A Bookish Libraria: The Bookish Dame Reviews: Gothic, Vampirish and Old World ~ "The House on Bl...: "The Book Summary : This is a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship as Rose Baines, only survivor of her family’s carnage..."
Friday, 29 July 2011
The Book Summary :
This is a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship as Rose Baines, only survivor of her family’s carnage, tells her story. Fragile, damaged by the tragedy, fate sends her to a desolate house on the haunted moors where demons dwell. The house and the moors have hideous secrets, yet there is love too; deep, abiding, eternal, but it comes with a price, her soul.
About the Author:
Carole Gill wrote her first story at age 8. It was science fiction. She switched to horror in her teens and has been writing ever since.
Widely published in horror and sci-fi anthologies, The House on Blackstone Moor, published by Vamplit, is Carole’s first novel. It is a tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship.
Set in 19th Century Yorkshire its locales include Victorian madhouses as well as barren, wind-swept Yorkshire moors. The story is a marriage of horror and gothic romance set in 19th Century England.
The sequel, Unholy Testament, will be released later this year.
A former New Yorker but resident in England and residing in Yorkshire gave her the knowledge of the area the novel is set in. Also, as a great admirer of the Brontes and frequent visitor to the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth she found herself nearly obsessed with recreating the gothic romantic narrative.
Also having been employed in a hospital which had been historically a workhouse and asylum in Victorian times, Carole was able to add great realism to the depiction of the asylums as described in her novel.
Excerpt from the Novel's first page:
"...They say my father was mad, so corrupted by evil and tainted by sin that he did what he did. I came home to find them all dead; their throats savagely cut. My sisters only five and eight were gone as well as my brother who was twelve. My mother too lay butchered in her marriage bed. The bed her children were born in.
I discovered him first, in the sitting room, floating on a sea of crimson, the bloody razor still clutched in his hand.
How pitiful I must have looked, bent down trying to wake him. Calling to him over and over: “Papa please, please wake up!”
He could not waken of course. No more was he to open his eyes, not in this world, had I not been struck mad I would have realized.
Yet madness is sometimes a mercy when shadows come to take the horror away. Please do not pull away in terror, please. I have much to confess. Just be patient, for I promise I will tell you everything. The only thing I ask in return is for you not to judge me until you hear my entire story…”
I discovered him first, in the sitting room, floating on a sea of crimson, the bloody razor still clutched in his hand.
How pitiful I must have looked, bent down trying to wake him. Calling to him over and over: “Papa please, please wake up!”
He could not waken of course. No more was he to open his eyes, not in this world, had I not been struck mad I would have realized.
Yet madness is sometimes a mercy when shadows come to take the horror away. Please do not pull away in terror, please. I have much to confess. Just be patient, for I promise I will tell you everything. The only thing I ask in return is for you not to judge me until you hear my entire story…”
My Review:
Without a moment's delay, and from those first paragraphs above, I was hooked into "The House on Blackstone Moor." I soon discovered that this was a book written after the style of Bram Stoker's "Dracula;" that is, gothic, romantic,rich in bloody detail and situated in an all encompassing overshadowing of hellish gloom.
Unlike the sometimes "wimpish" and often light-hearted vampire novels of comtemporary authors, as well as those "fattened" by the use of other magical creatures: werewolves and the like; Ms Gill harkens back to the real stuff. She reminds us that these vampire creatures of darkness come from Satan as do his dark minions...that, though some are enchanting and loveable, they all are ungodly and evil.
Throughout this novel I thought of Mina and her sweetheart, of the doctor who wanted to save her, and of the devilish Dracula and his poor fly-eating slave, Renfro. There is a true vampire who's after the blood of humans and up to no good. There also are the vampires of Carole Gill's book for the most part.
Along with her vampires, I really enjoyed her depictions of the Marsh Asylum and its residents. I happen to crave novels in this sort of setting...and in gothic format, so this was particularly fun to read. It's a scary premise to be emotionally upset by a horrible incident and to be thought insane by virtue of that...then to be sent to an asylum only to wonder how you'd ever be let out. That's one of my nightmares! Ms. Gill touches perfectly upon it.
The writing technique seems ancient and fitting for this novel/genre. While the story continues from one "happening" to another; one small climax to the other, we are caught in n unrelenting web that won't let us go until the end. As I've mentioned before, not only is it set in 19th c. England, but it harkens back to writers of a timeframe such as Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and even Edgar Allen Poe.
"..Blackstone Moor" doesn't seem to want to end, however, and that may be its biggest flaw. I think a good editing might have been useful in this case; and, although I enjoyed the continuing scenarios, I felt as if too much was enough. Perhaps an ending well done and a couple of sequels would have been a better way of handling the novel. I'm looking forward to her announced sequel.
Character development is solid and compelling. I was fully involved in Rose, the primary character, and her experiences. I did feel her many "attacks" were a bit overdone, though, and might have been better handled with more variety and less frequency. Rose's love of the handsome and irresistable Mr. Darton had me craving a kiss from him, too!
All in all, I found this an enjoyable read. It felt like reading an old Victorian novel, which I found enchanting in this age. While I was fortunate enough to receive a review copy, I understand an ebook is available.
4 stars for "The House on Blackstone Moor"
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Overview from Amazon.com:
"Barager spins a compelling tale of youthful passion, both personal and political...a rich, satisfying experience. A well-written, gripping novel that expertly blends fact and fiction, love and conviction."
--Kirkus Indie
"...historical fiction at its very best. The main characters are true-to-life and make the readers care...Barager's writing is always on target." --ForeWord Clarion Reviews, Five Stars (Out of Five)
"Richard Barager has written the novel of the Sixties--a passion-filled, pitch-perfect, roller coaster of a tale about the decade that divides us all..." --David Horowitz, former New Left radical and best selling political author
"The Vietnam War not only claimed thousands of lives, it also shattered a country..."Altamont Augie" is a fascinating read of the harsher conflict of words on the home front and what they meant to the soldier."---Midwest Book Review
"The drowning death of an unidentified man at the infamously violent 1969 Altamont free concert sets the stage for first novelist Barager's dynamic, passionate, often moving exploration of the turbulent and politically divided 1960s...the story of a fraught love triangle...adds arresting human dimensions"--Booklist
--Kirkus Indie
"...historical fiction at its very best. The main characters are true-to-life and make the readers care...Barager's writing is always on target." --ForeWord Clarion Reviews, Five Stars (Out of Five)
"Richard Barager has written the novel of the Sixties--a passion-filled, pitch-perfect, roller coaster of a tale about the decade that divides us all..." --David Horowitz, former New Left radical and best selling political author
"The Vietnam War not only claimed thousands of lives, it also shattered a country..."Altamont Augie" is a fascinating read of the harsher conflict of words on the home front and what they meant to the soldier."---Midwest Book Review
"The drowning death of an unidentified man at the infamously violent 1969 Altamont free concert sets the stage for first novelist Barager's dynamic, passionate, often moving exploration of the turbulent and politically divided 1960s...the story of a fraught love triangle...adds arresting human dimensions"--Booklist
A NATION'S HONOR...A GENERATION'S POLITICAL SOUL...
LOVE and WAR in the AGE of AQUARIUS
A startlingly vivid portrayal of one of the most colorful and turbulent periods in recent American history: the 1960s, as seen through the eyes of two ill-fated college lovers at odds over Vietnam. Their story and the story of their generation spill onto a tableau of some of the era's most iconic settings: the legendary battleground of Khe Sanh; a Midwestern campus riven by dissent; and Altamont Speedway, scene of the notorious rock festival profiled in the film Gimme Shelter. Let this richly satisfying tale transport you to a Sixties state of mind.
About Richard Barager:
Richard R. Barager, MD, FACP, is a nephrologist in private practice in San Diego’s North County. Dr. Barager, who has twice received a San Diego County Medical Society “Top Doctor” award for distinguished care in his specialty, is a champion of the healing power of literature, and from time to time “prescribes” specific novels to receptive patients and families to help them cope with their burden of illness.
He has engaged the medical community at large in this endeavor via The Literary Doctor, a blog category devoted to the use of literary fiction to help patients and physicians alike explore the meaning of human illness in a way scientific method cannot. A disease can be understood through the process of empiric research and publication; understanding illness—the fully expressed human response to disease, manifested by its emotional, spiritual, financial, as well as physical aspects—requires a different paradigm. Illness is best understood in story form, i.e. selected works of literary fiction.
Dr. Barager has long believed the two finest callings in life are doctor and writer, the one ministering to the human condition, the other illuminating it, both—when performed with compassion and knowledge—capable of transforming it. His novel Altamont Augie, a tale of the late 1960s, is due for publication in June, 2011.
Dr. Barager earned BA and MD degrees at the University of Minnesota, and did postgraduate training at Emory University in Atlanta and the University of California at San Diego. He has published a chapter in a medical textbook, is past chief of staff at a large district hospital, and is fluent in Spanish, in order to better serve his area’s substantial Hispanic population.
Guest Post from Dr. Barager:
Hello to all the loyal followers of The Bookish Dame, and thank you to Deborah for inviting me to write a guest post on her wonderful literary blog.
There is an insatiable curiosity on the part of readers, I think, about the process of writing fiction—what Norman Mailer called "The Spooky Art" in the eponymous title of his famous book on writing. I thought I would attempt to make the art of novel writing a little less spooky by revealing how some of it came to be for me in my debut novel Altamont Augie.
First, a word about how I decided on the subject matter.
As is often the case, it chose me—seven years ago, during the Iraq war. The protests that flared up against the war reminded me of street protests I had witnessed in my youth against another war: Vietnam. Which got me thinking again about the 1960s, a decade that left an enormous cultural and psychological imprint on me. Yet I never really understood the Sixties, never knew what it all meant: the music and fashion, the war and protest, the racial strife and assassinations. Altamont Augie, then, is my humble exploration of the meaning and legacy of the 1960s.
The premise of the book fell into my lap when I came across an article about an event I had nearly forgotten about: Altamont. The Altamont Speedway Concert was a rock festival held on December 6, 1969, in the waning days of the 1960s. It was a concert that went bad. Really bad. So bad, it is regarded by many as the metaphoric Death of the Sixties, the symbolic—and tragic—end of the Age of Aquarius.
The notion of Altamont as the Death of the Sixties quickly became an idée fixe of mine—in a good way. I watched the seminal rock documentary Gimme Shelter (the second half of which is devoted exclusively to Altamont) half a dozen times; read everything about Altamont I could find, including San Francisco Chronicle articles (preserved on microfiche from the pre-digital era) written in the days immediately after the concert; and I visited Altamont—forty miles east of San Francisco—and walked its sere, windblown grounds.
I learned there were four deaths amidst the violence of Altamont, the most famous of which was the stabbing death of a black Berkeley teenager named Meredith Hunter by the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. But what intrigued me far more than Hunter’s notorious slaying was a fatality nobody paid much attention to that day: that of a young man who, an hour into the show, inexplicably got up, walked over to the nearby California Aqueduct, plunged in and drowned. He would remain anonymous, unidentified, his body never claimed. As futile a death as I had ever heard of. Or not.
Altamont Augie
What kind of man goes to one of the biggest rock concerts of the sixties, manages to drown in a nearby irrigation canal an hour into the show, and is never identified? Who was this John Doe? Another hippie drifter left over from the Summer of Love, more drugged-out flotsam from the wreckage of an overwrought decade? A nutcase, one of thousands wandering the Bay Area back then? An oddball suicide, perhaps.
So much for the trigger of my story. Now for a word about the title.
The "Altamont" piece you already understand. But what about the "Augie" part of it? What’s up with that?
The use of the name Augie in my story and title is a tribute to Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March, one of the greatest novels of 20th century American literature—and to its protagonist, one of the greatest characters in 20th century American literature. What makes Augie March so great? How about this, the greatest opening sentence in 20th century American literature.
I am an American, Chicago born—Chicago, that somber city—and go at things as I have taught myself, freestyle, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent.Bellow’s novel about a prototypical American’s quest for identity during the Great Depression championed the belief that an individual, no matter how lowborn and disadvantaged, can succeed in America solely by dint of character and ability. My novel echoes that belief.
So there you have it, two Augies in two different novels, written half a century apart, each in celebration of the greatest statement of human liberty ever written:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thanks again for having me, Deborah.
Thank you, Dr. Baranger, for enlightening us about your spark of motivation for writing "Altamont Augie," and for the insight into the importance of the title. You're welcomed to share anytime about anything on my blog!
Now: A short trailer of your book--
The Dame's View:
Gripping trailer for a gripping novel which would make a really great film. I was swept up in this story that was a flashback into the turbulent 1960's.
The conflicting ideals and opinions of the Vietnam War are central to the theme of "Altamont Augie;" as it was to those of us who struggled to make sense of the War in those times, of the reasons why certain of our friends and loved ones were being "drafted" into the clearly "unpopular," politically challenged War, and certain ones were left untouched. Just like Dr. Barger's characters, we were fighting to make changes in our lives: breaking out of restrictive, status focused chains ready-made for us in a world assuming to hold us back from expressing the knowledge we'd gained of new sciences, new sociology, new art and literature...a new awareness of who we were and what kind of world we wanted, particularly in a world that warned of nuclear annihilation by a Big Bear enemy. The 1960's generation was the first to break barriers in college-educated citizens, for the first time children were significantly more educated than previous generations.
Through all of these struggles for rights to their own bodies, to their conscience, equality, peace and a voice of freedoms, college sweethearts David and Jackie provide a bird's eye view into the angst of young Americans of the era.
Like the majority of the world around them Dr. Barager's characters experience professors, friends, student uprisings and news commentary of the day. And, while the two young lovers are bound to each other, they are also bound to the truths they've arrived at for themselves. It is these differences in philosophy and values that causes a chasm between them that only love can grow into.
I found "Altamont Augie" a trip back in time. It's a good story of love and loyalties--honor and shame, the bottom-line
issues close to our hearts during times of unrest in our country and our homes. It's a novel written by an accomplished writer whom I expect we'll hear more from in the future.
On another note, I just want to say that in contrast to the current wars we are sending our young men to in the Middle East, and despite our national conscience and political outcries currently...the Vietnam War was a catalyst for more unity and uprising of voices in America in its day. There was more determination, more "guts," more a sense of urgency and anger. Young adults had a sense of gravity and loss, it seems to me. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps it was because so many were forced to fight...perhaps it was seeing them die daily on television (like today: 19 yr. olds, 20, 21, 22-30 yr. olds)...perhaps it was that we were young and felt the oppression of our collective "selves" on so many fronts so profoundly. Maybe we didn't have the added burden of a society fraught with the base-of-the-pyramid challenges of financial collapse! Or the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood terriorists in our midst... All which may seem to be an overwhelming war in itself to surmount.
Whatever the reason...I wish we had the power behind our convictions today that we did back then.
This book is one you'll be glad you read. It's a quick read with a heart-warming message of love and triumph...with a bit of rock 'n roll to spice it up, and a bit of sobriety to leave us thinking.
Deborah/TheBookishDame
*PS: Order it from me at Amazon.com on my side bar? This is an amazingly well priced book!
Guest blogger Paula McLain, the author of The Paris Wife reminisces about Ernest Hemingway on today, his birthday.
Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in a wrought-iron bed on the second floor of a Queen Anne house in Oak Park, Illinois. The house still stands, as does the bed--but what’s even more a marvel is that 112 years after his birth, Hemingway himself is still going strong. His life and work are as interesting and relevant as ever, and, well, the man seems to be everywhere. This year alone he’s the subject of my novel, The Paris Wife; an HBO biopic in production, Hemingway and Gelhorn, about his fiery third marriage (Clive Owen will play Hemingway opposite Nicole Kidman, James Gandolfini produces); and Midnight in Paris, a feature film by Woody Allen, which opened the Cannes Film Festival in April and is currently enchanting audiences nationwide.
What Hemingway would have thought about all the hubbub, I wouldn’t try to guess. Though he spent most of his adult life cutting a very public figure, he placed a high value on solitude, and had an abiding fondness for the deep privacy of nature. He spent nearly every summer of his boyhood in Michigan’s north woods, and made his first trip there when he was just seven weeks old. The journey north was by no means easy at the turn-of-the-century. First there was the train from Oak Park into Chicago, then a horse-drawn cab to the pier on Lake Michigan where the Hemingways boarded a steamer to Petoskey. Once there, they took two different rail lines, and finally climbed into a rowboat that deposited them at a lovely piece of lakefront property Ernest’s doctor father had purchased the summer before. A cottage was eventually built on the site, dubbed Windemere by Ernest’s romantically-inclined mother, and the growing family returned there summer after summer, creating memories that later fed Hemingway’s imagination (see the Nick Adams stories in particular), and his soul.
Unlike the author’s Oak Park birthplace, Windemere isn’t open to the public. Hemingway’s nephew Ernie Mainland still spends summers there, and privileges privacy as much as his famous uncle. This past spring, I was lucky enough to be invited to the cottage for a brief personal tour. I was asked not to take any photographs, but stood for a long time by the hearth, where Ernest and his first wife Hadley dragged mattresses to make a cozy honeymoon nest in 1921. Opposite the hearth is a doorjamb with pencil tics recording the heights of the six Hemingway children. There was Ernest at age 14, standing 5’4 inches. And there he was at 17, having “sprung up,” as they say, to 5’11.’’ I confess I got goose bumps at this simple but profound sign of his coming of age. Scores of years later, I stand to salute Hemingway in his manifold complexity--the boy he was, the man he became, the author we still have much to learn from, and the myth we may never pierce through, no matter how we peer and scrutinize.
Happy birthday, Ernest.
The Dame Says:
Happy birthday, indeed, dear Ernest. You were a comet in the literary night, but one who's left an everlasting trail for us to enjoy.
There are a series of new non-fiction books written about Hemingway, his life, his wives, and his close association with F. Scott Fitzgerald, recently. A couple of weeks ago BookTV sponsored an indepth, riviting interview with professors and writers on Hemingway, as well as a brief tour of Key West and his home there.
On another pleasant front, the movie, "In Love and War" detailed below is one of the most beautifully romantic movies of recent years.
Netflix WriteUp:
This romantic historical drama is based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway. In 1918, 18-year-old Hemingway has volunteered to fight in the great war; while he goes into battle imagining it to be a lark, he soon discovers that the realities of warfare are far more grim, and during a shelling attack in Italy, his leg is severely wounded. Hemingway has taken a great deal of shrapnel, and the doctors at the field hospital decide that amputation would be the quickest and most effective way to deal with the injury. However, the idea of losing a leg horrifies Hemingway, and he pleads with Agnes (Sandra Bullock), the Austrian nurse looking after him, not to let the doctors cut off his limb. Moved by Hemingway's concern, Agnes convinces the doctors to pursue other treatments, and she looks after him during his long and difficult convalescence. Love and passion bloom between the young and naive soldier and the 26-year-old nurse, but while he's eager for her to return home with him as he follows his muse as a writer, she regards him not as the love of her life but as a passing fling and thinks that he's too young to marry. Agnes eventually sends Hemingway a "Dear John" letter; later Hemingway would use her as the basis for several characters in his novels and short stories, not always flatteringly. In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough, previously an Academy Award winner for Gandhi. - Mark Deming, Rovi
Dame's Final Word :
Please join me in celebrating Hemingway's birthday today by indulging in a reading of one of his short stories, or a start of one of his beautiful books...or even viewing this beautiful movie, above.
Deborah/YourBookishDame
Cancer~The Deadly Enemy~ "The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddartha Mukherjee
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Overview:
Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction.The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular
biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years.
Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and researcher. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center. A Rhodes scholar, he graduated from Stanford University, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, The New York Times, and The New Republic. He lives in New York with his wife and daughters.
His book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” won the 2011 Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction.
A Review/Not The Dame's:
The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years.
The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist.
From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave cut off her malignant breast, to the nineteenth-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee’s own leukemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is about the people who have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive—and to increase our understanding of this iconic disease.
Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.
I urge you to get your hands on a copy of this profoundly interesting and "readable" book! You'll find an excerpt and more about the author at his website:
http://sidmukerjee.com/
Deborah/YourBookishDame
The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist.
From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave cut off her malignant breast, to the nineteenth-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee’s own leukemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is about the people who have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive—and to increase our understanding of this iconic disease.
Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.
I urge you to get your hands on a copy of this profoundly interesting and "readable" book! You'll find an excerpt and more about the author at his website:
http://sidmukerjee.com/
Deborah/YourBookishDame
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
NATIONAL BESTSELLERPULITZER PRIZE WINNERNational Book Critic's Circle Award FinalistA New York Times Notable BookOne of the Best Books of the YearThe Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post
The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
*This overview taken from Barnes & Noble booksite.
A Couple of Trailers:
Deborah/TheBookishDame
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Quite often my sweet husband takes a nosedive into the unknown and takes up with a new adventure/obsession with something "strange." I found this serendipitous oddity a very attractive characteristic when we first met (I know...red flag??), and frankly, it's had its ups and downs on my last nerve over the years. All in all; however, there's never a dull moment with Anthony if you just sit back and brace yourself.
The show is mind-boggling. As I sit in my little apple green recliner writing reviews while DH watches "his" shows, I'm wont to look up once in a while to see what's going on.
Against my better judgement, sometimes I'm captured by the absurdities of men: Men in the greater outdoors hunting with lots of equipment (guns, bows & steel tipped arrows, whistles, bright florescent suits, misshapen, weird hats & assorted other "gear"), excavating big mountains with equipment they don't know how to maneuver & in icy weather, clambering about and becoming lost without food in crumbling old caves with their teen aged daughters, panning for gold in muddy streams and gleefully coming up with minute particles which value is less than the cost of the pan, or pulling up by hand man-eating fish in mosquito infested jungles... Recently, I've been pulled in by pawn shops on the Tube! Ugh! This wars against every bone in my WASPish, DAR body, and would disgrace my family. It's really tantamount to watching a strip show!
Primary among such shows is Rick Harrison's straight from Las Vegas "Pawn Stars." Pawn Stars is a fabulous program! I love it, and it's become my latest dirty little secret...now out in the open! We've agreed it's the only pawn show we'll watch.
Rick is an intelligent, witty and well-informed guy who actually makes wise choices about some seriously fabulous items brought to his shop. The experts Rick brings in to evaluate some of the items are so learned they add a dimension of knowledge and intelligence that rivals experts I've seen and heard from auction houses and museums in Boston. A couple of them are experienced in museum collections and authentic documents of early America and England...so interesting to hear and watch. I have learned a good deal from Rick, his dad and these experts.
One of the most fetching (did I use that word?) and hilarious things about the show is Chumly, Rick's doofus nephew. Chum is a complete novice at pawn, and life, it seems. He has no idea what's "good" and what's "fake," what are stolen goods, what's trash and what's treasure. He is a guy whose life is chockful of accidents and mishaps; i.e., nearly everything he touches falls apart, breaks down, or costs the shop money. In fact, Chum nearly costs his grandad more money than the shop brings in on some days! In the latest episode, Chumly test flies a valuable, antique kite and snags it on a highwire electrical tower...you flew it--you can't get it down--you bought it! And, poor Chum is always shocked by these manifistations of Murphy's Law in his life.
Chumly is the fall guy for the show, and makes it all worthwhile to watch...just for the hilarity of it. Rick's dad is also sooo funny as he glumly and stoically mumbles his way through all the trials and troubles of the shop and Chum. And, Big Hoss, Rick's son, who is assigned to watch over and teach Chum, as well as to be the Ass't Mgr., lumbers along making a couple of wise choices on the way, but mostly watching Chumly mess up and telling on him. Honestly, Chum is the best comedic character on tv.
All this to give you some kind of intro. into Rick Harrison's new book "License To Pawn" which I wholeheartedly recommend for your sweethearts and you when you want a different ride on the wild side.
Book Summary from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press:
In Las Vegas, there’s a family-owned business called the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, run by three generations of the Harrison family: Rick; his son, Big Hoss; and Rick’s dad, the Old Man. Now License to Pawn takes readers behind the scenes of the hit History show Pawn Stars and shares the fascinating life story of its star, Rick Harrison, and the equally intriguing story behind the shop, the customers, and the items for sale.
Rick hasn’t had it easy. He was a math whiz at an early age, but developed a similarly uncanny ability to find ever-deepening trouble that nearly ruined his life. With the birth of his son, he sobered up, reconnected with his dad, and they started their booming business together.
License to Pawn also offers an entertaining walk through the pawn shop’s history. It’s a captivating look into how the Gold & Silver works, with incredible stories about the crazy customers and the one-of-a-kind items that the shop sells. Rick isn’t only a businessman; he’s also a historian and keen observer of human nature. For instance, did you know that pimps wear lots of jewelry for a reason? It’s because if they’re arrested, jewelry doesn’t get confiscated like cash does, and ready money will be available for bail. Or that WWII bomber jackets and Zippo lighters can sell for a freakishly high price in Japan? Have you ever heard that the makers of Ormolu clocks, which Rick sells for as much as $15,000 apiece, frequently died before forty thanks to the mercury in the paint?
Rick also reveals the items he loves so much he’ll never sell. The shop has three Olympic bronze medals, a Patriots Super Bowl ring, a Samurai sword from 1490, and an original Iwo Jima battle plan. Each object has an incredible story behind it, of course. Rick shares them all, and so much more—there’s an irresistible treasure trove of history behind both the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop and the life of Rick Harrison.
From the Bookish Dame's perspective this is a no-brainer book purchase. Everyone will love it...you, your husband/significant other, your teen aged kids, and the neighbors!
5 stars to the TV Show, and to this book
The Bookish Dame/Deborah
PS: Have you ever been into a pawn shop? Ever pawned anything?
Monday, 18 July 2011
See all the information on Melissa's Giveaway and Summer Blog Tour on her website at:
http://www.melissafoster.com
Book Notes:
"Megan's Way is a fine and fascinating read that many will find hope in." Midwest Book Review
The Megan's Way film will be entered in the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, South By Southwest Festival (SXSW In Austin Texas), Amsterdam Film Festival, as well as New York, LA , and Miami (just to name a few). This is a "Fest-Best" type of film and expected to make a major impact on festivals world wide.
My Review:
I first want to share with my readers the personal perspective I bring to this review of "Megan's Way." Some 29 years ago I was widowed as a young woman with three children under the ages of 9. My precious young husband died of melanoma that had metastasized to major organs: we had several months to prepare for his death. This came after the original cancer of 11 years in the first year of our marriage. So, I'm someone well acquainted with cancer's toll on a person and those who love them. I read this book with that intimate awareness.
Melissa Foster has written a true-to-life rendering of the process of dying. From the earliest stages of the person's acknowledgement of impending death, to their release of loved ones, their body and spirit; to the angst and responses of those who live with and love them, Ms Foster paints a portrait of the struggles and survivals. She understands the pain of those left behind and the awareness of those who have to do the leaving.
Through her very beautiful and tender portrayals, we come to know Megan and her intimate friends as if they were family. We get a clear and close up understanding of Megan's loving and tumultuous relationship with her teen aged daughter, Olivia. And, we are given unique insights into Megan's personality, thoughts, fears and death and dying processes from her own perspective, as well as from the perspectives of her friends and daughter. Ms Foster is spot on in her every detail of this experience with death, in my experience.
I found Melissa's writing, however, to be somewhat stilted in her efforts to get across all the points of the process, and then the major theme of the choices we have about our own death and dying. There is something lost in the flow of a story as the book progresses when it starts to be overtaken by a series of details on these numerous processes and points of dying, rather than having it more balanced within a storyline. This, however, does not take very much from the book or enjoyment of it in total, since I think it's worthy on many other levels.
While Megan considers her options of ceasing any other chemo or "prolonging" measures, and as she also contemplates the virtues of taking into her own hands the method and timing of her death, we are allowed to witness her conflicts. This option to choose is one that many come face-to-face with. Ms Foster gives us a balanced and open view of a woman who looks boldly into the face of death, weighs her options and takes into loving consideration the daughter she will leave behind.
The complexity of "Megan's Way" made this novel one that I loved reading. Certainly, it rang true to me in so many ways. It also touched my heart with its attempts to bring readers into a center of meaning and choices that will be an evitability in most of our lives.
The intertwined tale of friends and surrogate family lends itself to be a realistic possibility in light of the "secrets" that people tend to hold close in relationships. While one is living, the secret is easily kept and the "family" can pretend to overlook and rationalize...but once a foundational/pivotal person is going to be removed--the structure that holds it all together is jeopardized and must be delicately "readjusted." This is an element I'm also familiar with, personally, and one I thought Ms Foster handled elegantly.
The intertwined tale of friends and surrogate family lends itself to be a realistic possibility in light of the "secrets" that people tend to hold close in relationships. While one is living, the secret is easily kept and the "family" can pretend to overlook and rationalize...but once a foundational/pivotal person is going to be removed--the structure that holds it all together is jeopardized and must be delicately "readjusted." This is an element I'm also familiar with, personally, and one I thought Ms Foster handled elegantly.
I recommend your choosing to read "Megan's Way" before it's made into the movie for the Sundance Film Festival. It's going to have a great impact! And, it's a very enjoyable read on the order of a Jodi Picoult novel.
Strongly urge you to read more about Melissa Foster and her outreach programs, her newest book "Chasing Amy," and other books, and her social community for women called "The Women's Nest." http://www.melissafoster.com/
4.5 stars from TheBookishDame
Friday, 15 July 2011
I hope you've had an opportunity to read my last entry to find out a little about "Liberation" and an introduction of the author, Maria Lucia.
It is highly recommended that my readers visit Maria's website at: http://www.andrusionchronicles.com/
Here you'll find a full description of the Chronicles and their characters, including the mindset of Maria as she creates her worlds.
My Bookish Review:
As a first book in the Andrusion Chronicles, "Liberation" clearly sets out the background and foundation for the worlds that Ms Lucia creates. This is a novel, and I suspect an entire series, that will be easily embraced by those who are swept up in this initial book.
Maria Lucia is a fine writer. I appreciated her easy and concise manner of descriptive characterization. It was also infinitely refreshing to have her constant pronunciation notes throughout the book. So often I get stuck trying to figure out how to pronounce the strange names in science fiction...which remain difficult to remember because of that. It is easy to remember her characters by her addition in this area, and easy to relate to them as being more "real."
The storyline of "Liberation" is one that metaphysical and science fiction aficionados will love. I found it absolutely unique from books I'd read before; a combination that was better written than those I had come into contact with in the past. What bothered me was that the "religious" or spiritual intent was only slightly cloaked in her fantasy storyline, and a somewhat sophisticated reader will shortly ferret that out.
This foundational book introduces the primary characters, Amora Madre; her soul mate, Gabriel Ephraim; and Amora's invisible playmates (angel guides), Casey and Nia. The unseen, spirit world battles they come to understand and encounter are the focus and theme of the book, along with a picture of the metaphysical for the reader.
As I say above, Ms Lucia is an excellent writer, technically. She creates characters and a base of worlds which are easy to take in. There is a clarity and every step taken to bring us into her "reality" of the galactic and dimensional. The storyline flows well.
What I must add is that this is not my ordinary sort of book, personally. However, I think it will have its appeal to others. I cannot, for that reason, give Ms Lucia's book a negative review.
I think "Liberation..." will have a specific following. It will probably be in the area of the metaphysical more than the sy-fy, but I may be mistaken. There is a strong sy-fy element; however, as I've said, the spiritual intent could possibly overshadow the book for some discerning readers.
The Dame must give this book a 3 stars...for not quite being what it seems.
Deborah/Your Bookish Dame
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Liberation Book Synopsis:
As part of an Andrusian galactic strike force, assembled to dismantle the malevolent legion’s brutal matrix, Amora and Gabriel, seasoned and accomplished, embark on a dangerous adventure filled with Onaweyans, Scorpillians, historical figures, and a confrontation with the dark supernatural syndicate over the fate of the United States and the earth.
With journeys into galactic and dimensional worlds, interactions with fantastic characters and creatures, and revelation of the current struggle between the spiritual forces of good and evil, LIBERATION draws the reader into a world where the spiritual dimensions and reality converge.
As part of an Andrusian galactic strike force, assembled to dismantle the malevolent legion’s brutal matrix, Amora and Gabriel, seasoned and accomplished, embark on a dangerous adventure filled with Onaweyans, Scorpillians, historical figures, and a confrontation with the dark supernatural syndicate over the fate of the United States and the earth.
With journeys into galactic and dimensional worlds, interactions with fantastic characters and creatures, and revelation of the current struggle between the spiritual forces of good and evil, LIBERATION draws the reader into a world where the spiritual dimensions and reality converge.
Book Review & Recommendation from Amazon Reviewer:
“Paranormal Romp” 
Amazon review by Abrkey, March 20, 2011
Liberation is a fast-paced paranormal romp through the under workings of the world. Liberation explores the light and dark forces at work behind the scenes of both everyday life, and the national and international leadership. If you have ever felt like there are powers out there pulling the world in different directions, Liberation is a book for you. I highly recommend it for all paranormal fans.
Amazon review by Abrkey, March 20, 2011 Liberation is a fast-paced paranormal romp through the under workings of the world. Liberation explores the light and dark forces at work behind the scenes of both everyday life, and the national and international leadership. If you have ever felt like there are powers out there pulling the world in different directions, Liberation is a book for you. I highly recommend it for all paranormal fans.
Author Maria Lucia:
Maria is not affiliated with any one religion or spiritual way. Her mission is to empower the heart.
There have always been women throughout history who have held the heart of a country as their own, women whose hearts responded to the sound of service to their country and to their world. They held and still hold the courage to step forward and affect the destiny of a country. These women carry within themselves the passion of divine inspiration and, naturally, always strive to better the lives of others, their environment and their world.
Born in Havana, Cuba, and having immigrated to the United States in 1960, Maria possesses a true and in-depth understanding of the power and unlimited potential of evolving and beginning again.
A University of Memphis education graduate and a professional musician and vocalist, Maria moved deeply into the study of music and launched a very successful musical career in 1984. It included experiencing music on the performance level and the educational level as well. She began her studies of the deeper aspects of music immersed in the wisdom of Stephen Halpern and the integration of the healing effects of music and sound. She developed her voice simultaneously with her ability to teach others how to create and bring out their own voice and soul through music.
In 1994 she completed a nine year position with the world renowned Howard Hanger Jazz Fantasy and left her music career to focus entirely on developing her teachings. She spent many years in private practice, facilitating her own seminars and counseling on creativity. Her experience includes programs for gifted children in the public school system and creativity seminars for musicians at the university level. She has been a musical director for church programs, composer of music, and a producer of concerts. She has traveled nationally, performing and delivering seminars for more than twenty years.
In 1997, Maria launched her first school focused on spiritual heart studies in North Carolina and became a full time spiritual growth teacher. She developed both her school and a personal national dream, The Foundation for the Evolution of America there until she re-located to Washington, D.C. to make this dream a reality. The foundation was kept alive for five years and held the mission to augment, empower and reinstate value for the heart as well as to teach Americans how to value the heart in themselves, in others and how to value the heart of the nation. As well as a respected speaker, Maria Lucia is the author of The Heart’s Unraveling and guidebook for her current school.
She presently resides in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and is working full time on her writings and on launching the new revised version of her novel, LIBERATION, Book One of The Andrusian Chronicles.
You can visit Maria Lucia at http://www.andrusianchronicles.com/
The Dame's Last Word :
So begins my review tour of "Liberation..." Please join me tomorrow when I will continue with this interesting book and will give you my take on it. I've read it...and I want to tell you all about it from my perspective!
Deborah/Your Bookish Dame
PS: Meanwhile, get your own copy via Amazon.com!
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
BOOK SUMMARY:
Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan.
John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemmingford, Quebec. The victim appears to have died while in the midst of a bizarre sexual practice. The corpse is later identified as John Lowery. But how could Lowery have died twice, and how did an American soldier end up in Canada?
Tempe sets off for the answer, exhuming Lowery's grave in North Carolina and taking the remains to Hawaii for reanalysis—to the headquarters of JPAC, the U.S. military's Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command, which strives to recover Americans who have died in past conflicts. In Hawaii, Tempe is joined by her colleague and ex-lover Detective Andrew Ryan (how "ex" is he?) and by her daughter, who is recovering from her own tragic loss. Soon another set of remains is located, with Lowery's dog tags tangled among them. Three bodies—all identified as Lowery.
And then Tempe is contacted by Hadley Perry, Honolulu's flamboyant medical examiner, who needs help identifying the remains of an adolescent boy found offshore. Was he the victim of a shark attack? Or something much more sinister?
A complex and riveting tale of deceit and murder unfolds in this, the thirteenth thrilling novel in Reichs's "cleverly plotted and expertly maintained series" (The New York Times Book Review). With the smash hit Bones now in its fifth season and in full syndication—and her most recent novel, 206 Bones, an instant New York Times bestseller—Kathy Reichs is at the top of her game.
What reviewers are saying:
Amazon reviewer Jill Meyer says: "I'm a firm believer, when reviewing a book, in comparing a book to its predecessors. In this case, it's possible, because Kathy Reichs has written 12 previous Tempe Brennan novels.
The story she writes here, which takes place in locations from Montreal to North Carolina to Hawaii, involves a whole lot of different issues. Auto-erotic deaths, MIA/KIA's from Vietnam, shark-bitten bodies, Samoan gangs, daughters-with-problems, and an inactive love life are only a few of the diverse things Reichs touches on in "Spider Bones". The thing is, that as disconcerting as all this in-coming might be to a casual Reichs' reader, her fans come to expect it from her novels. I can't exactly compare Reichs' work with, say, Leo Tolstoy's, because she doesn't write as well. No one expects her to produce "War and Peace". She writes with workman-like prose and very odd plot lines. And does so fairly well.
It would be difficult to easily describe the plot of "Spider Bones". As I wrote above, there's a whole lot of "in-coming" and the reader never knows what's coming next. Reichs has the interesting/irritating habit of ending her chapters in cliff-hanging language. It's Reichs trademark and is present in every one of her books I've read.
"Spider Bones" is a good read for the Kathy Reichs fan. It might not appeal to more casual readers, but it is a good addition to her book list."
May I Add:
I love Kathy Reichs and her Temperance Brennan character. She's an author I happen to purchase without even reading the book summaries or overleafs. Ms Reichs does have her own style and methods to her "madness," which makes alot of sense to a mind like mine.
There is hardly anything that intrigues me more than medical forensics. Who knows where I got the itch for it--it's just there! Kathy Reichs's way of writing about it works to fill my curiousity tank. While I might not understand all the nuances of the forensics, I'm blissfully assured I could tag along with Temperance and make a difference in her investigations for the truth.
I purchased "Spider Bone" on Audiobook. So I could really miss the involvement of reading it, which adds something to the mix. If I had it to do again...not sure which I'd choose. :] What will you do??
Enjoy Kathy Reichs's Trailer Below:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/multimedia?video=599750614001
Deborah/TheBookishDame
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