import
-
Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon (Professor Suzanne M. Desan)
I love history, despite the fact that the more I learn, the more I need to learn. For example, I have heard the term Jacobin often–but never fully appreciated their origin or their role in the French Revolution and The Terror. Listening to this audiobook, I thought Robespierre was two words. The first half of…
-
Kicking the Cans
This year, I have quit drinking diet soda. Wow, you say. So what. Or perhaps you understand my addiction to artificial sweetener. Prior to 2015, it was common for me to drink a case of Diet Coke a day, every day. My life revolved around emergency runs to Dillons or Quick Trip. Everyone in the…
-
Blueprint Your Bestseller: Organize and Revise Any Manuscript with the Book Architecture Method (Stuart Horwitz)
Photo credit: http://www.bookarchitecture.com From time to time, a book on writing competes for my top five selections on the craft of writing. Like many Indie authors in the current publishing environment, I’m aware that competition is fierce. I first heard the number one rule of book marketing from Donald Maass, “Write the best book possible.”One…
-
Boneshaker (Cherie Priest) #Steampunk
Photo credit http://theclockworkcentury.com A little over a year ago, I purchased a book in the Steampunk genre that caught my eye. That book was Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest. As I worked my way through my to-be-read digital stack, I came upon the book and thought it might also be a good candidate for an audio…
-
A. Lincoln: A Biography – Ronald C. White Jr.
I had this book on my reading list for a long time, feeling that I should go beyond what I was taught in school. I have always enjoyed biographies, but rarely find the time, because I am a huge consumer of fiction. Once I started listening to the unabridged audio version, my concern about being…
-
Books That Will Make You A Better Writer
Elements of Style (William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White)Elements of Style is a small book, less than one-hundred pages. I find it an invaluable tool, because it strikes to the heart of style issues and is decidedly unpretentious. If you are like me, there are too many books, blogs, and newsletters to read. This…
-
Writing in Overdrive: Write Faster, Write Freely, Write Brilliantly (by Jim Denney)
Writing in Overdrive: Write Faster, Write Freely, Write Brilliantly by Jim Denney is a well researched and motivational account of the creative process. Denney relates accounts of several renowned authors such as Ray Bradbury, Michael Moorcock, and Stephen King to name a few.Included in the book are many examples of how writing quickly, getting in…
-
The Day of the Jackal – Frederick Forsyth
In the spirit of streamlining this website, I will be systematically moving archived book reviews and other posts to this section, then deleting the archive. So let’s get started with:The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth, stunned me at the end with its resonance.I began reading this novel after Sol Stein recommended it in…
-
Blue Hearts of Mars – Nicole Grotepas
(In the spirit of streamlining this website, I am systematically moving archived book reviews and other posts to this section, then deleting the archive.)Blue Hearts of Mars, by Nicole Grotepas, is a science fiction, YA romance about a seventeen-year-old girl and an android that fall in love. The girl (or young woman rather), Retta, goes…
-
A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin
(In the spirit of streamlining this website, I am systematically moving archived book reviews and other posts to this section, then deleting the archive.)A Game of Thrones begins with a mysterious attack north of The Wall and establishes that something supernatural or perhaps magical is threatening the world. With the prologue out of the way,…
