Article first published as Book Review: Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber by Dane Batty on Blogcritics. About: Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber: The True Story of Leslie Ibsen Rogge, One of the FBI’s Most Elusive Criminals by Dane Batty is a true-crime book about the criminal career of this elusive man. 218 pages Publisher: Nish Publishing Company Language: English ISBN-10: 0615268455 My Rating for Wanted – 3 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* Thoughts: Dane Batty (Facebook) wrote Wanted: Gentleman Bank Robber when he heard the stories his uncle, Leslie Ibsen Rogge, told or being told about him. As a young man Mr. Batty admired his uncle’s daring dues and it seems he does so to this day even though it seems the man will die in prison. This is a very entertaining and easy to read book, but with very little reflection, retrospect and analysis. There are stories of daring robberies and escape, but very little about the heavy price Mr. Rogge paid in personal freedom, family life and financial. The stories themselves are interesting but, as it is with many books of this type, it seems they were written to keep them in the family rather for the general populace. What…

Article first published as Book Review: Farewell to Freedom by Sara Blaedel on Blogcritics. About: Farewell to Freedom by Sara Blædel is a fictional book in a series featuring Copenhagen detective Louise Rick and her friend Camilla Lind, a reporter. This is the third novel translated to English written by the best selling Danish author. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 384 pages Publisher: Pegasus Language: English ISBN-10: 1605984531 My rating for Farewell to Freedom – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* More Books by Sara Blædel Thoughts: Farewell to Freedom by Sara Blædel (web­site | Face­book | @sarablaedel) is darker than the previous books I read in the series. Previously Ms. Blædel explored drugs, honor killings, online dating and more. This time however the author turns her sights on prostitution and trafficking women. The book is very well written and it seemed to me that the author has upped a notch her research and storytelling. I was surprised that instead of writing fallacies and inaccuracies, as many others do, Ms. Blædel examined the issues objectively and inserted them into her novel. For example, the point that few prostitutes are…

Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or elec­tronic copy* Andrew: Orig­i­nally pub­lished at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2008/12/andrews-review-of-courtship-of-princess.html 3/5 Rancors – Dave Wolverton’s The Courtship of Princess Leiawas one of the first books published by Bantam Spectra after the resounding success of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy in the early 1990’s. As such, it has the exciting, adventurous, and sometimes plain wacky feeling that a lot of the early books had (especially before the advent of the prequel films and the onslaught of stories about Jedi, Sith, and clone troopers). It is an enjoyable romp of a story with some very puzzling characterizations. The setting is four years after the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Princess Leia and Han Solo have been involved over this period but are still not in a fully committed relationship. Han has spent the prior five months commanding a task force hunting Warlord Zsinj and his Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist: the tale of his search is ably documented by Aaron Allston in the fifth through seventh novels of the superb X-wing series. Leia has been attempting to kickstart diplomatic relations between the New Republic and the secretive Hapan Cluster, an alliance of sixty-three wealthy and…

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who is more famous under his nom de plume – Mark Twain – was born today in 30 November, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. Twain was an interesting man, a talented writer / author, a keen observer of life and a possessed a biting sense of humor.

There is much information about the war and a lot to digest. Mr. Fitz-Enz did the reader a favor by presenting his analysis in a series of short biographical chapters about key personnel in the war. Some of the key figures were competent, some simply looked for their own advancement, others took on responsibilities which they were not qualified for and caused disaster.

I’m not much of a science fiction reader, I used to love the genre, and maybe will again. As a former fan I still do appreciate the genre and when I saw these books, available for this week only for $2.99 I thought others would like to know about them. These title range from hard core sci-fi, to magic to urban fantasy. At the time of this post, the books below were free or $2.99 — please check before downloading. Nightshifted (An Edie Spence Novel) by Cassie Alexander From debut author Cassie Alexander comes a spectacular new urban fantasy series where working the nightshift can be a real nightmare. Nothing compares to being Nightshifted. Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond… Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her…

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson is a novel following a man who was a CIA asset in al Qaeda.

Disclaimer: I bought this kit and this is not a paid post. Last year we bought our daughter (7) probably one of the best Christmas / Hanukah gifts we could – the IlluStory story kit. Just so you understand, our daughter is hard to shop for – she’s not “into” anything except those idiotic Disney shows (“Suite Life on Deck” etc. which she is too young to watch) and doesn’t really play with toys. Sure, she likes the “idea” of toys but let’s face it – girl toys are crap, they break right out of the box and twice as expensive as boy toys (which last for years). After the initial jubilation of receiving a toy it usually gets put in storage until donated several months later. Last year, after the annual fight of “no one needs this much shit” (me) versus “it’s a holiday you grumpy old fart” (my wife) we sat down to search for presents we can get her which: 1) she’s going to like 2) she can do by herself 3) we’ll be somewhat educational 4) be something she’s not going to put away in half an hour 5) extra points if it’s somewhat educational I…

Today is the birthday of Romanian poet and translator Paul Celan (23 November 1920 – abt. 20 April 1970) . Born into a Jewish family in Romania (Ukraine) . Celan was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize in 1958 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 1960. 1 ) Celan was born as Paul Antschel but changed his name to Celan (pronounced Chelan). 2 ) Celan’s father was a Zionist and insisted his son learn Hebrew. Celan’s mother loved German literature and insisted that German will be spoken in the house. Paul Celan abandoned Zionism after his Bar-Mitzvah but finished his Hebrew education. 3 ) During World War II Celan and his parents were deported into a ghetto on October 1941. Celan kept busy but translating Shakespeare’s Sonnets and writing his own poetry. In the Ghetto Celan was exposed t traditional Yidish songs and culture. When the ghetto was dissolved Celan was working as a forced laborer clearing debris and destroying Russian books. 4 ) Celan tried to convince his parents to leave Bukovina, but they refused. One night Celan was so mad he slept at a friend’s house. That night, 21 June, his parents were deported to an interment camp in…

Thank you all for visiting my blog, you make everyday bright with your comments and support. For the hubby who puts on his plaid shirt while watching reality “manly” shows : And Now We Shall Do Manly Things by Craig J. Heimbuch For the friendly neighborhood geek who loves stuff that you don’t understand, want nothing to do with and already has everything: Tarzan The Centennial Celebration by Scott Tracy Griffin For the music lover who insists that books are “lame”: Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap Stories For the trivia lover that can name all James Bond movies in order when woken up from sound sleep at 3 AM: The Music of James Bond by Jon Burlingame For the father who secretly wanted to be a history teacher and practices the profession during dinner: The Liberator by Alex Kershaw For the wife of father above who can’t stand history books but wants to be able to prove her husband wrong at some point: Princess Elizabeth’s Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal For the musical fanatic who is forced to switch his t-shirt and jeans in order to wear a suite to the office: Conversations with Jimmy Page by Brad Tolinski For your…