Underrated Reads

The Fall of a Sparrow – Robert Hellenga

Posted on November 1, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) After reading one of my favorite books, The Italian Lover, I just wanted to grab anything related to it and its characters. Author Robert Hellenga wrote a book about the protagonist’s lover, classics professor Alan "Woody" Woodhull, in a previous novel published in 1999, The Fall of a Sparrow. Woody’s…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged Italy | Comments Off

The Hanging Tree – Michael Phillip Cash

Posted on October 30, 2013 by J D Jung

Another Halloween pick! (Reviewed by JD Jung) "If she couldn't move the girl, she would do her best to preserve her innocence, or what was left of it." Summer of 2013 - Oyster Bay - Seventeen year old Arielle was angry at her dad and his choices. She wanted to rebel, but still wasn't ready to give…

Posted in More fiction | Tagged horror, short books | Comments Off

Golf Sayings: wit & wisdom of a good walk spoiled – Bradford G. Wheler

Posted on October 29, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I’m not a golfer, but I have a very dear friend who is one. I was interested in this book as a gift to her. But before I gave it to her, I read it. What fun! The title refers to Mark Twain’s definition of the game: "Golf is a good…

Posted in Humor & Satire, Non-fiction | Comments Off

The Black Spider – Jeremias Gotthelf (Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky)

Posted on October 19, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) "And now the people where gripped by the ancient fear that the spider might carry off an unbaptized infant, the pledge of their old pact. The woman was beside herself, she had no trust in God, so her heart was all more filled with hatred and revenge." In a farmhouse along…

Posted in Dark/Sordid/Bizarre, Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature | Tagged German literature, horror, short books | 1 Comment

My Father, Humming – Jonathan Gillman

Posted on October 7, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I first opened My Father, Humming randomly to page 24, and read "Down the Stairs". Then I wept, a deep long weeping. I was home for a quick stop of showering and gathering things before returning to my husband’s side where he was fighting to come back to life in a…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Poetry | Comments Off

The Female Veteran – Ty Will

Posted on October 3, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I expected a sense of honor and a sense of adventure with my first mission. What I got was not what I expected or would wish on any young female soldier. “ Ty Will served in the Army Reserves from 1987-1989 and went into active duty from 1989-1992. She returned to…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs | 1 Comment

Kudos to Julie L. Kessler

Posted on September 19, 2013 by J D Jung

Julie L. Kessler,the author of Fifty-Fifty, The Clarity of Hindsight, has been nominated to participate in the 2013-14 contest "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading". Underrated Reads reviewed Fifty-Fifty several months ago just prior to the book winning an award at The 2013 Paris Book Festival. The first voting phase is open to the…

Posted in Let's talk | 1 Comment

Philosophy Made Simple – Robert Hellenga

Posted on September 17, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Rudy Harrington, a sixty-year-old widower, is trying to find the meaning of life…his life. Is there any purpose left? To try and answer this question, he takes up the study of philosophy. Since his wife, Helen, died seven years ago and his three daughters have moved out on their own, he…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction | Comments Off

Effed Up!: Story of a Family – Russ Woody

Posted on September 12, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Mom is proud of her forty-six year old son, Lenny. After all, the music community pays tribute to his band, Pink Lloyd. As you can tell, she doesn’t realize what a tribute band actually is. She also doesn’t realize that Lenny gives her the same CD every year as a present,…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Humor & Satire | Comments Off

Return of the Heroine—Kaye Michelle

Posted on August 28, 2013 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Melanie Hamilton) In Kaye Michelle's provocative and inspiring novel, Return of the Heroine, West Point Cadet Jane Archer has a problem: Should she do what's right or save her career? The daughter of senior counsel to Providence Rhode Island's DA, Jane is planning a career in the Army Judge Advocate General's office. Serving…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Modern Literary Fiction | Comments Off