Let's Talk Books

Book Reviews

Albom, Mitch - For One More Day *

Alda, Alan - Never Have Your Dog Stuffed *

Baldacci, David - Last Man Standing

Braun, Lillian Jackson - The Cat Who Robbed a Bank

Braun, Lillian Jackson - The Cat Who Smelled a Rat

Children's Books: (Click Here to go to our Kid's Corner)

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

Cone, Jana - Burned

Connelly, Michael - The Overlook *

Cooper, Jackie K. - Halfway Home *

Cooper, Jackie K. - The Bookbinder

Crais, Robert - The Watchman *

Deaver, Jeffrey - The Broken Window *

Evanovich, Janet - Seven Up

Flynn, Vince - Act of Treason *

Grisham, John - The Testament

Helms, John Michael - Finding Our Way *

Hendricks, Jim - All the Culture I Ever Got Came from Buttermilk *

Hipps, Nathan Smith - Remembrance *

Hoffman, Jilliane - The Last Witness *

Jordan, Hamilton - No Such Thing as a Bad Day

Linda Harrell - The Cajun Queen

Karon, Jan - A Common Life

Karon, Jan - A Light From Heaven *

Karon, Jan - A New Song

Kellerman, Jonathan - Gone

Kellerman, Jonathan - The Murder Book

Lahaye , Tim - Babylon Rising: Edge of Darkness

Lescroat , John - Nothing But the Truth

Martini, Steve - Double Tap *

Patterson, James - Double Cross*

Patterson, James - Mary, Mary *

Patterson, Richard North - Dark Lady

Reeves-Stevens, Judith & Garfield - Icefire

Rubio, Gwen Hyman - Icy Sparks

Rubio, Gwen Hyman - The Woodsman's Daughter

Sammons, Sonny - Then Sings My Soul

Sandford, John - Dead Watch *

Sandford, John - Naked Prey *

Smith, Wilbur - Warlock

Sparks, Nicholas - At First Sight

Sparks, Nicholas - Dear John *

Stafford, Richard -Beyond the Beach

Thom, James Alexander - Saint Patrick's Battalion

Wallace, Jan - Where Roses Grow Wild

Watson, Marsha Carol - One Woman's Quest for Truth

Woods, Stuart - The Run

Woods, Stuart - Two Dollar Bill *

 

Act of Treason - by Vince Flynn - I'm so thankful that someone suggested that I read Vince Flynn because he is a great author and his latest book, "Act of Treason," is another terrific read! His main character, Mitch Rabb, is a seasoned CIA operative and is back again to help out the first woman CIA Director, Irene Kennedy. Even though he doesn't always do exactly what the director wants him to, his actions (while unconventional) usually end up in the long run as sort of the best of all possibilities. It all starts out with a terrorist blowing up the second limo in a caravan. This killed a presidential candidate's wife, her secret service agents, and many innocent bystanders. In addition, the explosion brought down two buildings and injured countless other people. Most people assumed that the terrorist missed his target - the first limo containing the Presidential candidate and his running mate. Six months later Rabb finds the terrorist running a respectable business on the island of Cyprus. He then spots a team of assassins staking out the terrorist's top floor apartment, so Rabb calls in some help. When the assassins start their move Rabb's team is still several minutes away, so he must go it alone. Rabb kills one assassin and wounds the other as they are making their move to kill the terrorist. Rabb is forced to shoot both kneecaps of the terrorist and then both hands as the terrorist tries to reach for his gun. His plan is for his team to extract the terrorist from Cyprus so the CIA can interrogate him and find out who paid him. But now the politicians step in and tell Kennedy that the CIA must turn over the terrorist to the FBI so the Department of Justice can bring him to trial. As the plane lands and the terrorist is turned over to the proper officals, no Rabb is on hand, nor is the other assassin to be found. When the press learns how badly the terrorist is wounded they state the only way the he could be so badly wounded was that he had been tortured to obtain a confession and that confession would be thrown out in the trial and the terrorist would go free. How can justice be served? How can Rabb bring the true villains, those who paid the terrorist 2 million dollars, into the open? The CIA finally knows who the guilty are but how do you take action? Flynn's solution gives the reader something to really think about. Flynn has taken all the hot buttons that we have in our headlines today like our presidential election process, polls showing this candidate in the lead and in a few weeks the other candidate gaining, terrorism, and current economy and put them into a great read keeping the reader on edge eagerly wanting to quickly turn to the next page. If you haven't read a Vince Flynn book lately you will want to read this one. Then you can tell some of your best friends how much you enjoyed this book. Back to List

The Broken Window - by Jeffrey Deaver - After Jeffrey Deaver's book, "The Bone Collector" was made into a movie, a lot of people became interested in reading his books. I have read several of Deaver's books but I prefer the books that include the characters of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs that Deaver introduced in the Bone Collector. His latest book, "The Broken Window," is scheduled to be released to the bookstores June 3, 2008. The bad guy in this book is called "522" (standing for May 22). He rapes and kills his victim and then proceeds to frame someone else. He places some of the items or trace evidence or shoeprints of the person that he is framing so that it can be found by the police at the crime scene. Next he calls in a tip about hearing screaming at a location and seeing someone getting into a certain car that just happens to be like the one that his framed person drives. He then goes to the framed person's house and plants various crime scene evidence in his car, garage, or home. How does he know what products the framed person is buying? DATA MINING! I had never heard this term before but it is a fact of life. A lot of products today have small chips known as RFID tags inserted in their manufacturing process. These are used for inventory control by manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. When you merge this information with your credit card data on your purchases then add in the information that you provide banks in opening accounts or applying for loans with them you have started building your individual profile. This profile will contain all this plus where you went to school, what grades you made, and what teachers said about you. The list goes on and on. After 9-11 all this information started to be gathered but the Government was stopped from gathering it, so private enterprise saw that there was a chance for huge profits if they could get all this info into a computer system and then provide mailing lists for different businesses. Big companies want to know your particular buying habits so they can target you in selected mailings of brochures that will appeal to you. Now we have the bad guy gaining information about both the potential victim and the potential frame that he can use in planning the perfect crime. Where did he go wrong? He framed Lincoln 's cousin, Art Rhyme. Now that Lincoln and his select group of good guys know that Art was framed could there be other people framed and sitting in jail waiting to be executed or serving out life terms? Can they catch "522" as he goes to the framed person's house? They almost do, but he gets away and now is on alert that the good guys are trying to find him. He then starts creating havoc in the lives of the good guys like having the power turned off at Lincoln's lab/home, internal affairs investigating a detective so he must surrender his badge and gun, car being towed and then crushed for failure to pay traffic fines, again the list goes on and on. Internationally #1 best selling author Deaver certainly has done his homework on this one! You can learn a lot in addition to enjoying a great read. Back to List

Double Cross - by James Patterson - Former FBI agent and pattern killer, Kyle Craig, was being sentenced for eleven known murders. The judge, Nina Wolff, states, "Mr. Craig, you are, by any criteria I know, the most evil human being who has ever come before me in this courtroom… You are hereby sentenced to death. Until such sentence is carried out, you will spend the remainder of your life in a super maximum-security prison. Once there, you will be cut off from human contact as most of us know it. You will never see the sun again. Take him out of my sight!" "Very dramatic," Kyle Craig called to Judge Wolff. "But it's not going to happen that way. You've just given yourself a death sentence." "I will see the sun again, and I will see you, Judge Wolff. You can bet on it. I'll see Alex Cross again. And his charming family." That's some of the prolog of James Patterson's new book, "Double Cross." The scene then picks up four years later. Alex is no longer working for the police in Washington , DC . He has returned to his private practice as a psychiatrist seeing his patients hour by hour. His Nana is still helping raise his three children. Alex and his lover, Bree Stone, who has taken over as lead investigator for the police, arrange their busy schedules for a quiet weekend, but Bree gets a phone call that requires them to return to DC. The call was about a high profile case concerning the murder of Tess Olsen, a wealthy victim and best selling author, who was killed in a supposedly safe neighborhood. She was thrown off her terrace on the twelfth floor in front of dozens of witnesses. Her killer left a tape in the VCR that showed the entire murder from the time the killer taped the victim, cut off her clothes, and hung her over the edge of the building, making her scream to draw a crowd. After he threw her off the building he said, facing the camera, "You can try to capture me, but you will fail … Dr. Cross." This gets Cross back into the line of fire and the investigation. Bree is still the lead, but Cross is on the team. More public murders take place, each one with a bigger audience. When the killer sets up his own web site with live feed of the murders the press is off the charts with their viewpoints and their conclusions. But now Cross learns that Kyle has escaped from the maximum-security federal pen in Florence , Colorado . His fellow inmates include the Unabomber-Ted Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, and Al Qaeda terrorists. No one has ever escaped before but now Kyle is on the loose and kills his own mother on his way to get Cross & Judge Wolff. Now Cross has two maniacs after him at the same time. For those of you who enjoy the thrillers, this is a "must read!"   If you are a fan of James Patterson visit his web site at www.James.Patterson.com and register to receive e-mails about works in progress etc. Back to List

Dead Watch - by John Sandford - Over the last few years I've loved reading John Sandford's "Prey" series from the very first one, "Rules of Prey". This book, "Dead Watch," has new characters, a new type of plot - new everything except Sandford's ability to write a book that keeps you trying to read faster and faster. What a page-turner this one turned out to be. An ex-senator, Lincoln Bowe, goes missing right after he makes a speech that is inflammatory against the Governor of Virginia, Arlo Goodman. Arlo has a very large group of henchmen called "The Watchmen" that were compared to Hitler's SS or the KKK of old south. Bowe is very wealthy as evidenced by his owning a home in California, a horse ranch in Virginia, an apartment in New York City and another in Washington, DC. Because Bowe is still a very influential person, the president of the US takes an interest in the case when Bowe disappears. The FBI is investigating this disappearance but since they seem to be only going through the motions the president appoints Jake Winter, an ex army intelligence man with 8 years of experience to start actively trying to find Bowe. Jake had been wounded by a car bomb in Afghanistan and spent a year in Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda trying to get his leg to work again. He was then posted to the pentagon where he became a master of weaving the maze of bureaucracy that surrounded the rat's nest of intelligence agencies. The president wants Jake assigned to this case because he knows that Jake will push the FBI as well as any other investigative authority to the limits in trying to find out the truth about the disappearance while at the same time keeping any "political fallout" from the truth to a minimum. Bowe's body is finally found in the woods bound by barbed wire, burned beyond recognition and minus his head. His body is only identified by dna analysis. And now, Jake and the story really begin to fly. With this start of a very interesting story, Sandford throws in a little romance, political intrigue on the national level, and alleged "package" containing information on how the vice president received kickbacks on an interstate highway project in Wisconsin that, if true, would certainly mean that the vice president would have to resign from office. Also, if this package is found and is revealed to be true, the timing of when it would be released to the public could spell disaster for the president's political party. Governor Goodman has his "Watchmen" searching everywhere for this package, because if he can give it to the president, he would be in line to replace the current vice president on the ballot in the upcoming election. As always, I heartily recommend reading Sandford's books, especially this one - "Dead Watch." Back to List

The Overlook - by Michael Connelly - Vision (January 1, 2008) Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. Somehow I missed reading "The Overlook" when it was published in May, but I grabbed it on the way out of town to go dancing. I was looking forward to a weekend of dancing and reading. At our lunch stop I started reading and became so engrossed in it that by 11 PM it was over. It took Connelly months to write the manuscript, and I'm sure the editor had a few re-writes in his pocket before the book could be published. Then in one day I've devoured it and am ready for another. Connelly starts the book with a dedication, "To the librarian who gave me To Kill A Mockingbird." I remember many librarians over the 60 plus years that they have helped me find just the right book for enjoyment or study or research. I also remember reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" and have seen the movie many times. Our book club read the book and compared it to another southern author's book, "A Time to Kill". Those of you who read Connelly know that the main character is Harry Bosch, an LAPD detective who is on a new assignment in this book with the LAPD Homicide Special Squad. As Harry approaches the crime scene he is startled to see an FBI agent that he has worked with before already there. How has the FBI been notified and be on the scene before Harry could get there? What is going on here? The dead person on the overlook to Madonna's house is Dr. Kent who has access to dangerous radioactive substances at all the hospitals in the LA area. Harry learns that Dr. Kent has been executed in organized crime fashion with 2 bullets to the back of his head. How has Dr. Kent been mixed up with organized crime? When it becomes clear that the doctor that day had removed some radioactive substances that could be used in making a bomb, everyone starts looking for a terrorist angle. When they go to the doctor's home and find his wife naked, gagged and hogtied with her hands behind her back in the master bedroom and hear her story, they really kick the investigation to new urgency. She tells them that one of the bad guys had to translate for the other one who spoke in a foreign language - maybe Arabic. Harry always finds ways to offend the politicians or the LAPD brass, and doesn't like to cooperate with the FBI. Connelly weaves all of this into a fast paced read that has a surprise or two waiting for you along the way. If you read Connelly you will be certain to love this book. If you're looking for a new author give Michael Connelly a try. Back to List

For One More Day - by Mitch Albom - Hardback - Hyperion (September 26, 2006) I have enjoyed Mitch Albom's other books and was ready to read his latest, "For One More Day," as soon as it was released. When I discovered that this was a book about ghosts, I sort of hesitated reading it right away. I'm just not into ghosts and ghost stories. But I finally picked the book up again and started reading about Charley, the main character. Charley's dad started early teaching him about baseball - how to hit, how to catch - and got him involved at an early age playing on a team. But then, his mom and dad divorced. He continued playing baseball because now he truly loved the game, and found that he excelled at it. By the time he was in high school he was a star and got a baseball scholarship for half of his college expenses. Again in college he was an outstanding ball player. His dad would even show up now and then and would phone him, and then helped him get signed on to the Pittsburg Pirates farm team. While he was on the farm team, the Pirates made it to the World Series. During one of the games, a player was injured, and Charley was called up to take his place. So now he is on the top of the world! But within a few years he gets injured and starts the long, slow slide to a "has-been" and starts drinking heavily. Once I started reading this book, I remembered why I enjoy Albom's books so much. It is his way with words. I started taking notes of some of the phrases and sentences that I had never seen in print before or even thought that I would see in print. For instance, there was the time when Charley is drunk and driving to his home town and has a wreck with a semi. He is not killed but is thrown from the car, and when he realizes that he isn't dead, he starts walking back to his hometown like a zombie, a robot and … "heard the crickets laughing." Now I've heard crickets many times but I never thought of them laughing. Have you ever heard crickets laughing? Another time Mitch states that "Trees spend all day looking up to God." I had just never thought of trees looking anywhere, much less at God. But they do! Charley continues walking into his hometown, and when he gets close he sees the water tower that all the kids used to climb to spray paint their names on the tower as a "rite of passage" into adulthood. He is so distraught with himself that he decides to climb the tower and leap off the tower to commit suicide. Now we have Charley and the ghost of his mother. He says, "I don't expect you to go with me here. It's crazy, I know. You don't see dead people." His mother had been dead a while but all of a sudden, there she was taking Charley to school for the first day of first grade. She gave him a card saying, "If you miss me really badly, you can open this." Of course, the 6-year-old Charley didn't know how to read. But that was typical of his mother. It was the thought that counted. Charley and his mother continue many visits with other people who have died. Charley even asked his mother, "Am I dead?" At this point, I sort of felt that I had Mitch's book figured out and knew how it would end. But Mitch had another surprise for me. Read the book and see if you can anticipate the surprise or if you end up as surprised as I was. Back to List

Mary, Mary - by James Patterson - Paperback - Vision (September 26, 2006) - Some of you book-lovers instantly recognize the name of author James Patterson from his almost 40 books, 11 of which feature Alex Cross, the savvy FBI agent living in the Washington DC area. The name of Alex Cross would also be recognized by the movie goers as well. Patterson gives us some indication of the character of Alex as he describes his trying to reduce his stress by sitting down at his piano to let music sooth his soul. But Alex says, "The blues just came out angry and all wrong. I switched to Brahms, something more soothing, but it didn't help in the least. My pianissimo sounded forte, and my arpeggios were like boots clomping up and down stairs." In the book "Mary, Mary," Alex decides to take his family on a much needed vacation. The children wanted to go to Disney World and Epcot Village in Orlando, but Alex chooses Los Angeles as their destination so they can go the new "Disney's California Adventure." James Truscott (an investigative journalist for a well-known magazine) sees Alex in DC and then shows up in LA snapping photos of Alex and his family. Why is Truscott always showing up whether Alex is in LA with his family, or at a crime scene, or at a briefing, or in DC? What does Truscott know? Alex's vacation is interrupted by a phone call from the FBI director. The President of the United States has asked for the FBI's help, so the director asks for Alex's take on the murder of a well-known movie actress with four little girls. The First Lady was a big fan of the murdered actress. As days go by it becomes apparent that somebody is killing famous rich movie industry women - messily. After each murder, an e-mail is sent by Mary Smith to Arnold Griner of the LA Times. The LAPD and the FBI are pulling out all stops trying to locate this Mary Smith but a foiled because the computer addresses from which the e-mails are sent could have been sent by anyone. You, the reader of the book, know that a character called "The Storyteller" is the killer, and the killer is a "he!" So, who IS Mary Smith? And who IS "The Storyteller?" Alex tries to hold out that he doesn't think that the killer is a woman named Mary Smith. This results in a conflict between Alex and the lead detective with the LAPD on who the killer might be. And this is only one of the many, many conflicts that Patterson weaves throughout this great novel. You will see conflict between Alex and his ex, conflict between the LAPD and FBI, conflict between the media and the LAPD and FBI, conflict between Alex and his girlfriend, conflict between the LAPD top brass and their detectives. Some books just grab you on page one and hold you to the very end. You find yourself reading past midnight and then reach for the book again with your first cup of coffee in the morning to read a few more pages before you start your busy day. If that is the kind of book you enjoy, "Mary, Mary" by James Patterson is for you! Back to List

Dear John - by Nicholas Sparks - Paperback - Grand Central Publishing (August 7, 2007) - $13.99 - Some of us have received a "Dear John" letter. I know I did a long time ago when I went away to school. I don't know why they were called a "Dear John" but they had that name even before I received mine. That is the title Nicholas Sparks chose for his newest book, and therefore you correctly assume that one of the main characters in this book is going to receive a "Dear John" letter. Nicholas has always been able to write a tender story that you really want to end a certain way, but after reading several of his books, you know that Nicholas won't do that. You start trying to determine what surprise he will weave into this story. Once again Nicholas sets the story in his home state, North Carolina. John Tyree, one of the main characters, was really ashamed of his father, a postal worker and single parent. After graduating from high school, John went from one dead end job to another, not really caring if he got fired for not showing up, because 'the waves called him to surfing,' or he was just out drinking the night before. He ends up joining the Army and is stationed in Germany and becomes a squad leader. During his leave time back in the States, while surfing at the beach, he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis, a young Special Ed major joining 30 of her college friends in building a home for Habitat for Humanity. She is a concerned and devout Christian who just happens to come from a well-to-do family. He is smitten, so he keeps showing up each evening after the students have been working all day on the Habitat home. When Sunday rolls around, she invites him to church, but he says he doesn't have anything to wear. She quickly eliminates this problem by borrowing some clothes from her college friends. After leave he goes back to Germany and they correspond with letters and e-mails. On his next leave, he reluctantly takes her to meet his father. After this meeting, she confides in John that she feels that his father suffers from Asperger's syndrome. She is able to help him see that his dad had done the best he could in raising John in light of his dad's mental health problem. John and Savannah make promises that when his enlistment time is up he will leave the army and come back home so they can marry. Then 9/11 happened. His squad was transferred to Turkey and began preparations to invade Iraq from the north. Then they were sent to Kuwait since Turkey was denying access to the US. John points out that civilians and enemies often look exactly alike. Shots would ring out, his squad would attack, but they weren't even sure who they were shooting at. Nicholas only reinforces what many of us have heard from our friends in the military who have served in places like Iraq. War for the infantry squad in this type of setting is not an easy task. One by one the members his squad start re-enlisting, and he finally makes the decision to stay in the Army with his friends. He just can't give up on his squad after all they have been through together. Now you need to ask yourself the question, how would you like this book to end with John getting the "Dear John" letter? How do you think Nicholas is going to bring this book to a close? Back to List

The Watchman - by Robert Crais - Hardback - Simon & Schuster (February 27, 2007) - $25.95 - Wow, what a book! I found myself reading late at night and getting up at 5 am to read again. "The Watchman" (Simon & Schuster, Feb 2007) is the most recent book by one of my favorite authors, Robert Crais, and features Joe Pike. Joe appears in Crais' previous books as a minor player, the very quiet but effective sidekick & partner of Elvis Cole, detective. Joe is a former Marine and former LAPD officer. Shortly after his 1-year rookie term he shoots and kills a person who was trying to kill his partner. He then leaves LAPD and becomes a mercenary who only accepts assignments where he is a firm believer in the mission of those hiring him. This book starts out with a very rich and troubled young LA woman, Larkin Barkley, going home after a late night on the town. She gets into her expensive convertible and heads for home, going at speeds that you and I would never dream of going even on a very open highway. She blows through red traffic lights but depends on her "special angels" to keep her safe just like they have done many times before. Just when you think she might make it home safely, she hits a Mercedes. When she tries to see if the occupants of the other car are OK, the passenger in the back seat takes off on foot in one direction and the husband and wife in the front seat drive off in the other. She dials 911 and reports the accident and that the other vehicle has left the scene, and gives them the license number of the other vehicle. The police have a photo of a person and asked her to confirm if this was the person in the back seat. This person is a very much wanted, suspected drug kingpin, and money launderer. The police convince her and her father and her father's lawyer that since she saw the drug dealer in the company of the missing couple at that time of night that the drug dealer would be coming after her to eliminate her as a possible witness to illegal drug activities. Larkin's wealthy family decide to call in a very effective and expensive security firm to help protect her. Joe Pike owes the head of the security firm a very large favor from years past, and after a near miss the security firm decides to call in that favor. Joe takes the girl to another fed safe house but is soon running from the bad guys and ends up killing two of them. Who are these bad guys how did they find them so quickly? They move to yet another safe house. Same story - two more dead bad guys. Joe realizes that there is a breach of security. Some one is telling the bad guys where they are even before they can set themselves up. He takes matters into his own hands and disappears with the girl. No one knows where he is but he is on the run with the bad guys trying to find as well as the police and feds. Who is betraying Joe and the girl? Finally Joe calls in his partner, Elvis, and they start trying to find the pieces of the puzzle that might make some sense. Joe finally finds the missing couple executed in their car in a vacant building owned by Larkin's father near the accident scene. After you read "The Watchman" I hope that Robert Crais becomes one of your favorite authors, too. Back to List

Babylon Rising: Edge of Darkness - by Tim Lahaye - Hardback - Bantam Books - August 2006 - $26.00 - I remember when I started in the book business in 1989 that you just never saw Inspirational books on the Best Seller List, but authors like Tim Lahaye, Jan Karon, and Rick Warren have certainly brought about a change in what the public loves to read. Recently one of my customers asked for one of Tim Lahaye's books in the "Babylon Rising" series. I asked the customer for a little bit of information about the series and was pleasantly surprised to find that this series features an "Indiana Jones" type character in the person of Dr. Michael Murphy, a Biblical archaeologist at Preston College. Since I had always loved the Indiana Jones character in the movies, I was anxious to start this series. When good authors are writing a series of books, they like to leave book one with a "cliff hanger" to make you want to read book two. Book two leads you to book three, etc. Since Tim Lahaye has authored four books in this series already, I was able to start with book one and continue right on to book four. It was great fun to be able to learn the outcome of the ending "cliffs" early in the next book (which of course, in this case, I was able to start reading right away!!) But now I must wait for a long time for book five. Of course, just like the Indiana Jones movies, there are always some bad guys, and the really bad guy in the Babylon Rising series is named Talon. He takes great delight in killing anybody that stands in his way of trying to prevent Murphy from obtaining his goal in each of the books. In Book one, "Babylon Rising," Talon kills many people, one of whom was Murphy's wife, thus setting the stage for a deadly conflict between these two major players. Talon is employed by "the seven" who are wealthy, influential people from all over the world who have joined forces to help bring about the ultimate evil. Murphy gets his clues about where to search for a specific Biblical artifact from a shadowy, unknown person who goes by the handle of Methuselah. Tim gives some excellent history lessons as you read these books where he points out that the ancient Babylonians excelled in the theoretical mathematics of geometry and algebra. They measured time with water and sun clocks. Their numerical system was based on 60 (which is why we have 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle.) They utilized a decimal system, knew about square roots and the value of Pi. So if you enjoy learning something about history, enjoy action-packed adventure I heartily recommend that you start with book one (Babylon Rising) and continue all the way to book four (Babylon Rising: Edge of Darkness -the search for the Ark of the Covenant.) Back to List

Remembrance - by Nathan Smith Hipps - Paper - CyPress Publications - April, 2006 - $14.95 - Fran & I really enjoyed meeting, Nathan Smith Hipps, author of "Remembrance," in Tallahassee at a wine & cheese author signing and reading event that took place at the Tallahassee Little Theater. For me, books become much more personal when I can put a face with the author's name. Nathan grew up near Fitzgerald, GA, and has written a book about the life of a farming family living in the early 1900's. One of the characters is a young woman named Leola who grew up 10 miles outside of Fitzgerald, "a small settlement founded by Union and Confederate soldiers too weary and battered to make the long trek back to their homes." Nathan is able to bring to life that families often work through problems differently than you or I would. Maybe it's just because some of us have never been exposed to some of the hardships that his characters endured. Today we have an understanding of the word measles, and we vaccinate our infants to protect them from this disease, but so many of us forget that people died from this as Nathan brings out in his book. Not only did people die, but there was panic when an epidemic would break out in a town and people did not know what to do. They even used extreme measures like burning down the home of any family that had a death from measles. This seems drastic to us today, but it happened. One quote early on in Nathan's book helps you understand his sensitive style of writing. This takes place immediately after the death of Leola's beloved husband, Luther. She says to him, "I love you Luther Smith. Don't you ever forget that. I will see you again one day, and what a glorious day that will be." Nathan also shows the other side of humanity in the character of Leola's father who is such a cold, heartless person. He has an accident on his farm and his leg turned so green and gangrenous that the doctor could do nothing for him. As Leola is sitting at the bedside as he is drawing his last breath, she realizes that the saddest part of her father's death is that no one would truly grieve his passing. Another subject that Nathan helped me understand had to do with boll weevils. In Nathan's book, you see his farm family investing all they had for a few more acres to plant in cotton. Reports started coming in about the boll weevil in Texas. Then the next year it was in Mississippi, and some people were predicting that it would be in Georgia by the following year. The family now had a decision to make and they chose wrong. When they walked into the fields and found their cotton infested with the boll weevils, they knew they could lose everything! They were able to buy some of the dusting powder that they had to hand apply to each and every cotton plant in order to kill the weevils. If it had rained, all their hard work would have been for nothing. They couldn't afford to purchase enough to apply it to all their acreage. Even if they had been able to buy it, they wouldn't have had the time to apply it to all the plants. Reading this book reminded me to count my many blessings as I compared my easy life to the hardships that so many in this family and many others endured. Yet through it all there was love and joy and family sticking together. I really encourage you to meet this talented young author by reading his book, "Remembrance." Back to List

Saint Patrick's Battalion - by James Alexander Thom - Hardcover - Random House Publishing Group - August, 2006 - $24.95 - Some books are so good that they get your attention at the beginning and keep your attention to the very end. "Saint Patrick's Battalion" by noted author James Alexander Thom is one of these books. James Alexander Thom was formerly a US Marine, a newspaper and magazine editor, and a member of the faculty at the Indiana University Journalism School. One of his books, "Panther in the Sky" won him the prestigious Western Writer's of America Spur Award for Best Historical Novel. I have to agree with another author's praise that "James Alexander Thom is one of the finest historical novelists writing today. He knows how to tell a cracking good yarn, cares passionately about getting his history right, and has a gift for illuminating those forgotten but fascinating corners of the American past with sheer story-telling power." In this book, Thom has a journalist for Harper's magazine going to Mexico in 1861 to find a certain survivor of the war with Mexico of 1846 who had documented proof of the account of an Irishman named John Riley who deserted the US Army and joined the Mexican army. All my life I've enjoyed reading historical novels. At times I've have studied military history, but I learned a lot about America's history of this time period through the eyes of two very young Catholic boys. One of them celebrates his thirteenth birthday during the war. The Irish boy, Padraic Quinn, loses an arm during a battle while he was trying to get closer to the action so he could draw sketches to go with his account that he was writing in his diary. The other boy, Agustin Juvero, is a Mexican who early in the opposition enters the US army camp to pass out leaflets encouraging the Irish immigrants to desert the army and swim the river that separated the two armies and join the Mexican army. Why would the Irish do that? The most important answer is "religion." The Irish immigrants, having just arrived in the US, were recruited to fight in the US army even though they weren't citizens. They were just big strong Catholic men in the need of a job. The Mexican generals seized upon this knowledge to get them to think about the moral consequences of fighting fellow Catholics. In addition to providing an enthralling historical novel about the Mexican war, Thom shows his humorous side by describing how the Irish lad is thinking about meeting his mother now that he is short a limb. He is reflecting that she will look old because she is now "past thirty." (Don't we all judge "old" as 20 years older than we are?) Padraic Quinn was curious as to how the war news ever got to the newspapers. And an Indiana officer explained that dedicated express riders took the dispatches to the closet telegraph point. That way the war was seen by a person in one country and converted to print to be read by people in another country in just a few days. Since we are now at war, we see the war each and every day as it happens. In this book you read about Robert E. Lee as a young Lieutenant scout for the Americans who is singled out by the generals for his ability to scout out and plan how to win each battle against overwhelming numbers and natural defensive positions that the Mexicans occupied. I have told you about many of the things that impressed me with Thom's writing, but I've told you little of the main character of the book, the Irishman, John Riley. I hope I've sparked an interest in you to read the book and learn more about John, along with the two young boys, Padraic Quinn and Agustin Juvero. Back to List

The Bookbinder - by Jackie K. Cooper - Hardcover - Mercer University Press - September, 2006 - $26.95 - Jackie Cooper has been to Moultrie three times to autograph his books. The first time he came we had a wine and cheese book autographing session at the Arts Center and nobody came. We had spent over $100 in advertising his new book in addition to sending out e-mails. It was very embarrassing to me as a book store owner. Fran and I had a great time drinking wine and visiting with Jackie that evening, but that didn't sell any of his books. He was here this year for our Community Showcase, joining 7 other authors in autographing his newest book titled "The Bookbinder." This book is a collection of Jackie's weekly columns that have appeared in newspapers in the years 1996, 1997 and 1998. His columns share his viewpoint on life, his belief in God, his love of his family while at the same time depicting his wit and humor. Fran and I had the great fortune of attending an "Evening With the Author" at Henderson Village just south of Perry, GA (Jackie's home). We enjoyed a wonderful (if a trifle pricey) dinner and were thoroughly entertained with Jackie's recollections and (I'm certain embellished) stories. One of the chapters is "Old is Whoever is Older Than You," and I think most of us here have already gone through the same analogy that he has - at 1 time we thought someone who was 30 was old. Soon, one had to be 50 to be old. But now, for me, someone has to be in their 80's to be old! But in his book, he talks about a lady who was babysitting their children. One evening after Christmas she came to their home to baby-sit and showed them a shawl that someone had given her for Christmas. "She was shocked and mortified that someone would give her such a thing. A shawl, she said! Who on earth would think I wanted or needed a shawl. Shawls are for old women, not someone like me!" She was 82 that year at Christmastime! Jackie also writes columns reviewing movies, so he keeps tabs on all the movies that are released each year and comes up with HIS list of which ones will win the Oscars in every category. One of his stories talks about meeting with Jodi Benson who was the voice of Ariel in "The Little Mermaid," the voice of Robin Williams' computer in "Flubber," and the voice of Lady in "Lady and the Tramp Sequel." When Jackie mentioned that she should be able to get a lot of sit-com work, she replied that she would really prefer to do Disney productions because she is a devout Christian and lives her faith and therefore would not take roles because of the profanity or nudity that was required in the movie. Jackie states that at times the entertainment world seems like a Godless society, but there are more people in show business like Jodi Benson who live their faith but don't discuss it publicly. Jackie has a book club that meets the last Tuesday in each month at Barnes & Noble from 7:00 - 8:00 in Perry. Jackie tells a very humorous story about a woman named Mary who was working for Jackie and 8 months pregnant. The phone company was working on the phone lines in the office. Mary said that she wasn't feeling too good, but then a few minutes later another woman in the office came running down the hall saying, "Call 911!!!! Mary needs an ambulance!!!" Picked up a phone and found a working line and called 911 and screamed into the phone, "RIGHT NOW!!" The 911 person said, "I'll connect you with the emergency room." When he started explaining the details, they said they were the Air Force Base Hospital and couldn't come to Macon where his office was located. Jackie got them to transfer him to the hospital, but it ends up being the Houston County Hospital 30 minutes away. After explaining why he needs the ambulance, they say they can't come to Macon. The story continues with explainations as to why he never could get the right county and whether they might need to start boiling water in the office because everybody knows that if you are going to have a baby born, you need boiling water. When we would go to church, my mother would tell me to sit up and listen to the sermon. If I didn't, she would nudge me constantly. My father, on the other hand, fell asleep during the sermon pretty regularly. But instead of nudging him and hissing "Wake up," mother would just pat his arm and let him sleep - unless he began to snore and then she would whisper, "Tom, you're snoring." Daddy would wake and look around to see if anyone had noticed. Usually he would stay awake a few minutes and then go back to sleep. I couldn't figure out why it was all right for him, but not all right for me. That just didn't seem fair. One day I asked my mother about it. She easily replied, "Your father is fine with the Lord. They are on good terms. So when your father goes to church he is totally comfortable with being there. He is such a good man that he doesn't have to worry that the Lord is upset with him. He can just relax and feel the comfort of the Lord around him." "That's why he sleeps," she continued. "All of his worries from the week leave him and he is totally at peace. You, on the other hand, are still learning about the Lord and His ways, so you need to stay awake." It made sense to me then and it makes sense to me now. Going to church is a comfortable thing if your life is in the right place. And the spiritual food you are fed through the sermon is comfort food for the soul. So the next time you are in church and you see some people nodding off around you, think of this: they are so comfortable with their relationship with God that they are just absorbing some comfort food for their souls. They are absorbing it all even as they catch a short nap. Back to List

Gone - by Jonathan Kellerman - Hardcover - Random House Publishing Group - March, 2006 - $26.95 - Alex Delaware is a "shrink," and his buddy on the LA police detective force is Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. His newest book, "Gone" starts out with a naked girl jumping out in the middle of a road and a very elderly man stopping to see what is wrong. Michaela Ally Brand and her boyfriend, Dylan Roger Meserve, tried to tell the police that they had been kidnapped and tied up and left in the hills outside of LA for a couple of days, but eventually the police found out that there was no kidnapping and that they had "staged" this themselves. They were hoping to stage a reality show episode and thus gain attention to their acting abilities and make the big break into show business. Alex is asked to evaluate Michaela to try to determine whether the girl's lawyer can get her off with a reduced sentence due to being "mentally incapacitated." After Alex's evaluation of Michaela, he noticed an article in the newspaper that the young couple had been sentenced to "community service" as part of a plea-bargain arrangement. During Alex's interviews with Michaela she revealed that she had previously thought she was in love with Dylan but now she truly wanted to have nothing to do with him. When Michaela ends up dead, Dylan becomes a prime suspect. When the police go looking for Dylan, he has simply disappeared. As Milo and Alex are investigating the owner of the playhouse where Michaela and Dylan were studying, Nora Dowd, they find out that she doesn't charge for any of the acting lessons. People just come to the playhouse and receive her guidance and direction in various situational acting roles. Alex and Milo also learn that the building that the playhouse operates from is owned by a large real estate firm, and when they go to the real estate firm they learn that Nora's brother, Brad, is the main person who is operating the real estate firm, with a younger brother, Billy, who is obviously mentally challenged. Since they can't find Dylan, they start looking for others that could have been involved in the murder of Michaela. When another body shows up in similar appearance to Michaela they realize that they might have a serial killer on their hands. They start investigating other "wanta-be" actors and actresses to see if others have simply disappeared. Sure enough, others are "GONE." Alex and Milo discover that the man who does all the maintenance chores for the real estate company was at one time charged in Vegas with being a "peeping Tom," thus making him a possible suspect in the disappearance of these "wanta-be's." Then they learn that he is a relative of the Dowd's. When Alex and Milo learn that Brad is not a true brother to Nora and Billy, and seems to have an endless supply of cash to purchase many very expensive cars, they start to have doubts as to just how helpful Brad has been in furnishing them with the details of the playhouse. I heartily recommend "Gone" as well as any of the other 20 Alex Delaware novels that Jonathan Kellerman started writing in 1985. Back to List

The Woodsman's Daughter - by Gwen Hyman Rubio - Paperback - Penguin USA - August, 2006 - $14.00 - (Review submitted by Andrea Savage, retired Assistant Professor of Humanities, ABAC - currently living in Moultrie, GA.) "I first knew who Mac Hyman was when ABAC drama program performed his "No Time for Sergeants" in the 1970's. His sister Mitzi of Cordele directed it and later gave me a book of his letters, "Love, Boy" (LSU Press). There I learned he had a daughter, Gwyn. Mitzi lent me Mac's posthumous novel, "Take Now Thy Son," so I had a sense of the Southern background they shared. One day Oprah Winfrey's book club selection was Rubio's "Icy Sparks," a partly autobiographical tale of her epilepsy (changed to Tourette's and moved to Kentucky). Now, buoyed by that success, she has published her Gothic epic "The Woodsman's Daughter," based on a family story her great-grandmother told. The tale has been moved from Cordele/Macon to the swamp near Valdosta, Waycross, and Savannah. She reduced it from 800 to 400 pages, having read Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, the Brontes, and Jean Rhys's "The Wide Sargasso Sea" (British) in preparation. The longest of three parts is called Monroe, after a turpentiner (naval stores) of the 1850's and following, treating his men well among the longleaf pines but drinking and alienating his daughters. His wife retreats into painkillers; one blind daughter desperately tries to show her love; the older one is bitter and jealous, yet tries to love Monroe. In one poignant scene Rubio read in a lilting Southern accent for her ABAC audience (November 6, 2006), Dalia picks scuppernongs and drops them into Nellie Ann's mouth. The second part features Dalia as an adult. She has lost family members and in the Victorian era must depend, she feels, on a husband for security. Her first marriage, unhappy, results in a sickly son whom she will not let play baseball and dresses like Little Lord Fauntleroy. After his father's death, in one wonderfully detailed scene Dalia tries to impress the local historic society, planning to remarry the son of one noted matron. She succeeds and he gives her a daughter, Clara. Dalia transfers her lost feelings for Nellie onto this child and overprotects her. The cycle continues as Marion, the fragile brother, tries to win his mother's love. Part 3 follows Clara Nell as she rebels against her mother. An important character in all three sections is the black housekeeper, Katie Mae, who has cared for all family members with love and lack of judgmentalism. She reluctantly shares knowledge of herbs and medicines to help Dalia and Clara out of a scrape. Rubio researched island voodoo for this episode. The family conflicts, however, she did not need to research. Her father suffered depression, and she has, too. Working in the Peace Corps and in Appalachia taught her more about poverty and disease. Through alcoholism, addiction, disease, and death, these dysfunctional families fascinate the reader and manage to elicit our sympathies. At times we laugh as minor characters such as a boarding house landlady and her cook thrive on fussing. Gwyn Hyman Rubio has a second winner on her hands, and I look forward to her next book, a comedy about political activism due in February 2007. Back to List

Double Tap - by Steve Martini - G Putnam & Sons - July 2005 - $26.95 - If you love reading courtroom thrillers, I'm sure you've stumbled across an author by the name of Steve Martini whose main character is Paul Madriani, a San Diego defense attorney. In Steve's book "Double Tap," Paul thinks he is becoming involved with a nice, quiet little murder trial when he is sought out to help defend a retired army sergeant Emiliano Ruiz, who has been arrested for murder. The morning he went to the prison to interview his new client, the press ran a nationwide story that identified the woman who had been killed, Madelyn Chapman, as the CEO of a company named IFS. This company had been in the news on every network for the last month or so because they were working on providing a new software that the White House and congress were squabbling about. The President was saying that he needed the IFS software to safeguard national security, and the Civil Libertarians were saying this was an invasion of privacy, since it was in fact allowing the government to spy on everyone through their financial dealings, their phone records, their e-mail correspondence, and much more. (Does all of this sound familiar as having taken place recently?) Ruiz tells Paul that he absolutely did not kill her, and Paul for some strange reason believes him. Ruiz is very helpful in giving Paul a lot of background info up to a certain point. He was a retired Army firearms instructor, specializing in training "black ops" assassins in the method of "double tap" which means 2 head shots, just like the way Madelyn had been killed. He also tells Paul that he had been the head of the murdered woman's personal security team. While he was head of that team, he was often required to spend the night at her house, so he was very familiar with the security system at her house, and was required to travel with her on all of her business trips. Shortly before the murder, he and his team had been pulled off at her insistence because the security firm that he worked for had secretly installed cameras in her office without letting her know about it. She later gets frightened and privately gets Ruiz to show her how to fire a gun, and he leaves his weapon with her for her personal security. The police and the prosecutor already know each and every point that Ruiz has shared with Paul, but they use that information to build a strong case against him. During one of the meetings with Ruiz, Paul tries to learn why there is a period of time (like a couple of years) where Ruiz's army record shows no paperwork - NOTHING! Those of us that have served in the military know that this is impossible. Paul suspects that Ruiz had been doing something for some secret "black ops" but Ruiz refuses to tell Paul what that might have been. Paul feels that something might have happened during this period of time that might give him some leverage in defending his client. Maybe something that happened then has come back to haunt Ruiz. Maybe someone is trying to frame him. Paul studies the police reports about finding the murder weapon which was apparently thrown and landed among some coral near Madelyn's home. The gun doesn't even get scratched in the process. (Not possible!) Since she had been killed by two gunshots close together, the police state that there are only a very few people in the world who could have done this, and Ruiz is one of those few. What should Paul do to get an acquittal? Steve will tell you when you read "Double Tap." Back to List

Finding Our Way - by John Michael Helms - A couple of weeks ago Michael Helms, pastor of Moultrie's Trinity Baptist Church, stopped by the bookstore and gave me a copy of his new book, "Finding Our Way." I have enjoyed reading Michael's weekly newspaper columns in the Moultrie Observer and have shared their content with visitors in the store. This book carries his written word a step further. At the end of each chapter he has a few questions that the reader can use for self-reflection. He also has a few illustrations by local artist, Tina Piemonte. One of the chapters titled "Caring for Yourself Along the Way" tells the story of a pastor leaving Moultrie heading for Tallahassee. This particular pastor is always in a hurry and short on time. His secretary asked him if he would take a short detour and deliver a letter to the owner of Bradley's store, just outside Tallahassee. He readily agreed, and gave him the directions to Bradley's store. He followed her instructions and soon after leaving Thomasville zipped off the 4-lane highway to a narrow 2-lane road. I was so taken by this story that the first chance I had to spend a few extra minutes on a trip to Tallahassee, I followed the directions and went to Bradley's store. When I went inside and told the owner that Michael Helms had written a story about a man visiting his store, he was quick to point out that his grandfather built the store in 1927. We were taken back in time just like the story, where our eyes were immediately drawn to the "slick hardwood floors, smoothed by generations of shuffling feet of customers." The whole purpose of this chapter is to encourage you to slow down and enjoy your life at its fullest. I was brought back to this thought by a patriotic concert on the courthouse square in Moultrie, where we were able to just sit back and enjoy the combined choirs from 5 or 6 area churches and orchestra. Twenty or thirty years ago my life was so hectic and fast-paced that I would never have visited Bradley's store or taken the time to enjoy a concert on the square. In another one of the chapters he has a story about a father, a teenage son and a dog. The father usually ended up saying " End of discussion! As long as you are under our roof you'll live by our rules. We don't have to explain the reason for every decision that we make." All of us that are parents have either already gone through these trying years or have them looming in the future. Some us have the wisdom of how to keep the peace while at the same time let the teenager find their boundaries. Most of us don't and it then becomes confrontational just like it did in the book. The wise dad decided to use the family dog in helping his teenager understand boundaries. He said that he wasn't going to put the dog in the fenced yard any more since he was certainly old enough that he didn't need boundaries. The son was quick to protest that they loved the dog and needed to look out for him. Dad just smiled and you know the rest of the story. One of Michael's many questions on this chapter was, "Did you rebel against those who set boundaries for you? Did you comply?" Back to List

A Light From Heaven - by Jan Karon - Penguine Group - November 2005 - $26.95 - I just finished another great read from one of my favorite authors, Jan Karon - her latest in the Mitford series, and probably the last. She says that in 2007 she will start a new series called "The Father Tim Novels." I have enjoyed each and every one of the books in this series, beginning with "At Home in Mitford" where you are introduced to Father Tim, an overweight Episcopal priest who is in his 50's and has never been married. Father Tim eventually does marry his lovely next-door neighbor Cynthia Kavenaugh, and this newest book takes Father Tim, now retired from active ministry, to new ground. This book titled "Light From Heaven" has Father Tim and his bride, Cynthia, "farm sitting" for their friends. He is asked by the bishop to become the interim vicar of a tiny Carolina mountain church called Holy Trinity that had been closed for 40 years. The way Jan Karon describes the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the beauty of the valleys from the mountain tops certainly brings a lot of pleasure to me, and I hope to all who take the time to read this book. It points out that all of us can be as busy as Father Tim in going about our tasks, but still take the time to sit back and enjoy God's bounty and beauty. The characters that Jan weaves into her books are so very real. Just like the 82-year-old mountain man who still is a crack shot against squirrels for his stew pot, yet states proudly, "I hain't never put out m'eyes with readin' like some do. Nossir, I cain't read a lick, an' never wanted to." When I read this, I just couldn't believe that there might be somebody who might take this attitude about reading because I've been a book-lover all my life. But in order to understand others, you need to have someone point out a different perspective for you. Over the course of the Mitford series, there are several children that have been scattered as a result of a dysfunctional family life. In this book, Sammy comes to live with Father Tim and Cynthia, and becomes their gardener using his natural gift for growing things. At one point, Father Tim takes Sammy aside and reiterates some of the "rules for living" in their home. At the end of the discussion, Sammy states, "I hate this p-place!" Following this statement, Father Tim says to himself, "It was painful to do what was right" in teaching Sammy how to live properly. So many of us parents want to take the "easy" way in raising children and having them as your friends for life, yet sometimes we have to try to help them see what their actions are doing. And, yes, Father Tim, it definitely isn't easy! There is a beautiful cat called Violet who is Cynthia's inspiration for the children's books that she writes and illustrates, and for you dog lovers, all of the Mitford books have Father Tim's giant of a dog named Barnabas, who promptly stops whatever he might be doing if you quote scripture to him. As the book closes, Father Tim lies down in the far corner of the sheep paddock studying the clouds overhead, listening to a bee buzzing close by. He closes his eyes, feeling a peace such as he had never felt in the rest of his life, and lays a hand on Barnabas, remembering a quote from his journal, "Dogs are our link to paradise. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden where doing nothing was not boring, it was peace." Back to List

Last Man Standing - by David Baldacci - Warner Books, Inc - August 2002 - $7.99 - Baldacci got a jump start when the movie rights for one of his first books was picked up by Clint Eastwood. See if we have that book reviewed. I have enjoyed both the movie and the book (I read the book first before seeing the movie.) This book deals with the hostage rescue teams of the FBI, involving a main character, Webb London. Webb's team is wiped out and he is the only man left alive. It deals with Webb trying to find out why he did not react in the way he was trained to react in a crisis situation. At times in the book you think you have it figured out who the bad guys are, who the good guys are, but once again Baldacci is able to pull a fast one Just when he has you leaning one way he is able to turn you around 180 degrees to go the other way. Wonderful world of drug dealers, good guys gone bad, bad guys turning on each other. This book offers something for everybody. If you like fast paced mystery and trying to figure out from the beginning of the book "who done it," this is definitely one that you want to pick up, curl up with a cup of coffee, and dig right in. Back to List

At First Sight - by Nicholas Sparks - Warner Books, Inc - October 2005 - $24.95 - Another great one! That's my take on Nicholas Sparks' newest bestseller "At First Sight." The book starts out as the main character, Jeremy Marsh, and his best buddy and soon to be best man, Alvin Bernstein, are packing Jeremy's possessions for his move to Boone Creek, North Carolina. Jeremy Marsh has two loves. One is writing and the other is living in New York City, but when he meets Lexie Danell he decides to give up New York City and move to her hometown. Alvin tries to get Jeremy to reconsider his sudden marriage proposal and move. Nicholas describes the "Spanish-moss-hanging-from-tree-limbs" and the azaleas and dogwoods exploding in a cacophony of color in the spring in this small town and it reminds me of Moultrie. You read these words and say to yourself, "Thank God I'm living here and not in some big place like New York City." The plot starts to develop as Jeremy and Lexie are making plans for their upcoming wedding. He has a monthly magazine column to write and had stockpiled several articles that he had not yet submitted to his publisher before he left New York City. The problem is that since he arrived in Boone Creek he hasn't been able to write. Now he is slowly submitting these articles once a month, but not writing any new ones. He tries and tries but the creative juices just aren't flowing. His thoughts become jumbled and his fingers turn to mud. Next He receives a very disturbing anonymous e-mail. When he realized that he was unable to track down who sent it, he contacted a very computer-savvy friend to help him track it down. Lexie is pregnant and the e-mail asks Jeremy if she has told him about a previous pregnancy. Since she had not mentioned that, he starts questioning whether his best man was right all along by asking does Jeremy REALLY know Lexie. He then starts questioning himself as to whether he should go through with this marriage. While Jeremy and his father are visiting, he tells his dad about his misgivings concerning the marriage. The advice offered by his father is sound advice to one and all. He said, "My guess is that both of you are right and both of you are wrong. People are who they are and no one is perfect, but marriage is about becoming a team. The beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, you'll ALWAYS figure out a way to get through any problem." Next they learn that they could lose the baby or it might be deformed because of an amniotic band that has formed. I had been waiting all the way through the book for this moment to take place. In the Nicholas Sparks books that I've read, I notice that he always seems to present a very real problem in the plot, and they are usually introduced fairly early on. In this book, you are three-fourths of the way through the book when you start sitting on the edge of your seat and reading into the wee hours of the morning. In my opinion, this book is definitely a keeper. Slowly read and savor the first parts of this book as you contemplate your feelings about living here in the South, because I'm sure you will race through the last fourth of the book. Back to List

Half Way Home - by Jackie K. Cooper - Mercer University Press - October 2004 - $24.95 - One of my favorite Georgia authors is Jackie K Cooper who lives in Perry, Georgia, and has visited my store several times for autograph sessions or just to stop in to say hello. I had read his previous books and looked forward to this book, "Halfway Home." This book is a collection of short stories, many of which hit so close to home for me, like when he got to travel in the backseat of a police car. He was traveling north on I-75 o n his way to Atlanta to preview a movie and then interview the star of the movie. The traffic came to a complete stop (nothing particularly unusual for Atlanta as we all know) but the driver behind him didn't stop. After the police came and the tow truck towed his car off to a storage yard he was stranded on 75 so the officer kindly said that he would take him to the Ritz -Carlton in Buckhead if Jackie could help him find it. I thought that all police officers knew how to find anyplace that you needed to go, but not in Atlanta! This officer lived in Alabama and drove to Atlanta each day that he was scheduled to work so he didn't know where this prestigious hotel was located. Now it was time to get into the police car. As Jackie started to open the front door of the police car the officer said that he would have to ride in the back where they put all tough criminals. He sure didn't want anyone to see him at the Ritz getting out of the backseat of a police car, so he had the officer drop him out in the parking lot of the Lenox Mall and then lugged his bags to the Ritz. I could really sympathize with him in his viewpoint of riding in the backseat of the police car because I have had the same experience after a car accident and my car was towed away. His experience was funny while mine was nerve wracking to say the least! Then there is Jackie's cat story. Jackie is a "cat person" having an indoor cat that accidentally got out without anyone noticing that he was gone. The cat was overjoyed to get back into the safety of his home, literally jumping into Jackie's arms when he opened the door. Jackie's cat stayed out less than 24 hours, while ours stayed out for 2 days one time, but she was just as glad to get back inside the house as his was. Jackie has had trouble getting people in recognizing that his name is Jackie. I had a similar problem with teachers at school and church who insisted that my real name was James not Jimmie. My mother would have to bring my birth certificate to convince her that I knew what my name was. Jackie also had an experience with the Great Flood of 94. I had an experience with a flood not in 94 but just last year in 2005. Hurricane Dennis was far away but the rains were here! I was in the den working on my computer when my wife Fran said frantically, "Quick come look out the bay window! We have a river flowing just outside the window!" Now I thought that she was exaggerating. So I slowly made my way to the living room to look at HER river. She was right and we ended up wading out of the house in water waist deep. So sit back, pick up Jackie's book "Halfway Home" and start to learn who Jackie is through his writings. You might even see yourself in some of the stories. Back to List

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed - by Alan Alda - Random House Publishing Group - September 2005 - $24.95 - I really enjoy reading fiction but when I was told that I could get an autographed copy of Alan Alda's autobiographical book, "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed," I immediately ordered the book. In reading this book I kept thinking back to the years that I watched him play Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H. I enjoyed the new episodes year after year for 11 years, and ever since then, I've enjoyed year after year of reruns. Even if I have seen it before I watch it again. Why? I guess that it's just my type of humor - not the current comedy sitcoms. Like many of you, I have also enjoyed his hosting of PBS's "Scientific American Frontiers" and his running for president in "West Wing". In his book, he tells of being a very young boy and watching from the wings while his father was on stage doing burlesque comedy routines. While he was still very young, he and his dad even rehearsed the famous Abbott and Costello skit "Who's on First." Alan played Costello and his dad was Abbott. His dad was helping him learn that it wasn't just the lines but you had to feel out the timing and maybe one time repeat one part over again or change it slightly. Of course this is improvisation, in which Alan became such an expert. When he was telling of his fight with polio when he was in the second grade, I remembered how my mother would hear the latest rumor of how to prevent polio and immediately start doing it. For years it was rumor after rumor and still kids were still getting it. His personal treatment was very painful and years later when he found out that his treatment really didn't do anything for the polio, he found it hard to put the years of suffering out of his mind. One of the things that I had just assumed was that if you were the son of a famous actor you would have life on easy street, especially if you have a part as an apprentice in summer stock at the young age of 16. But Alan takes you through the many years of living from one acting job to another job of anything, all while starting his own family. He and his wife Arlene would have several envelopes for different items rent, food, etc and when either earned some money they split it into the various envelopes so they could have a place to live and something to eat. I have always viewed my early childhood as being poor, living on a dirt road that dead ended at the railroad tracks, but we never had it as bad as Alan, because dad always had a paycheck each week. Many times while I was reading this book I just couldn't resist sharing a brief paragraph with my wife like the following: "One night I fell asleep with a book on how to do your own plumbing resting on my chest. Arlene [his wife] was terrified that I might actually try to install a toilet by myself." We could both relate to this, as early in our marriage, my wife realized that if anything was broken and needed fixing, the easiest and fastest - in fact, the ONLY way - to get it fixed was to call a mechanic or plumber or electrician - whatever. If you want to find out why the title talks about having a dog stuffed, you're just going to have to read the book, and hopefully get as much enjoyment out of it as I did. Back to List

Two Dollar Bill - by Stuart Woods - Penguine Group - April 2005 - $25.95 - It is always great when someone comes back and says thanks for telling me about a particular author. He went on to say that the Stuart Woods book that I recommended to him was fantastic and after he read that one he went out and bought nine more. He kept telling his wife about his new author find and now she is reading them as fast as he finishes them. So that's why I'm choosing one of Stuart's books, Two Dollar Bill, to review this month. With Stuart Woods I can always count on a lot of action, with lots of twists and turns in the plot, and with familiar and enjoyable characters I've come to know over several books. In this particular series of books the main character is Stone Barrington, an attorney in New York City. Others are his old police partner and still best friend, Lieutenant Dino Bacchetti, of the New York Police Department, Lance Cabot, a CIA heavy-weight, that always seems to give just enough information to either Dino or Stone to help them out in solving various murders, and former long-term girlfriend, Arrington Carter, who comes to town with her nine-year-old son, Peter (who might or might not be Stone's son.) Two Dollar Bill can be read as a stand-alone book, but I think that if you enjoy reading books in a logical progression, you would want to start the Stone Barrington series with New York Dead and follow these characters through their many adventures. The story opens when Stone meets his new client, Billy Bob Barnstormer, alias "Two Dollar Bill." You know the type - big, Texan, loud, rich, (and wanting to flaunt that he is rich by telling them that he is working on a big deal with Warren Buffett or just mentioning that he flew in on his private jet.) As Stone is getting into Two Dollar Bill's limo, bullets start flying as soon as the door closes, shattering the windows of the limo. Two Dollar Bill and his girl friend end up moving into the guest room of Stone's mansion combination home & office. When the girlfriend ends up dead in Stone's guest room, Stone is the prime suspect. But when Lieutenant Dino starts the inquiry into the death, with the help of the medical examiner, they realize that the time of death has been thrown askew because the murderer used an electric blanket to keep the body warm. Now it is time for Two Dollar Bill to disappear, leaving Stone to try to explain to Dino what was going on. When Stone starts investigating his so-called client, he finds out that he was a CPA in Enid Oklahoma, a used car dealer in San Mateo, California using the identity of Rodney Peeples, a first-class con-man and wanted by various agencies. When Two Dollar Bill re-appears, it seems that he is out gunning for Stone and kidnaps Arrington. This brings in the "Feds" and then the CIA in the person of Lance Cabot. Does Stone get Arrington back alive & safe? Read the book. Stop by and "Let's Talk Books!" Back to List

The Last Witness - by Jilliane Hoffman - Penguine Group - May, 2005 - $24.95 - `A few weeks ago one of my customers told me that she had just finished reading one of the best legal thrillers she had ever read. The book she was recommending was The Last Witness by Jilliane Hoffman. Before I started reading the book I noticed that Nelson DeMille, one of my favorite authors, had a quote on the cover stating, "One of the best legal thriller writers in the country. Her previous book, Retribution, was the finest courtroom drama I've read in years, and Last Witness is even better." Jilliane is able to draw on her experiences as an Assistant State Attorney based in Miami and has created a main character in this book, C.J. Townsend, who is molded after herself. The basis of the plot in this book is that C.J. was able to obtain a conviction of a man accused of murdering a woman and cutting out her heart. A rookie police officer made a traffic stop and in searching for drugs, he pops the trunk and discovers a corpse with the heart removed. C.J. and the police proceed quickly with this "open and shut" case, and easily obtain a conviction. The killer is very violent during the trial and C.J. is justly terrified of him since he was the man who raped her while she was living in New York City. She had tried to remove herself from this past experience by moving to Miami and changing her name. She has her conviction in a very big case, but there is one problem. The recorded 911 call alerting the police that the killer's car might contain narcotics was not legal grounds for the officer to search the car. The case could easily have been thrown out of court, so C.J. and some of the police brass quietly buried the 911 tape. Now it is a few years later, and the rookie policeman that had stopped the killer and found the corpse in the trunk is brutally murdered with his throat cut and his face shredded with a knife. C.J. is on call and when she views the body of the victim, she is shocked to find that he was the rookie cop who helped her obtain the conviction of the killer. Within a short time, another policeman is found similarly murdered, and C.J. realizes that he was also involved in that case. The medical examiner, while he was performing the autopsies on both of these policemen, finds out that they were both drug users. So now the police are directing their investigation to a possible drug connection, but C.J. starts thinking that it might be going back to the case of the murders several years ago. This book keeps you turning pages one after the other, no matter what else you are supposed to be doing, or how late it is getting at night, or if you get up early in the morning, you just have to reach for this book while you drink your morning cup of coffee. I must agree with Nelson DeMille that Jilliane Hoffman is a great new find for a legal thriller writer. Since this book will be published this coming June in mass market format, I am hoping that she will have a new hardback out around that same date. Back to List

Naked Prey - by John Sandford - Thomson Gale - July 2003 - $32.95 - Just mention Lucas Davenport to a bunch of mystery lovers and immediately they are off and running talking about John Sandford's "Prey" series. Lucas Davenport has come up through the ranks, starting as a detective and now reporting to the governor of the state on only high-profile, hard to solve cases that have the possibility of a lot of political fallout. The book, Naked Prey, starts off in a small town. You know the kind of small town where everybody knows everybody and knows what everybody is doing. It's kind of hard to keep secrets in that kind of town, but Lucas and his side-kick, Sloan, soon learn that it's hard to learn the secrets of what is going on in that town since they are "outsiders" trying to solve this particular case. Two people - a man and a woman, one white, one black - are found hanged. Lucas and all the law enforcement powers are trying to keep this fact from the media because nobody wants everything to be labeled as a "lynching." When people are murdered by gunshot or knife it is one thing, but a lynching calls together a whole different psyche of fear among most people. One of the characters in this book is Letty, a young girl of around 12, who makes enough money to put food on the table for her and her alcoholic mother by trapping animals in and around the small town. Letty saw somebody go past her house in the dead of night, and then leave a short time later. The next morning, when the bodies were found the police came to her house, since it was the closest house to location of the bodies and started asking her a lot of questions. Lucas and Sloan think they have figured out who hung the man and woman. They make a bee-line to arrest that person, only to find their suspect and his wife dead. What would you do at that point? You think you have the crime solved, and you really have for the first part of it, but now why is the killer dead? Now it looks like something started way before the lynchings, and that is the kidnapping of some teen-aged girls with million-dollar ransom demands. Lucas is trying to work with the local sheriff's department, the FBI and his own team of experts, but he still can't get a handle on exactly what is going on in this community. How do you put together the kidnapping of teen-aged girls, ransom demands of mega bucks, a car theft ring raking in millions of dollars and nuns bringing drugs from Canada into the United States. The more I read, the more confused I became. Therefore, you understand why so many people enjoy reading John Sandford's books. After reading most of the "Prey" series, I sometimes think I have Sandford figured out, but he still kept throwing curves to me all the way through the last page of this book. So if you like to curl up with a good, good mystery, I heartily recommend reaching for Sandford and picking up any of the "Prey" series. However, if you want to really follow the progression of the characters, you'll want to start with the first one Rules of Prey like I did many years ago. Back to List

All The Culture I Ever Got Came From Buttermilk - by Jim Hendricks - Authorhouse Publishers - January 2005 - $12.95 - Shortly after our home was flooded by hurricane Dennis last month I started reading a book entitled, All the Culture I Ever Got Came From Buttermilk by Jim Hendricks (published Jan 2005). You know four feet of water in your den and both of your cars being totaled happens to other people, not to us. Then your homeowners insurance company says nothing will be covered. So Jim's book was exactly what we needed. Sometimes when my chuckling would get too loud I would stop and share a few paragraphs with my wife, Fran. Sometimes it would be the other way around. Fran would pick up the book and start to read a few pages and come across a story that rang familiar to something that had happened to us but Jim was able to embellish it so that you could really laugh at yourself. When you pick up this book to read please, please don't skip the introduction and just start reading the first story. I think that most of us "like Friday night football games where a community's pride and its very way of life is on the line." In the south, we understand that "folks will take time out of their busy lives to pull over and pay respects when a funeral procession passes by," and that "folks come together to offer sympathy when a loved one dies and make a big fuss when a baby is born. And when they pray for you in church because you're sick or just need it, they call you by name." Later on in his book he states, "Sometimes I look at Momma now and wonder how many of those precious silver hairs could be traced directly to some foolish thing I did." You learn that even Mother Nature can't fight City Hall. One of the other stories is about Jim's oldest son, Steven, learning to play the trombone and Dad (Jim) telling him that the acoustics were better by grandma's barn only 5 miles away. This one struck close to home because our oldest son got a set of drums one Christmas from his grandparents. Fran said, "Great! Just leave them right here at your grandparents and any time that you want to practice, just get on your bike and ride over to grandma's and have at it!" Another one of Jim stories is about George, an African Gray parrot. Then that leads to another story about a woman that bought a parrot that cussed a lot. So when the preacher would stop by to visit the woman would cover the cage so the parrot wouldn't cuss. Well that story took me back almost 40 years ago when high school graduation was nearing and my parents invited grandparents, aunts, and uncles to our home for a party. One of my aunts looked up and said that she didn't recognize the man walking up the sidewalk. My Mom looked out and said that was our pastor. My aunt quickly shouted "Hurry up and get uncle Bill out to the kitchen the preacher's a coming". Yes, you guessed it! Uncle Bill did like to tell his stories with a whole lot of color. Yes folks, you will truly be forced to look back on your life and laugh a little, reflect a little, agree or disagree with viewpoints, but most of all, this book is a very enjoyable read. Back to List

Burned The True Story of the Sheila Bryan Murder Case by Jana Cone - America House Book Publishers - September 2003 - $24.95 When Jana Cone brought several copies of her book to our store one of our employees could not wait until she got the book home to start reading. She had the book read in a couple of days and kept reminding me that I really needed to read this book. I kept putting this book off until our book club selected this book as the read for the June meeting. I started reading the book and had it finished in just a short time. Many of the book club members stated that this book was a great read. "You just couldn't put it down," was the most common remark that so many of us (including me) made about the book. Since this book details events that actually happened here in our home town, the attention of Moultrie residents is tweeked every few pages because we know the person mentioned on that page or know where the events are taking place. You picture the burn site as Jana points out the curve and the bridge on Livingston Bride Road near Jernnigan's Restaurant. She helps you understand the court process of pre trial hearings that decide what can be presented to the jury and what can not be presented. Jana presents as much of the evidence as possible and some of the court room proceedings and lets you make up your mind as to the guilt or innocence of Sheila Bryan. If you found her guilty you still have to clarify what you find her guilty of. If you enjoy true crime this is one book that you must put on your "read next" list. Jana is currently working on a book about the Tri State Crematorium case in North Georgia. Back to List

One Woman's Quest for Truth - by Moultrie author Marsha Carol Watson. Marsha brought me a copy of her book on a Wednesday but being my old forgetful self I forgot to take it home that night. She came back to Books & More the next day and brought several copies to sell. This time I remembered to take the book home and started reading it while we were waiting for our supper at one of the local restaurants. I got up early, around 5 AM, the next morning and finished it before my wife had her first cup of coffee. This book is written about Marsha's spiritual walk with the LORD and I found out that she and I had traveled many of the same paths. Our pastor, Hugh Ward, has been encouraging our Sunday School class to write about our spiritual walk with God and most of us have struggled to write just a few paragraphs, yet here is Marsha writing a whole book ,175 pages, about her walk with God. We all need to take lessons from Marsha to be able no only to sit down and reflect on our lives and our relationship with the Lord, but to share those reflections with someone else. When I started this book I would stop occasionally to share a paragraph or two of what she had to say with my wife, Fran. If Fran had been awake when I was reading the last part of this book I would have been stopping every few pages to share more of the book with her. Right in the beginning of Marsha's book she says, "When the trials of life begin to come -- and they will -- it helps to have the God of your childhood with you..." Boy what a truth! I wish someone had told me this when I was 10 or 20 or even 30 - back in those days when I thought I knew all the answers. I might have done some things differently. In chapter 7 she writes, "I have tried and failed more than once. Failure is a part of living." Boy has she been watching me or what? Failure is something that I was an expert at. When I was 9 I tried selling Cloverine Salve and any other kid my age sold twice as much as I. Even my cousin sold more than I did, and he lived on a farm where his nearest neighbor was a long, long way from his house. At 20 I tried selling Colliers Encyclopedias, next I tried selling Cutco Cutlery, and after that Fuller Brushes. None of these worked. After all these failures in selling why am I now selling books? But let's get back to Marha's book and another quote "Losing a mate by death is terrible. Losing a mate by divorce, in many ways is worse." I have heard these same words from someone who has lost a mate by both ways. In fact that someone said that his church family rallied around him and supported him when his wife died but did not even try to see if he was alright when he got divorced. Maybe this book can help you take a closer look at your own relationship to God. I know it helped me! Marsha will be joining eight other Georgia authors at Moultrie Tech on Sept 23 for the 2nd Annual Business showcase featuring many of Moultrie's businesses. Back to List