The three most important parts of a book are: a well constructed plot, compelling characters, and a satisfying conclusion.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

SNOWBLIND by Christopher Golden

Snowblind by Christopher GoldenPublisher:  St. Martin's Press
Expected Date of Publication:  January 21, 2014
Pages:  320

About the Book:  In Christopher Golden’s first horror novel in more than a decade--a work reminiscent of early Stephen King--Snowblindupdates the ghost story for the modern age.

The small New England town of Coventry had weathered a thousand blizzards...but never one like this. Icy figures danced in the wind and gazed through children's windows with soul-chilling eyes. People wandered into the whiteout and were never seen again. Families were torn apart, and the town would never be the same.

Now, as a new storm approaches twelve years later, the folks of Coventry are haunted by the memories of that dreadful blizzard and those who were lost in the snow. Photographer Jake Schapiro mourns his little brother, Isaac, even as---tonight---another little boy is missing. Mechanic and part-time thief Doug Manning's life has been forever scarred by the mysterious death of his wife, Cherie, and now he’s starting over with another woman and more ambitious crimes. Police detective Joe Keenan has never been the same since that night, when he failed to save the life of a young boy . . . and the boy’s father vanished in the storm only feet away. And all the way on the other side of the country, Miri Ristani receives a phone call . . . from a man who died twelve years ago.

As old ghosts trickle back, this new storm will prove to be even more terrifying than the last.

Wanda's Review:  The city of Coventry had given itself over to the storm. Roads became impassable, even the snow plows weren't making many appearances. The snow blanketed everything, creating drifts that resembled ocean waves on the streets. Sixteen inches of ice and snow were predicted and this blizzard would long be remembered with fear and haunting memories. Eighteen people had died or disappeared in this blizzard. 

Now, twelve years later, another blizzard is predicted and people are becoming unsettled. The police department is receiving many calls from folks in Coventry, claiming that they have seen ghosts, and the possibility that the dead lingered on is causing fear and uneasiness in the town. And the story unfolds ---

I was swept into the storyline early on with its well constructed plot, fully expecting a riveting thriller. Unfortunately, as the story continued, it just lost the excitement and fell rather flat for me. The book certainly had an interesting premise, but just never developed a crescendo of suspense and had a rather luke-warm ending. This was an interesting book, but not one I'd enthusiastically recommend. 3 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Christopher GoldenAbout Christopher Golden
Christopher Golden is the award-winning, bestselling author of such novels as The Myth Hunters, Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, Of Saints and Shadows, and (with Tim Lebbon) Mind the Gap. Golden co-wrote the lavishly illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire with Mike Mignola, which they are currently scripting as a feature film for New Regency.

He has also written books for teens and young adults, including the thriller series Body of Evidence, honored by the New York Public Library and chosen as one of YALSA's Best Books for Young Readers. Upcoming teen novels include Poison Ink for Delacorte, Soulless for MTV Books, and The Secret Journeys of Jack London, a collaboration with Tim Lebbon.

With Thomas E. Sniegoski, he is the co-author of the dark fantasy series The Menagerie as well as the young readers fantasy series OutCast and the comic book miniseries Talent, both of which were recently acquired by Universal Pictures. Golden and Sniegoski also wrote the upcoming comic book miniseries The Sisterhood, currently in development as a feature film.

Working with actress/writer/director Amber Benson, he co-created and co-wrote Ghosts of Albion, an original animated supernatural drama for BBC online, from which they created the book series of the same name. (www.ghostsofalbion.net)

As an editor, Golden’s work has included the Hellboy novel series, a trio of Hellboy short story anthologies, and co-editing duties on British Invasion, from Cemetery Dance. His non-fiction work includes collaborative efforts such as The Stephen King Universe, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher's Guide, and the upcoming Neil Gaiman Companion. His other writing has included video games, numerous comic books, and short stories.

Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in fourteen languages in countries around the world. 


Friday, November 15, 2013

INVENTING MARK TWAIN: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens by Andrew Jay Hoffman (Review by WC)

Publisher:  William Morrow
Release Date:  1997
Pages:  608

About the Book: 
This provocative, definitive biography explores the revealing and resonant contradictions between the true character of Samuel Clemens and his self-created alter ego, Mark Twain.
Richly detailed and filled with new information from primary sources, Inventing Mark Twain traces an extraordinary life that led from Mississippi steamboats to the California goldfields to cultural immortality as America's national philosopher. 

WC's Review:
So who is the real Samuel Langhorne Clemens? Is it the young, adventuresome Sam who heads off to discover fame and fortune in New York at age sixteen, or the still young sophisticate S L Clemens piloting on the Mississippi after achieving a degree of fame with a story of a jumping frog, or the multi-faceted Mark Twain enthralling crowds with his humor and tales of traveling the countryside and Europe? This biography is truly for the Twain aficionado, laden with wheelings and dealings with publishers and get rich con artists, a troublesome family, and Twain's obsession with the promotion of his books, including Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, the Gilded Age, The Prince and the Pauper, and Tom and Huck. My rating is 3 Stars 





Thursday, November 14, 2013

ISCARIOT by Tosca Lee

Iscariot by Tosca LeePublisher:  Howard Books
Release Date: February, 2013
Pages:  336

About the Book:  In Jesus, Judas believes he has found the One—a miracle-worker. The promised Messiah and future king of the Jews, destined to overthrow Roman rule. Galvanized, Judas joins the Nazarene’s followers, ready to enact the change he has waited for all his life.

But Judas’ vision of a nation free from Roman rule is crushed by the inexplicable actions of the Nazarene himself, who will not bow to social or religious convention—who seems in the end to even turn against his own people. At last, Judas must confront the fact that the master he loves is not the liberator he hoped for, but a man bent on a drastically different agenda.

Iscariot is the story of Judas—from his tumultuous childhood and tenuous entry into a career and family life as a devout Jew, to a man known to the world as the betrayer of Jesus. But even more, it is a singular and surprising view into the life of Jesus himself that forces us all to reexamine everything we thought we knew about the most famous—and infamous—religious icons in history.

Wanda's Review:  The story begins when Judas is six years old. His father, Simon, announces to the family they are leaving Jerusalem. Judas doesn't understand why - only that Jerusalem is unsafe. They begin their journey and eventually come to Sapphoris, far from Jerusalem, where they make their home, staying with Simon's cousin, Eleazor - a priest. 

With Herod dead and his son, Archelaus, barely on the throne, rebellions break out over the country. These were not safe days with soldiers and bandits roaming the hills. The soldiers gathered up men to crucify or sell into slavery to satisfy their Roman masters. The bandits preyed on anyone they could find. There are many graphic scenes portrayed in this book - particularly in this section.

Time moves on and Judas is now a man with a mother and younger brother to provide for. He becomes betrothed to a girl in the village. He eventually moves with his family to Jerusalem. 

The story unfolds with John the Baptist and John's cousin, the Nazarene they called Jesus - the man who would become Judas's greatest friend. Jesus said, "Come with me where I am going, Judas, and you will find the thing you seek." Judas begins the great journey he has waited for all his life. And the story continues through the betrayal of his greatest friend, Jesus - the Messiah - the Master he delivers to his death. 

Very little is known about Judas's youth and his family, and it's important to remember this book is fiction. The author has taken many liberties with this story, but has penned a masterpiece with details that bring the past to vibrant life. This is a story that is completely absorbing and wonderfully written - a story that will certainly touch your heart. 

One negative thought: In my opinion there were a few important parts of the story that were skimmed over too lightly. That being said, this is truly a book to be savored. Take the time to read this one - you'll be glad you did. 


427839The Author:  Tosca Lee
Tosca Lee is the NY Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed DEMON: A MEMOIR, HAVAH: THE STORY OF EVE, ISCARIOT, and the Books of Mortals series with NY Times bestseller Ted Dekker: FORBIDDEN, MORTAL and SOVEREIGN. 

Tosca, a former first runner-up to Mrs. United States, received her B.A. in English and International Relations from Smith College in Massachusetts. She also studied at Oxford University.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

CHURCHILL DEFIANT: FIGHTING ON: 1945 - 1955 by Barbara Leaming ( Review by WC)

Churchill Defiant by Barbara Leaming
Publisher:  Harper
Release Date:  October, 2010
Pages:  368

About the Book:
New York Times bestselling biographer Barbara Leaming has written a riveting political drama of the last ten years of Winston Churchill's public life.

In Churchill Defiant, Leaming tells the tumultuous behind-the-scenes story of Churchill's refusal to retire after his 1945 electoral defeat, and the bare-knuckled political and personal battles that ensued. Her ground-breaking biography Jack Kennedy: The Education of a Statesman, was the first to detail Churchill's extraordinary influence on Kennedy's thinking. Now in Churchill Defiant, Leaming gives us a vivid and compelling narrative that sheds fresh light on both the human dimension of Winston Churchill and on the struggles and achievements of his final years. At last, in Leaming's eloquent account, we understand the tangled web of personal relationships and rivalries, the intricate interplay of past and present, the looming sense of history that makes the story of these years as fascinating as anything in the extraordinary century-long saga of Winston Churchill's life.


WC's Review:
When Churchill and the Conservative Party were voted out in 1945 at the end of the war, the Prime Minister was stunned. He viewed it as a slap in the face after his extensive efforts to rally England through the London Blitzkreig and on to Allied victory. After all, was he not the first to recognize the evil of Hitler and then of Stalin?
Like all great leaders, Churchill truly thought the future of Great Britain lie with his skilled leadership. And like all great statesmen, Churchill held no compunction in manipulating Anthony Eden, Lord Salisbury, Harold Macmillan, Truman, and later Eisenhower, to assume his rightful position as world leader.
A great, informative narrative of what transpired after the war to end all wars.  5 Stars

About the Author:  Barbara Leaming
Barbara Leaming is the author of two New York Times bestselling biographies and three New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her most recent book, a biography of John F. Kennedy, focused on the influence of British history and culture on the thirty-fifth president. She was the first to write extensively about the extraordinary influence of Winston Churchill on Kennedy's intellectual formation and political strategies. Her articles have appeared in many publications in the United States and Europe, including the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and the Times of London. She is married and lives in Connecticut.
Image of Barbara Leaming

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

MOSES - Steps to a Life of Faith by Bob Saffrin

Moses - Steps to a Life of Faith by Bob SaffrinPublisher:  Village Media
Release Date:  November 2011
Pages:  184

About the book:  This book traces some of the significant events of Moses' life, showing how God used an ordinary man and shaped the events of his life to bring him to the place where he could be mightily used to accomplish God's purposes. This book is about how God built faith into a man. God is a dreamer. One day he had a dream, and he thought to himself, "Who will I get to fulfill this dream?" Then he made you. He created you to fulfill a dream. You are made for a purpose. This book is about knowing God's dream for your life and believing him to accomplish it in you. This book could be the most exciting thing that's ever happened to you. To enter into God's plan for your life is to become the person he made you to be, and to finally find the fulfillment and joy that you have been seeking your whole life.

Wanda's Review:    Taken from the book - First we have to know him. We have to have the revelation of who God is, how he feels about us, and what kind of relationship he wants with us. We have to know how much he loves us, what he has given up so that we might live, and how he is committed to taking care of us.

This is the detailed story of Moses, perhaps one of the greatest leaders of all time. Moses placed his complete trust and life into the hands of God and because of his deep faith was able to accomplish great things. We are told that if we live our lives with faith, God will bless us and enrich us in unexpected ways.

Outlined in the book are five characteristics of genuine faith.

1. Faith requires God to reveal himself - he wants to be known by you and then he will reveal himself.
2. Faith sees - those who have faith see what others do not see.
3. Faith is action - through faith you will start to take steps towards God's plan for you.
4. Faith is courage - having faith melts away fear.
5. Faith is risk - as your growing faith melts away fear you take a leap into the unknown.

A very well written book with inspirational scripture that requires some deep thought. A great book to keep on the shelf and read from time to time. My rating is 4 stars.


About the Author:  Bob Saffrin lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Barb, his wife of 45 years and their beagle Rocky. Bob and Barb have two children and four grandchildren. Bob loves the outdoors and has been on many backpacking trips in the rugged Boundary Waters area of Minnesota including winter camping. In his 20s, Bob began a fascination with the Bible. After reading the New Testament several times and convinced that God had died on the cross to save him, Bob asked Jesus into his life and began a wonderful lifelong relationship. His fascination with the Bible became a love for God and for his word. Bob has been teaching and preaching for over 35 years.

Monday, November 11, 2013

SIX DAYS IN LENINGRAD by Paullina Simons

Six Days in Leningrad by Paullina SimonsPublisher:  Harper Collins Publisher
Release Date:  August 1, 2013
Pages:  363

About the Book:
The never-before-told story of the journey behind The Bronze Horseman.

From the author of the celebrated, internationally bestselling Bronze Horseman saga comes a glimpse into the private life of its much loved author, and the real story behind the epic novels. Paullina Simons gives us a work of non-fiction as captivating and heart-wrenching as the lives of Tatiana and Alexander.
Only a few chapters into writing her first story set in Russia, her mother country, Paullina Simons travelled to Leningrad (now St Petersburg) with her beloved Papa. What began as a research trip turned into six days that forever changed her life, the course of her family, and the novel that became THE BRONZE HORSEMAN.


After a quarter-century away from her native land, Paullina and her father found a world trapped in yesteryear, with crumbling stucco buildings, entire families living in seven-square-meter communal apartments, and barren fields bombed so badly that nothing would grow there even fifty years later.
And yet there were the spectacular white nights, the warm hospitality of family friends and, of course, the pelmeni and caviar. At times poignant, at times inspiring and funny, this is both a fascinating glimpse into the inspiration behind the epic saga, and a touching story of a family’s history, a father and a daughter, and the fate of a nation.


Wanda's Review:  This book started out a bit slow, but the pace soon picked up and made me eager to read on. If you've read The Bronze Horseman, you'll not want to miss this one.

Paullina Simons and her father (Papa) traveled all the way from Texas to Leningrad to search for a story about the blockade - her novel, The Bronze Horseman. This is an account of the author's return to her former home, as she steps back in time - a country she'd left behind when she was just ten years old. 

It was an arduous six days spent in Leningrad, but a few events really stand out in my mind. They searched for Paulinna's great grandmother's grave and became quite discouraged. About a quarter of the graves were unmarked and it was definitely not easy trudging over the cemetery. But it was the only thing her grandmother had asked her to do, and she was quite determined to find it.

Shepeleva was what Paullina thought of when she recalled her happiest memories. When they found the house, it looked so abandoned. It didn't look like her memory, the house where she spent the happiest months of her childhood. The sight of Shepelevo tore her up inside. They also visited the communal apartment where she was raised. She had to see the inside of the apartment where she spent time as a child.

The information on the Nevsky Patch grabbed my attention. It was the slaughterhouse of Leningrad. Two hundred forty thousand men perished there during the course of the war. They attempted to grow trees at this memorial site over and over again, but nothing would grow because the ground was full of metal. And to this day nothing grows on this fallow ground. 

The attention to detail is what makes this book so great. It is written with vivid imagery of scenes and splashes of humor are spread throughout. The book is completely absorbing and wonderfully written. My rating is 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publisher for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. 


Author - Paullina Simons

Sunday, November 10, 2013

ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy (Reviewed by WC)

Anna KareninaPublisher:  Vintage Books
Release Date:  October 2012, First Published 1863
Pages:  964

About the Book:  Leo Tolstoy’s classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece not only because of the unforgettable woman at its core and the stark drama of her fate, but also because it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life.
 
Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

WC's Review:  This is a classic story of adultery when adultery was adultery, when it had earthly consequences, told by a classic storyteller. It is a classic tragedy of marriage turned sour and clandestine romance set in late nineteenth century Russia, principally in St Petersburg and Moscow, and including the rustic countryside.

The tale features two beautiful women intertwined with three resourceful gentlemen. Anna Karenina is a heroine caught in a nondescript union with Karenin who finds himself increasingly disenchanted with his wife who seeks the charms of a vibrant suitor, the Count Vronsky, with whom she absconds, leaving her adored son behind. It is only a matter of time before this tryst develops a bitter taste.

Kitty, heroine as well, finds herself jilted in her courtship with Vronsky before he buckles under the charms of Anna. Kitty settles for the love of Levin who suffered an earlier rebuff from her, she then hoping for the hand of the Count.


Tolstoy loves to detail frivolous city life with many interesting, and sometimes delightful, secondary characters, many as relatives, juxtaposed with the meaningful country life of hard working peasants, who display a more meaningful relationship with life.


Tolstoy delves into the mind and soul of Levin at length, transforming him into the true hero of this true classic.  It is through Levin that Tolstoy develops a personal relationship with God.  Levin comes to the realization that he cannot be a complete person until he accepts this wisdom of Jesus Christ in his heart.  


About Leo Tolstoy:  Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Leo Tolstoy