HEY, POLITICAL JUNKIES! (03/05/2014)

Gary S is a businessman and a political junkie.  His opinions, comments and reviews often appear on this blog. THE BULLY PULPIT by Doris Kearns Goodwin is his latest read and an unforgettable one, especially if you're a history buff.

One of the Best Books of the Year as chosen by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Time and USA Today.... Reviewers have labeled it "A tale so gripping that one questions the need for fiction when real life is so plump with drama and intrigue"

Doris Kearns Goodwin does it again! Read Gary S's review below....

   

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism By Doris Kearns Goodwin 

As an avid reader of history, I was anticipating the latest book from Doris Kearns Goodwin. I was excited to learn about an era that really changed how our country was governed—and learn about two United States Presidents that I was vaguely familiar.

What scared me was the length of the book—928 pages—and 3 pounds of shipping weight (according to Amazon). As a reader with a moderate attention span, I was fearful I would toss it aside the moment I got bored. Not so! On the few occasions when I thought Goodwin was giving me too much information (sometimes way too much information), I would simply skip ahead and no harm was done.

The book reads like a history book should. It brings the reader back in time and helps to visualize what it was like to live in that era. At that time, around 1890's to early 1900's, corporations were all powerful (Rockefellers and the railroad barrons) and government was not always for the people.

Goodwin tells the story of two men, Roosevelt and Taft—along with the advent of investigative journalism that together created the progressive movement... and changed a nation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com

NOVEMBER NEWBIES

New releases this month sound very exciting...until I read them..but hopefully they'll live up to all the positive reviews.
Here's a brief sampling from Goodreads.com.....




THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT by Amy Tam

The New York Times bestselling author and international sensation returns with her long-awaited novel, a magnificent family saga of fate and identity that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village


THE BULLY PULPIT: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Team of Rivals, captures the Progressive Era through the story of the broken friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, culminating in their running against one another for president in 1912.


THE FIRST PHONE CALL FROM HEAVEN by Mitch Alboum

THE FIRST PHONE CALL FROM HEAVEN tells the story of a small town on Lake Michigan that gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone calls from the afterlife. Is it the greatest miracle ever or a massive hoax? Sully Harding, a grief-stricken single father, is determined to find out. An allegory about the power of belief--and a page-turner....


Thankyou www.goodreads.com

Remember you can order anything from AMAZON directly from the Amazon Search box located in the Sidebar.

FALL OUT....OR IN

Here's more news on what's trending this Fall.. Some of my
favorite and not so favorite authors are making the scene.  You'll recognize the names.

I'm reserving judgement on the new Valerie Plame's (former CIA seductress) book, also Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Love, Pray fame. I can't wait for the debut of Wally Lamb's new one, Alice Hoffman's release and my all time fave, Julien Barnes.

So here's what you can look forward to...or not....


Stella Bain by Anita Shreve - Fiction, Historical Fiction
Published November 12, 2013

When an American woman, Stella Bain, is found suffering from severe shell shock in an exclusive garden in London, surgeon August Bridge and his wife selflessly agree to take her in. This gesture of goodwill turns into something more as Bridge quickly develops a clinical interest in his houseguest. Stella had been working as a nurse's aide near the front, but she can't remember anything prior to four months earlier when she was found wounded on a French battlefield.


The Explanation for Everything by Lauren Grodstein - Fiction
Published September 3, 2013

At Exton Reed college, biologist Andy Waite is nearing the moment when his life might settle down a bit: tenure is in sight, his daughters are starting to grow up, and he’s slowly but surely healing from the loss of his wife. His life is starting to make sense again. That is, until the entrance of a young student who wants him to direct her independent study. She is the catalyst for the collapsing house of cards surrounding Andy as he gradually loses sight of his personal and professional boundaries as well as his moral grounding.


Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong by Joyce Carol Oates - Fiction
Published September 3, 2013

In EVIL EYE, Oates offers four chilling tales of love gone horribly wrong. In “Evil Eye”, we meet Mariana, the young fourth wife of a prominent intellectual. In "So Near, Anytime, Always," shy teenager Lizbeth meets Desmond, a charming boy who offers this introverted girl the first sparks of young romance. In "The Execution," spoiled college student Bart Hansen has planned the perfect, brutal crime to get back at his parents for their years of condescension. And in "The Flat-Bed," childhood trauma has prevented Cecelia from enjoying the pleasures of physical intimacy with a man, but when she finally meets the love of her life, Cecelia realizes that finding intimacy will mean coming face-to-face with the despicable man from her past who robbed her of her innocence years ago.


The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin - American, Biography, History, Memoir
 Published October 1, 2013

After Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin wields her magic on another larger-than-life president, and another momentous and raucous American time period as she brings Theodore Roosevelt, the muckraking journalists, and the Progressive Era to life.


Thankyou to www.bookreporter.com