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| 0385544766
| 9780385544764
| 0385544766
| 4.50
| 4,390
| Apr 09, 2024
| Apr 09, 2024
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really liked it
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(Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or received.)
(Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or received.) Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy led three exploratory missions, the last of which launched in 1776 and returned in 1780. His primary mission was to explore the upper regions of the northeast Pacific and the edges of the North American continent in order to find the Northwest Passage from the theoretical western end. But along the way the ships encountered many things new to Europeans, including locating the Hawaiian islands. Where Captain Cook died. This history book is a mostly chronological retelling of that voyage of exploration. It briefly recaps Captain Cook’s life up to that point, which had some remarkable achievements already. Including not losing his men to scurvy, an endemic problem of long sea voyages in this time period. There’s some background on the politics involved in planning the trip and its objectives, and mention of important crew members. For example, ship’s master William Bligh, who would go on to infamy as Captain Bligh of the Bounty. Also on board was a Polynesian named Mai who’d been brought to England by a previous voyage, enjoyed a life of celebrity for a while, but needed to return home to free his homeland from invaders. By which he meant the Bora Borans. There’s as much about him in this book as the author could find. Mr. Sides is at pains to try to present the native peoples’ point of view whenever possible, but since most of the peoples Cook encountered had only oral traditions until quite a bit later, the source materials are scanty. Of note is that Captain Cook had his own doubts about the effects his expedition had on the people they were “discovering.” Introducing the concept of firearms, disrupting the local economies, spreading venereal disease…not a good look, to be honest. But even he could not have dreamed of the colonial era to come. Still, the expedition did produce many impressive achievements, with advances in cartography making it possible to correctly understand more of the Pacific’s geography, and locating new places to land in the vast ocean. The book also discusses the apparent breakdown of Cook’s personality, becoming more temperamental and tyrannical, harshly punishing his own men and committing atrocities in retaliation for natives walking off with Navy property. In the end, this is what got him killed. Due to one of his ships being damaged, he returned to Hawaii after the expedition already wore out their welcome there. One of their important smaller boats was stolen (presumably for its iron fittings) and Captain Cook decided to kidnap the king as hostage to get it back. The Hawaiians violently objected, as well they might, and Cook wound up dead. The expedition still went on afterwards, but accomplished little more than verifying previous findings before losing the other captain, Captain Clerke, to tuberculosis; and then was the long trudge home. There’s a little discussion of what happened to some of the expedition members. The book comes with illustration pages in color, endpaper maps, acknowledgements, footnotes, extensive bibliography, and index. Captain Cook’s legacy is mixed; he was a great explorer, but made some blunders that foreshadowed the coming disaster of colonialism. Note that this is not a complete biography of James Cook, and the student of history may also want to get one of those to compare. The tragic ending of Cook’s life makes this book a bit of a depressing read, but it’s well-researched and reasonably even-handed. It’s written for adults but bright high school students should be able to handle it. Recommended for nautical history fans, and those interested in the Age of Exploration. ...more |
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1
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Mar 26, 2024
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Apr 16, 2024
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Feb 26, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 0197555241
| 9780197555248
| 0197555241
| 3.90
| 221
| unknown
| Jan 04, 2024
|
really liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or r
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or received. For a generation, the dominant form of religious music in the North American market was “Contemporary Christian Music.” It was sold in Christian bookstores, sung in Christian churches (or at least at their youth groups) and played on Christian radio. This history looks at the subgenre’s roots, rise to prominence and eventually ebbing as “worship music” took over. In the late Nineteenth century, revival meetings needed music to sing, and the new music recording industry needed songs to sell their reels and discs. Both the “Christian” music and country music industries started concentrating around Nashville, Tennessee. (There was, and is, a considerable overlap.) They drew heavily from black Gospel music and blues, though usually through white covers. Starting in the 1950s, there was an increasing worry among what would become known as the white evangelical community about the youth being corrupted by the “jungle rhythms” (read “Black people’s music”) of rock music. Even as the rock and roll genre became heavily dominated by white musicians, the anti-establishment, open love, anti-segregation, pro-party ethos of then-mainstream rock freaked out the buttoned-down squares in charge of churches. But you didn’t have to be square to be a Christian. A fraction of those turning on and dropping out found Jesus was transcendent and able to be found even when you weren’t necessarily looking. These “Jesus Freaks” started making “Jesus music” that drew on rock and its musical trends of the time. Reluctantly at first, the Christian music industry started working with Jesus music–it was, after all, a moral substitute for the devil’s rock and roll. Especially helpful for keeping the youth entertained and not going somewhere other than the church basement. Over the course of time, being the “moral substitute” for the music popular with the rest of the culture became CCM’s big thing. It helped that conservative white evangelicalism had become its own subculture, with Christian bookstore chains, Christian radio stations, Christian TV channels and a Moral Majority mindset all feeding into each other. It became a multimillion-dollar business. But the insular nature of the subgenre came with problems. The industry and the fandom wanted performers who were the moral paragons that embodied the values proclaimed in their songs. A failure to live up to that, especially when it came to the right kind of sex, crashed several careers. Nonwhite artists were excluded unless they conformed to white cultural standards. And a growing adherence to right-wing politics tainted the message for many. Plus, CCM artists that were able to “cross over” to popularity on the regular charts were viewed with suspicion at best, and often had to abandon one market or the other. Contemporary Christian Music was often derided for low quality. The devotion to the “Becky” market eventually made the CCM industry vulnerable to changes in the market. The internet allowed Christian musicians to reach listeners without the strict gatekeepers, the evangelical left came out of its shell, and American tastes changed to a wider variety of styles, skin complexions and national origins for religious music. “Worship music” became the next big thing. And of course, conservative white evangelicalism’s adherence to the less savory parts of Republican policy led them to support a certain candidate for president, and his insurrection, turning off more segments of the potential audience. This book seems well-researched, though the author notes many people she talked to would not go on the record. No illustrations, but copious footnotes with citations, and an index. Having been adjacent to the target audience of CCM over the years (I’ve owned some of the albums mentioned) I found this an interesting subject and a fun read. Some readers may be turned off by the frank discussion of racism within the music industry and other political entanglements, but those are subjects that are integral to a fair retelling of events. I’d recommend this book to music fans, people curious about the Contemporary Christian Music subgenre, and American church history buffs. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 15, 2024
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Apr 04, 2024
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Feb 01, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 198486226X
| 9781984862266
| 198486226X
| 4.25
| 667
| Jul 14, 2020
| Sep 12, 2023
|
really liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or r
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Jack Kirby (1917-1994) was one of the most prolific and influential American comic book creators of the Twentieth Century. With other noted creators like Joe Simon, Stan Lee and a host of others, he was responsible for such enduring characters as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, Etrigan the Demon, and Darkseid. His influence is still felt today throughout the Marvel and DC universes, as well as independent comics and other media. This biography is told in graphic novel form, as though Mr. Kirby were narrating it (with a couple of sections told by wife Roz Kirby and colleague Stan Lee.) As much as possible, it uses his actual words from various interviews and speeches. It covers his whole life, plus a little bit of postscript. Jack’s parents came from Galicia, which is now parts of Poland and Ukraine, though back then it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They emigrated to America separately, and met in New York through a matchmaker. Jacob Kurtzberg was his birthname, with Jack Kirby initially being a pen name before he found it easiest to just go by it. He showed an aptitude for and interest in drawing from an early age, and a fondness for comic strips (comic books per se not having been invented yet.) It’s an eventful life, from a poverty-stricken childhood filled with gang violence, to his short-lived animation job, to working in the early days of comic books before superheroes became a thing. Then comes his first big success, working with Simon on Captain America (as well as lesser-known characters.) Unfortunately, they were kicked off the book when the manager of Timely found out they’d also been working for the competition. Still, lots of other work. This gets interrupted by World War Two. Unlike some other creators who got put into creative jobs for the military, Kirby was drafted into frontline combat, being made a scout when someone finally noticed his art skills. “Go into this Nazi-occupied village and draw pictures of what you see.” A perhaps fortuitous case of frostbite took him out of combat, but the army wouldn’t discharge him until after V-J Day. Simon and Kirby did well for a while with crime, romance and non-gory comic books, but then came Wertham and after him, the Comics Code, and losing distribution killed their business. Jack worked for National/DC for a while and got a syndicated comic strip, but things turned sour again and Kirby had to axe the strip and burn his bridges with National. At a low point, Jack Kirby had to turn to Marvel Comics and a man he had hated, Stan Lee. Marvel itself was on the ropes, and Stan had long since forgotten any part he’d had in Kirby and Simon getting fired, so he warmly welcomed Jack back. Kirby started doing a lot of science-fiction related material, even in the books that weren’t strictly supposed to be SF, and when superheroes started coming back, created the Fantastic Four with Stan Lee’s help. This is where memories really diverge–Kirby claimed that he was responsible for much more of the actual writing and creation of characters than Lee would ever admit. Mr. Lee had to put his name as writer on almost everything that was coming out at Marvel, and it rankled both Jack, and Steve Ditko, another artist with a creative vision that didn’t always match the dialogue Stan put on his stories. Eventually, the leadership changed at DC Comics, Kirby left Marvel in disgruntlement, and went over to the distinguished competition to create the New Gods saga. But he didn’t actually get the creative control he was promised, and after his work got cancelled time after time, he went back to Marvel for a while, just in time to do a fondly-remembered Bicentennial storyline for Captain America. By this time, television animation had taken off, and this paid a bit better with less actual work for Kirby, who was beginning to slow down and enjoyed creating character designs and worlds. Plus he finally had health insurance! Which he needed, as while “King” Kirby was finally getting some of the credit he deserved for creating so much of the comic book landscape, his health was failing. One of the running themes of this biography is that “comics will break your heart.” Jack Kirby’s talent and overactive work ethic meant that he was almost always in work, but his most commercially successful creations were “work for hire” and didn’t legally belong to him. While he often got a high page rate, that was a one-time payment, and handshake-promised royalties and tie-in money almost never materialized. Executive meddling, personal conflicts and just plain bad luck ended many of his jobs or robbed them of satisfaction. A telling point is that would-be comics writers often wanted to script for Kirby, saying that they wanted to be “the next Stan Lee”, not catching on that that was the last thing he would be interested in. But this is history from Jack Kirby’s point of view, and the companion volume about Stan Lee may tell a slightly different story. Author/artist Tom Scioli is best known for his surreal art and plotlines, which are considerably toned down for this mostly true story. He does a nice job of mimicking Kirby and other artist’s styles as they come up in the book. His one odd touch is drawing Kirby with manga-esque “big eyes” throughout the story, regardless of age, This is done with no other character. There’s end notes indicating where most of the quotes come from, and an index. Content note: violence, gore, salty language. Jack is shirtless a few times. Younger readers before late teenagers may find this rough going due to the adult concerns involved. This is a well-illustrated story of a full life with many interesting incidents. Highly recommended to comic book fans. ...more |
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1
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Sep 13, 2023
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Sep 18, 2023
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Aug 12, 2023
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0063050005
| 9780063050006
| 0063050005
| 3.52
| 25,659
| Oct 2020
| Mar 09, 2021
|
liked it
|
Disclaimer: I received an advance reader’s edition through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offe
Disclaimer: I received an advance reader’s edition through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Some small changes may be present in the final edition. It is April 2016, and Queen Elizabeth II is in residence at Windsor Castle. Indeed, the castle is extra full, as there was a “dine and sleep” the night before with an important Russian businessman and various other VIPs. There was entertainment too, ballerinas and a talented young Russian expatriate pianist. Unfortunately, sometime during the night the population declined by one. At first it appears that the young man hung himself in a failed attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation, and the matter is kept hush-hush to avoid scandal, but soon it’s obvious it was murder. The queen knows that she should leave the investigation to the professionals, but when she realizes that they’re on the wrong track entirely, Elizabeth must once again put her keen mind to solving the mystery. This is the first book in a proposed series in which the queen of Great Britain solves baffling mysteries. This certainly isn’t the first mystery novel I’ve read about a famous person solving crimes, but I’m fairly certain it’s the first one where the public figure in question is still alive as I type! (Just checked, still alive.) Several other famous people are present, with President and Mrs. Obama making a brief appearance. It’s learned that the pianist was a fierce anti-Putin blogger, and the head of the investigation seizes upon this to suggest that the Russian leader is behind the murder somehow. Elizabeth has met the man, and while she despises him, this just isn’t his style. She turns to her new assistant private secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a former soldier of Nigerian descent, to assist her. Rozie soon learns that she’s only the latest in a line of women who’ve done the legwork to aid the queen in solving mysteries. You might ask why you’ve never heard of this habit of hers, and Rozie does. Naturally, Elizabeth cannot be seen to be doing this sort of thing, so much must be stage managed to make it appear that someone else solved the crime. The good: Queen Elizabeth II is an extraordinary woman who’s led a long and astounding life. This makes her a fascinating main character, and the details of what’s going on around the castle with her busy schedule fill up the pages well. The mystery aspect is sound, and follows a competent path. Due to the nature of the story, the last bits have to be done off-page and then reported to the queen, but this was warned about well in advance. I teared up a bit during the epilogue. The less good: the story swaps viewpoint characters frequently as the queen cannot be everywhere; sometimes this clumsily happens between paragraphs, and at other points unnecessarily. There could be other ways of conveying the information without hopping into a bit character who won’t appear again in the story. The umm…: Using a real life living person as your fiction’s main character, however respectful you may intend to be, seems iffy to me. The author’s acknowledgements don’t specify how she did her research so it may all be based on public knowledge and media reports. Overall: It’s an interesting time capsule of a tiny slice of recent history, and an okay mystery story. I think it will go over best with people who are fascinated by the Royals, but don’t know them personally. ...more |
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1
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Jan 11, 2021
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Jan 25, 2021
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Dec 07, 2020
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Hardcover
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| 0062880152
| 9780062880154
| 0062880152
| 3.98
| 820
| Feb 11, 2020
| Feb 11, 2020
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really liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or r
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. A dual biography of Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790) and George Washington (1732-1799) is, I will state right up front, is a good idea. Both men were instrumental in moving the American Colonies from loyal but disgruntled subjects of the British Crown to the United States of America, an independent country with its own constitution chosen by those who lived there. This volume details the times these friends cooperated, and some of their differences. The first point of concentration is the French and Indian War, in which both Franklin and Washington worked to protect their individual colonies, but found common ground and began corresponding. Both men were industrious, and self-made at the beginning. Washington, however, only a few years into adulthood became considerably wealthier by inheritance as a series of family deaths wiped out his close relatives. Having started industrious, he then worked to make his plantation more successful, as well as becoming known as a soldier and leader of men when his colony needed him. The book talks about how the men became disillusioned with British rule, both in general, and due to personal slights. Franklin was more diplomatic by nature, and spent quite some time abroad, first in England trying to mitigate the various taxes imposed after the Seven Years’ War, and during the American Revolution, convincing the French to support the rebelling colonies. Meanwhile, George Washington became General Washington, leading the American troops through many lean years of hardship until the British occupation was finally broken. After the war ended, both Franklin and Washington had learned the dangers of too little coordination between the colonies, jealous of their own prerogatives. The once vibrant Continental Congress had most of its best people move on to military service or their individual state governments, while petty men served in the broader congress. The Articles of Confederation gave each new state its own full powers, which meant that they could starve the national government and refuse to pay the veterans of the revolution on time. A better government was needed, and so a convention was called to amend the Articles of Confederation, which turned into the creation of the American Constitution. Franklin was elderly and nearly bedridden by this point, but still managed to show up (the meeting hall wasn’t too far from his house) and help out, while Washington presided over the convention. It was pretty obvious that George Washington was the only one to be trusted as head of the new government, so his ideas were also listened to. But one of the big differences between Franklin and Washington was their attitudes towards slavery. In his early career, Benjamin Franklin owned slaves, because that was how you got ahead in business, but exposure to Quaker ideas and abolitionism through his printing business caused Franklin to realize the moral implications of the practice. (Plus he’d been an indentured servant once, so didn’t buy the “benevolent master” argument.) He freed his own slaves and urged others to do the same, eventually founding a major Abolitionist society. Meanwhile, George Washington came from the planter class of Virginia. Although he seems to have begun realizing the immorality of slavery sometime during the American Revolution due to interacting with free black people, Washington kept his reservations private. He needed slaves economically, and reacted badly to anyone who disrespected him including slaves who ran away. Thus, Washington was not thrilled when Franklin sent a petition to the first Congressional session of the new United States, one of several that asked the government to restrict the slave trade, and even ban slavery altogether. The protections in the Constitution for slavery had been a hard-fought compromise, and President Washington didn’t want the country torn apart again. (Congress kicked the can down the timeline to 1808, the first time allowed under the Constitution for restriction of the slave trade.) George Washington freed his own slaves in his will…to take effect after the death of his wife. Martha Washington, realizing that this was an open invitation to kill her, freed them early, but not her own slaves. Anti-slavery people took this as a sign that Washington had meant for slavery to end altogether at some point, while pro-slavery people saw it as just a nice private gesture that did not set a precedent for themselves. There’s a center section of color pictures, extensive endnotes, and a full index. Because the focus is on the connection between the two men and where their interests coincided and diverged, other portions of their lives get much less focus. So while I do recommend this well-researched book to the student of American history, you’ll also want to read individual biographies of those involved to get a fuller picture. ...more |
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1
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Feb 15, 2020
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Feb 23, 2020
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Nov 14, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 0425284921
| 9780425284926
| 0425284921
| 4.02
| 97
| Nov 19, 2019
| Nov 19, 2019
|
really liked it
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Disclaimer: I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate the writing of this review. No other compe
Disclaimer: I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate the writing of this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. As an uncorrected proof, there will be changes made in the final product. Louis L’Amour (1908-1988) was one of the all-time great Western authors, and most of his published work is still in print one way or another, mostly in authorized editions. Writing constantly from the 1930s to the 1980s, his output was prolific. But not everything he touched got completed. Many pieces were left half-done, or weren’t quite right, or were done on speculation for movie producers. This volume contains a number of these unfinished works. As explained in Beau L’Amour’s introduction, his father had never meant to be exclusively a writer of Westerns, and wrote many other kinds of adventure stories. It just so happened that when the pulp market dried up in the late 1940s, L’Amour wanted to move into the paperback novel field, and Westerns were both something he did very well and were in demand. And it did not hurt that John Wayne starred in a movie, Hondo, based on one of L’Amour’s stories, which the writer then turned into a full novel based on the movie. Once successfully established as a Western novel writer, Louis L’Amour began pushing the boundaries of what his publishers would accept, moving the Sackett family saga back to colonial days, as well as trying historical fiction set in other parts of the world, and even science fiction. The selections in this book begin with “The Bastard of Brignogan”, a historical novel about the adventures of a French ninja in India who would be the progenitor of the Talon family. It looks like it would have been a jam-packed novel full of twists and turns, but at least one of the reasons it only ever got started was trying to figure out how Talon got his ninja training. The final piece is “Borden Chantry II”, a mystery novel starring Borden Chantry as he deals with a mysterious corpse on his land and a suspicion that not all is right in the town he’s the marshal for. Presumably it would have had a better title if finished–this was apparently one of the stories Mr. L’Amour was working on in his final days. The mystery aspect is spoiled a bit by suddenly switching to the bad guys’ perspective, but the writing gets more confident at the same time. The biggest chunk of this book is seventeen! chapters of “Ben Mallory”, an adventure novel set in Chinese-occupied Tibet. The title character is on a journey with the isolated tribe of warriors who have adopted him to get out of the country so they can get weapons to keep the Red Chinese off their territory. Along the way, they run into both an American scientific expedition and a lama who is being sought by the Chinese army to become a puppet for the Communist regime. This long fragment shows off L’Amour’s research skills and lets him stretch his more mystical side as a writer. (Does reincarnation truly exist? Is the yeti real or is it just a scarily competent human mountain dweller? How does that one man manage to keep getting ahead of Mallory without leaving tracks?) There’s a bit of “mighty whitey” in the way Mallory is set up. (That’s when a white Westerner comes to a foreign land and is better at what the natives do than the natives are plus having the advantages of Western education/civilization.) To temper this a bit, one of Mallory’s foils is Gunther Hart, who thinks he’s a mighty whitey, but in fact is just ridiculously wealthy so everything he wanted was just handed to him. This one might have been a blockbuster back in the day, but would be difficult to get published now. Also of note: “The Jade Eaters”, an SFnal movie treatment set in Mexico that went far enough that Universal still owns the rights (but allowed to be published here) and “The Freeze”, the beginning of a short story set during a new Ice Age. I like the typography; the manuscripts are presented in an old-fashioned manual typewriter font, while the editorial comments by Beau are in a more standard modern typeface. All the stories have such comments about the background of the manuscripts and tales from L’Amour’s life, and there are a number of black and white photographs throughout. Because of the unfinished nature of most of the pieces, I was often frustrated by cut-offs just when the story was “getting good.” I would not recommend this (or Lost Treasures Volume 1) as anyone’s first Louis L’Amour book. This volume is strictly for seasoned fans who can appreciate the might-have-beens. Instead, newer fans might want to check out the new “Lost Treasures” editions of some of L’Amour’s finished books like Last of the Breed and How the West Was Won which have additional editorial notes, short stories that the novels were expanded from, and other fan-aimed material. But if you’re a seasoned fan looking for fanfic ideas or just some more good Louis L’Amour writing, this one’s a keeper. ...more |
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Oct 14, 2019
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Oct 26, 2019
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Aug 15, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1595580069
| 9781595580061
| 1595580069
| 4.13
| 167
| Jul 02, 2019
| Jul 02, 2019
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really liked it
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Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was the first president of the United States to have been a movie star. Motion pictures that he’d worked in and that he saw
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was the first president of the United States to have been a movie star. Motion pictures that he’d worked in and that he saw certainly affected his politics, and his politics affected the movies that came out during his time in office. This volume examines the intersection of film and politics in America between 1976 (Reagan’s first run for president) and 1988 (his last full year in office.) The author was a movie and cultural columnist in the Village Voice newspaper for many years, and has written two previous books on the intersection of movie culture and political culture in previous time periods. He quotes columns he wrote about Reagan at the time extensively. It’s pretty obvious from the outset that the author was and is not a big President Reagan fan. The emphasis is on Ronnie’s skill at projecting an image of “normal guy you can trust, but tough on the inside”, and believing what he said even when it was at odds with observable reality. The writer also makes it clear that many of the movies he’s discussing are not his favorites from that time period, but rather those that were most influential or that reflected the times best. Lots of summer blockbusters in here! The first full chapter compares and contrasts Nashville and Jaws from 1975, and how each reflected the political climate at the time, whether overtly or as subtext. In the runup to the Bicentennial election, America thought it was thirsting for moral rectitude in its leaders, so Jimmy Carter was narrowly elected. But it turned out that the ability to make the American people feel like they were in the right worked better than trying to steer a course based on moral principles, so Reagan came in four years later. This was a time of Rocky and Rambo and Terminator and a bit of Dirty Harry, as well as Star Wars, feeding the president lines he could use to describe his policies and actions in Hollywood terms. I found this book to be a nostalgic blast, even if my personal circumstances during that decade-plus weren’t the best. The author makes good points and brings up some interesting films. I suspect, however, that this book will resonate more strongly with those who were and are critical of the Reagan administration and its policies and aftereffects. (Including the very disappointing remake in the 2010s.) Unabashed President Reagan fans will find less here to enjoy. I could have done with some more digging into the AIDS crisis and the Bork fiasco, but perhaps those didn’t have (at the time) the right movie counterpart to grapple with. Overall, a good overview of the time period from a film culture perspective. Recommended to those who want to learn more about the intersection of Hollywood and politics. ...more |
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Jul 03, 2019
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Jul 14, 2019
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Jun 11, 2019
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1419733702
| 9781419733703
| 1419733702
| 3.58
| 252
| unknown
| Mar 19, 2019
|
liked it
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Disclaimer: I received an Uncorrected Proof through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was requested o
Disclaimer: I received an Uncorrected Proof through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. As an uncorrected proof, there may be changes in the final product–in particular, some illustrations are not finalized. Koko Dodo is preparing for the Royal Cookie Contest at the local mall. His Super-Secret Fudge Sauce has won the contest twenty years in a row, and he sees no reason this won’t be year twenty-one. That is, until he discovers someone has stolen the secret ingredient! This would ordinarily be a job for Inspector Flytrap, who’s gotten Koko out of some tight spots before. But that veteran vegetable is out of town. Thus the task falls to a new heroine, Didi Dodo, Future Spy! (Which does not mean she’s a spy from the future. Just that she wants to make spying her career.) Koko isn’t convinced Didi’s the right dodo for the job. For one thing, she doesn’t know how to stop on roller skates, but insists on rollerskating everywhere. And she’s full of daring plans–too daring! Even if they find the secret ingredient in time, Koko won’t be able to win the contest if he’s deceased! This children’s chapter book is brought to you by the author of the Inspector Flytrap series and the artist of Vegetables in Underwear. The reading level is first through third grade, though some first graders might need help. Parents will definitely want to help if their young ones decide they want to try the recipe that’s included with the book–it’s not dangerous, but could get a bit messy. The plot zooms quickly from one nonsensical moment to the next, with a strong emphasis on the need for speed, which leaves a few plot holes open. (There is a nice bit of realism when we find out the results of one person winning the same contest every year.) The art is okay, and characters are easily identifiable. Content note: There’s some potty humor parents may not appreciate. I suspect this will be one of those books that has a brief popularity and then vanishes into the mist of childhood memories; if your kid liked Inspector Flytrap, give it a whirl. ...more |
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Feb 17, 2019
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Feb 27, 2019
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Jan 17, 2019
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Hardcover
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| 1626345503
| 9781626345508
| B07GY3JCW4
| 3.88
| 64
| unknown
| Sep 11, 2018
|
liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. Technobody is in trouble. This manufacturer of wearable technology is soon to release “Project Elon”, a revolutionary new cybersuit. But a mysterious competitor has engaged the Anti-Strategy Squad, supervillains who cripple and destroy corporate strategies, to make sure that Technobody goes bankrupt and the suit falls into the wrong hands. Only Strategyman and his teammates can save the day by using sound business principles! This edutainment comic book was written by the CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute to assist business people in learning principles of business strategy. Presumably this is meant for the subsection of managers who don’t have long blocks of time to read text and aren’t comfortable with audiobooks. Strategyman, who gained his strategizing powers through a lemonade experiment gone horribly right, is joined by teammates Purposeidon, Innovatara and Rich Horwath (one of those irritating characters in superhero comics who seems to think he’s above having a code name or wearing a gaudy costume.) They battle such villains as Culturello and the Decision Demon while lecturing the management of Technobody on strategy. The good: There’s some genuinely useful information and suggestions in here, especially for the beginning business strategists. Some of the villain designs are excellent: I especially like Fire Driller, who uses giant drills and spouts fire, and Dr. Yes, a James Bond-type villain who likes petting an animal while scheming, but has adopted a porcupine instead of a cat. The art in general is serviceable, and it’s fairly easy to tell the characters apart. Less good: There’s way too much business jargon and buzzword usage. A lot of this material comes across as “management fad of the month.” On the Kindle especially, there’s what I call “Powerpoint overcrowding” where too many words are stuffed into a small space. Combined with a black and white screen which makes some colored sections muddy, it causes a lot of squinting. A number of the characters get short shrift due to so many needing to get space, and characterization is thin on the ground in any case. Too-large portions of the story are taken up by “as you know, Bob” sequences where the heroes tell each other things they’re already aware of during their down time as a way of cluing in the readers. Recommended primarily to young business majors looking for a slightly more fun way of absorbing the material, and gamers who can mine the book for character ideas. ...more |
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1
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Oct 19, 2018
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Oct 20, 2018
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Oct 11, 2018
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1626344639
| 9781626344631
| B07GG8GKSG
| 4.11
| 18
| unknown
| Oct 16, 2018
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate this review. No other compensation was offered or requested.
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Mr. Carona is the founder of Associa, a community management company. They work with homeowners’ associations, gated communities, highrise complexes and such places to provide maintenance, security and other amenities to those living in those spaces. If you’re like me and have never lived in one of those places, you’ve likely never heard of Associa, even though they’re one of the largest companies in the business. The community management business presents some interesting challenges when it comes to customer service. According to this book, the board of directors of the community (or equivalent organization) are the actual customers in that they’re the ones who agree to Associa’s contract and pay the company directly. But the people living in the communities are the ones that Associa has to please, and sometimes the contract prevents an easy solution because that would be against the community rules. In this second book on what he’s learned running Associa, Mr. Carona delves into what’s worked for his company in the area of customer service. He states that it starts with good internal “customer service”, hiring the right people, getting them properly trained, and creating a culture that values the employees so that they want to spread the goodwill to those outside. Then he deals with external customer service, including that delicate balance between the customer’s desires and the client’s needs. A fast, accurate response is prized, and failure should lead to learning and improvement. Mr. Carona also spends some time looking forward to the potential future of Associa, and what it will need to do to keep up with changing technology and culture. While the emphasis is on what’s worked for Associa with relatively little comparison to other companies or fields of industry, each chapter comes with an inspirational quote and questions designed to let the reader decide for themselves how to apply the lessons in their own company. The majority of this book is aimed at the executive and strategic levels, and has relatively little to offer the actual customer service worker in their day to day work. It’s also jargon-heavy, and uses a lot of corporate-speak, which can be a challenge to get through. There’s a comprehensive index, which will be a great help to readers. Overall, most recommended to upper-level managers who are in charge of setting up the customer service strategy for your company. ...more |
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1
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not set
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Nov 07, 2018
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Oct 11, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| B073PHQ6MM
| 4.78
| 9
| unknown
| Jul 01, 2017
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was offered or re
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. “Don’t lie.” “Honesty is the best policy.” “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” That’s what we tell our children. But then we hedge. “Sometimes it’s best just not to say anything.” “A white lie won’t hurt.” “It’s okay to lie to Nazis to protect people.” This is the first in a series of children’s books about ethical subjects, designed to teach them how to think about dilemmas that might come up in their lives and understand how to make the best choices. The book is aimed at children roughly kindergarten to third-grade level, and is best used in conjunction with a parent or other trusted adult who can help talk the child through the situation. As the introduction for adults notes, small children generally do not yet have the life tools to fully understand such concepts as probability analysis, cost/benefit ratio, or hidden consequences. Thus they will often misjudge when it is appropriate to lie or tell the truth. The introduction for children is a bit wordy, at about a fifth-grade reading level. The body of the book is a series of vignettes about Chloe and her friends as they decide not to tell the truth. For example, Jay decides to tell Chloe a lie as a joke. Then justifications for two different views of the situation are presented, and the child must choose one. (Because this is for small children, the choices are kept binary.) The final scenario, “Lying to Strangers” will need special finesse on the part of the adult helper, as it is Chloe’s truth-telling, not her earlier lie, that causes bad consequences. There is an answer key at the back where Mr. Maymin gives his own opinions, but your mileage may vary. Finally, there’s the short story that lends itself to the title of the book. It’s a fairy tale about a lie destroying a marriage. The story is dull and didactic, and honestly not very good. If you’re reading this book to your child, you might want to skip it. The illustrations are adequate. The idea of this book is solid, and it may be of use to parents who do not already have another book on hand that teaches their preferred values about truth and lying. ...more |
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not set
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not set
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Jul 29, 2018
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| B078P9TX6G
| 4.16
| 360
| unknown
| Dec 28, 2017
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Newsweek says that FBI agent James Strait is an American hero. He saved Colorado Springs from being blanketed with nerve gas by doomsday cultists, after all. But Agent Strait isn’t so sure. His original plan included no room for heroics. But then a fellow agent deliberately disobeyed orders and alerted the cultists to the presence of the FBI. There was little choice but to go in shooting. Now Strait has a dead girlfriend, an inner ear condition that’s threatening to make him permanently disabled, and blood on his hands. To add insult to injury, the agent that screwed up the operation got a fat promotion. Time for a little rest and recuperation! And that’s why Agent Strait is returning to his home town of Pine River, Arizona. It’s been a long time since Strait’s police officer father died and he and his siblings abandoned their birthplace. Law enforcement has gone right down the toilet, and the new police chief is both incompetent and racist, having hired only officers that also match those traits. As a result, the investigation into the disappearance of 9-year-old black girl Jophia Williams has been stalled for months. The chief is certain her own father killed her, but hasn’t been able to break the man’s alibi. The citizens of Pine River have had enough, and since there’s a heroic FBI agent who’s not doing anything right now, they ask Strait to look into the matter. Strait correctly points out 1) this is not a federal case; 2) his actual FBI status is kind of in limbo due to the disability thing; and 3) the police chief flipped out at the merest suggestion he could use some help so cooperation with the local law enforcement is out. But he’s talked into at least taking a look around. Sure enough, Strait almost immediately finds evidence the police missed, and is drawn into the case with some help from his one friend who still works for the feds. It turns out to be a federal case after all! I am most reminded of the trashy men’s adventure paperbacks of my youth with the hypercompetent hero, ripped-from-the-headlines concerns (this story very much takes place during the Trump presidency), and bouts of over the top violence. Strait has a lot of manpain, and his disability does little to slow him down as it just so happens Pine River has the one doctor who’s an expert at treating this rare condition. The rip-roaring adventure part and violence are done well. It is however painfully clear that this is a first book, self-published, and could have used another editorial pass. This is most evident in some dialogue involving place names and directions that don’t make much sense in Arizona, but would if an earlier draft of the book were set in Appalachia and these bits weren’t fully updated. There’s also a howler involving “FBI dress uniforms” that calls into question the writer’s research on any other topic. The characterization also has problems with piling on negative traits onto baddies; it’s not enough the police chief is racist and incompetent, he must also be morbidly obese and have a hair-trigger temper. There was a grand total of one character with any nuance. After the “mystery” part of the plot is more or less solved, the viewpoint switches to Jophia for a while so we can learn about the motive behind her disappearance. She’s a likable character, but the motive for her abduction is kind of silly. Content issues: Racism (boy howdy, but always depicted as repugnant), child endangerment, rough language, extramarital sex (not graphic.) There’s a supporting character that’s a cross between the Magical Native American and Mad Prophet stereotypes. Recommended for fans of trashy men’s adventure who are willing to overlook some rookie mistakes. ...more |
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1
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Oct 2018
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Oct 06, 2018
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Jul 29, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 1434712133
| 9781434712134
| 1434712133
| 4.00
| 99
| unknown
| Aug 01, 2018
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate the writing of this review. No other compensation was offered or
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate the writing of this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. One of the things about living in a “culturally Christian” nation like the United States is that a majority of people will use sayings derived from Christian sources without thinking very hard about what they originally meant. This includes actual Christian believers. Many times, we assign meanings and never consider other interpretations. Thus this book by Pastor Newton, looking at some of those familiar phrases once again to find new perspectives. It’s part of his “Fresh Eyes” series that also considers different ways of looking at parables and miracles. The volume is divided into chapters by saying, with a main section talking about the meaning and what new perspectives can be found on it, “20/20 Focus” with some discussion questions to make the readers think, a short prayer, and “Vision Check”–suggesting in a more metatextual way a passage can be looked at differently and assigning an exercise. This then leads to the author’s website for more thoughts. It’s a good format for this sort of book. The chapter I found most interesting was the one on “faith moving mountains.” Like many folks, I’ve struggled with the apparent ineffectiveness of prayer in many instances, especially when prayer is the only thing you can do. The author distinguishes between “trust in God”, which is a human capability (and necessary to get any value out of reading Scripture or prayer) and “faith”, which is a gift from God granted in accordance with His will (and thus if your prayer isn’t spontaneously curing cancer, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re praying wrong.) Pastor Newton scatters stories of how his prayers were answered throughout the text; some might say he’s selectively remembering having especially strong feelings of God’s presence in cases where prayer was successful. Concerningly, there’s a #metoo story where the author remained silent about what happened–but not to worry, because years later the perpetrator came to Jesus, in part inspired by the author’s silence on the matter. Less good from a reader’s perspective is that three pages in the front are taken up with favorable quotes from other reviews. I’ve already got the book, why do I need more advertisement? It seems especially out of place in a religious book. (And one of the featured chapters is about Jesus’ anger at the commercialization of the Temple!) With that, a long acknowledgements section which is also an autobiography, an overview of the “Fresh Eyes” series and an introduction to the book proper, we’re 10% into the book before we get to the actual meat. There’s an endnotes section (unlike some other authors, Pastor Newton does proper citations of things other than Scripture) and a bonus chapter from the Parables book. Worth looking into if you want to consider other perspective on what the Bible has to tell us. Likely to be of very little use to non-believers. ...more |
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1
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Aug 21, 2018
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Aug 25, 2018
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Jul 21, 2018
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1608322270
| 9781608322275
| B0052UWTX4
| 3.91
| 625
| May 25, 2011
| May 25, 2011
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was offered or re
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Following the events of the previous book, In the Belly of Jonah, mine operator Liv Bergen is mostly healed up, but taking the last bit of her recuperation in her family’s hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota. As it happens, this visit coincides with the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Liz witnesses a ritual performed by the Lucifer’s Lot outlaw motorcycle gang that ends up with someone dead. And that’s not the only corpse around. The girlfriend of Liz’s brother Jens turns up with her head bashed in not too far from where Lucifer’s Lot are camped. The leader of the gang, Mully, is the top suspect (and the one the FBI favors) but it could also be Jens, or the woman’s creepily obsessed boss, or her missing little sister Char, or…someone else. Special Agent Streeter Pierce is called in to investigate on the tenuous thread that this may be connected to a serial killer case he worked on years before. He and Liv have met before, though she doesn’t remember it, and since she’s also snooping around, the case soon gets complicated. The corpses start piling up! Good: The author has worked in the mining industry in South Dakota and does a good job of conveying the contrast between the hot leather party of the motorcycle rally and the open countryside around that small town. The story manages to have quite a few twists without getting confusing. Not so good: There’s some clunky bits of “as you know, Bob” exposition as two FBI officers who are already aware of the nature of outlaw motorcycle gangs brief each other on the subject. Also, there’s quite a bit of fat-shaming. One of the minor characters is made cartoonishly loathsome so that Streeter can look cooler. Content: There’s oral sex early on, and the solution to the mystery involves backstory that may be triggery for some readers. Recommended to mystery fans who can stomach the content and have an interest in South Dakota-set stories. Not so recommended to motorcycle enthusiasts, who are in this book mostly to be gawked at. ...more |
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1
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Jun 24, 2018
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Jul 06, 2018
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Jun 09, 2018
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 0992462975
| 9780992462970
| B077XKDGK9
| 3.67
| 90
| Jan 17, 2018
| Jan 20, 2018
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate this review. No other compensation was requested or offered.
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. Fifty years ago, the Born-Again Patriots party was a rising independent political party with a platform of libertarianism and isolationism. About the same time, Breck Ammunition was the fastest-growing firearms company in America. Al Breck didn’t like having to compete with foreign gun manufacturers, nor the cumbersome regulations his company had to deal with. So he became the BAP’s biggest supporter. Now the Born-Again Patriots have succeeded in abolishing all political offices above mayor (though mayors still work together in unofficial groups) and privatizing the functions that used to be handled by big government. Also, they’ve made huge concessions to Breck Ammunition, which now has a practical monopoly on the manufacture of firearms in what used to be the United States. No longer do you have to have pesky licenses, or waiting periods, or limits on the amount of submachine guns you can purchase. One of the side effects in Liberty, Arizona (which used to have a different name before the BAPs took over) is a sharp rise in shooting-related deaths and injuries. Nobody could have seen that coming. In the most recent incident, a young woman was gut-shot by a man she’d rejected for a date. Which is sad, but because her family isn’t rich enough to pay for private security protection, nothing can be done. Until, that is, the mysterious drifter known as the Wanderer calls the boy out during a church service, and the two go outside to shoot it out. This is the last straw for Sheriff (technically) Ben Martin, who is understandably frustrated by his inability to enforce the law, but feels that vigilantes are not the answer. He develops a personal grudge against the Wanderer. This incident also arouses the interest of Rosa Veres, a blogger who wants to use her site, The New West, to bring attention to the news that the official media, owned by Breck Ammunition, suppresses. In her day job as a reporter for Our Times newspaper, Rosa is invited to a demonstration of Breck Ammo’s latest product. Her reportage of the incident is a mite too honest, and now she’s a target. It will take both the Wanderer and his new partner, Kid Hunter (a hitman with a heart) to keep Rosa alive and bring down Breck CEO Gerard Breck. But the Wanderer has his own dark secrets that may destroy him. This dystopian Western touches on some current political issues while still managing to do a decent job of being a Western. If the setup seems implausible, that’s perfectly normal for the dystopian genre. (The inconsistent technology seems to be a byproduct of isolationism screwing with innovation, but a lot of the effects you would logically have by cutting America off from the rest of the world aren’t addressed.) I found the characters mostly interesting, though Gerard Breck veers into the cartoonishly evil at times. (And another villain’s motivation is kind of ludicrous.) The least developed characters were the Red Stripes gang, a white supremacist motorcycle gang that’s taken over several towns in the Southwest since the state police no longer exist. Like many B Westerns, this book doesn’t seem to know how sheriffs work, and the fact that it took as long as it did for the residents of Liberty to think of creating a militia seems dubious. There’s also some blurring of the point as gun violence is both the cause of most of the problems and the solution to them. That said, there are a number of good action scenes, and the setting is interesting enough that a sequel with mostly new characters would be welcome. Mildly recommended for those who are fans of both Westerns and dystopias. ...more |
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1
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Jun 17, 2018
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Jun 23, 2018
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May 27, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 3.58
| 1,286
| Feb 24, 2017
| Feb 24, 2017
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. When philosophy professor and cad Wolfgang “Wolf” Schumtzig is found dead in his office bathroom of an apparent heroin overdose, it causes difficulties for several people, two of whom are our protagonists. Jessica James is a graduate student whose thesis adviser he was, and she desperately needs that doctorate if she’s to escape her background as Montana trailer trash. Too bad she can’t tell the police everything she knows, as Jessica is already up to her neck in illegal activity! Meanwhile, janitor Dmitry Durchenko is in hiding from the Russian mob. Well, kind of. The Russian mob knows who and where he is, and have known for ages; they just haven’t gotten around to telling the one head mobster who would really care. For reasons. Dmitry inadvertently shared some secrets with the murdered professor, and needs to get those secrets back before he winds up dead himself. Mostly apart, but sometimes together (as Jessica’s best friend is Dmitry’s highly competent daughter Lolita) the two must navigate a complicated stew of poker, missing paintings, drug dealers, office politics, gangsters and academic misbehavior to come out alive. The good: The author has shoveled in all the things she likes, plus some extra research, and there is always something going on, plus some extra plot twists to keep the story moving. The less good: This is a first novel, and it shows. From the protagonist who shares far too much of the author’s background and interests, through some badly managed twists that come out of nowhere, to heavy-handed treatment of campus rape (attempted only on page), there are many signs that this book needed a firmer editor. The murderer was blindingly obvious from about the quarter mark on, and Jessica’s blatant inability to add two and two to make four until a few pages before the end of the story was endlessly frustrating. I get that the idea was to make her a lovable underdog, but Jessica’s constant pratfalls and unwise consumption of drugs and alcohol did little to endear her to me. Dmitry comes off a bit better, despite the author’s insistence on shoving in gratuitous Russian words; he’s got reasons to be morally complex. His cousin Vanya is a despicable little man, but becomes more bearable as the story carries on. Lolita, on the other hand, is a smug little viper who the reader is clearly supposed to like, but comes off as one disfiguring accident away from being a comic book villain. Most of the college students come across as not the sort of people I would have wanted to hang out with back in the day; heavy on the party and self-centeredness. There’s mean-spirited jabs at fat people, and the one visible non-white character is described as having “cocoa skin.” This is the first of a series of Jessica James mysteries; I can only hope the author improves quickly. Recommended to college students who need a quick read on airplanes or buses. ...more |
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Apr 22, 2018
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Apr 24, 2018
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Apr 11, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| B00TJ7T04W
| 3.65
| 142
| May 01, 2015
| May 10, 2015
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a Kindle download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate this review. No other renumeration was offered or req
Disclaimer: I received a Kindle download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway to facilitate this review. No other renumeration was offered or requested. Many readers of this blog will be familiar with “gamebooks” which have multiple paths through the story based on the decisions you make. The most famous of these are the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series from the 1980s, but there have been multiple variations over the years. This is a modern version designed to work with the e-book hypertext format, and part of the “Click Your Poison” series. In this case, “you” are the subject of a mad scientist’s experiment in granting humans awesome superpowers. The story is told in second person; after one brief dead-end path, the plot can follow one of three major lines depending on which power you got, labeled after the Rock-Paper-Scissors game. There are six “golden” endings, two for each power depending on whether you use it for good or evil, multiple lethal endings, and a handful of “well, that was a thing that happened” endings. Hypertext works well for a gamebook, allowing you to click directly to the consequences of your choice without having to check the page numbers. However, the entries don’t have a way to instantly flip back if you’ve made a bad choice, and fat fingers or a nervous twitch can get you lost on the wrong page. I recommend writing down the titles of the entries as you go. Those titles range from quite clever wordplay and references through utilitarian to dreadful puns. They’re conveniently listed in alphabetical order at the end of the book. The author tries to avoid specifying the gender/race/age of “you” but some of the passages clearly make more sense if the character is an adult white man. This means that “romance” is off the table except for one very odd mini-chapter, and some male-gazish description of a female reporter. Your (and several other characters’) morality is also quite variable, often switching instantly between good and evil according to the option you just picked. This is not a book for children; there’s some harsh language, and even the “good guy” routes involve some murder. High schoolers on up shouldn’t have much trouble dealing with the issues presented. I derived several hours’ enjoyment from methodically mapping out the various routes and finding hidden surprises (one is a bonus for folks who have read previous volumes in the series.) Looking at other reviews now, I see that this book is not a good choice for people who are easily frustrated–so many people gave up after their first two or three bad endings! If you enjoyed gamebooks as a kid, this is a decent enough entry in the field, but not as good as Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North. ...more |
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1
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May 06, 2018
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May 13, 2018
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Apr 07, 2018
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B016IPM7AQ
| 4.07
| 514
| Nov 22, 2015
| Nov 22, 2015
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it was ok
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was offered or reque
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Ronnie Saar knew venture capital was a cutthroat business when he agreed to become a partner in one of the top firms. He just never expected that to be literal! The Israeli businessman is put in charge of safely delivering a pharmaceutical startup through the final phases of its funding as their product undergoes drug trials. His job becomes much harder when the president of the firm commits suicide (or does he?) and two patients dosed with the new drug die on surgical tables. The company’s value to investors is plummeting, and Ronnie is getting pressure from all sides to make a quick sales deal. His pride as a financial professional is on the line–and it’s distracting him from whatever is wrong with his fiancee Liah at a critical point in their relationship. Ronnie should be able to trust his old friend Gadi, a security specialist, but Gadi’s been acting strangely too…. This is the first book in a planned series, and I believe the first published novel by this author. Mr. Domoshevizki is according to his bio an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and both the financial workings and details of drug trials ring true. There’s a couple of footnotes to explain details. There are, however, a number of problems with the book that seem typical of first novels. The first is that Ronnie is very much an exaggerated and more successful version of the author. He’s already a multi-millionaire at the opening of the story, having gotten a golden parachute from the buyout of his own start-up company. It’s not clear why he feels the need to join a venture capital firm; his stated reason would be a motive for keeping the job once it turned sour, but not for taking the job in the first place. Much is made of Ronnie’s previous service in Israeli covert ops, but it comes to nothing. More relevant is his flashback to making friends with Gabi, though Ronnie comes off a little too good to be true in his retelling, and I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be deliberate. The dialogue is often clunky, and the author relies more on tell than show. One grating moment has the narration tell us that the reason a character uses another character’s name when addressing him was to make the sentence sound more personal. Speaking of names, the narration stubbornly refuses to give a major character one, resulting in clumsy workarounds. And eventually we learn there was never a reason the name had to be hidden from the reader to begin with. Liah’s subplot feels contrived and inserted to amp up the drama rather than organic to the story, resolving mainly off-stage. (Content warning: discussion of abuse.) There are also perhaps too many red herrings–Ronnie’s partners at the venture capital firm are acting shady from day one, well before any of the action starts. And there’s an encounter with a sinister-seeming fellow whose name raises Ronnie’s suspicions, but then vanishes from the story altogether. All that said, there’s the germ of a good book here. The overall plot is nicely complex, several scenes are genuinely suspenseful, and Gadi is the best of the characters, competent and roguish. A competent editor could have improved this book immensely. If the author steps up his dialogue game and tightens his prose, his next potboiler could be much better. ...more |
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3
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Mar 17, 2018
Feb 25, 2018
not set
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Mar 18, 2018
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Feb 18, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 4.25
| 1,550
| Aug 25, 2016
| Aug 15, 2016
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review. No other compensation was requested or offered. There’s big doings down to Coburn’s Country Store. The new owner, Della Kincaid, used to be a big-city reporter in Washington, D.C. She’s fixed the place up nice, settling into life in this rural North Carolina community, and taken a sisterly interest in Abit, the learning-challenged boy who lives next door. She enjoys walks in the mountain forest with her dog Jake–or at least she did until she found a dead woman’s body. No one knows who the woman is or how she got there, or who the man Della saw running from the scene is, but the sheriff is quick to rule the case a suicide. Della isn’t convinced, and starts snooping with the aid and/or obstruction of her quirky neighbors. This is the first in a series of “Appalachian Mountain Mysteries” set in the 1980s, and featuring characters loosely based on the people the author met when she lived in North Carolina. (A sequel was published last month.) Most of the chapters are narrated by Della, but there are also chapters from the viewpoint of Abit (birth name Vester), a teenager who has a learning disability his family isn’t fully understanding of. He’s large for his age, and sometimes his words come out wrong, so his father took him out of school. As a result, Abit spends most of his time hanging out on the porch of Coburn’s, observing. This habit comes in handy when there’s a murder to solve! (He also writes with a bit of dialect.) The sheriff is intellectually lazy and impatient, so jumps to conclusions, and has a grudge against Della (his family owns a competing store) so doesn’t listen to any of her theories or evidence. In fairness, we later learn that the townsfolk have not bothered telling the sheriff important details about the case because they don’t like him. There’s a more sympathetic law enforcement officer, but he doesn’t have jurisdiction, and then becomes a suspect when certain information about his past surfaces. Another important character is Della’s ex-husband Alex, also a reporter, but disgraced due to apparent plagarism and his drinking problem. He helps with the investigation, not least because he has access to the Lexis-Nexis database, big back in the 1980s. The resolution to the case is mostly offstage, though savvy readers should be able to spot the culprit earlier. Like a fair number of “cozy” mysteries, the book spends a lot of time detailing the delicious meals the characters are enjoying. I was a bit disappointed that there were no recipes in the back. The characters are likable enough, but the book never really gripped me. Recommended to cozy mystery fans interested in the Appalachians atmosphere. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Mar 22, 2018
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Mar 28, 2018
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Feb 18, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 1619865734
| 9781619865730
| B078SNNV86
| 3.95
| 324
| unknown
| Apr 10, 2018
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liked it
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Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered
Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review. No other compensation was offered or requested. Back before he became involved with…you know, L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific author of stories for pulp magazines, including some for the science fiction category. In the 1980s, he decided to give back to the field (and self-promote) by creating a contest to find exciting new writers in science fiction, fantasy and horror. Thus, the Writers of the Future competition. Each quarter, three submissions from hundreds win the chance to be featured in an annual compilation volume. In addition, a set of Illustrators of the Future compete to be able to present a picture based on one of the stories. This is the 34th such volume, which is frankly amazing. The introduction goes over some of the selection process, including that since these volumes may be appearing in school libraries, excessive violence, explicit sex scenes and rough language will usually knock a story out of consideration. (Some of these stories come very close to the line.) Next, there’s a description of how the Illustrators of the Future contest works. The stories themselves open with “Turnabout” by Erik Bundy, about a traveler who discovers that he is owed one wish by a djinn. He realizes she is under no obligation not to twist his wish, but what if he can grant her a twisted version of the djinn’s own desire? Note: there’s an ethnic slur used, but I think the author is well-meaning. The final story is “All Light and Darkness” by Ami Henri Gillett. An AWOL super-soldier attempts to blend in with a stream of refugees, but finds himself getting too involved with two of them, young siblings. At the same time, he struggles with his own abandonment issues. There’s some musings on what makes a person human. In between are a number of other stories, and essays on writing and art from past and current contest judges. (Mr. Hubbard may have left this mortal coil, but he is very much a presence here.) Standouts include “The Minarets of An-Zabat” by Jeremy TeGrotenhuis, about a junior bureaucrat in an empire that absorbs all magical schools into its own or destroys those it cannot tame. He becomes fascinated by the wind-calling natives who are the last major holdouts against the Empire’s hegemony. Also “Mara’s Shadow” by Darci Stone, an effective blend of horror and science fiction. In the near future, a Vietnamese researcher happens to be called in to the first known case of a human being eaten from the inside out by moth larvae. We follow her story as this becomes a worldwide pandemic, with flashbacks to how this all got started about a century before. Content warning: there are multiple suicides in this story. My black and white Kindle does make most of the illustrations less effective, which is a particular shame for Jazmen Richardson’s illustration of N.R.M. Roshak’s “A Bitter Thing.” This tale of a young human’s relationship with a color-shifting alien relies very heavily on colors as a central theme, and the resulting picture doesn’t work in monochrome. The one exception is Ven Locklear’s illustration for “Death Flyer” by L. Ron Hubbard. This chiller about a ghost train lends itself to an evocative picture that works just fine in grayscale. The cover story reverses the process, with Jody Lynn Nye writing “Illusion” to match Ciruelo’s painting Dragon Caller. A court wizard is in fact just an illusionist, but when his country is invaded, he must come up with a plan to defend it against very real enemies. It’s a clever story. Overall, this is a decent enough collection of stories by writers you probably haven’t heard of before (plus Hubbard and a lesser piece by Brandon Sanderson) but at least some of whom you’re likely to hear of in the near future. Check it and previous volumes out at your library! ...more |
Notes are private!
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Mar 20, 2018
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Feb 18, 2018
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| 4.50
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really liked it
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Apr 16, 2024
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Feb 26, 2024
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| 3.90
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really liked it
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Apr 04, 2024
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Feb 01, 2024
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| 4.25
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really liked it
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Sep 18, 2023
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Aug 12, 2023
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| 3.52
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liked it
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Jan 25, 2021
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Dec 07, 2020
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| 3.98
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really liked it
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Feb 23, 2020
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Nov 14, 2019
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| 4.02
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really liked it
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Oct 26, 2019
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Aug 15, 2019
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| 4.13
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really liked it
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Jul 14, 2019
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Jun 11, 2019
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| 3.58
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liked it
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Feb 27, 2019
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Jan 17, 2019
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| 3.88
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liked it
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Oct 20, 2018
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Oct 11, 2018
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| 4.11
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liked it
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Nov 07, 2018
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Oct 11, 2018
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| 4.78
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liked it
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not set
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Jul 29, 2018
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| 4.16
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liked it
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Oct 06, 2018
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Jul 29, 2018
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| 4.00
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liked it
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Aug 25, 2018
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Jul 21, 2018
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| 3.91
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liked it
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Jul 06, 2018
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Jun 09, 2018
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| 3.67
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liked it
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Jun 23, 2018
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May 27, 2018
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| 3.58
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liked it
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Apr 24, 2018
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Apr 11, 2018
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| 3.65
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liked it
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May 13, 2018
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Apr 07, 2018
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| 4.07
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it was ok
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Mar 18, 2018
Mar 14, 2018
not set
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Feb 18, 2018
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| 4.25
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liked it
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Mar 28, 2018
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Feb 18, 2018
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| 3.95
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liked it
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Mar 20, 2018
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Feb 18, 2018
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