(Reviewed by JD Jung) “When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise.” - Henry Miller “… shining a spotlight on the Paris of the 1920s and the expats and…
(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch) This is a very different - and some might say, difficult book, to read or review. It is the story of Christopher Pelloski, a renowned cancer doctor and researcher who was arrested, charged, and convicted of viewing child pornography on the internet. It is the second book written by Mr.…
(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) My Piece and My Peace is an autobiography written about Brandon and his life. He has it all and is probably one of the luckiest people having the best life one could imagine. His job, love life, family life, living situation, and his desires in life are all met. Luck, as…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “There was only one place to be if you were a vampire, the Marriott Marquis Times Square. It was time to dispatch Dick Clark once and for all.” Why would secret agent/ “super-spy” Nap Lapkin dub this American Bandstand icon as the evilest being on earth, even after his death? After…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “my father spared my eyes from Saddam's sins so I could experience real horror, torture in the hands of my parent searing my skin at the age of seven I found his redemption— why can’t I find mine?” (Excerpt from "White Shroud") In 1990, young Ali Nuri was forced to flee…
(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…
Compra questo libro Last month, I reintroduced you to The Italian Lover, a sensual work of literary fiction. After reading that wonderful book, I just had to grab Robert Hellenga’s earlier novel, The Sixteen Pleasures. This book recounts the beginning of Margo’s adventure in Italy, whereas The Italian Lover picks up the story 25 years…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Thérèse, residing in damp obscurity, in gloomy, crushing silence, saw life expand before her in all its nakedness, each night bringing the same cold couch, and each morn the same empty day.” “But inwardly, she lived a burning, passionate existence. When alone on the grass beside the water, she would lie…
(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…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The move from Casablanca to Queens was the biggest bet of my parents’ life. It came with wounds: betrayal by loved ones and poverty in the greatest country on earth. There was chaos in the upending of norms—what it means to be a husband or wife, how many countries can fit…
