Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir
Issue 6, Volume 6, August 2010Mark James
Filed Under: Book Review
Between a Heart and a Rock Place: A Memoir By Pat Benetar with Patsi Bale Cox William Morrow; 245 pages; $25.99 Memoirs clutter the literary landscape these days. They tend to be very personal in nature, and are often written by people unknown to the masses. Pat Benatar doesn’t suffer from such a malady. She was one of the biggest selling acts of the ’80s, and arguably the biggest female rocker since Janis Joplin. She came out of New York, and stormed across the country winning millions... [Read more...]
Book Review: Flying Fish
Issue 5, Volume 6, July 2010Filed Under: Book Review
Flying Fish By Vern Hobbs Aberdeen Bay; 332 pages; $15.95 At first glance, “Flying Fish,” appears to be yet another quirky Florida novel in the vein of Carl Hiassen and Tim Dorsey. But while it is peopled with suitably unusual characters (including a ghost), Vern Hobbs’ debut novel is something much more Set in the fictional “hardscrabble fishing village” of Juniper Key, where a ban on fishing has been implemented, “Smiley” Randolph, the reserved editor... [Read more...]
Let’s Ride: Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling
Issue 2, Volume 6, April 2010Mark James
Filed Under: Book Review
Let’s Ride: Sonny Barger’s Guide to Motorcycling By Sonny Barger, with Darwin Holmstrom William Morrow (HarperCollins); 288 pages; $23.99 What is the world coming to? We have an unending war, the world economy on the brink of collapse, and now Sonny Barger writes a “How-To” book? Is this really the same Sonny Barger who is a founding member of the Hell’s Angels? The same Sonny who did time for… oh, never mind — this isn’t about Sonny; it’s about... [Read more...]
Book Review: Tortilla Flat
Issue 12, Volume 5, February 2010By: Mark James
Filed Under: Book Review
TORTILLA FLAT By John Steinbeck Penguin Classics; 208 pages; $13 John Steinbeck is one of a handful of American authors awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in the last century. He is perhaps best known for “The Grapes of Wrath,” and to a lesser extent, “Of Mice and Men.” While those novels are dramatic in nature, the lesser-known “Tortilla Flat” features a cast of lovable losers even Tom Joad could both laugh at and relate to. The novel revolves around a group... [Read more...]
Book Review: December ’09
Issue 10, Volume 5, December 2009By: Mark James
Filed Under: Book Review
The Humbling By Philip Roth Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 160 pages; $22 Doesn’t Philip Roth realize that retirement is part of the American dream? At the ripe old age of 76, he’s recently released “The Humbling,” his 30th book and eighth this century, and he has another due for publication in a few months. His latest is the story of an aging actor who has lost his ability — thus the humbling. Could this be Roth foretelling his own artistic demise? Can he be serious? The... [Read more...]
Book Review: October ’09
Issue 8, Volume 5, October 2009By: Mark James
Filed Under: Book Review
Breath By Tim Winton 218 pages; Picador Press, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42839-6 Taking breaths on a regular basis is a good thing, so it’s a little odd that Tim Winton’s novel “Breath” begins with a teenager who isn’t breathing at all. But Bruce “Pikelet” Pike, the paramedic first on the scene, recognizes what the boy has done, and that event sparks a reminiscence of his teenage years, a foreboding beginning to what’s billed as a coming-of-age story... [Read more...]
Tom Ryan
Issue 9, Volume 4, November 2008By: Tobin Bennison
Filed Under: 20 Questions
Avid sailor, scuba diver and part-time Cape Canaveral resident Tom Ryan is the author of the new adventure thriller A Sword for Pizarro, which is set in our very own Space Coast. In it, recently divorced treasure hunter Marshall Cross finds himself down on his luck. His foundering archaeology-themed amusement park, Treasure Island, is being threatened by ruthless real estate tycoon Denton Barrett, and Cross is hoping for a big find to stave off selling his dream. Finding Pizarro’s golden sword,... [Read more...]
