book reviews
Reviews of books by relationship gurus, dating experts, and cautionary tale-tellers.
Bedtime with Bambi
How I still long to hold that original 1929 hardcover in my hands again. My love for Bambi didn’t start with the Disney version. I enjoyed that adaptation but, as a young child, I wouldn’t become aware of the original story until years later. I loved to read and had many Little Golden Books including Walt Disney’s Bambi.
By Crystal McNeil5 years ago in Humans
The Answer Is... Review
Just before Jeopardy host Alex Trebek died, he wrote a book. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the statistics told him he probably wouldn't live much longer. He fought for as long as he possibly could, getting through tapings in immense pain and going back and forth about how he felt trying to fight something that might be pointless. He initially didn't think he would ever want to write a book, but eventually realized he had a lot to say about his life experiences. He wanted to publish something from the original source so that facts of his life weren't stretched out of proportion, and he wanted to keep making a positive impact during the time he struggled the most. He acknowledges in the opening of the book that he is not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but that doesn't matter. The Answer Is... encapsulates the voice of a laid-back conversationalist reliving his life's story through simple anecdotes, and for a book like this, that is absolutely perfect.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry Review
About a decade ago, legendary fantasy author Neil Gaiman asked his Twitter followers to help him with an intriguing idea. He tweeted out a single line and asked his followers to help him write a full fantasy story based on that opening line. What followed was a huge selection of these 140-character lines that were eventually created into an official BBC audiobook, and after hearing it for the first time all these years later, I personally believe that Hearts, Keys and Puppetry is a charming feat.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
A Few Book Reviews
It has been awhile since I have been writing here, but I will now be writing more, since I have completed my Spring cleaning and a few other chores as well. I have been doing research for a book I plan to write as well as lectures that I plan to share here on Vocal and Medium. There will be reviews of picture books and young adult books as well. The reviews that I plan to share today I know I shared to Medium, but I am not sure about here on Vocal.
By Mark Graham5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz" by Gail Crowther
Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton are two female poets who practically changed the face of 20th century poetry. Many, many things have been written about the two poets throughout the years that range from their broken marriages to their fights with depression, their years of higher education and all the way down to their methods of ending their own lives. It is clear that we can draw parallels between the two writers and we can also see stark differences in their lives - such as Sylvia Plath moving to England whereas, Anne Sexton remained in America. But the one thing that I think I learned most about the two women was how their lives were marred by other people. I related to that and I think that this book really showed me that I am not alone when it comes to struggling with my own close relations. It is something that these two women not only struggled with, but in the end, it may have actually had a hand in both of their deaths. A brilliant book on two amazing women of literature, “Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz” is a biography that you will not want to miss this year.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Humans
Tales from the Gas Station Vol.1 By Jack Townsend
Themes Existential dread, violence, dark humor, parallel dimensions, chaos theory Reluctant hero, realistic fiction (until it isn’t), absurdism, small town bs Supernatural, horror, mental illness, demons, aliens, ancient gods
By Kayleigh Harrier5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe
I think I can say that many of us have seen those programs on Netflix that talk about the American Painkiller Epidemic. I think many of us have even tried some of these painkillers and felt darn good after them. I even bet that some of you sitting here today are possibly addicted to them. But there is one thing for sure - if you’re going to write a book or make a documentary about it, it is better if you are on the inside of the situation rather than standing on the outside. It is no criticism towards this book for its author was very much outside of the situation, but I can state that there have been better attempts to grab my interest when it comes to the word ‘OxyContin’. I am a person who loves personal stories, which is why I love listening to people who have stories to tell about journeys they have been on and such. It is just incredible to listen to someone talk with such a passion. Some of this book here, because of the research aspect, falls rather flat at the beginning, but as we get into the grittiness of the story there is a definite attempt to make this more about the entire ‘game plan’ surrounding the drug rather than a boring research paper which many of us would be familiar with. So, there are definitely very good points to this book, but there is always room for improvement in the eyes of your average reader.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Humans
Luster
This was another mystery Literati arrival, and a title that I certainly don’t think that I would have picked out for myself. It took me longer than was expected to finish reading this because I was continually trying to figure out if I should give up and put the book down, or if I should continue reading and see it through to the end; ultimately, I did finish reading, but this book left me with a rather lackluster satisfaction. At first glance, this book has everything that I love to read: drama, romance, scandal, complicated relationships, and a search for a sense of belonging, but for me it just never delivered.
By Kurt Mason5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: Taken Hostage by David Farber
Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America's First Encounter with Radical Islam is written by American historian David Farber, who has written various books on modern American history from the 1950s onward. As the book’s title suggests, the work centers around the Iran Hostage Crisis that took place between 1979 and 1981. In particular, it focuses on the discourse in American society that resulted from building tensions with Iran and negative feelings about the presidential policies of Jimmy Carter. The book doesn’t necessarily focus on the events that occurred during the actual crisis, instead using it as the culmination of political turmoil that occurred throughout the 1970s and explaining all of the reasons why it took place.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "Ariadne" by Jennifer Saint
Fantasy novels based within myths are more than often somewhat unimaginative. It can really go one of two ways. The first way it can go is that it can rethink the entire story, adding imagined events which are filled with thought-provoking scenes of extreme emotion. The other way it can go is that it can basically just copy the myth whilst adding in scenes in which characters reflect on various things and so, if you did not know about the myth to begin with - it becomes just some sort of exercise in futility. The dreaded and often less common third road it can go down is that it is a weird mash up of the two. We get the unimaginative retelling that is basically something we could find on google if we typed the myth in and, it is told in a way that is completely unemotional and filled with things that would either make the reader feel inclined to look on google for the actual myth, or insult the reader’s intelligence. When I first read the book “Ariadne” by Jennifer Saint, I was very cautious because of the greek myth retellings I had been fed before and the way that they, after a while, became almost a cliché. And with these clichés in mind, I was keeping my eyes open. Though, I am struck to say that I did not really find very many.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Humans
