Underrated Reads

Sex and Rage: A Novel – Eve Babitz

Posted on August 7, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) "Years and years and years were pocked with holes of things Jacaranda simple didn’t remember, with people Jacaranda didn’t remember meeting, conversations she didn’t remember having, promises and parties and great ideas and projects Jacaranda didn’t remember hurling into….she accidentally found herself in the approximately right spot and the approximately right…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Modern Literary Fiction | Tagged 1970, Los Angeles, New York, publishing, Santa Monica, self-destruction, sex | Comments Off

She’s so Fine: A Samantha Block Novel- Jaimee Campbell

Posted on August 5, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) She’s so Fine is a thriller short story written about Samantha. She is a mother of two children and appears to be leading a normal life with ordinary routine wifely chores. However, she is nothing but ordinary. Samantha has a past, which intertwines with her present life. The past is something…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged Crime, fiction, thrillers | Comments Off

New People – Danzy Senna

Posted on August 1, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The poet is not a New Person…He doesn’t have mud-toned dreadlocks or octoroon gray eyes or butterscotch skin. …He has the body, the skin, the face that cabdrivers pretend not to see, that jewelers in midtown refuse to buzz inside. His body is the very reason they got those buzzers installed…

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction, Romance, World Issues | Tagged identity, race | Comments Off

Love Is Rich In Both Honey And Venom – Axel Kruze

Posted on July 31, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Cathy Carey) Can a Premarital Agreement really justify murder? His father, Henry, hung himself at the senior prom. His mother, Martha, was raped. Both were painfully shy and bullied throughout high school. Martha's story of survival began after she moved away from home and started college at Hartford University in Connecticut. Hank was…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged bullies, geeks, murder | Comments Off

The Hideout – Egon Hostovsky (Translated from the Czech by Fern Long)

Posted on July 28, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I keep having the feeling that a good half of the human race got drunk in a kind of gigantic space where the air is all breathed out. The born fighters and brawlers started to fight in their drunken orgy, and they were helped along and encouraged by the drunken…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Lost and almost forgotten, Slavic Literature | Tagged adultery, Czech, France, introspection, loyalty, short books, WWII | Comments Off

Dreams of Heaven – Elizabeth M. Herrera

Posted on July 26, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) Savannah waited to see if her sister would notice Jesus standing beside her, but Denise simply walked over and hugged her. However, she did notice the throng of doves covering the deck. …

Posted in More fiction, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged Jesus, short books, spirituality | Comments Off

The Butcher’s Daughter: A Memoir – Florence Grende

Posted on July 24, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Judy Deutsch) The Butcher’s Daughter is a personal story of a young girl in Poland during The Holocaust and how she and her family survived. The book reads like a diary and is filled with descriptions during the Nazi era and how her life changed when she got to America. As I started…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged Holocaust, memoirs, short books, survivors, WWII | Comments Off

The End – Fernanda Torres (Translated from the Portuguese by Alison Entrekin)

Posted on July 22, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “There’s something a bit queer in every male friendship. Fucking the same women is a roundabout way of fucking each other. And in the same physical space, it’s a fine line. But there’s no way---not joking, not off my face, not anything---I’d kiss Neto, Silvio, Ribeiro or Ciro. Well, maybe Ciro.…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Latin American Literature, World Literature | Tagged aging, Brazil, Copacabana, hedonism, orgies, Rio de Janeiro, sex | Comments Off

Second Coming: Elvis. Extraterrestrials. Dogs. – D. B. Borton

Posted on July 20, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) #CommissionsEarned Second Coming is a humorous science fiction story about Lawrence and Elvis, two aliens who have traveled to earth for the second time. Their mission is to bring a message and that is, if Earth does not stop sending weapons into space, then it will be destroyed. The first time…

Posted in Humor & Satire, Sci-Fi/Speculative/Fantasy/Mythology | Tagged aliens, Elvis, humor, outer-space, science fiction | Comments Off

The Tower of the Antilles – Achy Obejas

Posted on July 18, 2017 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “We explained that where we come from the greatest achievement is to leave.” And leaving Cuba means reinventing oneself in a new country. The Tower of the Antilles is one of ten short stories centering on life unique to the Cuban experience. Many stayed in Cuban communities in Miami. But some…

Posted in Latin American Literature | Tagged Cuba, immigration, Latin America, LGBT, short books, short stories | Comments Off