The Force is Middling in this One: And Other Ruminations from the Outskirts of the Empire by Robert Kroese

Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform in 2010.

Entirely composed of a "best of" compilation of blog posts from the author's blog and tied together with quotes and thoughts from the Star Wars movies, The Force is Middling In This One is a fun bit of reading designed to be read exactly as it was written: in small doses. This book is perfectly constructed for reading while standing in line (which I did with my smart phone and my kindle app) or any other time when you just have about 5 minutes to read.

The topics are all over the place, covering topics such as Star Wars, motorcycle riding on the freeway, the author's brain and its lack of focus, the construction of an addition to his house, his life in the least livable city in the United States (Modesto, CA - and yes, it was named that by a survey), Home Improvement Store employees, why gophers are literally evil and a whole lot more. Nearly every posting is interrupted by a totally different very short thought called "From the Sock Drawer." 

Very few postings are political - he explains early on that he used to have a political blog but he literally alienated almost of his readers to the point that he stopped posting them. An exception to that is a posting called "Burn, Baby Burn!" about the folly of some environmentalists that was so on the point and explains why some programs will never work in a logical economics-based manner that I was ashamed that I hadn't thought of explaining things in this way before - i am a licensed econ teacher, after all.

I rate this collection 4 stars out of 5. 

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: 
The Force is Middling in this One: And Other Ruminations from the Outskirts of the Empire


Reviewed on July 22, 2013. 

A Portrait of Jesus by Joseph F. Girzone

First published in 1999.

Retired Catholic priest Joseph F. Girzone is most famous for his 1983 book Joshua (which also became a movie) which features Jesus coming to a modern-day American small town and the influence he has just be being himself - no great announcements, just Jesus being Jesus.

A Portrait of Jesus builds on that same idea but it looks at what the New Testament records about the life of Jesus and how he related to everyone around him. Girzone writes movingly about how Jesus preached compassion above all and he demonstrates it again and again in this book. His description of Jesus and his emphasis on relationships over law and the descriptions of how that worked then and how it can work now were profound when I first read them 10 years ago. I re-read the book after doing a deep cleaning of the book shelves. I was considering selling it to a used book store but I decided that the book was so powerful that I would keep it on the shelf and re-read it again in 10 years or so.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: A Portrait of Jesus by Joseph F. Girzone.

Taken (Elvis Cole #15) (Joe Pike #4) by Robert Crais

Published in 2012 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

I've been reading a lot of "assigned" reading lately. By assigned reading I mean books I agreed to review for publishers/authors or books that I read just to shrink my dreaded 4-milk-crates-full "to be read" pile. They were mostly good books, (some were great, even) but when I was at the local purveyor of books I saw this Elvis Cole novel. I had to to read it just for me simply because it was my idea in the first place. Also, I am a big fan of the series.

In Taken Elvis Cole is hired to find a missing college student. A widowed mother has received a call for a few hundred dollar ransom but she believes her daughter has ran off with "that boy" and is trying to scam her for money to go off and get married in Las Vegas.

Sadly, Cole proves her wrong. The girl and "that boy" have been kidnapped by bajadores - bad guys that kidnap illegal aliens coming into the United States in order to squeeze out a small ransom (or multiple small ransoms) from terrified family members who would be afraid to call the police. Sometimes the victims are released, sometimes they are killed when the money dries up.

Cole brings in his partner Joe Pike and soon enough they discover that this is going to get even more complicated and a lot more dangerous before it is over...

Robert Crais

Robert Crais has organized this Elvis Cole book a bit differently. Usually he follows a straightforward timeline, but in this book he flashes back and forth, including characters and talking about events that have happened as though the reader already knows all about it. It was designed to whet the appetite of the reader. For example, on page 39 we find out that Elvis Cole will go missing and Joe Pike and a friend are searching for him in Pike's typical thorough and abrupt (and violent) manner. I didn't have a problem with this way of organizing the book, but if that kind of thing bugs you, then you will absolutely hate this book.

There is an ongoing theme in this book about Joe and Elvis and what they mean to one another. There are precious few words spoken on the topic, but there is something there. At one point Joe is looking for help to find Elvis and he calls a special forces-type associate. His friend insults Cole and then asks, "Why do you waste your time with that guy?"

Joe ignores the insult and the question and secures the help and does everything he can to rescue his friend. Elvis knows Joe will be coming, but will it be in time? The absolute faith in one another and the devotion to one another are clear but what does Joe Pike, who is like an island onto himself, get out of it?

I am of the opinion that Elvis Cole is Pike's link to the real world, such as it is. Cole is tough like Pike but he is different. Cole's world is a world with a pet cat (sort of), cartoon characters and a dirty car (because absolutely everything does not have to be stowed away perfectly. Really, it doesn't) and that difference is salve for Pike's soul in some sort of way.

This is not the best of the Elvis Cole novels (I would put L.A. Requiem and Hostage on that particular pedestal) , but I feel like I should grade them on a curve because there isn't a dud in the bunch that I have read so far.. This one is not an A+, merely an A. An excellent read.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Taken by Robert Crais.

Reviewed on July 17, 2013

Odd Jobs by Ben Lieberman

Starts Out Strong But Changes As The Book Goes Along

Published by Thomas and Mercer in 2013.

Odd Jobs is the story of Kevin Davenport, a financially struggling college student who is working any job he can to pay for college. This summer he is working at Kosher World Meat Factory - it's a nasty job but it pays very well and it will only last a few weeks, right?

Kevin has to struggle because his family life was shattered years ago when his little sister and his father, a prosecutor, were ran over in a hit and run accident that was never solved. His mom never really recovered from the shock and Kevin is hustling to pay for college. But, he gets a bigger shock when he finds out that one of his connections at Kosher World helped kill his father. The more he digs the more he decides he will get his revenge no matter what.

*******Warning: SPOILER ALERT!********

At this point the book completely changes its tone. Rather than being a book about a scrappy lovable loser with some athletic talent and a funny personality, it becomes a dark revenge book in which the lovable loser sells his soul. He needs cash to get revenge so he sells drugs, he operates a sports betting operation (he becomes a bookie), hires guys to offer fake advice to milk gambling addicts with a sports betting service to get even more money. At this point, I wondered what his prosecutor father would have thought about his son breaking the laws and becoming like the organized crime figures that his father was killed for investigating. Way too much detail about dealing drugs and even more detail with lots of slang about the sports betting. I love sports but don't care anything about the betting scene.

So, if you believe a college student, his two stoner friends and his spunky girlfriend can engineer the fall of a mafia kingpin in just a few months, this is your book.

**************End of Spoilers*****************

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review through the Amazon Vine program.

I rate this book 1 star out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Odd Jobs. 

Reviewed on July 17, 2013.

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!: The Best of "Not My Job" (audiobook) by NPR

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2009.
Performed by the guests and cast of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
Duration: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes.

If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! , then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere. This collection has 12 of the best visits from celebrity visits from 2001-2006.

Most of these are funny or at least interesting. Then Senator Barack Obama starts off the collection with possibly the funniest visit of the bunch (and I am not a fan of Mr. Obama, but funny is funny). Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan) and Tom and Ray Magliozzi (NPR's Car Talk) are also funny throughout their segments. 

This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a celebrity is asked 3 questions about a topic about which they may not have any particular expertise  and if they get 2 of the 3 correct they win a prize for a listener. For example, Ken Jennings, most famous for winning the record number of games in a row on TV's Jeopardy but also known as a squeaky clean quiet guy, was asked about one night stands (since he was there for so many nights in a row on Jeopardy). Famous Hollywood nice guy Tom Hanks was asked questions about deceased Hollywood bad boys.

Solid listening entertainment even if the quality of the guests is a bit uneven.

This audiobook can be found of Amazon.com here: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me The Best of "Not My Job".

I rate this audiobook 4 out of 5 stars.
Reviewed on July 17, 2013.

Lovelock (Mayflower Trilogy #1) (audiobook) by Orson Scott Card and Kathryn H. Kidd

Performed by Emily Rankin

Duration: 11 hours, 44 minutes

Blackstone Audio.

Unabridged.

Prolific author Orson Scott Card has published dozens of books, a handful of plays, writes multiple newspaper columns, publishes an online magazine and even had a hand in the creation of several video games over the years. Oh, and just in case you haven’t heard, the movie version of his most famous novel, Ender’s Game is going to be released in November. So, in a way, Lovelock is a bit strange for such an ultra-prolific author. It was intended to be the first novel in a trilogy when it was written in 1994 but the rest of the books have never been written. Officially, according to Card’s website, the second book in the trilogy is called Rasputin, but it has been listed as “in progress” for almost 20 years. Lovelock was co-written with Kathryn H. Kidd, an author who mainly specializes in writing religious-based articles and books.

Lovelock is the name of a Capuchin monkey and this story is told in the first person from his point of view. He is named for James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis. Lovelock is a witness, a genetically engineered and highly trained Capuchin monkey assigned to chronicle the existence of his owner for posterity. His owner is Carol Jeanne Cocciolone, the chief gaiaoligist on the first ship leaving a near future Earth to colonize a distant world. Gaialogists will help to design the final environment of their new world as it is terraformed.

Capuchin monkeys are not the only witnesses, merely the top-of-the-line. They also use parrots and other animals. For example, Carol Jeanne’s husband, a family therapist, has a pig for a witness. The intelligence of these animals is enhanced to help them do their jobs better. The birds can speak and the monkeys can be taught to use sign language, for example. Lovelock speaks by writing or typing. He can read up to 2,000 words per minute and is quite the computer hacker. At the end of every day the video memory of what the witnesses saw is downloaded to a computer by way of a jack in the back of their skulls, tagged and cataloged.

The main theme of the book is supposed to be the struggles of Lovelock as he becomes more and more aware of the situation he is in. He is smarter than almost every human he meets but he is not allowed to communicate his thoughts (there is an exasperating lack of pencils and paper on this spaceship), his owner looks at him more as a machine than a thinking individual and he is not allowed to procreate or even think about procreation without receiving and immense amount of pain due to the extensive conditioning he received before his assignment. He realizes that he is merely a slave. There are repetitive long passages scattered throughout the book that emphasize every new insult and review the old ones as he attains a new awareness of his lowly position among humans and thinks about what he should do about it.

Too much of the book, way too much, is consumed by intense detailing of the ongoing family strife between Carol Jeanne Cocciolone, her husband and his parents, especially his mother. Many hours of this audiobook are consumed by a series ongoing fights between the manipulative mother-in-law, Carol Jeanne and the busybody women of the “village” they are assigned to on this spaceship. Snarky comments fly back and forth as the gossip flies. When this book was written, Melrose Place ruled television and this book reminded me too much of that show. Backstabbing, snide remarks, and catty comments abound. Dramatic arguments, secret affairs, divorces and even more happen with amazing speed while ongoing family arguments are repeated in scene after scene.  A great deal of this book, way too much of this book, has nothing to do with science fiction, but just chronicles Carol Jeanne’s dysfunctional family dynamics, much to the detriment of the story of Lovelock, the slave who has realized his situation and became a free person, at least he is when no one is looking.

For all of my complaints about the book the reader did a truly wonderful job. She did not read the book – she performed it! Emily Rankin covered male and female voices perfectly, including those of little children and an old man on his deathbed as well as foreign accents and a Southern busybody that sounded a whole lot like Paula Deen. Rankin took what she was given and turned in an impressive and notable performance.

Note: If you are offended by talk of masturbation, be warned that this book has some lengthy passages on the topic. As you may or may not be aware, Capuchin monkeys engage in this activity often and Lovelock is prohibited from this due to his conditioning (people are bothered when monkeys sit around and do that in the office, I suppose). Since he is denied it he becomes fixated on it and talks about quite often.

Note: I received a download copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Lovelock (Mayflower Trilogy #1).

Reviewed on July 14, 2013.

The Suns of Liberty: Revolution: A Superhero Novel (Volume One) (kindle) by Michael Ivan Lowell

Published in March of 2013 as an e-book.

The Suns of Liberty series is set in a future America that has undergone a second Great Depression. This economic crisis resulted in a takeover of the American government by a coalition of businesses. These businesses have veto power over the government and through that power have de facto control of everything. They have brought America back from the brink of chaos but at the cost of most civil liberties. They have even outlawed the American flag because it symbolizes a time when freedoms led to chaos.

A mysterious armored superhero named Revolution works in Boston, fighting crime and corruption. Sometimes he hacks into communication system and airs "commercials" that remind people of the way things used to be and the rights they used to have. No one knows anything about him, but he has inspired others to fight back as well. Some fight against the crime that has gone out of control in some areas, some push back against the government.

This story is mostly told through Paul Ward, a scientist who lost his child to street violence and, then, his wife to suicide. Ward quit his teaching job at Harvard to develop his own armored suit and fight crime. He has a connection inside the government that gives him inside information.

Paul Ward meets Revolution and eventually becomes an insider in his organization as Boston once again becomes the focus of an oppressive government and an angry citizenry that wants their freedom and is willing to fight to get it back...

I really enjoyed the political aspects of this book and I was enthralled until the half way point - the point where Paul Ward is introduced to Revolution's support system. It was too involved (it would make Bruce Wayne's and Tony Stark's organizations look pathetic in comparison). For me, that damaged the American Revolution theme that was being built. Rather than a true people's movement it seemed to be a technology-heavy movement of elites that was rarely helped by regular folks. To me, it undercut the first half of the book.

That being said, it was still quite entertaining and if you like stories where morality matters and, in the end, when it is all on the line the hero does what is right (even if he compromised himself earlier) no matter the cost and inspires others to stand up, well, this one is recommended for you.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Suns of Liberty: Revolution.

Reviewed on July 7, 2013

Best Little Stories From the Civil War: More Than 100 True Stories by C. Brian Kelly with Ingrid Smyer

This is a review of the 3rd edition, released by Cumberland House in 2010. 

The 1st edition was released in 1994. 

The 2nd edition was released in 1998.

When I read Civil War histories I enjoy the standard, sweeping re-telling of the tale with the battles and the politics. But, I also enjoy those little nuggets of history that make the larger story more personal - stories like the general who chastised his men for hiding from a sniper and then immediately gets hit by that sniper and falls over dead. Or, the story of how Booker T. Washington picked his last name. 

One of my favorites in Best Little Stories from the Civil War is the story of the 90 day recruit who was due to leave immediately after the First Battle of Bull Run - but Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman refused to hear about it and if he tried to leave he would shoot him "like a dog." That same day Lincoln came by to review the troops, the man complained that Sherman threatened him. Lincoln interrupted and told him in a loud stage whisper, "Well, if I were you and Colonel Sherman threatened to shoot, I would not trust him for, by Heaven, I believe he would do it."

Those nuggets are like the marshmallow pieces in Lucky Charms - they make the cereal more fun. If you compare those little stories in a standard history to the marshmallows in Lucky Charms, well than this book is almost all marshmallows, which is kinda fun.

Varina Howell Davis (1826-1906),
the  only First Lady of the
Confederate States of America

Kelly notes in the introduction that these nuggets make the history more personal and can tell huge amounts about the larger story. Booker T. Washington's story tells about the condition of American slaves and how they wanted to demonstrate their new found independence. The story about Colonel Sherman demonstrates that Lincoln would support officers with backbone and the he was serious about creating an effective army. Also, it shows Lincoln's trademark sense of humor and how it was valuable in getting people to do what he needed them to do.

This book is a great read in short bursts. I read it on my kindle, but I read about half of it on my smart phone's kindle app while waiting in lines or while waiting on my daughters while we were out and about. The short chapters were perfect for that.

The exception to that are the comparatively lengthy biographies of Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis in a section written by Ingrid Smyer called "The Civil War's Two First Ladies."

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Best Little Stories from the Civil War: More than 100 true stories

Reviewed on July 7, 2013.

Frozen In Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II (audiobook) by Mitchell Zuckoff

Published by HarperAudio in April of 2013
Read by the author
Duration: 8 hours, 57 minutes
Unabridged

Frozen In Time is an adventure story, a mystery story, a story of perseverance and a story of honor - all wrapped up in one audiobook by Mitchell Zuckoff.  To be more exact, it is really two stories. The first story is set in World War II, the second one is set in 2012.

During World War II American airplanes, men and supplies were ferried to Great Britain by flying from the United States to Canada to Greenland to Iceland and finally on to Scotland. But, Greenland proved to be consistently tough. Freak storms, horizons that seem to merge into the ice pack and thick fog are all common in one of the toughest environments in the world. To make it worse, Greenland is not just covered with ice, it is covered with moving glaciers. These glaciers make the ice rough and full of deep cuts in the ice caused by the glacier moving at different speeds. These cuts can go down hundreds of feet and can be covered by "ice bridges" that hide the drops but really can't hold any weight.

A Grumman Duck

In November of 1942 an American cargo plane crashed into this nightmare environment. A B-17 bomber was diverted to try to spot the cargo plane and it also crashed. Zuckoff tells the story of these men and how they managed to survive for months on the ice. Their story is pitiful and moving. The men who made one effort after another to save them and dropped supplies to them.  A Grumman Duck amphibious plane from the Coast Guard also went down in the rescue effort. That plane was never found  and its men were never recovered.

The second story in the book is the story of the 2012 attempt to find the Grumman Duck so that its men could be brought back to the United States and given a proper burial. Lining up the funding, getting the right equipment (including those last-second purchases), and the right crew (they have to be unique, the kind of person that gets excited about Greenland and says things like this: "I have never before worked in a place that can kill you in a second without batting an eye. It was great.").



The audiobook is read by the author, Mitchell Zuckoff. Zuckoff generally does a solid but unexceptional job of reading. The positive thing is that he knows what he wanted to be emphasized when it was read and his reading voice is better than some professional readers. But, sometimes Zuckoff's reading voice became a pleasant monotone that encouraged me to drift off a bit and I would have to rewind a few minutes to see what I had missed.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.
Reviewed on July 4, 2013.

A Terrible Beauty by D.W. St. John

This is the most truthful book about teaching that I have ever read. 

Originally published in 1998.

D.W. St. John's A Terrible Beauty has been rolling around for a while now. I read what must have been the original imprinting of the book back in 1998. The teacher who was the heart and soul of the 7th grade team at the inner-city middle school I taught at for 7 years found it at her local library, read it and passed it on to the rest of us to read. She liked it so much that when the local library wanted it back she reported it lost and paid for it so we could all read it (remember, this was in the days before Amazon.com was popular - heck, we just got a computer in our classrooms that year!)

What struck us all about the book was the fact that it spoke so much truth about teaching - the mindless meetings, the hovering parents that question every move and every grade on every assignment, the worthless parents that don't even raise their own offspring, the kids who do nothing but expect to be rescued, the kids who do everything you ask and just do so-so but love the class because they learned so much anyway (you just love those kids), overcrowded classes, mind-games from administrators, athletic directors covering for their stars, administrators that don't discipline (Kids sent right back to your classroom five minutes after they called you a motherf*****r because, you are told that if only you would have taught your class better that one kid with a felony sheet as long as your arm would love to learn about French or math or whatever...) and on and on.

The reader is also allowed to see the power of a gifted teacher using a variety of strategies to reach kids and not only deal with the subject matter, but help that student as a person.

Is Dai O'Connel a good teacher? Fundamentally, he is - but he has giant flaws, the kinds of  flaws that will get your fired, and properly so. Mostly, he is the tool in the story that is used to talk about American education and he should only be viewed as such. He takes the reader on a huge tour of the problems and the joys experienced by teachers. This is the most truthful book about teaching that I have ever read.

He is targeted for firing by the central office of his school district because he fails too many of his students. The person sent to fire him is a too-young administrator who admired him from afar when she used to teach in his school years ago. They develop an improbable romance that, while sweet, is far-fetched.

All of that is window dressing, though. This is a book about teaching and the only thing that I want to know is if Mr. St. John would come back and address these same issues but also the climate of standardized testing the rules over everything nowadays (this book was written before No Child Left Behind changed everything, and not necessarily for the better).

I read this on my kindle and whoever scanned the print version of the book into its e-book format did a horrible job. There are numerous formatting and spelling errors caused by computer error.

I rate this admittedly flawed book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: A Terrible Beauty by D.W. St. John.

Reviewed on July 3, 2013

Unthinkable (Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks #4) by Clyde Phillips

Published in August 2013 by Thomas and Mercer

This is my 1,000th review on my blog. I have several good books that are already read and just waiting to be reviewed, but only one could be my 1,000th review. This is the best of that small bunch of books and it is really quite good.

This is the fourth book in a series of books about married San Francisco homicide detectives Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks. I had not read any books in the series until this one and the reader does not have to read them in order to join in.

Candiotti and Marks are called in to a nasty murder scene in a fast food restaurant. Six strangers are massacred in the basement storage area right after the lunch rush. They have nothing in common except for the way they died. To make everything much, much worse, one of the victims is Marks' nephew.

The San Francisco Police Department starts to sort through the clues and work through the pasts of all of the victims looking for a motive and their search leads them to a former gang member who is conducting an investigation of his own and he promises to deal with the murderer in his own way...

Photo by Rich Niewiroski Jr.

This story grabs you from the first moment and pulls you right through. I flew through this book and I was genuinely surprised by who actually committed the murders and the ending is quite satisfying.

Disclosure: the publisher sent me an advance reader's copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program at no charge in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Unthinkable by Clyde Phillips.

Reviewed on June 30, 2013.

A Milestone: 1,000 Reviews

I have suffered with abibliophobia for years (the Kindle App on my smart phone has allowed me to work with this problem quite well). I have successfully passed it on to my children - and I think this is important because of the following thought:

And for those who wonder how I could have ever read so many books...

Cage Life (short stories) by Karin Cox

This e-book was published in 2011 by Indelible Ink

The common theme uniting the two short stories by Australian writer Karin Cox in this kindle e-book is a caged in, trapped feeling.

The first short story ("Cage Life") features a mis-matched couple, a free spirit wife and her straitlaced husband. She feels trapped in her marriage, living in a soul-less house and raising a toddler. They met in college in a drug-filled flophouse (there is way too much description of this part of the story for me) and she is afraid that she and her husband have moved too far apart, that the marriage was based on a temporary willingness to meet each other halfway. But, something heartbreaking happens (that I cannot disclose but it strikes you right in the heart) and it changes everything. I rate this story 3 stars out of 5.

The second short story (The Usurper) is one of those stories that mislead the whole time until you get to the very end and they you have one of those delightful "Ah-Ha!" moments and you realize what the story is really about. I rate this story 5 stars out of 5.

So, two stories. One rates 3 stars, one rates 5 stars. That makes a 4 star average.

Reviewed on June 28, 2013. This e-book can be found here on Amazon: Cage Life (Love in the Time of Literature Book 1)

Yesterday's Gone: Episode 1 (The Post-Apocalyptic Serial Thriller) by Sean Platt and David Wright

Published July of 2011 by Collective Inkwell

If you are a fan of Stephen King's post-apocalyptic novels The Stand or Cell you may want to check out Yesterday's Gone.

Platt and Wright are teaming up to write a series of short e-book novels (Amazon estimates this book to be about 116 pages long) to tell the story of a world where almost everyone has disappeared without a trace. There seems to be no pattern - the good, the bad, the rich, the poor, men and women have disappeared. And, a similar mix has been left behind.

Platt and Wright use "Episode 1" to introduce this world and the people that are left behind. Being an introductory episode, the lack of character development is understandable. I found myself less worried about the characters and much more curious about the setting - this strange world where almost everyone is gone. There are hints but no real answers (thus the impetus to move on to "Episode 2").

6 "Episodes" make up a "season" and Platt and Wright have completed 3 seasons, or 18 episodes with the promise of more. Platt and Wright have a lot of writing experience together - they are working on multiple series together, promising a book a week. That is a stiff schedule (I assume they have already worked ahead) but this first one indicates that this series has potential.

As of this writing, the first "episode" is free as a Kindle book on Amazon.com. It can be found here: Yesterday's Gone: Episode 1.

I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5.


Reviewed on June 26, 2013.

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Famous People Who Returned Our Calls: Celebrity Highlights from the Oddly Informative News Quiz by NPR

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2009.

Performed by the guests and cast of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Duration: 2 hours and 29 minutes.

If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! , then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere and this collection is promoted as a distillation of 12 of the best visits from a very funny crop of celebrity visits.

They truly are all funny. Even the people who I had never heard of like Philippe Petit and Michael Pollan were funny and interesting. Other, more well known personalities (at least to me), like Carrie Fisher (Star Wars), Jane Curtin (Saturday Night Live, 3rd Rock from the Sun) , Neal Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother), and Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek) were as funny or funnier than I expected.

This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a celebrity is asked 3 questions about a topic about which they may not have any particular expertise  and if they get 2 of the 3 correct they win a prize for a listener. For example, Leonard Nimoy, who is famed for playing Mr. Spock on Star Trek was asked questions about advice from baby experts like Dr. Benjamin Spock. Fearless tightrope walker Philippe Petit was asked questions about the phobias of certain celebrities.

For me, the funniest moment came when one of the hosts (comedian Paula Poundstone) went after healthy food expert Michael Pollan about Ringdings. Of course, it was all done in fun and this is one truly enjoyable audiobook.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Famous People Who Returned Our Calls: Celebrity Highlights from the Oddly Informative News Quiz.

Reviewed on June 24, 2013.

My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir (audiobook) by Penny Marshall

Published by Brilliance Audio in September of 2012.
Read by the author, Penny Marshall
Duration: 8 hours, 30 minutes.
Unabridged.

Penny Marshall, best known as Laverne DeFazio on the TV show Laverne and Shirley, tells all (or at least a lot) in this name-dropping memoir. If you are offended by frequent use of curse words and references to drug use, My Mother Was Nuts is not your book.

Let me begin with an important point in my review: I listened to it as an audiobook that was read by Penny Marshall. This is important because I think it added immensely to the experience despite Marshall's relatively poor reading style. She mumbles, slurs words throughout and pauses at weird moments to take a breath but that is part of Penny Marshall's style. On top of that, at emotional moments, such as the death of her mother and discussing the 9/11 attacks the listener can hear the emotion in her voice. Add to that her famed New York accent, her great impersonation of her brother Garry (creator of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley among other shows) Lorne Michaels (creator of Saturday Night Live) and Robert DeNiro and you have an enjoyable experience.

The title of her memoir comes from the difficult relationship Penny Marshall had with her mother, who was also the director of a dance studio in the Bronx and the person who taught Penny how to dance, sing (sort of) and, most importantly, entertain. Penny's father seems to have been mostly an enigma in her life - a colorless personality who worked in advertising.

A still from the opening credits of Laverne and Shirley

Penny's tales of her childhood are both sad and side-splittingly funny. The name-dropping starts early. She knew Calvin Klein from the old neighborhood. She worked with Marvin Hamlisch at a summer camp, etc. Penny's college years started out strong but ended with a forced marriage due to pregnancy. After a divorce, Penny's career in Hollywood starts, thanks to contacts created by her brother Garry (already an established script writer by this time) and the story goes into the stuff most people picked up the book to hear about. Penny Marshall does not disappoint, telling numerous name-dropping anecdotes and her life with up-and-coming celebrities off of the set.

Sometimes the book focuses too much on name-dropping (especially in the NBA section towards the end) and not so much on actual story-telling, but that is when I thought to myself that she is almost seventy years old and this story often reminds me of older folks (like I am some sort of spring chicken!) reminiscing about their younger days. That being said, there are times when the name-dropping is fun, especially if you think about how many of these people worked together on different projects and you get a real feel for how connected Penny Marshall is.

So, is this a great, insightful, soul-searching memoir? No. It's just Penny Marshall telling you about her life. That's it. It's an imperfect life but it she tells it pretty well. It's sometimes funny, sometimes sad and usually interesting. She leaves this advice: "Try hard, help your friends, don't get too crazy, and have fun."

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir

Reviewed on June 22, 2013

Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories (Lake Wobegon #2) by Garrison Keillor

Originally published in 1987.

I stepped away from Garrison Keillor for a while. I don't know why, but I forgot about Lake Wobegon for about 15 years. But, I have returned for the occasional visit for a couple of years now and I find that I missed these stories. Having grown up Lutheran in rural Indiana, I find quite a connection with these stories.

Keillor's melancholy yet heartwarming stories of the people in and around the fictional Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon are worth a re-visit if you have stayed away. Deft turns of the phrase like "Corinne doesn't believe in God, but there is some evidence to show that God believes in her. She has a gift to teach, a sacred gift. Fifteen years in dreary bluish-green classrooms, pacing as she talks, this solid woman carries a flame" (p. 23) make you nod your head in appreciation.

Towards the end, a couple from Lake Wobegon is trying to take a trip to Hawaii. Keillor's extended discussion on why the glamour of "paradise" is wasted on Minnesotans and how heaven will be just as wasted is great sly understated humor with a sweet comment that starts with: "My people aren't paradise people, but when God loves you, then everywhere is paradise enough." He ends with a long comment about love cemented in life's losses and tragedies "...will last because it has endured so much already." (p. 218)

My laugh out loud moment in the book came during the story of Larry the Sad Boy who was saved twelve times in the Lutheran church. It rings true to this lifelong Lutheran and I had to immediately run and read it to my wife who also laughed out loud. A great paragraph that gently skewers and defends the unbending Lutheran outlook on life.

I have noticed that every comment I wrote was about a religious passage. I marked a few pages as I read and they all happened to have this theme. This book is not really a religious book but religion is a clear part of it.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories

Reviewed on June 16, 2013.

That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone

Originally Published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in September of 2010.
Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette.
Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette.

I found this unique science fiction short story by Eric James Stone with my kindle, one of those happy accidents you sometimes get when you surf around on Amazon.

That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made is about a funds manager for CitiAmerica who is stationed at the sun. Actually, just inside of the sun (but not too far in, that would be dangerous!). Stars are used to create interstellar portals - those portals require so much energy that only stars can provide them. So, our fund manager, Harry Stein, is located at the sun because he gets the news from other systems about eight-and-a-half minutes before funds managers on Earth (news can only travel as fast as the speed of light).

Harry is a Mormon and is the "branch president" of the Sol Central Mormon congregation. He has six human members and forty-six swale members. Swales are very large plasma life forms that live in stars and have been travelling from star to star for a hundred thousand years. Swales live hundreds of years and the younger swales have an interest in humans and, apparently, Mormonism

A swale member approaches Stein and asks for help with a situation. This swale has been forced to have sex with another swale. Humans would call it rape. Swales have no such concept. As Stein starts talking to human experts he finds that he must talk to Leviathan, the oldest and biggest swale of all...

What I liked about this book is that the author did not do what so many science fiction authors assume would happen - human religion would collapse at the time of contact with an alien species. Sure, there are some superficial changes, such as the Mormon Church having to re-write some passages to account for the swales having three genders, but the essence of Mormon theology is left so intact that there are missionaries (you know, those nice young men with the white shirts wearing black ties riding bicycles) sent to the newest mission field of all - the sun.

I also like the humor of Harry Stein. He is a layman who is doing his best in the strangest of situations. Plus, he's very aware that there are precious few women that he could date on Sol Central Station, let alone Mormon women. He sadly notes that there are no unmarried Mormon women within 90,000,000 miles in any direction! But, the solcetologist (person who studies swales) who thinks that the Mormons should leave the swales alone is single and awfully attractive...

Like I noted above, this short story was a pleasant surprise. I am not Mormon, but you do not have to be Mormon to follow along with this story.

I rate this story 5 stars out of 5.

This novelette can be found on Amazon.com here: That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made

Reviewed on June 14, 2013.

The Silent Speaker: A Nero Wolfe Mystery by Rex Stout

Seemed like Stout was looking for ways to stretch a good story

Originally published in 1946, The Silent Speaker is the 13th Nero Wolfe story or the 11th Nero Wolfe book written by Rex Stout (1886-1975) depending on how you want to do the counting. The story features the over-sized and very particular detective Nero Wolfe and his right hand man Archie Goodwin.

If you are not familiar with Nero Wolfe, let me introduce you. Nero Wolfe is an obese genius who solves mysteries but rarely leaves his New York City Brownstone home. His true passions are meticulously prepared meals, orchids and keeping to his routine. Instead of leaving his home and doing the legwork himself, he has several trusted and talented investigators who serve as his eyes and ears. The Nero Wolfe stories are told by Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's number one employee.

Goodwin is an interesting character himself. He is Wolfe's employee, but not a toady. He speaks his mind, sometimes too freely. He is flippant, clever, tough and quite the ladies man. If you are a fan of Robert B. Parker's Spenser books, you will quickly recognize the enormous debt that Parker owed to Rex Stout.

Rex Stout (1886-1975)

The Silent Speaker is the first post-World War II Nero Wolfe mystery. There are numerous references to Wolfe's exertions on behalf of the Allies during the war. During the war (both in reality and in Nero Wolfe's universe) the American government instituted a series of price controls to try to control inflation and insure that an appropriate amount of resources were sent to the war effort and also to the civilian sector. In Wolfe's universe, it is 1946 and the Bureau of Price Regulation is slowly releasing its hold on the economy. If it releases too fast, it could trigger a recession or a depression. But, some are sure that the National Industrial Association is very sure that it is releasing its grip far too slowly.

When the Director of the Bureau of Price Administration is found dead backstage just before he is to give a major policy speech and present his plans to the gathered members of the National Industrial Association, it looks like an open and shut case of a free market fanatic killing the government regulator. But, which member of the NIA was it? There was a room full of them. Or, did internal government politics inspire murder?

This is my third Nero Wolfe story and I would have to rank it my third favorite. The premise was clever, Archie had plenty of good lines and Nero Wolfe is actually forced to leave his house at one point. But, the story just dragged in the middle while Wolfe was casting around for any sort of clues. Goodwin was left out of most of the heavy lifting and since the story is told through him the reader is left with too many tales of sitting around the house waiting for things to happen. Throw in the way too forced "nervous breakdown" episode and it seemed like Stout was looking for ways to stretch the book.

However, it will not deter me from reading other books in the series.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Silent Speaker (Nero Wolfe)

Reviewed on June 12, 2013.