Underrated Reads

Wanted: Stories about Immigrants and Refugees

Posted on July 1, 2018 by J D Jung

( by JD Jung) It sickens me how my country, the United States, not only continues to arrest Central American refugees at our borders, but also separates children from their parents. I cannot even begin to imagine the fear and horror that both the children and adults are enduring. Supposedly, the children are no longer…

Posted in Let's talk | Tagged immigration, refugees | Comments Off

Lunacy and Death: A perspective developed over thirty years of working in mental health and death investigation – Tom Dombrock

Posted on June 29, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “They plant little beasties in your psyche that love nothing more than to dart out from the holes they’ve bored into your brain, race around inside your skull, flipping switches, overturning tables, and playing the stereo way too fucking loud.” The “They” that Tom Dombrock is referring to are actually his…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Non-fiction | Tagged death, mental illness, Non-fiction | Comments Off

Spice: A Novel (Fate) – Jenna Jameson, Jamie K Schmidt

Posted on June 24, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) I must admit that the name “Jenna Jameson” was what enticed me to read the novel, Spice. I also must admit that initially I wasn’t expecting much. Was I wrong! Liz Carter aka “Spice”, an internationally known porn actress, quit the lucrative adult film industry after getting pregnant. She moved back…

Posted in Romance | Tagged drugs, family, pornography, Romance, sex | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People – Danny Katch

Posted on June 22, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Trump is a tumor, not the cancer. He can do deadly harm if we don’t stop him, but we also have to treat the deeper sickness.” So how did we get to this point? How was Trump able to connect with “ enraged male impotence”? This is what socialist Danny Katch…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged American politics, Donald Trump, Marxism, race | Comments Off

Lagos Noir – Chris Abani (Editor)

Posted on June 19, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) I have never been to Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria and actually, the largest city in the entire African continent. In fact, I have never been anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. That said, I enjoyed the unique stories in one of the latest in the Akashic Noir Series, Lagos Noir. Though…

Posted in African Literature, Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Culture, Short stories, World Literature | Tagged Africa, corruption, Crime, Lagos, Nigeria, noir | Comments Off

Sexographies – Gabriela Wiener (translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Adcock and Lucy Greaves)

Posted on June 12, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) Gabriela Wiener is not just any journalist. This Peruvian-born writer prefers to experience topics first-hand. That may even involve putting herself in extreme and often risky situations and then writing about her participation. So when it came to studying contemporary love and sex, she did just that. In between it all,…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Latin American Literature, Non-fiction, World Literature | Tagged love, Peru, sex, SMBD, Spain | Comments Off

A Conversation with H.A. Swan

Posted on June 9, 2018 by J D Jung

After reading A Night in Jail, a riveting story based on true events, I just had to learn more about the inspiration for the book and the topic in general. I spoke with co-author H. A. Swan to hopefully get my questions answered. JDJ - What inspired you to write the book? HAS -…

Posted in Conversations | Tagged drug abuse, health, Interviews, marijuana, youth | Comments Off

A Better Ten Commandments: A Guide to Living Life with and on Purpose – James Miller

Posted on June 6, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) I must admit I almost didn’t review this book. I was reading it and put it aside. Ironically, because it espouses tossing out the old Moses tablet-engraved rules, I thought at first that it was a bit preachy for my taste. I left the book sitting on my dining room table…

Posted in History, Non-fiction, Philosophical reads, Your Best Self | Tagged Non-fiction, purpose, self-awareness | Comments Off

An UnderratedRead Revisited: Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance – Bill McKibben

Posted on June 4, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Vermont on its own will be a lot closer to what Lincoln had in mind for a healthy country.” When is a country just too big to be accountable to all of its citizens? Former radio host, seventy-two year old Vern Barclay believes that the United States is just that and…

Posted in Revisited | Tagged American politics, resistance, satire, succession, Trump | Comments Off

We Are Taking Only What We Need: Stories – by Stephanie Powell Watts

Posted on May 31, 2018 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “What was I thinking? The restaurant was a fishbowl full of floor-to-ceiling windows. Just beyond the parking lot Highway 18 looked like a runway, a straight shot, launching me anywhere…until my eyes settled on the across-the-street hamburger joint…making me forget that I was in the middle of my life, in the…

Posted in Culture, Short stories | Tagged African-American, North Carolina, rural America | Comments Off