Blog Tour Review: Travels in Elysium by William Azuski

September 20, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / 3 Comments

I am happy today to be part of the TRAVELS IN ELYSIUM blog tour!

TRAVELS IN ELYSIUM is the story of Nicholas Pedrosa, a college student who gets the chance of a lifetime: working on an archaeological dig in Greece. Nico jumps at the opportunity and soon finds himself on the island of Santorini with a host of characters and personalities, all engaged in unearthing what appears to be a city (or civilization) destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Nico doesn’t know too much about his colleagues, though, and right from the start some unsettling things happen. Another young worker has been killed on the site in an accident (or was it perhaps not an accident?). Villagers swear they are seeing ghosts. Nicholas himself sees eerie moving lights at night. And, behind it all, is the somewhat enigmatic and intense Marcus Huxley, the leader of the dig with whom Nico has a love/hate relationship. What are they uncovering? And, is it just possible that they could be making the discovery of a lifetime – that they have found the lost city of Atlantis?

I enjoyed reading this (somewhat lengthy at 500+ pages) book! It is part history, part mystery, and part metaphysical thriller. I found it could be read on two levels: the top story of Nico and his experiences, and the allegory to Plato’s theories of Atlantis and reality. Metaphor plays a big role in this novel, as does allegory. Caves play a role, as does light, and the concept of reality and perception and creating your own reality. To be honest, I wasn’t intimately familiar with Plato’s writings (though I certainly knew who he was), and this book made me read a lot about him online. The more I read, the more information I found that fit this story line. Really, I thought the interplay was quite brilliant.

The end of the book makes you stop, think, and then re-read. I won’t give it away, but it is the final connection to Plato’s works.

I think this book would be great for book groups because there is a lot to discuss!

Here’s a word from the publicist, Nikki:

Literary fiction blends with Plato’s tale of Atlantis is this metaphysical mystery that takes place on an archaeological dig on the island of Santorini. Travels in Elysium is written in an allegory style. If you would like to read an an online excerpt – we have one posted here http://www.iridescent-publishing.com/tie/tie_prev.htm. For more information or to get your own copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Travels-Elysium-William-Azuski/dp/3952401528/

Here’s some info on the author as well:

About William Azuski

William Azuski was born in the United Kingdom, and is of British and Yugoslav descent. Travelling widely through the Mediterranean since childhood, his frequent sojourns in Greece included several months on Santorini in the 1970s, an experience that provided firsthand experience for this exceptional novel’s local setting. Writing as William Miles Johnson, Azuski is also author of the critically-acclaimed The Rose-Tinted Menagerie, an Observer Book of the Year (nonfiction), and Making a Killing, an end of the world satire, both titles recently republished by Iridescent.

(William at work)

Thank you to Nikki for my review copy and making me part of this blog tour!

Quick Kids’ Review: THE ENCHANTED ATTIC: BOOKS 2 and 4 by LL Samson

September 14, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

If you read me regularly, you know I loved the first book in the Enchanted Attic series, “Facing the Hunchback of Notre Dame” (see review here: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/review-facing-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-the-enchanted-attic-series-1-by-l-l-samson/). Recently, Zondervan sent me two more books in the series: “Saving Moby Dick” and “Wrestling with Tom Sawyer”. (There’s also “Dueling with the Three Musketeers”!). In these books, the adventures continue as twins Linus and Ophelia and their friend Walter meet and have to help the book characters that have come to life and appeared in the attic of their aunt and uncle’s house. Whether they are trying to help a morose and moody Captain Ahab, or trying to keep a rambunctious Tom Sawyer under control, the kids face their adventures with intelligence and humor. I particularly like the voice of the narrator in this series, which lends itself quite well to read-aloud.

Thank you Zonderkidz Publishing for my review copies!

Review: CALL ME ZELDA by Erika Robuck

September 13, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / 2 Comments

A while back I went to a book talk and signing by Erika Robuck held at my favorite indie: The Concord Bookshop. I loved her talk about how she came to write CALL ME ZELDA, about Zelda Fitzgerald’s time spent in a mental institution while she was treated for schizophrenia and the relationship she forms with her nurse. I bought but saved CALL ME ZELDA until our trip in August so that I could take it with me (sort of like bringing along a special friend!). I enjoyed this beautiful but heart-breaking novel and didn’t want it to end.

In CALL ME ZELDA, psychiatric nurse Anna Howard is still recovering herself from the losses of WWI (her husband is MIA and her young daughter has died of pneumonia). She works at a mental hospital and has Zelda Fitzgerald (wife of F. Scott) in her charge. She and Zelda form a bond and become friends. Anna’s emotional attachment to the troubled Zelda leads her to leave her job and work privately for the Fitzgerald family, where she is privy to the highs and lows, the sweetness and the abuse, of Scott and Zelda’s relationship. Zelda, who is schizophrenic and also seems depressed, is unpredictable yet vulnerable. She shows great brilliance, yet feels smothered and held back by Scott. Scott, meanwhile, is an alcoholic who brilliance is at times eclipsed by his selfish manipulations. Anna’s own back story exists as another story line in this book: her struggle with coming to peace with her losses and her striving to begin to live life again.

All in all, I loved this book. It read easily and I felt the character of Anna was well-developed and believable. I didn’t know too much about the Fitzgeralds before reading this novel, and I realize it is fiction, but I found their portrayal quite fascinating. This is one of several books on Zelda Fitzgerald published this year and I put in with my “woman behind the man books” – e.g. “The Paris Wife”, “The Aviator’s Wife”, “Loving Frank”, etc. This was a great read and will undoubtedly be one of my top books for 2013 – made all the more special because my copy is signed by Erika!

Cardinal Dolan’s PRAYING IN ROME

September 8, 2013 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

Blogging for Books knows that I read books about Catholicism, and sent me some info on Cardinal Dolan’s book about the recent Conclave to elect Pope Francis I. Currently, the ebook is only $1.99. While I haven’t read it, it has garnered positive reviews and sounds interesting: getting an insider’s look at what was happening during those days at the Conclave.

Cardinal Dolan discussed his book on the Colbert report. You can see that here:

You can see more about his book here:
http://www.imagecatholicbooks.com/book/234728/praying-in-rome/

If you read it, be sure to comment on your thoughts! Thanks, Blogging for Books, for offering me a free copy (of another book I need to choose) for promoting this one!

YA Review: ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein

September 8, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / 3 Comments

I found ROSE UNDER FIRE on Net Galley and thought it sounded intriguing. While presented as a YA read, this book was quite intense emotionally and I thought could be enjoyed by adults as well. In ROSE UNDER FIRE, WWII courier pilot Rose Justice finds herself downed by Nazi aircraft into German territory. Terrified, she realizes that they don’t intent to harm her, per say, but keep her in a work camp. That camp turns out to be Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Rose spends several months there, through the winter, before she is liberated in a harrowing escape.

I could not put this book down. While it was suspenseful and “exciting” (notice quotes), it was haunting and disturbing, and really painted such a vivid picture of Ravensbrück that I had nightmares (full disclosure: I’m a pretty sensitive person). The book starts with Rose’s daily diary of events. She’s a courier, an American actually, working for the British. Her life has been pretty innocent up until the war. She is only nineteen. She flies to Paris on a job and has a wonderful day there, including “buzzing” the Eiffel Tower. She is scheduled to fly back to England the next day, but then we realize that Rose is classified as “missing”. Family and friends try to be hopeful but presume she is most probably killed. The book then is Rose’s writings of her memoir of the time spent in camp as she stays at the Ritz in Paris to recuperate. The end of the book is in Rose’s present time, as the war ends in Europe.

Before reading this book, I had little knowledge of Ravensbrück. I knew it was a concentration camp and I thought it was for women. The portrayal of the camp in this book is really remarkable. I could see it so vividly. As with a lot of WWII literature, the resiliency of the prisoners to stay alive was incredible and awe-inspiring. I know it’s fiction, but people experienced what these women did, and it is both fascinating and horrible. A large portion of the book centers on the Polish girls in the camp who were used for experiments by the Nazi’s. Called “the rabbits”, they were experimented on so that the Germans could figure out how best to treat war wounds and infections. Wish I could say Ms. Wein made this up, but she didn’t. Wein is the author of CODE NAME VERITY, which I have not read, but which I purchased so that I could.

Highly recommended if you are a reader of this genre, but be prepared. YA doesn’t mean this book is just for the kids. In fact, I would hope that if young people were reading this book (which would be an excellent hs classroom choice) that adults are talking to them about it and discussing it with them.

Thanks, Net Galley and Miramax Publishing, for my copy!

ROSE UNDER FIRE publishes 9/10/13.

Review: THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4 by Orest Stelmach

September 2, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / 2 Comments

This past spring, a longtime friend suggested that I read THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4. I found it for my kindle on Amazon at a great price. THE BOY FROM REACTOR 4 is a suspenseful, action-packed mystery/thriller, which takes the reader from the US to Russia and deals with espionage, murder, and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster.

Nadia Tesler is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, living in NYC. She is contacted by a man who says he knew her deceased father, and she agrees to meet with him. To her horror, he is shot while they are greeting each other and he whispers a somewhat garbled message to her before dying. Nadia takes off a quest to discover what he meant, find a formula worth $10 million, and find out the truth about her family and their legacy. Travelling from the US to the heart of Russia and into Siberia and the Aleutian Islands, this novel’s setting serves as a parallel to the emotions of the criminals and the bleak life for many of the people she meets and comes to know in this book. Action packed and thrilling, the action moves at a non-stop pace right until the last page.

I really enjoyed this novel! I like a good crime/mystery, and this one was easy to read and hard to put down! I’m glad my friend recommended it to me. I would love to see it as a movie, too.

Check out this clip I found on You Tube with the author discussing the novel:

Review: ON HEAVEN AND EARTH by Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and Abraham Skorka

August 27, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / 1 Comment

Through Blogging for Books, I received a review copy of ON HEAVEN AND EARTH, which is subtitled Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the 21st Century. This is a bit of a misnomer since the entire book is a conversation between Pope Francis (before he was Pope and was an Archbishop in Argentina) and Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka. The book is divided into short chapters which cover their conversations about a wide variety of topics and how they are viewed in the Catholic and Jewish faiths: God, family, sexuality, world issues, euthanasia, etc. It is easy to read and a great book to pick up if you only have a short time to read, as you can cover a chapter or two easily. I felt like I was sitting in a room, listening to these two men discuss the issues. Their conversations were insightful and intellectual, yet respectful and open.

Highly recommended if you enjoy reading and learning about religion or, if you are Catholic or Jewish, want to better understand your own faith!

Quick YA Review: RIPPED by Shelly Dickson Carr

August 27, 2013June 28, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

I downloaded the YA novel RIPPED from Net Galley before our recent trip to Hawaii. In this fast-paced and riveting story, teenager Katie Lennox discovers she can travel through time from present day London to the time of Jack the Ripper using the “London Stone”. Katie takes on the task of thwarting Jack the Ripper before he can do his evil deeds. She also holds in her heart the secret desire to see her deceased parents again. What Katie discovers is that changing history is no easy feat, and small events can have big consequences. The theme of “be careful what you wish for” is oft-repeated in this story.

I really enjoyed reading this novel! I see that it has won several awards, which is not surprising as it is well-written and well researched. I love historical fiction and mixing it up with time travel just makes me love it more! It is a bit lengthy (over 500 pages in print), but eager readers should have no problem plowing through it.

I look forward to more novels from Ms. Carr, and I see she lives locally, so perhaps our paths will cross.

Thanks, Net Galley and New Book Partners Publishing, for my copy!

Quick YA Review: SURVIVING THE ANGEL OF DEATH by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri

August 7, 2013June 29, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

This YA read is subtitled The True Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz. Jewish twins, Eva Mozes and her sister Miriam, along with their parents and sisters, are sent to Auschwitz in 1944 from their home in Romania. While their family is sent to the gas chambers, Eva and Miriam are selected to be part of Mengele’s study group of twins. While their treatment is considered better than the regular prisoners (but don’t kid yourself- this is a concentration camp and no one is treated well!), Eva’s determination to protect Miriam and survive the war gives her an incredible resiliency and strength to carry on.

This was a very short read for me – less than 200 pages – and it follows Eva and Miriam’s story from being taken to the camps, to their experience there, to their survival after the war. Aimed for a middle to high school audience, the book is less graphic than other Holocaust stories, but it is understandably still highly disturbing. The inclusion of pictures from before and after the war are a nice touch. Written as a memoir, we get Eva’s voice throughout. Particularly touching in this book is how Eva found forgiveness in her heart years after her war experience was over.

Thank you, Net Galley and Tanglewood Press, for my review copy.

See this book on Amazon where I am an Associate:

Review: HEIRS AND GRACES by Rhys Bowen

August 6, 2013June 29, 2019 / drbethnolan / Leave a comment

My readers know that I LOVE Rhys Bowen’s historical cozy mysteries series – especially the Molly Murphy series and the Royal Spyness series. The latest Royal Spyness book – HEIRS AND GRACES – has just come out and I received an ARC from Rhys herself to read and review.

First let me say just how very EXCITED I was to get a book from Ms. Bowen herself and even signed by her! Yeah!! (I follow her on Facebook and she had mentioned having a few if any bloggers wanted one.) Lady Georgie is one of my favorite characters in cozies. She’s so likable and yet so ordinary. She’s clumsy and unsophisticated, and always struggling to make ends meet. Yet she’s intelligent and spunky and keeps the most remarkable company (ex-police officer grand-dad, actress mummy, cousin the Queen of England, etc.). You can’t help liking her and wanting her to be successful!

In this story, Georgie is sent to a friend’s estate to help a new family member adjust to life as a noble. It seems that an heir has been found for the Altringham family: a heretofore unknown son of the son who died in the war. This young man, Jack, has been born and raised in Australia and is now found and coming to “train” so he can eventually claim the title (a bit against his will). The family is in an uproar and the head of house, the very unlikable and unfriendly eldest son and Duke, is giving Jack less than a warm welcome. Then the Duke is found dead with a knife in his back – Jack’s knife. Can Georgie figure out who the killer really is and save the day?

This might be my favorite Georgie title yet! There was no dearth of suspects and even though I figured it all out, the mystery was cleverly plotted. Familiar friends Darcy and Belinda plays their parts as well.

Definitely one to read for those who follow the series – and for those new to the series, too!

THANK YOU, Ms. Bowen, for my copy!