Review: From Midnight to Guntown by John Hailman

 

Title: From Midnight to Guntown: True Crime Stories from a Federal Prosecutor in Mississippi

Author: John Hailman

Published: University Press of Mississippi April 2013

Read an Excerpt

Status: Read from March 31 to April 01, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Netgalley/publisher}

My Thoughts:

From Midnight to Guntown is a true account of various cases encountered by retired Federal prosecutor John Hailman during his thirty year career in the Mississippi justice system.

The cases Hailman relates are interesting and cover a wide range of criminal activity from bank robbery to corruption and terrorism. The focus is on the workings of the justice system and specifically Hailman’s role in the investigation and prosecution of the cases he dealt with.

Occasionally the cases are amusing, detailing bungling robbers for example, but more often they are simply tragic, such as in the case of the Natchez Trace shooting which resulted in the death of a young boy. I was horrified to learn that in Hailman’s district an amateur local hitman will usually kill for less than $5000, often for less than $1000 and saddened to learn that racial tensions still flourish in the South. While some cases are mentioned only in passing several are the focus of in depth reporting including the murder of Emmett Till, an African American boy who was murdered aged 14 in 1955 for flirting with a white woman and whose case was reopened in 2004.

Hailman’s writing has a lot in common with a detailed legal brief. It is rich with procedural detail, perhaps too much for the average reader though the minutiae of he said/she said/he did/she did will probably be appreciated by someone who works in the legal or justice system.  The text isn’t entirely dry however, Hailmain is candid and personable and even humourous at times.

Usually I am content to ignore formatting issues in e-galley’s but in this instance I found it affected my reading experience. A line and a half of text, was followed by a blank line, then a line and a half of text, then a blank line and so on, and this became a real issue for me as it was very distracting.

From Midnight to Guntown shares fascinating insights into the complexity of crime and justice in Mississippi. This is a book true crime and legal thriller buffs are sure to enjoy.

Available to Purchase

@University Press of Mississippi I @Amazon

Bush Nurses by Annabelle Brayley

 

Title: Bush Nurses: Inspiring true stories of nursing bravery and ingenuity in rural and remote Australia

Author: Annabelle Brayley

Published: Penguin Au March 2013

Status: Read from March 21 to 23, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the Publisher}

My Thoughts:

In Bush Nurses, Annabelle Brayley has collected stories that span a century of nursing in inland Australia, to share the extraordinary challenges that the women (and a few men) upon whom thousands of people rely for everyday and emergency medical care, face in providing health care to the rural and remote areas of Australia.

In 1912, the Australian Inland Mission (renamed Frontier Services in 1977) was established by Rev John Flynn to bring medical and spiritual services to the outback. With few doctors interested in traveling in remote areas, it was nursing sisters who carried the scheme into the community, travelling by camel, horse, rail and even motor tricycle, providing care for the indigenous and white communities.

In the bush, nursing staff were usually the only source of medical care for hundreds of kilometers or more, and even today that holds true. Nurses tend wounds, birth babies, give inoculations, respond to emergencies, even operate when there is no other choice. They teach classes in preventative health, fundraise for community resources, offer counsel and comfort and more. And it’s not just people they treat, animals often become patients as well in areas where vet care is impossible to access.

Their stories are heartbreaking, amusing, inspiring and incredible. Isolated, with few resources and in tough conditions they are on call 24/7. These first person vignettes provide a glimpse into the life of a bush nurse, and the invaluable contribution they make every day.

Providing health care to the rural and remote areas of Australia poses unique challenges and it takes resourceful, determined, brave and committed people to do so. People like these.

Note: Penguin is donating the royalties from Bush Nurses to Frontier Services.

Available to Purchase

@Penguin I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

Review: Chasing Sprits by Nick Groff

 

 

Title: Chasing Spirits: Behind the scenes adventures with  TV’s hit Ghost Adventures Crew

Author: Nick Groff with  Jeff Belanger

Published: Allen & Unwin March 2013

Status: Read from March 08 to 09, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Allen & Unwin}

My Thoughts:

Chasing Spirits is the story behind the popular ‘documentary’ show, Ghost Adventures, that investigates haunted locations around the world. Currently in it’s fifth season on The Travel Channel, it is hosted by Nick Groff, Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin. Even though I hadn’t heard of the show, I was looking forward to reading Chasing Spirits as I have a fascination for the paranormal. I find the idea of things that go bump in the night intriguing, though if I was ever to confront a ghost I would run screaming in the opposite direction (and I am completely incapable of watching any of the Paranormal Activity movie franchises).

In Chasing Spirits, Nick Groff shares how his childhood experiences, including a near death experience and an encounter with a menacing ghostly figure collided with his love of film in his college years to  conceive the idea for paranormal investigation documentary. As amateur filmmakers, Nick, Zak and Aaron borrowed the cash to upgrade their equipment, talked their way into known haunted locations and devoted themselves to the project. The documentary was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel and was the seed for the television series to follow.

The behind the scenes detail of how Ghost Adventures evolved will probably be of interest fans of the show who have gotten to ‘know’ Nick but I found myself wading through it in order to get to the parts that interested me specifically. I think had I been familiar with the show (I don’t have Pay TV, i.e. Cable TV, where it is exclusively shown in Australia) I might have enjoyed the whole book more instead I found myself skimming his complains about editing and focusing on his accounts of his interactions with the paranormal.

I didn’t really like the structure of the book. I found the insertion of both the Q&A and the location history text boxes distracting and thought the information could have easily been worked into the main text, or more carefully placed.

The impact of Nick’s accounts in the book are much stronger when combined with visual evidence. I was disappointed to find a handful of photos of Nick as a child and on location but no photos or stills from encounters. However I spent quite a while after I had finished the book browsing the Ghost Adventures website and viewing the videos available that complement the incidents Nick writes about.

Even though I think Chasing Spirits is probably a book more for fans of the Ghost Adventures series, a reader with an idle interest in similar shows, or paranormal investigation, should find themselves entertained.

Available To Purchase

@Allen & Unwin I @Boomerang Books I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

@Amazon US I @Book Depository

US Cover

Review: Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche

Title: Love with a Chance of Drowning

Author: Torre DeRoche

Published: Penguin Viking February 2013

Status: Read on February 19, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Penguin Australia}

Read an excerpt

My Thoughts:

“Some people die of old age without ever having lived their dreams. Some people die without ever having loved. That’s tragic. We’ll both die someday, that’s a guarantee. If something happens on the ocean, we’ll die as two people in love who are living a remarkable adventure…”

Torre DeRoche planned to spend a year in the US working and then return home to Australia. Instead she fell in love with an Argentinian and despite a fear of the sea, agreed to sail with him across the Pacific. Love With a Chance of Drowning tells of Torre’s adventures aboard the Amazing Grace during her journey to conquer the ocean, and her fears.

Torre wasn’t looking for a relationship when she met Ivan in a San Francisco bar but charmed by his Latin good looks and kind, considerate nature she fell head over in heels in love. Yet their separation seemed inevitable, Torre had promised to return to Australia at the end of the year and Ivan planned to throw in his IT job and sail solo across the ocean. As the end began to draw near, Ivan suggested Torre join him and she was faced with a difficult choice, sail away with her lover or say goodbye. Despite her fear of deep water, disaster and ““anything that would fall out if you turned the ocean upside down and shook it” Torre’s decides to surrender her comfortable city lifestyle for a love on a 32ft wooden boat in the middle of nowhere.

Though I have little interest in sailing (and my own fearful respect for the sea), I really enjoyed this entertaining memoir of (mis)adventure. The humour is engaging, Torre has no problem poking fun at her own obsession with safety equipment, her horrendous bouts of sea sickness and Ivan’s innate clumsiness. She is boldly honest about the journey’s practical and emotional hardships – broken equipment, rough weather, the lack of fresh food and inescapable intimacy. Yet as Torre describes the joy of watching dolphins frolic in the boat’s wake, the stunning white sands and blue water of tropical waters and the convivial welcome of islanders, you can’t help but wish you could join her.

Love with a Chance of Drowning is wonderfully written. Part travelogue, part romance, it is a tale of an amazing journey that will sweep you away.

Available To Purchase

@Penguin Australia I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

Available for Preorder in the US

@AmazonUS I @Book Depository

Review & Giveaway: Escaping the Arroyo by Joyce Nance

Title: Escaping the Arroyo

Author: Joyce Nance

Published: June 2012

Read an Excerpt

Status: Read on February 19, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

Drawing on court documents, interviews, five years of research and Colene Bush’s first hand account, Escaping the Arroyo combines fact with considered conjecture to create a compelling account of an unspeakable crime.

Escaping the Arroyo is based on the tragic true story of college coeds, Julie Jackson and Colene Bush who were kidnapped at knife point by Michael Guzman from Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1981. Nineteen year old Julie was raped and murdered while twenty year old Colene was stabbed 33 times and left for dead by her callous attacker. Exhibiting an extraordinary instinct for survival, Colene crawled more than 150ft, negotiating two steep embankments, in search of help and survived to identify the young man who nearly destroyed her.

The book begins with a harrowing account of the moment Colene Bush was discovered, bloody and barely breathing, on the side of the I-40 by two young men who glimpsed her pale, partially nude body in the glare of their headlights.
The story then shifts to illustrate the personal histories of Michael Guzman, Julie Jackson and Colene Bush in short vignettes. I found this a little disorientating initially, often only two or three pages in length and the perspective identified by date and place rather than name, I found the changes abrupt but eventually a rhythm emerged, leading to the moment the lives of Michael, Julie and Colene collide.
The next section of the book covers the trial of Michael Guzman, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Julie and the attempted murder of Colene, despite his attempt at an insanity defense.
But for Colene, and Julie’s fiance, James, Guzman’s conviction was little comfort as they tried to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

The story of Escaping The Arroyo is compelling though the writing could do with a little more polish. I felt instances of awkward syntax and the intrusion of the authorial voice interrupted the flow of the narrative at times.

While I think Nance covers the case well, I would have liked to know a bit more about Colene’s life post attack. It can be inferred that Colene struggled badly after her experience but Nance only relates incidents, such as the inexplicable discrimination against Colene by the police and paramedic training institutions, without sharing any real insight into why they occurred.

A tribute to the victims of a vicious killer, Escaping the Arroyo is a fascinating account of a terrible crime and it’s aftermath, and it is a story I am glad Joyce Nance decided to tell. To Colene Bush, I extend my sympathy and my heartfelt admiration for her incredible bravery.

Available to Purchase

@Amazon

About the Author

Joyce Nance, award winning documentarian, video editor, Albuquerque Sports News publisher, and paralegal at the Public Defenders Office, has written her first book. Although she already has a degree in accounting, she is currently pursuing a second degree in Criminal Justice and working on her next true crime book. Originally from California, she now lives in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area.

Website I Facebook I Twitter

Enter to Win

Joyce Nance is offering my readers the opportunity to win

one of three Kindle copies of Escaping the Arroyo

To enter

‘Like’ Joyce Nance’s Facebook page  and leave a comment stating you saw this review at Book’d Out before February 28th

Joyce will draw the winner at random.

Good luck!

Review: The History of The Present Illness by Louise Aronson

 

 

Title: The History of the Present Illness

Author: Louise Aronson

Published: Bloomsbury USA January 2013

Synopsis: A History of the Present Illness takes readers into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in America today. An elderly Chinese immigrant sacrifices his demented wife’s well-being to his son’s authority. A busy Latina physician’s eldest daughter’s need for more attention has disastrous consequences. A young veteran’s injuries become a metaphor for the rest of his life. A gay doctor learns very different lessons about family from his life and his work, and a psychiatrist who advocates for the underserved may herself be crazy. Together, these honest and compassionate stories introduce a striking new literary voice and provide a view of what it means to be a doctor and a patient unlike anything we’ve read before.

Status: Read from January 13 to 14, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Bloomsbury/Netgalley}

My Thoughts:

“In medicine, the ‘history of the present illness’, or HPI, is the critical first portion of the medical note that describes the onset, duration, character, context, and severity of the illness. Basically, it’s the story, and without it, you can’t understand what’s going on with your patient.”

A History of the Present Illness is an extraordinary collection of peripherally linked vignettes that explore the current practice and experience of health care in America.

Insightful, honest and compassionate, Aronson, an accomplished practicing physician overlays truth with fiction to illustrate the plight of her colleagues, patients and families as they navigate bureaucracy and illness. Clinical objectivity blurs with humane compassion, triumph with heartbreak in stories of complex, emotional and medical crisis.

There are sixteen stories that cross the boundaries of race, age and gender. Each give a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people within the health care system. Patients like Rodney Brown whose leg aches even though he left it in the desert sand of Afghanistan (After) and doctors like Robert who witness the obscenity of slow death and and are expected to do nothing (Giving Good Death). I found ‘An Amercian Problem’ almost unbearably sad, it is an indictment of a society who has relinquished the care of its most vulnerable members in favour of balancing the budget, and ‘Soup or Sex?’ an incredibly touching portrait of a young man fighting with uncommon bravery to be more than his disease. All of the anecdotes are affecting however, inspiring hope and admiration as often as anger and disgust.

A History of The Present Illness is a remarkable read, quietly attesting to the triumphs and failures of the American health care system. Forget what you think you know of medicine from watching Grey’s Anatomy or General Hospital. In real life, caring for people is much messier than either show can portray.

Available to Purchase

@BloomsburyUS I @BloomsburyAu I @AmazonUS I @BookDepository

Just a note: There was a problem with the formatting of my Kindle ARC edition that I hope is not present in the finished version. Aside from broken sentences, there were no clear separators between the stories and I was thrown a number of times by suddenly finding myself in the midst of a new story. The formatting issues also made ‘Blurred Boundary Disorder’ particularly difficult to read.

AU Cover

 

Review: Bedpan Blues by Sandy Thorne

Title: Bedpan Blues

Author: Sandy Thorne

Published: ST Publishing 2012

Synopsis: Sandy’s hilarious account of her two-month stay in a Sydney public hospital – far from the “back country” where she lives – will really kickstart your funnybone! With one leg out of action, getting ON a bedpan is one thing …. the you have to get off the bloody thing… Almost as big a challenge as trying to get some sleep (“Wake up! Heres’ your Panadol..”)

Status: Read on November 25, 2012

My Thoughts:

This caught my eye on the “new” shelf at the library so I scooped it up hoping for a quick read that would make me laugh, and that it exactly what I got. Bedpan Blues details the two months Sandy Thorne, a bushie from Lightning Ridge, spent laid up in a Sydney city public hospital after a repair to an ankle injury went awry.

Behind Sandy’s mild mannered facade (she is unfailingly polite to the staff and helpful to her less capable ward mates) lurks a bold, brash and wildly opinionated woman who compares the hospital food to cat spew and longs to twist the nuts off of television ad executives. She describes her politics as “a little to the right of Hitler”, and her views on many issues are decidedly not politically correct however she calls them as she seems them and her lack of self censorship is quite refreshing.

As ward mates, and their visitors, come and go, Sandy has to cope with a thief, a diva, a snorer and a dreamer. All she wants is a view out of the window and a little bit of peace and quiet – something the nurses don’t seem inclined to give her. It seems the orthopedic ward is a busy place and it’s no surprise Sandy can’t wait to escape.

Bedpan Blues is a quick, amusing read which will have you laughing and cringing in almost equal measure.

Available to Purchase

@Boomerang Books @Booktopia

via Booko

Review: The Essential Leunig by Michael Leunig

Title: The Essential Leunig: Cartoons From a Winding Path

Author: Michael Leunig

Published: Penguin Australia November 2012

Synopsis: From the vast repertoire of Michael Leunig comes this inspired selection of four hundred of his most universal and timeless pieces spanning four decades. Such is his prophetic insight that many of them are more relevant today – and funnier and more ironic – than when they were first published.

Status: Read on November 20, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Penguin Australia}

My Thoughts:

Michael Leunig began working as a political cartoonist for a daily newspaper in Melbourne in 1969. The Penguin Leunig, his first book of collected cartoons, was published in 1974 and since then has produced twenty-three more collections including books of newspaper columns, poetry and prayer. His prints, paintings and drawings have been exhibited broadly and are held in various public and private collections In 1999 he was declared a national living treasure by the National Trust and awarded honorary degrees from La Trobe and Griffith universities and the Australian Catholic University for his unique contribution to Australian culture.

The Essential Leunig is a hardcover collection of 400 cartoons spanning the last forty years. For Leunig the images included here encapsulates his journey from “joy to gloom to delight to anger to hurt to love to sadness to silliness to dismay to rapture to bad taste to good faith to goodwill to yearning to humour to mischief to this thing to that thing…” amounting to a memoir of sorts.

Most Australians would be familiar with the unique motifs of Leunig which include a crescent moon, a man and his duck. There is usually a message to glean from each of Leunig’s cartoons, no matter how whimsical they appear. Some are obviously a commentary on political and social affairs, others illustrate philosophical ideas and many of his pieces are accompanied by poetry or writing. He has strong views,  especially regarding war and military action, and  as such his work sometimes puts him at odds with editors. politicians and readers yet his pieces continue to prove popular.

With the inclusion of an introduction by Leunig on how he creates, this volume is sure to become a collector’s item. The Essential Leunig is a wonderfully presented coffee table book and as such, would make a lovely gift for fans of the artist.

Available To Purchase

@Penguin Australia I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia

via Booko

Review & Giveaway: Lost at Sea by Jon Ronson

Title: Lost at Sea

Author: Jon Ronson

Published: Picador November 2012

Synopsis: Jon Ronson is fascinated by madness, extraordinary behaviour and the human mind. He has spent his life investigating crazy events, following fascinating people and unearthing unusual stories. Collected here from various sources  are the best of his adventures. Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining, these compelling encounters with people on the edge of madness will have you wondering just what we’re capable of.

Status: Read from November 01 to 02, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Pan Macmillan Australia}

My Thoughts:

Journalist, documentary maker and author Jon Ronson is well known for his fascination with the unusual. Lost at Sea – the Jon Ronson Mysteries is a collection of essays reprinted from sources such as Ronson’s <i>Guardian</i> column and GQ Magazine, about the extraordinary idiosyncrasies of humanity.

Divided into six parts Jonson explores, amongst other themes, faith, passion, celebrity, justice, success and failure. He interviews a robot who is said to be on the cusp of consciousness, a broadcaster whose on camera confession of murder proves false and the real life super heroes who patrol during the early morning hours on the city streets of America. He attends the court proceedings of a man accused of cheating at Who Wants to Be A  Millionaire, a week long NLP training course and joins a cruise in the hopes of speaking to a celebrity psychic with a poor track record and a bad attitude. He creates alter ego’s to assess the strategy of financial direct marketing, investigates the fate of a Disney cruise line worker and travels to The North Pole, Alaska where everyday is Christmas, but not everyone is able to maintain the Christmas spirit.

Ronson approaches each adventure with an open mind, curiosity and compassion, though it’s not always easy to tell whether he is laughing at his subjects or with them. He is often provocative, asking difficult questions and playing devil’s advocate yet he gains the trust of his subjects with surprising ease. Some of these stories are a damning portrait of society and it’s hypocrisies, others offer intriguing insights into cultural behaviour, but it is the individuals at the core of each story that are compelling.

Fascinating, absurd, moving and tragic, often all at once, Lost At Sea is a compelling expose of human foibles. I found it difficult to put down and I am eager to read more from Jon Ronson.

Available to Purchase

@PanMacmillan I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

@Amazon I @BookDepository

via Indiebound

ENTER TO WIN

Thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia you can win

I of 2 trade paperbacks of Lost at Sea by Jon Ronson

(Sorry – Open to Australian Residents only)

Click Here To Enter

Entries close November 18th 2012

Winner drawn via Random.org

Review: Fanpire by Professor Tanya Erzen

 

 

Title: Fanpire: The Twilight Saga and the Women Who Love It

Author: Tanya Erzen (Professor)

Published: Beacon Press October 2012

Synopsis: Twilight, Stephenie Meyer’s young-adult vampire romance series, has captivated women of all ages, from teenagers who swoon over the film adaptations to college-educated women who devour the novels as a guilty pleasure. All told, over 110 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide, with translations into 37 languages, and the movies are some of the highest-grossing of all time. Twilight is a bona fide cultural phenomenon that has inspired a vast and unimaginably fertile fan subculture—the “fanpire,” as the members describe it. Just what is it about Twilight that has enchanted so many women? Tanya Erzen—herself no stranger to the allure of the series—sets out to explore the irresistible pull of Twilight by immersing herself in the vibrant and diverse world of “Twi-hards,” from Edward-addition groups and “Twi-rock” music to Cullenism, a religion based on the values of Edward’s family of vegetarian vampires. Erzen interviews hundreds of fans online and in person, attends thousand-strong conventions, and watches the film premiere of New Moon with Twilight moms in Utah. Along the way, she joins a tour bus on a pilgrimage to Twilight-inspired sites, struggles through a Bella self-defense class, and surveys the sub-universe of Twilight fan-fiction (including E. L. James’s enormously popular “Master of the Universe” story, the basis for her erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey). Erzen also takes a deeper look at the appeal of traditional gender roles in a postfeminist era saturated with narratives of girl power. If Twilight’s fantasies of romance and power reflect the fears, insecurities, and longings of the women who love it, the fanpire itself, Erzen shows, offers a space for meaningful bonding, mutual understanding, and friendship. Part journalistic investigation and part cultural analysis, Fanpire will appeal to obsessed fans, Twilight haters, and bemused onlookers alike.

Status: Read from October 23 to 24, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Beacon Press/ Edelweiss}

My Thoughts:

I first bought Twilight for my then thirteen year old daughter, after reading a news article about it’s phenomenal popularity in the US, in the hopes that it would spur her to read something other than her Facebook status feed. She glanced at the blurb then tossed it back at me, complaining it was too thick and she wasn’t interested. Deflated, I figured I would read it and see what all the fuss was about. Three hours later I looked up and cursed, its was Sunday 7pm, the shops were already shut and I would have to wait until the next day to go and buy New Moon. On Monday morning I dropped my children off at school, bought the rest of the series and spent the next two days immersed in Forks.

In my late thirties, a married mother of four children with a university degree, I was hardly Meyer’s target audience but I read the books breathlessly, one after another, resenting interruptions and finished the last page of Breaking Dawn with a sigh of regret. Intellectually I recognised the flaws in the series but I just couldn’t bring myself to care. I have no idea why I fell in love with the saga, but I was wholly enamoured.

Fanpire is the result of ethnographic research amongst the diverse fans of the series by Professor Tanya Erzen, who was interested in exploring the books appeal. An analysis of online surveys promoted at Twilight fan sites and first person interviews with Twihards of all ages, yields surprising contradictions and fascinating theories. Erzen also explores the accusations leveled at series fans by Twilight haters and its critics.

For the most part, Fanpire is a very readable cultural study, with discussion from Twilight identities such as the site hosts of bellaandedward.com, twilightmoms.com and twilightguy.com and quotes from the fans themselves. It is a little repetitive at times and occasionally drifts off into tangents (such as Meyers’ and Summits lack of support for the town of Forks).
Interestingly, though Fanpire was written before the ‘discovery’ and publication of Fifty Shades of Grey, Erzen devotes an entire chapter to Twilight fanfiction and specifically to the source of Fifty Shades, known then as The Master of the Universe, and shares an interesting comment that reveals the genesis of the erotica series name.

Fanpire is an interesting read, and I think the author’s hypothesis’s have some validity though I am not sure it adequately explains my own infatuation with the series. Some phenomena simply can’t be explained or defined by either a qualitative or quantitative study and the popularity of Twilight is one of them.

Available To Purchase

@Beacon Press I @Amazon I @BookDepository