Author Archives: J D Jung
Pentimento Mori – Valeria Corciolani
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “It’s simply a matter of yellows, figs, vans, and kites…Why can’t I get a nice simple gang murder or an old-fashioned serial killer?” Public Prosecutor Jacopo Bassi has had enough of this murder case, the victim … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Italian Literature, World Literature
Tagged art history, cozy mystery, Italian literature
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Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom – Larry Miller with Laila Lacy
(reviewed by Ann Onymous ) “Should I come clean? I was well aware of the risk of unburdening myself to the executive in a public accounting firm, but all signs indicated I was on the path to landing my first … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Business, Non-fiction
Tagged Business, memoir, prison
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Tough Rugged Bastards: A Memoir of a Life in Marine Special Operations – John A. Dailey
(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch) Tough, Rugged Bastards by John A. Dailey is a memoir about the author’s experience helping to form and lead DET 1, a Marine special forces unit that was created after the 9-11 attacks. The book … Continue reading
Posted in Bios and Memoirs
Tagged memoirs, military, veterans
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Liars: A Novel – Sarah Manguso
(Reviewed by JD Jung) When Jane met her future husband, John Bridges, she was ecstatic. Since she was a writer, she was attracted to him being an artist and photographer. What she didn’t realize was that the demands of … Continue reading
Posted in Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged marriage, relationships
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Blood and Mascara – Colin Krainin
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…all the women he had known and loved, the idea of them was there in front of him…and once he had come to love then, had he not carried them about within him forever after, like … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers
Tagged crime fiction, noir, obsession
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The Coin – Yasmin Zaher
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…in my family, America was both the key and the curse.” Our narrator, who is from a wealthy Palestinian family moved to New York after her parents died. She was left with an inheritance of which … Continue reading
Posted in Immigration, Middle Eastern Literature, World Literature
Tagged immigration, New York, obsession
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The Blind Devotion of Imogene: The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor – David Putnam
(Reviewed by JD Jung) It’s 1973, and seventy-five-year-old Imogene Taylor has just been released from the Chino Institute for Women after serving time for second-degree murder. As she returns to her home in California’s Inland Empire, readers are immediately … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Humor & Satire
Tagged dark humor
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Bad Tourists – Caro Carver
(Reviewed by JD Jung) In this riveting novel, three friends in their forties—Darcy, Camilla, and Kate—embark on an extravagant trip to the Maldives to celebrate Darcy’s lucrative divorce. Since their backgrounds and personalities are very different, we wonder how and … Continue reading
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers
Tagged crime fiction, divorce, friendship, Maldives, suspense
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An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America – Jeffrey Rosen
(reviewed by JD Jung) “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence. But what did the “pursuit of Happiness” mean to the founding fathers? American legal scholar, Jeffrey Rosen uncovers … Continue reading
Posted in Revisited
Tagged American History, happiness, philosophy, racism, slavery
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