Joyce White Reviews Prize-Winning Poet

Song of the Wayward Wind… and Other Poems
By Margaret Havill “Mandi” Reid
128 Pages
ISBN: 1-4116-2343-6
Buy new: $17.95
Also available for Kindle

Reviewed by Joyce White

Song of the Wayward Wind… and Other Poems  is a poetry book but if you look deeper, it is also an art book with beautiful womanly illustrations and verse straight from the soul of the author. In her poem, No Sinner, Margaret says, “I am no sinner, any more than you. We each of us, make do, as best we can/ To compensate for inequalities/ Bequeathed us from our genes, as any man…” ending with perhaps…The dye was cast unfairly from the first, That makes our best like someone else’s worst.” Who but a loving teacher would grade the best and worst “equal?”

In her poem, Could it Be then, God? - - we got it wrong? She leaves us with the question of whether we as sinners misread the Ten Commandments. “Had we as humans…misread the message encoded in your parable of Sin?”

In her poem, That Apple, she describes, “That apple thing. It just won’t wash, our time. For her one bite, we’re all cast into slime?” I get the feeling she was not talking about just Eve in the Garden of Eden; but about most of us women who are tempted to forsake our core values to stand equal among men. Margaret was highly motivated in equal rights for women.

In her poem, The Coming of Wisdom, a 13-year old girl is as eager as she is afraid of morphing into woman. The girl wonders, “Shall she romp on skates and swings or lean on the arms of kings?” I feel both were questioning why most of us girls are taught to lean on rather than support our men? In this day and age, so many of us women have to be strong to support our men who are unemployed or overseas at war.

In Ode to Wisdom, Margaret’ romanticizes about young maidens with enlightened souls from Time’s slow mill, Still speak through scrolls and books to waiting hearts; their inspiration breathes; their fires still blaze…Inscribed her songs of love. We hear them still. For where she walks, her music ne’er departs.”
In My Face Margaret festers about aging, “O Aphrodite, were you kind as fair, and turned a furrowed face upon the world and hailed all wrinkles signs of beauty rare and evidence of wisdom yet unfurled, What misty lovers now would crowd my face To find the fount of beauty, love and grace?”

One of my favorite paintings is Chagall’s, The Village, and Margaret pays homage to this painting in her Ekphrasis Poem, Chagal, “Come then Chagall and occupy our skies, Set merry fiddlers dancing on our roofs…As sea-green cows, it seems, somnambulate as easefully as images in dreams. Your skies, Chagall, bring magic to the mind to make us see where intellect is blind.” Check out Chagall’s painting at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_and_the_Village. An Ekphrasis poem is what I like to call…a conversation between two works of art, in this case her poem and the painting.

The title of this book and poem, Song of the Wayward Wind, was named Poem of the Year by the Central Coast Poetry Society in 1993 and is making a comeback with my favorite lines describing a darkened forest, “…You knew the time before my father’s time, and my father’s father keeping your peace, keeping our secrets, still.”

Margaret ends her 128 Page, 8-1/2x11 Poetry & Art Book, with Unexpected Gifts, “New ways of thinking unwrap, never then despair” This is absolutely gold for those who enjoy poetry and abstract art that is wonderfully illustrated by Margaret Havill “Mandi” Reid. Smooth and easy reading. FIVE STARS for Amazon.

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

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Jeff Maziarek Reviews Walking Through Illusion

Title: Walking Through Illusion
by Betsy Otter Thompson
http://www.betsythompson.com
Nonfiction: Spirituality

Originally reviewed by Jeff Maziarek for Amazon.

Five Star Review

Walking Thorough Illusion features a group of short stories about people in the Bible who had some association or awareness of Jesus. As a person who is not in any way drawn to conventional religion, I was at first skeptical regarding any value this book might bring to me. However, since it was recommended to me I decided to keep an open mind as I began reading it.

It took just a couple of chapters for me to get really drawn into this work. The author very creatively sets up each chapter (or story) as a fictional conversation between herself and Jesus about a particular topic, (e.g., obstacles, morality, approval, curiosity, death, time), but the content is by no means dogmatic in any way. I must admit I was very impressed the way in which the author was able to effectively distill the essence of the teachings of Jesus in a very practical, non-religious manner. In summary, I found this book to be very well-written, and both inventive and highly thought-provoking. I highly recommend it as a spiritual and personal growth resource. Here's one of my favorite passages from it:

"I believe that God is a power within - not a power that is only met upon death. If that's true, it simplifies things, don't you think? No more dialogues about whose God is valid and whose God is not since every soul is equally valid. No more wars in the name of God since God is you, me, and everyone. No more posturing that God told me to do this and God told me to say that since God isn't separate from the speaker. No more worries about taking the name of God in vain since you might as well be cursing yourself. No more religions claiming that they have the one true path, since every path that offers a person love is the path of true redemption. No more guilt for breaking God's rules since the rules we have are the ones we've given ourselves."

About the author:
Betsy Otter Thompson may be found at http://www.facebook.com/people/Betsy-Otter-Thompson/1026372698 and http://linkedin.com/pub/betsy-otter-thompson/23/549/a9b . She blogs at http://www.betsyotterthompson.blogspot.com and tweets at
http://www.twitter.com/betsyothompson.

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

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October NYRB Classics

By Bruce Duffy
Introduction by David Leavitt

Irreverently trespassing on the turf of history, biography, and philosophy, The World As I Found It re-imagines the lives of three very different men, the philosophers Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

At the center of the book is Wittgenstein, one of the most magnetic philosophers of our time: brilliant, tortured, mercurial, and forging his own solitary path. Playing in counterpoint are his two reluctant mentors: Bertrand Russell, past his philosophical prime yet eager to break new ground as a public intellectual, educational theorist, and sexual adventurer; and G. E. Moore, the great Cambridge don who was devoted to the pleasures of the table and pure thought, until, late in life, he discovered real fulfillment in marriage and fatherhood.

Bruce Duffy’s novel depicts times and places as various as Vienna 1900, the trenches of World War I, Bloomsbury, and the colleges of Cambridge, while the complicated main characters appear not only in thought and dispute but in love and despair.

“By turns wicked, melancholy, and rhapsodic, The World As I Found It is an astonishing performance, a kind of intellectual opera in which each abstraction gets its own artist.”
—John Leonard, Newsday

Read David Leavitt’s Introduction to The World As I Found It

Bruce Duffy will appear at Politics & Prose on Saturday, October 16th, at 7 pm. (see below)

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(30% off) By Millen Brand
Afterword by Peter Cameron

The Outward Room is a spare, deft novel that traces one woman’s path from mental illness to trust, recovery and love.

Harriet Demuth, having suffered a nervous breakdown after her brother’s accidental death, has been committed to a mental hospital. Convinced that only she and she alone can refashion her life, Harriet escapes from the hospital, hopping a train by night and riding the rails to New York City. It’s the 1930s, the midst of the Great Depression, and initially Harriet is lost among the city’s multitudes. She runs out of money and is living an increasingly hard existence when she meets John, a machine-shop worker. Slowly she begins to recover her sense of self and Harriet and John fall in love. The story of that love, told with the lyricism of Virginia Woolf and the realism of Theodore Dreiser, is at the heart of Millen Brand’s remarkable novel.

“As devoid of sentimentality as a blizzard, and yet a great love story—a real love story.” —Sinclair Lewis

Read Peter Cameron’s Afterword to The Outward Room
View the Reading Group Guide

Peter Cameron will discuss The Outward Room on Wednesday, October 27th at 7pm at Barnes & Noble, Upper East Side, NYC, and on Wednesday, November 3rd at BookCourt in Brooklyn. (see below)

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Boston Book Festival
Saturday, October 16th, 10 am – 6 pm
Copley Square

Stop by the NYRB table at the Boston Book Festival. A selection of titles will be on sale at discounted prices. For more information click here.

Bruce Duffy on The World As I Found It
Saturday, October 16th at 7 pm
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave. Washington, DC 20008
202-364-1919
For more information click here.

Peter Cameron on Millen Brand’s The Outward Room

Wednesday, October 27th at 7 pm
Barnes & Noble
150 Lexington Ave at 86th Street, NYC
212-369-2180
For more information click here.

Wednesday, November 3rd at 7 pm
BookCourt
163 Court Street (between Pacific and Dean), Brooklyn
718-875-3677

October 12, 2010 3:37 p.m.

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The Long Ships

We are delighted to announce that, though published just this month, Frans G. Bengtsson’s The Long Ships has already received two reviews. The San Francisco Chronicle and NPR.org both herald Bengtsson’s novel as a thrilling, intrigue-filled read perfect for the summer.

The Long Ships, originally published in Swedish in 1941, is an epic adventure set in the fantastic world of the tenth century AD. The NYRB Classics edition includes an introduction by long-time enthusiast Michael Chabon, who calls it “a novel with the potential to please every literate human being.”

Chabon is also the novel’s reviewer and recommender for The San Francisco Chronicle, where he champions The Long Ships as this summer’s most exciting read: “It’s thrilling, beautifully written, dry and witty and touching, a classic but little-known historical adventure novel by the Swedish novelist, just out in a handsome reprint from the New York Review of Books, though marred by a tiresome introduction by some windbag.”

Michael Schaub, writing for NPR.org, places The Long Ships at the top of his list of “Historical Fiction: The Ultimate Summer Getaway.” “If you want to be taken back to a time when, say, the ocean was full of Viking long ships instead of leaking oil,” he writes, “wait no more… Even readers with zero interest in the Europe of a millennium ago will want to keep turning the pages. All novels should be so lucky as to age this well.”

Schaub and Chabon agree that The Long Ships is a timelessly entertaining text—it is an escapist indulgence perfect for the summer months.

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July 13, 2010 11:23 a.m.

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Banned Books Week

September 25th marks the beginning of Banned Books Week. The observance began 28 years ago in response to the alarming number of books that are challenged each year by individuals and governments.

Since its inception, the week has served as a celebration of intellectual freedom and the importance of the First Amendment. NYRB Classics salutes Banned Books Week and the insuppressible power of the written word. Here are a few of the unforgettable authors we have brought back into print who have faced censorship in the United States and elsewhere:

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
Author of Memories of the Future
This book collects some of his finest stories that were banned in Russia.

Alberto Moravia
Author of Contempt and Boredom
Banned from publishing under Mussolini, and with many works on the Catholic Church’s index of censored books, he emerged after World War II as one of the most admired and influential twentieth-century Italian writers.

Edmund Wilson
Author of Memoirs of Hecate County
Attacked in court when originally published in 1946 and banned in New York state for several years, “The Memoirs of Hecate County” contains six related stories and novelettes, including the infamous “Princess with the Golden Hair.”

Vladimir Sorokin
Author of The Queue and Ice
His work was banned in the Soviet Union, and The Queue, was published by the famed emigre dissident Andrei Sinyavksy in France in 1983.

Andrey Platonov
Author of Soul and The Foundation Pit
The Soviet writer Andrey Platonov saw much of his work suppressed or censored in his lifetime.

Vasily Grossman
Author of Life and Fate, Everything Flows, and The Road
On its completion in 1960, Life and Fate was suppressed by the KGB. Twenty years later, the novel was smuggled out of the Soviet Union on microfilm.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores, and endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.

September 24, 2010 5:12 p.m.

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A Labor Day Trip with Georges Simenon

New York Review Books would like to wish you a Labor Day unlike Steve Hogan’s.
The protagonist of Georges Simenon’s dark psychological thriller Red Lights, Steve is one of the millions of Americans hitting the highway on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. He and his wife, Nancy, are traveling from New York City to Maine, where their children are at summer camp. But somewhere in the midst of the thick traffic and heavy drinking of the trip, Steve “goes into the tunnel”: a mental fugue characterized by pathological uncertainty, dangerous strangers, and the uncanny.

Red Lights, one of the prolific Simenon’s nearly two hundred novels, is remarkable for its flawless American flavor. It combines the distinctive ingredients of the romans durs—chilling clarity, a strange departure from normal life, and a moment of rapture that will ensure the plot’s downfall—with the sensory detail of the American public holiday.

Simenon’s thriller, heralded by New York Magazine as “a truly chilling road trip novel,” was also named by Men’s Journal as one of the “15 Best Thrillers Ever Written.” Red Lights is a gripping read with an extra shot of spine-chill this September 6; we dare you to read it.

For a limited time, NYRB Classics is offering Red Lights and all Simenon titles in the series for 25% off.

August 31, 2010 10:22 a.m.

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The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

We are especially pleased to announce the publication of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, selected by The Guardian as one of 1,000 novels you must read before you die. Take advantage of a limited 25% discount on this most recent NYRB Classic, and discover the elegant craft of Brian Moore’s debut novel that launched his distinguished literary career.

By Brian Moore
Afterword by Mary Gordon

Dreary minutes marked the days, but Miss Hearne put loneliness aside on Sunday morning. She was the definition of a city spinster, brought up in Belfast with no family save for an ailing aunt she spent her youth nursing, and barely any friends. She scraped by with an inherited annuity and the earnings from a few piano lessons, moving from boarding house to boarding house—always in what used to be the best parts of the city—and stitching herself further into the seams of a solitary life. But like a new key, Sunday offered threads of opportunity. It was a dependable day for communion (even if it was coerced), and a chance for her to make new impressions, to confess her secret vices and forgive her indiscretions, and above all, it was a new chance to believe that there was something more to passion than suffering, and that maybe, this time, love might finally find her.

The breakfast table at her new boarding house on Camden Street was where she met Mr. Madden. He was an American, or rather an Irishman who’d lived in America for quite some time. His reasons for return were not entirely unclear, although he was surely wealthy from working in the hotel business there. Perhaps he too was looking to open a new door, settle down, and start anew? There was something deeper to him—something darker, she knew the signs—but she would choose to put aside prejudice and wouldn’t pry, because time was ticking and unlike other men, he didn’t look away when Judith caught his eye.

A romance of any sort in a boarding house does not go unnoticed, and soon hushed whispers of disapproval are heard throughout the hallways, especially from the landlady, Mr. Madden’s sister. With her worldly passions threatened and her secret life possibly exposed, Judith turns to The Church that she could once rely on. What she finds instead is a cold confessional full of impassivity—one that fails to bring her any comfort, and which sends her faith further into crisis. She has no option but to repent. After all, penitence gives strength, and attrition leads to absolution. But tell that to a lonely soul, facing an eternity of dreary day after dreary day.

Made into an award winning movie starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins, Brian Moore’s compassionate portrait of a woman trapped by disillusionment and destroyed by self and circumstance has forever enshrined Judith Hearne in the gallery of literature’s unforgettable women.

A “very fine writer, also seriously neglected…I just don’t understand why he hasn’t yet won a wider audience. Every good writer I know admires his work. I’ve always thought Judith Hearne is a masterpiece.” —Richard Yates

“Brian Moore [wrote] a superb first novel; The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne reads as freshly, and as heart-breakingly, today as it did when it first appeared in 1955.” —John Banville

“The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is, to my notion, everything a novel should be.” —Harper Lee (New York Times, 1960)

View the reading group guide (pdf)

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Wish Her Safe At Home
By Stephen Benatar
Introduction by John Carey

An unexpected inheritance frees Rachel Waring from her dreary life. But will her newfound joie de vivre free her from her grasp on reality as well? Benatar’s brilliantly subjective storytelling keeps the reader guessing till the very end.

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The Slaves of Solitude
By Patrick Hamilton
Introduction by David Lodge

Recounting an epic battle of wills in the claustrophobic confines of a boarding house in World War II London, Patrick Hamilton’s novel, with its delightfully improbable heroine, is alternately bleak and hilarious. The Slaves of Solitude is a favorite of such writers as Sarah Waters and Nick Hornby.

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Cassandra at the Wedding
By Dorothy Baker
Afterword by Deborah Eisenberg

Dorothy Baker’s fascinating tragicomic novel follows an unpredictable course of events in which Cassandra appears variously as conniving, self-aware, pitiful, frenzied, absurd, and heartbroken—at once utterly impossible and surprisingly sympathetic.

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June 18, 2010 11:17 a.m.

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A Letter from the Editor

“The month of January. Night time. North wind blowing. The fire in the hearth was going out.” This is where Alexandros Papadiamantis’s The Murderess begins—in cramped, dark quarters on a dirtpoor island in the Aegean Sea. A man snores, a sleepless woman tosses and turns, a baby coughs and cries. It is a hundred years ago, but it could be anytime, and it goes on. Hadoula, a woman of sixty or so, an old witch her neighbors say, is trying to rock the baby, her granddaughter, to sleep, even as she gives way to “bitter wandering thoughts.” All her life Hadoula has shown herself to be a clever, industrious, tough woman, and yet now it strikes her:

She had never done anything except serve others. When she was a little girl she had served her parents. When she was mated, she became a slave to her husband, and at the same time, because of her strength and his weakness, she was his nurse. When she had children she became a slave to her children, and when they had children of their own, she was slave to her grandchildren.

Her life, or anywoman’s. Boys are frail and often die. Grown up, they go away to sea or America. Women are left behind looking after the helplessly young and the hopelessly old, struggling to scrape together dowries for daughters so that their daughters can enjoy the same life their mothers are sick of. Hadoula finds herself hoping against hope that her sickly granddaughter will die. And then she realizes that she can take fate into her own hands. “That was all,” the story goes.

Crime is freedom. Day breaks. Hadoula, unsuspected, leaves the house of mourning and goes to the mountains to pick herbs. She looks for a sign that God approves what she has done. Papadiamantis is as extraordinary a describer of the natural world, full of mingled welcome and menace, as he is of the toiling mind and heart:

The old woman climbed higher up to the steep top of the valley. Below her the river cut deep through the Acheilas ravine, and its stream filled all the deep valley with soft murmurs. In appearance it was motionless and lakelike, but in reality perpetually in motion under the tall and longtressed planes. Among mosses and bushes and ferns it prattled secretly, kissed the trunks of the trees, creeping like a serpent along the length of the valley, green-coloured from leafy reflections, kissing and biting at once at the rocks and the roots, a murmuring, limpid stream, full of little crabs which ran to hide in piles of sand, while a shepherd, letting the little lambs graze on the dewy greenery, came to lean down over the water, and pull out a stone to hunt them with.

Crime is freedom, but also compulsion. It is a new world that must be discovered again and again. Eventually, Hadoula’s own uneasy conscience leads her to flee her village and family. Two policemen (Papadiamantis always identifies them as the two policemen, as if they were interchangeable) pursue her. They are as clueless and bumbling as the Keystone Kops—Hadoula always evades them—and yet, stupid as they are, they are always still there, still on her trail. Hadoula flees to the mountain at the center of the island and she flees to the sea. She seeks open space, the opposite of the cramped, abysmal conditions that she has endured throughout her life, but then there is nowhere left for her to flee.

A feeling of inescapable confinement is central to this stark and startling short novel, even as the story is no less about the irrepressible desire to break free. After her initial crime, Hadoula can find no rest. She has left behind the life she was born to only to find that she is haunted by herself. She has discovered herself as a crime seeking solution, or, more traditionally, a sinner salvation.

This restlessness and searchingness is captured in the very language of Papadiamantis’s book, which mixes registers that are often kept apart: the sacred and the secular, the profane and the profound, the cruel and the comic. It is a wild book. Papadiamantis, who lived from 1851 to 1911 and is commonly described as the founder of modern Greek fiction, is notoriously hard to translate. The translator, the late Peter Levi, a fine poet who served as the Oxford Professor of Poetry, discusses the difficulties and how he dealt with them in his introduction to The Murderess. What he came up with here—with a little help, he acknowledges, from John Berger—is beautiful and strange and a real work in English. Listen, for example, to the liquid tones and artful repetitions in the river passage quoted above.

What kind of book is this? A murder story, obviously, and a story of flight and pursuit. It is also a story of self-discovery and self-abandonment. It is certainly a story that holds the reader’s attention through and through. Readers may be reminded of Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, of The Mayor of Casterbridge or Camus’s The Stranger. Above all, it’s a book that hails from the borderlands. Papadiamantis wrote it at a time and in a place that lacked immediate models for such an endeavor. The novel was a novelty. He had read the new French realists and longtime popular fixtures like Dumas and Walter Scott. At the same time, he had studied to be a priest and was steeped in the old Greek liturgy. From these unlikely elements, he had to fashion not just a story but a new language and a whole genre. It’s that, I think, that gives this work its uncanny power, the power of first discovery. Encountering this book, about a woman’s desperate effort to defeat the inevitability of fate, we feel the force of Papadiamantis’s own primal encounter with the possibilities of fiction.

A last word. Long ago, Ben Sonnenberg published a fine piece about Papadiamantis by Maria Margaronis in his magnificent quarterly Grand Street. It was a rare notice of this great writer in English, and I remember feeling that I must read him. So much began with Ben, who, though confined for many years to a wheelchair, possessed a sensibility and intellect of marvelous reach and agility. He died in June. He was a great supporter of New York Review Books and a dear friend. To his suggestion, NYRB Classics owes Tibor Dery’s Niki and a series of new translations from great Spanish authors that we will publish in years to come. To our Children’s Collection, he contributed The Bear That Wasn’t and The Sorely Trying Day. He is greatly missed. Who will tell us what to do next now?

Edwin Frank, Editor
NYRB Classics

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August 3, 2010 11:32 a.m.

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The Jokers

“The day promised to be exceptionally torrid.”

So Albert Cossery begins his novel, The Jokers, a tale that, from its opening sentence, is packed with charged wit and barbed satire. The Jokers, an NYRB Classics Original appearing in its first English translation, has been making headlines since its July publication.

The San Francisco Chronicle includes The Jokers on its list of July “Grabbers”: new books with gripping first sentences. And Benjamin Moser, in the August edition of Harper’s Magazine, writes a resounding description of the novel:

“We’re in a country much like Cossery’s native Egypt, which he left in 1931 to spend most of the rest of his life in a Parisian hotel. There, at a rate of one novel per decade (one sentence per week, he claimed), he composed a body of work whose primary theme is the relation of power to powerlessness.

The Jokers describes how a motley group of fainéants conspire to bring down an odious governor by printing and distributing posters that praise him so extravagantly that even the police, whose job it is to ensure oleaginous devotion to their boss, grow concerned…As the conspirators begin to score successes against the governor, who is increasingly enchanted by his own propaganda, Cossery introduces a Dostoevskyan figure, Taher, whose former friend Karim, the author of the seditiously ass-kicking poster, was once, like Taher, a hardened revolutionary. Now Karim dedicates himself to political tomfoolery and leisurely dalliances with prostitutes; Taher is outraged that the police think he and his comrades would have anything to do with such frivolity. ‘They make us look ridiculous to the police. And I don’t like that. We’re not pranksters!’”

The “grabbing” satirical edge of Cossery’s novel invites mayhem, laughter, and reflection—it promises, in other words, to be an exceptionally torrid read.

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August 16, 2010 5 p.m.

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My Dog Tulip

My Dog Tulip, J.R. Ackerley’s wickedly hilarious ode to his beloved (and uncouth) German Shepherd, was the first title to be published in the NYRB Classics series. Now, eleven years later, we are delighted to announce the release of a new animated feature film based on Ackerley’s memoir.

Written, directed, and animated by award-winning filmmakers Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, My Dog Tulip will premiere on September 1, 2010 at Film Forum in New York City, followed by a national release in Philadelphia, Boston, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC, and Denver. My Dog Tulip features the voices of Christopher Plummer, the late Lynn Redgrave, and Isabella Rossellini.

The Fierlingers’ film is a delicious retelling of Ackerley’s familiar story, which Christopher Isherwood described as “one of the greatest masterpieces of animal literature.”

In celebration of the film’s release, NYRB Classics has reissued My Dog Tulip with a new cover image featuring the animated couple.

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August 24, 2010 12:30 p.m.

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Books to be Reviewed: The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth by John Mellor

Thanks to John Mellor for sending me a copy of his book, The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth, for reviewing. This is a story of a boy, charged by an Angel, to deliver seven gifts to earth, but first he must discover what they are.

"Seven precious gifts are bestowed on the Earth but not revealed. A young boy is charged with finding them."

"The singer emerged and his music raged across the land, a wild, swirling cloud of chords, laying waste like locusts to all that was soulless before it."

"I come not to bring peace, he said."

A review will soon follow here, until then readers can order a copy on John's website; The Seven Gifts.

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Books to be Reviewed: The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

Thanks again to Julia Pidduck for sending me a copy of The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi for reviewing. This book documents the true story of Italy's very own "Jack The Ripper"; a serial killer who has gone unpunished despite over 20 years of police work.

"Douglas Preston fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved with his family to a villa in Florence. Upon meeting celebrated journalist Mario Spezi, Preston was stunned to learn that the olive grove next to his home had been the scene of a horrific double murder committed by one of the most infamous figures in Italian history. A serial killer who ritually murdered fourteen young lovers, he has never been caught. He is known as the Monster of Florence.

Fascinated by the tale, Preston began to work with Spezi on the case. Here is the true story of their search to uncover and confront the man they believe is the Monster. In an ironic twist of fate that echoes the dark traditions of the city’s bloody history, Preston and Spezi themselves became targets of a bizarre police investigation."

I have recently finished this excellent book and will review it soon. Those who are interested can purchase a copy from Amazon.com: The Monster of Florence.

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Book Review: The Religion by Tim Willocks

The Religion, set on the island of Malta in 1565, follows the exploits of Mathias Tannhauser, an adventurer and mercenary who embarks on a mission to locate a Maltese Noblewoman's estranged son. This quest is set amongst the great seige of Malta, which pitched the Knight's Hospitaller against the Turkish Empire, one of the last great crusader battles.

The Religion is extremely well research and equally well-written and whilst large parts of the book are devoted to battle scenes, the prose does not adopt a descriptive or hackneyed style; in fact the descriptions are brutal, gory, poetic and written in a gripping style.

It should be said that this novel does not beautify or glorify war, it does quite the opposite in fact in a sometimes stomach-turning and balanced fashion.

Equally, the plot of The Religion is enthralling and the author has created some really interesting characters, and pits a flawed hero against an extremely dark and sly foe; Ludovico Ludovici of the Inquisition. Quite frankly, the combination of interesting characters, gripping plot and incredible action made this book hard to put down and is written with such literary mastery that it feels like a future classic.

The Religion is highly recommended to all book lovers and Willocks shows himself to be a very fine author here.

Score: 10/10

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Books to be Reviewed: Against The Flow by Tom Fort

Thanks to Natalie Higgins for sending me a copy of Against the Flow by Tom Fort for reviewing. This is a travel book about one man's travels and angling adventures around Eastern Europe on two trips, one just after the collapse of Communism and one more recent.

"Twenty years ago, Tom Fort drove his little red car onto the ferry at Felixstowe, bound for all points east. Eastern Europe was still a faraway place, just emerging from its half-century of waking nightmare, blinking, injured, full of fears but importantly full of hope too. Things were different then. Czechoslovakia was still Czechoslovakia, Russia was the USSR and the Warsaw Pact had not formally dissolved. But what did exist then, as they do now, were the rivers: the nations' lifeblood. It was along and by these rivers that Fort travelled around Eastern Europe meeting its people and immersing himself in its culture. Since that trip though, much has changed and in more recent years around one million Poles have settled in Britain. Fort's local paper has a Polish edition, his supermarket has a full range of Polish bread, sausage and beer and an influx of Polish businesses opened in his town centre. And it's not just the Poles, his gym has a Lithuanian trainer and the woman who cuts his hair is from Hungary. As a tide of people began to leave Eastern Europe and settle in the UK, Tom Fort started to wonder about what they were leaving behind and whether the friends he had made all those years ago remained. And so he decided to make the journey again."

A review will soon appear here. For those that want to purchase a copy now, orders can be placed here: Against the Flow.

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Book Review: Hit List by Lawrence Block

Hit List by Lawrence Block is a story of a professional hitman, John Keller, for whom things begin to go wrong. Whereas most of his jobs have run smoothly, a few begin to take a strange twist whereby people loosely connected to Keller die and he begins to get jumpy. After a few close incidents he realises that someone is out to get him and he is eventually forced to take out a hit on the hitman who is trying to hit him.

Whilst the premise of this story is interesting and has the possibility for some rather dark humour, it is woefully padded out with a large amount of barely relevant incidents such as Keller doing jury duty and an unacceptable amount of banal sarcastic dialogue.

Despite the many bad points of this novel, the character of Keller is an interesting one and he is developed quite considerably and the plot, although short, does make the reader want to find out what happens. Unfortunately, the twist is so obvious that I could see it coming way before the end and as such the ending was a complete washout.

This book is okay to pass the time with and with an interesting plot idea and lead character, it isn't a complete waste of time, but don't go out of the way to buy it.

Score: 4.5/10

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Book Review: Birdwatchingwatching by Alex Horne

Birdwatchingwatching documents the year-long foray into birdwatching by Alex Horne, an investigation into a hobby that his father has long had and that Alex has never understood. In an attempt to understand his father's passion Alex challenges him to a "Big Year", a year in which the person who sees the most species is declared the winner.

Over the course of a year Alex's growing enthusiasm for birds is obvious and the way in which he delves into all the mysterious aspects of birdwatching is very amusing indeed. The style of this book is one of a naive newby to the hobby of birdwatching, almost birdwatching through the eyes of a child, making great reading for anyone who loves birds, from those with just a casual interest to the hard core "twitcher". Indeed, in the course of a year Alex participates in all aspects of birdwatching, attempting to literally become a "robin-stroker" in his back yard and twitching (unsuccessfully) the UK's first Long-billed Murrelet as well as using a birdwatching guide in Africa to boost his yearly total.

The style that birdwatchingwatching is written in belies the fact that the author is a comedian and there are a lot of very amusing insights into the psyche of birdwatchers and comparisons with Alex's first love - football.

This is an excellent read for anyone who has even a passing interest in birds or for anyone who knows a birdwatcher. A highly entertaining book that I couldn't put down and it was with great dismay that I finished it so quickly - this has very quickly become one of my favourite books ever and I can't wait to read it again.

Score: 10/10

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Squidoo Page on Dr Seuss's Top 5 Books

I have loved Dr Seuss's books since I was a kid, my favourites being Green Eggs and Ham and The Sneetches. I still read these books as an adult. Recently I made a page on squidoo.com about what I think are the best 5 Dr Seuss books out there. There is a bit of information about Dr Seuss himself there too and some links to other Dr Seuss books.

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Book Review: The Man eaters of Tsavo by J. M. Patterson

The Man Eaters of Tsavo is the classic, true, story of how an English engineer tracked and killed two man eating lions that had been preying upon the workers attempting to construct a railway in Kenya.

Whilst the story of the man eaters is quite an amazing one, the author does not seem to have the gift of being a storyteller, and the facts, which would have made for a rivetting tale had they been relayed in style, are simply retold in a brief, descriptive fashion.

Indeed, so briefly is the story told that in fact the tale of the man eaters is over before the reader has got halfway through the book. The remainder of this book goes on to recount hunting anecdotes from the author's stay in Africa and simply retells how large numbers of animals were shot. Even taking into consideration the different attitudes of the times, this bloodlust becomes rather hard to take and, quite frankly, rather boring reading.

Unfortunately, although the potential for this to be an exciting tale is high, the delivery of the story is poor and the follow up is quite dull. However, the first part of the book is worth reading for the details of the audacious predators raiding well-protected camps on a nightly basis.

I would only recommend this to those who have an interest in Africa or colonialism.

Score: 6/10

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Book Review: Life on Air by David Attenborough

Life on Air is Sir David Attenborough's autobiography covering his life from his first days at the BBC and focussing upon his work in making wildlife documentaries but also dealing with his time in the senior administration of the BBC.

As one would expect from Sir David Attenborough, this is an extremely skillfully written book using language that draws the reader in as though they become part of each anecdote. Of course, with such a long career in pioneering wildlife documentaries, there is no lack of interesting, inciteful and often, amusing anecdotes to read. In fact the reader gets to the end and feels that there are far more interesting and amusinng stories to tell.

Whilst the chapters surrounding David's time creating wildlife documetaries is probably the most anticipated reading by his fans, the parts of the book dealing with his time in the highest echelons of the BBC are also very good reading and slightly surprising even to those most familar with David Attenborough's work.

Naturally, with so much travel behind him and such a distinguished career, there are many revealing photographs to accompany the text; if only there had been more room for more photos! Perhaps in another book to come?

This is one of the most interesting and enjoyable books I have ever read and it is to be highly recommended to fans of Sir David and anyone who has enjoyed many of his wildlife documentaries with the BBC over the years.

Oh yes, my copy has a dedication to me from Sir David Attenborough in the front cover. Thanks mum!

Score: 10/10

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Books to be Reviewed: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 Making It by Yvonne Marrs

Thanks to Yvonne Marrs for sending me a copy of her book, When the Sax Man Plays, for reviewing. This is her debut novel and it follows the life of a young musician trying to make a name for himself.

"Jason Bottelli is a young and extraordinarily gifted saxophonist who takes up a post as Head of Music at London's Impervious College. By night he plays at a jazz club; by day he teaches and wows the students with his talent. It seems he can do nothing wrong.

But Jason comes up against a difficult challenge when he is commanded to mentor a band to win the Annual talent Contest, for his very capable protegees have been dissuaded from entering. Jason finds that he has his work cut out for him in more ways than one: with only four weeks to the qualifying rounds he has to put a band together, choose material and rehearse."

A review will soon appear here, but until then copies can be ordered here: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 - Making It.

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Book Review: Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese

Mercury Falls is a comic novel about the approach of the Apocalypse and how preparations for it by the managements of heaven and hell become compromised by over-complicated beaurocracy and underhand deals.

This amusing story tells how a reporter, an indolent angel and a nerd end up having pivotal roles in the approaching Apocalypse, a world-ending deal that has been forged by heaven and hell after many thousands of years of legal wrangling. The writing here is extremely imaginitive, with angels and demons resembling employees of large corporatations and heaven and hell appearing like competing companies. Whilst the author creates humour from turning the divine into the banal and poking fun alternately at creationism and modern science, at times the humour is rather esoteric and this may prevent this novel from appealing to a wide range of readers.

Whilst the story of Mercury Falls is quite compelling, with an amusing and recurring parody of people's obsession with a very well-known series of children's books featuring an adolescent wizard, at times it becomes quite complicated and begins to resemble the beaurocracy it draws its humour from. However, a fine ending draws the reader in and made me laugh right up the conclusion where the main characters make a deal with the devil and come out on top.

This novel is very well-written, with a wonderful vocabulary and is clearly written by a mind that sees deeply into all sorts of situations and creates a book as surreal as a painting by Dali.

This is a very clever bookwith a good story and a lot of humour. However, it is way off the main stream and requires a similar imagination to the one that the author uses in order to appreciate it. I would recommend this book to readers who like the surreal, anything anti-establishment and irreverent. I would not recommend this book to religious fundamentalists who would probably take great offence to the almost certain delight of the author.

Score: 8.5/10

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Book Review: The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth by John Mellor

The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth is a set of seven allegorical stories linked by the story of a boy being tutored by an angel for the purpose of delivering seven gifts that have been bestowed upon earth.

This highly unusual tale delivers seven thought-provoking stories, laced with a large collection of some of the most bizarre and memorable characters that have ever appeared in a book. However, the linking narrative of the boy and angel make this far more than a collection of short stories and provide a clearer picture as to the meaning of each tale.

One of the wonders of this book is the strange set of characters and peculiar events set in an unusual juxtaposition; a medieval queen hosting a rock concert, a space-exploring bee and a philosopher that talks to a stone are all central to their own tales. At times, these quite incredible characters and events begin to strike the reader as insanity on the part of the author. However, if insanity it is, this is the type that gives birth to great achievements and in examining so many themes such as society, religion and environment, this book can be considered a great achievement by its author.

The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth is not a normal book with a normal story; it must be approached with an open mind and no preconceived ideas of how books should be written. If readers are looking for something original and thought-provoking, this is nearly perfect - my only disappointment with the book was that it was over too quickly.

The Seven Gifts Website

I would recommend The Seven Gifts That Came To Earth to a wide variety of open-minded and adventurous readers. Fans of the absurd and philosophy would particularly enjoy it and students of religion and the environment will find some useful themes here too.

Score: 9.5/10

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Books to be Reviewed: The Missing by Jane Casey

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Books to be Reviewed: Mercury Falls by Robert Kroese

Thanks to Robert Kroese for sending me a copy of his book, Mercury Falls, for reviewing. This is a comic novel about the adventures of a rogue angel at the brink of the apocalypse.

"Years of covering the antics of End Times cults for The Banner, a religious news magazine, have left Christine Temetri not only jaded but seriously questioning her career choice. That is, until she meets Mercury, an anti-establishment angel who's frittering his time away whipping up batches of Rice Krispy Treats and perfecting his ping-pong backhand instead of doing his job: helping to orchestrate Armageddon. With the end near and angels and demons debating the finer political points of the Apocalypse, Christine and Mercury accidentally foil an attempt to assassinate one Karl Grissom, a thirty-seven-year-old film school dropout about to make his big break as the Antichrist. Now, to save the world, she must negotiate the byzantine bureaucracies of Heaven and Hell and convince the apathetic Mercury to take a stand, all the while putting up with the obnoxious mouth-breathing Antichrist."

A review will soon appear here, until then readers can order a copy here - Mercury Falls.

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Books to be Reviewed: Thoughts - Life of a Suicide by Dillan Kane

Thanks to Greg Shelangoski for sending me a copy of Thoughts: Life of a Suicide by Dillan Kane for reviewing. This book aims to provoke thoughts on what makes people commit suicide and what happens afterwards in an attempt to prevent further suicides; the book is authored by the brother of a suicide and is self-published through Author House.

"My brother committed suicide in 1999 at the age of 16. Like any suicide it didn't seem to need to have to happen,but it did. This is my attempt to try to understand the impulses of suicide and heal from the aftermath. It is also my attempt to define what death is and what it means to me,interwined with what life means. "

A review will soon appear here but until then readers can order a copy from Amazon: Thoughts: Life of a Suicide.

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Book Review: The Book With No Name by Anonymous

The Book With No Name is a dark story about a town where mysterious murders occur regularly but are infrequently solved by the police. A tale of dastardly characters, extreme violence and a compelling mystery which will excite some readers and alienate others.

This tale is full of cliched characters, hackneyed themes and obviously steals from many other books and movies but somehow manages to combine thse into an extremely enthralling book. The Book With No Name begins with a massacre and provides a litany of similar violence throughout but builds an intriguing mystery from the start which makes the reader turn the pages fiercely.

One of the strengths of The Book With No Name is the huge number of very memorable and over-the-top characters that either come from or would fit straight into a movie; Rodeo Rex, Elvis, The Bourbon Kid, El Santino, Sanchez The Barman, Jefe The Bountyhunter and many others are among some of the most colourful, amusing and, amazingly, likeable characters of any book I have ever read.

Although some of the dialogue is fairly cliched and the themes quite unoriginal, the author manages to ravel a compelling plot, one which revolves around a magical jewel, a book which once read results in death and mysterious monks.

The Book With No Name is a literary smorgasbord of memorable characters, violence, swearing, plot themes and even the obligatory vampires, but one of the most enjoyable and memorable books I have read in a long time.

I would recommend The Book With No Name to readers who enjoy riotous and action-packed stories full of interesting and exaggerated characters. Don't expect a literary masterpiece but do expect a lot of fun.

Score: 9/10

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Book Review: The Case of The Missing Books by Ian Sansom

The Case of the Missing Library Books is the first in a series of comedic novels featuring the librarian Israel Armstrong who becomes an unlikely detective. Israel arrives, from London, in small and obsure Irish town where outsiders are made to feel as such. he quickly finds that he has been downgraded to mobile librarian and that he must locate all 14000 missing books.

This is an interesting yarn which draws heavily on Israel's discomfort and inability to fit in with the locals for sources of humour but there is a lot of situational amusement to be derived from this book too. Cultural stereotypes are used a lot in this story but they are not flogged and largely occur because of Israel's lack of social skills and preconceived ideas.

Israel is an unconventional hero both because of his physical limitations and unwillingness to engage the situation, and this is refreshing in a literary world of so many cliched lead characters. Unfortunately, many of the large number of characters that are introduced are intriguingly interesting but not expanded upon; one gets the impresion that the author is saving many of them for subsequent novels.

This book is also appealing due to the way that Israel gradually becomes part of the community and that turns out to be central to solving the mystery of the missing books.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone as its easy-to-read style, amusing style and interesting story will engage almost any level and age of reader.

Score: 8.5/10

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Book Review: The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

The Monster of Florence is the true story of Italy's most infamous serial killer; a killer who murdered fourteen young lovers and has never been caught due to a combination of lack of evidence and police incompetence.

This story, told by two reporters who covered the case and became involved in the investigation, has all the characters that could be dreamt up by a best-selling author; corrupt policemen, a mysterious killer, false suspects, interfering polititians and the mafia, however, in this case they are all real.

The author's background as journalsists allow them to avoid the chronological style of a scholar or police investigator and the result is an extremely well-told story using a set of facts that are fascinating on their own. The quality of the author's style is such that at times the reader forgets that it is a work of non-fiction rather than a novel and is absorbed into the tale. Personally, I could not put this book down.

This is a well-written account of a fasciniating serial killer and the authors skillfully reveal that the investigation itself is a story of its own; a story of a completely bungled investigationoy and the book is of interest on both accounts for students of crime and readers who enjoy strange plot twists

I highly recommend the Monster of Florence to all readers, particularly those who enjoy crime stories, either finctional or non-fictional; this will be one of the most memorable tales you have read.

Score: 10/10

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The Guv'nor by Lenny Mclean & Peter Gerrard

The Guv'nor is the nickname and biography of Lenny McLean and catalogues his violent progress in the east end of London from abused child to petty thief, hard man, minder, bare-knuckle boxer to actor.
Although this is a biography it has the feel of an autobiography due to its first person narrative and use of colloquial English, giving it a really authentic feel and making it as if The Guv'nor is telling his story directly to the reader and makes for unusual and interesting reading. Indeed the litany of misdeeds and violence which are described in Lenny McLean's life would sound ridiculous if told in any other way.

Whilst this is the story of a man who earned his living through violence or the threats of violence this book in no way glorifies it and the reader very quickly becomes aware of a code of honour which is religiously adhered to among these characters of the underworld; the author does exceedingly well to introduce the reader to other aspects of the Guv'nor's personality.

As well as giving an insight into the lives of such characters, this book gives the reader a glimpse of the British judicial system and reveals that it is far from perfect, indeed the final chapters of this story describe how McLean spends one year in prison before even receiving a trial.

Whilst this is a surprisingly interesting and captivating read much of the book has the same theme and rythym, recalling bare-knuckle boxing matches, fights and other violent interludes and toward the last third of the book this becomes a little repetitive. However, the ending is engaging enough to wrest the book away from becoming dull and I think most readers will be left feeling like the Guv'nor is someone they could have got on with.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy biographies and tales of misadventure, particularly those of gandland violence in London in the 60s to the 90s. This is a surprisingly interesting story and I think many readers would enjoy it.

Score: 7.5/10

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Book Review: Oh The Thinks You Can Think by Dr Seuss

Those readers might think that this is a children's book and can only be appreciated by the very young or those with children think again! I read "Oh The Thinks You Can Think" for the first time just a few weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely.

Those who know Dr Seuss will know what to expect, word play, made-up creatures with silly names, amusing rhyming text and surreal illustrations. Those who don't know Dr Seuss will find a world that the imaginative can immerse themselves in; obviously children have the most fertile imaginations, but anyone who has a philosophical mind and/or enjoys childish silliness will appreciate this book.

Oh The Thinks You Can Think has no plot, it has no central character and it is about nothing other than thinking about anything you can imagine; essentially it is a book that encourages children and parents to use their imaginations together, but it also tempts older readers to free their minds of preconceived ideas and imagine like they haven't imagined since childhood.

The writing and wordplay by Dr Seuss are wonderful features and I particularly like the silly creatures, "Snuvs wearing gloves", "Guffs" and "Befts that go left" all brought to life with delightful pictures. Oh The Thinks You Can Think is a wonderful book that is only hampered by the fact that it is probably too short; instead of just relying on the text parents need to encourage thought, interaction and conversation to get the most out of this book with their kids.

Oh The Thinks You Can Think is highly recommended to those parents of small children who want to read simple, but imaginative, well-illustrated books together and talk about them together. I would also recommend this title to Dr Seuss fans who have never come across this book before and to those free-thinking readers who like a trip back to childhood.

Score: 9/10

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Book Review: Tricks of The Mind by Derren Brown

Tricks of The Mind is an insight into the sleight of hand, distractive, memory and psychological techniques used by the British mentalist showman, Derren Brown. Whilst this book examines the way in which people's perceptions and beliefs can be manipulated for magical effect, it is not a manual on how to perform such tricks as predictions, disappearances and feats of memory.

In Tricks of The Mind, Derren Brown very skillfully and often humourously examines psychology, illusion and how people can be made to believe things that are not real in a way that hints at how these techniques are used in his shows.

As a showman of the highest order, Derren Brown does reveal a trick or two early on to lure in his audience, often leading them on to quite philosophical points, but also sometimes ranting in a manner that makes the reader feel like they are sitting next to the author in a bar, discussing the application of manipulative techniques over a beer. As well as showmanship and illusion, Derren discusses religion and the way in which mediums use similar techniques as his to fool vulnerable people.

This is a truly fantastic book, engaging at every level, discussing complicated philosphies, techniques and beliefs in an amusing, informative and interactive way using a memorable vocabulary. The chapter on memory techniques is particularly enthralling and I was able to achieve remarkable feats of memory soon after reading the book, indeed I can still remember a list of 20 items given in the book, three months after reading it.

I would recommend this book to a wide variety of thoughtful readers, anyone interested in the way the mind works, philosphy, magic, showmanship, religion, indeed anyone who enjoys challenging ideas and, of course, anyone who wants to improve their memory or get a small insight into how Derren performs his remarkable "tricks".

Score: 10/10

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Book Review: Thoughts, Life of a Suicide by Dillan Kane

This book is a self-published attempt to look at understanding suicide and how those that are left behind deal with the issue. The author is the brother of someone who committed suicide at a young age and someone who has worked in the mental health system with those who have suicidal tendencies.

Whilst this book is written from the heart, I found that the author focusses on his own feelings too much and does not really provide an insight into how suicidal people feel or what makes them feel that way. Disappointingly, the story of the author's brother is not really explored properly and I feel that if it had, a more interesting and meaningful book would have been the result.

However, I found that the first chapter of Thoughts was quite moving when the author reflects on the last days of his father's life. This may have been because it made me think of a similar situation with my own father. With this in mind those who know suicidal people may enjoy this book, they may find a connection.

Unfortunately, though, the book does not grab the reader, jumping between themes and repeating itself again and again. No doubt writing it provided therapy for the author but the reader is left wanting some deeper insight.

Apart from repetitive themes and nonsense about mediums by far the biggest problem this book has is its lack of editing. There is almost not a single page that is not littered with spelling errors and basic grammatical mistakes, on one page I found 12 such errors! Whilst no one is perfect, this level of bad English is inexcusable and I found it really irritating and it made understanding some sections difficult and detracted from what is a heartfelt message.

Although I found this book unappealing it is possible that others, who have experience of knowing people who have attempted suicide or successfully committed suicide, will find something to connect with here and may find it comforting. I would certainly not recommend it to anyone else.

Score: 2/10

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Book Review: The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer

The Castle in the Forest is a semi-fictional history of Adolf Hitler's family and upbringing, narrated by a minor devil who had the responsibility of influencing events to bring out the worst in the young Adolf to mould him into an instrument of evil.

The premise of the story is intriguing and the early chapters draw the reader into a fascinating, but sordid history of the Hitler family with a literary, but readable style which, together with the innate fascination of the subject, turn this into something of a page-turner quite early on. However, at some, hard-to-pinpoint, stage the tale loses its way, as if the author lost his train of thought.

At two points the fanciful fiction of how Adolf Hitler became evil digresses to the point of irrelevance; once when the narrator rambles on about his role in Russia and for a second time where over 100 pages are devoted to Adolf's father's bee-keeping activities which draw the reader to create parallels with concentration camps but is then told that this is far to simple and explanation - why then make such a point of it?

These failing aside, Norman Mailer succeeds in weaving a picture of a child inherently evil, an evil nurtured by devils and his father's behaviour, with acts of coprophelia, sexual deviance, carelessness and domination to give the reader what they expect. What the reader does not expect, though, is such a weak ending whereby the story is wrapped up in a hurry, just at the point where Hitler is about to exhibit the results of his upbringing; a very unsatisfying conclusion that seemed to result from the author losing interest in the tale.

Whilst The Castle in the Forest is a very readable book and contains some interesting ideas, ultimately it is a real disappointment. Those interested in Adolf Hitler will certainly find something of interest here and anyone who enjoys thought-provoking stories will find some interesting ideas on the nature of evil, but those who wish to read a well-rounded tale will need to look elsewhere.

Score: 6/10

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Book Review: When the Sax Man Plays: Part 1 - Making It by Yvonne Marrs

When the Sax Man Plays is a story about a young music tutor who finds himself forced to put together a band in order to compete in a talent contest. He puts together a group of unlikely characters and they find out that they can perform surprisingly well.

The strength of this book is its readability, written in a flowing style with always enough hint of what is to come to ensure the reader quickly progresses through the book, there is a constant temptation to take a quick peek at the last page to see what will happen.

The characters here are very distinct too and quite likeable, enough to want to read more about them in Part 2, however, for readers who enjoy richly developed characters this book falls a little short as what we discover about them is conveyed in rather too brief a fashion. Similarly, although the plot is engaging it is only the bare bones that are relayed to the reader and certain incidents are described in a slightly hackneyed style.

Even taking into account its faults, When The Sax Man Plays has a certain appeal that is difficult to put one's finger on; maybe it is a certain raw talent from this first-time author which mirrors the fresh, unsophisticated style of her character's music.

nbn

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy an easy read with a good story. I would also encourage readers who like something a little different from the best-seller style to try this book and support the author so that Part 2 materialises.

Score: 7/10

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Book Review: French Revolutions by Tim Moore

French Revolutions is the true and humourous tale of one man's attempt to cycle around France following the route of the 2000 Tour De France. Whilst this attempt is largely successful, the author does resort to cheating on a number of occasions, something he justifies by outlining the history (tradition?) of cheating in the real Tour. The take is interspersed with such factual anecdotes about the Tour De France which gives it another dimension.

This is a well-written and interesting story which takes the reader through the French countryside and the effort it takes to complete the Tour even at a slow pace, imparting something of the author's emotional journey as he becomes a more accomplished cyclist.

Whilst the details of French Revolutions are interesting the humour falls short of anything but mildly amusing, although it is sufficient to add an element to the book. However, I found myself turning the pages wanting to know the progress of Tim Moore as he, bit by bit, improves as a cyclist and manages ever-increasing feats of bicycling endurance.

This is a very enjoyable book but I didn't really understand why the author resorted to cutting out parts of the route - if he wanted to cycle the route of the Tour De France why didn't he do just that rather than truncate the journey? For me, this slightly detracted from the tale.

For readers who enjoy travel literature this is a good choice with an engaging story, amusing anecdotes and fun facts about the Tour De France. I recommend this book to a wide range of readers.

Score: 9/10

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Carol Smallwood Reviews Memoir by Supriya Bhatnagar

and then there were three
Supriya Bhatnagar
Serving House Books, Lexington, KY
2010
119 pages
$12.00 (paper)

ISBN: 978-0-9825462-9-1

Reviewed by Carol Smallwood

The memoir, and then there were three, is a slim book, a breathtaking look at a childhood in a diverse, changing India by Supriya Bhatnagar. The three refers to the family loss of her beloved father when Supriya was nine and her mother moves the two daughters from Bombay to Jaipur: "Even though Jaipur was a metropolis where streets had been paved, the city retained the inherent quality of the earth it lay upon."

Indian culture is deftly expressed by funerals, tea, shopping, street cleaners, and details such as her grandmother's hair: "This had been her hairstyle since the time she got married; it was just that the chignon was the size of a grapefruit when she got married, and the size of a walnut by the time she died." Supriya experiences the blackouts of the 1971 war with Pakistan, the heat and cold of India, and learns the significance of skin color. The haunting memoir includes universal types such as nosey neighbors, lecherous storekeepers--and what it was to be Hindu woman and not going into any temple during her menstruation: "Customs and traditions become ingrained in us to such an extent that to this day I follow this restriction without questioning its logic."

The author does not have an arranged marriage but after a long traditional courtship marries Anil who lives on the next street: "I loved the smell of Old Spice, his after-shave, and it was a familiar and strangely comforting smell as Daddy had used it everyday." She concludes that the loss of her 39-year-old-white collar worker father from heart attack made her grow up sooner.

It reminded me of God of Small Things by the award-winning Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, with its insight into human nature, the portrayal of the enduring complexities of India, its touches of humor, life through a child's eyes. I enjoyed the author's sharing her wide reading and deep appreciation of the classics growing up and concluded how her well-educated parents couldn't but have had an influence on her becoming the Director of Publications for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs headquartered in Virginia which supports writers and writing programs around the world.
The reviewer is Carol Smallwood. Her latest books are: Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (ed.), American Library Association, 2010; Lily's Odyssey, All Things That Matter Press, 2010.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

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Poetry from Vitori Reviewed

King of the Empty Kingdom: And Selected Works

F. D. Vitori (Author)
Paperback: 52 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (August 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1453710388
ISBN-13: 978-1453710388
Genre: Poetry

Review originally published on Amazon.com:

King of the Empty Kingdom is a book of selected poems that profoundly revere human life and experience in all its beauty, ugliness, and perseverance. Each is tempered by the poet's keen awareness of mortality as evidenced in the title poem, The String, and Scream.
I find some of the love poems simplistic. Although not unenjoyable, they lack the gravitas of the other works included here. As the poet stated in his preface, some of these poems are from "a younger time". F.D. Vitori has a strong sense of language and self-expression, particularly in some beautiful turns of phrase:

"the infant grass glistened" from Birdsong.

"Each too small to fathom the event" from The Last of The First Moment.

"but the more you you touch the fire, the less it burns.

Or, there is less left to burn" from A Wayward Spiral.

"There is more darkness than can be lit by a candle." from With Eyes Lowered.

"I am a miserable tangle of thought and emotion,
The bastard son of perspective and notion" from The Truth in Me.

"The frog does not look up and wish to be a bird." from The Heralding.
There are potent recurring themes in these works that appeal to my personal tastes a great deal, such as love, hate, fate, humanity, survival, catharsis, and self-realization. This thematic pattern turns up often. Most notably in Color Blind, War, King, The Truth in Me, Time and Life, Visage, Father, and The Voice. It takes a lot of experience and working through the world's "babble" to achieve wisdom and self-realization. I use babble because the poet uses this word in both View and The Voice. In counterpoint to the drive for self-realization, the poet also cautions against hubris in King with:

"Take away my throne

and I am plain,

Therefore, even I can be slain."
The centerpiece of this collection is, of course, the title poem--King of the Empty Kingdom. This poem recalls the strong narratives and storytelling of the pre-Romantic and Romantic period poets such as Milton and Blake. King of the Empty Kingdom is artfully crafted with a solid narrative and thematically cohesive. The poem opens in sorrowful contemplation and ends in joyful appreciation of life, reasserting the poet's note that Life is "the most beautiful lady of all".
As a collective work, the poetry is a strong debut from a new voice in poetry that honors the traditions of the past.
Personal Favorite: Time and Life

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

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Librarian Reviews Nonfiction Anthology for Women

Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages
Compiled & edited by Carol Smallwood & Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
All Things That Matter Press [Somerville, ME], 2009,
250 pages,
Price: (paper $18.99).
ISBN-13: 978-0984259434.

Reviewed by Marian Matyn

This well written, easily read, and interesting book is a compilation of articles by women, all well-educated. The themes of the book cover passages of the average woman’s life. This includes physical, emotional, family, career, empowerment changes and challenges, reconnecting, dealing with, and accepting parts of our lives and histories. Importantly, it also covers the relationships women have with others, friends, family, and foes, that cause us to change, or evaluate our options. Some of these topics, such as one’s aging body, or the stress of career choices, difficult relationships and positive, affirming relationships, are those to which all women can relate. Other topics, such as surviving sexual abuse or the loss of a spouse, and the accompanying emotional traumas, are topics some of us have suffered, but all of us can feel empathy for those who endure.
Why read this “women’s book” and not another? Hope. The hope that is so affirming and omnipresent in this book is an essential thread that runs through the entire work, binding the stories together. Through all the changes and challenges of life, all the people who help and affirm, and those who seek to denigrate women, the authors not only endured their experiences, but moved forward into the future with hope.
This is not a depressing victim story from the past, and while the stories are autobiographical in nature, it is more than that. A strong sense of spirituality, and of empowerment, accompanies hope throughout the book, encouraging the reader. “That despite what weighs us down, even the tiniest movement or the smallest decision moves us closer to the light.” (p. 152, “Closer to the light,” Hope Payson) This is what the book is all about: that each of us, with hope, can make a choice that empowers us to move towards a brighter, happier, more fulfilling future.
Two of the stories which I continue to ponder long afterwards are “I couldn’t walk, talk or read: becoming a crow again” by Katie McKy, and “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro. Both of these stories illustrate a turning point in the life of a girl or young woman. Katie McKy notes the moment she chose not to ridicule, but rather to befriend, a girl who fit in neither physically nor socially at school. Previously ostracized because of speech and walking challenges into a lowly school reading and social group called the crows, McKy chose to befriend another crow. As she notes “Suffering can bequeath us compassion. Of course, it can also curse us with bitterness. We get to choose. Of course, choosing well might mean becoming a crow once again, which I did. Rather, I just admitted to what I’d always been.” (p.7) McKy became a teacher, helping damaged children who had themselves become crows, and their parents.
The second story, “Returning to Russia: Returning home” by Yelizaveta P. Renfro, is the story of a self-destructive fifteen-year-old girl who is drinking, using drugs, smoking, destroying her bedroom, and flunking school. With her mother, Renfro traveled home to her ill Russian grandparents. She lived with them for a summer in a tiny, cockroach-infested apartment, lacking air conditioning or privacy. Here, she became aware of others and their dismal living conditions. Renfro kept a detailed diary and, later, typed her observations. She returned to California greatly affected, began writing, and left her old ways behind. Later, with her own daughter, Renfro recalled returning to her destroyed teenage bedroom to find her mother had cleaned it and spread a bedspread on her bed to welcome her home. “Only now do I realize that through such small actions we impose order, which is a kind of love… [Of her daughter, Renfro notes] “She will run away from me, too, literally perhaps, but certainly figuratively, I can only hope that she will return home again.” (p. 95) To me, this story demonstrates another individual making a choice, becoming aware of others around them, and choosing hope for the future, and hoping for the next generation.

Too often, the books I read in college women’s studies courses were about a woman’s endurance, and acceptance of an unhappy life with a father who did not appreciate or respect his daughter, a husband who did not understand her, or a dream abandoned. Her life was misery. It was all about negative relationships with men, no options for work or life, not having choices, working for less pay than a man, working in an unsatisfying job, and being discriminated against in many ways. My male college housemates once commented on how all the books in women’s studies were sad and blamed men. Well, it is a new century since I took women’s studies, and clearly the women in this book are more self-aware and have more options than the suffering women of the past. Part of that difference is education, providing women a chance for a quality job with pay and benefits, and laws preventing gross discrimination and allowing a vote. Like the book’s cover image of a woman looking towards the rising sun, the authors figuratively and collectively look towards the new day with hope, for an improved, empowered life, not just for them, but for all women.
Overall the writers tell us that highly educated, modern American women have options that allow us to determine our future and follow our dreams. It would be interesting to read stories from the life of women who are not as well educated as these writers. What do the women without a degree working at WalMart, trying to pay their bills, think of their lives? Or, what about the women who make negative choices? Do they find their lives inspiring enough to write about for the benefit of other women? Do they have hope? Perhaps that is a topic for a future book.

Reviewer Bio:

The reviewer is Marian Matyn , Archivist of the Clarke Historical Library and an Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University. The author of a number of archival and history articles, Marian is currently writing a book on Michigan circus history.

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

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Wise Mind, Open Mind by Ronald Alexander, PhD

Title – Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose & Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, & Change

Author – Ronald Alexander, PhD
Author's website link - http://www.ronaldalexander.com/  & http://www.youtube.com/user/ronaldalexanderphd
Genre or category – Self help, health-mind-body
ISBN – 978-1572246430

We are living in a time of crisis and many of us feel powerless over the anxiety, confusion, and despair that this can trigger. Yet, according to Ronald Alexander, Ph.D., not only are we not powerless over the impact of crisis, we can transform its effects so that we arise from it stronger and more aware. He offers a complete program for doing this in his new book, Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose & Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, & Change (New Harbinger Publications, September 2009, paperback). In this groundbreaking book Alexander, a pioneer in contemporary psychology, shares his innovative program for using mindfulness meditation, creative thinking, and cutting-edge positive psychology tools to transform times of crisis into opportunities for greater personal awareness, clarity, and creativity. Alexander is available for interview. Here’s just some of what he can discuss:
CREATIVE TRANSFORMATION: A THREE-STEP ART. Alexander offers an original three-step plan for achieving creative transformation in the midst or wake of a crisis. It includes, Letting Go, Tuning Into your Core Creativity, and Moving Forward. In the first step you learn to let go of resistance to change, in the second you learn to tune in to your soul’s deep wisdom; and in third you learn how to move forward based on your newly acquired insight. Alexander offers step-by-step mindfulness meditations for moving through each of these stages.
A PRIMER ON MINDFULNESS MEDITATION PRACTICE AND CREATIVITY THINKING. Mindfulness practice is an exciting new area that blends the best of East and West. By adapting ancient wisdom practices of mindfulness and meditation to positive psychology and the therapeutic process it offers powerful tools for transforming difficult emotions and becoming more aware of oneself and the world. Alexander explains how and why these techniques are so useful in overcoming crisis.

YOUR WISDOM COUNCIL. Alexander recognized that even with powerful mindfulness tools at your disposal, getting through a crisis still requires a support system comprised of caring and wise individuals. It’s why he offers step-by-step help for building a “wisdom council of support” and explains the roles that each member should play. They include: peer, educator, coach, and dharma teacher.

CULTIVATING A WISE MIND & MINDSTRENGTH IN DIFFICULT TIMES. In Buddhism a wise mind is a state of consciousness that allows you to observe your thoughts without becoming emotionally invested in them. Alexander explains: “In wise mind you stop running with your thoughts wherever they take you and find yourself sitting with a sense of serenity and clarity, observing what your mind churns up and easily discerning its qualities, setting aside what’s unwholesome and taking delight in what’s wholesome.” Wise mind results from building mindstrength, the ability to use mindfulness to master thoughts, beliefs, and emotions and tap into the core creativity that empowers you to take positive and wise action. In WISE MIND, OPEN MIND, Alexander shows you how to cultivate mindstrength and achieve wise mind.

FOUR MYTHS ABOUT MINDFULNESS. Myths about mindfulness abound. Alexander debunks four of the most common ones: Practicing mindfulness meditation will conflict with my religious beliefs; I’m too restless and busy to learn to be quiet and practice any form of meditation; If I practice mindfulness it will put out the fire of my ambition and creativity; and If I practice mindfulness, what I’ll discover will be so upsetting that I’ll be paralyzed with fear.

About the Author:

Ronald A. Alexander, Ph.D., a psychotherapist, leadership consultant, and clinical trainer is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Colorado. He is also the director of the OpenMind Training® Institute in Santa Monica, a leading-edge organization that offers personal and professional training programs in integrative mind-body therapies, transformational leadership, and mindfulness. This unique method combines the wisdom teachings of the East with positive psychology and creative thinking into a comprehensive, integrated, behaviorally effective mind-body program.
A pioneer in the fields of Somatic Psychotherapy, Holistic Psychology, Mindfulness, Leadership Coaching, Integrative and Behavioral Medicine since 1970, Alexander conducts professional and personal trainings in the US, Europe, Canada, Asia, and Australia. He is a long-time extension faculty member of the UCLA departments of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Entertainment and a lecturer in the David Geffen School of Medicine as well as an adjunct faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Pepperdine University. He is an associate member of the American Psychological Association, a clinical member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a Diplomate in professional psychotherapy in the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy.
Alexander teaches workshops and training programs at The New York Open Center, UCLA extension, Omega Institute New York, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, CA, NY and Boston, Santa Monica Yoga Works, and throughout Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia. He has been a consultant and leadership coach working with the entertainment industry for over 30 years. Visit him at: www.ronaldalexander.com and www.openmindtraining.com.

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

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