Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You've Never Seen Him by Glenn Beck/Review

by Glenn Beck

This is the amazing true story of a real-life superhero who wore no cape and possessed no special powers—yet changed the world forever. It’s a story about a man whose life reads as if it were torn from the pages of an action novel: Bullet holes through his clothing. Horses shot out from under him. Unimaginable hardship. Disease. Heroism. Spies and double-agents. And, of course, the unmistakable hand of Divine Providence that guided it all.

Being George Washington is a whole new way to look at history. You won’t simply read about the awful winter spent at Valley Forge—you’ll live it right alongside Washington. You’ll be on the boat with him crossing the Delaware, in the trenches with him at Yorktown, and standing next to him at the Constitutional Convention as a new republic is finally born.

Through these stories you’ll not only learn our real history (and how it applies to today), you’ll also see how the media and others have distorted our view of it. It’s ironic that the best-known fact about George Washington—that he chopped down a cherry tree—is a complete lie. It’s even more ironic when you consider that a lie was thought necessary to prove he could not tell one.
For all of his heroism and triumphs, Washington’s single greatest accomplishment was the man he created in the process: courageous and principled, fair and just, respectful to all. But he was also something else: flawed.
It’s those flaws that should give us hope for today. After all, if Washington had been perfect, then there would be no way to build another one. That’s why this book is not just about being George Washington in 1776, it’s about the struggle to be him every single day of our lives. Understanding the way he turned himself from an uneducated farmer into the Indispensable (yet imperfect) Man, is the only way to build a new generation of George Washingtons that can take on the extraordinary challenges that America is once again facing.

About the Author

Glenn Beck, the nationally syndicated radio show host, is the author of Broke, The 7, and seven #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Original Argument, An Inconvenient Book, The Christmas Sweater, Glenn Beck’s Common Sense, Arguing with Idiots, The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book, and The Overton Window. Visit GlennBeck.com.

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Details
    Hardcover: 304 pages
    Publisher: Threshold Editions (November 22, 2011)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 1451659261
    Biographies & Memoirs
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Explosive Eighteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich/ Review

Janet Evanovich (Author)

“No less than her plotting, Evanovich’s characterizations are models of screwball artistry. . . . The intricate plot machinery of her comic capers is fueled by inventive twists.”—The New York Times

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.

Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.

About the Author

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and graphic novels, Wicked Appetite (the first book in the Lizzy and Diesel series), and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.

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    Hardcover: 320 pages
    Publisher: Bantam (November 22, 2011)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 0345527712
    ISBN-13: 978-0345527714
    Genre: Literature, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense & Romance
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Then Again by Diane Keaton (Author)/Review

Diane Keaton (Author)

 Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she’d collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK. So begins Diane Keaton’s unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always-thinking Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. In a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother. Over the course of her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals—literally thousands of pages—in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Diane’s grandparents. Diane has sorted through these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother—a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy, struggling to find an outlet for her talents—as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.

More than the autobiography of a legendary actress, Then Again is a book about a very American family with very American dreams. Diane will remind you of yourself, and her bonds with her family will remind you of your own relationships with those you love the most.
Diane Keaton has starred in some of the most memorable movies of the past forty years, including the Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, and Something’s Gotta Give. Her many awards include the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. Keaton lives with her daughter and son in Los Angeles.

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Publisher: Random House (November 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400068789
ISBN-13: 978-1400068784

Genre : Biographies & Memoirs

Review

It has been a surprise to me at times and is somewhat confusing again at times. Ms. Keaton wrote her story along with her mother's own biography written as a diary or one could just say, her mother puts down her thoughts and feeling often, ending up with about 90 notebooks. In as much as Diane tears along with her story and seemingly to me she jumps right into parts of her mother's writings (it is true that her mother's story is in different type, yet if you read quickly as I do, I have to stop every once in awhile and go back as I begin to wonder what just happened.) Ah yes, Diane has changed the writer. It's not a big problem, but somewhat irksome to me. Diane told by herself is an unusual female, never seeming to be very interested in the opposite sex even a little bit and that is shown in high school where she says she is not liked and ugly and unattractive and uninterested in the opposite sex. She has a habit of constantly putting herself down, calling herself stupid, dumb, unlikeable. She claims she was terrible in school, getting only C minuses, and simply not understanding much at school at all. Yet, she goes on to remark upon her successes in many fields outside school. She may have had a learning disability and not have been stupid at all as I am sure is true. She may mention this before the end of the book; I hope so for I'm getting tired of her beating her breast claiming stupidity and yet accomplishing so much. She sounds very eccentric but in a way that makes me feel that a lot of it could be an act. 

As you can see, I'm not finding her charming, and I always before thought her a very interesting and exciting woman. You'll have to try her on yourself for I feel this book will have its lovers and then others like me who say I don't find her someone I'd want to spend any time with. Perhaps others will find Ms. Keaton's strange mix of biographies interesting and captivating. I just think her method detracts from my desire to learn more of either character. I hope others have more fun with this book than I am having, but then no one can say Ms. Keaton is boring. That last being said for the fans who will think my review is absolutely and cruelly wrong. Honestly, all I should say is read it for yourself.

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Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer/Review

Peter Schweizer (Author)

One of the biggest scandals in American politics is waiting to explode: the full story of the inside game in Washington shows how the permanent political class enriches itself at the expense of the rest of us. Insider trading is illegal on Wall Street, yet it is routine among members of Congress. Normal individuals cannot get in on IPOs at the asking price, but politicians do so routinely. The Obama administration has been able to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to its supporters, ensuring yet more campaign donations. An entire class of investors now makes all of its profits based on influence and access in Washington. Peter Schweizer has doggedly researched through mountains of financial records, tracking complicated deals and stock trades back to the timing of briefings, votes on bills, and every other point of leverage for politicians in Washington. The result is a manifesto for revolution: the Permanent Political Class must go.

About the Author

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2008-9 he served as a consultant to the White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting and he is a former consultant to NBC News.  He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, Foreign Affairs, and elsewhere. His books include The Bushes, Reagan's War, and Do as I Say, Not as I Do.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade (November 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0547573146
ISBN-13: 978-0547573144 
Genre : Politics & Social sciences

Review
The Permanent Political Class is far more patriotic and intelligent than lazy Americans!,
By Hassan Z. Brockovich Sr.

In this revolutionary tome, the author boldly establishes that all average Americans--members of the military, moms and dads, those in the boy scouts--are all inferior in comparison to the elites in the political class of both parties...and I wholeheartedly agree. Schweizer has meticulously researched all the evidence, which is why I agree with him totally.

According to his earth-crushing investigation, the permanent political class is in power in Washington, D.C., because average Americans are all just lazy, stupid and unmotivated, while the political class is savvy, aggressive and very ambitious. I could not agree more; after all, how can you explain that the political class keeps lying to the average voter...yet the average voter keeps sending them back every election cycle to Washington, D.C., to screw them over some more?!?!? This groundbreaking research should be on everyone's Kindle, I dare say!

What I find particularly eye-opening is the persuasive power of Schweizer's argument. He says that the political class deserves to be in power because they have the deviousness to stay there. I couldn't agree more because the political class is so intelligent that they--get this!--compel CEOs to let them buy lucrative shares in IPOs at very low prices in exchange for passing favorable legislation for those CEOs! And all the while, the stupid idiot people of America--that would be you and me who have a 9 to 5 job, worship God and like to go to a ballgame every now and then--just carry on with their ignorance-is-bliss lives while the political class keeps enriching their wealth, power and influence in this way!! Genius...simply genius!
After being shellshocked by reading this, I have to agree with the thesis of Schweizer. The majority of Americans who is not among the permanent political class in Washington, D.C., is simply stupid and deserves to be poor and struggling. Conversely, I also believe in the author's words praising this same political class as the smartest and brightest of America. After all, they are the ones who are in power, have all the money and keep conniving with other rich people to permanently keep the 99% of us all down, poor and ignorant! All hail the permanent political class in this country!
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Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews /Review

“What was he like?”Jack Kennedy said the reason people read biography is to answer that basic question. With the verve of a novelist, Chris Matthews gives us just that. We see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.What was he like, this person whose own wife called him “that elusive, unforgettable man”? The Jack Kennedy you discover here wanted never to be alone, never to be bored. He loved courage, hated war, lived each day as if it were his last.Chris Matthews’s extraordinary biography is based on personal interviews with those closest to JFK, oral histories by top political aide Kenneth O’Donnell and others, documents from his years as a student at Choate, and notes from Jacqueline Kennedy’s first interview after Dallas. You’ll learn the origins of his inaugural call to “Ask what you can do for your country.” You’ll discover his role in the genesis of the Peace Corps, his stand on civil rights, his push to put a man on the moon, his ban on nuclear arms testing. You’ll get, more than ever before, to the root of the man, including the unsettling aspects of his personal life. As Matthews writes, “I found a fighting prince never free of pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father’s son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.”

    History made him, this lonely, sick boy. His mother never loved him. History made Jack, this little boy reading history.  —Jacqueline Kennedy, November 29, 1963,

Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451635087
ISBN-13: 978-1451635089
Biographies & Memoirs
Review

Chris Matthews has been telling his viewers how proud he is of his fraudulent book for months. But you only need look at one thing to understand the level of his plaguristic egomania. Matthews went on Jay Leno last week and talked about how he- Chris Matthrews- had discovered and dug out a previously unknown document at Choate School that proves where JFK got the "ask not what your country can do for you line." (To prove his hero thesis, he must discount the theory that Ted Sorenson wrote all the great lines). Matthews tells the story with the enthusiasm of a discover who has found the missing link, the holy grail, he has solved a presidential mystery of the ages. Of course he could have just read the New York Times from May 10, 2005, which reported the same thing, that would be five years ago. Hard to believe Matthews mysteriously found this document, that no one else had ever seen before him. That what he claims, of course. Here is what was published in the Times, five years ago: "The provenance of the speech's most famous words, the "ask not" portion, has a less inspiring history. The words hark back at least to Kennedy's years at Choate, the Connecticut prep school, where the headmaster regularly reminded his charges that what mattered most was "not what Choate does for you, but what you can do for Choate." So much for a new revelation!

JFK may have been an "elusive hero." Matthews is nothing but a self-promoting huckster and a phony, a combinaion that he endorsed in his last silly book, the one that Jon Stewart ridiculed. Afterwards Matthews said Stewart was "jealous of me." Right.

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Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie /Review

"Massie once again delivers a masterful, intimate, and tantalizing portrait of a majestic monarch."—Publishers Weekly

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.

Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.”

BookDetails:
Hardcover: 656 pages/Publisher: Random House (November 8, 2011)
Language: English/ISBN-10: 0679456724 & ISBN-13: 978-0679456728
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs

Review

Catherine II, Empress of all the Russians, was always known as one of the most powerful and hard working people in history. Many writers and historians have not always been sympathetic to her regarding her private life and have overlooked her achievements when ruling Russia. But, Mr. Massie has written a stellar biography of Catherine that tells the reader what an accomplished and remarkable woman she became.

Catherine was born in Stettin, in 1729. Stettin was then Germany and is now Poland. Her father was Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, a prince of a lesser-known family among the many principalities in Germany. Her mother, Princess Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp, was much younger than the Prince but was from a much higher-ranked family. She was given the name: Sophia Augusta Frederika of Anhalt-Zerbst. After Sophia was born, her mother became bored with the provincial life of Stettin, where her husband was a high ranking officer in the Prussian Army.

As Johanna was related to many noble families in Germany, she took every opportunity to travel to the courts of Zerbst, Hamburg, Brunswick, Kiel and even Berlin. Many years before this, Johanna's brother Prince Karl August of Holstein-Gottorp had gone to Russia to marry the Princess Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. Before the wedding took place, the Prince died of small pox, leaving Elizabeth heart-broken.

Elizabeth's nephew, son of her sister Anna came to St. Petersburg when his parents died at Elizabeth's behest and was named as the heir to the throne of Russia as his mother and Aunt were daughters of Peter the Great of Russia. In November of the year 1741, Princess Elizabeth seized the throne with the help of the Imperial Guards, formally declaring that her nephew Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp the heir to the throne. When she brought him to St. Petersburg she changed his name to Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Tzar Peter III. Peter was now 14 years old and it was time to look for a bride for him. Elizabeth remembered fondly the family of Karl August, whom she had been engaged to marry and invited the Princess Johanna, sister of her deceased fiance and the Princess Sophia to come to St. Petersberg to meet the heir to the throne and plan a wedding between the two young people. Sophia's name was changed to Catherine II and she went on to marry the future Peter III.

She was treated badly by Peter and looked for companionship elsewhere with young men of the court. The favorite being Gregory Potempkin by whom, it was said, she had her child Paul, who became heir to the throne. While she was Empress, she dealt with the many trials and tribulations of her country and looked after the welfare of the Russian people. She was praised by many and, as usual, condemned by some - and the author has remarked on all of her triumphs and failures. Her family, friends, enemies, lovers, etc. are all told about in abundance. Including her mother, forever making plans that made her look good, and her husband who had nothing to do with her, ignoring her most of the time.

This story is grand and glorious as are Robert Massie's previous works: (Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great: His Life and World). The story is accurate, the characters very true to life, with much style and detail. For readers of history, this is a gem. A life story of an extraordinary woman

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SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden /Review

Chuck Pfarrer (Author)
Description

The true story of the killing of bin Laden by author and former U.S. Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer
On May 2, 2011, at 1:03 a.m. a satellite uplink was sent from Pakistan crackling into the situation room of the White House: "Geronimo, Echo, KIA." These words, spoken by a Navy SEAL, ended Osama bin Laden’s reign of terror. SEAL Target Geronimo is the story of Neptune's Spear from the men who were there.  After talking to members of the SEAL team involved in the raid, Pfarrer shares never-before-revealed details in an exclusive account of what happened as he takes readers inside the walls of Bin Laden’s compound penetrating deep into the terrorist’s lair to reach the exact spot where the Al Qaeda leader was cowering when the bullet entered his head. SEAL Target Geronimo is an explosive story of unparalleled valor and clockwork military precision carried out by the most elite fighting force in the world—the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six.

Praise
“Chuck Pfarrer writes with the brilliant eye of a novelist and the real-world authority of a soldier who has fought in the world’s most mysterious corners. He’s not only a poet and soldier, but also a deeply read historian. Pfarrer has written a true page-turner about the inside story of Operation Neptune’s Spear. There is enough action here, enough human drama, enough fascinating history, to keep you reading until dawn—you simply have to know what happens next. SEAL Target Geronimo is first-rate storytelling. It’s an amazing story, written about a world no one knows better than Chuck Pfarrer himself.”
--Doug Stanton, author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers
About the Author
Chuck Pfarrer is a former assault element commander of SEAL Team Six. He has written op-eds for The New York Times and the Knight Ridder syndicate, and appeared as an author and counterterrorism expert on C-SPAN2, NPR, Alhurra, IPR, Voice of America, Fox News, and America Tonight. Pfarrer serves presently as an associate editor of The Counter Terrorist, the American Journal of Counterterrorism. Pfarrer is the author of the bestseller Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL. His Hollywood credits include writing and producing work for Navy Seals, Darkman, Hard Target, The Jackal, Virus, and Red Planet. He lives in Michigan.
Product Details
    Hardcover: 240 pages
    Publisher: St. Martin's Press (November 8, 2011)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 125000635X
    ISBN-13: 978-1250006356
     Nonfiction

Review
By Hassan Z. Brockovich Sr.

Chuch Pfarrer is a good and captivating writer--not as good as one of the greats of American literature, Dr. Seuss, but sort of close to him--but a lot of what he reveals in this novella makes me ashamed to be an American. Full confession: I am hardcore, Obama-voting and liberal, but that played no role in my opinion on this novella. It's just that some of the "stuff" (read: mischief) revealed by Pfarrer makes me wonder whether US taxpayer dollars are really being spent wisely on a bunch of testosterone-overloaded Navy Seals.
For example, Pfarrer reveals that some of the Navy Seals--get this...get this...--were actually high-fiving and cheering like a bunch of high-school kids about to get laid when they realized they got been Leiden!! What the heck kind of example does that set for the rest of the world, huh?! What does that kind of evil sadism say to the peaceful Arabs and Muslims whom we are "fighting" in the age-old American tradition of US hegemony for the purpose of establishing a global warming foothold in the Middle East, huh??? I'll bravely tell you what it says: It says that the US does not have respect for the beautiful and misunderstood traditions of the splendorous Muslim culture...that's what!
For this reason, my opinion about being slightly glad that been Leiden was killed in an unconstitutional and secretive US drone strike has changed 183%. I now hang my head in shame every time I see an Arab dude or someone with a dark enough complexion that he could be an Arab. Still I recommend that you dig deep into your life savings and buy this book because of its educational value. Since the best president in US history (Obama) has now lowered the unemployment rate to an excellent 9.0%, you should have just enough disposable income to afford this book and maybe...half a pack of gum (over the next three months).

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The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack /Review

The End of Normal
by Stephanie Madoff Mack

Description

An explosive, heartbreaking memoir from the widow of Mark Madoff and daughter-in-law of Bernard Madoff, the first genuine inside story from a family member who has lived through- and survived-both the public crisis and her own deeply personal tragedy.
When the news of Bernard Madoff 's Ponzi scheme broke, Americans were shocked and outraged, perhaps none more so than the unsuspecting members of his own family. After learning that their father's legendarily successful wealth management company was "all just one big lie," Mark and Andrew Madoff turned their father in and cut off all communication with both parents. Mark and his wife, Stephanie, strove to make a fresh start for the sake of their two young children, but Mark could not overcome his sense of betrayal and shame-he and other family members were sued for $200 million in October of 2009. He hung himself on the two-year anniversary of his father's arrest. Left to raise her children as a single mother, Stephanie wrote this memoir to give them a sense of who their father really was, defend his innocence, and put her personal statement on record once and for all. In this candid insider account, she talks about her idyllic wedding to Mark on Nantucket, what it was really like to be a part of the Madoff family, the build-up to Bernard's confession, and the media frenzy that followed. It is about the loss of the fairytale life she knew, adjusting to life with a man she hardly recognized anymore, and the tragic and final loss of her husband.

Details
    Hardcover: 253 pages
    Publisher: Blue Rider Press (October 20, 2011)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 0399158162
    ISBN-13: 978-0399158162
    Genre: Health, Relationships , Marriage
Praise

"[An] explosive memoir...[Madoff Mack] reveals what it was like to marry into the Madoff family and how she coped when it imploded."

-People

"[P]erhaps the most truly 'insider' account of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme to date...engrossing from the start...Madoff Mack's account contains personal details that make the book worth reading....[F]ascinating."

- Forbes

"The End of Normal gives an intimate account of Mark Madoff's two years of torment over the infamous swindle that wiped out thousands of investors and-by his wife's account-left him a man broken beyond repair."

- Associated Press

"This is a love story wrapped up in a news story, and that's tricky to tell, because there is a really deep bond between these two people, Stephanie and Mark....Stephanie is just coming forward because she wants people to hear her, and her husband's, version of what their life has been. It's as pure and as simple as that."

- ABC's 20/20

Review
This is a beautifully written book full of pain and love and loss. It is a very personal look at the deepest pain caused by Bernie Madoff. Of all the many people that Bernie hurt and the pain and loss that he caused, those who suffered the most were his family. He took their money and their futures (as he did with many people) but he also stole their past and their foundations. I knew Mark and never for one minute believed that he had any knowledge of his father's evil until he confessed in December 2008.
Stephanie gives voice to the agony that she and Mark went through at the hands of Bernie, as well as how the media, bloggers, and public exacerbated that pain. Mark was unable to share his story with the public and very much wanted to let the world know his truth. I had hoped that he would one day be in a place emotionally and legally to be able to tell his story. Sadly, that was not to be, but Stephanie does a fantastic job of letting the world into their private space and painting a true picture of Mark.
The book also shows the heartache and pain that suicide brings to those left behind. Stephanie does an excellent job of conveying the questions, pain, and process that suicide of a loved one brings. Her journey is sad and her loss is real, but the book also manages to be a beautiful love letter to Mark and his children.

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The Christmas Wedding /Review

James Patterson & Richard DiLallo

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (October 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031609739X
ISBN-13: 978-0316097390

Description

The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the packages are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding. Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.
But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

Review

By Brenda Casto (US)

Gaby Summerhill's family hasn't been together for Christmas since her husband Peter died, but that's about to change. You see Gaby has been proposed to by three men, and the thing is she is going to have a Christmas wedding, and she isn't going to to disclose who the groom will be until the wedding.So the only way her children, Emily, Claire Lizzie and Seth will know who she is marrying is to come home for Christmas.
I loved getting to know Gaby's children. Each of them were dealing with their own issues making this an interesting story. One was having marital troubles, one had a husband fighting cancer, another is a very successful lawyer who is married but puts in way to much time at her job, and finally one is trying to get a book published. Each child's story would have made for an interesting book in itself but roll them together and it made the plot of this book move along nonstop. I loved the plan Gaby came up with to get her children home, an idea that was totally new, hooking me, making me wonder myself who she would marry. There was even a twist thrown in that actually surprised me.
Overall if you enjoy family stories where the family seems as real as a your next door neighbors, and want to feel a bit of the magic of the holiday season then your going to want to pick this book up. Normally when I think of James Patterson I think of action packed thrillers, but he can certainly pull of a nice Christmas time family story as well. Highly recommended!

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Nightwoods: A Novel by Charles Frazier/Revie

by Charles Frazier
Publisher: Random House (September 27, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140006709X
ISBN-13: 978-1400067091
Literature & Fiction 
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

A Letter from Author Charles Frazier

Lost in the woods. A dangerous phrase, but also with a resonance of folktale. Hansel and Gretel with their bread crumbs. Jack alone, roaming the lovely, dark, and deep southern mountains. So, young people and old people being lost in the woods has always been interesting to me for those reasons. And also because it happens all the time still.
Back when I was a kid, eight or ten, my friends and I lived with a mountain in our backyards. We stayed off it in summer. Too hot and snaky. But in the cool seasons, we roamed freely. We carried bb guns in the fall and rode our sleds down old logging roads in winter. We often got lost. But we knew that downhill was the way out, the way home. When I grew up and went into bigger mountains, you couldn’t always be so sure. I remember being lost in Bolivia. Or let’s say that I grew increasingly uncertain whether I was still on the trail or not. That’s the point where you ought to sit down and drink some water and consult your maps and compass very carefully and calmly. I kept walking. At some point, it became a matter of rigging ropes to swing a heavy pack over a scary white watercourse. I ended up at a dropoff. Down far below, upper reaches of the Amazon basin stretched hazy green into the distance. Downhill did not at all seem like the way home.
You’ll just have to trust me that this has something to do with my new novel, but to go into it much would risk spoilers. I’ll just say that early on in the writing of Nightwoods, Luce and the children were meant to be fairly minor characters, but I kept finding myself coming back to them, wanting to know more about them until they became the heart of the story. Some of my wanting to focus on them was surely influenced by several cases of kids lost in the woods in areas where I’m typically jogging and mountain biking alone at least a hundred days a year. It’s part of my writing process, though I hardly ever think about work while I’m in the woods. But I do keep obsessive count of how many miles a day I go and how many words I write, lots of numbers on 3x5 notecards. All those days watching the micro changes of seasons can’t help but become part of the texture of what I write, and those lost kids, too.

PRAISE:

"...[A] taut narrative of love and suspense, told against a gritty background of bootlegging and violence. The characters are rich and unforgettable, and the prose almost lyrical. This is Charles Frazier at his best. ...Just mention a new novel by the Cold Mountain author, and a line will start forming."  —Booklist
"...[T]hink Thunder Road meets Night of the Hunter meets old murder ballads. This is a suspenseful noir nightmare, complete with bootleggers and switchblades." —The Daily Beast

"A boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition: It tips its hat to Don Quixote as well as Twain and Melville, and it boldly sets out to capture a broad swatch of America’s story in the mid-nineteenth century."  —The Boston Globe on Thirteen Moons

REVIEW

A Most Memorable Novel of Mid 20th Century Appalachia from Charles Frazier

By   John Kwok (New York, NY USA)

In his latest novel "Nightwoods", Charles Frazier returns to the same bleak, quiet Appalachian landscape that he introduced readers to in "Cold Mountain". However, unlike his celebrated earlier work of fiction, there is an almost timeless quality in "Nightwoods", a story that could have taken place as easily during the midst of the Civil War or sometime late in the Twentieth Century. Instead Frazier drops subtle hints (e. g. a reference to the film "The Defiant Ones") that it is set in the late 1950s, in a rural Appalachia that is virtually indistinguishable from the one described in "Cold Mountain", rendered vividly in a sparse, often lyrical, prose that will remind readers of Cormac McCarthy's recent work, especially "The Road"; a comparison that is most apt since "Nightwoods" is almost as bleak as McCarthy's rural near future dystopian novel. Frazier offers his readers a most captivating, often poignant, and quite brilliant, portrayal of Luce, the young woman who unexpectedly inherits her sister's troublesome, emotionally scarred, son and daughter. Hers is an epic battle of wits with her sister's husband, Bud - whom she suspects is her sister Lola's killer - as she seeks to protect Lola's young children from their alcoholic, violence-prone father. Her only ally in this quest is the unassuming Stubblefield, who becomes both friend and guardian angel to Luce, her niece and her nephew. Frazier has once again combined his excellent storytelling talent with his superb prose into a winning combination destined to be celebrated by critics and fans alike; without question, one of the finest, and most compelling, works of fiction published this year.

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Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse /Book Review

James Wesley Rawles (Author)
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Atria Books; 1St Edition edition (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439172803
ISBN-13: 978-1439172803
Genre:Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure,  Mystery & Thrillers

Description

WHAT IF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT ENDED TOMORROW?
The America we are accustomed to is no more. Practically overnight the stock market has plummeted, hyperinflation has crippled commerce, and the fragile chains of supply and high-technology infrastructure have fallen. The power grids are down. Brutal rioting and looting grip every major city. The volatile era known as “the Crunch” has begun, and this new period in our history will leave no one untouched. In this unfamiliar environment, only a handful of individuals are equipped to survive.
Andrew Laine, a resourceful young U.S. Army officer stationed overseas in Afghanistan, wants nothing more than to return home to Bloomfield, New Mexico. With the world in turmoil and all air and sea traffic to America suspended, Laine must rely on his own ingenuity and the help of good Samaritans to reach his family. Andrew will do whatever it takes to make it home to his fiancée, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
Major Ian Doyle is a U.S. Air Force pilot sta-tioned in Arizona with his wife, Blanca. Their young daughter, Linda, is trapped in the North- eastern riots. Three teenage orphans, Shadrach, Reuben, and Matthew Phelps, have no choice but to set out on their own when their orphanage closes at the beginning of the Crunch. Then there is Ignacio Garcia, the ruthless leader of the criminal gang called La Fuerza, who will stop at nothing to amass an army capable of razing the countryside. And over everything looms the threat of a provisional government, determined to take over America and destroy the freedoms upon which it was built. The world of Survivors is a terrifyingly familiar one. Rawles has written a novel so close to the truth, readers will forget it’s fiction. If everything you thought you knew suddenly fell apart, would you survive?
About the Author
Former U.S. Army intelligence officer and survivalist James Wesley, Rawles is a well-known survival lecturer and author. Rawles is the editor of SurvivalBlog.com—the nation's most popular blog on family preparedness. He lives in an undisclosed location west of the Rockies. He is the author of the bestselling Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse and a nonfiction survival guide, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It.

Review
I'm a Survivor,   By  F. Harrison

If Patriots was a great survival manual in novel format, Survivors is a great novel with a survivalist theme. If you read his first successful novel, you'll be glad to hear that author John Wesley Rawles has made dramatic improvement from the standpoint of fiction writing. The latest (not really a sequel, but based on the same setting of a post collapse world), has a much more fluid story and much more interesting characters. I couldn't tell you one thing about the characters from Patriots, but there are some memorable ones in Survivors.
The lead character, Anders, is a soldier in Afghanistan, who gets stuck after the US cuts off fuel supplies during the collapse. He has to make it back to his wife and brother back in America and uses his technical and survival skills to do so.
Other story lines intersect as Rawles showcases how people in different parts of the country try to cope with the shocking collapse of the economic system. While all of the protagonists in Patriots were survivalists, some of the characters in Survivors aren't, making for a compelling plot. Not only do they have to deal with a shattered economy, but the entire country has turned into a Mad-Max-esque free for all with roving gangs becoming dominant.
If you enjoy dystopian or political fiction like Orwell or the excellent Gods of Ruin, you must read this book!

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I Never Thought I'd See the Day!: Culture at the Crossroads

David Jeremiah (Author)
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: FaithWords (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446565954
ISBN-13: 978-0446565950
Genre: Religion & Spirituality
 
Description

Is Western civilization in an accelerating decline? And if it continues will it eventually weaken and cause us to come to the end of cultured civilization as we now know it? "Yes," says David Jeremiah, and in his book, I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY! he details numerous signs of this cultural decay including:
Can this downward spiral be reversed? Yes, but only if one person at a time returns to God with our heart, our manner of life, our dedication to genuine worship of God, in serving God by helping others, in our giving, and in prayer.

 Reviews
What To Believe and Do In These Serious Times,
By  Dr. DAVID P. CRAIG "Life Coach 4 God" (Tustin, California)

This is the fourth book written by Dr. Jeremiah based on a prophetic series given at his church in San Diego over the past several years. The author (who has been in ministry for five decades and counting) writes about what he never thought he'd see happening in America and in the World by way of cultural ramifications that impact Christians and the world.

He bases the book on two specific Bible passages. Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. And 1 Chronicles 12:32, "Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." In other words, Dr. Jeremiah is concerned that we as Christians are not overwhelmed by the times we find ourselves living in - that we are knowledgeable about what is going on; and encouraged in the truth, so that we can effectively apply the Scriptures and make an impact on an ever increasing attack on God and His people around the globe.
Dr. Jeremiah tackles the following 9 specific developments in these times we are living in:
1) The rise of angry atheists and how they seek to intimidate believers in God at every level of society.
2) The intensification of spiritual warfare - the more the gospel spreads - the more the enemy attacks.
3) The dethroning of Jesus Christ as God come in the flesh and King of Kings and Lord of Lords in whom is salvation and the only hope for the world.
4) The redefining of marriage as articulated by God's definition in the Bible.
5) The moral deterioration of society both privately and publicly - especially among our so-called leaders.
6) Dr. Jeremiah writes, "Intertwined with this free fall in morality is the growing marginalization of the Bible, which has moved from the center of political and cultural discourse to the far edges--from providing the founding principles of our nation to becoming a resource for token verses as ornamental platitudes. Sadly, many Christians and a growing number of churches have followed the lead of the culture and pushed the Word of God away at the center of their lives."
7) The growing irrelevance of the Body of Christ in our society.
8) The growing influence of rogue nations.
9) The decline of America's loyalty and allegiance to Israel.
This book is very relevant, and provides historical and biblical ways to be prepared to know what we believe, why we believe it, and how to stand firm in God's truth and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we as Christians may be faithful in serving our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ - until He returns. I highly recommend this book as informative, alarming, but also full of biblically helpful solutions and encouragement from a brilliant communicator of God's Word and how it applies to the times in which we are living.

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The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor/Book Review

Robert Kirkman &  

Jay Bonansinga

 Hardcover: 320 pages
 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 11, 2011)
 Language: English
 ISBN-10: 0312547730
    ISBN-13: 978-0312547738
    Genre: Literature & Fiction / Horror

“If the comic book writer Robert Kirkman were a superhero, his name might be the Midas Touch.” —The New York Times

Description

In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial in the history of the Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.

Review
Engaging and interesting backstory
By   N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA)

With The Walking Dead achieving mammoth amounts of popularity thanks to the long running comic and the smash hit TV series adaptation, creator Robert Kirkman teams up with horror writer Jay Bonansinga to detail the backstory of The Governor, who may be one of the most evil villains to ever appear in the pages of a comic book ever. Just how did The Governor get to be how he was in the pages of The Walking Dead? Well, this novel The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor, picks up a few days into the zombie apocalypse, as estranged brothers Philip and Brian, along with Philip's young daughter Penny and a couple others, try to survive the perils of plague-stricken rural Georgia. Along the way they come across other survivors and hordes of undead, with some major shocking events taking place that set the stage for the birth of the cruel man who is way more dangerous than an onslaught of zombies could ever be. With some twists aplenty and a gut-punch of a final act, The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor is engaging and page-turning, but it doesn't do anything else than tell an origin story, and even at that, by the time the big twist at the end happens, it feels like a bit of a cheat. All that aside, Rise of the Governor is more than worth your time if you're a Walking Dead fanatic, and it is a nice companion piece to the prolific survival horror series.

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Ranger's Apprentice: The Lost Stories by John Flanagan/Review

 

John Flanagan (Author

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Philomel (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399256180
ISBN-13: 978-0399256189
Genre : Science Fiction, Fantasy , Horror , Magic, Action & Adventure

Amazon Price    
Kindle Edition     $10.54 / Hardcover     $8.99      

Description

The secret history of the New York Times bestselling Ranger's Apprentice

Unconfirmed accounts of a group of Araluen warriors - tales of adventure, battle, and triumph over evil - have spread for centuries throughout the known world. Most notable is a clan shrouded in mystery, phantom warriors known as the Rangers.

Two names pass the lips of every storyteller: Halt, and his apprentice, Will. They and their comrades in arms are said to have traveled throughout the kingdom and beyond its borders, protecting those who needed it most. If true, these rumors can be only part of the story.

Only now, centuries after these men and women walked the earth, do we have confirmation of their existence. Behold The Lost Stories.

Inspired by questions and letters his loyal readers have sent over the years, John Flanagan offers a gift in response: a collection of "lost" tales that fill in the gaps between Ranger's Apprentice novels. For the first time, readers can learn the truth behind how Will came to be orphaned and what his real relationship to Halt is, or watch Alyss in action as the young Araluen diplomat disguises herself and becomes the perfect spy.

Review

By  Dadinator (Wisconsin)

The story behind this book are that these are stories that have been found while historians are exploring the ruins of Castle Redmont and its nearby village. The book is a collection of short stories that fills in some of the blanks that didn't fit into the original books. eg. Gilan hunting down Foldor who is mentioned as Halt is banished from Araluen).

The ton of the book is different; some parts are more sad/somber and others are just shortened adventure stories. I think some younger readers may be bothered by the thought of a time when Castle Redmont lies in ruins and they realize this world has moved on.

As a stand alone book, I still prefer the full stories to a collection of short stories. Still this is a very fun read and for fans of the series, I think you will love it. If you haven't read the entire series, there will be a name or two you may not recognize, but it won't be a big deal. I, for one, am not ready for this world to move on.

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The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes/Book Review

Julian Barnes (Author)
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Knopf (October 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307957128
ISBN-13: 978-0307957122
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers > Literature & Fiction 

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize [2011]

“The David Cohen Prize is in effect a UK version of the Nobel Prize for Literature, open to writers of fiction and non-fiction, comedy and tragedy. . . . What is remarkable about Julian Barnes is that he has excelled in all these areas. The already extraordinary list of David Cohen Prize–winning authors has been fittingly extended.”
—Mark Lawson, David Cohen Prize citation

Editorial Reviews

“Barnes builds a powerful atmosphere of shame and silence. . . . As ever, Barnes excels at colouring everyday reality with his narrator’s unique subjectivity, without sacrificing any of its vivid precision. . . . Novel, fertile and memorable.” —The Guardian
“Compelling. . . . His reputation will surely be enhanced by this book. Do not be misled by its brevity. Its mystery is as deeply embedded as the most archaic of memories.”
—The Telegraph

“Short and sharp. . . . A true master of his craft, Barnes’s precise and economic prose is often a delight, and he packs in some vivid characterisation, scene-drawing and emotional insight within his brief 150 pages.” —The List

“Barnes has effectively doubled the length of the book by giving us a final revelation that obliges us to reread it. Without overstating his case in the slightest, Barnes’s story is a meditation on the unreliability and falsity of memory. . . . Such a slyly subversive book.” —London Evening Standard

“Julian Barnes is one of those marvelously inventive authors who writes a very different book each time. He experiments with historical and contemporary fiction, memoir, biography and essays, seamlessly moving from genre to genre. . . . His prose is rich without being showy; he has a precision and economy of language that at times recalls William Trevor.” —The Oregonian

“Barnes is among the most adventurous writers—in style, versatility and narrative structure—of his Amis-McEwan-Hitchens generation.” — The New York Times Book Review

Description

By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary books that began with the best-selling Arthur & George and continued with Nothing to Be Frightened Of and, most recently, Pulse.
This intense new novel follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster thought he’d left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage and family and career have fallen into an amicable divorce and retirement. But he is then presented with a mysterious legacy that obliges him to reconsider a variety of things he thought he’d understood all along, and to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.
A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single sitting, with stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication, The Sense of an Ending is a brilliant new chapter in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.

Review
Dirk Sinnewe "books galore" (Germany)

If Barnes's novel was only a philosophical treatise on themes such as, for example, the constructedness of history, memory, love or remorse, then only a few people would read it, so the author offers us some kind of mystery story which the main protagonist Webster has to solve: the deceased mother of his former girlfriend Veronica has left him 500 pounds as well as the diary of his friend Adrian. Why does Veronica's mother do this and will the content of Adrian's diary shed some light on his suicide?
This "mystery story" only works because Veronica remains more or less silent throughout the second part of the book. She may fall into the category of the mysterious woman; after all Barnes is at pains to portray her as a woman that is surrounded by an air of secrecy, so it may seem in keeping with her character that she does not immediately tell Webster all she knows, her monosyllabic replies may also just be credible, but her continuous repetition of the set phrase "You just don't get it, do you?" when she meets Webster after so many years is just not credible at all. For me this is the central weakness of the plot, resulting from a flawed character-construction. Either that or the unreliable narrator may have, once again, constructed his very own version of the past.

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Only Yours by Susan Mallery/Book Review

Susan Mallery (Author)
    • Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
    • Publisher: HQN Books (August 30, 2011)
    • Language: English
    • ISBN-10: 0373775946
    • ISBN-13: 978-0373775941
    • Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches

Product Description

Montana Hendrix has found her calling—working with therapy dogs. With a career she loves in a hometown she adores, she's finally ready to look for her own happily ever after. Could one of her dogs help her find Mr. Right…or maybe Dr. Right?
Surgeon Simon Bradley prefers the sterility of the hospital to the messiness of real life, especially when real life includes an accident-prone mutt and a woman whose kisses make him want what he knows he can't have. Scarred since childhood, he avoids emotional entanglement by moving from place to place to heal children who need his skillful touch. Can his growing feelings for Montana lead him to find a home in Fool's Gold, or will he walk away, taking her broken heart with him?
Review
A wonderful Beauty and the Beast tale!,
By   S. Cave (Puyallup, WA United States)
In the second of the latest Fool's Gold trilogy by Susan Mallery, we get Montana Hendrix and Simon Bradley...so far, my favorite couple of the triplet Hendrix sisters. Mostly, it's all about Simon. While we meet him not at his best, it quickly becomes obvious that he's wounded, inside and out, and Montana is just the right person to heal him. Whereas the first book in the trilogy didn't quite hit the spot, this one kept my attention and touched my heart. As Simon struggles to heal others, he refuses to believe he is worthy of healing himself. Montana, who has a family who gives her unconditional love, still struggles with believing she's enough for a man, but she's willing to put herself out there for Simon to see, flaws and all. Their love story is sexy and sweet and brought tears to my eyes more than once.
Of course, as with all the Fool's Gold books, Mallery populates them with a lot of great secondary characters and we revisit many of them again on Only Yours. I also loved the secondary stories of Montana working with the service dogs, her mother's ventures into the dating world (I have a feeling we'll see more of that later) and best of all, the story of Kalinda, the little burn victim Simon is caring for. All of this adds up to a truly emotionally satisfying story.

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Shock Wave (A Virgil Flowers Novel) /Book Review

By John Sandford
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399157697
ISBN-13: 978-0399157691
Mystery & Thrillers >Suspense

Book Description

The thrilling new Virgil Flowers novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.
The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.
The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second one explodes at the construction site itself. The blasts are meant to inflict maximum damage-and they do. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers's job to find out . . . before more people get killed.
About the Author
John Sandford is the author of twenty-one Prey novels, most recently Buried Prey; the Virgil Flowers novels, most recently Bad Blood; and six other books. He lives in Minnesota.

Review
Outstanding entry in Sandford's Virgil Flowers series ! 
By  Gerald M. Bull (Fairview, TN United States)

We are big fans of Sandford, having read every single one of his Kidd, Lucas Davenport, and Virgil Flowers novels. These latter stories are similar to, but usually less violent than, the "Prey" novels, as Virgil is inclined to let the "regular" cops do most of the dirty work while he contemplates things quietly and often draws clever conclusions from just talking to people.
"Shock Wave" is aptly named, as it involves a plot about a very busy bomber who has it in for "Pye-Mart", obviously a Walmart knockoff, that is in the early construction phase in Butternut Falls (MN), and expected to destroy the local merchants and pollute the river with runoff, etc., etc. While that's not exactly an original premise, the one or two bombings per day keep everyone hopping to an insane degree, with a similar increase in suspense to the reader. Not surprisingly, there appears to have been illegal payoffs to local politicos to make the approval for the new megastore a reality; and while he's trying to discover the identity of the bomber, Virgil uncovers those crimes as well, nicely cleaning up the local scene. Meanwhile, Virgil seems to be telephonically breaking up with his new sheriff sweetheart, which slows down his tendency to womanize key characters, but that only added to the "off-screen" fun.
We don't award many books all five stars, but this one seems quite deserving -- a terrific protagonist in an exciting and suspenseful plot combine for a thrill-charged entertaining novel -- highly recommended!

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The Marriage Plot: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides/Review

Jeffrey Eugenides (Author)

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (October 11, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374203059
ISBN-13: 978-0374203054
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Book Description

It’s the early 1980s—the country is in a deep recession, and life after college is harder than ever. In the cafés on College Hill, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels.
As Madeleine tries to understand why “it became laughable to read writers like Cheever and Updike, who wrote about the suburbia Madeleine and most of her friends had grown up in, in favor of reading the Marquis de Sade, who wrote about deflowering virgins in eighteenth-century France,” real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead—charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy—suddenly turns up in a semiotics seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged erotic and intellectual relationship with him. At the same time, her old “friend” Mitchell Grammaticus—who’s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange—resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate.
Over the next year, as the members of the triangle in this amazing, spellbinding novel graduate from college and enter the real world, events force them to reevaluate everything they learned in school. Leonard and Madeleine move to a biology Laboratory on Cape Cod, but can’t escape the secret responsible for Leonard’s seemingly inexhaustible energy and plunging moods. And Mitchell, traveling around the world to get Madeleine out of his mind, finds himself face-to-face with ultimate questions about the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the true nature of love.
Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? With devastating wit and an abiding understanding of and affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides revives the motivating energies of the Novel, while creating a story so contemporary and fresh that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.

Praise for The Marriage Plot:

“Eugenides's first novel since 2002's Pulitzer Prize–winning Middlesex so impressively, ambitiously breaks the mold of its predecessor that it calls for the founding of a new prize to recognize its success both as a novel—and as a Jeffrey Eugenides novel. Importantly but unobtrusively set in the early 1980s, this is the tale of Madeleine Hanna, recent Brown University English grad, and her admirer Mitchell Grammaticus, who opts out of Divinity School to walk the earth as an ersatz pilgrim. Madeleine is equally caught up, both with the postmodern vogue (Derrida, Barthes)—conflicting with her love of James, Austen, and Salinger—and with the brilliant Leonard Bankhead, whom she met in semiotics class and whose fits of manic depression jeopardize his suitability as a marriage prospect. Meanwhile, Mitchell winds up in Calcutta working with Mother Theresa's volunteers, still dreaming of Madeleine. In capturing the heady spirit of youthful intellect on the verge, Eugenides revives the coming-of-age novel for a new generation The book's fidelity to its young heroes and to a superb supporting cast of enigmatic professors, feminist theorists, neo-Victorians, and concerned mothers, and all of their evolving investment in ideas and ideals is such that the central argument of the book is also its solution: the old stories may be best after all, but there are always new ways to complicate them.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“In Eugenides’ first novel since the Pulitzer Prize–winning Middlesex (2002), English major and devotee of classic literature Madeleine Hanna is a senior at Reagan-era Brown University. Only when curiosity gets the best of her does she belly up to Semiotics 211, a bastion of postmodern liberalism, and meet handsome, brilliant, mysterious Leonard Bankhead. Completing a triangle is Madeleine’s friend Mitchell, a clear-eyed religious-studies student who believes himself her true intended. Eugenides’ drama unfolds over the next year or so. His characteristically deliberate, researched realization of place and personality serve him well, and he strikes perfectly tuned chords by referring to works ranging from Barthes’ Lovers’ Discourse to Bemelmans’ Madeline books for children. The remarkably à propos title refers to the subject of Madeleine’s honors thesis, which is the Western novel’s doing and undoing, in that, upon the demise, circa 1900, of the marriage plot, the novel ‘didn’t mean much anymore,’ according to Madeleine’s professor and, perhaps, Eugenides. With this tightly, immaculately self-contained tale set upon pillars at once imposing and of dollhouse scale, namely, academia (‘College wasn’t like the real world,’ Madeleine notes) and the emotions of the youngest of twentysomethings, Eugenides realizes the novel whose dismantling his characters examine.” —Annie Bostrom, Booklist

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Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres/Book Review

Ellen DeGeneres (Author)
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446585025
ISBN-13: 978-0446585026
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature

I've experienced a whole lot the last few years and I have a lot to share. So I hope that you'll take a moment to sit back, relax and enjoy the words I've put together for you in this book. I think you'll find I've left no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, no ivories untickled. What I'm saying is, let us begin, shall we?

About the Author

Ellen DeGeneres is a beloved stand-up comedian, television host, bestselling author, and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol in its ninth season in 2009.
DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice acting won a Saturn Award. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. She has won twelve Emmys and numerous awards for her work and charitable efforts.

Review
Leave it to Ellen to make the Audiobook Different than the print edition.....,
Steven I. Ramm  (Phila, PA USA)

This is the third book for comedian/talk show host Ellen Degeneres and, if ever there was a book that should be "read by the author", it's one by Ellen. She honed her craft of comedy by doing "stand-up" and she actually "performs" the audio version, more than just reading it. Ellen talks fast and so the 3 hours on the three CDs literally fly by! And the words aren't all the same as the print edition (which I also read through). She re-wrote parts of it to "talk to - you - the listener" and even adds a chapter (Chapter 29) just for the audiobook. Speaking of chapters, the print edition does not have numbered chapters for these short essays. But Ellen announces a number before each one. Since I started with the audio version first, I wondered - when I got to the chapter titled "Meditation", which contains 20 seconds or so of silence - how she'd deal with this in the print edition. So I looked and there were three blank pages. The reverse holds true for the chapter titled "For the Children" where there are full-page illustrations to color. For the audiobook, Ellen tells the listener that there is a .pdf file on the CD with the illustrations - though I haven't checked that out yet.
The print edition is 240 pages with short chapters and plenty of space between the lines so you can easily pick it up and put it down as time permits. These are short essays of observations on everything from being judge on American Idol to being married to her wife Portia. Either format will entertain you - it did me - if you are an Ellen fan (I am). The Print version allows you to go back and read - or share - a special chapter., while the audio version allows you to hear her voice and timing.

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Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean/Book Review

Susan Orlean (Author)
    Hardcover: 336 pages
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster
    (September 27, 2011)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 1439190135
    ISBN-13: 978-1439190135
    Biographies, Memoirs, Literature
Description
He believed the dog was immortal.

So begins Susan Orlean’s sweeping, powerfully moving story of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from orphaned puppy to movie star and international icon. From the moment in 1918 when Corporal Lee Duncan discovers Rin Tin Tin on a World War I battlefield, he recognizes something in the pup that he needs to share with the world. Rin Tin Tin’s improbable introduction to Hollywood leads to the dog’s first blockbuster film and over time, the many radio programs, movies, and television shows that follow. The canine hero’s legacy is cemented by Duncan and a small group of others who devote their lives to keeping him and his descendants alive.
At its heart, Rin Tin Tin is a poignant exploration of the enduring bond between humans and animals. But it is also a richly textured history of twentieth-century entertainment and entrepreneurship and the changing role of dogs in the American family and society. Almost ten years in the making, Susan Orlean’s first original book since The Orchid Thief is a tour de force of history, human interest, and masterful storytelling—the ultimate must-read for anyone who loves great dogs or great yarns.

Praise

“Rin Tin Tin was more than a dog. He embodied the core paradoxes of the American ideal: He was a loner who was also a faithful companion, a brave fighter who was also vulnerable. I was astonished to learn from this delightful book that he has existed for eleven generations over a century. By chronicling his amazing ups and downs, Susan Orlean has produced a hugely entertaining and unforgettable reading experience.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin and Einstein

“Not only does Susan Orlean give us a fascinating and big-hearted account of all the many incarnations of Rin Tin Tin, she shows us the ever-changing role of American dogs in times of war and peace. This book is for anyone who has ever had a dog or loved a dog or watched a dog on television or thought their dog could be a movie star. In short—everyone." —Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto

“I adored this book. It weaves history, war, show business, humanity, wit, and grace into an incredible story about America, the human-animal bond, and the countless ways we would be lost without dogs by our sides, on our screens, and in our books. This is the story Susan Orlean was born to tell—it’s filled with amazing characters, reporting, and writing.” —Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Editorial Reviews

“Move over Seabiscuit, Rin Tin Tin will be the most-talked-about animal hero of the year and beyond. . . A spectacularly compelling portrait . . . Engrossing, dynamic, and affecting." —Booklist

“[Orlean] combines all her skills and passions in this astonishing story . . . A terrific dog’s tale that will make readers sit up and beg for more.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Stirring . . . A tale of passion and dedication overcoming adversity. . . . Even readers coming to Rin Tin Tin for the first time will find it difficult to refrain from joining Duncan in his hope that Rin Tin Tin’s legacy will ‘go on forever.’” —Publishers Weekly

Reader's Review
"Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend" is the story of the iconic German shepherd remembered by baby boomers as the star of a television series. In reality, though, Rinty's brush with fame started much earlier, in the silent film era just after World War I. Cpl. Lee Duncan found the pup, part of a litter who with their mom were struggling to survive near a French battlefield. He brought him back to the States after the war, and eventually, impressed with the dog's intelligence, got him a part in a silent film. That part led to a long series of films spotlighting the dog's feats of devotion and heroism. Rinty was the star -- the humans were just supporting players.
He later appeared in a few talkies before old age claimed him. There followed several other incarnations, all named Rin Tin Tin but with different temperaments and levels of intelligence.
This book is the story of the people in Rinty's life, starting with Duncan and proceeding through a quirky and sometimes poignant cast of dog lovers and fame-seekers. It's also a fascinating trip through the early film era in Hollywood, and later the years when television began to exert its hold on the American public. Rin Tin Tin was known around the world in the early to mid-20th century, but now he's mostly a footnote or an answer to a trivia question.
Author Susan Orlean spent years following Rinty's trail, sifting through memoirs and other clues and interviewing the few people still left who were part of the Rinty saga. This is a well-written book that kept my interest to the end.

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