About: The Call of the Wild by Jack London is a classic short story written in 1903. Originally no one wanted to publish the book, however, Macmillan agreed to take a chance on the unknown writer and payed him $2,000 with no royalties. Even though the publishers and editors didn’t like the title London stuck with it. Seven years later an editor wrote: “I’ll be damned if that very muchly-rejected title didn’t become a phrase in the English language. This is only one of many experiences concerning titles, wherein editors, booksellers, and publishers absolutely missed.” 64 pages Publisher: Dover Publications; Dover Thrift Edition Language: English ISBN-10: 0486264726 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* More Books by Jack London Thoughts: I purposely avoided The Call of the Wild by Jack London as a teenager, the novel simply didn’t appeal to me. I’m glad I avoided it because upon reading this classic story as an adult, I believe I would have hated it as a teen. There is some violence and cruelty in the book, but I believe the language is what would have done me in. Not to knock down any teenage bibliophiles, but I believe that the vocabulary would have been a bit too much…

About: House of Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt is a historical fiction book taking place in Amsterdam. This is a sequel to the well received Rocamaora: Man of Masks which I wrote about last month. 346 pages Publisher: Raven’s Wing Books (November 19, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1618070916 My rat­ing for House of Rocamora — 5 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* More Books by Don­ald Michael Platt Thoughts: House of Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt (web­site) might not be as exciting as its predecessor (meaning there is no castle intrigue or daring escapes from under the Inquisition’s nose) however the account of the daily life of Isaac (previously Vicente de Rocamora) is just as an engrossing read. The book creates a vivid picture of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. It was very interesting to read how the Jews lived and interacted with each other and the Dutch people at the time. The protagonist has become Jewish but not an observant Jew and the community somewhat resents him for that, add that to the fact that he was a priest and even considered for the post of head of the Spanish Inquisition and you can understand their mistrust. This is an excellent companion to Rocamora: Man of Masks, however…

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…

An organization called SOB from a fictional part of Portugal called Barba is trying to gain independence and stop the Muslim immigration by terrorizing parts of the world. However, the attacks seemed to stop and journalists assigned to Barba have nothing to do beside discussing a fellow journalist named Barrington Saddler.

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…

Tolstoy does not understand how historians refer to Napoleon as “great” as he does not live up to the standards of humanity and goodness, neither as a military commander, emperor, leader or even in exile. As a conqueror / enemy / ally Napoleon constantly mislead the Russians and destroyed their economy. When he gives the order for the French to retreat, Napoleon already made sure he’s the first one to withdraw.

About: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is one of the author’s most famous novellas. The work was published after his death. 76 pages Publisher: Tribeca Books Language: English ISBN-10: 1936594005 My rat­ing for The Metamorphosis — 5 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* More Books by Franz Kafka Thoughts: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a dark and disturbing tale. The story captured me from the first line “One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug”. We know nothing about Gregor, who are what he is, and this strange opening simply breeds curiosity. The story is relevant even today, which is why I believe this simple tale became a classic. The feeling of helplessness, escaping things which are difficult and /or beyond our control and make our humdrum lives easy and simple. It is difficult to face the truth, and why would you want to unless you absolutely had to do so? Kafka’s world (in this case a room) is dark and foreboding, with situations beyond anyone’s control. The individual battles against the powers-that-be (be they government, Kismet, G-d or just chance) is lost from the beginning and even if you’d…

Article first published as Book Review: Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt on Blogcritics. About: Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt is a historical fiction book taking place in 17th Century Spain. This book was the 2012 finalist in the International Book Awards for Historical Fiction. 408 pages Publisher: Raven’s Wing Books Language: English ISBN-10: 1618070150 My rat­ing for Rocamora — 5 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* More Books by Donald Michael Platt Thoughts: Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt (website) is based on the life of Vicente de Rocamora a poet, fighter and Dominican priest who was thrust into the scheming court of King Philip IV. Rocamora became the confessor for the king’s younger sister, the beautiful Infanta Doña María and was considered as a strong candidate for Inquisitor General. I found this book to be a first-rate historical novel; I learned a lot of history from the book, about life in Spain and the Inquisition, as well as following the story in vivid detail. Mr. Platt weaves his story around the history and doesn’t change the facts to fit his story (at least I couldn’t find any glaring cases of such). The novel certainly let’s the reader feel the glory of Spain fading during the reign of Philip IV, while Count Duke Olivares acting as…

One day Carter decides to rob a bank, the ease of making money is sweet and he gets hooked. Carter realizes that the thrill of easy money is nothing compared to the thrill of power when he is armed and dangerous

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…