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…

Guest Post: Cleopatra’s Legacy Book 1- The Emerald Ring
Guest Posts , Latest Posts / April 29, 2013

Coming May 14, 2013- Cleopatra’s Legacy Book 1- The Emerald Ring. A new action packed middle grade fantasy series from debut author, Dorine White. Read below for an excerpt not found in the published book! “Egypt- 30 BC The velvet pouch hurtled across the room. Its cords whipped behind it and tangled in the servant’s outstretched hands. Cleopatra’s tense voice rent the atmosphere. “Hurry, there’s not much time.” The horrified servant looked down at the lumpy sack resting in his palms. The queen continued, “I’m placing all my trust in you. Don’t let it fall into Roman hands.” The servant’s legs trembled. He knew his own life was worth nothing compared to the precious objects imparted to him. “I will not fail you.” The words fell from his lips in reverence. “Your legacy will be safe.” The queen paced the floor in determined strides. Her short black hair bobbed against a tan face. Her eyes met his. “On your life, see that it is! I’ll not allow Egypt conquered so easily.” He stuffed the precious bag into his linen tunic and left the royal bed chamber. Halfway down the hallway he abruptly stopped mid stride and quickly ducked…

Fun Facts Friday: Maud Hart Lovelace
Fun Facts Friday , Latest Posts / April 26, 2013

Maud Hart Lovelace (26 April, 1892 – 11 March, 1980) was an American author mostly noted for her Betsy – Tacy books. The Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award is presented in two categories, : grades 3–5 and grades 6–8. Children who have read at least three books in the relevant category cast a vote for their favorite. Some believe that Maud’s birthday was 25 April, and that what she believed until she was 50. However, she later discovered her birthday was actually 26 April. All fun facts were extracted from http://www.betsy-tacysociety.org Books by Maud Hart Lovelace Maud, an avid reader, started writing stories as soon as she could hold a pencil. Maud had to drop out of the University of Minnesota for health reasons. She went to California to recover and in the process sold her first story. The story was called Number Eight and Maud was paid $10 for it. After she finished the university, Maud went to Europe by herself (1914) to gather material. Maud incorporated the letters she wrote home in her books (written by Betsy). In early 1917 Maud got a job at the Wakefield Publicity Bureau to fill a position which Delos Lovelace left for…

Book Review: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani
5 Stars , Fiction , Latest Posts / April 25, 2013

Article first published as Book Review: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani on Blogcritics. About: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani is mystery novel taking place in Holon, Israel. The book has been translated from Hebrew and is one of the few police mysteries / procedural written in Israel. 304 pages Publisher: Harper Language: English ISBN-10: 0062195379 My rat­ing for The Missing File — 5 Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format Thoughts: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani (Facebook | Goodreads) caught me unprepared, I was expecting a good book but what I found was exceptional. The structure is fascinating and I could not find any glaring plot holes in the narrative. The book is not only a mystery, but a fascinating glimpse into day-to-day Israeli life and culture without the preaching or propaganda. Mr. Mishani does not underestimate his readers and wrote an intelligent, well built novel. The protagonist of the book, police Detective Avraham Avraham, is not your typical hero. He is a grey man living in a grey world. Avraham is a good, solid police officer who smokes too much , drinks occasionally, visits his parents but keeps them at a distance, a bit disorganized…

Guest Review: A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss
Guest Posts , Latest Posts / April 24, 2013

A Universe From Nothing is a non-fiction science book about the origins of the universe by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. Krauss is a phenomenally insightful writer that approaches this cosmological argument from a point of view that is accessible and digestible to someone with no prior experience of physics or astronomy. Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format* Some of the questions Krauss tackles in his book include where the universe came from, what came before it, what the future entails and why there is something instead of nothing. Krauss begins his tale diagnosing the origin of the universe from the Big Bang up to the Cosmological Microwave Background Radiation. In A Universe from Nothing, Krauss dismisses String Theory as he claims it provides an inadequate amount of scientific proof for success. In addition, Krauss has argued effectively in A Universe from Nothing that the origins and physics of the Universe do not require any supernatural deity or god. Krauss argues that “nothing” is unstable and eventually through quantum fluctuations a an immense period of inflation could occur which was the result of the Big Bang. Moreover, this is a book for anyone interested in learning more about cosmology in a way that…

Giveaway: The Lawyer’s Lawyer
Latest Posts / April 23, 2013

Yesterday I posted about James Sheehan’s book The Lawyer’s Lawyer. I have been given 3 (three) copies to give away so simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Give­away Give­away ends: April 30, 2013 US Ship­ping Addresses Only No PO Boxes Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked Congratulations: skkorman@, jtretin@, flyergal82@

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…

Guest Review: The Corellian Trilogy II: Assault at Selonia (Star Wars) by Roger MacBride Allen
Guest Posts , Latest Posts / April 20, 2013

Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2010/01/andrews-review-of-corellian-trilogy-vol.html 3/5 Rancors – Assault at Selonia, the second volume in Roger MacBride Allen’s Corellian Trilogy, picks up the pace considerably from the leisurely first book. The story opens with our heroes stuck in various predicaments. Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian have left the fringes of the interdiction field blocking all access to the Corellian system and are on their way back to Coruscant to report and formulate a strategy. Han Solo and Chief of State Leia Organa Solo are being held prisoner in separate facilities by Han’s treacherous cousin Thracken Sal-Solo. Han and Leia’s children have escaped along with Chewbacca and are on the run looking for a hiding hole. The New Republic is working to identify the true puppet masters behind the Corellian situation, on the theory that Thracken’s Human League and the other Corellian splinter groups simply don’t have the wherewithal to have put together such a large-scale conspiracy. There is quite a bit more action in Assault at Selonia than is found in its predecessor. The book opens with Thracken conducting an interrogation of Han followed by a forced fight pitting him against an intimidating Selonian named Dracmus. A great…

Fun Facts Friday: Richard Harding Davis
Fun Facts Friday , Latest Posts / April 19, 2013

Richard Harding Davis (18 April, 1864 – 11 April, 1916) wrote fiction as well as being a noted journalist and war correspondent. During his lifetime Mr. Davis was one of the most active and influential journalists in the country. Davis’ mother, Rebecca Harding Davis, was a prominent writer. During the 1890s Davis was already a well known writer, a reporter for The Sun and managing editor for Harper’s Weekly. Davis was the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and the First World War. Newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst commissioned Davis to cover the Cuban rebellion against Spain with illustrator Frederick Remington. Davis wrote to major stories that contributed greatly to the interest in the struggle of the Cubans. One was “The Death of Rodriguez” which described the execution of a young prisoner, the second about a strip search of a young woman. Hearst changed the second story, saying that the search has been done by male guard, as a result Davis resigned and never worked for Hearst again. During the Spanish-American War (1898) Davis was reporting from the U.S. Navy flagship New York. Reporting for Scribner’s Magazine, the New York Herald and the…

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