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/