Category Archives: Book Review
The Coverup continues – Book Review: Watergate – A Novel
By Jim Smith We live in a world shaped by history. It is hard to escape our personal history – parents, aunts, uncles – and others who want to shape us in their molde. One means of escape that has … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, History, International, Jim Smith, Politics
Snoopin’ Around – The Story of David Asper Johnson and The Argonaut
Reviewed by Jim Smith Sometimes those who report the news have the biggest influence on shaping the news in the first place. Probably no one had a bigger influence on the the development of Marina del Rey than Argonaut founder … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Jim Smith, Marina del Rey
New Book: Nun on Fire by Philomene Long
Reviewed by Jim Smith Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the walls of a convent? The answer might surprise you. Now we have a day-to-day look, thanks to Pegarty Long’s publication of her late twin sister’s Memoirs of … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Jim Smith
Book Review: Charles Brittin – West and South
By Jim Smith This book is an incredible photographic display of Venice in the 1950s and ‘60s, and of the Civil Rights Movement in Los Angeles and the South. Brittin, who died last January 23 at age 83, left us … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, History, Jim Smith, Venice
Book Review by Kathy Leonardo: “The New Now” by Ava Bird
Poetry….some say it’s the highest of art forms….others consider it a bunch of nonsense. Whatever you believe, if it moves you, it has done its job. Very much like an artist’s canvas, once the paint dries, the end result speaks … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review
The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram: Last Night I Dreamed of Peace
Book Reviewed by Jim Smith The definitive book about the Viet Nam war has been written by a twenty-something Vietnamese woman. This may be hard to believe for those raised on a diet of male-oriented sagas of hard fighting, hard … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, International, Jim Smith, Women
New Book by Venice’s Poet Laureate – REVIEW: The Collected Poems of Philomene Long
By Jim Smith Philomene Long is back. The works of Venice’s poet laureate, who died three years ago, are more accessible than ever thanks to the publication in August of The Collected Poems of Philomene Long. This epiphany-inducing book of … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Culture, Jim Smith, Poetry
Beach Chair Reading
By Jack Neworth Summer is coming. I can tell by all the weight loss commercials urging us lemmings to get in shape for beach season. Fat chance. (Pun intended.) It’s the beach, not a model’s runway! Trim or chubby, I’ll … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review
Book Review: The Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama
Review by Jack Neworth For those born before the time period known as the Sixties or for those who lived through the decade but whose memories have faded from time (or psychedelics) it was perhaps the most turbulent era in … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Culture, History, Politics
If Everybody Had An Ocean….
By Amy V. Dewhurst Summer is here, and with it an estimated 5 million tourists will visit our beach. What that means is more kooks at The Breakwater. If someone snakes your wave, you get a bad sunburn, or just … Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Culture, Surfing
