Book Review: Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder

Article first published as Book Review: Pain, Parties, Work by Elizabeth Winder on Blogcritics. About: Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder is a non-fiction book about time mentioned in the title. The book paints a portrait of Ms. Plath during a stressful, eventful and personal emotional summer of her life. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 288 pages Publisher: Harper Language: English ISBN-10: 0062085492 My rating for Pain, Parties, Work – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format Thoughts: Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder (@elizawinder) is the kind of book which seems to be gaining popularity, a short non-fiction book about a specified time-frame of a person. These books seem to replace the all encompassing biographies. At this day and age where a somewhat descent, encompassing biography on almost every important, not-so-important and, let’s face(book) it, not-important-at-all people is at one’s fingertips 24/7 these type of short biographical portraits are flourishing. I can certainly understand why, when I ran a restrictive search for “Sylvia Plath biography” on…

Book Review: The Lawyer’s Lawyer by James Sheehan
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / April 22, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: The Lawyer’s Lawyer by James Sheehan on Blogcritics. About: The Lawyer’s Lawyer by James Sheehan is a fictional story taking place in present day Florida. Mr. Sheehan works at Stetson University in Tampa, FL and teaches trail law. 416 pages Publisher: Center Street Language: English ISBN-10: 1455508667 My rat­ing for The Lawyer’s Lawyer — 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format More books by James Sheehan Thoughts: The Lawyer’s Lawyer by James Sheehan (website | Facebook | @James_Sheehan_) was a delight to read. I got this book a few months ago, but just picked it up and finished it in about two days. While there are several directions the book pulls the reader towards, the real strength lays in the courtroom drama which Mr. Sheehan so eloquently brings to life. I’ll even go further and say that the sidebars the lawyers had while approaching the bench were some of the most interesting, fascinating conversation I’ve read in this genre. The author did a great job telling the story while staying away from many technical terms (“legalese”) and if used, explaining them almost immediately. The narrative is smooth and eloquent which makes for an easy read despite the setting. The protagonist of the…

Book Review: Dubliners by James Joyce
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / April 8, 2013

About: Dubliners by James Joyce is a collection of short stories published in 1914. The stories are loosely tied together and are considered a classic collection in world literature. 152 pages Publisher: Dover Publications Language: English ISBN-10: 0486268705 My rating for Dubliners – 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format More books by James Joyce Thoughts: I read Dubliners by James Joyce as an attempt to read out of my comfort zone as well as to read some well known “must read” books which I somehow (and by “somehow” I mean purposely) skipped over. I generally don’t read short stories, but I’ve heard so much about Dubliners that I decided to try it out. The first reaction I had to the book was not a positive one, it seemed to me that Joyce wrote the book begging for it to be analyzed and dug into ad nauseaum. I don’t like those type of books, I like thinking more deeply into a book and trying to read what the author meant, not necessarily what is written in black and white. However, when an author takes unnecessarily steps to make their work purposely difficult to comprehend, and then only by…

Book Review: Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden

About: Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden is a historical fiction story following the young man who will eventually become Genghis Kahn. This is the first book of a series which at the time of the writing of this post numbers five novels known collectively is the Conqueror series. 416 pages Publisher: Bantam (July 13, 2010) Language: English ISBN-10: 038534421X My rat­ing for Genghis — 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* More Books by Conn Iggulden Thoughts: I had waited a long time to read Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden (website | Facebook), I bought it for my nook while it was on sale one day and it simply resided there until I had a chance to read it (there are many other books suffering the same fate). Once I got started though, the book was difficult to put down. Mr. Iggulden weaves a good story with fascinating historical detail while keeping up the drama in the story. As brutal as life was in the plains of Mongolia, Genghis manages to mix brilliance with violence, respect with strength and understands the necessities of survival in a community. Unlike other Mongol leaders, Genghis Kahn understood the importance of the tribes uniting, both for security…

Book Review: Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Prioleau
4 Stars , Latest Posts , Non-Fiction / March 25, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: Swoon by Betsy Prioleau on Blogcritics. About: Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Prioleau is a non-fiction book which tries to analyze what makes a ladies’ man. The book makes an interesting read and I only wish I would have read it when I was single and still looking for a mate for life. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 288 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English ISBN-10: 0393068374 My rat­ing for Swoon— 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Prioleau (website | Facebook | @BetsyPrioleau) has bad news for us guys – being a ladies’ man cannot be learned, one has to be born with “it”. The author found out that there is no template for being a Casanova, it’s neither money nor attitude but complex, and sometimes distinct, personalities. Ms. Prioleau analyzes the great lovers of our time and from ages long ago from Casanova to Ashton Kutcher and those who aren’t famous but get the ladies, the schmos down the street which…

Book Review: Capital of the World by Charlene Mires
4 Stars , Latest Posts , Non-Fiction / March 14, 2013

Capital of the World by Charlene Mires is dense, but fun book. It is no wonder the UN can’t make any decisions, if the way they decided to chose a “home” would have been any indication (committees for committees result in their resolve to make resolutions) they might would have rethought the way they do business.

Book Review: Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab

About: Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is a bestseller describing a patrol by the English Special Air Services (SAS) in Iraq during the Gulf War. The book was recommended to me by Helen Maryles Shankman (http://helenmarylesshankman.wordpress.com/). 432 pages Publisher: Island Books; Language: English ISBN-10: 0440218802 My rat­ing for Bravo Two Zero— 4 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Bravo Two Zero: The Harrowing True Story of a Special Forces Patrol Behind the Lines in Iraq by Andy McNab (website| Facebook | @the_real_mcnab) was recommended to me, as mentioned above, and simply by reading the synopsis I thought I’d like the book. However, as someone with military experience I have to call bullshit on some of the stories. I don’t know about the torture scenes and frankly hope never to find out, but some of the operational procedures and bravado seems to be utter machismo more to do with a Hollywood movie than with a book presenting itself as fact. For example, no way did an eight man team kill 250 people or took on a whole platoon and/or company by themselves. They might have killed a few and ran away (as would be the smart thing to…

Book Review: Broken Angel by S.W. Vaughn
4 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / March 9, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: Broken Angel by S.W. Vaughn on Blogcritics. About: Broken Angel by S.W. Vaughn is a fictional book taking place in NYC’s underground street fighting scenes. This is the first book in a the House Phoenix series but can be read as a standalone. 290 pages Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc Language: English ISBN-10: 1616501618 My rat­ing for Broken Angel— 4 Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic (free at the time of this post) format* More Books by S.W. Vaughn Thoughts: Broken Angel by S.W. Vaughn (website | @SWVaughn) was an unexpected surprise. I started to read it and found myself being engrossed in the story and characters. The book explodes with violence which works great with the theme of professional street fighting tournaments. Despite the gratuitous violence and torture scenes, I found the novel compelling. The plot is well drawn, the characters are interesting and engaging and the narrative full with enough detail to draw the reader into its world. The book has several twists which the astute reader probably guessed ahead of time. The descriptive fights with all the smells, blood and sweat are excellent, while the protagonist if certainly not the underdog type we all enjoy rooting for, he does…

Book Review: Bombing Hitler by Hellmut G. Haasis
4 Stars , Latest Posts , Non-Fiction / February 20, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: Bombing Hitler: The Story of the Man Who Almost Assassinated the Führer by Hellmut G. Haasis, Translated by William Odom on Blogcritics About: Bombing Hitler: The Story of the Man Who Almost Assassinated the Führer by Hellmut G. Haasis, (translated by William Odom) is the true story of Georg Elser and his failed attempt on Hitler’s life. 240 pages Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing Language: English ISBN-10: 1616087412 My rat­ing for Bombing Hitler— 4 Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic format* More Rec­om­mended World War II books on Man of la BookStore Thoughts: Bombing Hitler by Hellmut G. Haasis tells of Georg Elser’s decision to assassinate Hitler in a Munich Beer Hall. Elser’s said that he simply wanted to” prevent even greater bloodshed through my act”. Elser, a blue collar worker, worked and planned for months in order to plant a bomb in a pillar which supports the roof of the beer hall. The bomb worked, killing eight people, but missing its intended target who had to leave early for Berlin (cutting his speech from 2 hours to a mere hour). The book is a well researched document, using interviews from first hand sources as well as historical documentation, the author…

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