info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
MBR: Reviewer's Choice
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Midwest Book Review
Aug 16, 2015, 11:18:09 AM8/16/15
to
Reviewer's Choice
Forever Changed
Linda Mornell
Triumph Books
814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
9781629370224 $24.95 www.triumphbooks.com
Forever Changed offers the author's insights into how low-income kids can use summer programs to challenge themselves and develop new skills leading to self-assurance: something more monied children often receive. Her idea was to develop a summer program, Summer Search, to change urban adolescent lives, and Forever Changed not only follows the course of this program and its impact on adolescents, but how it can translate to lower-income students. It reads like an autobiography in following the author's interactions with her own (and other) kids, with setting up a structure for students and their mentors, and in exploring how these approaches can lead to stronger kids at the end. The result is a positive, upbeat and practical guide that uses Mornell's vision and applied programs to discuss how teens can learn and grow outside of a school structure. Educators, parents, and program directors alike will find it compelling.
Mapping the Nation
ESRI
ESRI Press
380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92378-8100
www.esri.com/esripress
9781589483910 $19.99 www.esri.net
Mapping the Nation: Building a More Resilient Future gathers under one cover a collection of GIS maps that illustrate how the government uses GIS information to form communities, and arranges these maps in a department-by-department heading to pinpoint how specific government entities apply map data to local problems. Readers will thus find examples range from applying data to visual maps outlining economic and climate changes to how GIS data applies to political initiatives and social change. By gathering maps under one cover and applying them to common government uses, Mapping the Nation provides perfect illustration of the importance and applications of GIS data as it applies to nation-building projects, making this a 'must' reference not just for geography, but for political science holdings.
Land Access and Resettlement
Gerry Reddy, et.al.
Greenleaf Publishing
Aizlewood Business Centre
Aizlewood's Mill, Nursery Street, Sheffield S3 8GG, UK
9781783532131 $50.00 www.greenleaf-publishing.com
Land Access and Resettlement offers strategies for implementing and planning successful land access and resettlement programs to create better outcomes for companies and communities alike, and comes from authors who have implemented and reviewed some 50 land access and resettlement projects in over 30 countries. This background lends to a book that covers each stage of a resettlement project, offering insights on common problems, pitfalls, and projects that have both succeeded and failed. Corporate leaders and project managers will appreciate the specific insights on community and government involvement, and guidelines which range from developing monitoring indicators to tailoring packages for resettlement purposes.
The House on the Klong
Jim Thompson
EDM Books
9789814385893 $24.95 www.edmbooks.com
At first glance The House on the Klong looks like a travel story or something for a home and garden collection; but it's so much more - and it's subject defies neat categorization, making it a pick for general-interest holdings interested in stories of overseas environments and missing men. Jim Thompson was a legendary American businessman who developed a thriving silk business, then went missing in the Malaysian jungles. The legacy he left behind wasn't business; it was a house in which objects of beauty are still displayed, and this book pays tribute to that structure, displaying a large number of pieces ranging from stone sculptures to paintings and other artistic objects and relics. Thus, the book will appeal to arts holdings and any interested in Asian history as well. But it also covers Thompson's venture into business and his many influences, how he built his house, and why his collection stands out - which makes it a pick for business collections, as well. In short, The House on the Klong is a tribute highly recommended for any who harbor an affection for business, art, home, and Asian influences, and discussions of extraordinary individuals.
101 Outstanding Graphic Novels
Stephen Weiner
NBM Publishing
160 Broadway, Ste. 700, East Wing, New York, NY 10038
www.nbmpub.com
9781561639441, $15.99, www.amazon.com
A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly, and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals. The term "graphic novel" was first used in 1964; it was popularized within the comics community after the publication of Will Eisner's A Contract with God in 1978, and became familiar to the public in the late 1980s after the commercial successes of the first volume of Spiegelman's Maus, Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen, and Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Book Industry Study Group added "graphic novel" as a category in book stores. "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is an 80 page graphic novel bibliography organized alphabetically by author. Each entry is provided with a succinct summary description. "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is profusely illustrated with small black-and-white cover images and occasional 'splash page' images. Ideal for building community library graphic novel collections, "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" will prove an invaluable reference for creating personal graphic novel reading lists. It should be noted that "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is also available in a Kindle edition ($7.99).
When The Trees Say Nothing
Thomas Merton, author
Kathleen Deignan, editor
Sorin Books
c/o Ave Maria Press
PO Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.avemariapress.com
9781933495903, $14.95 PB, www.amazon.com
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. (January 31, 1915 - December 10, 1968) was an American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. During his lifetime Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Compiled and edited by Kathleen Deignan, "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is a 192 page compendium comprised of citations derived from Merton's various works in which he dwells on the presence of God in creation. Inspired and inspiring, "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is a compelling read and highly recommended for seminary, church, and community library collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is also available in a Kindle edition ($10.49).
American Ghost
Hannah Nordhaus
Harper
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062249210 $25.99 www.harpercollins.com
American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest is difficult to easily categorize: at once a memoir, a journey, a history and with a dash of the supernatural, it weaves the story of the author's attempts to understand her own family history with insights on the American Southwest and the Jewish immigrant population that contributed to its culture. The different focuses keep this from being easily categorized but makes it accessible to a wide audience as the author/journalist searches for her great-great-grandmother's past and documents the ghost that haunts their lives in the present. The result is a lively and compelling read that any general interest library should have.
The Beginner's Book of Meditation
Attila Orosz
Privately Published
9781503333277, $14.99, 238pp, www.beginnersmeditation.info
Synopsis: Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" will allow anyone to learn meditation and breathing techniques forms that are easy to follow and enhanced as a learning experience with down to earth instructions, regardless of any particular spiritual or religious views. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" allows the meditation student and practitioner to truly understand what meditation really is and build up their own personal practice. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" features nine breathing techniques, ten sitting and two moving meditation methods, a perfect base upon which to build a meditation practice.
Critique: A comprehensive and thoroughly 'user friendly' introduction to meditation basics, "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" by Attila Orosz is an ideal instruction manual that is very highly recommended for personal, community, and academic library instructional reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that a slightly modified version of "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" is available in a Kindle edition from www.amazon.com.
Soul Mothers' Wisdom
Bette J. Freedson
Pearlsong Press
PO Box 58065, Nashville, TN 37205
www.pearlsongpress.com
Elevate Communications
9781597190770, $18.95, 198pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: Millions of heroic single mothers around the world, poor and rich, are rearing their own or someone else's children. Deaths, separations and divorces, and military deployments send many more women into single mother status every year, while other "hidden" single mothers bring up children virtually alone as fathers are ill, disabled, disengaged or just plain disinterested. In "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" clinical social worker Bette Freedson shares seven key insights she has identified through years of workshops, counseling sessions, and her own self-examination as a single mother. She gently guides often-overwhelmed single mothers to a strong personal identity, a rediscovery of resilience, strength, and courage, and an affirmation of parenting purpose. "Soul Mothers' Wisdom" helps the woman parenting on her own understand that she can create the life she wants and become the woman she desires to be, transforming challenges into opportunities and solutions, chaos into calm, and discovering (or re-discovering) all she has to offer to her children and her self. "Soul Mothers' Wisdom" offers single mothers the knowledge, counseling and affirmation to help them and their children thrive.
Critique: Informative, thoughtful, and thoroughly 'user friendly', "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" will prove to be an impressively helpful read for any mother trying to deal with the stress and just plain hard work that motherhood requires in our contemporary world. Very strongly recommended for community library Parenting Studies instructional reference collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" is also available in a Kindle edition ($6.99).
Where's Stephanie
Lenora Livingston
CrossBooks
One Life Way Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234
www.CrossBooks.com
Bohlsen Group
9781462744862, $19.99, 152pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: It's 1982 and Ian Weber is engaged. But amid that happiness, Ian finds out a former girlfriend is pregnant. In a dramatic and successful act, Anna, Ian's mother, prevents her grandchild from being aborted. More than anything, Anna wants her grandchild to be a part of her life. When Stephanie is born, she is placed for adoption. Still intent to have Stephanie in her life, Anna places clues in the child's file at the Department of Social Services, hoping one day, by some miracle, Stephanie will use the clues to find her. Author Lenora Livingston captures the intense grief of the birth families who gave up Stephanie for adoption, while at the same time, showing the immeasurable joy of the adoptive family. Livingston recounts the amazing story of the parallel lives of Anna and her granddaughter, Stephanie. Although they live over one hundred miles apart, their paths often cross. "Where's Stephanie?: A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is based on real-life events. Realizing others are facing similar situations, Livingston provides readers with a list of adoption groups that can help in search for surrendered family members. This story shows that what may seem impossible can come true.
Critique: An irresistibly engaging and extraordinary read from beginning to end, "Where's Stephanie? A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is a unique and exceptionally compassionate true story and one that deserves as wide a readership as possible. Very highly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Where's Stephanie?: A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is also available in a paperback edition (9781462744879, $14.99) and in a Kindle format ($9.89).
Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron
Steven H. Semken, author
Andrew R. Driscoll, artist
Ice Cub Press
205 North Front Street, North Liberty, IA 52317
www.icecubepress.com
9781888160628, $24.95, 144pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: There is a very real, center-of-the-world spot lurking in an unknown valley of northeastern Kansas, where chalky old growth trunks of sycamore trees and a slow moving stream exist alongside the nests, the souls, and the lives of great blue herons. "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" is a book of both fact and fiction, of myth, sense-of-place, spirit, and magic. Reader s will embark on a literary and visual journey unlike any other; will (re)discover a wild and captivating realm full of lore, hearsay, myth, and spirit. "Soul External" is a combined effort of author and artist seeking to express their mutual sense of the significance and sacred in the natural world. Through a narrative centered upon the great blue heron scripted words play with graphic arrangements punctuated by drawings. All culminate in producing a fuller meditation having semiotic and aesthetic significance regarding this perfect circle of life.
Critique: A fascinating read that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" offers an extraordinary literary experience that will linger in the mind long after the book is finished and set back upon the shelf. Of special note are the occasional quotations from a variety of sources. Certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library collections, "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" is very highly recommended and contemplative reading.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.
The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com
Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
Forever Changed
Linda Mornell
Triumph Books
814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
9781629370224 $24.95 www.triumphbooks.com
Forever Changed offers the author's insights into how low-income kids can use summer programs to challenge themselves and develop new skills leading to self-assurance: something more monied children often receive. Her idea was to develop a summer program, Summer Search, to change urban adolescent lives, and Forever Changed not only follows the course of this program and its impact on adolescents, but how it can translate to lower-income students. It reads like an autobiography in following the author's interactions with her own (and other) kids, with setting up a structure for students and their mentors, and in exploring how these approaches can lead to stronger kids at the end. The result is a positive, upbeat and practical guide that uses Mornell's vision and applied programs to discuss how teens can learn and grow outside of a school structure. Educators, parents, and program directors alike will find it compelling.
Mapping the Nation
ESRI
ESRI Press
380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92378-8100
www.esri.com/esripress
9781589483910 $19.99 www.esri.net
Mapping the Nation: Building a More Resilient Future gathers under one cover a collection of GIS maps that illustrate how the government uses GIS information to form communities, and arranges these maps in a department-by-department heading to pinpoint how specific government entities apply map data to local problems. Readers will thus find examples range from applying data to visual maps outlining economic and climate changes to how GIS data applies to political initiatives and social change. By gathering maps under one cover and applying them to common government uses, Mapping the Nation provides perfect illustration of the importance and applications of GIS data as it applies to nation-building projects, making this a 'must' reference not just for geography, but for political science holdings.
Land Access and Resettlement
Gerry Reddy, et.al.
Greenleaf Publishing
Aizlewood Business Centre
Aizlewood's Mill, Nursery Street, Sheffield S3 8GG, UK
9781783532131 $50.00 www.greenleaf-publishing.com
Land Access and Resettlement offers strategies for implementing and planning successful land access and resettlement programs to create better outcomes for companies and communities alike, and comes from authors who have implemented and reviewed some 50 land access and resettlement projects in over 30 countries. This background lends to a book that covers each stage of a resettlement project, offering insights on common problems, pitfalls, and projects that have both succeeded and failed. Corporate leaders and project managers will appreciate the specific insights on community and government involvement, and guidelines which range from developing monitoring indicators to tailoring packages for resettlement purposes.
The House on the Klong
Jim Thompson
EDM Books
9789814385893 $24.95 www.edmbooks.com
At first glance The House on the Klong looks like a travel story or something for a home and garden collection; but it's so much more - and it's subject defies neat categorization, making it a pick for general-interest holdings interested in stories of overseas environments and missing men. Jim Thompson was a legendary American businessman who developed a thriving silk business, then went missing in the Malaysian jungles. The legacy he left behind wasn't business; it was a house in which objects of beauty are still displayed, and this book pays tribute to that structure, displaying a large number of pieces ranging from stone sculptures to paintings and other artistic objects and relics. Thus, the book will appeal to arts holdings and any interested in Asian history as well. But it also covers Thompson's venture into business and his many influences, how he built his house, and why his collection stands out - which makes it a pick for business collections, as well. In short, The House on the Klong is a tribute highly recommended for any who harbor an affection for business, art, home, and Asian influences, and discussions of extraordinary individuals.
101 Outstanding Graphic Novels
Stephen Weiner
NBM Publishing
160 Broadway, Ste. 700, East Wing, New York, NY 10038
www.nbmpub.com
9781561639441, $15.99, www.amazon.com
A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" normally refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly, and includes fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work. It is distinguished from the term "comic book", which is used for comics periodicals. The term "graphic novel" was first used in 1964; it was popularized within the comics community after the publication of Will Eisner's A Contract with God in 1978, and became familiar to the public in the late 1980s after the commercial successes of the first volume of Spiegelman's Maus, Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen, and Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Book Industry Study Group added "graphic novel" as a category in book stores. "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is an 80 page graphic novel bibliography organized alphabetically by author. Each entry is provided with a succinct summary description. "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is profusely illustrated with small black-and-white cover images and occasional 'splash page' images. Ideal for building community library graphic novel collections, "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" will prove an invaluable reference for creating personal graphic novel reading lists. It should be noted that "101 Outstanding Graphic Novels" is also available in a Kindle edition ($7.99).
When The Trees Say Nothing
Thomas Merton, author
Kathleen Deignan, editor
Sorin Books
c/o Ave Maria Press
PO Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556
www.avemariapress.com
9781933495903, $14.95 PB, www.amazon.com
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. (January 31, 1915 - December 10, 1968) was an American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion. In 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name Father Louis. During his lifetime Merton wrote more than 70 books, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Compiled and edited by Kathleen Deignan, "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is a 192 page compendium comprised of citations derived from Merton's various works in which he dwells on the presence of God in creation. Inspired and inspiring, "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is a compelling read and highly recommended for seminary, church, and community library collections. For personal reading lists it should be noted that "When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature" is also available in a Kindle edition ($10.49).
American Ghost
Hannah Nordhaus
Harper
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062249210 $25.99 www.harpercollins.com
American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest is difficult to easily categorize: at once a memoir, a journey, a history and with a dash of the supernatural, it weaves the story of the author's attempts to understand her own family history with insights on the American Southwest and the Jewish immigrant population that contributed to its culture. The different focuses keep this from being easily categorized but makes it accessible to a wide audience as the author/journalist searches for her great-great-grandmother's past and documents the ghost that haunts their lives in the present. The result is a lively and compelling read that any general interest library should have.
The Beginner's Book of Meditation
Attila Orosz
Privately Published
9781503333277, $14.99, 238pp, www.beginnersmeditation.info
Synopsis: Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" will allow anyone to learn meditation and breathing techniques forms that are easy to follow and enhanced as a learning experience with down to earth instructions, regardless of any particular spiritual or religious views. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" allows the meditation student and practitioner to truly understand what meditation really is and build up their own personal practice. "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" features nine breathing techniques, ten sitting and two moving meditation methods, a perfect base upon which to build a meditation practice.
Critique: A comprehensive and thoroughly 'user friendly' introduction to meditation basics, "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" by Attila Orosz is an ideal instruction manual that is very highly recommended for personal, community, and academic library instructional reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that a slightly modified version of "The Beginner's Book of Meditation" is available in a Kindle edition from www.amazon.com.
Soul Mothers' Wisdom
Bette J. Freedson
Pearlsong Press
PO Box 58065, Nashville, TN 37205
www.pearlsongpress.com
Elevate Communications
9781597190770, $18.95, 198pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: Millions of heroic single mothers around the world, poor and rich, are rearing their own or someone else's children. Deaths, separations and divorces, and military deployments send many more women into single mother status every year, while other "hidden" single mothers bring up children virtually alone as fathers are ill, disabled, disengaged or just plain disinterested. In "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" clinical social worker Bette Freedson shares seven key insights she has identified through years of workshops, counseling sessions, and her own self-examination as a single mother. She gently guides often-overwhelmed single mothers to a strong personal identity, a rediscovery of resilience, strength, and courage, and an affirmation of parenting purpose. "Soul Mothers' Wisdom" helps the woman parenting on her own understand that she can create the life she wants and become the woman she desires to be, transforming challenges into opportunities and solutions, chaos into calm, and discovering (or re-discovering) all she has to offer to her children and her self. "Soul Mothers' Wisdom" offers single mothers the knowledge, counseling and affirmation to help them and their children thrive.
Critique: Informative, thoughtful, and thoroughly 'user friendly', "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" will prove to be an impressively helpful read for any mother trying to deal with the stress and just plain hard work that motherhood requires in our contemporary world. Very strongly recommended for community library Parenting Studies instructional reference collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Soul Mothers' Wisdom: Seven Insights for the Single Mother" is also available in a Kindle edition ($6.99).
Where's Stephanie
Lenora Livingston
CrossBooks
One Life Way Plaza, Nashville, TN 37234
www.CrossBooks.com
Bohlsen Group
9781462744862, $19.99, 152pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: It's 1982 and Ian Weber is engaged. But amid that happiness, Ian finds out a former girlfriend is pregnant. In a dramatic and successful act, Anna, Ian's mother, prevents her grandchild from being aborted. More than anything, Anna wants her grandchild to be a part of her life. When Stephanie is born, she is placed for adoption. Still intent to have Stephanie in her life, Anna places clues in the child's file at the Department of Social Services, hoping one day, by some miracle, Stephanie will use the clues to find her. Author Lenora Livingston captures the intense grief of the birth families who gave up Stephanie for adoption, while at the same time, showing the immeasurable joy of the adoptive family. Livingston recounts the amazing story of the parallel lives of Anna and her granddaughter, Stephanie. Although they live over one hundred miles apart, their paths often cross. "Where's Stephanie?: A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is based on real-life events. Realizing others are facing similar situations, Livingston provides readers with a list of adoption groups that can help in search for surrendered family members. This story shows that what may seem impossible can come true.
Critique: An irresistibly engaging and extraordinary read from beginning to end, "Where's Stephanie? A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is a unique and exceptionally compassionate true story and one that deserves as wide a readership as possible. Very highly recommended for community library collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Where's Stephanie?: A Story of Love, Faith, and Courage" is also available in a paperback edition (9781462744879, $14.99) and in a Kindle format ($9.89).
Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron
Steven H. Semken, author
Andrew R. Driscoll, artist
Ice Cub Press
205 North Front Street, North Liberty, IA 52317
www.icecubepress.com
9781888160628, $24.95, 144pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: There is a very real, center-of-the-world spot lurking in an unknown valley of northeastern Kansas, where chalky old growth trunks of sycamore trees and a slow moving stream exist alongside the nests, the souls, and the lives of great blue herons. "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" is a book of both fact and fiction, of myth, sense-of-place, spirit, and magic. Reader s will embark on a literary and visual journey unlike any other; will (re)discover a wild and captivating realm full of lore, hearsay, myth, and spirit. "Soul External" is a combined effort of author and artist seeking to express their mutual sense of the significance and sacred in the natural world. Through a narrative centered upon the great blue heron scripted words play with graphic arrangements punctuated by drawings. All culminate in producing a fuller meditation having semiotic and aesthetic significance regarding this perfect circle of life.
Critique: A fascinating read that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" offers an extraordinary literary experience that will linger in the mind long after the book is finished and set back upon the shelf. Of special note are the occasional quotations from a variety of sources. Certain to be an enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library collections, "Soul External: Rediscovering The Great Blue Heron" is very highly recommended and contemplative reading.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.
The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com
Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129
To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
0 new messages