5★ “A month is too long to talk online. In the time we have been talking, my imagination has run wild. Based on his liberal use of the semicolon, I jus5★ “A month is too long to talk online. In the time we have been talking, my imagination has run wild. Based on his liberal use of the semicolon, I just assumed this date would go well. But everything is different IRL.”
You think? This is an excerpt from Luster by Raven Leilani. A black English girl, 23, flirts online with a white married man twice her age, and they do meet In Real Life in the sample provided by Buzz Books. I always enjoy these samplers. Fiction, non-fiction, debuts, Young Adult, plenty of choice. I read some, skim some, skip some. No matter what, I always find something I really want to read.
My favourite this time is an Irish debut, The Ghost Factory by Jenny McCartney, told in the first person by a boy from Belfast. He describes an uncle.
“He was a tame man, really. Any rebellious sinews in him had long ago been replaced with a convenient machine-washable stuffing.”
His father: “You could relax in the expanses of Big Jacky’s silence. It was the mental equivalent of an endless highway stretching out of sight, carrying within it peace and possibility.”
I loved the whole thing and wish I could have kept reading!
A very different book is Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy about a woman who is tracking the fast-disappearing arctic terns. She's put bands on three, and I left her cajoling fisherman into taking her to sea with them by promising the terns will show them where they can still find fish (also fast-disappearing). I can see some interesting relationships developing in this one, and it's also a topical story.
The Last Flight by Julie Clark promises to be a real page-turner. It's about two women switching identities, but one misstep, and it's curtains for someone! A good plot and it seems well-written, too.
The Book of V. by Anna Solomon shows second wife Lily dealing with constant comparisons to her husband's first wife, Vira, who didn't want children. He and Lily have two children, and Lily is struggling in her mind to compete with what she imagines Vira's life is like now. Could be a good one.
“Because Gloria Ramírez might not know much on this morning, February 15, 1976, but she knows this: if he hadn’t passed out before he sobered up enough to find his gun or get his hands around her throat, she would already be dead.”
Odessa, Texas, 1976, the wee hours of the morning after Valentine's. Gloria, 14, had been hanging around bored and took a ride in a truck with an oil-worker for something to do. Now she’s stranded in the desert while he’s asleep (maybe?) propped up next to his truck with his gun handy. Can she get to the farmhouse she sees off in the distance?
“Every day that I am in here, is a day that puts them at risk, for unpaid debts can mean a death sentence in my country. This is the reality for nearly every migrant from Central America who flees to the United States.”
She and the other women being held in cells rely a lot on prayer. She has a dream while in detention.
“Then, I turned to the back of the Bible, where there are blank pages for notes, and I wrote the dream down. I knew immediately what I had to do. I had to let go. I had to be a believer who has great faith. I had to be someone who gives without asking. I had to surrender fully to God, to stop asking for what I want. I had to say, simply, ‘God, let Thy will be done.’”
I’m a great fan of American Dirt, which caused a lot of controversy about a white woman telling the story of a Mexican migrant woman fleeing from a cartel boss to the U.S. I will be interested to see if Rosy’s own story will have as much impact as the Lydia’s fictional one. Link to my review of "American Dirt"
Another story of an undocumented family in the States is The Son of Good Fortune, the debut novel of Lysley Tenorio who has won awards for his short fiction. Here we have a Filipino mother who makes her living scamming men on the internet (convinced she is still overseas and needs airfare to the U.S. to meet them). Her teen-aged son, Excel, has apparently left home and returned more than once, but this time he's determined to get out. Interesting premise and the writing makes me want to read more.
It concerns me that we are headed to George Orwell's famous Nineteen Eighty-Four where history is erased in the Ministry of Truth and replaced by whatever Big Brother would like history to look like now. I'm happy to listen to Yunkaporta's opinions in spite of his 'apology' for not having a full traditional education in the law and the lore.
“. . . in fact, I’m uninitiated, which means that at the age of forty-seven I still only have the cultural knowledge and status of a fourteen-year-old boy. A swimming pool was built on the initiation ground back home, so those rites of passage don’t happen anymore.”
I’ve just grabbed a few that caught my eye, but there are heaps more, so grab a copy of this issue. They are free from their website. http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Many are available for NetGalley reviewers to request (no guarantees), and many already have some reviews on Goodreads already to help you decide.
So many books, so little time!
Merged review:
5★ “A month is too long to talk online. In the time we have been talking, my imagination has run wild. Based on his liberal use of the semicolon, I just assumed this date would go well. But everything is different IRL.”
You think? This is an excerpt from Luster by Raven Leilani. A black English girl, 23, flirts online with a white married man twice her age, and they do meet In Real Life in the sample provided by Buzz Books. I always enjoy these samplers. Fiction, non-fiction, debuts, Young Adult, plenty of choice. I read some, skim some, skip some. No matter what, I always find something I really want to read.
My favourite this time is an Irish debut, The Ghost Factory by Jenny McCartney, told in the first person by a boy from Belfast. He describes an uncle.
“He was a tame man, really. Any rebellious sinews in him had long ago been replaced with a convenient machine-washable stuffing.”
His father: “You could relax in the expanses of Big Jacky’s silence. It was the mental equivalent of an endless highway stretching out of sight, carrying within it peace and possibility.”
I loved the whole thing and wish I could have kept reading!
A very different book is Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy about a woman who is tracking the fast-disappearing arctic terns. She's put bands on three, and I left her cajoling fisherman into taking her to sea with them by promising the terns will show them where they can still find fish (also fast-disappearing). I can see some interesting relationships developing in this one, and it's also a topical story.
The Last Flight by Julie Clark promises to be a real page-turner. It's about two women switching identities, but one misstep, and it's curtains for someone! A good plot and it seems well-written, too.
The Book of V. by Anna Solomon shows second wife Lily dealing with constant comparisons to her husband's first wife, Vira, who didn't want children. He and Lily have two children, and Lily is struggling in her mind to compete with what she imagines Vira's life is like now. Could be a good one.
“Because Gloria Ramírez might not know much on this morning, February 15, 1976, but she knows this: if he hadn’t passed out before he sobered up enough to find his gun or get his hands around her throat, she would already be dead.”
Odessa, Texas, 1976, the wee hours of the morning after Valentine's. Gloria, 14, had been hanging around bored and took a ride in a truck with an oil-worker for something to do. Now she’s stranded in the desert while he’s asleep (maybe?) propped up next to his truck with his gun handy. Can she get to the farmhouse she sees off in the distance?
“Every day that I am in here, is a day that puts them at risk, for unpaid debts can mean a death sentence in my country. This is the reality for nearly every migrant from Central America who flees to the United States.”
She and the other women being held in cells rely a lot on prayer. She has a dream while in detention.
“Then, I turned to the back of the Bible, where there are blank pages for notes, and I wrote the dream down. I knew immediately what I had to do. I had to let go. I had to be a believer who has great faith. I had to be someone who gives without asking. I had to surrender fully to God, to stop asking for what I want. I had to say, simply, ‘God, let Thy will be done.’”
I’m a great fan of American Dirt, which caused a lot of controversy about a white woman telling the story of a Mexican migrant woman fleeing from a cartel boss to the U.S. I will be interested to see if Rosy’s own story will have as much impact as the Lydia’s fictional one. Link to my review of "American Dirt"
Another story of an undocumented family in the States is The Son of Good Fortune, the debut novel of Lysley Tenorio who has won awards for his short fiction. Here we have a Filipino mother who makes her living scamming men on the internet (convinced she is still overseas and needs airfare to the U.S. to meet them). Her teen-aged son, Excel, has apparently left home and returned more than once, but this time he's determined to get out. Interesting premise and the writing makes me want to read more.
It concerns me that we are headed to George Orwell's famous Nineteen Eighty-Four where history is erased in the Ministry of Truth and replaced by whatever Big Brother would like history to look like now. I'm happy to listen to Yunkaporta's opinions in spite of his 'apology' for not having a full traditional education in the law and the lore.
“. . . in fact, I’m uninitiated, which means that at the age of forty-seven I still only have the cultural knowledge and status of a fourteen-year-old boy. A swimming pool was built on the initiation ground back home, so those rites of passage don’t happen anymore.”
I’ve just grabbed a few that caught my eye, but there are heaps more, so grab a copy of this issue. They are free from their website. http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Many are available for NetGalley reviewers to request (no guarantees), and many already have some reviews on Goodreads already to help you decide.
4★ “I am in my old bedroom. It has been converted to a guest room, and I have been converted to a guest.”
A son, helping to look after his wheelchair-bo4★ “I am in my old bedroom. It has been converted to a guest room, and I have been converted to a guest.”
A son, helping to look after his wheelchair-bound dad, muses about his childhood, about his dad’s whistle-blowing notoriety, and about his own reputation as a writer. The thing he's most famous for is a rather scathing memoir about his father. Awkward? But now he's remembering when he was a kid.
I always enjoy reading about young boys, all elbows and knees and angles.
“What a mess you are at eleven: pimpled, sweaty, peach fuzzed, pulled in so many different directions it’s amazing you can walk straight. Father Carlson’s students have that Frankenstein look of being assembled from different limbs that don’t quite fit or work together. The good news is that adolescence is a disorder whose physical effects are invariably treated by time. Emotionally and psychologically, it is, for some, incurable.”
He's asked to speak at his old school and notes
“If you want your children to believe they can change the fallen world, send them to a Quaker school. If you want to change your children to survive the world as it is, Catholicism has you covered.”
Marra actually covers a lot of ground in a very few words, which not everyone can do. I like the way this story resolves and must finally read some of his longer, well-known works.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories.
Merged review:
4★ “I am in my old bedroom. It has been converted to a guest room, and I have been converted to a guest.”
A son, helping to look after his wheelchair-bound dad, muses about his childhood, about his dad’s whistle-blowing notoriety, and about his own reputation as a writer. The thing he's most famous for is a rather scathing memoir about his father. Awkward? But now he's remembering when he was a kid.
I always enjoy reading about young boys, all elbows and knees and angles.
“What a mess you are at eleven: pimpled, sweaty, peach fuzzed, pulled in so many different directions it’s amazing you can walk straight. Father Carlson’s students have that Frankenstein look of being assembled from different limbs that don’t quite fit or work together. The good news is that adolescence is a disorder whose physical effects are invariably treated by time. Emotionally and psychologically, it is, for some, incurable.”
He's asked to speak at his old school and notes
“If you want your children to believe they can change the fallen world, send them to a Quaker school. If you want to change your children to survive the world as it is, Catholicism has you covered.”
Marra actually covers a lot of ground in a very few words, which not everyone can do. I like the way this story resolves and must finally read some of his longer, well-known works.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories....more
4.5★ “It was after a particularly fierce row over some obscure political point, that Rowland had retreated to Sydney and Woodlands in a bid escape the 4.5★ “It was after a particularly fierce row over some obscure political point, that Rowland had retreated to Sydney and Woodlands in a bid escape the straightjacket of propriety and responsibility that came with being a Sinclair.”
What a lot of fun Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair and his friends are! Of course, one is never too certain who is on whose side, as evidenced by the quote above, where Rowly (as he’s known) is often at odds with big brother Wilfred, who is a staunch conservative.
This is the prequel to The Rowland Sinclair mystery series, of which I’ve read only the first couple, but I’m hooked. Rowly actually isn’t particularly political – which is his point – but after returning to Sydney from his studies at Oxford, he’s talked into going to art school, where he makes some colourful friends, some of whom are very political. Very, as in ducking out of the way when spotting a police uniform somewhere. They are well-known, outspoken, card-carrying Communists! Most importantly, he meets Edna, Ed, the sculptress, our beautiful, independent heroine, who captures the hearts of all men, including Rowly.
Each chapter opens with an excerpt from a newspaper of the day, which gives an added layer of authenticity. I actually looked up the one that introduces the first chapter, and yes, it’s real. Here are the first couple of sentences.
“The greatest disaster that has ever occurred on Sydney Harbour took place yesterday afternoon about 4.30 o’clock, when the Union Steamship Company’s R.M.S. Tahiti rammed and sank the Sydney Ferry Company’s steamer Greycliffe, off Bradley’s Head. The accident was accompanied by appalling loss of life. . . . The Sydney Morning Herald, 1927”
Rowly has moved into the family’s Sydney home (mansion), where housekeeper Mary Brown, who’s known him since he was born, disapproves of the disreputable-looking lot of friends he’s attracted, and tries to maintain some control. His uncle Rowland, on the other hand, has a different view. When Rowly describes the students, Uncle Rowland smiles.
“‘A louche, disreputable lot, of whom your brother would most strenuously disapprove, I expect.’
‘Somewhat.’
The elder Rowland Sinclair grinned broadly. ‘Well done, my boy, well done. I must admit I had begun to fear that your blasted British education had beaten the adventure out of you.’
‘Not quite, Uncle.’
‘Well then, I am delighted with your decision to take up the brush. For one thing you seem to be moving with a more interesting crowd.’
He lit his pipe, and pointed at Rowland with it. ‘You and I, my boy, are younger sons. We have the privilege—nay the responsibility—to visit as much scandal upon the family name as possible.’”
While Rowly never intended to visit scandal upon the family name or buck the system, he finds himself agreeing with his uncle – these artists are indeed a much more interesting crowd.
Good fun and good history. I love the way the author blends the real people, like William Dobell and the politicians of the day, with our cast of characters. I’m fond of them all, and it’s a delightful way to learn a bit about Australia between the wars.
This one is free on Amazon (Kindle), so pick it up and get hooked!
Merged review:
4.5★ “It was after a particularly fierce row over some obscure political point, that Rowland had retreated to Sydney and Woodlands in a bid escape the straightjacket of propriety and responsibility that came with being a Sinclair.”
What a lot of fun Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair and his friends are! Of course, one is never too certain who is on whose side, as evidenced by the quote above, where Rowly (as he’s known) is often at odds with big brother Wilfred, who is a staunch conservative.
This is the prequel to The Rowland Sinclair mystery series, of which I’ve read only the first couple, but I’m hooked. Rowly actually isn’t particularly political – which is his point – but after returning to Sydney from his studies at Oxford, he’s talked into going to art school, where he makes some colourful friends, some of whom are very political. Very, as in ducking out of the way when spotting a police uniform somewhere. They are well-known, outspoken, card-carrying Communists! Most importantly, he meets Edna, Ed, the sculptress, our beautiful, independent heroine, who captures the hearts of all men, including Rowly.
Each chapter opens with an excerpt from a newspaper of the day, which gives an added layer of authenticity. I actually looked up the one that introduces the first chapter, and yes, it’s real. Here are the first couple of sentences.
“The greatest disaster that has ever occurred on Sydney Harbour took place yesterday afternoon about 4.30 o’clock, when the Union Steamship Company’s R.M.S. Tahiti rammed and sank the Sydney Ferry Company’s steamer Greycliffe, off Bradley’s Head. The accident was accompanied by appalling loss of life. . . . The Sydney Morning Herald, 1927”
Rowly has moved into the family’s Sydney home (mansion), where housekeeper Mary Brown, who’s known him since he was born, disapproves of the disreputable-looking lot of friends he’s attracted, and tries to maintain some control. His uncle Rowland, on the other hand, has a different view. When Rowly describes the students, Uncle Rowland smiles.
“‘A louche, disreputable lot, of whom your brother would most strenuously disapprove, I expect.’
‘Somewhat.’
The elder Rowland Sinclair grinned broadly. ‘Well done, my boy, well done. I must admit I had begun to fear that your blasted British education had beaten the adventure out of you.’
‘Not quite, Uncle.’
‘Well then, I am delighted with your decision to take up the brush. For one thing you seem to be moving with a more interesting crowd.’
He lit his pipe, and pointed at Rowland with it. ‘You and I, my boy, are younger sons. We have the privilege—nay the responsibility—to visit as much scandal upon the family name as possible.’”
While Rowly never intended to visit scandal upon the family name or buck the system, he finds himself agreeing with his uncle – these artists are indeed a much more interesting crowd.
Good fun and good history. I love the way the author blends the real people, like William Dobell and the politicians of the day, with our cast of characters. I’m fond of them all, and it’s a delightful way to learn a bit about Australia between the wars.
This one is free on Amazon (Kindle), so pick it up and get hooked!...more
4.5★ “The local memory was a powerful tool, an instrument so sensitive it recalled events that hadn’t actually occurred.”
Ain’t that the truth? A woman 4.5★ “The local memory was a powerful tool, an instrument so sensitive it recalled events that hadn’t actually occurred.”
Ain’t that the truth? A woman has died. A wife. A wife whom nobody ever saw. Her husband was the local TV repairman who could fix anything Zenith ever built.
How Harold Pardee ever found a wife and got married, nobody understood – or perhaps believed. Nobody ever saw her.
If she did exist, maybe she was a captive! Ever think of that?
“Rumors waxed and waned like biblical plagues.”
And how did she die? Let's ask the paramedics what they saw when attended the scene. Fine, but they don't agree (no iPhone photos back then).
So we haven't even got reliable witnesses for after the fact. Police will have to assume - what? Oh, they'll think of something. Maybe look for clues. Of course!
The police get involved, an inexperienced young lawyer gets involved, and it starts to seem like the rumour factory is right.
Great story that doesn’t go where you think it will, but it does go where it should. Another satisfying outcome.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories.
Merged review:
4.5★ “The local memory was a powerful tool, an instrument so sensitive it recalled events that hadn’t actually occurred.”
Ain’t that the truth? A woman has died. A wife. A wife whom nobody ever saw. Her husband was the local TV repairman who could fix anything Zenith ever built.
How Harold Pardee ever found a wife and got married, nobody understood – or perhaps believed. Nobody ever saw her.
If she did exist, maybe she was a captive! Ever think of that?
“Rumors waxed and waned like biblical plagues.”
And how did she die? Let's ask the paramedics what they saw when attended the scene. Fine, but they don't agree (no iPhone photos back then).
So we haven't even got reliable witnesses for after the fact. Police will have to assume - what? Oh, they'll think of something. Maybe look for clues. Of course!
The police get involved, an inexperienced young lawyer gets involved, and it starts to seem like the rumour factory is right.
Great story that doesn’t go where you think it will, but it does go where it should. Another satisfying outcome.
Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. This is one of five (so far?) stories from the collection called ‘Inheritance’ from Amazon Original Stories....more
5★ The Publishers Lunch Buzz Books are always fun. There's fiction from several genres as well as non-fiction. Each excerpt has a good summary of the w5★ The Publishers Lunch Buzz Books are always fun. There's fiction from several genres as well as non-fiction. Each excerpt has a good summary of the work and some background information about the author to give a fair idea of whether or not this might interest you.
This edition is for books due to be published roughly between September 2018 and February 2019 (the dates I remember seeing - I haven't checked each one).
If the books are available on NetGalley for review, there is a direct link to click to request the book from a Kindle.
There are many Buzz Books publications for various seasons, genres, months - and they're all Read Now on NetGalley or on the Publishers Lunch website.
I got mine from NetGalley, (so thanks, NetGalley), but if you'd like to read one yourself and aren't a NetGalley reader, find a free download here: http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Enjoy whetting your appetite!
Merged review:
5★ The Publishers Lunch Buzz Books are always fun. There's fiction from several genres as well as non-fiction. Each excerpt has a good summary of the work and some background information about the author to give a fair idea of whether or not this might interest you.
This edition is for books due to be published roughly between September 2018 and February 2019 (the dates I remember seeing - I haven't checked each one).
If the books are available on NetGalley for review, there is a direct link to click to request the book from a Kindle.
There are many Buzz Books publications for various seasons, genres, months - and they're all Read Now on NetGalley or on the Publishers Lunch website.
I got mine from NetGalley, (so thanks, NetGalley), but if you'd like to read one yourself and aren't a NetGalley reader, find a free download here: http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
ARGH!*@! I hate it! I keep telling myself I won’t fall for these insidious publications again, but Publishe5★ “You’ve just read an excerpt from . . . “
ARGH!*@! I hate it! I keep telling myself I won’t fall for these insidious publications again, but Publishers Lunch keeps making previews freely available, and I can’t resist. They have so many previews of all kinds of interesting books that I keep adding to my great mountain of books To Be Read!
I didn’t count how many are in this particular volume which covers Fiction and Non-fiction and debuts. I have my eye on a few that looked interesting. You may recognise favourite authors here, but I'll just mention a few books that caught my reluctant eye.
Roar by Cecelia Ahern has three of the stories in her book of 30 stories of women. I liked these three, but I have no idea what the rest are like.
[image]
=========
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake is another that had an interesting chapter with a startling ending. The blurb says it follows three generations of a powerful American family that used to run the world.
[image]
=========
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is the debut novel of Juliet Grames, about a pair of elderly Italian sisters who aren't speaking to each other. The premise doesn't sound nearly as interesting as the chapter I read would suggest. I'm afraid the title may suffer because of similar titles that are out now, but that shouldn't detract from the story. I enjoyed what I read.
[image]
==========
Another quirky debut is Ellie and the Harpmaker by harpist Hazel Prior, who doubtless knows her harps. The excerpt here features a bored wife, walking in the woods and finding an unusual man in a barn filled with harps he's made. Good reading, I hope.
[image]
==========
I really enjoyed what I read of How Not to Die Alone, a debut by Richard Roper, who was inspired, he says, by an article he read about a guy whose job it was to track down any kin of people who had died alone. The chapter included is the protagonist "representing the family" (whom nobody's found) at the funeral of a man who died alone. It shouldn't be a funny situation, but it is. The publisher refers to fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine as the sort of readers who might enjoy this.
[image]
==========
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is poetically horrendous! I may have to read it because it's so compelling. Vuong is a poet, but this is a debut novel, and the combination of poetic language and a macabre scene in Vietnam introducing a character is sort of can't-look-away awful. But also awfully good.
[image]
==========
Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the preview. Buzz Books are all Read Now on NetGalley, or available to all free at http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
There are editions for Romance, Young Adult, etc.
Merged review:
5★ “You’ve just read an excerpt from . . . “
ARGH!*@! I hate it! I keep telling myself I won’t fall for these insidious publications again, but Publishers Lunch keeps making previews freely available, and I can’t resist. They have so many previews of all kinds of interesting books that I keep adding to my great mountain of books To Be Read!
I didn’t count how many are in this particular volume which covers Fiction and Non-fiction and debuts. I have my eye on a few that looked interesting. You may recognise favourite authors here, but I'll just mention a few books that caught my reluctant eye.
Roar by Cecelia Ahern has three of the stories in her book of 30 stories of women. I liked these three, but I have no idea what the rest are like.
[image]
=========
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake is another that had an interesting chapter with a startling ending. The blurb says it follows three generations of a powerful American family that used to run the world.
[image]
=========
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is the debut novel of Juliet Grames, about a pair of elderly Italian sisters who aren't speaking to each other. The premise doesn't sound nearly as interesting as the chapter I read would suggest. I'm afraid the title may suffer because of similar titles that are out now, but that shouldn't detract from the story. I enjoyed what I read.
[image]
==========
Another quirky debut is Ellie and the Harpmaker by harpist Hazel Prior, who doubtless knows her harps. The excerpt here features a bored wife, walking in the woods and finding an unusual man in a barn filled with harps he's made. Good reading, I hope.
[image]
==========
I really enjoyed what I read of How Not to Die Alone, a debut by Richard Roper, who was inspired, he says, by an article he read about a guy whose job it was to track down any kin of people who had died alone. The chapter included is the protagonist "representing the family" (whom nobody's found) at the funeral of a man who died alone. It shouldn't be a funny situation, but it is. The publisher refers to fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine as the sort of readers who might enjoy this.
[image]
==========
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is poetically horrendous! I may have to read it because it's so compelling. Vuong is a poet, but this is a debut novel, and the combination of poetic language and a macabre scene in Vietnam introducing a character is sort of can't-look-away awful. But also awfully good.
[image]
==========
Thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for the preview. Buzz Books are all Read Now on NetGalley, or available to all free at http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
There are editions for Romance, Young Adult, etc....more
Want to know what’s making a noise in publishi5★ UPDATE: You can download a Buzz Books publication for free here: http://buzz.publishersmarketplace.com/
Want to know what’s making a noise in publishing? Check out the Buzz Books editions when they’re released. Heaps of excerpts from fiction by established authors to debut fiction as well as plenty of non-fiction selections.
Each piece has an introduction with a summary or publisher’s blurb with a basic description of the book followed by the excerpt itself, which can be anything from a few pages to a lengthy chapter. The better you’re hooked, the more likely you are to look for it, of course! Some have a direct link to NetGalley to which you can connect from a Kindle to make a request, although I find it a lot easier to do online.
There were several books that appealed to me, and many have been reviewed on Goodreads already. I'll leave you to find the blurbs there. Here are a couple by established authors.
” Naomi always began by learning to love the world where the child went missing. It was like carefully unraveling a twisted ball of yarn . . . each missing place was a portal.”
Then there is the debut fiction offering. Many looked good – here are a few I will look for. Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo has already been nominated for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in the UK, so I’ve added that to my reading list.
A.F. Brady's book The Blind looks intriguing. A psychologist who treats patients nobody else will deal with comes up against a mysterious case, and it looks like gets pretty scary. Gary, who is assigned as her partner, reckons he will get this uncooperative, non-talking, ex-con mental patient to confide in him because he's going to "talk to him like a man." Says it's not rocket science, but Sam wouldn't understand because she's not a man. Looks to me like Gary's riding for a fall.
And I liked the introductory chapter to The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, which begins with a woman watching across the street as a wife welcomes a contractor into her house and into her bedroom after her husband leaves for work. The woman pervs on them a while and then sees the husband return home for something he’s forgotten. But like a good nature photographer (or journalist?) she can’t interfere, just observe. She goes back and forth as the deceitful couple disrobe, piece by piece, and as the husband gets closer to the front door, step by step . . .
And I can’t resist Bill McKibben's debut novel Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance. Bill is widely known for his non-fiction environmental books and articles and his founding of 350.org. I think his first fiction is going to fit in nicely and may attract a whole new audience.
The opening chapter has local activists arranging the detour of a Coors beer truck so they can temporarily hijack it and swap the “imported” beer with local brews to promote local goods. Mind you, they’ve made the driver a lovely picnic lunch to keep him happy while they let down his tires so he can’t drive off while they empty all the Coors bottles.
”’Hey lady This is going to take forever—I’ve got twelve hundred cartons in the truck. Why don’t you just toss them over the side and let me go?’
The woman looked up at him from above a draining carton of beer. 'This is Vermont. We RECYCLE.’
Then they pump up his tires again and off he goes to New York with the microbrew on board!
Sounds like my kind of book.
There are many non-fiction selections, and one that could be interesting is Amy Tan’s Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir. I’ve enjoyed some of her novels, and I’m aware that her Chinese heritage has played a big part in her upbringing and life.
She begins by saying she was recognised as an especially talented artist in her youth. Although very accurate at portraying likenesses and drawing things, she had no imagination, according to her art teacher! But she was so good, a piano teacher offered her free piano lessons in exchange for teaching his daughter to draw.
She was insulted (who wouldn’t be?) by her art teacher’s criticism, but when she discovered her talent for writing, the light dawned. She certainly does have imagination, and it shows in her writing in ways she couldn’t express herself with her drawing. It promises to be an interesting book.
Want to know what’s making a noise in publishing? Check out the Buzz Books editions when they’re released. Heaps of excerpts from fiction by established authors to debut fiction as well as plenty of non-fiction selections.
Each piece has an introduction with a summary or publisher’s blurb with a basic description of the book followed by the excerpt itself, which can be anything from a few pages to a lengthy chapter. The better you’re hooked, the more likely you are to look for it, of course! Some have a direct link to NetGalley to which you can connect from a Kindle to make a request, although I find it a lot easier to do online.
There were several books that appealed to me, and many have been reviewed on Goodreads already. I'll leave you to find the blurbs there. Here are a couple by established authors.
” Naomi always began by learning to love the world where the child went missing. It was like carefully unraveling a twisted ball of yarn . . . each missing place was a portal.”
Then there is the debut fiction offering. Many looked good – here are a few I will look for. Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo has already been nominated for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in the UK, so I’ve added that to my reading list.
A.F. Brady's book The Blind looks intriguing. A psychologist who treats patients nobody else will deal with comes up against a mysterious case, and it looks like gets pretty scary. Gary, who is assigned as her partner, reckons he will get this uncooperative, non-talking, ex-con mental patient to confide in him because he's going to "talk to him like a man." Says it's not rocket science, but Sam wouldn't understand because she's not a man. Looks to me like Gary's riding for a fall.
And I liked the introductory chapter to The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, which begins with a woman watching across the street as a wife welcomes a contractor into her house and into her bedroom after her husband leaves for work. The woman pervs on them a while and then sees the husband return home for something he’s forgotten. But like a good nature photographer (or journalist?) she can’t interfere, just observe. She goes back and forth as the deceitful couple disrobe, piece by piece, and as the husband gets closer to the front door, step by step . . .
And I can’t resist Bill McKibben's debut novel Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance. Bill is widely known for his non-fiction environmental books and articles and his founding of 350.org. I think his first fiction is going to fit in nicely and may attract a whole new audience.
The opening chapter has local activists arranging the detour of a Coors beer truck so they can temporarily hijack it and swap the “imported” beer with local brews to promote local goods. Mind you, they’ve made the driver a lovely picnic lunch to keep him happy while they let down his tires so he can’t drive off while they empty all the Coors bottles.
”’Hey lady This is going to take forever—I’ve got twelve hundred cartons in the truck. Why don’t you just toss them over the side and let me go?’
The woman looked up at him from above a draining carton of beer. 'This is Vermont. We RECYCLE.’
Then they pump up his tires again and off he goes to New York with the microbrew on board!
Sounds like my kind of book.
There are many non-fiction selections, and one that could be interesting is Amy Tan’s Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir. I’ve enjoyed some of her novels, and I’m aware that her Chinese heritage has played a big part in her upbringing and life.
She begins by saying she was recognised as an especially talented artist in her youth. Although very accurate at portraying likenesses and drawing things, she had no imagination, according to her art teacher! But she was so good, a piano teacher offered her free piano lessons in exchange for teaching his daughter to draw.
She was insulted (who wouldn’t be?) by her art teacher’s criticism, but when she discovered her talent for writing, the light dawned. She certainly does have imagination, and it shows in her writing in ways she couldn’t express herself with her drawing. It promises to be an interesting book.
4.5★ “It was the look that the killer had given Bailey before he charged into a hail of police gunfire. Their eyes had met. A moment of familiarity. Th4.5★ “It was the look that the killer had given Bailey before he charged into a hail of police gunfire. Their eyes had met. A moment of familiarity. That smile. The killer had recognised Bailey. But how?”
A lot of people met Bailey in his past, especially when he was being tortured in captivity in Iraq, back in 2004. They may recognise him, but my guess is he wouldn’t have been in any condition to even see all of their faces.
This is the second book of three, but I’m sure it could be enjoyed as a standalone. There’s enough background given to understand the history, but the action is all current. Bailey, who is always called by his last name, was a war correspondent in the hot spots of the time.
Gerald Summers is his editor and friend, the man who looked after Bailey’s adored daughter, Miranda, when he was kidnapped or otherwise incapacitated.
“They’d been through three wars in three decades of friendship. Iraq, Afghanistan and then Iraq again. Gerald had been on assignment with Bailey in Fallujah when he was kidnapped by Mustafa al-Baghdadi’s Islamic fundamentalists back in 2004.”
He was also the one who picked up the pieces when Bailey had become a falling-down-drunk. He still keeps an eye on him.
“Gerald had teamed up with Bailey’s partner, Sharon Dexter, to confront him about his drinking. It was mainly Dexter’s idea. Her ultimatum. Whisky had become the third wheel in their relationship. It had to go. Bailey knew that his life was better with Dexter in it, so he hadn’t put up a fight. He had been doing well these past few months. He’d even been to a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and got himself a sponsor.”
Bailey’s been very good about staying off the booze, but he hasn’t mentioned his actual sponsor to Dexter – yet. She knows all of his history. His sponsor, Annie, was a war correspondent girlfriend back in Beirut.
“They shared information. Travelled together. Drank together. And from time to time, they even slept together. Aid workers liked to call it ‘emergency sex’. It was basically the same thing for correspondents. Sex on the fly. A moment of intimacy. Something that connected them to an ordinary life.”
Meanwhile, another old friend, Omar Haneef, Bailey’s driver and ‘fixer’ in Baghdad, now lives in Sydney with his family, and shows up out of the blue at the paper with disturbing news. His 15-year-old son, Tariq, has disappeared, and they’ve found evidence on the family computer that indicates he may have been radicalised.
Detective Chief Inspector Sharon Dexter, who is keen to prove herself, takes charge with her police force while Bailey’s been relegated to journalist and family friend. Bailey turns to another old friend who has been staying with him for the last few months - the enormous, cigar-chomping ex(?)-CIA agent, Ronnie Johnson, who claims to be there to enjoy the fishing.
Secrets abound, and nobody is ever quite sure who knows what. We see Bailey approached by someone who says Mustafa wants to talk to him, and gives Bailey a piece of paper, supposedly with the phone number of the world’s most wanted terrorist. Mustafa is targeting him, but Bailey doesn’t know why. He was the tortured prisoner, after all.
It’s a terrific read, one of those excellent books where you don’t get side-tracked trying to figure out who is who or who is speaking or why the dialogue is so unnatural or where you are in the timeline, or whatever. It’s just a great story from beginning to end. And you don’t need to know anything about Aussie history or politics, either.
I should add that Ayliffe is good with atmosphere and place, too, none of which I’ve quoted, so here’s what Bailey saw in 2005, when Mustafa finally took him outside the room he’d been held in.
“He looked past Mustafa at the rooftops of the city. It was a place that Bailey knew well.
Mosul.
‘How are you feeling?’
Bailey ignored him. He hadn’t been outside for weeks, and he was revelling in the fresh air, away from the stink of Mustafa’s goons. From where they were standing in Mosul’s right bank, the view was mesmerising. Date palms along the mighty Tigris. A barge packed with produce for the market, drifting slowly on the water. Blocks of white and yellow apartments. Clotheslines pegged with symbols of ordinary life. Fields of sun-kissed grass. And the Grand Mosque, its beautiful golden domes glistening in the sun.”
I enjoyed it so much, I’ve just started the next one!
4.5★ “It was the look that the killer had given Bailey before he charged into a hail of police gunfire. Their eyes had met. A moment of familiarity. That smile. The killer had recognised Bailey. But how?”
A lot of people met Bailey in his past, especially when he was being tortured in captivity in Iraq, back in 2004. They may recognise him, but my guess is he wouldn’t have been in any condition to even see all of their faces.
This is the second book of three, but I’m sure it could be enjoyed as a standalone. There’s enough background given to understand the history, but the action is all current. Bailey, who is always called by his last name, was a war correspondent in the hot spots of the time.
Gerald Summers is his editor and friend, the man who looked after Bailey’s adored daughter, Miranda, when he was kidnapped or otherwise incapacitated.
“They’d been through three wars in three decades of friendship. Iraq, Afghanistan and then Iraq again. Gerald had been on assignment with Bailey in Fallujah when he was kidnapped by Mustafa al-Baghdadi’s Islamic fundamentalists back in 2004.”
He was also the one who picked up the pieces when Bailey had become a falling-down-drunk. He still keeps an eye on him.
“Gerald had teamed up with Bailey’s partner, Sharon Dexter, to confront him about his drinking. It was mainly Dexter’s idea. Her ultimatum. Whisky had become the third wheel in their relationship. It had to go. Bailey knew that his life was better with Dexter in it, so he hadn’t put up a fight. He had been doing well these past few months. He’d even been to a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and got himself a sponsor.”
Bailey’s been very good about staying off the booze, but he hasn’t mentioned his actual sponsor to Dexter – yet. She knows all of his history. His sponsor, Annie, was a war correspondent girlfriend back in Beirut.
“They shared information. Travelled together. Drank together. And from time to time, they even slept together. Aid workers liked to call it ‘emergency sex’. It was basically the same thing for correspondents. Sex on the fly. A moment of intimacy. Something that connected them to an ordinary life.”
Meanwhile, another old friend, Omar Haneef, Bailey’s driver and ‘fixer’ in Baghdad, now lives in Sydney with his family, and shows up out of the blue at the paper with disturbing news. His 15-year-old son, Tariq, has disappeared, and they’ve found evidence on the family computer that indicates he may have been radicalised.
Detective Chief Inspector Sharon Dexter, who is keen to prove herself, takes charge with her police force while Bailey’s been relegated to journalist and family friend. Bailey turns to another old friend who has been staying with him for the last few months - the enormous, cigar-chomping ex(?)-CIA agent, Ronnie Johnson, who claims to be there to enjoy the fishing.
Secrets abound, and nobody is ever quite sure who knows what. We see Bailey approached by someone who says Mustafa wants to talk to him, and gives Bailey a piece of paper, supposedly with the phone number of the world’s most wanted terrorist. Mustafa is targeting him, but Bailey doesn’t know why. He was the tortured prisoner, after all.
It’s a terrific read, one of those excellent books where you don’t get side-tracked trying to figure out who is who or who is speaking or why the dialogue is so unnatural or where you are in the timeline, or whatever. It’s just a great story from beginning to end. And you don’t need to know anything about Aussie history or politics, either.
I should add that Ayliffe is good with atmosphere and place, too, none of which I’ve quoted, so here’s what Bailey saw in 2005, when Mustafa finally took him outside the room he’d been held in.
“He looked past Mustafa at the rooftops of the city. It was a place that Bailey knew well.
Mosul.
‘How are you feeling?’
Bailey ignored him. He hadn’t been outside for weeks, and he was revelling in the fresh air, away from the stink of Mustafa’s goons. From where they were standing in Mosul’s right bank, the view was mesmerising. Date palms along the mighty Tigris. A barge packed with produce for the market, drifting slowly on the water. Blocks of white and yellow apartments. Clotheslines pegged with symbols of ordinary life. Fields of sun-kissed grass. And the Grand Mosque, its beautiful golden domes glistening in the sun.”
I enjoyed it so much, I’ve just started the next one!
4.5★ “[L. Ron] Hubbard was not just gunning for contemporary mental health practitioners; he claimed that 75 million years ago, psychiatrists helped ca4.5★ “[L. Ron] Hubbard was not just gunning for contemporary mental health practitioners; he claimed that 75 million years ago, psychiatrists helped carry out genocide in the Galactic Confederacy.”
Got that? 75 million years ago? Galactic Confederacy? FAR-fetched, you think?
You should probably turn away now if you are a member of this “criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs”(Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, Nov 2009 in Federal Parliament). Or, no, actually you should read this book to get the facts on who the founder really was and what his followers are really up to.
I thought I’d read and watched enough about Scientology to have a pretty good grasp of their aims and methods, but I didn’t really understand the depth of the violence and abuse: forced abortions, dungeons, slave conditions, forgeries, theft, home invasions, threats – the list is endless.
Steve Cannane, a respected Australian journalist, has done a terrific job of pulling this all together. Every allegation, quotation, and comment is footnoted and indexed. He sure had a lot of material to work with, and I can’t think of anything he’s overlooked. He makes it quite clear that he’s not blaming the people who have been sucked in and truly believe that this pseudo-science has helped them. He’s blaming the obviously deranged founder, L. Ron Hubbard and his disciple David Miscavage and those who have carried out their orders over the years.
L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer who wanted to make money – and did. “Former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder estimated that by 2014 the IAS’s cash reserves were probably in excess of US$2 billion.”
And that’s five years ago.
Hubbard was a man who couldn’t lie straight in bed. He wouldn’t get away with some of it now.
“Hubbard had been caught out lying about his rank, his war wounds, his war decorations, and where he served. In the United States it is referred to as ‘stealing valor’ and if Hubbard were alive today he could be subjected to laws that prevent fake war heroes from benefiting from false claims about their service records.”
He invented his own ‘science’, Dianetics
“According to Dianetics, to get ‘clear’ you have to go and relive all the traumatic experiences filed in your reactive mind going back to conception. For Hubbard the womb was a world of pain.”
Scientists, real ones, didn’t mince words.
“Prominent scientists were scathing of Dianetics. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Issac Isidor Rabi began his review in Scientific American with a damning assessment: ‘This volume probably contains more promises and less evidence per page than has any publication since the invention of printing.’”
The publisher was so appalled with the response, that he sold a critique of it instead!
“Later, publisher Art Ceppos withdrew Dianetics from sale, when he came to the conclusion it was a scam. He replaced it with Winter’s critique ‘Dianetics: A Doctor’s Report.’”
I didn’t realise how much Australia figured in the beginning of Scientology. Hubbard was in Australia during WW2, but didn't arrive as he claimed, saying he'd paddled a life raft over 1000 miles across open waters. No. He’d never been to any of those places, but he did arrive in Brisbane on a ship and was later sent home in disgrace.
He recruited many Aussies over the years, and of course most Australians are aware of the Nicole Kidman / Tom Cruise marriage and subsequent debacle. There is a long section about that in the book. There are also many details about James Packer’s connection (since lapsed) when the Scientologists hoped to use him to get to Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, who called their program ‘Bunkumology’ in his Melbourne paper and was responsible for triggering the first ban on them in the world.
“The Church of Scientology in New York had been mailed two bomb threats; one of them had Paulette Cooper’s fingerprints on them. Cooper denied the allegations but was indicted for the bomb threats and for perjury. The trial was delayed. Evidence eventually emerged that the Church of Scientology had attempted to frame her. Cooper believes her fingerprints were accessed as she signed a petition. ‘A mysterious girl named Margie Shepherd came by with a petition for me to sign supporting the United Farm Workers,’ she later told journalist Tony Ortega. Margie Shepherd was wearing gloves. Cooper believes she placed a piece of stationery under the clipboard, which would have picked up her fingerprints. That piece of stationery, the theory goes, was then used to write a bomb threat against the Church of Scientology. It was five torturous years before Cooper was exonerated.”
They were still following her in 2010. They break into government offices, steal files, and battled with Julian Assange. Hubbard took to the high seas with Sea.org to escape government control on the 75% of the earth that is covered by water. Those on board were virtual slaves, starved and maltreated.
Why? Power, I guess. The ‘auditing’ to train you and clear your mind is probably soothing in the initial stages for those who need support – like James Packer at a low point in his life. But why anyone would stay, give up their children, suffer abortions, is beyond me.
“[Kleitsch, a] former Scientologist says he was forced to run on the road up to two hours a day for around a year. ‘It was painful,’ Kleitsch says. ‘Your feet would wind up bleeding.’”
No surprise that he’s a ‘former’, is there? This really is warts and all with every claim verified and documented. Scientology has been banned in many places, including Wikipedia, which must be particularly galling! Almost anybody can edit anything on Wikipedia, which is the whole point, but even they have limits!
For anyone who wants to know more, here’s a brief summary of Hubbard’s invention.
“Central to Hubbard’s new cosmology was the theory that ‘thetans’, or ‘theta-beings’ as he called them then, created the universe as their own playground. Thetans, according to Hubbard, are immortal spiritual beings. But having inhabited so many bodies over trillions of years, they have become so consumed by the universe they live in, that they have forgotten about their special powers and degenerated to the extent that they believed they were simply ‘meat bodies’. Their super-powers could be restored through Scientology, the goal being to make an individual an Operating Thetan, or OT, who could ‘operate’ independently of the human body.
Hubbard’s new belief system turned into a nice little earner. With Dianetics you only had one lifetime to audit. In Scientology, the ‘thetans’ running human bodies came burdened with engrams from past lives. That meant auditing past lives from this and even other universes. And it wasn’t just the thetans that needed work, there were engrams lurking from the primordial swamp that needed clearing too. Hubbard told his followers their bodies were also occupied by another ‘lower grade’ soul called a ‘genetic entity’, or GE. The GE, according to Hubbard, passed through an evolutionary line going back to molluscs, seaweed, right back to single atoms. Hubbard believed many engrams could be traced back to clams. He warned of the dangers of talking about ‘clam incidents’ with the uninitiated. ‘Should you describe the “clam” to some one [sic], you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain. One such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days.”
And there’s more where that came from – YIKES!
This is NOT to be shelved under RELIGION, please! (Maybe CRIME would be more appropriate.)
4★ “That someone might like you just for your ethnicity was its own violence.”
Rich and famous people are never quite sure if others like them for thems4★ “That someone might like you just for your ethnicity was its own violence.”
Rich and famous people are never quite sure if others like them for themselves or just hope some of the glitz will rub off on them. Jack is a gay Korean American, so his concerns are not only about looking Korean but also about being gay. His white roommate in college had always been obsessed by Koreans, so he was never quite sure about Scott’s feeling towards him.
“Scott was Jack’s white friend from college most likely to end up in a Korean wedding ceremony. He had dated a series of Asian women for his entire life, as if auditioning them for a role, and most of them were Korean.”
Jack and Scott have an unusual relationship and lose touch over the years. These days, Jack’s steady partner, Caleb, is white, and they are enough of a couple that they are invited to the wedding of a long-term gay couple as soon as it is made legal in the US. A good time is had by all.
“What was a federal gay marriage like? If this was any example, it involved a wedding with line dancing, a glitter cannon, Frozé and cheeseburgers served at midnight, and then afterward, everyone got high around a campfire and wandered back to their rented cabins, mostly with the people they came with.”
The second wedding is quite different, half Korean and half western, which has Jack questioning the invitation. Is he making up the numbers? If so, which? Jack knows very little about Korean culture – he looks Korean but was raised American – so he’s not sure how or where he fits.
This is a good read and a thoughtful piece about how we take things literally at face value when we see someone from a particular ethnic background. It also touches on many of the issues in the gay community, and I enjoyed Jack and Caleb’s affection and cautiousness around the fact that they are at weddings, when their own relationship isn’t that longstanding – yet.
I believe this is going to be an interesting collection of stories, and I thank Amazon for putting them together and NetGalley for allowing me a preview copy.
Merged review:
4★ “That someone might like you just for your ethnicity was its own violence.”
Rich and famous people are never quite sure if others like them for themselves or just hope some of the glitz will rub off on them. Jack is a gay Korean American, so his concerns are not only about looking Korean but also about being gay. His white roommate in college had always been obsessed by Koreans, so he was never quite sure about Scott’s feeling towards him.
“Scott was Jack’s white friend from college most likely to end up in a Korean wedding ceremony. He had dated a series of Asian women for his entire life, as if auditioning them for a role, and most of them were Korean.”
Jack and Scott have an unusual relationship and lose touch over the years. These days, Jack’s steady partner, Caleb, is white, and they are enough of a couple that they are invited to the wedding of a long-term gay couple as soon as it is made legal in the US. A good time is had by all.
“What was a federal gay marriage like? If this was any example, it involved a wedding with line dancing, a glitter cannon, Frozé and cheeseburgers served at midnight, and then afterward, everyone got high around a campfire and wandered back to their rented cabins, mostly with the people they came with.”
The second wedding is quite different, half Korean and half western, which has Jack questioning the invitation. Is he making up the numbers? If so, which? Jack knows very little about Korean culture – he looks Korean but was raised American – so he’s not sure how or where he fits.
This is a good read and a thoughtful piece about how we take things literally at face value when we see someone from a particular ethnic background. It also touches on many of the issues in the gay community, and I enjoyed Jack and Caleb’s affection and cautiousness around the fact that they are at weddings, when their own relationship isn’t that longstanding – yet.
I believe this is going to be an interesting collection of stories, and I thank Amazon for putting them together and NetGalley for allowing me a preview copy....more
4.5★ Muslim feminism. An oxymoron? Many people would assume so, because the prevailing view of non-Muslims seems to be that Islam classifies women as s4.5★ Muslim feminism. An oxymoron? Many people would assume so, because the prevailing view of non-Muslims seems to be that Islam classifies women as something less than men. Well, no. In fact, many of the world’s great religious texts have appeared to favour men, but probably because they’ve been translated and interpreted by—you guessed it—men.
I think the male is usually the default position in language. Things have changed, changed to the point that when I once said something about “A farmer, when he . . . ” and my son interrupted and said “or SHE” I realised that his teachers were bringing their students up to date with the real world, and I was the one lagging behind. The irony is, that my husband and I were farming together, and we both identified as farmers. Then again, my father called all dogs “he” and all cats “she” although language was his field. Maybe his field should have been like our literal fields and included animals.
Merged review:
4.5★ Muslim feminism. An oxymoron? Many people would assume so, because the prevailing view of non-Muslims seems to be that Islam classifies women as something less than men. Well, no. In fact, many of the world’s great religious texts have appeared to favour men, but probably because they’ve been translated and interpreted by—you guessed it—men.
I think the male is usually the default position in language. Things have changed, changed to the point that when I once said something about “A farmer, when he . . . ” and my son interrupted and said “or SHE” I realised that his teachers were bringing their students up to date with the real world, and I was the one lagging behind. The irony is, that my husband and I were farming together, and we both identified as farmers. Then again, my father called all dogs “he” and all cats “she” although language was his field. Maybe his field should have been like our literal fields and included animals....more
FICTION! - SCIENCE - SCIENCE FICTION! – SPORTS! – TRAVEL! and more.
Pardon my enthusiasm for this wonderful Noah’s Ark of articles, stories, and essa5★
FICTION! - SCIENCE - SCIENCE FICTION! – SPORTS! – TRAVEL! and more.
Pardon my enthusiasm for this wonderful Noah’s Ark of articles, stories, and essays. The stories march through the book two by two, all intact and complete. two samples from each of the larger collections published for each category.
“I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now: Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization.”
She wrote the article just after Trump’s election and was trying to prepare the American public for life with an autocrat. She has just won the (US) National Book Award (Nov 2017) for The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.
This will give you an idea of the quality of the selections included in this terrific publication. There’s fiction, fun, a long article about Kaepernick’s “stand” (which is a kneel), another about how many people rely so much on GPS that they’ve lost all sense of geography and direction. That would be funny if people didn’t drive off the ends of bridges and such.
“Enough people have been led astray by their GPS in Death Valley that the area’s former wilderness coordinator called the phenomenon ‘death by GPS.’
. . . we are letting our natural wayfinding abilities languish.”
The only downside is that after reading these, you will want the entire collection of the eight books in the series. These are full-length articles and stories, not brief extracts, and I enjoyed almost everything, even those outside my usual reading choices.
This volume is still available on NetGalley, and I’d like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the review copy from which I’ve quoted. I can’t recommend this series highly enough.
Merged review:
5★
FICTION! - SCIENCE - SCIENCE FICTION! – SPORTS! – TRAVEL! and more.
Pardon my enthusiasm for this wonderful Noah’s Ark of articles, stories, and essays. The stories march through the book two by two, all intact and complete. two samples from each of the larger collections published for each category.
“I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now: Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization.”
She wrote the article just after Trump’s election and was trying to prepare the American public for life with an autocrat. She has just won the (US) National Book Award (Nov 2017) for The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.
This will give you an idea of the quality of the selections included in this terrific publication. There’s fiction, fun, a long article about Kaepernick’s “stand” (which is a kneel), another about how many people rely so much on GPS that they’ve lost all sense of geography and direction. That would be funny if people didn’t drive off the ends of bridges and such.
“Enough people have been led astray by their GPS in Death Valley that the area’s former wilderness coordinator called the phenomenon ‘death by GPS.’
. . . we are letting our natural wayfinding abilities languish.”
The only downside is that after reading these, you will want the entire collection of the eight books in the series. These are full-length articles and stories, not brief extracts, and I enjoyed almost everything, even those outside my usual reading choices.
This volume is still available on NetGalley, and I’d like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the review copy from which I’ve quoted. I can’t recommend this series highly enough....more
5★ This is the first Buzz Books I’ve tried, and my only complaint is that my To Be Read pile is growing faster than I can possibly manage!
Publishers Lu5★ This is the first Buzz Books I’ve tried, and my only complaint is that my To Be Read pile is growing faster than I can possibly manage!
Publishers Lunch calls itself “the publishing industry’s daily essential read” and also hosts Bookateria “a giant online book discovery store driven by an ‘industry insider’s’ view. Our focus is books making news and building buzz, as we tap into our comprehensive coverage of the books and authors that booksellers, editor, agents, rights-buyers, reviewers and others are talking about. Our own staff catalogs ‘buzz books’ that the industry is touting as new discoveries of note, and some of the other featured Bookateria lists draw on recommendations from a variety of booksellers and bellwether award nominations to connect avid readers everywhere to great reads.
There’s an extensive publishing preview article with a list many pages long of authors and titles to look forward to.
Then comes the fun part, the short blurbs for and excerpts from 40 selected works. Part One: Fiction. Part Two: Debut Fiction. Part Three: Nonfiction.
Many are also on NetGalley, for any NetGalley reviewers. And thanks to NetGalley and Publishers Lunch for my copy.
Merged review:
5★ This is the first Buzz Books I’ve tried, and my only complaint is that my To Be Read pile is growing faster than I can possibly manage!
Publishers Lunch calls itself “the publishing industry’s daily essential read” and also hosts Bookateria “a giant online book discovery store driven by an ‘industry insider’s’ view. Our focus is books making news and building buzz, as we tap into our comprehensive coverage of the books and authors that booksellers, editor, agents, rights-buyers, reviewers and others are talking about. Our own staff catalogs ‘buzz books’ that the industry is touting as new discoveries of note, and some of the other featured Bookateria lists draw on recommendations from a variety of booksellers and bellwether award nominations to connect avid readers everywhere to great reads.
There’s an extensive publishing preview article with a list many pages long of authors and titles to look forward to.
Then comes the fun part, the short blurbs for and excerpts from 40 selected works. Part One: Fiction. Part Two: Debut Fiction. Part Three: Nonfiction.
PattyMacDotComma
>
Books:
aa
(1900)
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