Roger's Reads – Page 58 – Author & Book Reviewer

Review of One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

November 18, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen 2 Comments

This month, my Goodread’s book club featured book of the month was a delightful story entitled One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva and I found it to be not only a refreshing tale of young romance, but so much more.

The blurb is as follows:

Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Why bother, when their home cooking is far superior to anything “these Americans” could come up with? Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek’s parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshmen year of high school. He never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan.

Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. When Ethan gets Alek to cut school and go to a Rufus Wainwright concert in New York City’s Central Park, Alek embarks on his first adventure outside the confines of his suburban New Jersey existence. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend—he’s barely ever had a girlfriend—but maybe it’s time to think again. Michael Barakiva’s One Man Guy is a romantic, moving, laugh-out-loud-funny story about what happens when one person cracks open your world and helps you see everything—and, most of all, yourself–like you never have before.

Thinking on how I would classify this beautiful story, I’d probably say it was along the lines of a young adult gay romanic comedy, for there are more than one scenes that made me laugh out loud. Each page of this novel made me want more and beckoned me to keep reading. I was in fact surprised at how quickly I tore through this book, anxiously awaiting to see how the tender new relationship between Alec and Ethan would develop.

Speaking of develop, the author gives us extremely well-developed main characters and by the end of the novel, I felt as though I were saying goodbye to old friends. These vivid, well-drawn characters come to life on the pages of this book and stay with you well after the book is finished. The supporting cast of colorful characters are also memorable and entertaining: Becky – Alek’s rollerblading, old-movie obsessed, say-it-the-way-it-is BFF is a welcome addition to the story, as was Alek’s fussy, nitpicking mother and his older brother Nik, the “dutiful son” who embarks on voyage of self-discovery himself.

I love a slow romance (rather than a “love and first sight, marry me now kind of romance) and One Man Guy didn’t disappoint. It was a delight to watch Alec’s journey of self-discovery, especially the witty manner in which he managed to overcome the roadblocks to his and Ethan’s relationship and I was relieved to see that the author kept the heavy angst to a bare minimum. I tend not to be a fan of angsty novels. It was also fun to see the orderly, by-the-book world of Alec turned upside down by this enigmatic new boy who came into his life.

Now that is not to say that this novel is simply a sweet little romance. While it is that, it is also more. It’s a study of two cultures coming together and the clashes that can sometimes result of that coming together. It’s about the hurdles of family drama, of embracing your heritage and accepting who you are while maintaining your connection to your roots. Moreover, it’s about the need to understand that sometimes, it’s okay to break the rules – just as long as you know when it’s NOT okay to break them.

While the book is geared toward young adults (high school age) I feel it’s a book that all ages can enjoy and I find this romantic and humorous coming of age tale to be a remarkable addition to the YA/LGBT genre. It’s a charming, captivating and entertaining tale with likable and memorable characters, with just the right amount of romance peppered throughout. What more could you ask of book?

Recommended!!

You can check out One Man Guy HERE

Review of Timebound by Rysa Walker

October 23, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’m a sucker for time-travel novels (I even wrote one) so my interest was peaked when I stumbled across an interview with author Rysa Walker during which she discussed her book Timebound, the first book in the Chronos Files series. I was so intrigued that I bought it….and after having finished it, I think I have found myself a new favorite series.

The story begins when 16 year old Kate Keller’s sickly grandmother (also named Kate) tells her granddaughter that she has genetically inherited a supernatural ability to travel through time. She gives Kate a blue glowing medallion and explains that it is the medallion that enables those of their bloodline to time travel; however only those with the right gene can use the device. Her grandmother promises to begin training Kate on how to use the device.

But shortly thereafter, everything instantly changes in Kate’s world. A murder in the past combined with a sinister plot has changed Kate’s timeline and her reality. The present and past that she knew now never took place. With a blink of an eye, Kate suddenly finds her herself in a classroom with a strange teacher and fellow students she doesn’t recognize. People she loved are gone and friends no longer know her – and she learns that if she so much as removes the medallion from her neck even for a moment, she will instantly blink out of existence.

To fix the timeline and restore things back to the way they were, Kate must tear herself away from those she loves and travel back in time to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair where she is to face more than one known murderer. Once Kate returns to the past, she engages in a struggle for survival in a race against time as she tries to prevent a terrible chain of events from taking place and altering the past – or should I say, one of the “pasts”. While in 1893 she uncovers a sinister plot which will devestate the entire world, which makes her success even more crucial.

It’s difficult to talk about this book without giving out spoilers. Suffice it to say that this is an exquisite addition to the YA genre and this exciting novel left me satisfied yet wanting more. The fast-paced story combines mystery, young romance, multiple timelines, power, murder, action, politics, real-life villains and religious zealots – all with an intriguing plot line that kept me turning the page.

I’ve read my share of time travel books whose timelines were so confusing and convoluted that it was difficult to keep track of what was going on and why. This was not the case with Timebound. I felt that the timelines and the intricate web that the author weaved were clearly presented – although it does require the reader to pay attention while reading. There are times when even the main characters are momentarily confused by the various timelines.

The characterizations are excellent. The author brings Kate, her grandmother and all the other supporting characters (including her two love interests from two different timelines) vividly to life in this mind-boggling, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants romp. Think Doctor Who meets Marty McFly but with a tinge of sweet romance thrown in. The author expertly handled the different settings which at times were so vibrant and vivid that they played out like a movie. While Timebound is technically classified as a Young Adult novel, I feel that the intricate and well-crafted plot as well as the riveting storyline will appeal to a much wider audience regardless of age.

From what I could gather, this is the Walker’s first full-length novel and I felt that she shows notable talent in her believable plot development, careful attention to detail and well thought-out characters. Walker intelligently gives us an exciting YA adventure with twists and turns, where answers are elusive and love is mind-bogglingly complicated and impossible – but no matter how complicated, Kate finds that the only impossible thing is to walk away.

This is the beginning of an new exciting series and I can’t wait to read the recently released second book, Time’s Edge. Recommended!!

You can check out Timebound HERE.

Review of Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield

October 20, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I was reading the book Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield (who also wrote The War of Art) the other day when I came across a passage that resonated with me so strongly that I had to share it.

Those of us who have chosen to live unpredictable the life of the solo entrepreneur – authors, musicians, artists, podcasters and other creatives – can’t help but wonder why in the hell we chose such a life where the future is so uncertain. In the chapter entitled “My Years in the Wilderness,” Pressfield put it thusly:

“Because there are no conventional rewards, I was forced to ask myself, Why am I doing this? Am I crazy? All my friends are making money and settling down and living normal lives. What the hell am I doing? Am I nuts? What’s wrong with me?”

“In the end I answered the question by realizing that I had no choice. I couldn’t do anything else. When I tried, I got so depressed I couldn’t stand it. So when I wrote yet another novel or screenplay that I couldn’t sell, I had no choice but to write another one after that….the work became, in its own demented way a practice. It sustained me, and it sustains me still.”

This passage certainly answered that long-burning question for me — perhaps for you as well?

By the way, Turning Pro is an excellent little book aimed at creatives about moving from amateur to professional. Lots of excellent tidbits and advice.

Review of The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato – a Thrilling Steampunk Adventure

October 2, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I decided that I wanted to read something different so I thought I’d dip my toe into the Steampunk genre. I’ve never been particularly drawn to Steampunk but when someone recommended to me a novel entitled The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato, suggesting that I might enjoy a combinaton of fantasy, magic and steampunk elements, I was intrigued.

Below is the publisher’s blub:

Orphaned as a child, Octavia Leander was doomed to grow up on the streets until Miss Percival saved her and taught her to become a medician. Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission, visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm. But the airship on which she is traveling is plagued by a series of strange and disturbing occurrences, including murder, and Octavia herself is threatened.

Suddenly, she is caught up in a flurry of intrigue: the dashingly attractive steward may be one of the infamous Clockwork Daggers—the Queen’s spies and assassins—and her cabin-mate harbors disturbing secrets. But the danger is only beginning, for Octavia discovers that the deadly conspiracy aboard the airship may reach the crown itself.

After I completed the novel, I can say that The Clockwork Dagger was an excellent recommendation. This Steampunk airship adventure was well-written with eloquent prose and a gripping plot. I especially enjoyed the combination of both Steampunk and magical elements – kind of a magic meets technology theme with a tinge of romance.

Most of the novel’s action takes place on an Airship called the Argus on which we meet many zany – and dangerous – characters. Being true to the genre, the setting for the novel occurs during the prudish Victorian era. Thus, we have the puritan prim & proper attitudes and language combined with mystery, mayhem, danger, gremlins, corrupt governments, assassins, war, swashbucking spies and murder – all of which were expertly weaved into the story.

We are introducted to many strange contraptions, ideas and beliefs which aid in drawing us further into this Steampunk world. It’s a world that’s both magical and mechanical – modern yet ancient. I felt that the author did an excellent job at creating a believable and fascinating society.

The plot is full of surprises, twists and turns and at one point, we – along with our clever heroine – aren’t quite sure whom to trust. Though the setting takes place in an era of Victorian morals and behavior, I loved the fact that Octavia was no pushover and when threatened or in a crisis, she deftly held her own. While certainly a woman of the period, she also demonstrated wit, quick thinking and bravery. Our fiesty heroine was not afraid to break social behavior expectations when necessary.

The Clockwork Dagger was non-stop action and intrigue and I enjoyed the story immensely. In fact, I stayed up way past my bedtime because I couldn’t stop reading. It was a thrilling and engaging read with excellent dialog, well-developed characters, fast-paced action and a storyline that kept me turning the pages.

I look forward to the next book in the series (The Clockwork Crown) and to future books from this author. Because of her, I will be adding additional Steampunk-themed books to my every-growing reading list. Recommended!

You can check out The Clockwork Dagger HERE

Review of Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

September 5, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Are you a creative who hates marketing? Or perhaps a writer or artist who has no idea how to get noticed above all the online noise?

I recently discovered a book entitled Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon that might help. It’s a book that not only provides ideas, tips and tricks on how to get your work out into the world, but gives you the motivation to do so.

I personally hate self-promotion and have never felt that I was all that good at it. I find marketing even more challenging these days when everyone vying (some of them quite loudly) for people to pay attention to their work. What Kleon does is provide practical, useable advice – action steps that are not only fun to take but can help to get you and your work noticed.

I remember a fellow author friend of mine once told me: “If nobody reads your work, then you haven’t written it.” Kleon’s motivational push seems to be along these same lines. He tells us not to sit on and hide our work, but rather, put it out there. If you want your creative work to be known and discovered, you have to share it with the world. You have to get your stuff seen – and in this book, Kleon shows us how to.

Kleon provides examples, quotes, illustrations and anecdotes in each chapter that bring his advice to life. The book is broken down into 10 chapters, with each focusing on a specific method for showing your work. The chapters are further broken in subchapters, providing several different ways of approaching the method as well as concrete actions that you can take.

The chapters are:

You Don’t Have To Be A Genius
Think Process, Not Product
Share Something Small Every Day
Open Up Your Cabinet of Curiosities
Tell Good Stories
Teach What You Know
Don’t Turn Into Human Spam
Learn To Take A Punch
Sell Out
Stick Around

He starts out the book with a quote by John Cleese:

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.”

Indeed, Kleon has introduced an entirely new way of operating in Show Your Work!. Rather than simply put our work out there and pray it gets noticed, Kleon recommends instead that we share our process with our audience. People don’t want to buy simply a book – they want to connect with you as the author. They want the a human experience. They want to be involved in the creation of a work. In other words, as he states in chapter 2 *”Think Process, Not Product.”

Show Your Work! may be small, but it packs a serious punch! This engaging book is chock full of his stories and inspiring stories of other creatives who have decided to step back and see the bigger picture – people who have chosen to show and share their work.

I recommend this easy-to-read book for anyone who could use a little help in getting the word out about their art or simply for anyone ready to share their work, their creativity and their passion with the world.

Review of the War of Art by Steven Pressfield

August 11, 2014 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“The enemy of the artist is the small-time Ego, which begets Resistance, which is the dragon that guards the gold. That’s why an artist must be a warrior and, like all warriors, artists over time acquire modesty and humility.” ~ Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Don’t be fooled by the size of Steven Pressfield’s gem of a book, “The War of Art.” While may be a small book, it is chock full of big and valuable ideas. This is a book for creatives — for people whose creativity is their passion: writers, artists, musicians, sculptors, dancers, actors/actresses, photographers – whatever passion fires you up and gets you excited.

This book takes you on a journey to battle against what Pressfield calls “The Resistance”, which he states “is the most toxic force on the planet.” So what is this Resistance? Resistance is inertia, that force which prevents us from doing the work we were meant to do. It is that which makes us say, “I don’t think I’ll work today. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow.” It’s that force that makes us tell ourselves, “What’s the use. My manuscript is crap. My work stinks. I’m just not cut out to be a writer. I wonder who’s on Facebook?” Pressfield asks us:

“Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.”

And what’s worse, is that Resistance only shows itself when you do something that really matters to you – all the more reason to combat it any way we can. For an excellent example of the of Resistance operates, Pressfield says:

“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean. It will assume any form, if that’s what it takes to deceive you.

“Resistance will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man.

“Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get.”

In the War of Art, Pressfield teaches us how to take even the most stubborn and tempting Resistances (such as those excuses we tell ourselves when we don’t want to do our work) and blow them to pieces. Using the war metaphor, we learn how to battle this unseen foe, but in order to do this we first need to recognize and know our enemy – and he shows us how to do so. He also reminds us that Resistance wants to take us down the easy road and wants us to just work hard enough to get by. But as Pressfield states:

“We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it.

“Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”

“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work”

The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is a person’s ability to stomp on and crush Resistance, which tends to slam us extra hard as we near the end of a project, when we are close to completing our work. In each of these short-and-to-the-point chapters, Pressfield offers a prescription to combat this enemy by getting into the nitty-gritty of all those things that hold us back, those things that tell us we’re just not quite good enough.

The tips in this book help us to recognize and destroy the inner naysayer (which Julia Cameron and others call the “Inner Critic”) and instead, shows us how to go pro, for it is in going pro that we banish our enemy.

While reading this book, it made me personally aware of all the “junk” that was holding me back and made me face my own excuses head on. You won’t find 12-steps, chapter exercises or required journaling in this book. What you will find are no-nonsense methods for finishing your work and getting it out into the world, overcoming and smashing to bits those blocks that hold you back, defeating the negative self-talk in our heads and unblocking the barriers to our creativity. This book will certainly make you more aware of when Resistance digs its sharp claws into you and holds on for dear life.

While topic of Resistance is complex and certainly not a light one, Pressfield presents his ideas in a friendly, conversational manner, which renders the book not only approachable but also enjoyable.

If you’re looking to break through your own creative blocks or simply need some motivation, you can’t do much better than The War of Art: Break Through Your Block and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. Recommended!

You can check out the book HERE.