Snow Moon Rising
Lori L. Lake
Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC
4700 Highway 365, Suite A, PMB 210, Port Arthur, TX 77642
1932300503 $ 20.95
Cheri Rosenberg
Reviewer
A Historical Novel that reads like an epic adventure!
Snow Moon Rising is an intimate glimpse of the seasons of Mischka Gallo's life. From her happy childhood, in spite of social injustice and bigotry against the Roma people (derogatorily referred to as Gypsies), Mischka maintains her innocence through her mid-teens. Only later does reality harden her. She displays a zest for life and heroic strength, believing that, "Everyone should feel the love, enjoy the exhilaration life afforded… [O]ver time she came to realize that each soul needs its own private place and solitude to nourish both joy and pain" (p. 2). It is this optimism that allows Snow Moon Rising to inspire us, rather than let us be defeated by the malice Mischka faces.
Many fictional stories are based on the atrocities of Hitler during World War II, but Lori L. Lake uses an uncommon perspective, telling the story from the Roma and German point of view, and then adding a refreshing twist. Without gratuitous sex or violence, Lake succeeds in writing an emotionally charged, action-packed, and authentic story. Her tight, crisp narrative flows seamlessly as Mishka, at eighty, recounts her life's experiences to her fifteen-year-old grandson, Tobar. As the events unfold, it's easy to imagine her world. Mischka says to Tobar, "I don't want to end your childhood with sad stories, but remember, after darkness there is always light. Just like after the moon disappears, the sun always rises" (p. 5). Throughout Lake's novel, the theme that resonates most isn't the bleakness you might expect, but rather, is hopeful.
The relationship between Mischka and Pauline Stanek (Pippi), as friends and lovers, spans seventy-one years. Pippi is the sister of a wounded AWOL German soldier, Emil. The Roma clan adopted Emil when Mischka was a child, and he became a beloved cousin of Mischka. It is through Emil, that Mischka and Pippi meet for the first time. The connection and kinship they feel is immediate. The two young girls make a vow to remain friends, forever bonded by heart, spirit, and soul. It seems theirs was an unlikely union, considering that homosexuality was considered a sin and punishable by death and both women end up on opposite sides during the war. Pippi knew Hitler to be the madman that he was, but what choice did she have when the Third Reich summoned her and ordered her to serve at a labor camp? One wonders how many unwilling German guards and soldiers were as much a victim of the war as the prisoners.
Snow Moon Rising is a page-turner because Lake carefully balances the storyline, choosing only the scenes that move the plot along. The immediacy and transparency, as the story unfolds, allows the reader to engage both emotions and intellect. The reader not only understands the horrid situation—but also feels deeply along with Mischka, her people, and Pippi as well. The narrative summaries don't lecture, but rather convey feelings, making the scenes compelling. This reviewer imagines what it must have been like in Mischka's camp: the sounds, the smells, the tastes. Even though written in English, you feel like they are speaking a foreign language, without having to sift through a lot of cumbersome dialect. The Roma and German phrases add to the story and set the tone for readers who are fluent in any language.
One would think it depressing to be Mischka in those days. A Roma woman was like chattel without civil rights; however, to watch Mischka before she was forced into marriage, and later, thrown into a concentration camp, she was the light in a dark world. She maintained her dignity in the face of inhumane treatment as her means to fight the enemy. The way Lake captures the heart of this admirable woman is the reason Snow Moon Rising reminds this reviewer of a photograph. Mischka thinks, "Memories surfaced, and pictures rose up from hidden recesses, not in the sepia tones she so often remembered, but stark, bright, vital, and as colorful as modern photographs" (p. 5). This is a fair description of how Lake tells, and shows, Mischka's story with clear and vivid detail, which remain bright despite her often dismal surroundings.
With an impressive bibliography at the back of the book, Lake's extensive research is rewarded by the vivid and heart-rending account of what life was like for the Roma "Gypsies" during WWII. Snow Moon Rising is easily Lori Lake's most accomplished work to date. The novel has already won the Alice B. Reader's Appreciation Award 2007 and is nominated for numerous other accolades. Fans of fiction containing historical truth will cherish this novel, and it would be a fine addition to any library.
Brinkley's Beat: People, Places, and Events That Shaped My Time
David Brinkley
Ballantine Books
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
0345426797 $12.95 www.randomhouse.com 1-800-726-0600
Dan Schneider
Reviewer
David Brinkley was an important figure in the history of television news. But, that fact has no consequence on the fact that the man was not a particularly good writer. Before his death in June of 2003 he penned a slim book for Alfred A. Knopf called Brinkley's Beat: People, Places And Events That Shaped My Time, which consisted of minor essays on topics that concerned his career in journalism. Although divided into three sections- People, Places, and Events (real creative, eh?), and featuring essays on topics such as Bobby Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa, J. Edgar Hoover, Normandy, and the Kennedy Assassination (Jack, not Bobby), the book is a dull and tedious read. Too bad it was not a memoir, where one might get a sense of the real man, rather than this tepid string of musings. What is so odd is that Brinkley, in his role as co-anchorman of NBC News, with Chet Huntley, and in his later capacity as host of the Sunday Morning political talk show This Week With David Brinkley, on ABC, was known for a quick wit, often strafed with acid. Yet, rather than recapitulating on paper the unique inflections that set him apart from rivals like Harry Reasoner and Walter Cronkite, Brinkley lays down pieces with absolutely no depth. It's really remarkable to read how banal a man who saw so much can write of such bounty.
The People section is almost entirely composed of Washington politicos and insiders, and perfunctory to a fault. Brinkley seems to not have had a strong opinion on anyone nor anything. All of his pieces end sideways- as Brinkley chooses never to opine nor dig more deeply. It's almost as if he approaches the world with the depth of an old uncle who talks merely to hear himself speak, and not a journalist with inside information. All of the pieces end with a sort of mellow harrumph- even those on such forgotten scoundrels as openly racist Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo- who was sort of the white answer to Marcus Garvey in advocating resettling blacks to Africa, and Texas congressman Martin Dies, the founder of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Even worse than his emotional asides are Brinkley's utter lack of depth into major figures. Of the Presidents he covered in his lifetime, Brinkley speaks only of three, and says little of consequence about them. Scheming LBJ is depicted as energetic but out of his time- and also a personal friend who split with Brinkley when the newsman told the President the war in Vietnam was unwinnable, Ronald Reagan- a tabula rasa if there ever was one, is said to be impenetrable- as if there were any substance, and Bill Clinton is moralized upon, as if fellatio was as great a sin as the Constitutional underminings Reagan and Nixon proffered. Even J. Edgar Hoover is given Kid Gloves, as Brinkley says he was neither as bad as his detractors portrayed him nor as heroic as his idolators claimed.
Even when writing of the Normandy Invasion in 1944 or of Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960s, the man can hardly seem to get excited. In fact, he seems more taken with the idea of the city of Vienna and its history of classical music and great food, or of old time Florida beaches and hotels before Miami and Orlando's twin rises to political and cultural prominence. Of the Kennedy Assassination, Brinkley can only gush at the service that television news provided for a shaken nation. In all the years of covering events could not Brinkley have learnt something of clichés and platitudes? Even worse is when he does try to occasionally opine more deeply. His intonations on the evolution of political conventions consists of declaring that they became too managed, dull, and void of real news. This is political blog level commentary, not real journalism.
Perhaps the only time in the whole book when Brinkley shows any real spontaneity or zest is when he describes his covering a small time traffic court case in 1938, for his local newspaper, then testing the man's car with a cop, to see if it could really go 65 mph or not. The man was fined $15, and Brinkley was chided by his editor for a lack of objectivity. One wonders if the lecture his superior gave Brinkley still hovered over this book, for objectivity in a book of remembrances is tantamount to a sleeping pill. Even when he ends his piece on President Johnson, all Brinkley is moved to imagine is if anyone who visits Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial Wall thinks of LBJ. Aside from being nearly mawkish, it misses the obvious, since LBJ was the architect, if not instigator, of that horridly wasteful and divisive war, so anyone with any gray matter cannot help but to think of the old Texan when they rue their needless dead.
However, since it is looked upon as gauche to speak ill of the dead, I won't. But, as for Brinkley's last book, I'll merely damn it the way he seems to have viewed the world in his final years….yawn.
An Island Far From Home
John Donahue
Carolrhoda Books
c/o Lerner Publishing Group
241 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401
0876148593, $19.95 www.lernerbooks.com 1-800-328-4929
Elizabeth A. Baehner
Reviewer
I selected "An Island Far From Home" for review because, as an elementary school librarian, I want to have first hand knowledge of the books on my library shelves. It is part of my job to be able to recommend books to teachers as well as students. I personally love historical fiction and try to read as many books of this genre as possible to help students develop a better understanding of history.
"An Island Far From Home" is John Donahue's first book. The idea for his book was the result of a visit to Fort Warren, an historical spot in Massachusetts.
Mr. Donahue was able to create a very believable young charter in Joshua Loring. The setting is 1864-1865 and the nation was growing impatient with its long, bloody civil war. You Joshua wanted desperately to enlist and fight the 'hated' rebels who had killed his physician father at Fredericksburg. This first time author is able to develop the character of a young boy, impatient to become a soldier, yet will to listen to the significant, loving adults around him. For example, in a conversation between Josh and his Uncle Robert, the author is able to convey the absolute trust this young boy had in his uncle. Josh wants so much to enlist and make the Rebels pay for the death of his father. Uncle Robert is able to help him see that his place is really with his mother right now. Later, Uncle Robert convinces Josh to write a young rebel soldier at Fort Warren which helps Josh understand that this 'enemy' is truly human and has needs similar to his.
The writing is straightforward and understandable by most fourth grade readers. The daily life of Josh could be a day in the life of many of the students reading "An Island Far From Home" due to Josh's days spent in school and his close relationship with his best friend, Logan. The days of fun, adventures and even disagreements are easy for the young student reader to identify with. Mr. Donahue, an attorney with the Massachusetts Appeals Court at the time of his writing this novel, seems to have a keen insight into boys of this age.
There are great books to be read by our youngest readers concerning this important time period of American History. "Pink and Say" by Patricia Polacco, also develops the friendship between two young boys on opposing sides of the Civil War as the get to know each other. "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hung; "Bigger" by Patricia Calvert; "Bull Run" by Paul Fleischman; and "Charley Skedaddle" by Patricia Beatty are also excellent examples of this painful period of American History conveyed to young readers through the means of historical fiction.
The Rough Guide to Slovenia - Edition 2
Norm Longley
Rough Guides
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, UK
1843537257 $20.99
Ian Middleton
Reviewer
Insightful and informative, Rough Guide to Slovenia is an essential part of anyone's Slovenia travel kit!
As a seasoned traveller, having an accurate and useful travel guide is an essential part of my kit. Recently I have grown tired of mainstream and established guides leaning more towards database listings of where to go and what to do. I want insight. I want to know about a place, its history, culture and the author's personal views. I want to feel inspired to visit a place by the writing. So it's refreshing to see that the Rough Guides still manage to maintain an acceptable balance between information and insight.
The Rough Guide to Slovenia is now in its second edition and there have been many improvements. The most obvious is the new glossy cover; a full page photo with a translucent band across help to make the book much more aesthetically appealing to the eye, which is a vast improvement from the bland cover of the previous edition. The colour intro contains a useful quick reference guide to the country's highlights, and scattered throughout the book you'll also find two new colour inserts that help to give more emphasis on the two things the country is most famous for: caves and outdoor activities.
More importantly though, is the content. The author manages to maintain an easygoing style which almost makes you feel like he is actually talking to you. Whilst striving to provide accurate information he is also not afraid to give blatantly honest reviews of places and accommodation. His description of a place in Bled where I have personally stayed is right on the button:
"This popular lakeside place has a convivial atmosphere despite the rooms being dated and cramped."
It's for this kind of honesty that people buy a travel guide. If we just wanted a simple list of places to stay and go we would ask at the tourist office, or read the brochures. But independent travellers who want to plan their own itinerary want to know what the place is really like, so they can make an informed decision as to where to go and stay.
While boxed sections highlight special events or places of interest, the bulk of the information is neatly woven into sectioned paragraphs each written with a clarity and authority that is indicative of the author's thorough research and in-depth knowledge of the country. The second edition also contains more detailed maps than the previous edition and its map of the Triglav National Park is the best I've seen yet.
Extremely well written and packed with accurate and useful information, the Rough Guide to Slovenia is an essential aid to anyone planning a trip to this beautiful and diverse little country.
Finn
Jon Clinch
Random House Trade Group Publicity
1745 Broadway, 17th floor, New York, NY 10019
1400065917 $23.95 www.randomhouse.com 1-800-726-0600
Michael Frechette
Reviewer
For Mark Twain lovers, the mere title of Jon Clinch's debut novel, Finn, could be enough indication that the author is following in the wake of a somewhat recent literary trend – using a classic novel as a springboard for one's own story. Basing a contemporary novel on a well-regarded piece of literature might seem like a quick and easy way for a debut novelist to be taken seriously. Many readers might dismiss such a device as a crutch for an author who will probably fade with time anyway. However, previous authors have successfully employed this technique, and some of their own works seem destined to live on as classics themselves. For example, last year, Geraldine Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for March, a novel concerning the absent patriarch of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. And less recently, in 1995, Gregory Maguire earned a name for himself with Wicked, a novel and now Broadway musical which examines the untold story of the wicked witch of the west from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. With Finn, Clinch has given readers something similar, a serious work of fiction that uses Twain's great American novel to explore the complex issues of race and class. Like Maguire, Clinch creates a story that centers around the original tale's mysteriously evil character. However, whereas Maguire turns the good-versus-evil dichotomy on its head and evokes the reader's sympathy for the "wicked" witch, Clinch takes a different approach regarding his main character, Finn – the cruel father of America's beloved Huckleberry. While he does broach some possible reasons why Finn grew into such a racist, murderous monster, the character's actions far outweigh these reasons, leaving the reader in a state of horror and disgust with the novel's villainous subject.
With a structure that lacks chronology and chapters that alternate between past and present, Clinch takes his time churning out the details of the plot. The novel begins with the dead body of Huck's mother floating down the Mississippi River. She has recently been murdered by Huck's own father, Finn, who choked her to death, removed her skin, and dumped her in the river. As the novel progresses, the reader learns the biographical details. Finn met Mary years before aboard the Santo Domingo, a steamboat that had been hijacked by its black passengers and was steering northward to a part of the country where they could live as relatively free people. Finn himself discovered the plot, helped retake control of the vessel, and made sure to take a souvenir from this adventure – Mary, the daughter of the plot's organizer. The two of them end up living in a shack by the river, where Mary gives birth to Huck and essentially lives as a prisoner under Finn's violent wrath and watchful eye. Eventually, Mary and Huck are able to escape, and they fortuitously arrive at the Widow Douglas's, where it is decided that Huck will stay with the Widow to attend school and work towards a more upstanding future for himself. Unfortunately, Finn finds Mary living there and convinces her to move back to Illinois with him, where she meets her gruesome demise.
If it is not apparent by now, in Clinch's particular version of the story, Huck's mother is a black woman from the deep South, and Huck himself is obviously of mixed race, a point of contention perhaps for some literary purists. However, Clinch is careful to explain this seemingly divergent element in a way that is congruous with Twain's literary classic. Not only is Huck's skin pale enough for him to pass as white, but also both Finn and Mary tell Huck at different times that his real mother was a white woman who died during childbirth. For Mary, such a lie is meant to free Huck of the racial burden of being black and liberate him to lead a life of white privilege. Therefore, when readers first meet Huck in Twain's novel, he is supposedly operating under a false belief in his own racial makeup.
Race is certainly a major concern of the novel and one many early reviewers addressed in their explications of the work. Racism and prejudice are attributes of nineteenth-century American society and unsurprisingly have been passed on to Finn by his own culture and his own father. Finn treats Mary abominably throughout the story and refuses to treat the story's other black characters with any degree of respect or dignity. Nevertheless, his racism is also a source of internal torture for him and in the end, it is what drives him to commit such heinous acts. Unlike his father, Finn himself has a penchant for women with dark skin, but his deeply held belief in their racial inferiority results in his abuse of them, as was the case with Huck's mother; it is no surprise that he removes her skin after her murder, the part of her that he found the most attractive but that simultaneously disabled him from treating her humanely.
What seems most prominent in reading the novel, however, is not just race, but the intersection of race and class, something many early reviews seem to have overlooked. Like today, those characters from the upper class such as the Widow Douglas reside in homes that are perched on hills while lower class figures like Finn and his black counterparts live on the lowest elevation by the river. When Huck and Mary arrive at the Widow Douglas's, Clinch writes that "it feels like a place from which a person could jump off and land almost anywhere" (200). At first, the word "anywhere" sounds optimistic, suggesting that a person's options, when starting from the top of the social order, are limitless. However, "anywhere" also means that a person can land in a shack near the river like Finn, who surprisingly comes from a privileged household himself. When one considers that Finn resides at the bottom rung of white society, it is no surprise that he is attracted primarily to black women, the only segment of the population to whom he probably still feels superior. Yet even this sense of superiority is called into question at several times during the course of the story. In one instance, Finn has recently been released from prison to discover that his black wife has indebted them to a black man in "darktown," and Finn must spend his first earnings out of prison repaying someone who he believes to be beneath him. In a separate, more telling episode, Finn encounters two professors from Ohio, one black and one white. After a series of belligerent, racist remarks, the black professor prophetically says to Finn, "time and events will overtake you" (49). In both of these instances, class seems to trump race. Even though Finn perceives himself as the racial superior of both his black creditor and the black professor, they are both his superior in terms of class; they have more power in their dealings with Finn, which undoubtedly wounds his pride and provokes his hostility. In the latter episode, the black professor even suggests to Finn that his unwillingness to adapt and embrace cultural and social shifts eventually will lead to his downfall.
Though Finn is depicted as a cold-blooded, murderous racist, Clinch does offer glimpses into his childhood in a half-hearted effort to offer some type of explanation for his behavior. In these glimpses, we learn that Finn actually grew up in a privileged household, with a sickly brother named Will, a high-society mother from Philadelphia, and a mean, racist father who Finn and Will refer to only as the Judge. Finn's father literally is a Judge in Lasseter, Illinois where they grew up, a well-spoken, educated individual who treats Finn as any other potential criminal who appears before him in court. Rather than shower him with love, praise, and paternal discipline when needed, he forgoes the love and praise and meets out punishments like a cold, heartless dispenser of justice. Finn implies in talking with Huck that even corporal punishment would have been better interpreted as some form of loving discipline: "He wouldn't so much as lay a hand on me. What kind of father is that?" (76) More than just biographical details about Finn's childhood, though, the novel also seems to beg for a psychoanalytic reading in certain places. For example, in finishing a cloth-filtered jug of whiskey near the beginning of the book, Clinch writes of Finn: "even after he's taken the cloth into his mouth and suckled it like a woman's breast, it is only enough to fuel his need for more" (13). Such a simile seems to suggest that Finn was deprived of the early nurturing that perhaps would have altered his development for the better. However, mere similes fall short of offering a full, comprehensible explanation for Finn's actions. One early reviewer rightly noted that Clinch deliberately leaves Finn a mystery at the end of the novel to suggest the impenetrability of evil. And if one combed the story for the number of times Clinch uses the word "unknowable," such an interpretation would seem very reasonable.
Despite the childhood glimpses and the psychoanalytic twist, Clinch is careful not to lay it on too thick, disabusing the reader from falling into the trap of sympathy for a character who deserves nothing but contempt and the fate at which he eventually arrives. Even if sympathy had been Clinch's aim, some readers may ask how it is possible to feel pity for a character who removes the skin of his victim and tosses her into the Mississippi River. Some artists have achieved such an effect, though. Consider the film The Cell in which a viewer feels unexpected shreds of sympathy for a serial killer of women whose childhood trauma is partly responsible for his murderous adulthood. However, this particular response is not possible for Finn, a villainous wretch who shows us the ugliest side of America's racist past.
While the novel would be engaging enough simply for its relevant themes, it is also extremely pleasurable to read. The places where the story intersects with Twain's leave this reviewer feeling nostalgic for high school English class. In addition, the prose is very lyrical and the text is full of pithy maxims that are delivered in Clinch's own original style. One early reviewer rightly noted, though, that the novel is lightly infused with buzzwords like "signifier" that come straight from the mouths of contemporary academic critics. Such words seem overreaching and contaminate the imaginative world and poetic prose that Clinch achieves over the course of the novel. In addition, the vocabulary in certain spots is unnecessarily elevated. For instance, the word "micturate" could easily be replaced with a synonym more appropriate to the character and station of Finn (183). However, these incidents in the prose can be excused for a debut novelist who is simply trying to call attention to the fact that he intends to be a serious writer of serious literature. All in all, Finn is a very imaginative extension of a classic novel, one that intelligently treats subjects that still haunt the American consciousness today.
Creating Wealth For The Average Guy
Rocky Castleberry
Swan Publishing
Southwind Ranch, 1059 CR 100, Burnet, TX 78611
0943629608 $9.95 Swan-Pub.com AverageGuyBook.com
Peter Hupalo
Reviewer
Creating Wealth For The Average Guy by Rocky Castleberry is a brief introduction to the key principles of building wealth. Castleberry tells readers to create a vision, aim high, and work to achieve their financial goals.
Castleberry writes: "The 'Vision,' what is it? It is the thing that drives all great men, it is the catalyst, the enabler, it is what drives us, consumers us, makes us want to succeed. It is what pulls us and separates us from those around us. It is the basis of the Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneur is the fabric of this nation: the Henry Ford's, the Edison's, Getty's, and Carnegie's. What separated these men from others? Was it the desire to maintain the status quo? Was it to live on past successes or past achievements? No! It was the 'Vision,' the thirst for bigger and better; the continual striving towards defeating the self-inflicted restrains of past experience, failures, prejudices and the constant barrage of friends, family and naysayers that said it wasn't possible."
Castleberry, a Texas real estate investor and entrepreneur, emphasizes the importance of living below your means, so you'll have money to invest. He tells the story of a friend who wanted to save $100,000 to start his own business. Unfortunately, Castleberry knew his friend was unlikely to achieve his dream with his current mindset. He was unwilling to give up his expensive truck and lifestyle to sock away the money. By cutting back his expenses, Castleberry shows how his friend could have rather easily achieved his goal. Castleberry says too many people put the cart before the horse—purchasing luxuries before acquiring the income to properly support them.
Castleberry writes: "We all wake up every morning exactly where we are. I know it sounds mundane or even trite, but remember, every decision you have made in the past has brought you to this point and every decision you make today will shape your future. You can't change the past, you can only start moving up from where you are today."
Even after acquiring a lot of money, over-consumption can still do in a would-be-mogul. Castleberry points out how M.C. Hammer, after his initial success, spent $30 million and then went bankrupt. Castleberry writes: "Individuals become euphoric with their new found wealth. They rush out and buy new cars, new boats, the "dream" vacation, etc. without considering the consequences of their actions. They increase their liabilities without increasing their cash flow. A dangerous trap."
After saving money for your goals, Castleberry says you must put your "little green employees" to work. Money properly invested will go to work for you to create more money. Creating Wealth For The Average Guy explains the importance of time and compounding in achieving wealth. Castleberry discusses the difference between good purchases, which will add to your cash flow, and bad purchases, which simply put your "little green employees" to work for somebody else.
The book covers: rental real estate; deciding which debts to pay off first; understanding when to finance a purchase; the importance of planning and getting expert advice; and teaching your children to value money properly.
Ultimately, Castleberry says true wealth is about personal contentment, family, and character. Wealth is a way to care for your family. Creating Wealth For The Average Guy is a great book for people who want to understand the basics of successful personal finance and growing wealth.
The Twilight of Atheism
Alister McGrath
Doubleday
1745 Broadway, NY, NY 10019
0385500610 $23.95
Rose Glavas
Reviewer
'Historians date the birth of "avowed" or "intentional" atheism in Britain to around the year 1742…' p. 113
My interest in atheism is a personal one and I don't have any training in theological subjects. I found this title hard to read at first, but more and more engaging as I went along. I think if you had more of a background in religious subjects it would obviously be much easier going. I found the exploration of various religious and secular thinking fascinating and educational.
McGrath has written numerous books and is a professor of historical theology at Oxford University. Some of the other books the author has written include: 'In the Beginning, The Reenchantment of Nature', and 'The Journey'. McGrath is also a consulting editor of 'Christianity Today', and the general editor of 'The Thematic NIV Study Bible'. He lives in Oxford, England and had been an atheist when he was younger. This put a new slant on this book in my understanding of his own personal approach to exploring 'The Twilight of Atheism.'
Personally, I don't find history interesting so I found the first part of the book a bit hard to get through but as I got closer to more recent historical developments and characters I found this book much more interesting. Some historical characters, events and eras covered include: the French Revolution, Marx, Freud, Darwin and the Marquis de Sade – an interesting cast in this exploration of the life of atheism! The importance of historical developments becomes clearer as you are exposed to various ideas in this book. For example, I liked the way McGrath phrased this:
'… one of the most obvious lessons of history is that atheism thrives when the church is seen to be privileged, out of touch with the people, and powerful – precisely the situation that emerged in Germany during the revolutionary years of the 1840s.' p.55
The reason I kept working through this book is a personal interest in learning about what brings inspiration and meaning into people's lives. This is important to the work I do on a daily basis with clients in helping them through their personal difficulties and hopefully gaining direction in their lives. As part of this process it was interesting for me to read the following paragraph where McGrath explores 'The Brothers Karamazov' (1880) the last novel written by Dostoyevksy.
'… The church, out of a deeper concern for humanity, wishes to deny them freedom, and replaces the curse of freedom with the intellectual and spiritual opiates of miracle, mystery, and authority. By revering the mystery, believing and accepting the miracles, and following the dictates and directives of the church, people can live their lives with the heavy load of accepting responsibility for their own actions. The majority of people, according to the Grand Inquisitor, are weak and are likened to sheep. Happiness can only be achieved by the surrender of human freedom. People may cry out for it, but in fact they prefer slavery. Only the strong, those few at the top of the power structure, should have to bear the weight and responsibility of freedom.' p.147
This was of interest to me because there is a ring of truth in it. For some, freedom of choice is overwhelming.
To finish up:
'… It was reported that 86 percent of Americans as a whole, 99 percent of family physicians, and 94 percent of HMO professionals now believe that prayer, meditation, and other spiritual and religious practices exercise a major positive role within the healing process. …these viewpoints are grounded in a growing body of empirical evidence that has established a positive correlation between spirituality and health…' p.263 – 264
In summary this is a comprehensive, well written examination of the development of spiritual thinking from classical Greek times right up to our more contemporary times. An excellent book. Covering this topic in such a complete way would not have been an easy task but McGrath sails through explaining this complex topic in a way that is manageable for the lay person. Definitely worth reading if you have an interest in anything religious/spiritual.
A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Novel
Plum Lovin'
Janet Evanovich
St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010
0312306342 $16.95 www.stmartins.com
Sharame Vodraska
Reviewer
This is the 14th Stephanie Plum novel from prolific writer Janet Evanovich. In the book, Plum Lovin', Stephanie gears up for Valentine's Day as Diesel reappears in her life. Morelli is strangely absent, but Ranger makes a cameo appearance. Diesel showed up previously in the novel, Visions of Sugar Plums, and spent Christmas with Stephanie's family. Which had some disastrous yet comedic results, the hilarity continues in this saga. Diesel and Stephanie strike a deal in which Stephanie becomes less bounty hunter chick and more of a matchmaker to help Diesel with an ongoing case. She finds out that her sister, Valerie, is in the matchmaker's file as a priority to be fixed by Valentine's Day. So Stephanie hatches a plan with Diesel to fix her sister's problem and on the way Lula and Connie get involved as well. All in all the book is a pretty funny read.
Into the Woods and Back Out Again
Michael Matheny
Cantarabooks LLC
8721 Santa Monica Blvd. #129, Los Angeles, CA 90069-4507
1933688017 $9.95 cantara.squarespace.com
Tim W. Brown
Reviewer
Into the Woods and Back Out Again lives up to its subtitle, "an inspirational guide to writing (and finishing!) your first novel." Interestingly, the author, Michael Matheny, approaches the topic using a parable rather than the predictable how-to format common to most advice books. Thus, the book achieves literary status in addition to motivating aspiring novelists. Additionally, it is suffused with a welcome sense of humor.
The story begins like those of many novelists: a love interest inspires the writer, in this case a voracious reader whom the protagonist, Arthur, meets in a bar and tries to pick up. Shot down, he goes home and drunkenly talks to the photograph hanging on his wall of members of the Algonquin Round Table. A supernatural episode ensues as Lord Algonquin ("Al") emerges from the photo and offers to lead Arthur on a quest to become a novelist.
Rich in allusion, the story takes Arthur through an odyssey in which he learns the novel-writing process. He rides a trusty steed, Ulysses, through a dark, mysterious forest. He must draw a giant pen, Ex Libris, from a stone. He wears magical spectacles that allow him to view the reality of numerous writers' traps, including carnival players who attempt to waste his time, a writing professor who promises him success if only he adopts his writing method, and a sexy woman who tempts him with her body and her father's riches.
Under Al's and Ulysses' guidance, Arthur rejects these distractions and buckles down to write his novel. He interacts with his characters and learns how to breathe life into them, and he learns how to plot a story complete with the appropriate digressions to foil readers' expectations. Above all, he learns to tap and control his imagination, discovering in the process that writing a novel is a high calling which demands as much courage and dedication as that possessed by the heroes of Arthurian legends.
Bethany's Bookshelf
Grief And Sexuality
Rachel Nafziger Hartzler
Herald Press
616 Walnut Avenue, Scottsdale, PA 15683-1999
0836193407, $14.99 www.heraldpress.com 1-800-759-4447
At the age of 51 and having endured the intense sorrow and confusion of widowhood after her husband unexpectedly died of a heart attack, Rachel Hartzler brings a very special expertise in "Grief And Sexuality: Life After losing A Spouse", a book designed to help others deal with the universal questions about grief, spirituality, and the loss of a romantic and intimate relationship. "Grief And Sexuality" is especially recommended reading for both men and woman having to reconstruct their lives after the loss of a loved one, as well as an important and insightful addition to the supplemental reading list of Christian pastors, priests, ministers, counselors, and mentors working with widowed parishioners, their friends and families.
All This Way for the Short Ride
Paul Zarzyski, author; Barbara Van Cleve, photographer
University of New Mexico Press
1312 Basehart SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106-4363
0890133085 $17.50 www.unmpress.com 1-800-249-7737
All This Way for the Short Ride: Roughstock Sonnets is a rollicking blend of poetry and action-packed, black-and-white photographs celebrating the American West, the ranch way of life, and especially rodeo culture. Written in the continued spirit of the original "Roughneck Sonnets", All This Way for the Short Ride pays especial tribute to the brave men and women who dare to ride fiercely bucking broncos for as many seconds as they can. A collaboration brimming with life, love, and the passion of the strongest roughnecks, highly recommended for western and rodeo fans. " The Night the Devil Danced on Me": A werewolf moon glares / from the top row of the bleachers, horned / owl with one eye plucked. In the black hole / of chute 8, Lonewolf waits - / an ugly bronc, mustang and rank, / the cowboys say, with notched right ear / and snaky, suck-back ways.
Notebooks of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
University of Arizona Press
355 S. Euclid Avenue, Suite 103, Tucson, AZ 85719
0816525838 $16.95 www.uapress.arizona.edu
Notebooks of Elizabeth Cook-Lynn is a diverse collection of poetry, prose, and political views. that questions the all-too-common bias and distortion that permeates retellings of American history. "...the Image of The White American Male as Fearless Explorer and Conqueror, intrepid, strong and brave Seeker of New Vistas going out fearlessly into the Unknown, is well established in story and legend. Why else was Star Trek the most popular television show in the history of the small screen?" A biting critique of national self-aggrandizement, written with intelligent passion and a keen sense for pointing out misdirections and half-truths. Cook-Lynn is especially fearsome in her denouncement of human atrocities, subversions of the democratic process, and cover-ups. "Democracy in 2002 and the Free Press": A disputed election / a pretender president // press coverage / like a flood shrouds circumstances / of political theft, journals stride past in fear / and darkness, faded shawls about their shoulders // but, the FCC changes its regulations / so news organizations / can become conglomerates / ravenous, sanctimonious abusers / of the rights of mankind.
Conversations At The Nursing Home
Deanna Shapiro
PRA Publishing
PO Box 211701, Martinez, GA 30917
0972770356, $12.95 www.prapublishing.com
"Conversations At The Nursing Home: A Mother, A Daughter, And Alzheimer's" is a unique work in which author Deanna Shapiro divides the first have of her book to telling stories about her childhood, her mother, and her immigrant Jewish relatives – in a free verse format. In the second half, Shapiro relates the intimately personal story of her Alzheimer afflicted mother's residence in a nursing home, along with their mother/daughter conversations, as well as Deanna's observations of conditions ranging from birds at a feeder, to patients sometimes alarming behavior with each other. There's a grim kind of realism in the depiction of how life can end cruelly for a parent despite all that a loving daughter can do. "Conversations At The Nursing Home" is a welcome and recommended addition to the growing library of personal memoirs with respect to Alzheimer's and the growing concern regarding assisted living and nursing home care in this country.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Buhle's Bookshelf
Family Crests Of Japan
Stone Bridge Press
PO Box 8208, Berkeley, CA 94707
1933330309, $18.95 www.stonebridge.com 1-800-947-7271
Japan has a rich tradition of graphically distinctive family crests emblematically symbolism high court nobility's family names during and after the 12th century. Hallmarked by contrasting motifs and simple geometries, the designs range from cherry blossoms, to well buckets, to floating clouds, to fans, and hundreds of other iconic images. "Family Crests Of Japan" features descriptions of more than 850 individual family crests along with their cultural backgrounds. Enhanced with informed and informative essays on the historical development of family crests and a selection of photographs demonstrating how crests were used on banners, signs, and buildings, "Family Crests Of Japan" is a unique, superbly presented, and enthusiastically recommended addition to academic library Japanese Culture & History reference collections, and the supplemental reading lists of professional designers and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Japanese culture, art, and history.
Sailing Away From Winter
Silver Donald Cameron
McClelland & Stewart
75 Sherbourne Street, 5th Floor, Toronto, ON M5A 2P9
077101841X $25.95 www.mcclelland.com 1-800-788-1074
"Sailing Away From Winter: A Cruise From Nova Scotia to Florida and Beyond" is the true-life memoir of Canadian columnist Silver Donald Cameron, who dared to make his dreams of a sea voyage come true. With his wife and their beloved dog, he traveled more than three thousand nautical miles in 236 days, visiting towns dotting the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, crossing the Gulf Stream, experiencing the Bahamas, and much more. A vividly detailed recounting of the joys and perils of navigating the ocean in an aged Norwegian-built ketch, the camaraderie shared with other cruisers, and much more. Highly recommended.
The USCG on the Great Lakes
Thomas P. Ostrom
Elderberry Press
1393 Old Homestead, Second Floor, Oakland, OR 97462
193276271X $19.95 www.elderberrypress.com
Written by history, anthropology, and geography teacher Thomas P. Ostrom, who served in the USCGR from 1961-69, The USCG on the Great Lakes: A History chronicles the existence and duties of the United States Coast Guard on the Great Lakes from its inception in the late 1700's to the present day. From life-saving duties to environmental protection, law enforcement, port security, and much more, the USCG's contributions to national defense throughout the centuries are efficiently summarized, with an extensive bibliography for further reference. A handful of black-and-white photographs and an index round out this highly accessible and thoroughly engaging contribution to American military and nautical history shelves.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
Burroughs' Bookshelf
Color of Violence
Andrea Smith, Beth E. Richie, Julia Sudbury, et. al.
South End Press
7 Brookline Street, #1, Cambridge, MA 02139-4146
089608762X $20.00 www.southendpress.org 1-800-533-8478
Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology is a collection of politically charged writings by a diverse variety of authors (all or nearly all of whom are female) concerning violence against women of color, endemic in numerous settings - from domestic violence to institutionalized or even militarized rape committed against women of color crossing the US-Mexico border, legal and illegal immigrant women of color, and women of color in the prison-industrial complex. Other feminist and person of color concerns addressed range from the tendency of state systems to take black children away from their mothers more readily than white children in the same living situations; the profound negative impact that war has upon the lives of women and the culture they live in; discrimination and dehumanization amid domestic violence shelters; and much more. Though some of Color of Violence may lean toward the radical side of social engineering - such as the exhortation "prisons don't work", which ignores the simple fact that a rapist or murderer removed from society cannot continue his violence against society at large while he remains isolated from it - the majority of the essays are biting, candid, and honest in their assessment of very real inadequacies on personal, familial, and governmental levels to promote a safe world for women, as well as how the white, middle-class feminist perspective can actually be deleterious to the needs of women of color. Highly recommended.
Look What Love Has Done
Joseph Walker
Shadow Mountain
PO Box 30178, Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0178
1590387104 $14.95 www.shadowmountain.com
Columnist Joseph Walker presents Look What Love Has Done: Five-Minute Messages to Lift Your Spirit is a collection of vignettes sure to refresh, reawaken, and engage one's spiritual side. Each writing is only a couple pages long, but touches upon heartfelt warmth, wisdom, and love. A delightful collection to learn from and cherish, whether one reads and reflects upon a few messages at a time or all at once. For example, "Some of us forget that forgiveness and accountability are not mutually exclusive and being sorry - and being forgiven - doesn't free us from the consequences of the choices we make. We can be sorry, forgiven, and accountable. Even if our mistake is big and everyone knows about it."
Skystreak, Skyrocket & Stiletto
Scott Libis
Specialty Press
39966 Grand Avenue, North Branch, MN 55056
1580070841, $24.95 www.specialtypress.com 1-800-895-4585
Airforce aviation expert Scott Libis presents "Skystreak, Skyrocket & Stiletto: Douglas High-Speed X-Planes", a 184-page history and survey of Douglas X-Planes, include details of the first Mac 2 aircraft (D-558-2) and the original March 2 flight by test pilot Scott Crossfield. Libis also covers the ill-fated X-3 Stiletto program. Enhanced with more than 300 photos and illustrations (including a full color section) "Skystreak, Skyrocket & Stiletto" also features the men who flew these plans and the rocket engine technology they helped to develop. "Skystreak, Skyrocket & Stiletto" is an impressive and seminal title that is a strongly recommended, core addition to personal and academic library American Aviation History reference collections.
The Passionate Gardener
Des Kennedy
Greystone Books
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5T 4S7
1553651987 $16.95 www.greystonebooks.com
Written by active speaker, gardener, and environmentalist Des Kennedy, The Passionate Gardener: Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb is a true-life memoir written about the love of gardening, for fellow gardeners and would-be gardeners. With a witty flair, chapters recount the little quirks bordering on insanity common to "plant people", from weather phobias to obsessive-compulsive behavior. The Passionate Gardener perfectly captures the agony and the ecstasy that comes with pursuing a beloved hobby to the best of one's ability, and is especially recommended as a giftbook for gardening enthusiasts.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Carson's Bookshelf
Celebrate Simply
Nancy Twigg
Kregel Publications
PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
082543890X $10.99 www.kregelpublications.com 1-800-733-2607
Written by resourceful wife and mother Nancy Twigg, Celebrate Simply is a solid guide to learning how to celebrate the true meanings of holidays without excessive shopping and overspending. Although a spiritual as well as family-centered guide, Celebrate Simply primarily focuses upon practical strategies for joyful celebration on a budget. Chapters discuss meaningful gift giving, simplifying Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, wedding celebrations (and this is sorely needed in today's hyper-expensive wedding culture), Halloween, Thanksgiving and graduation ceremonies, and also birthdays and anniversaries. Enthusiastically recommended for all families regardless of income level, as the frugal suggestions are notable for their emphasis on the person-to-person connections that holidays are truly all about. "Look for free or low-cost activities that could serve as the theme and entertainment for the [children's birthday] party. Does your city have a children's museum? Is a local church hosting a free puppet show?"
1/2 Price Living
Ellie Kay
Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60610
0802434320 $12.99 www.moody.edu 1-800-621-5111
Written by "Shop, Save & Share Seminars" founder Ellie Kay, popularly known as "America's Family Financial Expert", 1/2 Price Living: Secrets to Living Well on One Income is a practical, no-nonsense guide to cutting one's living expenses in half - including food bills and vacation expenses to housing, clothing costs, and outright debt. From owning a home business that doesn't own you, to means to adapt when one's savings are hit, to the advantages of being a stay-at-home mother (or father) despite the reduced family income, 1/2 Price Living is enthusiastically recommended for learning frugal habits. Anyone who isn't fabulously wealthy - even reasonably well-off readers will find the tips, tricks, and techniques helpful for saving up for a rainy day.
The Christian Combat Manual
Dan Story
AMG Publishers
6815 Shallowford Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37421
0899570372 $17.99 www.amazon.com
Written by Christian apologist Dan Story, The Christian Combat Manual: Helps for Defending Your Faith: A Handbook for Practical Apologetics is emphatically not about physical combat, but rather a guide for Christians to promote and defend their faith, morals, ethics, and worldview in spite of philosophical attacks against it, especially naturalist and postmodernist attacks. In particular, The Christian Combat Manual meticulously deconstructs such postmodernist concepts as "There are no absolute truths" and "All religions are equal", as well as more self-indulgent arguments such as "You Christians have no right to judge other people's behavior." Written in plain terms especially for novice to intermediate Christian apologists, The Christian Combat Manual offers straightforward responses to some of the most common criticisms of Christian beliefs, values, and ethics ("How can you claim that God exists when there is so much pain, suffering, and evil in the world?" "Why do you blame God for evil acts that people are clearly responsible for?"). It should be noted that The Christian Combat Manual takes an unquestionably pro-life stance, and denounces homosexual sex as well as male-female cohabitation outside of marriage, among other traditionalist views, and offers numerous rhetorical tools to persuade and defend these viewpoints. An effectively worded and persuasive guide, though the focus on defending fundamentalist Christianity from uncompromising postmodernism ("There are no absolute truths") detracts from its effectiveness in defending fundamentalist Christianity from more moderate forms of postmodernism ("There are some absolute truths, but none of them cover your argument.")
Coming to Terms with Nature
Leo Panitch & Colin Leys, editors
Monthly Review Press
146 West 29th Street, #6W, New York, NY 10001
1583671528 $25.00 www.monthlyreview.org 1-800-670-9499
Edited by Leo Panitch & Colin Leys, Coming to Terms with Nature: Socialist Register 2007 is an anthology of essays by learned authors discussing the dramatic ecological challenges to capitalism today, and whether socialist thought has progressed sufficiently to address capitalism's weakness in this regard. Writings include "China: Hyper-Development and Environmental Crisis", "Neoliberal Hurricane: Who Framed New Orleans?", "Africa: Eco-Populist Utopias and (Micro-) Capitalist Realities", and much more. It should be noted that "Coming to Terms with Nature" is not a wholesale attack upon capitalism, nor a blind sermon on the mount extolling the virtues of socialism; the purpose here is to explore the failings of each system in addressing serious social and environmental problems, and thereby pave the way for more effective solutions. From smokescreen attacks against "litterbugs" that fail to question the overproduction and overpackaging that contributes to litter and landfills, to so-called "green capitalism" that too often fails to meet the mark of being truly ecologically sustainable, to the significance of the impasse concerning the Kyoto protocol, Coming to Terms is a solid keenly whetted reader, offering eye-opening perspectives to ecological issues long in the making.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Christy's Bookshelf
Cold-Case Killer
Dorothy Francis
Five Star/Thomson Gale
295 Kennedy Memorial Drive, Waterville, Maine 04901
1594144850 $25.95
Keely Moreno is enjoying her business as a foot reflexologist as well as life with long-time friend and lover Punt Ashford while trying to resolve lingering fears and nightmares from her past with an abusive husband. When Keely's cleaning lady Maxine Jackson asks her to help Maxine's son Randy, Keely is hesitant. Randy has recently been released from a 20-year imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend Dyanne Darby after DNA evidence proved he was not the killer. However, when Keely receives a note stating that she will die if she helps Randy, she decides to ask Punt, partner in an investigative agency, to look into the matter.
Randy is angry at his wrongful imprisonment and has a volatile temper. Although proven innocent, no one will hire him and his predicament has embittered him. He insists that the person who killed Dyanne must be one of the divers he used to work with, and Keely and Punt begin to look into these men, most of whom are now successful businessmen. Keely decides to lay low after someone tries to run her over while riding her bike, but the killer, after her with a vengeance, kidnaps Keely and takes her to an abandoned cabin somewhere in the Keys. Keely manages to escape, but facing danger from snakes and alligators is the least of her worries as a fierce race begins between her and the armed killer.
Dorothy Francis gently draws the reader into the laid-back appeal of Key West, her words eloquently portraying its lush beauty and brutal ruggedness. This cozy mystery is loaded with suspense woven into a well-developed mystery that will keep the reader eagerly engaged. Keely is a woman with a past that has left mental sequelae who is trying to move forward with her life. The warm chemistry between Keely and Punt is a bonus for those who enjoy romance, and the secondary characters surrounding Keely add further depth to an exciting read.
Murder off the Books
Evelyn David
Echelon Press
1590805224 $12.99 www.echelonpress.com
Rachel Brenner has just started her new job at O'Herlihy Funeral Home when she learns her brother Dan Thayer is wanted by the police for embezzling money from the college he worked for as well as murdering a coworker. It's bad enough she is being questioned by detectives but private investigator Mackenzie Sullivan is always hanging around with inquiries of his own. Mac has been hired by the university's insurance company to find the money and he figures the best lead to Dan is through his sister. Bodies start popping up everywhere, all with ties to Dan, and Rachel is desperate to prove her brother's innocence while Mac is on his trail, determined to put him in jail.
This is a real whodunit with a fast pace and unique characters. Mac is a retired cop who drives around in everything from an ice cream truck to an exterminator's van. His sidekick Whiskey, a Wolfhound, adds extra dimension to the story and is a real treat for dog lovers. Rachel is a divorced woman with grit and determination. The fact that she and Mac are middle-aged will be appreciated (and applauded) by baby boomers. Mac's associate JJ is quirky enough to be appealing, and the chemistry between Mac and Rachel begs for further exploration in future books in this series.
Evelyn David is a pseudonym for authors Marian Edelman Borden and Rhonda Dossett. Their voices blend to a perfect pitch and make for an exciting read filled with suspense and packed with action.
Christy Tillery French
Reviewer
Debra's Bookshelf
Super Mom Saves the World
Melanie Lynne Hauser
New American Library
c/o Penguin
0451220366 $14.00
Super Mom, the newest member of the Justice League of America, has a lot on her plate in this second installment in Melanie Lynne Hauser's series featuring Birdie Lee, mild-mannered grocery clerk turned uber-Frau. Having gained her extraordinary powers in book one after a Horrible Swiffer Accident--Birdie can clean with the power of ten thousand Swiffers--she finds her powers suddenly upgraded this time around, a mixed blessing, it turns out, as Super Smell can have its drawbacks. With great power comes great responsibility, of course, and Birdie finds a new nemesis or two stirring up trouble in Astro Park, the evil plot of the moment connected with the construction of an over-sized, domed stadium for the town's Little Leaguers. More interesting than Birdie's super-difficulties, however, are the more mundane issues she faces as an ex-wife and mother: her children are growing up--and dating and driving and shutting her out and fraternizing with undesirables--and her ex-husband Dan seems to be on the rebound after a second failed marriage. Meanwhile, Birdie's relationship with nerdy scientist Carl brings its own complications into her life.
The Super Mom books are an interesting mix. In part Hauser offers comic book fantasy, with over-the-top bad guys, in jokes for the superheroically literate (e.g., journalists Jimmy Nelson and Lois Blane), and action scenes in which Super Mom uses her cleaning powers to thwart evildoers. But on top of this cartoony infrastructure Hauser builds a more serious, quite realistic story. And this is where her writing shines, where it is downright poignant at times, when she explores the complicated relationships within families, and in particular the changing dynamics between mothers and their growing children. Humor mixed with heartache. In this outing Hauser does an excellent job, too, of exploring Birdie and her son's developing relationships with Carl's son Greg.
I do have two complaints about the book, one substantial and one...born of disgust. Taking the latter first: there are two occasions in the story in which Birdie--a sworn enemy, remember, of sticky spills and dust and germs, a woman who passes out Wet Naps while crime fighting--in which she...well, I'll let the passages speak for themselves:
"'Birdie.' His arms tightened around me. 'Do you have any idea how much I love you?' I nodded. Then blew my nose on the sleeve of his shirt" (p. 24).
"I blew my nose on the sleeve of his shirt, because I knew he wouldn't mind. And he didn't. He just laughed and wiped it off on the sleeve of my shirt" (p. 63).
He didn't mind?! In what alternate universe is blowing one's nose on the habiliments of one's paramour appropriate behavior? I'm still shuddering over this.
Secondly, I worry that Hauser has jumped the shark in introducing advertising icons such as Mr. Clean into her story as real-life entities. To me part of the strength of the Super Mom story lay in introducing a little bit of fantasy into the otherwise banal world of a more-or-less average house(ex)wife. I am able to accept (a little unwillingly, actually) the existence of the Justice League of America in Super Mom's universe, but for me, at least, positing the real-life existence of the Scrubbing Bubbles and the magical cleaning world they inhabit goes too far. I would implore Hauser to rein in this particular fantasy in her next installment.
And I would advise readers to seek out the author's blog Refrigerator Door, where she writes regularly and with great humor about her own family life and her experiences as a writer.
[Disclaimer: Since reading Melanie Lynne Hauser's first book I have come to know the author a bit, virtually, through our respective blogs, and I in fact have her to thank for my copy of this book. I hope that our acquaintance has not influenced my review.]
Unholy Grail
D.L. Wilson
Berkley
0425214788 $7.99 320 pages
Fordham University professor and Jesuit priest Joseph Romano and Brittany Hamar, a professor at Hunter College, are on the trail of an ancient manuscript in D.L. Wilson's debut novel Unholy Grail. The text they're after is alleged to have been written by James, the brother of Jesus, shortly after the crucifixion. The quest involves the two in a millennia-old religious conspiracy involving the true nature of the Holy Grail and the possible existence of a bloodline of Christ, with descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene alive in the present day. Their investigation is a dangerous one: Hamar has been targeted already by a shadowy assassin, and Jesuit priests have a way of turning up dead after meeting with her.
Unholy Grail is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the author offers some nice surprises early on in the book, when Romano and Hamar first meet in Grand Central Station. And the mystery of the dead priests and the unusual condition of their corpses is initially an interesting one. But the book's dialogue is clunky and there are numerous bits of boring exposition related to Hamar's flirtation with unorthodox religious beliefs. The characters are two-dimensional and no real suspense is built in the story. And the storyline, frankly, feels a bit stale in this post-DaVinci Code world. Unholy Grail is by no means an awful book, but there's nothing that stands out about it either--despite the raves it's elicited from a number of high-power blurbers.
Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii
Lee Goldberg
Signet
0451219007 $6.99
Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii is the second in a series of mysteries by Lee Goldberg based on the television series Monk, which stars Tony Shaloub as the obsessive compulsive Detective Adrian Monk. Monk can't deal with the dirty minutiae of everyday life, but he has a compensatory gift for noticing the telling details that others miss, which makes him both unspeakably annoying to those around him and a brilliant detective. The stories in the Monk books are narrated in the first person by Natalie Teeger, Monk's personal assistant, who provides her boss with a steady stream of Wet Naps and caters, more or less patiently, to his eccentricities.
In this outing, after the solution of an intriguing medical mystery in the book's first chapter, Natalie flies off to Hawaii to attend a friend's wedding, eager for a blissfully Monk-free week on Kauai, but feeling somewhat guilty for having left Monk bereft of her support. Happily, he crashes the party by booking a seat on the same flight. The chore of packing and traveling on a germ-infested airplane would normally be nearly impossible for Monk, but a dose of prescription dioxynl leaves him temporarily compulsion-free, enough to not only enjoy the flight but to use a public restroom and eat off someone else's plate. Once landed in Hawaii, and returned to his usual self, Monk intrudes on the case loads of the local constabulary, who are more than happy for his take on the murder-by-coconut of an elderly woman at Monk's hotel.
There were precisely three spots in Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii when I thought its author was being slightly sloppy--once, for example, when Natalie mentions that she and Monk have to be somewhere in three hours when they can't possibly have that much time to wait (see pages 116, 133, and 138). That is to say, there were three very minor tics in Goldberg's writing that brought me for a moment out of my reading trance. For the rest, it's all good. This second book in the series is a charming read, with funny dialogue that is true to the television series. The experience is really very much the same as as sitting down to watch the show--except that one's enjoyment of the story lasts longer than an hour. Pure escapist fun.
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu
Lee Goldberg
Signet
0451220137 $6.99
There's a serial killer on the loose in San Francisco, a foot fetishist who strangles women while they're jogging and absconds with their left shoes. That the victims are left unevenly shod is particularly irksome to Adrian Monk, the obsessive compulsive detective who is called in to help the SFPD solve the crimes. Before long, Monk becomes more than a consultant on the case. Contract negotiations between the police union and the City have broken down, and a great many police officers--for whom it is illegal to go on strike--have opted to call in sick with the "blue flu" of the book's title. To cope with the crisis the Mayor of San Francisco gives Monk his badge back (Monk lost it years before when his OCD rendered him incapable of performing adequately) and promotes him to Captain of the homicide division. At the same time, a handful of disturbed former police officers are temporarily reinstated on the force to work with Monk.
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu is the third installment in Lee Goldberg's series of TV tie-ins. The story is unusual not only because Monk is operating this time around from within the police department but, more importantly, because he is required to work with a team, delegating tasks he would rather undertake himself to his skeleton force of department rejects. This deviation from the usual formula of the series may be why the Blue Flu is not quite as successful as the previous Monk books. Goldberg needed to concentrate on Monk's responsibilities as acting Captain and focus less on Monk's interactions with Natalie Teeger, his personal assistant and the narrator of the books.
What has impressed me most about the Monk series is Goldberg's charming, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny dialogue. There is still some of this to be found in the Blue Flu:
"Mr. Monk helped you shop?" she said warily.
"Yes," I said.
"I already have enough first-aid supplies and disinfectant to open my own hospital," she said. "I really don't need any more."
"You know what they say," Monk said. "You can never have too much disinfectant."
"Who says that?" Julie said.
"The people without enough disinfectant," Monk said. "Shortly before their miserable, drooling deaths."
But Goldberg's latest simply isn't as funny as the series' previous books. I also had trouble swallowing the book's premise. However depleted the ranks of the SFPD, and however corrupt San Francisco's Mayor, I could not accept that Monk--and, even more so, the wackos returned to active duty to serve under him--would in fact have been reinstated for any length of time.
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu is still a decent read, but it lacks the spark of Goldberg's previous Monk books.
Debra Hamel
Reviewer
Dustin's Bookshelf
His Pain
Wrath James White
Delirium Books
P.O Box 338, North Webster, IN 46555
No ISBN, $35.00
This limited edition, hardcover novella from extreme horror author Wrath James White is a wonderfully crafted piece of the beautifully grotesque. A feat only a select few have pulled off with success and His Pain is no exception.
Since birth, young Jason has suffered through Acute Hypersensitivity, a rare disorder in which every aspect of life brings horrible pain: touch, sight, sound, breathing, eating, etc. With the help of his parents and an unorthodox yogi, Jason will learn to turn his pain into pleasure. But pleasure comes with a heavy price: love and loss, death and desolation.
Wrath James White has written a disturbingly brilliant novella for those with the stomach to experience such a sexually violent and intelligently plotted graphic piece of horror fiction.
Via Dolorosa
Ronald Damien Malfi
Raw Dog Screaming Press
5103 72nd Place, Hyattsville, MD 20784
1933293217, $29.95
Once again Ronald Damien Malfi has written an astounding piece of horror literature that has the makings of a classic.
Returning home from Iraq, Army lieutenant Nick D'Nofrio and his young bride are spending their honeymoon on the beautiful Hilton Head Island. Struggling with a worn hand and inner demons sprouting from memories of the war, Nick begins to unconsciously express his despondency on the mural he has been commissioned to paint on the wall of the main entrance of the hotel. His young wife finds herself between her husband's arms and a dream within a dream as he drifts away during stormy nights to the hotel bar for single-sided conversations with the father of a young soldier who lost his life in the presence of the lieutenant.
Malfi writes with deep emotion, creating characters that grow on the reader and create attachment for the main actor and the supporting cast. His placement is vivid and imaginative, the self-desolation brought on by events and memories of a horrific war experience and the resulting post traumatic stress disorder of the protagonist bring the reader to experience their own inner demons and feelings of pity for the mental condition of Lt. D'Nofrio and the relationship with his wife. At the ending, the reader may look deep within and wonder what happiness and love truly are and what one is willing to do to survive loss and heal unseen wounds.
A Choir of Ill Children
Tom Piccirilli
Bantam Books
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
0553587196, $5.99, 2004, 240 pages
Tom Piccirilli's novel, A Choir of Ill Children is this reviewer's introduction to a fine and bright horror author that has no doubt a large and loyal fan base that will continue to grow long after the author's last words are written.
The ghosts of times past and gone haunt this book to a disturbing and integral effect; what the protagonist hides and hints towards seep through the stunningly structured sentences to reveal themselves in surprising and entertaining conclusions. Throughout this novel the reader will come upon several interesting characters: a geek, elderly witches, conjoined twins, serial dog kickers and child murderers.
Piccirilli's bizarre southern gothic brings the creepiest tones of the deep-south to life in beautifully written atmosphere, strange and exotic characters, and in the prose of a poet.
Dustin La Valley
Reviewer
Gary's Bookshelf
Battlestar Galactica Sagittarius is Bleeding
Peter David
Tor
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
0765316072 $14.95 www.tor.com
I have to admit that when this show came on three seasons ago I was not a fan. Not because I am such a die hard for the original. I just did not like certain things about this new version. But it is Peter David who changed my mind. He gives a depth to the series I was unaware of and tells a very good story. I now, have watched many episodes with a new understanding.
Mighty Mite Zoo Gone Wild
Tao Nguyen
The Amazing Factory LLC
0978846923 $14.95 www.theamazingfactory.com
Max and his family go to the zoo and have lots of interesting things happen to them. The author has once again told a story in very simple terms that packs a lot of deeper meaning. Kids and parents should read and discuss this book together.
Killer in High Heels
Gemma Halliday
Leisure Books
200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
050552712X $6.99 www.dorchesterpub.com
For those of us who like Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich, this is the same type of tale that is a fun witty mystery that will have you laughing out loud. Her characters are memorable with fast paced writing that moves along to a nice final conclusion.
America's Last Days
Douglas Makinnon
Leisure Books
200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
0843958022 $6.99 www.dorchesterpub.com
Many businessmen feel the United States is on the wrong course. A handful want to change the path forever. They have devised a plan to turn the nation around and set it on a new track. This is a very well done "Seven Days In May" type of novel of government takeover. It is a fast paced read that says a lot about our country and shows how the American people have very little say.
Riding Shotgun
Story by Nathaniel Bowden artwork by Tracy Yardley
Tokyopop Inc
5900 Wilshire Blvd Suite 2000, Los Angeles, CA 90036
1598167405 $9.99 www.tolkyopop.com
I was hooked from the first page of this violent and weird graphic novel. Graphic is one great word to describe it. The story deals with hit men finding their targets and taking them out. They are doing their job with guns blazing, high-speed chases, and dead bodies left behind. This is not material for kids.
Hundred-Dollar Baby
Robert B. Parker
Putnam
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
0399153764 $24.95 www.penguin.com
This Spenser mystery moves around from Boston to New York with a story that is very simple. A character from several other novels returns to hire Spenser to protect her from some bothersome men who want to put her out of business. Spenser and Hawk are on the case that has lots of twists and turns until the final surprise ending. Parker once again has written a story with snappy dialogue, fast paced writing and characters you love in one of the best Spenser books in a long time.
Appaloosa
Robert B. Parker
Putnam
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
0425204324 $7.99 www.penguin.com
Robert B. Parker is back with a great western that has colorful characters, fast paced dialogue and swift writing that carries the story along. The relationship of the main characters is very much like Spenser and Hawk, Parker's own Spenser series. This is a good western by a very gifted storyteller.
Cow and Buffalo in Adventures in Sandwich Making
Mike Maihack
Self-Published
9781424325856 $10.00 www.cowandbuffalo.com
For a couple of years this comic has only been available on the Internet. Now this is the first collection of the cow and buffalo adventures from September 2005 to August 2006. There is some funny stuff here that is great for any age.
The Morning of Joy
Edgar John L'Heureux Jr
Sabal Palm Press
PO Box 756, Goldenrod, Fl 32733-0756
0961634138 $16.95
This is another fine novel involving humans and the environment. L'Heureux is the Florida John Updike because he tells his stories with strong prose that keep readers interested and grand characters in believable conflicts.
My Heart Purse
Written and illustrated by Chris Shea
Harper Festival
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
0060838752 $9.99 www.harpercollinschildrens.com
This nice little book in the shape of a heart shows and tells about the purse and it many function. Kids of all ages will enjoy this fun book.
7 Days at the Hot Corner
Terry Trueman
Harper Teen
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
0060574941 $15.99 www.harperteen.com
I love how the author tackles a social issue and shows the relationship of two long time friends and how it's changed, as well as each characters parents and how they deal with the same issue. The sport of baseball is the backdrop for a story that is filled with interesting characters, simple writing that flows the story along until its surprise ending.
Vengeance of the Rain God
Publish America
www.publishamerica.com
142414275X $19.95
I love this novel of a con artist who assumes the identity of a detective. The fun of the story is seeing if he screws up or not. This tale is very much like the old pulp mystery fiction with a lady in peril and a private investigator to the rescue. The writing is very strong and moves rapidly with characters that enrich the story. This is a novel that should be in the Hard Case line of mystery fiction.
Gary Roen
Reviewer
Gloria's Bookshelf
Deadly Advice
Roberta Isleib
Berkley Prime Crime
375 Hudson St., NY, NY 10014
0425214745 $6.99 www.penguingroup.com 800-847-5515
Roberta Isleib, the author of five novels in the Golf Lover's Mysteries series, here introduces what one may hope is the first of many in the Advice Column Mysteries. Her protagonist is the psychologist/advice columnist Dr. Rebecca Butterman, who pens a column called "Late Bloomer," aimed primarily at lonely housewives, for the online magazine "Bloom!," dispensing advice under the nom de plume of Dr. Aster. She returns to her home in Guilford, Connecticut one evening only to find that her next-door neighbor has apparently committed suicide. Though she had not been close to the women, Rebecca, a clinical psychologist specializing in anxiety, depression and marital problems [she is also an adjunct faculty member at Yale], feel s a responsibility, questioning her own abilities in not discerning what must have been severe depression in her neighbor. Beyond that, the woman's mother is convinced that what seems to be a suicide note was not actually written by her daughter. [I have to admit to thinking her reasons for suspecting murder were a bit flimsy, but that's what a willing suspension of disbelief is all about, I guess.]
To complicate her already crowded life, her editor wants Rebecca, herself a divorced single woman, to explore the singles scene, online and otherwise, and write an article with follow-ups on her findings, which turn up scenes more interesting than even she would have wished. Rebecca is an interesting protagonist, with her busy multi-faceted life. Parenthetically, I loved the brief appearance made in the book by Cassie Burdette, the protagonist of this author's other series. The book is well-written and interesting, and the culprit an unexpected one. And the author gives us an intriguing glimpse of what may be an interesting romantic liaison for Rebecca in future books.
Storm Runners
T. Jefferson Parker
William Morrow
10 East 53rd St., NY, NY 10022
0060854235 $25.95 www.harpercollins.com 800-242-7737
Talk about your attention-getting opening lines. This newest book by Edgar-award winning author T. Jefferson Parker opens with this one: "Stromsoe was in high school when he met the boy who would someday murder his wife and son." That man is Mike Tavarez, for four years Matt Stromsoe's best friend, at some point thereafter the lover of his wife-to-be, and ultimately the person who caused her death and that of their eight-year-old son from a bomb that was meant for him. The explosion also left him with horrific injuries: the loss of one eye, a finger, ruptured eardrums and several broken bones, among other things. Tavarez is arrested and ultimately sentenced to life in prison for ordering the bomb. At that point in his life, Matt had been for many years a narcotics deputy with the sheriff's office, living in Newport Beach, California, Mike Tavarez [nicknamed "El Jefe"] the boss of one of the worst of the California gangs, one which had a thousand members with gangsters in every state in the US and twelve foreign countries.
Following his family's death, almost understandably Matt falls victim to a deep depression and alcoholism until, 2 years later, he is hired by a former colleague who runs a private security firm, and he begins to move on with his life. Assigned to protect a beautiful young meteorologist/TV weather forecaster who is being stalked, things come full circle when a still vengeful Mike Tavarez once again enters his life.
The author has woven a crafty and imaginative plot in an ingenious tale that brings Matt into the sights of powerful people, with Tavarez once again plotting his destruction. He offers a fascinating glimpse into a world with which most readers are unfamiliar, one similar to but with more poetry than the one limned years ago in the classic film "Chinatown," and does so convincingly. Suspenseful as are all Mr. Parker's books, with a pulse-pounding ending, Storm Runners is another winner for this author.
Cold Day in Hell
Richard Hawke
Random House
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
1400064260 $24.95 www.randomhouse.com 800-726-0600
The opening line of Richard Hawke's new novel [following the first in the series, Speak of the Devil], is: "On the last day of her life, she took a yoga class." The 'she' in question is Robin Burrell, whose neighbor, Margo, is the girlfriend of Fritz Malone, the NYC p.i. who is Mr. Hawke's protagonist in this series. Robin is the third woman to have died in similar gruesome manner, and Marshall Fox, the man who had been her lover, and who had known the first two victims, was now in jail and on trial for those two murders. The trial has been grist for the mill of the media, since the accused is an internationally known late-night comic. When there is a fourth, similar, killing less than eighteen hours later, the inescapable conclusion is that in all likelihood, someone else is the killer of all these victims—or is it a copycat?
One week before she was killed, Robin had asked Fritz to look at some of the huge amounts of letters and e-mails she'd received since the trial had started, some supportive, some hateful and hate-filled, which he gladly did; now he is feeling some guilt for not having warned her to be more careful, that somehow he could have or should have done something that would have avoided her death, as a result of which he feels compelled to look into the matter. This causes no small friction between Fritz and Margo, his significant other and the daughter of his one-time boss, partner and mentor.
To merely call Cold Day in Hell eminently readable is to do it an injustice, but that is the phrase that came to me while engrossed in this well-plotted and intriguing tale. Megan Lamb, the troubled police detective who works with Fritz on the investigation, is an interesting character, and Fritz is a wonderful protagonist, his humor lightening the grisly story of what appears to be a serial killer, or more than one killer committing lurid murders with no discernible connection to each other. A fast and enjoyable read.
Gray Ghost
William G. Tapply
St. Martin's Minotaur
175 Fifth Ave., NY, NY 10010
0312363036 $23.95 www.stmartins.com 646-307-5560
In his newest novel, William G. Tapply brings back Stonewall Jackson [Stoney] Calhoun, protagonist of Bitch Creek, the first in what appears to be a new series for this prolific author. [This was apparently not the author's original intention, but the acclaim received by the first book encouraged him to bring Stoney back.] Stoney woke up seven years ago in a VA hospital where he was taken after being struck by lightning, with absolutely no memory of who he was or anything of his life before that moment. Now 32 years old, he has started a new life for himself as a part-time fishing guide and part-owner of a fly shop and guide service in Portland, Maine, living alone but for his dog, Ralph [full name, Ralph Waldo], in a cabin in the woods.
Out one day on a charter fishing job with Paul Vecchio, a likeable and inoffensive history professor, they stop at one of the many little islands in the Bay and stumble upon a man's body, burned beyond recognition, throat cut and body mutilated. The sheriff, who other than Kate, the complicated woman who is his business partner and more, is just about Stoney's only friend in the world, urges Stoney to let him deputize him and assist him in the investigation, but Stoney turns him down. The sheriff tells him: "You know how to analyze things. You're objective. You notice things, and you remember everything. You're smart as hell, and you're discreet, and most of all, I trust you. I need you." He concedes: "I guess I used to be some kind of cop…before I got hit by lightning and had everything zapped out of my brain. All I can tell you for sure is, I'm not a cop anymore, and I don't want to be. I just want to hang out with my dog, sleep in my cabin in the woods, listen to the birds sing and my brook gurgle, split and stack firewood, and maybe go fishing once in a while." But when Stoney comes home to find Vecchio's dead body sitting in a chair outside his cabin a couple of days later, he reconsiders, feeling somehow responsible.
Stoney Calhoun is a wonderful creation, a man with all sorts of abilities the origin of which he cannot begin to fathom—"he'd also discovered that he knew how to hurt people with his hands, and that it didn't bother him when he had to do it." And then there is the presence of the person Stoney refers to as The Man in the Suit, who turns up from time to time since the VA hospital to try to determine what if anything Calhoun might have remembered from his previous life and always relieved when told that he remembered nothing.
The wonderful descriptions of the Maine landscapes and waters, the well-rendered characters [including Ralph, as much of a presence as any human in the story – although not in a "cute" way – not that that's a bad thing, mind you], and the mystery of both the past and the present, make this a beautifully written, terrific read, and it is highly recommended.
Disturbing the Dead
Sandra Parshall
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. 1st Ave., Ste.103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, 800-421-3976
1590583787 $24.95 www.poisonedpenpress.com
The attention-grabbing opening line of Sandra Parshall's new novel, Disturbing the Dead [after her stunning debut novel in 2006, The Heat of the Moon], is "He wanted the skull." The "he" in question is Tom Bridger, chief deputy with the county sheriff's department in Mason County in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who, with the rest of his men, is searching for the remaining parts of a skeleton discovered on a remote Appalachian mountaintop, the victim having apparently been murdered. Tom is half Melungeon, a tri-racial group indigenous to the area, a mixture of white, Native American and black historically living under the yoke of poverty and legalized discrimination. [Among other things the author has accomplished with this novel is to raise the reader's awareness about this group which, I suspect, is little known to most Americans, providing a fascinating insight.] Tom was a cop with the Richmond, Virginia Police Dept. before returning home to fill the position previously held by his late father. The skull is found, and identified as being that of Pauline McClure, a beautiful, wealthy widow, herself Melungeon, who had gone missing ten years earlier. That case was one that had haunted and even obsessed Tom's father, and Tom now takes up the investigation. But there are those who fe el sleeping dogs should be left to lie, and Tom is told: "I wish you'd never found her…I wish she'd been left to rest where she was. You mark my words, young man, no good will come from disturbing the dead." Rachel Goddard, the young veterinarian of whom Tom is enamored, introduced to readers in the earlier novel, becomes involved in the mystery of Pauline's death through her connection with the woman's niece, Holly, who Rachel has taken under her wing. Her problematical relationship with Tom, and her ongoing attempts to deal with the past trauma in her life, continue to make her a sympathetic protagonist.
Family dynamics, as well as their secrets and the anguish they can leave in their wake, are drawn by this author in the same resonating manner as in her earlier novel. The sense of place, and the ever-present bird and animal life, are terrific. I had an inkling of where the author was headed with the plot, but she still managed to surprise with the suspenseful conclusion. Despite a few clunky phrases which crept into the otherwise fine writing, Disturbing the Dead is a first-rate follow-up by this author to her outstanding first novel.
Dead Simple
Peter James
Carroll & Graf
245 W. 17th St., NY, NY 10011
0786718498 $14.95 www.avalonpub.com 800-788-3123
The 'hook' in Dead Simple is a fairly terrifying scenario in which Michael Harrison, a young but already wealthy property developer, is taken out by four of his best buddies for a stag night, preceding by a few days his impending marriage to Ashley. He would seem to have it all: wealth, looks, money, and a gorgeous and loving fiancee. But his friends' idea of fun is to bury him alive, in an act dubbed 'Operation revenge!' and planning to return two hours later to dig him out. Michael, after all, is the one who planned the truly awful pranks played on the others before their marriages. They leave him with a flashlight, a porn magazine, a walkie-talkie and a breathing tube. But things go awry when their car is involved in a horrendous crash just after leaving the forest in which the drunken men have buried their friend. The only one of Michael's friends not present for the 'fun' is his business partner, Mark Warren, who had actually organized the evening's events but had not been able to join them until later in the evening. Knowing all the details, he lies to the police, whose investigation is headed up by Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, the protagonist in this new series.
Matters of the heart play a part in the plot, with doubt about Ashley's fidelity coming into question, as well as in D.S. Grace's private life: Now 39 years old, and his wife having disappeared nearly nine years previously, with him having had only a handful of dates in all that time, he finds himself reluctantly embarking on romantic forays, juggling guilt with the feeling that perhaps it was time for him to 'move on.' Also playing a part is the way the author, or should I say D.S. Grace, brings another element to the tale, that of the occult, or supernatural influences. This is not dealt with in too much detail and, though that is generally not my thing, its effect was a small but vital part of the story line, and I think the author handled it well. Also handled well by Mr. James is accomplishing the difficult task of sustaining the suspense inherent in the situation virtually from page one and throughout the book, tamping it down a bit here and there and just as suddenly ramping it up again, never quite letting the reader off the edge of his or her seat. Although this book was published almost exactly a year ago, the rationale behind it being read and reviewed at this time is because "Looking Good Dead," the next book in the series, just published, now awaits my attention. My hope is that it is just as good.
Looking Good Dead
Peter James
Carroll & Graf
245 W. 17th St., NY, NY 10011-5300
0786718803 $26.95 www.carrollandgraf.com 800-788-3123
The reader is irritatingly [but necessarily] reminded at this outset of this novel of the ubiquity of electronics in our world – incessant cellphone chattering, texting, laptops. Some of the uglier abilities are made all too clear when Tom Bryce discovers that a CD left behind by a passenger on the train with him, which he picked up with the best of intentions to try to return to its owner, holds what appears to be a snuff film, depicting the brutal stabbing death of a beautiful young woman as she is in the act of undressing. A horrified Bryce is soon warned, through e-mail, not to pursue what he has seen, nor to contact the police, on threat of dire consequences to himself and his family.
The action in Looking Good Dead begins the day after the resolution of the crime depicted in Dead Simple, this author's excellent first book in the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series. Grace is immediately plunged into a new murder investigation when a woman's dismembered torso is discovered where it had been dumped in farmland in a suburb of Brighton, England. Is it the same woman Tom had earlier witnessed being murdered? The reader isn't told [well, not for a while, anyway.]
Grace's thoughts are, of course, still preoccupied with his wife who has been missing without a trace for nearly nine years, and wondering if she is alive or dead, while trying to move on with his life and risk new romantic entanglements, something he has till now resisted [for the most part]. At the same time trying to solve his newest murder case. As in the earlier novel but in a relatively small way, Grace's tentative belief in the occult comes into play.
The author raises the question: "Do we all have a hidden dark side?" The suspense in intense, the writing is wonderful – I loved the author's descriptions, e.g., a tie is described as looking 'like it had been designed by a colour-blind chimpanzee on crack' [although I must admit I'm still trying to figure out the hue of eyes described as 'the colour of sunlight on ice'], and his invoking of one of my favorite lines ever, from Conan Doyle: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' Looking Good Dead is a wonderful follow-up to a terrific first novel. [Caveat: Don't read the flyleaf – Spoiler contained therein.]
Gloria Feit
Reviewer
Gorden's Bookshelf
Dead Run
P.J. Tracy
Signet
New American Library a division of Penguin Putman Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
0451218159 $7.99
If you have read other stories by Tracy, you might be expecting a murder mystery. 'Dead Run' is an action/adventure shoot-em-up. The characters from the other 'Monkeewrench' novels are there but the detective core of the story is shifted to an action with the flawed female antagonists taking the lead.
Grace MacBride, Annie Belinsky and Sharon Mueller are driving to Green Bay to help the local police find a killer when their car breaks down. They walk to an isolated gas station and a café, the only remaining buildings of a dying town called Four Corners. Nothing is moving and no sounds can be heard. They find the phone lines cut. A pickup speeds into town and they watch gunmen kill the couple inside. Men with rifles surround the town and seem to be willing to kill anyone they find. Three women with two handguns have to survive against scores of men with rifles. The killing has just started.
P. J. Tracy is a mother/daughter writing team. Using their perspective of the genders, they have produced a readable spin off the male action novel. It is a continuing development of the characters introduced in the first 'Monkeewrench' novels. But 'Dead Run' should not be considered a mystery but rather a suspense novel based on action. It is a good story that fits between the typical genre lines.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Michael Connelly
Warner Books
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0446616451$7.99
Connelly writes action/mysteries. In 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' he shifts from his standard detective mystery to a legal protagonist. His storytelling has improved with the change. The layers, of personal and professional details, permit the mystery to unfold without the extreme gymnastics expected in today's detective novels.
Mickey Haller is a defense lawyer. He spends at least as much time making money as he does defending his clients. To become his client, you first have to pass the financial question. Will defending this client generate money, produce marketing public relations or fulfill a previous commitment? If the balance sheet tips in Mickey's favor, he takes your case. Mickey is called by a Beverly Hills rich boy to defend him in an assault case. Haller sees a long expensive case with hundreds of billable hours at his top rate. Suddenly he finds his worst nightmare, an innocent man. He also finds pure evil. The legal machine, as he calls it, is pulling everyone, including Mickey Haller, into its maw of justice. Too bad for Mickey if the machine doesn't care who it chews up.
'The Lincoln Lawyer' is a must for those who like hard mystery stories. The protagonists feel real with built in flaws. The typical legal mystery feels staged with façade of the legal profession masking the tale. The fast paced grittiness of the story with layers of personal and professional details creates a fun ride. It is one of the best mysteries of last year.
S.A. Gorden
Reviewer
Greenspan's Bookshelf
Black River
Kenneth Sherman
The Porcupine's Quills, Inc.
68 Main Street, Erin, Ontario, Canada, N0B 1T0
University of Toronto Press (distributor)
10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8
0889842892, $14.95 www.sentex.net/~pql www.utppublishing.com 1-800-565-9523
Kenneth Sherman's poetry uniquely balances tragedy and comic irony as it takes for its subject matter such issues as the Holocaust, the decimation of Canada's First Nations, the posturing of politicians and the hubris of literary impresarios. Sherman's untitled verse is a cornucopia of local history, social commentary, and personal reminiscence formulated through a lyrical language that holds as its common anchor a meandering stream near Sutton, Ontario named 'The Black River' by the original settlers of the area. Fascinating and thoughtful reading, "Black River" is an accomplished collection that will introduce a skilled poet to an appreciative audience far beyond the borders of geography and time. 'How could he see/the small tributaries of the Black River/stoked with ammonia, phosphates, PCBs?/Our luminous cocktail. 'How could he know/those river deities would one day be requisitioned by/the Sunlight Detergent Company, the Simcoe/Dairy Factory, the Georgina Township/Water Authority? The Brackish surface/a deep bottle green breeding algae on the bleached banks,/cotton-like strands melting to slime/between trembling fingers./Our horror ditch.'
Primary Care
Angela Belli & Jack Coulehan, editors
University of Iowa Press
11030 S. Langley Ave., Chicago, IL 60628
1587295032 $19.95 www.uiowapress.org
Primary Care: More Poems by Physicians is the second anthology of its kind edited by Professor of English Angela Belli and medical practitioner and teacher Jack Coulehan. Compiling (mostly free-verse) poems from fifty-two contemporary physicians, Primary Care expresses views on medical practice, interpersonal relationships, and the modern world. Marked by sympathy for the suffering, recognition of the toll that trauma and death take on life, the poems speak with an authentic reality and unforgettably powerful tone. An introduction, set of thumbnail biographies of contributors, and index of titles round out this superb collection. Also highly recommended is the previous anthology in the series, "Blood and Bone: Poems by Physicians". "Kindergarten Physical": 6th of 8 children / he stands, / stripped to his superman / underwear, / round scars on chest / and back, / one thick straight scar / (razor cut) / down the trunk, / and, removing his sock / the ring: / "Mama use to chain me / down the basement."
As Long as the Moon Shall Rise
Ellen Moore Anderson, editor
Holy Cow Press
PO Box 3170, Mount Royal Station, Duluth, MN 55803
0977945804 $14.95 www.amazon.com
Edited by oil painter and former teacher Ellen Moore Anderson, As Long as the Moon Shall Rise: Reflections on the Full Moon is a wondrous combination of colorful art, timeless poetry, and snippets of prose. Compiling excerpts of classical moon-themed writings by authors such as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson with diverse and eclectic moon-themed artworks, "full-moon journal" pages in which the reader can write, a three-year lunar calendar, moon-related information, and a list of suggested full moon gifts, As Long as the Moon Shall Rise is a quality, one-of-a-kind giftbook that celebrates the full moon and humanity's reflections upon it as surely as it expresses thoughts of tenderness and compassion. "An Inquiry on a Blustery Night": Inscrutable silent queen, / are you fleeing from that billowing armada of clouds, / or, sedately seated, commanding those ghostly galleons / to sail on out of your realm?"
Coming Together for the Sake of God
Hanspeter Heinz & Michael A. Signer, editors
The Liturgical Press
St. Johns Abbey PO Box 7500, Collegeville, MN 56321-7500
0814651674 $19.95 www.litpress.org 1-800-858-5450
Edited by Hanspeter Heinz and Michael A. Signer, Coming Together for the Sake of God: Contributions to Jewish-Christian Dialogue From Post-Holocaust Germany gathers position papers and guides from the discussion group "Jews and Christians" sponsored by the Central Committee (a federation of groups) of the German Catholic Church. Currently composed of ten Jewish and sixteen Catholic members, the group has sponsored conferences and conventions since 1979 among other activities to promote religious education, study, and dialogue. Coming Together for the Sake of God is partly about repercussions from the Holocaust, and partly about critical issues in Jewish-Christian theological dialogue, and the essays range in date from 1979 to 2005. In addition to the eight main essays (including "After Fifty Years: How Can We Talk about Guilt, Suffering, and Reconciliation?", "Reflections on the Shoah", and "Pope Pius IX and the Jews"), Coming Together for the Sake of God also includes a set of responses to the work of the discussion group. Appendices offer more information on the diverse contributors, membership lists for the discussion group, and more. A somber, respectful search for enlightened common ground between faiths, especially in the wake of genocidal historical atrocity.
Able Greenspan
Reviewer
Harold's Bookshelf
When Turtle Grew Feathers
Tim Tingle
August House Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 3223, Little Rock, AK 72203
0874837774 $16.95
Basically this is the story of the Turtle and the Hare as told by the Native American Choctaw nation. In this version we learn the value of friends and helping one another. As expected Turtle wins this race but there is something very unusual about this particular turtle. A delightful read and well-illustrated When Turtle Grew Feathers is a highly recommended children's book.
Battling the Corporate Giants
Daniel L. Lowery
American Book Business Press
PO Box 65624, Salt Lake City, UT 84165
1589823613 $19.95
Author Daniel Lowery uses the story of David and Goliath as an object lesson for businesses. In this book Lowery skillfully discusses the challenges faced by small business in a world of corporate giants. Throughout the book there are examples of how large corporations typically attack and consume smaller companies and how smaller companies can not only defend themselves but thrive in this environment by actually taking advantage of the features of corporate giants.
Some of the items discussed include how to deal with price wars, supply problems, changing rules, and employee hijacking. How to choose your weapons instead of having your opponent choose them for you and many other clear illustrations of how large corporations take advantage of their size and how those strategies can be defeated. An excellent book for the small business person, Battling the Corporate Giants is easy to read, easy to understand, insightful and highly recommended.
Unicorn Races
Stephen J. Brooks
Purple Sky Publishing
PO Box 12013, Parkville, MO 64152
0976901730 $16.95
The first thing that catches your eye with this book has to be the rich, colorful illustrations on every page. Combine that with an imaginative story that children, and especially young girls, are sure to love and you have a real winner of a book. In this story Abigail spends each night in a clearing in a magical forest where unicorns race across the night sky. After the race and some well deserved treats she is returned home for her night's rest. Beautifully illustrated and sure to keep the attention of young children, Unicorn Races is a recommended read.
The Well-Fed Self-Publisher
Peter Bowerman
Fanove Publishing
3713 Stonewall Circle, Atlanta, GA 30339
0967059860 $19.95
If you are self-publishing your book and want access to one of the better guides in the industry they you will be interested in this book. Author Peter Bowerman walks the reader through the process of publishing your book, creating demand, and filling that demand. In addition to the route that he chose for publishing his books he shares the results of his research into the various options and the pros and cons of each. So, if your book does not fit the same niche style or marketing options that his does then you still end up with the information needed to take an alternative path to reach your goal.
Some of the areas discussed by the author include why you should consider self-publishing, how to enjoy sales and marketing, how to correctly build the book from choosing a cover to copyrighting, to pricing, building demand, working with Amazon.com, getting free publicity, and the Print On Demand option. The Well-Fed Self-Publisher is the best how-to book of this genre that I have seen and, consistent with Peter Bowerman's other titles, a highly recommended read for all self-publishers.
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective
Erik Greene
Trafford Publishing
6E-2333 Government St., Victoria, BC V8T 4P4 Canada
1412064988 $22.50
Many people have written biographies of the life and music of Sam Cooke. What makes this book different? Most other books generally portray the history of the artist but there is another side to Sam Cooke that few people really know. This book vividly portrays the life of Uncle Sam Cooke from the perspective of those who knew him best – his family.
Written by his grand-nephew, Erik Greene shares in the foreword how he came to appreciate the music of his Uncle Sam. As you read through the book you soon come to feel you are being invited to somehow become a member of this family. Written in a very personable style reminiscent of someone sharing at a family reunion, it is a delight to read. "Our Uncle Sam is highly recommended to anyone who is a fan of Sam Cooke the man or the artist.
The Portable Seminary
David Horton
Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55438
0764201603 $34.99
Since receiving this book the most common question I get is whether or not it is really equivalent to a Master's Level education. The first thing to note is that it does not claim to be equivalent to a Master's Level education. The subtitle calls it a Master's Level Overview. It is a summary of important points and details and never claims to be an actual Master's Level detail education.
The Portable Seminary: A Master's Level Overview in One Volume is a great resource for those who would like to know the basics of what one learns in a Seminary program. The areas covered include the doctrines of Scripture, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Humanity, Sin, Salvation, the Church, and Last Things, the subjects of Biblical Languages, Scripture Interpretation, the Old Testament Survey, the New Testament Survey, and the time between the Testaments, Apologetics, World Religions, Church History, Missions, Church Leadership, Christian Ethics and Christian Education.
Remembering that this is an overview the Biblical Languages section gives a good example of the level at which this is written. Obviously in 20 pages you are not going to learn to read Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. However, it does provide the alphabet in both Hebrew and Greek, examples of translational problems, examples of unique aspects of the language, historical information, grammar, style, figures of speech, and other items of interest related to the language. This in turn brings a much greater respect for the language and the problems of translation. The chapters on church history are excellent and include many of the early church heresies as well as important individuals and movements.
The primary items you will learn at a typical seminary but are not included in this book are things like how to pastor a church, church finances, performing church functions, church human resources, Christian counseling, and similar items related to the running of a church. The focus is much more on classic Bible doctrines, history, and other educational items directly related to understanding and applying the Bible and not church administration. That makes this an excellent resource for those who want to deepen their knowledge of the Bible, the history of the church, comparative world religions, and applying Biblical principles in everyday life.
The book is written in a style that allows the average reader to understand concepts easily. A thoroughly enjoyable read and an excellent high-level overview of a typical Master's level seminary education, The Portable Seminary is highly recommended to all Christians.
Marketing in the Public Sector
Philip Kotler, Nancy Lee
Wharton School Publishing
Pearson Education, Inc., One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
0131875159 $34.99
The target audience for this particular book is government agencies. Inside you will find tools to get citizens involved with and supporting your agency, using your products and services, and how to influence public behaviors. The authors also include specific roadmaps to creating brand identity, gathering citizen input, and evaluating the results of your efforts. One of the better sections includes a how-to model for building an organization that is both high-tech and high-touch.
The book focuses on all levels of government agencies from the public servant trying to allocate scarce resources to governmental units trying to create social consensus to get things done. Loaded with lots of examples, Marketing in the Public Sector is required reading for governmental agencies
Talk Turkey to Me
Renee S. Ferguson
Wishbone Press and Promotions, Inc.
PO Box 414, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
0977732134 19.95
The title says it all with this book. It is simply about how to prepare Turkey and all the trimmings for a delicious meal. The information is complete, covering things like how to pick the right size, working with fresh versus frozen, thawing techniques, seasoning, checking doneness, and basting. It even includes a surprising variety of ways in which to cook your turkey such as in an oven bag, open pan, covered pan, convection oven, on a grill, in a smoker or even deep frying. If that is not enough then what about the even more unusual methods such as brining, upside-down, microwaving, roasting from frozen, boiling, stewing, and even cooking in a crock-pot.
Of course the book would not be complete without recipes for all the things that go with turkey and the recipes are here - gravy, appetizers, cranberry and other fruit side dishes, vegetable dishes, potato dishes, stuffing, breads and rolls, and desserts. There are even instructions for storing and serving the leftovers which many people plan for when they buy their turkey. Each recipe is well written and easy to follow and the results are delicious. Talk Turkey to Me is a highly recommended specialty cookbook.
Harold McFarland
Reviewer
Harwood's Bookshelf
Putting Away Childish Things: The Virgin Birth, the Empty Tomb, and Other Fairy Tales You Don't Need to Believe to Have a Living Faith
Uta Ranke-Heinemann
HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
006066861X $12.00
Consider the following synopsis: "Wind in the Willows is infested to the core with fairy tales. Words and actions attributed to Rat and Mole were never spoken or performed by them. And because of those fairy tales, the true message of Toad of Toad Hall has been distorted and falsified. We must put aside the fairy tales and start following the eternal truths that Toad actually taught." Before reading Putting Away Childish Things, I could not in my wildest fantasies have imagined anyone not only writing such imbecilic drivel, but actually believing it. But URH's book is an absolute analogue of the foregoing endorsement of Wind in the Willows's "real message."
Uta Ranke-Heinemann proves in this book that it is possible to reject almost every fairy tale promulgated by the Catholic Church, and still consider oneself a Catholic. That is analogous to rejecting flat-earth doctrines while still considering oneself a flat-earther. It can be done—but only by the intestinally challenged who need to cling to an afterlife belief in order to overcome their terror of death and get them through the day without losing control of their bodily functions. As for URH's continued admiration for Jesus, that raises a question of whether she has actually read the sermons put into the mouth of that fatuous, xenophobic, egocentric, self-deluded, "my way or the highway," prototype Pat Robertson. And her declaration that, "What Jesus preaches overcomes all the sermons [by Catholic theologians] on Hell" (p. 247), allows for only two possibilities. Either she has never read the gospel passages in which Jesus threatened his skeptics with eternal torture in an underworld Auschwitz that can only be described as a sadist's wet dream, (Mk 9:47-8; Mt 5:22; Lk 16:23-25), or "there are none so blind as those who will not see."
On page 2 URH refers to "the truth of God's compassion, which has been obscured by the Church's many fairy tales and which is nonetheless the only truth." On page 6 she refers to "the truth of the resurrection." On page 10 she endorses the third gospel's pretence that Jesus and John the Immerser were cousins, when any biblical historian could have told her that they were leaders of opposing sects, opposition messiahs. On page 11 she endorses the myth that Jesus grew up in "Nazareth," even though there was no village of that name earlier than the fourth century. And she refers to Common Era dates as "A.D." blissfully unaware that such terminology is offensive and insulting to the 5.5 billion persons on this planet who do not believe they are living in the "year of the master." And while recognizing the "virgin birth" as a fairy tale, she attributes it to the anonymous authors of Matthew and Luke, with no awareness that it is an interpolation that was not originally a part of either gospel. After those early warnings that URH is as ignorant of historical reality and documentary analysis as believers in the nonsense she does recognize as fairy tales, it would have been unrealistic to expect any part of her book to serve any useful function. And it does not.
URH believes that Jesus really did rise from the dead on the third day. Believers in that myth have used various means to explain away the fifty other saviors resurrected on the third day as much as 3,000 years before Jesus. A notorious Canadian Holocaust denier responded to a "letter to the editor" that cited Jesus' fifty predecessors by stating in effect that, if he had not heard of a fact of history, then it did not happen. Tertullian rationalized that the devil had impersonated Jesus by imitating his resurrection—millennia before it happened. URH, who recognizes that Jesus was neither a god nor the son of a god nor the son of a virgin, as all previous resurrected saviors had been, does not even mention the myth's prototypes. That raises the question: Is she so ignorant of the subject she has the chutzpah to teach, that she does not know there were risen saviors before Jesus? Or does she buy into Tertullian's masturbation fantasy? There is surely no third explanation. Either way, any person who continues to believe that a man was resurrected from the dead, even after being confronted by the evidence, should seek employment more compatible with her limitations—such as sweeping streets.
Because of the Concordat between Pope Pius XII and Adolf Hitler that gave the Catholic Church in Germany veto rights over what universities are allowed to teach about religion, URH was fired as a theology professor for teaching that the virgin birth fairy tale is indeed a fairy tale. It is a damning indictment of the Catholic Church's totalitarianism that a professor could be fired for rejecting virgin birth, even after Cardinal Ratzinger had written in Einführung that, "The doctrine of Jesus' divinity would not be violated if Jesus had been the product of a normal human marriage. For the divine sonship that faith speaks of is not a biological, but an ontological fact" (p. 41). In firing URH, was the church hierarchy labeling the future pope a heretic? Don't expect an answer to that question in this century. That Ratzinger himself is a liar of the first magnitude is made clear by UHR's identification of him as the book-burner primarily culpable for the attempted suppression of the Dead Sea Scrolls (p.248), to say nothing of his repeated cover-ups of priestly pedophilia.
Despite her dismissal from the Faculty of Superstitious Hogwash, URH continued teaching theology (God is real and admirable. There was a resurrection), but passed it off as history, a discipline over which the RC church has no jurisdiction. Her theology is different from that of the church to which she still claims to belong, but it is no less incompetent, insane, and plain stupid. She believes that the most sadistic, evil, insane serial killer in all fiction really does rule in Cloud Cuckoo Land and is a nice guy who must be obeyed; that a man who preached, "Cheat those who are no longer useful to you, and use the stolen money to bribe those who are in a position to do you good" (Luke 16:1-9), was admirable; and that the most blatant violation of the laws of biophysics in all mythology was a fact of history. If such a person has anything useful to say, then so did L. Ron Hubbard and John Mack.
So what motivates a scholar who knows full well that the Catholic bible is a collection of fairy tales from start to finish, to cling desperately to a metaphysical belief that stands or falls on the validity of that same bible? Is she simply a dirty little yellow coward who cannot overcome her fear that, if she recognizes the Sky Führer's nonexistence, it will sentence her to be phuqt in Hell for all eternity—and not in a good way? Or does she have the defence of being intellectually challenged? Your guess is as good as mine.
Warning to nontheists: With friends like Uta Ranke-Heinemann, who needs enemies?
Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest-Growing Faith
Robert Spencer
Encounter Books
666 Third St, Suite 330, San Francisco, CA 94107-1951
1893554589 $16.95
"When Yahweh your gods has settled you in the land you're about to occupy, and driven out many infidels before you … you're to make no compromise with them or show them any mercy…. You're going to exterminate them in a massive genocide until they're eliminated" (Deuteronomy chapter 7).
Most Jews and Christians have no awareness that their sacred writings contain such unambiguous endorsements of proto-Nazism. More important, when such passages are drawn to their attention, instead of rushing out and acquiring a stockpile of rocket launchers and improvised explosive devices, and massacring every Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, nontheist and person whose skin is a different shade within range, even the most inflexible biblical literalists rationalize that their deity must have had a good reason for issuing such an order 3,000 years ago, but assuredly does not approve of similar behavior today. In other words, since Jews and Christians are millennia more morally evolved than the biblical authors, their god must be similarly more evolved.
And that is the difference between religions that have evolved beyond their sacred writings and Islam. If Christian missionaries from such hate cults as the 700 Club, Right to Life, and the Christian Defence League, infiltrated a church and, by quoting biblical passages that supported their homicidal philosophy, urged their congregations to bomb an abortion clinic or "kill a kike for Christ," they would have little success. "Virtually all Christians, including fundamentalists, would agree that [biblical atrocities] pertained to a particular time and set of circumstances" (Islam Unveiled, p. 24).
Islam quite simply has not evolved. The only reason every Muslim is not a terrorist is that the majority are unaware that the Koran endorses terrorism. When a missionary from al Qaeda infiltrates a mosque and draws attention to such Koranic passages as, "Slay the pagans wherever you find them" (p. 1); "Make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them" (p. 18); "When you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads" (p. 29); the entire congregation accepts that what was godly behavior for Mohammed must be godly behavior today. And Muslim men who cannot get lucky any other way become suicide bombers in the conviction that dying in the process of murdering infidels will win them 72 virgins in Cloud Cuckoo Land to screw the twat off. That behavior approved by Mohammed might no longer be approved by Allah, and conceivably was never approved by Allah, is beyond their conditioned thought processes.
Newsweek religion expert Kenneth Woodward, whom Spencer quotes (p. 30), noted that, "Israeli commanders do not cite the Hebrew prophet Joshua as they go into battle, but Muslim insurgents can readily invoke the example of their Prophet Muhammad," even though Joshua and Mohammed were both prototype Hitlers. The difference is that Jews are not threatened with execution if they acknowledge that their ancient military leader was less than admirable. Muslims are so terrified of exactly that, that they are conditioned not even to think, "Big Brother is ungood."
The Tanakh and the Bible are permeated with horror stories. A Psalm (137:9) tells the Babylonians, "How fortunate he will be, who takes your children and smashes them against the rocks." A chronicler records that King David "dragged out the [Ammonites] and put them under saws and under iron harrows and under iron axes, and incinerated them in the brick kilns" (2 Sam 12:31). The final Redactor of the Hexateuch writes that Joshua "raped the whole land…. He left no one alive, but carried out the ritual sacrifice of everything that breathed, just as Yahweh the gods [generic plural] of Yisrael had ordered" (Joshua 10:40). But as Spencer points out, "No modern Jew or Christian reads the stories and celebrations of Hebrew warriors as a guide to behavior in the present." Similarly, "No Christian or Jew is likely to sell his daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7)…. But for t
