Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Houdini Pie by Paul Michel

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on August 16, 2010
Posted in Books Read in 2010DepressionEraHistorical Fiction  | 6 Comments

Halley, named after Halley’s Comet was born right after his father Charles got caught in one of his fraudulent schemes. Once Hal was considered old enough he was expected to work for Charles in his less than honest business ventures including running a lucrative alcohol business during prohibition.

In 1934, as a young man Hal is a pitcher for and upstart baseball team and strikes just about everyone out. His Uncle Warren shows up after a long absence and asks Hal to join in him in a business venture that his Charles is also tied up with. Hal thinks it sounds preposterous but his mother Vera talks him into doing it with the promise of riches, gold actually. 
A Hopi Indian and his daughter lead the search, with the story of their ancestors, who were Lizard people. They hid treasure in Los Angeles California way beneath a downtown street. Somehow the crackpot sounding scheme get approval from the mayor and they are allowed to dig.
This is a story about love, hope and loyalty for Hal. Though the constant reference to Houdini Pie and it’s symbolism got a little tiresome to me, the book flowed well with simple old fashioned story telling. Some of it was quite predictable but the book was enjoyable.
3/5
Thanks to Mary Myers of Bennet & Hastings Publishing for this book.
If you reviewed this book also, please leave a link in the comments.
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Khamaseen By Gretchen McCullough

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on August 9, 2010
Posted in Short Story Read in 2010  | 6 Comments

John of Book Mine Set reviewed this story back in June.  He was looking for stories set in Egypt and ran across this one.  His review intrigued me enough to want to read this story for myself.

Niko’s fiancee, Carly had just left him to study for her “Master’s Degree in Skeletons..”  He was in his Cairo apartment when the khamaseen started up.  Khamaseen is “fifty days of cyclonic wind which whirled up from the Saharan desert into Egypt”, which his neighbor, Margarete warned him of when he moved in.

All of a sudden debris and a bird were whirled into his apartment.  Then somehow, a bunch of feral cats came in too.  He called his selfish friend, Javier to ask for help however, he was on his way to pick up his new TV and wouldn’t come over to help.

It became clearly apparent that Niko didn’t have any friends.  His crisis was an over the top symbolism for that.  However, the story was an interesting character study of Niko and while I didn’t love the story, I did like it.  You can read the story on Gretchen McCullough’s website, here.

If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays or just find out about some great short stories, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story reviews. Come join in the fun!
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Winners: THE LINK By Colin Tudge, Josh Young

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on August 8, 2010
Posted in My Past Giveaways  | 1 Comment

Thanks again to Anna Balasi of Hachette Books for making this giveaway possible.

The Winners are:
Benita
Meredith
Margie

Congratulations!  I emailed all three of you.  Please respond with your shipping address within 3 days to claim your prize.
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.