Goodnight iPad- a Parody for the next generation

Stars: 3/5

Author: Ann Droyd, aka David Milgrim

Subjects: Parody, Technology, bedtime, children, humor, electronics, plugged in, Goodnight Moon

ISBN: 978-0-399-15856-8

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments: This child's book is a bedtime story, that is a parody of Margret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon". Although it is a cute story for children with rhyming lines and adorable illustrations, it drives home a moral that's important for adults to hear as well. In the story, much to the mother's dismay her family becomes so "plugged in" to their devices, they can no longer get to sleep. So, the mother eradicates her house of the distractions and her family can miraculously sleep once again. We should all take note from this story. I love my gadgets as much as the next person but we should realize that we do need to unplug every once in a while and try not to get so caught up in the gadgets and gizmos; that we lose sight of the important things in our lives. Disconnect and don't get so caught up in the digital world, that we lose sight of the present.

Flash and Bones

Stars:5/5

Author: Kathy Reichs

Subjects: Murder, mystery, NASCAR, Charlotte, Anthropology, Bones, Forensics, Police, FBI, Right-Wing Extremists, cover up, conspiracy, bio hazards, suspense, science, Temperance Brennan, novel

ISBN: 978-1-4391-0241-1

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments: Kathy Reichs does it once again! This was an outstanding novel, complete with plot twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. We meet up again with the protagonist, forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan, in her hometown of Charlotte, NC just as race week is about to begin. Just as fans are filing in for the NASCAR event a body in unearthed in the landfill adjacent to the speedway. Sure enough, Tempe is called in to complete the autopsy. The discovery then leads to a complex investigation involving multiple bodies, the FBI, a disgraced ex-cop, extremists, and bio hazard scares that all keep the pages turning.

House of Mist

Stars: 1/5
Author: María Louisa Bombal

Subjects: pre-magical realism, mystery, South America, Latin American women, Latin American men, Chile
ISBN: 0374531366
Copyright Year: 2008 (first edition by Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Other Comments:  I rated this book so low because I felt like this mystery had plot holes and the characters seemed really flat.  They didn't seem to change in any extremely significant way.  Also, the ending didn't seem to fit.  This book deconstructs the romantic fairy tale through Helga and her marriage.  This novel is a precursor to magical realism, so it's interesting in that respect.  I did think the deconstruction of the romantic fairy tale worked as well.

Love, Anger, Madness

Stars: 3/5
Author: Marie Vieux-Chauvet
Subjects: Haiti, military rule, class wars, psychological terror
ISBN: 9780812976922
Copyright Year: 2009
Other Comments: To be completely fair, I only read Anger.  This was a book assigned to me in my global literature class.  I have the translation into English by Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokur.  I found this novel truly disturbing but very powerful.  I only rated it a 3 because I was upset with all the unnecessary martyrdom.  Although I understood that anger caused the deaths in the end, I still desperately wanted to save the grandfather, the invalid, and Rose.  Third person omniscient narration gets pretty confusing in the beginning and when the narration switches between characters quickly.  The plot is about a family who suddenly has their land stripped from them by the ruling military regime.  The family each have their own motives for wanting their land back.  Eventually the manipulations of the characters lead to a tragic ending.  This is not a tale for the faint of heart.  There is a great deal of violence.  I did enjoy reading it, however and would recommend it to others.

Animal Farm: A Fairy Story

Stars: 3.5/5

Author: George Orwell

Subjects: Humanity, Power Struggle, Good vs Evil, Corruption of Society, Social Status, Russian Communism allegory, Class conflicts, Socialism, Dystopia, satire, revolution

ISBN: 978-0-547-37022-4

Copyright Year: 1945

Other Comments: The fairytale is a dystopian satire that allegorizes the take over of Russia by the communists Joesph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The novella follows the rebellion of farm animals against the tyrants called man and their life until everything turns full circle and the pigs become man. The work accurately describes in full dystopian style, the problems in our society corruption and the need for power. The society rids themselves of one dictator, only to fall back in line with another. This work should remind us all that: History tends to repeat it's self. I would recommend the novella, so that we are all aware of the dangers of repeating our past and that we all need to be well aware of the world around us.

The Help

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Subjects: domestic help, racial tensions, Jim Crow Laws, African American Women, white women, gender roles, writing, publishing, small town, civil rights
ISBN: 978-0425245132
Copyright Year: 2011
Other Comments: The Help was a fantastic book.  I would have given it a perfect 5/5 stars had it not been for some situations that seemed slightly unbelievable.  The Help is about three women, two of which are black women who work as domestic maids and nannies.  The other young lady is a white woman writer.  Eventually all of them come together to do something no one has done before - write about what its like to serve as the help for white families.  During the civil rights movements and the Jim Crow Laws, this was a dangerous idea for all of them.  However, against all odds, they manage to write the book and publish it.  They then begin to watch as the town around them starts to change.  The Help is widely popular right now and a movie has just been produced based on the book.  I would suggest reading the book first and then seeing the movie.  Both are excellent works!

Flabbergasted

Stars: 2.5/5

Author: Ray Blackston

Subjects: Jesus, God, Presbyterians, Church, Singles, Romance, Amazon Basin, Missionary, South Carolina, Ecuador

ISBN: 080073453X

Copyright Year: 2010

Other Comments: I enjoyed Blackston's humor in his novel, Flabbergasted.  I found this perspective on Presbyterian Christians altogether funny, friendly, and quirky.  I am NOT a romance novel fan, but I was happily surprised to figure out this book is indeed contemporary romance.  There was a lot of genuinely good humor.  However, I did find the ending slightly disappointing but I did get the point.  I was not impressed with the subtle inclusion of stereotypes for women and minorities, however.  If it weren't for these blaring realities, I would have rated this book a lot higher.

The Canopy

Stars: 3.5/5

Author: Angela Hunt

Subjects: Amazon, jungle, God, Jesus, prion diseases, FFI, biology, atheism

ISBN: 0849943450

Copyright Year: 2003

Other Comments: This was my first brush with Christian fiction and I was pleasantly surprised.  I was debating on the score of this book - between a 4 or 3.5 out of 5 stars - but I chose 3.5 because it took me a while to really get into the story.  Once I finally did though, I had a hard time putting it down until I was finished.  The story is about a young woman named Alex who has FFI and is searching for the cure with a group of researchers in the Amazon jungle.  She is an atheist with a genius daughter (who is also on the trip) and an ex-husband who could care less about them.  Then there is Michael, a Christian pediatrician practicing at a free clinic in the Amazon.  When a strange patient is carted in for surgery from a spear wound, Michael finds his brain riddled with prions - and yet he seems to suffer none of the effects of the disease.  He then takes this information to Alex and they seek his village for the cure.  This book was full of battles - spiritual, physical, emotional, verbal, etc.  After reading it, I decided I liked the Christian fiction genre and would continue to read more of it.

The Case For Christ

Stars: 5/5
Author: Lee Strobel
Subjects: Christ/Jesus/Messiah, Scholars, Evidence, Resurrection, Court Case, God, Christianity, Atheism, Debate, Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Acts, Corinthians, the Bible

ISBN: 0-310-22655-4

Copyright Year: 1998

Other Comments: This book is fantastic.  But as a Christian, of course I would love it... right?  Consider this.  It is written by a journalist who used to be an atheist.  He turned to Christ after researching the evidence for Christ.  Lee Strobel has a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale Law School and was an award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune.  He does extensive research - all of his sources are listed in the back of the book for the curious to do their own investigations.  All of my questions about Jesus, including the varying genealogies of Jesus and the selection of the certain books of the bible, were answered.  I encourage anyone and everyone to review this case for Christ and make their own decisions.  And - as always - do your research!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
Subjects: vegetables, farmers, local food, gardening, cooking, farmers' markets, the industrialized food market
ISBN: 0060852569 or 978-0060852566
Copyright Year: 2008
Other Comments: I would have given this book five stars if it weren't for a few comments about Christians that struck me as offensive.  Other than that, it is a plethora of information about food.  I learned a great deal about the industrialized food industry and also about the sufficient advantages of buying from local farmers and growing your own food.  This book reminds me of some of the claims Kevin Trudeau mentioned in his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About.  This book inspired me to visit my local farmers market and I was pleasantly surprised by my findings.  I would recommend this book to anyone.  It does include personal liberal views including themes of evolution.  However, these personal views didn't really take away from the information in the book.  And there was a lot of information!  Barbra also adds personal humor , which enhances the memoirs of her family's one year adventure to grow or buy local food.  Her husband and daughter also contribute their personal essays, which greatly contribute to the work.  I also loved the argument about eating meat, with which I generally agree.  In conclusion this work was well put together, informative, and a entertaining read.

The Glass Castle

Stars: 5/5
Author: Jeannette Walls
Subjects: memoir, alcoholic father, dysfunctional family, poverty, homless people, West Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, California, New York
ISBN: 9781439156964
Copyright Year: 2009
Other Comments:
The Glass Castle is a stunning memoir of a dysfunctional family and astonishing optimism and hope.  Jeannette Walls recounts how her parents were - brilliant but unfit to raise children - and how she and her siblings banded together and raised themselves.  Walls gives details of different moves their mother called "adventures", when the bills piled up too high.  She also writes about the horrible conditions of poverty from rats mistaken for opossums to leaking and buckling roofs to armies of termites and roaches.  She also tells of her parents both loving and selfish gestures toward their children and how - in the end - the children left their parents for a better life in New York.  Even after all this, their parents follow them and choose to be homeless just to be near their kids.  This is a memoir of hard work, heartbreak, and ultimately fulfillment.  I loved it - however it's not for the faintest of heart.

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Stars: 5/5
Author: Nicholas Carr
Subjects: Neuropsychology, Internet--Physiological effect, Internet--Psychological aspects, science
ISBN: 9780393072228
Copyright Year: 2010
Other Comments: Nicholas Carr, in one of the most important books I've ever read, explains the physiological effect of the internet on our brains.  An avid internet user and consumer of digital technology, Nicholas isn't someone who is one-sided.  He did his research - from the effects of inventions of all sorts on society to the newest studies on the intricate workings of the brain, Carr explains how the internet is one huge distraction machine - and how it's training our brains to be unfocused.  I would encourage everyone to read this phenomenal and frightening book.  Especially teachers and professors who use technology in the classroom.

Kaffir Boy

Stars: 3.5/5
Author: Mark Mathabane
Subjects: Africa, apartheid, poverty, South Africa, oppression, tennis, gangs
ISBN: 0684848287
Copyright Year: 1986
Other Comments: Kaffir Boy is the autobiography of Johannes (Mark) Mathabane.  The word "kaffir" is of Arabic origin and means "infidel".  It was used as a degrading term by South African whites and is the equivalent of the word "nigger" commonly used in America (paraphrased from the preface).  This non-fiction work is about Mathabane's childhood years up until the age of 18.  This book paints a vivid portrait of the absolute inhumane conditions of apartheid.  From endless poverty to extremely unsanitary conditions to gang wars to overall oppression - Mathabane explains honestly how the minority of white South African citizens ruled over the majority of black natives with an iron fist.  This book was a haunting and devastating read.  I would recommend this to anyone who does not know what apartheid is or has little knowledge of it.  Also, there appears to be a sequel titled Kaffir Boy in America.

You Remind Me of Me

Stars: 3/5
Author: Dan Chaon
Subjects: identity, psychology, city and town life, fate and fatalism, middle west, psychological fiction
ISBN: 0345441419
Copyright Year: 2004
Other Comments: Dan Chaon's You Remind Me of Me is about two half brothers.  The first one, Troy, is given up for adoption when his mother, Nora, is 15 years old.  The second one, Jonah, comes along approximately five years later and lives with Nora's son until she commits suicide.  Jonah finally finds Troy and tries open a connection between them based on familial ties.  However, Troy is more concerned about his predicament of potentially losing his child and being put on house arrest for selling drugs to pay attention to the lonely Jonah.  Jonah eventually becomes so desperate he does something drastic.  This story is beautifully written, but extremely depressing.  It truly is psychological fiction.  I felt nothing but pity for Jonah and Troy, wishing, hoping they would find ways to better lives.  Although the novel ends fairly happy, I was still left with a sense of grief.  This story wasn't my favorite thing I've read by Dan Chaon.  I actually had the privilege of meeting him at the college I attend and was excited to find out that he currently lives in Ohio.  He is hilarious in person and I actually preferred his short stories.  He also acknowledges that his occupation is a short story writer in the back of this book.

Featured Artists

This doesn't have anything to do with books really, but I would like to feature some artists that I know to promote their work and get their name out there.  Hope you enjoy!

• Chuck Marshall (painter): http://chuckmarshallfineart.com/index.html
• Mark Marshall (photographer): http://markmarshallphotography.zenfolio.com/
• *Laila Nur (singer/songwriter): http://www.facebook.com/givemeapen4ever/posts/202201899825327?ref=notif&notif_t=share_comment#!/pages/Laila-Nur/100869459962620?sk=wall
• Christopher Gallagher (photographer): http://www.flickr.com/photos/griamacegallagher/
• Claudia Susana (photographer): http://claudiasusana.com/
• Christy Peffly (photographer): http://photosbychristypeffly.blogspot.com/

*Facebook Page

The Lost Symbol

Stars: 4/5

Author: Dan Brown

Subjects: History, Symbols, Masonic, Washington DC, Robert Langdon, Thriller, Drama, Family, Religion, Spirituality

ISBN: 9780385504225

Copyright Year: 2009

Other Comments:

Out of the previous two books in the series following the protagonist Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, is defiantly the weakest of the three. It follows Langdon, on his quest to save one of his best friends, Peter Solomon’s life. Peter is like a father to Robert. He is a prominent and the highest ranking Mason in the Washington DC area. The only way to save the kidnapped man’s life is for him to be thrown headlong into the secretive Masonic world. Decoding the Mason’s most protected secret will be the only way to ensure Peter’s safety, but will Robert a non mason be able to achieve the feat? Only a wild, Dan Brown styled trip around Washington DC, studying the symbology will tell us now.

Kindred

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Octavia Butler
Subjects: African American women, slaveholders, time travel, slavery, slaves, Los Angeles, southern states, science fiction
ISBN: 0807083690
Copyright Year: 2003
Other Comments: Kindred is an excellent science fiction novel about a young African American woman named Dana.  We are first introduced to Dana in the late 1970s in Los Angeles.  It isn't long, however, before Dana is sucked into the antebellum south during the 1800s.  She goes back in time to save her white male relative, Rufus, from drowning.  This pattern repeats with Rufus getting older and older and Dana getting sucked back in time to save him, only leaving to return to her own time when her own life is threatened.  Each subsequent return becomes more and more dangerous and finally she is forced to extreme measures to save her own life.  This book portrays slavery in all its horror - from the abusive and murdering tactics of slave drivers; to the abusive relationships white males inflicted on white women and African American women; to the destruction of the white and black family; to the unbearable conditions and suffering of the African American slaves.  Octavia Butler makes it clear that the past cannot escape us and also points out how important it is to learn from it and not repeat the same mistakes.  This book was entertaining, horrifying, thrilling, disturbing, uncomfortable, and important.  I would recommend this book to those who enjoy science fiction novels or who have a hard time reading slave narratives. 

Angels and Demons

Stars:5/5

Author: Dan Brown

Subjects:Illuminati, Rome, Vactican, Pope, Secret Societies, Murder, Drama, Physics, Antimatter, Religion vs Science, novel

ISBN: 9870743493468

Copyright Year: 2000

Other Comments:

This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The blend of facts and fiction is seamless. Dan Brown weaves a story aboutfictional characters in fictional situations, all while maintaining historical facts and places. The novel is extremely fast paced and intense. It is a riveting, page turner that one can just not put down. The plot takes the protagonist on a journey across the Atlantic, on a crash course to the contrasting world of cutting-edge science and deep-rooted religion. This will ultimately lead to the finale epic confrontation between the two major powers in the Religion vs. Science battle, the Vatican and the “mythical” Illuminati.

Literary Magazine/Journal Promotion: Vestal Review

• Title: Vestal Review
• Website: http://www.vestalreview.net/
• Editors:
• Mark Budman - Publisher/Editor/Web Master
• Sue O'Neill - co-editor
• MaryAnne McCollister - Senior Associate Editor
• Cheryl Chambers, Antonios Maltezos and Ania Vesenny - associate editors
• Genre(s): flash fiction
• Contributing authors: Steve Almond, Katharine Weber, Mike Resnick, Aimee Bender, Sam Lipsyte, Kirk Nesset, Judith Cofer, Bruce Boston, Robert Boswell, Bruce Holland Rogers, Michelle Richmond, Liz Rosenberg, Stuart Dybek, Robert Olen Butler and Pamela Painter.
• More information: http://vestalreview.net/About.html
• Subscriptions: http://vestalreview.net/Subscribe.html
• Submission Guidelines: http://vestalreview.net/Guidelines.html

The Girls



Stars: 3.5/5
Author: Ladette Randolph
Subjects: dogs, dog sitting, orchid, torture devices, phallic decor
ISBN: 0-299-21510-5 (collection by Ladette Randolph: This is Not the Tropics)
Copyright Year: 2005 (collection)
Other Comments: "The Girls," by Ladette Randolph was first published in Clackamas Literary Review and then again in Randolph's collection of short stories This is Not the Tropics.  The fictional short story is about a young woman named Becca who dogsits for a professor at Pilgrim's College; a certain Professor Blakely.  However, Becca is surprised to find herself surrounded by torture devices and phallic decor.  She ends up also babysitting an orchid.  By the end of everything, she gains an appreciation for Blakely's unique family.  I was irked by all of the phallic symbols and torture devices and got an extremely creepy feeling - especially since it was a young woman dog sitting in an older man's house.  I thought the story was going to go a whole different direction, but Professor Blakely turned out not to be a sexual molester - to my relief.  However, the whole story was odd.  I was especially irked by how accepting Becca was of her surroundings.  Although, in the end, I think what saved this story was the divergence from the expected.  If Professor Blakely had been a sexual molester, I would have hated this story.  Instead, there was a sweet connection between the dogs, Becca, and the orchid.  I read some of the other stories in This is Not the Tropics and I would have to say I enjoyed those more.  Finally, I got the chance to meet Ladette Randolph.  She is a current editor of Ploughshares and has a novel as well as her collection of short stories.  She is such a wonderful and witty woman and I am glad I got the chance to talk with her.

After the Workshop

Stars: 3/5
Author: John McNally
Subjects: Authors, Publishing and Publishers, Iowa City
ISBN: 9781582435602 
Copyright Year: 2010
Other Comments: The main character, Jack Hercules Sheahan, is a broke media escort living in Iowa City, struggling to finish a novel that never seems to be done.  His world is filled with wacky characters such as a goofy pothead neighbor, an insane stalker publicist from New York, crazy writers, and the run-of-the-mill ex girlfriend.  The setting is so dismal and the character's self loathing is so great, I began to hate the setting and the character.  I wasn't satisfied with the ending either, although I understand the point.  Otherwise, this novel is filled with enjoyable haphazard events and humor.

Sonnet - To Science

Stars: 4.5/5
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Subjects: science, mythology, folklore
ISBN: 1593080646 (B&N Classics collection)
Copyright Year: 1829 (poem), B&N Classics collection (2004)
Other Comments: "Sonnet - To Science" is a poem that accuses science of robbing the world of mythology, folklore, and art.  When I was reading it, I had no idea it was a sonnet - even when I read the title - but sure enough it was.  This is a good sign, that the rhyming is so subtle and natural, I didn't notice the structure.  Overall, it is an enjoyable poem that questions the stance of pure logic over artistic expression, myth, and folklore.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Stars: 4/5
Author: T. S. Eliot
Subjects: embarrassment, frustration, anguish
ISBN: N/A
Copyright Year: 1915 (poem), 1917 (published collection)
Other Comments: This poem, described as a "drama of literary anguish", is about a narrator who deals with sexual and social frustration.  The sensory details are beautiful and often personify inhuman objects with vivid detail.  Also, there is a lot of colors mentioned such as yellow, red, brown, black and white.  Finally, the last three lines of the poem leave the reader with a sense of foreboding.  I love this poem because it shows a vulnerable, flawed, human narrator.

The Sherlockian

Stars: 4.5/5

Author: Graham Moore

Subjects: History, Crime, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Historical Fiction, Secret Societies, Murder

ISBN: 978-0-446-57259-0

Copyright Year: 2010

Other Comments:

This is a great Historical Fiction novel. Although it is a work of fiction it is steeped in real historical knowledge. It follows the search for the missing diary of Dr. Doyle, by Harold White after the death of a prominent member of the secret society, The Sherlockian, who claims to have found the diary. The only real issue I have with the book is it is a little bit hard to follow. The novel has alternating chapters between two settings: the first in the present and the second in the 1890s-1900s. The point of view switches every chapter from the present to the actual missing diary entries of Dr. Doyle. The plot weaves an intricate web that keeps the reader hanging on until the very end.

A Rumor of War

Stars: 5/5
Author: Philip Caputo
Subjects: United States Marine Corps, Vietnam War 1961-1975, biography, American, Soldiers, United States
ISBN: 003017631X
Copyright Year: 1977
Other Comments: This startlingly truthful and objective memoir of Caputo's experiences within the Vietnam War is nothing short of a work of art.  He tells of the miserable experiences of being a front line soldier; his terrifying run-ins with guerrilla fighters in the Vietnam jungle; the insufferable conditions the soldiers had to endure; and eventually ends the book with the end of the war.  This novel was so well written it was haunting. This is definitely an irreplaceable masterpiece that can be added to the plethora of priceless novels, biographies, and autobiographies written about the Vietnam War.

The Good Thief

Stars: 2.5/5
Author: Hannah Tinti
Subjects: orphans, New England, United States History 1783-1865
ISBN: 9780385337458
Copyright Year: 2008
Other Comments: I actually had the pleasure of meeting Hannah Tinti at an author reading at Salem College.  She explained this novel was about different types of "monsters" - dwarfs, giants, murderers, the undead, etc. The setting of the novel is New England sometime during 1783-1865.  The novel follows Ren, a young orphan who lost his hand at a young age.  Benjamin Nab whisks him away from the orphanage on a dangerous and dark adventure to make money any way possible - including grave robbing.  In the end, Ren comes face to face with the man who killed his mother.  There were several things about this piece of historical fiction that turned me off.  First was all the violence.  There were bloody scenes of dismemberment and murder all throughout the novel.  Second was the fact that the title wasn't very fitting.  I didn't consider any of the characters "good".  Finally, the ending felt very rushed and abrupt; especially after all the lead up and the short appearance of the main villain.  I usually can handle dark fiction, but this gave me a very disturbed after taste and I am not sure I will be reading anything else by Hannah Tinti.

The Kitchen Daughter

Stars:4/5

Author: Jael McHenry

Subjects: Family, Loss, Death, Asperger's Syndrome, Cooking, Coping, Ghosts

ISBN: 978-1-4391-9169-9

Copyright Year: 2011

Other Comments:

This is a heartfelt story about a young college graduate with an undiagnosed case of Asperger's Syndrome and her attempt to cope in a world filled with grief. The story begins at her parents funeral, the people that sheltered her from all of the problems in her life as well as the world. She did not have a problem or anything wrong with her, she had a "personality" and her own definition of what is normal. The story is about how she copes with the loss and learns how to assimilate into society and her own. Her coping mechanism is cooking. She is an amazing cook, and soon learns her cooking has the power to "call forth the ghost of any dead person whose dish she prepares" (McHenry). This is the way she learns of her past and then learns how to move past this and on with her life. I thought this book was easy to read and touched on some delicate topics very well.

The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers

Stars: 5/5
Author: Betsy Lerner
Subjects: Authorship, Authors and Publishers
ISBN: 157322152X (alk. paper)
Copyright Year: 2000
Other Comments: Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers is a book for writers/authors.  The first half of the book is split up into different types of writers and what makes or breaks them in the business.  The second half is about all the different loop holes writers have to jump through to become successful.  In this half, Lerner touches on publication, editors, agents, publicists, author loyalty, and much more.  As an aspiring author, I found this book to be an invaluable tool in my journey to becoming a successful writer.  I would argue the best part about this book is Lerner's encouraging tone and her will to help the writer audience of her book succeed.

Welcome!

Welcome to "crème de la crème"!  This blog's sole purpose is to spread the word about books, poetry, plays, etc by both older and contemporary writers.  All of the criticism will be either me or my co-author(s), but feel free to comment and contribute your personal opinions!  As always, thanks for reading.

-givemeapen4ever

Photo credit: http://dborck.wordpress.com/wjms-book-club/