My winner of Texas Blue by Jodi Thomas (compliments of the author) is:
Pam Sinclair
Pam has been contacted. Thank you so much for entering this giveaway.
And thank you to wonderful author Jodi Thomas for offering the
giveaway!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Book Review and Giveaway: Dragon Lady by Gary Alexander
Dragon Lady by Gary Alexander
Publisher: Istoria Books
Publish Date: March 21, 2011
Ebook
Fiction, Historical
Fiction, Historical
My Review:
Why I read this: Libby Sternberg is behind the new Istoria Books whose tagline is "eBooks You Want to Read at Prices You Want to Pay" and I have reviewed for her before. So when she contacted me about Dragon Lady and I read the premise I was very intrigued and could not wait to read the book.
My thoughts: Dragon Lady was an interesting and refreshing book. I loved the fact that the author made the narrator of the story looking back on his time in service in Vietnam and relating his present day life in "The Great Beyond". Yes, the narrator is dead. And yes, that makes the book very interesting.
I like how the author interspersed the after life and the past life. It was really nicely done and it never launched into the other life at a moment that felt wrong. The book is not jumpy at all. The after life adds interest without taking away from the storyline of the past. Both storylines just work very well together and I think this is something that is hard to do but Mr. Alexander does it well.
I really liked Joe. He was sarcastic, witty, had some anger management issues, was honest but the author made him feel really human as well. He's not one of those sarcastic characters that is removed from life, just living on his sarcasm and wit. No, there is a lot more to Joe, the sarcasm and wit just make him entertaining. I liked getting into his head both in the past and in "The Great Beyond". He's a fascinating character and watching him grow at times and backpedal at times is extremely interesting. Joe as a character drives the book very well. I also liked Ziggy in his past life - the man could come up with quotes at a moments notice and he's Joe's best friend/partner-in-crime in Vietnam. And I liked Smitty, Joe's neighbor in "The Great Beyond" who proves to be interesting as well.
The setting is wonderful as well. The book really benefits from the fact that the author served in Vietnam during the time of the book. The descriptions of places and people around Saigon were brought to life for me and I felt like I was there even though I know very little about the country and even very little about the war. Mr. Alexander has a way with words in his descriptions that make them interesting without becoming too wordy. He has a great balance that keeps the book flowing from the first page to the last.
This was an interesting look into the Vietnam conflict before it escalated. An interesting look into the inner workings of things going on with the Army in Saigon. I think Mr. Alexander's time in Vietnam brings a credibility to what is in the book though I'm sure it's not an overall reflection of all that was going on during 1965.
Dragon Lady is a highly entertaining book that I heartily recommend. The writing is very well done, the story is different and interesting and the characters feel like people you know. It's just one of those books that grabs you and doesn't let you go and leaves you thinking about it even when you are finished. So run, don't walk and try this author out, see if Dragon Lady grabs you like it grabbed me.
My Rating: 4.5/5.0
About the Book:
In 1965 Saigon, Joe, a young draftee, becomes obsessed with a Vietnam girl named Mai, his own "Dragon Lady" from his beloved Terry and the Pirates cartoon strips that his mother still sends him. As he pursues a relationship with her, Saigon churns with intrigue and rumors--will the U.S. become more involved with the Vietnamese struggle? What's going on with a special unit that's bringing in all sorts of (for the time) high tech equipment? Will the U.S. make Vietnam the 51st state and bomb aggressors to oblivion? But for Joe, the big question is--does Mai love him or will she betray more than just his heart? Gary Alexander’s intelligent voice, filled with dry wit, and his own experiences give this story a sharp sense of truth, recounting the horror and absurdity of war. Reminiscent of books such as Catch-22, Dragon Lady serves up equal measures of outrageous humor and poignant remembrance.
About the Author:
Gary Alexander was one of 17,000 US soldiers in Vietnam that spring. When he left in the fall, there were 75,000 troops in-country.
Also see Gary's guest blog on The Genesis of Dragon Lady.
Giveaway:
Libby at Istoria Books is offering a code to receive a copy of Dragon Lady by Gary Alexander for free from Smashwords, so you can get it in the format you want. All you need to do is fill out the form below. Open Internationally, and the giveaway will run through 4/6/2011.
If you can't see the form below, you can find it here.
Guest Blog: The Genesis of Dragon Lady by Gary Alexander
NOTE: This book is available for only 99
cents up until the end of this week (April 1 - no joke!) exclusively at Amazon’s
Kindle store. After that, it will be available at all major etailers for its
regular price of $4.99!
In 1965 Saigon, Joe, a young draftee, becomes obsessed with a Vietnam girl named Mai, his own "Dragon Lady" from his beloved Terry and the Pirates cartoon strips that his mother still sends him. As he pursues a relationship with her, Saigon churns with intrigue and rumors--will the U.S. become more involved with the Vietnamese struggle? What's going on with a special unit that's bringing in all sorts of (for the time) high tech equipment? Will the U.S. make Vietnam the 51st state and bomb aggressors to oblivion? But for Joe, the big question is--does Mai love him or will she betray more than just his heart? Gary Alexander’s intelligent voice, filled with dry wit, and his own experiences give this story a sharp sense of truth, recounting the horror and absurdity of war. Reminiscent of books such as Catch-22, Dragon Lady serves up equal measures of outrageous humor and poignant remembrance. Gary Alexander was one of 17,000 US soldiers in Vietnam that spring. When he left in the fall, there were 75,000 troops in-country.
You
can read an interview with Gary at the Istoria Books blog: http://istoriabooks.blogspot.
______________________________
The Genesis of Dragon
Lady
By Gary Alexander
I began having doubts about our entanglement in South Vietnam years before I knew I
wanted to be a writer when I grew up.
Duty was pretty good for most GIs in mid-1964. I don’t recall it yet being called the Vietnam War. We were even drawing $55 hazardous duty pay. We joked that the only hazardous duty we faced was being in a bar spending that extra $55 when a satchel of plastique was slung in.
Lost a few GIs that way, but not too many. I always wondered if the next-of-kin were presented Purple Hearts and got write-ups in the local paper.
The last war we’d been in was Korea. No, wait, that was a limited war or, more commonly called, a police action. Therefore it didn’t count, despite ending as a blood-drenched draw.
Our last war was WW II. We’d won every war from then back to the first, the Revolutionary War. We had a 163-year winning streak going.
No steamy, third world backwater was gonna break that string!
Prior to shipping out, we had to look on a map for South Vietnam and knew little of its history. We knew Vietnam had had another war that had ended 10 years earlier. The Commies had kicked the French’s ass at some place out in the boonies called Dien Bien Phu. That was France, though, not the United States of America.
Most of us did believe in the Domino Theory and the spreading danger of godless Communism. But we weren’t any more or less naïve than our superiors, all the way up the line to the White House.
Regardless, armed conflict seemed an abstraction. Really, who was the enemy? Just a ragtag mob of illiterate Marxists, sneaking around in the jungle in their black pajamas and Ho Chi Minh sandals*, which were thongs made of old tires.
Saigon then was still the Paris of the Orient. To us young troops, it was unimaginably exotic. Not Saigon’s sprawling, fetid slums we managed to ignore, but downtown, at and near fashionable Tu Do Street. You could spend more money eating and drinking and whoring in a single evening on Tu Do than the average Vietnamese earned in a month.
If the Vietcong guerrillas wanted to live in malarial swamps living on fish heads and rice, so what? That was their problem. We had French cuisine in downtown Saigon.
As for the beyond-exotic Vietnamese woman, the DragonLadyesque temptress, well, she was far less attainable than a Crêpe Suzette.
Lovely Saigonese women abounded. In their traditional áo dὰi, a silken tunic worn over pantaloons, they were head-turners. Once I saw a striking young lady in an áo dài riding sidesaddle on the back of a Honda motorbike. I walked into a lamppost.
Wisely, 99 percent of those beauties had nothing to do with us.
* I Googled “Ho Chi Minh sandals” and found a site that sells “100% authentic Ho Chi
Minh sandals, identical to the footwear worn by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War”.
They’re handmade near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
By Gary Alexander
I began having doubts about our entanglement in South Vietnam years before I knew I
wanted to be a writer when I grew up.
In fact, I began having doubts
two hours before arriving there. Fresh meat, including me, was on a Boeing 707
from Travis AFB, CA to Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airport. It was a long
island-hopping flight, on which they didn’t feed us for 10-12 hours.
Then they fed us twice in the
last three hours. Hmm.
Duty was pretty good for most GIs in mid-1964. I don’t recall it yet being called the Vietnam War. We were even drawing $55 hazardous duty pay. We joked that the only hazardous duty we faced was being in a bar spending that extra $55 when a satchel of plastique was slung in.
Lost a few GIs that way, but not too many. I always wondered if the next-of-kin were presented Purple Hearts and got write-ups in the local paper.
The last war we’d been in was Korea. No, wait, that was a limited war or, more commonly called, a police action. Therefore it didn’t count, despite ending as a blood-drenched draw.
Our last war was WW II. We’d won every war from then back to the first, the Revolutionary War. We had a 163-year winning streak going.
No steamy, third world backwater was gonna break that string!
Prior to shipping out, we had to look on a map for South Vietnam and knew little of its history. We knew Vietnam had had another war that had ended 10 years earlier. The Commies had kicked the French’s ass at some place out in the boonies called Dien Bien Phu. That was France, though, not the United States of America.
Most of us did believe in the Domino Theory and the spreading danger of godless Communism. But we weren’t any more or less naïve than our superiors, all the way up the line to the White House.
Regardless, armed conflict seemed an abstraction. Really, who was the enemy? Just a ragtag mob of illiterate Marxists, sneaking around in the jungle in their black pajamas and Ho Chi Minh sandals*, which were thongs made of old tires.
Saigon then was still the Paris of the Orient. To us young troops, it was unimaginably exotic. Not Saigon’s sprawling, fetid slums we managed to ignore, but downtown, at and near fashionable Tu Do Street. You could spend more money eating and drinking and whoring in a single evening on Tu Do than the average Vietnamese earned in a month.
If the Vietcong guerrillas wanted to live in malarial swamps living on fish heads and rice, so what? That was their problem. We had French cuisine in downtown Saigon.
As for the beyond-exotic Vietnamese woman, the DragonLadyesque temptress, well, she was far less attainable than a Crêpe Suzette.
Lovely Saigonese women abounded. In their traditional áo dὰi, a silken tunic worn over pantaloons, they were head-turners. Once I saw a striking young lady in an áo dài riding sidesaddle on the back of a Honda motorbike. I walked into a lamppost.
Wisely, 99 percent of those beauties had nothing to do with us.
* I Googled “Ho Chi Minh sandals” and found a site that sells “100% authentic Ho Chi
Minh sandals, identical to the footwear worn by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War”.
They’re handmade near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Thank you Gary for joining us today. My review of Dragon Lady will be coming later today and don't forget that you can get this book for $0.99 between now and April 1!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Book Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys
Between 
Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel
Publish Date: March 22, 2011
Hardcover, 344 pages
Fiction, Historical
ISBN: 978-0399254123
Fiction, Historical
ISBN: 978-0399254123
My Review:
Why I read this: I was taken in by the starkness of the cover and the blurb.
My thoughts:
Between Shades of Gray is a beautiful and powerful book that tells a story of World War II that most of us don't know. It tells the story of the countries that were overpowered by Stalin and Hitler and what happened to the people who opposed these new governments and wanted to retain their patriotism to their home countries. I know I knew nothing of what happened to countries like Lithuania and Latvia. We mostly hear about the Jewish people during World War II and with good reason, but the Lithuanians and Latvians were also ripped from their countries and hidden in farming and work camps as free labor for the Soviets. Wow, such new knowledge and the book brings it to light in an amazing way as we follow Lina, her mother and her brother and their trek from their home country all the way up to the Artic Circle (and a map is provided in the book to show the various places they were and how truly long the trek was.
Lina was an amazing character. She demonstrates the typical teenage emotions. She just wanted to be a normal teenager, draw, create her art and go on to train with a great artist. Just a normal life. Instead her life is stormed into by Soviet forces and she is forced to travel is absolutely horrid conditions to work camps where the conditions are not much better. I like how she grows during the book from a selfish teenager to a strong young woman that just wants to hold the small group she is in together through the tough times. She truly makes the book and Ms. Sepetys has created an amazing character in Lina.
If you have been holding off on this because of what seems like harsh subject matter like I was, please get the book and read it. It's sad yes, but there is hope in the novel as well and strength of spirit. I truly found it as inspiring as it was sad. Ms. Sepetys does a marvelous job giving the book just the right tone so it doesn't cross over to completely depressing as it could easily have done.
I am so glad I read this book and learned about the little-known part of history. I admire the Lithuanians and the Latvians and the others who persevered in these harsh conditions and I admire Ms. Setpetys for telling their story.
My Rating: 4.75/5.0
About the Book:
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.
Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.About the Author (from her website):
FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher for a honest review. I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws. I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.
It's Monday What Are You Reading - March 28
Books Completed Last Week
- Texas Blue by Jodi Thomas
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger (audio, car)
- Drought by Pam Bachorz (audio, mp3 player)
- Night Road by Kristin Hannah (review)
- Dragon Lady by Gary Alexander (kindle, review)
- Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter (YA, review)
Next:
- Horns by Joey Hill
- The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry
- Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
- Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran
- The Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry
- Red Wolf by Liza Marklund
Summary -
I thought last week was crazy - this one was even crazier - my reading was definitely down and my big news of the week - I'm wearing reading glasses. I was having daily headaches and I thought about the amount I read, plus spending all day on the computer at work and then thought about my age (getting closer to 40) and decided to try them out. Would you believe, no more headaches!
I promise there will be more reading this week, but I do need to do start our taxes finally and get ready for some other things in April as well, so I don't know what next weekend will bring. This one brought a game for my youngest (they lost) and two games for my oldest (they won both) and a lot of fun for me at the ballfield. It also brought a flare-up which has confined me pretty much to my corner chair today (Sunday). Hopefully it will get under control and I will start off the week feeling well.
Best of the week: Both books read this week were great in their own way - one for the romance and escapism the other for it's realism so I can't choose this week.
How was your week?
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Saturday Giveaway #4
First off, last week's giveaway winner is:
Aik
Aik will be contacted today to make her selection.
This giveaway seemed to work well so I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature. It's simple, fill out the form and you are entered. Open to US/Canada only due to lack of funds. Following is not required, nor is tweeting or anything like that but if you would like to, I would be thrilled.
Aik
Aik will be contacted today to make her selection.
This giveaway seemed to work well so I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature. It's simple, fill out the form and you are entered. Open to US/Canada only due to lack of funds. Following is not required, nor is tweeting or anything like that but if you would like to, I would be thrilled.
Not a very productive reading week but I do have three new choices. This week you can win your choice of one of the following:
or these from week 2 are back in as choices:
Please
note that Night Road, Between Shades of Gray, Patchwork Dreams, The Kensei and A Creed in Stone Creek are ARCs
Giveaway open through
next Friday, April 1 at 11:00pm so I can draw the winner and announce
with my new Saturday giveaway next week. A little something for
everyone. If you win, I'll email and ask your choice. It's simple.
If you can't see the form, you can find it here.
If you can't see the form, you can find it here.
Friday, March 25, 2011
The Bird House by Kelly Simmons - Winners
My two winners of autographed copies of The Bird House by Kelly Simmons (compliments of the author) are:
Mary (Bookfan)
and
Falise
Both have been contacted. Thank you so much for entering this giveaway. And thank you to wonderful author Kelly Simmons for offering the giveaway!
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