I have read so many of Dean Koontz’s books that I’ve had to look for some of his older works in order to keep reading material by this great author. What is extraordinary about Koontz is his ability to write about external conflicts between good and evil, and to make it interesting and inspiring. One [...]

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I had never read any of James Patterson’s many books, until I was given these two as a gift. They are clearly not on the same bookshelf as other authors and their works reviewed here. These are escapist books and could never be called literature or fine writing. However, they are perfect time fillers, when [...]

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“Tales of Transgression” is a collection of twenty one short stories about loneliness, love, fate, and identity. All of the stories are entertaining and compelling and have distinct stylistic elements that keep you engrossed in not only the story, but also its structure. Some of my favorites were, “Ugly,” “Faithless,” and “A Manhattan Romance.”
“Ugly” is [...]

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This Pulitzer Prize winning book is the most uniquely written book that I have ever read. It combines a serious historical context, with a compelling contemporary narrative. It is the story of Oscar, A Dominican nerd who cannot find companionship, no matter how hard he tries.”The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” refers back to [...]

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Although this book was a finalist for the Penn/Faulkner award, it is a very boring book about the fictional lives of a few free spirits living on a beach in Cape Cod. It is a story of love found, and love lost. Maytree marries his sweetheart and abandons her and his son, Pete, after more [...]

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I have always loved Tom Wolfe’s writing. Years ago, I read The Bonfire of the Vanitiesand loved it. Then I read A Man in Fulland loved that more. I also read his more recent, I Am Charlotte Simmons,and liked it very much as well. All of Wolfe’s novels are well researched and give you the [...]

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Philip Roth is one of the more interesting writers of American fiction. I have read almost all of his books and have enjoyed all of them. "Indignation" is his latest book. It is a short book about a studious 18 year old man from Newark, NJ. The story takes place in 1951 during the Korean [...]

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Kate Christensen has created a masterpiece with "The Great Man." Ironically, it is really a novel about three great women and one very flawed man. Oscar Feldman is the so called "great man" of this story. Unfortunately for Oscar, he is dead for the duration of this retelling of his life. The story centers [...]

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With "Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution," T.J. English has delivered the most comprehensive look at mob influence in Cuba. He carefully uses history to create a story that you just can’t put down. If you read this book and follow it up with "Telex from Cuba" [...]

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Paulo Coelho is a master at writing stories that provide a glimpse into human frailties. He is a modern parable teller. "The Devil and Miss Prym" is no exception to his style and does indeed provide the most telling view of temptation and our typical response to it.
In this parable of good and evil, a [...]

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