This was a tough choice for this not to make it into the top 10, as it is a cracking good read, but others just have the edge on it.
Concrete Pearl by Vincent Zandri
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Tag: book review
Books of 2011 # 13 – Dante’s Numbers by David Hewson
This was a holiday read for me, and another entry into the top thirty-one for David Hewson. The Nic Costa series, of which this is the 7th book gets stronger and stronger, and this outing sees Nic, Falconie, Peroni and Lupo in the USA.
Dante’s Numbers by David Hewson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 14 – Savage Run by C J Box
Another entry for C J Box in my top thirty-one of 2011.
Savage Run by C.J. Box
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 15 – Rose In A Storm by Jon Katz
Jon Katz is one of my favourite authors, and another who features multiple times in this list. This is an unusual book, in that it’s a work of fiction which is a departure away from his normal non-fictional works. Still just as good though.
Rose in a Storm by Jon Katz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 16 – Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
In truth this was a re-read, but it is a great story and worth a second reading. The story could so easily be what the human race is facing soon. Power outages, food shortages, out of control climate change. Mother Nature sticking it to the humans who’ve abused the planet for too long.
Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 17 – Fire Season by Philip Connors
This is much more of a nature book than it at first appears, again one that appeals to my nomadic self a little.
Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 18 – Wild Thoughts from Wild Places by David Quammen
Another science fact entry into the top thirty-one books of 2011. David Quammen is able to turn most situations into amusing anecdotes, and this is a collection of them. This is a revised and updated edition which brings in new articles that weren’t available in the original release.
Wild Thoughts from Wild Places by David Quammen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books of 2011 # 19 – Back of Beyond by C J Box
As with David Hewson, here’s another author who makes multiple appearances in my top thirty-one of 2011, C J Box.
Back of Beyond by C.J. Box
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Book Review: Remington & The Mysterious Fedora by Chuck Waldron
Book Summary:
Surprise is in store when, in the back of a strange used goods store, Josh finds an old Remington typewriter and a fedora with some very mysterious powers. As Josh embarks on his first novel writing adventure, he finds that his new hat has its own story to tell – of a time before history began – and is quite demanding of Josh’s attention. As the story consumes him, Josh’s life begins to unravel, and he soon finds he is unable to separate himself from the hat and the story. When the last page is written, Josh is left with more questions than answers…both about the story and his own life.
Review:
In many ways this is a book within a book, the story of Josh and his discovery of a magical fedora hat, and an old Remington typewriter, and the story that Josh (and others) write on that typewriter under the influence of the hat. The concept is an interesting and intriguing one, in many ways any writer would like a magical hat that helps them produce their next bestseller but this hat is not as straightforward as that. This hat becomes all consuming, taking over lives as it becomes contagious and pushing people to the edge.
As the book unfolds it tells the story of Josh, but also of the story that Josh is writing with the aid of his hat, hence there are two tales being told here. One is set in the here and now, and the other in another time, and possibly another place. This is an interesting plot device and the two stories play out during the course of the book. It does mean that neither are really told in detail as the plot shifts from one to the other, but it is a good idea none the less.
The book is a short one (under 300 pages), and the language simple and easy to read. However I was longing for something more descriptive, and consequently more engaging but this just wasn’t there in this book. I was engaged more in the inner book rather than the story of Josh, and often found myself wanting to get through the bits with Josh and back to the other story! I really wanted the author to have done more for both of the stories, for the development of the characters who were a little one dimensional and lacked depth. This didn’t happen however, and I feel that this was a missed opportunity by the author and a chance to engage the reader much more than I felt.
This was an interesting read, with a couple of strong plot devices. The story within a story works well, with the fedora and Remington typewriter driving both. In the story of Josh the hat and typewriter drive him and his friends like an addiction, which like other addictions takes over their lives. This results in the other story developing, being told, and the tale of the characters there developing, and some paralells developing between the two.
Overall this was a good read, I’d like to have seen more character development overall, and with Josh’s storyline in particular but the other story made up with this as there was plenty there.
3 out of 5 Stars – I liked it.
About the author:
U.S. born, Canadian novelist Chuck Waldron is currently working on his fourth novel, a thriller about an investigative blogger who uncovers more than he ever imagines…and has no idea what to do with his discovery.
His first novel, Tears in the Dust, is a mystery set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in 1937. When Alestair Ferguson volunteers to fight in the International Brigade he doesn’t realize the true price he will have to pay. Chuck’s second novel, Remington and the Mysterious Fedora, is a quirky fantasy, a story about what happens when a young man sits at the keyboard of a manual typewriter and puts on an old fedora. When the fedora and its mysterious power begins to whisper a story to him, the young man has a strange adventure indeed. His third novel, Served Cold, spans decades and stretches from the countryside of rural Ontario to a quiet artists’ studio in Tucson, Arizona. With lots of murder and mayhem in between, the story is what happens when a long-standing feud erupts into hot-blooded vengeance.
Chuck wrote over thirty short stories before setting out to write novels that are affordable and entertaining. He has attended writing workshops in Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Ontario, Canada.
“I grew up,” Chuck said, “listening to my grandfather, an Ozark Mountain story teller, spinning tales of the caves on his farm, describing them as hiding places once used by the Jesse & Frank James’ gang. It didn’t matter if the stories were true or not. Those legends set fire to my imagination, creating images that emerged slowly over the years, finally igniting as my short stories and novels.”
Now, thirty-plus short stories and three novels later, ideas keep coming, with more novels under development. Do they share anything in common? Each has its own unique voice and tale to tell, yet, at their heart, his stories tell about the human condition – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Chuck adds, “stored images that echo in my writing include train whistles in the night, Norman Rockwell childhood scenes, U.S. Army memories, blue collar jobs, university, a professonal career, and finally retirement. Many of my images are drawn from this pool of memories: places visited, sights seen, and people met. The rest I filled in with my imagination: dreams of places yet to be visited, sights yet to be seen, and people yet to be met.”
His literary roots were planted in the American Midwest and thrived when transplanted – over thirty-nine years ago – to the rich, cultural soil of Ontario. He and his wife, Suzanne, spend their summers in Kitchener, Ontario and are warmed by a winter sun in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
You can visit Chuck at http://www.writebyme.ca and at www.chuckwaldron.com.
Visit him at Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/writebyme and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wordstir.
Guest Post From Chuck Waldron, Author of Remington & the Mysterious Fedora
Here’s the story behind Remington & the Mysterious Fedora. The seed was planted during a conversation. That real conversation blossomed into a fantasy about a young man who thinks he may have discovered a short-cut to success, only to find that there is always a price to be paid.
There was a reference to a typewriter in the conversation and someone remarked they had never seen one. Something as ubiquitous as a typewriter, used by generations to put word on paper, is now relegated to being an exhibit in museums. Traces typewriters live on, however. Look at computer keyboards, smart phones and tablets, with the recognizable QWERTY layout. But, where have all the typewriters gone?
Woody Allen has typed every joke, script and writing on a manual typewriter he bought as a teen. He literally cuts, tapes and pastes the old-fashioned way. Me, I’m glad I can do it on a computer.
But, I want to get back to that conversation about typewriters. It led me to imagine a young man, Josh, who finds an old manual typewriter in a junk shop. He cleans it up and actually gets it to working. It wouldn’t be complete, however, if he didn’t have an old fedora to go with it. After all, didn’t all the reporters in the 1940’s black and white movies wear fedoras while they typed?
When he puts the fedora on, the hat whispers a story to him while he types. He realizes it may be a gift, the short-cut to an award winning novel. Josh is on his way to an adventure he never expected. Will the magic fedora bring him fame, or will the story bring him face to face with the reality that all things in life have a price?
I hope you read Remington & the Mysterious Fedora and see if you agree with this from a young adult reader named Ryan.
“I’m actually VERY enthralled by the book. Both your plotlines of Josh, Tracey and Kelsey, Blaze and Star are equally intoxicating. Usually, when I read a novel like Remington that uses multiple plotlines, I tend to get bored and find one of them boring, waiting for the chapter to end. With Remington, this is not the case!
At the end of every chapter, I said to myself “Damn! I want to know what happens next!” I loved the fast pace, the gripping story and the novel’s ability to make me smile.
U.S. born, Canadian novelist Chuck Waldron is currently working on his fourth novel, a thriller about an investigative blogger who uncovers more than he ever imagines…and has no idea what to do with his discovery.
His first novel, Tears in the Dust, is a mystery set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in 1937. When Alestair Ferguson volunteers to fight in the International Brigade he doesn’t realize the true price he will have to pay. Chuck’s second novel, Remington and the Mysterious Fedora, is a quirky fantasy, a story about what happens when a young man sits at the keyboard of a manual typewriter and puts on an old fedora. When the fedora and its mysterious power begins to whisper a story to him, the young man has a strange adventure indeed. His third novel, Served Cold, spans decades and stretches from the countryside of rural Ontario to a quiet artists’ studio in Tucson, Arizona. With lots of murder and mayhem in between, the story is what happens when a long-standing feud erupts into hot-blooded vengeance.
Chuck wrote over thirty short stories before setting out to write novels that are affordable and entertaining. He has attended writing workshops in Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Ontario, Canada.
“I grew up,” Chuck said, “listening to my grandfather, an Ozark Mountain story teller, spinning tales of the caves on his farm, describing them as hiding places once used by the Jesse & Frank James’ gang. It didn’t matter if the stories were true or not. Those legends set fire to my imagination, creating images that emerged slowly over the years, finally igniting as my short stories and novels.”
Now, thirty-plus short stories and three novels later, ideas keep coming, with more novels under development. Do they share anything in common? Each has its own unique voice and tale to tell, yet, at their heart, his stories tell about the human condition – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Chuck adds, “stored images that echo in my writing include train whistles in the night, Norman Rockwell childhood scenes, U.S. Army memories, blue collar jobs, university, a professonal career, and finally retirement. Many of my images are drawn from this pool of memories: places visited, sights seen, and people met. The rest I filled in with my imagination: dreams of places yet to be visited, sights yet to be seen, and people yet to be met.”
His literary roots were planted in the American Midwest and thrived when transplanted – over thirty-nine years ago – to the rich, cultural soil of Ontario. He and his wife, Suzanne, spend their summers in Kitchener, Ontario and are warmed by a winter sun in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
You can visit Chuck at http://www.writebyme.ca and at www.chuckwaldron.com. Visit him at Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/writebyme and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/wordstir.
About Remington & The Mysterious Fedora
Surprise is in store when, in the back of a strange used goods store, Josh finds an old Remington typewriter and a fedora with some very mysterious powers. As Josh embarks on his first novel writing adventure, he finds that his new hat has its own story to tell – of a time before history began – and is quite demanding of Josh’s attention. As the story consumes him, Josh’s life begins to unravel, and he soon finds he is unable to separate himself from the hat and the story. When the last page is written, Josh is left with more questions than answers…both about the story and his own life.
Read the first chapter here.
Giveaways, Contests & Prizes!
To celebrate the release of Chuck Waldron’s new fantasy novel, Remington & The Mysterious Fedora, he is offering one free paperback copy of his book at Pump Up Your Book’s 1st Annual Holiday Extravaganza Facebook Party on December 16. More than 50 books, gifts and cash awards will be given away! Click here for details!
Electronic Scrapbook 