Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell

An enthusiastic 5 stars! A fantastic book.

Published in 2009.

I was offered Joker One as part of the Amazon Vine program and I decided to take it because I am a history teacher and I decided I needed to read a book about the Iraq War just to have a greater sense of what was/is going on and to be able to speak more intelligently about it to my classes.

So, I picked Joker One and I let it sit on my pile of books. I let it sit and sit because I was afraid it would be preachy, depressing and difficult.

Finally, with classes over I picked up Joker One and I was hooked by page 2 with Lt. Campbell's description of an explosion that he had just avoided. It was filled with honest emotions, including a bit of honest, self-deprecating humor.

I shot through Joker One. I carried it everywhere I went. I read passages to my long-suffering wife. I told her shortened versions of the stories. Literally, I laughed (his account of their first night mission and the pack of dogs is hilarious!) and I teared up multiple times, especially at poignant moments like after their first serious day of all out fighting when Campbell is asked, "...do you think we fought well today, sir? I mean, that was our first big fight. Would the Marines who fought at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, you know, be proud of us?" (p. 178)

Donovan Campbell

I guess I identified with Campbell - a married college graduate who is likely to think too much, feel too much and questions himself. Campbell is a Christian and his faith is lightly woven into the text throughout.

Campbell offers no answers to what is going on in Iraq. He barely mentions Bush administration policy, except for his stated dislike of the Coalition Authority government. His concerns are the survival of his men, not winning the war by re-writing policies and strategies.

His descriptions of battles are gritty and can be bewildering - not due to poor writing but rather due to an accurate portrayal of the fighting as he lived it.

The book was mostly created as part of a veteran's writing project class at the Harvard Business School. To me the book has the feel of being crafted - being re-written many times and being thoroughly discussed. I think the writing pulls out the best out of Campbell's story. For example, his story of his battle-hardened Sargeants watching the DVD of The Notebook in the NCO room with tears streaming down their faces is priceless.

The day of reckoning is April 6. "Golf Company knew that something was wrong, because for the first time since our arrival we knew exactly what each mosque was saying during its call to prayer. From every minaret in the city, the same word rang out, over and over, in short, chanted blocks:  JIHAD, JIHAD, JIHAD...JIHAD, JIHAD, JIHAD...JIHAD, JIHAD, JIHAD...Every single muezzin in Ramadi was calling for a holy war against the Marines." (p. 156) Campbell effectively expresses how completely alone this little cluster of Marines were. I got chills up my spine as I read and re-read these pages.

Pages 299-302 are as beautiful a description about the nature of love - sacrificing love - as I have ever read. Those pages are an extended play on the faith, hope and love verse in the Bible (1 Corinthians 13:13) and are brilliantly written - masculine, yet tear-evoking. Good stuff. Makes you proud of those men and grateful that Campbell can bring their story to us.

The best book I read in 2009.

Highly recommended.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Joker One.

Reviewed June 30, 2009.

The Patron Saint of Used Cars And Second Chances: A Memoir by Mark Milhone

Fun story, but not completely resolved

Published in 2008 by Rodale Books.

Mark Milhone's memoir is about his self-described "Year from Hell," which included marriage troubles, a reconciliation with his dad and a road trip to pick up a used BMW he purchased on E-Bay (who does that?) is a fun, sad read.

Millhone tells his story about the death of his mother, the death of his first dog, the near-death of his newborn son, the dog bite his oldest son suffers and the deterioration of his marriage.

So, does he resolve these issues?

Not really.

He tells his story in an entertaining manner. His relationship with his father is strengthened (as a kid, his father sent his number one man from the office to take him to see The Empire Strikes Back because he has no time for his family) but the other issues are not fixed, there is just a renewed resolve to work on them.

Nonetheless, it's still a fun read - good for a summer trip. Lots of parts to read and discuss with others in the car.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances.

Reviewed on July 1, 2009

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions (3rd edition) by Brandon Toropov & Luke Buckles

Fits the Bill Perfectly

Published in 2004

Some people have criticized this book for not having enough detail. Well, this book is just intended to be an introduction to a number of the world's great religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto.

The descriptions are short (20-40 pages) and full of enough detail to give the reader a useful outline of the religion's teachings. For more detail on a particular religion, I would recommend the 'Complete Idiot's Guide to Islam (or Buddhism, or Judaism, etc.)

I was searching for a textbook to use for my school's new 9 weeks-long program on world religions. This book fits the bill perfectly - there is enough here to get us off to a very good start towards discussing any of these religions.

Less useful are the sections on similar ideas that span all world religions and the section on ancient and (basically) dead religions such as worship of the Ancient Egyptian and Greek gods.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions.

Reviewed on March 23, 2005

Melancholy Baby by Robert B. Parker

Sunny and Spenser's worlds come ever so closer together...

Published in 2004

Melancholy Baby is probably my 40th plus Parker book. While the Jesse Stone series was much improved by its last offering, I think this was the weakest of the Sunny Randall series.

The mystery part of Melancholy Baby was excellent, but Sunny spends forever in a day seeing Susan Silverman, expert psychologist and also Spenser's girlfriend. The book gets bogged down with too much detail about feelings, Oedipal complexes and the like.

Robert B. Parker

Don't get me wrong, I like Sunny and I'll read the next Sunny Randall book. I'm just hoping that this book was a bridge to Sunny going on to bigger and better things and moving away from this self-pitying/loathing over her strange relationship with her ex-husband.

One has to wonder, will Spenser and Randall bump into one another? Randall knows cops that Spenser knows, she's been to his girlfriend's house... Do I want to see that? yes and no. Sometimes it's best to leave the characters in their two different worlds, but it's also fun to mix and match, as 'Law and Order' likes to do on occasion.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Melancholy Baby.

Reviewed on March 23, 2005.

Voodoo River (Elvis Cole #5) (audiobook) by Robert Crais

My first Elvis Cole novel - not my last

Originally published in 1995.

I heard Voodoo River  as an audiobook way back in 2005 - it was not my first choice but I gave it a shot and I was very pleased. The story was convoluted but had a real feel to it. Elvis is tough, but not Superman. The situation was complicated but not impossible.

I seem destined to be perpetually out of sync with Elvis and the real order of his series. Voodoo River is #5 in the Elvis Cole series. In Voodoo River, Elvis leaves Los Angeles for the Louisiana bayou country in search of the birth parents of a Hollywood starlet who is in need of some medical information. Soon enough, Cole finds himself in trouble with the local crime boss who has a special use for alligators.  If you are familiar with the series (as I now am) this book is pivotal as it is where Cole meets Lucy . For Crais (the author) this is a homecoming of sorts since he was raised in Louisiana.The audiobook was well-read and the reader added a lot to it with his great command of the mix of accents of Louisiana.

So, how much did I like this book? I went out and bought another Elvis Cole novel less than a week after I finished my first!

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Voodoo River.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

Eyeshot by Lynn S. Hightower

Great plot line, herky-jerky follow-through

Published in 1996

Have you ever been in a car with someone who is learning how to drive a stick shift? If not, let me assure you, you will be bounced around without warning and it will be quite unpleasant until you get used to it or until the driver gets better.

In the case of Eyeshot, you'd better get used to it.

Hightower has created a wonderful concept for a police novel:

 - how do you get the criminal when the suspect is a high profile prosecutor? 

 Her characters work the outside edges of the system until they can finally make their move and it is an interesting concept and quite the challenge.

Unfortunately, it is made even more challenging by Hightower's choppy plot lines. Oftentimes, I felt like I was coming in to the middle of a scene or a conversation - the characters were meeting people I did not know - nor did I get clued in until much later on. Conversations were started and spoken almost completely in the shorthand that characterizes friendships - but I'm not friends with these people so I have no idea what they're talking about! It is not a good thing to make the reader feel like the third wheel!

So, I gave the book 3 stars, which means I do recommend it. Let me explain my reasoning. The underlying plot is so strong that the annoying habits of the writer do not overcome it. Or, to put it another way (and to return to my first analogy...) - I just got used to her poor use of the stick shift!

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Eyeshot.

Reviewed March 16, 2005

Assumed Identity by David Morrell

A good read, not Morrell's best work.

Originally published in 1993.

No one writes better than Morrell when it comes to the "fugitive" novel - one man hunted by many in a cross-country chase.

David Morrell

In Assumed Identity, a military intelligence deep cover operative has been accidentally exposed and an operation goes sour. Soon, the operative is being blackmailed and chased by an attractive reporter and the unwanted attention causes the operative's handlers to "terminate" a number of people and the operative comes to believe that his own life is in danger as well. Throw in a damsel in distress (actually two) and a James Bond-esque villain and the chase is on!

Unfortunately, a great story is slightly marred by the protagonist's constant internal psychobabble about who he really is (he confuses himself with the various personas he's become over the years). An even bigger problem is the ultra-rich villain. He's a parody of the James Bond super villain. The climax of the book is hokey and almost laughable. Too bad that a 400+ page book is marred by 10 pages at the end. A worthwhile read but be prepared.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Assumed Identity.

Reviewed March 10, 2005.