Book Review: Color of Hope by Steve Bargdill

Steve Bargdill is one of those folks I follow on Twitter more in the stalking, Tweet-Dropping sense than as a person I trade 140 characters with.

His tweets are funny, he shares my love of pizza and coffee, and he mentions obscure things like:

Edgar Allen Poe born today 1809. AND...it's still National Tea Month.
— Steve Bargdill (@SteveBargdill) January 19, 2013

He also requested readers for his anthology, Color of Hope.

Color of Hope is a collection of poetry and short fiction.  It's an easy read, humorous and sweet at the same time.  The stories are a mix.  There's alien lore, love, frustration with aging parents.  All intersected with poetry.  

It's an interesting mixture and just short enough to read in one sitting.

I enjoyed the poem Winter Footprints the most.  Because I am grappling with my daughter's imminent leave for college, I know what it's like to feign sleeping so I can hold on to the memory of a childhood in the face of adulthood.

This is a great add to your eBook collection.  Not long or difficult to read, this is a book that has me wanting to read more from this author.

Steve Bargdill can be found giving writing prompts at stevebargdill or at his other site Steve Bargdill.

15 Seconds: A Review

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I'm not a big fan of amateur detective stories. I think it's ridiculous when you have a protagonist who is a doctor and by the end of the book he's giving a Navy Seal a run for his money in the weapons and fighting arena.

That's what happens in Andrew Gross' 15 Seconds.

Dr Henry Steadman is in a strange town to deliver a key note speech and makes a minor traffic infraction. He gets pulled over and the cop who pulls him over gives him a hard time before letting him go. As Henry begins to pull away, the cop is shot and Henry gives chase to the suspect.

The book then follows the story of Henry trying to clear his name and the steps he takes to do just that.

Although Henry morphs from privileged golfing doctor to sleuth, I did enjoy this story. It was unlike the typical thriller that follows a beginning, middle, and end. I actually had an "oh snap!" moment as I read.

Great choice for a breezy whodunit.

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Batman and Bond: A Review

This is a fantastic Tuesday!

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS***

Deshi basara! Deshi basara!

The Dark Knight Rises, the last in the brilliant Christopher Nolan Batman series, is available for my continued viewing.

Re-watching The Dark Knight Rises, I am reminded of the recent James Bond outing Skyfall. Both movies feature tortured heroes who are broken and must rebuild physically and mentally to return better than ever.

In the Dark Knight Rises, the film opens with Bruce Wayne as a shell of himself.  He chooses to stay a recluse after losing his love and his reputation to The Joker and Harvey "Two-Face" Dent respectively. He skulks about Wayne Manor crippled and angry. He refuses to take care of business, allowing his life to waste away.

Bond, in contrasts, hides behind his phony death.  After being shot in the line of duty, he allows himself to be listed as 'dead' and spends his time frolicking on a remote island.  When he does return to 'life', he is angry at the agent who shot him and also seethes with animosity to M, as evidenced by the answers he gives when he is tested by a company psychologist. 

Both men return to action when a threat to their existence happens: Wayne with the emergence of Bane, Bond when cyber-terrorist Raoul Silva threatens M's life.

Bond, James Bond

Bruce Wayne is literally broken when Bane breaks his back during a subway tussle.  Bond is mentally broken and not physically adept when he undergoes his physical test to prove he's prepared to return to duty.  Both men also SHOW their weariness in he form of gray flecked beards and weakened physical appearance.

When it is time to test their readiness, both men return to the past to prepare.  Wayne is taken to prison in the same country where he met Ra's Al Ghul during his training as Batman.  Bond returns to his Scotland childhood home for a showdown with Silva.

The Dark Knight Rises transitions the characters to endings while Skyfall transitions to new beginnings.  Both movies introduce known characters: Robin, Ms Moneypenny.  And both end with our heroes embarking on the next chapter of their lives.

The Buddha in the Attic

It was tough beginning Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic. Last year this time I was trying to complete a paper on Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried, and the beginning of Buddha evoked memories of Ted Lavender and the paper I never finished.

The way The Buddha in the Attic is written, there is no set narrator, rather a collected group of voices who tell the story of a boat load of women leaving Japan for new lives in America.

An example:

On the boat we carried our husbands’ pictures in tiny oval lockets that hung on long chains from our necks. We carried them in silk purses and old tea tins and red lacquer boxes and in the thick brown envelopes from America in which they had originally been sent. We carried them in the sleeves of our kimonos, which we touched often, just to make sure they were still there.*

I plowed through the first few pages, waiting to get to the good part.  As my eyes devoured the words, I realized the whole book IS a good part.  The style it is written in allows the reader to feel the existence of all the characters, so that the experiences of the Japanese women as a whole can be felt.

This is a powerful story of women as they explain their fears of meeting stranger husbands, discuss their misguided ideals about life in America, try to fit in once they reach America, then the uncertainty of being detained during World War II.

This book has been chosen as Philadelphia's One Book choice.


* Taken from Follow The Thread

The Kommandant's Mistress

The Kommandant's Mistress by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Deeply satisfied is how I describe my time spent reading The Kommandant's Mistress.

This isn't a book for casual reading.  Rather, the reader must pay attention because the story is written in a way that an image, a thought, a sound can transport the speaker to another scene.  It's engaging, and engrossing, deserving all the praise that it has received.

The story is about the life of a ranking Nazi officer and his mistress told in their voice with their thoughts and feelings.  It's not graphic although some parts are described so vivid, it's a challenge NOT to feel sympathy for each person despite how dastardly their actions appear.

The book begins with part one, The Kommandant, and immediately it's a challenge to find sympathy for this man given what history has taught us about the Holocaust.  As the story unfolds, we see his rise to power, his ambition, and a small portion of his heart.  The reader is offered a glimpse in his thoughts and although his crimes are heinous, we can see that this man is just doing his "job."

Part two is in the voice of the Mistress.  Here we are seen how a person tries to survive in a world that she has no control over because of both her sex and her culture.  When she does things that will allow her to survive, she is shunned by others in a less 'appealing' captivity.  She is also hurt by those who are 'protecting' her.  She is tortured with her desire for survival while living in an artificial existence.

Part three serves as a wrap up to the book, offering readers an opportunity to have closure while still having some things to ponder long after the book is completed.

The version I read also included a guide for readers who want to follow the story in a linear way as well as the thoughts of Alexandria Szeman. This was another bonus because this type of story is one that BEGS to know what the author was thinking.

While difficult to read for those not accustomed to the scene shifts, I recommend that you stick with this story.  The ride is worth it.


Disclosure ***This post contains affiliate links. Alexandria Constantinova Szeman

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