{"id":676,"date":"2017-11-11T11:14:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T16:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durkota.net\/?p=676"},"modified":"2017-11-11T11:14:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T16:14:27","slug":"flash-reviews-volume-vi-veterans-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durkota.net\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"Flash Reviews Volume VI: Veterans\u2019 Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veterans deserve more than a day. This month is dedicated to Veteran Authors<\/a>. Buy their books! Post reviews! Support veterans!<\/p>\n

Rajani Chronicles I: Stone Soldiers<\/em>, Brian S. Converse<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe day was gray as the rain fell softly in downtown Detroit. It was a spring rain, meant to wash away the snow, blackened from passing cars, which still clogged the gutters and sidewalks; yet it only succeeded in giving the day a feeling a melancholy for all those who bore witness to the tragic scene laid out before them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To be fair, I typically cringe at descriptions of weather in the opening line, but I enjoyed the way the scene was set in the second line and the way it gradually transitioned me into some ominous present action. I enjoy a good tragedy. I also like the word \u201cmelancholy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Secrets Revealed<\/em>, Willis Bullard<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy last official act while still in the military was working under assumed identity trying to retrieve information from a usually friendly country on a group of terrorists that were planning to conduct an attack against a significant embassy in Germany. I was working with the State Department in conjunction with agents from the CIA conducting an investigation on possible espionage activity within the embassy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This sounds like the plot for the next season of Homeland<\/em>, so it scares me just a little that this is non-fiction. Non-fiction as in, this shit is real. I love the last line of the prologue, \u201cBuckle up\u2026 this gets bumpy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Catcher in the Rye<\/em>, J. D. Salinger<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you really want to hear about it, the first thing you\u2019ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don\u2019t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is one of my all-time favorite opening lines. Salinger was drafted into the Army, landed on Utah Beach, and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. Oh, and he met Hemingway while he was over there. Hemingway said he had \u201ca helluva talent.\u201d I tend to agree.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Veterans deserve more than a day. This month is dedicated to Veteran Authors. Buy their books! Post reviews! Support veterans! Rajani Chronicles I: Stone Soldiers, Brian S. Converse \u201cThe day was gray as the rain fell softly in downtown Detroit. It was a spring rain, meant to wash away the snow, blackened from passing cars, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-flash-reviews","category-veterans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t