by envisionmg | Apr 9, 2014 | Staff Review
As someone who loves the swashbuckling fiction of authors like Alexander Dumas, Rafael Sabatini and Arturo Pérez-Reverte it seemed like reading a non-fiction work on war in the period the books are set in would be a good idea. That is what brought me to Lauro...
by envisionmg | Mar 27, 2014 | Staff Review
Under the Wide and Starry Sky is dual historical fiction biography of Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Osbourne. The story begins with Fanny arriving in Antwerp with her children fleeing her philandering husband in America. A lot of time is spent with Fanny before...
by envisionmg | Jan 4, 2014 | Non-fiction, Staff Review
Like many people, my to-read pile of books sets on my dresser next to my bed (unlike most people, I hope, the finished books are on a pile on the floor next to my bed) and seems to be growing faster than I can read. In this pile are a wide range of things: fantasy,...
by envisionmg | Sep 26, 2013 | Fiction, Staff Picks, Staff Review
Reviewed by Jim I had actually been waiting for this book to be translated into English for some time. It was written by a Italian writers collective Wu Ming (aka Luther Blisett). Altai is a loose sequel to their book Q published in 1999. Because it is a translation...
by envisionmg | Jan 2, 2013 | Biography, Non-fiction, Staff Review
“I hope we’re as good friends when you finish your book as we are now,” Ben Bradlee, the legendary former executive editor of The Washington Post, told Jeff Himmelman in March 2010. “But I don’t give a [expletive deleted] what you write about me.” No author could make...
by envisionmg | Dec 22, 2012 | Non-fiction, Staff Review
I first took notice of this book when I saw the author, actor Frank Langella interviewed on The Tavis Smiley Show to discuss his memoir of the remarkable people encountered over his fifty year career. He presents them, not as they might have described themselves, but...
