Roadkill (abridged audiobook) by Kinky Friedman

Kinky Friedman "on the road again" with Willie Nelson

Published in 1997 by Macmillan Audio

Read by Kinky Friedman.
Duration: about 3 hours.
Abridged.

Kinky, feeling like he has to get out of New York City for a change of pace, jumps at the chance to ride with Willie Nelson for part of his tour. However, Willie is not acting like himself and soon one of Willie's roadies is shot. Kinky looks into it and crazy characters from Willie's life spill into Kinky's seriously odd world of friends.

The mystery in Roadkill is not too hard, but it is worth the listen just to hear Friedman's odd twists of phrase. Lots of fun.

Kinky Friedman
and Willie Nelson

An audiobook note: I was disappointed to discover that Willie Nelson did not read his own parts in the book. He has read audiobooks before and this seemed like a natural fit.

I give this one 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Roadkill by Kinky Friedman.

Reviewed on May 7, 2006.

A Killing Frost by Michael A. Black

A good beginning to a new series

Published in 2002 by Five Star.

Ron Shade is a Chicago-based PI in the vein of Robert B. Parker's Spenser. However, he is not a clone in any stretch of the imagination.

Since A Killing Frost is one of Michael A. Black's first fiction books, it is expected for there to be a few hiccups along the way. However, Black's effort was well-done with less problems than many established authors have exhibited.

The plot involves the disappearance of an illegal alien. Shade is hired to find him. Along the way, his car is stolen and he finds romance and romantic difficulties.

Like a Spenser novel, it is not the suspense of finding out whodunnit that keeps the reader turning pages. Rather, it is the interest in finding out how the hero will stick it to the bad guys.

Solid read.

I rate this one 4 stars out of 5 and I'll be looking for the sequels.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A Killing Frost by Michael A. Black.

Reviewed on May 7, 2006.

Spy for the Night Riders: Martin Luther (Trailblazer Books #3) by Dave Jackson

Good history - for 4th to 8th graders


I am reviewing this as a high school world history teacher who is looking for high-quality historical fiction of all skill levels that I can add to my classroom library.

While Spy for the Night Riders: Martin Luther is too easy for the average high school student, it would be a good fit for the 'reluctant reader' or the student interested in the Reformation. The plot moves along pretty quickly and does a good job of telling about Martin Luther's big moment at the Diet of Worms and his travels immediately before and after his hearing.

Some previous knowledge of the Reformation would be helpful.

I give this one 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: Spy for the Night Riders (Trailblazer Books Book 3)

Reviewed on May 6, 2006.

Sixkill (Spenser #39) by Robert B. Parker

A fitting end to a series

Published in 2011 by G.P Putnam's Sons.

With the publication of Sixkill, Robert B. Parker's last completed Spenser novel is on the shelves and Spenser's tale is done. It is tempting to make this review a review of the entire series, and I may fall into that temptation a little bit because Spenser and Parker have been part of my life for the better part of twenty years. But, most importantly, Sixkill is Robert B. Parker ending the series on a high note.

As any fan of the series knows, half of any Spenser book is already written - witty back and forth of a non-PC nature, annoying psycho-babble with Susan talking about why Spenser does what he does ("And, I suspect, if you didn't do what you do, you'd become someone else..."- p. 191), a rundown of all of the people that Spenser could contact to help, if needed (because Hawk is not in this one - he is still off in Central Asia), and eventually Spenser annoys enough people with his nosing around that they send someone to get rid of him and he tracks down the bad guy by figuring out who sent someone to kill him. But, we love this stuff or we wouldn't be reading the 39th Spenser novel.

Robert B. Parker 
(1932-2010)

In Sixkill a comic actor with a very creepy off-stage personality named Jumbo Nelson is accused of raping and murdering a local girl while filming a movie on location in Boston. Spenser's police friend Quirk thinks that Jumbo may actually not be guilty of anything more than being in the room while a combination of sex games, drugs and alcohol resulted in an accidental death and asks Spenser to look into it. Spenser gets into a one-sided fistfight with Jumbo Nelson's bodyguard, a twenty-something Cree Indian named Zebulon Sixkill, causes Sixkill to lose his job and eventually agrees to train Sixkill. It turns out Sixkill is a lost soul looking for a mentor and Spenser fits the bill (and also fill the role of Hawk when it comes to adolescent, but amusing, good-natured racial commentary).

The inside cover notes that Sixkill is "The last Spenser novel completed by Robert B. Parker" which means the reality of Parker's death comes home at last for this reviewer. I can only assume by the wording that Parker had partially completed manuscripts and storylines and those will be completed by someone else, much like Parker did with Raymond Chandler's Poodle Springs and Perchance to Dream. I would suggest going with another established author (like they did for Raymond Chandler) who likes wisecracking private detectives and asking Robert Crais to finish them up and then letting the series rest.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 17, 2011.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Sixkill by Robert B. Parker.

The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga

Winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize

Published in 2008.

Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger: A Novel is many things. It is a fascinating look at modern India and how it is still stuck in a sort of feudalistic state combined with the very modern world of democracy, high technology and international influences. It is also the story of corruption and how one young man rose above the masses to become an entrepreneur by using that corrupt system for himself. It is the story of how a young man who has lost his moral compass can make it through tricks, hard work and murder. Most importantly, it is very, very readable - a well-written story that pulls the reader into its world.

 For many, this look at the third world - with its rampant corruption, absolute poverty and, sadly, a strong sentiment of "life is cheap" will come as a surprise. This is not the sanitized travelogue view of India. The characters are between cultures - they are old India and new India at the same time - and, maybe, because of that they are neither and maybe nothing at all.  It is also certainly not told from the perspective of those new members of the international economy that man the phone banks that deal with the complaints of American customers.

Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai comes from a small rural town in India and he wants to be more than a rickshaw-puller like his father. His father was a good man but, ultimately, he died because he was too poor to stop working and too poor to get adequate medical care (or any at all thanks to corruption). A government official came to the local school and told Balram Halwai that he was the white tiger - the rarest of all creatures. In this case, he was referring to Balram Halwai's academic talents and he promised a scholarship for the boy - which promptly disappeared in the corruption of the education system. So, Balram Halwai becomes a chauffeur and eventually works for the wealthy family that practically owns and operates his tiny village like a medieval fiefdom.

Balram Halwai uses and manipulates the system and the people in it playing by no rules at all until he ends up wanted for murder and running his own company (all of that is revealed in the first chapter so I am not writing spoilers).

This is a harsh book. Balram Halwai is hardly a likable character and no one else is either. Everyone, including the family buffalo uses everyone around him and sucks them dry. But, this is an antidote for the reader that things that everyone lives in quaint suburban neighborhoods and drives their SUV to Super Target every weekend after soccer practice.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on June 16, 2011.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The White Tiger: A Novel.

Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer

Fascinating, insightful, thought-provoking and entertaining.

Originally published in 2007.

Much like the original VeggieTales stories, Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables is a well-written story told with lots of humor and with much more depth than you might think.

On one level it's a fascinating story of the rise and fall of a media giant. I was fascinated on that level because I went right along with them - we had VeggieTales videos at our house before we even had kids because we saw them at the Christian bookstores playing on the VCRs in the back just in the way that Vischer describes in the book. 

Our house has the cool Pirates Who Don't Do Anything toy boat from the Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie , the Larry Mr. Potato-Head-type dress up character, stuffed dolls that talk, videogames (including a theme park game which is ironic considering that Vischer talks about how much he wanted to build a real one) and lots and lots of videocassettes and DVDs from all of their various distribution deals that Vischer describes (Word, Lyrick, HIT, and so on). I even have a VeggieTales necktie - something that he brings up as maybe the strangest incarnation of VeggieTales mania.

Phil Vischer

So, following Big Idea on this story of its rise and eventual fall is and of itself interesting reading for a fan. But, like a VeggieTales video, there is a section at the end that tells you what you learned in this story. What Phil learns falls into two categories - how to run a business better and, more importantly, the folly of doing something to please God without actually doing something that God wants you to be doing (okay, I said that poorly, Vischer does a better job so read the book).

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables

Reviewed on January 17, 2009.

Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise by Carol M. Swain, PhD

Sometimes incredibly strong, sometimes deeply flawed.

Published in 2011 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Carol M. Swain's Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise is a look at several broad areas of concern in American policy, including the high divorce rate, abortion, gay marriage, illegal immigration, race relations in America, HIV, school prayer, and the high unemployment among those with lower levels of education.

First, the positives:

-Swain's personal story is inspirational and she shares it as she writes about these issues.
-Swain provides a humane 15 point plan to deal with illegal immigration.

-Her commentary on race and racism are quite interesting and well thought out. I teach in a multi-racial school with a near even mix of whites and blacks and a great number of Hispanics as well. It can be tricky and Swain accurately describes many of the issues that I have encountered.

-Swain's section on abortion is also rock solid. There are profound arguments for why it is immoral and should be illegal from a number of sources, including from babies that survived and grew up, mothers that regret the decision (Swain is one of those mothers), medical evidence for increased cancer rates and solid philosophical and legal arguments.

Weaknesses:

-There are times when the text is confusing, almost like it was not proofread, merely spell-checked. For example, on page 123 she paraphrases a CDC report "....estimated that as many as one-third of black men were HIV positive..." but two sentences later notes that Washington, D.C. has the "highest rate of infections in the country, with an estimated...7 percent of its black men infected." Which is it, 33% or 7%? 

Another example: on page 134 she is discussing the National Council of La Raza and claims that La Raza is Latin for "the race." It is Spanish, not Latin - a fact that she gets correct in her end notes on page 289. On page 42 she is upset that the Obama administration correctly followed American flag protocol by allowing the Chinese flag ("signaling to the world that China was on equal footing with the United States") to fly alongside the American flag at a state dinner. The American flag flies higher than state flags, but at the same level as those of other countries. This is not an insult to America, it is international flag protocol.

-Sometimes it seems as though she is mystified that people who move here do not completely abandon their religious beliefs and immediately become Christians upon entering the country. On page 168, she notes that the Sabbath rules in Israel apply to the whole country, not just to the Jews. She then laments that newcomers to America sue to have their customs respected. My first thought was that Islam's Sabbath day is Friday and every Muslim student I have had came to school on their Sabbath and only one has made a stink about wanting time out of class to pray at the proscribed time.

-She wants prayer returned to school  (pgs 34-35). I teach in a public school and I am a devout Christian - I only miss services 2 or 3 times per year. I have taught Sunday school, worked with the youth group, worked in more Vacation Bible Schools than I care to remember, have been a member of a small group Bible study for more than 15 years and I come from a line of Lutherans that probably knew Martin Luther (the man who started The Reformation) personally. I do not want prayers in public school. 

Why not? 

Whose prayers do we use? A generic multi-faith prayer that means nothing? A rotating prayer that includes some Hindu prayer, some Muslim prayers, some Christian prayers, some Wiccan prayers and so on? I have taught with Muslim, Hindu and Jewish teachers. Are they going to be forced to recite a Christian prayer? Would I want to be forced to recite a prayer from outside of my faith by my employer?

It is my understanding that Swain is a frequent guest on the Sean Hannity show. The parts of the book that I disliked were exactly the parts that appeal to the scream and yell "debate" with outrage gotcha type shows, like Hannity's. The other parts were well thought out - too bad the other stuff was not equally well considered and argued.

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze review program. They made no demands on the type of review I wrote, but I am forced to disclose this arrangement due to federal regulations.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise.

Reviewed on June 15, 2011.