Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor's Poetry of War.

Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor's Poetry of War.

Author:

Frederick Foote

Publication Date:

15/10/2014

ISBN:

9780991386116

Blurb on the Back:

Winner of the 2013 Grayson Books Poetry Prize, this book features poems by Frederick Foote, a retired U.S. Navy physician the director of the Poetry Project at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Martha Silano, who selected Medic Against Bomb for the prize, described the work well: “Refreshing, downright bracing, Foote reaffirms that war is anything but generic… these poems restore humanity to both enemy and combatant, leaving the reader with a fuller, clearer sense of the ongoing Iraqi conflict.”

Many of the poems developed from the author’s experiences on the hospital ship COMFORT, where military medical personnel cared for mostly Iraqi patients Medevac’d to the ship. Other poems emerged from the experience of caring for sick and wounded American servicemen and women, and for their families.

Review:

Thanks to Netgalley.com and Grayson Books for providing me with an advance Ecopy of the book for review purposes.

This is included in my 2014 goodreads.com reading challenge.

Medic Against Bomb is a collection of war poems from retired US Navy physician Fredrick Foote, and is mostly drawn from his experience of working on the US Navy ship COMFORT.

The Poetry is presented in a no nonsense straight forward fashion. It pulls no punches on what Foote saw and felt during his time there. Often thought provoking the poems deal with numerous traumatic and disturbing subjects and Foote manages through his poetry to give the subject the Gravitas it deserves.

As with any collection of poetry not all the poems are equal in length and quality. The book does suffer from the occasional dip in this regard, however, the quality of the writing shines through in most of the poems.

The book whilst short more than makes up for its briefness thanks to the quality held within, and its subject matter makes it an excellent read. A modern take on the poetry that the likes Siegfried Sassoon And Wilfred Owen pioneered.

8 out of 10.

Cranium - Lee Scarratt

Cranium - Lee Scarratt

Author:

Lee Scarratt

Published:

2013

Blurb on the Back:

Ever wondered what it’s like to be in someone else’s head? Dive into the deep depths of my adventurous dreams, vivid and sometimes frightening imagination and the unusual workings of my brain. 

Wander inquisitively through the first half of this book with short stories involving a curious silhouetted man drenched in rain, a malicious warlock that transforms a woodsman, and a mysterious vintage word processor with deadly consequences. Meanwhile, a ghostly house with a mysterious atmosphere gets shaken down to its very foundations….and exposes its hidden depth. 

Then prepare in the second half to be thrown head first into the whirlwind story where two strangers who are unaware but inexplicably linked try to beat the trepidation, overcome the terrifying truth and escape plunging into the abyss of insanity. The darkness is upon them, but are they willing to make that final decision, take that final step and walk into the unknown? 

Join me now and see where your imagination takes you.

Review:

This was read as part of my 2014 Goodreads.com reading challenge.

I also received this copy for free from the author,  in a Goodreads.com give-away and had promised a fair and honest review.

This book is rather different from anything I have read previously. Written in almost blog style, it is a series of short stories, poems and musings. Some are a lot darker than others. Personal favourites are "No Knowledge Needed" about a computer that changes the world around you depending on what you type into its word processor, "The Butterfly Complex" a short one page poem about a dream of being a butterfly and "The Ascension" the books outstanding short novel about two people intertwined in a dark tale of the afterlife.

I sat and read this book in one sitting. To be honest I had started it, stopped after 2 or 3 pages and headed up to my local library as I didn't want any distractions and it seemed the place I would get the most peace. It is a wonderful collection of different stories and I cannot recommend it enough.

It's not a book I would have normally picked up to read as my experience with short stories ended with the casebooks of Sherlock Holmes, however, since reading this I have been looking for more books with short stories. 

10 out of 10.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

Author:

Jonas Jonasson

Published:

2013

Blurb on the Back:

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not...Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan's earlier life in which - remarkably - he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. Already a huge bestseller across Europe, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun, feel-good book for all ages. 

Review:

This is part of my 2014 reading challenge.

You can compare this book to Forrest Gump in a lot of ways, Karlsson has the knack of being in the right place at the right time and although not being that educated helps Franco, Stalin, Regan throughout his life. This is told in a series of flashbacks while in the present day he is involved in a gang plot on his 100th birthday

The book is wonderfully bright and funny and makes a refreshing change of pace from other Scandinavian novels, from the likes of Nesbo and Larsson. It features so bizarre characters and alot of plot twists that keep the main plot running nicely. However it is the flashbacks that I found provided the most entertaining material.

A charming crime novel which will leave you with a smile.

10 out of 10.

An Introduction.

Hello my name is Dave

I know I have put up a number of posts already but I was moving stuff over from an old blog. I decided to concentrate my reviews in one place and Wordpress wasn't working for me. my old blog was review and remove and had reviews on CD's and apps as well but I wasn't enjoying writing about them, so I have decided to concentrate on my main passion (bar my loving son) Books.

A bit about myself.

I'm 30 love books and that's about all. I'm on goodreads.com please add me on there if you like my reviews. I'm attempting the 2014 reading challenge and have set myself a target of 75 books in 2014. As of today (02/04/14) I am on 23 out of 75, so that may be amended upwards as the year goes on. I will be posting reviews based on these books as I write them so If you want to find out what is upcoming then look at my reading challenge list. Once they are done I will hit the back catalogue of stuff I have already read and try and keep up with what I am reading.

This is a bit of a rambling post but I wanted to say Hi.

Please feel free to comment or add me on google + or follow me on twitter (@dwjjones1).

Peace out

Deejay.