Sacramento Book Review

Sacramento

Oct 10

Book Review VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

F R E E

NEW AND OF INTEREST

5

Villain

Villains -- all or none Page 6

Sleepless

OMG, I love this book!

Page 8

8

Becoming Jimi Hendrix

‘Cuse me while I become Jimi Page 10

Conversations with Cronkite

11

Nobody’s toy Page 10

Lady Julia Grey is at it again!

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By Deanna Raybourn Mira Books, $ 14.95, 400 pages

After a long honeymoon, Lady Julia Grey and her private, enquirer-agent husband, Nicholas Brisbane, are feeling restless and ready for a new challenge to investigate.

Such an opportunity presents itself when Julia’s sister and brother urge them to India to look into the possible murder of Freddie Cavendish, a tea plantation owner who leaves behind his widowed bride Jane, an old friend of Julia’s family. Intrigue abounds in the idyllic Valley of Eden, where it seems

everyone has a possible motive for murder.

As Julia secretly competes with Brisbane to solve the murder first, she also begins to feel the first strains of marital tension.

Dark Road to Darjeeling is an extremely enjoyable mystery; the story draws readers in, and Raybourn’s writing style is simply irresistible. The twists and turns of the plot make it difficult to guess who the culprit may be while at the same time keeping readSee ROAD, page 5

My Hollywood Two faces of Hollywood Page 23

Land and Environmental Art Artists working within the landscape Page 24

96 Reviews INSIDE!

Children’s Books Come See the Earth Turn

By Lori Mortensen Tricycle Press, $17.99, 32 pages Elementary students and adults alike will be inspired to prove to others that the Earth does indeed spin on its axis after reading Come See the Earth Turn by Lori Mortensen.

Mortensen, who grew up surrounded by her father’s spectacular science experiments, tells how Léon Foucault, a fledgling student and meek, withdrawn child had a talent when it came to working with various scientific instruments. After secondary school, it was by accident that he discovered the Earth spins on its axis, so he set out to prove it, which had never been done before. Using a pendulum as his main instrument, Foucault worked nights so the vibrations from the busy, daytime, Paris streets would not affect his experiments.

When Foucault had succeeded, he invited the scientific community to watch. They were astounded.

“You are invited to come see the earth turn, tomorrow from three to five at Meridian Hall of the Paris Observatory.”

The number of times Foucault tried and failed before succeeding would have been nice information to have, but other than that, this book offers a short history lesson

and good inspiration to go get a pendulum and watch the earth move.

Reviewed by Linda Welz The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets

By Roald Dahl Puffin, $4.99, 118 pages The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets is a rather peculiar book. This is hardly surprising as it was written by the inexhaustibly creative author Roald Dahl.

Universally renowned for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl was almost, if not quite, a polymath. He lists his numerous interests and expertise, among them Beethoven’s music, the color yellow, medical inventions, and racing greyhounds.

He died almost twenty years ago, but his sense of fun still resonates with children and adults.

Here he reveals all sorts of information about characters he invented that never found their way into his books. He delights in his childhood escapades when he spent the summers with his Norwegian grandparents. He offers advice on writing a diary, shares his fascination for the different months of the year, and tells about his hands-on love of nature. Drawing in readers, he mischievously tells all sorts of

“previously guarded information” about his writing. As ever, Quentin Blake’s illustrations fittingly complement the words.

Reviewed by Jane Manaster My Uncle Martin’s Big Heart

By Angela Farris Watkins Abrams Books for Young Readers, $18.95, 28 pages For the third Monday of each January, school children read about and do reports for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They learn of his “I have a dream” speech, discover he was killed during his struggle for equal rights for all, but it is only his public persona that becomes the week’s history lesson.

“What they saw was a man who inspired thousands of people to join him in helping to change America, but I saw something different.”

In this book, one meets the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who is uncle to the author.

Watkins lovingly remembers and shares her “Uncle M.L.” with the reader.

One finds the difference in this attractive, heartfelt, easily understandable book.

No child, or adult, can walk away from this story without discovering the love in Dr. King’s heart and life. He preached in church to help people understand God’s love, and gave speeches to all Americans about how to love one another, but in his personal family life, his niece shares how he lived this love with them, telling of “an ordinary man with extraordinary love!” The reader can’t

help but feel the love his family experienced by their life with him.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino Elsie’s Bird

By Jane Yolen Philomel, $17.99, 40 pages An adventure of a little girl, Elsie, who had every good thing in life, and who was going through an unexpected change of lifestyle. Elsie was a Boston girl. A modern city girl, dressed stylishly from top to bottom; she played with her neighbor friends the way city kids centuries ago. Elsie has everything a girl would dream for at her age.

However, a sharp turn in her path took over when her mama died. Papa missed Mama so much that nothing seemed able to fill the cavity in his heart while living in Boston. Papa needed to move. They needed to start a new life, a totally different life. Moving to the West was the right thing to do, Papa thought.

That meant that both Papa and Elsie had to leave friends and families. Elsie brought her bird friend, Timmy Tune, the canary along.

When they arrived in Nebraska, Elsie began to realize how different her future life was going to be.

Jane Yolen creates a sweet adventure about a little girl who goes from city life to prairie life. The emotion of each scene was depicted in detail by David Small, making the book even more charming.

Reviewed by Sophie Masri See GULLIVER, page 5

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Book Review 1776 Productions 1215 K Street, 17th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph. 877.913.1776 info@1776productions.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Ross Rojek ross@1776productions.com

IN THIS ISSUE Children’s Books............................................. 2 Historical Fiction............................................ 4 Poetry & Short Stories.................................... 4 Business & Investing...................................... 5

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kaye Cloutman kaye.cloutman@1776productions.com

Health, Fitness & Dieting............................... 5

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Mystery, Crime & Thrillers............................. 6 Tweens........................................................... 8 Biographies & Memoirs.................................. 8 Science Fiction & Fantasy............................. 11 Religion........................................................ 14 Philosophy.................................................... 14 History......................................................... 15 Self-Help....................................................... 17 Science & Nature.......................................... 18 Parenting & Families.................................... 19 Current Events............................................. 19 Humor-NonFiction....................................... 19 Reference...................................................... 20 Religion........................................................ 20

The Sacramento Book Review is published monthly by 1776 Productions. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sacramento Book Review or Sacramento Book Review advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words © 2010, 1776 Productions.

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FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the October issue of the Sacramento Book Review. Plenty of good books starting to come into the office, and the next few months should provide many recommendations for every reader. The Fall releases are often a publisher’s key annual releases, so expect to see some of the truly high-profile books, along with many under-the-radar books we’re happy to discover and highlight.

This month has the appearance of Dave Eggers, author of Zeitoun for the Sacramento Library’s One Book Sacramento program. He’ll be appearing at the Crest Theater on October 20th, and there are other events throughout the month. Check their program for specifics.

Next month will be our Cooking, Food & Wine insert. We’ve been seeing lots of great cookbooks coming in, and all the reviewers are testing out many of the recipes. Probably one of the best parts of our job is “having” to try out new recipes and eat the resulting meals.

We did a couple last month during a reviewer BBQ (most notable the Bacon Explosion from the book BBQ Makes Everything Better) and enjoyed getting everyone’s take on them.

Heidi and I finished this issue while in Atlanta for a conference. It was an interesting change of pace for us, getting to both visit another city and still have the familiarity of the normal monthly deadline. It’s a beautiful city to visit, with some excellent restaurants, and the Atlanta aquarium was absolutely amazing. Watching the Beluga whales swimming in their tank was a sight I will always remember.

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

Coming Up...

Expanded Cooking, Food & Wine insert for the November issue. December brings our annual gift guide issue.

October 10

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Historical Fiction The Heretic’s Wife

By Brenda Rickman Vantrease St. Martin’s Press, $25.99, 406 pages Being a bookseller in Tudor England could be dangerous. It would be even more dangerous if you dealt in religious materials.

With the ever-changing political background, from Henry VIII being close to Rome, to his eventual break from Rome to marry Anne Boleyn, it was a dangerous and heady time for intellectuals.

The Heretic’s Wife tells the story of the sister of a bookseller who marries a Cambridge-educated man, a man who believes in the reform of the church and that the Bible should be printed in English. They have to avoid the authorities and move out

of the country to follow what they believe in. With political changes happening all the time, they look for ways to get the word into England. This is a book that starts off slow, and ends slow and haphazard; though the middle is pretty decent and probably what saves it. The characters of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell all make appearances; though they never really have much to do with the plot.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter Lady of the Butterflies: A Novel

By Fiona Mountain Putnam, $25.95, 544 pages Eleanor Goodricke was born the daughter of a Puritan sympathizer of Oliver Cromwell’s. Her life has been one of forced deprivation, from her

austere childhood spent at Tickenham, her family’s estate, to her sweet but passionless marriage to Edmund Ashfield. But when Eleanor meets Edmund’s cavalier friend, Richard Glanville, the side of her that craves more from life than simple obedience threatens to engulf her -- and those she loves -- in the flames of her forbidden desires.

Based loosely on the life of the very real Eleanor Glanville (née Ashfield, née Goodricke), Lady of the Butterflies weaves a complicated romantic narrative around the scientific discoveries of a woman ahead of her time. Eleanor’s true passion was for butterflies – the orange patterned Glanville Fritillary is named for her – and her singleminded obsession with them ultimately led to accusations of insanity, bolstered in part by her own children. Author Fiona Mountain injects sympathy into her telling of Glanville’s story, which seems less a cautionary tale of succumbing to one’s passion

and more a reminder of just how difficult it was to be different and female in the seventeenth century.

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell

Poetry & Short Stories Human Chain: Poems

By Seamus Heaney Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.00, 85 pages Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney delights audiences with his new book Human Chain. Heaney sticks to form and meter, bringing to life the Irish scenery so eloquently described in several poems, even moving readers to read aloud to others.

Some who may be new to Heaney’s work will certainly want to read his earlier writing upon finishing this collection, while those well acquainted with Heaney’s work will not be disappointed.

Many of the poems marry the landscape with the surreal such as “A Herbal.” Poems such as “‘Had I Not Been Awake,’” the first poem in the collection, work to help wake the reader and open their spirit to what each poem will bring. “Human Chain” takes our current world events and chows the chain we all share day to day, and “Route 101” shows a modern decline to Charon in an adaptation of Aeneid VI. These poems, and others, show that Heaney is still a master of his craft. This collection is a must need for any personal library, and will be read throughout the years.

Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow

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In Their Cups: Poems About Drinking Places, Drinks, and Drinkers

By A.J. Rathbun Harvard Common Press, $9.95, 114 pages Many people believe that poets have a strong affinity for liquor. They imagine a dark, moody figure like Rimbaud or Baudelaire, sipping a deep red wine or going wild from absinthe. This is, of course, an exaggeration. However, there are many fine poems about drinking out there, and some of the best have been collected in In Their Cups, edited by food writer and poet A.J. Rathburn. Separated into three sections that focus on bars, drinks, and revelers, the poems are carousing, melancholy, funny, and reflective. The history-spanning selections include pieces from such wellknown readers as Guillaume Apollinaire, Emily Dickinson, Li Po, and Arthur Rimbaud. Contemporary poets include Richard Hugo, Gerald Stern, and Chase Twitchell.

This anthology may be small, but the subject matter is vast. More than just some fun poems about booze, this collection celebrates the joys of indulgence and sensory experience. Whether you’re a Sommelier, a home-brewer, or you just enjoy a mimosa at brunch, you will find something to love in In Their Cups.

Reviewed by Katie Cappello

Death Is Not an Option: Stories

By Suzanne Rivecca Norton, $23.95, 210 pages In Rivecca’s story collection, the female protagonists confront life and its messiness, banality, and dangers. Emma, the narrator of the title story, is graduating from high school and grapples with the angst caused when the desire to flee home collides with the fear of the unknown. In “Yours Will Do Nicely,” a twentyone-year-old college student uses sex to deal with her emotions as a close friendship from high school is ending. “It Sounds Like You’re Feeling” is in second person and, while the story has some amusing moments, the form is constraining and feels contrived. Rivecca’s playing with structure is more successful in “Consummation.” The narrator addresses the doctor who saved her father’s life, providing an interesting view into her ambivalence towards him. The closing story, “None of the Above,” stands out. One of Alma’s grade school students shows signs of potential abuse. Vacillating between calling the authorities and believing the parents, Alma goes to the home to investigate and faces a situation wilder than her imagination. While Rivecca is an adroit writer with an eye for the dark side of life, too many of the main characters resemble one another. A quirky but uneven debut.

Reviewed by Deb Jurmu

Vanishing Points: Poems

By Valerio Magrelli Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27.00, 235 pages Valerio Magrelli’s poems are luminous and simply breathtaking. Vanishing Points, his collected poems in Italian and translated into English by Jamie McKendrick, is perfect, in my opinion. Magrelli’s poems make me think of Ted Kooser’s poems, concise and free of excess words. His skill as a poet is enviable, when it comes to his fluid connections between sensory details, ordinary scenes, everyday objects, and complex emotions. In addition, his poems are entertaining, honest, and insightful.

Every poem and page of Vanishing points was clear and satisfying to my eyes, ears, and heart. For instance, here is one of Magrelli’s poems that exemplifies the clarity with which he connects images that pierce through any fog that might be hanging over the reader’s mind: “The pen should never leave/the hand that writes./ With time it grows into a bone, a finger./ Fingerlike, it scratches, clutches, points./ It’s a branch of thought/and yields its own fruits,/offers shelter and shade.” This is not just a poem, but a piece of truth. Writing and poetry are alive because they give comfort, they give “shelter and shade.” Valerio Magrelli’s poems keep to this truth.

Reviewed by Viola Allo

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Business & Investing What Your Body Says (And How to Master the Message): Inspire, Influence, Build Trust, and Create Lasting Business Relationships

By Sharon Sayler Wiley, $22.95, 172 pages You say one thing and mean what you say.

However, your message is not well-received.

You failed to communicate effectively, but everyone says you are a great speaker. So what is the problem? Sharon Sayler, author of What Your Body Says (And How to Master the Message): Inspire, Influence, Build Trust, and Create Lasting Business Relationships may have the answers you need.

“This is just one of the many discoveries you’ll make as you explore your non-verbal cues.”

She helps by focusing on what your mouth says, what your body does, and the message you send. She explains how body language or our non-verbal cues help us to express ourselves effectively, but the thought of thinking about your body ges-

tures, voice tone, and eye contact can seem tedious and too rehearsed. Did you know that some gestures are interpreted the same internationally? If you really want to communicate effectively, this information puts a different spin on why you need to rehearse or invest in your communication skills.

Successful communicator’s study the art of communication.

If your goal is to communicate effectively, you must understand the strategy of using verbal language and body language. To this end, What Your Body Says is priceless.

Reviewed by Vivian Dixon Sober What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement, Second Edition: Planning a Prosperous, Healthy, and Happy Future

By John E. Nelson, Richard N. Bolles Ten Speed Press, $16.95, 274 pages In the late sixties a common expression when disgruntled was to want to bail out of one’s job. Bolles’ answer would be to reply, “What color is your parachute?” In 1970 that phrase became the title of the popular and practical manual for job hunters and career changers, a book still revised and updated each year since then. Now this book offers the parachute for retirement, the ultimate major change in a worker’s life, in the same practical manual setup.

GULLIVER, cont’d from page 2

The reader explores the retirement wellbeing model of happiness, prosperity and health, and is encouraged to determine individual core values for a personal ideal retirement. Questionnaires help determine what is valued least, as well as what is valued most.

Exploring what retirement means, retirement economics, retirement security, geography, health and medicine, and the path to happiness help the reader make personal decisions.

Worksheets throughout the book help the reader to arrive at a personalized ideal retirement page, with answers determining what to fill in for building social relationships, developing psychological strengths, inhabiting a geographical place, choosing values, deepening practices, managing financial pillars, and accessing this medicine. A topic specific section of resources for additional information completes this retirement roadmap.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino

Health, Fitness & Dieting Morbid Obesity: Will You Allow It To Kill You?

By Eduardo Chapunoff, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C. Xlibris, $19.99, 244 pages Morbid Obesity: Will You Allow it to Kill You? is an educational, informative, detailed, and, yes, frightening look into the complex world of the morbidly obese. Dr. Eduardo Chapunoff’s timely work is not a simple how-to book in weight loss, but combines thorough descriptions of the cardiovascular and other physiological systems of the body that are stressed by excessive weight. The doctor’s illustrations will help the reader understand the mechanisms responsible for heart attacks, congestive heart failure, strokes, cardiac rhythm disturbances, depression, sleep apnea, sexual dysfunction, and diabetes, among many conditions, including sudden death. All these major health risks are significant possibilities for the morbidly obese.

However, the author offers hope to those so

afflicted by sharing real-life success stories of those who have shed their excess weight, and then explains various treatments and programs that are available. The doctor also addresses the very timely issue that surrounds the discrimination and ineffectiveness of some insurance corporations in their oftentimes unwillingness to cover the costs of weight-loss surgery.

“Some dreams turn into realities. The successful treatment of obesity is one of them.”

This book is written not only for those who suffer from morbid obesity, but for the entire health profession and related industries as an educational tool, as well as providing inspiration and real-world choices and methods toward achieving a healthier, happier life.

Sponsored Review Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way

By Tosca Reno Harlequin, $19.95, 315 pages Reno begins this book on “the road to a fabulous new you – at any age,” sharing

her own life on her journey to forty and subsequently, the road to fifty. The following sections of the best body plan address nutrition, fitness, health strategies, beauty guidelines and inspiration. The nutrition section includes a check-off list of foods that can be used as a shopping list, while the Fitness program includes clear photographs showing the described exercises. Of special note is how each section of the book pays attention to the specific needs for each age group: thirties, forties, and fifties and beyond, so that the reader can personalize the plan to one’s own age.

“I live better than ever before at fifty because I made the mental shift ten years ago to finally treat myself with confidence, respect and the same amount of love, forgiveness, and dedication I’ve given to my family.”

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Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver

By Chris Riddell Candlewick Illustrated Classics, $12.99, 167 pages What joy to read again one of my favorite books from childhood, the story of Gulliver and his travel misadventures. In this somewhat simplified version, the episodes remain captivatingly magical. Better still, they are enhanced by the dazzling and radiant ink and watercolor illustrations that illuminate the text. Visit once again the miniature Lilliputian world of six-inch inhabitants, then free fall in reverse when Gulliver is now a tiny creature stranded with the giants of Brobdingnag. At different times, Gulliver meets different creatures, and all have curious cultures. His last journey exposes him to the civilized horse-like Houyhnhnms and their savage human-like Yahoos who possess no redeeming features.

Originally written in 1700, the wit and satire are as pungent and relevant today as it was then. With the magnificent artwork, the thick satiny paper, the easily turnable pages, the book is a comfort to read alone, but better yet to read aloud to the youngster. The tongue will twist with some of the names, the eyes will delight in the imaginative representations, the youngsters will be thrilled by the fantasy, and the adult will chuckle and nod at the truths painted in satire. This is a must book for the youngster’s library, on a par with Alice in Wonderland.

Reviewed by Rita Hoots

The author next offers healthful, delicious, easily prepared personal recipes, complete with nutritional values, to give the reader the tools to follow the Best Body Now plan. Included are such goodies as Mexican Tomato Chicken Soup, Hearty Braised Penne, Moussaka, and Gingerbread Rice Pudding.

To keep track of progress, the book concludes with a journal with diet, fitness and inspiration trackers to fill in, as well as a place to note daily commitments and longterm goals.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino

DARK, cont’d from page 1 ers entertained and engaged. The eccentric cast of “suspects” makes for exciting character interactions, while Julia’s amateur attempts at sleuthing make her an endearing main character, while her husband remains a puzzle that readers will enjoy trying to understand. Readers eager to finish this one might find themselves staying up past their bedtime.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero

October 10

5

Mystery, Crime & Thriller Villain: A Novel

By Shuichi Yoshida with Philip Gabriel, translator Pantheon, $25.95, 295 pages When vain, flighty Yoshino Ishibashi doesn’t show up for work, her co-workers and friends in the Fairyland Hakata apartments begin to wonder about her dating habits. So do the police when she is found strangled to death on the gloomy Mitsuse Pass, not far from the barbershop of her lonely, old parents.

Had Yoshino been meeting with Masuo Keigo, the rich playboy who –– like father, like son –– boasts of his conquests? Or was it the phlegmatic construction worker Yuichi Shimizu, himself the offspring of a liaison gone awry, who now stoically cares for his sick grandparents in a desolate fishing village, while seething inside with anger? Abandoned as a child by his mother, Yuichi’s ardent, clumsy gestures of love for Miho, a prostitute he meets in a dismal love hotel, are coldly rebuffed, but soon he meets Mitsuyo, another lonely, susceptible young woman.

“A fresh-looking yellowtail lay on the cutting board in the kitchen, darkish blood spreading out on the board. The eyes looking at the ceiling and the halfopened mouth seemed be be complaining about something.”

Dark, suspenseful, Villain unfolds like a 19th century Russian novel rich in characters and social settings, a world full of disappointment, futility, poverty, and rage. It is a story unmistakably old-world Japan, where incense burns in the morgue, and 21st century, where disaffected youths torment old women and the Internet too easily draws young girls into casual, dangerous sex.

Reviewed by Zara Raab Law of Attraction: A Novel

By Allison Leotta Touchstone, $25.00, 279 pages To be politically correct today, the rich blond guy has to end up wearing the black hat, while the product of the ghetto gets to wear the white one. Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what happens in Allison Leotta’s Law of Attraction. And who could better tell a tale that focuses on domestic violence in its many forms than Leotta, whose daytime job is a federal sex crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C. The plot leads Anna

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Curtis, whose profession matches the author’s, through a labyrinth of mystery, murder, and romance, always ending up on the right side of political correctness, although the author repeatedly made me question if that would be the outcome. By the way, Anna falls in and out of love with both the guy in the white hat and the one in the black hat.

“The first indication that something was wrong came from the autopsy.”

This is Leotta’s first crack at writing fiction, and she did a good job. The book is well written with an intricate plot and appealing, although stock, characters. One of the few cutesy flaws occurs in the final scene, as Anna lies bleeding from a gunshot wound.

She responds to Jack’s declaration of love with an “I thought so.”

Reviewed by Marj Stuart Layover in Dubai

By Dan Fesperman Knopf, $25.95, 287 pages In his previous novels, Dan Fesperman created recognizably human characters, settings ripe with tension and danger, and politically charged plots. However, in Layover in Dubai he comes up short on all counts.

In Layover in Dubai, Sam Keller, a buttoned-down young actuary with a highpowered international pharmaceutical company is sent to Dubai to keep an eye on an older co-worker whose superiors feel is becoming an embarrassment. Things go very wrong when the person Sam is supposed to be watching is murdered at a nightclub. As the firm does damage control, Sam joins a local police inspector and his headstrong daughter to discover what has happened and why.

Layover in Dubai has the makings of a solid crime novel: exotic setting, murder, hero far from home, and a relationship with a local detective’s daughter. However, the elements do not hang together in a way that is compelling. It feels as if Fesperman didn’t put his all into the book, and this makes for a fairly pedestrian reading experience.Layover in Dubai isn’t terrible, but from Fesperman we expect better.

Reviewed by Doug Robins

Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop

By Otto Penzler, Editor Vanguard Press, $24.95, 245 pages For the past 17 years Otto Penzler, owner of New York’s The Mysterious Bookshop, has been giving his regular customers a unique Christmas card. Each year he commissions a different mystery author to write a short story that weaves together Christmas, The Mysterious Bookshop, and a mystery. Penzler has finally gathered all the stories in one book so even mystery lovers who don’t get to enjoy The Mysterious Bookshop in person can still enjoy his gift.

Along with murder, the pages are filled with revenge, insanity, robbery, and misplaced manuscripts. As with any book boasting 17 different writers, there were stories I loved and those I didn’t.

But despite the length, many of the authors recreate the spine-tingling feelings of their full-length works. Only S.J. Rozan’s “The Grift of the Magi” seemed tired and predictable. Despite the requirements, the stories include many writing styles and mystery types. It’s also interesting to compare the many fictional portrayals of Otto and wonder which rings true. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery should definitely add Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop to their collection!

Reviewed by Jodi M. Webb They’re Watching

By Gregg Hurwitz St. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 368 pages Patrick Davis’ life has hit a rough patch. His Hollywood dreams have crumbled and his storybook marriage has hit a snag. Then things get really bad. Someone starts sending him DVDs which show that someone is watching him and his wife, stalking them with cameras hidden in their own home.

When the e-mails start offering to fix everything, to take the mess his life has become and make it all right, Patrick figures it’s the offer of a lifetime. He couldn’t be more wrong. He’s in, and in deep, and his only escape is to somehow outwit and outplay his unseen opponents and beat them at their own game.

Don’t let the synopsis fool you. They’re Watching by Gregg Hurwitz is a convoluted mess. I kept getting the feeling that this book was written less for the readers than it was for the folks in Hollywood who might want to make a movie out of it. The characters are weak and the plot is all over the place. Somewhere underneath it all is a good idea for a story, but that’s not what was written here. I finished it and had only one question: Why? Reviewed by Albert Riehle The Amateur Historian: A Thriller

By Julian Cole Minotaur Books, $23.99, 261 pages A young old girl dies of consumption in 1901. More than 100 years later, another young girl is kidnapped and held hostage underground. Is there a connection?

The novel begins in 1901 with Esme, a 6-year-old who lives in the slums of York, England. Her father is a drunkard and a schemer who involves Esme in an unsavory business deal. Meanwhile, in 2010, readers meet Rick Rounder, a former police officer who is starting his own P.I. business.

He has recently returned from Australia to York, attempting to reunite with his estranged brother, Sam, a chief inspector for the local police. Rick quit the police force years earlier, due to a tragedy that he can’t bear remembering. Readers also meet the amateur historian of the title who isn’t revealed immediately, as well as the person who kidnapped the young girl, Polly.

Although each character seems not to be connected with the others, their lives soon intertwine.

The book starts out slowly, and readers may initially have trouble getting interested in the characters and situations. Once the separate stories combine and characters are revealed for who they really are, the pace picks up. Esme’s story is the most compelling. As for Rick, people who hate him suddenly appear out of the woodwork all at the same time, which is a little hard to swallow.

Apparently there will be subsequent books about the Rounder brothers, so readers who enjoy these characters will be looking forward to the next in the series.

Reviewed by Leslie Wolfson See MYSTERY, cont’d page 7

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MYSTERY, cont’d from page 6 Always a Cop

By Paul Wagner iUniverse, $20.95, 342 pages What we have here is the story of a career cop named Beau who’s been retired for a few years and two fellow retired cops, Finn Fincannon and Matsuo Shimada. All three have something that makes normal investigative work a little more difficult. Beau, who was a philandering cop, lost his wife and his life’s savings and is forced to live in a boarding house. Not to worry though, at the age of seventy, he still has his way with any woman he sets his eyes on. Fincannon has Alzheimer’s disease and Matsuo Shimada doesn’t do anything unless it involves the possibility of a golf game.

The story starts with Beau coming up on an accident scene. What evolves from there is an interesting story filled with twists and turns as takes you by car, foot, and bike all around Sacramento, mixed in with a trip to Yosemite and Mexico—all while looking for a kidnapper. The plot thickens when Beau discovers a murder victim. Beau is suspected by the DA as having committed the murder. There is a surprise motive and confession from a long-time friend that ties many loose ends up, if they can catch him.

Fincannon is able to assist with the case in his moments of lucidity. Shimada is an interesting player in this story because of the things that happen to him that are somewhat funny.

You get a pretty good idea of who Beau is as a person. There’s a part of the story where his young grandson starts to emulate Beau’s behavior when it comes to attracting women, but in an adolescent way. Beau is asked by his daughter to talk to his grandson, Michael, about this and Beau is in a quandary about this because of his own behavior.

Though the story line moves fairly slowly in places, the author writes eloquently enough to keep the reader interested. For those in the Sacramento area, you will find this a fun read, because the author takes you to actual places.

Sponsored Review Lucy

By Laurence Gonzales Knopf, $24.95, 307 pages Lucy’s father is a primatologist working with bonobos in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. When he and her mother are killed during an uprising, another scientist manages to find Lucy and get them both out of the country safely. Jenny Lowe takes Lucy back to her home in Chicago, where, by looking

through the dead scientist’s notebooks, she finds out that Lucy’s dead mother was a bonobo, an ape. Jenny knows that she will have to be very careful and secretive to protect the lovely, bright, and innocent teenage Lucy. But she also knows that keeping the secret of Lucy’s true heritage will eventually become impossible.

Somewhat reminiscent of Michael Crichton’s novels that delve into the topics of science and ethics, Lucy is at times a thrill ride, when it becomes clear that she will be hunted by Christian fundamentalists and government researchers. But it is more often an exploration of what it means to be human — and just a teen girl hoping to live a normal life. Though the writing style sometimes seems stilted, Lucy is still an interesting book and worth your reading time.

Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim Damaged

By Alex Kava Doubleday, $24.95, 259 pages Alex Kava’s latest Maggie O’Dell novel, Damaged, weaves Maggie’s past and present into the storyline set on Florida’s Emerald Coast. As a Category-5 hurricane approaches, the Coast Guard rushes to warn residents. Coast Guard diver Liz Bailey finds a cooler filled with body parts and the FBI sends Maggie to investigate.

Across town, O’Dell’s love interest, Colonel Benjamin Platt struggles to find what mystery virus is killing American soldiers. Platt tries locating a common bond.

Meanwhile, Liz’s brother-in-law Scott, a funeral director, strikes a business deal with Joe Black and stores body parts and tissue in his cooler. Black tells Scott the parts are used for medical conventions, but Scott grows increasingly impatient with Black’s underhanded dealings.

As the hurricane moves inland, Liz and her crew head out, with Maggie in tow, to answer a boat’s SOS. But as Liz lands on the ship, Joe Black has other plans for the gorgeous diver. Can Maggie save the day?

Kava is one of my favorite mystery writers, but the book feels cluttered. Auxiliary characters play a large role. While it’s nice to see O’Dell not chasing serial killers, the storyline is rushed and wrapped up too neatly and without much fanfare. Instead of ending with O’Dell’s fieriness, it concludes quietly.

Damagedmoves quickly, and I do enjoy the section dividers, which show the storm’s impending path.

Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler

Ice Cold

By Gerritsen, Tess Ballantine, $26.00, 322 pages Ice Cold is the latest thrilling, suspensefilled book by the New York Times bestseller Tess Gerritsen. At a medical conference in Wyoming, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles has a moment of uncharacteristic spontaneity and decides to join a group for a oneday ski trip. Snow starts falling and the five soon find themselves stuck on a mountain road. As the day moves towards nightfall, they find a seemingly abandoned village of Kingdom Come and refuge in one of the 12 identical homes.

Soon it becomes obvious someone is watching the stranded travelers.

Maura doesn’t return to Boston on her scheduled flight and her charred remains are found in the Wyoming wilderness. Maura’s friend, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, decides to investigate what happened to her pal.

Jane, accompanied by her FBI agent husband, plunge into the investigation that unearths a shocking discovery about the abandoned Kingdom Come village and what happened to Maura.

Gerritsen keeps the suspense accelerated in this page-turner. Readers will appreciate the Ice Cold setting as the summer heats up. Gerritsen skillfully manages the action as the characters make decisions that put readers on the edge of their seats.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Humphrey

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The Undertaker’s Wife

By Loren D. Estleman Forge, $14.99, 284 pages For many, the story of an undertaker and his wife overcoming hardship in mid19th century America may not sound appealing. However, Loren Estleman in The Undertaker’s Wife has written a novel about the business of death that is compelling and entertaining.

The eponymous wife of The Undertaker’s Wife is Lucy Connable. Her husband Richard is an expert in the art of preparing the dearly departed for their final journey, while she is the dutiful, yet independent, spouse. Their relationship is complex and not always smooth. Richard is obsessed with his work, and Estleman provides several detailed descriptions of bodies being prepared for burial, as the undertaker, his wife, and daughter move from one frontier town to another.

Along the way, they encounter a variety of characters, including “Wild Bill” Hickok for whom the term “colorful” is an understatement. The themes of devotion, love, and loss emerge gradually, and by the end of the book we come to know the characters well, and to miss them.

Reviewed by Doug Robins

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Young Adult Sleepless

By Cyn Balog Delacorte Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 224 pages Eron DeMarchelle is a sandman who used to be human, but died in the early 1900s and chose to bring sleep to people. He was given a few charges, but he only cares about one girl named Julia, whom he was given charge of since she was little. When Julia’s boyfriend Griffin dies and becomes Eron’s apprentice to replace him once his hundred years are up, it triggers events that put Julia in danger.

Eron and Griffin will do everything to save her, but there are rules, and complications quickly arise.

I loved this book. When I first read about it, it sounded just my type (literally, I heard a voice in my head that screamed OMG, it’s PERFECT!). I would have stayed up finishing it at two a.m., but I had school the next day. I could not get over how cute Eron acts!

He is gentlemanly and shy at the same time, which just makes him so lovable! When I started the book, I thought it was all from Eron’s point of view, but there are also chapters from Julia’s view (hooray!). There are a lot of sarcastic comments, for those who think it sounds all angelic. The only thing about the book I didn’t love was the length of the ending. I wish it was just a teeny bit longer. Endings are very impressionable, and need to be just long enough. Also, for those of you who read about the author in

the back, insomnia means lack of sleep. If you don’t know this, it just doesn’t make any sense. : ) Reviewed by Amanda Muir Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing

By Ann Angel Amulet Books, $19.95, 120 pages Reading this book brought me back to the late sixties hearing the tortured, passionate, soulful sound of Janis Joplin belting out songs like “Piece of My Heart.” This was when Janis Joplin redefined what a woman in music could do with the blues-influenced songs that she sang.

In the book, we begin with Joplin’s teen years in the fifties in Port Arthur, Texas, at a time and place where the norm for a woman was to graduate, marry her high school sweetheart, and settle down to raise a family. Even at that young age, Joplin knew she could never settle down. Feeling out of sync with her classmates, we follow her to Venice, California; Austin, Texas; New York City; and San Francisco. We read how even with success, each day took another piece of her heart.

Her wildness and drug use, a failed attempt to lighten the pain she carried around with her, slowly destroyed her, and led ultimately to the tragedy on that night in October 1970 when while drunk, Joplin inadvertently added that fatal needle of heroin that led to her death at twenty seven years of age.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino

Blue Bloods: Keys to the Repository

By Melissa de la Cruz Hyperion Children’s, $14.99, 240 pages When I first read about this book I wasn’t too excited since I’m not a big fan of companion books to series I enjoy. However, when I was offered the chance to review it I thought, “Why not give it a try?” I’m am glad that I did. It is filled with “files” on each of the main characters giving more background of which angel they are, their conduits and character observations. There are also short stories that fill in gaps from the rest of the books so we get to see more of Dylan’s background, meetings between Jack and Schuyler and what happened between Kingsley and Mimi that brought them closer together.

The best part in my opinion was that we get to a glimpse of Cruz’s next series, Wolf Pact. It is just tantalizing enough to leave you wanting to read more and I cannot wait for the first book to come out. The book closes with the first two chapters of Misguided Angel just to wet your appetite for its release later this year. I would highly recommend this series for anyone who is a fan of the Blue Bloods series. It has me wanting to reread the entire series.

Reviewed by Debbie Suzuki

How to Be a Zombie: A Hands-on Guide for Anyone with Brains

By Amry Gary, Illustrated by Scott Erwert Candlewick Press, $14.99, 144 pages You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to be a zombie. Shamble around, feast on the living, repeat, right? But what kind of zombie will you be? How will you hunt?

What music will you listen to? How will you socialize, and with whom? It’s a lot more complicated than just being bitten or be raised from the dead by mystical means.

Thankfully, all these questions and dozens more are tackled with gusto in How to Be a Zombie, a one-stop shop for all things necro-social and post-life. Not only are the various kinds of zombies explored in great detail, but cultural and social advice abounds. Find out which movies have lead you wrong and which are worth your study.

With vivid visuals and graphic graphics included, How to Be a Zombie is very stylish, treating taboo subjects like interspecies dating and coming out of the coffin to your family with the care and attention they deserve.

And for humans looking to pass as the undead, there is a phenomenal make-up guide included, offering skin tone, wound, and even bone break analogs!

With zombies as prevalent in society as they are today, you can’t afford NOT to read this.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth

By Sandra Dutton Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, $15.00, 134 pages Seasoned author, Sandra Dutton introduces us to Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth, a charming tale of a curious young girl whose strong belief in the Bible conflicts with her teachings at school. Mary Mae’s mother and Sunday School teachers can’t help her understand the different belief’s to aid her in finding the truth regarding the Earth’s actual age. She exasperates adults with her incessant desire to know about fossils and the

age-old debate over creation verses evolution. Mary Mae’s mama attempts to homeschool her only to discover she is in over her head however, Mary Mae cleverly finds a way to convince her mom that she can study fossils and still believe in the Bible. IIDutton defies political correctness in her tale.

She delves into several taboo subjects such as ignorance, hierarchy, religion and even politics, but in a way that is endearing, captivating and comprehendible. The dialect takes some getting used to but it adds to the characters as they come alive in their rural Ohioan ways. A delightful and surprisingly educational read.

Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson

Tweens Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation

By Matt Myklusch Aladdin, $16.99, 468 pages St. Barnaby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost is all that Jack knows. His last name is a blank, as is his family and his future. But then Jack is attacked by a robotzombie just like the ones in his comic books. Miraculously, he survives, and when he is freed from St. Barnaby’s by a mysterious agent, his life gets stranger still.

Jack discovers he is heading to the Imagine Nation, a secret country where robots, ninjas, mystics, aliens, and humans coexist.

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It is Jack’s homeland, his fate, and potentially, his doom.

Hmmm, an orphan plucked from obscurity with a great hidden destiny to fulfill ... where have I heard that before?

Like Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker before him, Jack Blank is a mythic hero, complete with doubts and triumphs; it’s the fascinating and complex world he explores that helps separate him from the pack.

Myklusch’s Imagine Nation is a fleshedout and believable metropolis, one that the reader senses possesses a great history and tremendous depth. This is no slapdash crock pot of neat ideas, this is a child’s fantasy land sublimated into a functioning city. I hope there’s plenty more where this came from.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

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Biographies & Memoirs Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1949): Learning Curve

By William H. Patterson Jr. Tor, $29.99, 624 pages When reading a multi-volume biography, it is prudent to ask: Does this person deserve multiple volumes? While Robert Heinlein might be one of the greatest science fiction writers, along with Philip Dick, Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert; he does not deserve more than a one-volume biography. The job of any biographer is to edit, edit the life that they are studying. Not every event is important, not every story sold is worth mentioning.

This book is every little detail, nuance, and short story sold, even if just for the money. It goes into considerable detail.

Heinlein lived an interesting life from joining the Naval Academy, to serving in the Navy until forced to retire for health reasons. He became active in California politics for Upton Sinclair’s bid for governor, and even ran for public office himself. He eventually started writing for the new science fiction pulp magazines. Yet William Patterson does not edit, does not gives us the big moments, instead we have to wade through a mountain of unimportant trivial details to get to the big moments of Heinlein’s life. Heinlein might be a giant in the field of science fiction, but his biography does not deserve two volumes.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century

By Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, Arthur W. Schultz Harvard Business Press, $27.95, 415 pages Early in the 20th century, advertising was designed to make the manufacturer look good. After Albert D. Lasker came on the scene, the customer became the focus of advertisements. Lasker was a remarkably driven man, so much so that one of his contemporaries labeled him the human dynamo. His way with copy editing and publicity campaigns made him millions of dollars at a time when having millions really meant you were wealthy.

“The brilliance that shone through his creative periods more than made up for the intermittent darkness.”

This book is a well-written account of his life. It is also more than just a biography because Lasker was more than just an advertising genius. Together with his influential friends and fellow ad men, he assured that Warren G. Harding won the race for president. Political campaigning became so much more than whistle-stop tours and baby kissing. The coordinated efforts of pollsters, speechwriters and ad placements brought politics on par with the cutting edge of product advertising.

Lasker’s life story unfolds here in smooth flowing language complete with charming anecdotes and an insider’s view of early 20th century America. This book affords a behind-the-scenes glimpse at many pivotal moments that still impact our lives today.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Ruta Arellano Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle

By Thea Cooper; Arthur Ainsberg St. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 254 pages The discovery of insulin is taken for granted today, as are many medical miracles that result in the virtual disappearance of a horrific disease. But in the first half of the twentieth century, juvenile diabetes was unerringly fatal. In just a few months post diagnosis, children became very sick: listless, ravenous with hunger and miserably thirsty as their bodies fell apart from lack of insulin.

“Brea kthrough ” is a meticulously researched story that presents the enthralling story of Elizabeth Hughes, a child diabetic, and the Canadian researchers Fredrick Banting and Charles Best who purified insulin from animal pancreases. The drama of the story is the authentic race against time for Elizabeth as scientific jealousy and business competitions threaten to derail the production of the medication she so desperately needs.

Elizabeth’s life was saved because the powers of science, education, politics and the industry of pharmacy ultimately worked together to create and distribute this life saving drug. Today, there are at least 20 million individuals who may want to know the story of insulin, the magic pill that, each day, keeps them healthy and alive.

Reviewed by Marcia Jo

Muck: A Memoir

By Craig Sherborne Norton, $13.95, 213 pages It’s hard to like the 16-year-old narrator of this memoir who calls his mother “Feet,” his father “The Duke,” and utters declarations such as, “In the line of the dynasty I’m second in charge. The only person who can tell me what to do is The Duke. He’s first in charge. Feet is a mother and not counted in rank and power.” This pompous, bullying, judgmental teen who is never referred to by a name (therefore I’ll assign him one: Brat), is in fact the son of a crazy mother and an uneducated gentleman farmer, who decided to name their pretentious New Zealand homestead Tudor Park. Brat drifts through a series of incidents from his 16th year. Probably, the narrator meant to poke fun at his obnoxious 16-year-old self, but the author’s voice is annoying rather than humorous.

It is only 3/4 of the way through the book that readers see the human side of Brat, when the music teacher asks him to play the lead in the school musical. As he tries hard to impress with his Elvis imitation, his teacher tells him, “To be an imitator is all very well but I want the original you. Do you have a you?” It is at that moment that Brat begins to realize that his snobbish façade may not be the real him. Because the book ends abruptly, readers never find out if Brat finds himself, but we can only hope.

“Isn’t it for me to enforce our rules and our way of doing things over a man who is so lowly he is hardly worthy of my hate?”

Reviewed by Leslie Wolfson Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship

By Gail Caldwell Random House, $23.00, 200 pages Author Gail Caldwell and fellow author Caroline Knapp were friends whose connection left indelible footprints on each other’s hearts. And after reading Caldwell’s loving celebration of their friendship in Let’s Take the Long Way Home, Gail’s poignant tribute left footprints upon my own heart.

Knapp and Caldwell were first

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introduced by a mutual acquaintance, a dog trainer, as they both shared a deep love for dogs. They became fast friends, walking the woods of New England, talking about their lives, their shared struggle with alcoholism, ups and downs in relationships with men, as well as colleagues in the writing world, and a great many other things. Each was independent, fiercely protective of their own self reliance, yet they found a unique attachment, a deeper bond, on the level of soul mates, in each other, and found that they couldn’t function on a day to day basis without the other.

Caldwell’s elegant prose reveals an extraordinary kinship. Let’s Take the Long Way Home stands strong as a joyful celebration of friendship. But even from the first paragraphs of this beautifully written book, the reader realizes that Caldwell loses her beloved friend. The book is a loving memoir, as Caldwell chronicles Knapp’s sudden diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, and ultimately, what life becomes for her after her friend’s passing.

Vividly written, but without sappy sentimentality, Let’s Take The Long Way Home is a tribute to the kind of friendship and connection we all yearn for with another person.

Reviewed by Laura Friedkin A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances

By Trish Ryan FaithWords, $19.99, 221 pages This is a memoir of a Christian woman whose life is guided by her faith, a woman whose relationship with God is close, authentic, and complex.

This is Ryan’s second book. Her first, He Loves Me He Loves Me Not is a chronicle of the search for the perfect mate. This book picks up the story after Ryan’s marriage.

The memoir of the early years of this apparently very strong marriage is infused with real suffering. The surprising challenges of even a fairy tale marriage reveal themselves pretty quickly when overeating, sexual temptation, and infertility fuel spiritual battles with depression, anxiety and doubt.

Ryan’s style is light and humorous, her dialogue is realistic, her overall tone engaging. The book is not preachy or dogmatic in any way, but rather reveals a woman’s heart as she shares her hopes her frustration her weakness and her angst with her God, trusting that true happiness lies in this path. Very appealing for open minded Christian women.

Reviewed by Marcia Jo See BIOGRAPHIES, cont’d page 10

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BIOGRAPHIES, cont’d from page 9 Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut

By Rob Sheffield Dutton, $25.95, 222 pages This hysterical memoir by Rob Sheffield, a music journalist for Rolling Stone magazine, proves one thing: Sheffield is not at all ashamed to be a fan of pop music from the ’80s. He is candid about his affection for the band Duran Duran and reveals how their songs offered him insight into the female psyche.

As someone who grew up during the ’80s, I could easily identify with the morsels of wisdom Sheffield offers up in his memoir. As a shy Irish boy out of Boston, Massachusetts, he craved a not-so-shy girl and looked to the music of the ’80s for inspiration to help him obtain that allusive young woman. He claims, “I always believed rock stars knew more about everything than I did.” He was hungry for guidance from these rock heroes.

No one seemed more certain of what girls wanted than Duran Duran, and Sheffield contends that he was sweet on them. Each chapter contains names of pop rock songs from the ’80s that influenced Sheffield’s life.

These songs act as a soundtrack to his life, giving him what he believed was sensible advice.

Reviewed by Susie Salva Composed

By Rosanne Cash Viking Adult, $26.95, 245 pages Roseanne Cash’s memoir is two things: an engaging look at the life of a singersongwriter (a woman doing what she always wanted to in her life), and a moving tribute to her father, the late Johnny Cash. As the daughter of a mega-star, Roseanne’s road to the top of country music was not overly difficult. However, at some point, she realized that she was coasting on her success and it took a dream for her to decide that she needed to work harder to become an exemplary songwriter.

“The legacy of his work was intact... I could let him move on now.”

Cash has a rare talent with words and this memoir has what may be the most unique voice since Bob Dylan’s Chronicles.

Like Chronicles, it wanders a bit but is full of stories that are lively and interesting. This work is generally fun except when it comes to Cash’s words about her father--those words are serious and meaningful. It’s clear

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that she is still coming to terms with his death.

At its conclusion, the reader will no doubt feel that he/she has come to know Roseanne Cash, a high compliment. Because she’s done her work so well, the reader may also miss her father, the Man in Black.

Reviewed by Joseph Arellano What We Have: A Family’s Inspiring Story About Love, Loss, and Survival

By Amy Boesky Gotham, $26.99, 327 pages The women in Amy Boesky’s family have been hit disproportionately with ovarian cancer and have died young. So Boesky — and her two sisters — grew up hearing the tick-tocking of cancer, waiting for the bombs to go off in their own bodies. To avert disaster, the three women planned to have their ovaries removed as a preemptive measure by about age 35; Boesky essentially planned her whole life around the big event: marry, have two children before then.

When she marries and has her first pregnancy, Boesky starts to feel some of the paralyzing fear lift: she focuses on the present, on the health of her body, on the wonder of nurturing a new life.

But when her mother--who despite getting rid of her own ovaries, still got breast cancer--has a recurrence of cancer, it’s back to cancer seeming to make the rules.

Boesky writes a beautiful account of her experiences as a sister, daughter, wife, and mother, navigating life, health, sickness, and death.

Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim Conversations with Cronkite

By Walter Cronkite with Don Carleton University of Texas Press, $29.95, 357 pages This tribute to the most trusted man in America acts as a companion book to Walter Cronkite’s 1996 autobiography A Reporter’s Life (published by Alfred Knopf) which shot to the top of the New York Times nonfiction best seller list and is still in print today, fourteen years later. This work will undoubtedly prove equally memorable.

Walter Cronkite died July 17, 2009. For a man who expected to be forgotten after retiring as the anchorman for the CBS Evening News, he has left an indelible mark on the role of the press in free society. Never willing to compromise his integrity, Cronkite’s nononsense approach to reporting stands out in his defense of the media’s right to expose the government’s attempt to control the press, saying “We’re nobody’s toy.”

Fashioned in interview form, this book chronicles battlefield fronts, bombing raids,

Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius

By Steven Roby, Brad Schreiber Da Capo Press, $17.95, 257 pages

Mark L. Van Name has risen quickly among Baen’s stable of science fiction novelists and with good reasons. Many of those reasons are on full display in Jump Gate Twist, an omnibus containing One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack, the first two novels in his Jon and Lobo series plus two short stories set in the universe.

Jon is the human protagonist and first person narrator while Lobo is the living, space-faring warship who provides dry responses to Jon’s rhetorical questions.

The dialogue between Jon and Lobo is entertaining and provides a strong narrative current. I was reminded a bit of Steven Brust’s assassin Vlad Taltos and his familiar Loiosh in that both duos communicate on a silent, mental wavelength. Jon is not exactly normal human. As a result of experiments conducted while Jon was younger, his body is teeming with nanobots which provide him a level of superhuman abilities, not the least of which is the ability to communicate with machines.

One Jump Ahead introduces both characters as Jon acquires Lobo when vacationing on the planet Macken, and Jon is convinced to help save a young kidnapped girl.

Before the second full novel, we get a very early glimpse at Jon before he is the experienced courier and ex-military man. The story, “My Sister, My Self,” is set on Jon’s birth planet Pinkelponker and offers readers the only glimpse at Jon’s sister Jenni, the memory of whom haunts Jon in the two novels in the omnibus.

In Slanted Jack, the second novel in the omnibus, Jon runs into an old ‘business partner’ who lures Jon back to his side in order to save the life of a young boy who is contention point between a religious cult (with ties to Jon’s home planet of Pinkelponker); a crime lord who wants the boy for his own purposes; and strong-armed government. While the setting of the books is a vast galaxy, Van Name does a great job of making these stories personal and intimate deftly balancing character and action. One of the cooler SF-nal elements allowing for such widespread travel are the Gates, which allow quick travel across galaxies and are thought by some to be relics of an ancient civilization or even gods. All told, I highly recommended this book both as an introduction to Van Name’s work and a great value for containing two flat-out entertaining science fiction novels.

Reviewed by Robert H. Bedford

war crimes, race riots, political conventions, lunar landings, pentagon papers, P.O.W.’s, Watergate, presidential discussions, and close encounters with controversial world leaders. More than a mere biography, it is an in-depth behind the scenes look at the evolution of broadcast news and the responsibility the media has to the public. If you ever wished you could have recorded the personal stories of some long lost loved ones, you will truly enjoy this treasure trove of history.

Reviewed by Casey Corthron Twain’s Feast: Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens

By Andrew Beahrs The Penguin Press, $25.95, 323 pages A group is inevitably linked back to what it eats; by looking at those foods, it is possible to look at the history of that group.

Twain’s Feast explores that history through the lens of a list created by Mark Twain when his dislike of European food reached its limits. Beahrs attempts to see just how much of that list he can put together today, forcing him to look at food and how it can affect the country, both culturally and ecologically. It’s a fascinating look at history from three different perspectives: a biography of Twain, the ecological history of the United States, and how our tastes in food have changed due to our over-hunting some species. It’s interesting to see how our hunting, fishing, and farming have impacted our ecology, and how we are just now realizing how interwoven our ecology is; not only do some ecosystems actually exploit natural disasters, but one area can affect another even thousands of miles away. And then there are the foods; recipes from the 19th century that are just as delicious now. Between the biography, history and food, this book will make you think and salivate at the same time.

Reviewed by Jamais Jochim

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Science Fiction & Fantasy The Last Prince of Tulizia

By Malela Werner Xlibris, $19.99, 246 pages The Last Prince of Tulizia is an incredibly dense and detailed work of science fiction.

The fantasy world and the characters created by author Malela Werner are built slowly but surely, allowing the reader to settle in to the plot without confusion.

The story opens with the tale of a mythical alien kingdom which mirrors our own galaxy, and the Tulizians inhabiting the planet. The story of the royal family no doubt pulls from Werner’s own Congolese heritage and the Biblical story of Joseph, and her inventiveness is engrossing.

Unfortunately, when the story switches to Earth to tell of the orphaned Destiny, the narrative grinds to a halt. Destiny is an interesting character but she comes across as aimless and formless until she realizes her destiny is entwined with a mysterious man from Tulizia.

The book picks up when Destiny is older, and the chapters switch between her coming of age and the politics and wars on Tulizia. However, the very density that makes the world-building extraordinary bogs down the action and character growth. Both settings suffer from unnecessary description and dialogue that makes the characters fall flat. Despite the flaws therein, The Last Prince of Tulizia is an interesting read and Werner is a very capable writer.

Sponsored Review Troubled Waters

By Sharon Shinn Ace, $24.95, 400 pages Troubled Waters is yet another book written by the masterful hand of Sharon Shinn. It is elegant, yet gripping in its story of a young woman lifted into palace intrigue and her own power. Zoe Ardelay’s life changes abruptly with the death of her father, a royal advisor banished from the court. Now that Zoe is orphaned, she is chosen to be the king’s fifth wife. She journeys from her far-flung home to the capitol with the king’s latest advisor, the handsome but stern Darien Serlast. But Zoe does not docily accept her fate but escapes Darien for the river, which represents her elemental sign. She lives among society’s outcasts before chance brings her to the king, not as a potential bride, but as a pow-

erful prime or advisor culled from the families representing the five elements. Shinn draws a sparkling picture of court life, and populates it with unique characters. There is a fair bit of intrigue, and it is fascinating to read how Zoe navigates the cunning of her fellow courtiers. There are places where plot threads end abruptly, and where Zoe’s ascent to power seems too easy. Nonetheless, the book grabs your attention. Highly recommended for fans of Shinn and science fiction.

Reviewed by Angela Tate More Stories from the Twilight Zone

By Carol Sterling Tor, $17.99, 478 pages The Twilight Zone was an instant classic, redefining storytelling for television with a fantastical or sci-fi edge. It remains to this day the highwater mark for moody, atmospheric, thought-provoking short-form television. What writer hasn’t imagined writing a Twilight Zone script, hearing Rod Serling’s singular narration guiding viewers through that doorway and into your particular corner of that befuddling realm?

More Stories from the Twilight Zone happily indulges a handful of writers in that enterprise, hitting many of the show’s favorite touchstones-things aren’t always what they seem, be careful what you wish for, mystical second chances--and the results are something of a mixed bag, especially when it comes to the now de rigueur twist ending.

“Curve” offers an intriguing alternate history, while “By the Book” is an off-kilter tale of wish fulfillment. Some, like “Stanley’s Statistics”, are woefully over engineered for the twist, while “The Ides of Texas,” “The Last Christmas Letter,” “Obsession,” and “Sales of a Deathman” would all be welcome contributions to the show’s creative coffers.

The stories are hardly consistent, and there are some definite clunkers in the collection, but as the title of a standout effort goes, I “Believe I’ll Have Another.”

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat

By Glen Cook Night Shade Books, $14.95, 248 pages Glen Cook has created a number of fantastic worlds, which he has populated with some of the most realistic and sympathetic characters in genre fiction. The first of these

A pure “smash and bang” in-your-face action fantasy, calling back to the days when heroes wore chain-mail and the villains wore cloaks.

Five Out of Five Stars! 

“Halloran shines in giving a compelling narrative. Every fantasy subspecies is jampacked into the book. Character designs pop in large part to exceptional illustrations by Ernie Chan. While the main characters will punch a hole in your heart and settle down in it, it is the minor characters that add the depth to the plot.

From the causal fantasy subscriber, to the die-hard Tolkienist, everyone will find something to enjoy in the ever-expanding world of Bish.”

San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review

In Paperback and eBook Format ISBN 9780578056616 t h e da r k s l a y e r . c o m | A m a z o n . c o m creations was the Dread Empire. An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat is a collection of short stories set in this universe gathered here together in one volume for the first time, some of the which are being published for the first time. Veteran Cook readers will undoubtedly recognize many of the figures, such as Bragi Ragnarson and Haroun bin Yousif that make appearances in this collection but will also discover new facets to the world in the never before published stories “Finding Svale’s Daughter” and “Hell’s Forge.” Cook’s fiction, while set in fantastical settings, always remains centered on the people that populate them and their complex relationships with each other and their world. His ability to write about “real” people is what I find so endearing about his work. Having never read his Dread Empire works, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat has whet my appetite and I plan on picking up the core series on my next visit to the book store. This book is great collection and a great introduction to Glen Cook.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard The Reason We’re Waiting

By Pat Clor Xlibris, $23.99, 772 pages Philosophical narrative – exploring ideas through the interaction of characters representing various views – has a history that dates back to before “Plato’s Republic” and continued to into the modern era with the likes of Camus and Ayan Rand. Pat Clor’s second novel, The Reason We’re Waiting, sits firmly in that tradition. In philosophy and style, it owes much to Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” though Clor demonstrates a superior absurdist sense of humor, which brings to mind Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle.”

Clor imagines a near future, where a surging religious system based on a book “The Science of God,” by Satica Azmodious, is coming to dominate society. Azmodious advocates a collectivist social structure.

Against his movement stands artist and thinker Aris Desiderita, founder of tiny

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Pangaea, a Utopian nation committed to individualism and freedom. When Jim Smith – Azmodious’s chief apostle who in reality is none other than Azmodious himself – comes to Pangaea to confront Desiderita, he will be forced to face the horrible violence he’s committed in his past.

At times this book suffers under both excessive length and page-long paragraphs of philosophical exposition, yet it also demonstrates the author’s sharp nose for the humorously absurd. The novel’s narrator, a janitor, recounts the events from his perch, cleaning the floors at a Walmart with a jaundiced eye. Clor also possesses a rare gift bestowing humorous names; Diablo Pectin and Fred McPhisto were two particular favorites.

At times I could not help but wonder what kind of book might have been produced if Clor had cut back on characters speaking as if they’d swallowed a philosophical journal and instead relied on his reader’s intelligence to parse out his meaning.

Consider the following quote from one of the novel’s longer digressions: “Though, reason and logic can be described as being distinct, logic was and remains as an insubordinate aspect of reason according to the functionalists: reason is easily the higher authority of brain activity, as it more closely resembles the flow of social interactions, which are governed by emotions.” Mind you, this is just one sentence from a paragraph that goes on for more than a page, complete with footnotes! By contrast, at other times, characters express themselves more succinctly, such as this argument from Aris: “Philosophy, I am afraid, according to Satica Azmodious, has become a tool to blind us from the world around because of the habit to reduce everything to one thing…being multi-dimensional is good, not evil as Satica See REASON, page 14

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2010 EVENTS The Sacramento Public Library proudly announces Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, as the 2010 One Book Sacramento selection. n n n

Notable Book – The New York Times Terrific Read of the Year – O, The Oprah Magazine Best Book of the Year – Huffington Post

You are encouraged to read Zeitoun and attend related One Book Sacramento film screenings, book club discussions, disaster preparedness programs, and other community-wide activities.

Meet the Author Dave Eggers will discuss his writings at a special free program. Eggers, is the author of numerous books, including the memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and the novel What Is the What, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. In 2009, the National Book Foundation awarded him the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

October 20, Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento.

A thought-provoking tale of courage, culture, community and tolerance, Zeitoun tells the true story of one family’s struggle through and after Hurricane Katrina. Take a look at these continuing October Zeitoun-themed events happening in your community!

adu lts

Zeitoun Book Discussions

Join other community members for an exchange of comments and views of Dave Eggers’ fascinating and true-account book at any of these Sacramento Public Library locations: October 2, Saturday, 11 a.m.: Arcade Library October 9, Saturday, 1 p.m.: Fair Oaks Library October 16, Saturday, 10 a.m.: Carmichael Library October 19, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.: Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library October 28, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.: North Natomas Library October 30, Saturday, 2 p.m.: Rancho Cordova Library November 13, Saturday, 10 a.m.: Carmichael Library (audio book club) Start your own Zeitoun book discussion group with Book Club in a Bag. Each bag contains eight copies of the book, discussion questions, and discussion leader tips. Everything you need to help you run your own book discussion group! You may request a Book Club in a Bag at any Sacramento Public Library

B

OOK OOK

CLUB

IN A BAG

A Village Called Versailles For more One Book Sacramento information, please call the Sacramento Public Library at (916) 264-2920 or visit saclibrary.org.

S ac ramento P ublic Libr ar y

Filmmaker S. Leo Chiang will show the incredible story of Versailles, a tight-knit Vietnamese neighborhood on the edge of New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When the storm devastated New Orleans, Versailles residents rebuilt their neighborhood faster than most other damaged neighborhoods in the city, only to find themselves threatened by a new toxic landfill slated to open just two miles away. As the community fights back, it turns a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change.

October 6, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.: Valley Hi-North Laguna Library

sa cl i b ra r y. o rg

Religion Life: Its Problems and Some of Its Unanswerable Questions

By Dr. Nicholas La Bianca Xlibris, $29.99, 105 pages Imagine your perfect life … a world filled with peace, harmony, everyone living out their own dreams. Life: IIts Problems and Some of its Unanswerable Questions written

by Dr. Nicholas La Bianca is a refreshingly thought-provoking look at our nation and humanity from a bird’s-eye point of view without judgment or classification. La Bianca takes readers on a journey of self-reflection into what is important in life and what is not. Each chapter addresses different topics such as who we are, why we are here, our government, our educational system, religions of all denominations, and then, scoops it all up with possible solutions never wavering in his own belief that it is achievable for us to get along and accommodate, and embrace our differences. It lacks the fundamental step-by-steps that would need to be taken for the improvements in society that the author recommends but the facts are irrefutable and the intent in favor of a need for a better life is undeniable.IIAt first glance, it seems the title is negligent in its magnanimous effort to portray the book’s actual contents but in fact, Life – It’s Problems and Some of its Unanswerable Questions is precisely what the book is about, sincerely so. Life’s problems are accurately identified, discussed, laid out in an almost global-view.

Then the author cleverly, yet with a quiet softness, invites the truth giving hope a clean perspective into the reader’s own insight as to what the problems really are and what we, both individually and as a people, can do to potentially fix them. At times, it presents itself sugar-coated and a bit unrealistic in today’s economy, but this narrative allows essential contemplation and evalua-

Most of the people go through life trying to cope with the immediate physical needs that the everyday life presents and very rarely try to explain to themselves in a rational way the reason for being on this earth. Religion, for the most of them, answers all the questions that may come to their mind, and each one comes up with a personal explanation for them. Because different religions usually have different answers, many try to find out in a rational way what are the correct answers and how people should live in order to better fulfill their destiny as human beings. This book tries to raise some of these questions and tries to bring forth feasible solutions to allow all people to strive for the common good.

“A refreshingly thought-provoking look at our nation and humanity from a bird’s-eye point of view without judgment or classification.”

--San Francisco/Sacramento Book Reviews

On Sale Now! ISBN 9781436372299

For more information on this and other books

by Dr. La Bianca, go to:

tion of change in the hearts and minds of us all. Pictures included in every chapter are apropos to the subject matter but the graphics are low quality making it difficult to truly utilize the information. This book is endearing and leaves the reader feeling inspired.

Sponsored Review REASON, cont’d from page 11 Overall, Clor offers a thoughtful debate about philosophy’s nature and importance.

Had he better distilled his prose into a less pedagogical narrative, I am certain he would have found a wider audience. Despite this shortcoming, it often proved an engaging and amusing platform for the author’s complex philosophical positions.

Sponsored Review

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A spiritual walk, while wondrous, tantalizing, and mystical, can also be grueling and traumatic. It tests us beyond our limits---and we do not organize its itinerary.

For Carla Mancari, walking through walls and traveling miles in states of heightened awareness were easy feats. But when her quest required her to plumb the depths of total despair, only the grace of God allowed her to go on.

On Sale Now...$24.95

In When Jesus Is the Guru, Carla shares the pitfalls she encountered along her journey, as well as the mystical experiences, realizations, and triumphs.

Travel with her as she learns to relate to Jesus' personal humanity. As you do, you may find yourself reconnecting with your own Christian roots, where Holy Scripture becomes the living word it is purported to be.

ISBN 9781604943573

The Book of Eli

By Sam Moffie, Devra Bastiaens, Editor Mill City Press, $14.99, 147 pages One day, an ordinary American male–– working, married, with kids––wakes up in Heaven. The surprise comes because Eli Canaan has led a less-than-saintly life. True, he’s a nice guy: he recycles, coaches his kid’s team, helps his wife with the laundry and his children with homework, walks the dog.

But he cheats on his wife regularly. So what’s he doing in Heaven?

In Moffie’s Heaven, adulterers are sent back to Earth as alley cats. Groucho Marx, smoking a cigar, cracking jokes, and arching his eyebrows, is the tour guide. He shows Eli around Heaven, explaining, among other things, that the absence of cats or dogs is not because D-O-G is God spelled backwards, but because people reincarnate as

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pets: Good people as well-treated pets, bad ones as abused animals.

Eli’s tour of Heaven provides a humorous framework for discussion of serious fundamentalist Christian theology, as well as popular psychological and conservative political ideas. Sigmund Freud, for example, analyzes Eli and uses AA vocabulary to lecture him genially about sex addiction. A shimmering Jesus reviews the Ten Commandments, scoring Eli’s performance, chastising him for his fixations, and urging him to observe the spirit, as well as the letter of the law. But Jesus, laughing in the symphonic tones of Mozart, reminds Eli to keep things light; after all, even the Twelve Apostles were cutups.

Eli’s meeting with Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an atheist for whom a stint in Heaven is pure Hell, opens a discussion of sex

education and the ban on prayer in public schools, followed by the Catholic Church’s obligation to pay property taxes; Eli’s meeting with Ayn Rand initiates a forum on libertarian political ideals. Eli even gets advice from Moses, Mohammed, and Buddha.

Moffie’s jokes add spice to topics that some readers might otherwise find tedious.

Some jokes are a bit discomfiting. Eli’s Jewish, for example, yet he does not seem bothered by Jesus’ jokes about Jews, like this one: “Why don’t Jewish mothers drink wine? Answer—Because it will interfere with their suffering.”

Throughout Eli’s tour and meetings with dignitaries, Eli dreads being sent back to earth as an alley cat—the fate of adulterers. But God, speaking in the voice of Orson Welles, has other plans for Eli. Sponsored Review

Available at Amazon.com www.thebookofeli.mobi www.samsstories.com

Philosophy

“Eli’s tour of Heaven provides a humorous framework for discussion of serious fundamentalist Christian theology, as well as popular psychological and conservative political ideas. ”

--San Francisco & Sacramento Book Reviews

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History Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles

By Robert Sackville-West Walker & Company, $26.00, 293 pages Inheritance is penned by a SackvilleWest (the 7th Lord Sackville, to be exact), who presents a lovely, but candid, story of his ancestry and the manor house, around which thirteen generations of Sackvilles have based their lives. The most famous member of this family is Vita Sackville-West, but those who’ve come before and after Vita are equally fascinating. But of greater importance is Knole, the Kent home of the Sackvilles, which the author shows has been both a point of obsession and a millstone around their necks throughout history. The author’s writing shines when describing this 365-room house and its treasures; his vivid awe of the history steeped in Knole’s foundations echoed in the excerpts of description written by his ancestors. Though Inheritance is engrossing, the chapters dealing with the Sackvilles of the latter half of the 20th century fall flat--perhaps because the author is too close to reveal anything of importance?-though one is both sympathetic and critical of the decline of the English country house.

Nevertheless, Inheritance is an exciting tale and a must-read for lovers of English history and manor homes, as well as anyone who wishes to understand the effect Knole had upon Vita Sackville-West--and Virginia Woolf.

Reviewed by Angela Tate H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: The Complete Series (Library of America)

By H.L. Mencken, Marion Rodgers, Editor Library of America, $70.00, 1408 pages H.L. Mencken was a cultural, artistic, movie critic of the early 20th century in the United States, between 1917 to 1926.

He tackled the issues facing Americans of the day, from Communists and Leftists, to Conservatives and Fascists. No one was safe from his glare. He went after authors he felt were unworthy of praise; and for those authors worthy of praise that fell short, he attacked with both wit and charm. In this two-volume collection, the Library of America gives us the entire collection of Mencken’s work; his attacks on Prohibition, criticizing Mark Twain and Jack London as hacks and unworthy of remembrance.

These two volumes are worthy of being republished, because it gives the reader a look

The Korean War: A History (Modern Library Chronicles) at what good columnists are supposed to do, be witty and be aggressive. His writing style might seem outdated to modern readers, and hard for many readers to follow.

Mr. Mencken does not use small words, and his sentences and paragraphs can be quite lengthy. But for those brave enough to delve into the cultural history of 20th century United States this is well worth the trip.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter Lee: Goodness In Action

By John Perry Thomas Nelson, $19.99, 225 pages Perry’s snapshot of General Robert E. Lee is remarkable in its brevity. The effort is not designed to reveal some hidden secret, but to remind us, seven generations after the Civil War, of the qualities that beget greatness, even in the face of defeat.

The title, Goodness in Action, begs the question of slavery, and why anyone of moral character would fight to uphold it.

Perry is quick to point out the fallacy of assuming Lee fought for slavery. Instead, we are treated to a taste of the torment of a leader, torn by duty and honor to family, country, and countrymen: a man who at the risk of disgrace, would not raise his sword against his fellow Virginians; a man who in the face of Sherman’s slash-andburn tactics, defied the orders of Confederate President Davis to continue the fight after Richmond’s fall in guerrilla warfare.

This powerfully compact biography of Lee focuses on his intrinsic moral character, and how it shaped everything from his battle tactics to the treatment of his troops.

This book is the second in a series on generals, published as a set by Thomas Nelson, and is recommended for emerging students of the Civil War. Reviewed by Casey Corthron The Firm: The Inside Story of the Stasi (Oxford Oral History Series)

By Gary Bruce Oxford University Press, $34.95, 239 pages The title covers more than the contents.

This is actually an analysis of Stasi control of only two of the 217 political districts in East Germany. One of them, Gransee, was the site of at least two concentration camps under the Nazis, as well as the IG Farben factory that made poison gas.//Gary Bruce

By Cumings, Bruce Modern Library, $24.00, 288 pages

Many students of history gloss over the Korean War. Yet this war was important, it was the first of a new type of war. A guerrilla war, one in which we did not know who the enemy was. Author Bruce Cumings gives the Korean War life and breath that it richly deserves. He makes the argument that the Korean War was a civil war between two factions, those that collaborated with the Japanese Imperialists (South), and those that fought against them when Japan occupied Korean (North). The United States took a stand and intervened in this long running conflict on the side of the South and drew a line at the 38th parallel. This is an informative and controversial book. Mr. Cumings gives a picture of Korea long before and long after the fighting stopped, that the Koreans have a long memory and that this conflict from 1950-1953 was just another fight between the two sides. Hopefully this book will lead to a more balanced history of the Korean War. Reviewed by Kevin Winter may have set out to write the inside story of East Germany’s secret police, but the result is a hodge-podge. Part scholarly analysis, part mass market appeal in the form of details of individual operations, and part political analysis of the Stasi’s power in East Germany.

None of these approaches goes far enough. More is needed on how ordinary people coped and the political views of the senior officers.

But it confirms that the Stasi became clogged by its own clumsy apparatus, which was a blessing as the effects of an efficient secret police would have made the lives of many more people miserable. Millions of reports were churned out; many made up to curry favor with the regime and others because of resentment or envy against a neighbor or superior.

This is a minor reference work compared to other accounts of the Stasi.

Reviewed by Martin Rushmere A New Omnibus of Crime

By Edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert Oxford University Press, $16.95, 396 pages Over 80 years ago, Dorothy L. Sayers published the end-all, be-all crime anthology, The Omnibus of Crime. But with the decades of storytelling since, the genre has grown, evolved, and become something wholly unpredictable. A new omnibus was long overdue. But who would have the audacity to evoke the memory of Sayers’s classic tome?

Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert answered the call, creating a chronicle of crime writing encompassing the last hundred years, and picking up right

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where Sayers left off. They assembled a legion of genre favorites: P.D. James, Donald E. Westlake, Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Ed McBain, Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard.

And while the collection falters in places, there are some excellent tales to be found within. Dashiell Hammett’s “The Girl with the Silver Eyes” is a classic private eye story, replete with twists and turns, while “Woodrow Wilson’s Necktie,” a story by Patricia Highsmith, takes us into the mind of the aspiring criminal. Ruth Rendell’s “Loopy” is exceedingly creepy, while Jeffrey Deaver’s “Copycat” is an ominous page turner.

There is truly something for every crime fan within the pages of A New Omnibus of Crime, but only time will tell if it matches its predecessor.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Scoundrels in Law: The Trials of Howe and Hummel, Lawyers to the Gangsters, Cops, Starlets, and Rakes Who Made the Gilded Age

By Cait N. Murphy Smithsonian, $26.99, 352 pages Howe and Hummel were the best-known criminal lawyers in New York City for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. At a time when corruption invaded all levels of society, from the police to the judicial system to the state and national political system and throughout business and the stock markets, no one played the game better than these two distinguished lawyers. From their small building in the midst of the madness in lower Manhattan, Howe and Hummel served rich and poor, guilty and innocent, perpetrator and victim with impunity, accessing both the highest and lowest echelons of post-Civil War society.

See HISTORY, cont’d page 16

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HISTORY, cont’d from page 15 Cait Murphy’s second book attempts to capture these two men, and in some ways she succeeds admirably. They are certainly a fascinating pair, and the glimpse we get of everyday life in nineteenth-century New York in the midst of the Gilded Age is riveting. But as a biographical work, the gaps in the portrait are too large to ignore. Despite their fame, little is known of Howe and Hummel outside of their professional lives, and this creates a lack of cohesion in the story. What the reader is left with is a collection of stories, and while they are nicely executed and often hilarious, there is nothing to bind them together. The several glaring typos and lack of editorial consistency don’t help matters, either.

Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell Roman Britain (Shire Living Histories)

By Richard Russell Lawrence Shire, $15.95, 80 pages From Shire publications comes a great new series known as the Shire Living Histories: “How we worked; how we played; how we lived,” detailing the history of Britain.

The series begins with a strong start in Roman Britain, from AD 40-400, covering this important time in history when Britain was a distant and important part of the Roman Empire, providing important natural resources. Written by Richard Russell Lawrence, Roman Britain is filled with colorful pictures, photographs of current sites and settlements, drawings and illustrations. During this period, Britain was going through its first “invasion,” essentially, from a Celtic and Druidic way of life to the organized and processed way of Rome. At the end of the Roman Empire, Britain was essentially abandoned by Rome, yet many important systems and processes that had been established by the Romans continued to be used in Britain, which is what makes Roman Britain such an important read. At the end of the book is a detailed index providing quick referencing, as well as a couple of pages on “Places to Visit” in modern-day Britain to learn of Roman Britain. Whether you’re an avid historian, someone taking a class on this period, or someone who would just like to learn a little more about the effect the Romans had on the Britons, Roman Britain will provide you with all the answers and more.

Reviewed by Alex C. Telander The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War

By Donald Stoker Oxford University Press, $27.95, 512 pages Donald Stoker is a Professor of Strategy and Policy at the US Naval War College’s Naval Postgraduate School and he offers an in-depth look at the strategies used and mishandled in the Civil War in ways that other authors never have. Winning the war

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wasn’t a forgone conclusion or a matter of the North having more resources than the South, the North won because they developed strategic responses to each and every facet of the war that worked more often than they failed.

Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate and therefore knew how to battle, yet failed when it came to having complete political goals which ultimately led to the South losing support of territories and basic supplies. Lincoln, a savvy politician, had a clear vision of what to do and how to do it, but lacked the support of capable generals to carry out that vision.

The Grand Design is not for your basic Civil War buff, but it is an intense read on tactics, operations, and strategies that lead you to a deeper understanding of what we were really fighting for and how chance, vision, and perseverance are actually led to the restoration of the country.

Reviewed by Gwen Stackler Field Guide to California Agriculture

By Paul F. Starrs and Peter Goin University of California Press, $24.95, 504 pages One can’t live in California for very long without realizing that a vast portion of the state is all about agriculture. An estimated 300 to 400 different crops and agricultural products are created, grown and tended in California; and it is the world’s fifth largest supplier of food and agriculture commodities.

Starrs and Goin have created a sort of encyclopedia of California agriculture by including sections on the individual products, regions, growing times and most interestingly, the history and people of agriculture. There is a vast amount of information to digest with growing dates, ranks, Latin nomenclature, the history of how each product came to California, and the accompanying pictures tell the very colorful story.

However, this is not a traditional field guide. If the reader is looking for a book that is going to help him or her identify crops as they are flying along Interstate 5, like a bird guide will help you identify birds flying over your car, this is not the book. It will leave you with a better understanding of what makes California a contender in the world’s economy and a grasp of what those vast fields mean to all of us.

Reviewed by Gwen Stackler

By Catherine Cloutman Associate Editor, Sacramento Book Review I remember walking into my first delicatessen this summer in St. Helena. If you’re like me, the smell of the cured meats and cheeses will remind you of the Salumerias of the romantic cobblestoned streets of Verona, Little Italy in NY, or North Beach. More so, the hustle and bustle of the folks visiting V. Sattui that afternoon weekday wasn’t bad, giving me time to savor their pristine gardens and picnic grove, taking pleasure in their tranquility. From patés, prosciutto, salame, pepperoni, culatello to pancetta…

I tasted each one with the eagerness of a kid and decided to hoard a few packages for snacking next day.

The predicament I created and stumbled upon afterwards when I ran out of these divine preserved meats at home became a huge dilemma. Safeway and Trader Joe’s just wouldn’t do it.

And then like a divine revelation, I suddenly recalled Anthony Bourdain’s San Francisco visit to Book Passage a couple of months ago and how my friends there raved about the charcuterie at Left Bank Brasserie. Having been able to exchange emails with COO Thomas Bunker, I decided to visit the enchanting town of Larkspur with nothing but the enthusiasm of meeting him, the executive chef and an empty tummy that groaned “feed me”…

I was charmed instantly. Aside from the beautiful Marin weather, I was met by a building and facade that had a personality which evoked endearing bistro memories from Europe. The friendly diners/regulars who ate al fresco had a welcoming smile and you could almost taste the food with every savory whiff that permeated the air. Built during the railroad era in 1895, a local landmark in Larkspur, The Blue Rock Inn now houses the popular Left Bank Brasserie.

As I approached the door, a fine-looking brunette gal welcomed me and showed my party to our table. Chef Sean Canavan, with his jolly and kind aura, was all smiles when he introduced himself. Shortly, Thomas Bunker arrived and joined our table. He was everything I imagined him to be – congenial, accommodating, and just downright gracious!

Culinary Wish List Right now, it’s not so much adding another type of regional cuisine to Chef Sean’s already heaping plate but, instead, he is exploring the deeper science behind charcuterie and meat preparation which he finds really inspiring. “I’m spending a lot of time studying – reading books on sausage making and dry curing. The Italians have a fascinating method of dry curing I’m interested in. I’m interested in food in general, you know living in San Francisco the sky’s the limit, it’s everything, it’s a melting pot – from inexpensive Korean food to Burmese food I find very delicious, but it’s hard to pick” Chef Sean explains.

Chef Sean’s Suggested Reads:

Left Bank Brasserie 507 Magnolia Ave Larkspur, CA 94939-1328 (415) 927-3331 Website: www.leftbank.com

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Self-Help Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind

By Joyce Meyer FaithWords, $21.99, 270 pages New York Times bestselling author, Joyce Meyer, delineates a 12-Week Plan to Win the Battle of the Mind in her newest releasePower Thoughts.

In this book, Meyers lays out the undeniable concept that our thoughts have tremendous power. This author is a minister.

This book is full of scriptural references and the author’s interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. She uses the Lord card in selfhelp narratives, and then presents quizzical think-about-it sections designed to help readers identify their personal weaknesses.

Non- Chr istians can benefit from the concept: change your thoughts; change your course. Joyce’s transformational 12-step plan helps readers to grasp the fact that our thoughts impact our physical and mental health. Readers will participate by following a three-month, week-by-week plan that requires personal evaluation.

Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind is not offensively preachy.

Joyce Meyer’s purpose is to show readers how to align their thinking with God’s word, and this will help them to achieve happiness.

The goal is to help readers identify faith weaknesses in their thought patterns.

Knowledge is power. Change your thoughts to Power Thoughts. If you take charge of your thoughts, you are in charge. Mental ammunition is powerful.

Reviewed by Vivian Dixon Sober Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right

By Mary C. Gentile Yale University Press, $26.00, 268 pages Giving Voice to Values claims that most people are pragmatic and have already decided what is right and wrong when they encounter work situations that conflict with their values. Gentile argues that many people mistakenly believe they must work up

the courage to speak their mind about unethical work directives. She advocates that by finding our voice, recognizing common rationalizations for unethical decisions, and reframing the conflict so executives can entertain more appropriate courses of action we will be empowered to speak our values without sounding preachy.

The book reads like an academic treatise but redeems itself with practical examples and solutions. I liked Gentile’s advice that some jobs will experience reoccurring ethical conflicts and it’s wise to prepare a script to deal with them. She points out that in most organizations there are many people who want to voice their values so we are less isolated than we think. She warns that speaking up is not without risk.

I admired her example of the executive who kept a rainy-day fund and rejected job perks so he was not at a personal disadvantage should he need to leave his employer over a conflict in values. Good and timely advice these days.

Reviewed by Grady Jones Long Fuse, Big Bang: Achieving LongTerm Success Through Daily Victories

By Eric Haseltine Hyperion, $24.99, 242 pages In Long Fuse, Big Bang: Achieving LongTerm Success Through Daily Victories, author Eric Haseltine, a Ph.D. in physiological psychology, applies his understanding of the workings of the human brain to analyze the successes of individuals in diverse fields from aerospace to entertainment.

Told largely through a series of narratives on successful individuals such as Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, to Louis Pasteur, one of the first doctors to recognize the need for a sterile environment in medicine, Haseltine advances his main idea that humans as a species are evolved to thrive on short-term

rather than long-term gratification: Tomorrow we might be dead, after all, has been the reality we’ve lived with for most of our history.

Working with this need for immediate gratification and building toward a big pay-off has led to the success of individuals smart enough to recognize the tendency.

Haseltine’s theory makes intuitive sense, and the book is certainly inspirational —at least enough for me to get started on several of those long-term projects, now that I recognize the need to reward myself incrementally in the process.

Reviewed by Stacia Levy Is It Just Me?: The Modern Woman’s Survival Guide

By Shane Watson Plume, $15.00, 256 pages Author and journalist Shane Watson gives us a wake-up call regarding women and aging in her book Is It Just Me?. Shane is living in the real world. Her target audience is women forty plus—not women who believe 30 is the new 50. Technology can make you believe anything.

This author helps women to understand we are living in an era like never before.

Looking for the fountain of youth is ancient behavior. Today, women utilize the services of plastic surgeons the moment they see a bulge, and that is their prerogative. This book is for middle-aged women who want to age gracefully. This author married for the first time in her mid-40s.

There are no more labels for spinsters. However, too many women believe they can still dress like used to. Do you look like you used to look?

If you want to age naturally and gracefully, it is wise to understand the definition of age appropriate—not life appropriate.

Watson admits some women can get away with anything. You must ask yourself, is that woman you?

Middle-aged women are still beautiful and sexy. Don’t worry about your bestfriends. Just be you.

Reviewed by Vivian Dixon Sober

October 10 17

Science & Nature The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can’t Do Without It

By Philip Ball Oxford University Press, $29.95, 452 pages If you love music and yearn to know more about it, this scientific tome is likely to disappoint you. The book is the result of a monumental research on every aspect of music and its relationship to humans from primitive to modern. “…it is meaningless to imagine a culture that has no music, because music is an inevitable product of human intelligence.”

Don’t expect easy reading—this is a scientific treatise where a dictionary will be handy next to your reading material. It was written for musicologists, ethnomusicologists, and other scientists in related fields.

The writing is not easy and often takes all your concentration to comprehend it. The chapters are conveniently broken up into smaller subsections with many nice illustrations and extensive sidebars.

Numerous quotations and page footnotes verify the scientific nature of this book, as well as separate extensive sections of both notes and reference sections at the end of the book A note by the author precedes the text giving a web link to musical examples given in the book, a feature that makes this book truly complete.

This study will probably be on the shelf of many musicologists and musicians but probably no on many readers of casual musical interest.

Reviewed by George Erdosh 100 Facts About Pandas

By David O’Doherty, Claudia O’Doherty, Mike Ahern Penguin Books, $13.00, 208 pages First, let’s get the obvious out of the way: my name is Amanda, and this is a review of a book about pandas. Yeah, I sort of did that on purpose. Now that’s done, did you know that a panda named Jo-Jo saved the lives of four children on the Titanic? How about that the Emperor in Taipei is haunted by a thirteenth-century panda butler? Would you believe me if I told you that instead of hundreds of separate bones, pandas have only one really bendy one?

18 October 10

Of course you wouldn’t, and you shouldn’t believe anything else 100 Facts About Pandas tells you. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. Some of the “facts” authors David O’Doherty, Claudia O’Doherty, and Mike Ahern report here made me snort a milkshake through my nose. I can’t think of a good reason why anybody would actually buy this book, but neither can I think of a good reason why anybody shouldn’t. So why not pick up a copy for the Amandas (or even Mirandas) in your life?

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell Green Pieces: Green from the Pond Up

By Drew Aquilina Mariposa Press, $19.99, 195 pages Don’t you miss the old fashioned comic strips? What if you came across one that wasn’t only funny, but also informative and educational? That’s exactly what author and cartoonist Drew Aquilina accomplished with Green Pieces: Green from the Pond Up. Through the main characters, Iggman, Radic, Roc, and Cabby, the reader is made to feel like they are right at home at the pond. Drew has been interested in nature since he was a young boy and always wondered what the animals were thinking while looking at us humans.

Green Pieces is written from the animals perspective which lends a comical twist to this comic strip. Not only do you follow the four main characters throughout the book, but are also introduced to other animals such as geese, sheep, and deer. These lend a bit of a break in the main story lines that kids and parents alike will appreciate.

Aquilina’s illustrations are unsurpassable. He truly brings to life the animals at the pond. These days, being green is the new “it” thing. Although Green Pieces deals with environmental issues like human waste and pollution, it does so in a way that doesn’t make the reader feel bombarded with “going green” demands. He uses the main characters to bring these issues to light through their eyes.

I can’t say enough good things about Green Pieces: Green from the Pond Up or about Drew Aquilina. This book should be in every home and every classroom across America. It will soon be released in full color which will only further bring these animals to life.

For a daily dose of Green Pieces check out www.greenpiecescartoons.com. Listen to Jennifer LeBrun’s interview with Green Pieces: Green from the Pond Up author Drew Aquilina on Audible Authors (audibleauthors.net).

Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun

Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

By Michael D. Fayer AMACOM, $24.00, 383 pages

Finally, someone caught up with the importance of explaining Quantum Theory in layman’s terms. We live in a technological society that is infinitely dependent upon science. No longer are average people huddling in the dark ages, snickering in the presence of mathematical reasoning. Show us the light!

One of the highlights to understanding what it’s all about involves the photon— that strange particle that is neither a physical entity (in the sense of atoms) nor is it a pure energy unit, which would have indirect measurement. Instead, the photon shows properties of both states, invoking wave theory. This adds an extra dimension to understanding the nature of things. But author, Michael D. Fayer, Ph. D., clarifies this and sheds light on otherwise hidden connections of how things work in nature.

Overall, Fayer does a marvelous job at uniting the various aspects of matter and energy so that the reader, including the layman, has a road map to the make-up of the universe and its workings. Consequently, we are enlightened to the deeper meaning of small — Absolutely Small.

It’s not a casual read. But for those with more than a passing interest in scientific sustenance, the book is well worth the read.

Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky Absolutely Small: How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World

By Michael D. Fayer AMACOM, $24.00, 383 pages Finally, someone caught up with the importance of explaining Quantum Theory in layman’s terms. We live in a technological society that is infinitely dependent upon science. No longer are average people huddling in the dark ages, snickering in the presence of mathematical reasoning. Show us the light!

One of the highlights to understanding what it’s all about involves the photon— that strange particle that is neither a physical entity (in the sense of atoms) nor is it a pure energy unit, which would have indirect measurement. Instead, the photon shows properties of both states, invoking wave theory. This adds an extra dimension to understanding the nature of things. But author, Michael D. Fayer, Ph. D., clarifies this and sheds light on otherwise hidden connections of how things work in nature.

Overall, Fayer does a marvelous job at uniting the various aspects of matter and energy so that the reader, including the layman, has a road map to the make-up of the universe and its workings. Consequently, we are enlightened to the deeper meaning of small — Absolutely Small.

It’s not a casual read. But for those with more than a passing interest in scientific sustenance, the book is well worth the read.

Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky

The Pythagorean Theorem: The Story of Its Power and Beauty

By Alfred S. Posamentier, Herbert a Hauptman Prometheus Books, $27.00, 294 Pages I’m a little surprised to see Dr. Posamentier driven down a well-paved road.

Perhaps he has something new to show us.

As compared to his previous publications, Posamentier continues to deliver a depth of insight. His work is nothing short of comprehensive and remains the most standard work to represent Pythagorian thought in a modern era.

He provides treatment of Pythagorus with numeric proofs, algebraic and geometric. He also shows how equivalent relations form Pathagorus’ theorem. Perhaps, the most poignant area involves the famous trigonometric identity, Sin2 ? + Cos2 ? = 1, derived from the distance formula, which is also Pythagorian in nature. One of these trigonometric concerns leads to the invaluable triangle-area calculations of ½ xySin ? in the Cartesian plane. The Pythagorian Theorem is also a special case of the law of Cosines as illustrated by a2+b2- 2abcos ?= c2.

Although Posamentier has nothing new to uncover, he sheds light in the gray areas of familiar topics in Pythagorian geometry. As one might recall from the history of mathematics, Pythagorus understands counting through his marvelous use of geometric numbers. Posamentier seeks a similar path, tempered with a Pythagorian view.

A dynamic read for stimulating your brain.

Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky

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Parenting/Families Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write -From Baby to Age 7

By Dr. J. Richard Gentry Da Capo Lifelong Books, $14.95, 244 pages How young is too young for your child to begin a lifelong love of reading? When should you lay a literary foundation? As early as possible, according to Dr. J. Richard Gentry, who affirms that young ones are ready for words at birth.

“Your baby’s brain is ready for reading at birth.”

InRaising Confident Readers - How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write from Baby to Age 7, Gentry guides enthusiastic, and

sometimes puzzled, parents to the path of enlightenment. He provides a scope of four phases (birth-age seven) and your child’s developmental stages in each category, how the brain latches onto reading, what to look for in growth and how to develop plans and projects to encourage progress. Recommendations for at-home activities and books are provided in each chapter, all up-to-date and age appropriate.

This book is highly recommended for a firm grasp on your child’s introduction to a world of reading and writing. With illustrations, charts, and milestone checklists, Gentry has endowed us with a gem of a resource: part clinical manual, part entertaining howto, a trusty road map on the passage to a highly achieved word lover. Q & A’s and covered topics for reading challenges such as dyslexia make this read an investment for both your child and you.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez

Current Events Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Critical Theory in the African Diaspora

By Henry Louis Jr. Gates Basic Civitas Books, $23.95, 205 pages Author Henry Gates, the Harvard professor involved in the Beer Summit, is a man of letters. A man who pushes the envelope of cultural thought in the United States; many people read his books to get an understanding of the larger issues of culture and society in the United States. In this book, Mr. Gates takes on the idea of cultural studies in the academy, uni-

versities, and whether it belongs. He traces the field from its beginnings in the 1970s in Britain to its rise in the United States in the mid-1980s. A culture war erupted: where do cultural studies belong? Mr. Gates goes beyond that, putting cultural studies on its head, that it does not need to be the either/ or choice people make it become.

Mr. Gates might be a great author, but his work can be difficult to read. It is at times messy, overly wordy, and feels off topic in places. The idea that the Culture Wars ended a long time ago will raise controversy. Mr. Gates claims it ended when English departments decided on the new canon. This is not to say that the book is bad, just go in with a dictionary and an open mind.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

Humor-NonFiction The Book of Bastards

By Brian Thornton Adams Media, $12.95, 242 pages Reading this book about political and megalomaniac rogues through history is like seeing the emperor exposed in his new clothes. One hundred and one notables from the past have their immoral or illegal acts revealed, these are illustrious people of power noted as icons of greatness whose flaws are revealed.

These revelations might be shocking to the innocent grade schooler mastering the history text, but to the regular citizen suffering from the prevalent rampant corruption, these stories only remind one that history constantly repeats itself. Included within this chronicle is the story of Boss Tweed, the ruthless manipulations of Carnegie, Gould Frick, Morgan, and Rockefeller. These multimillionaires did deed some of this unlawful gain for the public good, but their wealth was essentially originally stolen from the poor. Included in the list are former presidents Kennedy and Johnson for their sexual and personal indiscretions. The father of our

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country, otherwise famed for his false teeth, is described as a ‘horny bastard.’ In light of present day affairs, this accusation seems fairly trifling. Still the book is full of titillating particulars, which show humans as part angels and part devil, the latter aspect can be amusing to read about when it causes no damage. Amusing as a fast read, but it seems to me there is a little bit of bastard in all of us. The labeling depends on your perspective.

Reviewed by Rita Hoots

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October 10 19

Reference Bounce, Don’t Break: Brande’s Guide to Life, Love, and Success

By Brande Roderick, Liz Topp, Contributor Running Press, $14.95, 200 pages When I started reading this book, I was somewhat put off by the language, which seemed better suited for the street than the boardroom.

About midway through, I realized that Brande Roderick didn’t write this book for me. She wrote it for younger people (not just female) for whom this language is very nearly their first.

The title of this book says it all. Brande is that rare — and fortunate — young woman who identified her goals at an early age, and,

with no delay, set out to achieve them. Along with her great genes (see the photos of Mom and Dad for confirmation of that fact), her parents also gave her a terrific work ethic, common sense and experiences that would benefit anyone. How many parents would allow their 17-year-old-daughter to remodel her bedroom? Not enough, I’ll warrant.

Her first goal, from age 11 or so, was to be a Playmate, but she went past that dream to become Playmate of the Year. From there it was movies, TV, wife and mother, all before she hit 40. There were a few bumps along the way, but she learned from them. There are several quick quizzes to help readers figure out what they want, along with good advice on how to get it. The last chapter highlights Brande’s struggle with infertility before finally achieving her own miracle – a son!

Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz

Relationships/Sex The Newlywed’s Instruction Manual: Essential Information, Troubleshooting Tips, and Advice for the First Year of Marriage

By Caroline Tiger Quirk Books, $16.95, 206 pages Having been married for just a blink over two and a half months, I decided to give this book a chance. What is life really like after the big day, after the last thank-you card is mailed out, after you decide “out with the old and in with the new” (as in his old college recliner to a twotoned sofa that fits more than one-plusone on lap)? Filled with amusing graphics, tips and charts, and realistic applications, The Newlywed’s Instruction Manual offers an entertaining and eye-opening gander into life with your chosen. With such potentially sticky situations as arguments, trust and communication, money, and perhaps the ultimate adhesive of all, the in-laws, Caroline Tiger presents her readers with succinct and timeless suggestions to make your union more perfect or, at the very least, possible. Her instructions are user-friendly and lean toward a fun time with a colorful friend who knows a lot. It is also a guide on how to take care of home, finances, laundry (how many guys know to wash your delicate bra separate from the fuzzy bath towels?).

It didn’t take long to say “I do” to this read.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez

20 October 10

Fast Girls: Erotica for Women

By Rachel Kramer Bussel, Editor Cleis Press, $14.95, 198 pages From the strictly sexual to the deeper, and sometimes darker, emotions that accompany sex, Fast Girls mines the range of human emotions. Blatant and unapologetically sexy, Fast Girls features some of the best voices in new erotica. From a communal shower to a kinky sex club, from myriad toys to strictly skin, these girls don’t say no or take it for an answer.

Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel defines fast as both wild and promiscuous, as according to Webster, but her selection of stories seeks something else, something deeper, not just stories of slut after slut, but stories of women who defy social norms, are bold and dynamic, with something to realize about sex and about themselves. The stories reflect what it is to be fast, being promiscuous and defying, both in states of mind as well as in states of motion. All of them speak to the reader on a deeper level as the women defy social conventions, raise eyebrows, and embrace what it is to be “fast.” Read it fast or slow, this anthology delivers.

Reviewed by Axie Barclay

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Travel The Smart Family’s Passport: 350 Money, Time & Sanity Saving Tips

By Nina Wildorf Quirk Books, $14.95, 224 pages The Smart Family’s Passport is small enough to stash in your carry-on without having to leave something at home. Its smart layout and design makes for easy reading and topic location.

There are numerous tips in each chapter to help families travel for less money, less time, and less stress.

“To avoid blisters during a hike, spray some antiperspirant on your ankles and heels just before setting out. It works just as it does under your arms—it prevents sweat, which, when combined with friction, is what usually causes the painful sores. It may sound odd, but I swear it really helps!”

Take for example, the idea to pack a few extra Ziploc bags in various sizes for wet clothing, leftover food, your camera, and as a rain bonnet just in case, or the suggestion to use cut-up pieces from a plastic table cloth as a baby changing pad.

Whether you are traveling with a large group, babies, small children or alone, the tips in this book were written for you by folks just like you. This is the type book that can be read over and over again, allowing

you to see a new perspective on an old tip.

Be sure to pick up your copy before you start planning your next trip then pack it on the top to take with you.

Reviewed by Linda Welz Volunteer: A Traveller’s Guide to Making a Difference Around (General Reference)

By Lonely Planet Lonely Planet, $19.99, 272 pages When all’s said and done, volunteers are simply unpaid helpers. As described in Lonely Planet’s Volunteer: a Traveller’s Guide to Making a Difference around the World, the pay-off replacing the pay is a rewarding sense of accomplishment. Find a volunteer niche within the pages, whatever you’d like to do and wherever. The book takes you through the practicalities in careful detail, leaving no questions unanswered, and separating reality from dreams before launching into the opportunities.

Whether volunteering means teaching at a school in a tumultuous Asian city or in an isolated mountain community, rebuilding a French mediaeval village or joining a religious group in a mission setting, the ‘how tos’ of finding a spot is explained. The book’s details include the costs--such as plane

fares--as volunteering does tend to involve some expenses.

Volunteer reaches out to everyone from teenagers hoping to make their gap year worthwhile to oldies who are finding retirement a let-down, and all ages in between.

Rather than list hundreds of actual volunteer posts, the book’s purpose is to direct readers to organizations seeking volunteers and to suggest go-it-alone options.

Reviewed by Jane Manaster Tuscany and Umbria: The Collected Traveler (Vintage Departures)

By Barrie Kerper Vintage, $19.00, 614 pages This ambitious collection of stories, articles, advice, and interviews on these northern Italian regions boasts contributions by well-known food critics, professors, magazine editors and novelists such as Erica Jong, Frances Mayes and David Leavitt.

There is a wealth of personal recollections, suggested reading, opinions, tips and travel information.

Tuscany and Umbria: The Collected Traveler works well as a general showcase for all things Italian, but only in part as a regional reference. It explains much of Italian culture and lifestyle, while it demonstrates why this particular region has become such an international destination. As an on-site travel guide, however, the profusion of quotes, extraneous recipes, overabundant reading recommendations, historical references, inconsequential opinions, and tangential

memoirs renders it much too cumbersome.

It would be problematic for someone en route to research any of its contents; even the A-Z section of miscellaneous items is uneven and unorganized. The included photographs do justice to neither Italy nor the text it accompanies, and should have been omitted.

As a preparatory guidebook, these back-road pointers could provide some insight to the serious traveler with spare time. Nevertheless, such a wealth of cultural knowledge demands more focus, better organization and serious editing.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio

Home & Garden Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists Stories and Recipes from Young People Eating What they Sow

By Katherine Leiner Sunrise Lane Productions, $35.00, 303 pages Growing up working in an organic vegetable garden is something quite magical. I was fortunate enough to have parents that believed in composting, saving seeds, using non-chemical fertilizers, and natural methods of pest control, not to mention saving to buy land to grow food on. Married with kids of my own, the first thing we did after buying a house was take out the ornamental, water-hogging landscaping in half of the backyard and put in a 20x20 organic vegetable garden...something that the whole family takes part in learning about

and caring for. Stories of folks and families just like ours across America are the focal point of Growing Roots a gardening, nutrition and healthy-living book by Katherine Leiner. I liked this book for three reasons: 1. it wasn’t some a uber-green-party browbeating session on lazy, fat consumers, 2. it offered real stories of real folks with real solutions for a variety of sustainable gardening/farming, 3. each contributor offered a parting gift: healthy recipes almost anyone can make. I was so encouraged after reading this piece. From New York to California, more and more folks are re-discovering they can indeed grow and raise with own food, slowly and surely producing more than they consume.

“Where will our food come from when these typical American farmers finally throw in the towel, which they have every right to do?”

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

DIY Art at Home: 28 Simple Projects for Chic Decor on the Cheap

By Lola Gavarry Watson-Guptill, $21.99, 144 pages There’s an artist inside each of us. Have you ever seen a great art piece that you could envision in your home, but you were disappointed because it was too costly to purchase? French designer Lola Gavarry has put together a great book of art projects that rival some of today’s contemporary artists’ work at a fraction of the cost.

With the do-it-yourself approach, athome artists can customize works to the last detail, to their individual taste. Chapter 1 gives a helpful overview of materials, tools, and supplies needed to try your hand at any of the projects in Chapters 2 through 6, with focus on projects appropriate for living spaces, kitchens, bedrooms, offices and more. Each project is well presented with information on approximate time needed to complete the piece, reference to the specific pattern template (all 28 patterns are includ-

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ed at the back of the book), as well as materials, brush sizes and types, and paint colors used to create the piece as shown in the book.

Full color photos take the reader/artist stepby-step through the creation process.

The various designs will appeal to every taste, with easy projects ranging from whimsical to contemporary, modern, rustic and nature-inspired. These do-it-yourself projects will add flair and style to any home.

Your friends will wonder how you managed to afford such an amazing art piece. DIY Art At Home: 28 Simple Projects for Chic Decor on the Cheap will likely inspire you to create something extraordinary.

Reviewed by Laura Friedkin

October 10 21

Popular Fiction A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

By Sherryl Woods Mira Books, $16.95, 288 pages Although this is the fourth book in the series (with two more planned) you’ll quickly feel right at home with the sprawling, rambunctious O’Brien clan. The author has a charming, laid-back way of telling her story, sprinkled with laughter and poignancy, certain to prompt more than a few tears before you reach the last page.

After three books about the younger O’Briens, this book mostly centers on the parents: Mick and Megan, who divorced some years ago, but are now together again and planning (maybe) a wedding for New Year’s Eve. Will Megan leave again – for the same reasons

she left the first time? That answer depends a lot on her men-folks, who are hard-headed Irishmen, through and through.

Beginning with Mick, the self-made construction magnate through her youngest son, Connor, an up-and-coming divorce attorney (!) Megan carefully picks her way through a mine-field to reach her goal. Of course, in a family of this size, surprises are not strangers, but the one that appears on Thanksgiving Day may well cause even more rifts in the precarious family fabric.

Still, with love and patience and prayer, the family will eventually find solutions. But will that solution emerge from the neverempty pockets of Dad, the always full heart of Mom, or one of their hard-headed kids?

You’ll love the discovery process, plus this sweetly heart-warming story will make a great gift for grandma’s Christmas stocking!

Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz

Imperial Bedrooms

By Ellis, Bret Easton Knopf, $24.95, 169 pages In a body of work including American Psycho, Brett Easton Ellis has become a speaker for the deranged: but not of outcasts lingering on society’s fringes, but, of the successful, prosperous elite, whose pathologies are born from and feed into society at large.

Ellis’s newest novel, Imperial Bedrooms fits this description, and while it neither seems to aim for nor does it achieve the scope of past works, it nevertheless gives a chillingly compelling portrayal of a character and the society which shaped him.

Returning to the characters of Ellis’s debut novel, Less Than Zero, protagonist Clay was first met as a wealthy, jaded college student returning to hometown Los Angeles for a summer of conflicted debauchery. Twentyfive years later he has again returned to Los Angeles as a successful screenwriter, in anticipation of yet another summer of apathyspawned sin.

We’ve met this Hollywood before many times: superficial, cruel, vicious, and joyless. But peered at through Ellis’s flat, minimalist prose, it has perhaps never been as stomach-twisting. The clinically recounted scenes of violence and sex do – and should – test any reader’s endurance. But in the end, it is not easy to define what results from a reading, making Imperial Bedrooms no less mesmerizing, but less easy to recommend.

Reviewed by Ariel Berg

for Regency full of history and romance, Wicked Surrender is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Angela Tate

thedral, with Darcy?s god-father the bishop in charge. Lizzy helps to rescue Lydia, and all else familiar is here, just slightly rearranged. I loved it!

Just close your eyes and dream of Colin Firth as Mr. D. I loved doing that, too! I hope that Ms. Austen had a Mr. D. in her life.

Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz

ball and zany; the reader can?t help but to wish they were a part of this loving family.

Kristan Higgins simply cannot write fast enough for me.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

Romance Wicked Surrender (Berkley Sensation)

By Jade Lee Berkley, $7.99, 326 pages After exploring her Chinese heritage in her Tigress series, Wicked Surrender is Jade Lee’s return to the Regency Historical genre in which she began. Her storytelling and sensuality is as strong as ever, and this book is full of the genuine emotional intensity and sense of adventure of her past novels.

The uniquely named Scheherazade Martin is an actress and actress’s daughter who longs for respectability, and finds it in the marriage proposal of the young and earnest Kit Frazier. However, his cousin, Brandon, Lord Blackstone, tempts her into abandoning her desire for a home and family, not knowing that his pursuit of her is less than honest. Lee draws a detailed portrait of the Regency period, and the inclusion of Wilberforce’s anti-slavery campaign and theater life enriches the description and the characters. The pacing is rather slow, but Lee’s trademark eroticism is laced throughout the prose, drawing Scher and Brandon into an intriguing and believable conflict.

Wicked Surrender is one of the best historical romances published this year, packed to the brim with strong conflict, strong characters, and strong passion. For readers looking

22 October 10

To Conquer Mr. Darcy

By Abigail Reynolds Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99, 412 pages Imagine, if you will, that you?ve written a brief description of all your favorite scenes from the original novel. Each scene is on its own piece of paper, but then you drop them on the floor! You pick them up, and they?re all still there, but in a different order. That?s what you encounter in this extremely wellwritten and witty book that deserved slightly better proofing.

The story begins just after Lizzy?s original refusal of Mr. D?s proposal. He is finally shaken out of his doldrums by his sister and cousin and travels to Netherfield with Mr. Bingley to seek out his love and try again to convince her to marry him. She says she needs more time, and with her aunt and uncle she heads for Pemberly. By the midway point of the book, Lizzy and Darcy have progressed to a bare shoulder (hers), but this book was still plenty HOT! Mercy.

Although short, the plentiful love scenes are sweet and intense, heavily laden with sexual tension. Due to a bit too much of the latter, the couple are immediately married at the nearby ca-

All I Ever Wanted

By Kristan Higgins Harlequin, $7.99, 384 pages Author Kristan Higgins has a gift for penning the perfect romance novel. Far from formulaic All I Ever Wanted is just as the title suggests, all a reader wants in a love story. Great characters, laugh-out-loud scenes, and red-hot passion. Main character Callie Grey works for a small advertising agency in Vermont and happens to have feelings for her boss.

Despite their short affair, he decides to tell her he is seeing someone else on her thirtieth birthday. If that wasn?t bad enough, Callie still has to contend with the DMV and her party at the family business (a funeral home). Yet Callie doesn?t let the horrible day get her down and vows to find love whether through an online dating service or with the new town vet, Ian McFarland.

The main characters are far from perfect yet somehow incredibly lovable. The supporting cast is an interesting mix of screw-

Home is Where the Bark Is

By Kandy Shepherd Berkley, $15, 352 pages Once a model, these days Serena Oakley is happiest running her doggie daycare, pampering San Francisco?s elite fur babies.

Little does she know however, her business is providing a master criminal with the ability to steal the identities of clients, bankrupting them in the process. Enter ex-cop, now PI Nick Whalen. Hired by an insurance company, Nick is determined to get to the bottom of the matter. For the life of him, he cannot figure out just how they are gaining access. All he knows is he?s falling a little more for the proprietress each and every day.

While Home Is Where the Bark Is has the potential to be a wonderful love story, it falls far short of the mark. The infatuation the two share is clear to all, the reader, the friends, themselves yet the two characters are annoying slow to act upon it. The mystery is easily solved halfway through yet readers must wait to the bitter end to not be surprised. While not the most horrible romance on bookshelves today, this is an easy story to put down and walk away from.

Readers might be more satisfied with something else.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

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Modern Literature Fury: A Memoir

By Koren Zailckas Viking, $25.95, 319 pages Koren Zailckas is mad as hell and she wrote a book about it. Her second novel is no less absorbing or self-deprecating than her first, Smashed: A Story of a Drunken Girlhood. The first book exposed and identified the pain connected with alcoholism among young adults while her second novel connects a similar audience with rage. The fury of a former alcoholic is hypnotizing to behold and helped this reader at least identify her own anger.

Following a breakup, Koren moves back to the U.S. from England and back in with her parents as she survives a paralyzing heartbreak, leading her to feel everything except rage. At least until her research for a book on anger, work with a shrink, and self-medication with homeopathic remedies lead her to confront the most basic and powerful of passions: her anger. Unleashed, Koren?s rage is ruthless and a balm to her wild confrontation with family and her own identity. Koren?s story isn?t just her own, but puts a voice to a generation with their own issues with rage.

Reviewed by Axie Barclay My Hollywood

By Mona Simpson Knopf, $26.95, 369 pages In her new novel, Mona Simpson deftly captures the two faces of Hollywood, the smart, young men feeding their talent to TV and movie conglomerates, and the impoverished, semi-literate immigrants who run their households and care for their children.

My Hollywood is written in two voices: one voice belongs to classical music composer Claire, new mother to William and wife of a work-obsessed TV comedy writer; the other belongs to Lola, the remarkable, middle-aged nanny who sends ninety cents of every dollar she earns back to the Philippines for the education of her five children. Lola joins a cohort of nannies, mostly Filipino, for play dates, and keeps a surprising and closely guarded secret from her employers.

In alternating chapters, Claire struggles to compose music and maintain her calm with a obstreperous toddler given to hitting other children, a husband who works ninety-plus hours a week, and ?? recognizable as a character from Simpson?s first novel of genius, Anywhere But Here ?? an

aging mother with a borderline personality.

William is hardly out of training pants when big changes take place for all concerned.

Simpson?s eye for detail and satiric tone, modulating between mild and mordant, creates a vivid portrait of an iconic American neighborhood.

Reviewed by Zara Raab Lake Overturn: A Novel

By Vestal Mcintyre Harper Perennial, $14.99, 448 pages Enrique and Gene are best friends, but their friendship unfortunately does not fit neatly into the confines of junior high school. They escape the taunts of their classmates by burying themselves in a project for the school science fair on ?lake overturn,? a phenomenon which could potentially wipe out their entire valley if it happened at the nearby lake. Enrique lives with his mother, a housecleaner considering entering into an affair with one of her employers, and Jay, his angry teenage brother who is living at home after being raised by wealthy white foster parents.

Gene, who is possibly autistic, lives with his strictly religious mother who is struggling with ideas of remarriage.

Lake Overturn is set in the eighties in Eula, Idaho, and the colorful cast of characters makes it both realistic and strangely charming. The perceived racial boundaries are real, as are the taunts of homosexuality that run rampant among students making fun of anyone who seems different.The strict religious views that so many of the townspeople have make Eula seem quaint but are entirely credible in a small farming community. The inner struggles of the main characters will grab hold of readers and keep the plot running.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero Trust: A Novel

By Kate Veitch Plume, $15, 359 pages In this chilling novel about a woman?s journey to regaining happiness, wholeness, and purpose through the overwhelming ties of marriage and motherhood, not to mention a stunted career as an artist and as an educator, Susanna Greenfield?s frozenstilled life becomes a whirlwind of distortion and tumultuous change. This book is filled with muddled lies that unhinge the trials of the heart. Susanna’s husband Gerry is an overachiever architect and tennis player who also happens to be an adulter-

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it's free! er. Susanna must also tend to the deluge of tribulations invested in the hindsight of mortality. Her once tight-knit family is thrust to ghostly fragments of their former selves due to a devastating car accident that kills mother Jean and leaves Susanna?s children, Seb and Stella struggling to regain vitality on death?s bed.

Though this storyline relies on polar extremes to shake the characters and move along the plot, which at times can prove to be clich‚d and overtly a literary device, especially with an omniscient narrator who seems to favor Susanna?s point of view more so than her husband?s, the author evokes emotion, monologue and dialogue seamlessly through the sequence of events.

Readers will root for Susanna and her brood but I am not sure if they really care much for Gerry or the fate of their union. Perhaps because the writing falls short and flat of capturing in an entirety the voice of his character, not so clearly distracted with archetype, which in turn lacks a credible, natural stamina.

Reviewed by Erienne Rojas Saving Max

By Antoinette van Heugten Mira Books, $14.95, 384 pages Danielle isn?t sure if Max is just a typical teen or if something more threatening has taken root in his body and mind. True, the 16-year-old son of this single mom has diagnosable problems, like Aspergers or autism,

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or a deep-seated learning disability ? depending on the doctor ? or the phase of the moon, or the state of Mom?s own scattered mind. Threats of suicide drive her to have him evaluated at a topnotch psychological treatment center.

“There, on the floor next to the bed, lies a huddled form...”

Kooks abound in Saving Max, and the most dangerous ones aren?t necessarily the patients at the treatment center. The cast of characters includes a standard curmudgeon investigator with a heart of gold and a love interest who is as handsome as he is gaga over Danielle.

Antoinette van Heugten?s first novel has the plot and gore of any good murder mystery. She puts her legal background to good use in describing the trial in which Max and his mother are both accused of murder.

However, van Heugten stretches both credibility and imagination with some of her legal and medical shenanigans.

Reviewed by Marj Stuart

October 10 23

Art, Architecture & Photography Langford’s Basic Photography, Ninth Edition: The Guide for Serious Photographers

By Michael Langford, Anna Fox, Richard Sawdon Smith Focal Press, $39.95, 480 pages This is the ninth edition of a textbook that has become an industry standard since its first publication in 1965. Now updated to include the most recent innovations of the field, it contains an entire chapter on digital cameras and one on post-production of the digital image. From shooting to processing to printing, this guidebook gives thorough instructions in various procedures, equipment, aesthetics, and forms of presentation for the medium. Detailed treatment of the fundamentals for lighting techniques, optics, and composition are enhanced by numerous diagrams, charts and photographic examples. A supplemental

glossary and extensive appendices are found at the back.

Whether as an art form or a commercial venture, the complexity of photography requires meticulous and systematic explanations. This is precisely what Langford’s Basic Photography provides. Readers can learn how different types of cameras work, their interdependence upon light, and why innumerable factors affect the appearance of the final image. Also covered are lenses, films, and filter optimization, as well as how to utilize the appropriate hardware and software. Either as an introduction for amateurs or as a reference for intermediate photographers, this book is an invaluable resource for practitioners of this field.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio

sary. Photographers, artists, journalists and sports idols have contributed to this half century compendium of influential articles.

Both used and previously unpublished images support the text which ranges from adventurous road trips to comments on the culture itself.

Industry discoveries, legendary feats and exotic locales are arranged into chapters that reveal the who, where, what, and how of surfing. A one-year subscription to the magazine is included with purchase of this book.

In part a travelogue, this book represents the unique lifestyle of international surf champions both on and off the waves.

Readers can get a sense of how, for enthusiasts, this activity unites spirituality and physicality. Fascinating quotations akin to poetry and unexpectedly insightful statements abound; they are accompanied by mind-blowing photographs. Spectators of the sport will find Surfer Magazine 50 Years to be a fresh breath of salty air. For the truly dedicated, however, this collection demonstrates how such a publication has continually proven itself to be the lifeline of an industry as well as the lifeblood of a community.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio

Surfer: 50 Years

By Sam George Chronicle Books, $40.00, 192 pages This volume was assembled by Sam George, a professional surfer, documentary filmmaker, and former editor of Surfer magazine, in celebration of its 50th anniver-

Cooking, Food & Wine Gastropolis: Food and New York City (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)

By Hauck-Lawson, Annie Columbia University Press, $19.99, 343 pages This book begins with the food of the Lenapes, travels to the 1624 Dutch arrival in New Amsterdam until 1898, when consolidation of the five boroughs made New York City. It shares the history of types of food and places, but the book’s major strength is when it develops into a collection of personal stories, giving a unique perspective of New York City’s food.

Immigrants make up New York City’s identity. Whether it is a story of food that is Italian, Asian, African American, Chinese, Jewish, Latino, or any of the other multifaceted cultures of the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn or Staten Island, the personal sharing of growing up with these foods, family traditions, and availability of food from so many other cultures is what gives the reader the best taste of New York City. The fusion of different ethnic foods and cooking processes was only natural.

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The commercial aspect of New York City’s food world is included, from pushcart venders, to food stores, to restaurants of all kinds and ends with a full picture of food, with a story of the hungry city, the sometimes invisible city of the poor in New York City.

Reviewed by Angie Mangino Kitchen Mysteries

By Herve This Columbia University Press, $22.95, 232 pages Cooking is alchemy in the kitchen, trial and error to obtain a delightful delicious mouthful. French food lover and co-founder of molecular gastronomy Herve This takes a scientific slant in explaining the chemical processes involved in preparing our delectable dishes. He covers such topics as the physiological mysteries of the receptors that allow us to perceive taste, the olfactory aspect that complements our enjoyment of meals and continues on to the chemical and physical changes that accompany the preparation of foods.

Mayonnaise is a tricky emulsion of oil and water, the challenge to prevent their separation. Various cooking tricks are elucidated in using different

utensils and whether to bake, roast, fry, microwave, etc. Of course the elements of creating sauces, cheeses, souffles, pastries and other culinary creations are delightfully discussed in anecdotal and scientific jargon. As a former chemistry instructor, I found some of the scientific explanations questionable and certainly daunting for the lay reader.

There is an underlying charm to this book, but it appears that an awkward translation has deleted the appeal that may be present in the French version. For myself, I would revert to the ever-inviting Harold McGee’s engrossing books on food and cooking.

Reviewed by Rita Hoots How to Cook Like a Top Chef

By Rick Bayless Chronicle Books, $29.95, 224 pages Top Chef is a popular reality television cooking program on Bravo, and recently picked up an Emmy. Seven seasons in, it’s practically become a brand itself, with several spinoffs, merchandise for sale and, naturally, a series of successful cookbooks.

How To Cook Like A Top Chef is the latest.

What sets this book apart from the others is its focus on technique. There are recipes, of course. Delicious and varied, and culled from the first six seasons, they are reason alone to pick up this gorgeous and colorful book. In addition to the usual assortment of mouth-watering recipes, How To Cook Like

A Top Chef delves into the skills and techniques behind the dishes cooked on air, and functions as an essential how-to guide for anybody who enjoys cooking, regardless of skill level. With step-by-step instructions and photos to guide you along, you’ll learn how to properly slice and dice; filet a fish; prepare fresh pasta; and even plate your food with an artistic flourish.

Scattered among the recipes and instructional techniques are Q&A sessions with both contestants and well-known chefs like Wylie Dufresne and Eric Ripert, and a foreword by Rick Bayless, as well as fun pages devoted to biographies, global ingredients, and even top tattoos.

As for the food? The recipes run the gamut from appetizers to main courses and desserts, and are both common (Roasted Chicken and Potatoes) and exotic (OilPoached Arctic Char).

Perfect for either the die-hard fan, the casual viewer, or even somebody who has never seen the show, How To Cook Like A Top Chef is an incredibly useful cookbook that will have you returning to its pages again and again.

Reviewed by Mark Petruska

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