Underrated Reads

The Hundred Waters – Lauren Acampora

Posted on August 22, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “Grown people need friction to live.” Most people would think that Louisa Rader is living the perfect life. As the director of the town’s art center, this former model and photographer lives in a wealthy Connecticut suburb with her successful architect husband Richard, and their twelve-year-old daughter, Sylvie. But Louisa…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction | Tagged aging, art, boredom, environmentalism, privilege, rebellion, wealth | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: Havana Libre – Robert Arellano

Posted on August 18, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “…now that doctors are malnourished malcontents while dropouts driving tourist taxis are relative millionaires.” Twenty-eight-year-old Dr. Manolo Rodriguez, a pediatrician for the national medical service in Havana, Cuba, resents how most of the medical resources go to tourist hospitals. He is also afraid that the family clinic that he runs…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged Castro, Cuba, espionage | Comments Off

The Risk in Crossing Borders – William McClain

Posted on August 13, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “She kept coming back to the question of what to do with her life. Most people sorted that out in their twenties and thirties. What was wrong with her?” Yana Pickering is over fifty years of age, divorced, with grown children and content with her life in Seattle. However, she…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction | Tagged immigration, Lebanon, refugees, Seattle, Syria, transgender, war | Comments Off

Ways of Walking: Essays – edited by Ann de Forest

Posted on August 7, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “The act of walking is one of revolution, and one of continuity.” “Walking gives us time to think, time to reflect…” “When you walk, you shed where you have been.” These are just a few quotes from Ways of Walking. These twenty-six essays look at this common activity in unique…

Posted in History, Non-fiction, Philosophical reads, Short stories | Tagged artists., civil rights, freedom fighters, history, philosophy, Religion, slavery, writers | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: A Matter of Conscience – James Bartleman

Posted on August 2, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “…Canadians in general are more prepared to help the poor of the Third World than the First Peoples in their own country.” James Bartleman, retired Ontario lieutenant governor and member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, also of Scottish ancestry, educates us on the crimes committed against the Indigenous…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged Canada, Indigenous peoples, Ontario | Comments Off

Send Her Back and Other Stories -Munashe Kaseke

Posted on July 25, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) This collection will captivate you as soon as you start reading. “Send Her Back” is just one of twelve riveting tales centering around women who immigrated to the U.S. from Zimbabwe. In that specific title, a young woman who has just been accepted into medical school is in fear of being…

Posted in African Literature, Culture, Immigration, Reviewers' Top Picks, Short stories, World Issues | Tagged Africa, culture, illegal immigration, immigration, Zimbabwe | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: Red Lights – Georges Simenon, Translated from the French by Norman Denny

Posted on July 18, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “I met a man in whom, for hours, I tried to see another me, another me that wasn’t a coward, a man I wished I could be like…” Steve Hogan, and his wife, Nancy are driving from Long Island to Maine to pick up their kids from summer camp. It…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged classics, French noir | Comments Off

They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency – Malcolm Nance

Posted on July 11, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “We have something new in American history…a political party defined by the terror if feels for its own voters, that’s the Republican party right now” - George Will How was Donald Trump able to transform the Republican party into one that idolizes just one man? Why are his supporters intent on installing him…

Posted in American Politics, History, Non-fiction, Politics and Social Justice | Tagged anti-antisemitism, domestic terrorism, QAnon, racism, Republican party, terrorism, Trump | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: The Patient – Jasper DeWitt

Posted on July 8, 2022 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Patient additionally shows a high propensity toward violence and sadism. Patient has assaulted numerous members of staff and has had to be restrained. Despite relative youth, patient seems intuitively aware of which parts of the human body are most vulnerable or sensitive to pain. “ “He’s developed an ability to induce…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged contemporary fiction, mental illness, Psychiatry | Comments Off