Passenger
Ronald Damien Malfi
Delirium Books
9781934546048 $16.95 www.deliriumbooks.com
Jennifer Barnes
Reviewer
Passenger is a novel carved from one solid block of stone. Malfi the sculptor chips away intently revealing a sharp plane here, a smooth curve there, but doesn't unveil the resulting form until the final pages of the book. The novel's concept is deceptively simple, a man wakes up on a Baltimore city bus with no memory and no ID, only an address written on his hand. This allows for plenty of mystery, suspense and even a few comic moments. The plot and main character can wander in a seemingly aimless manner while the reader avidly searches for clues to the man's identity.
Passenger provides plenty of food for thought about how a person's past makes them who they are, how experiences help create identity. The book goes even further and implies that even when a person's past is unknown it still controls their future.
The book is written in a sparse, haunting style that resonates through each page and seems to swell to fill the slim volume, like a single note played in a large empty room. As always Malfi is the master of mood, creating a slow-building anxiety that forces your eyes to move faster across the page. It's a risky move to rest the whole book on a few final pages however the end does deliver with a satisfying but tragic revelation. Mysterious, thought-provoking and gritty Malfi's Baltimore is a fascinating place to visit, I'm just glad I don't live there.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
John Irving
Ballantine Books
9780345361790 $7.99
Robert Kubicek
Reviewer
A Prayer for Sensible Morality
John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany leaves a lot of options open for the would-be critic. Does one focus on the religious aspect? The political? Or should one try to attach meaning to symbols like the totem pole or de-clawed armadillo? Each approach has its pitfalls, potentially leading a critic down a path that would prevent them from examining the full scope of the novel. The authors of the three essays included in this critique of Irving's novel do just that. On their own, the articles give incomplete depictions of Irving's world, but when carefully combined together, the authors help elucidate John Wheelwright's final statement: "O God-please give him [Owen Meany] back! I shall keep asking You" (POM 617).
William Pritchard is the most vociferous of the three authors boldly informing the reader of the nature of Irving's novel: "there is absolutely no irony in A Prayer for Owen Meany" (Pritchard 1). Pritchard is convinced that Irving's novel is intended to entertain not instruct, citing the article "Defense of Sentimentality" to support his claim: "Irving has insisted that art has an aesthetic responsibility to be entertaining, that there's nothing wrong with being easy to understand" (Pritchard 2). He offers this quote from the novel as evidence to support his assertion: "THOMAS HARDY MAY BORE YOU BUT HE'S OBVIOUS; HE TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO KNOW" (Pritchard 2). Now, Pritchard is not suggesting that Irving is boring, only that, like Hardy, he makes his message tangible.
Pritchard takes his claims of simplicity to an extreme though, finishing his article with this whopper: "The narrator's present (1987) musings and grumblings about his life in Canada (where he lived for nearly 20 years), his religious opinions, and his angry criticisms of American political depredations… [seem] feebly laid on…as for the novel's religious message, it doesn't have one" (Pritchard 4). While the text does not have a religious message in the traditional sense, anyone who has read the novel knows that Pritchard must have consumed a large quantity of bleach as a child to dismiss the significance of politics and religion in the book so offhandedly - a fact that I will prove later. Yet, Pritchard's one pertinent observation should receive serious consideration: Irving states everything you need to know explicitly.
R. Z. Sheppard, on the other hand, believes that the weight of the novel lies in the political realm and that Owen: "reminds us that, after the nostrums of the Great Communicator, news should really be more than what we did not know yesterday, and are likely to forget tomorrow" (Sheppard 2) - a clever, though circumspect, re-spinning of John Wheelwright's 'misinformed Americans' label. Sheppard feels justified in down-playing the religious aspect of the novel because of this statement by Irving: "I'm moved and impressed by people with a great deal of religious faith…[but] the Christ story impresses me in heroic, not religious, terms" (Sheppard 2), which he believes relegates the Christ-like Meany to the realm of the heroic as well. In addition, Sheppard warns: "the novel invites trespass by symbol hunters. One can easily imagine college sophomores arguing over the meaning of a stuffed armadillo that has had its claws removed, or the significance of Wheelwright's carrying his small friend on his shoulders to slam dunk a basketball" (Sheppard 2) - thank God I am a junior! Here Sheppard indirectly reiterates Pritchard's argument: Irving is obvious. Though his quick dismissal of the religious undertones in a novel that has religious connotations even in the title is rash; a critique with which my next author would undoubtedly agree.
Of the three critics, James Hall was the only one to emphasis the importance of religion in the book. Hall makes several strong points which will be included in my line of reasoning in regards to the novel's meaning, but ultimately derives the wrong conclusion from the text:
Irving is not writing about religious experiences; he is presenting us with the possibility of finding God in the midst of doubt…Through John Wheelwright, Irving suggests that God will never leave us alone and that God is present in the worst experiences we can imagine…We can't predict the end…and worst of all we can't control it. All we can do is celebrate those 'red-letter days' [Holy Days] which recall how God responds to horrendous events. (Hall 300)
Doubt, I will argue, is not a place in which to find God (at least not according to Irving), it is a by-product of the lack sensible morality - a morality that has not been emphasized since the culture's colonial origins.
I derive my definition of sensible morality from the interview "Finding John Irving" in which Irving criticizes American culture by saying:
we live in a prudish stupid country…Aren't we the only country in the world that could have been offended by that brief millisecond of Janet Jackson's breast?...It's horrendous. Why do so many people care about gay marriages? How do gay Marriages affect those of us who have heterosexual unions? (Weich 8)
Irving is saying that because Americans are so concerned with moral transgressions that have no real consequence in their lives or the lives or others, they often lose sight of the real problem. The sentiment can be found echoed in the novel in these words from John Wheelwright "…but the American people reserve their moral condemnation for sexual misconduct. Remember when the country was killing itself in Vietnam, and the folks at home were outrages at the length and cleanliness of the protester's hair?" (POM 323) Moral sensibility, therefore, is expressing concern and passing judgment on issues and events that affect your life and the lives of others in a significant way.
I do not wish to appear to judge Hall too harshly for he commits the same sin as his peers while criticizing A Prayer for Owen Meany: he focuses on only one aspect of the novel. All three authors agree the text is simple and straightforward, yet all are foolish enough to believe that Irving included hundreds of pages of political or religious events for the sake of telling a story. The assumption sells Irving's accomplishment short. A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the evolution of American society: from the allusion to the settling of Gravesend, to childhood baseball, to television, to Wheelwright's move to Canada and his obsession with politics, Irving illustrates America's turn from sensible morality to pop culture morality, and in the last line of the novel, cries out for a return to American's former sensibility.
The main character, John Wheelwright, is a call back to the religious foundations of Gravesend: "The town where I was born was purchased from an Indian sagamore in 1638 by Rev. John Wheelwright, after whom I was named" (POM 7). The fact that the first settlers in the colonies traveled the Atlantic Ocean in order to escape the corruption of the church in Europe is common knowledge, but the reader watches the founders of America made a moral misstep from the get-go: "As for the settlement of the disputed deed [for the rights to Gravesend], you can be sure the Indians were not the beneficiaries of the resolution of that difference of opinion" (POM 8-9). Thereafter, Rev. Wheelwright would switch churches because he began to "question the authority of certain dogmas" (POM 8). Similarly, narrator John Wheelwright partakes in a switch of 'religions' in the novel as he begins to question the dogmas of contemporary American society.[1]
Sheppard is right to assume that objects like the Armadillo are not symbolic. As Pritchard points out, Irving is obvious. On top of that, the author flat out tells the reader the totem pole - the object the de-clawed armadillo represents - is void of any meaning beyond the recurring theme that Americans are misinformed:[2] "Later, there was some…interesting speculation regarding why Watahantowet's totem was an armless man" (POM 8). The passage goes on to list a series of speculations, each more
implausible than the one preceding it, giving a distinct impression that the totem is just a totem. However, Sheppard is naive to assume the novel is without symbolism; Irving is careful to depict baseball, television and politics as representatives of a new religion in America - one that diverts rather than inspires sensible morality.
The first of the new religions presented is baseball; the great American pastime, which represents mass culture. Interestingly, baseball kills Tabitha, the character James Hall refers to as the "Virgin Mary" (Hall 300). The idea seems outlandish at first, but if you consider Tabitha's attributes, his claims appear almost reasonable. First off, she has a son without a father: "I was little Johnny Wheelwright, father unknown" (POM 9); she is described as having a 'tranquil, modest nature" (POM 13); and she gave birth to John in her mother's house which resembles an inn: "Grandmother's house was often mistaken for the Gravesend Inn by travelers" (POM 16). The fit is by no means perfect as the identity of John Wheelwright's father is revealed later in the novel and Mary gave birth in manger not an inn, but if Hall's assertion is to be believed, then perhaps Tabitha's death is symbolic of mass culture dealing a death blow to morality.
The theme is carried on more convincingly as Hall examines the effects of television in the death of Harriet Wheelwright:
It is Irving's voice that conveys his conviction without God a society perishes. He has a particular distaste for television (when something is particularly deplorable it is MADE FOR TELEVISION)…He gives us a chilling image of the final moments in the life of John's grandmother…When her son-in-law comes to visit her he finds her dead, 'propped up in her hospital bed; she appeared to have fallen asleep with the TV on and with the remote-control device held in her hand in such a way that the channels kept changing…her cold thumb had simply attached itself to the button that restlessly roamed the channels for something good.' (Hall 300)
While I think sensible morality should be substituted for the word God in Hall's statement, he makes a good observation. The discovery of the deceased Harriet Wheelwright is one of the saddest moments in the book. Once a proud, respected member of the community, Harriet is slowly isolated from society as she becomes increasingly dependant upon TV: "One day, not even you will want to watch television with me," she said to Owen. "One day," she said to me [John Wheelwright], "you'll come to visit me and I won't even know who you are" (POM 443). Harriet's prediction proves too: she dies watching TV alone in the elderly home she so desperately wanted to avoid.
As Hall suggests, Harriet's restless channel surfing is symbolic of the novel's theme: society is looking for truth and guidance in the wrong place, and because of this folly, society never finds that "something good" they are searching for. To reinforce the analogy, Irving has Harriet lose her ability to remember the past: "Grandmother's memory began to elude her near the end" (POM 18). A similar description is used to describe society: "Americans are not great historians" John Wheelwright declares on page seven of the novel. Sadly Harriet Wheelwright, who turned from the book to television, had become one of them.
The last of the new religions is presented to the reader via John Wheelwright. He is addicted to politics, a crutch that replaces religion in his everyday life: "Katherine told me today that I should make an effort not to read any newspapers…Katherine wants only the best for me; I know she is right…I'm ashamed to tell Katherine how many Sunday services I've skipped" (POM 451-452). And, like all of the new religions in the novel, it claims the life of someone John loves - Owen Meany.
In James Hall's article, he points out that Christmas is used as a benchmark for the escalating conflict in Vietnam: "Christmas is a recurring motif in the story. Irving records the increase in the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam at each Christmas celebration" (Hall 300). The politics of war make their appearance on American soil personified as Dick: "'Come on in' [Dick] said, stepping back into his room, where - no doubt - he dreamed without cease of butchering the Viet Cong" (POM 598). Dick, who has been forgotten and neglected by American society, still manages to absorb pop-culture morality:
The "tribe" as he'd [Major Rawls] called the family, did not live (as he'd said) in a trailer park, but in a one-story tract house with turquoise aluminum siding…the house was identical to all the others in what I suppose would be called a low-income housing development. …And since the houses were nearly all constructed of cheap, uninsulated materials - and the residents could not afford or did not chose to trouble themselves with air conditioning - the neighborhood (even in the evening) teemed with outdoor activities of the kind that are usually conducted indoors…By marvel of a long extension cord, a TV was placed in a prime position on the dry, brown lawn; a circle of men were watching a baseball game, of course (POM 595-596)
The passage has all three evils of society. A family is living in poverty on American soil as the government wages an expensive war in Vietnam. The "tribe" lacks simple luxuries like air conditioning, but they still own a TV, and by God, they are watching baseball on it.
Irving shows society at is worst in this passage, and Dick is a by-product of it. He has been brainwashes by the media to believe that the Vietnamese are monsters: "THERE IS SUCH A STUPID 'GET EVEN' MENTALITY [in this country] - THERE IS SUCH A SADISTIC ANGER" (POM 602). The mentality Owen Meany mentions inspires Dick to throw a grenade into a bathroom of young Vietnamese refugees at the end of the novel: "Think fast - Mister Fuckin' Intelligence Man!" (POM 612) The immaculately conceived boy (POM 540), the baby Jesus in the Christmas play (POM 164), the young man who lived his life according to a dream with unwavering faith (POM 416), the character whose all caps dialogue, Irving admits, was modeled after Jesus' red-letter utterances in the New Testament (Sheppard2), the novel's namesake who was undoubtedly fashioned to resemble Jesus, just another victim to the 'new religions.' Upon Owen's death, the reader watches John Wheelwright's moral light fade from this world, and witnesses the narrator, in his later life, become obsessed with the same 'religion' that killed his best friend.
John Irving has said on many occasions that he is not John Wheelwright, and I am inclined to believe him. John Wheelwright is meant to represent the typical American struggling through life as he or she attempts to find a purpose. As Owen suggests in the first pages of the novel: "the book [Wall's History of Gravesend] was FULL OF WHEELWRIGHTS" (POM 13). The History of Gravesend is really the history of America, and Irving's story is the tale of the evolution of that society from the John Wheelwrights who founded Gravesend under the guise of religion to the John Wheelwrights who worship politics.[3]
The book's theme is further elucidated through the words of Thomas Hardy: "NOTHING BEARS OUT IN PRACTICE WHAT IT PROMISES INCIPIENTLY" (POM 519), and the reader sees this sentiment in the 'new religions' which promise that they will give their devotees a purpose, but in reality, cause isolation and apathy. The unreliability of these promises creates the doubt that runs rampant in the novel, and is reflected by an American society that is more concerned with appearance of its protestors than the sins of its government on a global level: "Remember when the country was killing itself in Vietnam, and the folks at home were outrages at the length and cleanliness of the protestors' hair?" (POM 323) Organized religion is offered as a light in the novel, but in truth not even religion can come through in its promises (recall the Indian deed negotiated by Rev. John Wheelwright). Irving shows that only the characters who are able to follow what they believe with unwavering certainty are able to manifest good in world - most notably Owen Meany[4] and Pastor Merrill.[5]
In spite of this, the realm of religion offers the best route to the moral strength the John Wheelwright's of the world need. If one uses this statement by Owen as an analogy: "NO THEY [the Catholics] REALY DO THIS SORT OF THING BEST - THEY HAVE THE PROPER SOLEMNITY, THE PROPER SORT OF RITUALS, AND THE PROPER PACING…I DIDN'T SAY ANYONE DID IT 'WELL'…I SAID CATHOLICS DID IT BETTER" (POM 594). One can almost hear Irving hint that while religion may not inspire sensible morality 'well,' it achieves its end better than the new religions of American society. Readers should not, however, walk away from the novel thinking Irving was attempting to convert them, for while Irving is "moved and impressed by people with a great deal of religious faith," he states, "the Christ story impresses me in heroic, not religious, terms" (Sheppard 2). Owen Meany is not meant to be Christ in the novel, he is supposed to be a hero of morality; he is supposed to be the foil to the America described in this passage:
IS THIS COUNTRY JUST SO HUGE THAT IT NEEDS TO OVERSIMPLIFY EVERYTHING? …
…LOOK AT WHAT WE CALL 'RELIGION': TURN ON ANY TELEVISION ON SUNDAY MORNING! SEE THE CHOIRS OF THE POOR AND UNEDUCATED - AND THESE TERRIBLE PREACHERS, SELLING OLD JESUS-STORIES LIKE JUNK FOOD. SOON THERE'LL BE AN EVANGELIST IN THE WHITE HOUSE; SOON THERE'LL BE A CARDINAL ON THE SUPREME COURT. ONE DAY THERE WILL COME AN EPIDEMIC - I'LL BET ON SOME HUMDINGER OF A SEXUAL DISEASE. AND WHAT WILL OUR PEERLESS LEADERS, OUR HEADS OF CHURCH AND STATE…WHAT WILL THEY SAY TO US? HOW WILL THEY HELP US? YOU CAN BE SURE THEY WON'T CURE US - BUT HOW WILL THEY COMFORT US? JUST TURN ON THE TV - AND HERE'S WHAT OUR PEERLESS LEADERS, OUR HEADS OF CHURCH AND STATE WILL SAY: THEY'LL SAY, 'I TOLD YOU SO!' THEY'LL SAY, 'THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR FUCKING AROUND - I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO IT UNTIL YOU GOT MARRIED.' DOESN'T ANYONE SEE WHAT THESE SIMPLETONS ARE UP TO? THESE SELF-RIGHTEOUS FANATICS ARE NOT 'RELIGIOUS' - THEIR HOMEY WISDOM IS NOT 'MORALITY.'
THAT IS WHERE THIS COUNTRY IS HEADED - IT IS HEADED TOWARD OVERSIMPLIFICATION. YOU WANT TO SEE A PRESIDENT OF THE FUTURE? TURN ON ANY TELEVISION ON ANY SUNDAY MORNING - FIND ONE OF THOSE HOLY ROLLERS: THAT'S HIM, THAT'S THE NEW MISTER PRESIDENT! AND DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE FUTURE OF ALL THOSE KIDS THAT ARE GOING TO FALL INTO THE CRACKS OF THIS GREAT, BIG, SLOPPY SOCIETY OF OURS? I JUST MET HIM; HE'S A TALL SKINNY, FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY NAMED 'DICK.' HE'S PRETTY SCARY. WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM IS NOT UNLIKE WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE TV EVANGELIST - OUR FUTURE PRESIDENT. WHAT'S WRONG WITH BOTH OF THEM IS THAT THEY'RE SO SURE THEY'RE RIGHT! THAT'S PRETTY SCARY - THE FUTURE, I THINK, IS PRETTY SCARY" (POM 602-603).
I would break this quote down for you, but as Pritchard mentioned at the outset, Irving is obvious. I will say this though: at the end of the novel when John Wheelwright is praying for God to return Owen to him, John is really asking for a restoration of the moral guidance he had when his friend was alive; and through his narrator, Irving, afraid of the future, is asking society for a restoration of sensibility to American morality.
Works Cited
Hall, James M. "Owen Meany and the Presence of God." Christian Century 106.10 (March 22-29, 1989): 299-300.
Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989.
Irving, John. "In Defense of Sentimentality." New York Times (November 25, 1979).
Pritchard, William. "a Prayer for Owen Meant." The New Republic 200.21 (May 22, 1989): 36-39.
Sheppard, R.Z. "The Message Is the Message." Time 133.14 (April 3, 1989): 80-81.
Weich, Dave. "Finding John Irving." Powells.com (March 16, 2005).
[1] The paragraph should be setup to show how Irving depicts the sensible morality of early America. The fact of the matter is Irving fails to do so explicitly, and as a result, I am unable to offer concrete proof. I suggest that one assumes that each negative of the present has deviated from a virtue of the past (books to television for instance), and that even though the America of the past was corrupt too, it was more apt to instill the sensible morality that creates heroic figures like Owen Meany.
[2] Owen's death is supposed to remind us of the totem pole, though. I believe Irving did this in an attempt to call back to the establishment of Gravesend and the moral relativism inherent in American culture since its conception. Unfortunately, I do not have the necessary space to explore this issue in my paper.
[3] John Wheelwright (narrator) is atypical in society for he is aware of pop-culture morality. He represents contemporary Americans in that he too is searching for a purpose.
[4] "Owen Meany was awarded the so-called Soldier's Medal: 'For heroism that involves the voluntary risk of life under conditions other than those of conflict with an opposing armed force'" (POM 615).
[5] "I heard from Dan that he's a whale of a preacher, and that there's not a trace of the slight stutter that once marred his speech" (POM 571).
Dying in a Winter Wonderland
Tony Burton, editor
Wolfmont Press
238 Park Dr. NE, Resaca, GA 30735
9781603640053 $11.95
Marlene Pyle
Reviewer
Normally, I don't urge readers to buy a certain book, but this one is more than just a great collection of crime stories. For the third year, its publisher, Wolfmont Press, will donate the proceeds to Toys for Tots, a charity that distributes Christmas gifts to needy children.
Toys for Tots has helped make the holiday season brighter for kids since 1947, and your contribution will keep the tradition alive for years to come.
The anthology includes suspense-filled short stories from thirteen talented writers, each with a winter holiday theme. Some of the stories are very funny, some more serious, but they are all fun to read. One of the tales, "Taking her Medicine" was written by Calhoun's own Tony Burton, an award winning author and the creative writing instructor at Harris Arts Center.
The book is available now and can be ordered online at www.wolfmont.com or email Mr. Burton at tony@wolfmont.com. "Dying in a Winter Wonderland" would make a perfect stocking stuffer for the mystery reader in your life, or pick one up for yourself as an early gift. Everyone needs to take a break during the hectic holiday season. Light the fireplace, settle into your favorite chair, make a cup of hot cocoa and relax with these action- packed stories of murder and mayhem. You'll enjoy it and you'll be helping underprivileged kids have a happier holiday. What could be better than that?
Imaginary Lines
Linton Robinson and Ana Maria Corona
Adoro Books
Southern California
9780972134996 $14.95 adorobooks.com
Max Carrillo
Reviewer
Book display page and cover art are at http://adorobooks.com/booklines.php
I specialize in reviewing what I call "gringo lit": a genre in which writers from a country I learned to love in spite of itself--the United States of America--deal with the country that is my birth mother--The United States of Mexico. One thing you learn is that foreigners are often capable of greater insight into the labyrinth of Mexico than we are ourselves; just as Mexican writers bring an outsider perspective that many Americans find enlightening.
IMAGINARY LINES is probably the best book I have encountered that does both of those perspectives at once: California journalist Linton Robinson and Tijuana writer Ana Maria Corona collaborating on a collection of stories and essays that turn the frontera between the two countries into a magic mirror of nationality, culture, race, sex… and cuisine. And it does this without attempting to do so: as Pulitzer nominee Luis Urrea (a member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame who has written for many of the publications these pieces originally appeared in) puts it in his review: "This is not an immigration book, nor would I call it a border book. But it is a well-guided journey into an interzone." It speaks of those lines that separate and unite us through sketches of people… and the occasional plate of food.
The chapters here are of two different types. The long ones are interview-based explorations of sub-cultures: Tijuana gamblers (including those who gamble with the lives of gamecocks and even their own), Mexican gigolos, girls who come to work as maids illegally in California. Don't think for a minute that what these people say is anything like what you've read in other "border" or "immigrant" books: every word is a revelation of new outlook and connections.
The other pieces are shorter, and tend to revolve around Mexican cooking and scenes from Ms. Corona's childhood in Guadalajara. These are luminous essays, reaching out from humble fare like corn, chile peppers, and mole sauce to apprehend Mexican culture, the conquest of the Americas (or was it vice-versa?), and a flickering universe hung between religion, faith, superstition, rumor, and being what you eat. "Eat" in the larger sense, as best shown in the "Faith, Aphrodisiacs, and Freeze-Dried Blood" segment. Among the many questions and ambushes in these "food pieces": chiles conquer the world in the same way that women ultimately conquer men, the fact that goats are common in Mexican food and society, but practically nonexistant in the United States, shows a great deal about both cultures, that men go to whorehouses to get away from women.
My favorite line in the book comes from that FreezeDried Faith chapter:
"Life, health and sanity are all circles of light surrounded by endless darkness. Perhaps it is in the twilight between the two that the nature of both become more clear to us. If we're going to have faith, we might as well have blind faith: if we're going to be realists, we might as well be a magical realists."
Ms. Corona has a finely-tuned eye for borders and boundaries of sexuality, as well. A touching picture of her life emerges from between the lines as she stirs that element into the salsa she serves up to us. As in this line from a piece that goes worldwide on the hot bite of chiles:
""Chile" is a term very frequently applied to the masculine member. Chiludo means having a big "chile"; therefore "well hung". The chile is strong, it "bites". In Spanish, capsicum is not "hot": we would say a chile is picante or picoso. The word pica is an aggressive verb that describes the bite of ant or the sting of a bee, or the sauce of sarcastic, biting, picaresco humor. It also has the same sense of English words like "pick" and "peck", as well as the beak of a bird.
In that sense it is yet another term men apply to their sexual member, a term I readily understand; there was a period in my life when my image of male sexuality was very much like that kind of "picking"; a sharp, devastating piercing and carrying away. "Pico" meant to me the deadly beaks of rapine birds. I understood it by watching the garzas, white egrets that hunted in the marshes, wading in with emotionless eyes to watch for the chance to stab that stiff length of death into whatever careless fish swam by."
No attempt is made to sort out Ms. Corona's contributions from Mr. Robinson's, a blending further blurred by the use of first person narratives for interviewees. I assume it's deliberate because it's so much in keeping with the rest of the book.
This is a work that should impress readers quite apart from the usual "gringo lit" fans: it appeals at once to NPR-listener sensibilities, feminists who don't mind seeing third world women saying things outside the usual canon, lovers of gentle humor, food freaks who will drool over the descriptions of dining and painstaking food preparation, and any reader who loves well-written, incisive essays that start from unusual places…then transcend them.
George Green's, The Lion Who Couldn't Roar
George Green and Amy J. Brooke
Illustrated by Shiyin-Sean Luo
Visikid Books
1350 E Flamingo Rd, Suite #50, Las Vegas, NV 89119
9781933156149 $16.99
Peggy Tibbetts, Reviewer
www.peggytibbetts.net
Lenny and Chad are young lions and best friends. One day Chad challenges Lenny to see who can roar the loudest. Lenny is horrified to discover that he can't roar. So he hides out in shame, knowing he can never be King of the Jungle without being able to roar.
An ad on a Bilboa tree sends Lenny in search of a wise monkey. He hopes the monkey will help him find his roar. Along the way he makes plenty of new friends in the jungle and discovers something he never knew he had.
Green and Brooke's engaging lyrical verse tells a heart-warming story that brings to mind Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books. Lenny the lion's quest shows readers how actions speak louder than roars.
The Disney-esque illustrations in "George Green's, The Lion Who Couldn't Roar" will delight fans of "The Lion King". The exquisite details and vivid color in Luo's drawings bring the lovable characters to life, making this book a treasure for readers young and old.
Blind Savior, False Prophet
Joseph DeMarco
AuthorHouse
1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403
9781434391261 $14.49 1-888-519-5121
Tyler Tradere
Reviewer
The False Prophet of Fennimore Place is back, taking on the oneness of religion in this obscure, but loveable book. The story starts off after the death of The False Prophet, when a drugged out ex-student of his is attempting to find a lost manuscript she believes he buried on an island in the Caribbean. Siann (which is the named of the drugged out ex-student) is in the middle of a ice (crystal methamphetamine) bender. She has stolen a car and is heading toward Florida. She has pieced together this belief about a lost manuscript from a series of dreams she has had and a faded green notebook that she stole from Joe Kaye (The False Prophet of Fennimore Place) back when she was in seventh grade.
The second story is presented as the manuscript Siann finds which is entitled Blind Savior. The manuscript Blind Savior is about a schizophrenic homeless man named Felix King who believes himself to be the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln, Krishna, Jesus, Lao Tzu, Buddha, and Mohammed. Most of Felix's beliefs about reincarnation stem from a series of religious recurring dreams that he has had.
Felix has NO FATHER, and his mother has died. Felix is apprehensive to tell anyone about his dreams, but finally confides in two of his friends in high school. Needless to say, no one believes him. He is abandon by friends and family, spends some time in institutions and is finally spit out by society. When Felix has his last dream, he believes he is Abraham staring at the smoking crater that was once Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now with the help of a strange writer named Rysby Lenin (who claims to be the reincarnation of John Lennon), Felix must try to solve the mystery of his religious recurring dreams.
A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer
Lyle Dorsett
Moody Publishers
820 N. LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60610
9780802481337 $14.99
Paul R. Waibel
Reviewer
An elderly Christian gentleman once told me that if he could have only one book other than the Bible, it would be The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy and The Pursuit of God, also by A. W. Tozer, are two of the best loved Christian books of the twentieth century. Their author, Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963), is remembered as a modern-day Christian mystic, and, apart from its founder, the best known pastor in the history of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
This latest biography of A. W. Tozer, A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer, is the latest in a series of short, informative biographies of influential evangelical Christians by Lyle Dorsett, Professor of Evangelism at the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University. Dorsett's goal is to provide a biography of Tozer that portrays him as a real human being, one who was far from perfect but saved by God's great grace and used by God to lead other Christians into a deeper, more meaningful Christian faith.
Like Dwight L. Moody, about whom Dorsett has also written a biography, Tozer had very little formal education and a lifelong passion to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Unlike Moody, who was never ordained, Tozer was ordained by the CM&A in 1920. For the remainder of his life, he served the Alliance in pastorates in the U.S.A. and Canada, as editor of the denomination's magazine, The Alliance Weekly (later The Alliance Witness), and through his many widely popular books. A. W. Tozer did more to spread awareness of the CM&A than any other spokesperson.
Although he had little formal education and no formal seminary training, Tozer read widely and deeply in the works of great secular thinkers like Aristotle, Plato, Spinoza, Descartes, Hume, Hegel, and Karl Marx, as well as the early Church Fathers, and other great Christian thinkers like Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter Abelard, Madame Guyon, John Newton, the Wesley brothers, and many more. Tozer believed that there was much to learn through reason, "But knowledge of God and the human spirit and the soul can be grasped only through the Holy Spirit" (96). He believed that reason was a valuable tool, but, he insisted, [God] "is above human reason and He is above human science" (qtd in Dorsett 96). Like Moody, Tozer wanted Christians to "enter into a deeper life with Christ." He was convinced that God wanted his people to "know Him" not just "about Him" (125). When faced with a difficult passage in the Bible, Tozer urged believers to "[g]o to God first about the meaning of any text" before consulting human authors. Once when he was accused of disliking the Scofield Bible, he said that on the contrary, "I've worn four of them out, and I have number five now at home . . . I just don't believe its notes. When it starts telling me things are otherwise than they are, I just write that off. But he does divide up things nicely for you" (qtd. 139).
A major part of Tozer's appeal in his sermons and books was the obvious fact that he read much wider than was common for most seminary and Bible college graduates. Also, it was very evident that he knew God intimately. He had experienced the deeper life that he urged other believers to seek. What Tozer found in the CM&A was a celebration of "Jesus Christ as Healer, as well as Savior, Sanctifier, and Coming King." All too many believers, Tozer was convinced, "tend to substitute logic for life and doctrine for experience" (qtd. 126). The cure for such a shallow relationship could be found in the "Four-fold Gospel" as taught by the CM&A's founder A. B. Simpson.
Perhaps the finest feature of Dorsett's book is how he reveals to the reader the human side of A. W. Tozer. The Tozer we encounter in A Passion for God is one whose zeal for God's house brought great pain to his own. No doubt in part due to the very difficult relationship he had with his own father, A. W. Tozer found it near impossible to relate to either his wife or his children on an emotionally intimate level. He seems to have wanted only a surface relationship with his wife, Ada, and remained always distant from his children. His youngest child and only daughter, Rebecca, knew him best. She once said that the estrangement between her parents may have been due in part to the fact that her mother was a romantic to the core, whereas her father eschewed sentimentalism and displays of emotion, and seemed to fear intimacy" (142). Rebecca also noted that her mother never read anything but the Reader's Digest. There was something that drove a wedge between her parents, something that she was never able to understand. From the children's perspective, both parents remained distant from their offspring. According to their son Lowell, "We were known ironically as 'the Tozer kids.' But we were not a unit or tight-knit family. We were a family full of individuals" (qtd. 108).
A. W. Tozer and his wife Ada both suffered from depression, but neither knew how to be healed. Ironically, as Dorsett concludes, both confessed to friends late in their life together that they had lived a lonely life. Even after the children were grown and gone, and his pastoral and other duties were lessened, Aiden seems to have kept himself busy so as to have "no time to develop the marital intimacy that they had both learned to live without" (158). After Aiden's passing in 1963 and her remarriage to Leonard Odam in 1964, the former Mrs. Tozer said of her first husband: "My husband was so close to God, a man of such deep prayer, always on his knees, that he could not communicate with me or our family. No one knew what a lonely life I had, especially after the kids left home" (qtd. 144). Of her new life with Odam, she said, "I have never been happier in my life. Aiden loved Jesus Christ, but Leonard Odam loves me" (qtd. 160). As for Aiden, shortly before his death, he confided to a fellow pastor, "I've had a lonely life" (qtd.144).
A. W. Tozer is remembered as "one of the great spiritual giants of the past century." Whether already a Tozer fan or one desiring an introduction to him, Lyle Dorsett's A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer is an interesting and delightful read. The only criticism this reviewer can make is to note the absence of an index. Only novels should be published without an index.
Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (and What You Need to Know to End the Madness)
Arianna Huffington
Alfred A. Knopf
9780307269669 $24.95
Peter Weiss
Reviewer
The Hen in the Foxhouse
If Arianna Huffington didn't exist, we'd have to invent her.
In what may be considered the greatest example of the betrayal of the ruling class by one of its own since FDR, Ms. Huffington has made the improbable move from being an apologist of the Right to becoming its most creative, tenacious, and vocal opponent.
Her international Internet bazaar of a website has, in three short years, become a virtual geographic location in the scorched earth landscape of post-9/11 Bush-Cheney America, providing a home to the voices of those rapidly being shut out of America-as-we-used-to-know-it.
A Greek emigre by way of England, Ms. Huffington is more American in thought and deed than the vast majority of our callow and sheepish countrymen.
With her voluminous writings on the Huffington Post, in her books, and as a passionate commentator, analyst, and advocate in the media, she's revealed herself to be more than a mere masthead name atop the ideas and opinions of others. It turns out she has some ideas and opinions of her own, many of them in fact; and if the ruling elite once thought that Ms. Huffington could be ignored, dismissed, and marginalized, she's given them ample evidence that she's no 'shrinking violet' pushover. Far from it.
The newest effort to give them pause, her latest book, Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (and What you Need to Know to End the Madness) is, as the title suggests, a measured and blatant broadside attack against the prevailing neo-political paradigm that has engulfed our country since 9/11.
In 15 bullet-point chapters, she names names and lays blame on individuals and groups who are acting in or are failing to counteract the wholesale destruction of the historical ethos of our country in the epic struggle now being fought for the very soul of America.
"It can no longer be denied: the right-wing lunatics are running the Republican asylum and have infected the entire country and poisoned the world beyond," she writes early in her book.
Trained at Cambridge in the cerebral rough-and-tumble art of debating and with skills honed through many years of public commentary, Ms. Huffington adroitly hoists the Bush presidency on its own petard. Fortunately for us, she has the distinct and unique ability and the social position to truly stand in opposition. And opposes she does.
Throughout her fine book, she brings to bear the twin Achilles Heels of the George W. Bush regime - logic and truth.
Point by point, she takes us through the ideological maneuvering that's brought our once-noble country to its current nadir. With a slicing tongue not seen perhaps since the heyday of New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael and with the instinct for the political and social jugular of Bob Dylan she takes us through the many bold and incremental steps that have dragged America down and down at home and around the world.
From the Administration's foreign policy myopia to the singular and scandalous fiasco that is America's healthcare system, to the corrupting of national science, the ceding of the global moral high ground on torture, to the bogus assumption and dogmatic media assertion that every issue has two sides, Ms. Huffington lays out the ways America has gone wrong since Bush took our helm.
Her opponents will see her as a partisan yet they can't discredit her on the facts. And facts she has in this meticulously researched volume; facts that show how America has been lied to, manipulated, and ultimately failed by its leaders and institutions; facts that identify the various domestic and foreign policy battlefields the Right has used to consolidate governance in the Executive; facts that reveal the cynical and jaded brinksmanship of radical demagogues drunk with power.
Those she accuses range from the predictable - Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, et al, to weak-kneed Democratic opponents and complicit social organs and icons like the 'Judith Miller' New York Times and Bob Woodward (the "dumb blond" of American journalism who failed to 'connect the dots' in his meticulously detailed accounts of the path to war) - failed institutions and individuals that have greased our slide and helped mire us in our current national malaise. Ms. Huffington has no favorites; she plays it right down the middle, even choosing to wrap her book in a purple cover - the blending of red and blue.
In the end, what she fears most is a 'third term' in the person of John 'W.' McCain - the dim, cranky, and tenacious doppelganger of our lame Imperial Emperor of National Darkness.
As should we all.
"The Right's orgy of greed, hubris, and arrogance will go down as an era marked by the celebration of selfishness and naked brute force," Ms. Huffington writes of the historical record of George Bush. "Over this past year it seemed, thankfully, that America was poised to turn a new page and close the book on this tragic chapter of our history. The nomination of John McCain, however, will change this. McCain is the Trojan Horse the Right desperately needed to put a faux maverick, faux independent, faux straight-talker imprint on the same ruinous policies that have taken us down this dark road."
"An age of self is always mother to an age of war," the English novelist John Fowles wrote. With the ascent of Bush-Cheney-Rove-McCain and its ideologically like-minded wrecking crew of functionaries systematically taking America apart piece by piece, we have, lamentably, come to witness both.
This book was released before the advent of Sarah Palin as a political device, utility, and unfortunate force for McCain to use, and the concomitant national diversion that has engulfed our presidential debate since his Republican convention.
As many millions of us have noticed, Ms. Huffington (who's since called the 'true' Bush clone, the Right's secretive fundamentalist - Mrs. Palin - a 'Trojan Moose,' lipstick and all) has a very handy global outlet with which to add addendums to her astute observations.
Good news for America.
Bethany's Bookshelf
The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure
Kerry Ann Rockquemore & Tracey Laszloffy
Rienner
1800 30th Street, Suite 314, Boulder, CO 80301
9781588265883, $22.50, www.rienner.com
Although America has made great strides toward equality, some barriers still sadly exist. "The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure: Without Losing Your Soul" is a guide for African American employees of academia who want all the respect and privileges of their fellow professors and other academics. A game must be played, and Rockquemore & Laszloffy offers a solid strategy guide for navigating the administration to get what one deserves. "The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure" is a must for any black Academic who fights for equality in all aspects of society.
Waiting for the Perfect Dawn
Annu Subramanian
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403
Star Treatment (publicity)
PO Box 133, Beaver Crossing, NE 68313
9780595427529, $17.95, www.iuniverse.com
The twentieth century was a landmark time for women's rights, many country's women rising up, and despite the similar goals, their battles were different. "Waiting for the Perfect Dawn" takes a look using fiction to tell the story of how women in the sub-continent of India fought for their right to be treated as equals to men. Having to deal with the societal pressures of tradition and the desire to be more, "Waiting for the Perfect Dawn" is a richly entertaining novel which tells a story of many women through Indian history.
Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage
Valerie Estelle Frankel
Wingspan Press
c/o Publicity House
1088 Colton Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089
9781595942418, $12.95
With success, come imitators, and that's not always a bad thing with respect to popular literature. "Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody" chooses to parody more than the single successful young adult series. Attacking many fantasy stables and cliches ranging from 'Lord of the Rings' to the 'Wizard of Oz' to classic Walt Disney films, and so much more, "Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage" is riotously entertaining reading for fantasy enthusiasts in general, and young Harry Potter fans in particular.
The Mythic Bestiary
Tony Allan
Duncan Baird Publications
c/o Catalyst Publicity
2624 Blaisdell Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55408
9781844834846, $29.95 www.dp.co.uk
Featuring over 100 color illustrations and line drawings, The Mythic Bestiary is an illustrated guide to fantastic creatures from worldwide folklore. Each entry features several pages that summarize the legends and history of a given mythic animal, told in an eminently readable prose style. What distinguishes The Mythic Bestiary is that equal time is given not only to well-known fantasy monsters like the dragon, minotaur, phoenix, and so forth, but also many more obscure creatures of worldwide legends, from the winged shedu & lammasu spirits of ancient Mesopotamia and Persia, to the tupilak devil-dolls of the arctic circle, to the cynocephali dog-headed people of medieval legend, and much more. A handy index rounds out this welcome reference book, highly recommended especially for fantasy authors and game master searching for an untapped lode of new ideas!
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Bob's Bookshelf
Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea
Noah Andre Trudeau
HarperCollins
10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022-5299
9780060598679 $35.00
To this day Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's name is anathema on parts of the Deep South. The Union General's drive on the Savannah Campaign and March to the Sea which left a swath of death and destruction that disrupted the flow of supplies to the Confederate Army is still a sensitive subject in Georgia.
In "Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea" Noah Andre Trudeau paints a visceral picture of an event that would change the course of the nation and hasten the end of the Civil War.
Using the intimate diaries and letters of soldiers on both sides of the conflict as well as citizens caught in the middle, this account of the offers a unique and detailed portrait of the legendary campaign. Although most history buffs are familiar with the rudiments of the event, Trudeau takes the reader much deeper into those fateful days.
Was it really as bad as everyone remembered? Why was the South unable to stop Sherman? What was it like for those who marched in Union blue and those who watched those soldiers come flooding into their front yards? These and a host of other questions are answered as the mesmerizing account of the campaign that took place in the autumn of 1864 unfolds.
Along the way a number of myths will be debunked. For example, the claim that the march was one of uncontrolled destruction of public and private property is not really true. Also, the popular conception that Sherman's troops were largely unopposed is also challenged by this volume.
Although the Confederates did squander a number of opportunities to seriously impede Sherman's men, there were at least two significant engagements at Griswoldville and south of Augusta outside of Waynesboro.
An engaging historical account of an often misunderstood campaign, "Southern Storm" reads with ease and sheds new light on a pivotal historical event that most Americans may be only vaguely familiar with today. Well illustrated with voluminous footnotes and extensive bibliography, this is a book anyone interested in American history and the Civil War will definitely wish to own.
The Gaudi Key
Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza
William Morrow
10 E. 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022
9780061434914 $24.95
Having already achieved legendary status in Spain, this suspense novel has finally made it to our shores. Using the remarkable life of an actual architectural colossus, Antonio Gaudi, the authors have created a narrative that integrates art, science and religion into an unforgettable novel.
At the heart of the story is the struggle between two groups, the Knights of Moriah and the Corbel, to control an ancient relic that holds Christianity's greatest secret. A young art historian, a world-class mathematician and a Japanese architecture expert whose area of expertise is Gaudi band together to find and protect the controversial relic.
Granted, the "hidden relic" theme is wearing a bit thin for many readers, but Martin and Carranza have created an intelligent plot with enough twists and turns to pump a little life into what has become a separate category of suspense fiction. "The Gaudi Key" deserves to be towards the top of this ever expanding list of novels!
Where Memories Lie
Deborah Crombie
William Morrow
10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022
9780061287510 $24.95
Another whodunit featuring Scotland Yard detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, this latest caper involves Gemma offering to assist a friend whose's stolen brooch suddenly surfaces at an auction.
A simple "theft" investigation quickly turns into a hit-and-run situation that might actually be a murder case. That, in turn, leads to questions about the supposed suicide of Gemma's friend's husband that occurred years earlier.
Nothing is ever as simple as it might at first appear. James and Kincaid are about to discover just how true that statement is as they delve into a investigation that will have major and lasting repercussions.
If you have followed this detective duo through their other cases, you certainly won't want to miss this latest adventure. On the other hand, if you aren't aquatinted with this pair of Scotland Yard detectives, give yourself an early Christmas present and get a copy of this novel!
Bob Walch
Reviewer
Brenda's Bookshelf
The Dawkins Delusion
Alister McGrath, with Joanna Collicutt McGrath
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
9780281059270 $13.49
The God Delusion by scientist, Richard Dawkins, sold 1.5 million copies in English and was translated into several languages. In his book Dawkins says that religion is unscientific and evil and that: "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down." The Dawkins Delusion, Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine, is McGrath's answer to Dawkins's work.
McGrath takes the broad concepts offered in The God Delusion, analyses them and gives his own viewpoint. Four chapters answer the questions: Deluded about God? Has science disproved God? What are the origins of religion? Is religion evil? McGrath points out many instances where Dawkins stereotypes religion, fails to engage in objective study and is dogmatically determined to find fault with it. McGrath's analysis carefully breaks down Dawkins's arguments, removing their power as their subjectively fundamentalist approach is exposed. The author's overall opinion is succinctly put in the conclusion. Atheism, he says, has been waiting patiently for belief in God to simply die out. Since that hasn't happened a certain amount of panic has set in. The God Delusion reflects that. The God Delusion, says McGrath, is more a reassurance to faltering atheists than it is a critique on religion.
McGrath's qualifications are impressive. His primary field of interest is in the history of Christian thought with a particular emphasis on the natural sciences and Christian belief. He writes in an accessible style, however, and readers, whether religious or not, will be curious to know what he has to say. Despite his own obvious subjectivity and the occasional weak argument, McGrath's answer to The God Delusion is fearless and its exposition of atheist dogmatism valuable.
Mao's Last Dancer
Li Cunxin
The Penguin Group
9780670040247 $10.88
While waiting to fetch my daughter from a music practice one evening I idly picked up a book left behind by a student. That book was Mao's Last Dancer. After reading the first chapter I was hooked. Those few pages depicted the poverty of the Cunxin family who lived in rural communist China during the early 1960s. The dust cover proclaimed that Mao's Last Dancer was the true story of Li Cunxin, one of seven brothers, who, by chance managed to escape the harshness of China and go on to become a world-famous ballet dancer in the West. I simply had to have my own copy.
Cunxin writes this touchingly personal account descriptively and with enthusiasm. Despite the grinding poverty, the love and respect the author has for his 'Niang' (mother) and 'Dia' (father) is obvious. Family values of dignity and pride shine through. This was evident on one occasion when five-year-old Li stole a toy car from a friend. His mother was horrified, returned the toy and apologised profusely to the child's mother. When no-one else was looking Niang burst into tears and, hugging Li said tenderly: "I'm so sorry to do this to you. I'm so sorry we are too poor to buy you a toy car."
Cunxin also writes with humility. From his humble beginnings, Li moved to Madame Mao's Dance Academy in Beijing at the age of 11. Here he suffered from homesickness and poor grades. Despite the narrow-mindedness of the 'cultural revolution' Cunxin learnt some important life lessons and developed his own discipline and passion. He was invited to attend a dance school in America, took his chance and defected to the West, where he achieved success in the ballet world. Despite his many accolades, Mao's Last Dancer focuses on the personal – Cunxin's family in China, his new wife, and at the end of the book, a joyous visit back to his childhood village of Qingdao.
Despite a subjectively glowing portrayal of Cunxin's own character, readers of autobiography will enjoy the story of his life. Mao's Last Dancer is an easy and engrossing read.
Brenda Daniels
Reviewer
Buhle's Bookshelf
I Barf, Therefore I Am
Jerry Perisho
Privately Published
9780615208848, $22.95, www.jerryperisho.com
Cancer is no laughing matter . . . or is it? "I Barf, Therefore I Am: A Sensitive Comedy Writer's Relationship with Cancer" is the story of comedy writer Jerry Perisho's battle with prostate cancer. He tells his story with much humor and tells of how his friends and family, and most possibly his sense of humor let him overcome the odds and conquer his cancer. A story for those who are faced with this grim fate but don't want to give up, "I Barf, Therefore I Am" is as good a gift one could give to someone in such a predicament.
The Burning Sands
Hamza Abdullah
Outskirts Press
10940 S. Parker Rd. – 515, Parker, CO 80134
9781432726836, $15.95, www.outskirtspress.com
The Great Flood is an ancient and widespread tale of a world almost destroyed by a wrathful God. "The Burning Sands: The True Story of the Egyptian African Civilization" by Hamza Abdullah tells the fascinating story of seven students and their mentor as they uncover the roots of civilization, drawing out and filling in human history back to the great flood of Noah. Dually approaching the story in both modern and ancient segments, "The Burning Sands" offers a simple yet solid approach to the history of civilization making it an entertaining read and recommended addition to personal reading lists and community library collections.
Far World
J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain
pmuir@shadowmountain.com
9781590389621, $17.95, www.shadowmountain.com
Being mundane is something that our non-magical world just is. But in J. Scott Savage's original fantasy novel, "Far World: Water Keep", we are introduced to Marcus, a mundane boy, who meets Kyja, a mundane girl when he finds himself thrust into a world that is different from own. Unfortunately for Kyja, her world is one of magic where she is considered weird for being simply mundane. The two mundane non-magical-user people are faced with an evil magical plot that could both affect the world of magic, known as Far World, and the mundane world of Earth. Kyja and Marcus embark on a quest that is gripping adventure from beginning to end, making "Far World" a solid pick for fantasy lovers and a popular addition to community library Fantasy & Science Fiction collections.
Travels of a Thermodynamicist
Rick Fleeter
Outskirts Press
10940 S. Parker Rd. – 515, Parker, CO 80134
9781432703660, $35.95, www.outskirtspress.com
Attention deficit order with careers, while not something that helps stability, does lead to interesting stories. "Travels of a Thermodynamicist" is Rick Fleeter telling of his wide range of careers that have lead him around the world and back again. Cycling, Swimming, piloting, and rocket science are just a sample of what he's done. His tales are long reaching and offer much to ponder on, making "Travels of a Thermodynamicist" a solid and highly recommended read.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
Burroughs' Bookshelf
The Pacification of Earth
Dean Warren
Xlibris Corporation
888-795-4274, www.Xlibris.com
9781436355933, $34.99, 767 pp., maps and table
What will the world be like at the end of the century is rather bleak. With rising population, depleting resources, what kind of leader will be able to slow down these issues they are certain to bring about more disparity in the world? Author Dean Warren presents "The Pacification of Earth", a riveting novel about a boy who cons his way into the Marines and vows to somehow "fix" the world's increasing ugliness. Soaking in as much information as he can, Ben Bjorn soon rises to sergeant, then battalion major in defense of a ghetto and finally commanding general of a revolution. This Napoleon-like figure with this his military brilliance and drive for civilian reform he ultimately conquers North America, Europe, the Moslems, the Chinese and he imposes fertility depressant policies and equality on humanity. A intriguing tale of adventure and high politics with glimpses of love and lust, "The Pacification of Earth" is especially recommended reading for action/adventure, military, and science fiction enthusiasts. "The Pacification of Earth" is also available in a trademark paperback format (9781436355926, $23.99). Dean Warren has previously authored three other recommended science fiction novels: Man Over Mind, The Last Underclass and Growing Young.
The Zephrus
William Hess, author
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403
9780595479955, $19.95, 355 pp., www.iuniverse.com
Horror-fantasy readers who relish a tale of classic good versus evil (with a whole lot of crazy happenings along the way) will enjoy "The Zephrus" by author William Hess. Especially appropriate for older teenage readers, "The Zephrus" is a fascinating tale featuring Kuelo Reed, age 16, who is experiencing some very strange things. An evil black cloaked figure is plaguing his dreams; a strange hand reaches out of the TV and chokes him... or perhaps it's the severed head in the toilet that has upset Kuelo Reed the most. If all that weren't strange enough, a old man appears and tell Kuelo that he is the chosen one and must save the world from someone evil named Aquarius! Readers will enjoy this wild ride with Kuelo as he now must train for the fight of his life and the fight to save humanity. Easy to follow and fun to read, science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts will enjoy unlocking the mysteries and clues to see if good can triumph over evil.
Health and Disease Symbology Handbook
Michael Schwartz, author
Inner Health Books
8400 Menaul Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112
Warwick Associates (publicity)
17470 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma, CA 95476
9780979688409, $19.95, 336 pp., www.amazon.com
Although advances in medical science and technology continue to broaden, deepen, and expand our understanding of disease, for a great many ailments just what causes them remains a mystery. In the "Health and Disease Symbology Handbook: A Mind Body Perspective", author and natural products leader, Michael Schwartz presents an interesting and compelling look at the cause of disease through the symbolisms behind it. In this informed and informative guide, readers will learn how the language of symbols can guide them to the insights that lead to the correction of the causes of diseases, common physical conditions and unhealthy states of mind. Presented as a reference guide for healing-arts practitioners and a self-help and self-healing resource for everyone, the "Health and Disease Symbology Handbook" is packed from cover to cover with symbolic meaning and nutritional advice, making it a highly valued and urgently recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library Health & Medicine reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
The Cults of Relativity
Drake Larson & Nora De Caprio
Hellgate Press
c/o L&R Publishing
PO Box 3531, Ashland, OR 97520
Ascot Media Group (publicity)
PO Box 58884, Webster, TX 77598
9781555716516, $25.95, www.hellgatepress.com
E equals MC squared, an equation many know, but few understand. "The Cults of Relativity: Finding Einstein, Twain, and a Universe Beyond E=MC2" looks to explain the highly complex and mathematically confusing equation in something many more people can understand – words. Using acclaimed physicist and acclaimed author Albert Einstein and Mark Twain to explain the theory and why it seems to matter so much to the world, it's an intriguing look, easily understood by people who aren't physicists. "The Cults of Relativity" is a top pick for anyone who wants to get why the numbers are the way they are.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Carson's Bookshelf
The Devil's Game
Loretta Jackson & Vickie Britton
Avalon
c/o Thomas Bouregy & Co.
160 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
9780803499119, $23.95
Fair play is not something that happened in the Wild West. "The Devil's Game" tells of Drew Woodson and his successful gambles going rotten. Gaining wins over the wrong people, he finds his money stolen and the one man he can trust missing. But his hidden feelings for his lost friend's wife and the evidence suggesting that said friend may be doing something shadier than being kidnapped makes it all the more complicated. "The Devil's Game" is a riveting novel of the old west, recommended.
Iran: Harsh Arm Of Islam
George H. Hassan
c/o Irwin Zuker PR
www.bookpromotioninmotion.com
1413480152, $13.25, irwinzuckerpr@aol.com
We are locked into a global war against militant Islam fundamentalism. One of those war fronts is Iran with its Shiite religious authorities and their anti-western policies. Born and raised a Shiite Muslim in Iran, George H. Hassan writes with a particular expertise and experience in "Iran: Harsh Arm Of Islam" when he provides a historical overview of Shi'ism in Iran; Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution; the role of the Mullahs; Iran's long-term goals and tactics; their nuclear program; the Iranian economy; and strategies for destabilizing the Iranian ruling regime through economic and political pressures. "Iran: Harsh Arm Of Islam" is informed, informative, and an important contribution to academic and community library International Studies and Iranian Studies reference collections, as well as critically significant reading for governmental policy makers and non-special general readers with an interest in Iran's threat to the stability of the Western World in general, and the Middle East in particular.
An Ice Cold Paradise
Terry Holland
Point Blank
info@pointblankpress.com
9780809572427, $17.95, www.pointblankpress.com
Harry Pines is the kind of man who will repay favors tenfold, although that's not always the wisest of him. "An Ice Cold Paradise" tells his story of meeting with Valerie Sabtino, who tells of one of their mutual friends gone missing. A whirlwind tale involving romance, vengeance, and insane Mormon fundamentalists make "An Ice Cold Paradise" an engaging and excellent mystery indeed.
The Difference Between Life and Death
Dennis Miner
Trafford Publishing
2657 Wilfert Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V9B 5Z3
1425161332, $15.50, www.trafford.com, 1-888-232-4444
Pandemic, when a disease gets so out of hand, it spreads all over the world. "The Difference Between Life and Death: Outliving the Flu Pandemic of 2009" is a prophecy stating that a world wide epidemic of flu is inevitable, and through certain steps, the event is outliveable for many. Seeking to create more awareness and preparation for the event along with advice on what to do when the time comes, it offers optimism in the fact of what can be done to fight the fates. "The Difference Between Life and Death" is up for consideration for those who agree in a potential worldwide epidemic that could come soon.
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Cheri's Bookshelf
High Is the Eagle: The Kane Legacy #3
Al and Joanna Lacy
Multnomah, a division of Random House
12265 Oracle Boulevard Suite 200 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
9781590529263 $12.99 www.mpbooks.com
Read as the history of the Mexican-American war of 1836-1848 come alive through the eyes of the Kane brothers Alamo/Alan (nicknamed for his involvement and bravery during the battle at the Alamo), Abel and Adam, and there also was another brother Alan who was killed at the Alamo. Read how Alamo inherited the Diamond K ranch and with the love for his brother split it with him. As Christians read how God moves mightily in and through the lives of the brothers and their families, protecting them, their ranch and their families.
All have a heart for God but Alamo's soul-winning gift has a way with the hearts of the young men who serve with the Kane brothers as well as their superiors. Many a life has been changed by Alamo and God even a young Mexican lieutenant when he disobeyed orders and lowered his weapon against Alamo.
Also read about the faith from the families and friends of the brothers as they believe that God will keep the brothers safe and return them home from the war.
Authors Al and Joanna Lacy have done an amazing job in this compelling tale of faith, love and courage. The scriptures are brought to life in everyday circumstances in the trying times. The awesome teaching how-to of soul-winning is outstanding. You will be inspired by the story of 'high is the eagle" and the sermon taught by the Kane family's pastor. At times you'll wonder if you're reading a historical fiction or total truth as the tale is that riveting. What more can be said the story is amazing, the characters outstanding and the historical and biblical facts will leave you hungry for more. But sadly this is the final book in this three book series. But don't be discouraged as outstanding as this novel is I'm sure there is more to come from this husband and wife writing team.
100 Essential Modern Poems by Women
Joseph Paris and Kathleen Welton
Ivan R. Dee Publisher
1332 North Halsted Street Chicago, Illinois 60622
9781566637411 $24.95 www.ivandee.com
What an outstanding compilation of modern poems by women! This is an unique and outstanding resource for anyone who loves poetry, as well as an excellent resource in the teaching and learning of poetry. There are a total of fifty awesome women poets spanning the last one hundred and fifty years along with their biographies and at least two poems by each poet.
This book has been compiled excellently by editors Joseph Paris and Kathleen Welton. "100 Essential Modern Poems by Women" is definitely one not to be missed as the layout is easy to read, easy to understand and is an awesome page turner. You'll not only see old friends of well recognizable names such as Emily Dickerson, Sara Teasdale, Dorothy Parker and Sylvia Plath but make new friends such as Amy Clampitt, Maxine Kumin, Sharon Olds and Evan Boland.
So whether you're a novice at reading poetry or a great follower you will find this lasting piece of art an awesome read, to read and reread over and over again regardless of any age.
Saturdays With Stella: How My Dog Taught Me to Sit, Stay and Come When God Calls
Allison Pittman
Multnomah a division of Random House
12265 Oracle Boulevard Suite 200 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
9781601421395 $13.99 www.mpbooks.com
This is a truly remarkable book for not only dog lovers but Christians who are seeking a closer walk with God. Our pets can teach us so much and that is clearly shown in "Saturdays With Stella". Not only does author Allison Pittman do an excellent job of opening our hearts and lives to the struggles and training of raising a beloved dog but easily converts that teaching with how God desires to teach us in the very same way. Not only can you apply the principles to raising your own dog but how to apply the teachings to your own life. You'll learn the principles of settle, sit, down, drop it, leave it, take it, let's go, come, wait, watch me, and stay. I'm sure you're wondering how training a dog can bring you closer to God but Pittman shows us how in allowing us to join her and Stella in a six week obedience class.
This book is very well written and easy to understand also this book is perfect for a Bible study as it is setup as a six week obedience training for Stella or read at your own pace. Anyway you read it's excellent and not one to be missed. An outstanding book that will last a lifetime as we all need to be reminded how to obey at the feet of Jesus.
Cheri Clay
Reviewer
Christy's Bookshelf
Asking for Murder
Roberta Isleib
Berkley Prime Crime
375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014
9780425223314 $6.99
When psychotherapist Rebecca Butterman's friend, therapist Annabelle Hart, misses a luncheon engagement and does not return her calls, Rebecca becomes concerned. She goes to her friend's house and finds Annabelle badly beaten. Annabelle is rushed to the hospital, where she lies in coma. Rebecca's attempts to see Annabelle at the hospital are denied by Annabelle's sister, a cold woman who writes a catty gossip column. Rebecca incorporates the help of Detective Meigs, who concludes that Annabelle was beaten as the result of a botched robbery and then mysteriously disappears. Rebecca decides to do some sleuthing on her own, which isn't easy with so many people connected to Annabelle acting suspicious, if not guilty.
This third outing in the Advice Column Mystery series by Roberta Isleib proves another winner. Rebecca Butterman is complicated, has unresolved issues, and is still trying to find her way in the world. She can be petty and has lingering doubts about her divorce, but overall is intelligent and loyal and works hard to make the best out of the situations she finds herself in while trying to deal with past traumas and lingering issues. Isleib throws in plenty of red herrings, wrapped around an intriguing plot.
The Diva Runs out of Thyme
Krista Davis
Berkley Prime Crime
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780425224267 $6.99
Event planner Sophie Winston and lifestyle columnist, TV celebrity Natasha Smith have been rivals since childhood. And now Natasha is living with Sophie's ex and coveting Sophie's house, which belonged to her ex's deceased aunt. Sophie has a busy Thanksgiving planned, with her mother, father, sister and sister's fiance coming to visit. But things get off to a bumpy start from the get-go, when Sophie discovers the dead body of a private investigator in a dumpster. She quickly becomes a suspect when the police find her name and photo inside the dead man's car. Sophie engages in some amateur sleuthing and learns Natasha hired the PI. If that isn't bad enough, dead bodies keep turning up, all with a connection to Sophie and Natasha. On top of which, Sophie is attracted to the detective who seems convinced she's a murderer.
The first book in the Domestic Diva series starts the ball rolling with a glorified bang. This cozy mystery delivers a plethora of useful household tips and mouth-watering recipes immersed within a keep-you-guessing plot filled with suspicious-acting characters with twists and turns around every corner. Davis's smart writing style and engaging characters are sure to garner fans anxious to read future books in the series.
Perfect for Framing
Maggie Bishop
High Country Publishers
197 New Market Center #135, Boone, NC 28607
9781932158847 $12.00
Jemma Chase and Detective Tucker return for another suspense-filled escapade in Perfect for Framing, the latest addition to Maggie Bishop's acclaimed Appalachian Adventure Mystery series. With the advent of winter, Jemma turns from helping run Chase's Dude Ranch to utilizing her skills as photographer and wood worker. Jemma is hired by Petula Windsor, president of a local property owners' association, to build cabinets in her guest house, but before Jemma can collect her pay, Petula burns to death in the same house. Jemma, a CSI wannabe, would like nothing more than to be in on the investigation, and Tucker has a hard time trying to keep her interest at bay. But when Petula's husband is found dead and Tucker's life is jeopardized, Jemma won't be stopped until she finds the murderer.
Once more, Maggie Bishop delivers a thrilling whodunit peppered with lovable characters and set against the beautiful backdrop of the mountains of North Carolina. Packed with breath-taking action and nail-biting suspense, with a twisting plot that guarantees constant speculation, this is one book that will have readers quickly turning pages, eager to find out what happens next.
The Archangel Caper
David Hunter
Tin Star Books
PO Box 1124, Powell, TN 37849
9781888338041 $12.95
Before David Hunter became an acclaimed crime writer and newspaper columnist, he patrolled the streets of Knoxville, TN as a police officer, or "warrior" as he calls these gallant protectors of citizens. The Archangel Caper is filled with antics from Hunter's days as a cop, all delivered with wit and a touch of cynicism. Hunter takes his reader into the criminal lives of the One Percenters, prostitutes, and strip club owners, as well as domestic abusers, drunk drivers, and drug-dealing inmates. Above all, he offers an insight into the true natures of law enforcement officers, from rookie to seasoned, all of whom share one important attribute: care for their fellow man. Reading this intriguing book is sure to generate a newfound respect for law enforcement officials.
Christy Tillery French
Reviewer
Clark's Bookshelf
Near Death in the Mountains: True Stories of Disaster and Survival
Cecil Kuhne, editor
Vintage & Anchor Books
1745 Broadway, 20-3, New York, NY 10019
9780307279354 $14.95
When you climb a mountain as a kid, it's just a hill or a sand dune which does not pose much danger. When you grow up and decide to climb an unbelievable mountain for thrills risking your life, it is just plain nuts! Cecil Kuhne has collected some really awesome accounts in Near Death in the Mountains. The stories are written by people who survived expeditions and are relating their harrowing experiences.
Each episode takes you on a different climb, whether on a glacier, an impossible face of sheer rock covered in ice, or across a snowfield which has crevices hundreds of feet deep laying in wait like an ominous booby-trap.
There is one commonality among the collected stories, safety! Though there were many near death experiences, and some actual deaths described, it was not because they ignored caution. Rather, it was wind, ice, snow, or hidden dangers. One climber's death was caused by a hernia which could not be treated on the mountain. A doctor, part of the climbing team, could not save her. An unusual burial was devised by the group and she was given last rites as though at sea. They wrapped her in a bag and let her fall gently down the mountain to a hundred foot field of snow. For their safety and survival reasons they could not bring her back.
There is a short coming in this anthology which you discover when you start reading them. It is the special terminology of mountaineers. Having a good vocabulary and a dictionary will not assist in understanding this jargon. After reading several of these breathe-taking adventures you understand what an ice ax can do and how essential it is to all climbers. Some gear which they attach to their boots, have the same purpose, but the type used is dictated by the terrain.
Compulsion to read the next chapter is very strong. Once you get the flavor of the book, you cannot stop reading. Hot summer days are best when you read about all this snow and ice. Keep an eye out for Kuhne's next book in February (2009) titled Near Death in the Arctic; I sure will!
The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate
David Freddoso
Regnery Publishing Inc
One Massachusetts Avenue N. W., Washington DC 20001
9781596985667 $27.95
Writers who can put together an argument either in favor of or against a political candidate seem to surface around presidential election time. This book is a one sided viewpoint written by political reporter for National Review Online, David Freddoso, The Case Against Barack Obama. This captivating chronology of Obama's career presents a history of the meteoric rise to fame of an obscure newcomer who now stands on the threshold of claiming the number one prize in American politics, President of the United States.
Freddoso cleverly provides insinuations which try to have the reader to draw, but one conclusion, Barack Obama uses poor judgment in the selection of his friends and supporters. Association with questionable people who supported his political and personal ambitions is presented in a manner which does not directly accuse Obama of wrong doing. "By what criteria does a man choose his friends and end up with the likes of Tony Rezko, Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers?" Rezko, a convicted criminal for bribery of public officials, and Ayers an underground bomber terrorist who professes hate for his country, and finally Reverend Wright who was made famous for his hate of America.
"It's not that Barack Obama is a bad person. It's just that he's like all the rest of them. Not a reformer. Not a Messiah . . . Obama's radical ties don't make him a radical. His ties to Communists don't make him a Communist. His ties to a terrorist do not make him a terrorist. But his continued relationships with radicals throughout his public life show an important influence in Obama's public career . . ." (p.233)
Also, pointed out by David Freddoso, when people are confronted with the facts, they still defend Obama by saying his relationships were all in the past. Many people support his philosophy from his two books. However, when asked if they had read his books, the response is no! His followers take cues from publicity and commentators who try and depict Barack Obama as they would like to see him. The Case Against Barack Obama presents an opposite viewpoint. To be fair, before you cast your ballot, read this book and Obama's books, The Audacity of Hope (2006) and Dreams from My Father (1995). A careful analysis of any candidate may possibly persuade you to vote the other way.
Girls of Grace Faith vs. Fear
Leah R. Eads
Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC
127 E. Trade Center Terrace, Mustang, Oklahoma 73064
9781604628074 $12.99
Delightfully spiritual, this novel is seen through the eyes of fourteen year old Leah R Eads from Kingman, Arizona. Her inspiring relationship with God becomes paramount to the story. Leah, at her young age, wrote Girls of Grace Faith vs. Fear displaying a talent beyond her years which unfolds into a quest to do good deeds for others in this small community. Leah said that she had written this book as a Christmas present for her friends in her Christian Girls Club. Her mother encouraged her to submit her book for publication and her friends positively agreed.
The main theme of this novel is the predicament facing the Crisis Community Pregnancy Center. The center is in desperate need of funds in order to remain open. All efforts at fund raising had not produced enough revenue. Then, as if by a miracle, an opportunity presented itself to the local Christian Girls Club to become a part of the solution.
Twists and turns ensue creating many obstacles for the girls to win a competition between faith-based teams. Many times they are discouraged, but through faith and prayer, liberally distributed throughout the book, they are guided to the next step in an actual reality competition.
What makes this novel unique is Leah Eads is able to capture your senses and emotions while spinning a yarn of competitiveness which holds your attention. The only down side to the story is that it ends too abruptly. Realizing this is not an epic novel, you want more of the story written by Leah, as she tells her tale very well. Eads displays excellent humor in her writing style and gets her point across very well.
The market for this book is in the age bracket of the author, 14 to 16. We all can benefit from our young people, as they are truly talented, caring, and devout. Our society seems to be instilling in our next generation a great sense of community and religion. This book is highly recommended as a great gift for a teenager from 12 to 60!
Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain
Oliver Sacks
Vintage Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
9781400033539 $14.95, 448 pp.
Considering the part music plays in the recovery of extremely mentality disabled patients, which is not a new phenomenon, it has recently been explored once again by Oliver Sacks, physician and author, in his new book Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain.
There are remarkable examples of patients who were considered feeble, unable to care for themselves, unable to walk or do anything other than sit, and yet these same people when exposed to music were able to astonish those who cared for them either by family or professionals. Sacks explored many different methods of treatment, but in his unique style of writing has been able annotate the case histories of many types of patients who had been virtually given a hopeless life sentence of being institutionalized.
Parkinson sufferers have been given L-Dopa as a medication to relieve the stutter problems they encounter when making movements. The introduction of music as therapy for these diseased people has given back to them smooth movement which the drug could not accomplish.
Oliver Sacks tells of a music therapist who played piano at a hospital who created musical treatment for a patient singing Old Man River using only three words. This man had not spoken for long time and was considered a lost cause. She heard him sing and realized playing songs he knew, she could communicate with him. Dr. Sacks was greatly encouraged by patients progress and then expanded the use of music to other patients.
Also, there are cases described showing the relationship between color and music. Many who have lost their sight after years of seeing describe they can see different colors when they hear specific notes. Even though they are blind, the colors become vivid in their minds. For example Middle C is green.
The general audience will find this textbook style of writing to be somewhat awkward to understand. However, if you are searching for solutions to conditions which afflict members of your family or close friends you will find them described in Musicophilia!
Clark Isaacs
Reviewer
Daniel's Bookshelf
The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat
Reality and Myth
Earl J. Hess
University Press of Kansas
2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence KS 99045-4444
9780700616077 $29.95 www.Kansaspress.ku.edu 785-864-4154
Earl J. Hess wrote two earlier works entitled Field Armies and Fortification in the Civil War, and Trench Warfare under Grant & Lee. I was first introduced through these books on the single-shot rifle musket. Hess made some arguments on the theory of its ineffectiveness. The historical argument that the musket had revolutionized warfare for years. In this book, Hess goes into deeper detail to provide an intelligent account of the actual value, and limits of the muzzle loading musket. He discloses a perceptive look and convincing performance on the battlefield during the Civil War. He discusses the major differences between the effective range of the smoothbores and muskets. They are 100 yards and 500 yards respectively. He does define the better use for the muskets being in skirmishes and sniping. He distinguishes these definitions to great detail, with the training needed for these warfare tactics in battle lines and in the field. Skirmishers acted as a group to harass the enemy from cover and protect the battle lines. Snipers acted in small groups or alone to sight and pick out targets.
Earl J. Hess has written a fine book to collaborate his theory on the ineffectiveness of the musket rifle in close combat. He explains the bullets fired from the new musket followed the parabolic trajectory unlike those from the smoothbores. Then at mid-range those rifle balls did fly well above the enemy creating two killing zones between which troops could operate untouched. He further explains the most complete discussion to date on the skirmishing and sniping in the Civil War. His book is important for the student's understanding of how the regiments actually fought in battle. Hess explains it further in detail with his fine research and writing style. The reader becomes a better student of exactly why things happened the way they did in the Civil War.
Firebrand of Liberty
Stephen V. Ash
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393065862 $25.95 www.wwnorton.com 1-800-233-4830
Stephen's V. Ash's tells the history of the 1st and 2nd South Carolina black regiments. This helped Abraham Lincoln to consider enlisting black soldiers into the army during the Civil War. Their commander Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson and the regiments carried themselves in distinction by fighting bravely through the conquest of Jacksonville Florida. There were not one act of cowardice among them. General David Hunter did pull the mission before completion. Their outstanding performance encouraged Lincoln to rethink the idea of regularly enlisting black soldiers, and therefore changing the face of the Civil War
Ash has written a fine sensitive history of the black soldiers of the 1st and 2nd South Carolina. He details their hardships, courage, and racial discrimination. They had to endure and keep driving forward to keep them moving on. He describes their efforts to free the slaves and help to bring them back to their base camp. It is a prelude and inspiration to the fellow history of African Americans who helped contribute to the cause of freedom of fellow black slaves. Later on in history the 54th Massachusetts also fought with distinction against a formidable coastline Fort Wagner. This history of these regiments by Stephen V. Ash illuminates the beginning of the African- American military experience during the Civil War.
Daniel Allen
Reviewer
Debra's Bookshelf
Home Girl
Judith Matloff
Random House
9781400065264 $25.00
After some twenty years working as a journalist in the world's worst trouble spots, where being chased by a machete-wielding madman or having an AK47 shoved in one's chest was close to routine, Judith Matloff decided to settle down with her husband John somewhere civilized, somewhere where the government worked and you could feel comfortable raising a family. Inexplicably, they settled on buying a termite-infested fixer-upper in West Harlem, a 19th-century row house that sat lopsided on a street that was governed by Dominican drug dealers. Buying the house was the usual trial, but claiming it from the neighborhood thugs presented difficulties most new home owners don't have to face: buddying up to the lieutenant of the local drug crew so his minions wouldn't urinate on her steps, purging the back yard of spent needles. Matloff soon met the locals, most notoriously a certain "Salami," so-called because of the length and complexion of his penis, who squatted in the plumbingless house next door. Salami and his one-eyed girlfriend "Bitch," aka "Charm," routinely threw bags of excrement into their back yard, which of course impacted the air quality on Matloff's side of the fence.
The house Matloff and her husband bought needed a tremendous amount of work, but it had good bones. The neighborhood had good bones, too. It had been infiltrated by drug dealers in the 1980s, and police raids were a routine form of entertainment. But while much of the neighborhood was filled with the likes of Salami, there were also a large number of houses still in the hands of older families, people who were unhappily waiting out the dealers' tenure, sometimes cooperating clandestinely with the police.
Matloff does a good job of painting a picture of a close-to-hopeless neighborhood where honest people have to make compromises in order to survive. She even manages to get across what she finds charming about her new home: the vibrant street life, the mix of cultures. She will not, I think, be able to convince many readers that having a baby in such an environment was a smart decision, however successfully it seems to have turned out for her. But I guess if you're used to living amidst the carnage of Rwanda or the Sudan then negotiating with drug dealers for parking spaces isn't so problematic.
Matloff's writing is proficient but not charming. Likewise, her book is interesting in many parts, but it goes on too long and provides too much detail. It's a decent read, that is, but would have been much improved if perhaps a third of it had been edited out.
Have I Got a Guy For You
Alix Strauss
Polka Dot Press (Adams Media)
9781598694338 $14.95
Have I Got a Guy For You is a collection of 26 essays by female writers about their experiences with match-making mothers. All the essays are well-written and at least worth the read, and many of them are quite funny. In "Letters to Gelman," for example, Brenda Scott Royce writes about her mother's attempts to fix her up with Michael Gelman, the then single producer of LIVE with Regis and Kathie Lee. Royce's mother wrote numerous letters to Gelman about her daughter, attaching photographs and insisting that Brenda would be willing to convert to Judaism for the purpose of marriage. Brenda was not keen on the idea:
"Despite my insistence that I could manage my love life without her interference, and despite my far-out claim that few TV producers actually scrounge for romantic prospects in the viewer mailbag, my mother pressed on, prompted by Regis's on-air riffs about Gelman's single status, sending letter after letter to the morning show."
Gelman, sadly, never wrote back, but other contributors to the volume did wind up going on dates with the guys their mothers had found for them. Usually the results were disastrous. There was, for example, the BBC journalist who announced twenty minutes into his date with Anita Kawatra what his sexual expectations would be should they get married: she was to be "accommodating" and "adventurous," and they would have sex four times a week, six during vacations. Aaron was an aspiring actor who said "totally" a lot and showed author Sara Barron his 8x10 glossies over tea and mocha at Starbucks:
"Then my mother called to see how things had gone.
"'Not well,' I told her on the phone. 'He totes a dance bag and dresses all in leather.'
"'In a gay way?' she asked.
"'Is there any other?' I responded."
There was, too, the divorced thirty-something who announced that his ex-wife used to beat him, and a grad student at UPenn who--for reasons author Samantha Levy can't remember--came out with a similarly startling confession: "My mom used to powder my bottom until I was in the eighth grade."
This is good stuff. Definitely recommended for when you want a humorous, light read.
Man in the Dark
Paul Auster
Henry Holt
9780805088397 $23.00
Fans of Paul Auster will find much that's familiar in his latest novel, Man in the Dark. The specific man alluded to by the book's title--though surely Auster means to suggest something about the state of mankind in general--is 72-year-old August Brill, who's living with his daughter Miriam while recovering after a car accident. There are three generations in mourning in the house: August, still distraught after the death of his wife; Miriam still suffering the after-effects of divorce, five years on; and Miriam's daughter Katya, who is biding time while she blames herself for her boyfriend's death. By day August and Katya watch movies, four or five or six of them in a row while they allow time to wash over them. By night August lies awake in the dark, unable to sleep, willing himself not to remember the myriad bad things of life--his own particular grievances and the misery of human existence as a whole. By way of distraction he thinks up stories, one in particular about an alternate universe in which the characters are aware that they are characters in the head of a certain 72-year-old August Brill. Since they are unhappy with the narrative he's creating for them, they are in a mutinous mood.
This is Auster's signature: stories within stories, the author playing with the boundary between reality and fiction, his characters sometimes crossing over from one realm to the other. In addition to the principal story in August's head there is also his recapitulation of his granddaughter's critical assessments of the movies, with their various plots summarized as well. And there are stories told by characters within stories. Also familiar here is Auster's prose, which as usual goes down easy: his writing style is admirably simple yet never boring. The book, depressing in outlook for the most part, is ultimately hopeful.
If this were my first encounter with Auster, I might have been wowed by this novel. But we've seen this sort of thing before, most recently in Auster's Travels in the Scriptorium, which was published just a year ago. The two books are very similar, but I'd recommend Man in the Dark over Travels. It offer a meatier story, with more interesting, better developed characters, and a more satisfying conclusion.
You'd think that a book about a 14-year-old boy studying for his World Domination degree at an institution dedicated to evil would have a cartoonish, Austin Powers-y charm to it. That's what I was expecting from Catherine Jinks's Evil Genius, at least: a world in which evil masterminds plot destruction with unnecessarily complicated gadgets and over-explain themselves to ostensibly doomed good guys. But it's not that sort of book.
Cadel Piggot is a genius with a penchant for causing trouble. His adoptive parents--who aren't around much and are unsupportive when they are--acting on the advice of the authorities, bring Cadel to a psychologist, Dr. Thaddeus Roth, when he is seven years old. Thaddeus soon comes to be the dominant influence in Cadel's life. He trains his young protege to harness his intellect in socially unacceptable ways. Cadel's particular skill lies in being able to easily understand and manipulate complex systems--the rail system, the freeways, the interaction of human groups. Eventually Cadel becomes expert at influencing people, without their knowledge, so that they'll act in accordance with his wishes. (This is difficult to explain, but perhaps you remember that in Silence of the Lambs Hannibal Lecter, another evil genius, was able to convince the inmate of a neighboring cell to kill himself by swallowing his own tongue. That is the sort of thing Cadel Piggot might be able to do should he set his mind to it.) After speeding through the middle school and high school curricula, Cadel enters Australia's Axis Institute, where founder Phineas Darkkon has collected a small coterie of evil-minded students with unusual talents. The grand scheme is a sinister one: the improvement of society through the advancement of a class of genetically superior individuals.
Far from cartoonish, Catherine Jinks's Evil Genius is rather a dark, even disturbing read. There is the casual cruelty of the Institute, the occasional disappearances, the constant surveillance and resulting paranoia, the encouragement of lying and cheating (provided one doesn't get caught), the general rejection of societal mores. Cadel, too, while pitiable, is not the most likeable of heros, at least not at first: he has in essence been trained from birth to be a sociopath, and he suffers few pangs of conscience for his acts. His character evolves in the book, but his story remains an unpleasant one.
Evil Genius can be slow going in parts: Cadel's progression through school prior to entering the Institute is described at length and is rather boring. But the book becomes increasingly interesting as the truth about Cadel's predicament becomes clearer to him, and as his innate sense of morality asserts itself. The goings-on within the Institute--various back stabbings and plots--would be easier to follow if a list or diagram of the various characters and their relationships were provided. I eventually gave up caring about one or two sub-plots. But the book is certainly an unusual read, likely to spark interesting discussions--on the subjectivity of evil and moral relativism, for example--if used in a classroom setting.
Dirty Blonde
Lisa Scottoline
Harper Collins
9780060742911 $7.99
The dirty blonde of Lisa Scottoline's title is 39-year-old Cate Fante. By day a respected district court judge, Cate prowls Pennsylvania's seedier bars by night in search of hot sex with disreputable strangers. Naturally, Cate's secret doesn't stay a secret for long. Her private life spills onto the front pages shortly after sentencing in a high-profile trial, a case involving the Law and Order-like drama Attorneys@Law. The revelation jeopardizes Cate's professional life as well as a budding romantic relationship. In short order more or less everything that could go wrong in her life does, and Cate finds herself scrambling to save her reputation and, ultimately her life. She's helped along by a devoted cast of characters--mother-figure Val, her secretary; a pair of not-quite competent law clerks; and her old friend Gina, who's left the law business to take care of her autistic son Warren.
Granted, Scottoline's sexy storyline may make this a book you'll want to camouflage with a newspaper on the subway. And granted, Cate's behavior does seem hard to believe at times--both the promiscuous sex and some of her subsequent actions when dealing with its exposure. But the book is a well written and tightly-plotted page-turner, with just the right amount of characterization of the principals for this sort of a novel. Even weighing in at over 400 pages Dirty Blonde is a quick read. I may not remember much of the plot in a month's time, but I was happy to read it, and I'd be happy to read more from Scottoline.
Man of the House
Ad Hudler
Ballantine
9780345481085 $14.00
Ad Hudler's Man of the House (a sequel to the author's 2002 novel Househusband, which I have not read) is told in the first person from four different perspectives, but his main character is Linc Menner, who quit a successful landscaping business years back to take care of his daughter Violet full time. While Linc's wife Jo brings home the bacon, Linc not only fries it up in a pan--with considerably more skill than most of us--but he keeps a spotless house, regularly fires off cranky missives to the administration of his daughter's prep school, and generally performs the role of perfect, engaged parent in a way that could only irritate the average mother. Linc is obsessive about his care-giving responsibilities. This is a convenience for his loved ones--who thus never have to worry about anything domestic--but it is also maddening because, frankly, Linc can be something of a know-it-all jerk.
Linc has been firmly in touch with his feminine side for more than a decade. But Man of the House finds him exploring his masculinity, a transformation prompted in part by Violet's increasing independence--she's now thirteen--and by the appearance in his world of manly workmen, come to renovate the family's house in Florida. Linc in fact develops a sort of man crush on the head contractor. We learn about Linc's transformation through his own eyes and from chapters told from his wife's and daughters' points of view. The fourth character on whom Hudler focuses is Jessica Varnadore, Violet's English teacher, who likewise notices the changes wrought in Linc by, for example, his weekly visits to a new barber shop and his more ambitious weightlifting regimen.
Hudler's book is impressive because his characters' transformations seem realistic: Linc's pendulum swing into testosterone territory, Jo's increased domesticity as Linc's changed priorities leave a vacuum on the home front. The gradual revelation of the nature of Jessica's interest in Linc is also deft: in this case it is not her character that evolves so much as our appreciation of her character. One gets the impression (particularly after reading the charming author interview at the back of this edition) that Linc is a lightly fictionalized version of the author himself, the book serving as a vehicle for Hudler's various hobbyhorses.
In short, Man of the House is a decent, light read about the possibility of reinventing oneself mid-life, once the responsibilities of parenting have lightened.
The Echo
Minette Walters
Vintage Crime
9780307277107 $12.95
The mystery is, why would a homeless man seek out the residence of a certain Amanda Powell, an apparent stranger, and starve himself to death in the privacy of her garage within a few feet of a full freezer? The dead man in question was one Billy Blake, an apparently well-educated, 60-something (by the look of him) drunk, an occasional thief and, by his own admission, a one-time murderer. Billy slept in an abandoned warehouse by the river with a bunch of others in similar straits. He preached redemption, raved like a lunatic when he was drunk, mortified his flesh occasionally, and acted as mentor to an intelligent but under-educated homeless minor.
The case of Billy's death interests journalist Michael Deacon, the principal character of Minette Walters's The Echo. Michael winds up investigating the connections between Billy's death and a pair of celebrated disappearances: the embezzler James Streeter, who may have been murdered, and the diplomat Peter Fenton, who vanished after his wife killed herself. Walters's story is complex and not always easy to follow, though the plot is summarized neatly at the end so that one puts the book down, at least, with a fairly clear sense of what happened in it.
The book is, on the one hand, very impressive: Walters has created a very credible world, peopled by credible characters. Reading it is rather like watching one of those gritty British police dramas in which the characters all have heavy accents and you're not really sure what's going on, but the acting's so good that you keep watching. (In fact, The Echo was made into a BBC1 drama in 1998; I haven't seen it, though, so don't know whether it's in fact just that sort of gritty police drama.) The problem with the book, however, is that reading it is such hard work. The book, even though only 338 pages long, feels close to interminable. This isn't helped by the inclusion of a number of transcribed articles and letters within the text that are both dull, for the most part, and written in a minuscule font. The appearance of one such eight-page section at the end of the first chapter--it purports to be an excerpt from a book about unsolved mysteries--is apt to scare away a lot of potential readers.
In sum, a rewarding read if you have the stamina for it. But you might want to have a second book--something frothy and fun--going at the same time.
The Descendants
Kaui Hart Hemmings
Random House Trade Paperbacks
9780812977820 $14.00
Matthew King's wife Joanie is in a coma and not expected to survive. Matt thus finds himself suddenly thrust into the role of single parent to their two daughters, aged 10 and 17. One day that will mean the normal things--getting the girls up for school and taking them to dentists' appointments, the minutiae of parenting. But for now the situation is extreme. He needs to explain to them that the doctors are taking their mother off life support, and he has to walk them through the process of saying goodbye to her. He also finds himself confronting for the first time the ugly fact that both girls are completely out of control, juvenile delinquents or just shy of it. Meanwhile, Matt has responsibilities to other people: he has set himself the task of letting everyone else know what's happening to Joanie--their friends and family and, as he finds out, the man his wife has been having an affair with. Even he, Matt decides, has the right to say goodbye.
Given the subject matter of Kaui Hart Hemmings's The Descendants, you might think that reading it would be a painful exercise, like slowly pulling a bandage off an infected sore. The book does have its tear-jerking moments, but surprisingly few of them, considering. Joanie, as we discover, was seriously flawed, so our sadness over her death is diluted. Our ambivalence--ours and Hemmings's characters'--makes the book far more realistic and interesting than it would have been if it were only the sad story of a blameless young mother's death. You might think, too, that Hemmings's story would drag, as very little happens in the book: Matt and his daughters and the older girl's boyfriend track down Joanie's lover, Matt spars with his in-laws, he worries about his ten-year-old's precocious sexuality, Joanie dies. But the drama comes in the development of the characters' personalities. All of the principals are fully fleshed out, and they are all changed by the experience of Joanie's death.
The Descendants is very well-written and highly readable. Don't be turned off by its grim subject matter.
Stealing the Dragon
Tim Maleeny
Midnight Ink
9780738709970 $14.95
Tim Maleeny's Stealing the Dragon is the first in a new series featuring private detective Cape Weathers. In this outing, a ship filled with refugees being smuggled into the states from Fuzhou Province in China has run aground on the island of Alcatraz. The crew of the boat are found murdered, but the refugees didn't do it: the carnage on board is clearly the work of highly skilled assassin. Since Cape happens to know just such an assassin, and she happens to have gone missing, he's a little worried that she might be in trouble. Cape's investigation into the refugee ship murders takes him into the underbelly of San Francisco's Chinatown and involves him in the ancient traditions of a secret Chinese organization and the messy business of the city's upcoming mayoral election.
Stealing the Dragon reads almost like two different books sewn together. There are the chapters featuring Cape, who is, frankly, fairly mundane: a likable enough PI who under-dresses and annoys the local police and the Feds with his wise-cracking antics. But Cape is informally partnered with Sally Mei, the aforementioned assassin, who spends her time teaching martial arts and watching Cape's back when she's not killing people. Much of the book focuses on Sally's backstory, her training from the age of five with the Triad, her first forays into murder. These sections of the book are both unusual and very well done. Sally is extremely competent and endowed with a conscience, and thus a very compelling character. The two parts of the book eventually meet--the story of the refugees is of course bound to Sally's story. Still, the connection between Sally and Cape, the juxtaposition of their respective styles, is jarring. The effect is like watching a Shakespearean actor perform alongside some Tiger Beat pinup,* say, or listening to a duet by Pavarotti and Jimmy Buffett. One wonders how Sally can possibly have become hooked up with Cape.
Doubtless that question will be answered eventually in a subsequent Cape Weathers installment. The second book in the series, Beating the Babushka, was released in October of 2007.
For precisely that effect--impressive, in this context--see Love and Death on Long Island, starring John Hurt and Jason Priestley.
Undiscovered Country
Lin Enger
Little, Brown
9780316006941 $23.99
Ten years afterwards, Jesse Matson tells the story of what happened--how he found his father dead in the woods when they were out hunting, an apparent suicide. Despite the coroner's determination, Jesse can't accept that his father killed himself. Harold Matson wouldn't have done that to his family; he wouldn't have done it to Jesse, whom he knew would be the one to find him. A nagging feeling in his gut leads Jesse to suspect that his father was murdered by his own brother. Jesse's Uncle Clay is a ne'er-do-well who has long resented his brother's success, in particular his success at getting the girl: Jesse's mother had dated Clay before she met and married Harold.
If the plot of Lin Enger's Undiscovered Country sounds familiar, the echo is intentional. The novel is a modern-day retelling--in five acts and complete with ghost--of Hamlet, set in the frigid temperatures of northern Minnesota. The relationship between the two stories is acknowledged in the book itself: Jesse is conscious that he's been cast as Hamlet in his own version of the tragedy.
The drama of Undiscovered Country lies not so much in uncovering the mystery of Harold Matson's death--though for much of the story there is room to doubt whether Jesse's instincts are correct. The suspense comes rather from waiting to see how Jesse will act on his suspicions, and whether the choice he makes will result in his own destruction.
What's particularly good about this book is its depiction of setting, the abiding cold that Enger's characters seem largely inured to. Reading it, one can almost feel the bite of the air, hear the crunch of snow breaking underfoot. Undiscovered Country is well-written, but it's also a page-turner. You'll want to keep reading it, even if you think you know what happens.
Buyology
Martin Lindstrom
Doubleday
9780385523882 $24.95
In his book Buyology, Martin Lindstrom discusses the conclusions he reached after conducting a three-year neuromarketing study. Marketers have traditionally used two tools to determine the efficacy of advertising campaigns--observation of the real-life buying decisions of people and feedback in the form of polls and questionnaires. These are inexact tools, particularly the latter, as people are very often not conscious of the factors that lead them to make buying decisions, and thus are poor reporters of their motivations. Lindstrom and his team of scientists, by contrast, used brain-scanning instruments (magnetic resonance imaging and steady-state typography) on more than 2000 volunteers to track their subjects' responses to advertisements and brands in real time. The scientific equipment allowed Lindstrom and his team to observe their volunteers' physical responses to various stimuli, which were very often at odds with the subjects' self-reported responses.
In Buyology, Lindstrom discusses the results of his study, touching on myriad topics related to marketing--subliminal advertising, the relationship between brands and rituals, the influence of our non-visual senses on buying decisions, the curious allure of unboxing videos, and so on. Lindstrom grounds his discussions in real-world examples, which makes for interesting reading. He discusses, for example, the success enjoyed (or not) by the sponsors of American Idol, the ritual of eating an Oreo cookie or pouring a Guinness, the unfulfilled promise of the Segway.
Lindstrom promises that his findings will "transform the way you think about how and why you buy." While some of the results were unexpected--for example, that warning labels on cigarette packs actually encourage smokers to light up because they activate an area of the brain associated with cravings*--I didn't find myself particularly surprised by any of the material presented. But certainly what Lindstrom has to say is interesting, and his book may make readers more aware of the ways in which they are being manipulated by advertisers. (Readers may, like me, imagine that they are above many of the tricks advertisers use. The various tactics of high-end clothing stores are surely lost on someone like myself, for example, who is rarely attired in anything more stylish than Russell Athletics sweatpants, and who would run screaming from a pair of Manolo Blahniks. But none of is completely immune to the siren song of artfully presented merchandise: I'm as apt as anyone to swoon over the latest Apple gadget.)
Buyology, then, is relevant to almost everyone. It's also highly readable. Indeed, Lindstrom presents his information in laudably clear prose, and he is adept at tossing out teasers to keep his audience interested. The book should appeal to anyone who enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, which likewise packages thought-provoking discussion of how we make decisions in accessible prose.
Likewise, graphic anti-smoking ads encourage smokers to smoke. But Lindstrom doesn't discuss whether the ads and warning labels are effective in deterring non-smokers from picking up the habit.
The Dead Travel Fast
Eric Nuzum
Thomas Dunne Books
9780312386177 $13.95
Eating his bowl of Count Chocula one morning, author Eric Nuzum was struck by the ubiquity of vampire references in modern culture. He set himself the task of exploring the popularity of vampires, a quest which led to his book The Dead Travel Fast and to the graphic scene with which it begins: Nuzum watching blood drip down his bathroom mirror after an experiment in auto-hematophagy that went badly wrong. No, Nuzum's not a crazy person, but his investigation into vampirism did prompt him to do some wacky things. In addition to trying to drink his own blood, Nuzum watched 216 vampire films--apparently they get pretty bad after the first dozen or so--traveled to Romania on a bus tour with celebrity host Butch Patrick (a.k.a. Eddie Munster), took in a vampire-themed topless show in Vegas, and attempted to turn himself into a vampire in six easy steps. This last project necessitated his ending a meeting early so he could chant over a raw chicken liver. (Nuzum also watched all seven seasons--108 hours' worth--of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, developing an appropriate regard for it in the process. But that's a sign of good taste rather than wacky obsession!)
Nuzum's account of his modern-day exploration into things vampire is punctuated by the results of more traditional research. Nuzum writes about vampire mythology in antiquity, for example, and the connection between vampirism and disease; he discusses the curious legal history of the 1922 film Nosferatu, the masher note Bram Stoker wrote to Walt Whitman, and the sorts of things Vlad the Impaler got up to to deserve his epithet. Nuzum leads readers to suggest that he's not one to spend his time reading old books in dark libraries, but he's clearly done his homework. The book is also very well put together, Nuzum's more historical discussions woven seamlessly into his present-day narrative. Informative and well-written and, topping it off, quite funny in parts: Nuzum's book is definitely recommended.
The Collectors
David Baldacci
Warner Books
044653109X $26.99
In his twelfth novel David Baldacci weaves a complex plot involving assassinations, rare books, con artists, and high-stakes gambling. The story is told on three fronts. Roger Seagraves is an assassin, trained by the CIA, who's no longer working with the best interests of the government in mind. Annabelle Conroy is a formidable con artist for whom sleight of hand and deception are second nature. And "Oliver Stone" is a former CIA guy turned leader of a group of eccentrics, the "Camel Club," who act as an informal government watchdog group. The three threads of Baldacci's story eventually come together. Annabelle, fresh off of an unusually lucrative "long con," finds herself drawn into the Camel Club's current case.
Baldacci's story is a bit uneven, but mostly very entertaining. The hyper-competence of both Seagraves and Annabelle is fun to watch. The story is complex but told well, so that it's not hard to follow once you've digested the large number of characters that are thrown into the mix at the beginning of the book. The Collectors is a sequel to Baldacci's 2005 novel The Camel Club. I did not read the earlier book. (Indeed, I was not aware when I started it that The Collectors was a sequel, because the fact isn't mentioned on the jacket copy of my edition.) I did feel, reading The Collectors, that the background and raison d'etre of the Camel Club were insufficiently explained, though following the book's storyline was not difficult for that reason. The other problem I had with the book is also related to the fact that The Collectors is part of series: while two of the three storylines in the book are concluded at the book's end, it's clear that there's more to come for Annabelle and the victim of her long con. This isn't a problem if you're reading the books in a series, but if you read The Collectors as a stand-alone novel you may find yourself disappointed at the lack of closure.
Debra Hamel, Reviewer
http://www.book-blog.com
Fortenberry's Bookshelf
The Light of Men
Andrew Salmon
Cornerstone Books
9781934935293 $24.95 www.cornerstonepublishers.com
Andrew Salmon's new book is absolutely fantastic. The Light of Men is a dark, hard-hitting novel. Though historical fiction, war story, and SF, it is so much more. It is a very serious work of literary merit, profoundly philosophical and not merely "an adventure." Salmon has cast an unflinching eye upon the hell that is Nazi Germany's concentration camps and found all mankind huddled there. This works reminds me directly of the late Solzhenitsyn's dark journey through the bleak Soviet gulag system.
This is a haunting work which will stay with you long after reading it. It will bother you, whispering in the dark like a fellow inmate in your barracks. I often lay awake at night, because just when I began to dose, I'd hear the creak of the suicidal rafters and snap awake in a cold sweat.
The Light of Men is profoundly moving. It illuminates the goodness in mankind by examining thoroughly the atrocious evil which infects us. To accomplish this, Salmon uses the perfect character, a complete outsider, the solitary stranger who has the best vantage point from which to examine our humanity and the functioning (or is that malfunctioning) of our society. A tag line on the back cover says, "A stranger in hell." Indeed he is.
The Second World: Empires and Influences in the New Global Order
Parag Khanna
Random House
9781400065080 $29.00
This book is part of a very welcome "boom" in new worldview studies, which chronicle the rise of the Second World (Asia, Africa, South Ameica). The geopolitical situation has been undergoing shift for some time, but the last eight years has seen a seismic shift in the world's balance. This is a very savvy guide for any student of world affairs.
Mr. Khanna expertly explores the entire Second World in a thorough, yet easily grasped way. He strikes a great balance between professor and Everyman traveler, understands the cultures and his subject matter, and takes us all on an informative tour. He handles a mountain of information deftly and provides a very readable study. It is rare to find someone with a strong command of the material who also writes well, knowing how to sustain a flow and not get lost in all the
