Svetlana's Reads and Views

Title of the book: The last outlaws; the lives and legends of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid Author: Thom Hatch Publisher: New American Library Publishing Date: 2013 ISBN: 978-0-451-23919-8 Summary: The Old West was coming to an end.Two legendary outlaws refused to go with it. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—as leaders of the Wild Bunch, they planned and executed the most daring bank and train robberies of the day, with a professionalism never before seen by authorities. For several years at the end of the 1890s, the two friends, along with a revolving cast who made up their band of thieves, eluded local law enforcement and bounty hunters, all while stealing from the rich bankers and eastern railroad corporations who exploited western land. The close calls were many, but Butch and Sundance always managed to escape to rob again another day—that is, until they rode headlong into the 20th century. Fenced-in range, telephone lines, electric lights, and new cri...

Name of Book: The Carrion BIrds Author: Urban Waite ISBN: 978-0-06-221688-5 Publisher: William Morrow Type of book: 1990s, New Mexico, pointless, violent, bloodbath, mystery, cartel, drugs, family, chase, action Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Set in a small town in the Southwest, a soulful work of literary noir rife with violence, vengeance, and contrition from a fresh voice in fiction-the author of the highly acclaimed The Terror of Living Life hasn't worked out the way Ray Lamar planned. A widower and father who has made some tragic mistakes, he's got one good thing going for him: he's calm, cool, and efficient under pressure, usually with a gun in his hand. A useful skill to have when you're paid to hurt people who stand in your boss's way. But Ray isn't sure he wants to be that man anymore. He wants to go home to Coronado, New Mexico, to see the twelve-year-old son he hopes will recognize him. He wants to make a new life far from...

Name of Book: The Antelope Play Author: Boyd Taylor ISBN: 978-0-9894707-0-4 Publisher: Katherine Brown Press Part of a Series: Donnie Ray Cuinn Type of book: Velda Texas, water rights, healing, grief, legal, "terrorists", small town, people, friends, work, politics, suspense, drug cartel, death Year it was published: 2013 Summary: When Austin native Donnie Cuinn accepts a job as an associate in a Texas Panhandle law firm, his boredom and disdain for Velda, a sleepy Texas town, is forgotten when he gets caught up in a struggle over water rights, possible radioactive contamination of the nation's largest underground fresh water supply, and the violence of an invading Mexican drug cartel. Along the way, Donnie learns to respect the local rancher, whose brother is at the center of the troubles, and to come to terms with the violent death of his young Mexican wife. Characters: In this book the characters are certainly more memorable than in previous on...

Name of Book: Beyond the Storm Author: Joseph Pittman ISBN: 978-0-7582-7698-8 Publisher: Kensington Year it was published: 2013 Summary: They chose their own roads, but they couldn't change their destination. . . Twenty years ago, Vanessa Massey couldn't wait to graduate from high school and make her small hometown of Danton Hill a distant memory--despite an indelible friendship she'd recently forged. But life has largely ignored her plans, and time has summoned her back to the shores of Lake Ontario for a school reunion that could change everything. After four years as Danton Hill High's resident outcast, Adam Blackburn went on to a successful career in New York City. Yet now he's drawn homeward for a reunion he's surprisingly curious to attend--if he and his car survive the fierce summer storm that's hit. Adam always hated storms and their destruction. And sure enough, he soon collides with another vehicle in the blinding rain. But it...

Name of Book: The Laws of Gravity Author: Liz Rosenberg ISBN: 9781611099546 Publisher: Amazon publishing Year it was published: 2013 Summary: An exquisite tour de force, The Laws of Gravity is a testament to what it means to be a family, what it takes to save a life, and the lengths we will go to to protect the ones we love. Two families, bound by blood, hear terrible news. One decision holds the key to survival--but at a devastating cost. Nicole, auburn-haired, airy, and beautiful, discovers her body is betraying her. She turns to cousin and childhood best friend Ari for the cord blood he's been banking for his own children. Ari stands firm, bringing them before the scales of justice. Solomon Richter, a state Supreme Court judge on the brink of retirement, is touched by this legal battle like no other. His blood case, he calls it. A case that calls into question the very things we live for: the enduring bonds of family, and the love that lasts a lifetime. It...

Name of Book:  under the Spell of the serenissima Author: Michael Stolle ISBN: 97814942117594 Publisher: Self published Part of a Series: The French Orphan Type of book: 1642 or 1643, Italy, France, travel, friendship, adult, Cardinal Mazarin, ring, the templars, revenge, relationships, trapped Year it was published: 2013 Summary: The third in the French Orphan series follows the exploits of Pierre, former penniless orphan who discovers he is heir to the de Beauvoir inheritance. So far, Pierre has found friends in unexpected places, been surprised by love, learned the true meaning of friendship, discovered the extent of human cunning and depravity and dodged numerous attempts by his closest family member to despatch him to the next world. In Under the Spell of the Serenissima Pierre’s search for the third Templar ring continues, but as ever, his path is not a smooth one. Pierre and Armand, along with Jean and Edoardo, are making for Venice, unaware that ...

General Information: Name of Book: When Adam Opens His Eyes (Adam i nun ttul ttae) ISBN: 978 1 56478 914 3 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Year it was published: 2013 (original 1990) Summary: First published in 1990, this is a sensational and highly controversial novel by one of Korea's most electrifying contemporary authors. A preposterous coming-of-age story, melding sex, death, and high school in a manner reminiscent of some perverse collision between Georges Bataille and Beverly Cleary, the narrator of this book plows through contemporaneous Korean mores with aplomb, bound for destruction, or maturity--whichever comes first. Author: Jang Jung-Il (Translated by Hwang Sun-Ae, Horace Jeffery Hodges) About the Author: (From the book) Jang Jung-Il was born in 1962. Once he began his career as an author, the self-educated Jang's wide-ranging tastes led him to try his hand at various genres. Jang Jung-il is infamous-and has even been jailed-for his erotic and vio...

Name of Book:  The last relicuin Author: Hargus Montgomery ISBN: 9780989965408 Publisher: Self published Type of book: futuristic, 22nd century, recreation, museums, glassers, science fiction, dystopia, 12th century, power, battles, survival, France, schools, enemies, politics, history Year it was published: 2013 Summary: In the 22nd century, twelve percent of the world's population chooses history. Safe inside the guarded borders of living museums, museum dwellers resist attempts by Metro leaders to seize their lands and force them back to the cities. When Alexander Kane, (son of a powerful Metro Senator) leaves the protection of the City to enter the Federal Museum Academy, he becomes the target of a growing political struggle. Crossing borders into the 12, 18th, and 20th centuries, The Last Relicuin follows three generations of a family torn between the past and the future. Characters: There are a lot of characters, but here are the important ones; In begin...

Name of Book: The Ocean at the end of the lane Author: Neil Gaiman ISBN: 978-0-06-225566-2 Publisher: William Morrow Type of book: science fiction/fantasy, childish, whimsical, England, 1970s?, memories, Lettie Hempstock, farm, ocean, pond, old country, struggle, parental abuse, worms, magic Year it was published: 2013 Summary: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suici...

Name of Book:    No One Writes Back (Original title: Amudop'yonji haji ant'a) Author: Jang Eun-Jin, translated by Jung Yewon ISBN: 978-1-56478-960-0 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Type of book: South Korea, travels, vagabond existence, communication, family issues, blind dog, friendships, relationships, letter writing, old fashioned phone calling, unresolved issues, 2009, quirky characters, fascinating hotels. Year it was published: 2009 (translated in 2013) Summary: Communication–or the lack thereof–is the subject of this sly update of the picaresque. No One Writes Back is the story of a young man who leaves home with only his blind dog, an MP3 player, and a book, traveling aimlessly for three years, from motel to motel, meeting people on the road. Rather than learn the names of his fellow travelers–or invent nicknames for them–he assigns them numbers. There’s 239, for example, who once dreamed of being a poet, but who now only reads her poems to a friend in a c...

General Information: Name of Book: My Son's Girlfriend/ Nae adul ui yonin ISBN: 978 1 56478 910 5 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Year it was published: 2013 (Original year 2008) Summary: At once an ironic portrayal of contemporary Korea and an intimate exploration of heartache, alienation, and nostalgia, this collection of seven short stories has earned the author widespread critical acclaim. With empathy and an overarching melancholy that is at times tinged with sarcasm, but always deeply meaningful, Jung explores the ambition and chaos of urban life, the lives of hte lost and damaged souls it creates, and the subtle shades of love found among them. Author: Jung Mi-Kyung (Translated by Yu Young-Nan) About the Author: Yu Young-Nan She lives in Seoul. She has translated numerous Korean novels into English, including Park Wan-suh's Who Ate Up all the Shinga? and Yom Sang-Seop's Three Generations. Jung Mi-Kyung She is one of the most distinguished writers...

Name of Book: Evanthia's Gift Author: Effie Kammenou ISBN: 9780692471838 Publisher: Self-published Type of book: Greece, single parenting, marriage, second chances, childhood love, soulmates, 1956-2000s, Greek identity and culture versus American identity and culture, wealth, travel, dreams, life, death, secrets, immigration, New York Year it was published: 2013 Summary: In the year 1956, Anastacia Fotopoulos finds herself pregnant and betrayed, fleeing from a bad marriage. With the love and support of her dear friends Stavros and Soula Papadakis, Ana is able to face the challenges of single motherhood. Left with emotional wounds, she resists her growing affection for Alexandros Giannakos, an old acquaintance. But his persistence and unconditional love for Ana and her child is eventually rewarded and his love is returned. In a misguided, but well-intentioned effort to protect the ones they love, both Ana and Alex keep secrets - ones that could threaten the del...

Name of Book: Hongo/ Stingray Author: Kim Joo Young (Inrae You Vinciguerra and Louis Vincinguerra are translators) ISBN: 978 1 56478 959 4 Publisher: Dalkey Archive Type of book: 1950s, small farming village, missing father, South Korea, travel, abandonment, survival, rumors, seasons, memories, creations, secrets, growing up, coming of age, moving on Year it was published: 2013 (original 1998) Summary: Hailed by critics, "Stingray" has been described by its author as "a critical biography of my loving mother." With his father having abandoned his family for another woman, Se-young and his mother are forced to subsist on their own in the harsh environment of a small Korean farming village in the 1950s. Determined to wait for her husband's return, Se-young's mother hangs a dried stingray on the kitchen doorjamb; to her, it's a reminder of the fact that she still has a husband, and that she must behave as a married woman would, despite...