Tag: #Writing

Indie Weekend: From Meidelach to Matriarchs: A Journal by Mirta Ines Trupp

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

Indie Weekend is my effort to help Independent authors with marketing, which is a huge task. If I can help even a little, I’m happy to do so. You can help too by sharing this with everyone you know on social media. Below please see a book description, book review, author bio, and purchase links for From Meidelach to Matriarchs by Mirta Ines Trupp.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

BOOK REVIEW

This helpful journal provides interesting biographies of 100 remarkable Jewish women, and then gives the reader a chance to reflect, answer questions, and write their own thoughts in journal format at the end of each chapter. It is an informative and helpful resource. The journal questions appear to be structured primarily for those of the Jewish faith, but anyone can benefit from reading about these strong and accomplished women. Some of the inspiring biographies included are those of Author Edna Ferber, Journalist Anita Brenner, Artist Anna Ticho, Figure Skater Lily Kronberger, and 96 other women who contributed in the areas of education, business, philanthropy, politics, and more.

This inspiring book introduces the reader to women they might not have known about before. It is also a place to write down personal thoughts and ideas. This book is recommended to anyone of Jewish faith or anyone who wants to read some interesting histories that they may not have discovered before.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mirta is a second-generation Argentine; she was born in Buenos Aires in 1962 and immigrated to the United States that same year. Because of the unique fringe benefits provided by her father’s employer- Pan American Airlines- she returned to her native country frequently- growing up with “un pie acá y un pie allá” (with one foot here and one foot there).

Mirta’s fascination with Jewish history and genealogy, coupled with an obsession for historical period drama, has inspired her to create unique and enlightening novels. She has been a guest speaker for book clubs, sisterhood events, genealogy societies and philanthropic organizations. Sharing her knowledge of Jewish Argentina has become her passion.

Besides being an avid novel reader, she has had a lifelong love for choral music and is a devoted Beatles fan.

Mirta’s Social Media:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | BOOKBUB

PURCHASE LINK

*Click on the cover below to purchase/view this book on Amazon.

BEFORE YOU GO…

*If you read the book(s), please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.

*Please click on the WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!

Indie Weekend: Anywhere But Schuylkill by Michael Dunn

BonnieReadsAndWrites11 Comments

Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. It’s quite a daunting task, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. Please see below a book description, much deserved 5-star review, author information, and buy links for Anywhere But Schuylkill by Michael Dunn.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is the first of three books by Michael Dunn in his Great Upheaval trilogy. It is story of a teenage boy, Mike Doyle, struggling to free his family from the violence of their greedy, hard-drinking Uncle Sean.

The time is 1870s. The Long Depression is raging. Children are dying of hunger. The Reading Railroad has hired Pinkerton spies to infiltrate the miners’ union. And there is a sectarian war between the Modocs, a Welsh gang, and the Kohinoor Boys, an Irish gang. But Mike has a plan. It’s risky. It involves collaboration with the Kohinoor Boys. He could wind up in jail, or worse.

ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is Michael Dunn’s first complete novel.

BOOK REVIEW

Wow, what a wonderful piece of historical fiction! The research is just astounding and the author’s expert knowledge of these events is evident. The reader is transported to 19th century Pennsylvania and the sights, sounds, and smells of that time come alive through Michael Dunn’s writing.  When our main character Mike goes into a coal mine, we can see the dark tunnels through the light of the miners’ lamps, and we can smell the sweat of the men next to him.  When he is forced to walk through a picket line as a “blackleg,” we can feel the hate and desperation of those who are striking for better wages and treatment.  And most of all we can see him lined up with a group of young, hungry boys forced to work for almost nothing. 

The descriptive, realistic writing is impressive. For example, the following passage shows what it’s like to be a “breaker boy” in a coal mine.  “Pulling his shirt over his nose, he proceeded through the diagonal maze of chutes that crisscrossed the room.  Each had ascending rows of boys sitting side by side above them on thin planks, as if they were on bleachers at a ballgame, except instead of facing home plate and enjoying the game, they all faced uphill, hunched over, their arms and legs darting in and out, like cockroaches rummaging for food.”  Difficult and horrific situations such as discrimination, forced labor, and child abuse are shown truthfully. The desperation of young boys in horrible situations is written so well that the reader feels as if they are experiencing it.  The author masterfully paints a vivid picture of the time, place, and events.  It is very difficult to completely recreate a historic event in writing, place the reader in the middle of it, and make them feel as if they are there. This author has done it, and in his debut novel! This is the first in a trilogy and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

AUTHOR BIO

Michael Dunn writes Working-Class Historical Fiction from the Not So Gilded Age. ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is the first in his Great Upheaval trilogy. A lifelong union activist, he has always been drawn to stories of the past, particularly those of regular working people, struggling to make a better life for themselves and their families. These are stories most people do not know, or have forgotten, because history is written by the victors, the robber barons and plutocrats, not the workers and immigrants. Yet their stories are among the most compelling in America. They resonate today because they are the stories of our own ancestors, because their passions and desires, struggles and tragedies, were so similar to our own.

MICHAEL DUNN’S WEBSITE | TWITTER (X) | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

BUY LINKS

AMAZON | AMAZON UK

BEFORE YOU GO

*If you read the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.

*Please click on the WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!

Indie Weekend: Review of “Miss I Wish You A Bed of Roses” by Sherri Moshman-Paganos

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. Marketing is a daunting task, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this post far and wide with all of your social media followers. Below is my review of Miss I Wish You A Bed of Roses by Sherri Moshman-Paganos. It is a delightful memoir about teaching English at a secondary school in Greece.

BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM AMAZON)

Teaching: you’re frustrated and exhausted one day, gratified and fulfilled the next. Teaching is not like other careers; teachers give their whole selves to their students day after day.

Blending a humorous memoir with classroom ideas, the author looks back on her 40 years of teaching international students. She writes about her teaching insecurities, secondary school and college composition classes, the difficult and the great, the base and the sublime. She describes school grades, bells and meetings, and the routines of any high school. Although teaching in Greece has unique challenges, Greek teens are like teenagers everywhere, full of hopes and dreams for the future. Besides looking at her own career growth, the author offers advice for language and literature classes, and ideas for using poetry, songs, and film to create a lively atmosphere for learning.

Whether you are a new teacher interested in suggestions for your classes, including ESL or EFL teachers, or an experienced teacher looking for new ideas, this book is for you. But anyone who has taken an English language or literature class or has children taking literature classes will enjoy this spirited memoir, enhanced by the author’s poetry and student comments. Her main advice: “Content counts, but more so, formulating your teaching philosophy. And don’t forget to keep your temper and your sense of humor!”

BOOK REVIEW

This is a memoir that teachers will definitely enjoy, but I also recommend it to anyone interested in literature and interactions with other cultures. Moshman-Paganos recalls her early days teaching English in Greece and all the challenges, highs, and lows. The book is peppered throughout with poems and quotes that will both inspire you and make you smile. The author’s insight into working with teenagers and her helpful tips will definitely provide great ideas and inspiration to other teachers. 

I most enjoyed the many, many stories about the author’s students and the appendixes in the back that included student answers to questions such as “When Are You Happiest?” and “What Occupation Would You Choose If You Didn’t Have To Worry About Money?” I enjoyed the samples of Student job application letters, especially the one for the vacant position of Defense Against The Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts. Moshman-Paganos’s clever and endearing way of teaching and interacting with students is admirable, and I think prospective teachers will be motivated by this book. 

I downloaded a copy of this book on Kindle Unlimited, where subscribers can read it for free.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sherri Moshman-Paganos taught English to international students in New York City before joining the American College of Greece faculty in 1983. Here she taught secondary school English and college freshman composition classes.

Since her retirement in 2018, she has devoted herself to writing. She publishes a travel/culture blog on her travels in Greece and life in Athens called Olives and Islands. Besides “Miss I wish you a Bed of Roses,” she is also the author of a fictionalized memoir on her years in Manhattan: Step Lively: New York City Tales of Love and Change,  and a collection of poetry, Wanderings: Poems of Discovery.

Click on the cover image to buy this on Amazon. Kindle Unlimited Subscribers can borrow this for free.

BEFORE YOU GO

*If you read the book, please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, as well as anywhere else you review books. Some people feel very daunted by writing a review. Don’t worry. You do not have to write a masterpiece. Just a couple of lines about how the book made you feel will make the author’s day and help the book succeed. The more reviews a book has, the more Amazon will promote it.

*Please click on the WordPress “share” buttons below and share these books with your Twitter (X), Facebook, and/or WordPress followers. A little bit of assistance from all of us will help Indie authors go a long way!

Indie Spotlight: Anywhere but Schuylkill by Michael Dunn

BonnieReadsAndWrites3 Comments

Indie Spotlight is part of my effort to help Indie Authors with marketing. It’s a tough task, and if I can help even a little, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this with all your social media followers. Below please see a book description, buy links, and an author bio for Anywhere But Schuylkill, the story of 20 Irish coal miners who were hanged in Pennsylvania in 1877 for their supposed connection to a terrorist organization.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is the first of three books by Michael Dunn in his Great Upheaval trilogy. It is story of a teenage boy, Mike Doyle, struggling to free his family from the violence of their greedy, hard drinking Uncle Sean.

The time is 1870s. The Long Depression is raging. Children are dying of hunger. The Reading Railroad has hired Pinkerton spies to infiltrate the miners’ union. And there is a sectarian war between the Modocs, a Welsh gang, and the Kohinoor Boys, an Irish gang. But Mike has a plan. It’s risky. It involves collaboration with the Kohinoor Boys. He could wind up in jail, or worse.

ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is Michael Dunn’s first complete novel.

AUTHOR BIO

Michael Dunn writes Working-Class Historical Fiction from the Not So Gilded Age. ANYWHERE BUT SCHUYLKILL is the first in his Great Upheaval trilogy. A lifelong union activist, he has always been drawn to stories of the past, particularly those of regular working people, struggling to make a better life for themselves and their families. These are stories most people do not know, or have forgotten, because history is written by the victors, the robber barons and plutocrats, not the workers and immigrants. Yet their stories are among the most compelling in America. They resonate today because they are the stories of our own ancestors, because their passions and desires, struggles and tragedies, were so similar to our own.

MICHAEL DUNN’S WEBSITE | TWITTER (X) | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

BUY LINKS

AMAZON | AMAZON UK

Dabbling in Poetry

BonnieReadsAndWrites6 Comments

I used to write poetry when I was a kid, although I had no idea of any rules or rhythm. I am thinking about getting back into it again. Below is a poem I wrote years ago in my first year of community college. I always remembered it because it’s about what might happen right after you die. I had to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter and that’s what I came up with. I have no idea if it’s any good or not, but I’m definitely interested in learning a lot more about poetry. It seems very simple to me many years later, but I’m curious to see what I could come up with now.

After

My name was Nancy when I woke today
But now I am a vapor in the air
When I got on the train I was okay
Now blackened fragments scatter everywhere

I’m floating, watching high above the mess
Somebody pulls a cloth over my form
A preacher kneels, and cries, and starts to bless
I suddenly feel cold, but very warm.

The mountains beckon me, but with a wish
I’m roaming through them, married to the sky.
The moon hangs gold, like butter on my dish.
The things I always wondered, I know why.

When I got on the train, I was okay.
But now I am complete in every way.