Letters to Daniel by Amy Leigh McCorkle

 

Blurb:

Through a series of open letters to her favorite actor, Daniel Craig, the author details her struggles with abuse, mental illness, and her ultimate triumph over both.

About the Author:

Amy McCorkle was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky.

She has lived in New Mexico and Texas as well, but she currently makes her home in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.

An award-winning blogger, she is also a successful author in both the sci-fi erotic romance genre with No Ordinary Love and a dark romantic suspense tale, Another Way To Die. She’s also written the first two books of a Mad Max meets Gladiator series set to be a trilogy. She has placed second in the 2011 Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Poll for Best Short Romance Story and semi-finaled with Another Way to Die in the 2012 Moondance International Film Festival.

From Hydra Publications, she has released Set Fire to the Rain as well as her first print novel, Bounty Hunter. She is co-authoring the Gunpowder & Lead series with Melissa Goodman.

Her work is flavored by her childhood heroes, pop culture, music, and the cinema, as well as the writers she still enjoys reading today.

Review:

Letters to Daniel was an excellent book that I couldn’t finish reading. Let me explain. It’s a series of open letters to Daniel Craig. Yes, the actor—the one who played James Bond. These letters detail Ms. McCorkle’s struggles with child abuse, bi-polar disorder, and food addiction.

To quote Meatloaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Well, actually, in this case they are. Okay, you can almost make that three out of three. While Ms. McCorkle suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her cop father, I suffered emotional abuse at the hands of my adoptive mother. A friend recently told me about something going around on Facebook, I think, that said something like, “The compulsion to apologize is a sign of emotional abuse, so don’t be a jerk when you encounter someone who does that.”

To which I replied, “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

But I digress. I’m also bi-polar and a food addict. And I read Letters to Daniel the week I buried two human family members and one canine one. I wanted to eat everything in the kitchen, including the cabinets.

Did I mention I also spent a holiday weekend with my ex and his bride? He divorced me because of my mood swings. Don’t get me wrong, I really like his new wife. She’s a sweetie. But I felt overwhelmingly lonely the whole weekend. And guilty. There was my daughter’s father-in-law who’d just lost his wife of fifty-plus years, and there I was having a pity-party because my ex of thirty-plus years had remarried—again. Yeah, I know: feelings are neither right nor wrong; they just are.

So, I pick up Letters to Daniel, and except for the sexual abuse and the fact that Ms. McCorkle hasn’t yet married, I’m reading my life story. Oh, and Ms. McCorkle is much farther along in her career than I was at her age.

Then I started thinking about when my funk began, and I realized it was before the death-watch, before the funerals, before the ex and his bride came to town, before his mom took me aside and gave me the “Shelley Dear, I was so proud when you lost weight. What happened?” speech. (I’m still “Shelley” to a few family members.) That’s when I realized at least one of my meds has quit working. I’m seeing my psychiatrist tomorrow as I write this, and that’s at the top of my agenda.

I was seventy-two percent of the way through the book when I put it down and just cried. I guess I needed that. I’m told the end is very inspirational. Somehow, through the funk, and the self-pity, and the tears, I found the whole book inspirational. I highly recommend Letters to Daniel. I just don’t recommend reading it in the midst of a bi-polar/ food addict breakdown. Hopefully I’ll start new meds tomorrow and be able to finish it eventually.

Author Website:  http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Leigh-McCorkle/e/B006T5AAA0/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Heat Rating:  R

Length:  253 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $14.95

Digital:  $3.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Daniel-Amy-Leigh-McCorkle-ebook/dp/B01A1V35IQ

Thanks for visiting.

Horror: Miscellany by Jovanka Vuckovic

Blurb:

From Frankenstein and Dracula, to Night of the Living Dead and The Omen, this grisly grimoire conjures up ghouls, demons and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Crammed with endless facts, trivia and stories about every aspect of horror—from 1950s EC Comics and TV series The Twilight Zone; to the music of Black Sabbath and Japanese horror films—this little gem of spookiness is guaranteed to keep readers up all night.

Intriguing insights into the lives of classic horror writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Clive Barker, and Stephen King are complemented by fascinating behind-the-scenes peeks into the productions of Psycho, The Thing, and Halloween.

Vuckovic’s many authoritative lists include: The Top thirteen Vampire Films; thirteen Scariest Horror Video Games; and The twenty-five Best Horror Movie Taglines: “The good news is your date is here! The bad news is... He’s dead!” revealing the humour in the horror.

Review by Rose Thornton:

This small book is a virtual encyclopedia of the who, what, when, where, and how of horror to the thorough extent that it is uncanny. Vuckovic’s Horror: Miscellany is an informative and interesting overview of the evolution of the horror genre throughout its media history.

“Horror has an ancient history that is difficult to map but it appears throughout the historical record in creation myths and classical mythologies, which are festooned with monsters, demons, and otherworldly creatures. The Bible, could easily be labeled as horror, as it is populated by fallen angels, demonic possession, ghosts, zombies, and even a terrifying apocalypse!” The truth this author lends for insight into horror as an internal part of human nature, as exampled in the preceding quote, makes his book so much more than just the facts and figures of the horror genre.

H.P. Lovecraft quote in Horror: Miscellany: “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity; and it was not meant that we should voyage far.” Lovecraft, an American author influential for his work in horror fiction, reveals the essence of Vuckovic’s drive to fully convey why horror is an important element of the human psyche.

I am not particularly fond of the horror genre myself, but I did find this book to be intriguing for its underlying themes and revelations. Any book that incites me to action, in whatever form, has achieved a bond with me as a reader. I took Vuckovic’s advice on the best versions of certain horror films and ordered used DVD copies to watch, not for the horror but rather to pick up on the other themes included and to note the special effects, etc. used.

I will recommend this book highly, albeit with caution. It is not for everyone, but anyone with an interest in film history, the evolution of horror in media, or the dark side of human nature will find this book a good read.

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Length: 96 Pages

Print Price: $9.20

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Vuckovics-Horror-Miscellany-Ilex/dp/1781570957

Jefferson on Freedom by Thomas Jefferson

Blurb:

Thomas Jefferson is most famous for the writing of the Declaration of Independence, which espouses the general principles of freedom and democracies that Americans hold dear. Now, collected here for the first time, is this historical American document, as well as several of his other famous writings. Included in this book are excerpts from his only full-length book, Notes on the State of Virginia, letters to Samual Kercheval and Edward Carrington on liberal democracy and freedom, and an exchange with Danbury Baptists regarding the right to religious freedom to his manual on parliamentary policy. Jefferson provides excellent and timeless quotes on attaining freedom and living a democratic life.

Review:

A great book with the words of a great American, Jefferson on Freedom is a solid reminder of how freedom was formed and framed in the early days of the United States. Tommy Jeff (as he was known to friends) held a strong, unshakable belief in the good sense of the public as the best governing force to be had, and his ability to state this clearly and simply was impressive. While I enjoyed this book for its historical aspect, primarily I found it to be a very interesting glimpse into the mind and character of Thomas Jefferson. He always included a thorough basis for his views on various topics, which gave me a vital background for each element of the Declaration of Independence. I will recommend this book for greater understanding of all that underlies our freedom and liberty.

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Length:  144 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $9.95

Digital:  $ 6.99

Buy Link:

http://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/book/?GCOI=60239100819000

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick

Blurb:

Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest of the Great American Novels, yet its length and esoteric subject matter create an aura of difficulty that too often keeps readers at bay. Fortunately, one unabashed fan wants passionately to give Melville’s masterpiece the broad contemporary audience it deserves. In his National Book Award-winning bestseller, In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick captivatingly unpacked the story of the wreck of the whale ship Essex, the real-life incident that inspired Melville to write Moby-Dick. Now, he sets his sights on the fiction itself, offering a cabin master’s tour of a spellbinding novel rich with adventure and history. Philbrick skillfully navigates Melville’s world and illuminates the book’s humor and unforgettable characters—finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and, indeed, to all times. A perfect match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? gives us a renewed appreciation of both Melville and the proud seaman’s town of Nantucket that Philbrick himself calls home. Like Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life, this remarkable little book will start conversations, inspire arguments, and, best of all, bring a new wave of readers to a classic tale waiting to be discovered anew.

Review:

The Melville humor, especially in his daring move to name a sperm whale “Moby-Dick,” is illustrated but faintly by Philbrick in his non-fictional explanation on why one should read Moby-Dick. However, Philbrick is a master at moving the soul to want such a reading for its descriptive magnificence and its depth of moral muscling. Using excerpts from the novel, he guides his reader to the heart of Ahab’s conflict with the great white whale through Melville’s grand ability to deliver reality on every page and achieve perspective within the tumult of the moment. If you have never read Melville’s Moby-Dick, you will find your intellect challenged with a great desire to do so; if you have read this distinguished novel in past-times, you will find your heart at peace with knowing the musings behind this great American literary classic. It will be well worth the read.

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

Length:  144 Pages

Prices

Print:  $13.00

Digital:  $7.99

Buy Link:  http://www.penguin.com/book/why-read-moby-dick-by-nathaniel-philbrick/9780143123972