Article first published as Book Review: Fragments from Iraq by Zsolt T. Stockinger on Blogcritics. “[W]hen Allah created hell, it wasn’t terrible enough, so he made Iraq – and added flies.” Old Arab saying (page 81). About: Fragments from Iraq: Diary of a Navy Trauma Surgeon by Zsolt T. Stockinger is a non-fiction book which recounts the daily life of a trauma surgeon on the front line. The book is in diary format written by the doctor which seems as if he was talking to his wife. 255 pages Publisher: Mcfarland (May 3, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 078646951X My rating for Fragments From Iraq – 4 Buy this book in paper format Thoughts: Fragments from Iraq: Diary of a Navy Trauma Surgeon by Zsolt T. Stockinger relates the daily activities this front line trauma surgeon encountered in his base in Iraq. From the boring daily routine, to the military’s “hurry up and wait” mentality and to the serious injuries, whether from an IED, to local babies, self inflicted wounds and more. The diary is written in an informal style, but it seemed to me that it was edited and maybe sanitized to make it more palatable to a larger audience. Personally I see…
Welcome to another exciting edition of Tightwad Tuesday. Being that everyone … well, almost everyone, OK, some people have Olympic fever I figured I’ll have my cheap butt go out and found some fun and affordable books on the subject. I remember as a child that the Olympics were a really big deal. I lost interest as an adult and it seems that so did many other people. I can’t blame them due to NBC’s lackluster coverage (lots of hype, little content which is delayed by half a day). I think that it’s too bad, the Olympics are a wonderful event and full of spirit. Hope you enjoy. 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. Olympic Quiz Book – Interactive Book by James Jones The Olympic Games is a major international sport event which has both summer and winter sport. This event is happened every four years and millions of people are waiting for that. This interactive quiz ebook is made for sharing some stories about the…
When you play at it by day with the chairs and table-cloth, it is not in the least alarming, but in the two minutes before you go to sleep it becomes very real As I was watching the Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies I couldn’t help be impressed with the presentation, scope, audacity and vision of the program. While some of my friends didn’t care for the program I thought it was brilliant. The ceremony was not meant to glorify the Olympic Games but for the English to boast about their country, promote tourism and welcome nations while navigating the viewers and guests through exciting numbers which include history, culture and literature all set to a wonderfully rich soundtrack. It was heartwarming to see the program recognize the great contributions to literature which have come from England. Starting with J.K. Rowling reading a favored selection from Peter Pan mentioned above (and doing a beautiful job, by the way) to Danny Boyle, the director, including many children’s books in the segment. I recognized characters from Lord Voldemort – main villain in the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Mary Poppins – heroine of the books by P.L….
“Youth” is a story about two young boys on a farm who find and capture strange animals
While looking at covers for The First Men in the Moon, a science fiction story by H.G. Wells which I reviewed this week as part of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen challenge (did you join?), I was quite disappointed at what I found. Most of the covers depicted the same scene and many were unimaginative and boring. While I didn’t think the story was great, I do appreciate its innovation, imagination and the way it influenced many other authors. Also, I’m known for my love of pulp covers and from some reason I couldn’t find any for this book. It could be mainly because there are no women in the story and pulp art, after all, is known for buxom babes. Check out the covers below, let me know which ones you like best. To be honest, none of them strikes my fancy. If I had to pick one it would be either the lithograph or the original covers (first and second below).
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…