This book was reviewed for Manhattan and Seattle Book Reviews and via Netgalley Drawing on sources previously unavailable, Baird gives us an intimate look at the Queen who defined and gave name to an entire era. I will admit, I am a huge fan of the Victorian Period from a historical/literary perspective, but for […]
Tag: inspired
Book Review: The Wisdom of Not Knowing by Estelle Frankel
This book was reviewed for the Manhattan Book Review Using lessons garnered from such diverse sources as Jewish mysticism, Buddhism, psychology, mythic studies, and spiritual alchemy, Frankel offers a new way of looking at the unknown, and embracing the chaos of uncertainty. As we age, we lose the wonder of the child, for whom […]
Book Review: The Stuff of Life by Asif Zaidi
This book was reviewed for the Manhattan Book Review Asif Zaidi’s The Stuff of Life is a veritable treasure trove of essays bridging a wide variety of philosophical topics. There are several sections, each with a general focus. This book is stuffed with the type of philosophical questions that I, as a philosopher myself, […]
Book Review: Obelisk by J L Pugh
**This book was reviewed for the Seattle Book Review* I have no words adequate to describe the beauty of this work. As the opening poem, Progeny, suggests, each of these poems are seeds, burrowing in the mind to unfurl exquisite truths. I have an ecopy of this book, but I want a hardcopy to […]
Book Review: Himself by Jess Kidd
**This book was reviewed for Port Jericho via Netgalley Kidd’s Himself tells the tale of Mahoney, an orphan come from Dublin to the provincial village of Mulderrig in search of his past and the truth of his mother’s apparent abandonment of him. Mulderrig is a quiet town, harbouring hidden secrets, secrets ready to burst forth […]
Book Review: The Far Shore by Paul T Scheuring
This book was reviewed for the San Francisco Book Review **Warning: graphic description of war situations, including torture. With The Far Shore, Scheuring has woven a tale that traverses time itself. It is the slow stitching together of a person’s life, quilted from memories of the distant past, giving shape, form, substance to […]
Book Review: The New Book by Allie Cresswell
Cresswell’s The New Book is a veritable potpourri of personal musings. There are book reviews, short stories, journal entries. This is a fantastic example of writing shorts of any kind. Each was equally engaging and entertaining. I learned a new word from this! Several times a variation of the phrase ‘go crocodile’ was used. […]
Book Review: Lila and the Crow by Gabrielle Grimard
This book was reviewed for Netgalley Lila and the Crow is a charming tale of embracing the now, of claiming all of who you are. As Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones, GRR Martin) said: “Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can […]
Book Review: The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore
I purchased this book for my own enjoyment with no expectation of a review I first read RA Salvatore’s The Crystal Shard many moons ago. The Drizzt novels helped me through a tough time of my life, and are still comfort books. This reread marks the 2000th book I’ve read since Jan 1993. I […]
Marie Benedict’s Top 6 Historical People to Meet
As a writer of historical fiction, somedays I feel like an archaeologist, cobbling together an understanding of a past person or place from an amalgam of letters and artifacts and abandoned spaces. Using my own mixture of logic and fiction, I fill in the blanks between the signposts left by history. But, of course, sometimes […]