Sacramento San Francisco
April 2010
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8
F R E E
NEW AND OF INTEREST
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Whisper to the Living
A fitting finale to a great series Page 4
Sebastien Mamerot: Les
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Passages Doutremer: A Chronicle of the Crusades A stunning example of illuminated manuscripts Page 14
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From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law
Women hold up half the sky! By Patricia Sprinkle NAL Trade, $15.00, 407 pages
Though the odds are against her, Billie Waits has been managing a challenging life as a single mother of a handicapped daughter just fine. Until, that is, her estranged husband stops sending checks. Now Billie needs a job, a babysitter, and all the help she can get. She is surrounded by a host of strong women who equally need support: her sister, Margaret, struggling with the crushing burden of a secret divorce; Mamie, an elderly woman facing her own mortality;
and Emerita, an immigrant looking only to build a better life for herself and her husband. Together, they will learn to help one another and to see the greater patterns life holds for us all. Sparkle’s novel Hold Up the Sky is a heartwarming story, one that just might provide inspiration for staying up all night reading. Full of hardy, realistic characters and heartwrenchingly believable scenarios and set in See HOLD, page 7
Thoughtful, cogent, and humane Page 19
1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die
Like a well-stocked cooler at your favorite liquor store, you won’t know where to begin in this grand tome of fabulous beersro Page 22
149 Reviews INSIDE!
Children’s Books The Great Matzoh Hunt By Jannie Ho Price Stern Sloan, $5.99, 12 pages The only thing worse than children’s books that treat our kids like they’re incapable of understanding a good story are the ones that do this while missing an opportunity to be so much more. The Great Matzoh Hunt follows cute animal critters Duck, Lamb, Bunny, and Turtle as they search for the missing Matzoh. You can peel back flaps to reveal places they can look, which reveal cute visual jokes. There isn’t any story to speak of here, nor are we told why they are looking for the “missing Matzoh” (the word afikoman never appears), nor in fact do we learn anything whatsoever about the Passover holiday. If cartoonish animals are all you think your 4 or (God forbid) 8 yearold is capable of, then this book might have some appeal. Otherwise, treat your children like thinking people and treat them to the gift of a book that has a story with which they can engage and, perhaps, even something to teach. Reviewed by Jordan Magill Magnus Maximus, A Marvelous Measurer By Kathleen T. Pelley Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, $16.99, 32 pages What a wonderful story for the children’s hour! Even adults will be mesmerized by the obsessively measuring Magnus. The pictures alone are magically captivating with a vitality that brings the tale to the child’s full attention. Our marvelous Magnus, equipped with all the necessary metrical tools, is committed to the measurement all things measurable. Why, he even measures “nesses”, like the stinkiness of socks or the itchiness of an itch. He wanders around town and records all his measurements by pasting a paper label on the object. What a sight to see! His most remarkable exploit occurs when he stumbles upon an escaped lion, who frightens everyone except for our indomitable hero. Magnus calms and befriends the beast, and his passion leads him to measure all of the lion’s features -- even counting the number of fleas in its mane. Finally the lion is reclaimed by its tamer, but Magnus’s heroic measuring so impresses the townspeople that they appoint him official town measurer. Tragically,
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the measuring passion is interrupted when his glasses are shattered and he cannot see close-up. While awaiting a new pair of spectacles, and sadly sitting at the beach in view of the ocean, he is befriended by a small boy who teaches him to open his eyes and use his distance vision to appreciate the wide beauty of nature. The story is written with a lilting quality that makes the words sing, while the illustrations match the meter of the words. Truly this is a beautifully crafted tale. Reviewed by Rita Hoots Chester’s Masterpiece By Melanie Watt Kids Can Press, $18.95, 32 pages Chester’s back! This time, the ornery orange cat is trying to write his own story. Should it be an action story? Humor? Or perhaps science fiction? Eventually, he begins his “masterpiece” and writes some notso-very-nice things about Mouse, and none of the of the stories have a happy ending. Once on his literary tangent, his trusty red marker runs out of ink, and the story is returned to the rightful owner. Melanie Watt has done it again with the latest in the Chester series, Chester’s Masterpiece! Watt’s style of writing is like nothing I have ever read. It is like a battle between her subject, Chester, and herself. It seems that Chester is actively involved in the writing process, making the reader really believe that he is a real, living, breathing author. The illustrations are fun and interactive. Even the page that includes the publishing information is worth reading because of Chester’s touch. Every reader, young and old alike, should have Melanie Watt’s books on their shelves! Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun That Cat Can’t Stay By Thad Krasnesky Flashlight Press, $16.95, 32 pages That Cat Can’t Stay is a joy to read aloud. Thad Krasnesky begins with a situation familiar to many. Mom finds a cat in need of a home, but Dad forbids keeping the cat. Mom immediately sets about releasing the cat into the outdoors, while noting the rainy weather conditions facing the poor feline. Dad relents but only till the rain stops. By then, however, the kitty is a part of the family. This cycle repeats four more times as the family’s collection of kitties grows.
Ollie’s Easter Eggs
By Olivier Dunrea Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $9.99, 32 pages Olivier Dunrea presented this adorable animated cartoon Easter egg-hunt story with vibrant water-color and charming graphics. Ollie is a fun-loving gosling who always has great ideas on his own. He and his gosling friends are making a special event this Easter. But do Ollie’s friends really know what they are trying to do? Gossie, Gertie, BooBoo, and Peedie are Ollie’s friends; together they are preparing Easter eggs, but not quite for Ollie. Each one of them found an egg; Ollie did too, but not quite for Ollie. While everyone worked hard on their eggs, from loading, strapping on their backs, and pulling up the hill, Ollie was hardly working. Gossie, Gertie, BooBoo, and Peedie diligently dyed their eggs in bright red, bright blue, bright purple, and bright yellow. While they let the dyed eggs dry up, Ollie worked hard to collect them into his nest. What is Ollie going to do with them? Read on to find out what bright idea Ollie has to make this Easter a surprisingly bright and special to your child. Ollie and friends adventure stickers are included. This book is a perfect Easter gift for your loved ones, and a great addition to your Easter collection. Reviewed by Sophie Masri
In each instance, Dad’s objections become longer and funnier. Justice prevails, however, when a trip to the pound results in one final addition: a dog for Dad. The story concludes with the family “happy to discover. . . that Daddy is a dog lover!” Krasnesky tells his tale with rhymes and a delightful rhythm that rolls off the tongue, while David Parkins’ ink and watercolor illustrations of Dad mimicking various feline imperfections are perfectly hysterical. If your family is like mine, That Cat Can’t Stay will quickly become a favorite to be read again and again. Reviewed by Annie Peters The Princess and the Goblin By George MacDonald Random House Books for Young Readers, $9.99, 259 pages It’s hard to sit down and write a review of a book like The Princess and the Goblin. First written in 1872, this classic Victorian fairy tale by George McDonald has not only withstood the test of time, but has influenced some of the biggest names in traditional fantasy including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. The story concerns a young princess named Irene, a miner boy named Curdie, and a whole lot of nasty goblins who live under the mountain. It’s a story full of nobility, faith, friendship, and of course a little bit of magic, one that both parents and children can enjoy. As a reissued classic, this edition is very nice. It’s packaged to look like an classic edition, with an old-fashioned cover and the original 1872 illustrations to accom-
pany the text, but is sturdy to repel damage by little hands. Unfortunately, some of the line drawings turned out a little dark, which makes them hard to see, but it’s a small drawback overall. This would be a great book to read aloud, as the Victorian writing style may be a little confusing for younger readers, but the story is sure to capture imaginations of every age. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller Rose’s Garden By Peter H. Reynolds Candlewick Press, $15.99, 40 pages I loved the imagination portrayed in the story of young Rose as she sails off in a teapot to find adventure. On her journey, she collects seeds from all over the world. When she returns, she plants the seeds in a barren strip of land squeezed between buildings. With patience, she waits for flowers to bloom. After an entire year, word gets out she is waiting and children bring her paper flowers. With each flower, a child tells their story about coming to the city. Rose plants the flowers in the ground and soon color fills the space. But wait! One has a smell of perfume. A real flower! Soon the seeds bloom on their own. The ‘empowered’ girl changed her world as only she could. While the story is charming, the publishers missed when they didn’t include the story of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. Perhaps Rose Kennedy and the Greenway are well known on the east coast, but out here in California, I know little about Rose Kennedy and I had never heard of the greenway. The publishers did provide a Web site to visit, but I resented that I couldn’t get See CHILDREN’S, cont’d on page 25
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Sacramento San Francisco
Book Review 1776 Productions 1215 K Street, 17th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph. (916) 503-1776 info@1776productions.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Ross Rojek ross@1776productions.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kaye Cloutman kaye.cloutman@1776productions.com GRAPHIC DESIGN/LAYOUT Heidi Komlofske heidi.komlofske@1776productions.com COPY EDITORS Autumn Conley Viola Allo Lori Miller Glenn Rucker Joe Atkins Megan Just Diane Jinson Roy Sablosky EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jen LeBrun Jordan Dacayanan Ariel Berg Mary Komlofske DISTRIBUTION Reliable Distribution Mari Ozawa ADVERTISING SALES sales@1776productions.com
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The San Francisco and Sacramento Book Review is published monthly by 1776 Productions. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the San Francisco or Sacramento Book Review or San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words © 2009, 1776 Productions.
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IN THIS ISSUE Children’s.......................................................2 Mystery, Crime & Thriller...............................4 Modern Literature..........................................6 Romance.........................................................8 Young Adult..................................................10 Tweens.........................................................10 Biographies & Memoirs................................11 Technology...................................................12 Home & Garden............................................12 Movies & Music.............................................13 Reference......................................................13 History......................................................... 14 Science & Nature..........................................15 Science Fiction & Fantasy.............................16 Sequential Art.............................................. 17 Art, Architecture & Photography.................18 Current Events.............................................18 Business & Investing....................................20 Cooking, Food & Wine..................................22 Horror..........................................................24 Special Interest.............................................24
FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to Spring. As the weather becomes more erratic (I’ve gone from shorts and a T-shirt to a heavy jacket in less than 24 hours twice in the last week), our selection of books becomes even greater. Publishers are starting to send us their summer picks, and it looks like a good upcoming season of reading. We’ll be highlighting some of the best (and worst) in upcoming issues. You’ve probably noticed our joint issue this month. We didn’t have enough advertising in either paper, so instead of canceling one, we decided to print them together. We are still looking for another Bay Area local to help sell ads, so if you or someone you know is looking for a job in a fun, exciting, and community-oriented environment, send an email to info@1776productions.com. April is National Poetry Month, and we have a great selection of poetry books. Poetry doesn’t get covered all that often other than in poetry reviews, but we think it’s also an important part of literature. So every other month, we run our Poetry & Short Stories section. We hope we can introduce you to some new voices that you’ll find intriguing and worth reading. Next month is Children’s Book Week, and we’ll have a special insert. We have several tween students who have been reading their little hearts out for this section next month.. We’ve worked with a few local schools that have made learning how to do a book review as part of their lessons, and we’re happy to help, not only with the books the kids reviewed, but also donating books to each school’s library. June will have a Cooking, Food & Wine insert, something both Heidi, Kaye, and I are looking forward to researching. Probably need a couple of weekends in Napa and Sonoma just to get some good background for the section. As always, thanks for picking up and reading the paper. We appreciate the time you invest in us, and hope we make it worth your while.
Historical Fiction..........................................24
Happy reading,
Sports & Outdoors........................................26
Ross Rojek —Editor-in-Chief ross@1776productions.com 1776 Productions
Parenting & Families....................................26 Popular Fiction.............................................27
Coming Up...
Poetry & Short Stories..................................27
Children’s Book Week Special Insert Cooking, Food and Wine Special Insert
Relationships & Sex......................................30
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Mystery, Crime & Thrillers SPQR: The Year of Confusion By John Maddox Roberts Minotaur Books, $24.99, 277 pages Imperial Rome: fighting, glory and filth, crabbed by the influx of hundreds of thousands of local and foreign hopefuls eyeing the spoils of the empire. Roberts weaves in the reality of the times as the cynical but likeable Decius Caecilius tracks down a murderer who seems to be threatening none other than Julius Caesar, just as the dictator is getting ready for another war and to appoint himself king. (Which is why he got himself killed. Brutus and Cassius are around.) The formidable, sinister Cleopatra is also in town, wrapping herself in charm and guile to get Julius to declare her his wife. “In truth, Cleopatra was no worse than other rulers of the time and a good deal better than most of them. If she was ruthless, all rulers have to be.” Roberts gives the reader little sips of the history of the times, stripping away the Hollywood aura of today to bare the commonplace life of the era. The glossary of Latin terms alone is fascinating. While his classical knowledge cannot be faulted, Roberts might be a tad wobbly on the economics. For example, dealing in grain futures would have been an extremely dodgy proposition because the monetary system was so rudimentary. Coins were valuable in themselves, not just as measures of value, and emperors debased the coinage to prop up finances. Anyone dealing in futures would probably have ended up crooking themselves. Reviewed by Martin Rushmere Invisible Boy By Cornelia Read Grand Central Publishing, $24.99, 418 pages While working with a team of volunteers to clean up her family’s old, overgrown cemetery outside of Manhattan, Madeline Dare gets the shock of her life when she stumbles upon the brutalized skeletal remains of three-year old Teddy Underhill. Determined to see justice done, Madeline struggles to understand the complex and often incomprehensible reactions to domestic violence, governed by family loyalties,
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friendship, self-preservation, social conditioning, and so much more. “Having been raised in a landscape of divorced-shattered families, I considered matrimony a construct of gossamer fragility—equal parts swan’s down, lighter fluid, and a willing suspension of disbelief.” It’s a good thing I picked up this book at nine on a Saturday night, because I didn’t put it down until seven hours later when I finished it. Far from being a typical tale of murder-mixed-withsocial-conscience, Invisible Boy gives a stunning perspective of how the actions of total strangers have the power to influence and change our lives, our perspectives and even our memories. To give the story even more punch, Read has created some of the most vibrantly layered and complex characters I’ve seen in a long time. Not only do I highly recommend this book, I’ll even throw in a warning to make sure you have several hours free to read it because you won’t be able to put it down until you finish the last page! Reviewed by Heather Ortiz Trial by Fire: A Novel of Suspense By J.A. Jance Touchstone Fireside, $25.99, 368 pages This book is J.A. Jance’s fifth novel staring Ali Reynolds. A former television journalist, Reynolds agrees to do public relations work for the county sheriff’s department on a temporary basis. This job quickly involves her in an arson that turns out to be an attempted murder. A good deal of the novel takes place in the hospital before closing in the Arizona desert. The book is billed as a work of suspense but that description is inaccurate. This story is hardly dark and is probably more accurately described as a “cozy mystery.” There are a number of characters—some quite interesting. The pacing of the story is generally good and the Arizona setting is typical of Jance. It seems that most mystery fiction is set in Los Angeles or New York and it is nice to see other parts of the country explored as settings. There are however some shortcomings with the book. It starts slow. More importantly, there are some turns in the plot that seem a bit unrealistic. That said, pre-existing fans of Jance and the Ali Reynolds series will be more than happy with this book. Reviewed by Nicholas Sarantakes
Whisper to the Living By Stuart M. Kaminsky Forge Books, $23.99, 256 pages
Moscow’s Office of Special Investigations is swamped. A serial killer with more than 50 victims attributed to him stalks a local park. A famous boxer is missing, sought for questioning in the deaths of his wife and sparring partner. An American reporter needs protection while researching a story about a major Russian prostitution ring. All of which threatens to overshadow (or imperil) the impending nuptials of two of the Office’s best investigators. For Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov and his able associates, the pursuit of justice in an increasingly corrupt post-Soviet Russia will threaten not only their moral fortitude, but their lives as well. A Whisper to the Living encapsulates the spirit of the series beautifully, highlighting each of the individual characters (in both personal quirks and intimate storylines) alongside the investigation of their current cases. Reading the earlier books in the series is hardly a prerequisite, but it will definitely add more color to the story as a whole. Kaminsky’s Inspector Rostnikov novels are very unlike most other mysteries, in that the questions to be answered are often not who committed the crime and why, but how will they be brought to justice in a corrupt and crumbling system. When political leverage and behind-the-scenes intrigue are the primary currency of the law, an honest and diligent few are rarely enough to tip the scales. And whereas most mysteries are all twists and flash, A Whisper to the Living is thoughtful and absorbing. The author provides glimpses of both the investigation and the actions of those accused, not only for the sake of building suspense, but to provide a greater insight into the world these people inhabit. What could be a hackneyed attempt to create tension becomes a fresh perspective for the reader. There is a richness of personality in Kaminsky’s descriptions, both of dialogue and scenery, and the reader can’t help but become emotionally invested in these people, no matter how virtuous or flawed they may be. As you turn the last page, you don’t know exactly what the future holds for each member of the Office of Special Investigations, but you will remain optimistic for them. It saddened me to recently discover that this is the final outing of Porfiry Petrovich and his colorful band of investigators, as Mr. Kaminsky passed away in the fall of last year. I don’t know that the novel was intended to be his last word on the series, but as a closing chapter to their story, it is an immensely satisfying one. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
A Dangerous Business By McNary Lynch iUniverse, $ 14.95, 196 pages In this short and well-crafted mystery, husband and wife investor team Worth and Niccola Caivano are doing due diligence on a potential investment in a war-torn country in West Africa involving building low-income housing and exporting diamonds. Parker, the organizer of the deal, is becoming financially strapped from keeping his trophy wife, Kandy, in the lifestyle she’s accustomed to and is desperate to keep the deal from falling apart. But when one of the lead investors is found dead, suspicion falls on Worth. So Worth and Niccola need to investigate the murder and clear
his name. Their travels take them to Tel Aviv, Antwerp, and into West Africa, where they find that the stakes may be higher than they realize. A Dangerous Business is an exceptionally well-crafted story, with memorable characters, good dialog, and a compelling storyline. The interplay between Worth and Niccola, or Nick, as Worth calls her, bring to mind an earlier married couple involved in mysteries; Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles. Lawyer Niccola provides the sense of reality to her husband’s enthusiasms or, as she calls it, “being the wet blanket,” while Worth pursues each new opportunity with a child-like zeal. Between the two of them, they form a pleasurable fictional couple. The story is fast paced, the secondary characters have depth and provide Worth and Niccola fodder for their own interplay. Recommended for fans of classic crime stories in the Hammett and Agatha Christie vein. See SHERLOCK, page 5
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SHERLOCK, con’t from page 4 Sponsored Review Sherlock Holmes: The American Years By Michael Kurland Minotaur Books, $25.99, 347 pages In the original Conan Doyle stories, Sherlock Holmes has a surprising familiarity with Americans and their mannerisms for someone based in London. This has led some Holmes enthusiasts to argue that, before he met Watson, Holmes had visited the United States. Sherlock Holmes: The American Years endeavors to shed some light on this mysterious chapter in Holmes’ life, with ten tales of the Great Detective before he was great. The collection opens with a resounding whimper; the opening story is lackluster, and the second languishes despite the somewhat entertaining presence of Mark Twain as narrator. Thankfully, the remaining stories shine more often than not. As Holmes crosses paths with the likes of P.T. Barnum, Dr. Joseph Bell, and Edwin Booth, he hones his skills and takes considerable steps toward becoming the keen-witted, insightful force readers have followed for more than a century. The highlight of the collection is Rhys Bowen’s Cutting for Sign, wherein Holmes confronts the dubious concept of justice in the Wild West, after being rescued from certain death by an Indian. It’s a sobering indictment of American historical whitewashing and an engaging tale, the strongest story in an intriguing anthology. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Requiem in Vienna: A Viennese Mystery By J. Sydney Jones Minotaur Books, $24.99, 293 pages So anxious is J. Sydney Jones to paint in the culture and history of Vienna at the dawn of the 20th century, the plot of the otherwise intriguing murder mystery surrounding Gustav Mahler becomes too wrapped up in itself. Yes, that Mahler of the” Fourth Symphony.” Too much detail is the drawback here, as Jones gives exact descriptions of what everyone wears, what they eat, and even the architects of each great building. “Mahler, he wants to possess a woman, but not in the physical way.He wants her soul, not her body. His conquests were of the spirit, not the body.” A mere 14 years after its pompous height, Vienna would become the indirect catalyst for the plunge into the start of the firestorm
that the world is still trying to escape, including a shocking level of anti-Semitism. A Jewish, mild-mannered lawyer turned private detective, Karl Werthen, has to stop the supremely arrogant and self-centered Mahler from being murdered. At the same time, Werthen’s new wife finds herself in an interesting condition, colleague Hans Gross wants to take charge of the investigation and innocent, humble folk meet violent ends. Absorbing characters, who stir the emotions, people the tale. If only the tolling of the bell of doom for those times could be heard in the background and less space devoted to what everyone was eating. Reviewed by Martin Rushmere The Parisian Prodigal By Alan Gordon Minotaur, $25.99, 319 pages The setting for this mystery is Toulouse, France, in 1205. The story unfolds slowly but the timing, puns and jokes make the revelations so much better. Theo “Tan” Pierre is the chief fool for the walled city. He narrates some chapters from a man’s perspective and his wife Claudia “Gile,” also a fool, takes turns as narrator. A mysterious middle-aged man from Paris appears in Toulouse claiming to be the brother of the ruling count. In a matter of days, he is in and out of captivity in the count’s dungeon. While out, the Parisian visits a brothel and awakes next to the corpse of the gorgeous redheaded prostitute with whom he spent the previous night. Tan Pierre and Gile manage to ply their trade as fools along with 12 year-old Helga, an apprentice fool posing as their daughter while they solve the mysteries of the Parisian’s identity and the prostitute’s murder. Author Alan Gordon has written seven prior Fool’s Guildmysteries. The quirky time frame for the story, along with historicallyrealistic details, make this book an enjoyable change of pace. Reviewed by Ruta Arellano Death of a Valentine By Beaton, M. C. Grand Central Publishing, $23.99, 256 pages The saga of curmudgeonly Scottish Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth continues. This time he finds himself precariously close to the altar, ready to be married to his constable, policewoman Josie McSween. She has accused him of impregnating her; to save
face, he has agreed to abandon his eccentric ways, which she had tried to alter by deceptive means. (For this, Hamish had tried to get her transferred out of his bailiwick.) “That most famous of highland bachelors, Police Sergeant Hamish Macbeth, was to be married at last.” Meanwhile, a Festival Queen, Annie, has been murdered with a Valentine’s Day letter bomb. An extensive investigation leads to revelations of other murders associated with Annie’s death. Hamish has his usual confrontations with his superiors, local citizens, and suspects. He considers Constable Josie a nuisance, as she tries in various ways to seduce him, including cooking, cleaning up his quarters in the police station, and laying into his constant and faithful canine and feline companions. To get her out of his way, he assigns her minor, unrelated jobs. These episodes, combined with Hamish’s relationships with a news reporter and old girlfriend, drive Josie to drink. Yet she refuses to give up, and even provides a clue that solves the murders. Will Hamish’s marriage go through, or will Josie’s devious means be exposed? You’ll have to read on. Death of a Valentine is a delightful quick read about a very lovable, quirky bachelor constable who has both a whimsical brain and a feeling heart. Reviewed by Rita Hoots Murder Behind the Badge By Stacy Dittrich Prometheus Books, $25.00, 365 pages What we have here are 18 true murder horror stories perpetrated by people who are sworn to protect us: the police. Instead of using their badges for justice, they have used their badges to commit murder. Some of the stories you will recognize, like the case of Drew Peterson, whose wives disappear or turn up dead. In the case of Bambi Bambenek: did she or didn’t she murder her then-husband’s ex-wife? There’s the story of a couple Good Fellows, employed as New York city cops, using their badges to gain information of witnesses testifying against the mob. And then there’s the last chapter aptly titled “The worst for last.” In this chapter, we learn about a despicable human being named Gerard Schaefer who commits unspeakable acts against young girls. The book is very well written. The reader gets enough of each of the stories to get a feel for the perpetrators and the victims. Clearly Dittrich has done her research here and she doesn’t embellish, simply presenting the facts. There’s a lengthy list of refer-
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ences in the back of the book for each of the stories. Dittrich has a nice succinct writing style and she keeps the reader interested through these unsettling stories. Reviewed by Marc Filippelli Ultimate Weapon By Chris Ryan Weinstein Books, $15.95, 368 pages Nick Scott was a member of a British military special operations unit (SAS) who was captured and tortured in Iraq during the lead up to the first Gulf War. Released, he left the military and now – in 2003 - works security for Algerian oil rigs. Returning to England on his break, he finds that his daughter Sarah, a Cambridge University student, is missing. Nick soon has reason to believe that Sarah’s disappearance may have something to do with a cold fusion experiment. Jed Bradley is a current member of the SAS and, with the Iraq War ready to begin, has just returned from a covert mission to Baghdad. He is preparing for a second mission into Iraq, but is concerned that his girl friend Sarah is missing – the same Sarah who is Nick Scott’s daughter. Nick and Jed detest each other, but sooner or later they’ll join forces to search for Sarah. “Does anyone know what kind of hell this place is being turned into?” Ultimate Weapon by Chris Ryan has a good basic plot and delivers action. But actions taken don’t correlate to desired results, and primary characters evoke no sympathy – they are loud, crude, and arrogant. This book will best be remembered for salty language and blood-spattered corpses. Reviewed by Douglas McWilliams
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Modern Literature The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To By DC Pierson Vintage, $14.00, 226 pages When friendless Darren meets friendless Eric it almost seems like they are soulmates, meant to be the very best of friends. Darren is an artist. Eric a storyteller. Together they begin to create a universe all their own in the form of a graphic novel. And each of the boys finds some much-needed peace in his life. But then Eric tells Darren his deep, dark secret: He’s never gone to sleep and doesn’t even need to do so. “Next you’re going to ask if I’m joking. I’m not. Then you’re going to accuse me of being crazy. I can’t speak on that as definitively as I can on the fact that I’m not joking, but I don’t think I am. I’ve been this way since I was born.” In The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To, DC Pierson tells the story of an incredible friendship and an even more incredible and incredulous condition that both fortifies and tears at the bond his two main characters share. Truthfully, this book is a mess. It’s funny in places and it has promise in others, but mostly it seems self-indulgent and written without having first been thought through. While the characters can be compelling, they are far too often clich‚ and the plot itself, while unique in places, is mostly disjointed. Imaginative but awkward, this one is best left on the shelf by anyone who isn’t one of the characters this book is loosely based upon. Reviewed by Albert Riehle Houri By Mehrdad Balali The Permanent Press, $29.00, 304 pages This is the story of a young boy coming of age in pre-Revolution Iran. It begins when young Shahed comes back to Iran from America, a young man who is wandering, listless, with no direction in life. It is three years after his father’s death, and after the Revolution that overthrew the Shah. We then follow the memories, the history that has led Shahed to this point in his life. His father, always out looking for whores, and always in debt. His tormented mother, who tried to protect
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her children from their father. The neighbors, of all degrees from the ultra-religious to the perverse. This is the first book by Mehrdad Balali, a reporter who grew up in Iran but is now banned from that country. It drips with cynicism and bitterness toward his home country. For a first book it is decent. He does not try to make every sentence groundbreaking and epic. There are some weak spots. The time he recounts in America is spotty. The transitions between different times and locales can be confusing. Even so, it is decent work for a beginner. Reviewed by Kevin Winter We Were Here By Matt de la Pe¤a Delacorte Press, $17.99, 356 pages To read a journal is sometimes to follow someone’s dream and life journey. This was my experience reading Matt de la Pena’s young adult novel, We Were Here, which is about Miguel Castaneda, a 16-year-old Mexican American who is sentenced to one year in a juvenile hall for an accidental crime. The judge orders him to keep a journal to help counselors to understand his thinking. Keeping this journal becomes an opportunity for him to write the novel he has always wanted to write, about what it’s like growing up on the levee in Stockton. He reveals the pain of losing his father in the war and expresses his feeling about the injustices of the world. “For some reason it hit me hard right then...how pretty my mom is....It’s like someone’s picture you’d see in one of them magazines laying around the dentist’s office. And she’s actually my mom.” As the narrator talks to the reader, he creates intimate space, and invites you to see life from his point of view, and in so doing he lays himself bare in a rare brand of honesty that leads to a deeply felt story. Although he is honest, he does not tell us his crime until the very end, but throughout the story, this crime haunts him. |This story appeals to both young and adult readers, as it deals with matters close to our hearts’what it means to be alive in life-changing circumstances. Reviewed by Emmanuel Sigauke
Cairo Modern By Naguib Mafouz Anchor Books, $15.00, 256 pages Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz wrote Cairo Modern at the start of his career more than sixty years ago, yet the novel shines with the humor and atmospherics for which he is deservedly famous. Mahgub is a university student from an impoverished family who takes pride in his Dostoevskian amorality. Faced with starvation poverty, he accepts a Faustian bargain; in exchange for a coveted government position, he will marry the mistress of a married high official, sight unseen. Imagine his shock when at his wedding, he learn that his bride is none other than Ishan, the former love of one his best friends. Believing himself beyond conventional morality, he proceeds with the marriage all the same. What follows is part farce, part drama, part social c o m m e n t a r y, and thoroughly entertaining. As with all Mahfouz’s works, the city of Cairo is practically a character in this novel; here he preserves the city in the turbulent 1930s. At times, the dialogue is stilted and overly formal, though this probably owes much to an overly literal translation from Mahfouz’s classical Arabic. Nonetheless, this fine work offers a window into the early writings of one of the 20th century’s greatest novelists. Reviewed by Jordan Magill The Journey of Little Gandhi By Elias Khoury; Translated by Paula Haydar Picador, $14.00, 208 pages Certain authors can rightfully be said to own the cities where they set their stories: Dickens his Victorian London, Pamuk his Istanbul, Mahfouz Cairo. So it is with Elias Khoury and his beloved Beirut. For those unfamiliar with his work, The Journey of Little Gandhi makes plain both his literary gifts and the origin of his deed; reading his lithe prose, you can almost see the map of that ancient, complex city on every page. The novel follows a shoe shiner and entrepreneur, nicknamed ‘Little Gandhi,’ along with his family, his friends, and rivals. Some readers unfamiliar with Arabic fiction may feel a touch of vertigo as the novel begins. The structure, while in many ways traditional, can feel al-
most post-modern as the plot flows in vast concentric circles, narrowing with each loop, tales nesting within tales, revealing details with each rotation. Yet, Khoury is nothing if not a master storyteller and he has no interest in losing his audience. Slowly, inexorably, he guides the reader forward, as if by bewitching magic. Through his protagonist we feel the decline of Beirut into chaos and civil war, sharing the pain of both the author and his characters. Reviewed by Jordan Magill The Italian Actress By Frank Lentricchia State University of New York Press, $12.95, 108 pages The Italian Actress is a mad, fascinating, gallop of a read, but it isn’t for everyone. Its protagonist is Jack Del Piero, an overthe-hill avant-garde filmmaker, who finds himself living chastely in Italy with Claudia Cardinale, the aged but still beautiful star of Fellini’s 8½. Jack’s flaccid career is given a second chance when a decadent couple, Sigismondo Malatesta and Isotto degli Atti, seduce him away from Claudia with an offer to make an erotic film starring themselves. This is less a novel of plot than one of literary and cinematic allusions. Frank Lentricchia, a professor of English at Duke, liberally spices his text with references to modernist poets T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Wallace Stevens. Some situations in the plot are derived from Eliot’s poem The Wasteland, while Malatesta is a historical figure from 15th century Italy, later emerging as a force in Pound’s Cantos. Claudia Cardinale stars as herself. The deeper themes of the novel concern artistic immortality – that gap between Claudia’s incandescent youthful beauty in See ITALIAN, page 7
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ITALIAN, con’t from page 6 the movies and her actual aging body – as well as artistic morality. Shocking in its way, this novel is an intellectual page-turner. Reviewed by Catherine Hollis The Last Time I Saw You: A Novel By Elizabeth Berg Random House, $25.00, 256 pages The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg is a novel guaranteed to appeal to Boomers. It’s the story of 58-year-olds who attended Whitley High School together and who are gathering for what is said to be their “last reunion.” Why they won’t be gathering again is never clear, but we do know that the glamorous Candy Sullivan has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her husband insists that this is just a first opinion, but Candy knows better and is determined to enjoy what time is left to her. Berg, the author of Home Safe, has a smooth and relaxing style and she’s at her best when describing human vulnerabilities. At one point, a male character feels sorry for the spouses who have been dragged along to the reunion. Then “all of a sudden he feels sorry for everybody. Here they all are, these people, all these years later just ... what? Trying, he guesses. Just trying.” The Last Time celebrates the joy of spending moments with those who knew you in times past, while highlighting the futility of getting them to accept you as a new person. It’s an enjoyable read that’s deeper than it first appears. Reviewed by Joseph Arellano Safe from the Neighbors By Steve Yarbrough Knopf, $25.95, 259 pages In his fifth novel, award-winning author Steve Yarbrough plunges the reader into a history lesson. The narrator, Luke May, teaches Loring, Miss., high schoolers about local history and, on the first day of class, explains the difference between poets and historians. His wife teaches college English
and writes poetry. The gulf between them is larger than their respective professions. The beginning of school brings a childhood friend back into Luke’s life. Maggie Sorrentino moved away from Loring after her father killed her mother on Oct.1, 1962. As Luke becomes involved with Maggie, he researches the events of that night. The novel is saved from being a typical story about a mid-life crisis by the exploration of Luke’s family history and local events. Luke’s and Maggie’s fathers had traveled to Ole Miss that fateful evening to make a stand against the enrollment of the first black student. Yarbrough creates believable characters; all of them have flaws and strengths. While first-person narratives can feel claustrophobic at times, Yarbrough brings the book to a natural close that allows one to understand why Luke had to tell his story. Safe From the Neighbors is a thoughtful novel that examines the intersection of the past and present. Reviewed by Deb Jurmu The Murderer’s Daughters By Randy Susan Meyers St. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 310 pages First-time novelist Randy Susan Meyers certainly knows how to draw a reader into her story while creating empathy for her characters. Young sisters Lulu and Merry become orphans in July of 1971 when their jealous father stabs their mother to death. The novel chronicles their major life events and experiences beginning with that fateful day in 1971 to December 2003. The murder and the ensuing hardships shape the girl’s lives; however, Lulu and Merry are resilient and spunky kids who won’t succumb to being victims. The first quarter of the book is nearly overwhelming with sad-
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ness. Thankfully, the remainder of the book is rich with texture and emotion that are more easily processed. Meyers gives the reader each sister’s perspective on what happens to them as they grow up via the chapter titles identifying whose narrative is being read. This device is well employed and not the least bit gimmicky. The characters who factor prominently in shaping Lulu and Merry’s lives are their father, grandparents on both sides of the family and classmates. Their relatives exhibit the characteristics we can all recognize as being either frustrating or endearing. Reviewed by Ruta Arellano Remarkable Creatures By Tracy Chevalier Dutton, $26.95, 312 pages Remarkable Creatures is more than remarkable on many distinct layers. First, it touches on questions of gender role and class role, but does so within a solid, interesting plot and using characters that are easy to cheer for. Second, it explores the question of religion versus science at its root level-- the true day-to-day lives of the humans they both serve. Lastly, though, and most importantly, it presents an interesting tale of two women with whom it is easy to identify (despite being set in early Victorian-era England). Elizabeth, a genteel woman and spinster from London, moves to the small coast town of Lyme Regis and befriends Mary, who is beneath her in both years and social class. Together, the two make a discovery of a prehistoric creature embedded in the fossil-rich cliffs of their town, and together they must navigate issues of science, religion, class, and gender role while also dealing with their unlikely friendship. The following groups will like this read: those interested in early geology (although on a superficial level), those interested in society rules (including matchmaking and marriages a la Jane Austen), and those in-
terested in issues of class and gender in Victorian times. Reviewed by Allena Tapia See How Much I Love You By Luis Leante; Translated by Martin Schifino Marion Boyars Publishers, $14.95, 256 pages When Montse meets Santiago San Roman as a teenager in 1970s Barcelona, she ditches her studies and lies to her upperclass family to spend time with this son of a tobacco shop owner. Though she becomes pregnant, the romance does not survive. Montse resumes her studies while Santiago fulfills his military service in the Western Sahara. At that time, the Western Sahara was Spain’s only African colony; but Franco’s death drives Spain’s withdrawal, and aggressive Moroccan forces overtake the Western Sahara and force the Saharawis into refugee camps. Though Montse was told that Santiago died, a chance discovery of a photograph of him—taken long after his supposed date of death—eventually sends her on a perilous journey to the Western Sahara in search of him. The narrative of See How Much jumps around in time and alternates focus between Montse and Santiago, leaving readers to piece together each lover’s choice and their consequences. A familiar pasodoble that Montse overhears one day in the midst of her search suggests that she just may find Santiago after all; but it could just be the heat of a long day in the Sahara, or her overpowering yearning for people she once loved, now missing and dead. Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell
HOLD, con’t from page 1 a visibly beautiful small Southern town, this book has everything--family, strength, love, and more. The predictability of the plot does not detract in the least from its charm. Reviewed by Holly Scudero
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Romance The Secret Year By Jennifer R. Hubbard Viking, $16.99, 208 pages If you share an experience with only one other person and that person dies, does that mean the experience never happened? If you love someone and no one knows about it, does that love exist? Even if they love you back? Colt, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, falls into a year-long secret love affair with Julia, country-club princess. No one knows -- not their classmates, not their friends, not even her perfect-on-paper boyfriend. Colt and Julia meet under the cover of darkness near the bridge that serves to divide the haves and have-nots of Black Mountain. Then Julia dies suddenly in a car accident and Colt is left to grieve a relationship he can’t claim. “Sometimes I couldn’t believe I’d had any other life besides reading a dead girl’s words and watching rain beat brown leaves off the trees.” When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. How do you get over someone who was never truly yours in the first place? Deceptively simple, The Secret Year will blow you away with its depth of emotion. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Lake Magic By Kimberly Fisk Berkley Sensation, $7.99, 336 pages Jenny Beckinsale’s fiancé was larger than life. He was out-going, a retired fighter pilot, and the love of her life. Then he died. Left with a fledgling seaplane charter business, and as the baby in a family of successful Type A personalities, flighty Jenny is determined to make the business a success, no matter what is takes. However, just as she starts to gain some ground, in storms Navy pilot Jared Worth, with a claim to her business. Between fighting emotional demons from his past and figuring out life after being discharged from his chosen career, romantic hero Jared is the perfect foil for the Jenny’s plans. In this debut book, Kimberly Fisk tackles hardcore issues like childhood neglect and abuse and the difficulty of balancing career and family. If not for the strong cast of supporting characters, Lake Magic would be
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easy to dismiss as romantic fluff, lightly fun but easy to toss aside when finished. Longtime fans of Susan Wiggs and Kathleen Woodwiss will enjoy this second chance at romance. Lake Magic starts slow but readers will not be disappointed, if they stick with it. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Original Sin By Allison Brennan Ballantine Books, $7.99, 464 pages Allison Brennan pens a chilling tale in Original Sin, the first in her Seven Deadly Sins series. While it does fall under the label of paranormal suspense, Brennan’s skill pulls it firmly out of the pack of vampires, werewolves, and witches populating literature today to produce an intense, romantic, and thrilling book. Moira O’Donnell is a witch who was given up to evil at birth, and she was struggled her entire life to overcome this bleak personal history. Presently, she is searching for her mother Fiona, who has raised a coven and is killing innocents in her quest for immortality. When she finds her mother, Fiona has raised fearsome demons from hell and unleashes the seven deadliest sins onto Earth, forcing Moira and her cohorts from the demon-hunting St. Michael’s Monastery to track them down and destroy them all. While I felt some of the subplots were imbalanced, and the romance took a back seat to the thrills and suspense, Brennan proves herself a competent writer and one who can come up with inventive plots. Original Sin may not be the best supernatural thriller, but it is nonetheless effective and will keep you up all night--whether it be from the horror or because it’s such a page-turner. Reviewed by Angela Tate Something About You By Julie James Berkley Sensation, $7.99, 336 pages I’d long heard great things about Julie James’s novels, and Something About You lives up to the hype. Not only was this book incredibly well-written, but it successfully incorporated a realistic suspense sub-plot with the core romance. Of course it helps that Cameron Lynde is a hot-shot Assistant U.S. Attorney, and that Jack Palance, the man whose career she nearly ruined three years ago, is a respect-
Best Sex Writing 2010
Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel Cleis Press, $14.95, 230 pages
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Best Sex Writing 2010 is an amazing collection of stories about sex -- from sexual legislation, to the disappearance of pubic hair, to the shape of the human phallus. Written by sexual-health educators, acclaimed writers, and advocates of alternate lifestyles, the stories are fascinating and insightful. Diana Joseph’s “The Girl Who Only Sometimes Said No” will quickly grab readers as a mother tries to figure out the best way to tell her son why he shouldn’t call a pre-teen girl “a slut.” She begins to think that although she has educated him about sex itself, perhaps the conventions regarding social discourse and social perceptions are just as important. “What Really Turns Me On”, by John DeVore, former editor of Maxim, should be required reading for any young girl -- and older women as well. DeVore’s lament about his “ideal woman” will have ladies and men beginning to feel more comfortable about themselves and their tastes in partners. Brian Alexander’s “’Sex Surrogates’ Put Personal Touch on Therapy” will introduce readers to a seldommentioned therapeutic. Ellen Friedrichs, a human-sexuality teacher, discusses the many arrests that have been made of teens, in “Sex Laws That Can Really Screw You.” These laws, meant to protect children from sex offenders, can horribly damage the lives of teenagers who merely engage in consensual sex. Jesse Bering’s “Secrets of the Phallus: Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?” discusses the research that has been done on the evolutionary development of the phallus, and the theory behind its mushroom-like tip. Rachel Swan’s “Go Thin or Go Bust: How Berkeley’s Mayer Laboratories Won the Battle of the Thin Condoms” tackles the question of how thin is too thin, and reviews the research into what many condom users actually want. Best Sex Writing 2010 is not a collection of erotica, which its title unfortunately implies. Rather, these are highly educational, non-fiction stories for anyone who is sexually active or even just thinking about trying it. Even if some of the stories describe activities which you personally shun, they deserve mention and they deserve understanding, because many Americans do perform such activities. These stories can help readers understand themselves and others better. This country is continually stressed out and confused regarding how to properly educate ourselves and our children about sexual health. Much of the content in Best Sex Writing 2010 should be entered into that dialogue. The research and insights in this collection are vastly more useful than the typical media sound-bites, which leave us only with more questions and confusion, instead of dealing responsibly with this important issue. Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow ed special agent. When Cameron witnesses the murder of a politician’s mistress, Jack is pulled back to Chicago to handle the case, and neither are very happy to see one another. However, beneath their sarcastic jibes and mistrust, James expertly reveals they are each others’ match, as well as detailing some smoldering chemistry. Something About You is one of the most sophisticated contemporary romances out there, and James writes a smart, tough, yet extremely appealing heroine. James’s background in law also serves her well, for the procedure of the investigation is realistic, as is the Chicago setting and secondary characters. This is a must-read for those searching for a smart romance with great characters and a no-holds-barred plot. Reviewed by Angela Tate Atlantis Redeemed By Alyssa Day Berkley, $7.99, 337 pages Atlantis Redeemed, a Warriors of Poseidon romance, follows Brennan, a Warrior from Atlantis, thousands of years old, who was
cursed by Poseidon due to youthful indiscretions. In the present day he meets Tiernan, an investigative reporter, who is the fulfillment of his curse but who might also be the one to set him free. Brennan and Tiernan must work together to stop a group of scientists participating in unethical tests on shape-shifters and humans alike. Alyssa Day has created a world that includes Warriors, shape-shifters, and vampires but is very superficial. Additionally, only lip service is paid to strong female characters. As with the world-building, the broad strokes paint a picture but the details reveal the holes. Further, the author loses the opportunity to portray accurate, and arguably more equitable, gender roles in shape-shifter packs due to inadequate research into animal behavior. See ATLANTIS, page 9
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ATLANTIS, con’t from page 8 By genre, Atlantis Redeemed is a suspense thriller, but its glib tone prevents the reader from feeling the immediacy of the danger. This tone also undermines the emotional investment that would enable us to sympathize with the protagonists’ relationship. The book might appeal to readers already invested in the series but will likely not entice new fans. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace Steamed: A Steampunk Romance By Katie MacAlister NAL/Signet, $7.99, 342 pages Katie MacAlister launches a new series with Steamed, which purports to be a steampunk romance -- the melding of steam technology and Victorian sensibilities. MacAlister’s imagination and trademark humor are here in full force, but Steamed as a whole is half-baked, muddled, and too arch to take seriously. Computer technician Jack Fletcher is touted as a hero for exploits he only happened to stumble into. His life is thrown into more chaos when his sister Hallie accidentally sends them on an airship to a dystopian steampunk past. The airship is piloted by Captain Octavia Pyle, a competent, no-nonsense woman who isn’t fazed by Jack’s charm. The steampunk setting is interesting and thought-provoking, but MacAlister slathers it on too thickly, making the gadgetry and world-building read like a Disneyland version of the Victorian era rather than an exploration of a different sort of Victorian past. A few of the characters are also problematic, most pressingly Jack, who begins the tale as a slightly serious, capable technician, but becomes, the moment he lands on Octavia’s ship, a lecherous, irritating seducer. Steamed is written in a distant first person. The book needs to describe an unfamiliar setting, and this distance makes the steampunk elements feel superficial and the action difficult to follow. Steamed is an interesting experiment, but it fails to engage us and take us to new worlds. The romance is lackluster, overly dependent on describing the physical attraction between Octavia and Jack rather than an actual romantic relationship. Fans of MacAlister’s previous books will probably enjoy Steamed, but new readers may be disappointed. Reviewed by Angela Tate Blonde With a Wand: A Babes On Brooms Novel By Vicki Lewis Thompson NAL/Signet, $7.99, 336 pages Goody-goody Chicago witch Anica Revere would never in a million years consider breaking a rule, especially rules enforced by the Wizard Council. However, when new beau Jasper Danes demonstrates alley cat
behavior, Anica sees red and invokes an old spell transforming him into a cat for real. Mortified by her sudden loss of control, Anica takes Jasper home and works to transform him back into a human. Unfortunately, because her rash action, Anica has lost her witchy powers and she must to turn to outside help, her sister Lily, to solve this little dilemma. While she and Lily hunt for a counter-spell, Jasper is forced to face life as a cat. Use the litter box-: no way! A deranged neighbor who insists he be neutered: yikes! Through his own good deeds, Jasper flashes back into a man for small gaps of time. Anica and Jasper take this time to get to know each other on a much more personal level. Only when Jasper reforms his rakish ways does he regain his familiar form and Anica recover her witchy powers. While the predictable and thin (although fast-paced) storyline leaves the reader unimpressed, humorous antics, magical shenanigans, and plentiful action makes this paranormal romantic romp worth reading. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Accidentally Demonic (An Accidental Series) By Dakota Cassidy Berkley Trade, $14.00, 352 pages Casey Schwartz is in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a professional baby-sitter for a pair of 20-something celebutantes, her job is to keep the young ladies out of trouble at all costs -- not end up in jail for assaulting an off-duty police officer. The hits keep coming as this normally mild-mannered professional starts experiencing violent mood swings and uncontrollable rages, which result in fire erupting from her fingertips and a case of levitation that would make the Goodyear blimp proud. Lucky for Casey, she can call upon her sister, Wanda, to bail her out. Wanda just happens to be half-vampire, half-werewolf, and along with her vampire and werewolf friends, Marty and Nina, Casey gets a handle on her new paranormal abilities. Sort of. The situation gets even more complicated when the vampire responsible for her change, Clayton Gunnersson, knocks on Casey’s door. Fourth in the Accidentally Paranormal series, author Dakota Cassidy churns out another winner with this irreverently amusing tale, full of romance, demons, vampires, werewolves, and four fun and loving women. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley
Nauti Deceptions By Lora Leigh Berkley Trade, $15.00, 384 pages Despite her family’s warnings, Caitlyn Walker left big-city Boston to teach in Somerset, Kentucky. With visions of small-town charm dancing in her head, Caitlyn is illprepared for the cancerous Dayle Mackay and Nadine Grace, a powerful evil duo who run the town with an iron fist. She knows they set her up in that bar and arranged for someone to take pictures of her in a compromising position. She just can’t prove it. When she’s fired by the school board for inappropriate conduct, Caitlyn embraces her inner bad girl. Rogue is born. Sherriff Zeke Mayes definitely fits Rogue’s idea of a perfect partner. Too bad he refuses to see her as an adult capable of making her own decisions. Rogue has little choice but to take the sheriff in hand and lead him into love. Although usually a fan of the prolific author Lora Leigh, Nauti Deceptions is not her strongest work. Romantic scenes are repetitive and rushed, but still an entertaining afternoon read. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Kismet By Monica Burns Berkley, $14.00, 352 pages Monica Burns debuts with a new twist of the perennial sheikh/captive plot in Kismet, and mostly succeeds in crafting an unforgettable tale. When the story opens, Allegra Synnford, an infamous courtesan, has traveled to Morocco to attend a friend’s wedding. She crosses paths with Sheikh Shaheen of the Amazigh immediately, and their initial glimpse of one another is scorching. Though Allegra has secrets she wishes to keep in order for her family to enter a higher social caste, Shaheen’s secrets are even more shocking: he is an exiled English aristocrat—and he does not want to be found. Allegra and Shaheen’s backstory is gradually dispersed throughout the book, but their reasons for being who they are— particularly Shaheen—are flimsy at best, and quite clichéd. Kismet is full of scorching scenes between Allegra and Shaheen, which create an incredible tension, but their inability to communicate outside of the bed may leave readers frustrated. The setting, 1890s Morocco, is different, and Burns painstakingly details their customs in a respectful manner--though the absence of Islam is puzzling. Kismet is a strong debut, and a strong historical romance in general,
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and Burns has a charismatic and confident writing style. Reviewed by Angela Tate Chalice of Roses By Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Samuel, Karen Harbaugh Signet Eclipse, $15.00, 389 pages Chalice of Roses is a collection of four romance novellas, and each features elements of the supernatural, destiny, and the Holy Grail. Three of the stories are set in different periods of British history and one has a modern setting. In each story a couple has been chosen to use the Grail for the purpose of peace or freedom. The strength of these stories lies in their incorporation of traditional Grail lore with the prevailing views of the time period. This seamless integration allows one to become immediately invested in the Grail quests. Each novella is sweet and straightforward in its romantic elements but, with the exception of the Regency story, simplistic in writing and the dialogue is slightly stilted in the first two stories. However each story is well-paced, making the collection an easy and engaging read. The gem of this collection is the Regency novella by Karen Harbaugh; her writing very much evokes the period setting and features excellent dialogue and characterization. Chalice of Roses will be appreciated by Romance readers, especially those that enjoy Grail lore, but will probably not appeal to those outside the genre. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace
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Young Adult Woods Runner By Gary Paulsen Wendy Lamb Books, $15.99, 164 pages In Woods Runner, Gary Paulsen has successfully shaped his woodsman experience into a compelling adventure set in the American Revolutionary War period. T hirteen-year-old Samuel, like Paulsen, more akin to the woods, than the city, spots smoke rising and returns to find his parents missing and their cabin and barn burned to the ground. Using his tracking skills he determines the parents are both alive and follows the kidnappers. Along the way he meets a young family. The five-year-old daughter covers for him. He leaves, but something tells him to return and he witnesses the five-year-old girl witnessing her parents being killed before her eyes. She runs away blindly and escapes. He follows her and comforts her, and they head together to find his parents. He encounters British soldiers, Hessian soldiers, warring Indians, as well as others that keep
him alive while he continues his search that leads him into the heart of British-held New York to find his missing parents. Paulsen provides historical references to both build the drama and provide an experience of what it meant to be alive during this war. A page-turner for young readers seeking adventure. Reviewed by Susan Roberts Runaway Storm By D. E. Knobbe Emerald Book Company, $16.95, 223 pages The anxiety of adolescence can often cause rash and regrettable decisions. More rarely, however, it can be the cause of an adventure that one might look back to in fondness (emphasis on the rarely). Runaway Storm follows the well-worn tracks of Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain; there are easy ruts to be hit in such a precarious subject, but there is much expert manageability in Knobbe’s first book in an exciting new series. After the polluted congestion of New York City, Nate decides not only to escape his physical
deterioration (mac ‘n’ cheese frozen dinners), but his mental one as well. The only way to leave his tangled web of divorce and frustration is to escape to the wilderness of Canada. He flies to his dad’s, and plans an escape equipped with a bright yellow kayak, dry bags full of supplies, and his wits. His result is not all that he expects, however. He meets with runaways who have been toughened by multiple enemies -- the newest of which is Mother Nature. Nate also meets a goth girl who is not exactly what she seems. She camps out with him, and everything seems alright until drug dealers camp out on the same island while making sinister plans of their own. Reviewed by Alex Masri The Lonely Hearts Club By Elizabeth Eulberg Point, $17.99, 290 pages Penny Lane (named after the Beatles Song) is done with romance. After finding her lifetime crush Nate hot and heavy with another girl (in her own basement) Penny’s had enough. Deciding it’s time to focus on just herself for a while, she forms The Lonely Hearts Club, so titled after the famous Beatles album. Although originally just her own venture, the club eventually grows to include several of Penny’s friends, who are also done with the whole love thing. But what’s a girl to do when she’s the founder of
a no-dating club, but there’s this one cute guy she can’t get off her mind? This is a great girl-power book for teen girls. It has just a little bit of everything, including humor, friendship, heartbreak, and a happy ending for those rooting for the romance. But it’s more than just a roller coaster romance. It’s about the friendship these girls share and never letting a guy change who you are. Readers familiar with the Beatles will enjoy picking out the numerous Beatle references, but it isn’t required to know much about the Beatles to appreciate the book. This is a great book from a debut author; Elizabeth Eulberg will be a name to watch for in the future. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller
Tweens The Strange Case of Origami Yoda By Tom Angleberger Amulet, $12.95, 146 pages Dwight is a strange kid, but perhaps the strangest thing about him is the finger puppet of Yoda he made. Because Origami Yoda knows things... things Dwight couldn’t possibly know. Origami Yoda gives great advice, and seems to predict the future on occasion. Tommy, Dwight’s classmate, wants to get to the bottom of the Origami Yoda mystery. He has interviewed his fellow sixth graders and assembled quite the dossier on the enigmatic finger puppet. But can he crack The Strange Case of Origami Yoda in time to keep from embarrassing himself in front of his classmates? Angleberger’s book drips with silliness and charm, detailing the rise of a new urban legend, through the lens of those con- fusing and awkward days gone by. (For most of us, anyway.) The encounters with Origami Yoda, as told by the different interviewees, run the gamut
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from skeptic to believer, but they’re all unified by one idea: the inherent ridiculousness of taking a finger puppet’s advice. Which, of course, just makes it more fun. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is quick, it’s enjoyable, and it even includes instructions on how to make your own paper puppet prophet. What more could you want? Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Crocodile Attack (Extreme Adventures) By Justin D’Ath Kane/Miller Book Publishers, $5.99, 120 Crocodile Attack is the story of 14-yearold Sam Fox and his 2-year-old cousin Nissa who are recklessly kidnapped in a robbery gone wrong at a small general store in Australia. In his haste to get away, the robber/ kidnapper takes them straight into a looming storm only to send them all into the rising river. This causes a myriad of horrifying experiences, each one a hellacious nightmare. Just when you think the peril is over, another one begins. By the time the book
ends, you are drained from the nonstop tension. The 120-page tale captures the reader in an adrenaline rush of events that spans two days. Seasoned author Justin D’Ath doesn’t waste any effort on character building or scene setups. He dives into this story with velocity, pushing the reader to turn pages with a speed to match the pending cyclonic winds. For a young person not much into reading, this is a terrific story to encourage more. The first of two in this author’s Extreme Adventure series is sure to capture audiences and not disappoint. Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson Zoobreak By Gordon Korman Scholastic Books, $16.99, 230 pages They all seem to be misfits, but the young heroes in this story fit one another very well. In this second installation of Gordon Zorman’s contemporary adventure series starring Griffin Bing and his friends Ben and Savannah, they are once again caught in the borderline of helping someone and breaking some laws. After breaking into a floating zoo to rescue Savannah’s stolen capuchin monkey, the friends find themselves
in another zoo break. This time, though, they’re not doing it to get the animals out but to bring the animals in! Truly, Griffin-the Man with The Plan--thought it sounded easier than the first zoo break. Unfortunately, they didn’t count on Mr. Nastase-the keeper of the floating zoo--to have plans of his own. With a storytelling as energetic as the young characters, the visuals Mr. Zorman presented with his words become as real to this reviewer as her memories of her tween-hood: loyal childhood friendships, ambivalence towards authority, the desire to accomplish something that adults won’t put down as impossible. Young readers will enjoy the victories in this novel, while adults who were once young readers will pleasantly linger in the vicarious experience. Reviewed by D. Harms
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Biographies & Memoirs Jesus Freak By Sara Miles Jossey-Bass, $21.95, 171 pages “What does it mean to be a Jesus freak?” asks former atheist Sara Miles, author of Jesus freak: feeding, healing, raising the dead. Her answer takes the form of a collection of personal experiences, reflections, and observations based on her work as founder and director of The Food Pantry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. In an earlier book (Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion), Miles told the story of her surprising mid-life conversion and subsequent passion to feed the poor and hungry by converting St. Gregory’s sanctuary into a free farmer’s market every Friday. “What does it mean to be a Jesus freak? Or, more to the point, what would it mean to live as if you—and everyone around you—were Jesus, and filled with his power? To just take his teachings literally, go out the front door of your home, and act on them?” Miles takes Jesus’s teachings literally. In four chapters at the heart of her new book, she maintains that regular people can do the work of Jesus—feeding, healing, forgiving, and raising the dead. The chapter on healing is especially insightful as she describes the struggle she and other “healers” have in trying to fix those who will not be healed. Not everyone will agree with Miles’s interpretation of Jesus’s teachings, or her frequent reference to him as “the Boyfriend.” However, most will find compelling points to ponder about their own response to the marginalized of our society. Reviewed by Diana Irvine How to Get Divorced by 30: My Misguided Attempt at a Starter Marriage By Sascha Rothchild Plume, $15.00, 210 pages When I got divorced at 28, my best friend was jealous because I was now a “glamorous divorcée.” But I didn’t feel so glamorous. Socalled “starter marriages” may be a cliché, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt like hell. Sascha Rothchild’s memoir How To Get Divorced by 30 is hilarious, but it’s also a painfully honest look at the starter marriage phenomenon. Funny pathos is hard to pull off, and Rothchild does it exceptionally well.
“Usually when you’re dating someone, under no circumstances could you go to the Playboy Mansion on a double date, wearing lingerie, when neither of the other guys was your boyfriend.” An aspiring LA writer, Sascha marries stoner actor Jeff, who makes her feel petite. Their shared deadpan humor and oddball sense of ritual seem to promise a happy marriage – as long as Sascha ignores all the warning signs, such as the fact that potheads drive her crazy. The story of their brief marriage is counter-balanced by memories of Sascha’s detached hippie parents and her own pre-Jeff explorations in drugs, sex, true love, the Playboy Channel, and Fubuki ice cream. Rothchild confronts her past and her responsibility for the end of the marriage in this refreshing and unconventional memoir. Underneath the comedy, and she is very funny, Rothchild is also brave enough to carry her own emotional baggage. Reviewed by Catherine Hollis I Am Ozzy By Ozzy Osbourne; Chris Ayres Grand Central Publishing, $26.99, 391 I Am Ozzy is the definitive autobiography of one John (Ozzy) Osbourne, written with the help of Chris Ayres. With all the celebrities ready to cash in on autobiographies, and given Mr. Osbourne’s colorful life, it’s surprising he has waited this long to write his own. This is a classic tell-all celebrity memoir, with plenty of profanity, sex, drugs, and well, yes, rock and roll. Humor abounds in the book (Mr. Osbourne is fully aware of the many ironies in his life and career) as we are privy to the many escapades and tragedies that make up the life of The Great Satanic One. We see his rise from the lead singer of Black Sabbath to a solo act that inspired a cult-like following in the early and mideighties. The story is a fascinating trainwreck of a read, akin to seeing a car accident on the side of the road and being unable to turn our eyes away. Incidents in the book range from the trivial and laughable (his accident on his quad bike going two miles an hour), to the strange and revolting (the notorious incident where he bit off a bat’s head onstage), to the truly tragic (the death of guitar great Randy Rhodes, in a plane crash). This is not great literature, nor is it attempting to be; there is something for everyone to enjoy here. Overall, I Am Ozzy will satisfy fans of Mr. Osbourne, rock and roll aficionados, and the simply curious. Good fun. Reviewed by Aaron Stypes
LOCAL SAN FRANCISCO AUTHOR Flying the Edge of America: A Trip of a Lifetime By David Millett; Julia Buss CreateSpace, $26.00, 192 pages Flying in a small single-engine airplane is much different from flying in a commercial jet. Flying the Edge of America authors Millett and Buss help readers feel what it’s like inside the cabin of a small plane flying through difficult weather over dangerous terrain. They hop from one rural airport to the next, flying in a big circle around America’s borders. Along the way, they meet a variety of people, some who exist way outside the authors sophisticated urban comfort zone. The flight to each destination is divided between the authors: Millett writes about the technical flying aspects of each leg of their trip and his concerns about Buss’s fear of flying while Buss writes about the cultural and historical elements of each destination. They include some editorializing that makes the story entertaining. There are tense moments such as when they flew over mountains with rotating updrafts and downdrafts threatening their aircraft. The prose feels at times like listening to friends ramble too long about their summer vacation. The photographs are nice and help the reader get a better feel for the experience. Overall, the hazards associated with a private pilot flying a small aircraft and the human interest elements make this a worthwhile read. Reviewed by Grady Jones
Hungary, Koestler was frequently abandoned by his mother and internalized much of the anti-Semitic attitude of the period. To compensate for his insecurities. he selfmedicated with drugs and alcohol, and was a promiscuous womanizer. And yet, despite his erratic behavior and inferiority complex, he befriended Albert Camus and George Orwell, bedded Simone de Beauvoir, played chess with Julian Barnes, and dropped acid (psilocybin) with Timothy Leary. He was a prolific writer, but his eccentricity and his predilection for odd and controversial led many to dismiss him as frivolous and his work as ludicrous. Crazy, brilliant, or both, he took his own life at age 77 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease and leukemia. A hefty tome at close to 700 pages, Scammell’s expert handling of Koestler’s fascinating life is well worth reading. Reviewed by Bruce Genaro
Koestler By Michael Scammell Random House, $40.00, 689 pages In Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic, author Michael Scammell provides an in-depth and compelling biography of one of the more interesting characters of the previous century. Although Koestler wrote “Darkness at Noon,” an anticommunist novel considered by some to be a masterpiece, his notoriety had as much to do with his vices and fluctuating allegiances as it did with his writing. It took author Michael Scammell two decades to produce this comprehensive and definitive account of a troubled, eclectic, and unpredictable man, but the end result is a compelling read. A lonely child born to affluent Jewish parents in 1905 in
“Mission hospital has a very active community health service. This includes an off-campus maternal/child clinic, a nutritional resource center in outlying areas and preventive programs which are critical to the mission.”
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The Hospital at the End of the World By Joe Niemczura Plain View Press, $18.95, 257 pages This book brings to life the day-to-day realities of life in a rural teaching hospital in Nepal, which the author had viewed as the end of the road. The story of a nurse from the U.S. and his first experience as a nursing teacher in Nepal, it provides an analysis of the elements of a society and health care system in a crosscultural prospective on nursing. Nepal is one of the poorest countries on the earth, and its health care system has been in dissaray due to the 11-year civil war that ended in 2006.
The strength of this story is in its relationships with students, physicians, other nurses, patients, families, and the community of Nepal. The story brings to the reader a sense of the connectedness of the community, and may elicit powerful emotions through its portrayals of heartbreak and grief. The reader acquires a sense of drama and nakedness, along with the beauty and mystery of Nepal, unfolding through the nurse’s personal journey. Reviewed by Claude M. Ury
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Technology Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld By Jeffrey Carr O’Reilly Media, $39.99, 232 Pages In Inside Cyber Warfare, author Jeffrey Carr details how acts of violence are carried out via the Internet. What the reader gets are some examples of how cyber warfare has been carried out in the past, and how governments have used it against each other. Carr also discusses what types of cyber attacks constitute armed attacks. Carr also details state versus non-state (meaning carried out by an individual, not a state-sponsored) cyber attacks. Carr does a great job of explaining the various legal questions about cyber attacks and legal versus illegal retaliation by a government. Why is all this important? Readers will gain an understanding of how a victimized government can respond according to various U.N. resolutions. Carr also discusses the use of social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, where there a lot of information is available that can be accessed anonymously and used for targeting individuals in the military who share their profiles on these sites. Carr’s expertise is unquestioned. The book is very well written and researched and an informative read. Reviewed by Marc Filippelli
Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting with Simplicity and Style By Shawn Marie Edgington Brown Books, $16.95, 166 pages Remember that mobile phone commercial a year ago where parents were being trained by their children how to properly use their cell phones? Unfortunately, grownups can be the brunt of teenage jokes many times. After all, the hieroglyphics and abbreviations of their messages can make you feel as if you were reading the walls of the great pyramids of Egypt. Many times, they strategically keep parents out of the loop with their secret text lingo. Luckily, Shawn Marie Edgington bridges this communication gap with Read Between the Lines, a humorous survival guide to texting with simplicity and style. The book not only presents us with a dictionary of common text dialect but all the pertinent pointers, etiquette, and facts about this universal shorthand as well. A lot of people from the publishing world are loathe to abbreviate anything, so we’re understandably unfamiliar with abbreviated texts. However, after reading this book, I consider it another language which is meant to augment the one I already know so well. ( )I certainly appreciate what the author has done in this cool, classy, and chic addition to my personal library. Edgington reiterates in her book many times that Knowledge is Power!, so get with it or get deleted! Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman
Make: Technology on Your Time: Volume 21 By Edited by Mark Frauenfelder O’Reilly Media, Inc., $14.99, 176 pages The spring issue of MAKE is all about Computer Numerical Control (CNC) 3D printers. The cover article, “Your Desktop Factory”, introduces CNC 3D printers, highlights what you can do with them, and then tells you how you can construct one of your very own. “I love the third dimension. I’m glad I’m not flat. I love figuring out how to pack the most luggage into the smallest trunk, and I love optimizing stacking the dishwasher to fit the most plates and glasses.” 3D printing is the next big thing in DIY. These machines allow you to “print out” three-dimensional parts from various materials (usually plastic, but high end ones do metal, too). Some of these devices, the larger ones, once built can then be used to create all the pieces for another CNC machine! This type of project isn’t for beginner Makers though, and just reading the article left me intimidated. Thankfully, Volume 21 also has easier projects like a cigar box guitar, using gourds to make exterior lights, and learning how to make fire using the bow technique. This issue seemed more geared toward those who are comfortable with high-end
making, fabrication, soldering, and programming than usual, but despite much of it being beyond my ability, MAKE’s writers and editors, as usual, make it feel fun and nearly within reach of anyone. Reviewed by Jonathon Howard Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript By Jonathan Stark O’Reilly Media, Inc., $29.99, 169 pages It is always interesting to see why people do what they do and Building iPhone Apps showed us why Jonathan Stark is irritated with the apparent need to use higher programming languages in order to program simplistic iPhone apps. After doing some exploring, he found that you could create apps with the same basic coding you would use for designing Web sites. The book itself is pretty good. There are plenty of coding examples, tips on how to do things better, and instructions on how to do some interesting things with some basic code. It is a neat little book on how to do things you wouldn’t expect with some code that looks great but is usually disregarded because of its relative simplicity to learn. This is a great book for that programmer who is looking for something to do on the side, and doesn’t mind learning a few new tricks. Reviewed by Jamais Jochim
Home & Garden Succulent Container Gardens By Debra Lee Baldwin Timber Press, $29.95, 248 pages Not being a raging fan of succulents, I nonetheless found this book utterly inspiring; the pages are chock full of gorgeous photographs designed to instill interest in succulents for any cacti novice. Author and gardener Debra Lee Baldwin showcases well her artistic talents in varying the subtle shades of the cacti and pairing them off with just the complimentary pot or planter. But the book isn’t just a compilation of pretty planters, it contains information on fundamentals such as how the pots protect
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the succulents from “the rigors of the open garden” and allow for “better control of the soil, moisture light and warmth.” Baldwin was originally drawn to succulents because of their vast array of colors and found their geometric beauty eye-arresting, adding interest to her various garden designs. As I read through the book, I was frankly amazed at the vast assortment of succulents presented, not to mention how easily the author was able to make these desert-dwelling plants into aesthetically pleasing art. Reviewed by Meredith Greene
Shawn Marie Edgington Read Between the Lines: A Humorous Guide to Texting With Simplicity and Style Shawn is a successful CEO and entrepreneur of several multimillion-dollar companies. Puberty is no longer a requirement to text. With no expertise required and no age maximum.enforced, textmessaging makes bridging the communication gap with family, friends and colleagues a great solution to unanswered e-mails. Make a conscious decision to use new technology to stay in the communication loop! Meet Shawn Marie Edington - March 13 - 2pm Borders - Stonestown 233 Winston Drive, San Francisco
Click HER E to listen to inter view
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Movies & Music Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen By Leonard Maltin HarperStudio, $16.99, 323 pages “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” “Idiocracy.” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” “Millions.” “Baadasssss!” “The Lookout.” “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.” “Brick.” “October Sky.” “The Tao of Steve.” Hundreds of films hit theaters every year, and many of them fall through the cracks, fly under the radar, or fail to resonate with the audience. And Leonard Maltin, film critic extraordinaire, has taken it upon himself to campaign for some of these underappreciated efforts in his 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. At first, I was slightly skeptical, given Maltin’s penchant for distributing twoand-a-half star ratings with appalling regularity. But I was pleasantly surprised by the plethora of unfamiliar titles featured, especially to a fairly rabid film buff like myself. From “American Dreamz” to “Zathura,” there is a film here for every viewer. (I was
overjoyed to see personal favorites like “The Devil’s Backbone,” “MirrorMask,” and “Bubba Ho-Tep” among Maltin’s selections.) The writeups for each film are brief enough to avoid spoilers, but thorough enough to provide a glimpse of what makes each film worth your time. Without a doubt, Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen will send you running to update your Netflix queue. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas John Lennon (Music Icons) By Luke Crampton and Dafydd Rees Taschen, $9.99, 192 pages Like so many others in this series of wonderfully crafted books, Lennon is packed with great photos and details of the artist’s concerts as well as his personal life. This book is very gracefully laid out and seems to have a European styling to it that is attractive. The notes and details are written in English, German, and French--consistent with all the works in this series--and so they beg collection. With such legendary figures as Lennon, it’s hard to publish any detail which isn’t already well-known and it’s harder to fit everything known about the artist in a volume this size, but they do have superior photo-
graphs and all the relevant details that are worthy of inclusion are here. Also notoriously missing from these volumes is the kind of speculation and innuendo which these artists endured in their lifetimes and I find this an admirable trait in a series of books sincerely paying homage to the artists and their works, as opposed to highlighting their weakness and human frailties which is so easy and so common these days. Reviewed by John Cloutman Music in the Kitchen: Favorite Recipes from Austin City Limits Performers By Glenda Pierce Facemire and Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant University of Texas Press, $34.95, 320 pages This is a superb cookbook! I think the author and photographer have come up with a winning recipe here (if you’d kindly forgive the irresistible pun) to combine great pho-
tos of the artists alongside their own recipes for their favorite dishes. The artists represented in this book come from a wide range of genres and various eras of musical history are also covered here. Recent artists such as Jason Mraz can be found alongside relatively unknown (so far) musicians (Ryan Bingham, Tift Merritt) and more recognizable names (Loretta Lynn, Dr. John, BB King, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez) are all here in this really well-done (sorry, another pun) book of great recipes. Each artist is one who has performed on Public TV’s great show “Austin City Limits” and each gets to name a favorite charity as well. The charity for each artist is shown on the recipe page or with the artist photo, and again in a list in the back of the book. Not only are there great recipes in this book, there are some artists who deserve increased exposure to a wider audience, and this book should be an excellent vehicle for these great musicians to gain some new fans. Reviewed by John Cloutman
Reference Wired for Thought By Jeffrey M. Stibel Harvard Business Press, $29.95, 202 pages Jeffery Stibel, a brain scientist, shows how the Internet is being used to create an online businesses. It seeks to answer several questions, namely, why an intelligent intellect is closer than one believes. he also addresses why the intellect won’t grow forever and how artificial intelligence will have an impact on businesses and consumers. Also discussed are the dangers of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and how online networks are growing. In Wired for Thought, the author has taken the reader on a journey in to how his expertise in neuroscience is transforming the Internet into successful ventures, which he calls “Neuron Hunters” are creating online businesses. This title under review is one step from shaping the Obama administrations plan to digitize--among other applications-- medical information. Also, this is a splendid analysis on how our brains will work in the
future, and its implications for organizations to assess it. Reviewed by Claude Ury “Why an intelligent intellect is closer than one believes and its implications, why the internet won’t last forever, and how online networks are grown and procedures for managing the future.” Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World By Wilson Casey Alpha, $12.95, 236 pages In the past 10 years, the Web has fast become the quick source of information, so much so that when one asks about something, the common advice is: “Search for it in the internet!” It is in this context then that I regarded First -- Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World as an obsolete piece of work. Sifting through several pages to look for information seem a lot of work when com-
pared to typing what you’re looking for and then just waiting. This is most definitely the concern faced by Wilson Casey, the editor of this work, as he created this book. As a result, much thought has been given in organizing the data (alphabetical, with a thorough table of contents and index) for ease of browsing and searching; in determining the quantity and quality of information included; and in ensuring that the information has a purpose -it says how the item changed the world. This is definitely a niche piece of work essential for those who thrive in acquiring all types of information. Reviewed by D. Harms You Are One-Third Daffodil By Tom Nuttall Broadway Books, $10.99, 187 pages We all have that one friend, coworker, or relative who insists on forwarding every e-mail full of trivial factoids, regardless of your level of interest (note: usually low or lacking entirely) or the e-mail’s level of accuracy (note: usually middling to absent). ( )After spending a few minutes flipping through You Are One-Third Daffodil, you will wish that your particular e-mail sniper had this
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book for source material. ( )I am an unrepentant trivia nerd, and I learned refreshing, funny and (occasionally) stunning information from this book than from most others I’ve encountered. I had no idea that Fidel Castro had ordered all Monopoly sets destroyed when he took power (page 28), or that there are more Ethiopian doctors practicing in Chicago than in Ethiopia (page 86). ( ) Nuttall includes a citation for each trivia tidbit, which is a terrific bonus, although he earned one strike against him in my estimation by citing Wikipedia as a source on at least two occasions. ( )While You Are One-Third Daffodil isn’t always a pleasant read -- statistics on death, war, and terrorism are interesting, but sobering -- it is always fascinating. It’ll definitely give your Snapple caps a run for their money. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
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History Knight: Noble Warrior of England 12001600 By Christopher Gravett Osprey Publishing, $19.95, 288 pages Knight is a substantial cross between a deep, informational exploration of knighthood in 1200-1600 England and a rich, pictorial coffee table book on the same subject. Although in paperback edition, this is a heavy volume that features mostly black and white photography, along with a few full color photos of knighthood artifacts and paintings. These graphics are paired with detailed excursions into customs, weaponry, social systems, laws, and practices. This information is divided into a few main epochs or eras spanning, in total, four centuries (1200 to 1600 CE). Knight is simply exhaustive, and the supporting graphics are equally helpful. This is a great read for anyone interested in this specialized subject area of English history and will appeal to all readers, regardless of age or reading ability. It serves as an excellent academic reference for children and adults interested in learning more about this facet of one European country’s culture and history. Reviewed by Allena Tapia The Ides: Caesar’s Murder and the War for Rome By Stephen Dando-Collins Wiley, $25.95, 267 pages “Twaddle” is Stephen Dando-Collins’s verdict on the vast body of modern scholarship concerning the life and times of Julius Caesar. This dismissive introduction is a misguided attempt to imbue his own examination of the subject, The Ides, with artificial authority, as well as to sidestep the observation that Caesar’s assassination is ground already well-trodden. And better-trodden. Much better. In this detailed account of the days surrounding Caesar’s assassination, Dando-Collins adopts the gossipy tone of a tabloid, an amusingly awkward approach to events that occurred over 2,000 years ago. Dando-Collins is certainly knowledgeable on the classic texts; but he uses them indiscriminately, as if they were all objective eye-witness accounts, not men writing from different centuries, opinions, and sources. He also appears to care little about context. Sure, Caesar’s death is fascinating in itself, but it was also immensely important: the climax of decades
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Sebastien Mamerot: Les Passages Doutremer: A Chronicle of the Crusades
of internal strife, the fall of the republic and rise of the empire, and the start of a philosophical debate on how far citizens should go in defense of their government. For those interested in ancient Rome, Dando-Collins has nothing new to offer, and those new to the subject should look elsewhere to satisfy their curiosity. Reviewed by Ariel Berg Holy Warriors By Johnathan Phillips Random House, $30.00, 434 pages Proposing to examine two centuries of war, on two continents, and across five theaters in a single volume requires audacity. And Jonathan Phillips’s Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades is certainly audacious in its scope, covering not only the several medieval efforts to reclaim and maintain a presence in the Holy Land, but adding for good measure the reconquering of Spain, the blood-drenched suppression of the Albigensians in southern France, and the so-called “Northern Crusades.” Needless to say, in just over 400 pages, it is a shallow consideration at best. Though exploring none of these conflicts in sufficient depth, Philips does succeed on other, more intellectual levels. Most importantly, he demonstrates that the contradiction moderns perceive between piousness and brutal violence is a recent development. The Christian knights who massacred their way through Jerusalem until covered with “blood from head to foot” and fell to their knees weeping at the burial place of the Prince of Peace, saw no conflict between the two. Yet, wishing to paint as many of the crusaders as possible with a broad and forgiving brush, Phillips can go too far; few scholars would agree that Venice’s Doge Dandolo, whose manipulations led to the sacking of Constantinople, was a mere victim of circumstances. Even if shallow on each Crusade (the Cathars alone merit volumes, here receiving a scant 20 pages), Phillips still delivers a gripping read, populated with fascinating characters, known (Saladin, Richard The Lionheart, Dandolo) and more obscure (Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, The Leper King Baldwin IV, Louis IX). In examining the Crusades through their Muslim opponents’ eyes, Phillips offers a fascinating perspective. Though lacking depth, Holy Warriors successfully demonstrates how the crusading spirit casts a long shadow into our present day -- one which we ignore at our own peril. Reviewed by Jordan Magill
By Dr. Fabrice Masanes, Thierry Delcourt, and Danielle Queruel Taschen, $ 150.00, 816 pages
Les Passages Doutremer is one of those books that Taschen does so well. It is a two-volume set reprinting a fifteenth century French manuscript in its entirety, along with a companion volume containing a translation, commentary, history, and bibliography. The primary volume is the manuscript itself, 286 pages of Middle French, along with color plates illustrated by Jean Colombe, one of the most celebrated painter-illuminators of the period. The original text was written by Sébastien Mamerot for his patron Louis de Laval, and while not a historical analysis of the Crusades, Les Passages Doutremer provides a contemporary view of the Crusades nearly one-hundred years after the final battle. The reproduction of the original text are so well done, that each page looks like thin vellum, allowing one to see text from the opposite side of the paper, but printed on sturdy enough paper to stand up to repeated readings. The many full-page illustrations by Mamerot are detailed and colorful, with the gold-leaf overwhelming some pages, but still reproduced in its original glory. Volume two is an unabridged and extensively annotated translation of the manuscript. There is a brief history of books and illumination, a history of this manuscript in particular, and detailed explanations of the illustrations. While this edition was reproduced from the copy owned by the Bibliothèque national de France, the translators also used a second surviving copy as a translation aid. The almost 700 end notes clarify specific people, places, things, and events that would have been more common knowledge five-hundred years ago, and also corrections when facts were wrong in the original text. Normally, one only sees manuscripts through glass, with one sample page opened for museum visitors. Here, you can slowly savor each page, from the many illustrations to the highlighted letters that begin each paragraph or chapter, or historiated initials, blots, flourishes, and the occasional hand-drawn picture in the gutters of the columns. One doesn’t need to be a history professor to enjoy this book. It is a simply stunning example of late-medieval illuminated art suitable for book collectors, art enthusiasts, Renaissance and medieval reinactors and of course, armchair historians of medieval and Catholic church history. Reviewed by Ross Rojek The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade By Susan Wise Bauer Norton, $35.00, 640 pages Why was this book written? And why was this particular author chosen for this project? These are the two major questions that plagued me as I read this book. Is there really a need for a quick overall history of the “Medieval” world? This book attempts to cover every major civilization, from Europe to China, but excludes Africa. The chapters are short and uninfor mative. There are historical anachronisms and ahistorical arguments. If The History of the Medieval World is even supposed to be a quick introduction to history, then
it fails at that. Attempting to cover the entire world history in about 640 pages, you need to pick your battles and your themes. Trying to cover hundreds of years in a single chapter that is only four to five pages long simply will not work. This brings up the other question: Why choose Susan Wise Bauer? She is probably a good author in her own right. She writes in a conversational style that is easily accessible, except that she is not a historian at all. Instead, she is an English professor. A disappointment from Norton, on many levels. Reviewed by Kevin Winter
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Science & Nature The Scientific American Brave New Brain By Judith Horstman; Scientific American Jossey-Bass, $25.95, 162 pages With a play on the futuristic phrase a ‘brave new world’ (from Shakespeare’s Tempest), this new Scientific American publication gathers articles dealing with current research and theories on the structure, chemistry, imaging of, and technological influences on the brain. The topic is intriguing. The least-understood organ of the body, the one that determines who and what we are, is being subjected to intense examination in the hope that this might improve our cranial capabilities. Articles have been extracted from past and (planned) future issues of Scientific American to present the current state of neuroscience to the lay public. “We know more about the brain today than ever before, and a perfect storm of events is supporting even more and better brain knowledge -- and better brains.” As the “baby boomer” cohort ages, preventing neurophysiological degeneration becomes a prime concern. One section of the book looks at the possible boosting of brain power with drugs, exercises, and diet. The brain is constantly changing, and this aspect is covered in an introductory chapter on neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, epigenetics, and maintenance of new brain cells. (No need to worry about this terminology: all science terms are clearly explained for the general reader.) Another section deals with memory and looks at dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. If you have ever wondered how the mind is changing because of the digital invasion, read on to see how your inner computer is being affected. What about brain flaws that produce pathologic behaviors, autism, and other problems? These may be detected through brain scans that pick up structural or chemical anomalies. Changes to the brain can be effected through gene therapy, implants, rewiring, pharmacology, and other means. There is an arsenal of techniques that can be used to look into our brains and also to treat problems. With its easily comprehensible format, concise writing, excellent organization, and clear explanations of the wondrous possibilities the future holds for enhancing our brain power, this book will amaze the reader. Reviewed by Rita Hoots
The Georgian Star By Michael D. Lemonick Atlas Books, $14.95, 199 pages The title of this latest publication in the Great Discoveries series of books aptly describes the content of this neat paperback. At the time of the American Revolution, a German musician seeking a better opportunity transferred to England and thence became obsessed with the celestial patterns. An autodidact, William Herschel picked up English, Latin, Greek, mathematics and then turned to studying the skies. To better view the cosmos, he designed and built his own telescopes. “He had little in the way of formal education. What he did have was a nearly boundless supply of curiosity and drive fostered by a talented family, particularly by his sister and professional partner, Caroline.” Among his discoveries were the planets Uranus and Saturn, and their associated moons along with assorted nebulae. Uranus was named the Georgian Star in honor of King George III, who prior to succumbing to his genetic malady, was impressed by the discoveries and served as patron to this brilliant cosmologist. Shining alongside her star struck brother was younger sister Caroline, who not only assisted in the star sightings, but herself became so fascinated in the study that independently she sighted and is credited with comet recognition and recording galactic changes. This is truly a fascinating chronicle of a gifted musical family in the late 1700s whose findings are now being corroborated in our technological age. It is an inspiring story not only from the celestial view, but it serves as a reflection of the social and historical customs of the times, and also gives insights into the nature of the human character. Reviewed by Rita Hoots A Good Talk By Daniel Menaker Twelve, $20.00, 230 pages Since pre-civilization people have told stories and related new ideas, they talked. How can we mark this accomplishment among humans? While the author agrees with one scalar that gossip may have begun as a hands-free grooming practice among primates, he manages to bury important concepts by allowing his arguments to sit too loose.
With only seven chapters, the author attempts to define, categorize, discern, and derive the concept of talk in a palatable way. Unfortunately, this organization is missing. I found many of the so-called humorous anecdotes rather stilted and not so funny. In Chapter One, he uses a forkhead box protein P2 diagram to remind the reader not to forget the mutated gene for language skills; perhaps he meant it in jest. He proceeds to make use of arbitrary expressions to mull over a point. The book is loaded to the brink with name-dropping, the kind of prose that forces you to stop reading in order to incorporate the importance of the mention of a particular person. These
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cause the author to stray too far from his point. It’s not that the book does not have something important to say, it’s just that it could have been said better. Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky
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Science Fiction & Fantasy WWW: Watch By Robert J. Sawyer Ace Hardcover, $24.95, 352 pages Caitlin Decter’s world is growing exponentially bigger. After undergoing an experimental surgery to overcome her blindness, she can see not only the real world, but the infrastructure of the World Wide Web. There, she discovered Webmind, a burgeoning intelligence that she helped guide to consciousness. Now that Webmind is learning and evolving, it has been discovered by several world governments, who want to contain it, exploit it, or destroy it. With Caitlin’s support, Webmind is just beginning to build a unique perspective on the world, but as more people learn of its existence, will Webmind survive? Robert J. Sawyer is probably the most accessible science fiction writer working today, and WWW: Watch, the second in a planned three-book cycle, is a wonderful marriage of deep thoughts and engaging storytelling. While heavy on talk and low on action, WWW: Watch remains absolutely captivating. The parallel journeys introduced in WWW: Wake -- Caitlin’s vision, Webmind’s intelligence, and the social development of an ape named Hobo -- are expertly woven together in WWW: Watch. They become terrific mirrors of each other, all acclimating to a strange new world.( )The only downside is knowing I’ll have to wait another year for the concluding chapter. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Finnikin of the Rock By Melina Marchetta Candlewick Press, $18.99, 399 pages Nineteen-year-old Finnikin is an exile. Ten years ago his homeland, Lumatere, and its entire royal family fell to a traitor. Now Lumatere is cursed, barred to all outside; those who fled wander through hostile lands, impoverished and hopeless. Finnikin, resigned to the impossibility of return, has dedicated himself to protecting these exiles. However, when a novice of the goddess Evanjalin surfaces claiming that Balthazar, heir to the throne and Finnikin’s best friend, is alive, Finnikin is drawn to
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follow her, despite his growing suspicion that she is not what she seems. “A long time ago, in the spring before the five days of the unspeakable, Finnikin of the Rock dreamed that he was to sacrifice a pound of flesh to save the royal house of Lumatere.” Melina Marchetta, author of several acclaimed young adult novels, makes her first attempt at fantasy with Finnikin of the Rock. This is primarily a coming-of-age tale, and Marchetta has created a fairly imaginative world in which to situate it. Despite what is at stake, the story feels a little sleepy, lacking both urgency and excitement. Nonetheless, Finnikin and Evanjalin are well-drawn characters; they are immensely sympathetic as children on the cusp of adulthood, trying to succeed when the adults around them have given up hope. It is their progress rather than that of the plot that makes this an endearing and compelling tale. Reviewed by Ariel Berg
Elizabeth Moon Oath of Fealty Elizabeth Moon’s bestselling science fiction novels featuring Kylara Vatta have earned her rave reviews and comparison to such giants as Robert Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold. Now, Moon returns to this thrilling realm for the first time in nearly twenty years in OATH OF FEALTY. The result: another classic in the making. Tune in to the Audible Authors 30-minute podcast interview with Elizabeth Moon. Click HER E to listen to inter view
www.audibleauthors.net
The Edge of Ruin By Melinda Snodgrass Tor, $27.99, 365 pages The Edge of Ruin is an interesting book. Richard Oort inherits one of the most powerful corporations on Earth, along with a powerful magic sword. What’s nice about the book is that it explores a hero’s emotional ties to those he loves, and isn’t afraid to do things you just don’t see in a lot of books (there is permanent death and the hero spends most of his time laid up). It’s nice change to see a hero that does what he does not because he was forced to, but he actually wants to; it’s part of who he is. It’s also nice to see characters that are hypocritical, and aren’t redeemed; too many fictional hypocrites change, so it’s nice to see one that doesn’t. However, this book is a sequel, and tries to hide that by constantly referring to events in the previous book. Although it comes off as clever in many ways, almost mocking the usual methods to catch readers up to speed, that it is a sequel ruins that (The Edge of Reason is the first book). Nonetheless, The Edge of Ruin is a great light read. Reviewed by Jamais Jochim
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Sequential Art I Love You, I Hate You, I’m Hungry By Bruce Eric Kaplan Simon & Schuster, $12.99, 181 pages Imagine: a couple, sitting together at the table, looking at their food without enthusiasm, looking for a topic to discuss. The woman asks, “Should we talk about what’s wrong with everyone we know or what’s wrong with everything we do?” Sound familiar? In his latest collection of one-panel cartoons, I Love You, I Hate You, I’m Hungry, artist Bruce Eric Kaplan paints a hilariously honest, rather dark, and sometimes bleak, portrait of middle America. His work, which has frequently appeared in the New Yorker, has a distinctive, simplistic style. His characters are often indistinguishable from one another and discuss the ins and outs of their humdrum lives. The beauty of his cartoons lies in their truth. They sentiments they express are hard not to relate to. His wry humor gets at the heart of middle America and cuts through the appearances of normalcy we try to uphold; it looks past the superficial aspects of everyday social situations, of the daily grind, and says what we really want to say, or what we really mean when we say the things we say. Reviewed by Jenifer Carter Graylight By Naomi Nowak NBM, $12.95, 144 pages A newly-single mother holding her baby grimly promises to protect him from any woman capable of the devastation she caused his father. This takes place over the opening frames of Naomi Nowak’s graphic novel, which soon leaps by decades but retains the eerie magic of its early pages. Graylight is a wisp of a story, in size as well as content, that nevertheless lingers delicately after the final page. This is the story of an appealing young foreigner, a drifter as well as a petty thief, who reveals fragments of herself to her friends while attracting two men, one of whom ominously is the nowadult son encountered in the first pages. It is, in its deceptively offhand manner and ambiguous plot, a modernized mythology reminiscent of Neil Gaiman. The sparse dialogue contrasts sharply with the vibrant, vivid artwork, mingling surreal, almost hallucinogenic imagery with mod-
ern characters and outdoor scenery. Taking place over a cold summer in northern Sweden, Nowak uses a palette of muted pastels to evoke chilly, faint sunlight, an environment mirrored in her characters interactions, which move between warm emotion to cold restraint. The beauty of the artwork alone makes it worth a read and beckons to be revisited. Reviewed by Ariel Berg Crogan’s March By Chris Schweizer Oni Press, $14.95, 208 pages All Peter Crogan wanted to do when he joined the French Foreign Legion was to escape. Now as he nears the end of his five year term of service, he finds himself wondering about the reasons behind having French troops in France. To make matters more complicated, his new commanding officer turns out to be a hot-headed hero, but one that has never brought his men to survive battle. Just like the first book in the series, Crogan’s March introduces the story through a situation involving Crogan brothers Cory and Eric. Although this introduction seems a little awkward in the beginning, it’s short enough that it doesn’t detract from the main story. The unique, almost-cartoony style leads itself well to the subject matter, providing an atmosphere for caricature-like humor without taking away from the main story. Despite the somewhat serious nature of the situation Crogan is dealing with, the book is anything but serious and dull. There’s plenty of visual jokes to behold, and those wanting action won’t be disappointed either. The result is multi-layered, so whether you want a light tale of adventure, or a thoughtprovoking look at the questions of Imperialism at the turn of the century you’ll find either (or both). Reviewed by Alyssa Feller The Nobody By Jeff Lemire Vertigo, $19.99, 144 pages Inspired by The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells), The Nobody by Jeff Lemire, author and illustrator of the critically-acclaimed, innovative comic strip Essex County, is a new graphic novel befitting his fame and talent. The character “The Nobody” is a mysterious creature in full-body bandages, who comes upon a small town, Large Mouth, where nothing much other than subsistence activities happen. The residents soon become intrigued by the enigmatic stranger and begin See NOBODY, page 21
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for health care Meet Thomas Goetz Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired magazine and author of The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine, will be the keynote speaker for the Sacramento Public Library April 11-17 National Library Week celebration. Central Library Tsakopoulos Library Galleria 828 I Street, Sacramento April 13, 2010 Tuesday, 6 p.m. (seating open at 5:30 p.m.) Goetz’s message: Take charge of your health. Thanks to advances in technology – it has never been easier for individuals to monitor their own health risks and to catch and treat disease before it ever happens. Goetz, who holds a master’s degree in public health, shows how this “decision-tree thinking” is the key to a better, longer, healthier life. Copies of Goetz’ books will be available for purchase and signing. Downtown Sacramento metered street parking is free after 6 p.m. Program attendees will receive a special $5 rate after 5 p.m., if using the Standard Parking Garage, off J Street, between 8th and 9th streets, adjacent to the Central Library.
Helping you be... Better Every Day! S a c r a m e n t o P u b l i c L i b r a r y s a c l i b r a r y. o r g
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Art, Architecture & Photography Drawing Shortcuts By Jim Leggit Wiley, $59.95, 251 pages Written for students and professionals in the building and landscaping arts, Drawing Shortcuts has numerous tips that will help today’s busy professional speed up the drawing process without sacrificing creativity. Author Jim Leggit’s processes combine computer technology with the more emotionbased, traditional, hand techniques to produce work worthy for presentations. His methods open to the professional more options where specific desires can be expressed fluidly, rather than from the stifferlooking, computergenerated renderings. Color photographs help walk the reader through each step. Every technique is illustrated, every tip explained and every chapter summarized in the author’s “Quick Tips.” Rather than take years to learn the shortcuts, this book allows readers to quickly simulate spaces that tell a story. Drawing Shortcuts also includes photos and descriptions of how professionals have used the steps in their practice. Reviewed by Susan Roberts
Simple Stunning Bride By Karen Bussen Stewart Tabori & Chang, $24.95, 127 pages If you’re a bride-to-be, spring means so much more than blooming tulips and picnics in the park: it means wedding plans. Blueprinting your special day may seem daunting, especially if you’re the type of woman who wants everything to be perfect. New York Citybased wedding planner Karen Bussen has created an accessible, comprehensive guide that delves into the emotional and material aspects of being a bride. Everything from organization, who does what, to worldly fashion tips and exercise assistance makes this book seem like a “virtual” bridesmaid. Thorough and sweet, Simple Stunning Bride is a lovely gift for a bride or couple-to-be. “The average length of an engagement in the United States is 16 months.”
Keep in mind that your wedding is yours. This book might prove not to be useful when it comes to romance, the very thing that will make your ceremony meaningful. I’m no wedding planner, but I feel that it is safe to say this: buy Simple Stunning Bride, if you believe that planning your beautiful day— and the beginning of the rest of your life— is going to be stressful. Otherwise, enjoy the ride and find a book out there that flirts with your fantasies and leaves you feeling open to and excited about the adventure of your married life. Reviewed by Natalie Fladager Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life By Charley Harper; Todd Oldham AMMO Books, $49.95, 424 pages This version of Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life is a smaller, less expensive reprint of the $200 version originally published in 2007. The 2010 release has all the pages of the original, at about half the size and weight. Charley Harper was an illustrator for decades, doing commercial work for places as diverse as Betty Crocker,
Ford Motors and Golden Books (all of which are represented within this book.) From ads to illustrations, Harper used what is called “Minimal Realism,” using the fewest lines to get across the image at hand. Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life has hundreds of
examples of his highly diverse output, but each done with his signature style. A great reference book for artists, a great coffee table book for art and Americana collectors. Reviewed by Ross Rojek
Current Events Culture is Our Weapon By Patrick Neate and Damian Platt Penguin, $14.00, 197 pages Culture Is Our Weapon collects interviews and stories from citizens of Rio de Janeiro who inhabit the urban slums called favelas. The book documents people who have left (or tried to leave) the drug trade, and the NGO called AfroReggae which has helped them. AfroReggae enables the people of the favelas to resist the many temptations of “o traffico”: women, money, power, respect. On a basic level it operates by building up the self-esteem of the community. It helps develop skill-sets, like music and recycling, that the community can continue to employ socially and economically. “This is a war zone. Here is a simple statistic that may illuminate the level of violence: Between 1948 and 1999, and estimated thirteen thousand people were killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Between 1979 and 2000, more than forty-eight thou-
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sand died from firearm-related injuries in the city of Rio.” The book’s simple, journalistic approach describes individuals and stories of racism, impoverishment, and how social systems from top to bottom in Brazil reinforce social inequality. While we get a great understanding of the individuals attached to AfroReggae and how they work through music and events to aid the favela residents, we get little description of what AfroReggae as an entity actually does, on a day to day basis; more information about how AfroReggae creates workshops, classes, and concerts would help other cities and nations as they battle similar issues, and greatly enhance the significance of this book. Reviewed by Joe Atkins The Death and Life of the Great American School System By Diane Ravitch The Basic Book Group, $26.95, 283 pages The author of this work is a research professor of education at New York University and a distinguished historian of American education. She has authored or edited more than 20 books, and her articles have apCURRENT EVENTS, Cont’d page 18
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CURRENT EVENTS, Cont’d from page 18 peared in numerous newspapers and magazines. Of note is her outstanding piece in the March 2, 2010, issue of The Wall Street Journal titled, “Why I changed my mind about school reform.” The author rejects some of her long-held beliefs about school reform and offers a blueprint for getting our schools back on track. Using examples from major cities such as New York, Denver, and Chicago, she maintains that public education is in dire peril because of misguided reforms. Ravitch argues against privatization and cautions about the misuse of test scores in evaluation of teachers, students, and schools. In every case, she explains why these initiatives have failed to improve public education, and in many cases have been quite harmful. This is one of the finest studies in the century dealing with American public education today and a must-read for all Americans concerned with our schools and the education of our children. Reviewed by Claude Ury Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime By John Heilemann and Mark Halperin Harper Collins, $27.99, 448 pages 2008 was quite an election year. Though I haven’t been alive for many elections, and this was the first time I could actually vote, it sure seemed like one for the history books. Sarah Palin could star in her own quirky reality show (God help us if she ever does). But, needless to say, there were many characters this round. With a Purple Heart veteran, an inexperienced Senator, a hockey mom from Alaska, and the woman who stood beside her husband through infidelity in the Oval Office, how could you not find enough information to write a book? Game Change chronicles the major players in the 2008 election: Obama, the Clintons, McCain, and Palin. Politics is a dirty, secretive game, and Mark Halperin and John Heilemann uncover the dirt in all its glory. This very well-researched book goes behind the scenes to give you information you never saw on the news. It shows where Hillary’s campaign fell short, and when friends became rivals. You learn more about the Clintons than you’d probably ever want to; and where the term “Black Jesus” came from. This is a great, extensive read from start to finish. Anyone interested in politics will enjoy this “soap opera meets reality TV” story of the election that altered history. Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun
The China Strategy By Edward Tse Basic Books, $26.95, 288 pages The China Strategy: Harnessing the Power of the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy is a comprehensive guide for successful incorporation of China’s market into a global business plan. This book stresses the need to move beyond the idea that China is simply a new consumer market to exploit. Rather, China must be a vibrant participant in all stages of business for any company with aspirations of worldwide success. The landscape of China’s business practices and opportunities are detailed in both their historical and contemporary contexts. Step-bystep guides are outlined to help businesses navigate the Chinese economy, and examples of successful implementation of these strategies are presented. Also, data from various business ventures are included in graphical styles that make it easy to compare regional variation in market needs and capabilities. Disappointingly, the section addressing common pitfalls in a fast-growing economy was brief and without any practical advice on how to avoid repeating the mistakes of other countries. The China Strategy is well-written and easy to understand but targets a very specific audience. Those in business or with significant business ties will find it eminently useful; to lay readers, it will most likely have little appeal. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today By Ted Conover Knopf, $26.95, 336 pages Roads connect our settlements and expand empires. They can also bring misery, though few people have given them much thought, until now. The Routes of Man will inspire you to respect roads. Conover has traveled extensively and his first road begins in the Manhattan apartment of a wealthy couple decorating with Mahogany, an increasingly rare wood. Conover traces shipping roads used to bring Mahogany to market. We go for a truck ride with Conover from Cuzco, over the Andes Mountains, to the Amazon basin. We then go up river—another form of road— with woodcutters working in restricted areas of the black market world of Mahogany logging. Next, we travel a frozen river in the Himalayas that doubles as a road for a remote village sending their teenagers to boarding
From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law By Martha C. Nussbaum Oxford University Press, $21.95, 217 pages Into the vitriolic debate about homosexuality and society, esteemed philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law arrives like a breath of well reasoned air. Combining rigorous logic, thorough research, and humanity, Nussbaum examines our legal tradition to explain how the insidious notion of “disgust” is offered as a basis to deny rights to the “unworthy.” Few will read her history of invectives used to demonize “the other,” whether black, Jewish, or immigrant, by association with disease, bodily fluids, odor, germs, and excrement, without feeling a chill. “Like same-sex marriage, cross-racial unions were opposed with a variety of arguments, both political and theological. Indeed, it did not hide its hand: the idea of racial purity was proudly proclaimed...ideas of taint and contamination were ubiquitous.” Examining the legal status of homosexuality, she contrasts the views of two British thinkers. Philosopher John Stuart Mills, “abhor[ed] the tyranny of public sentiment over personal choice,” and thought government had no place in regulating the activities of equal, competent, consenting adults. In opposition to Mills, she offers Lord Patrick Devlin, a British judge and Neo-Burkian, who opposed ending the legal sanction against homosexuality arguing that the state can and should use force to encourage social solidarity and enforce a common morality. Devlin saw sodomy laws as just and necessary, setting bounds on what is acceptable; according to Nussbaum, Mills would have seen them as nothing less than an assault on liberty. And though at times casting Devlin against Mills can feel like an intellectual middleweight taking a beating from Mohammed Ali, one’s sympathy quickly passes. From Disgust to Humanity explores the jurisprudential history of our “right to privacy,” explaining cogently how the justices grounded it in the Constitution. In matters of privacy in general and homosexuality in particular, she demonstrates how jurists are divide followers of Mills and Devlin. In the case of the latter, arguments always track back to disgust, homosexual being “others” and “deviants,” engaging in behavior that exists only in deranged fantasy. Thinkers such as Justice Scalia and Leon Klass, Chair of the Bioethics Council under President Bush, both of a Devlinian bend, thinking disgust as a basis for sound ethics, receive an intellectual drubbing. Nussbaum continually beats them with a simple question: given their views of homosexuality, how can they claim they wouldn’t have felt the same way in 1967, when the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia invalidated miscegenation laws, at a time when an overwhelming number of Americans thought interracial marriage wrong and unnatural? Against various arguments as to why homosexuals should not enjoy their fellow citizens’ rights to marriage and intimacy, Nussbaum brings an irresistible vanquishing logic, wielding Equality and Liberty as her foil. In places, she demonstrates a sharp sense of humor, as when she muses about why legislators (doubtless mostly men) seem so often preoccupied with gay male sex, but are inclined to give lesbianism a pass. Yet more thrilling than Nussbaum’s rhetorical skills and the soundness of her argument, is how she weds both to an appeal to our basic and essential humanity, to reject the hyperbolic language of hate and oppression in favor of recognizing the essential rights with which we are all endowed. Reviewed by Jordan Magill school in the city. We ride with truckers in Africa for a glimpse of how AIDs is spread through the population. The most nerve wracking road was in the West Bank of Israel where Conover rode and walked with Palestinians navigating Israeli checkpoints. He also rode with Israeli soldiers patrolling dangerous territory. In conclusion, he asks us to consider how we will treat people we meet on the road. Excellent reading! Reviewed by Grady Jones
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Business & Investing The Last Chance Millionaire: It’s Not Too Late to Become Wealthy By Douglas R. Andrew Business Plus, $16.99, 368 pages The Last Chance Millionaire: It’s Not Too Late To Become Wealthy is the fourth book by Douglas R. Andrew, this time focusing on an often ignored if not neglected aspect of personal financial management. This book aims to provide intelligent, practical financial guidance to those who specifically need it the most—the 80 million “Baby Boomers” who are entering their retirement years. “Taking ownership of your financial future is the answer. This book will empower you with the knowledge to achieve a greater degree of financial independence while there is still time left—it’s not too late!” If you are retiring in just a few years, or even if retirement is still way down the road, Andrew’s solid and well-researched financial strategies in The Last Chance Millionaire will turn everything you’ve heard about retirement upside down. Some of the topics covered include: how buying your dream vacation home can actually be one of your shrewdest retirement investments; how you can dramatically increase your spendable income using maximum tax-advantaged life insurance; how to put the three marvels of wealth accumulation to work for you; and understand why your home equity is a hidden gold mine of tax-favored wealth. It is for a very good reason why majority of personal financial planning books are addressed to those with time on their side. Time, as they say, equals money. But not all are able to take advantage of this. For them, there’s Andrew’s The Last Chance Millionaire. Reviewed by Dominique James The Overnight Resume By Donald Asher Ten Speed Press, $12.99, 134 pages Stirring. Exhilarating. Adventure. Are these the words you would use to describe a job hunt? Probably not. Hunting for a job begins with endless Internet searches, the shameless sale of yourself, and finally, the awful waiting period. What’s the best way to make the “meantime” less tedious and more effective? How about enhancing your resume? The third edition of The Overnight Resume is bursting with tips and formats to make your resume
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stand out from the crowd of other resumes running amok both in the streets and online. “You need humans to read your resume to get a job.” Donald Asher has scaled a colossal crag with his slim, informational manual. He guides the reader through the process, beginning with the job search to hitting the send button (or placing the resume safely into the palms of a real person). He seizes the document section by section and lends useful, insider tips on how to get noticed; for example, Tip #1: “never use the term “entry level” in any resume.” This guide is fast-paced and operative, much like any well-written resume should be. In search of a job, start here. Reviewed by Sky Sanchez Instant Wealth Wake Up Rich!: Discover The Secret of The New Entrepreneurial Mind By Christopher Howard Wiley, $24.95, 265 pages What does it really take to be wealthy? What must you know, what must you do, and most importantly, what must you not do if you really want to live the life of your dreams? “The instant you commit to a sharing intention, you embrace an even larger purpose than riches for yourself. Your desire to give back energizes you to achieve much greater levels of wealth. This makes your passion and purpose far more meaningful. It clears the way not just for prosperity, but for ultimate success.” Christopher Howard debunks the idea, in Instant Wealth—Wake Up Rich! Discover the Secret of the New Entrepreneurial Mind, that gaining great wealth doesn’t depend on advanced education or being born into the right family or even finding yourself in the right place at the right time. Instead, wealth is a matter of waking up to the reality that your passion in life, whatever it may be, is the fundamental engine of your success. Howard writes that wealth is a result of linking your work and passion, which requires powerful physical, mental and spiritual tools. He writes that your financial situation will rapidly and radically improve when you start using the right tools, and, when your passion and purpose are infused with new meaning, you build a lasting legacy of wealth in the truest sense of the word.
For you as an individual and for all who will benefit from your prosperity, Instant Wealth is the fastest way from where you are to where you want to be. And as Christopher Howard shows, you’re a lot closer than you think. Reviewed by Dominique James Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business By Ranjay Gulati Harvard Business Press, $35.00, 288 pages Every business is about customers—identifying them and growing them. Ask Ranjay Gulati, a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and he will tell you in Reorganize For Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business, there are ways to get to the customers. “Rallying around (a) customer ... results in the resilience that protects businesses from economic storms.” Gulati uncovers five C’s that puts the focus on the customers: coordination, cooperation, clout, capabilities, and connections. This means aligning tasks and information around a customer axis, cultivating behavior around common customer-focused goals, enhancing the outside-in responsiveness needed in a shifting market, enabling individuals and divisions to take on roles that are meaningful to customers, encouraging the boundary-spanning skills that managers and employees need to develop in order to cope with changing customer needs, and leveraging the extraordinary value of effective partners. With a toolbox of levers in hand to address all possible situations, companies can learn to dance with their customers, rather than dictating to them. Gulati’s practical insights, crystallized from more than 500 interviews over a decade of boom-and-bust economic cycles and detailed in Reorganize For Resilience, ensure that strategy turns into actions that lead to sales. Reviewed by Dominique James Friends with Benefits By Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo No Starch Press, $24.95, 264 pages If you are new to social media and want to get your business or brand off of the ground, this book should be your constant companion. From how to get started with netiquette, to courting the right bloggers for your niche, the beginner and master
alike will learn something new or find a different way to get your name and company out there. The most useful part of the book is the structure. Each chapter focuses on an individual skill or media channel that is out there to use for one and all. Already mastered Twitter and have thousands of followers? How about branching out to Facebook or vice versa? “Don’t write pitches in the comments area of a blog, podcast listing, or video. Like socks with sandals, this is just plain tacky.” With chapters on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, you will learn how to get set up and how to use each channel to the fullest extent. These days, everyone is a brand and people are more reachable than ever, not having a big budget for advertising is no excuse for not getting out there and courting a bigger piece of the pie for yourself and your business. We all need Friends with Benefits. Reviewed by Gwen Stackler Too Big to Save: How to Fix the U.S. Financial System By Robert Pozen Wiley, $29.95, 445 pages This book under review is not as much a presentation of a narrative on the economic crisis but an analysis of policy recommendations on the economy. The author’s proposals are quite reasonable, well argued, and realistic starting from the world we live in. It is an educational manual and the best upto-date study on the financial crisis. “Several arguments seem to be worthy of note that the U.S. does not need a restructuring of its system of financial regulation, which is being debated in Congress. Legislative restrictions on executive compensation have generally backfired, and the U.S. has bailed out many financial institutions with articulate rationales.” One gets the idea from reading this book that Robert Prozen is well versed on the isSee BUSINESS, page 21
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BUSINESS, cont’d from page 20 sues facing the U.S. and the world economy and it is true: Prozen is known widely for his leadership in both finance and economic policy. The author takes federal policy-makers to task for spending huge sums of money with very few benefits for America’s taxpayers. He urges that our government, if it is to rein in its bail-outs, should stop buying toxic assets by providing more incentives for the private sector to regulate itself. This book details the collapse of our financial system from mortgage-backed securities to stock markets, and from money market funds to recapitalized banks, and from the SEC’s mistakes to the international protectionism. The author also assesses the impact of the financial crisis on the stock and toxic assets. In closing, the author focuses on past mistakes caused by the U.S. Treasury, Congress, and America’s business leaders. Reviewed by Claude Ury The Little Blue Book of Marketing: Build a Killer Plan in Less Than a Day By Steve Lance; Paul Kurnit Portfolio, $21.95, 275 pages This little gem of a book packs a large punch for any business owner who wants to learn the basics of marketing quickly and effectively. The Little Blue Book of Marketing covers the basics by explaining how a marketing plan works and how to best make an effective one for your business goals. The first part focuses mainly on how to organize and run a marketing plan. The second part zooms in on the topical issues to consider in making the plan. The first part of the book would probably be most useful for companies with marketing teams, but for small businesses, perhaps the second part of the book would suffice by itself. Most helpful are the sample outlines and timelines, which may serve as a loose template for any business. Another chapter worth pointing
out is “Open Your Toolbox” which lays out the various traditional and emerging nontraditional marketing avenues. One thing is it is definitely not a clone of the Marketing for Dummies series. This marketing book is sure to keep the novice to maverick on track of marketing goals, savvy branding techniques, market positioning, and, most importantly, timely implementation. Reviewed by Auey Santos Cash in a Flash By Mark Victor Hansen; Robert G. Allen Harmony Books, $23.00, 384 pages Often a seriously troubled person is portrayed deep in contemplation with two conflicting voices like a devil and an angel. Cash in a Flash provides a similar experience for you, only this time the two voices will actually help positively impact the way you overcome mental obstacles, drown out the voices of negativity so you can run towards your financial goal and win the race triumphantly. The dynamic team of authors are Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Robert G. Allen (Multiple Streams of Income), and their formula for success is simple and straightforward. Hansen and Allen present their coaching using a method to train you no matter if you are a left-brained or a right-brained person. I personally warmed up to the stories shared on the right side of the book especially the part where they narrate a mother’s struggle to empower herself financially in order to get her children back. Cash in a Flash is a definite gem in these trying and uncertain times. If you are into get-rich-quick schemes then this book is not for you. It is, however, a book for the person with soul, who is willing to work hard and follow their passions to achieve wealth, leave a legacy, and still be able to sleep at the end of the night with a clear conscience. Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman
Can They Do That?: Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace By Lewis Maltby Portfolio, $25.95, 259 pages This goes out to all people who are currently working in corporate America. In the United States, we have very limited rights as employees and some laws we think would cover us actually will not. In Can They Do That?, Lewis Maltby dives in to different types of employment scenarios and provides reasons why an employee may not be covered in those situations. He provides detailed, real life examples to emphasize his points about lack of rights in the workplace. One example he provides states that there are companies who can fire an employee for smoking in the privacy of their own home! The same thing goes for drinking after work, which can also get an employee fired. It amazed me how many companies violate an employee’s right to privacy and are able to fire an employee based on their personal life. As an employee, I am appalled to think my company is monitoring me that closely. Maltby lays everything out clearly and explains what can be done to help you protect your rights. If you have ever had questions about your rights as an employee then you MUST read this book. Reviewed by Nicole Will
NOBODY, cont’d from page 17 to learn his new and interesting story. Written in a familiar setting for Lemire, a secluded town, not unlike those of Essex County, The Nobody throws in a considerable mix of imagination, possibility, and mystery into the setting and characters. The Nobody himself is quite mystical, and has more depth than might be obvious. The illustration of the book is earmarked with Lemire’s unmistakable style, sporadic and chaotic lines and shading, which create images of deep feeling and paradoxical order. With this in mind, The Nobody is a solid stepping stone in the path of Lemire’s work. Reviewed by Jordan Dacayanan
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Arrrrgggghhhh! i should have checked the san francisco book review website before buying this book!
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Cooking, Food & Wine Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen By Yuan Wang; Warren Sheir; Mika Ono De Capo Life Long, $19.95, 352 pages The book’s introduction gives a very helpful background to the “One-hundred Healthful Asian Ingredients” that follow. Each ingredient is catalogued with a photograph and its scientific name, as well as its other names in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. These pictures are very helpful when the readers who are not familiar with herbs and roots are trying to find particular ingredients in the grocery store. Also included in each ingredient’s chapter is: its related (ancient) history; where to find them; the taste, the benefit ,and efficacy. The recipes using the healthful Asian ingredients include soups, savory vegetarian dishes, stews, curries, noodles dishes, snacks, desserts, sauces, stocks, toppings, and tea. The appendices shared information relating health problems with the suggested recipes. Of all the recipes, the soups and teas seemed to be the most cleansing, soothing, and healing, the “Flu Season Soup” and various chicken soup recipes, in particular. Although I was surprised to find that the authors excluded lemon grass entirely, Ancient Wisdom, Modern Kitchen is loaded with useful information to take care of your health. Like the old adage says, “you are what you eat.” Reviewed by Sophie Masri Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay By Lucie Snodgrass and Edwin Remsberg Storey Publishing, $19.95, 288 pages Crab cakes. Oyster stew. Clam chowder. These phrases bring to mind some of the best loved foods of the East Coast. The Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland is an abundant source of great seafood. But did you know that Maryland also boasts bountiful farmland and orchards, full of delightful fresh fruits, vegetables and sweet maple syrup? Dishing up Maryland – 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay will entice you with traditional recipes from the area, along with creative new twists on those old-time favorites. Complete with vibrant full color photos, the cookbook is divided into chapters by season. Each section provides tasty recipes
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for entrees, salads, side dishes, soups, appetizers and desserts using at least one main local ingredient from the East Coast. Recipes are well-written and easy to follow. Directions are concise and thorough. Many of the recipes come from some of Maryland’s best loved restaurants. Along with all these wonderful recipes there is helpful information about some of the regional fish, vegetables, and other attractions that will lure you to come visit this treasure-trove of delightful cuisine. So get the water on the boil, get out your wooden mallets, and get ready to prepare some of the besteating, best-loved dishes for which Maryland is renowned. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin Love What You Do: Building A Career In The Culinary Industry By Dorothy Cann Hamilton; Lisa Cornelio; Christopher Papagni iUniverse, $12.95, 170 pages Do you love to cook? Do you think a career in the culinary industry could be the choice for you? Then you’ll definitely want to pick up this handy pocket guide to exploring a culinary career. Unlike many career guides that provide check lists to help you brainstorm your career move, Love What You Do actually includes lined pages so you can immediately jot down your goals, create a time-line, list your strengths, and so on. It asks you to “make a list of the skills that you currently lack” and how you’ll acquire them; this urges you to start your plans. “FACT: Julia Child was thirty-seven years old when she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu.” Statistics about culinary careers, quotes from students, and “A Day in the Life” profiles of successful professionals in the field are all included. The book provides the pros and cons of culinary careers, salary ranges, and links to access further reading. Love What You Do focuses primarily on earning a culinary degree to launch yourself into the restaurant world. There are a few pages dedicated to creative culinary careers such as publicity or nutrition, but you will want to seek out a different book for even more specifics. Reviewed by Amber K. Stott
Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook By Debbie Macomber Harlequin, $29.95, 239 Pages Cookbooks, by and large, do not usually include details from the private lives of fictional characters; this one does. Having never read one of Debbie Macomber’s books, when I first perused these recipes I found my eyebrows rising up to their highest level almost constantly at the stories placed between. “How can she blab about her neighbors’, family’s, and friends’ tragedies and secrets so blatantly?” I wondered, rather taken aback. After Googling the author’s name I had a good laugh at my own ignorance, and began skipping the stories and testing the recipes. Some of the first ones made me smile, like the Good Morn-
ing Smoothie, which uses strawberries, yogurt and orange juice (like a traditional California smoothie). The Buttermilk Hotcakes with Blueberries turned out just as Macomber described: light and delicious. A touch of cornmeal in the dough proves to be an inspired addition. Most of the recipes are made from scratch and fairly easy to navigate; the flavors are fresh and comforting, while modern enough to serve at a company tea. Reviewed by Meredith Greene Damn Good Food 157 Recipes from Hell’s Kitchen By Mitch Omer • Ann Bauer Borealis Books, $27.95, 256 pages Not to be confused with the Gordon Ramsay’s television show, Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell’s Kitchen offers better recipes and better entertainment. This hardSee COOKING, page 23
1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die By Adrian Tierney-Jones Universe, $36.95, 960 pages
This grand tome is like a well-stocked cooler of fabulous beers. You won’t know where to begin. The contents span nearly 70 countries. The styles range from amber, blond, white, dark, to “specialty.” The list of contributors reads like a “Who’s Who” of over 40 beer writers straddling the globe. The “Index of Beers by Brewery” alone delivers a travel guide of the world’s best brewers. This robust guide carries the weight of a six-pack. All hail the new Bible of beers! If you consider yourself even slightly familiar with beer, having tasted a range of microbrews and styles, you are sure to find some of your favorites listed here. You’ll find barons of the microbrew world like Arrogant Bastard Ale, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Lagunitas Brewing Company, and Newcastle Brown Ale. You’ll find summertime favorites that are best served with a lime, like Mexico’s Negra Modelo. You’ll find global classics like Carlsberg from Denmark and Guiness from Ireland. And you’ll find a whole host of beers that you neither recognize nor can pronounce. It’s an adventure-packed sipping book just waiting for you to try it. “...one could be forgiven for thinking that beer is the new wine. But that’s silly-beer was being enjoyed as a beverage of culinary importance when wine was just a twinkle in the great vine’s eye.” You are certain to find beers in this book that you actually don’t like at all. The author says that the text isn’t intended as a “Best Of” guide -- although most of it surely reads that way -- but as a list of beers that you simply must try. After all, love it or hate it, everyone’s tried Budweiser (find it on page 343 with the blond ales). Each listed beer includes tasting notes, serving temperature, country of origin, and a quick history. If the descriptions don’t make you reach for a cold one, the frothy photographs will. With few exceptions, each beer is photographed in a branded glass next to the labeled bottle. This book is a useful guide for the beer-seeker. Use the country index if you’ll be traveling. Use the brewery index if you have a specific destination in mind. Or, flip the pages to to choose a new brew at random, and pick it up the next time you’re at the store. If you are passionate about quality beer, you are sure to delight in this hefty guide. And if you plan to taste all 1,001 before you die, you’d best get a move on! Reviewed by Amber K. Stott
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COOKING, cont’d from page 22 bound gem (and restaurant) is not for the pious. Unlike your typical cookbook, it starts with author Ann Bauer’s descent into Hell’s Kitchen, where she is met by red walls, black fixtures, leering monsters in bright clothes, sneering crows and the not-so-happy owner Mitch Omer. Mitch’s restaurant actually auditioned for the Fox TV reality show. He owned the rights to the name Hell’s Kitchen as well, but apparently it was not what Fox Broadcasting was looking for. “Mitch makes extraordinary food. But even more important, he makes extraordinary life. And he knows what one has to do with the other-how food is only part of the equation. This is a man who wakes up every day curious, full of gale-force curiosity and joy.” In my opinion this was actually a blessing in disguise. This book was fascinating from page one until the end. I have never been more delighted to read such an unorthodox manner of presenting recipes, filled with foul language and insanity. Everything served in his kitchen is derived from Mitch’s own memories of special places and people, personal pains and joys. The stories retold by the staff, and the memorable incidents in the restaurant, make for a much better reality show than the one presented weekly on the tube because, if truth be told, Mitch does not need a TV executive to give him a script to run his restaurant. He certainly does not need to conform to anyone’s normal whitelinen fancy-dining standards because his formula and his story are of a totally different league compared to the rest. This restaurant and its culinary creations will likely outlast the TV series. It is a truly unique place with a personality (dare I say, “soul”) of its own. I applaud Ann Bauer for her excellent documentation and I highly recommend this book -- ironically, because the recipes will taste like pure heavenly bliss! Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman Fresh Mexico: 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor By Marcela Valladolid Clarkson Potter, $22.5, 240 pages Author-chef Marcella Valladolid believes that authentic Mexican food, made with fresh ingredients, is easy to cook, healthy, and full of wonderful flavors. Marry that belief with classical training at the Los Angeles Culinary Institute and the Ritz Escoffier Cooking School in Paris, and
the result is a new and unique approach to Mexican food. The word that comes to mind in sampling these recipes is fusion. Who would expect to find soy sauce, for example, as an ingredient in Mexican cooking? You’ll find it here, in Baja-Mediterranean Ahi Tuna, which also features olive oil, capers, sesame seeds, and olives. Not your typical cookbook, and not your typical Mexican fare; some of the recipes (Grilled Corn on the Cob with Jalapeno Butter; Rosemary-Skewered Shrimp Marinated in Chipotle, and Cold Shredded Beef Salad) are likely to become classic staples. Enhanced with mouthwatering photographs for about half the recipes, this is a must-have text for the innovative cook who wants to explore modern, contemporary Mexican cookery. Reviewed by Claudette Smith Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket By Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt University of Texas Press, $21.95, 227 pages Are you the sort of serious foodie who reads cookbooks not just for the recipes but as a window into culture? Do you understand that barbecue isn’t just a food, but a lifestyle choice? Do you feel that what we eat tells us something about who we are? Feel like you’re a little bit Texan? If you answered yes to these questions, than Professor Elizabeth Engelhardt’s Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket may be a book that you shouldn’t live without. With an ear for stories, Engelhardt explores the culture of central Texas through its favorite cuisine, revealing it to be a complex mosaic of immigrants. Germans, Czechs, Latinos, African-Americans, and others all contributed to this rich mélange. Like a homemade BBQ sauce, each ingredient complements the others, adding to the delicious whole. Engelhardt goes from joint to joint, collecting pit masters’ stories, and they do have stories to tell. Republic of Barbecue is a lovely oversized volume stuffed with lots of photographs and page-turning tales from people who take their meat very seriously – all that’s missing is their recipes. I dare you to get even half-way through it without making a stop at your favorite local BBQ joint. Reviewed by Jordan Magill
By Meredith Greene
Covered, indeed over abundantly, is the debate on the viability and growing popularity of eBooks. Stepping onto the creaking boards of the bandwagon, many large publishers now offer digital literature, whether through retailers or directly via their own websites… and it appears to be paying off. On December 26, 2009, Amazon.com announced that, for the first time ever, they sold more digital books on Christmas Day than the paper kind; the company projects even greater eBook sales for 2010. Many publishers appear to think it’s worthwhile to update their eBook titles and formats on a regular basis, but now the delivery method, release dates, as well as the sales “food chain,” are also undergoing their own micro-revolution. John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Press (MP), posted a blog on the MP website on March 2, 2010, stating that they will move from the former “retail model” of selling eBooks to what he terms an “agency model.” Sargent goes on to explain how this benefits the consumer: no longer will eBook retailers be able to buy MP eBooks and then set their own price to re-sell them to consumers. MP will, instead, offer the eBooks at a set price, only allowing the retailer a commission percentage. This, in my opinion, is a smart move as it helps MP eBooks remain competitively priced while also encouraging a wide variety of prices to choose from. Sargent also announced that the “new” model will allow new titles to be released in eBook format “at the first release of the printed book.” Even more interesting is Sargent’s remarks on which kinds of digital books are preferred by eBook consumers: the new-release titles, including those from the New York Times bestsellers list (priced at $12.99-$14.99 for eBook format) are apparently not the most popular. “Our e-book sales over the last year clearly indicate that only about a third of our e-book business is in the digital versions of new release hardcovers. Unit sales of older books [priced below $10] far exceed our new release hardcover sales, so the $9.99 and lower prices will continue to represent the largest portion of our business.” In the latter portion of the blog, Sargent hinted at what MP may be planning as a future genre in eBooks, “illustrated books or books for young children,” though he quantifies this plan by saying “That will be a topic for the future as the technology advances beyond e-ink screens.” Inventor Ray Kurzweil just may have an answer for this “technology question” in the very near future. At the Consumer Electronics Association (CES) trade show in January 2010, he unveiled his latest project software he’s named Blio; it is an eReading platform (not a device) that can be used on PC, MAC, iPhone and iPod touch. Blio’s main feature appears to be the ability to view eBooks with gloriously sharp illustrations, supports animation and embedded videos, harbors a powerful text-to speech capability audio reading enjoyment and allows a reader to add notes and annotations to the books, as well as insert photos, video, and website bookmarks. On the Blio website (blioreader.com) the “coming soon” software is touted as a FREE download; eBooks for Blio will come from the sizable catalog of Baker & Taylor, a distributor of paper and digital books and entertainment.
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Horror Neverland By Douglas Clegg Vanguard Press, $15.95, 304 pages Combing elements of H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, southern gothic, and adolescent angst, Douglas Clegg subsumes us in horror with Neverland, a tale so chilling it infected my dreams. Ten year-old Beau spends his summers with his parents and sisters on Gull Island, Georgia, his mother’s family’s ancestral property. The land is steeped in dark tales, from the “Gullah,” descendants of escaped slaves who maintain mysterious religious rites, forgotten cemeteries, and family secrets kept by Beau’s grandma. Also visiting is Beau’s sad, abused cousin Sumter, his only
Special Interest
Oh, The Places You’ll Go By Scholastic Cartwheel Books, $14.99, 16 pages Got a preschooler going to Kindergarten next year? Or perhaps a 2nd or 3rd grader heading to an intermediate school? “ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is a celebration pack based on Dr. Seuss’ famous book, which contains all the pieces needed to give your graduate that little extra preparation. An attractive cardboard box contains a small set of pieces based on the story about all of us who are “on their way.” Start out by handing your graduate a Congrats! greetings card, and then usher them into a room decorated with a banner, poster, and sticker featuring the whimsical illustrations from the book. Finish up your celebration by handing your grad a small journal in which she can record all those goals and dreams that she’s heading for. Additional pieces in the kit include magnets, a bookmark, a puzzle, and a certificate. Overall, this is money well spent for that extra special touch for your child. Reviewed by Allena Tapia
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playmate. In an abandoned shack, Sumter introduces his cousins to Lucy, a murky god, hungry for sacrifices, and her temple of Neverland. “Grammy Weenie had been right when she said, “don’t let it out.” He had kept it contained within that crate, within those walls of Neverland. Now that sacred place had been shattered, and the fragments, like jagged glass arrows, had flown out in all directions. Each of us got a splinter of Neverland, and it dug down deep in our skins.” Clegg builds horror in rich detailed layers. With sparse prose he keeps up in Beau’s youthful perspective, making us understand why Beau takes each step closer to glistening evil, even as we beg him to turn away. It is a testament to Clegg’s gifts that we can’t turn away; scary though the trip may be, the fright reaches out from the pages and pulls us along. Compliments also to Glenn Chadbourne’s extraordinary art work, which likewise evokes classic traditions of horror. Neverland is scary stuff, the product of a skilled writer of horror, and best read with the lights on. Reviewed by Jordan Magill
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter By Seth Grahame-Smith Grand Central Publishing, $21.99, 336 pages Seth Grahame-Smith, author of the popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has in this volume turned his attention away from paranormal reconstruction to write a brand new novel, although one that is still historical in nature. The author, who places himself as a character in this book, comes into possession of the journals of Abraham Lincoln, which contain this vital secret: Lincoln was a vampire hunter. After a vampire kills his mother, young Abe vows to dedicate his life to the destruction of the undead. The plot is certainly unique enough. There’s plenty of historical detail, and the idea that vampires were involved in slavery (and causing the Civil War) was interesting. The “photographic evidence” was a particularly nice touch. However, the writing style can be a little awkward, switching between a style that feels more like a biographical commentary, and prose that is more what you would expect from a novel. Readers who wanted to enjoy Grahame-Smith’s last work but had a hard time getting through the prose will
find this book a good substitute. On the other hand, historical/Lincoln enthusiasts will enjoy this much more if they realize that the book is tongue-in-cheek and really shouldn’t be taken seriously. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller The Book of Dreams Edited By Nick Gevers Subterranean Press, $20.00, 117 pages Step into a world where time means little to nothing and where strange nightmares begin to haunt our waking lives. Nick Gevers brings together five completing tales in The Book of Dreams, where our heroes must contend with angels, death, trickery, and lost souls. Gevers opens with Robert Silverberg’s “The Prisoner,” where a man becomes obsessed with his puzzling nightmares. “Dream Burgers At The Mouth of Hell” by Lucius Shepard takes stroll into the secret places where some of those in Hollywood get their inspiration. Jay Lake’s “Testaments” takes a trip in history and weaves a prophecy for us to consider about our fuSee BOOK, page 25
Historical Fiction The Information Officer By Mark Mills Random House, $25.00, 276 pages Set in Malta during WWII, Mills has crafted a suspenseful murder mystery that keeps you guessing. The main character, Major Max Chadwick, is the British officer in charge of public relations and spin on the British Colonial Island. Conflict arises when evidence comes to attention that there is a naval submarine officer raping and murdering local drink hostesses. His superiors want it all thrown under the rug and even threaten him and his love interest to do so. “How would they react to the news that a British serviceman was picking off their daughters, using the war as a cloak for his crimes?”
Instead of obeying, Chadwick decides to investigate the cases himself, under the radar and with dire results. While all this is going on, the island is being bombarded day and night by the Germans and Italians, eager to cut off the island, which is strategically located for the Allies. Underlying it all is the blossoming romance between Chadwick and the editor of the Malta newspaper as well as the ending of an affair that in some ways will never end. While not an intense war-riddled novel, it was a peak into the relations of a small country being overtaken by a war that it really had no interest in. The Maltans persevered, but will Chadwick and the killer? Reviewed by Gwen Stackler The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson By Jerome Charyn Norton, $24.95, 348 pages Reading this novel, whose protagonist is Emily Dickinson, one can easily forget that it is fictional. Jerome Charyn’s imagining of the “secret” life of Emily Dickinson is credible; the freshness of his language makes
the (fictional) narrator’s voice unique and resonant. Charyn charts the entirety of Emily’s life from her girlhood to her death. The book begins with Emily attending Mount Holyoke, a seminary, whose strict rules she frequently breaks. She lets her feelings be known. She talks openly about her infatuation with the only male at the institution, Tom the handyman, whose rescue of a baby deer from the snow she witnesses. The grace with which he resuscitates it gives it freedom, the kind of freedom that Emily seeks. The novel’s dramatis personae include Emily’s brother Austin, her father Edward, her sister, and her mother. Charyn allows himself room for creativity, adding details that make this work fictional and not biographical. This book is an excellent companion to Dickinson’s poetry and biographies. The language is entertaining and convincing; the story, full of humor and wit. Reviewed by Emmanuel Sigauke
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ture. Kage Baker’s “Rex Nemorenis” shows us the mind of a war veteran that will create his own primitive haven. Last, Gevers plants us in Jeffrey Ford’s “86 Deathdick Road,” where symbolism surrounds our hero in the home of the all-knowing. Readers will dive right into The Book of Dreams and not want to set it down, though some readers may feel (and it is recommended) that there should be a pause in reading between tales, as these will make reader feel as if they, too, have been dreaming. Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow
the information I wanted inside the book. Reviewed by Susan Roberts
Star Wars: Death Troopers By Joe Schreiber LucasBooks, $24.00, 288 pages One would think life in a galaxy far, far away can’t get much worse than being stuck on a Galactic Empire prison barge headed for some penal planet, never to be heard from again. One would be wrong. In this book, all the prisoners and guards are zombies who will rip your arms off and eat them too. That is the situation that Kale, Trig, and Zahara find themselves in when the prison barge finds an abandoned Star Destroyer. Immune to a virus that quickly turns everyone else into the undead, they must fight their way through the horde to escape. It is apparent that Joe Schreiber is an effective horror writer, but not a Star Wars extended universe fan. I was intrigued by the premise of zombie in the Star Wars universe, but it turned out to be a premise not fully developed. Schreiber gave the zombies a hive mind and compulsion as a group to spread, but didn’t really develop or describe it. Also, Schreiber didn’t have a single force-sensitive character in the story, which could have endless possibilities. Although the book was an entertaining horror read, I found myself disappointed at the missed opportunity to have a truly original Star Wars novel. Reviewed by Mike Scott
The Smash! Smash! Truck By Aidan Potts David Fickling Books, $16.99, 48 pages Aidan Potts’ story opens with a group of glass bottles that are greatly concerned because of the awful sound of being smashed in a recycling truck called the Smash! Smash! Truck. However, the truck’s driver, Professor Potts, explains how recycling happens all the time. Indeed, the atoms in our universe, which were formed over 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang, have been recycled again and again since that time. Our land, water, and all living things (including people) are made of atoms that have been used over and over again. Caste in this light, recycling glass for a new beginning becomes a natural extension of that process. Indeed, tossing glass into dumps that make the “atoms useless for a very long time” seems illogical and wrong. This book uses eye-catching, brightly colored illustrations to present complex ideas about the origins of our universe, various earth processes, and the recycling project in a way young children can comprehend. This book cannot help but provoke some wonderful discussions. For all of these reasons, I highly recommend The Smash! Smash! Truck to both parents and teachers. Reviewed by Annie Peters Princess Pigtoria and the Pea By Pamela Duncan Edwards Orchard Books, $16.99, 32 pages Haha! Princess Pigtoria and the Pea is a creative and one-of-a-kind rhyming storybook. It is all about the rhyming “P” words that make up a very adorable read-aloud book that is sure to make you laugh. There is a twist to the story that sends a moral message to the audience. Princess Pigtoria initially was looking for her prince charming to help her out with her dilapidated palace. She ventured to Porkville to find Prince Proudfoot. Prince Proudfoot was indeed proud. He pounded on Princess Pigtoria and proclaimed her poor punctuality. Hmm, Prince Proudfoot isn’t polite! Like the original Princess and the Pea, the picky and pompous Prince Proudfoot wanted to find a perfect and proper partner. He put a pea in the bottom pile of pillows to see if Princess Pigtoria is prickled by it. Meanwhile, Princess Pigtoria was exhausted and hungry from the long walking day. She picked up the phone book and purchased a pizza with plenty of peppers, pickles, poppy seeds, peanuts, and parmesan cheese. Surprisingly, she passed on the pep-
peroni! Percy the pizza man popped up at the door very promptly. Does Princess Pigtoria finally become Prince Proudfoot’s partner? Reviewed by Sophie Masri Kitten’s Spring By Eugenie Fernandes Kids Can Press, $14.95, 22 pages Author and illustrator Eugenie Fernandes has a vibrant book sure to appeal to little ones who love a cheerful, colorful tale. Filled with bright, mixed media, collage-like illustrations, Kitten’s Spring transports the young reader on a full, rollicking day with Kitten, as he explores the farm. With the coming of spring, Kitten makes friends with all his farmland neighbors and their babies. He ventures off the farm into the wild, where he meets frogs, bumblebees, hummingbirds, and other wild critters; however, he comes home to find a quiet place to sleep and dream. Fernandes’ artwork has great depth and detail; it offers up a three dimensional view that makes this storybook an engaging and interactive experience that parents and their youngsters can share. Parents will have fun teaching their little ones to mimic the animal sounds and to look for Kitten in each picture. A bedtime story sure to encourage and inspire little ones to explore and create their own adventures! Reviewed by Laura Friedkin The Dragons of Wayward Crescent: A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose By Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, Illustrated by Linzie Hunter Little, Brown Young Readers, $16.99, 27 pages Amelia wants a dog…BADLY! Her parents continue to say no, but she asks everyday anyway just in case they change their minds. One day she changed her strategy, and in five short steps she had the dog of her dreams. “Our new dog. He’s small and brown with a wet pink nose.” Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen’s text in A Small Brown Dog With a Wet Pink Nose is playful and easy to read. She captures Amelia’s spunkiness with witty dialogue perfect for young children. This is one of the best illustrated books I’ve come across in a long time. Linzie Hunter’s illustrations are unique and very appropriate for children. The cutand-paste style with bright colors and the occasional inclusion of real pictures keeps
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the reader’s eyes on each page just to make sure they haven’t missed anything. This is a great book for a classroom, school library, and of course as a bedtime story. I don’t say this often when it comes to children’s books, but this is certainly worth the $16.99 cover price. Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun Brand-New Baby Blues By Kathi Appelt HarperCollins, $16.99, 32 pages It is almost a typical sentiment… The universe revolves around the only child until the new baby comes along. Before the preparations for the new baby, things were pretty much how it should be. In the beginning of Brand New Baby Blues, Mom and Dad did not have to divide their attention and there really wasn’t any competition. There was only one little princess who was the icing on the cake, the royal pooh-bah and the chocolate in the shake. The process of accepting the new baby brother into the family follows a time-honored routine, starting with jealousy and outright anger, followed by appreciation of all the good things that come with being the older sibling, and ultimately leading to a true bond between the children. Young bookworms will adore the endearing and rhyming parlance of author Kathi Appelt while the enchanting and fanciful illustrations of Kelly Murphy complete the whole package making it a great addition to your child’s library. Jealousy amongst siblings is common. Brand New Baby Blues adequately addresses this issue in a non-ominous method. In the end, love abounds and little ones realize that affection isn’t divided but multiplied with each addition to the family. Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman
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Sports & Outdoors The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris By Mark Kurlansky Riverhead Hardcover, $25.95, 263 pages Mark Kurlansky’s latest book focuses on San Pedro de Macroris, a small Dominican town that has produced seventy-nine Major League baseball players. He examines the Dominican Republic’s rich and often tragic history, one shaped by frequent invasion and occupation in efforts to sieze its resources. As Kurlansky deftly portrays, these resources have changed over the years, from the sugar boom of the late 19th century to their new, most coveted form: baseball players. Kurlansky ties it all together beautifully, as he seamlessly takes the reader from the bateys, tiny worker villages, to the mansions built by ex-superstar ballplayers of today, examining the harsh and very interconnected realities that Domini-
cans face as they struggle to “make it” in the very competitive baseball industry. More than baseball, Eastern Stars is about a poor but vibrant culture that finds itself ever relevant in spite of the harsh poverty that surrounds it. Kurlansky’s approach is very focused and humanistic, taking the reader towards a better understanding of both the game of baseball and the important role that this tiny town continues to play in its evolution. Reviewed by Leonard Jackson Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Players of All Time By Sean Manning Da Capo Press, $15.95, 215 pages Top of the Order differentiates itself from the standard yearly crop of baseball biographies and statistical treatises by being a collection of essays. The wide range of contributing authors includes long-time Brooklyn Dodger chronicler Roger Kahn and more literary types such as Laura Lippmann, who profiles Brooks Robinson. The problem with a book like this is that personal stories tend to be as boring as a vacation slide-show. When the teller begins
with ”When I was __ years old, my father took me to see the __ play at __ Stadium,” one has to stifle a yawn right there at the start. Fortunately, not all chapters are like that. Old pro Kahn tells a fascinating story about launching a magazine with Jackie Robinson. The brilliant young writer Matt Taibbi chooses Jim “Zero RBI’s in the ‘86 World Series” Rice and (inadvertently?) reminds us why Rice is held in such low esteem by baseball people (and myself). Tom Seaver, the great moundsman and a personal favorite, is portrayed in an extended interview; this one is painful to read because of Seaver’s constant use of obscenities. Jon Eig comes closest to success, in this hybrid of the personal and the biographical, with his moving tribute to Lou Gehrig.
I have not followed baseball since the 90s, so some of the players profiled in this book mean nothing to me. But Seth Mnookin’s description of the amazing exploits of pitcher Pedro Martinez reminds me that while I probably have not missed much, I have missed something. Reviewed by Bruce Marshall
Parenting & Families The Organized Mom: Simplify Life for You and Baby, One Step at a Time By Stacey Crew Adams Media, $15.95, 257 pages Moms-to-be will delight in The Organized Mom by Stacey Crew; current mothers will also find it to be a treasure trove of helpful advice. Crew is a professional organizer and creator of the GOPACKI method, and here she applies her own techniques to organizing a home with a baby in mind. This book includes a room-to-room guide, helping frazzled women create a place for everything, get rid of clutter, and create systems for maintenance. Also included are shopping lists, potential floor plans, and tons of real stories from people who have benefited from Crew’s system. The back of the book contains a plethora of forms to further help with organization. Many of Crew’s ideas are so logical and common-sensical that one may wonder whether such a book is even necessary, but the author’s popularity implies that many people appreciate a little helping hand. This book is sure to be a hit with stressed moms everywhere. Reviewed by Holly Scudero
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Popular Fiction Just Like Me, Only Better By Carol Snow Berkley Trade Paperback, $14.00, 303 pages Veronica Czaplicki always had committed herself to her modest dreams, ambitions, and family -- until her husband of five years walked out on her, leaving Veronica and her son barely squeaking by. When an interesting job opportunity comes her way, she finds herself launched into the world of Hollywood celebrities, glamour, and paparazzi, as she gets paid to pretend to be a young singer-turned-actress, Haley Rush. Movie premieres and dates with Rush’s ex-boyfriend start to complicate things back in Veronica’s real life as a single parent and substitute teacher. Can she handle celebrity gossip magazines, the real Haley Rush’s bipolar personality, and bad publicity, all while keeping this secret from everyone? Just Like Me, Only Better by Carol Snow is simply written, without sacrificing tension, scandalous behavior, or entertainment. This is the perfect book to pick up and escape from any outside stresses you may have. Reviewed by Jackie Correa
LOCAL SF AUTHOR! Perfect on Paper: The (Mis)Adventures of Waverly Bryson By Maria Murnane AmazonEncore, $14.95, 304 pages Fans of Wendy Markham and Sarah Mlynowski will truly appreciate Perfect on Paperas the best chick lit has to offer. Want to read about a woman trying to right a wrong in her life, make new friends and cherish her old, get ahead in her career, and get over an ex-boyfriend? If yes, then this is the book for you. Waverly Bryson appears to have it all, an incredible fiancée, a great PR job, a nice apartment in beautiful San Francisco, and a promising future. However, before she can even make it to her dream wedding, her fiancée, a wealthy high-society physician, breaks it off. Plus, that dream job as a publicist at a sports PR firm isn’t as much fun as one would think.
My Boyfriends’ Dogs By Dandi Daley Mackall Dutton Children’s Books, $16.99, 265 pages Bailey Daley is like most young women who are seeking their perfect mate: she’s looking for someone sweet, well-behaved, and loyal. Unfortunately, her previous boyfriends have been unable to meet these standards and leave her instead with a token of their waning affection: their superior canines. My Boyfriends’ Dogs is the mellow and often insipid tale of one girl’s romantic misadventures and contains the all too familiar theme of finding what you’ve been waiting for when you least except it. It was obvious dogs were going to play an important role in this book, but the constant referral and comparison of the boyfriends’ mangy and adorable mongrels to human traits was over the top. There seems to be a great increase of pet tales as of late (everything from Dewy the Cat to Marley and Me, and now, Nubs) and although we, as a animal-loving society, might wish for everything to leave us with the warm, wonderful sensation one of James Herriot’s novels provides, let’s face it, mixing chick lit with dog drool is not always going to do the trick. Reviewed by Natalie Fladager
Suddenly thrust into the dating scene, Waverly relies on friends and hard work to get her through. When those aren’t enough, she chronicles her misadventures with a series of “Honey Notes,” which are short humorous greeting cards aimed at single women. While Perfect on Paper is light-hearted and a touch formulaic in sections, one can’t help but to root for the incredible Waverly. Perfect to read in the pedicurist’s chair, this story will captivate you from the start. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley
“Front: Is it worse to be fake or bitchy? Inside: Honey, just face it. If you’re asking, you’re probably both.”
Seeing the Light By June Chen iUniverse, $12.95, 156 pages Seeing the Light is the story of Rhea Kosmo, the only girl in a family with three boys. Growing up on the Central Coast of California, Rhea is a tomboy, earning the ironic nickname “Princess” for her complete disregard for personal appearance. Rhea is selfabsorbed and demanding, traits she doesn’t grow out of, but that only increase with time. She does not tolerate weakness in others; she refuses to use drugs or alcohol and becomes hostile in conflicts with her family over their charitable giving. It isn’t until Rhea has a personal crisis that she begins to grow out these traits and develop some compassion.
Local San Francisco Author!
Exult
By Joe Quirk Vox Novus, $15.95, 276 pages Six pages in and I was hijacked, transported to another world, one I barely knew existed. I’d seen them soaring through the air occasionally, but I never gave hang gliders much thought until I became one vicariously in Joe Quirk’s latest novel, Exult. Filled with the nomenclature of aerodynamics and meteorology, it never feels like an information dump of facts about wind and thrust. Rather it feels like a reminder of things you knew but had forgotten, and it all comes rushing back as you slide your keel through its sheath with the other characters preparing to jump off a cliff. In this thought-provoking look at what it means to be alive, Quirk poses many questions for which there are no easy (or perhaps any) answers. When the narrator sates, “I fear nothing more than flying. Yet I live for nothing else,” it’s hard not to ponder your own compulsions. It takes multifaceted characters, believable dialogue, and a dynamic plot to engage readers, and Quirk provides all that and more. His ability to condense pages of material into a single sentence, like “Exhilarating power waits at the edge of chaos,” makes Exult an intelligent and exhilarating tale, and a thrilling ride that won’t disappoint. Reviewed by Bruce Genaro
In this short, well-crafted novel, Chen creates a set of believable characters facing difficult situations and rising above them. While this is a coming-of-age novel, Rhea’s growth and learning are common life transitions. The move from narcissistic to tolerant young adult, often through a personal crisis or two, is something most of us experience. Seeing the Light illustrates this in a well-written and entertaining way. Sponsored Review The Kitchen House: A Novel By Kathleen Grissom Touchstone, $16.00, 368 pages Set in the late 1700’s, The Kitchen House, tells of the life of Lavinia, an indentured servant who finds herself on an unfamiliar tobacco plantation in Virginia. After being placed in the kitchen house, she works with the other slaves on household chores. She falls into a pleasant enough routine and longs for her family that didn’t survive the boat ride from Ireland. A handful of the slaves welcome her as a member of the family, though they know once she is no longer indentured, things cannot be the same. Tension lurks everywhere, propelling the story forward. Ample amounts of drama keep the reader interested; racism, nervous breakdowns, violent outbursts, and opium use are not uncommon. This novel captivates with its messages of right and wrong,
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family, and hope. Reviewed by Jackie Correa Be Careful What You Pray For By Kimberla Lawson Roby William Morrow, $23.99, 271 pages What happens when a reverend’s daughter divorces her first husband in search of the quintessential storybook ending? She finds herself wrapped in all sorts of good old-fashioned corruption, temptation, and church-laced sin. New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby has created a shady world which consists of the unbelievably crooked J.T. Valentine, his newlywed bride, Alicia Black, and a scatter of others who collide in this train wreck of a story. Be Careful What You Pray For winds its way in and out of Pastor Valentine’s indiscretions, which never cease to disturb. Readers may think they have come across an incarnate of the devil himself. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” The narrative is one that will beckon to be read, if only to witness Valentine’s fall from grace. However, there is a discord within the storytelling: The tale unwinds rather rapidly, creating a sense of disconnection between the characters and the reader; there is no relationship. Everything is told, creating See CAREFUL, page 28
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CAREFUL, cont’d from page 27 a sense that readers are not savvy enough to unravel the yarn themselves. There is no subtlety, no mystery, and no emotion. This reader was left praying for so much more. Reviewed by Sky Sanchez Scoff at the Mundane By Bill Kalman Xlibris, $19.99, 242 pages Anton Bradley is a photographer, not a camera man. He works for a fashion magazine, photographing some of the most beautiful women in the world. Yet he is still obsessed with Ashby, his high-school crush, and that still colors all the relationships he has. He also has a love-hate relationship with therapy, knowing he needs it, yet always trying to discover how far he can push his therapists. While wandering through Dr. Polk’s oddly styled therapy, Anton begins to find a new perspective on his life, relationships, and the longing he still has for Ashby. Scoff at the Mundane is one of those surprise novels from a debut author. It is well put together, with interesting characters, a good storyline, and excellent dialog. And while the ending may be a made-for-the-movies ending, it still fits together with the rest of the book. A book deserving of a wider audience, and with some work and luck, Kalman should be able to find it. Sponsored Review Dear John By Nicholas Sparks Grand Central Publishing, $7.99, 352 pages Dear Nicholas Sparks, thank you for making me a believer in love once again. Dear John is a captivating story of love, loss, and hope. The story revolves around two young adults and their whirlwind romance over one week in South Carolina. The reader is sucked in to the love the two main characters share. Unforeseen circumstances tear them apart and the reader is taken on an emotional roller coaster as John deals with these changes. The characters are genuine and relatable and it is easy to fall in love with them and root for their romance. Emotions are high and the ending is definitely a twist. Nicholas Sparks is a master storyteller and always knows how to reach to the heart of his readers. He takes his readers and places them at the heart of the story, making them feel like they are right there with the characters. He knows the right way to display romance and isn’t afraid of what the reader will think. Dear
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John will make you laugh, cry, and feel hopeful that love does conquer all. Reviewed by Nicole Will Parrot and Olivier in America: A Novel By Peter Carey Knopf, $26.95, 400 pages Booker Prize winner Peter Carey delivers another gem of a novel. The first-person narratives alternate between Olivier-Jean Baptiste de Clarel de Barfleur, a young French aristocrat whose political allegiances have placed him in danger of the guillotine, and John “Parrot” Larrit, a fifty-something selftaught compositor who survived the Australian penal system. They are thrown together when Olivier’s family dispatches him to America and hires Parrot to keep watch over him. When the two reach New York, mayhem, romance, and surprises ensue, leading to the development of an unlikely friendship between the men. “Clearly, there is nothing less suited to meditation than democracy.” While Olivier’s early sections of the book lack the snap of Parrot’s, they lend balance to the storytelling, and each provides a differing viewpoint on the emergent democracy in America. With wit and polish, Carey creates a dandy romp through America’s past that manages to resonate with its present, and in the end, the author compels one to ponder the veracity of what one knows as “history.” Masterful storytelling that is certain to entertain. Reviewed by Deb Jurmu Roses By Leila Meacham Grand Central Publishing, $24.99, 609 pages Focusing on a theme of love lost at the hand of dedication to family tradition, Roses tells the four-generational story of the three interconnected founding families of a small eastern Texas town. When the patriarch of the Toliver family dies in 1916, he wills the plantation to his daughter, Mary, rather than his wife or son as everyone had expected, and his decision inadvertently continues the ‘Toliver curse.’ Mary’s dogged commitment to the plantation is tested repeatedly through her relationship with the love of her life, Percy Warwick. Seventy years later and with a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Mary must make a drastic decision that could end the curse, but would jeopardize the future of the family plantation and change the lives of Mary’s great-niece and Percy’s grandson. Despite its daunting length of 608 pages, Roses is a fast, enjoyable read. The main character, Mary, is an intriguing protagonist whose fatal weakness is a direct result of her extraordinary strength of character. Although the book’s jacket compares it classic sagas such as The Thorn Birds and Gone
with the Wind, Roses falls short in historical detail, character development, and vividness of setting. Reviewed by Megan Just Tainted By Brooke Morgan Avon A, $14.99, 448 pages Imagine someone who murdered a child when he was a child himself, and was released into society years later. This is the premise of first-time novelist Brooke Morgan’s thriller. “Henry couldn’t find any fault with Jack. Except his inability to accept Katy. Which was a major, huge fault.” Holly Barrett is a young mother with five-year-old Katy. She became pregnant as a teen, and ended up a single mother. She had given up on love until meeting gorgeous and witty Englishman, Jack Dane. He is new in her small New England town and working at a local restaurant. After a brief courtship, Holly and Jack marry, and it is then that she notices he has some strange habits, such as removing all the photos in her family’s house and replacing them with photos of himself, Holly, and Katy. He won’t talk about his past, and claims he has no family. Things soon unravel, especially when Katy’s dad steps back into the picture and decides he wants to be part of Katy’s life. The writing is uneven. It is mostly in third person, with a few first-person chapters. The book falls down whenever Katy speaks; she doesn’t sound like a realistic five-year old, especially when she narrates a couple of chapters. The dénouement is entirely unnecessary; still, the story is interesting enough to keep the reader going. Reviewed by Leslie Wolfson Spitting Off Tall Buildings By Dan Fante Harper Perennial, $13.99, 154 pages Bruno Dante’s got nothing. No life, no purpose, no money, and no prospects. In fact, the only thing he does have is a complete inability to stay sober in a front-row seat in his own theater of self-destruction. Working his way through a series of menial temp jobs, Dante spends most of his time in the bottle-mostly because when he’s out of the bottle, he tends to go from zero to crazy at the drop of a hat.
“’He said this: …in his experience, stilldrinking alcoholics like me, as a functioning walking-around class of people, are the furthest from any kind of emotional or spiritual peace.” Spitting Off Tall Buildings is the scariest of all types of novels to the average reader. Why? Because there is no neat ending with all the loose ends tied up. Heck, there isn’t even a somewhat rumpled ending with the ragged edges hanging out. But even though there doesn’t seem to be a convenient place for the reader to pencil in a comforting The End, Bruno Dante’s mesmerizing, self-destructive spiral does give the reader an opportunity to realize that the only conclusion is the one they give themselves. Dan Fante’s novel does an excellent job of delivering this tale of depraved despair with a steady onetwo-punch rhythm that hurts like hell while still being impossible to put down. Reviewed by Heather Ortiz Dancing With the Moon By June Marie Saxton AuthorHouse, $ 20.49, 452 pages Ten years ago, Sabrina Ashley watched the murder of her father. She not only kept that a secret, but she also took a piece of evidence that could help convict his killer and keep people from thinking it was simply an accident. Having hidden her knowledge and that bit of evidence for ten years, it is now finally becoming time for the past to be examined and the repercussions of that event to come into the open. Sabrina’s life faces complications as her mother remarries and as she is becoming an adult. Dancing with the Moon has a fair amount of religious themes and elements, all helping develop a strong story of family, faith, and redemption. Sabrina is an engaging character, and Saxton has a good ear for dialog. The choices Sabrina faces as she makes that jump from adolescence to adulthood are ones that many people have faced and readers will remember their own experiences with first loves, high-school pressures, and making decisions that affect the course of their lives. Additionally, Sabrina also must deal with the long-ago death of her father and the need to open that event to see that justice is finally served. An uplifting coming of age novel. Sponsored Review
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Poetry & Short Stories CALYX Volume 25:3 Edited by the Editors of CALYX CALYX Books, $10.00, 128 pages As a journal, Calyx has been around for years, reaching out to fans of literature so that they might hear the voices of contemporary and significant female writers. The current issue covers the standard ground of a literary journal; within the pages one finds plenty of poems, stories both fictitious and non-fictitious, art, and even essays on recent publications. While Calyx presents the collected voices of many different women, each of the pieces seems to focus on some sort of loss. These losses vary. The stories seem to be focused on the loss of nationality as the women Americanize themselves in the states, or their relationships with their Old World mothers; the poems focus on mastectomies, hysterectomies, male figures who abuse and or are lost in the abusive world of war; the art focuses on curvaceous forms of glass, abandoned animals, chiaroscuro; and the best non-fiction piece is an engaging exploration of gender roles and their history after Deborah Thompson herself becomes a widow. As the work is dominated by narrative, its aesthetic is formally conservative; but as a whole the meaning of woman today is roughly defined. Within that identity -- thus constructed -- something seems to have been lost, a piece of each speaker inevitably missing. Reviewed by Joe Atkins Dizzy In Your Eyes By Pat Mora Knopf, $15.99, 168 pages Hispanic poet Pat Mora writes with a fresh voice in her poetry collection, Dizzy in Your Eyes. Her voice is the voice of young adults who are beginning to see the world around them with new eyes—eyes of love, thoughtfulness, and rebelliousness. Teenagers question things. They set certain truths and ideas down and commit them to memory. They experience new and conflicting emotions in their relationships and families, and they become agents in charting their own destinies. They begin to tell their stories in their own voices. Pat Mora’s poems capture the beauty of the teenage years that often gets hidden beneath a surface of thick angst and insecurity. Her poems remind me of the collections written by other contemporary poets like Gary Soto and Naomi Shihab Nye. These poets give voice to the musical-
ity of youth and the unselfconsciousness of expression that arises in everyday interactions and familial relationships. I could not put Pat Mora’s collection down: I delighted in every poem and in the dizzying designs sprinkled throughout the book. This book will make you feel young again and exhilarated to see your own world anew. Reviewed by Viola Allo Wait: Poems By C. K. Williams Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25.00, 123 pages Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. Williams stares down the demons of time in Wait, his newest volume of poetry. In poems like “United States,” “Roe vs. Wade,” and “Still, Again,” he tackles war, racism, and oppression with fervor and an ear for the natural rhythms of language. Thankfully, he doesn’t allow political discourse to overwhelm his collection; he artfully raises his poems to the level of meditations. Similarly, in poems like “Brain” and “Lies,” Williams examines the specifics of identity. Who are we? How are we made? Why do we become what we become? These are important (even if tiresome) questions that his work is well-suited to explore. “Watch me again, I haven’t landed, I’m hovering here/over the fragments, the remnants, the splinters and shards;/my poets are with me, my soarers, my skimmers, my skaters, aloft on their song in the ruins, their jubilant song of the ruins.” Williams includes previously published work to lighten things up. “On the Metro,” which recounts a shared touch with a stranger on a train, and “We,” where the speaker finds he has more in common with an old basset hound than a beautiful girl, are both enjoyable reads. These poems reveal the poet himself: his keen, self-deprecating eye, his good-natured acceptance of old age, and finally, his awareness of history, of the writers, philosophers, and poets who came before him. Reviewed by Katie Cappello Rain: Poems By Don Paterson Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24, 80 pages Don Paterson’s fifth book of poetry, Rain, is a powerful and intimate collection of poems. After reading this collection, readers will see that it is no surprise that Paterson’s previous collection, Landing Light, won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Whitebread Prize for
Poetry. His writing and imagery is familiar and captivating. While his poems are very structured, Paterson shows great play with language and dialect in poems like “Verse” and “The Human Shield.” Readers will not be able to resist feeling lured into each of Paterson’s poems. When reading, it’s difficult not to feel as if you are the parents hiding their pain in “The Swing,” or someone closely surveying an image of St. Francis in “The Phantom.” Many of the poems play with unspoken emotions: the feelings we know exist within ourselves but build walls around. Through Paterson’s poems, readers will feel reconnected to the natural world around them. Often we forget how natural imagery can evoke basic human emotions and desires. Rain is a refreshing collection, timeless in its beauty, and it will greatly enhance anyone’s archive of poetry books. Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This By Robin Black Random House, $24.00, 288 pages If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This is an extremely diverse collection of short stories. Robin Black presents readers with characters of every age and walk of life. Each of them is facing a deeply personal challenge that comes to life through Black’s perceptive and emotional story-telling. The settings are as varied as the protagonists, but Black has a distinct voice that is felt throughout his book. Each story resonates with a philosophical tone that most often addresses the themes of personal reflection and acceptance. Many of the stories revolve around loss and elicit a sobering, though not depressing, response. Black adheres strongly to an honest representation of human emotion, and admirably, he does not try to force the reader into a positive or negative response to the characters. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This reads much like vignettes of significant periods in the characters’ lives. It will be most appealing to readers who enjoy exploring the inner conflicts of people faced with the realities of everyday life. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace
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Planisphere By John Ashbery Ecco, $24.99, 143 pages John Ashbery has won nearly every major American award for poetry, and his accolades and praises could fill a great deal of this paper. Despite being one of the most lauded and prominent American, as well as English language, poets since the seventies, Mr. Ashbery remains a controversial figure. The disagreement over the man’s work is not for the content of his poems, but because critics are divided on whether he is writing poetry or merely stringing along words randomly accompanied by unorthodox styling. I am firmly in the latter camp. Planisphere is Ashbery’s latest collection of poems and, like his previous works, defies description. It stretches this writer’s imagination to define Mr. Ashbery’s work as art. I know others might defend him by stating that this is the intent of the work. But, if Ashbery’s intent is to confound, confuse, and eventually exasperate the reader, he is not writing poetry but rather riddles without answers. The fact that readers must be “initiated” in some sense of the word into the world of modern poetry either through graduate level classes or seminars defeats the entire purpose of writing poetry or even creating art. One hopes that eventually poetry can overcome this and return to the “expression according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” Reviewed by Jonathon Howard
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Relationships & Sex Dr. Blues’ Guide to Making Relationships Work By Richard Blue, Ph.D, Lisa Blue, Ph.D, J.D. Brown Books, $15.95, 106 pages When you’re going through a particularly rough time in your relationship, you know it helps to talk to someone who’s sympathetic and trusted — a friend or a family member. There’s no shame in opening up. It can, in fact, be therapeutic. It’s good to let off steam instead of holding it all in until you explode. Besides, anyone who’s willing to listen while you talk about your relationship problems can give you advice. “Even a minor change in a positive direction is significant.” The question is: Are you getting the best advice? Despite well-meaning intentions, you are never really sure if the advice you get is right. After all, anyone can be an expert, especially when you’ve got no one else to turn to. So, why take the risk? Why not get real and workable advice from someone who really knows all about relationships. Well, what you need to do is to hear it from someone such as Dr. Richard Blue and Dr. Lisa Blue, who both hold doctorate degrees on these things. In their guide, Making Relationships Work, they offer 50 quick tips that will help you save a failing relationship. Based on their many years of experience with many people, they’ve distilled the information into an easy-to-read guide that will tell you exactly what to do and what not to do. Get this book and give your relationship a real chance to survive and flourish. Reviewed by Dominique James Talk To Me Like I’m Someone You Love By Nancy Dreyfus Tarcher, $16.95, 292 pages Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to say to someone you love. Sometimes there is a powder keg of emotion, and the slightest word, even if it’s said with the best intentions, can only make the situation worse. Talk To Me Like I’m Someone You Love – Relationship Repair in a Flash by psychiatrist Nancy Dreyfus, is a spiral-bound book full of appropriately worded flash cards that couples, families, and others in close relationships can use to break the ice, bridge the gap, and reach out to each other in a gentle way. Sometimes, even if the words are correctly chosen, the tone in which they are said can make all the difference in the recipient’s response. Flash cards
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with phrases like “I’m afraid that if I say I’m sorry, you’ll make everything all my fault,” or “You are so upset, I probably don’t fully understand my impact on you. Please tell me – I want to understand” are the perfect tools in situations where communication is difficult. Each flash card has a brief suggestion of events and situations that might make using that particular card the appropriate choice to alleviate the moment at hand. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships By Susan Shapiro Barash St. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 282 pages Using checklists, anecdotes, and pop culture references, Toxic Friends walks readers through a series of types of friendships, such as the Trophy Friendship, the Doormat Friendship, and the Real Deal Friendship. Each chapter ends with advice and suggestions on the kinds of friendship, including advice on whether to keep it or to kick it to the curb. A bonus to this book is the interesting discussion on mother-daughter relationships as they pertain to friendship dynamics. Author Susan Shapiro Barash, a gender studies professor, bases the book on years of study and many interviews, and makes use of sometimes funny, sometimes troubling, euphemisms to describe the main types of female-female friendships that she encountered in this research. For example, the Misery Lover only wants to commiserate with you, and could be draining, whereas the Trophy Friend, although shallow, does tend to present some positives in your life. Anecdotal clips--which are a necessity for research-based books--were a little sparse and lacking true connection in this book, but the advice was dead on and worth the read. Barash’s suggestions for each kind of friendship are sure to save many women a lot of trouble down the road. Reviewed by Allena Tapia Seal it with a Kiss By Violet Blue Viva Editions, $12.95, 156 pages In a country where supermarkets are littered with regurgitated tidbits of tried and true how-to guides on kissing from any ladies’ or teens’ magazine, Violet Blue’s Seal It With a Kiss certainly can stand on its own. This mini-manual will help readers gauge the guy they are about to kiss and what their kissing style could be. It includes muchneeded face care information for 5 o’clock shadow burns. Readers are in good hands; Blue is a sex educator with dozens of books
Bob’s World: The Life and Boys of A.M.G.’s Bob Mizer By Dian Hanson Taschen, $59.99, 290 pages
You know all about Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion where the Playboy bunnies cavort, right? But did you know there’s somewhat of a gay equivalent to it? Well, there is. It is a compound located in Los Angeles. It’s owned by Bob Mizer, a photographer and videographer who, as it turned out, is not unlike Hefner. It is home to some of the “boys” (who are very much like the “bunnies”) of an agency known as Athletic Model Guild or AMG. And, it is also where all of the shoots for the “Physique Pictorial” (yes, the magazine equivalent of Playboy) was done. Bob Mizer famously spent 48 years making photos and films for his Athletic Model Guild, and 41 years publishing “Physique Pictorial,” America’s first, and most explicitly gay, physique magazine. In the 1970s and 80s, Bob Mizer’s huge compound in Los Angeles became home to dozens of his young models, who lived nude around his pool. His magazine and lifestyle influenced figures in art and society from David Hockney to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who modeled for Mizer in 1975. “Bob was happy with an old station wagon, he was happy with dried beans for dinner. He was happy with his little magazine and his campy films, his filthy house and his monkeys and goats and with his featureless boys, but mostly, Bob was happy to get up every day for 47 years knowing that what he had to do that day was photograph naked men. That is what Bob Mizer did and that is who he was. Period.” The early beginnings of AMG celebrated the male physique with a somewhat artistic black-and-white formality. But that didn’t last long. The artistic pretensions was dropped and soon enough gave way to the more sensual full-color photographic nature of male nudity that pandered to the predominantly gay audience. It is this transformation where AMG and the “Physique Pictorial” gained notoriety. And it is from this period where almost all of the materials in Taschen’s compilation edited by Dian Hanson called Bob’s World: The Life and Boys of AMG’s Bob Mizer, that we now have. Compiled and edited by Dian Hanson who spent 25 years making men’s magazines including “Puritan,” “OUI,” “Outlaw Biker,” “Juggs,” and “Leg Show,” before joining Taschen in 2001 to come up with many books including The Big Penis Bookand Tom Finland XXL, Bob’s World is the first book to celebrate the full-color, uninhibited second half of Bob Mizer’s long career. The vivid photos are accompanied by an oral history, and a one-hour DVD of Mizer films, spanning 1958 to 1980, that has been specially edited for this edition. It is obvious that Mizer’s visual vocabulary, style and approach is far removed from that of another famous male nude photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. And in the book Bob’s World, we will get a sense of what that vocabulary, style and approach is, with pages upon pages of the beautiful and bad boys. Reviewed by Dominique James who has appeared on Oprah and in Forbes. For some readers, the writing may be a bit silly, but this is about kissing. It’s supposed to be fun. A more serious style might make one feel as if they were getting a lecture as opposed to a confidence boost from a good friend. Seal It With A Kiss will have readers suddenly thinking about their next kiss, and about what they can do to have him pucker-
ing for more. The book is ideal for beginners, and for vixens who feel they’ve lost their vava-voom. Of course, the real test is using the tips and tricks Blue provides. So go see your man, and plant one on him! Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow See LOVE, page 31
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LOVE, con’t from page 30 Love & War By John and Stasi Eldredge Doubleday, $27.99, 220 pages Draw your swords. Love and War is yet another marital counseling book written by yet another couple who after 25 years of marriage feel they have a lot to say on the subject. Written in a conversational style with each partner speaking in first person, John and Stasi Eldredge (founders of Ransomed Heart ministries) use their own marital battle, as well as that of others, as examples of what works and how they arrived at their conclusions. Literary and movie references give it a contemporary appeal.
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“I knew that other women were valuable regardless of their personal struggles or appearance...But I could not see that for myself.” The authors site specific scriptures in their Christian journey and expand on the power of prayer in what they describe as a love story set in a war zone. Walk through the process of self-healing by recognizing your own tragic beliefs and how opposite personalities can maintain a relationship’s momentum. Experience Stasi’s fight with obesity and John’s over-the-top, dragonslaying style of problem analysis in their epic marital adventure. Chapter titles include “How to Have a Really Good Fight” and “The Chapter on Sex”. Prayers for daily devotions are included as a separate appendix. Reviewed by Sheli Ellsworth
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