Yesterday I posted about H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi book The First Men in the Moon which I read because: a) I wanted to read it b) It’s a classic book c) It was for my League of Extraordinary Gentel-Man of la Book challenge which I highly recommend you join if you haven’t so far. It is not only a great challenge, but you’ll also be the life of the party and the envy of all your friends and enemies. More books by H. G. Wells 1 ) The book is considered a “scientific romance” (I have not idea what that means either) and was the first science fiction book Wells published in the 20th Century (1901). 2 ) C.S. Lewis publicly stated that The First Men in the Moon is “the best of the sort I have read”. He was talking about science fiction books. 3 ) The book is considered the first alien dystopia book and is created with creating a sub-genre of science fiction featuring intelligent social aliens who are insect like. 4 ) Dr. Cavor and his gravity defying material called Cavorite became major plot device in several other books by Wells and others. 5 ) Dr….

Article first published as Book Review: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells on Blogcritics. About: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells is another classic book by the famous English author written in 1901. At the time the novel was ridiculed, however it stood the test of time for over more than a Century. 176 pages Publisher: Dover Publications (December 18, 2000) Language: English ISBN-10: 0486414183 My rat­ing for The First Men in the Moon — 3 Buy this book paper or elec­tronic for­mat More books by H. G. Wells Part of the League of Extra­or­di­nary Gen­tle — Men of la — Book Chal­lenge (Vol. 1) Thoughts: The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells is a very imaginative book which, in the context of what we know now, is an amazing testament to Mr. Wells’ imagination, logic and foresight. In this book objects float in space, weightlessness is applicable, humans are able to cover large distances on the moon due to low gravity and spaceships generate an immense amount of heat returning to earth. The story also has several philosophical tones. The two main characters, Cavor and Bedford are at odds with one another…

Article first published as Book Review: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas on Blogcritics. About: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas is a detective novel taking place in Germany.Mr. Haas, a popular author in Germany, has recently had his first translated work published. 224 pages Publisher: Melville International Crime; Language: English ISBN-10: 1612191134 My rating for Brenner and God – 3 Buy this book in paper or electronic format More Books by Wolf Haas Thoughts: Brenner and God by Wolf Haas is an entertaining, yet wildly strange novel. The book is narrated by an unnamed person who has a wicked, dark and wry sense of humor – much like my own which is why I thought I’d enjoy the book more. The style of the novel is unwieldy and I never got used to it. I don’t know whether the style is that way because it’s meant to be that way or simply lost in translation – meaning the translation is fine, but the style simply doesn’t conform to the English reader. The narrator says things like “listen carefully”, “take note” etc. and reminds himself things retrospectively. The main character of Brenner walks around the novel, basically it seems just…

Please note: The prices for the post are cur­rent at the time of the post, please pay atten­tion to make sure they haven’t changed before purchase. Authors: If you’d like your book to be fea­tured on Tight­wad Tues­days please email me. A Medical Emergency, Major-General ‘Ginger’ Burston and the Army Medical Service in World War II by Ian Howie-Willis Australian soldiers and their American Allies won the land war against Japan in the Pacific islands because they were healthier than their enemies. The troops’ fighting spirit, their armaments, their naval and air support and their generals were certainly key ingredients in the Allied victory. Without good health, however, these other factors would have been nullified. Malaria, the great scourge of armies throughout history, threatened the health of the Allies and the Japanese alike. The army that could beat malaria would also defeat its military foe because troops shivering, sweating and shaking with malarial fever cannot shoot straight, let alone fight. In World War II the Allies eventually beat the Japanese — a victory based, to a large part, on the success of the Australian Army Medical Service in defeating malaria. Their Japanese counterpart never won this battle. Major-General ‘Ginger’ Burston led…

It has been two years since I started this blog. To be honest, I cannot believe it has been this long and that I actually kept up with it. Along with the many books I’ve read, I also met many friends and folks who are as enthusiastic about the written word as I am, and more. I’ve learned a few things a long the way as well. My biggest lesson this year was not to put all your eggs in one Google basket. What happened is absolutely my fault, I overstepped Google’s terms of agreement and they, promptly and without warning, disabled my Google account. That caused me a whole bunch of headaches, not to mention lost emails, Author Q&A’s, contacts, etc. But my ad sense account, Feedburner account, phone backup, Google reader, calendar and other services. What I learned though is well worth the price. I rarely use Google anymore. I do for some services, and if I have more than two services per account I open a new one, but mostly I found other, as good or better service. For example, I use bloglines as my my RSS reader and I’m much happier with it. I can already…

So far, this was the shortest part of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and also the least dramatic. This part, it seems to me, is a setup for things which are upcoming in the novel.

The part which I mostly enjoyed in this section is the wolf hunt. Tolstoy goes into the minds of the wolf as well as the hunting dogs and the reader gets to share their thoughts and excitement. The way the wolf hunt was written reminded me greatly of the great battle scenes earlier in the book.

Even though there has been criticism of Dr. Aldrin’s behavior in the past there is not a single person in the astronaut corps who has done more to promote space

Sara Blædel (web­site | Face­book | @sarablaedel) , the Danish author had her second book translated into English. Ms. Blædel, a fine writer has agreed to answer a few pesky question. Q. How did you come up with the character of Inspector Louise Rick? A. She simply appeared one day. I had been a publisher of crime novels for some time while at the same time working as a journalist. First came the question: What if (I could write a crime novel myself?). Then came Louise! Both she and side-kick Camilla Lind were at first based on some colleagues I had at a TV-station where I worked, because I wanted to create some distance between myself and my protagonists. Q.If I go to Copenhagen’s and the surrounding community to where you set your stories, can I use your books as guide books or many of the local places made up? A. Everything is exactly as I describe it! We could arrange a tour for Man of la Book and/or some of his readers! It’s important to me that the surroundings are recognizable to people who know them. At the same time I try hard to describe them in a way…

Article first published as Book Review: Only One Life by Sara Blædel on Blogcritics. About: Only One Life by Sara Blædel is a fictional mystery book set in Denmark. This is the second book translated into English in the series featuring Detective Louise Rick. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book— use the Raf­fle­copter form at the end of the post to enter. 352 pages Publisher: Pegasus Language: English ISBN-10: 1605983500 My rating for Only One Life – 4 Buy this book thru Amazon.com More Books by Sara Blædel Thoughts: Only One Life by Sara Blædel (website | Facebook | @sarablaedel) lives up to the previous novel, Call Me Princess, which I read about a year ago and enjoyed as well. The book is exciting and the characters are well written and continue to build up and expand from the previous book (even though I understand that there are more untranslated books). The book touches on some relevant topics, such as honor killing, social intolerance and sexual based crimes. The author explores these subjects, and more, without forcing her own morality or ideology down the readers’ throats, which is a big plus for me. I love to read about…

Daniel Sempere and his wife are content with life and baby. When a strange walks in the book shop and threatens to divulge a secret, their happiness subsides.