Sacramento Book Review - August 2010

Sacramento

August 2010

Book Review VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12

F R E E

NEW AND OF INTEREST

2

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

A plygamist for our times Page 4

Mission of Honor

5

Honor returns with a bang Page 8

Halfway to Each Other To Italy, to love (again!)

Page 10

Livermore Valley Wine Visits

18

Fabulous wines...right in your backard Page 11

Avalanche of Info

By Michael Gibson Wiley, $35.00, 453 pages

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You will not find a more comprehensive introduction to spirits than The Sommeliers Prep Course. In fact, the sheer volume of information makes for a somewhat overwhelming experience, at first, but the book is organized in such a way that aficionados can pick and choose their favorite regions and varieties. And if wine is not your thing, beers and other spirits are also covered just as extensively.

Developed by the author originally for his course at Le Cordon Bleu chef school, the

strengths of this book lie mostly within the graphics, which accurately depict growing regions and their associated highlights. In addition, a massive section focuses on the history of spirits. Extras include pronunciation guides, label examples and study aids.

Although developed for those seeking to study for and pass their Sommelier certification, this is an excellent choice for any level of wine lover.

Reviewed by Allena Tapia

Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America

The Ellis Island of the West Page 21

91 Reviews INSIDE!

Children’s Books Dance, Y’all, Dance

By Kelly Bennett Bright Sky Press, $17.95, 32 pages A picture book by the prolific children’s author Kelly Bennett, Dance, Y’all Dance perfectly captures a time in rural America when the Saturday night dance was the biggest thing around. Being from the country myself, I remember these dances fondly, and hope somewhere in this great land of ours this tradition lives on.

Bennett seems to have found such a place.

‘At a hundred and two, Grandpappy Skiddle is still slappin’ spoons and bowin’ his fiddle.’

Inspired while taking country dance lessons in Texas, Bennett explains, “ Dance, Y’all, Dance depicts one magical night at the dance hall where everyone in a community comes together in joy -- to talk, laugh, share news, and dance. The message is one of intergenerational community. It’s not a “big message,” but it’s an important one. In the same way a picture book connects the child and adult with the story, a night at the dance hall does the same thing -- connects people of all ages, unites them in laughter, memories, and shared experience. Anyone can relate to this story, no matter the age or culture. It might not be a Saturday night dance for others, but maybe a wedding reception, or other social event where people come together.

Artfully drawn by Terri Murphy and labeled a children’s book, this is a book adults should have to enjoy, then donate to the local library, or perhaps just hold onto it until you want to visit those magical memories again. Printed and bound to high standards, Dance Y’all Dance should last to be handed down to the next generation.

Reviewed by Dave Broughton

My Friend Maya Loves to Dance

By Cheryl Willis Hudson Abrams Books for Young Readers, $16.95, 32 pages Young dancers will jete across the pages of My Friend Maya Loves to Dance and receive a heartfelt surprise at the end of the story.

Aspiring dancers follow Maya into her ballet class, where she practices plies and pirouettes; across the stage where she performs with tap shoes, cane and hat; and in joyful flight before an audience in her costume of kente cloth and cowrie shells. Maya loves to dance and dreams she’ll one day perform for a queen.

But the story is not only about dancing.

On the last page of the story, we discover the story’s narrator — Maya’s best friend is in a wheelchair. Though she is unable to dance with her feet, she dances with her heart by drawing pictures of Maya on stage. A beautiful, heartfelt surprise! Re-reading the book, I discovered a scene midway through the story that featured her friend in the wheelchair. I give kudos to the author and illustrator for showing the power of true friendship, and holding the surprise until the end.

Reviewed by Susan Roberts This Little Prayer of Mine

By Anthony DeStefano; Mark Elliott WaterBrook Press, $12.99, 40 pages As a parent who wishes to instill good values to her children at an early age, This Little Prayer of Mine is a valuable investment for my young one’s reading collection.

Children who encounter stories with which they become enamored will most likely result in their constant requests for parents to read it to them over and over again. Such is the case with This Little Prayer of Mine.

My toddler never

seems to tire of hearing it read to him repeatedly. The beautiful lifelike illustrations make it easier for little ones to visually understand and associate the message filled with simple and priceless lessons. I also appreciate the subtle contrast between showing what is right from wrong and what path to take when in doubt. This Little Prayer of Mine is an excellent tool to show children the importance of having faith and developing a strong bond with God through prayer.

Adults can sometimes be a bit jaded through time and children’s pure and innocent understanding of the real essence of prayer can certainly be a great benefit to how we navigate through life.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman Hattie the Bad

By Jane Devlin Penguin Young Readers, $16.99, 32 pages Brought over from England, Hattie the Bad features a young girl who learned early that being good meant doing ridiculous things like going to bed when you weren’t even tired. But, she quickly figured out that being bad is much more fun. Colorful, action-filled illustrations show frogs jumping out of a refrigerator to frighten Hattie’s mom, car keys sailing away on balloons, and her baby brother priced at 20 cents at a garage sale.

“Being bad with no one else to enjoy it made Hattie feel Sad.” As she grew older, other kids found Hattie exciting and were her friends. But their parents didn’t like Hattie’s bad behaviors and told their children not to play with Hattie. Then Hattie decided she’d be Hattie the Good. Soon her friends didn’t like this good Hattie and left her.

But she was too good and just about that time she won the “Best-Behaved Child Ever” contest. At the awards presentation with cameras on her, the announcer asked,

D OW NLOA D IT ! kidsbookapp.com or

“Is there anything you’d like to say?” and the fun (and Bad!) Hattie cried out “Underpants!” The grown-ups gasped, but the children cheered. Hattie the Bad was back and life was good again.

This story shows parents, as much as it shows kids, that life isn’t all following the rules, sometimes you just need to be yourself and have fun.

Reviewed by Susan Roberts Mimi’s Dada Catifesto

By Shelley Jackson Clarion Books, $17.00, 48 pages Mimi is a cat, but she isn’t just any cat, as she’s quick to tell her pigeon and cockroach friends. She has the soul of an artist, and she’d determined to find a human who shares her creative sensibilities — even if it means, for now, going without a nice bowl of milk. When she stumbles upon an art performance by a strange man with a fish on his head, she knows she’s found him — someone who understands her. The man is a Dadaist, the pigeon explains, and Mimi begins striving to win him over. Mimi’s initial attempts to woo this human are unsuccessful, however; Mr. Dada does not recognize her screeching as a sound poem, and he sweeps her collection of “ready-mades” into the trash. Eventually, however, man and cat join together in Dadaist harmony.

A great introduction to the Dada art movement, Catifesto will captivate children with its humorous explanations of how art can be anything and everything, as long as you say it’s art. A short essay at the end of the book, “What Is Dada?” provides some historical context. The book is an excellent way to introduce children to the possibility of art in the everyday.

Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell

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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 Rowena Manisay COPY EDITORS Joe Atkins Megan Just Lori Miller Viola Allo Glenn Rucker EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jen LeBrun Mary Komlofske Aiya Madarang WEBSITE/SOCIAL NETWORKING/ APP DEVELOPMENT Ariel Berg Gwen Stackler Robyn Oxborrow Deborah Lewis DISTRIBUTION Sacramento Distribution Service ADVERTISING SALES larry.lefrancis@1776productions.com

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IN THIS ISSUE Children’s.......................................................2 Modern Literature..........................................4 Mystery, Crime & Thrillers.............................5 Poetry & Short Stories....................................6 Cooking, Food & Wine....................................7 Science Fiction & Fantasy...............................8 Young Adults..................................................9 Biographies & Memoirs................................10 Livermore Valley Wine Visits........................11 Science & Nature..........................................15 Relationships & Sex......................................15 Religion........................................................16 Local Calendar..............................................16 Travel........................................................... 17 Sports & Outdoors........................................ 17 Historical Fiction..........................................18 Tweens.........................................................19 Art, Architecture & Photography.................20 Business & Investing....................................20

Summer is supposed to be a time of relaxation: long, leisurely vacations, quiet nights on the porch, kids off to summer camp for weeks on end. Was that our summer? With that kind of lead-in, you know it wasn’t.

In July, we launched our first iPhone book review app, the appropriately named Kids Book App (kidsbookapp.com) with most of the Children’s, Tweens, and Young Adult book reviews we’ve done so far in our two years of reviewing books. We’ll be updating the reviews weekly, and will have a weekly Children’s author podcast included in our next update later this month.

Our August issue includes a four-page advertising insert for the Livermore Valley.

Heidi (Co-publisher, design-layout-and-everything-else-person) was born and raised in Livermore, and, as she says in her introduction to the section, was amazed at how much it’s changed since she moved away. Heidi and I had a great time visiting the Livermore wineries as we prepared the section, and, in order to help ourselves find our way around, we created the first and only iPhone app for the Livermore Valley. You can find more information about it at 1776productions.com/ livermore, and it should be available for free download the second week in August.

This issue has some great books, equally wonderful reviews, and plenty of stuff to appeal to most any taste. We hope you find something new to read that you wouldn’t have considered, and if you do, let us know.

Both the San Francisco and Sacramento Book Review websites allow for comments on the reviews, and as we still so very rarely get emails or letters, drop by the site to leave your comments there.

Thanks again for picking us up.

Ross Rojek —Editor-in-Chief ross@1776productions.com 1776 Productions

History.........................................................21

Coming Up...

Reference......................................................21

September brings a couple of major milestones – the second anniversary of the Sacramento Book Review, the first anniversary of the San Francisco Book Review, and our Fall Science Fiction & Fantasy insert. This will be our third SF&F insert, and to really make it memorable, we’re also going to have – wait for it – an iPhone app with all our existing reviews, plus some extras to make it worth downloading.

August 2010 print run - 10,000 copies.

Romance.......................................................22

Subscriptions

Horror..........................................................23

Send $18.00 for 12 monthly issues to 1776 Productions, 1215 K Street, 17th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

FROM THE EDITOR

Urban Fiction................................................23 Sequential Art..............................................23

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Modern Literature The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives: A Novel

By Lola Shoneyin William Morrow, $23.99, 280 pages A subtle but marked change occurs a third of the way through Lola Shoneyin’s debut novel about a quartet of wives and their emotional husband set in her native Nigeria. Whereas it begins as a stifling, alienating story of scheming, domination, and repulsive cruelty, it transforms into a complex tale of a family and the efforts of its members to maintain and protect their roles within it. That this transformation takes place just as two of those family members plot a breathtakingly coldhearted plan is a tribute to the skills of poet Shoneyin, who meticulously unfurls the inner lives of her characters with cool-headed empathy.

“When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife’s childlessness.”

There is a great deal to unfurl. The determinedly dominating first wife Iya Segi, the kindly, passive second wife Iya Tope, and the proud, jealous third wife Iya Femi all battle and collaborate for the attentions of Baba Segi, whose newest wife Bolanle, a college graduate, has inspired in the other women both fear and contempt. Bolanle’s inability to become pregnant threatens not only her place within the household, but also the tenuous homeostasis of the entire family.

Alternately funny, shocking, and sad, The Secret Lives is a complex depiction of family and culture in modern-day Nigeria.

Reviewed by Ariel Berg Perfect Reader

By Pouncey, Maggie Pantheon, $24.95, 275 pages Twenty-something Flora Dempsey returns home after the death of her father, expresident and retired English professor of Darwin College. She has inherited not only his house and his dog Larks (named after the poet, Philip Larkin) but been named his literary executor.

She is unprepared for and loath to tackle this job, especially as he left behind an unpublished poetry manuscript dedicated to his lover Cynthia Reynolds, a woman Flora is surprised to meet. Pouncey structures the novel af-

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ter an academic calendar; Flora grieves through Darwin’s semesters. Each chapter is split in two sections with the first focusing on her struggles with what to do with the manuscript and the second showcasing her childhood. Unfortunately, Pouncey delays until the middle of the story to reveal a critical event from Flora’s past. Detailing this earlier would have helped with the pacing of the novel, as it builds rather slowly.

Pouncey hones her wry wit in poking fun at small town academia, and readers with an inside view will laugh at its truth. Weaving together the themes of father-daughter relationships and the world of words, Pouncey creates an unusual coming-of-age story. An intelligent and witty debut.

“We want to know our parents’ secrets, their lives before and beyond our own.

But then to know can be terrible. To know is to want to not know.”

Reviewed by Deb Jurmu The One That I Want

By Allison Winn Scotch Shaye Areheart Books, $24.00, 288 pages Tilly Farmer’s life is perfect. She’s lived in the same town for her entire 32 years, she teaches at the same high school she herself graduated from, and she likes it that way.

She is married to the perfect man – her high school sweetheart, naturally – and still hangs out with her best friend. But Tilly’s life isn’t as perfect as she thinks it is. Her old friend Ashley Simmons is about to give her something she desperately needs, the gift of clarity.

Tilly starts to see her life without her rose-colored glasses. Her father, sober for ten years, is suddenly drinking again. Her husband wants to be anywhere but trapped in a small town with her. Her relationships with her sisters aren’t quite what she thought they were. Suddenly her life is a little less perfect.

Despite its formulaic setup, The One that I Want proves to be a heart-warming tale of a young woman coming to accept that you can’t force life into a little box. This is a third novel from Allison Winn Scotch. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley The Lake Shore Limited

By Sue Miller Knopf, $25.95, 278 pages Like Hamlet, The Lake Shore Limited opens with a play. In Miller’s play, which brings together the four central characters of the novel, a terrorist attack on a Chicago train leaves a husband wondering if his wife

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

By Brady Udall Norton, $26.95, 599 pages

The Lonely Polygamist is the latest offering from Brady Udall, author of The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. The main character is Golden Richards, a Mormon with four wives and twenty-eight children. With that kind of domestic arrangement, how ironic it is that Richards still struggles with things like infatuation with other women. Struggling in his construction business, Richards has trouble relating to his massive family. Soon, he becomes isolated from them and what ensues is a sort of heartbreaking tragicomic unraveling.

Though the subject matter (polygamy) will garner interest, the execution of the novel is equally remarkable.

Udall has a true novelist’s gift: he can adroitly switch between comedy and tragedy, a sort of literary high-wire act few writers can do well. Udall possesses a near-perfect ear for dialogue and he has a natural empathy for underdog characters, something he put to good use in his last novel. Udall has a big heart, and so does Golden Richards, despite his many-faceted flaws. Richards has an unusual lifestyle, true, but he remains a man we can relate to and even sympathize with: three-dimensional and thoroughly—tragically—human.

Reviewed by Aaron Stypes

is still alive, and feeling a mixture of relief, remorse, grief, and love. The playwright of this play within a play has drawn on her own experience, losing a lover in 9/11, and knowing just how “limited” her love for him was.

“People think they know what you’re feeling.’ Her voice was softer, suddenly.

‘What you must be feeling. And because it’s easier not to expose yourself, what you’re truly feeling, you don’t disabuse them. You go through the motions for them. That’s why, I think, I wanted to write the play-about a man who doesn’t feel what’s he’s suppose to.

Who has an entirely too-confused response to it for lots and lots of reasons.

So he can’t show . . . anything, almost.”

Alternating chapters focus on the stories of the other characters. The lead actor in the play transforms his life’s experience into art. The sister of the playwright’s lover, who died in 9/11, rededicates herself to her marriage. Deciding at last to let go of an old attraction to a widowed architect, she reluctantly introduces him to the playwright.

Will the architect and playwright reach through their numbing losses to risk loving each other? Through these four characters, Miller skillfully teases out the lines of tenderness, frustration, relief, guilt, and sorrow in each individual’s harrowing progress through middle age.

Reviewed by Zara Raab

The Irresistible Henry House

By Lisa Grunwald Random House, $25.00, 412 pages Poor Henry House is an orphan baby brought up as practice-baby in a home economics program at a forward-thinking university in the early part of the twentieth century. Some might think such a situation ideal. He would not only receive one doting parent but several to pamper and raise him into a great, prosperous, healthy man.

But as most people realize, odd childhood experiences are causes for strange adulthoods. In the taste of Garp or a more wayward take on the story of Moses, The Irresistible Henry House is a book of sagacious humor, Kinsey-style sexual introspect, and a storyline so weird that it is believable. To make the book even the more eerie, the author took what was a real-life occurrence of orphan teaching babies and transformed the disturbing fact into jaw-dropping fiction—a great incentive to dive into the thick novel, if the plot wasn’t already alluring enough.

Thoroughly a wonderfully written, prolific feat and charged with creativity, emotion, and the disturbingly complex nature of humanity.

Reviewed by Natalie Fladager

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Mystery, Crime & Thrillers The Measure of Madness: Inside the Disturbed and Disturbing Criminal Mind

By Cheryl Paradis Citadel, $16.95, 272 pages Trying to read one’s face does not reveal what is inside the head; one of the biggest mysteries is trying to determine who is sane and who is insane.

The author is a forensic psychologist who over a 25 year career has been called on to examine patients charged with the most bizarre and heinous crimes. Included in this narrative are eighteen of her most challenging cases.

“What he sees as reality is not what we see as reality. It is part of his psychosis.”

Questions of sanity or extreme emotional disturbance cover the first section.

The middle part deals with evaluations: competency to stand trial and competency to waive Miranda rights. The final section deals with juveniles and the assessment of faking symptoms. Delusions and paranoid visions influence some of the perpetrator’s actions. Described is one case where a loving husband strangles his wife and then pushes her body from their apartment window, while showing no emotion as her remains are collected. A PET scan reveals a brain growth that compromised his cerebral functioning. Is he then guilty of murder?

The notorious butcher of Tompkins Square Park in an angry moment killed his roommate and then cooked her remains to dispose of the body. Is he a crazy criminal to be tried in the courts or should he be referred to a psychiatric institution?

Read on in this fascinating collection of crimes, and wonder about the mental condition of those around you.

Reviewed by Rita Hoots The Wave

By Tom Miller Sherman Asher Publishing, $18.95, 304 pages After an underwater landslide off the coast of Hawaii causes a relatively minor tsunami – resulting in a limited amount of death and destruction – some scientists want an aggressive effort made to explore the ocean floor to determine the probability of a bigger landslide which could result in a truly disastrous tsu-

nami. Bring in two ex-Navy SEALS to do the exploration – Scott Richardson, now a marine biologist in Hawaii, and Chuck Palmer, a fitness center owner from California; they’ll find out what nature is doing in spite of government officials and native Hawaiians. Sabotaged airplanes, submarines, explosions, volcanoes – all in a week’s work for Palmer and Richardson as they seek clues to the next Big One in Tom Miller’s The Wave.

“If you ever invite me back, I will bring a gun and shoot you.”

An interesting theory about what would happen if a giant tsunami occurred, but we know by chapter two what has happened – now we just have to see how we got there.

Palmer (self described as six-feet-four-inches of love machine) and Richardson (a pugnacious type) are not likable, and most of the characters are unrealistic. An inordinate amount of time is spent in explanation and discussion of geological terms and events. If you’re a geologist, you may like it.

Reviewed by Douglas McWilliams A Twist of Orchids: A Death in the Dordogne Mystery

By Michelle Wan Minotaur Books, $24.99, 328 pages In A Twist of Orchids, Michelle Wan does what few mystery writers can do. She surprises me.

In this mystery set in the Dordogne region of France, the main characters are Mara Dunn and Julian Wood, an older expat couple who are attempting unsuccessfully to live together.

Herein lies Wan’s first surprise. Wan writes wonderful characters that are far from stereotypical. Mara and Julian are not a pair of sweet, kindly older sleuths. Rather, both are set in their ways, prickly at times, and confused about their relationship.

Indeed, I could not predict whether their relationship would survive the story, and, in part, that curiosity kept me reading. Possibly as a result of their tenuous relationship, each character pursues separate mystery story lines. I was happily left wondering until the end if and how the various story lines were connected and would resolve. Finally, with care not to give too much away, I will say Wan uses the backdrop of this mystery in ways I did not foresee.

In addition to the local color added by the setting and a new knowledge of orchids, the lack of predictability made this a very satisfying mystery to read.

Reviewed by Annie Peters Strip

By Thomas Perry Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26.00, 352 pages Manco Kapak has been robbed, and nobody robs Manco Kapak. Joe Carver is falsely accused and Kapak’s thugs are hot on his trail. Carver isn’t the kind of man to take false accusations and death threats lying down though. Jefferson Davis Falkins is the real culprit and he has problems of his own in the form of a psychotic new girlfriend who wants the couple to become the new Bonnie and Clyde. Nick Slosser is the bigamist police lieutenant in charge of sorting it all out, and somehow he sends two kids from wives who don’t know about each other to college without anyone finding out.

Add some ice and shake and you have one hell of a cocktail.

After reading the first third of Thomas Perry’s new novel Strip I was telling friends and family that they were really going to love this book. The review was writing itself in my mind and I had nothing but good things to say. Then I got into the second third of the book. And it dragged.

And dragged. And dragged. I pushed on in hope that it would at least have a great ending. I hoped in vain. Great premise, great start, but the last two thirds of this book were a huge let down.

Reviewed by Albert Riehle Stalked By Shadows

By Chris Collett Piatkus Press, $8.99, 313 pages Have you ever had the unshakable feeling, when at home by yourself late at night, that someone’s watching you? Welcome to Lucy Jarrett’s life almost every night.

Set in Britain, This is the fourth novel in the DI Tom Mariner series. One of the interesting things about Stalked By Shadows is that it’s written in a style that American readers aren’t used to in regard to vocabulary, using words like punter instead of customer.

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DI Mariner is helping investigate a complaint from Lucy Jarrett that she’s getting harassing phone calls late at night. Through a series of tenuous relationships, he discovers that she is distantly related to an officer that committed suicide under strange circumstances. Lucy’s case evolves into something more sinister. The caller wants Lucy to meet a horrible death.

Author Chris Collett’s writing style is unusual. The way she introduces characters, especially those that it would seem are only on the fringe of the story, really has the reader grasping at straws trying to figure out what the motive is, who’s got motive and who has the will to murder. However, Collett ties up all of the loose ends nicely.

Reviewed by Marc Fillipelli Revenge Served Cold

By Jackie Fullerton Thomas House Publishing, $8.99, 287 pages Anne Marshall, a court reporter and law student, has reluctantly returned to her avocation of crime fighter in Revenge Served Cold. “Reluctant” because she gets pulled into cases by her father, a former attorney. This time the victim is Elliot Spence, her dad’s old friend and Anne’s law professor. First labeled a car accident, it is quickly determined to be homicide with his wife being the primary suspect. Anne’s search (with her father’s help) uncovers alternate suspects and many secrets.

“This is for the baby you will never hold in your arms. The baby you will never have. You will rot in hell for what you have done.”

Fullerton should be commended for the layers of her characters, especially newcomers Ross and Alice. I wish Anne’s posse, returning characters to the series, had received as much attention. With the exception of one detail, this is a satisfying mystery. Anne’s father(and investigative partner) is dead. Fullerton handles the paranormal aspect well. their relationship adds both humor and tenderness to the story line. But when Anne gets in trouble in the final chapters her father is suddenly giving other characters clues. If he had communicated with others throughout the book, I could accept him “saving the day”. Instead I feel Fullerton cheated with a mystical solution.

Reviewed by Jodi M. Webb

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Poetry & Short Stories A Song Beneath Silence: A Collection of Poetry By Apryl Skies

By Apryl Skies AuthorHouse, $16.99, 114 pages Apryl Skies, author of A Song Beneath Silence, has a dreamy name that speaks of seasonality. Her name gives a lot away, makes one think of the uppermost realm of the our planet—the sky—and the visually transient mysteries it holds: clouds, rain, sunlight, moonlight, darkness, and stars. Her poems are filled with these natural elements, and beyond this, they are filled with the supernatural, too. This poet takes it all in! She seeks to transcend the limits of being human and bound to the Earth. Emotions can be liberating, and her poems capture the heights we attain when we love and live passionately.

Readers will find her poems intriguing but oftentimes abstract. The choice of concrete images and themes, and how to use them without being too abstract, is something many poets grapple with, because readers seek experiences they can latch onto and make their own. At times, her poems left me wanting more sensory details I could claim. Nonetheless, I could hear the music in her lines and see the landscapes she paints.

Every poet is bound to a place; Apryl Skies is rooted in her southern California home, lured by what is near it and beyond it—the ocean and the heavens. She seeks what it means to be human but able to transcend the boundaries of where and how we live and the limits of what we feel and perceive.

Sponsored Review Second Grace: Stories of Fresh Starts, Second Chances, and Also Running Away

By Candace Coulombe CreateSpace, $9.95, 186 pages It is such a delight to come across books like this—especially during the summertime. With kids roaming and screaming around the house, it truly was a treat to sit outside on the patio as Candace Leigh Coulombe transported me to many exhilarating settings with an assortment of folks, each having their own t hought-provok ing stories to tell. From posh spa lounges, botched out-of-town lover rendezvous, cruise mishaps, and a clandestine discussion taking place at

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the backroom of a perfumery, these short accounts will keep you on your toes, climaxing perfectly with every ending.

Coulombe is a gifted writer and a breath of fresh air, especially in times where the industry is replete with people trying hard to be “authors” just because self-publishing is as easy as a click of a button. The passages in these short anecdotes were wellthought out, comprehensible, and filled with magnificent characters, most of which I connected with and whom evoked strong emotions from me that left me wanting more. Live through them vicariously for a moment and allow the collected stories of Second Chances to empower you to escape and start anew.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing

By Kevin Young Bloomsbury Press, $24.00, 311 pages Grief. That strong and silent visitor, intruder. He comes at any time of the day, during warm afternoons and drowsy evenings. He settles in and chokes the heart.

Universally, he will visit each of us. Collectively, we will all have to cope. Kevin Young, a lyrical poet and author of six books, has gathered pain and hope on the page with the voices of some of America’s most gifted poets in The Art of Losing. The songs of the mourning are fresh and raw, they capture the splendor of the human spirit at its most vulnerable, in anguish. From Emily Dickinson to Etheridge Knight, Anne Sexton to Adrienne Rich, the cry of sorrow washes over the pages, and settles into a harmony of distressed beauty.

he loved were denied her family’s permission to marry. The builder “left and went to America, they say.” And the woman? “What could her eyes have done, I wonder, when she passed this way in the wake of two cows, or going to Mass on Sunday? I can’t imagine the pause she’d make on the far side of the sally bank, drenched fuchsia brushing her shawl.” This poem is typical of Grennan’s sensual poems, often set in his native Ireland. (Grennan is a professor emeritus of Vasser College.)

Out of Sight brings together selections from Grennan’s seven books completed over twenty years. Love poems, poems of family, of poets and painters, elegies, and the landscapes of his native Renvyle fill this handsome volume. Whether he is writing of horses in a field, fresh bed linens, gnarled fence posts, or oyster beds along the shore, Grennan is a master of metaphor and the sounds, smells, colors, and meanings of the natural, everyday world.

Reviewed by Zara Raab

The collection begins with “Reckoning” and follows the path to “Redemption.” Young has selected evocatively gripping moments, laments, and memories and displayed them side-by-side, hovering mourners, all gathered to console one another.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez

Contact!: A Book of Encounters

By Jan Morris Norton, $23.95, 202 pages A testament to the book? I used a whole packet of yellow ‘stickies’ to mark the pieces I liked. Jan Morris, the preeminent travel writer of Wales, indeed of Britain, shares morsels of the scores of journeys she has taken over half a century or so to places as distanced as the Himalayas and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Iceland. It’s a delight to read the vignettes, each just a paragraph or two, about the fat naked swimmers beside Dublin’s River Liffey, the old black lady fishing peacefully in a Louisiana bayou until her husband retrieves her on his drive home from work, the tourist triumphantly noticing the White House china is chipped. Her memories are tantalizing, “I was once held up on a seashore track by the unloading of live pigs from the Chinese mainland,” and then there’s the waiter taking coffee to a brothel in Amsterdam….

And all in a slim book so light it can be read anywhere, anytime, until a friend borrows and doesn’t return it and I must buy another copy.

Reviewed by Jane Manaster

Out of Sight: New and Selected Poems

By Eamon Grennan Graywolf Press, $26.00, 261 pages In the poem “Unfinished,” Irish poet Eamon Grennan writes of a half-built house abandoned “where morning light still spills over the bony shoulder of Diamond Hill.” It was abandoned, when he and the woman

Mrs. Somebody Somebody

By Tracy Winn Random House, $14.00, 207 pages Tracy Winn has made a sparkling debut with a collection of short stories that share a thematic link. The setting of Lowell, Massachusetts, perceptively captured as it makes the transition from post-war mill town to

“ I sometimes go months without remembering you. Some griefs bless us that way, not asking much space.”

factory buildings that have gone condo, has much a character here as the immigrants, war veterans, and housewives that populate it. While each of the ten stories could stand alone, their strength is enhanced by their connection to one another. Winn, by telling the stories from different vantage points and traversing a period of more than 60 years, gives us a look at the subtle, yet undeniable ways in which American life has changed. She deftly portrays a sense of who these people are with unusual details: “…their refrigerator was emptied of all but a jar of olives and some old butter….”

She captures a sense of place with interesting observations: “A little breeze brought the blunt smell of the Merrimack River, riffled through mounds of growing parsley, and stirred up the tomato vines.” And her prose is thoughtful and unique: “Her words came out slow and round.” Winn’s stories capture the essence of humanity here, the desires, the frustrations, the illusions, and the delusions. These are wonderful stories made even more so because of the masterful prose.

Reviewed by Bruce Genaro The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems

By Edward Hirsch Knopf, $27.00, 242 pages The Living Fire is a collection of new and old poems by famous American poet Edward Hirsch. Current president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Hirsch has published popular poetry collections for over three decades. This new collection brings to readers new poems, as well as a comprehensive selection of poems from his previous collections, spanning a period of 1975 to 2010. A formidable compilation!

The title of The Living Fire comes from one of his most celebrated poems, Wild Gratitude. Readers will enjoy this timelessly radiant poem, as well as poems like Dark Tour, Milk, Song, Transfigured Night, The Widening Sky, Special Orders, and I Wish I Could Paint You. Readers must do everything possible to read the poem Two Suitcases of Children’s Drawings from Terezin, 1942-1944. I also enjoyed his poems on insomnia—the cold reality he captures of what it means to be unable to truly rest at night. Poets and poetry students and teachers will find The Living Fire a priceless addition to their pool of poetic resources and inspiration.

Reviewed by Viola Allo

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Cooking, Food & Wine Steak with Friends: At Home, with Rick Tramonto

By Rick Tramonto, Mary Goodbody Andrews McMeel Publishing, $35.00, 290 pages This beautifully illustrated recipe book is more suitable for the coffee table than the kitchen’s cookbook shelf.

“Steak also is a metaphor for great American food.”

Though filled with a large number of recipes from appetizers to desserts, the recipes are more appropriate for the occasional weekend cook having company.

Most of the recipes are complicated and many require a serious shopping trip, or rather trips, as ingredients called for are not easy to find in just any market. Where would you find three different kinds of baby beets and burrata cheese, for instance, or rabbit liver or pink salt, apple-smoked bacon, rump bulbs or three pounds of duck fat?

The Recipes are not very consistent: in Truffle Poached Eggs, truffles are optional.

And few cooks are able to find ingredients, for example, for Mixed Grill of Game with Smoked Wild Boar Sausage, Venison and Quail.

This book is better suited for a chef in a high-end restaurant kitchen than in a home kitchen.

The many Bible quotes, including the dedication to the “Heavenly Father,” are hardly appropriate in a cookbook, and the author’s identical smiling photos (on a total of 50 pages) are downright embarrassing.

Reviewed by George Erdosh The Newlywed Kitchen

By Lorna Yee and Ali Basye Sasquatch Books, $22.95, 228 pages It’s officially wedding season. Ding dong, the bells are ringing, time to toss the rice … or perhaps cook it? No matter if you are the guest who is giving or the bride or groom who is looking for a good purchase, there are only so many toasters out there.

Why not give or buy a cookbook that helps ease the lovebirds into their new life together, something that celebrates the sweet first times in each new marriage and lends a hand in creating delicious dishes. Combining the powerful forces of love, food, and joy, we could only imagine what might emerge from that.

“There are so many other things to love about a person other than how they cut a carrot.”

Written by both a freelance writer/ editor of Seattle Bride Magazine and food columnist and blogger, The Newlywed Kitchen combines personal testimonies from real couples — sometimes chef couples — sharing their own recipes for every loving occasion, be it Friday night together or family brunch. Roasted Tomato Soup with Rosemary Croutons is one example for winning over the in-laws. To finish off a long week, Happily Ever After Nutella Doughnuts (um, yum) could be the perfect peace offering. There is even a bit on gluten-free cooking from author Shauna James Ahern (of Gluten-Free Girl) and her husband about creating romantic allergy-friendly meals. A lovely present or first home purchase, this cookbook offers a gift that goes beyond the kitchen; it offers a lifetime of memories and simple pleasures.

Reviewed by Natalie Fladager Friday Night Is Seafood Night: The EatWell Cookbook of Meals in A Hurry

By Editors of Woman’s Day Filipacchi Publishing, $12.99, 96 pages Woman’s Day magazine’s popular Meals in a Hurry series of cookbooks gets a new installment, a spiffy, condensed volume that will appeal to fish lovers and seafood enthusiasts alike: Friday Night is Seafood Night.

Like the other cookbooks in the series, Friday Night is Seafood Night was designed for the cook who doesn’t want to sacrifice a delicious meal because of a busy workday. The success of the series is due to the quick, easy, and delicious recipes featured in each book, and this one is no exception. Seafood is often considered daunting and expensive to prepare, even without time constraints, but Friday Night is Seafood Night contains a selection of recipes that are wholesome, nutritious, fast, and easy to put together.

The book is divided into two sections, Fish and Shellfish, and contains an extensive variety of recipes. Choices span the globe and include Baja Fish Tacos, Thai Fish Cakes, Mediterranean Tuna, and New England Fish Chowder. The Shellfish section has a heavy shrimp bias, but also includes a handful of recipes featuring scallops, clams and mussels. Friday Night is Seafood Night is the perfect launching point for a tasty, simple, and upscale start to the weekend.

Reviewed by Mark Petruska

Skinny Italian

By Teresa Giudice Hyperion, $19.99, 246 pages If you don’t know who Teresa Giudice is before opening Skinny Italian, you are bound to know her quite well—and her family—after you’ve gone through this cookbook.

Family recipes are shared, anecdotes introduce the sections, her daughters are pictured helping out, and even her husband shares his views on some of the recipes. It feels that this cookbook is her family’s warm invitation for a stranger to feel at home with them. It begins with the “facts”—introducing the reader to the common-sense thinking behind the ingredients and their preparation. Then it makes one feel comfortable by offering recipes of well-known and loved Italian sauces (ex: arrabiata, marinara, al burro … sorry, no Alfredo as Ms. Giudice educates us that it’s not Italian), appetizers (several recipes of bruschetta), pizza (al Prosciuto, Napoletana), pasta (Penne with Portobello Mushroom Sauce, Farfalle con Piselli), main dishes (Pork Chops alla Salvia, Veal Piccata), drinks (bellinis), and desserts (biscottis, cookies). Once you’re a family friend, you get to participate in creating homemade goodies (jarred tomato sauce, pizza dough) using family recipes. Finally, as someone trusted, you become privy to special occasions (there’s a very useful section about quick dishes for intimate dinners).

And, as good friendships go, this one you have just established is not heavy to carry around; those who are concerned about calories can check out how much each dish contains on the nutritional information section of the cookbook.

Reviewed by D. Harms Just Five Ingredients

By Ainsley Harriott BBC Books, $19.95, 192 pages People who are new to cooking often complain about recipes with mile-long lists of ingredients. Even experienced cooks can balk at these types of recipes, since they inevitably require several things most people don’t have on hand. But chef and popular British television personality Ainsley Harriott is out to change all that with his latest cookbook, Just Five Ingredients. Harriott’s recipes are simultaneously simple and elegant, and sophisticated flavor combinations make these recipes ideal for dinner parties small and large.

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There’s plenty here for every palate, too; the book is divided into sections devoted to starters, pastas, vegetarian dishes, desserts, and everything in between. I’ve already had great success with Home-Made Potato Gnocchi (so easy I can’t believe I’d never made it before), Red Pepper Risotto with Bubbling Camembert (and I don’t love risotto as a rule), and Rocky Road Chocolate Brownies (no parenthetical aside required, I hope). Packed with gorgeous, full-color photographs and simple recipes that invite you to recreate the things you see, I guarantee that Just Five Ingredients won’t spend much time sitting unused on your cookbook shelf (or mine).

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Loversamber

By Terry Hope Romero Lifelong Books, $18.95, 285 pages No matter what your dietary persuasion, Viva Vegan! is a cookbook everyone needs to bite into. Sassy and exploding with flavor, this book includes both joyful reading and happy eating. Author Terry Hope Romero has written several best-selling vegan cookbooks. In fact, her Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is among my all-time favorites. I imagine I’ll be turning to Viva Vegan! just as frequently. And I’m not even vegan.

“The meatiest cuisine on the planet (so say some) made meatless? Is she loca?...

But Latin food and vegan cooking need not be mutually exclusive. In fact, they are a match of culinary perfection, just like beans and rice.”

What sets Romero’s recipes apart from other vegan fare is her reliance on standard kitchen ingredients—not creepy faux meats (with the exception of one sandwich: the Cubano Vegano). Although she occasionally reaches for soy cheeses, her recipes ultimately rely on fresh ingredients, creating healthier, lighter versions of otherwise traditionally heavy meals.

I’ve traveled through Peru, Mexico, and Ecuador, and was delighted to find vegan versions of some of my favorite Latin dishes, including Papas Rellenas (stuffed potatoes) and her version of locro de papas, Creamy Potato Soup with Avocado. Viva Vegan! provides animal-free variations on many other enticing standards, such as Coconut Tres Leches Cake made with almond milk and a splash of rum. Fresh, fun, and enticing, recipes from Viva Vegan! are certain to become staples in your family meals.

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott

August 10

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Science Fiction & Fantasy Bearers of the Black Staff (Legends of Shannara)

By Terry Brooks Del Rey, $27.00, 368 pages 500 years after the boy Hawk led a ragtag group into the valley to protect them from the end of the world as they knew it, the magic used to seal them away is fading.

Creatures from outside the valley have found their way in, and if some already have, more certainly will.

Sider Ament is the last bearer of the only remaining staff once held by the legendary Knights of the Word, and the power that comes with it. He sets out at once to warn the peoples of the valley to fortify themselves before it’s too late, but the people have grown complacent and vested in false beliefs. It’ll be up to Sider and a small group of those who believe to save all the people of the valley before they are invaded by whatever remains on the outside.

In Bearers of the Black Staff Terry Brooks is at his usual brilliant best. This book is tight and fast-paced, with deep characters, an amazing story and some poignant social commentary. The only warning I’d give is that this book is incomplete. It is the beginning and middle of a story that will be finished in his next book, but with a start like this one you’ll definitely want to read that one too!

Reviewed by Albert Riehle The Loving Dead

By Amelia Beamer Night Shade Books, $14.95, 272 pages If you’d have told me, before I started reading it, that I would dislike a book about zombies that included graphic girl–on-girl sex scenes and was endorsed by one of my favorite authors, Christopher Moore, I’d have said that you were crazy, but The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer is just flat out, not good.

The pre-billing said that this book is the lovechild of Christopher Moore and Chuck Palahniuk, but it failed to say what is so often true, the progeny of genius is very infrequently on par with that which preceded it.

Kate and Michael are roomies living in Oakland Hills who throw a party that goes all wrong when Kate’s belly dancing teacher turns into a zombie in the middle of having sex with her.

Thank goodness the belly dancing teacher

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insisted on being tied up because that was the only way she could climax! Maybe this would have worked as a B-movie, but as a Bbook it falls on its face. I got the impression it was supposed to be funny, but honestly, I missed every single punch line. Go rent your favorite zombie movie instead; you’ll have a much better time than you would reading this book.

Reviewed by Albert Riehle The War That Came Early: West and East

By Turtledove, Harry Del Rey, $27.00, 432 pages What if the conference in Munich between the European leaders had failed and WWII had started a year earlier? What if the war had started in Czechoslovakia instead of Poland? These are just a couple of the deviating historical focal points that Turtledove used to create his alternate WWII timeline in Hitler’s War and continues to build in his multiplepoint-of-view narration sequel: The War That Came Early. “…Fujita said…’You can’t tell somebody what combat’s like till he’s done it himself—and after that he doesn’t need to hear it from you.’”

While Turtledove’s narrative is smooth and flows easily, it simply isn’t enough to overcome the lackadaisical characterization and mostly interchangeable storylines.

Within the first sixty pages of the book you’re introduced to no fewer than fourteen main characters, which would be impressive, except that it becomes apparent rather quickly that with a few exceptions, all the storylines play out on one torn-up, shellriddled battlefield after another. Worst of all though, is the persistent confusion as to why Turtledove bothered to write his story in an alternate timeline when the historical changes have no noticeable impact to the story whatsoever. Add in a seemingly unrelated Spanish Civil war, and page after page of characters complaining about the quality of wartime coffee and tobacco, and you’re pretty much left scratching your head and asking why you bothered.

Reviewed by Heather Ortiz Mind Games

By Carolyn Crane Spectra, $7.99, 371 pages Carolyn Crane’s Mind Games is brilliant in its oddness. It manages to combine psychology, violence, and ambiguity in a plot begging for a video game, if not a film adaptation. The protagonist is Justine Jones, whose obsessive fear of dying from vein star syndrome is overpowering in its weird-

Mission of Honor (Honor Harrington Series)

By David Weber Baen Books, $27.00, 600 pages

Mission of Honor is book twelve in David Weber’s core Honorverse series, but to truly understand and enjoy this installment, one should have also have read the sub-series books Torch of Freedom and Storm from the Shadows.

Plenty of storylines combine in this book, and while they all aren’t resolved, the overall story becomes deeper and more complex, albeit at a cost of focus on Honor.

Honor Harrington has won the decisive Battle of Manicore, and by default the war between Manicore and the Republic of Haven. But now the government of Manicore wants to press their advantage and take the battle to the Haven core systems. But Honor can tell through her telepathic link with Nimitz, her tree-cat, that Haven’s leadership actually wants peace, and she takes a risky mission to Haven to negotiate a final peace treaty. During her mission, the genetic slaver organization known as Manpower uses the Mesan Alignment to launch a crippling sneak attack against Manicore (following the Torch of Freedom storyline). Additionally, the Solarian League is starting to press its own claims against Manicore and the Manicorian Alliance.

While this has less action than previous books, the Mesan attack will keep the action and space battle junkies happy. Due to the many character perspectives and their often different locations, there is a fair amount of story repetition that slows the book down some. But readers of the previous Honorverse books will find much to like in Mission of Honor and any quibbles should be minor -- except for the wait for the next installment in the series.

Reviewed by Ross Rojek ness, but she manages to remain appealing enough to slog through pages of her anxiety.

Crane builds up to the plot, which consists of Justine’s recruitment by vigilante group to use her hypochondria to take down criminals, but the writing so closely hews to Justine’s growth, you fall headlong into the story. Overlying all of this is this bleak hopefulness, which balances the heavier and weird aspects of Mind Games. Justine is a very appealing character, despite her hypochondria, she is one of the most well-drawn female protagonists out there: she’s vulnerable but never self-pitying, and while she stands up for herself, she is obnoxious. One of the more exciting elements is how gray everything is: the landscape, Justine’s phobias, and her friends and foes. Mind Games isn’t an easy read, but it is highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a dense and rich urban fantasy.

Reviewed by Angela Tate

Changes

By Jim Butcher ROC, $25.95, 441 pages Changes is the twelfth novel of the Dresden Files featuring wizard private investigator Harry Dresden. In this installment of Butcher’s urban fantasy series, Dresden gets a call from a former lover, Susan Rodriguez, informing him that he has a daughter and she has been kidnapped. The child-nappers are none other than the violent vampires of the Red Court.

Harry and Susan are now in a race against the clock to get their daughter back.

This book is full of non-stop action, snarky one-liners, and some pretty wellplaced pop culture references.

Amidst the almost relentless action, Butcher does an excellent job of developing a wonderful cast of characters. His protagonists display a refreshing amount of intelligence and teamwork that make them engaging and very enjoyable. There are a few plot devices that are either a subtle nod to fantasy tropes or just frustratingly unbelievable, this is left to the reader to decide.

Changes is easily accessible to new readers of the series but also includes a fair bit of See CHANGES, page 9

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Young Adult The Evil Within: A Possessions Novel

By Nancy Holder Razorbill, $9.99, 310 pages The Evil Within begins where the previous book, Possessions, leaves off. A “mean girls” popular clique at Marlwood Academy for Girls has been taken over by spirits and last time, students died.

Lindsay is the poor girl at a rich school and one of the deaths was her friend. Death and mayhem still reign at the school, but Lindsay must return to the paranormal and horror, to the romance and the spooky, in order to rid herself of the spirit who’s taken possession – of her.

Real teen problems abound in the upperclass setting of a private boarding school in Northern California, including troubles with alcohol, sex, peer pressure, and bullying, with the added element of spirits bent on revenge taking over the bodies of students. Lindsay returns to Marlwood to face her fears and lay the ghosts to rest – literally.

She’ll learn that sometimes enemies aren’t always what they seem, and that sometimes, it’s the voices in your head that want you dead.

Nancy Holder, a popular voice in young adult fiction and winner of the Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in horror writing, has a great voice for teen fiction that will interest “teens” of all ages.

Reviewed by Axie Barclay A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend

By Emily Horner Dial Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 272 pages Cass’s whole life is centered around her best friend Julia. Julia’s friends are her friends. They spend time doing what Julia wants to do. But she is so sweet, Cass doesn’t mind, making it all the more heartbreaking when Julia dies suddenly in a car accident.

Cass is left to grieve not only the loss of her best friend but the loss of her place in school. She decides to honor Julia’s memory by biking from Chicago to California in the space of a summer.

When she returns to school, Julia’s drama friends decide to perform a tribute play and beg Cass to participate.

A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend is a complicated, fascinating voyage of love and loss. The story shifts from the time leading up to the big trip in chapters entitled “Now,” and what happens after (the

play) entitled “Then.” Horner seamlessly transitions from one time period and back again through her skilled writing, never leaving the reader behind. Cass is a truly spectacular character, revealed layer by layer in each chapter until the reader can’t help but root for her.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Dark Flame (The Immortals)

By Alyson Noel Griffin, $17.99, 336 pages In this fourth book in Alyson Noel’s The Immortals series, 17-year-old Ever is pretty much in the same predicament as always: She and Damen would like to consummate their love of many lifetimes. However, “rogue immortals” keep getting in their way.

In the case of Dark Flame, villain Roman, having coerced Ever in book two into giving Damen a drink that keeps them from being able to “exchange bodily fluids” (eww!), is oddly the object of Ever’s unwitting affections. Now she must figure out how to stop it — and get Roman to give her the antidote to the drink. Her best friend, Haven, is also causing problems, abusing the powers she gained when Ever made her an immortal in book three.

For those who have lapped up the whole Immortals series, Dark Flame will be more of the same. Unfortunately, the same goes for those who grew tired of the series in book two, a group that includes me. The books have grown annoying. The fact that the plot revolves around two teens (well, technically one teen and one 600-year-old boy) planning to have sex just makes it that much worse. I find it irresponsible of Noel to encourage teen readers in this activity.

Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim My Double Life

By Janette Rallison Putnam Juvenile, $16.99, 272 pages Every young girl’s fantasy, My Double Life is a light-hearted escape into a world where one’s entire life can change in the blink of an eye. When seventeen-year-old Alexia Garcia is asked to pose as a double for famous rock star Kari Kingsley, she doesn’t even hesitate.

Not only will the pay allow her to attend any college she chooses, but she’ll be guaranteed a chance to meet her long-lost father Alex Kingsley. Although her mother and grandmother don’t really want her to go, Alexia heads off to the bright lights, big city, and without too much effort becomes accustomed to the good life. But playing Kari is a little tougher than Alexia anticipates, especially when she falls for “rock sensation” Grant Delray. Of course, he doesn’t know she’s not Kari, and Alexia can’t tell him the

truth or she’ll risk losing him forever.

Janette Rallison has produced a fabulous, funny, touching book filled with a whole lot of heart. Readers will be rooting for Alexia from page one to the very last curtain call.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Shadow Grail No. 1: Legacies

By Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill Tor Teen, $9.99, 308 pages After her entire family is killed in a freak car accident, Spirit White finds herself alone in the world. With no living relatives, she’s sent to the mysterious Oakhurst Academy, a private boarding school/orphanage in the middle of nowhere. Spirit tries her best to adjust, but the school is about to drop one more surprise on her. Everyone at Oakhurst has magical abilities.

While Spirit is adjusting to her new surroundings, something sinister is going on at the school. Students have been disappearing from Oakhurst for years, and Spirit and her new friends will stop at nothing to find out what’s really happening.

The plot is interesting enough, though the resolution of the mystery was a little anticlimactic and rushed after the huge setup.

The book’s main flaws work anyway mostly because it is an introduction to a series, and the questions that are left unexplained will hopefully be addressed in future novels.

While most of the book is setting groundwork for the series, it still manages to pull readers along with the mystery, which is a feat many books cannot pull off. A great read for those who love contemporary fantasy or want a more urban version of a magical boarding school.

Reviewed by Alyssa Feller The Pickle King

By Rebecca Promitzer Chicken House, $17.99, 404 pages Bea lives with her Mom’s best friend in the incessantly rainy, small town of Elbow.

Her father past away when she was nine and her mother now resides in a mental institution. Bea’s best and only friend, Sam, helps to pass the time during the long, rainy summer months. They explore an abandoned house one day early in the summer and find a dead body in the basement. The body was the town’s pickle factory owner.

The two join forces with other town kids to solve the mystery making a secret club. The Pickle King takes you on a wild, paranormal

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ride into a weird, little, oppressed town.

Rebecca Promitzer is a screenwriter for television and theater. Her book reads like a B-rated movie ebbing and flowing from eerie to the macabre.

The premise and content is beyond what this reviewer would consider a young adult category, more of a suspense, thriller, and adult genre.

Imaginative concept but the writing is disappointing in the realism of circumstances and characters. The graphic details of dead bodies and the supernatural are unnecessary to the story’s substance. Sometimes, less is more.

Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots

By Abby McDonald Candlewick Press, $16.99, 304 pages Green Teen activist, Jenna, convinces her parents to let her go visit her godmother, Susie, in rural Canada in order to avoid spending her summer in Florida with her grandmother and the rest of her grandmother’s elderly friends. She is convinced that she will be able to commune with nature and view all of the things she has been fighting to protect. Jenna quickly finds that it’s not what she was expecting as she encounters bears, moose, her godmother’s goth stepdaughter, and a trio of handsome teenage boys that she manages to alienate right almost from the moment she meets them.

I really enjoyed this book more than I expected. We see Jenna mature and realize that not everything in life is black and white. I love seeing how her friendship slowly develops with Reeve, Ethan, and even Grady and the reader even starts to see a softer side of the wicked step-daughter, Fiona. It was also fun to watch Jenna take part in “nature” activities like kayaking, hiking, dirt biking, etc. This is the perfect summer read.

Reviewed by Debbie Suzuki

CHANGES, cont’d from page 8 Harry’s back story, which should be satisfying to longtime Dresden fans. While an engaging read for fantasy fans, this book may not appeal to readers outside of the genre.

Reviewed by Rachel Wallace

August 10

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Biographies & Memoirs Halfway to Each Other

By Susan Pohlman Ideals Publications, $14.99, 288 pages Susan Pohlman chronicles a life-changing year living abroad in Italy in her book Halfway To Each Other. Like many couples, Susan and husband Tim had drifted apart and were perilously close to finalizing divorce papers. A business trip took them to Italy to finalize and clinch the respective deal with a client there. Something ignited the dying embers of their marriage, and they decided to put their trust in their faith and to live in Italy for a year. They found a suitable apartment, sold off much of their possessions, quit their respective jobs, and brought their daughter and son with them.

“I have heard said that at the end of our lives the questions we must answer for ourselves number only two. Did I live fully? Did I love well? I felt that we had finally begun to live fully. The love part?

Well I was working on that.”

Counting on the magic they initially felt while on that fateful business trip, they hoped the romance of Italy would work its healing powers to rebuild their marriage and strengthen the bonds of their family. It was not without challenges and there were many times when they questioned the sanity of their actions. Uprooting themselves from life in crazy, chaotic L.A. to life in a small quaint village without central air conditioning and many other comforts we all take for granted is either pure idiocy or bravery.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down. One might liken Halfway to Each Other to another “romantic” story Under The Tuscan Sun, in that Italy worked its special magic on yet another American, enticed by that romantic something it exudes.

Reviewed by Laura Friedkin Fall from Grace

By Michael Short Xlibris, $19.99, 389 pages The Vietnam Conflict is still an open wound that refuses to heal for the many Americans who fought and survived. Corporal Albert, a United States Marine, spent 44 months in Vietnam and 189 days as a POW—and endured more wounds than most during his service. The author, Michael Short, chronicles Albert’s training

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and extensive service as Marine Infantryman in Vietnam. Corporal Albert lived continuously in harm’s way. He served as an infantryman, in a Combined Action Platoon, and in a Recon Battalion. The crucible of Vietnam forged bonds between Albert and his fellow marines that a lifetime could not break. None were stronger than the bond he had with Lance Corporal Mack, who he spent 189 days with enduring torture and interrogation from the North Vietnamese.

That bond provided the sanity and strength needed to conduct their heroic escape. Corporal Albert earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and six Purple Hearts for injuries sustained during the conflict. Those injuries are minor compared to the pain inflicted by his beloved Marine Corps when they gave an 18-year veteran a general discharge, which denied him the ability to retire as an honorable Marine.

“At the bottom of the chain of command where the killing takes place, war on the ground is as personal as war gets.”

Michael Short gives incredible insight into the compassion and courage of Corporal Albert. He immediately endears the reader to Albert as he extensively details the torture Albert and Mack suffered during their time as POWs. The book is challenging at times, because it doesn’t follow Albert’s service in a chronological order.

The author, on several occasions, jumps back and forth, so at times, it is difficult to follow. I believe this was intentional in order to build the emotion within the reader. As I kept reading the exploits of Corporal Albert, I kept asking myself what could a Marine, who had given so much to his country, have done to warrant a general discharge? As I turned the pages, my frustration grew. Not until the final paragraph does Short reveal the reason for the discharge. Immediately my frustration turned to anger, and was redirected away from Short and onto the United States Marine Corp. I won’t undermine the author’s intent by revealing the cause of the general discharge, because every reader should experience a fragment of the frustration felt by Corporal Albert. It is the debt we owe to all of those who served during that frustrating war.

Sponsored Review Giving it All Away: The Doris Buffett Story

By Michael Zitz The Permanent Press, $28.00, 224 pages Doris Buffett is an extraordinary person in her own right, but is probably better known as Warren Buffett’s sister. In Giving It All Away: The Doris Buffett Story, author Michael Zitz gives us an affectionate look at the life of this remarkable woman.

Like most of us, Buffett’s life was shaped

by her childhood. Unfortunately, as Zitz illustrates with anecdotes -- some amusing, some merely painful -- her childhood was one of an abusive mother and an often-absent father, which left Doris an insecure and unhappy adult with several failed marriages and estranged children of her own. Fortunately (though rather late in life, at the age of 69), Doris found her calling: Having inherited a fortune, she determined to give it all away to people who “through no fault of their own” needed a hand-up, not just a “hand-out.” So far, she has managed to disperse more than $100 million.

In this well-written work, Zitz covers many aspects of Buffett’s life, as well as outlining the success of some of her programs which benefit society as a whole as a fringe benefit of helping individuals get off welfare or escape homelessness. An endearing section of “thank you” notes from recipients relates exactly how Buffet’s help changed lives.

While well researched with 200 hours of personal interviews with Buffett family and friends, this is not a scholarly work, but a very readable biographical glimpse into the life of this remarkable woman.

Reviewed by Claudette Smith Who is Mark Twain?

By Mark Twain HarperStudio, $12.99, 228 pages According to Mark Twain, only a dead man has the privilege of free speech. The living must suppress their opinions or suffer “the bitter cost of putting [them] forth.”

With the publication of Who Is Mark Twain?, a hundred years after his death, general readers have access for the first time to articles, fables, and sketches the American master suppressed during his lifetime.

“By the last census it appears that every Frenchman over 16 years old and under 116 has at least one wife to whom he has not been married. This occasions a good deal of what we call crime and the French call sociability.”

the calm, possessed, surgical look of a man who could endure pain in another person”); on undertakers (“’There was ever so much sickness, and very few got well. I remember father’s saying he had never seen business so brisk.’ Mr. Cadaver drew a long sigh. . .

‘Those were great days—great days.’”). He also shrewdly observes human contraptions as various as Swiss music boxes, American cigars, and missionaries in China, never excluding himself from the fun: “We also discussed ourselves and our points of resemblance to other kinds of fools.”

Reviewed by Zara Raab Publish This Book: The Unbelievable True Story of How I Wrote, Sold and Published This Very Book

By Stephen Markley Sourcebooks, $14.99, 462 pages Described as “a premature memoir” on the book jacket, Stephen Markley’s book is more along the lines of an immature memoir. Markley definitely has talent, if only he would use his powers for good. To say that Publish this Book is about publishing a book, would be like saying a pancake is like a triple-layer-fudge tort.

The story is young Markley’s journey on the road to publication, but with frequent stops at Profanity Place, Sit-On-My-Face Fountain and the Democratic National Convention.

“Incidentally my four favorite words: 1)Fuck 2)Goddamn 3) Scatological 4) Richard Dreyfuss” Set in Chicago, most of action takes place in Markley’s head. Existential anxiety expressed as bathroom humor and endless, but creative uses for the f-word, hide most of his genius. However, an occasional passage gives hope. Underneath the bravado, there may be a sensitive and brilliant voice that needs time to mature. The loss of a high-school friend and the importance of companionship are noteworthy themes in Markley’s screed that also seem to get lost in his gimmicky style. I hope to review his next book and describe it as an insightful and riveting glimpse by a new generation of writer.

Reviewed by Sheli Ellsworth

Twain renders with hilarity and inventiveness his surprisingly modern views on the U.S. Congress (“Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself”); on dentists (“He was gray and venerable. . . but he had

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Sonxx

Livermore Valley Wine Visit s

By Heidi Komlofske

History by Thomas C. Wilmer, Author of The Wine Seeker’s Guide to Livermore Valley

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ivermore valley vintners have been quietly producing world-class wines for more than 125 years, contributing industry-wide innovations and firsts in both wine growing and production. There are many savvy wine-seekers who religiously trek to the valley for a weekend getaway, day-trip tasting adventures, and numerous festivals and concerts that the Livermore valley has to offer. It is our hope that this peek into the wonders of Livermore will provide that AH-HA! moment when you realize the gem that is right under your nose.

A Valley Rich in History Livermore Valley’s first vintner, Jose Maria Amador (namesake of Amador County), planted 1,500 vines on his rancho in 1832. Robert Livermore was reported to have grape arbors fronting his ranch house in 1840. Amador, Livermore, Alfonso Ladd, and John Knottinger all grew Mission varietal grapes.

Among the newcomers who sailed across the Atlantic and worked their way out West were Carl Heinrich Wente from Northern Germany and James Concannon, a native of Ireland’s Aran Islands.

Wente went to work for Charles Krug in Napa Valley, while Concannon planted grapes and opened a winery to supply the Catholic Church with sacramental wine.

In 1883, Wente and Concannon both commenced their Livermore Valley vineyard operations and grew to become two of the most legendary names in California’s wine industry.

Livermore is now home to many wineries -- from the more commercial ones to the “mom & pop” wineries nestled way up on the back road hills. The sleepy town that used to be only filled with antique stores now has a bevvy of urban wineries and wine bars. The tiny two-screen theater that nobody wanted to go to after the fancy-pants cinema was built in Dublin in the early 80’s is now beautifully renovated with a restaurant and wine bar inside. Downtown bustles with activities, from families watching their children play in the historical fountain on First Street and North Livermore to those meandering downtown, taking in the many boutiques and restaurants. A few of the old icons remain, like Donut Wheel, Boughman’s, Doms Surplus. Little gems hidden amongst the new.

We meandered into El Sol Winery last weekend, and out came winemaker, Hal, who bellied up to the table where we were happily sipping his wine . He extended an eager hand to welcome us. Although the tasting room quickly filled with large and small groups, Hal made it a point to come back to chat with us about our publication and how we envisioned showcasing the Livermore Valley. “I like what you two are doing,” he said as he went off to set tables for a group of 24 who called to say they were on their way. This is typical of what we found throughout the Valley.

A term new to me--”urban wineries”--have found their way into Livermore, too. While at Occasio Winery, which is nestled in what looks like an office complex, we were eagerly greeted by winemaker John Kinney. “I am such a book nut...show me what you have there!” he said as he ushered us into the back where he showed us the machines that process the grapes.

Many times, it’s the winery owners who are pouring in the tasting room-inviting you to hear the tale of how they started growing grapes and sometimes inviting you to the inner-sanctum of “how it’s done.”

I had the pleasure of reconnecting with the Rodrique Molyneaux winery general manager, who I used to know when we were teenagers. Two people who’d gone separate ways twenty-five years ago, found each other again in the town where they grew up. That’s what Livermore represents. It remains smalltown, but with a twist of swank. Even with the fancy spirit bars, night clubs, and wonderful wineries, the heart of this town remains with the people who stayed through all of the frustrating non-development, which lead to everything you see today. To say that I was impressed would be a gross understatement.

Livermore has come into its own.

“Livermore...the unsung historical incubator of California’s wine industry.”

The Terrior of Livermore Valley The early roots of “terroir” originate from the Latin word, terra, literally meaning “earth” or “land.” Here, “terroir” is used by most people to express a sense of place, considering the human influence on terroir from the cultivation of land to selection of plant materials to the many choices made by the winemaker--from barrel selection to the aging time of the wine, and even to the marketing of wine.

Revisiting the Past...Embracing the Present I didn’t have to go far to research Livermore, I must admit, for I was born and raised right here, but decided to leave in 1993. Although I didn’t spread my wings too far, there wasn’t much occassion to come back to visit, with no family left here. In my efforts to talk to winery and local business owners, I found myself driving around in absolute amazement at how this once sleepy little town had changed. Where there once was only Wente and Concannon,

...and it’s right in your backyard.

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August 10 11

Explore Livermore - The Original Napa Valley The Wine Seeker’s Guide to Livermore Valley

By Thomas C. Wilmer RiverWood Books, $18.95, 236 pages

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or being one of the oldest wine growing regions in California, the Livermore Valley has been long overshadowed by the marque Napa and Sonoma regions, even though it has been producing awardwinning wines since 1889. Wine writer Thomas Wilmer has collected not only a guidebook for the Livermore region, with information about the wineries, restaurants, and places of interest, but has gone deeper, to provide information about the history of the area, the multi-generational family wineries, and the connection many of the current wine makers have with the area and history of Livermore Valley. The wineries range from Wente and Concannon (together producing almost a half a million cases annually), to the Wood Family Vineyards that produce just 1,500.

In addition to the winery profiles, The Wine Seeker’s Guide to Livermore Valley has local attractions, like the Niles Canyon Wine Train, local restaurants, and for those

interested in outside activities, golf and local hiking trails. So when you are looking for a new local wine experience, consider Livermore Valley and the many family wineries that call it home—and take along this guide.

You’ll be glad you did to help discover the many “hidden” gems of Livermore Valley.

Reviewed by Ross Rojek

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ván Tamás Fuezy and Steve Mirassou founded Tamás Estates in 1984. Steve Mirassou’s son, Steven Kent Mirassou, explains, “My dad and Iván came here at the invitation of Eric Wente, as he offered invaluable winemaking and administrative support and the benefits of Wente’s built-in infrastructure.”

Carolyn Wente remembers that during their stewardship, Fuezy and Mirassou were crafting “these beautiful, fresh California-style, fruit-forward wines that were so clean and crisp—exceptional everyday table wines.”

The Wente family became actively involved when Carolyn and her two brothers Eric and Philip were asked to blend and bottle some of the wines. “We said sure, because custom winemaking for other people is one of our specialties.” The Wente family eventually broadened their relationship with Tamás Estates to include marketing the wines, as well. When Mirassou and Fuezy retired, they sold the winery to the Wentes, and the family has operated

The tasting room of Tamás Estates

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Wine Seeker’s Guide to LivermoreValley

Rodrigue Molyneaux Winery R

odrigue Molyneaux Winery is a hidden gem tucked away in the Southern corner of beautiful Livermore Valley amongst vineyards that have been grown on the same land for centuries. Mostly known to locals and those who

charm with small-town friendliness.

Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Barbera, Primitivo, and Pinot Bianco. Like any great wine, Rodrigue Molyneaux wines are complex, balanced, and structured and pair well with many dishes.

Photos by Annie Tao Photography

As with most great bottles of wine, the process always starts with the vineyard. The estate vineyards on Rodrigue Molyneaux are meticulously farmed, and the grapes are tended to with the utmost care to ensure that each grape yields its unique flavor. Careful, sustainable farming and growing varietals that are sustainable to the terrior of the Livermore Valley have helped create award-winning wines.

09.05 & 09.06 2010

Rodrigue Molyneaux welcomes you to visit and stay awhile. While sipping on a glass of Rodrigue Molyneaux Wine, guests can lounge in comfortable garden chairs, enjoy picnics under the swaying eucalyptus and elm streets, stroll the gardens, and relax to the sound of the fountain. Rodrigue Molyneaux is a full-service winery with many events, private tastings, classes, and wine club.

Rodrique Molyneaux Winery 3053 Marina Ave, Livermore, CA info@rmwinery.com, www.rmwinery.com 925-443-1998 Hours: Saturday & Sunday 12:30- 5:00. Closed most major holidays.

29th Annual Harvest Wine Celebration Labor Day Weekend .

Visit us at Concannon & the winery.

12 August 10

10.

16 2010

Break for Grapes Charity Event & winemaker’s lunch. Proceeds go towards Oakland Children’s Hospital Oncology Department.

11.2 01130

Rodrigue Molyneaux Harvest CelebrationBarrel tasting, tour of the vineyards, winery & equipment with the sommelier & winemaker.

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Special Advertising Supplement

August 10 13

Director y 10017 Tesla Road, Livermore 925.443.3375 www.eagleridgevineyard.com

Rodrigue Molyneaux Winery

3053 Marina Ave., Livermore 925.443.1998 info@rmwinery.com www.rmwinery.com

5565 Tesla Road, Livermore 925.456.2305 5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore 925.456.2405 www.wentevinyards.com

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Events

ounded in 1883, Wente Vineyards is the country's oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery. Today, the winery maintains its leadership role in California winegrowing under the ownership and management by the Fourth and Fifth generations of the Wente family. Blending traditional and innovative winemaking practices, the winery draws from 3,000 acres of sustainably farmed estate vineyards to create an outstanding portfolio of wines. Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards is recognized as one of California’s premier wine country destinations, featuring wine tasting, fine dining, concerts and championship golf.

Wente Vineyards Estate Winery & Tasting Room and Vineyard Tasting Room offer visitors two unique opportunities. Daily complimentary tours of the winery facility allow visitors to see the Estate Winery’s state-of-the-art equipment in operation, including the new Small Lot Winery. At the Vineyard Tasting room enjoy a special tasting and tour in our historic sandstone caves.

Estate Winery Tasting Room 5565 Tesla Road, Livermore 925.456.2305 Open daily 11am - 4:30pm Daily tours 11am, 1pm, 2pm & 3pm

Vineyard Tasting Room 5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore 925.456.2405 Open daily 11am - 6:30pm Wine Tasting in the Caves Sat & Sun 2 pm

.

14 August 10

August 14th 12pm–4pm Summer Jubilee to the Nth Degree

You are invited to a day of music, wine and fun! Come taste our newest releases including the Nth Degree wines from our Small Lot Winery. $10.00 Club Wente Wine members, $5.00 for nonmembers. Includes a commemorative glass. Estate Winery Tasting Room.

Uncle Yu’s at the Vineyard 39 South Livermore Avenue #125 Livermore (925) 449-7000 http://www.uncleyu.com

September 18th 10am-4pm September 25th 10am-4pm Harvest Tour & Tasting

Wente Vineyards invites you to experience the winery as never before with this rare behind the scenes tour and tasting during the upcoming 2010 harvest.

Learn how Wente Vineyards produces world class wines, see the processing first hand and sample current vintages from our Small Lot Winery.

Reservations Required $20 Public/$15 Wine Club Members Estate Winery Tasting Room

Two for one wine tasting

Murrieta’s Well Winery & Tasting Room 3005 Mines Road, Livermore 925.456.2390 www.murrietaswell.com

Coupon must be presented at time of tasting. $10 Tasting Value. Cannot be combined with any other offer or discount.

Not valid during special events. Must be at least 21 yrs of age.

Other restrictions may apply.

Valid through 9/30/10. Not redeemable for cash.

5565 Tesla Road, Livermore 415.701.9463 www.tamasestates.com

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Science & Nature 100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know: Math Explains Your World

By John D. Barrow W. W. Norton & Company, $15.95, 284 pages A large segment of the public associates the working out of math problems with schoolwork or tedious employment. In sharp contrast to this general view, Professor John D. Barrow presents a wryly humorous narrative illustrating how fully ingrained math is in our lives. In lieu of an overly analytical textbook, Barrow chooses to relate his carefully gathered facts in a short-story fashion, which in turn reveal to the reader a few personal tidbits about Barrow himself. Readers learn of his fondness for ice cream and literary quotes, his avidly curious nature, as well as a penchant for confounding a willing audience with “obvious” information, related in a saturnine -- yet subdued -- glee reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes.

This reader enjoyed the “Mind Reading Tricks” section, despite the fact that Barrow failed to correctly predict my answer to the first (eagle). Overall, the book proved abnormally eye-opening regarding everyday items such as mirrors, PowerPoint presentations, the arrangement of items in packing boxes and the actual efficiency rate of turbine windmills (about 20%).

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

Decoding Reality

By Vlatko Vedral Oxford University Press, $29.95, 229 pages A new kid on the block with a fresh idea of what it’s all about wakes up the book world.

On the quantum level, information appears to have no meaning, appearing as simple units of decision. Yet, the whole modern society is based on that very fact—i.e. computer-machines language. It all stems from “bits and pieces.”

He begins to assemble an argument for the bases of our technological reality, pointing out that our soft tissues operate based on more machine-line processes behind the scenes. Even so, we are a composite always achieving a state of which the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Although his style is punchy with a prologue followed by three major parts being some 12 chapters and ending quite aptly with an epilogue. In all, a neat package, which mimics the machinery of reality. The book is a wonderful acknowledgement of reality’s complexity, giving us a neat rendering of what it ought to be. The author must be commended for his treatment of such an

illusive topic. An invigorating read. I see great promise for this talented and modern new thinker.

Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky The Second Sex

By Simone de Beauvoir Knopf, $40.00, 832 pages With recent cutbacks on college campuses, the arts and humanities programs are the most likely to lose funding, so certain interdisciplinary areas like gender studies are closed down despite heavy enrollment and frequent class solicitations.

However, with the complete English translation of The Second Sex, now available and closely heeding the increasing wave of feminist texts, readers are re-exposed, others introduced for the first time, to the living and breathing legacy of women writing about what it means to be a woman past, present, and future tenses.

The book covers all aspects of living and discovery, such portraits of language, sexuality, vigor, and “otherly” experience permeate the pages with references to over seventy female figures. Though in many parts of the world, women have been and unfortunately some continue to be perceived as conundrums and displayed as male accessories, inaccessible by the masses and intelligible in the ethos of high society, this once silenced demographic is now one of the leading pioneers of literature.

Simone de Beauvoir’s all-encompassing, extensive and extremely fulfilling research delves into the feminine self and tackles head-on traditional stereotypes, blatantly dispelling myth and ideology to reveal truth and fact as it relates to a literacy not governed by chore but through pursuit. The Second Sex is required reading and should be adopted into curriculums everywhere because it touches on everything it means to be feminine and gendered in society through varying means of evidentiary support and analysis provided in facets of anthropology, history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, science and theology. This book is an in-your-face demand for the inclusion of woman writers and the overall disposition of feminist thought to catalyze the mainstream of a new and improved hierarchy comprised of solely matriarchs.

Reviewed by Erienne Rojas

Relationships & Sex Laid: Young People’s Experiences with Sex in an Easy-Access Culture

By Shannon T. Boodram, EditorSeal Press, $15.95, 328 pages Everywhere we look sex is thrust in the faces of our youth. Yet even four decades after the sexual revolution we are still one of the most repressed nations in the world. We teach sex education in schools but fail to cover the most important aspect of sex— the emotional side.

We teach safe sex and the names of all the body parts and that abstinence is best but we never explain why.

Shannon Boodram, a young Canadian sex educator has filled that niche with her new book Laid: Young People’s Experiences with Sex in an Easy Access Culture.

“Reader, if your sexuality was a canvas and every partner you’ve ever had painted something on it, what would it look like?”

Boodram’s book is filled with 40 personal first accounts of youths ranging from their teen to their early twenties, male and female alike. Split into sections, the book covers everything from the “first” time, to sexually transmitted infections, rape, and abstinence. A perfect book for parents and teens alike. Each chapter ends with a question and answer session from the contributors and a checklist for the reader. Warning some of the stories are graphic and not suitable for everyone. However, the soul-bearing honesty of each contributor will touch your heart.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

Sex Appeal: Six Ethical Principles for the 21st Century

By Paul Abramson Oxford University Press, $19.95, 119 pages Sex Appeal has an attractive premise: a look into the ethical principles that should govern sex in our time. However, the execution is clumsy, and the ideas are difficult to get to. The outlining of these ethical principles is sloppy, and this makes judging the ideas tough to do.

Also, once the reader gets past the execution, some of the ideas simply aren’t worth it.

For example, the very first principle “Do No Harm” is an important one, but author Paul Abramson seems to live on another planet when it comes to saying exactly how the world will come together to teach such a

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principle. He has almost no regard for the frameworks that run societies such as law, culture, and religion. He doesn’t present his ideas in a way that makes their execution possible in a universal manner. Sexual practices are relative things; they vary with society, the individual, the time/circumstance of one’s life, and much more. One cannot simply say “Let’s make this a rule about sex worldwide,” and explain it in a chapter. It’s useful to explore our modern sexual practices in ethical terms, for sure, but the fruition of this project flops in this book.

Reviewed by Allena Tapia

August 10 15

Religion The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails

By Edited by John W. Loftus Prometheus Books, $21.00, 422 pages Books about and by Atheists have been in vogue now since 2006 when Richard Dawkins released the God Delusion. Since then, numerous authors, both theist and atheist, have jumped on the bandwagon and written their own thoughts on God, whatever that is, and those who lack any belief in It. Excluding two or three of these books, they boil down to hurling backhanded insults at the opposing viewpoint. That can be a lot of fun, but is neither enlightening nor helpful. John Loftus, a former evangelical preacher, has recently entered this arena. Unlike so many others, Mr. Loftus has brought a clear, civilized critique of not just his form of Christian faith but all faiths. Mr. Loftus’s simple yet powerful criticism is called the Outsider’s Test of Faith. It simply asks the theist to scrutinize his own faith and beliefs with the same skepticism that he approaches other faiths. The Christian Delusion is a collection of essays criticizing Christianity, in which the outsider’s test of faith provides

a theme. This book raises several issues that Christianity, if it is to remain rational and intellectually honest, must answer.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard The Outsider Interviews

By Jim Henderson, Todd Hunter, and Craig Spinks Baker Books, $24.99, 208 pages This book is dedicated to the people Jesus misses most — Outsiders. The Outsider Interviews: A New Generation Speaks Out on Christianity is the joint effort of a lively trio of writers who traveled to four American cities in 2008 to discover what Outsiders (aka non-Christians) from the 16-29 age group think about Christianity. In each city, they asked four people, a mix of Outsiders and Insiders (aka Christians), to sit on a stage with two strangers and share some of their feelings about spirituality, religion, and Christianity. The results are illuminating.

Christians willing to see themselves through the eyes of Outsiders will appreciate this combination book and DVD. The DVD includes video foot-

age from the interviews, while the book features the authors’ collaborative discussions — sometimes late at night over drinks. The banter between the authors is annoying at times, but the overall message is worth the read. Fueled by research purporting Christianity’s image problem, the authors tell the stories of real people behind the statistics, and promote better ways of connecting with the people Jesus misses most. Insiders, as well as Outsiders, will find The Outsider Interviews useful in broadening their capacity for dialogue with one another.

Reviewed by Diana Irvine A New Kind of Christianity

By Brian D. McLaren HarperOne, $24.99, 320 pages Author Brian McLaren poses 10 questions to the reader about Christianity and the Bible. In these questions McLaren considers the Bible’s story line, how readers typically read and interpret it, how the Bible should be understood, violence in the name of Jesus, and more. McLaren talks about the changing identity of Jesus and we as a church address same sex marriage.

Local Calendar 1

Children’s Storytime at Borders Davis 2:00– 3:00pm Borders, 500 First Street #1, Davis

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14 Children’s Storytime at Borders 24 Children’s Storytime at Borders Roseville 11:00–11:30am Borders, 2030 Douglas Blvd. Suite 9, Roseville

Sacramento 10:30–11:30am Borders, 2339 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento

Children’s Storytime at Borders Sacramento 10:30–11:30am Borders, 2339 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento

15 Children’s Storytime at Borders 28 Children’s Storytime at Borders

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17 Children’s Storytime at Borders

Children’s Storytime at Borders Roseville 11:00–11:30am Borders, 2030 Douglas Blvd. Suite 9, Roseville

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Children’s Storytime at Borders Davis 2:00–3:00pm Borders, 500 First Street #1, Davis

10 Children’s Storytime at Borders Sacramento 10:30–11:30am Borders, 2339 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento

16 August 10

Davis 2:00–3:00pm Borders, 500 First Street #1, Davis

Sacramento 10:30–11:30am Borders, 2339 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento

Roseville 11:00–11:30am Borders, 2030 Douglas Blvd. Suite 9, Roseville

29 Children’s Storytime at Borders Davis 2:00–3:00pm Borders, 500 First Street #1, Davis

21 Children’s Storytime at Borders 31 Children’s Storytime at Borders Roseville 11:00–11:30am Borders, 2030 Douglas Blvd. Suite 9, Roseville

22 Children’s Storytime at Borders Davis 2:00– 3:00pm Borders, 500 First Street #1, Davis

Roseville 11:00–11:30am Borders, 2030 Douglas Blvd. Suite 9, Roseville

“I love the Bible, I’m in awe of it at this very moment. But my quest for a new kind of Christianity has required me to ask some hard questions about the Bible I love. There will be no new kind of Christian faith without a new approach to the Bible.”

McLaren points to studies that Church attendance has been on the decline for nearly every religion. The questions McLaren poses and then answers are geared toward making the church relevant again to the 18 to 50 crowd. McLaren uses these ten questions to present his ideas on how the Church needs to change. McLaren approaches these questions and answers from a fairly liberal point of view especially when it comes to the question of accepting homosexuality.

McLaren talks about the Church needing to strip down Christianity every five hundred years or so and remodel it for the current generation, rewrite the contract with God. Being a liberal Christian myself I really found this book thought provoking and interesting.

Reviewed by Marc Filippelli The Book That Changed Europe: Picart and Bernard’s Religious Ceremonies of the World

By Lynn Hunt, Margaret C. Jacob, Wijnand Mijnhardt Belknap Press, $32.95, 380 pages It is hard to imagine that one book can change a society, but that is what the authors of this book argue, that Religious Ceremonies of the World was so revolutionary that it changed European society. The authors examine the life, times, and the world of Picart and Bernard, two Frenchmen who left France during the reign of Louis XIV and went to live in Amsterdam. They became involved in the book trade, Picart as an engraver and Bernard as a writer and publisher. They worked on many projects before collaborating on Religious Ceremonies of the World which examined all the different religions, from Judaism to Catholicism to the religions of China and Japan. They tried to show that all religions were similar and had an even temperament and were non-judgmental about other religions.

This book could use better editing. At times it gets too specific about authors of the European Enlightenment and ideas that can get too technical. And with three authors, it is hard to see how each one of them contributed distinctly to this work.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

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Travel Discover Thailand

By Edited by Lonely Planet Lonely Planet, $24.99, 407 pages Lonely Planet’s Discover Thailand must be the most colorful, comprehensive, and informative travel guide (“encyclopedia� seems more appropriate) that I’ve ever read about Thailand. Usually, after I’ve used a travel guide, either I leave it in the place I visited, or I give it away, but I definitely won’t be parting with this guide anytime soon.

At least not until after I’ve scoured every beach and temple, city and forest featured in this book.

Using the book to explore is quite easy; the travel information is organized with eight geographical groupings: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Central Thailand, Northern Thailand, Northeastern Thailand, Southeastern Thailand, Gulf Coast, and Andaman Coast. The usual features of travel highlights, itineraries, and local perspectives are all included, along with information about Thailand’s history and culture, and we are given a glimpse of daily life, too. This is not just a book for those who visit Thailand; it can be a sufficient resource for anyone relocating to the country or considering the possibility of doing so.

Reviewed by D. Harms

Overnight Sensations: Asia Pacific

By Philippe Kjellgren Chronicle Books, $100.00, 312 pages Overnight Sensations is a coffee table book for frequent and armchair travelers.

This volume in the series focuses on Asia Pacific hotels and resorts, drawn from some of the hotels that make up the Kiwi Collection, a travel guide and booking service for some of the most exclusive destinations around the world. Interestingly organized into five categories (Islands, Countryside, City, Jungle and Beach), Overnight Sensations provides gorgeous pictures and some evocative descriptions that create a

sense of the atmosphere one could expect at the location. The photographs are excellent, though the most compelling tend to be the panoramic shots of outside views in resorts beyond the urban areas.

The range of resorts and hotels is wide, from jungle resorts on the beaches of Bali to downtown luxury high-rise hotels in Tokyo, giving prospective travelers plenty of options and suggestions for vacation planning. There are no prices listed, and the only information beyond name and location is in the index—a simple listing of each hotel’s website and phone number, organized by country. As such, this is not a traditional guidebook but good for exciting the senses, while one plans a trip overseas. Or imagines it from one’s armchair.

has his fleeting glory years. The seasons where neither he nor his team fared well are chronicled in almost as much detail as the championships. I hate to criticize an author for being too thorough – especially ones with such obvious passion for their subject – but Maris is just not that compelling a figure. For one thing, his story is as much about what was done to him as it is about what he himself accomplished.

I did appreciate the chapters on Maris’ two-year stint with the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals, as this story has not been told before. And I enjoyed the clever juxtaposition of real events in Maris’ life with their counterparts in his semi-autobiographical novel, Slugger in Right.

One of the best players of his era has finally gotten the fair and accurate biography he deserves, and possibly more.

Reviewed by Bruce Marshall

of humor that has made him beloved among bicycle enthusiasts online and has successfully taken it into print. His rants and tirades although one sided and callous ring true. He venomously exposes the underlying superficiality of the hipster cycling obsession in a humorous, cruel yet good-natured way.

Like a father figure trying to steer his flock, he also manages to hand out sound advice. He generously offers guidance but not solutions to common cycling issues.

Stopping short of actually telling you what to do, he gives paints you a general idea, then shoves you off to figure it things out for yourself. The insights into cycling history in American culture provide an interesting counterpoint to the tongue lashings found throughout the book. Short, concise and ridiculously funny, you may not come out a better person for reading this, but you will certainly be entertained.

Reviewed by Auey Santos

everyone in his party is a suspect. The fact that no one close to Sodoc will talk to the media after his death, including his wife, demonstrates that they all “seek to conceal.�

Sodoc’s father convinces the members of the climbing party to make another trip up the mountain to find his son’s body. Quentin Stern is supposed to be a tabloid journalist who writes up an account of all this in a barely literate way.

The actual writers of this fictional tale demonstrate that they do have skill when it comes to writing in a sloppy and trashy fashion. Other than that, there’s no cause to intentionally pick up the book.

Reviewed by Joseph Arellano

Sports Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero

By Tom Calvin and Danny Peary Touchstone, $26.99, 422 pages The great Yankee teams of the 50s and 60s, starring Mickey Mantle, have been the subject of countless books. Even the lesser players from that era have had their biographies written or autobiographies ghostwritten. Besides Mantle, the most famous (or infamous) of these was Roger Maris, who broke Babe Ruth’s single-season homerun record. Maris has had his fair share of ink, most memorably in Peter Golenbock’s Dynasty; and his story was faithfully told in the HBO film 61*. The new Roger Maris:Reluctant Hero presents the man in unprecedented detail.

Roger Maris was the first martyr of the media age. His great triumph turned to ashes as he was hounded by newspaper writers. This unsolicited press attention, much of it shockingly defamatory, turned gullible fans against him. Maris changed: a modest, personable, unselfish man – also, it must be said, headstrong and stubborn – turned into a bitter and disillusioned recluse.

Is Roger Maris interesting enough for a full-length book? I am not sure. Diehard fans will probably enjoy every page, but I could have done without 50 pages of Marach-Maris-Marich-Maras family genealogy. It is a long stretch before Roger gets to the majors, is traded to the Yankees and

Bike Snob

By BikeSnobNYC Chronicle Books, $16.95, 219 pages It is not a requirement to be a bike enthusiastic to enjoy this book. This book will appeal to you if enjoy a good stereotypelashing and dishing out generalizations surrounding cycling and people in general.

Love sarcasm? Revel in the merciless? This book is a goldmine.

Bike Snob NYC takes his cruel, scathing, and direct brand

Abandoned on Everest

By Charles G. Irion; Ronald J. Watkins Irion Books, $12.95, 143 pages It is sad to think that others will be fooled, as I was, into thinking that this is a nonfiction account of a mountaineering tragedy.

The cover tells us that this is the “True Story of Derek Sodoc’s Death!� by Quentin Stern; accompanied by a realistic looking photo. In fact, it’s a very badly written murder mystery.

Derek Sodoc, in this story, is one of the richest and most powerful men on earth. He happens to die under strange circumstances while climbing the highest of all mountains, and

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Historical Fiction Beyond the Olive Grove: Volume Two of the Magdala Trilogy

By Peter Longley iUniverse, $25.95, 462 pages Joshua of Nazareth has been many things: stone mason, carpenter, vinekeeper.

But now it’s time for him to accept the greatest title of his life — that of Messiah. From the tiny village of Bethany, to the fishing community of Galilee, to the holy city of Jerusalem, Joshua spreads his message of peace and salvation to rich and poor alike. Along with his twelve chosen disciples, Joshua gathers a circle of close friends, including Maria of Magdala. Known as a whore and an adulteress, Maria’s very presence and the obvious love between her and Joshua slowly begins dividing Joshua’s followers, threatening the very heart of his ministry.

In Beyond the Olive Grove —the second book in the Magdala Trilogy—Longley continues the stories of Joshua, Maria, and Linus Flavius as they travel along the paths that destiny has laid out for them. I struggled a bit with the fact that this is sup-

posedly a story about Maria (also known as Mary Magdalene), yet almost the entire book centers around Joshua’s life and the path he travels to become the “Messiah.”

Toward the end of the book, Maria’s role becomes much more integral to the story, but there is simply no way that she is the main character of this book.

That being said, Longley continues his story with the same simple and direct prose that characterized his first book. His style matures slightly as well, becoming more descriptive and a little less abrupt. His unique interpretations of the life of the Messiah, along with his interesting and plausible explanations of miraculous events and his indications that Maria of Magdala played a vital role in the ministry of God’s son, make for a fascinating and intriguing story and increase anticipation for the third and final book in the series.

Sponsored Review In the Time of the Butterflies

By Julia Alvarez Algonquin Books, $13.95, 352 pages History weighs heavily on a people. In the Time of the Butterflies is the true tale of the Mirabal sisters, revolutionaries in the Dominican Republic who opposed the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and were

persecuted for their activism. Theirs in an engrossing tale of love, politics, and revolution during the mid-20th century. Known as Las Mariposas, the four Mirabal sisters, only one of whom survived Trujillo’s reign of terror, are national heroes in their home country. Alvarez gives each sister a chance to tell the story, each in a distinctive voice and personality— from the leader Minerva, willing to risk herself for her beliefs, to Dede, the sole survivor, who managed to avoid much of the political activity of her sisters. Each woman’s story moves the novel forward to its climax and gives readers an understanding of life in Trujillo’s time and the lengths people were willing to go to in order to remove him from power.

While the perspective-switching may seem a little too reminiscent of Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies is an important novel about revolution, sacrifice, loss, and survival.

Reviewed by Ashley McCall

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

By Julia Alvarez Algonquin Books, $13.95, 336 pages Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez, a New York native who spent the majority of her first 10 years in the Dominican Republic, until her father’s part in an unsuccessful plot to overthrow brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo forced her family to seek asylum in the United States, uses elements of her own childhood to great effect in her novel.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a meditation, from the varied perspective of the four daughters of the book’s title family, on what it means to be an immigrant in the United States, both politically and personally.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is about more than one family’s escape from Trujillo’s Dominican Republic; it is a novel about culture clash, about the feelings of isolation and difference inherent in the immigrant experience, about the divisions that occur between traditional parents and their American-raised (or at least American-influenced) offspring, and about See GARCIA, page 21

Knit in Comfort: A Novel

By Isabel Sharpe Avon A, $13.99, 300 pages Megan’s life is a carefully controlled mess; her marriage remains intact only because of her desire to do what’s best for her kids, and her friendships are all superficial at best. But this is what she has chosen, and she believes herself to be happy enough until her new tenant, Elizabeth, abruptly pushes Megan out of her comfort zone. Elizabeth thought

she had found the life she always wanted in Comfort, North Carolina, but she soon discovers that drama is everywhere, even if it is not immediately apparent. Megan and Elizabeth are destined to change each other’s lives.

Popular Fiction Noah’s Children: One Man’s Response to the Environmental Crises A Novel

By Huck Fairman Xlibris, $19.99, 315 pages Hamilton Warring is a man driven by a desire to inspire change. On a professional level as a local newspaper reporter, he spreads the word about the environment in peril; on a personal level, he strives to learn from previous mistakes. But Ham struggles to make meaningful connections -- with his increasingly estranged daughter, with the intriguing women he encounters, with a public seemingly indifferent to the looming threat of global warming.

When he spearheads the creation of Earthstudies, a web-based forum for discussion and information collection, Ham takes his mission across the country, embarking on a journey that may change his life forever, for better or for worse.

Noah’s Children is a curious mix of fiction and nonfiction; the events are fictional, but the information, the controversy, and the issues raised are very much based in reality. And the fundamental question raised by

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both the novel and its protagonist is what will it take to shake us out of our complacency?

While the novel can get a bit preachy at times—of course, when you’re talking about massive extinctions and global climate change, a little preachiness is warranted, I think—it triumphs in the exploration of its protagonist. Ham is deeply flawed, obsessive, myopic, sometimes even somewhat misanthropic, but that’s all by design. He is our proxy, representing both our virtues and our failures. His journey becomes synonymous with that of all of mankind: hope, disillusionment, outrage, fear...they’re all present in Ham. But he also becomes a symbol of the Earth itself. His happiness, his interactions with others, his very ability to live is affected by what he learns, his conduct, and his decisions. He is so burdened by his knowledge, his despair, and the omnipresent pressure of looming catastrophe, that even in moments of peace and contentment, those darker, deeper thoughts are never far from his mind. What often makes him unlikable is what also makes him compelling.

Noah’s Children isn’t perfect, but it is a valuable exercise in opening lines of communication—a key first step to initiating lasting change.

Sponsored Review

See KNIT, page 20

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Tweens How to Train Your Dragon Book 5: How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale

By Cressida Cowell Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $5.99, 246 pages Cressida Cowell does it yet again! Book five of the enormously popular How to Train Your Dragon series holds its own in the next saga of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. How to Train Your Dragon – How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale Book 5 is the exciting tale of Hiccup’s subsequent adventure to save the Vikings from certain death. Cowell introduces a new character in this installment, called Humungously Hotshot, a true hero if ever there was one. He ultimately becomes Hiccup’s “bardiguard” by Hiccup’s own father; Stoick the Vast. Humungous was enslaved by the evil Alvin the Treacherous for fifteen years, and when he finally escapes, he comes to rescue Hiccup and his friends from the black dragons. Cowell is brilliant in her delivery of each of the How to Train Your Dragon books, relying on previous characters yet creating new ones for each new tale. This particular story includes Hiccup’s family past, giving deeper

insight into his heritage and his parents’ beginning. Witty, engaging and remarkably imaginative How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale is a must-read in the series.

Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson The Very Little Princess

By Marion Dane Bauer Random House Books for Young Readers, $12.99, 122 pages One morning, Zoey’s mother takes her to meet a grandmother she’s never known. The grandmother, Hazel, is warm and welcoming. Soon after arrival, she and Zoey’s mother fall into an argument.

To escape their quarreling, Zoey explores the house, stumbling on her mother’s old bedroom. There, she discovers a doll-house and a tiny doll. Zoey sheds a tear. The doll wakes up. This profound story starts out as a magical adventure. The mother, through Zoey’s eyes, is fun, even if mystifying. Zoey is thrilled to discover a doll that can sit up and sneeze and talk. But Zoey’s mother has inexplicable silences and the argument downstairs doesn’t let up. The doll, Princess Regina, is-

It’s not too late to sign up for Summer Reading and win great prizes a Sony Reader with a $25 Reader Store gift card, iPod Touch with a $25 iTunes gift card, Nintendo dSi with a $25 Target gift card, and Target gift cards.

Exciting, fun for all ages – pre-readers, kids, families, teens, and adults. Free summer reading series includes: • storytimes for pre-readers • arts and crafts • game nights • book discussions • how-to workshops and more!

Kids and teens can earn a book, and adults will get a book bag for their summer reading accomplishments, plus be eligible to win other great prizes.

read to succeed!

Studies show children, who participate in summer reading programs, retain more and do better in school.

Sign up at saclibrary.org or at a Sacramento Public Library location near you. info: 916.264.2920

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sues commands, making Zoey her servant.

Zoey falls easily into this role. When she leaves Princess Regina alone too long (obeying Regina’s command to find flowers), the doll goes back to sleep, though Zoey’s tears bring her awake again.

“And then, though she had spoken as firmly as a three-and-one-quarter-inch doll can, she found herself suddenly uncertain. What would the girl do? She remembered vaguely that these giant creatures could be unpredictable.”

As the mystery of what makes the doll sleep or awaken becomes clear, a deeper story emerges of abandonment and bravery.

Marion Dane Bauer distills this bittersweet tale with grace and humor. Sayles’ illustrations beautifully enhance it.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Varadan Vampireology: The True History of the Fallen

By Archer Brookes, Edited by Nick Holt Candlewick Press, $19.99, 32 pages A good man is dead, and a book containing his life’s work is delivered to his friend, a private detective. Within the book, the detective finds a carefully plotted history of vampires, punctuated with his friend’s observations, thoughts, and instructions.

As the detective reads this half-textbook, half-scrapbook, he is contacted by an old acquaintance of his friend. Can she be trusted? Can anyone?

Vampireology: The True History of the Fallen Ones is a vividly realized mix of mystery, alternate history, and paranormal thriller.

The thoroughly detailed textbook is replete with personal letters, small trinkets, and all manner of colorful and intriguing paraphernalia, adding to the “realism” of the detective’s journey of discovery. The history of the vampire-sieged world delightfully parallels the mystery of the strange woman’s correspondence, and as each plotline progresses, the reader grows more and more invested, right alongside the detective.

The execution is slick, the presentation impressive, and the story clichéd in all the right ways. (The trinkets are a bit of a letdown, but hey, silver is expensive, so I’ll give them a pass on that one.)

In short, Vampireology has style for days, and it is a welcome new addition to a very tired genre.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

THE ONE BOOK EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT! Please join us for two free One Book Sacramento programs: Thursday, September 23, 7 p.m.

Sacramento Public Library will host filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal in the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I Street, Sacramento.

They will show and discuss their Academy Award-nominated documentary, Trouble the Water. The film tells the redemptive tale of two unforgetable people living through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Crest Theatre | 7:30p.m.

Wednesday, October 20, 7:30 p.m. Zeitoun author Dave Eggers will discuss his book at the Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento.

Egger’s appearance is presented in conjunction with California Sacramento’s literary arts series Lectures and The Sacramento Bee, presenting partners for this year’s One Book Sacramento.

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WANGARI MAATHAI

2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Founder of the Greenbelt Movement Unbowed - Prof. Maathai’s extraordinary memoir September 21, 2007

YA N N M A R TE L

Man Booker Prize Life of Pi (Illustrated Ed..)

October 24, 2007

JOIN US FOR OUR FIFTH SEASON!

2007-2008 SEASON

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saclibr ar y. org WAN G ARI M AATHAI 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Founder of the Greenbelt Movement Unbowed - Prof. Maathai’s extraordinary memoir September 21, 2007

G E RA LD IN E BROOKS 2006 Pulitzer Prize People of the Book, March, Year of Wonders February 6, 2008

WIL L IE BRO WN

In conversation with PHIL ISENBERG

YA N N MA RTE L Man Booker Prize

Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times Two-term Mayor of San Francisco,

Art, Architecture & Photography 50 Fashion Designers You Should Know

By Simone Werle Prestel, $19.95, 160 pages 50 major fashion designers are profiled in this book in full color spreads, showcasing their most memorable creations. Simone Werle, a brilliant writer and designer based in Munich, offers a fascinating look into fashion and its colorful designers by providing a detailed and informative explanation as to why certain fashion trends emerged as others didn’t.

“A very exciting handbook of a century of fashion which should delight readers of every taste and age.”

Red Carpet regulars such as Armani, Prada, Calvin Klein, and Dolce and Gabbana are included as well as the classic clothiers Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld and Oscar de la Renta. While many of the designers have designed for the masses, Ralph Laurel,

Donna Koran, and Diana Von Furstenberg, among others, prefer the fierce world over its functional. Anyone reading this book will learn how the 20th century designers made fashion history and who is making it now such as McCartney, Marc Jacobs, and Tom Ford.

This is a collection which belongs to any fashionista hands and is a welcome edition to the world of fashion.

Reviewed by Claude Ury Great Houses of the South

By Laurie Ossman Rizzoli, $55.00, 271 pages Great Houses of the South is more than an attractive coffee table book, it is full of wonderful photographs and lovely descriptions of the history and construction of the Southern houses. However, its strength lies in its unexpected use as a guidebook for the dozen or so unknown estates-cum-museums dotting America below the Mason-Dixon line. Though many, if not all, of the hous-

es profiled were plantations, but the author does an excellent job of balancing the presence of slavery and its relevance and place in U.S. history. The book’s strength also lies in its photographs, which are sumptuous, sharp, and incredibly detailed. Whether it be Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina or Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, one can almost smell and feel what life was like on those great estates, and the anecdotes included make the inhabitants come alive.

The downside to packing so many Southern houses into this book is that it felt rushed and cramped for space, and its objective was lost in the effort to feature as many photographs as possible. One wished that the author tightened the scope of Great Houses of the South but as is, the book is an excellent addition to anyone’s library.

Reviewed by Angela Tate Rough Justice: A DC Comics Sketchbook

by Alex Ross Pantheon, $30.00, 256 pages The art of Alex Ross is iconic and instantly recognizable for those people who read comics. He is a giant in the industry. Now comes a collection of his pencil sketches,

with many ideas aired for the first time; from Batboy to Superman Jr. You see the many quick pencil sketches as he goes through many different ideas, from the new Batmobile to the what the covers would look like for each month. These sketches, whether complete, or simple renderings, are incredible. The way that he shows the same face of Superman, but with different shadows and lights clearly shows that Alex Ross is a master at his craft.

The finished pencil drawings of Batman’s and Superman’s head toward the beginning of the book are brilliant, and the potential front cover of a Superman issue is tough to look away from. This book is for any fan of comic art, hopefully people will pick up this book that are not into comics because he is such a good artist.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

Business & Investing The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

By Matt Ridley Harper, $26.99, 438 pages In The Rational Optimist, author Matt Ridley sets out to make a case for how the world is progressing in terms of technology, population and trade. This is an elaborate timeline study that examines the history of human development from its earliest known beginnings through today. Ridley takes a contrarian approach to many popular mainstream theories such as organic food production and self-sufficiency being good for the future of humanity. He disproves these and other theories with an abundance of statistics and historical references.

“The best thing that we can do for the planet is build more skyscrapers.”

Ridley’s conclusions are often counterintuitive and require careful reading to understand their meaning. His ability to juggle multiple strains of thought running simultaneously is remarkable. There are often contradictory statements in the same sentence.

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Unfortunately, the syntax and some phrases in this book are clearly British and challenging to correlate with the surprising conclusions made by the author. What is very clear is that there’s usually a negative impact felt by the masses when they live in a country with a strong centralized government.

The interrelated aspects of the book are reminiscent of a 1970’s series of PBS shows called Connections with James Burke. Too technical to be enjoyable.

Reviewed by Ruta Arellano Building Social Business

By Muhammad Yunus with Karl Weber Public Affairs, $25.95, 272 pages This book by the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner shows that lending to the needy could make business profitable and transform their lives. It advocates an alternative economy of business devoted exclusively to helping needy people in society.

“Practical knowledge would be useful if you do not have experience as you can learn as you go along with a mentor, investor or a partner to challenge and support you.”

The companies envisioned by Dr. Yunus would invest leftover money in expanding their charitable efforts rather than paying dividends to shareholders.

The author shows how social business transforms lives and offers practical guidance to those wanting to create social business on their own. Further explanation is made as to how public and corporate policies need to be adapted to make room for his suggested business model, and illustrates why social business holds the key to redeeming the failed promise of free-market enterprise. Dr. Yunus has developed numerous case studies of successful businesses for caring treatments for rare cancers and blood diseases in children throughout the world.

Giving poor people the resources to help themselves, Dr. Yunus has offered these individuals something more valuable than a plate of food, namely security in its basic form. Dr. Yunus believes that social business has just made improvements in the lives of many people and has expanded into the most important social and economic barometer of social trends.

Running a successful social business requires obtaining financing, which is viewed

by Dr. Yunus as a basic hindrance to change in the business environment.

For the benefit of the readers, it should be pointed out that Dr. Yunus has invoked a

new basis for capitalism whereby social business has the potential to change the failed promise of free market enterprise. His theory has been adopted by many corporations, social activists and the like throughout Asia, South America, Europe, and America.

Reviewed by Claude Ury

KNIT, cont’ from page 18 Knit in Comfort is a wonderful little novel, rich with historical references and packed with complex characters and circumstances that might be more common than readers realize. Megan’s sham half-marriage is heartbreaking, and her consequential broken spirit even more so. Her long-in-coming confrontation with her husband will have readers rooting for her. The diverse group of women that makes up Megan’s knitting group provides more context and depth for the story. This is a relatively quick read, but definitely worth picking up.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero

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History Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America

By Erika Lee and Judy Yung Oxford University Press, $27.95, 386 pages In 1910, Angel Island opened its doors in order to process the endless streams of immigrants getting off boats in San Francisco harbor. Americans were crying for the doors into the country to be closed in the early years of the twentieth century. The Island’s inspectors were supposed to refuse admittance to any and all undesirables by ferreting out falsities, subjecting them to sweeping health checkups for communicable diseases, or other health problems.

Lee and Jung’s work highlights each race/ ethnicity that came through Angel Island.

They include the numbers applying to get in, the reasons for leaving, their hopes for their lives in America, using not only records, but the stories and words of the people who actually went through Angel Island. Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, Korean, Russians, Jews, Mexicans, and Filipinos all passed through during the island’s 30 history as

the “Ellis Island of the West.” All groups were segregated by race and sex and due to the background investigations. Their stay could last anywhere from one night to more than a year.

Heartbreaking stories, capricious inspectors, and some dreams fulfilled, Angel Island’s story needs to be told. Americans need to read it.

Reviewed by Gwen Stackler America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation

By Elaine Tyler May Basic Books, $25.95, 214 pages 50 years ago, this past May 2010, the FDA announced approval for the birth control pill. In the early 60’s, the pill was heralded as a mean to contain the population explosion eradicate war and poverty worldwide and ensure stable marriages. As the decade unfolded, many credited or blamed the pill for the sexual revolution that became worldwide.

Professor May offers a unique personal perspective on the drug’s history: her father was a clinical researcher who worked on developing the pill, and her mother was involved in the birth control movement. In the early 70’s from Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick to the hundreds of women

who volunteered for the early she joined a clinical trial of the new pill and her medical records are now among the thousands used to document the safety and effectiveness of the slow-dose pill.

Other topics discussed in this study include the women who have been responsible for the pill’s, from Margaret Sanger and Katherine McCormick to the hundreds of women who volunteered for the early, risky clinical trials.

Men’s changing relationship to the pill and numerous efforts to create an oral contraceptive for men are also discussed.

Reviewed by Claude Ury Death in California: The Bizarre, Freakish, and Just Curious Ways People Die in the Golden State

By David Kulczyk Craven Street Books, $15.95, 169 pages The author, a Sacramento, California writer, tells a story of thirty-one shocking murders and accidents that stunned the very soul of the state and took place between 1852 and 2007. California has always been a

destination for people with dreams of fame and fortune. Many immigrants, as pointed out by the author, were mugged for a watch or a few pieces of gold. One sees the hostility between white settlers and native people in Butte County from 1862 to 1870. Also, of interest was the analysis of the pedophile in the 1920s who murdered young boys in his Riverside County farm promising them work. “Anissa Jones” looks at a drug overdosed girl who appeared in the 1960s television show, “Family Show.”

Much has been written about the death penalty. It is important to bear in mind the fact that whether one favors or opposes the capital punishment one won’t believe that accounts to the fact that people who claimed innocence until the end probably were telling the truth. As the author indicates, “Death doesn’t care about oneself, your dreams, your social status, religion, or race.”

Reviewed by Claude Ury

Reference Fast Track Photographer, Revised and Expanded Edition: Leverage Your Unique Strengths for a More Successful Photography Business

By Dane Sanders Amphoto Books, $16.99, 240 pages Professional wedding photographer, author and motivational speaker Dane Sanders uses Fast Track Photographer to provide business insights to the inquiring newbie or seasoned yet unsuccessful professional. It focuses on development of one’s unique talents to create a new market, rather than encouragement to conform to an existing one. The author explains other topics, such as starting a business analogous to individual lifestyles, avoiding common mistakes of the photographic trade, and ways to stay ahead of the competition. Purchase of this book allows its owner to access a special online evaluation test called a pDNA; from this questionnaire a customized profile is derived that is further interpreted by corresponding chapters.

This no-nonsense handbook is inspirational, not technical. It stresses how knowledge of one’s own skills and their limitations are as crucial to success as recognition of one’s personal aims. In other words, you can’t achieve a goal that you have not set.

On one hand, the labels of ‘Signature Brand Photographer’ and ‘Freelance Photographer’ seem simplistic because there are so many situations where these categories overlap.

Nonetheless, this book eliminates common phobias and accentuates business acumen as the positive path to a photographic career. The beauty of its premise lies in its application to any creative venture.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs

By Ellen Galinsky HarperStudio, $16.99, 382 pages Mind in the Making covers the seven essential life skills that children need to succeed: self-control, perspective-taking, communication, connecting, critical thinking, taking on challenges, and self-directed learning, using research, examples, tips and vignettes. Information is clearly explained, but the delivery is dry and unimaginative, making the text difficult to get through.

Parents will find in this book a summary of all the parenting advice they’ve come up against, and it’s certainly valuable to have all in one volume. Advice and examples cover a wide range of children and ages, not just older kids, babies, and toddlers. Although Mind in the Making carefully presents ways for caregivers to develop each skill, the reader will first need to slog through the treatise of each skill, including the numbing research and endless citations, but the truly focused will find the expertise and know-how that they are seeking.

Reviewed by Allena Tapia

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GARCIA, con’t from page 18 the searching for a place to truly belong that these struggles engender. Julia Alvarez manages to bring her readers into the lives of the Garcia daughters, their relationships, their hang-ups, their neuroses and occasional psychoses, without being heavy-handed; what she provides is an imperfect but powerful portrait of a family in transition, and the manner in which that transition affects the rest of their lives.

Reviewed by Ashley McCall

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Romance A Spiral of Echoes

By Barbara M. Hodges, Maggie Pucillo Chalet Publishers, $16.95, 306 pages After Isabelle discovers her husband’s death and his latest lover, she withdraws, and goes on a quest to find herself on her own terms. Despite badgering from her friends, she treks back to her beloved Baja, Mexico, to escape the hectic life of her past, to rejoin and reconnect with her original love — weaving and nature. As the story advances, the reader is in for a treat. A ghost and a handsome volcanologist distract Isabelle.

The two authors have coordinated an introspection seldom seen. Theirs is a study of a woman’s escape from the tradition of roles to find her inner self. She gradually learns the importance of time passage, allowing her feelings to connect with the ocean and animals around her.

The authors share a brilliant glimpse of the inner thoughts of a woman discouraged by those close to her, while inspired by a rediscovery of her connection with nature.

Although Maggie Pucillo appears to be new on the scene, Barbara M. Hodges has penned five other novels, each focusing on a different literary approach. With a flowing vocabulary, the authors enjoy a style that pulls the reader into the prose and doesn’t let go.

Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky The Night She Got Lucky

By Susan Donovan St. Martin’s Press, $7.99, 337 pages Ginger Garrison is having a rough year.

Her career is in the tank, the ink just dried on her divorce decree, and her twin teenage boys are getting ready to leave the nest. If it wasn’t for her dog, she wouldn’t have much of a reason to get out of bed in the morning … that is, until she meets photographer/ local playboy Lucio “Lucky” Montevez.

Author Susan Donovan attempts to mate a screwball comedy to a sexy romance, but unfortunately has only a minimal amount of success.

Ginger is almost over-devoted to her dog and remarkably naïve for a divorced mother of two, while Lucky is a stereotypical love interest. Secondary characters range from mildly funny (twin brothers Jason and Josh) to condescending and irritating (many of the members in Ginger’s dog-walking group.)

Worse, the dialogue is stilted, as if the

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characters were living in a world where no one could use contractions in daily conversation. Fans looking for a realistic but funny contemporary romance may be better off reading Jennifer Crusie or Christie Ridgeway.

Reviewed by Jennifer King A Kiss at Midnight

By Eloisa James Avon, $7.99, 384 pages Eloisa James has long been trusted to produce fun, witty, and sexy historical romances full of unforgettable and incredibly likable characters. The charm of her books lies in her unconventional plotting and the warmth she imbues in her fiction. Unfortunately, A Kiss at Midnight fails to live up to James’s past novels.

This is a very straightforward re-telling of Cinderella, which, in proper hands, can be given more life than the Disney version.

James does not move beyond the fairy tale aspects, which is the book’s major flaw.

Kate Daltry is our Cinderella, and while her plight is sympathetic, she lacks any uniqueness. Our Prince Charming is an actual Prince -- Gabriel of Warl-Marburg-Baalsfield, to be exact, and he is no more than a caricature of a rakish, ne’er-do-well hero of historical romance.

They are thrown together when ludicrous events force Kate to impersonate her stepsister Victoria, who is engaged to Gabriel’s cousin and must obtain his approval to be married.

The standard Jamesian touches are here -- multiple characters, witty but inane dialogue, capers, and slapstick -- but it is dull and lifeless. The conflict is nil, which make the goings-on pointless, and the author’s note at the end actually hurts the story more than it helps to explain the completely wallpaper aspects of the setting. A Kiss at Midnight is disappointing and not one of James’ better efforts.

Reviewed by Angela Tate

power of lightning during a storm. Great power doesn’t always pay the bills, though– so together with her slightly seedy but sexy ex, Mick, she’s come to the small town of Magellan to assist in a missing persons case. Unfortunately, the local chief of police doesn’t appreciate Janet’s interference–or the unusual amounts of property damage that occur in her presence (after all, most cops aren’t going to buy “the other god did it” argument for long.)

The beauty of James’s book is how believably Janet straddles both worlds–you can thrill to her battles with otherworldly creatures and demons, and then sympathize over Janet’s troubles with her love life and day to day affairs. With its vivid imagery and extremely erotic sex scenes, Stormwalker offers an engrossing read for both fantasy fans and romance readers alike.

Reviewed by Jennifer King Chick with a Charm

By Vicki Lewis Thompson Signet Eclipse, $7.99, 336 pages Sexy, free-spirited witch Lily Revere needs a date for a wedding. Enter attorney Griffin Taylor, a regular at the Bubbling Cauldron, the bar where she works. Griffin seems like he might be interested in her but for some reason has never asked her out. Lily decides to take matters into her own hands and slips him a love potion to make him desire her no matter what. As they spend more time together, both become more and more attached, Griffin because of the spell and Lily just because.

I found I couldn’t set aside my discomfort of the plot long enough to enjoy Thompson’s humorous and quick-witted writing in this second “Babes on Brooms” romantic fantasy. Griffin knows he’s been drugged and desperately wants his free will back, yet Lily keeps him ensnared. That’s not romance—not at all. While the charac-

ters are wonderful and the writing superb, I am going to have to recommend you find a better romance book. One with two consenting adults.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

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Stormwalker

By Allyson James Berkley, $7.99, 340 pages Stormwalker offers a fascinating spin on the quickly growing traditional “urban fantasy” setting. Author Allyson James sets her story not in a noirish big city that never sleeps, but in the deserts and caverns of the American Southwest.

Heroine Janet Begay is a Stormwalker, capable of absorbing and redirecting the

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Horror Songs of a Dead Dreamer

By Thomas Ligotti Subterranean Press, $40.00, 282 pages The stuff of our nightmares, are they really just a passing scare or do they show us something deeper and more sinister? In this reprinted collection, originally published in 1981, we get to revisit the stories of Thomas Ligotti. A very Lovecraft and Poeinspired collection of stories, the book aims more to scare us with the dark and deep philosophical brood- ing, and pain, going deep into our dreams and our nightmares.

It attempts to peel back the curtain to show what we are truly made of.

Each story is self-contained, so you can jump around the book. Some of the basic themes flow from story to story: dark houses, dark minds, dark books. Even though there are no blood and gore scenes, this collection is not for the faint of heart. It is for people who like Lovecraft-type stories, the dream monsters. These stories will cause you to look in your mirror twice to see what you truly see, to avoid dark houses in bad neighborhoods, and not to inquire too deeply in used bookstores.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

By Steve HockensmithQuirk Books, $12.95, 287 pages Well before the dashing Mr. Darcy would turn Elizabeth Bennet’s life upside down, the world was much simpler. That is, until the dreadfuls returned.

As Mr. Bennet tries to rally support to battle the coming scourge, he also brings shame on the family by insisting that his daughters learn to fight the zombie menace. With scientists, martial artists, and soldiers descending on the quiet town in the wake of the threat, Lizzie and her sisters find themselves under siege from suitors and dreadfuls alike.

Many may deny that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies had any charm at all, but in my opinion, a lot of its charm was centered around how true the story endeavored to remain to the original, in both tone and plotline. Dawn of the Dreadfuls made no such effort.

The characters became caricatures; Mrs. Bennet in particular was an intolerably shrill irritant, rather than a mere annoyance. And, to be honest, it’s a prequel book.

We know that Elizabeth is single when the original book starts, so why should we care about either of the potential love interests?

In the end, we shouldn’t, and we don’t.

That sums up the reading experience perfectly.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

Urban Fiction

Secret Saturdays

By Torrey Maldonado Putnam Juvenile, $16.99, 195 pages Author Torrey Maldonado was raised in the Brooklyn projects and taught in New York City public schools for almost ten years.

He experienced firsthand the trials of teens growing up fatherless, or at least with poor role models, poverty and a desperate desire to survive. Secret Saturdays reveals this life with four friends from broken homes and jaded pasts doing the best they can to endure. Justin is the main voice in this

tale. His friend Sean is seen sneaking out with his mother every Saturday night but won’t talk about it to his friends and, in fact, lies to them about it. As Sean’s behavior gets weirder, the friends begin a quest to find out what’s really going on with him and these secret Saturdays. Maldonado amazingly brings the readers into this complex world of slangs and tough-guy attitudes with ease.

His portrayal of the characters, including the school staff and parents, is riveting, engaging and heartfelt. Strong realism and believable moral substance in the midst of emotional suffering offer young adult readers hope, something worth hanging onto and striving towards.

Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson

Sequential Art Treasury of the Lost Litter Box: A Get Fuzzy Treasury

By Darby Conley Andrews McMeel Publishing, $16.99, 253 pages Whether you’re a Get Fuzzy veteran and looking to increase your collection (like me), or discovering this entertaining comic strip for the first time, Treasury of the Lost Litter Box is a worthy book, sucking you in right from the start and letting you delve into the lives of these unusual characters.

There’s Rob, owner and master of his humble abode, who is a nerd enjoying his bachelor life and believing himself to be in control of his pets. He is not. There is Satchel, an overweight dog with serious self-esteem issues. There’s Bucky, a unique cat with delusions of grandeur, egomania, and world domination. In this collection we get to meet some other great characters, like Shakespug, a pug that can only quote the bard; and Mac Manc McManx, Bucky’s cousin from Manchester England.

An intriguing cast. This is a collection you won’t soon forget.

Reviewed by Alex Telander

Prince of Persia

By Jordan Mechner First Second, $7.99, 179 pages At once awe-inspiring and metamorphic, even as remote as a faceless roof-jumping guy on an old Apple computer screen, the original concept of Prince of Persia has been translated into both film and graphic novel.

Reworking the simple plot, creator Jordan Mechner has decided to elongate and elaborate the Moses-like storyline of a young boy chosen by Persian royalty to be a prince.

By adapting it into two sister plots expanding within 400 years of each other, Mr. Mechner was able to portray the details of the tale that both movie and game, in the confines of their individual artistry, could not capture. Dense with rich color, poignancy and action that both child and man (not to mention woman) would find awesome, the graphic novel version of Prince of Persia is more than just a companion or afterthought to the video game, it is an epic, artistic journey of its own.

Reviewed by Natalie Fladager

www.californialectures.org

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August 10 23

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