About: Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner is a western novel taking place in 1837 This is Mr. Lautner’s debut novel. The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post. 256 pages Publisher: Touchstone Language: English ISBN-10: 1476731632 My rating for Road to Reckoning – 4 Buy this book in paper or in elec­tronic format* Thoughts: Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner is the story of Thomas Walker, a 12 year old boy who is caught between world’s, is not a boy and not a man, and he doesn’t get to decide which one. The boy, still vulnerable, wants to be a macho man but is not match for the shysters and rough men he meets. The book is dark, violent but also very enjoyable. The characters are complex, interesting and engaging, the story is very good and, due to the dark nature of the book, I didn’t know if it will have a happy end or not. One of the most interesting aspects of the novel, for me, was the relations of the elder Thomas with his dead father, since the story is told in hindsight by an older Thomas…

The book is a fascinating chapter in American history showing how a fringe group can take the ideals this nation was founded on and manipulate them for their own purposes

Jour­nal­ist McKenna Wright is writ­ing a fluff piece when she thinks she saw an old friend who dis­ap­peared ten years ago with­out a trace. Using her con­nec­tions as a for­mer pros­e­cu­tor and her investigator’s instincts, McKenna pur­sues the mat­ter in a search across New York City and finds long buried, dark secrets of those she loves the most.

Tomomi “But­ter­fly” Ishikawa com­mit­ted sui­cide but left her best friend, Ben­jamin Con­sta­ble, a trail of clues which lead him from Paris to New York and back – the cities she called “home”. Ben is search­ing for jour­nals and notes left specif­i­cally for him.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is a novel taking place in New York, 1899. The story weaves two mythical creature from two different cultures to create a different kind of story altogether.

The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book -to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post.

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…

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…

Pulitzer prize winning American author Willa Cather (7 December, 1873 – 24, April, 1947) s associated with the pioneer spirit, she lived most of her life in NYC

Article first published as Book Review: Michael Douglas: A Biography by Marc Eliot on Blogcritics About: Michael Douglas by Marc Eliot is a biography of the famous actor/producer. Mr. Douglas is an award winning actor and producer who had his share of ups and downs yet always managed to capture attention. 352 pages Publisher: Crown Archetype (September 18, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0307952363 My rating for Michael Douglas: A Biography – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format* More Books by Mark Eliot Thoughts: Michael Douglas by Marc Eliot (website) highlights the accomplishments in Mr. Douglas’ professional and personal career as well as what influenced and drove the man to achieve such levels of height and fame. Mr. Eliot concentrates on Douglas’ competitive nature as well as his relationship with his parents, especially his famous father. The relationship between Michael and Kirk Douglas is the cornerstone of this book. The author even encompasses a mini-biography of Kirk Douglas, from his defining childhood as a son to Jewish Russian immigrants and his success as a movie star to his recent stroke. Once the reader understands Kirk, we can understand Michael and the love/hate relationship which defined much of young…

Article first published as Book Review: Black Fridays by Michael Sears on Blogcritics. About: Black Fridays by Michael Sears is a novel which capitalizes on the author’s Wall Street experience providing interesting insights on financials capers. This is a first book by Mr. Sears and seems to be the first of a series. 352 pages Publisher: Putnam Adult Language: English ISBN-10: 0399158669 My rating for Black Fridays – 4 Buy this book in paper or electronic format Thoughts: Black Fridays by Michael Sears (website | Facebook) is a novel about financial schemes, murder and greed but mostly about the meaning of fatherhood. While I couldn’t begin to understand the complexity of the scam which Jason Stafford, the protagonist, pulled over his Wall Street bosses, I liked the other aspects of this book. Jason has a son which he is fighting for. After spending a couple of years in jail Jason certainly wasn’t up for the “Father of the Year” award, but neither was his white trash ex-wife, her fixation with abusive men and her way of dealing with autism (locking the kid in a room at his grandmother’s house so he won’t hurt himself). I enjoyed the financial aspect of the book and the…