore, or downplay, the mistakes that, hindsight suggests, occurred in the Battle of the other side of the line. Coddington shows the reader what happened, marshalls the evidence about why it happened, and allows the reader to think the matter through.
This is a detailed, close and thorough account of the Battle of Gettysburg that is probably best approached by a reader who has a basic familiarity with the Civil War and a general understanding of the action at Gettysburg. It is not the only account of this endlessly fascinating battle, but it remains the standard work which needs to be considered in understanding the events of the Gettysburg campaign
Beethoven: The Music and the Life
Lewis Lockwood, author
W.W. Norton & Company
https://www.wwnorton.com
9780393326383, $24.95 paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Music-Life-Lewis-Lockwood/dp/0393326381
Lockwood's Biography Of Beethoven
Lewis Lockwood's "Beethoven: the Music and the Life" (2003) is an outstanding introduction to Beethoven, aimed at the nonspecialist rather than the scholar. Those readers who are new to Beethoven's music will find this book a guide to his major work. Readers familiar with Beethoven's music and life will find much to learn and enjoy as well. I found this a book to be savored. Reading the book, I think, will encourage the reader to explore further the inexhaustible richness of Beethoven's music.
Lockwood concentrates on Beethoven's compositions and on their historical and musical contexts. He does not offer a full biography of Beethoven but rather offers only sufficient broad outline of Beethoven's life to give a sense of the composer and to allow the reader to reflect upon the relationship between the life of Beethoven and his music. Lockwood himself has some interesting things to say on various views of this relationship. (pp 17-21)
Lockwood sees Mozart and Bach as Beethoven's primary musical influences. As a young composer, Beethoven both set out to learn from Mozart without becoming an imitator. His early works are greatly influenced by Mozart, Lockwood argues, until Beethoven breaks away and finds his own voice in what Lockwood terms Beethoven's second maturity. As Beethoven continued to compose, his work becomes more influenced by the counterpoint of Bach. (Beethoven had played Bach's "well-tempered clavier" as a boy of twelve.) Bach's influence becomes increasingly apparent in the close-textured and fugal works of Beethoven's third maturity.
Lockwood basically organizes his book in terms of what he describes as Beethoven's first, second and third maturities of musical development. In each case, he begins with brief details of Beethoven's life, followed by a substantial overview of Beethoven's work and influences in each period, followed by a description of some of the major individual works of the period. For the period of Beethoven's first maturity, Lockwood finds the apex of Beethoven's work in the six opus 18 string quartets.
For Beethoven's first and third maturity Lockwood approaches the works chronologically. Interestingly, for the second maturity, Lockwood organizes Beethoven's work by type: the symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, string quartets, to account for Beethoven's tendency during this time to work on many various compositions simultaneously.
Some individual works receive little discussion in Lockwood's approach, but this is more than balanced by his excellent overviews of Beethoven's varying styles. Of the early and middle maturity works, Lockwood discusses well Beethoven's third through eighth symphonies, particularly the Eroica. But he does not see Beethoven's work at this time as predominantly "heroic" in tone. Unlike some writers, Lockwood gives good attention to Beethoven's lyrical, melodic, and reflective writing during his second maturity as exemplified by the even-numbered symphonies and by works such as the violin concerto and the cello sonata in A, opus 69. Lockwood emphasizes as well the lyrical aspect of Beethoven's writing in his detailed consideration of Beethoven's song-cycle "An Die Ferne Geliebte" (to the distant beloved), opus. 98 (pp.344-46)and in his discussion of Beethoven's songs. (pp 274-279).
The compositions of Beethoven's third maturity receive the most individualized and detailed attention in this book. Lockwood considers the Hammerklavier piano sonata and the opus 101 piano sonata (somewhat less attention is given to the final three sonatas), the Missa Solemnis, Diabelli variations, and each of the five final string quartets and the great fugue. Lockwood clearly loves this difficult music and impresses its character well upon the reader. But he gives his fullest discussion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Lockwood gives a detailed musical discussion of each of the four movements of this work, not merely its choral finale which sets Schiller's "Ode to Joy"; and he places the work well in its historical situation. He admirably rejects the attempts in some modern writers to politicize or deconstruct this great symphony.
In the Ninth, Lockwood shows, Beethoven combined two tendencies which tend to separate in some of his works: his tendency to write works to appeal to a large public on the one hand, and his tendency to write artistically elevated and striving works on the other hand. Lockwood's treatment of the Ninth is one of the highlights of his book.
Lockwood has written a basic book, but probably the best overall book that will increase the reader's understanding of Beethoven and his music. May this book lead its readers to explore and to deepen their appreciation of Beethoven's great music.
Robin Friedman
Reviewer
Satinderpal Singh Bawa's Bookshelf
Knife: Meditation After an Attempt Murder
Salman Rushdie
Random House
c/o The Random House Publishing Group
www.randomhouse.com
9780593730249, $28.00 HC, $14.99 Kindle, 224pp
9780593913659, $30.00, PB, Large Print 227pp
https://www.amazon.com/Knife-Meditations-After-Attempted-Murder/dp/0593730240
Salman Rushdie's 'Knife: Meditation After an Attempt Murder' (2024) is a collection of autobiographical memoirs. He wrote the memoir after he was attacked on 12th August 2022 in New York where he lost his right eye in this attack. He dedicated this book to the men and women who saved his life. He insisted that he had to write this memoir, otherwise he would not be able to write anything else. This memoir has been written in a first-person narrative. He says, "That's an "I" story. And now, I tell myself, it's also an "eye" story." But his eye story is focused on the issues of obscurantism and barbarism and a number of hidden threats to humanity, narrow-minded religious discourses which misled youth in the contemporary period.
Moreover, he believes that the artist can answer violence in some artistic idioms because he or she has trained his mind to change the world with words and language. So words are his powerful weapon against violence. Salman writes, "I don't like to think of writing as therapy-writing is writing, and therapy is therapy- but there was a good chance that telling the story as I saw it might make me feel better." Here he is very clear about the difference between, the 'therapy' and 'writing' but in spite of that he starts meditating with words and number of references and quotes which was focused on the 'knife as metaphor of hate' and that meditation was for his literary world. Through the medical treatments, they were healing him physically, but the meditation of the words was healing his creative mind only through addressing the problems in depth and detail. As he believes that language is his 'knife' in all circumstances, that is why he could create a wonderful artistic work with it.
'The A' is the person who attacked him fifteen times with a knife in twenty-seven seconds. He wanted to murder him because he thought that Salman was a 'disingenuous'. Salman did not make any straight comment on the A's cast, creed or community, and any traditional identification is not labeled with the attacker. He simply addressed him 'the A'. Because he does not want to spread hate about a particular community, a mature reader understands his limitations. If he discloses A's community directly, it may deliver a wrong message and irrational hostility towards that community. Salman arranged an imaginary meeting with 'the A'. He says, "Because a real meeting is improbable-make that impossible- I have to imagine my way into his head."
This imaginary meeting is the most interesting part in this book because, through this dialogue method which is concluded in four sessions, he genuinely wants to understand how the modern technology is going to encourage the young minds for unkind and unlawful activities in the "disinformation age". He believes that young minds are being trapped by religion, even a twenty-seven-year-old 'the A' who was inspired to kill an old and a strange person without understanding his philosophy of life and ideological approach, but based on some YouTube videos. Because 'Yutubi noise' had made it possible for 'the A' to pick up the knife. The conversation proved that the attacker could be asked such questions which he or his like-minded people might have no reasonable answers to the questions. Religion versus reason, knife versus knowledge and hate versus hope are the main themes of this book.
When Salman talks about religion he becomes very cognizant and conscious. He states that we have to distinguish between private religious faith and public politicised ideology. Consequently, 'it would be easier to see things as they are and to speak out without worrying about offended sensibilities.' Because from the very beginning, he advocates freedom of speech. Even when he was attacked in Chautauqua, he was invited there to deliver a lecture on the theme of 'Freedom of Speech'. He says, "I have no issue with religion when it occupies this private space and doesn't seek to impose its values on others. But when religion becomes politicized, even weaponised then it's everybody's business because if its capacity for harm." So a secular approach has been adopted. His faith in creativity was more determined after this attack. Now he has two aims in life: love and work. He determines himself by saying that 'If you are afraid of the consequences of what you say, then you are not free.'
But before this attack, though he believed that it had been thirty-three and half years since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's notorious death order against him, because it was said that Salman had made some objectionable statements in his fictional writing 'The Satanic Verses' (1988) that set a Muslim community leaders were against him and innumerable condemn action and criticism were there against the said fictional work. But Salman believed that the world had moved at its own speed and that the subject was 'closed'. But a 'murderous ghost' from the past in the new generation was approaching him in its own way with a traditional weapon, i.e. a knife.
Even Salman's subconscious mind was dreaming a blinking message of attack in the form of a dream and he saw the same dream two nights before the actual attack in Chaurauqua. His readers all over the world were praying for him, but he was so confirmed in his beliefs about godlessness and didn't believe in any miraculous powers, so he did not recite any prayers to God in those critical conditions. He says, "My godlessness remains intact. That isn't going to change in this second-chance life." There were even six assassination plots against him in the years after Fatwa, but all were foiled by the expertise of the British intelligence services. Though the fear of an attack remained in his mind and sometimes interviewers asked this uncomfortable question to him. But he sardonically answered every time.
Even after the attack, he says during the treatment days that his waking self was calm, collected, optimistic and determined, but the wild nights of dreams told the truth and all the horrors came back to his mind. But he kept fighting with strong will-power. The reader can imagine how he is mentally strong because of his jovial mood. His 'near-death experience' in Chaurauqua is so vivid and vibrant that nothing is metaphorical or supernatural about it. Rather, it is very rational and well-narrated, a collection of real incidents.
The Knife's ending is very artistic. Salman and his wife Eliza are coming back home after visiting the palace where Salman was attacked. He and his wife were on the same stage of the amphitheater and stood there and held each other tightly and told each other 'We are together, I love you. I love you too'. They had come through the nightmare, but now they were feeling a new life. "We're done here," he said to Eliza, taking her hand. "Let's go home." The last single sentence conveys a message of life and love. It is a thought-provoking statement about a writer who has been facing a harsh reality of his life and even a threat was there. He did not leave his hope for better days and a bright future. This book inspires the readers to live life jubilantly with vitality and be optimistic in any circumstances.
Developed and underdeveloped countries face religiocentrism, which is a big problem in contemporary societies of the world. Though Salman does not directly address the problem of majoritarian Hinduism in the Indian administration, he states that 'India is sinking fast into authoritarianism'. Along with this, he reminds us of the aftermath of the bloodbath of the partition massacres where thousands of innocent people had lost their lives because of their religious identities. So he indicates that secular values and rationality can help us to make the world better and language and the arts can play an important role in it.
All the best Salman for your 'left eye'!
Satinderpal Singh Bawa
Reviewer
Suanne Schafer's Bookshelf
Tulip Fever
Deborah Moggach
Dial Press
c/o Random House
https://www.randomhousebooks.com
9780385334921, $17.00
https://www.amazon.com/Tulip-Fever-Novel-Deborah-Moggach/dp/0385334923
If you enjoyed The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Black Tulip, The Company Daughters, or The Signature of All Things, you'll enjoy Tulip Fever. Set in Amsterdam of the 1630s at the height of "tulip fever" where crazed traders and growers speculated on tulip bulbs.
The story is told in three points of view: Cornelis, the wealthy but old husband; Sophia, his young wife; and Jan van Loos, the painter who Cornelis hires to paint a double portrait of him and his wife. Sophia and Jan fall in love at first sight. Their attempts to be together result a great deception which is followed by a slow spiral of consequences involving all three main characters with a surprising denouement.
This is a morality play of sorts, warning against lust, infidelity and greed. It also highlights the role of women in the seventeenth century and the limitations of their lives. Each chapter begins with a maxim or a quotation pertaining to that chapter, including thoughts on art by Leonardo da Vinci.
On Beauty
Zadie Smith
Penguin Books
https://www.penguin.com
9780143037743, $18.00
https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Novel-Zadie-Smith/dp/0143037749
When the New York Times list of the 100 best books of the twenty-first century came out, I was appalled that I had only read ten of them, though I have that many more on my Kindle to-be-read stack. On Beauty is a funny, poignant family saga told in multiple points of view. Each character is fully realized and is a person not merely a character in Smith's novel, flawed, at times likable, and at others downright despicable. This novel is loosely based on Howard's End by E.M. Forster but transported to contemporary times.
Howard Belsey, is a White British art history professor at the fictional Wellington College in New England, not far from Boston. His field is aesthetics. He specializes in Rembrandt but doesn't consider the artist to be a particular genius. For eons, Howard has been working on a book to prove his point. He sees himself as open-minded and liberal but in reality is rather entrenched in his beliefs. His wife, Kiki, is a Black nursing administrator at a local hospital. Despite their differences in interests, they have been in love and married for thirty years, raising a blended English/American, Black/White family. They live in an old home in a nice neighborhood in a mostly White community where they interact with mostly White friends and colleagues. They have three children, Jerome, a newborn Christian, who attends Brown University; Zora is a bright, forceful young woman attending Wellington; and Levi, who is a high-school student, struggling with his racial identity, a biracial young man who feels he's losing his Blackness.
Howard's nemesis is Monty Kipps, a dapper black art history professor from Trinidad who currently lives in London with his family. His wife, Carlene, seems to be chronically ill; their oldest son, Michael, works in finance in London; their daughter, Vee, has just completed a tour of Europe. Monty is hired to teach at Wellington and moves there, bringing his wife and daughter. Monty is everything Howard despises: an inflexible ultra-Christian, homophobic, and anti-affirmative action and other DEI programs.
On Beauty is a captivating look at a multitude of issues: individual identity in modern times, family dynamics, familial love, fraternal love, coming of age, academia, infidelity, and the breaking of trust, all with a lively sense of humor and en pointe observations about race and modern life.
Kurt Seyt and Shura
Nermin Bezmen
CreateSpace
https://www.kurtseytandshura.com
9781977698315, $18.00
https://www.amazon.com/Kurt-Seyt-Shura-Nermin-Bezmen/dp/197769831X
Several years ago, I caught the TV series, Kurt Syet and Shura, which is based on the trilogy by Nermin Bezmen which, in turn, is based on her family history (she is a granddaughter of the eponymous Kurt Syet). Since watching it, I have been wanting to read the book and have just gotten around to it. I have been unable to find the other two books in the trilogy, Kurt Syet and Murka and Shura, translated into English.
Kurt (Wolf) Seyit Eminof is a (Syet is apparently the Russian spelling of Seyit) Crimean soldier in service to the elite Imperial Guard of Tsar Nicholas II. A young aristocrat in his mid twenties, Kurt falls in love with the teenaged girl, Alexandra (Shura) Verjenskaya though he is Muslim and she Christian. Their love survives a lengthy absence during which he is sent to the the Carpathian front line. Later, when the Bolsheviks revolt and seize power during the October Revolution of 1917, he must flee for his life but takes Shura with him. They first go to Alushta, on the southern coast of Crimea, to stay with his family, but his father refuses to acknowledge his son's relationship with the Christian girl. As the Bolshevik terror spreads to Crimea, the couple move on, eventually landing in Istanbul.
This is a star-crossed lovers romance without the requisite happily-ever-after ending. Despite their true love, they never marry because of religious beliefs and familial expectations. Indeed, happiness eludes Kurt and Shura. The book does a good job showing the magnificence of Petrograd and contrasting it with the squalor in which peasants lived. Bezman works in a lot of history as well, resulting in a rather distant third person point of view. The book would perhaps have been better in a more close point of view, but it is still well worth reading for insight into the world of Russian aristocracy in the late nineteenth century.
Hild (The Hild Sequence #1)
Nicola Griffith
https://nicolagriffith.com
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
https://us.macmillan.com/fsg
B00DA734SA, $12.99
https://www.amazon.com/Hild-Novel-Light-World-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DA734SA
Hild of Whitby, seen as a child and teenager in Hild, grows up to become one of the most powerful women in early English history - and the future Saint Hilda. She enters a world transitioning from pagan to Christianity, in a timeframe situated between King Arthur during the late fifth and early sixth centuries and Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom which covers the late ninth century. It is a world in transition from pagan to Christianity. The multiple small kingdoms are bloodily uniting and converting to Christianity, sometimes unwillingly.
Hild is an intelligent child with extraordinary powers of observation, keen intuition, phenomenal attention to detail, and a marvelous kinship with nature. She learns to read and write from a priest. Her conniving mother, while trying to save her family, positions the child to become a seer for Edwin of Northumbria. Hild is denied an ordinary childhood in service to the king. She walks a tightrope, knowing if she fails the king, her life and those of her family are at stake. She is a strong female, unafraid to fight for justice and so able to kill that she becomes known as the "Butcherbird."
Hild is well-researched and shows the cold, hard, and at times, brutal life of medieval times, alternating between feast and famine, subject to the harshness or benevolence of the weather. Griffith shows how lives are governed by the seasons. If you enjoy the world-building of Tolkien, Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter series, or Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, you will enjoy Hild and its sequel Menewood. But aware that at 716 pages, you're in for a long haul.
Menewood
Nicola Griffith
https://nicolagriffith.com
MCD
https://www.mcdbooks.com
B09Y457GQ5, $16.99
https://www.amazon.com/Menewood-Novel-Sequence-Nicola-Griffith/dp/1250338190
First seen as a child and teenager in Hild, Hilda of Whitby grows up to become one of the most powerful women in early English history - and the future Saint Hilda. The second book in the series, titled Menewood, is about Hild's adult life and continues her growth as a woman and a leader. Her world is in transition from paganism to Christianity, situated timewise between King Arthur during the late fifth and early sixth centuries and Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom which covers the late ninth century.
Hild is an intelligent child and woman with extraordinary powers of observation, keen intuition, phenomenal attention to detail, and a marvelous kinship with nature. She learns to read and write from a priest. Her conniving mother, while trying to save her family, positions the child to become a seer for Edwin of Northumbria. Denied an ordinary childhood in service to the king, Hild walks a tightrope, knowing if she fails the king, her life - and those of her family - are at stake. She is a strong female, unafraid to fight for justice and so able to kill that she becomes known as the "Butcherbird."
The series is well-researched and shows the cold, hard, and at times, brutal life of medieval times, alternating between feast and famine, subject to the harshness or benevolence of the weather and the vagaries of the ruling classes. Griffith shows how medieval lives are governed by the seasons. I particularly enjoyed the rich interconnection with nature which Hild experiences. Modern people have grown away from such connections. There were no weathermen back then, so the knowledge that if birds migrate early, winter is coming is invaluable. Griffith deftly weaves nature - from trees, to animals, to birds, to cloud formations - into both Hild and Menewood.
If you enjoy the world-building of Tolkien, Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter series, or Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, you will enjoy Hild. But aware that at 716 pages for Hild and 919 for Menewood, you're in for a long haul.
By Any Other Name
Jodi Picoult
Ballantine Books
c/o Penguin Random House
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com
9780593497210, $21.00
https://www.amazon.com/Any-Other-Name-Novel/dp/059349721X
Jodi Picoult's By Any Other Name takes its title from a line in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the title leads the reader straight into a dual timeline novel split between the present and the sixteenth century. In the present, a young woman, Melina Green, has written a play about her ancestress, Emilia Bassano, but Melina is unable to get her play produced because of misogyny in the theater world. This timeline is told in two points of view, that of Melina and that of a New York Times theater critic, Jasper.
The historical time line is the story of Emilia Bassano, a real-life woman, who Picoult posits wrote the best of Shakespeare's plays as Emilia could not publish them under her own name. At age thirteen, Emilia is forced to become a wealthy man's mistress, and he encourages her mind and her writing of plays and poetry. A well-educated woman, she wrote the first book of poetry published by a woman during the reign of Elizabeth I.
This book resonated with me because I recently read Cities of Women by Kathleen B. Jones which is itself a dual timeline novel concerning The Book of the City of Ladies or Le Livre de la Cite des Dames, a medieval book written by Christine de Pizan. This book is mentioned in By Any Other Name, and Emilia has read it. I've also recently read Stalking Shakespeare by Lee Durkee in which he obsesses about finding a portrait of the real Shakespeare, and there is some discussion in By Any Other Name of an engraved portrait of Shakespeare that appears in a folio with all his plays. There is a lot of overlap of characters in the three books, and they complement each other well.
I found it totally plausible that Bassano wrote the Shakespeare plays based on the evidence in Picoult's novel. What hasn't changed in the centuries between the two timelines of Picoult's novel is that women are still second-class citizens and still have no true voice in society. White men still maintain their privilege, although Melina must investigate her own sense of privilege in relationship to her black gay roommate. This book covers gender inequity, racial prejudice, domestic violence, and homophobia.
Ambushed
Carol Potenza
https://carolpotenza.com
Tiny Mammoth Press
9798986769073, $63.99
https://www.amazon.com/Ambushed-Extinct-Zoo-Mystery/dp/B0DCJQT7CC
Ambushed is the third in Carol Potenza's De-Exinct Zoo Mystery Series. Veterinarian Milly Smith trained in Siberia and now works in Pleistocene BioPark, a zoo dedicated by resurrected extinct megafauna (giant short-faced bears, dire wolves, smilodons, mammoths, woolly rhinos) brought back by de-extinction geneticists. Milly's first de-extinct animal is Maskwa, a bear she raised from a cub and cares for deeply. She's next involved with Pleistocene giant apes who learn American Sign Language for the deaf. Now, she's facing Quinkanas, huge crocodilians, that are released into tunnels beneath the BioPark by a nefarious fellow biologist, Evan Bowie - and is present at a fourth murder. She learns more about her own past and genetics, finally faces the fact that the head of the zoo, Dr. Luther Nikolai, is never going to return her love, and opens herself to another man, Warren Carter, with devastating consequences.
Potenza is a biochemist, and her knowledge shines through in the mystery. The De-Extinct Zoo series is akin to Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park series in its blend of science and fiction. Potenza incorporates enough technical details to provide verisimilitude while not overpowering the reader with obscure details. It is a quick read, full of twists and turns, and a touch of unrequited love.
Thrust
Lidia Yuknavitch
Riverhead Books
c/o Penguin Publishing Group
https://www.penguin.com
9780525534914, $17.00
https://www.amazon.com/Thrust-Novel-Lidia-Yuknavitch/dp/0525534911
Thrust is a fascinating post-apocalyptic novel, loosely built around the Statue of Liberty, told from many points of view in many individual stories. First is Laisve, a girl from Siberia who has immigrated with her father to America. She is a "carrier" who can move back and forth in time using the energy of inanimate objects and who communicates with sea animals. Then there is a series of letters between Frederic in France (who seems to be Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty) and his cousin, Aurora Boreales, a woman who runs a bizarre combination of a brothel and an orphans' home in the United States; they are joined in an erotic connection. There are also the men and women who build the Statue of Liberty, as well as an assortment of other odd characters, including a boy accused of patricide and infanticide and a talking box turtle named Bertrand.
The post-apocalyptic aspect comes from the melting of the glaciers and permafrost, resulting in the rising of the ocean level to the point that only the Statue of Liberty's head remains out of the water. Mankind reverts to a primal state, there are "raids" to supply child soldiers, etc. As the permafrost melts, mammoth skeletons rise and a new trade in mammoth tusk ivory replaces the trade in elephant ivory. Another interesting aspect is the role language plays: dead languages, dying languages, ancestral languages, "narrating sounds and languages... I believe that this itself was a kind of love"; "an infant crying for its mother's breast is its own language in any language"; and "the death of languages is what precedes the death of the world."
Thrust is so truly genre-breaking that it's hard to slot this novel onto a specific bookshelf as it combines historical fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, feminism, surrealism, magical realism, speculative fiction, dystopic fiction, climate fiction, erotica, and LGBTQI+ fiction. Despite these multiple stories, I never felt lost or disjointed; somehow, Yuknavitch blends all these scraps into a magnificent quilt.
Suanne Schafer, Reviewer
www.SuanneSchaferAuthor.com
Susan Bethany's Bookshelf
When Shadows Grow Tall
Maressa Voss
www.maressavoss.com
Roundfire Books
c/o Collective Ink Books
https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com
9781803415178, $19.95, PB, 344pp
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-shadows-grow-tall-maressa-voss/1144021188
Synopsis: In the Grasp, a realm on the threshold of enlightenment, the dactyli guard the fading embers of their ancient brotherhood, dedicated to the pursuit of absolute truth. Lovelace and Gunnar, two of the order's last rangers, find themselves on the precipice of a changing world. When the order faces a fatal threat from within, Lovelace and Gunnar embark on a dangerous ranging, whereon they discover that more than the welfare of the order is at stake: a rogue dactyli named Alev amasses an army of those he calls the Burned Ones, mercenaries wielding elemental forces. Lovelace and Gunnar are forced to grapple with the unimaginable implications.
Meanwhile, the Grasp languishes under the oppressive rule of 'sbert, who exploits the recent advent of the printing press to smother the fires of budding enlightenment.
A young woman named Kylene undertakes a journey to find her missing father, a prominent printer wanted for sedition. Her path leads her to the kapnobatai, a mysterious group of outcasts with whom Kylene takes up refuge and the mantle of her father's fight for freedom. In the mountains of Droch Fhortan, Lovelace and Gunnar encounter a feral young woman, Cora.
Her mere existence uproots an age-old belief and puts to ground a new truth: magic can be awakened, magic can be taught. As their paths intertwine, a shared purpose emerges - to expose 'sbert's tyranny, thwart Alev's dangerous plot, and rekindle the flame of enlightenment.
So begins the battle for the minds of the Graspish people, and a quest for the heart of magic itself.
Critique: Original, riveting, a fun read from cover to cover, "When Shadows Grow Tall" is an extraordinary action/adventure fantasy novel by Maressa Voss that will have enormous appeal to readers with an interest in magic, a dystopian country, and revolution, "When Shadows Grow Tall" is a very highly recommended pick for personal reading lists and community library Fantasy Fiction collections. It should be noted for the legions of fantasy fans that "When Shadows Grow Tall" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
Editorial Note: Maressa Voss (www.maressavoss.com) holds a degree in Classics with an emphasis in Language and Literature from UCSB. She is currently working on "writing what she knows" with a dystopian/utopian satire based in a near-future Southern California.
Can Fasting Save Your Life?
Toshia Myers & Alan Goldhamer
BPC
https://bookpubco.com/about-bpc
9781570674198, $29.95, HC, 184pp
https://www.amazon.com/Can-Fasting-Save-Your-Life/dp/1570674191
Synopsis: Co-authored by Toshia Myers and Alan Goldhamer, "Can Fasting Save Your Life?" shows how more than 25,000 patients who underwent water-only fasting at TrueNorth Health Center experienced results that were nothing short of miraculous.
It's a primer on the different types of intermittent and prolonged fasts, in-depth coverage on how fasting reverses metabolic disorders, hypertension, and obesity, and evidence on the safety of fasting are among the topics that the authors present. "Can Fasting Save Your Life? " also addresses the connection between eating highly processed foods and visceral fat and chronic disease and the importance of improving diet and lifestyle choices in order to maintain the benefits gained from fasting.
Meticulously researched, "Can Fasting Save Your Life?" reveals an amazing natural and successful approach to restoring and maintaining health.
Critique: Fasting is a feature for many of the world's religions as a religious practice. But now with the publication of "Can Fasting Save Your Life?" from BPC (Book Publishing Company) the practice of controlled fasting has revealed health benefits from the practice quite apart from (and in addition to) any intended spiritual purposes. Exceptionally well written, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, and also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "Can Fasting Save Your Life?" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Health/Medical collections and supplemental High Blood Pressure/Pathology Clinical Chemistry curriculum studies lists.
Editorial Note #1: Toshia Myers, PhD is the Director of the TrueNorth Health Foundation. Dr. Myers' scientific curiosity was first piqued by the intricacies of cellular biology as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University. After which, she completed a Doctorate of Philosophy in Biological Sciences at Columbia University, specializing in molecular genetics and developmental biology. She then completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Copenhagen Biotechnology Research and Innovation Center, where she focused on immunology and epigenetics. While in graduate school, she was struck by the profound implications of natural hygiene and the ability of these basic principles to improve and maintain her own health, which led her to combine her passion for research and natural health. (https://www.truenorthhealthfoundation.org/our-team)
Editorial Note #2: Alan Goldhamer, DC, is an expert in the use of medically supervised, water-only fasting. He is the founder and has been the director of TrueNorth Health Center since 1984 and has supervised the fasting and care of more than 25,000 patients. TrueNorth Health is a multidisciplinary practice that includes doctors of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy and psychology. It's healthcare providers treat patients with conditions ranging from high blood pressure and diabetes to autoimmune disorders and lymphoma. The Center is the largest facility in the world specializing in medically supervised water-only fasting and a premier training facility for doctors to gain certification in the supervision of therapeutic fasting. (https://www.healthpromoting.com/clinic-services/staff/alan-goldhamer-dc)
Crystal Body Grids
Sharon L. McAllister
EarthDancer
c/o Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
www.innertraditions.com
9798888500866, $24.99, PB, 208pp
https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Body-Grids-Gemstone-Layouts/dp/B0CSBS7H7R
Synopsis: With the publication of "Crystal Body Grids: 56 Gemstone Layouts for Energy Healing", crystal healer and teacher Sharon L. McAllister reveals how to amplify the healing power of gemstones by placing them directly on the body in specific layouts for energetic balance and focus, increased vitality and intuition, and overcoming common conditions and ailments.
Through easy-to-understand full-color diagrams and an A-Z directory of more than 70 key crystals to use, McAllister shares step-by-step instructions for 56 crystal layouts for a range of healing and energetic purposes. She explains how to cleanse crystals, imbue them with positive intentions, and program them for use in a body grid.
McAllister also presents crystal body layouts for general energetic enhancement as well as for conditions and diseases for the skeletal structure, the heart and vascular system, the digestive system, the immune system, skin and hair, and the head. She explores the metaphysical origins of each ailment, which crystals to use, how to program them for targeted energy channeling, and how to arrange them on the body.
In addition to physical ailments, McAllister presents four gemstone body grids to attract peace, vitality, wisdom, and abundance.
Sharing hands-on techniques for working with crystals, "Crystal Body Grids" shows how they can help you achieve enhanced health and well-being as well as better connection to your inner wisdom.
Critique: Beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout, "Crystal Body Grids: 56 Gemstone Layouts for Energy Healing" by Sharon L. McAllister is a complete course of DIY instructions on utilizing the properties of various gem stones for a better and more healthier life. Also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99), this edition of "Crystal Body Grids" from EarthDancer is unhesitatingly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Metaphysical Studies & Mental/Spiritual Healing collections.
Editorial Note: Sharon L. McAllister has been a holistic therapist for more than thirty years, specializing in reflexology, soul recall therapy, and crystal healing. Sharon lives and works in Scotland and has taught reflexology and crystal healing at both diploma and advanced level. (https://www.earthdancer.co.uk/authors/sharon-l-mcallister)
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Willis Buhle's Bookshelf
I Think We've Been Here Before
Suzy Krause
Lake Union Publishing
c/o Amazon Publishing
9781662517525, $16.99 PB, $4.99 Kindle, 317pp
https://www.amazon.com/Think-Weve-Been-Here-Before/dp/1662517521
Synopsis: Marlen and Hilda Jorgensen's family has received two significant pieces of news: one, Marlen has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Two, a cosmic blast is set to render humanity extinct within a matter of months. It seems the coming Christmas on their Saskatchewan farm will be their last.
Preparing for the inevitable, they navigate the time they have left together. Marlen and Hilda have channeled their energy into improbably prophetic works of art. Hilda's elderly father receives a longed-for visitor from his past. Hilda's teenaged nephew goes missing, and his mother refuses to believe the world is ending. All the while, Hilda's daughter struggles to find her way home from Berlin with the help of an oddly familiar stranger. For everyone, there's an unsettling feeling that this unprecedented reality is something they remember.
As the planet holds its collective breath to see what happens next amid chaos, denial, acceptance, and hope, this one family determines to live every moment as if it's their last. Because, well, it just might be.
Critique: An impressively original and deftly crafted novel that will hold special appeal to readers with an interest in dystopian fiction. magical realism, and doomsday scenario novels, "I Think We've Been Here Before" by author Suzy Krause is a remarkably fascinating read from start to finish. A story that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the novel has been finished and set back upon the shelf, this Lake Union edition of "I Think We've Been Here Before" is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community/public library Contemporary General Fiction collections.
Editorial Note: Suzy Krause (www.suzykrause.com) is also the author of "Sorry I Missed You" and "Valencia and Valentine". She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.
The Focus Fix
Chris Griffiths & Caragh Medlicott
Kogan Page Inc.
www.koganpage.com
9781398616127, $71.00, HC, 264pp
https://www.amazon.com/Focus-Fix-Creativity-Resilience-Overwhelming/dp/1398616125
Synopsis: With the publication of "The Focus Fix: Finding Clarity, Creativity and Resilience in an Overwhelming World", co-authors Chris Griffiths and Caragh Medlicott explore how you can reset your mindset in order to reclaim your focus and achieve incredible results. "The Focus Fix" is a fascinating exploration that unearths scientific studies and inspiring case studies to offer practical and proven techniques that will allow you to dispel distractions and maintain your focus.
"The Focus Fix" also uncovers the numerous benefits of sustained focus: you can achieve more by doing less, improve your mental wellbeing and boost your creativity. Don't get distracted - maximize your potential and discover the antidote to burnout with a careful reading of "The Focus Fix".
Critique: Thoroughly reader friendly in style, organization and presentation, "The Focus Fix: Finding Clarity, Creativity and Resilience in an Overwhelming World" from Kogan Page is an extraordinary, insightful, and 'real world practical' instructional guide to developing and maintaining focused attention on a task, recovering from 'burnout', and improving the quality of your work and enjoyment of life. While solidly recommended for personal, professional, community, business school, and college/university library collections and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists, it should be noted for for MBA students, academia, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Focus Fix" is also available in a paperback edition (9781398616103, $17.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $17.09).
Editorial Note #1: Chris Griffiths (https://chrisgriffiths.com) is a world-leading expert on creativity and innovation. His books have been published in 20 languages, and The Creative Thinking Handbook was selected by Forbes as one of the best books to "get your creative juices flowing." Millions of individuals use his tools and techniques to become more productive.
Editorial Note #2: Caragh Medlicott (https://caraghwrites.com) was previously Communications Manager at OpenGenius, and is now a full time writer. Along with Chris Griffiths she is the co-author of The Creative Thinking Handbook, also published by Kogan page. She has contributed to pieces in many popular publications including GQ, Forbes, The Times and the BBC.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
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