(reviewed by Ann Onymous ) Each person in life faces many crossroads. From the day we’re born, to the day we die, we are faced with decisions. Each choice can influence our life’s journey. Which direction we take has an impact. At each opportunity we have a chance to make a choice - large or…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I want to live life, not read about it.” That is what people kept telling Chicago bookseller Gabe Johnson, who came from generations of rare book dealers. With the growth of online bookstores, even his father advised him to give up the family business and move to Europe. But Gabe…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Everything adds up. Every second, every lie, every breath. In the end, it all catches up with you.” "Even if you have little to do with it. Family, for instance. “ That’s what young Maya had to learn. Too many unanswered questions haunted her into adulthood. With the death of her…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned What happens when one puts Osama bin Laden and Salman Rushdie at the same dinner table? Yslar Tatuky is such a person as he has grand, though idealistic, hopes for humanity in his novel, My Neighbour Osama Bin Laden. Tatuky, who plays himself in the story, returns to Okriba, Georgia…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Around him was an atmosphere of hope, youth, self-confidence, and he breathed it in deeply. …some of the words they were using began to sound familiar to him…words he had thought of from time to time over the course of the passing years as if of something opaque or daydreamt.…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned You claim that your family is dysfunctional. You may blame them for your current emotional state or even hate them. However, you can’t help but empathize with this author after reading Stories of a Life by Russian cinematographer Nataliya Meshchaninova. Originally written as a series of Facebook posts that went…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned A-list celebrity Aaron Julian has recently been accused of sexual harassment and assault by multiple starlets. According to his accusers, he made sure that their careers would tank if they didn’t comply with his wishes. Add to that, each is represented by premier #METOO attorney, Victor Tabnik. This attorney started…
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) #CommissionsEarned “Find your focus and the story may write itself: music and drugs, race and gender, a tragic barn fire and a missing body. It’s all much more dramatic than one usually sees in a dissertation….” As I approached the final chapters of Songs by Honeybird, I had mixed emotions. On the one…
(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) #CommissionsEarned I just discovered a treasure that you might not find if you’re depending on the mainstream bestsellers list for reading recommendations. I can’t say enough good things about Small Moments by Mary M. Barrow. Small Moments is a big book, but I don't mean page-wise. It illuminates the horrors of racism…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Thou shalt not be a victim, and thou shalt not be a perpetrator. But above all else---thou shalt not be a bystander.” That's one lesson Richard Bettis learned from Matt. One referred to Matt Mueller as an “enlightened outcast”, as he lived with compassion, love, a sense of serenity, and…
