Tuesday, October 23, 2018

American Brutus

American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln ConspiraciesAmerican Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael W. Kauffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The story of the Lincoln Assassination is something I learned in the 4th grade, again in the 6th, again in high school. I read the textbooks, took the tests. What stuck in my memory was boiled down to a few sentences of "fact," many of which were set aside by the author, Michael Kauffman.

The author's meticulous research has opened up an incredible bonanza of overlooked information, resulting in an amazing account of the long, stumbling conspiracy against Lincoln. The idea was to kidnap him, originally, and take him to the Confederate capital of Richmond. The opportunities for this abduction presented themselves, but plans went awry. Finally, the desperate decision was made unilaterally by Booth to murder Lincoln at a performance at Ford's Theatre.

The details of the assassination, the escape of the fugitives, the federal effort to capture the suspects, the chaos of the aftermath, the long and complex pursuit of Booth and Herold, the trials and executions, are riveting.

I spent my youth in Virginia and the Washington D.C. area and had no idea of the drama that unfolded along the Potomac River and in Maryland during the chase. I am inspired to revisit those locations and see what is left there of the scenes described in the book, the swamps, the plantations, the small settlement towns.

It was a smaller world. There were fewer people in it, and many of them were related. Connections were quickly made. Gossip travelled rapidly. The Civil War was in effect still raging, even after Lee's surrender. Passions were high. John Wilkes Booth, an actor of renown on the stage believed that he would go down in history as a liberator from the tyrant Lincoln.

This book accomplishes a major restructuring of our understanding of this national tragedy.


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Washington Black Book Review

Washington BlackWashington Black by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One doesn't happen upon a book like this more than a few times in a reading history, especially of contemporary literature. As other readers have said, I had trouble putting the book down at the end, realizing that it was either time for me to move on, or to start again at the beginning. Esi Edugyan has an uncommon feeling for language, so I was not only bound to the book for the unfolding plot, but for the poetry, the imagery, the unspoken glimpses of something beyond our common understanding. This is a book that cannot be absorbed in one reading because of the many languages it speaks, of mystery, of death, of fateful coincidence.


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Review Request for smart Historical Romance! Free Download for Reviewers!

REVIEW REQUEST FOR:

The Further Adventures of Dragos & Holmes: Everything Dear
(Book 2)

by: Lorena Cornwall Cassady

320 pages

Historical Detective Fiction/LGBT Romance/Adventure

Publication Date: January 3, 2019

Amazon Preorder page: https://amzn.to/2ykafY7

Bookfunnel download for reviewers: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/zh7xdd6d8h

Link to Book 1: https://amzn.to/2EpcbUD


To potential reviewers,

I would be honored and delighted if you would review Book 2 of the trilogy “The Adventures of Dragos and Holmes.” According to my beta readers, there is no need to read the first book in order to enjoy the second. Of course you are welcome to imbibe!

In Book 2, Dragos and Holmes are about to face the most devastating challenges of their lives. Dragoș’s little daughter, Colette has been kidnapped out of the villa in Toledo, Spain, by the arch villain, Haroun. Dragoș reaches out to Holmes to assist in the rescue.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes, who is in the midst of a harrowing midlife crisis, is himself in danger. A mysterious young Frenchman named Laurent, who aggressively seduced him at a soirée for the King of Sweden, has turned out to be an evil extortionist. He is threatening the detective with exposure, and ultimately with murder. All of this happens during the sensational Oscar Wilde trial in London, which is causing an eruption of public sentiment against ‘men of a certain persuasion.’ Holmes is in danger of losing his career and his life.

This is a book of adventure, romance, humor, melodrama and historical fiction, meticulously researched. As in Book 1, the style of storytelling honors its eighteenth and nineteenth century precursors: Tom Jones, Fanny Hill, the romances of Alexandre Dumas, and of course, the detective novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Thank you in advance for your consideration! Please let me know if I can supply you with any more information.
   

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

This cozy mystery fires on all cylinders!





Robyn Beecroft’s book started off strong and engaging and only got better as I rapidly made my way through this page-turner cozy mystery. If I didn’t have a fascination with the Fenlands of eastern England, Morris dancing, Oliver Cromwell, and the Straw Bear Festival of Whittlesea, I certainly do now! I won’t go into detail about the pleasant hours I’ve since spent delving into these rich subjects and locations, but will turn to convincing you to buy this gem of a book, which deserves (and will eventually get, I’m sure) a wide readership. I’m already tapping my foot, waiting eagerly for the sequel. Meanwhile I plan to read it again, now that I have studied the area where the mystery unfolds.

From page one I knew I was in the hands of a truly skilled writer, who knows the ingredients of great stories and how to mix them together in just the right proportions. There are two stories here, one a whodunit about a gruesome murder that is discovered at the height of Witchelsea’s Straw Man Festival, and the other about claiming one’s identity.
First, the murder.
 “They looked up in time to see the blackened husk of the Straw Man burst apart and fall in flaming gouts into the center of the fire. The corpse inside sagged forward, but for one long instant its blackened clothes and roasted skin were visible to all. Blood coursed down both sides of its now unrecognizable face.”
A cozy mystery murder scene doesn’t get any better than this, and it shouldn’t get any worse! In this genre, explicit gore is kept to a minimum, sufficient only provide a motivating threat to propel the plot forward, and here the author hits it just right.
The two main characters of the book are Rory, who pieces together a living by writing three blogs about gluten-free cooking, gentlemen’s outfitting and ghost-hunting, and Haley, a Beyonce-lookalike who works at a pub called the Village Inn. They are caught up in the search for the killer to prove the innocence of Haley’s uncle Jimi who is in danger of becoming the main suspect. Haley believes this is partly because of his race. There are many more twists, turns and romantic complications to come, and as we spool through them we are treated to the passing scenery—the wilds of the Fenland marshes, the spectacle of Morris dancing, and plenty of local village color.
Integrally woven into the fabric of the plot are much larger issues, such as the willingness of some people to condemn people of color, trans-gender and gay folk and immigrants. This is accomplished without being the least bit heavy-handed and with a dollop of insight and compassion. The mystery unravels with real suspense and is sprinkled here and there with mischievous humor, lush description, and poignant observation.

On top of the mystery plot, we are treated to a parallel story, watching Rory and Haley evolve from timid and unsure caterpillars into self-accepting and bold butterflies. Through conflict with family members, confronting their own self-doubt, and meeting head-on the challenges of finding the murderer, they manage to claim their identities—Rory as a gay man who can now pursue a romance with Zach, the handsome policeman, and Haley as happily unattached, free to project whatever gender she wakes up feeling like in the morning.

Don’t miss this fast moving and satisfying read! And if you like it as much as I think you will, give it a review. It deserves a wide audience!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Travel's With Chesky, by Heather Phelps



I love the vicarious pleasure of reading travel books, especially by women. True to Heather's oft stated conviction that women need to step up and overcome their fear or ignorance about how to resolve a challenge, she describes how she prepared for the journey and how she solved obstacles as they presented themselves. She whitewashed nothing. I was convinced that I would never have the patience or fortitude to take a dog along on such a journey! And as a matter of fact I recently watched a wonderful documentary, “Expedition Happiness” about a young German couple that took a dog along on a major road trip across Canada, down the West Coast of the U.S. and into Mexico, but before they could complete their journey into South America their dog just couldn’t handle it anymore!

I visited the original blog that prepared the ground for this book and enjoyed the photographs and brief journal entries as she went along. These would prompt her to write this book, and explains the short, episodic entries which make up the text. I thought that worked well.

I finished the book in two days and had no trouble going back to it. It was a great thing to take to bed with me and I would recommend the book to any and all.

There were only two things that I felt might have improved the book. First, a bit less judgment, lecturing and opinion on entire States (including states of mind) and certain types of people she met along the road. A little moralizing goes a long way in a travel book! Second, I would have like to see more personal vulnerability, a key who this woman was and how her journey changed her. Having demonstrated that she was a decent and upstanding woman at the beginning of the book, I didn’t feel I knew her an iota better by the end of the book. The raison d’être of the journey seemed entirely outside of herself, and in the end could have been written by anyone of her general class, social background, geographic origins, and education. I speculated this that lack of personal forthcomingness was perhaps a result of her background in the CIA.

But if you’re in the mood for a road trip around the dog parks of the United States and their fascinating and sometimes shady denizens, this is the book you’ll want to take along! 

Saturday, March 10, 2018

21 Stories, by Graham Greene

Twenty-one StoriesTwenty-one Stories by Graham Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great writers make it look easy. There is so much to say about Graham and his writing, but the best thing for writers to do is just read him. He just pulls you in. No struggle. No bells and whistles. The smoothest language and most personal language I have ever read. A seductive music begins to play in your head from the first phrase, and you enter the story effortlessly. The stories about children appealed to me the most, as they were the simplest in form, and for me, the music played the loudest. I met a woman in a cafe here in Oaxaca where I live now and when I told her I was reading Greene, she immediately recalled what a complete escape he provided her when she needed a break from her studies in graduate school.

I'm sure like all writers I love, D.H. Lawrence, Annie Dillard, Joan Didion, I will stumble upon a few Greene stories and novels that I could do without. But I have never felt that a failed effort diminished the best efforts of a serious writer. In fact the ones that struck me as not being quite up to par, instructed me just as clearly. 


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Saturday, January 13, 2018

Excerpt from THE ADVENTURES OF DRAGOS AND HOLMES


High Tea with Dame Müller

Sherlock Holmes, Eton School for Boys
1 November 1867
There’s a new boy at Godolphin House. Rumor has it they sent him over from the commoners’ rooms to fill an opening left by Master Jeffrey Tooms, who was suddenly attacked by disabling tremors in his legs and arms.  Several distinguished doctors visited Jeffrey’s room and tried to cure him. They cut and bled him, wrapped evil-smelling poultices around his extremities, and poured patent medicines down his throat, to no avail.  I myself spent hours buried in stacks of medical books in the library, trying to discover the cause of his affliction. Unfortunately, his family came to take the boy away before I could reach a conclusion.
The only positive aspect of this dreadful situation is that the school term has only just begun, so the sad departure of Jeffrey and the arrival of a new boy to take his place will not cause undue disturbance in the residence hall.
Dragoș Covenu is the new student, a rather exotic-looking boy with an exotic name. He is my age, 13, with tea-colored skin, black hair, large brown eyes with long lashes, and his English is atrocious. Most of the boys give him a wide berth, as I should do, but there is something about him that interests me. He is better built and taller than the rest of us. The muscles on his arms and legs are shapely and well-defined, and he moves with an easy grace, as if he’d just walked out of a Greek myth or a legend from the Crusades. I could envision him as a dark knight in shining armor, or a pirate standing, sword drawn, under the skull and crossbones. 
When Dame Müller, the house supervisor, introduced Dragoș to the young residents of Godolphin Hall, she mentioned he was going in for sports and military strategy, which are not enormously taxing fields of study. He quite looks the part for either profession; strapping and fit, sturdy legs and haunches for marching long distances. I can attest to these pleasing physical characteristics, as I stand behind him during afternoon drills.
Eton students and masters alike wonder how this boy, a foreigner, was allowed to take up residence in Godolphin House, a privilege reserved for sons of the peerage or country gentlemen like my father. I suppose it would have been comparable to a freed slave in America somehow gaining entrance to Harvard University. Toes felt stepped on, naturally. Outrage was expressed. Some believed that in order to have leapt across our social barriers so easily, he must be some kind of foreign royalty. But he doesn’t carry himself with that kind of restraint or sophistication. Not by a long shot.
I have a full schedule this term, playing violin in the chamber orchestra and continuing my Greek and Latin studies. And Composition. What’s new on my plate are Chemistry and Forensics, the latter being a recently established branch of the physical sciences. It should prove useful to my future career as a master sleuth. And there is my membership in the Classical Society, composed of retiring boys like myself who wish to keep a certain distance from the noisy herd.
As an opening salvo to welcome the new term, Dame Müller invited Lord Craven, his boorish friend Baronet Goad, and myself to high tea. I cannot account for why she selected the three of us out of all the Godolphin inmates, except that we are the least popular boys at Eton; Craven and Goad because they are despicable and mean, and myself because I am a friendless hermit. She claims we were invited since we had all three won the lottery held last spring to raise funds for the Chess Club. But I don’t remember buying a ticket, and Craven and Goad wouldn’t know a chessboard from a cheeseboard.
Very well, high tea it is. And I suppose she will treat us to more stories about German children cartwheeling through streets of Düsseldorf after the defeat of the Archbishop of Cologne in 1288. Dame Müller feels it is her duty to impress upon her Eton charges that Germany has a history at least as illustrious as England’s, though I’m not sure cartwheeling boys can compete with the scions of old London.