Tulsa Book Review - August 2017 by City Book Review - Publishers of San Francisco & Kids' Book Reviews

TULSABOOKREVIEW.COM

AUGUST 2017

EVENT GUIDE

Inside

Book Talk With Nancy Pearl Page 4

Book Review Page 4

64 Photo by Susan DoupÃ©

INSIDE

store, temperamental Scottish weather, and likable characters – what’s not to love? Put on the kettle and settle in for the afternoon!

Category

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

PENANCE OF THE DAMNED By Peter Tremayne Minotaur Books, $27.99, 352 pages Reviewed by Tamara Benson Check this out! A number of years ago, my local librarian recommended Peter Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma series to me. I began with #1, and it wasn’t until I was about seven books into it that she told me he had, at that point, 24 in the series! The true telling of a good author, however, is that instead of being terrified at the thought of that many more books to get through, I was delighted. Up to that point, every single book was as good as the previous one. Penance of the Damned, number 27 in this series, is no different. Sister Fidelma and her partner, Brother Aedulf, are sent by her brother Colgu, king of Muman, to the fortess of Donennach, Prince of the Ui Fidgente, with whom he has recently secured an uneasy peace. Gorman, commander of Colgu’s bodyguard, has been accused of killing Segdae, his Chief Bishop, after he is found unconscious with a knife in his hand in the bishop’s locked room. Fidelma must find the true murderer before her old adversary Abbott Nannid can use the new rules of the Penitentials to punish him with death. Once more, Tremayne has crafted a tale for historians and casual readers alike. I look forward to many more adventures with Sister Fidelma! DANGEROUS TO KNOW: A LILLIAN FROST & EDITH HEAD NOVEL By Renee Patrick Forge Books, $25.99, 336 pages Reviewed by Christina Boswell

RIGHT BEHIND YOU By Lisa Gardner Dutton, $27.00, 400 pages Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell Check this out! Life has never been easy for siblings Telly and Sharlah. When they were nine and five years old, Telly killed their abusive, addicted parents with a baseball bat to protect himself and Sharlah from their knife-wielding father--then turned on his sister and broke her arm. The siblings were separated as they made their way into the foster-care system, neither landing anywhere for long. Finally, against the odds, both Telly and Sharlah find themselves with foster parents who truly love them. But when Telly’s foster parents are murdered in their bed, with two more murders in a gas station quickly following, all signs point to Telly as a dangerous, unhinged spree killer-who has Sharlah next on his victim list. A determined band of FBI profilers, trackers, and police must figure out why Telly has snapped-and find him before he strikes again. Profilers Quincy and Rainie will be familiar to fans of Gardner, and their ability to quickly assemble and analyze seemingly random bits of information keeps the pages turning. Gardner loads her suspenseful tale with captivating specifics about the art of tracking and profiling, which heightens the tension as the crew hunts for Telly. The novel falters with some heavy-handed plot explication and a “big reveal” that does little to serve the story, but otherwise this is a satisfying, compelling summer read. GIRL IN SNOW: A NOVEL By Danya Kukafka Simon & Schuster, $26.00, 368 pages Reviewed by Helen Patterson, customer care specialist, Tulsa CityCounty Library Check this out! New writer Danya Kukafka steps confidently onto the literary scene with Girl in Snow. Following the murder of teenager Lucinda Hayes, the small town of Broomsville reels and points fingers, uncertain of the culprit. The novel follows Cameron, a classmate obsessed with Lucinda who can’t remember the night of her death; Jade, a disaffected loner; and police officer Russ, who, trying to unravel what happened, has good reason to protect several key suspects, as they remember their interactions with Lucinda and those close to her. Kukafka juggles these damaged and often unlikeable characters well. Kukafka’s novel refuses the normal conventions of a thriller. She doesn’t sacrifice artistry and language for improbable twists and turns. She stays with her characters, focusing on their inner workings and all the ways in which humans, confronted by the tragic and the inexplicable, fail to rise to the occasion. A dark, thoughtful debut. OF BOOKS AND BAGPIPES: A SCOTTISH BOOKSHOP MYSTERY By Paige Shelton Minotaur Books, $25.99, 320 pages Reviewed by Tamara Benson Check this out! In the second in her Scottish Bookshop Mysteries, Of Books and Bagpipes, Paige Shelton once more renders the wonderful bookshop The Cracked Spine and the city of Edinburgh in lovely, warm detail. Kansasnative Delaney Nichols is still working at The Cracked Spine and is being entrusted with more of the secrets of her employer, Edwin MacAlister. His collection of rare manuscripts and historical artifacts is the stuff of legend, and she has been given the task of cataloging his finds and helping him track down others. When she is sent to collect a rare comic book from a William Wallace re-enactor but instead stumbles upon his dead body, she is compelled to find out exactly what happened. Things really get complicated when she discovers that there is more to the story than just a book deal gone horribly wrong. Edwin’s connections to the dead man and the subsequent appearances of people from his past have Delaney and the rest of the bookstore staff guessing. Readers will not be disappointed with Shelton’s second installment in the series and will most definitely be waiting impatiently for more of her plucky heroine’s adventures. A cozy used book-

Edith Head and Lillian Frost are at it again in Dangerous to Know. Lillian is now the social secretary for Addison Ross, a millionaire who loves to throw parties. Her friendship with the legendary costume designer Edith is stronger than ever, and because of this friendship, Edith asks for Lillian’s help. Edith wants Lillian to help find a pianist as a favor to Marlene Dietrich. This missing pianist turns out to be very tricky to find and more complicated than he seemed. As Lillian dives into this mystery, she eventually finds him dead. But who murdered him? Was it the woman he was having an affair with, her husband, or did his involvement with the Nazis have something to do with it? Lillian and Edith will have to use all of their cunning and wits to discover the truth and unveil the Nazi spies working their way into Hollywood circles. There is something incredibly soothing about the Lillian Frost and Edith Head novels. They draw you in to 1930’s Hollywood, seamlessly blending fact and fiction. The authors perfectly describe the wardrobe of every character, which would make the real Edith Head proud, without making it seem contrived or out of place. Lillian Frost is an indelible character. She is extraordinarily likable. Her sarcasm and wit made me feel like we could easily be friends and made it so I didn’t even question why she got more done than the police. What I am most impressed with is that this book is written by a husband and wife together. If my husband and I wrote a book together, it would most likely be disjointed, and you would be able to tell who wrote which parts. These authors mesh well together, and the effect is a very enjoyable book that makes you long for the third installment. I can’t wait for the next Lillian Frost and Edith Head adventure. As a side note, dear authors, I really hope Lillian picks Simon. LONG TIME LOST By Chris Ewan Minotaur Books, $27.99, 464 pages Reviewed by Christina Boswell Check this out! In Long Time Lost, Nick Miller has made a living out of making people disappear. Most of those are people he is trying to hide from Connor Lane, an untouchable criminal masquerading as a businessman. The bodies around Connor are starting to pile up, but there is no evidence connecting him. Kate Sutherland is under police protection in preparation for testifying against Connor’s brother, Russell. Connor protects himself as well as his brother, so he sends someone to kill Kate. Thankfully, Nick gets to her first, and she enters into his hiding program. Nick has his own history with Connor and sees Kate as a way to end this once and for all. It doesn’t take long for Nick and Kate to see how far Connor will go to end things his way and that some things can’t stay hidden forever. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, the plot, even the way it was written. It flowed so smoothly that it made it incredibly difficult to put down. Nick was definitely my favorite character, but I also enjoyed those who worked on his team. It would be hard to leave everything you know behind, just to stay alive. It was understandable that some of Nick’s clients had a hard time adjusting to their life in hiding. I didn’t envy him of his job, and that idea that he was doing it on his own because he believed in it was very impressive. The way the author wrote the ending made it seem like there could be more Nick Miller and Kate Sutherland adventures. I would certainly read those. I would recommend this book to most people. Great story line, fairly clean and only some violence. Definitely a book worth checking out.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 2

Tulsa

Book Review Tulsa City-County Library 400 Civic Center Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 Ph. (918) 549-7323

IN THIS ISSUE Mystery, Thriller & Suspense..........................2 Fiction.........................................................4-5

EDITOR IN CHIEF Ross Rojek Ross@1776productions.com

Book Talk With Nancy Pearl...........................4

CO M M U N I T Y R E S O U R C E FA I R TUESDAY, AUG. 15 9-11 A.M.

MARTIN REGIONAL LIBRARY 2601 S. GARNETT ROAD 918.549.READ

EDITOR/COORDINATOR Jackie Hill Tulsa City-County Library

Nonfiction.................................................. 6-8

CALLING ALL FAMILIES!

Historical Fiction............................................9

Over 40 community organizations will provide information, services and school supplies for a successful school year!

GRAPHIC DESIGN/LAYOUT Heidi Komlofske-Rojek COPY EDITORS Heidi Komlofske-Rojek Danielle McManus EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Christopher Hayden WEBSITE

Kids’ Books...................................................10

• FREE immunizations • FREE dental screenings

Science Fiction & Fantasy.............................11

• FREE school supplies for the first 200 children (Children MUST be present to receive supplies.)

Teens............................................................12

• Information about reading, homework help, nutrition and more!

TulsaBookReview.com

Tweens.........................................................12 Youth Nonfiction Coming Soon.....................13 Bestsellers Coming Soon...............................13

The Tulsa Book Review is published monthly by City Book Review. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Tulsa Book Review or City Book Review advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words ©2017, City Book Review

History....................................................14-15 Biographies & Memoirs................................15 Homework Help Now....................................16

DON’T HAVE A LIBRARY CARD? Apply online at www.TulsaLibrary.org/ application.

HOUSE OF NAMES By Colm Tóibín Scribner, $26.00, 288 pages Reviewed by Helen Patterson, customer care specialist, Tulsa City-County Library Check this out!

Category

Fiction SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

GEORGE & LIZZIE: A NOVEL By Nancy Pearl Touchstone Books, $25.00, 288 pages Reviewed by Katlin Seagraves, library associate, adult services, Central Library Check this out! Lizzie Bultmann, an often-unlikable poetry lover and the daughter of two unloving psychology faculty, finishes her senior year with a bang when she decides to sleep with the entire starting line of her high-school football team – a challenge she dubbed the “Great Game.” A couple years later Lizzie is sitting stoned on the floor of a bowling alley in Ann Arbor, Mich., when she meets her future husband, George Goldrosen. George, a dental student from a loving home in Tulsa, is set on a path to become a well-loved dentist and family man. As we follow this nonlinear account of Lizzie’s sexual and romantic relationships, we get to enjoy meeting a whole cast of complicated characters that are formative for our protagonist. This slice of (a crazy) life drama by Nancy Pearl explores family, empathy, friendship, comingof-age and overcoming the past. George & Lizzie is a slow-paced novel that focuses on rich detail setting and complicated characters. Fans of domestic fiction will enjoy this messy, charming and edgy story of a woman coming to terms with her life choices.

Colm Toibin is a master of illuminating human lives. In House of Names, he reworks the myth of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra into a novel about a twisted family haunted by rage, murder and vengeance. The novel follows the basic plot of the Greek myth: Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, so that the winds changed and his armies could sail to Troy. Clytemnestra, Iphigenia’s mother, swore vengeance and killed her husband. In turn her son, Orestes, killed his own mother. Tobin uses the frame of this myth to fill in the characters, giving them interiority and searching for answers to the compelling question: what makes families brutally destroy themselves. Clytemnestra’s first-person account of her daughter’s murder and her vengeance opens the book. The book then follows Orestes in the third-person with brief first-person interjections from Clytemnestra and Electra, Orestes’ sister. Witnessing Orestes in the third-person makes him inscrutable. He moves like a pawn on the chessboard, never sure which side he is on or who is moving him. This complicates the myth: Orestes is no longer vengeful, but uncertain and weak, even when stabbing his mother. Under Toibin’s touch, the Greek myth loses some of its mystery and resonance. However, this is a novel: it deals not with myths but with humans, and here Toibin excels. SALT HOUSES By Hala Alyan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26.00, 312 pages Reviewed by Kena Hardin, customer care specialist, Tulsa CityCounty Library Check this out! Salt Houses is a moving story about a Palestinian family caught between the Six-Day War of 1967 and Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The day before her youngest daughter’s wedding, Salma discovers that her daughter’s life soon will be stained with the pain of war and uncertainty of what home will mean. Little did she know, this pain would reach her whole family. This is a multigenerational story that shifts you from different points of view of the family members and uproots the conflicting emotions of what it means to not go home again. Your heartstrings will be tugged between Salma’s worry for her

Book Talk

WITH Nancy Pearl

Tuesday, Sept. 19 • 7 p.m. • Central Library Pocahontas Greadington Learning & Creativity Center Fifth Street and Denver Avenue • 918.549.READ Meet author Nancy Pearl and hear about her emotionally riveting debut novel, George & Lizzie. For years, this former Tulsa librarian has been telling readers across the world what to read next. Now it’s time to pick up her first novel!

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 4

Book Reviews

Fiction

children, to Alia’s struggle with raising a family in Kuwait City, to Mustafa’s unwanted, militarized involvement with political conflicts. The author takes you on a journey to various places like Palestine, Kuwait, Paris and more as the family members experience leaving their home in different ways. The author’s writing intertwines the stories of the family members in a style that grasps you in the heartbreak of what it means to lose your home and start anew. HOW TO BEHAVE IN A CROWD By Camille Bordas Tim Duggan Books, $26.00, 336 pages Reviewed by Cori Morris, circulation department, Hardesty Regional Library Check this out! For Isidore Mazal, life is complicated. Born into a family of geniuses, he is the youngest of his five siblings: Bernice, Aurore and Leonard all are working on their doctorate, while Jeremie is at work on his master’s in physics and music. Simone, who is almost two years older, plans to be just as accomplished, although no one knows at what. This is a cautionary tale about what it takes to fit in and how we become like our families, whether we wish it or not. Isidore isn’t fond of reading, like the rest of his family, who spend all their time doing just that. Unlike his familly, Isidore neither has skipped a grade nor cracked a book for the thrill of it. In fact, he regularly runs away from home, although no one really notices. No one really pays attention to him while Isidore is observing and asking questions that no one really has the answers to. Adulthood puzzles him, as well as the way his family deals with emotion especially after their father’s death. How to Behave in a Crowd asks important questions of how we behave within our family, and explores the cost of pleasing others, pleasing ourselves and losing ourselves in that unit. The search of finding ourselves often is different than what our family thinks it should be, and through the characters’ journey they realize they still have each other. THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS: A NOVEL By Ruth Hogan Morrow, $26.99, 288 pages Reviewed by Caryn Shaffer Check this out! The Keeper of Lost Things is about a woman named Laura who is a housekeeper for a short story writer named Anthony Peardew. After Anthony dies, he leaves his house to Laura, along with a room full of lost things. Anthony’s condition for leaving Laura the house is that she find a home for all of the lost things. These things range from a missing puzzle piece to a biscuit tin full of cremains. Laura, the groundskeeper Freddy, and a young girl named Sunshine with a sixth sense for where things belong team up to return the items to their rightful owners. They create a website to catalog the lost things and encourage people to contact them in kind of a digital “lost and found.” The Keeper of Lost Things is a leisurely slow burn of a book. I picked it up and put it down many times. The moments where Laura tries to solve the mysteries of the lost things are punctuated by short vignettes of how the lost things were lost to begin with. Another story arc was included in alternating chapters of how the biscuit tin of cremains came to be in Anthony Peardew’s possession. On top of that, a ghost (but not Anthony’s ghost) haunts the house while Laura tries to find homes for the things. While I didn’t feel personally connected to the characters, the multiple layers of intrigue and storytelling make The Keeper of Lost Things a great book. MARLENA: A NOVEL By Julie Buntin Henry Holt and Co., $26.00, 288 pages Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell Check this out! Life looks grim when fifteen-year-old Cat moves to a remote town in northern Michigan with her brother and newly-abandoned mother. Gone is the comfortable, stable home life; in its place is a hand-to-mouth existence. Cat rebels by skipping school and pursuing a friendship with Marlena, a beautiful seventeen-year-old girl who lives next door and whose father operates a meth lab. The girls are brought together by proximity, but a genuine friendship grows--though it’s shadowed by Marlena’s escalating drug use and Cat’s increasingly uncontrollable drinking. When tragedy strikes, Cat’s life is changed forever, and the effects of her brief friendship with Marlena last for decades. The narrative alternates between Cat’s memories of her months with Marlena in Michigan and her present-day life in New York, where she’s battling alcohol abuse and struggling to save her fraying marriage. When Marlena’s younger brother gets in touch with Cat out of the blue, she has a new reason to reexamine the past--and reconsider what she wants her life to be. Buntin is unflinching in her depiction of young girls hurtling headfirst into life-altering mistakes, and the loveliness of the prose adds an icy edge to a chilling, regretfilled story.

TRAJECTORY: STORIES By Richard Russo Knopf, $25.95, 256 pages Reviewed by Shannon Carriger Check this out! In just four stories, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo’s latest collection, Trajectory, attends to several fundamental questions of human existence. Among them, who we are when no one else is looking, when we know it is time to let go, and what we are willing to fight for. The protagonists learn—in some way—who they are at the core: someone who forgives, someone who betrays, or perhaps both. This common thread of learning connects the pieces to human experience because all of us have, at some time, been students. In the opening story, “Horseman,” an academic setting develops this theme of revelation as a college professor confronts a cheating student and realizes her own authenticity may be in question. The other three stories all feature older male protagonists questioning themselves and the worlds in which they live with humility, fear, vitality, and humor. People who believe life stops after a certain age need only read Russo’s latest collection to see richness and depth are companions to a long life. A trajectory is a path an object or, in this case, a person takes through space and time; Russo’s Trajectory suggests our paths are never as straight or as simple as we may wish. But just as one character muses that “this brutal world simply will not spare you,” another affirms that there “just might be grounds for hope.” These two ideas anchor Russo’s most recent collection, and their familiar, and at times heartbreaking, paradox is exactly why the book is worth reading. THE TEA GIRL OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE By Lisa See Scribner, $27.00, 384 pages Reviewed by Mandy Nevius Check this out! Lisa See’s recent novel is steeped in the unique lifestyle of the Akha, a Chinese ethnic minority that treasures the art of harvesting Pu’er tea leaves. Li-yan has been taught all of the customs and beliefs of her people; however, when Li-yan is faced with an impossible decision, she abandons what she has been taught, despite the heartbreaking consequences that must follow. In California, Haley loves her adopted parents, yet she yearns to know her Chinese birth-mother. In short epistolary segments, See reveals Haley’s search for her identity, having only a rare tea cake to guide her. See has a gift for making the residents of the isolated Yunnan village come to life with precise details. Though the beginning of the novel is heavy with explanations of the intriguing Akha practices, See successfully propels the captivating plot forward with intensity. See heavily explores Li-Yan’s journey through the novel and unfortunately gives significantly less emphasis to Haley’s story, although the unique epistolary form used to show Haley’s perspective is creative. The entire novel seems to promise a strong ending, but the unsatisfying conclusion is predictable and rushed. However, the writing that precedes it is absolutely worthwhile. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a fascinating read. THE GIRL OF THE LAKE: STORIES By Bill Roorbach Algonquin Books, $16.95, 256 pages Reviewed by Eiledon McClellan Check this out! It had been awhile since I had picked up a collection of short stories, but Roorbach’s Girl of the Lake was a wonderful reintroduction to the pleasure of reading them. As a collection, the stories focus on human relationships within specific natural landscapes. The relationships and landscapes vary widely, though. From an Afghani teenage boy in New Mexico pursued by three sisters to a female farmer in Michigan going on a blind date with a priest, these stories will challenge your assumptions but also provide comfort that some feelings are universal. Roorbach also provides considerable detail describing the landscape--I felt like I had visited the setting of each story. The beauty and vulnerability of the natural environments enhances the love and loss each of his characters feels.

HAPPY TRAVELER, cont’d from page 8 Jamie Kurtz, a great traveler herself, offers the scientific research that supports her advice. Psychological studies have much to teach us about maximizing happiness, and Kurtz applies these specifically to rules such as minimizing acclimation, building anticipation, traveling with others, using technology, immersion, and many others. This is not a “how to pack” book or a tour guide; rather, it is a general review of how to make the most of your travels, wherever you go or whatever your personality or style. It is filled with quizzes for you to better understand yourself and is written in a conversational, intelligent, friendly tone that reads quickly and engagingly. If you are interested in traveling, this book gives you the tools you need to prepare, experience, and recover from them in the best possible ways to maximize your happiness.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 5

Category

Nonﬁction SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

THE END OF LOYALTY: THE RISE AND FALL OF GOOD JOBS IN AMERICA By Rick Wartzman PublicAffairs, $30.00, 432 pages Reviewed by Paul Sheckarski, children’s library associate, Hardesty Regional Library Check this out! Rick Wartzman’s character-driven historical account of 20thcentury labor movements makes a bold claim: nothing has contributed more to the rise of American class immobility than corporations who are more loyal to their shareholders than to their employees. The opening chapters map out the flourishing and withering of worker benefits at several major American corporations: Coca-Cola, General Electric, General Motors and others. The author’s sympathies for both corporate leaders and union presidents may leave partisan readers scratching their heads, but Wartzman sees the constant clash between labor and management as essentially fruitful for both employees and the corporation itself. Wartzman punctuates the history of these clashes with keen details: poems, picketers’ songs, wry interviews and excerpts from a 1940s General Motors “Why I Love My Job” essay contest. Recommended for readers interested in learning more about the history of American income inequity, especially if you’ve tried the recent Dream Hoarders by Richard V. Reeves but found its statistics-heavy approach impenetrable. THE BEST LAND UNDER HEAVEN: THE DONNER PARTY IN THE AGE OF MANIFEST DESTINY By Michael Wallis Liveright Publishing Corporation, $27.95, 455 pages Reviewed by Helen Patterson, customer care specialist, Tulsa City-County Library Check this out! In the winter of 1846-1847, 82 members of the Donner Party, a group of pioneers traveling from Illinois to California, became stranded in the Sierra Nevadas after early, heavy snowfall. Thirty-six of them perished, and many of the surviving 46 had cannibalized the dead. In Tulsan historian Michael Wallis’ latest work, he skillfully draws portraits of each Donner Party member without straying beyond the facts. His inclusion of pictures and first-person excerpts renders these people and their plight more real. In this work, the reader receives an exhaustibly researched account that places the Donner Party in its historical context. Wallis shows how manifest destiny drove the Donner Party, and tens of thousands of others, to seek a better life in the West. He shows how dozens of poor decisions lead to atrocities along the trail — but also how perseverance saved the lives of many, against all odds. Highly recommended. THE TELOMERE EFFECT: A REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO LIVING YOUNGER, HEALTHIER, LONGER By Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel Grand Central Publishing, $28.00, 416 pages Reviewed by J. Aislynn d’Merricksson Check this out! The Telomere Effect by Blackburn and Epel is a groundbreaking, fascinating look at telomeres, which are the ending sequences to your chromosomes, whose length is an indicator of longevity and health. The longer they are, the better. These are what govern how we age and how fast we age. Don’t think they are set in stone, though. They aren’t, not by any means. Like all else in biology, and, truly, in life, telomere length is a functional result of interconnected forces and can be acted upon by our thoughts and behaviors. In language highly engaging and eminently readable, Blackburn and Epel will teach you all about what telomeres are, what they do, why they are important, and how to influence them. One of the biggest threats to telomere length, it is no surprise, is stress. Sleep deprivation is another. Both of these things are of particular interest to me as I suffer from chronic fatigue/ fibromyalgia. Stress and lack of sleep are two things, especially in combination, that can trigger a serious pain flare. All of this only adds further mental and physical stress, so I can only imagine what my own telomeres are like! The information in this book has helped me view things differ-

ently and to begin making changes that can only help. Chapter Six was especially useful. There are four sections, with assessment points within each section. Part One contains three chapters and is an introduction to telomere science. This part also introduces the concept of renewal labs. Every subsequent chapter in the next three parts has a renewal lab section at the end. Part Two looks at how stress affects the telomeres and how they respond to your thoughts. Negative and depressed thinking severely damages them. Chapter Six has a special “Master Tips for Renewal” section with stress-reducing techniques. Part Three discusses practical ways to help our telomeres. These chapters look at physical stress, the value of sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Part Four takes a look at how outside forces affect telomeres, noting that cellular aging begins in the womb and is especially affected by the health and stress-levels of the mother. Childhood is another important time for shaping telomeres. This book piqued my anthropologist’s interest regarding average life expectancy over generations. Sure, greater medical technology and care played a part in increased life expectancy, but this got me to thinking that the brutality of past eras, and of certain classes/castes, must have done it’s fair share of shortening telomeres thanks to mental and physical stress, thus shortening life expectancy. And, of course, it supports the metaphysicist’s and quantum physicist’s notion of interconnection and the true power of the mind/intention and it’s ability to influence things. Despite some of the scary information about how badly shortened telomeres can affect us, we can, thankfully, start at any time the repair process. We have that built-in ability because, feck it, our bodies really are cool and intelligent all on their own if we get out of their way. We may not be able to attain maximum resiliency, but we can improve things a great deal. If our cells feel young and healthy, we will feel young and healthy. Blackburn and Epel can help you begin those changes. Very highly recommended. THE EVANGELICALS: THE STRUGGLE TO SHAPE AMERICA By Frances FitzGerald Simon & Schuster, $35.00, 752 pages Reviewed by Kevin Winter Check this out! In recent elections, politicians have been working on getting the Evangelical vote, starting with Ronald Reagan in 1980. How did the Evangelicals come about, and how did they rise to become a dominant force in electoral politics in the latter half of the 20th century? This new book by Frances Fitzgerald aims to answer that question. Despite its thickness, this is a broad overview of Evangelical history in America from the founding to the present. Mrs. Fitzgerald examines how Evangelicals came to prominence through tent revivals and the like, and how, like many groups, they split into different branches during the Civil War. Most of the book, though, is taken up of more recent history, from Billy Graham onward. It feels like this is the book Mrs. Fitzgerald wanted to write, and that the first part is more of an introduction to her real story. And it shows. She deftly narrates how, as a group, Evangelicals got involved in national politics and culture wars and aligned themselves with the Republican party. This book might not appeal to everyone--it is thick and, at times, not an easy read. But it does examine closely how religion and politics have become intertwined. SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT: MASTERING THE ELEMENTS OF GOOD COOKING By Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton (Illustrator) Simon & Schuster, $35.00, 480 pages Reviewed by Ralph Peterson Check this out! This is a book that everyone should own. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is an essential guide to the whys of cooking. Salt has a greater impact on flavor than any other ingredient. And there are many shapes of salt crystals, each of which behaves differently when you cook. Fat carries and let us taste flavors, like egg yolks in delicate sauces and olive oil on salads. Fat also offers various textures and behaviors, like butter for texture, seed oils for neutral flavor, and animal fats for high temperature. Acid is surprising--it balances other flavors, cuts down salt, makes our mouth water, and makes different flavors stand out more. Finally, the book discusses heat and how to use and adjust the heating medium to make food just right. There are recipes in the last half. They are more like roadmaps. The author teaches you to develop your own skills by starting with the desired result and working backward using the fats, acids, salts, and heat of the cuisine you desire. It is a course in how to be a chef. It is entertainingly written, and the author shares personal mistakes all cooks make, what she’s learned from them, and how to use the experience to be a better cook. The recipes are delightful, and the explanations are clear and very helpful. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. THE ADVENTURES OF FORM AND CONTENT: ESSAYS By Albert Goldbarth Graywolf Press, $16.00, 272 pages Reviewed by Aron Row Check this out! Poet and essayist Albert Goldbarth has reverted to the dual format used by the science-fiction publishers in the 1950s, in which they attracted buyers by printing two books in one volume, one tome juxtaposed to the other. Each side of the coupled book had its own title, sort of like Siamese twins. This contrasting coupling reflects somewhat the duality of our character and makeup. His prose is is somewhat ephemeral, his wording is crisp, and his images poetic as he contrasts love versus lust, records fond memories of past friends, wickedly chuckles at the hip poets of the sixties, and examines fouled-up romances. He dances and prances with ideas and portrayals of mere mortals such that the reader must strain to keep the picture in mind. FICTION, cont’d on page 7

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 6

Book Reviews

Nonfiction

Topics jump from illness and well-being to prehistoric cave art, planetary explorations, friendships, Latin poetry, and more. The author is noted for introducing new styles and approaches to essay expression. With this series of selections the reader is introduced to an accomplished writer’s awareness and practice of painting form and content in essays. BUSY LIVES & RESTLESS SOULS: HOW PRAYER CAN HELP YOU FIND THE MISSING PEACE IN YOUR LIFE By Becky Eldredge, Mark E. Thibodeaux (Foreword) Loyola Press, $13.95, 136 pages Reviewed by Sarah Perry Check this out! Author Becky Eldredge is a busy wife, mother, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer with fifteen years of ministry experience. In short, she’s a busy woman. But she has written this book to share how even people with busy lives can find God every day, in any moment. Eldredge has a deep affinity for Ignatian spirituality and offers readers an outline of how to apply those principles to daily life. She doesn’t suggest setting aside time for prayer; rather, she recommends seeing God in the midst of your day continuously. Doing a mindless task like dishes or commuting? Why not take the opportunity to seek God in prayer. Taking a walk or going for a run? Recognize God in the beauty of the natural world around you. Once you start, you’ll feel more connected to God than ever as you let Him be part of your daily routine. This book is written in a conversational and very accessible way, like having a talk with a good friend. If you’ve been yearning for a stronger relationship with God, this book might be a great first step to help you transform your way of thinking to find the peace of God everywhere and anywhere. HERBS + FLOWERS: PLANT GROW EAT By Pip McCormac Quadrille Publishing, $12.99, 144 pages Reviewed by Tamara Benson Check this out!

GREEN-LIGHT YOUR BOOK: HOW WRITERS CAN SUCCEED IN THE NEW ERA OF PUBLISHING By Brooke Warner She Writes Press, $16.95, 255 pages Reviewed by David Lloyd Sutton Check this out! This book offers an explanation of “traditional” publishing’s economics-forced compromises and the paucity of access for entering writers and an equally bald assessment of the chances of independent authors looking to achieve a reader base. Despite its discouraging bent, I will be using Ms. Warner’s book for some time as a reference. Her personal experience yields an unflinching look at some realities. Of particular interest are discussions of “distribution,” “advertising,” and “promotion.” The prejudices of distribution networks/bookstores against print-on-demand (POD) books are explained and so are the financially risky things necessary to circumvent those prejudices. She Writes Press is a gender–biased house, only aiding women, and employs what Ms. Warner calls “hybrid” publishing, an arrangement wherein the author buys in, taking risks with the publisher (the proportions of those risks are never spelled out exactly), and the “publisher” essentially offers some promotion on top of using publicly available POD organizations (but still masking that with the SWP logo). This looked to me like a long sell to join the burgeoning “sisterhood” of SWP. There is a recurrent invitation to those with money to spend it to hire cover artists and text formatters, preferably all from the “sisterhood.” The garish cover and jarring sans serif font of the text of this presentation is revelatory of the kaffee-klatch “professionalism” of that sorority. Here is good reference material, if discouraging as the very devil. THE CRISIS OF THE MIDDLE-CLASS CONSTITUTION: WHY ECONOMIC INEQUALITY THREATENS OUR REPUBLIC By Ganesh Sitaraman Knopf, $28.00, 423pages Reviewed by Julia McMichael Check this out!

Pip McCormick’s little book Herbs& Flowers: Plant, Grow, Eat is an absolute gem for so many reasons, not the least of which is the aesthetically pleasing, adorable size and cover. It is a handful of joyous reading! McCormick structures the book into 32 four-page chapters covering 22 herbs and ten edible flowers. It is laid out in alphabetical order according to the herb or flower’s Latin name. Each chapter begins with a stunning illustration followed by sections on the flavor of each, when to plant it, when to harvest it, how to plant it, what to plant it with, what food to use it with, what you can substitute it with in cooking, and ways to eat it. It is a handy reference book that is also pure pleasure to sit and peruse. Those who have large herb gardens will profit from it as well as those who have small container gardens in the city. I can’t imagine anyone with an interest in gardening who wouldn’t enjoy this little book! This would make a lovely birthday or Mother’s Day gift paired with gardening gloves and seed packets or stuffed into a Christmas stocking for dreaming about the upcoming spring.

The author is a professor of law at Vanderbilt University. He was also an advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren. This is his second book and the first to focus on constitutional law. It is a timely book for those who seek to understand why trickle-down economics weakens the middle class and why a middle class is essential to democracy. The United States has seen an unprecedented transfer of wealth to a small group of extremely rich individuals. When a society becomes so unbalanced, democracy is sold to the highest bidder and the middle class is squeezed out. Historically, when this happens, the author says that it then becomes a time of revolt. The United States constitution is predicated on the stability of the middle class. Without such a stable group, society becomes unequal and democracy is threatened. While this is a scholarly work, it is so well written that it is easily understandable. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the health of our country and the viability of the Constitution. In other words, all Americans.

THE PATTERNING INSTINCT: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF HUMANITY’S SEARCH FOR MEANING By Jeremy R. Lent, Fritjof Capra (Foreword) Prometheus Books, $26.00, 540 pages Reviewed by David Lloyd Sutton Check this out!

SHAKE IT UP: GREAT AMERICAN WRITING ON ROCK AND POP FROM ELVIS TO JAY Z By Jonathan Lethem (Editor), Kevin Dettmar (Editor) Library of America, $40.00, 580 pages Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Check this out!

A wondrous exhibition of erudition, of history, and of serious analysis turns to political exposition and tedium. I was fascinated with Mr. Lent’s tracing of world views, of philosophical evolutions. His discussion of evolutions in thinking--from Sumer through Mesopotamia and Egypt, even in almost prehistoric India, then more intimately in Greece and Europe--were entrancing. If you have not degrees in philosophy and the history of civilizations, then read this. Non-western worldviews tend to be ascribed more . . . benevolence than those evolving in the western world. Authorial reasoning there becomes obvious later in the read. In fairness, the man-vs-nature slant of western views is herein given just condemnation. However, eastern ones, even equally environmentally destructive ones, get a wash. Here’s fine research and writing! However, when the author leaves historical development and begins to quote fear-mongering by Al Gore, Ehrlich, and, so help me, Jeremy Rifkin, while arguing for U.N. control of world resources, research and consideration stop and become one-sided exposition. Malthus is exhumed with honors, and the Club of Rome resurrected because they were not “scientifically disproved” (though they confessed publicly to total exaggeration). This segment, totally embracing capitalists-as-demons cant, makes the analogy of a watermelon unavoidable . . . green on the outside and red in the middle! In presentation, this is a thick tome of tiny print, with the eighty-six pages of notes in a font that literally required me to employ a magnifying glass if not in direct sunlight. Notes of significance receive an asterisk in the text, so constant referral to those notes is a reader’s necessity. Trying to do everything from summing up societal analyses to exploring the singularity and prospects of transhumanism--all in LONG sentences--makes the later part of this book an exercise in reader endurance.

Music writing is a curious beast because it’s as inclusive as it is divisive. One writer’s genius is another’s overrated hack. One album’s symphonic brilliance is atonal sonic chaos to a different listener. Music is the ultimate Schrodinger’s box because the cat is alive, dead, both, neither, kicking ass, wasting vinyl, maturing, devolving, inspiring, and dispiriting all at once. Shake It Up collects dozens of pieces of writing about rock and pop music across hundreds of pages, and every form of nonfiction and creative nonfiction you can imagine is represented. It’s all here, from reviews and analyses to personal anecdotes and blatantly biased putdowns. The gamut of music writing is covered within these pages. There will be names you know and names you don’t -- everyone from Lester Bangs and Chuck Klosterman to Ellen Willis and Jessica Hopper -- and they’ve all got opinions. But rarely will you see so many voices with so many disparate opinions gathered in one place. That’s the real strength of Shake It Up: the sheer, massive, across-the-board sampling of music writing from decades of enthusiastic listening. You won’t like everything here, but you will love some of it, and you’ll learn plenty along the way. NEW YORK ART DECO: A GUIDE TO GOTHAM’S JAZZ AGE ARCHITECTURE By Anthony W. Robins Excelsior Editions, $24.95, 256 pages Reviewed by Rosi Hollinbeck Check this out! If someone mentions New York City and the words “art deco” in the same sentence, one is almost certain to think of the beautiful Chrysler Building. The art deco style, recognizable through Nonfiction cont’d on page 8

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 7

Book Reviews

Nonfiction LOCKING UP OUR OWN: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN BLACK AMERICA By James Forman Jr. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27.00, 320 pages Reviewed by Owen Hamill Check this out!

its bold, geometric lines and patterns, became a prominent feature of buildings constructed during the Jazz Age in the 1920s and 1930s in New York. Not only were buildings designed in the style but so too were doors, light fixtures, floors, signage, lobbies, mailboxes, and much more. Examples can be found all over New York City, if only one knows where to look. This wonderful book not only gives a good introduction to the art form with information on who the architects were, how advertising was influenced, and more, but it goes on to outline fifteen itineraries that will allow readers to tour New York City on their own and view hundreds of fine examples of art deco at its best. These itineraries include clear directions, good maps, lots of wonderful photographs, both color and black and white, and well-written, thorough write-ups of each site. For those who appreciate art deco and have an opportunity to visit New York City, this book will be a treasure. FAMILY DON’T END WITH BLOOD: CAST AND FANS ON HOW SUPERNATURAL HAS CHANGED LIVES By Lynn S. Zubernis (Editor) Smart Pop, $16.95, 256 pages Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Check this out! I am an unabashed nerd, a total fanboy for The X-Files, MST3K, all things Star Wars, and more. So I know a little something when it comes to fandom. And the fans devoted to the show Supernatural form a unique and wonderful group unlike anything else. They are a support system, a surrogate nuclear family drawn together by their shared love of a show about two brothers who never give up, who always keep fighting. Family Don’t End With Blood is a celebration of the Supernatural fandom, sharing stories of how the show has changed peoples’ lives and how the fans have changed the lives of the cast and crew. Testimonials from actors like Jim Beaver, Kim Rhodes, and Jared Padalecki really bring home the idea that the fans and the creative team behind the show are united by the shared experience of making and watching it. This is no mere cash-grab tie-in praising the fans. It’s much more than that. I don’t cry when I read books -- not bragging or judging, just stating a fact -- but the stories in this book brought me close to tears several times. That makes this book something rare and special.

Focusing on Washington, D.C., James Forman, Jr.’s nuanced and insightful Locking Up Our Own asks the question, “How did a majority-black jurisdiction end up incarcerating so many of its own?” He begins by explaining that, “spurred by a heroin epidemic, homicides doubled and tripled in D.C. and many other American cities throughout the 1960s.” From there, Mr. Forman explores how this epidemic and the attendant violence influenced many African Americans in ways both obvious and subtle, shaping their support for tough-on-crime measures that disproportionately incarcerated members of their own community. From the debates surrounding marijuana legalization and gun control to mandatory minimum sentences, Locking Up Our Own relentlessly explores the startling paradox that punitive measures today considered discriminatory were initially supported in the black community on the grounds of self-protection. For example, admitting his aggressive attempts to rid D.C. of guns would disproportionately affect “young black males,” U.S. Attorney Eric Holder nonetheless “argued that such concerns were outweighed by the need to protect blacks from crime.” Mr. Forman excels throughout the book at contextualizing these types of arguments, showing how factors like class divisions within the black community helped influence these calls for stricter penalties. THE HAPPY TRAVELER: UNPACKING THE SECRETS OF BETTER VACATIONS By Jaime Kurtz Oxford University Press, $19.95, 304 pages Reviewed by Gretchen Wagner Check this out! The word travel brings up all sorts of images: gorgeous scenery, exotic foods, rest and relaxation...and also long lines, unexpected expenses, mosquitoes...While most of us like the idea of travel, sometimes the negative associations seem so overwhelming that we feel like avoiding travel altogether. This book wants to dispel your fears so your trips are enjoyable and memorable. As well as giving specific guidance, author See HAPPY TRAVELER, cont’d on page 5

THE BRA BOOK: AN INTIMATE GUIDE TO FINDING THE RIGHT BRA, SHAPEWEAR, SWIMSUIT, AND MORE! By Jene Luciani BenBella Books, $19.95, 216 pages Reviewed by Tamara Benson Check this out! Jené Luciani is back with her second edition of The Bra Book, and it is packed full of interesting information and helpful tips for those of us women still struggling with finding the perfect fit. Who knew that a basic undergarment could cause so much trouble? Luciani has brought us a guide that will hopefully help to take some of the stress and pain out of the process. The book is divided into ten main chapters and three small sections of various tips. In her first chapter, we get an informative, yet entertaining, history of the bra. From its invention in the early 1900s to the new invention of the OMbra, which measures heart rate and distance and sends them to a phone app, the bra has been in a constant state of change and revision. The following chapters cover the ABC’s of bras, how to find the perfect fit, which bras are best under which kind of outfit, and how to fix bra faux pas. New to this edition are chapters on swimwear and shapewear—a very helpful addition to the topic. Luciani provides a guide to choosing both according to your needs. Reading Jené Luciani’s guide is like going shopping with your best friend. She tells you what looks good on you and what definitely does not! STORM CHASER By Mike Olbinski (Contributor) Pen and Sword, $39.95, 192 pages Reviewed by Kevin Winter Check this out! If you live in California, you never really get to experience true weather, such as an Arizona monsoon or the Great Plains spring storms. Compared to those places, our weather is mundane. This beautiful book further proves if you truly want to experience weather and all its power and majesty, you have to go somewhere else. Photographer and storm chaser Mike Olbinski brings us along for the ride as he chases after storms and sandstorms. Most of the photos are in Arizona, where he lives, during Arizona’s annual monsoon season, and if you have ever lived in that area around that time, you know that thunderstorms can pop up quickly. Mr. Olbinski also took several trips to the Great Plains, and these are some of his best pictures of super cells just taking out the horizon as they march with their fury and power across the flat landscape. These pictures are truly fascinating; they show just how small and how little control we have over the environment and that these storms can pack a wallop. For fans of weather and spectacular photos, this is the book for you.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 8

Download the Guide to Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives for diners on this route and many others.

www.TulsaLibrary.org

AUGUST 2017

918.549.READ

A FREE MONTHLY GUIDE TO YOUR COMMUNITY LIBRARY, ITS PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

adults & all ages A CASUAL EVENING OF BOOKS, BARDS AND BITES BENEFITING TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY’S RUTH G. HARDMAN ADULT LITERACY SERVICE

FEATURING AUTHORS

BIXBY LIBRARY Diabetes Empowerment Education: Six-Week Course Wednesdays, Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; Sept. 6 10:30-11:30 a.m. • Sponsored by the Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative, this sixweek course was created to provide tools to better manage diabetes. Limited to 20 participants. Call 918-549-7323 to register. For adults. Bixby Gives Back-to-School Bash Saturday, Aug. 12 • 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Location: Charley Young Park, 50 W. Dawes Ave. • Join the Bixby Library, city of Bixby and other area agencies for a fun-filled event at Charley Young Park, featuring food trucks, music, free bounce houses and free children's activities! For all ages.

JENNIFER LATHAM

DAVID LEITE

JULIA THOMAS

ALSO FEATURING DELECTABLE APPETIZERS FROM SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS AND BUSINESSES

THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 • 6:30 P.M.

HARDESTY REGIONAL LIBRARY • 8316 E. 93RD ST. $50 PER PERSON • PLEASE RESERVE BY THURSDAY, AUG. 31. CALL 918-549-7494 FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SPONSORSHIPS OR TO MAKE RESERVATIONS.

Category

Historical Fiction

NO MAN’S LAND By Simon Tolkien Nan A. Talese, $27.95, 592 pages Reviewed by Mandy Nevius Check this out!

SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

THE MAGDALEN GIRLS By V.S. Alexander Kensington Books, $15.00, 294 pages Reviewed by Cori Morris, circulation department, Hardesty Regional Library Check this out! In this novel set in Dublin in 1962, the lives of two girls change drastically when they become outcasts because of society rules and expectations. Teagan Tiernan, after a misunderstanding with a young, attractive priest is wrongly accused of seducing him. Her parents believing the lie throw her away, erasing her existence. Nora Craven finds herself in a similar situation, disgraced and thrown out of her home becoming one of The Magdalens. Both are taken to live with the Sisters of Holy Redemption, where they are renamed, told not to speak, barely fed, and have their hair shorn and clothes taken away, and are dressed in plain dresses and aprons. They are made to work in a laundry all day in squalid conditions. They are little more than prisoners, property of the Sisters, who unfailingly strive to break their spirits and drum religion into them. The institution is run by a Mother Superior who is haunted by her past and ruthlessly inflicts cruel punishments on them in the name of love. Yet Nora and Teagan form a bond that gets them through. Their tale unfolds sorrows and mistreatment of the time, but also tells of redemption and triumph over hate. Even when a secret is revealed that upends the world of one girl further, she remains steadfast. These institutions were all too real in 1962 and were in existence up until 1996. Through the trials of each girl, characters are unearthed, showing their true strength. Written beautifully and with much emotion, The Magdalen Girls is a triumph. TO CAPTURE WHAT WE CANNOT KEEP: A NOVEL By Beatrice Colin Flatiron Books, $25.99, 304 pages Reviewed by Lenna Stites Check this out! A subdued love story, juxtaposed against the construction of the Eiffel Tower, To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin is beautiful both in its packaging and its tale. Caitriona Wallace is a widow who now works as a chaperone for a wealthy Scottish family. Émile is a bachelor who struggles between following his passion and feeling pressure to take over the family business and estate and settle down. It’s Paris, February 1887 when Cait and Émile first meet in a hot air balloon, which sets into motion a kind of romance and melancholy that helps us escape from our current world into an old-time Paris. When they once again find themselves in Paris, the novel navigates the controversy of Cait and Émile’s relationship despite their differences in class and status and that of a tower that was to be the first of its kind. It is not a fast-paced story, but it does have a great depiction of Paris. Beatrice Colin describes a perfect combination of the grittiness and impressiveness that is associated with Paris, without over-romanticizing. And the Eiffel Tower is an impressive center as both a literal structure and as the structure for the story.

Simon Tolkien is a masterful storyteller. Inspired by the experiences of his grandfather J.R.R. Tolkien in World War I, Simon Tolkien’s latest novel is a delicious concoction of family drama, romance, and war. After growing up penniless with his parents in London and witnessing firsthand the dangerous conditions of working in a coal mine in Scarsdale, tragedy launches Adam Raine into the wealthy home of Sir John Scarsdale. Soon he falls in love with Miriam, the parson’s daughter, while creating an adversary of Sir John’s youngest son, Brice. When the war breaks out and draws Adam to the trenches, all that he holds dear is threatened. Though Tolkien does not use fantasy to write about the war as his legendary grandfather did, his voice, subject, and attitude certainly echo J.R.R.’s work. The novel’s plot is occasionally predictable and is plagued by a number of deaths, which at times feel forced and altogether unbelievable. However, these shortcomings are easily forgiven by Tolkien’s gift at thoughtfully creating each character, all of which stays with the reader long after reading the novel’s final sentence. Furthermore, with impeccable word choice, Tolkien conjures affecting scenes that never lag in excitement or emotion. No Man’s Land is highly recommended.

Easily find your local bookstores. Download the app for iPhone and Android

THE WITCHFINDER’S SISTER By Beth Underdown Ballantine Books, $28.00, 336 pages Reviewed by John Murray Check this out! The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown fleshes out the historical two-year period that found over 100 women executed as witches in 17th century England. After the death of her husband, Alice Hopkins returns home to live with her brother. Matthew Hopkins is a witchfinder and travels across the English countryside hunting and executing witches. Alice slowly finds herself drawn into Matthew’s twisted vision of the world. Despite her best efforts, she is unable to save any of the so-called witches and lands herself squarely in his crosshairs. The entire story is told through her notes as she starts off the story imprisoned with no hope of escape. Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 9

Category

Kids’ Books

CHILDREN’S FICTION COMING SOON

TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at www.TulsaLibrary.org to reserve your copies now.

A Dog Like Daisy by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb

SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

Rescued pit bull Daisy is given 10 weeks to learn to follow commands and tolerate a leash so that she can become an assistance animal to a military veteran struggling with PTSD.

THE UNLUCKY LOTTERY WINNERS OF CLASSROOM 13 By Honest Lee and Matthew J. Gilbert Little Brown and Company, $5.99, 119 pages Reviewed by Amanda Hamlin, customer service assistant, Owasso Library Check this out!

14 Hollow Road

Schoolteacher Ms. Linda LaCrosse always has been unlucky. Every morning, she seems to mix up her breakfast (adding butter to her coffee, instead of her toast) and has to fight off birds that attack her hair as she walks into the school building. When her car breaks down on the way to school one morning, Ms. Linda thinks it is surely her unluckiest day. However, the unlucky event leads to the purchase of a winning lottery ticket. Ms. Linda splits her huge lottery winnings with her students – awarding each over a billion dollars! Each chapter tells the story of how each student spent their portion of the lottery winnings – from buying things for their ailing grandmother to creating clones of themselves. Not all of the students have the best ideas about how to spend their money, but that’s part of the fun silliness of this book. The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 is a quick read that certainly will make you giggle and might just make you ponder what you would do with a billion dollars.

by Jenn Bishop • Rising seventh-

grader Maddie is consumed by her long-term crush on classmate Avery until a tornado destroys her home and her family must move in with his.

The Shadow Queen by Lee

Bacon • Amid the festivities of the Luminary Ball, 12-year-old Kara and Prince Fred search for her father and for the antidote that will save his parents from the Shadow Queen’s poison.

I Love You, Michael Collins

HOWARD WALLACE, P.I. By Casey Lyall Sterling Children’s Books, $14.95, 264 pages Reviewed by Melody Palmer, youth librarian, South Broken Arrow Library Check this out!

by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Howard Wallace, a seventh grader, along with his trusty bike, Blue, and his new apprentice, Ivy, must solve a case involving missing Student Council funds. He’ll go through many packs of gum while wearing his beloved trench coat, which looks like a brown bath robe to everyone else, and avoiding the two eighthgraders who shake him down for choice lunch items daily. He has a special skill set to make investigating a little bit easier, including bribing the custodian with donuts to leave his “office area” alone when mowing, and knowing every inch of the school, including all the locker combinations. This is a hard-boiled detective mystery for middle-grade readers. It’s fast-paced and funny, and accurately depicts middle school. The author holds the tone of the cynical detective well throughout. I highly recommend this book to both boys and girls because it interests each group; it has a boy protagonist and a smart girl who assists in solving the mystery. Also, it deals with subjects of interest to fourth- through eighth-graders: class politics, bullying, school groups, parent and child relationships, and school authorities. The mystery is interesting, fun and has something to offer most middle-grade readers. OUT OF WONDER: POEMS CELEBRATING POETS By Kwame Alexander, Ekua Holmes Candlewick, $16.99, 56 pages Reviewed by Sarah Perry Check this out! Out of Wonder is an exquisite tribute to poets and poetry. Everything about this book is gorgeous, from the physical book itself to the poetry and sentiments contained within. Kwame Alexander offers a heartfelt preface that includes his take on the singular nature of poetry: “It has the power to reach inside of you, to ignite something in you, and to change you in ways you never imagined.” If you have yet to come across a poem that does that for you, you may find one, or a few, in this book. Alexander, with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, have written poems to celebrate their most favorite poets. Their words are a fine tribute to their beloved poets, but the incredible artwork done by Ekua Holmes is also breathtaking. The combination of words and pictures is uplifting and inspiring. A perfect marriage between language and imagery! The authors hope readers will be inspired and interested in the poets honored in this book, and the back contains brief biographical information about them. This is an outstanding book of award-winning caliber that shouldn’t be passed up.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 10

In 1969, as her own family is falling apart, 10-year-old Mamie finds comfort in conducting a onesided correspondence with the least famous astronaut heading toward the moon on Apollo 11.

Ten: A Soccer Story by

Shamini Flint • In 1986 Malaysia,

as she worries about her parents’ constant fighting, ardent soccer fan Maya, age 11, trains herself and pulls together a team at her girls’ school, despite soccer being a “boys’ game.”

Mrs. Master Is a Disaster! by Dan Gutman • A.J. and the

gang from Ella Mentery School start a company to sell their brand-new invention – a heated, scented, talking toilet seat.

The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library by Linda Bailey When Aunt Min disappears, Eddie the bug leaves the classroom where his family lives to try to find her, and then helps save their beloved school library from budget cuts.

Fergus and Zeke by Kate

Messner• Stowing away in a

backpack so he can go on the class trip, classroom pet Fergus meets a streetwise mouse Zeke, who takes him around the museum until it is time to return to school.

But Ren must escape from being ransomed and survive the final test to gain his birthright. Merit and Kepi, the two daughters of the Hark Wadi, are fighting each other as well as rival kingdoms in order to secure their own futures. Michael Johnston successfully blends ancient Egyptian history, empire building, and myth to form the beginning of an exciting addition to the fantasy genre. Soleri has plot twists and turns that will fascinate readers to the very end. Recommended for readers who like Frank Herbert, Pauline Gedge, or Dan Simmons.

Category

Science Fiction & Fantasy

MIRANDA AND CALIBAN By Jacqueline Carey Tor Books, $25.99, 352 pages Reviewed by Tamara Benson Check this out! Every Shakespeare scholar has a favorite play, and I am no exception. From the first time I read his Tempest I was in love. I was entranced by the magic of the story and Prospero’s complicated character. Jacqueline Carey approaches the story from a much different direction, giving us Miranda’s point of view in her book Mirada and Caliban, and I was hopeful that it would be a masterful retelling of the story. From the time Prospero conjures Caliban from the forest and tries to civilize him, it is clear that it is only Miranda who can bring him out of his feral state. The two of them form a friendship that helps him learn to be human and gives her the companionship she desperately needs while her father works his magic and weaves his spells. Their relationship will become complicated by adolescence and the onset of feelings neither has been taught to understand. Carey successfully moves between the characters of Miranda and Caliban to tell the story from their very different points of view. The reader can see the development of Caliban’s intelligence as the book progresses and can witness the internal turmoil of Miranda’s mind. Though as a love story it falls flat, the author’s often stunning prose makes it a worthwhile read.

SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS: A NOVEL By Elan Mastai Dutton, $26.00, 384 pages Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Check this out! You know that world described in the Jetsons, the one we imagined the future would be like? It was real. As real as you and me. But someone screwed it up. Tom, to be exact. Tom, who stumbled and bumbled his way through that miraculous world, only to screw it up and end up here, in our version of the future. And he’s trying desperately to find a way to get back. But that would mean the end of the world as we know it. Weird, huh? All Our Wrong Todays is just that. It’s weird. It’s gloriously weird and mind-bending and fascinating. It’s alternate history, contemporary fiction, and dystopian fiction all at once. Tom is an everyman from another world, just trying to find his way, first in one world, then in another. This is a book about defining who we are, deep down, despite time travel, alternate dimensions, and all sorts of sci-fi bric-a-brac. That’s very relatable, a story you can get behind. It was nothing like I’d expected, and although not all of the surprises are delightful, they were all very intriguing. This is a book that will linger in your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page. THE BUNKER, VOLUME 4 By Joshua Hale Fialkov Oni Press, $19.99, 136 pages Reviewed by Holly Scudero Check this out! Everything is coming to a head. As Grady starts to make progress in the world of politics, his friends are each wrapped in their own plots. Heidi and Billy remain in prison, although each has their own link to the outside world. Daniel has finally connected the dots on how to protect the world from the virus, but the solution is pretty terrible; Natasha, both present and future versions, may have to be involved with Daniel’s answer, but both versions might not like that answer. Is everything finally ready to come together, or is it all going to fall apart? The final volume of the fascinating comic series The Bunker is as fast-paced and unpredictable as the previous three collections. Readers who were hooked by the bizarre time-travelling story line, the unique cast of characters, and the dystopian vision of the future will find themselves frantically flipping the pages of Volume 4, trying to see just how this crazy series is going to end. And, for the most part, they won’t be disappointed. This book is filled with the gritty artwork the series is known for and the kinds of plot twists that have kept readers coming back for more. SOLERI By Michael Johnston Tor Books, $27.99, 368 pages Reviewed by Melissa Lockaby Check this out!

WAKING GODS: BOOK 2 OF THE THEMIS FILES By Sylvain Neuvel Del Rey, $28.00, 336 pages Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Check this out! The centerpiece of the Earth Defense Corps is a giant alien robot, found scattered across the world and reassembled by a team led by scientist Rose Franklin, who died during its early test missions. But now Rose is back, resurrected by unknown forces, and she’s not the only one making a dramatic appearance. A second robot has appeared, and the world is panicking. What do the aliens want? Who resurrected Rose? And what will remain of the planet when these titanic forces collide? Waking Gods follows a few years after the events of Sleeping Giants, and Neuvel really ratchets up both the intrigue and the sheer scale of his storytelling with his sophomore effort. It’s a tightly-woven, tense narrative where nothing feels out of place. Neuvel manages to make both the first contact and alien invasion tropes feel fresh and new, and the quiet moments of the book wonderfully punctuate the tension of the previous scenes. The cast of characters is engaging, all so genuine in their flaws and foibles. Waking Gods is an outstanding sequel, one that pays off everything the first book set up and makes you hungry for more. THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE By Greg Cox Tor Books, $15.99, 288 pages Reviewed by Elizabeth Konkel Check this out! From mutant rats to a woman waking up inside a pumpkin, strange occurrences are happening around the world. Colonel Eve Baird and Librarians Ezekiel, Cassandra, and Stone discover that the Mother Goose Treaty has been broken, with a rogue Mother Goose on the loose with destructive plans. With Flynn missing – as usual – the Librarians must split up to find the three parts of the original book of rhymes, leaving each of them on their own to solve a piece of the puzzle before they can be used against the world. Fans of the TNT show will enjoy Greg Cox’s attention to detail, capturing each character’s personality and introducing an array of eccentric side characters. The adventure is perfectly suited for the quirky tone and has a unique spin on nursery rhymes. Cox features a lot of the chaotic and fun elements from the show: a cursed treasure chest eating gold, a lion fighting an unicorn for a crown, and a pleasant twist at the end. Cox brings a wonderful blend of charm and humor, clearly having fun with The Librarians’ trademark campy style.

For 3000 years, the Soleri sun-god cult has ruled the empire through myth and magic. The first-born male son from each of the four kingdoms must be given to the Soleri to live in tortured darkness until the reigning king dies and the son is released to assume sovereignty. This year is different. Without the annual eclipse the empire is thrown into chaos. The Mother Priestess of the Soleri escapes the riots only to discover a secret that will destroy the peace and all traditions. Only the children of the Hark Wadi ruling family have a chance to hold together the kingdoms. Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 11

ers who love unexpected endings, like in We Were Liars by E. Lockhart or Liar by Justine Larbalestier. LITTLE MONSTERS By Kara Thomas Delacorte Press, $17.99, 336 pages Reviewed by Alexandria Check this out!

Category

Teens

The story follows a girl who grew up not knowing her father and then ended up going to live with him as a teenager. She interrupts her father’s new family, but ends up fitting in very well. She makes some new friends, and then one of them goes missing. What’s really interesting is that, in addition to telling the story, the author includes diary entries written by the missing girl. What started out as a feud between teenage girls quickly turns into a thriller. Kara Thomas’ writing style is captivating. She circled back at the end, giving you more information about the beginning. She included foreshadowing and red herrings that envelopes you in the suspense. When the journal entries are shared, you think you are seeing the mystery unfolding. I was never more excited to be wrong about what I thought had happened! I give this five stars and definitely recommend this book.

SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

NOTEWORTHY By Riley Redgate Amulet Books, $17.95, 400 pages Reviewed by Emma McGorray Check this out! Jordan Sun is a student at an elite performing arts boarding school, but she can’t catch a break—she hasn’t been cast in any of the school’s plays or musicals. Her low voice is partially to blame, but when a spot opens up in the Sharpshooters, an esteemed all-male a capella group, her low voice proves itself useful. Dressed as a boy and going by the name Julian, she makes it into the group, and as the Sharpshooters prepare for an upcoming a capella competition, Jordan scrambles to conceal her femininity, an effort that ultimately brings her face-to-face with truths about herself as she deals with the emotional aftermath of a bad break-up, questions about her sexuality, and the pressures of coming from a low-income family while attending an expensive institution. The crossdressing female character is a familiar storyline, but Redgate makes it new with a diverse cast of characters and an admirable consideration of class, race, sexuality, and disability. Jordan’s contemplation of her own identity is well-drawn and authentic, and the issues Redgate represents emerge naturally and realistically from the novel’s page-turning plot developments. Full of humor and song, Noteworthy is a heartening story of friendship and self-discovery. Note: Though Redgate and I are not acquaintances, she and I were in attendance at the same college for two years. ALEX & ELIZA: A LOVE STORY By Melissa de la Cruz G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 368 pages Reviewed by Sarah Perry Check this out! Alex & Eliza is the young-adult fiction version of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler’s romance. Young Colonel Hamilton does not make the best first impression on Eliza when he first meets her, yet he’s smitten from the get-go. Eliza takes some time and persuasion, but she eventually comes around. This delightful story follows Eliza from the time she meets Alex until their marriage. There is plenty of revolutionary excitement and interesting historical details to make this a truly wellrounded and engaging read. This outstanding book is like an American Pride & Prejudice. From Eliza’s other eligible sisters, overbearing mother, noble father, witty repartee, and high society parties, this book has everything an Austen lover would hope for in a period romance. Even if you haven’t been caught up in the lovefest of the musical Hamilton, this book will reel you right in with a strong, witty, heroine and her dashing gentleman. The story moves quickly and will keep you turning pages until the very end. It’s extremely well crafted, with a cast of quirky and endearing characters. This book is a delight to read and could easily be called a modern-day classic. Very highly recommended! ONE OF US IS LYING By Karen M. McManus Delacorte Press, $17.99, 368 pages Reviewed by Rebecca Williams Check this out! Five students in after-school detention are told to get to work – Simon, who shares gossip; Nate, the drug dealer; Bronwyn, the smart one; Addy, the popular girl; and Cooper, the athlete. A car accident brings them all to the windows. Their teacher leaves to help, but in his absence, Simon goes into anaphylactic shock. The remaining four try to help Simon, dumping out his backpack and checking the nurse’s office for an Epipen, but they are all missing. Simon is taken from the room by an ambulance but later dies. The suspicion falls on the four remaining students. They all maintain their innocence, but who is the liar? This mystery encompasses murder, gossip and lies, young love, hidden agendas, and more. Initially, it looks like a simple murder by a classmate, as each one of the four have reasons to hate Simon for the gossip he has shared through his app. With some digging and some clandestine meetings, the events that led to Simon’s death are revealed, and readers will be stunned by the conclusion. Recommended for read-

Category

Tweens SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

YVAIN: THE KNIGHT OF THE LION By M.T. Anderson, Andrea Offermann Candlewick, $19.99, 144 pages Reviewed by Briana Wagner Check this out! As a fan of medieval literature, I was excited to see Anderson adapt this story about one of King Arthur’s knights by Chrétien de Troyes. Anderson does make some changes to the plot and characters (presumably to streamline the story) that fundamentally change some of the themes explored in the original French medieval romance, but because most of the target audience will not have read the source, these changes are unlikely to be a point of contention. The story that Anderson and Offermann present is one of courage, love, and loyalty lost and regained. Yvain is not always heroic, and the outcomes of the adventures are not always happy, but this is the point, and it paints a more complicated version of King Arthur’s times and his knights than readers get from other sources. The female characters in particular seem stuck between having power and being unable to wield it to get what they want. It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking story. Offerman’s illustrations are gorgeous and often the backbone of the story when Anderson chooses not to use words to explain plot events from his source material. Her art is detailed and based in extensive research, adding a wonderful layer of nuance to the book. This adaptation will make the most sense to readers who have read Chrétien’s version, but it is a solid introduction to medieval romance for those who have not. INNOCENT HEROES: STORIES OF ANIMALS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR By Sigmund Brouwer Tundra Books, $16.99, 208 pages Reviewed by Rosi Hollinbeck Check this out! War was quite different in the days of WWI. Allied soldiers spent miserable days and nights in cold, muddy trenches waiting for the many horrors the German army would throw at them. Besides the usual shelling and attacks with bayoneted rifles, the Germans used deadly gas that caused any caught in it to die horrible deaths. Radio communication was unreliable. Consequently, the men sometimes had to rely on animals — carrier pigeons, cats, specially-trained dogs of various breeds, and horses and mules. Several of these animals saved many lives and acted in truly heroic ways, even when badly injured. Some were even awarded medals for their brave acts. This book is historical fiction, following three fictional Canadian soldiers through the build-up to a great battle. Each chapter tells a bit of their story and how a heroic animal impacted what they experienced. Each fictional chapter is followed by a good write-up of a real heroic animal and its story. These include some grainy photographs. Excellent back-matter gives even more information. The writing is fine and the stories captivating. This will be a great introduction to WWI for the middle-grade set and others. Don’t miss this one.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 12

YOUTH NONFICTION NEW AND COMING SOON

TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at www.TulsaLibrary.org to reserve your copies now.

Game On!: Video Game History From Pong and Pac-Man to Mario, Minecraft, and More by Dustin Hansen

BESTSELLERS COMING SOON

TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at www.TulsaLibrary.org to reserve your copies now.

A veteran video-game designer takes middlegrade readers on a fun and fascinating trip through the brief but intensely innovative history of video games, from Pong to modern hits like Uncharted.

Pop Sizzle Boom!: 101 Science Experiments for the Mad Scientist in Every Kid by Amy Oyler

Provides step-by-step instructions for such projects as a salt-crystal tower and molten-magma rock candy divided into time-based categories, including 10 minutes or less and over 30 minutes.

Space Junk: The Dangers of Polluting Earth’s Orbit

by Karen Romano Young This book examines the proliferation of space debris in outer space and discusses methods of retrieving and disposing of the material.

The Movie Making Book: Skills & Projects to Learn & Share

by Dan Farrell • Presents a guide to movie making for young readers, detailing how to write a script, use cinematography to convey emotion and edit a film.

Night Sky by Howard Schneider

Provides a guide for beginning stargazers, including sky maps and constellation charts, identification tips, and space facts and jokes.

A Beginner’s Guide to Coding

by Marc Scott • Presents an introduction to coding for young computer users that focuses on the programming languages Scratch and Python, with step-by-step, illustrated instructions for a variety of coding projects.

Best & Buzzworthy 2017: World Records, Trending Topics, and Viral Moments by Cynthia O’Brien

A reference guide includes records in the realms of popular culture, sports, science, nature and technology, as well as a section of United States records.

How Many Guinea Pigs Can Fit on a Plane?: Answers to Your Most Clever Math Questions by Laura Overdeck

Provides answers to unusual questions, using mathematics. First two questions, as examples, are: “How many birds would it take to pick you up and fly with you?” and “How many bees does it take to make one jar of honey?”

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 13

gence of the Chicago Outfit and the rule of Johnny Torrio and later Al Capone. The role of the gangsters and their corruption of legal entities as well as their illegal ventures would be enabled by crooked politicians such as Big Bill Thompson. The battle for control of the lucrative beer and liquor trade would be long and bloody, with an assortment of ne’er do wells duking it out with the Capone mob. John Binder has unveiled a crucial time in Prohibition and the violence that dominated the news in Chicago throughout the 1920s. Most previous tellings of Al Capone and his reign highlight the victories over O’Banion, Weiss, Moran, and the Northside gang yet fail to tell the wider battles engaged in by many of the ethnic gangs. The beer and liquor trade was lucrative for all parties willing to throw in, worth killing for in many instances. The telling of this infamous time is worth reading, no footnote to be looked over, as history such as this is never dull. A+.

Category

History SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

MACARTHUR’S SPIES: THE SOLDIER, THE SINGER, AND THE SPYMASTER WHO DEFIED THE JAPANESE IN WORLD WAR II By Peter Eisner Viking, $28.00, 368 pages Reviewed by C.D. Quyn Check this out!

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: FROM ENLIGHTENMENT TO TYRANNY By Ian Davidson Pegasus Books, $28.95, 336 pages Reviewed by Gretchen Wagner Check this out! Textbook coverage of the French Revolution leaves readers with an impression of university students with starry-eyed optimism, the storming of the Bastille, and suddenly the Reign of Terror. The name of Robespierre is probably familiar, and perhaps that of Danton and Marat... and did Voltaire have something to do with it? The details are probably foggy and the course of events, inexplicable. This book thoughtfully and fervidly connects those dots, filling in the gaps with vivid details. The result is an alarming, but absolutely compelling, story, told with an imperative thrust that carries the reader inexorably through the factions, philosophies, and oversized personalities that overcame the initial idealism of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité,” devolved into the Terreur, and paved the way for Napoleon and the Empire. It is a fascinating story, with long-lasting repercussions and lessons even for the present day. There is much more to the French Revolution than just the guillotine and the profligate Marie Antoinette or the overthrow of the Ancien Régime and the aristocracy, although all of these are part. Readers will be riveted and will find themselves caught up in the turmoil, violence, and chaos that defined these few short years. GOD’S RED SON: THE GHOST DANCE RELIGION AND THE MAKING OF MODERN AMERICA By Louis S. Warren Basic Books, $32.00, 496 pages Reviewed by J. Aislynn d’Merricksson Check this out! God’s Red Son is a piercing, poignant look at one of the more shameful events of our country’s infancy. Warren shines a light on the factors behind the infamous “Ghost Dance” of the Sioux and other indigenous peoples of North America during the end of the 19th century and how its subsequent destruction shaped much of our policies on religious freedoms. The Ghost Dance was a burgeoning religion that preached of a Messiah that would come and foster peace between the white men and the Indians, that all of the deceased would return to life, and that “God” would make the earth bigger and return the vast buffalo herds. Participants would gather to dance in circles, sometimes to exhaustive frenzy. Some, but not all, wore special Ghost Dance shirts, believed to be able to deflect bullets. One of the most horrific massacres occurred at Wounded Knee Creek. I have to admit, I had a hard time reading this book because of the emotions aroused. Like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, this book elicited a visceral reaction regarding how Americans treated the indigenous peoples. Our European ancestors had no real claim to the Americas to begin with. What was done, all that was done, to the indigenous peoples was a horrific atrocity packaged as “assimilation.” We eradicated a baby religion. What might it have become if we had not done so? Religions develop in response to a need for succor. Who are we to say one is wrong and the other right? Of course, it wasn’t about that, was it? Not really. It was a political move to keep a defeated people dejected. To “keep them in their place.” Having Native American ancestry in my paternal lineage, this hits a bit closer to home. My grandmother, now deceased, would tell me stories of her half-Cherokee grandmother. She felt the same call to the ancestors as I do and fostered it in me. She gave me my copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a copy that had once been gifted to her by her sons, my uncle and my da. Today it is a treasured part of my vast library that I revisit every few years. Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy Native American or early American history. AL CAPONE’S BEER WARS: A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN CHICAGO DURING PROHIBITION By John J. Binder Prometheus Books, $25.00, 400 pages Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro Check this out! The story of Al Capone and his bloody reign of Chicago has been chronicled endlessly over the last eight decades, but crucial parts have been omitted. Gangland had a firm grip on the Windy City with the reigns of men such as Mike MacDonald and Big Jim Colosimo. But the law of Prohibition and the lawlessness that greeted the Eighteenth Amendment would cement the emer-

How do ordinary citizens deal with enemy occupation after government protection evaporates? That question haunts readers of Eisner’s masterful assembly of the scraps of information about what happened after the surrender of American Armed forces to Japan on the Philippines and the underground resistance that immediately arose. Aficionados of that conflict will appreciate the maps and solid data presented in this extraordinary account. Those familiar with the names MacArthur and Chick Parsons, Corregidor, the Bataan Death March, Intramuros, Fort Santiago, Santo Tomas, Camp O’Donnell, and Cabanatuan will find new connections in the backgrounds of ordinary people who found ways to smuggle food, medical supplies, and money and to reveal enemy-troop movements: “Three strokes of the hair meant three packs of medicine and supplies buried under the tree.” A long-lost diary belonging to the elusive torch-singer spy Claire Phillips reveals details about the sacrifices of women trapped but not defeated and of broken men still defiant. Sadly, Eisner’s research shows the underbelly of our own government and the too-long buried injustices surrounding these events: “To this moment most of the Filipino guerrillas who fought for freedom in their own country have not received the recognition nor the compensation they deserved as soldiers in the U.S. Army.” THE RADIUM GIRLS: THE DARK STORY OF AMERICA’S SHINING WOMEN By Kate Moore Sourcebooks, $26.99, 496 pages Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro Check this out! The danger of the element radium was invisible at first, unlike the element itself. The young women who worked at the Radium Luminous Materials Corp in Newark, NJ and the Radium Dial Co. in Ottawa, Il were hard working and full of life. Their turnover of the dials was enormous, owing in part to a taught practice that would eventually end their lives. They had been told that lip pointing was constructive in correcting brush mistakes. The first untimely deaths in Newark of some of the girls were misdiagnosed as syphilis and other maladies. As the numbers started to grow, attention was drawn to the girls’ employment. But the power of the business-government relationship covered up the deaths and shifted the blame to the women’s work habits. Over time, as the mortality rate blossomed, the radium women began to take legal action. Would the companies be held accountable? The Radium Girls is a tragedy chronicling many years of hard work, sacrifice, and suffering. The sadness inherent in all the lives cut short leaves a poignant mark on the reader. The anger toward corporate greed and bureaucratic ineptitude is palpable in the author’s sharp commentary. Kate Moore has dug deep to expose a wrong that still resonates--as it should--in this country. Exceptional! THE ROAD TO CAMELOT: INSIDE JFK’S FIVE-YEAR CAMPAIGN By Thomas Oliphant, Curtis Wilkie Simon & Schuster, $28.00, 448 pages Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro Check this out! 1956 would turn into a year of possibilities in the US presidential election. The incumbent, Dwight Eisenhower, had recently suffered a heart attack, causing doubt about his run for re-election. The Democratic field was also up for grabs as Lyndon Johnson was also ill. Senator John Kennedy saw an opportunity to vault himself into higher office by taking the VP slot under Adlai Stevenson. Kennedy had garnered support for the nod but was still unknown in some parts. His Catholicism would also be viewed with suspicion. Stevenson’s indecision would lead to an open vote for the VP spot, with Kennedy losing out to Estes Kefauver. Kennedy would gain respect that would lead to him seek out the Presidential nomination in the 1960 election. Kennedy’s campaign would strike at the local levels, surpassing the po-

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 14

litical bosses and overcoming opposition from front-runners such as Hubert Humphrey, Johnson, and others. The 1960 election victory against Richard Nixon would solidify the grassroots effort. Thomas Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie acknowledge treading over familiar ground; however, their work adds more to the previous literature. The run-up to the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy race is often overlooked and the pitched battles in the Democratic party are often a footnote. This book is a trailblazer in that vein, an excellent addition to the Kennedy history.

The clientele changed some during the war years, as soldiers who returned badly wounded or scarred felt their chances of finding love were poor, and the young women whose fiancés didn’t return knew a similar worry. The agency worked tirelessly and often successfully. Heather stayed with the bureau for many years, holding onto the records of heartfelt requests from the sad, the weird, the phony, rich and poor and down to earth realists whose search ended in marriage. The author, presently owner of the bureau, breezes through the narrative, and a wacky appendix includes dozens of early requests and interview reports that crossed their desks. Heather and Mary, with no fear of cyber attack, commented exactly how they perceived each client. Hilarious!

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI By David Grann Doubleday, $28.95, 352 pages Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro Check this out!

LETTERMAN: THE LAST GIANT OF LATE NIGHT By Jason Zinoman Harper, $28.99, 345 pages Reviewed by Matthew Cox, customer service assistant, Hardesty Regional Library Check this out!

The mystery began with the disappearance of Anna Brown in May 1921. Her disappearance would coincide with the disappearance of Charles Whitehorn. Both were Osage Indians, both would be found murdered. Anna’s death would attract more attention, but her inquest, other than determining murder, was shoddy at best. Anna’s sister, Mollie Burkhart, wanted justice. Her connections through marriage led to an initial investigation that turned up possible suspects but little else. Soon other members of the tribe along with several townspeople would die untimely deaths, and the young FBI would take a second look at the deaths. J. Edgar Hoover’s Bureau would blaze a path through Oklahoma seeking answers. What they would find would lead to a sensational murder trial involving the depraved depths of greed. When the trial was over, justice would be served....Or would it? The travails of the Native American people have been chronicled historically over many books. David Grann’s narration of a particularly heinous aspect of the subjugation of a native tribe is even more appalling. The shocking finds of years of investigation are the instances of murder for money carried out. This is a spectacular read with fascinating characters....Do not miss out! A new true-crime classic.

You can watch any of the numerous late-night talk shows that currently are being broadcast and see the influence of David Letterman, according to Jason Zinoman in Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night. The author has written a book that not only is a biography of Letterman but also a detailed history of the groundbreaking shows that he hosted. In addition to using the substantial amount of material that already had been written about the host and his shows, Zinoman conducted interviews with Letterman himself and almost every individual who had a key role on the shows, including bandleader Paul Shaffer, director Hal Gurnee, and Merrill Markoe, who was both Letterman’s girlfriend for most of the 1980s and the writer who came up with “Stupid Pet Tricks” and many other popular recurring segments. Zinoman emphasizes the influence of Markoe and others in making Letterman’s shows so innovative; Letterman is presented as someone who would have been happy doing a somewhat more traditional show. Although the author admits to being a big fan of Letterman, he also presents the details of the many professional problems between Letterman and his staff, and the scandals involving his personal life as he traces the evolution of Letterman’s shows until his retirement in 2015. Even for a reader who already is well-versed on the story of Letterman’s life and the history of his shows, this book is filled with new anecdotes and insight.

BLOODY HISTORY OF PARIS: RIOTS, REVOLUTION AND RAT PIE By Ben Hubbard Amber Books, $29.95, 224 pages Reviewed by Kevin Winter Check this out! Paris has had a long, and often violent, history — from the early days, when it was conquered by the Romans, to the French revolution and the terror that it inspired, to the chaotic days of the various Communes and rebellions and World War II. In a way, you can tell the story of city through its violence, and that is what this book set out to do. Ben Hubbard does a decent job covering thousands of years of history in a short book, after you take out all the pictures. He focuses on the high points and major players, not getting down to the nitty details. Think of this as a quick overview — a way to get the larger picture to decide where you want to dig deeper yourself. Also, this feels like it was written for high school students, something to keep them interested in history and for them to learn something. Mr. Hubbard does a good marshaling of all that information and presents it in a concise and clear manner, though you do move quickly through time.

Category

Biographies & Memoirs SNAP IT for additional book summaries.

THE MARRIAGE BUREAU: THE TRUE STORY OF HOW TWO MATCHMAKERS ARRANGED LOVE IN WARTIME LONDON By Penrose Halson William Morrow Paperbacks, $15.99, 352 pages Reviewed by Jane Manaster Check this out! Even before the ‘dot coms’ helped folk scour the world for marriage partners, the practice flourished. The Marriage Bureau reveals how plucky letters followed by face-face-interviews was far more fun than today’s online photos and form-filled portrayals. Shortly before the onset of the War in 1939, Mary and Heather, both in their 20s and looking for an adventurous career, launched a matchmaking agency in a shabby little office in London. Within weeks, they were deluged with requests from young – and not so young –men and women who needed a helping hand to meet Mr. or Miss Right.

ROBERT LOWELL, SETTING THE RIVER ON FIRE: A STUDY OF GENIUS, MANIA, AND CHARACTER By Kay Redfield Jamison Knopf, $29.95, 560 pages Reviewed by Owen Hamill Check this out! Kay Redfield Jamison’s Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire “is not a biography.” Instead, Ms. Jamison clarifies, it’s a “psychological account of the life and mind of Robert Lowell,” a prominent twentieth-century American poet who suffered from severe manic-depressive illness. His disease, and related behavior, often made for sensational headlines, meaning that Lowell was a poet occasionally “more written about than read.” Ms. Jamison does both well, coupling a sympathetic narrative of Lowell’s illness with astute readings of his Pulitzer Prizewinning work. Ms. Jamison’s authority is no accident — she’s a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. But, unexpectedly, the way she writes so beautifully about Lowell and his poetry renders her clinical expertise almost irrelevant. Allowed access to Lowell’s medical records and personal papers, she writes movingly about his episodes of mania, when he was prone to, for example, “[proclaiming] that Hitler was a better writer than Melville.” These periods, frustratingly, were both detrimental to his health and personal relationships and fertile ground for writing, a dilemma Lowell struggled with his whole adult life, complaining that drugs like lithium made him “less vulnerable but stagnant.” With a mind like Lowell’s, biographical details would only get in the way. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND: SEARCHING FOR GERSHOM SCHOLEM AND JERUSALEM By George Prochnik Other Press, $27.95, 544 pages Reviewed by C.D. Quyn Check this out! After several years of reading and reviewing nonfiction, I was compelled to read George Prochnik’s journey into Stranger in a Strange Land twice before offering my thoughts. If you have read his work in The New Yorker or Cabinet magazine, the latter of which he is editor-at-large, or any of his other books currently on the market, then you are familiar with Prochnik’s gift of vocabulary. Stranger in a Strange Land is exceptional in prose but also blends theology with history, and psychology with personal experience. From the outset, you might expect this saga to chronicle the life of Gershom Scholem, an icon of modern Israel who once quipped, “We came as rebels and found ourselves to be heirs.” Further into the pages, Prochnik leads us deeper into the mysteries of “kabbalah” and the dialogue between Scholem and Walter Benjamin, which naturally incorporates a glimpse of the Holocaust from a safe distance. And just when you feel comfortable about the progress and meter, Prochnik turns the mirror upon himself. Suddenly the saga gets very personal, and Stranger in a Strange Land comes to life. “Only he who can change is master of the future,” says Scholem. “There is no hope of gradual relief. There is only hope of salvation,” says Prochnik. Before you close the cover, you may find yourself staring into your own reflection.

Tulsa Book Review • August 2017 • 15

Homework Help Now! Powered by Brainfuse

Get free online homework assistance from your home, school or library. LIVE TUTORING

(2-11 p.m., daily Central Standard Time) Get expert one-to-one subject-specific help for students in grades K-12, plus college. Spanish-speaking tutors are available too!

TEST CENTER

Take practice quizzes in standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GED and more) and practice subject-specific tests, like math and science. Get results instantly.

WRITING LAB

Connect with an online tutor for expert writing assistance, or for a more thorough analysis, submit your writing and receive within approximately 24 hours a detailed analysis of your paper.

24/7 HELP CENTER

Submit a question and a tutor will provide you with a response (usually within 24 hours).

FREE BRAINFUSE APP

App is available in App Store or Google Play.

Visit www.TulsaLibrary.org/homeworkhelp and use your Tulsa City-County Library card to access Homework Help Now!

DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T HAVE A LIBRARY CARD?

Apply online at www.tulsalibrary.org/application and get instant access to this service and more!