MADDERLY REVIEW
  • MAIN
  • GUEST REVIEWS
  • FEATURED AUTHORS
  • ABOUT
  • SUBMIT A REVIEW
  • CONTACT

Thru My Looking Glass

4/28/2017

0 Comments

 
"On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America"
          ---Neil Diamond


Last night I was able to take one small item off my bucket list...I FINALLY went to a Neil Diamond concert.  We are music lovers and have gone to a variety of concerts in our lives together, but Arthur has never been a big Neil Diamond fan.  This Hanukkah he got me tickets to last night's concert.  Wow!  The man is 76 years old, and his voice sounds like it did when he was 26.  He stood on that stage for two hours straight, and although he started to wind down physically, when I closed my eyes he was a young man again.

As always, his songs brought back memories and kept me moving...several hours of almost "politics free" entertainment.  Then he sang one of his biggest hits...America.  I listened to the words and remembered the intense pride that I felt the first time I heard it.  To be lucky enough to live in a country that beckons the world with its opened arms and acceptance of all  was a gift I would never take for granted.
​

"Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream"

No one chooses to leave his/her home and family/friends on a whim.  No one decides to climb aboard an overcrowded vessel and travel without sufficient food and water because he/she thinks change might be nice.  They leave everything familiar and come to a place where no one speaks their language, and they attempt to build a life without persecution.  Men and women who were physicians in their home countries become janitors in America, so that their children can grow up free.  They work for $2.00 an hour here, to avoid war and famine in the place they grew up and love.

For years our arms opened wide and comforted them.  We showed them that America will always welcome those "huddled masses yearning to be free."  Some took advantage of us, but most thanked us by becoming productive citizens who helped strengthen our country. My pride in this aspect of our country never wavered.  I always believed that there needs to be control over illegal immigration and consequences for breaking the law, but never at the expense of what makes us great.  Never should we make those in need fear us!  NEVER should we build walls.

I read the newspaper each day and think that this must be a phase that will soon stop.  Our politicians will find a way to curb illegal immigration while maintaining the kindness and dignity we have been known to show.  They will not allow us to find scapegoats in the very people who need us most.  They will remember what America stands for and help her continue to shine a welcoming light.

"My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today"

With today's headlines screaming about illegal immigrants, I thought that I needed a bit of perspective.  Author Helen Thorpe's book, Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, gives the reader a look into the lives of undocumented youths.  These four young women, brought into our country as small children, had little control over their fate. As teens, two have documents and two do not.  No matter which side of the immigration issue you believe in, Thorpe's book will tug at your heartstrings as you follow these young women.

Another book that pulled at those heartstrings was a compilation of letters written by five authors entitled Letters Never Meant to be Read.  The authors took the opportunity to pour their hearts and souls into the letters they wrote, and I found the book both very disturbing and very enjoyable.  

As always complete reviews of these books follow this blog.

Happy Reading,

- Beverly 
​Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog
0 Comments

Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America by Helen Thorpe

4/27/2017

0 Comments

 
Genre: Non-Fiction
Click book cover for Amazon.com
Although our political climate today has brought illegal immigration to the forefront, it has been a major issue for many years.  Author Helen Thorpe, married to Detroit mayor John Hickenlooper, is an immigrant herself.  She was born to Irish parents in London and moved to the United States the following year. She grew up carrying a green card and became a naturalized citizen at twenty-one. She is a journalist and decided to follow the life of four Mexican born girls living in Denver.  We meet them as they prepare for their prom and follow their lives as happenstance gets in the way of friendship in Just Like Us: The Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America.

Two of the girls have legal documentation and two of them do not.  They all want to attend college, but that dream is not so easy for the two who are considered illegals.  Even attaining a driver's license is impossible without documentation, and these barriers often change the course of young people's lives.  Why study, after all, if you will never get into college?

When an illegal immigrant kills a policeman in Denver, the illegal immigration issue escalates, and the author becomes personally involved in the outcome.  This book is fairly well written, with several blips here or there.  Sometimes the descriptions get a bit lengthy, and I think the book itself could be edited down a bit.  I did get involved in the four girls' lives as I read on and felt some of the frustrations that were evident in their lives.

In today's political environment, this book helps us to see what life is like when you can not prove citizenship in a country filled with opportunity for those who are citizens.

- Beverly


​Publisher - Scribner; Reprint edition
Date of Publication - May 3, 2011
0 Comments

Letters Never Meant to be Read by Marc Crepeaux, Kristi Denker, Joel Dockery, Brandon Lawrence and Meghan Rynn

4/26/2017

0 Comments

 
Genre: Non-Fiction
Click book cover for Amazon.com
WoW!  I guess if you write a letter that is never meant to be read, then you can put your soul on paper without a thought.  Five young authors decided to get together and express all emotions that are sometimes better off hidden.  They wrote about love, hate, marriage and divorce. They wrote about life...good and bad.  They wrote to people, about people and for people...Letters Never Meant to be Read.

I found the book captivating.  Each author had his or her style, and I began recognizing their particular styles as I read on.  Some wrote with a humorous bent that caused me to chuckle.  One was quite intense and his writing a bit too heavy for me.  They all wrote with an evident honesty, and this reader believes the letters were written with actual people in mind.

This book is creative and original, and although I picked it up on a whim, I kept reading it because it held my interest and called me back.  It gave me the chance to snoop into other people's lives without getting arrested for being a "peeping Tom" or "peeping Tomasina."  I am glad I read it and recommend it to you.

- Beverly 



Publisher - Rusty Wheels Media, LLC
Date of Publication - December 19, 2016
0 Comments

Thru My Looking Glass

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
“Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?”                                             
                                            ― Robert A. Heinlein


During my college years I believed everyone was redeemable, and I was vehemently against capital punishment.  Now, although I am having second thoughts on the "redeem-ability" of all mankind, I am still against capital punishment. I do believe that certain people display such evil, that their removal from society would make our world a better place.  The problem is, legally sanctioned murder is still murder, and even if you believe in punishing the guilty, how do you reconcile killing those that have been mistakenly convicted.

According to The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, between 1976 and  2015 over 1400 people have been executed in the United States, and since 1973, 156 people have been exonerated from death row.  That means for every ten men executed, one has been found to have been incorrectly convicted.  Our system is not infallible, and once an execution takes place, we have no ability to correct our mistakes. As much as we try to rationalize that a jury found them guilty, each time we execute an innocent man, we are justifying murder.

It seems that this justification takes a bit of the humanity out of those who sanction it.  Last week the state of Arkansas was trying to execute eight prisoners in an eleven day span because the drugs they need will expire at the end of this month.  Ultimately the executions were  slowed down, but how can we decide to rush a man's death due to an expiration date?   
​

There is no doubt that our prison system needs to be fixed.  There is overcrowding, underfunding and too many early releases in order to "make room."  Criminals have oft times been released or escaped only to commit their next heinous crime.  Ted Bundy escaped twice and committed several more murders before finally being executed. Capital punishment, however, can't be the answer.  It is similar to hitting your child to teach him not to hit his friends.  Killing an individual to prove that killing is wrong seems like the height of irony to me.  There must be a better answer.

In my college days I would listen to folk music and be encouraged to change the world.  Phil Ochs wrote a song entitled Iron Lady that changed the way I saw the Justice system.  One stanza in particular resonated strongly with me.

          Stop the murder, deter the crimes away
          Only killing shows killing doesn't pay
          Yes, that's the kind of law it takes
           Even though we make mistakes
           And sometimes send the wrong man to the chair

One of the books that I read/reviewed this week had a similar effect on me. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption introduces us to Bryan Stevenson, a man who continues to fight against a system that he believes is flawed.  This was the only book that I read/reviewed this week, because it put me back on the road of researching Capital Punishment and the need for change in our justice system.  I will be back to two books next week, but for now...back to research for me.

As always a complete review of this book follows this blog.

Happy reading,

- Beverly ​
Click on the book cover to order the title mentioned in today's blog
0 Comments

Just Mercy : A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Genre: Non-Fiction
Click book cover for Amazon.com
As Atticus Finch impressed me as a young woman, Bryan Stevenson showed me that today there are real-life heroes fighting for real-life causes every day.  Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama and works tirelessly to see that everyone, no matter their color or economic status, gets justice in the courtroom. He and his staff have helped exonerate a number of innocent death row prisoners, and helped ease the abuse of the mentally ill in prison.  He won a Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life without parole sentences for all children seventeen or under are unconstitutional.

His book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, captured me from the beginning, when as a young law student he met his first death row inmate. He saw the individual behind the criminal and realized how he wanted to use his law degree.  He tells a little of his own background, and what he learned from it.  His grandma played a significant part in his life.  She used to hold him close and say, "you can't understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close."

He goes on to explain  how we can't allow fear and anger to shape how we treat the most vulnerable.  His book introduces us to many people who spent years paying for crimes they never committed.  Their biggest crimes, in fact, were being poor and/or non-white.  I remember writing a paper for college, many years ago, and citing a stanza from a Phil Ochs song:
        In the courtroom, watch the balance of the scales
        If the price is right, there's time for more appeals
        The strings are pulled, the switch is stayed
        The finest lawyers' fees are paid
        And a rich man never died upon the chair


In those days Phil Ochs lyrics made me want to fight the system.  Today I am happy that there are men like Bryan Stevenson who do that for us every day.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is an interesting book that will make you rethink much about the system that is supposed to keep all of us safe.

- Beverly 


Publisher - Spiegel & Grau
Date of Publication - ​October 21, 2014
0 Comments

Thru My Looking Glass

4/13/2017

0 Comments

 
"Part of what it is to be scientifically-literate, it's not simply, 'Do you know what DNA is? Or what the Big Bang is?' That's an aspect of science literacy. The biggest part of it is do you know how to think about information that's presented in front of you."
                                                                 ---Neil deGrasse Tyson


How much information is too much information?  A computer allows us instant access to knowledge that is sometimes more than we can comfortably handle.  If you google "common cold" because you have a stuffy nose, you will learn about cause and treatment, but you will also get a laundry list of possible complications.  By the time you finish reading all of the ways the "common cold" can kill you, you will feel a great deal sicker than when you started.

How about googling the name of your blind date?  While you might get enough information to assure you he/she is not a serial killer, you have also removed any possible mystery from a relationship before you have seen his/her smile.  Unfortunately, much of what is put on the internet is biased or just plain incorrect, so you might even be judging your date without accurately knowing the facts.

I have found that learning "facts" without someone to guide me through those facts can often be frightening.  When I went for an MRI for the first time, and the technician handed me the CD to bring to my doctor, I decided to take a sneak peak.  By the time I brought it to the doctor, I had found so many horrifying things on that image, that I was ready to solidify my will.  Of course every spot that I had uncovered was explained away by a physician who had gone through ten years of school to understand what he was looking at, and my two sleepless nights were for naught. I learned to NEVER try to discover test results without a doctor's help.

So now I am questioning the newest medical breakthrough...at home genetic testing. 23andMe is a genetic service available to you at home.  Just send in a saliva sample and receive results in your mailbox.  You can tell if you are genetically predisposed to quite a few life-altering diseases in the comfort of your home...WITHOUT a physician to explain what those results mean for you personally.  

In some instances, knowing you are predisposed to a particular disease or condition allows you to take certain precautions, change certain lifestyles or plan accordingly.  On the other hand, having the genetic marker for something does not mean you will definitely get it.  Lifestyle and environment often are influencing factors, and a physician can determine what, if anything needs to happen to assure you a healthy future.  Reading results without accompanying explanations will often cause panic that could have been avoided.  As of now, I think I will take a pass on my genetic make-up and just continue to try to live a healthy lifestyle.

Of course a healthy lifestyle includes plenty of relaxation, and for me that means plenty of laughter and books, books, books.  The death of Don Rickles caused me to order his book, Rickles' Book, A Memoir, and as always, Mr. Rickles gave me plenty of chuckles.  He talks about his growing up years and the people in his life, and he displays very little of the sarcastic personality he is so well known for as he shares his life with a public that will miss him.

Reading about medical breakthroughs this past week gave me incentive to read Deborah Hawkins' latest novel,  The Death of Distant Stars: A Legal Thriller.  Hawkins takes on "Big Pharma" in this well written thriller, and she definitely made me think twice about the many "wonder drugs" that are being introduced to a naive public.  Definitely a thought provoking novel.

As always complete reviews of these books follow this blog.

Happy reading,


- Beverly 
Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog
0 Comments

The Death of Distant Stars: A Legal Thriller by Deborah Hawkins

4/13/2017

0 Comments

 
Genre: Legal Thriller
Click book cover for Amazon.com
Novelists seem to vicariously enjoy bringing wrongful death suits against "Big Pharma." 
There is no doubt that the media highlights pharmaceutical companies' tendencies to raise prices of drugs that are vitally necessary to certain groups of people, but novelists often shine a light on other frightening instances.  The safety of drugs often come into question, and in The Death of Distant Stars, Deborah Hawkins introduces a young woman whose husband died because of a drug he was given for hypertension.​

Public Defender Kathryn Andrews believes that the medication her husband was prescribed was not sufficiently tested, and finds her way to Plaintiff's attorney Hugh Mahoney.  Hugh is the "best in the business," and prides himself in handling the toughest of class action suits.  Both Kathryn and Hugh are strong characters who are determined to win, and watching them handle this case and their personal lives makes for some very intense reading.

There is evidence of a cover-up where Wycliffe Pharmaceuticals is concerned, and there are attempts made on Kathryn's life as the book progresses. When witnesses begin  to die and accusations begin to fly, Hugh finds himself in deeper than he thought.  Even Kathryn's perfect marriage had secrets, and the reader is swept into a story with many angles.

The court scenes are fairly realistic, and the characters are compelling in this fight against a company that seems to be untouchable.  Although the book was probably a bit longer than it needed to be, and there were slow moments, I did enjoy it and have just ordered the author's previously written book.

- Beverly


​Publisher - Amazon Digital Services LLC
Date of Publication - ​August 19, 2016
0 Comments

Rickles' Book, A Memoir by Don Rickles with David Ritz

4/13/2017

1 Comment

 
​Genre: Memoir
Click book cover for Amazon.com
Don starts Rickles' Book, A Memoir with a funny story about his favorite subject.  I had actually heard the story before, but I couldn't help but chuckle.  The story was classic Rickles (he asked Frank Sinatra for a favor, and when he obliged, Don made a fool of him) and classic Sinatra (Frank burst out laughing...then had him removed).  Then he moves right on to his childhood.  

He talks fondly of his father, Max, telling us what a special man he was by example, not praise. I liked the story about his dad (an insurance salesman) paying his customers' monthly payments if they ran into hard times.  He kept a debit book but never pressured anyone for payment.  When Max died, his customers came to his funeral, put a box by his grave, and paid off their debts.

He goes on to speak of school days, Navy days and a life well spent.  He shares his ups and downs in his career and with women.  He shares his feelings when his father died and he and his mom became "the two of us."   The reader gets to know the kind man behind the sarcastically witty comedian. 

He name drops constantly, but that is okay.  Even though his comedy act is filled with barbs about people, this book shows us the admiration that Don feels for the people he shares the entertainment business with, and there is no doubt that most of them return the love and admiration.

I liked the book.  It is simply written, with short paragraphs and uncomplicated stories.  There are interesting pictures to help us along this journey into the world of Don Rickles, and there is always a smile to be shared.  Don Rickles passed away yesterday, at the too young age of ninety, but his warmth and humor have left their marks on an audience who won't forget him.

- Beverly

​
​Publisher - Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition
Date of Publication - ​May 8, 2007
1 Comment

Thru My Looking Glass

4/6/2017

0 Comments

 

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” 
       ---Mother Teresa

I have always been fascinated in the different things that people find important.  What is it in one's make-up that causes him/her to choose the path that he/she follows.  If you talk with the most successful of business people, they will tell you that they knew since elementary school that they would have a lucrative lifestyle and become leaders rather than followers.  Many of them believe that money equals success and it is the mighty dollar that allows them to do good in the world.
​

Other people have spent a lifetime giving of themselves in both their vocation and their avocations.  They work in service jobs, which are oft time low paying, and then spend their free time volunteering in their communities. They feel that money is not necessary to attain true happiness and, in fact, they disdain the people who spend money to show that they are making a difference in the world.

During my college years, I was probably more like the latter as I proudly joined VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), an anti-poverty program created by Lyndon Johnson's Economic Opportunity Act of 1964.  It was the domestic version of the Peace Corps and allowed me to work with underprivileged youth and needy migrant workers while still attaining my degree.  I was pretty self-righteous then, and believed that materialism was probably the eleventh deadly sin.  My father made the mistake of telling me that he was considering buying a Cadillac, and my horror was so complete that the poor guy settled for a lesser car.

With years comes wisdom, and my thoughts have changed.  It is not that I don't admire those that give completely of themselves.  They are surely casting stones across the water and creating ripples that will make our world a better place.  In fact, everyone in my extended family works in some type of service field.  Teachers, government workers, a dentist (who volunteers one day a week to treat those who can not pay), a psychologist (who spent a month at ground zero helping policemen and firefighters and their families), and other much needed careers that make our world a better place.

There is no shame, however, in contributing through your wallet.  The contributions that people like Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet have made, make a difference every day to the lives of thousands of people.  Their business acumen has allowed them to direct their funds to places where they are desperately needed, and their generosity is an inspiration to all.  The fact that they live in mansions and drive expensive cars in no way diminishes their good deeds, and perhaps their lifestyles are an inspiration for others to share the wealth that they are lucky enough to have attained.

The grown up version of me spent most of my life trying to make the life of young people better.  I tried to bestow upon my children an understanding of what is right and the importance of sharing.  I tried to teach my students lessons far more important than nouns, pronouns and Shakespeare.  I try to cast my stones, but I do so in comfort.  I smile at the young woman who found Cadillacs distasteful as I drive around in my Lexus.  I love my beautiful new home that Arthur and I worked hard to afford.  I give of myself, but I am happy that we can also write checks to our favorite charities each year and contribute financially.  It does take a village and all types of people to make this world a better place.

I believe that knowledge contributes towards that better world too, and we are never too old to attain this knowledge in any way possible.   Herb Reich gives us another way to learn in his book  Lies They Teach in School:Exposing the Myths Behind 250 Commonly Believed Fallacies.  He offers us pages of facts that he has disproven, telling us that much of what we learned in school was wrong.  The book is interesting, but since he does not cite his sources, I can't guarantee that he is correct.  I find it a challenge and intend to check his facts over the next few months.

I also enjoyed William L. Myers Jr.'s book this week.  A Criminal Defense is a legal thriller that kept me guessing throughout its pages.   Myers' courtroom scenes rang true, and his protagonist, Mick McFarland was an interesting character.  The plot, while not particularly original, was well crafted, and I recommend this book to those who enjoy a good legal thriller.

As always complete reviews of these books follow this blog.

​​Happy reading,

- Beverly
Click on the book cover to order a title mentioned in today's blog:
0 Comments

Lies They Teach in School: Exposing the Myths Behind 250 Commonly Believed Fallacies by Herb Reich

4/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Genre: Non-Fiction
Click book cover for Amazon.com
Sometimes I just want to read a book for fun.  I am not looking for an ingenious plot or scientific knowledge.  I want to pick up a book and read a few pages that interest me.  Lies They Teach in School: Exposing the Myths Behind 250 Commonly Believed Fallacies is a perfect "bathroom read" or "bus stop read," and I found some interesting "facts" that led me to some well spent research time.

Herb Reich claims that many facts that we learned while growing up were not factual at all.  For example, he says that Washington was not our first President.  He also tells us that "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is not the official United States Postal Service motto.  Imagine the shock to my English teaching soul when he explained that not one witch was burned at the stake in Salem.  

Yes, Mr. Reich presents us with 250 interesting tidbits that we could have thrown in our teachers' faces during those tedious years in high school, when a good debate made the classroom so much more enjoyable.  He definitely gives the reader food for thought as he painstakingly explains how each of these truths we have held for so long are far from true.  My problem with the book is that while telling us to not be so gullible as to believe everything that is presented as fact, he presents us with a book of information that has no citations.  How do we know that his facts are more credible than the original ones?

If you can get past that little issue, this is really a fun book to read.  It really made me think, and I now have a stack of things to do further research on. Too bad I am not still in the classroom, where I could have assigned a different "non-fact" to each student and have had them research away.

- Beverly 


​Publisher - Skyhorse Publishing; 1 edition 
Date of Publication - ​May 1, 2012
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Submit

    Genre

    All
    Biographies Memoirs
    Childrens
    Comicsgraphicnovels
    Cozy Mystery
    Erotica
    Fiction
    Food-wine
    Historical
    Humor
    Legal
    Medical
    Mindbody
    Mystery-thriller
    Non-fiction
    Poetry
    Political
    Psychological
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Sci-fi-fantasy
    Selfhelp
    Sports
    Teens Ya
    Travel

    Site Search

    search engine by freefind

    Archives 

    November 2023
    February 2022
    January 2022
    January 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.