Underrated Reads

Stay This Day and Night With Me – Belén Gopegui, (translated by Mark Schafer)

Posted on April 2, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Don’t think, Google, that the value of human acts can be measured in visits or by keeping track of how much information or money they generate.” Mateo, a twenty-two-year-old Spanish college student wants to apply for a job with Google. He believes that if he is hired, he can affect…

Posted in Spanish Literature, World Literature | Tagged artificial intellegence, Google, privilege, Spain | Comments Off

Fast Fiction: 101 Stories 101 Words Each – Scotty Cornfield

Posted on March 31, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned How do you get a story about a serial killer from the prompt “Hot pretzels”? To answer that, we’ll have to dig into the mind of Scotty Cornfield whose Fast Fiction: 101 Stories 101 Words Each, provides readers with an eclectic and entertaining view of the genre of flash fiction.…

Posted in Short stories | Tagged crime fiction, flash fiction | Comments Off

PRIMO—a stageplay: Auschwitz through the lens of time – Ed Davidson

Posted on March 28, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Heidi A. Swan) #CommissionsEarned Primo Levi was a writer, chemist, and a survivor of the Holocaust. This tightly written one act play is a fictional account of the last day of his life. As he goes through his day, Primo remembers times in his life from the year he spent in Auschwitz. Primo…

Posted in Historical Fiction | Tagged audio book, Auschwitz, Holocaust, stage play | Comments Off

The Dish Dog – Peter Davidson

Posted on March 24, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Don Jung) #CommissionsEarned Kimberly King turned down a golden opportunity to work at her father’s highly successful investment fund company. Instead, she wanted to make her own mark in the world. She now works as a forensic accountant for the FBI, trying to unravel a complicated insider stock trading ring. This is a…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged crime fiction, FBI, insider trading, New York, Wall Street | Comments Off

Trash – Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny, (translated by JD Pluecker)

Posted on March 21, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Who is the person who makes a life out of our leftovers? And, more specifically, what makes us who we are?” Griselda, a researcher, studies those who inhabit the Juárez city dump. She balances that with helping to care for her aunt in El Paso who is suffering from dementia.…

Posted in Latin American Literature | Tagged aging, dementia, family dysfunction, gender, love, Mexican literature, transgender, violence | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited – Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World’s Largest Sex Trafficker – Maggy Krell

Posted on March 16, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “While a commercial sex transaction may seem consensual on the surface, the lopsided power dynamic, the history of trauma and abuse, and the lack of options often make the consent illusory. And sex without consent is rape. The exchange of money doesn’t change that." By 2012, human trafficking was the…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged autobiography, human trafficking, rape, sex trafficking, Sexual abuse | Comments Off

The Flowers of Buffoonery – Os Amu Dazai, (translated by Sam Bett)

Posted on March 13, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “A man crushed by reality puts on a show of endurance.” This is exactly the case with twenty-five-year-old Yozo Oba, who is sent to a seaside sanitarium to recover from injuries due to failed suicide attempt. Unfortunately, his girlfriend succeeded. Yozo’s older brother and a couple of friends visit him,…

Posted in Far Eastern Literature, Lost and almost forgotten | Tagged Japan, mental illness, short books, suicide | Comments Off

The Lord’s Tusks – Jeffery Ulin

Posted on March 9, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Ann Onymous ) #CommissionsEarned “…Michael nodded, climbing into his car and silently steering back toward camp. He passed by the troop of baboons, still frolicking in the savanna, slowly making their way back home, oblivious to the powers shaping their future world. Michael looked at them play and longed for the ease of…

Posted in Environmental, World Issues | Tagged Africa, environmental fiction, Kenya, poaching | Comments Off

Russia’s War on Everybody: And What it Means for You – Keir Giles

Posted on March 4, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) When I started reading Russia's War on Everybody: And What it Means for You, I thought “I know all of this.”, as I considered myself relatively informed on the subject. However, I am so glad that I continued to read this fascinating, but troubling book. There is so much I was…

Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics and Social Justice | Tagged cyber-crime, disinformation, espionage, media, military, murder, Putin, Russia, Soviet Union, war | Comments Off

A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe – Mark Dawidziak

Posted on March 1, 2023 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned Edgar Allan Poe’s death continues to be one of the great mysteries, as there are multiple theories on the actual cause. However, we tend to lose sight of an even a greater mystery, his life. It’s difficult to establish a truly accurate story of Poe’s life, as not only did…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction | Tagged biography, Edgar Allan Poe, Poe | Comments Off