SUMMARY 13 Years in America is a story of hope, sacrifice, and the modern search for happiness that is at once a moving personal journey and a sharp, hard look at the American Dream. After moving to the United States from Canada, a free-spirited young woman rejects the status quo and embarks on a journey... Continue Reading →
An Assortment of Literary Candy For You To Chew On
SUMMARY You think you've got bad dreams? Consider author John F.D. Taff's nightmares. How about the one where a guy resurrects his dead girlfriend with a set of the prop neck bolts used on Boris Karloff in the 1932 classic Frankenstein? Or one where the ghost of the author's dead dog keeps coming back to... Continue Reading →
Home Is Where Your Heart Lies
The problem with short stories is that more often than not there are some that you will like more than others. This belief leads to an unfair overall evaluation and a less likely realization of a glowing review for the book. By choosing short stories as their preferred medium, maybe the author deserves what they... Continue Reading →
T-Minus 394461 Minutes, 59 Seconds and a Honey-Do-List With No End in Sight
Reading the acknowledgements I was surprised to see the author acknowledge Augusten Burroughs for his work and the inspiration that he had provided to his own literary adventures. My re"birth" into bibliophilia (yes it's a disease) was brought on by reading Burroughs' memoir Dry, and eventually his other book's Running With Scissors, and You Better... Continue Reading →
Clarity in One’s Life Through the Dregs of a Bottle and a Death of a Loved One
I really enjoyed the back and side stories found in this novel. It really helps develop the characters in your mind and actually does a great job of manipulating your feelings towards them along the way. You get the feeling that while reading the story you have come across all of the varying personalities within... Continue Reading →
War is Hell, But That’s Not the Half of it
“You cannot go back and make a new start, but you can start now and make a new ending” Summary - Gifted with a brilliant mind that has made a deep impression on the elders of his Palestinian village, Ahmed Hamid is nevertheless tormented by his inability to save his friends and family. Living under... Continue Reading →
A House is Not a Home
"In Guyana the night is dark, true dark. In Guyana the night piles thick and velvet. Prussian blue from the ground beneath your feet to high above your head. It is all around you, not confined just to the sky, but laying too along the ground, at the side of the road, in the air... Continue Reading →
Skin as White as Snow, Lips as Red as Blood, Hair as Black as Ebony
“I can’t explain, maybe it isn’t something that needs explaining, how the sight of a broken cage just puts you up on stilts. The promise that the cage will always be empty, that its days as a jailhouse are done.” 1933 Lower East Side Manhattan- This is a story of a little girl named Boy... Continue Reading →
A Sobering Tale For Ye On St.Paddy’s Day
"What does love feel like? Floating and burning: just like when he holds her with that polite formality yet his forehead presses a little too heavily against her temple as they move. Just like when the hazy coppery light is splintered by intense, triumphant bursts of gold and crimson. Like when she can feel his... Continue Reading →
Untying the Tie that Binds; A Generational Tale about a Generational Problem
There is nothing more enjoyable for a reader then the feeling of being transported into another place in time. When the author can have a distinct narrative for very different characters from different time periods or even settings without losing focus brings a gripping read that was difficult to put down. My initial expectations were... Continue Reading →