Forty Days: A Book By Tommy Jonq [Paperback] Review

Forty Days is high quality fiction, at a tremendously affordable price. The writing again showcases the author's deft narrative skill and imaginative flair (I have read Gemini Tiger by the same author). I really enjoyed the award-winning "Ivy", the first story -- mostly because you wouldn't think that a male author would be behind the female narrator in the piece ;)! These aren't short stories to be quickly skimmed through -- doing so would thoroughly decrease a reader's chances of savoring the clever wordplay, through the pieces.

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Product Description:
The award-winning author of "Gemini Tiger" takes on Barbie-Ken dream weddings, Jimmy Carter, and Teenaged Atomic Cheerleaders in this collection of short stories, poems, and a thing or two in between.

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It's Morning [Paperback] Review

`Never As Good As the First Time' reconnects lovers Melinda and Germaine.They'd always believed that they would be together forever and when things changed, they both went about living their lives.When they see one another at their class reunion, it's apparent that their feelings are still the same.What happens when you revisit the past for too long? When life grants Germaine and Melinda an opportunity for another chance, will they take it?Or has love finally proven itself wrong?

`The Letter' is written by Mahogany, a single sista who has a severe liking for her neighbor.Unfortunately, she hasn't had the courage to approach him and has decided to simply jot everything down and let him get to know her from inside out.Regrettably the letter is lost, but not unread.Will intrigue introduce Mahogany to other possibilities?

`Daddy's Maybe' tells the tale of Kendra and Calvin.New to Kansas , the young couple has had some trouble, but Calvin is trying to remain optimistic.He loves Kendra and just wants to take care of her.When he is unable to fulfill Kendra's need for a twist, she finds another who is more than willing to wash her blues away.First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Kendra with an unknown baby carriage.Will love prevail?

While reading `It's Morning,' an anthology written by Elaine Flowers, I too kept referring back to Shirley Murdock's classic.I am not a fan of anthologies and I didn't see a need to read an anthology written by just one author.However, I did like all of the stories.I would have to say that `The Letter' was the best and it was a snippet, if that.I enjoyed the way the author was able to draw out the drama, but each story, while loving, is very predictable.I would recommend to others and hope that in the next sitting it's a full book.

Reviewed by: Crystal



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Product Description:
This book contains two novellas and one short story - all dealing with the ups and downs of relationships.

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Christmas Day in the Morning (Hardcover) Review

This book truly exemplifies the true meaning of christmas, to love one another.When Rob, the 15 year old boy of a modest farm family, overhears his parents talking, he comes to realize the love his father has for him and the love he also holds for his father.Not having the money to purchase a gift that he feels expresses this love, he chooses to surprise his father by doing the morning milking and chores before the usual 4AM.He sneaks out to the barn and his heart bursts with love as he waits for his father to discover the surprise.The illustrations are beautiful, dark and dusky like the time of day before surnrise, and the clouds in the sky take the shape of the Holy Family on the first Christmas.A valuable lesson for all.The gift of love is the most precious gift of all.

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Summer Morning, Summer Night [Paperback] Review

Ray Bradbury loves to write stories of small American towns in the Midwest, swathed in colour, magic and sunlight. And that's basically the entire content of "Summer Morning, Summer Night" -- exquisitely written little nuggets of ordinary experiences, with an element of magic and mystery woven into them like golden threads.

A number are vignettes without much actual plot -- a young woman going for a nighttime stroll meets a lover, a loaf of bread brings back memories of childhood summers, a teenage girl have has first kiss with a new boyfriend, an aged woman looks through old calendars full of forgotten memories, old people recount important deaths, and a middle-aged man falls in love with a beautiful young woman he sees in passing.

Then there are the full-blown short stories. Here a chaste romance blossoms between a teacher and her brilliant young student, a beautiful woman's memory lives on long after her death, an elderly woman's long-lost lover may have returned, a spinster seeks perfume, and two old sisters make a secret "love potion" with some unwanted results.

There's no straightforwardly fantastical elements in this book, but there are moments of horror and comedy. On one hand, we have stories where a young girl hears a woman shrieking underground, and a serial killer's excited chase of a woman he's stalking. On the other, a family's scheme to get a pretty cousin married off backfires, and a couple of sweet old people have a day out shopping and having fun.

"Summer Morning, Summer Night" is sort of a Ray Bradbury mosaic -- lots of little fragments making up a sun-filled, warm, shimmering summertime filled with shady trees and warm nights. It's a little like visiting Bradbury's nameless small town for a week at its most lovely, absorbing some of the history of the people there, and then drifting back out.

One thing has never changed is Bradbury's vivid, lush prose ("they were a trio of black velvet and white ermine conspirators, half moon, half shadow"), which is steeped in nature metaphors ("as fine as a maple leaf between winds that blew just right"). His writing is precise enough that he can tackle a taboo subject -- such as love between a teacher and student -- without inspiring outrage.

And he drops in plenty of symbolism -- new shoes, dismantled porches, ribboned hats, first kisses ("it tasted like apricats and fresh apples and as water tastes when you rise at night...").

As the final touch, Bradbury's characters are a colourful, varied lot -- teenage girls, serial killers, legendary beauties, middle-aged men and small children vowing to never forget this summer. Bradbury seems a bit preoccupied with mortality, since many of his characters here are troubled by life and love in their middle or twilight years -- except maybe the Alexanders, who seem happy to frolic into old age together.

Warm, mellow and sweet as an apple, "Summer Morning, Summer Night" is a series of tiny portraits of small town life. But Ray Bradbury manages some surprises along the way.

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