Archive by Author

Biblioholic Review: Brewed Awakening

6 Jan

Hometown pride aside, Harpoon Brewery, their IPAs and seasonal brews produced on Northern Avenue are some of the best in these United States in our opinion. And at a recent gathering, friends and family arrived with many different beers to sample. A holiday party turned into an unintentional beer tasting.

As you can tell, beer runs in our veins and for that reason we joyfully consumed Brewed Awakening from Joshua Bernstein.

Brewed Awakening is a sort of all-purpose, comprehensive look at craft brewing in America, and worldwide. And it succeeds in its goal to inform and opine on the good, the bad and the ugly of the beer world. Don’t expect a dry take on the business and some nose-in-the-air analysis of the beers rolling off production lines large and small.

Brewed Awakening has the feel of a long form magazine article, hopping all over the map for profiles and perspectives from brewers large and small. The book also goes through the process of what makes a beer a beer, its components and processes; as well as what cred comes from being a craft beer.

Speaking about maps, the dust jacket of Brewed Awakenings folds out to reveal a massive infographic that splits off into dozens of nodes all the variety of beers found around the globe. From American Wheat Ale to Rauchbier, the maps serves as a quick view guide to the beer world.

Inside Brewed Awakenings Bernstein offers up several pages of beer recommendations from all the classes of brews. This was a fun exercise in seeing which of the dozens of recommendations we’d tried in our years of imbibing the amber liquid.

Now, as a beer book, the layout and design of the compact Brewed Awakenings has a little DNA in the foodie book world. As a result, the interior of Brewed Awakenings is smartly designed and attractively laid out. The look means nuggets of info and photos nestled into sturdy khaki colored pages.

A great little book about the world of beer, great for the novice or the long time enthusiast, Brewed Awakenings is a book you’ll eagerly drink up.

Brewed Awakenings by Joshua Bernstein was purchased for review by the Boston Book Bums

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Biblioholic Review: Destiny Disrupted

5 Jan

Since the horrific day of September 11th, the world of Islam has become the focus of more Americans than ever before. And unfortunately, the information about the faith consumed by a many Americans was been shaped by those with political/business agendas, obsolete international strategies and even bigotry.

There have been some exceptions in print, but few with a crisp and calm perspectives on the entire history of the faith of over a billion human beings.

Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary is the history of world, from the perspective of Islam. Ansary, born in Afghanistan, undertakes an ambitious task. To provide a concise, clear headed but honest view of the world from the birth of Islam to its schism, wars, growth, glories and failures; to its maturity, slowing velocity and crisis of modernity.

Absolutely ambitious and sprawling, but somehow Ansary takes nearly 1,400 years of history and puts together one of the most outstanding, thought provoking pieces of non-fiction. Not overburdened with layers of footnotes and pompous intellectual posturing, Destiny Disrupted is simply excellent.

Perhaps Destiny Disrupted finds its most riveting and important stride with Ansary’s keen observations about Islam’s halt in growth, cultural innovation and broad thinking. Expansion and growth validated the truth of their religion, but starting with the brutal Mongol invasions through the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution, the Middle World was faced with an insecure “modern” tomorrow.

Collective body blows coaxed out three distinct personalities attempting to shape the future of Islam, each brilliantly outlined by Ansary in the profiles of Abdul Wahhab of Arabia, India’s Sayyid Ahmad and Afghanistan/Iran’s Sayyid Jamaluddin-i-Afghan.

Each man, founders of conservative Wahhabism, secular modernist of the Aligarh Movement and Islamist Modernism respectively, is painted in vivid historical fashion by Ansary. Reading these profiles your mind races as you recognize modern figures, both rogues and respected thinkers, violent and peaceful, that promulgate the beliefs of these men.

Ansary’s clarity in ‘talking it out’ is exemplified as the book concludes. He writes that the current discord between the west and Muslim societies is not a “clash of civilizations,” but something more simple. Muslims and European off-shoots were peoples going places. As they crossed, they collided. And as Ansary writes, “the crashing is still going on.”

Also a realist, Ansary notes that both blocs are at times incompatible, yet, “There can be no sensible argument, however, until both sides are using the same terms and mean the same things by those terms.”

Destiny Disrupted goes a long way at assembling a piece of human history long neglected or skewed by western historians speaking in non-analogous  terms and meanings.

Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary was purchased for review by Boston Book Bums

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Biblioholic Review: Commando

4 Jan

When it comes to elite military forces today, Royal Marines Commando are in the top tier. Not special operations, say like the Special Air Service or Special Forces, the Commandos are a select shipborne light infantry unit.

Closer to the United States Army Rangers in use and capabilities, the British commando is a tough fighting force normally filled with physically able young men. That is why the premise of the non-fiction work, Commando, piqued our interest. Author Chris Terrill was a journalist who decided he wanted to try to pass the grueling and dangerous eight-month Royal Marines Commando selection process, at the age of 55.

Most candidates in their late teens fail of Commando selection. And those that make it through to earn their green “lid” are some of the best soldiers any country has to offer.

Terrill’s ability to live, train and eventually deploy to Afghanistan alongside fighting Royal Marines was a rare and unique opportunity. It would be like a reporter running through SEALS Basic Underwater Demolition School (their selection/book camp) and writing a warts and all piece.

It would never happen. But we are lucky that Terrill was given the chance and the book pays off brilliantly.

The 50 + year-old Terrill suffers all the foot splitting blisters, back bending aches and deep pains of fatigue with the other would-be commandos. We cannot stress enough the unyielding physical and mental demands put on commando candidates. Terrill’s time with a troop of soldiers leaves you exhausted and thankful that such tough and focused men emerge from the crucible.

Another fulfilling component to Terrill’s Commando are the profiles and relationships he develops with the commando selectees. We see them build each other up, we see them struggle falter and fail. This is a hard life, that of a Commando, but you don’t get there by having someone hold your hand and tuck you into bed at night.

You read such distinct personalities that enter, wash-out or emerge successful from Commando selection. They are young and immature, or worldly and focused, all so very different, yet united with the desire to become a Commando. The camaraderie and sense of belonging is reinforced by Terrill’s own experiences through selection.

Commando is a book that gives hope that, even as you get older, there is a trick or two mentally and a strain or two physically that can be brought to bear to prove one’s worth.

Commando by Chris Terrill was purchased for review by the Boston Book Bums

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Biblioholic Review: Drama- An Actor’s Education

3 Jan

You may know John Lithgow’s from 3rd Rock from Sun, Broadway or perhaps you caught is one-man show a couple of years ago but you’ve never seen the side he shares in his new book, DRAMA: AN ACTOR’S EDUCATION.

Lithgow’s spend a month back in 2002, helping his ailing father.  Desperate to cheer his depressed dad, Lithgow’s resorted to a childhood favorite book and read stories to man who use to be the reader when John was a wee listener.  This experience inspired Lithgow’s one-man show and was the seed for his new biography.

The biography starts at the beginning, John’s first walk-on in a play when he was four.  He spends amble time discussing his childhood, which was shaped largely by his father’s work as a director, actor and manager of theater.  His father’s work allowed for the first protected glimpses at an acting life and presented Lithgow’s with his only identified childhood trauma…. being the new kid in town, over and over again.

Lithgow describes his years at Harvard, as Fulbright Scholar and the final realization that he wanted to be an actor.  Details of his early years trying to break into the NY theater scene are enjoyable for a theater outsider but are probably even more so for those in the know.  There is some name-dropping which feeds the reader’s curiosity but Lithgow’s has too much decorum for anything salacious.  When Lithgow does spill the beans, he is effusive in his praise, delicate in his criticism and chivalrous when he kisses and tells.

But all that is beside the point because really this is a story of a complicated father/son relationship, where Lithgow battles between respect for his father’s work, guilt for surpassing his father professionally and regret for not knowing the man better.

The entertainer does what he does best in DRAMA, gives a funny but touching performance.

Drama: An Actor’s Education by John Lithgow was received for free by the Boston Book Bums

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Biblioholic Review: KBL- Kill Bin Laden

2 Jan

Author John Weisman is a sort of military thriller writing machine. Always reliable for action filled titles, each page is punctuated with patriotic fervor.

His newest book, KBL: Kill Bin Laden, a fictionalized version of the hunt and killing of Osama Bin Laden will not disappoint Weisman’s fans.

Weisman, co-author of the Rogue Warrior series, is at his best when he is going through the minutia of modern special operations warfare. Our reviewer is a detail junky and everything from the maker of the ‘fastrope’ to the carbines used by the elite Navy SEAL assaulters, were nice little accents in this briskly paced novel.

Characters are fairly hastily sketched. In a way, like their real-life counterparts in special warfare, you only catch a brief glimpse rather than a deep emotional expose. SEALs, specifically members of DEVGRU tasked to kill Bin Laden, are private in their work and don’t talk much about what they do. Rightly so. KBL‘s characters, especially the shooters, can be a bit ghostly rather than corporeal  And,after all, this is about action propelled to kill America’s most wanted.

Prolific authors, like well traveled musicians, have a go-to style and rhythm to their work. Some sections of KBL could have been dropped into any of the early Rogue Warrior books and no hiccup would occur in the tone or style. Weisman knows what he is doing here folks.

The ground work laid by a CIA paramilitary operator, a former U.S. Army Ranger and double amputee, was engrossing and an exciting undercover element to KBL. The politics of KBL are not kind to pretty much all politicians, save one or two in the novel. But as you ramp up to the raid, Weisman has you flipping the pages. You’ve read the SEALs do several versions of the operation, each time building suspense. They never know, in those early days, what they were truly training for. And when the assaulters tasked with pushing the deepest into the Abattobad compound learn who their target will really be, their excitement is a complex mix of athletic hooray and pulse deadening professionalism.

And as the teams hit the perimeter, blow holes in walls and drop guards with controlled rifle shots, you are swept up in the pace of a raid that was truly historic, either the fictionalized or real version.

From the time with the SEALs in Virginia preparing for the operation, to the planning by officers at Joint Special Operations Command and political arm wrestling conducted by a not-so-fictional head of the CIA on a reticent White House, KBL: Kill Bin Laden probably has more truth in it than some would think.

But who knows, we weren’t there, from the moment the CIA realized they had Bin Laden, to when the final rounds left the rifles of the SEALs.

One thing that is supremely clear in KBL, ‘shooters’ are indisputable heroes and almost all politicians, suck.

KBL: Kill Bin Laden by John Weisman was received free for review by Boston Book Bums

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All Good Things Must Come to an End

30 Dec

Pretty much says it all folks. After nearly two full years of blogging, posting two reviews each week, writing innumerable features, interviewing authors and collecting book headlines from around the world, the Boston Book Bums team is calling it quits.

We’ve been weighing this decision for a few months. We’ve talked among former members of our review team, our founders and others. Polled a select few other bloggers and friends about the future course of the blog. And at the end of each discussion, we were left with the feeling that the time had come to turn a page.

Holding a blog together, made up of different readers, of different lives, priorities and interests, can be challenging. But not impossible.    We feel we proved that with the consistent quality you saw here each and every day.

For the very reasons why the blog worked, the diversity of interests and personalities, also meant that priorities shifted for the team during the preceding 20 plus months. Time becomes pinched. Writing about reading suddenly becomes last on the list. Our leader has moved on, reviewers have come and gone.

It is a hobby, this book blogging, not a profession. It was, for many months, a love. We never ran ads, nor accepted them. Monetize was not in our blogging lexicon. We did Boston Book Bums for the love the book.

But time has forced us to weigh the future course of the blog. Ultimately what made the decision for us was the lack of regular manpower. Without reliable, trustworthy and capable hands working on the blog, we simply cannot keep it going in its current form. We could scale back, just running a review a week, possibly a few news stories here or there as time permitted. However, that would betray the core reason why we founded Boston Book Bums- an intelligent, diverse and always reliable book blog.

Now, we will keep Boston Book Bums up for you to read on with, to catch up on the hundreds of books reviews, interviews and features.  Is there a chance we might reignite this wonderful exercise? Surely. However, as of now, we must unfortunately take a bow and walk away.

And so, dear friends and readers, we will bring the Boston Book Bums news and review blog to close next week with five straight days of reviews. That stable of reviews will run as our curtain call to you our readers.

We are going out with a loud, intelligent and classy, bang!

We wish you all the best, many thanks and please continue reading!

Grub Pages

30 Dec

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Bookish Intelligence Report

30 Dec
  • Upstate New York author sees e-books as future of self publishing (via Sippican Week)
  • Pledge to buy a few more book annual turns future around for Wisconsin (via Wisconsin State Journal)
  • Suspicious package at library turns out to be what you’d think (via Middletown Press)
  • A war horse rescued from the trenches (via Telegraph)
  • Coffee table book features Himalayan wildlife (via Express India)
  • Looking ahead to the year in books (via Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Love of books turns into repair business (via Washington Post)
  • Book moving brigade aids Riverrun Bookstore (via Boston.com)
  • The best books of 2011, as read by readers in UK (via Guardian)

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Top 10 of ’11: This Burns My Heart

29 Dec

Thanks for sticking with us dear readers throughout this year. You’ve seen the books we enjoyed, disliked, hated and loved.

And now, as the year winds down, so does our year end best book list.

For the hands down, best book we read this year…at number one…

Samuel Park’s first novel, This Burns My Heart, is fascinating story of a young, beautiful, ambitious Korean woman making decisions in midst of the modernization of South Korea.

Soo-Ja , at 22 years-old, wants to leave her father’s home and move to Seoul to become a diplomat but her loving father insists that marriage is her best choice.  Not willing to give up so easily, Soo-Ja chooses a husband who is a weak, someone she can convince to move Seoul and pursue her passion.  She ignores the feelings she has for another young man, a medical student, and the marriage is arranged.  Soo-Ja is convinced her plan will work and is hardly bothered that she is using her new husband to pursue her personal goals.

All of her plans change when Min, her husband, chooses to stay with his family and Soo-Ja’s fate is tied to her husband’s family and her cruel father-in-law.

Park structures Soo-Ja’s story in four parts, meant to represent the Four Gentlemen of Confucianism, chrysanthemum, orchid, plum tree and bamboo.  The flowers represent virtue to withstand adversity, humility and nobility, inner beauty, and the integrity in which one yields but does not break, respectively.  Soo-Ja’s epitomizes all of these traits as each one of her decisions moves her life in unexpected directions.  Perhaps, above of all else, Soo-Ja maintains a naivete that makes her character heart-warming.

Park has created a heroine that readers will cheer for to the bitter end, adopting Soo-Ja’s hope and perseverance.  The Korea in This Burns My Heart is a beautiful entree into another world, where tradition and ambition clash, where hope is more important than life, a love story of a beautiful young woman and a love story of a beautiful old country.  This Burns My Heart is a novel not to miss and an introduction to an author who will surely deliver again.

This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park was received for free for review by Boston Book Bums

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Spine Design

28 Dec

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