Maya Angelou

I've read that Maya Angelou is one of the great writers of our time, but I wanted to see for myself. I found a copy of The Heart of a Woman for a dollar at a thrift store (okay so I'm frugal) and wondered if the book would live up to the hype.  I'm not so great at image transferring, but this is roughly the cover:

                                                               

The fact that The Heart of a Woman was one of Oprah's Book Club selections didn't intrigue me so much as the cover blurb. "A flowering, a growing son - a powerful personal narrative".  Since I usually read and review mysteries and fiction, I sensed that this book, a partial autobiography, would require a different type of format than my usual SPEED ones.
    I expected a memoir, diary type of presentation, but found the moving story of an Afro-American woman whose life had exciting moments meeting Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr, Billie Holiday, and Malcolm X, but also tender, confrontational, and ordinary times with her friends and son.  Her relationship with her teenage son and how she deals with everything from his indifference to a gang bullying him is priceless. It is an overall theme and a worthy reason by itself to read the book. Her narrative of the struggles and triumphs in her life is both emotional and matter-of-fact without going on in any one direction for too long. Lively dialogue and engaging storytelling are woven back and forth in her recollections, and her marriage to an African businessman and freedom fighter gives a glimpse into African culture and civil rights.
     For writers, Heart of a Woman is a valuable read for inspiration and a good prose example as well.
It's easy to forget while enjoying the jazzy side of Angelou's life, singing and dancing in New York City, that she was also a struggling writer. Her disappointments, dreams, and successes in writing are familiar to most authors and her descriptions, whether humorous or poignant, are deserving models.
    I enjoyed reading the book and can only hope that I find the other three volumes of her continuing autobiography in another thrift store. Or maybe I'll even order them at full price since I  can probably expect more good reading.
   

Sci-fi, sports humor, and romance books reviewed

Still making my SPEED reviews (Story, Pace, Enjoyment, Editing, and Dialogue) on these three I recently read:

Perfection Unleashed by Jade Kerrion
     Though I seldom read sci-fi, I'm really glad I read this one. In a world where humans occupy the same space as clones, in-vitros, and mutants, there is bound to be conflict and discrimination. In the book's beginning, a perfect, genetically engineered being named Galahad is marked for extermination by a pro-humanist group. With the help of mercenary, Zara, he escapes, but four mutants (abominations) are let loose as well. A wealthy businessman calls in his friend, Danyael, an alpha mutant with empathic and healing powers to help Galahad who was injured in the escape. Danyael happens to look exactly like Galahad and the book continues to unravel why that should be so.
     The story moves along at an exciting and comfortable pace with plenty of action scenes.
     What contributed most to my enjoyment was the skillful handing of the interplay between genetics, telepathy, empathy and healing. It shows that Jade Kerrion has a degree in biology. While I can envision a character with empathy and healing powers, Kerrion draws on imagination and physiology to aptly describe the types of things an alpha mutuant with healing power would experience as his power dwindled or increased.
     The editing seemed to be very good.
     Conversations between the protagonists were natural and many times revealing. The author used italics for the thought transfers from the telepaths and the abominations, too. This was very effective.
     Perfection Unleashed is Book 1 of the Double Helix Series by Jade Kerrion, and is a worthy read.


The Not So Beautiful Game - Muncaster United Football Club by Robert Lee and Mara Mihalache

     The book is a very funny spoof of a UK football (soccer) club and the zany characters associated with the team and its supporters. (That there would be a joke right here about athletic supporters is a clue to what you'll find) The rise of the once-cursed, losing M.U.F.C. to victorious legend comes about with a lot of tomfoolery and wild escapades. For sports enthusiasts there is plenty of action on the field, and for those who like me are just former soccer moms, the games are followable.
     For me, I couldn't take so much hilarity, slapstick, and bawdy humor in one sitting, but savored it in reading spurts. The pace is good, but there are thirty some notes included here and there that you have to go to the end to read and then click back. I didn't get the first few (British references?) and I didn't like to interrupt my reading to find them anyway. The book is longer than I expected.
    As the authors take every (yes, every) opportunity to make it humorous, there is much enjoyment to be had. But as I mentioned before, I purposely doled out my entertainment.
     British spellings are sometimes different from American ones, so allowing for that, I didn't notice any errors.
     The dialogue fits the characters well and puns and schticks are rampant there too.
     From my viewpoint, you don't have to be British to like this book, but it might help.

Love's Second Chance  by Mike Lynch

     A Christian story of a struggling church, Love's Second Chance focuses on Dana Rogers and her faithful life at New Covenant Church. Church goers may identify with trying to halt the dwindling attendance at church by God-centered means. Dana, of course, is alone because a tragedy took her former boyfriend and becomes interested in Evan Johnson, a member at New Covenant.
     If I say it took me a while to finish this, you may get the impression reading it is a struggle, too. Not really. The pace is a little slow but I have three comments about why it took so long in the next section.
     In the first chapter, Dana is supposedly reading to children about the battle for their town, Fairhaven.
While the next few pages were an interesting piece of history, it was too long and battle-oriented for children. I wondered if maybe they were high schoolers, which would make more sense, but the children had recess after the reading. That put me off the book for weeks. When I picked it up, I found grammar and punctuation errors, despite the fact that the book had a traditional publisher. I dislike not finishing a book (though I have done it) so I overlooked some bland dialogue between Evan and Dana and read again. (I was expecting spitfire Doris Day and obstinate James Garner, but I think the author is too young to remember that type of interplay). As I got past two thirds of the book I found that the story got a little more exciting. I was surprised to find more mystery and plot toward the end.
     I kind of put Enjoyment, Editing, and Dialogue together in the previous paragraph but I wanted to say one more thing. There was a feeling of naturalness and true faith in the conversations Dana had with Pastor Terry. There are many scenes, prayers, and faith declarations which ring true and will delight Christians who read it.

When you're done reading, you may also enjoy:

Two women walk 256 miles in search of new beginnings after missile attacks force a gasoline ban.
OR:

An evil man dies of blowfish poisoning and Japanese chef, Hoshi Sato, seems to be responsible. A Lieutenant James mystery.
http://ow.ly/nQCrR at Barnes and Noble
http://ow.ly/nfG40 at Smashwords
http://ow.ly/ll9PU at Amazon

The Write Age

I have only one book review this week because it is special.

Herb Baron made a promise to his dying wife that he would be alright after she was gone. Lorraine, his wife, had always encouraged him to talk about and write down his war experiences, and he finally did - at age 87.

La Dolce Vita  by Herb Baron      e-book and print

     The book has been dubbed "A 70,000 word tribute to Lorraine". The author says he didn't write it because he wanted to, but because he had to. It may never be mistaken for great literature, but there is no denying the great love Herb has for his wife. He never misses an opportunity to speak of her selfless devotion and loving support of him as well.
     With disturbing recall, he relates his WWII experience from age 17 on. Even if you find yourself skipping and skimming later sections, don't miss this one. In subsequent years, suffering from PTSD, Herb has business failures, but continues to describe Lorraine in glowing terms. The book becomes a little wordy and repetitive in the sections after his wife passes, but keep in mind this is a labor of love that was difficult for a grieving man to write.
     Keeping his promise, I'm sure he has made Lorraine very happy.

Foreign Books

The three books I'm reviewing today were written by a French (English & Russian, too) author, an Australian writer, and a British butler, respectively. Not that it really matters, it's something I just noticed.


Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay       New York Times Bestseller

The nightmare of a young Jewish girl during a Nazi roundup is amplified because she leaves her brother behind, locked in their secret hiding place to protect him. Though she had promised to return for him, her separation from her parents and placement in a youth camp prevent it. Her guilt and concerns are sometimes secondary to survival as she escapes. The author weaves in the story of a journalist, Julia Jarmond,  sixty years later, who investigates the roundup and becomes fascinated with Sarah Stazynski and what happened to her.
This is not a fast-paced book, but it flows with suspense and mystery. As you would expect, the editing by publisher St. Martin's Griffin is good and the dialogue is appropriately child-like with Sarah and sophisticated and regional with Julia's French friends and family. It was a very memorable, enjoyble book.


Slave Trader : In the Name of Freedom  by Carol Marvell           E-book on Amazon

Action-packed is an understatement for this story of policewoman Billie McCoy, taken by slavers when she stumbles upon their operation. The other girls are loners and mostly ex-cons or prostitutes with no family to miss them and they give Billie a hard time, physically and emotionally. Fight scene after fight scene eventually leads to some understanding between the women, but it is when Billy fights the ultimate fight to the death for everyone's freedom that she earns respect. Fast-paced with quick dialogue, the book is enjoyable but unresolved at the end. There's a slight manipulation to get you to buy the sequel, but it promises to be enjoyable, too.


Stonebridge Manor   by Peter Bradbury

The backstory of the lives of the servants at Lord Baldwin's two estates is what makes this book. The author is a former butler and knows well what goes on. The murder of Lady Baldwin is expected and not sad for some, but of course, the police pursue the killer. The pace is okay and the dialogue is filled with colorful English expression. I understand that Mr. Bradbury has a traditional publisher for this book now and I trust that will resolve some of the editing problems. All in all it was quite enjoyable.

Romance, thrills and a bit of Scotland

I'm catching up on my reviews so I can finish the books I'm currently reading. Here are the last three that I enjoyed.  (Story, Pace, Enjoyment, Editing, and Dialogue) SPEED Reviews:

Summer's Growth by Tina Gayle  (ebook)

The heroine of this sometimes steamy romance has to find a family replacement for herself as estate manager and also please the many spirits which inhabit the mansion. The pace is lively as long-departed relatives and servants hop in and out of her world to help and hinder. When a love from her teen years comes back into her life, their renewed passion complicates things. I heartily enjoyed the book and editing mistakes were very minor. The dialogue was sexy in appropriate scenes and believable in conversations with spirits and relatives. A good summer or anytime read.

Cowboy on Fire - Murder under the Volcano by Denniger Bolton  (ebook)

A Texas private detective is hired by a rich friend to find his wife who disappeared from a guru's ashram in Costa Rica. The pace is a little slow at first but picks up considerably as B.B. Rivers meets some characters at the ashram, uncovers evidence and teams up with a hippie couple who run a farm and a former sports star who son was abused by the guru. The book has an authentic South American feel to it as the author lived there a while. I enjoyed that and the Texas talk of the MC in first person point of view. No major edit problems either, The dialogue was lively as was the action.

The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith  (print book)

The 44 Scotland Street Book is a slice of real life in Edinburgh that is almost as good as The #1 Ladies Detective Club (Smith's previous best-seller). The story moves back and forth between the life of young Bertie and his parents, a old painter whose dog has been "arrested" for biting, two middle-aged women who are sort-of friends, the love  lives of a twenty-something opportunist male and a young woman stuck with a male friend she doesn't love. (Not these two together, though). To me, the variety was good at times and off-putting at others. The change in story lines does allow the reader to put the book down and still pick it up later - even much later. The pace was appropriate to the style of writing  McCall Smith uses. Editing was top-notch and the dialogue was great. I enjoyed it but it is not a quick read.

I'm not qualified to review children's books, but I want to mention one anyway. Christmas at the North Pole Compound  by Christine Verstraete is a cute holiday crime short story that would be great if you have little ones in your life. (An elf detective investigates the disappearance of presents from Santa's loading dock)

Since I have six e-books and two print books to read and the final 12 chapters of Mystery at Pima Point  to write, my time here is over. Happy Reading.

Book or Novel?

     In vain, womanly fashion, I won't say how many years I have been an avid reader, but it is probably more than the number of years many of the writers, whose books I read, have been writing. That of course doesn't make me an expert or a credible reviewer, but at least I'm frank when I say I am a fair-minded critic. Readers who sense what books they'll like will have their own way of judging books. Here are my ways which I call SPEED reviewing.
                                                 
Story, Pace, Enjoyment, Editting and Dialogue.  (I don't like the 5 star system because so many books fall into the 3.5 or 4.25 category.) I just write about those five things. Some people are big on characters as a barometer, but I include that with Story and Enjoyment.

A final word before the review - I don't call any of these "novels" although people use "book" and "novel" interchangeably and I have done that before also. But I believe a novel is something to be read over time and savored, bringing it into a classic category that is beyond that of very enjoyable books. What are your thoughts?



Book: Murder Match by Max Perkins (ebook)
     The story of a muderer who finds his victims on social media and the detectives who hunt him down was enjoyable at a steady pace. Toward the end the action picked up and moved things along rapidly. Although a few punctutation marks were missed, the editting was decent and the banter between the detectives and their superiors was believable. This book had most of the elements that crime-and- detective book fans would like.

Book: Haldol and Hyacinths by Melody Moezze (to be released in August)
     I received an advance copy of this book, subtitled A Bipolar Life, to read and review. As this book was professionally edited by Avery Press, the editting was top-notch. (I found one teeny error, that's all). Because the book is a memoir, the author relates true events and does so in an entertaining and clear way. The story rings true -  as does the dialogue. I have trouble saying I enjoyed it because of what the author went through, but I didn't put it down for three hours until I finished.

Book: The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness by Craig Stone (ebook)
     Although there are several wacky stories included in the book, the main story of self-imposed homelessness and associated problems is both humorous and poignant. It zips along at a fair pace but there were a few chapters that seemed slow. Not very heavy on dialogue, the thoughts of the MC keep the reader enjoyably occupied with British phrases and expressions. I believe Stone made up a few of his own, too. I can honestly say I didn't pay much attention to the editting, so it must have been good. This was a nice change from my usual choices.