RHS Reader's Cafe'

The Enemy Within by Martin Dillon

2012-01-21T13:33:00.006-06:00

The Enemy Within by Martin Dillon

This particular book was a gift from our taxi driver, Gerard McGlade, who provided us a living history tour of Belfast, the Falls Road (Catholic area) and the Shankill Road (Protestant area). His knowledge of the Troubles and regular references to a variety of books naturally triggered my interest. When I asked him for a list of the titles he referenced during our three hour tour through the "troubled" neighborhoods, he pulled this book out of his briefcase and handed it to me as a gift, after autographing it. So reading this book has special significance for me. And believe me, I was not disappointed. First of all it is written by Martin Dillon, a reporter, author and expert on terrorism in Northern Ireland.

The subtitle of this book is: The IRA war against the British. Reviews of Dillons' books, including the Enemy Within, praises his uncanny ability to get key players and individuals from all sides of the issue to talk to him. This is a realistic and at times riveting historical perspective and analysis of the decades long conflict in Northern Ireland between the Protestants, the Catholics, the IRA, Sinn Fein, the British troops, and the Irish Republic and British Governments. Dillon provides an inside look at the strategy and tactics employed by the IRA in their effort to drive the British out of Northern Ireland. The IRA and its War Council firmly believed they had to take the "war" to the cities of Great Britain, or else their efforts to gain independence and representation in governing Northern Ireland would never be noticed or accomplished.

Ultimately, while you may not agree with their tactics and abhor the loss of innocent civilians as a result of those tactics, you will have to admit that the IRA strategy was successful. Dillon also covers the political side of the conflict from all perspectives, and how each side eventually came to the realization that compromise was necessary if there was ever going to be peace in Northern Ireland. I believe the IRA tactics did play a role in finally bringing the British around to inviting Sinn Fein (Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness) to the negotiating table. Dillon's prose is insightful, analytical and thoroughly engaging. This is a must read for any student of Irish history, who is seeking some understanding of what made all sides tick in the centuries old conflict between the British and the Irish.

Woman of the House by Alice Taylor

2012-01-21T13:29:00.000-06:00

Woman of the House by Alice Taylor

This was one of the many books we bought in Kinsale, Ireland, after our cab driver, Dermot, recommended Alice Taylor as an Irish author who sets her novels in the rural, southwestern Ireland and does a beautiful job of conveying the lifestyle and traditions of people living in this ruggedly beautiful part of Ireland.

Taylor is a gifted storyteller, whose novels are primarily character driven. After reading just this first novel by Taylor, I get a feeling that while her stories maybe somewhat predictable, you don't mind going along for the ride. While there will be some slight twists and turns in the plot, you know, somehow, everything will work out okay in the end. You will stick with them because you ultimately care about her characters and you want to find out how they end up.

We picked up about five of her novels (Taylor is a prolific writer, penning more than 46 novels and other books) while we were in Kinsale, and as I work my way through them, I will report on whether her stories continue to engage and entertain.

Figures of Silk by Vanora Bennett

2012-01-21T11:29:00.000-06:00

Figures of Silk by Vanora Bennett

I am a sucker for historical novels, and believe it or not, this one was extremely worthwhile. It deals with the plight of women in 15th century London. Women did not have many options back then, you can marry a wealthy man or serve as a mistress to a wealthy landowner or work in some trade. Figures in Silk centers on the lives of two very different sisters. One is beautiful, flighty, and bored with her new husband, Jane Shore, who quickly catches the eye of the newly crowned Edward IV and serves as his mistress. Her younger sister, Isabel, follows a different path when she marries into the house of Claver, one of England's finest silk-trading enterprises. When tragedy strikes and her husband is killed, Isabel finds herself thrust into an unexpected role in her late husband's family business, run by her mother in law.

She discovers a new life and decides to apprentice as a silk woman. She learns the trade from the ground up and eventually becomes one of the more powerful members of the merchant class in the silk trade. Any reader who enjoys a strong female protaganist combined with historical events and details, will be fascinated by this tumultuous time period in London. While you might be frustrated by some of Isabel's decisions, ultimately I believe you will be more than satisfied by the rich historical detail that Bennett provides both in terms of the silk trade and the political intrigue surrounding the crown.

33 by Arthur Conan Doyle

2012-01-19T17:54:00.003-06:00

33 by Arthur Conan Doyle

33 as in 33 short stories by the creator of Sherlock Holmes. This is quite a diverse collection of short stories by Conan Doyle. If you are a fan of Doyle's most famous character, you will enjoy several of these stories. None of them deal with Sherlock Holmes or even detective mysteries. Instead, they are a unique collection of stories which demonstrates Doyle's versatility in storytelling. Several of them have moral twists of fate for the main characters that will surprise you. This is a collection of short stories compiled by John Michael Gibson and Richard Green, who are Conan Doyle experts who have searched and compiled comprehensive collections of Doyle's little known works.

Evil empire: the Irish mob and the assassination of journalist Veronica Guerin

2011-11-18T08:16:00.005-06:00

Evil empire: the Irish mob and the assassination of journalist Veronica Guerin
by Paul Williams

Another example of a movie triggering an insatiable interest in the topic or the person. A previous entry on this blog was a book that critically analyzed Veronica Guerin's actions and journalistic procedures and whether they lead to her assassination. (see entry from Feb. 5, 2011).

This book primarily deals with John Gilligan, the Irish godfather, who ordered the "hit" of Veronica Guerin, the journalist who was investigating Gilligan's drug empire and was threatening to expose him and his 'gang'. This is a riveting account of the true story of Irish godfather John Gilligan, the assassination of Irish investigative journalist Veronica Guerin, and the behind-the-scenes efforts of law enforcement to bring Gilligan and his cronies to justice.

Paul Williams, also an investigative Dublin journalist and colleague and friend of Veronica Guerin, describes the assassination scene, as vividly as the way Joel Schumacher, the director of the movie Veronica Guerin, brought it to the screen. That scene in the movie always brings tears to my eyes, as did Williams' prose in describing that event.

In reading William's book, one would think they are reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Evil Empire is a gripping, detailed and well researched account of Ireland's underworld. Williams, a seasoned and skilled investigative journalist and writer, never loses his grip on the story. "For anyone interested in the movie Veronica Guerin or who thought organized crime only involved Italians, this book provides a chilling glimpse into the backstory of an Irish gang that thought itself above the law and set out to prove it." (Publishers Weekly). Pick up the book at the public library and definitely rent the movie. A must read and a must see!

My Summer Reading List

2011-10-08T16:54:00.004-05:00

As is typical for me, I went from nonfiction selections to fiction books this past summer. Some turned out to be great choices, others not so great. Rather than writing lengthy reviews and summaries, I will provide a list of the books I read with just a brief description of what the book was about and if it was worth reading.

Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike by David Beresford

A powerful and balanced coverage of the 1981 Hunger Strike at H Block Prison in Belfast. A portrait of strife-torn Ireland and the IRA, as well as an intensely human story of the ten ordinary men who were overtaken by extraordinary events. .
Highly recommended.

Eva Gabrielsson, Common Law wife of Stieg Larsson, the author of the Millenium Trilogy tells her story. Here is the real inside story—not the one about the Stieg Larsson phenomenon, but rather the love story of a man and a woman whose lives came to be guided by politics and love, coffee and activism, writing and friendship.

If you want to know the story behind the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a must read.

The World at Night by Alan Furst

My first venture into this series. This is the first book in the series called Jean Casson series. A brilliant re-creation of France during the German Occupation and how Parisians learned to cope with the situation. Peaked my interest enough to continue with this series.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett

I would categorize myself as someone who loves books, but not to the extent that I would steal the books. This bibliophile just liked to possess the books, not read them.

Murderous Procession by Arianna Franklin

This is the fourth in the Mistress of the Art of Death series. You can read my previous reviews of the earlier volumes. The fact I am continuing to follow this series should speak volumes (no pun intended).

The Dracula Dossier by James Reese

Avoid this one. Enough said.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers that has a gift of finding through meticulous research some of the fascinating stories behind major historical events. This one is set in Berlin during the rise of the Third Reich. A great read. A copy of this book is in the RHS collection.

11th and 12th Grade Summer Reading List

2011-06-07T15:43:00.000-05:00

11th and 12th Grade Summer Reading List

When entering your comments, be sure to include the Title of the Book you read first before typing your comments about the book.

Be sure to sign your name at the end of your comments.

RHS 10th Grade Summer Reading List

2011-06-07T15:38:00.001-05:00

RHS 10th Grade Summer Reading List

When entering your comments, be sure to include the Title of the Book you read first before typing your comments about the book.

Be sure to sign your name at the end of your comments.

RHS 9th Grade Summer Reading List

2011-06-06T12:41:00.002-05:00

RHS 9th Grade Summer Reading List

When entering your comments, be sure to include the Title of the Book you read first before typing your comments about the book.

Be sure to sign your name at the end of your comments.

The King's Speech by Mark Logue

2011-06-04T12:39:00.000-05:00

The King's Speech by Mark Logue

As I have mentioned many times before in relation to the books I read, they are inspired by a movie. If you have seen the Academy Award winning film you know what a tremendous story this is. Mark Logue is the grandson of Lionel Logue, the "Man who saved the British Monarchy." Logue came upon his grandfather's diaries, which inspired the film to be made and this compelling story to be written.

The King's Speech recounts an inspiring real-life tale of triumph over adversity, when an Australian elocutionist/actor taught a British king with a crippling speech defect how to speak to his subjects. "Bertie", the younger brother and second in line to the throne, suffers from a severe stammer. He withstands ridicule from his father, George V, as he grows up. When his older brother abdicates the throne for the love of Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, Bertie becomes the reluctant monarch. Some people seek fame, and others, like George VI, has it thrust upon him.

This story shows a side of the British royal family, that one seldom sees. What really brings this story to life is the use of primary sources, the letters, correspondence and photographs between George VI and Lionel Logue. These letters reveal a very compassionate monarch who cared deeply for his country and its people, as well as the very genuine friendship, loyalty and devotion he developed with Lionel Logue. This unique story is so well told that you honestly feel like you have gotten to know these two very different men, who became close friends, and you don't want them to leave.

This is a case where I would highly recommend you see the film as well as read the book. Don't worry, one will not spoil the other for you.

The Bullpen Gospels by Dirk Hayhurst

2011-06-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

BULLPEN GOSPELS: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran by Dirk Hayhurst

I picked up this book because of Keith Olbermann claiming it was one of the best baseball books ever. And as an avid baseball fan, I do enjoy reading books written by past players or knowledgeable individuals of the game. Overall I enjoyed Bullpen Gospels, but there were moments during Hayhurst's narrative that I felt he went overboard in his descriptions. I have never been a fan of so-called gross out or "toilet" humor, whether in books or movies. A little bit of this type of humor goes a long way, and Hayhurst could have easily mentioned these moments in his minor league career in fewer words. It doesn't take much to get the picture when mentioning these examples of "growing up", he didn't need to spend half a chapter describing it.

Overall, Hayhurst does capture the absurdities, the antics, and the bizarre humor that comes out when you spend a summer with a busload of teenage or young adult ball players. There are moments when you find yourself humbled and chocking up, especially when he describes a phone conversation with his alcoholic brother, who is asking to be forgiven. It is these moments of hard-won wisdom that salvages the book for me.

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

2011-05-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

Promoted as another Steig Larsson, I was looking forward to reading this novel from a new Swedish author. While it stands on its own as a crime novel, it did not begin to match the intricacy, complexity or the character development that made Larsson's Millenium trilogy so compelling.

Lackberg's novels have become the #1 bestsellers in Sweden. Ice Princess was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere for best international crime novel. Ice Princess is the first in a series of what will be seven novels by Lackberg set in the Swedish coastal town of Fjallbacka, and featuring her female protaganist, Erica Falck.

Erica has to return home to Fjallbacka after the death of her parents. But things start getting more interesting when an estranged childhood friend is found dead in her bathtub with both wrists slashed. I don't think I would be giving anything away by telling that it is not a suicide. The secrets that lie behind her friend's murder is what will keep you guessing for awhile. Another childhood friend of Erica's, a police detective, Patrik Hedstrom, begins to investigate and naturally a relationship reignites.

But a subplot, involving her sister and brother-in-law, does hold some promise for future volumes. The personality of the brother-in-law could prove to be an interesting villain, if Lackberg chooses to follow that particular thread in future novels about Erica. While this debut novel may offer some promise and possibilities, don't go into this novel expecting anything as intricate or intriguing as Steig Larsson's novels.

Ireland by Frank Delaney

2011-04-08T12:17:00.000-05:00

Ireland by Frank Delaney

From just the title of this novel, you would think Delaney has bitten off more than what could be handled in a novel. But in a very unique and creative treatment, Delaney succeeds in telling the story of Ireland, while keeping the reader totally engaged. He employs the use of a somewhat mysterious storyteller (seanchai: Gaelic for storyteller) who travels the length and width of Ireland.

"One wintry evening in 1951, an itinerant storyteller - a Seanchai, the very last practitioner of a fabled tradition extending back hundreds of years - arrives unannounced at a house in the Irish countryside. In exchange for a bed and a warm meal, he invites his hosts and some of their neighbors to join him by the fireside, and begins to tell formative stories of Ireland's history." One of the listeners, the 9 year old boy in the household, Ronan, becomes so entranced by the old storyteller and his tales, that as he grows up, he pledges to himself to track down the storyteller. It becomes a story of self-discovery for Ronan, along with some surprising twists, as we learn more about Ireland and the storyteller.

The Washington Post states, "The stories of Irish history are familiar but still stirring, and Delaney brings a fresh perspective and a depth of understanding to the telling." Delaney succeeds in capturing the magic that is Ireland.

Council of the Cursed

2011-03-19T11:41:00.000-05:00

Council of the Cursed by Peter Tremayne I picked up this novel at the Bookshop in Kinsale, Ireland. This particular historical novel is set in 670 A.D. and is one in a series of novels featuring Sister Fidelma of Cashel, a much more engaging protaganist than Bruno, the main character in Heresy (see previous post). Tremayne seamlessly blends church history (e.g., Pope Vitalian's efforts to impose Rome's authority over disparate western churches) and political intrigue (e.g., among Britons, Angles, Saxons and Celts). I enjoyed the independent attitude and tradition of the early Celtic church that Fidelma and her partner Eadulf represents. At that time the religious, monks, priests and nuns, were allowed to marry. In fact one of conflicts being proposed at the Council of Autun in the book is to have each of the christian churches adhere to a new pledge of celibacy. The Celtic church held women in higher esteem than the Church of Rome. So it was difficult for Bishop Leodagar, representing the church of Rome, who had assembled the church leaders for this Council, to ask Fidelma and Eadulf, because of their reputation as sleuths, to help solve the murder of one of the delegates at the council. Leodagar is forced to give Fidelma, a woman, the right to roam the abbey and to question any of the priests or monks in attendance. Fidelma is pressed into service to solve the mystery so the Council to continue their sessions in order to report the results of their unification back to Rome. There is plenty of historical, political and religious conflict to go along with the whodunit portion of the story. Fidelma's ability to best her opponents, whether in argument, strategy or audacity, makes her a heroine for any age.

Heresy by S. J. Parris

2011-03-17T18:16:00.000-05:00

Heresy by S. J. Parris

This was one novel that did not live up to its synopsis or its cover. According to the publisher's description, a fugitive Italian monk, Giordano Bruno, a philosopher and heretical scientist, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church, because he questions the Church's stand on issues that are better defined and explained by science. Plus he was in possession of a banned manuscript, which places him in danger of prosecution by the Inquisition. Bruno, based on a real monk, flees Italy one step ahead of the Inquisition. Once again it sounds great, and apparently this part of the novel is based on real events in Giordano Bruno's life. Bruno flees to England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I for a debate at Oxford University, which recently underwent a purge of any Catholic loyalist professors. Most of the sitting professors chose to sign allegiance to the Church of England. Bruno is recruited by Francis Wallsingham (advisor to Queen Elizabeth) to watch members of the faculty for any indication of a Catholic plot to overthrow the monarchy. But his mission is thrown off course by a series of grisly murders. My biggest complaint is not with the plot, which does become a little convoluted, and a bit bizarre at times. Instead my problem is with the main character Bruno. Contrary to how the Washington Post says Parris portrays Bruno as, "sly, agile intelligence", I found him to be somewhat hapless and naive, bumbling from one situation or predicament to another. He even bumbles his debate against the Dean at Oxford University regarding the scientific view on Universe versus the religious view of the universe. Skip this novel and save your time for another historical novel, entitled Council of the Cursed by Peter Tremayne.

Searching for Schindler

2011-02-19T09:42:00.000-06:00

Searching for Schindler by Thomas Keneally

Here is another example of how a movie I saw many years ago has influenced or motivated me to locate more information about the subject of the movie. Ever since I saw Schindler's List, the Steven Spielberg masterpiece, I have not only read the book on which the movie is based, but I have read several other books about this amazing story.

The original story, Schindler's List or Schindler's Ark (Keneally's original title), is a phenomenal piece of literature. Ironically, and I remember wondering about this when I first read the book, it is classified as fiction. If you want to know the reason for this classification, you should pick up this book, Searching for Schindler. This is the story about how an Australian writer, Keneally, learned about this Nazi opportunist, researched his story, and interviewed many of the Schindler Juden throughout the world.

Thomas Keneally met Leopold “Poldek” Pfefferberg, the owner of a Beverly Hills luggage shop, in 1981 when he was searching for a new briefcase. Poldek, a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor, had a tale he wanted the world to know. The phenomenal success of the book and the film all hinges on this charming, charismatic, and persistent luggage shop owner in Beverly Hills. Poldek convinced Keneally to relate the incredible story of the all-drinking, womanizing, all-black-marketeering Nazi, Oskar Schindler. In spite of these "character flaws", Poldek states, "to me he was Jesus Christ.”

Searching for Schindler is the engrossing chronicle of Keneally’s pursuit of one of history’s most fascinating and paradoxical heroes. Any fan of the book or the movie will enjoy reading about the back story.

The Life and Times of an Irish Crime Reporter

2011-02-05T11:54:00.000-06:00

Veronica Guerin by Emily O'Reilly

As I have said many times before, movies frequently trigger what I read. In the case of this book, it was two movies that triggered my search for books about this story. I first learned of this story, when I happened to have rented the movie, When the Sky Falls with Joan Allen in the lead role, in 2001. Allen plays a public relations agent turned journalist, Sinead Hamilton, who becomes appalled at the corruption and drug trafficking occurring in the capital city of Ireland. This movie, based on the true story of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, came out just a year after the death of Guerin.

After I saw the movie, Veronica Guerin by Joel Schumacher, two years later, I knew I had to find out more about this person. I eventually was able to get my hands on this book by Emily O'Reilly, and another one, entitled Evil Empire: The Irish Mob and the Assassination of Journalist Veronica Guerin by Paul Williams. (I have not yet read this book).

The book (above) by O'Reilly is not a biography. Instead it is a critical analysis of Guerin's journalistic practices and her newspaper's (Sunday Independent) lack of editorial control and ethical standards. While O'Reilly praises Guerin for being a good journalist and writer, she accuses her of using unethical and risky methods to obtain information. O'Reilly also asserts that the Sunday Independent was aware of the dangers facing Guerin but did nothing to protect her.

Admittedly, I was taken aback by the direction of this book. But I decided, as a former journalist, that I needed to look at both sides of the story and controversy that has surrounded Veronica Guerin's tragic death. Kirkus Reviews calls O'Reilly's book, "A shallow, one-sided, and gratuitous indictment of slain Irish crime reporter Veronica Guerin and the Sunday Independent newspaper." The Sunday Independent is described by O'Reilly as a tabloid like paper only interested in sensationalizing stories and relating gossip. The author accuses the paper of intentionally using Guerin's determined approach in getting the story in order to market her as a crusading media star, only exposing her to more danger. To a certain extent O'Reilly does present a valid argument. This should not diminish the tragic circumstances and one's admiration for a real journalist who risked her life to get the whole story.

The movie is a must see. When I get a chance to read the Evil Empire book, I will let you know how that book presents Veronica Guerin's life.

The O'Sullivan March

2011-02-05T10:55:00.000-06:00

March into Oblivion by Michael J. Carroll

Not many people are aware of this particular event in Irish history, unless of course you are Irish. I first became aware of this particular event when I came upon a novel by Morgan Llywelyn, entitled "The Last Prince of Ireland". The last prince refers to Donal Cam O'Sullivan.
(So you can understand what enticed me to read this novel about ten years ago).

Our recent trip to Ireland last summer and a stop in Kinsale, County Cork, resurrected this story for me. The story of The O'Sullivan's last march is directly tied to the Battle of Kinsale. Donal Cam brought his forces from the west coast area of Bantry Bay down to the southern coast at Kinsale to join with the northern clans who marched the length of Ireland to join up with the Spanish troops, pinned down at Kinsale by the English. The Irish clans saw this as a perfect opportunity to join their forces with the Spanish in an effort to defeat the English.

The history of Ireland has its share of tragedies, but none is more poignant, or more decisive, than the battle of Kinsale. It was at Kinsale that the Gaelic nobility was resolutely crushed by the English invaders. This defeat led to nearly four hundred years of English domination.

Donal Cam, determined after the battle not to surrender his homeland, flees with his clan to the Ulster Province in the north of Ireland to join forces with the clans of Red Hugh O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell, with whom he fought beside at Kinsale. This is a considerably shorter novel than Llywelyn's "Last Prince of Ireland", but equally and as meticulously based on documented historical data.

City of Shadows

2011-02-05T09:44:00.000-06:00

City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

The one aspect of this novel I really enjoyed was how Franklin recreated the environment, the mood or atmosphere of post World War I Germany. The German government is in crisis, inflation is staggering, anti-Semitism is rife, citizens are starving and Hitler has begun his rise to power. With the resurgence of fanatical groups in this country and others over the past decade, I have often wondered how a person like Adolph Hitler could possibly have come to power. How could an educated German populace buy into and allow a fanatic such as Hitler to gain power? Franklin does a tremendous job of using her major characters to reveal how citizens of Berlin were thinking and feeling in regards to the political and economic situation in Berlin. There are some scenes in her novel that are riveting and ominous at the same time. Such as when one burned out police detective, sitting in the back corner of a cafe' near police headquarters, warns the main character Inspector Schmidt of the insidious nature of the Nazi party. Using extensive research, Franklin evokes the hectic, Cabaret mood of 1920s Berlin and the growing appeal to the Germans of Hitler's brand of aggressive nationalism. You come away with a greater understanding of how someone like Hitler, in the wake of the hyper-inflation and shame arising from defeat in World War I, was able to gain control and convince the German people that he had the answers. Frightening and Chilling!

With that as a backdrop, Franklin intricately weaves a murder mystery and a hunt for a serial killer with the Nazi's rise to power. Kirkus sums up the plot with these two questions, Could one of the Czar's daughters have survived the massacre of the Russian royal family at Ekaterinburg? And who is the hulking murderer slaughtering women in the German capital? I will admit that the initial plot using the "possible existence" of Anastasia, daughter of the last Czar, at first almost turned me away from this historical thriller by Franklin. But in the end there is a lot to enjoy in this well researched, atmospheric novel.

NOTE: I have posted previous reviews of the author's Mistress of the Art of Death. You can read about those Ariana Franklin novels by clicking on the May 2010 postings.

Little Known Women in History

2011-01-13T13:37:00.000-06:00

If you have followed this blog, you will remember that I commented on how my reading interests are often influenced by movies I have seen. This particular post will deal with two dominant women from the past, but probably little known. They are: Hypatia and Grace O'Malley.

After seeing the film, "Agora", I became interested in learning more about the tragic heroine of that film, Hypatia. So I decided to track down any books I could find about this extraordinary woman from Alexandria, Egypt. First I read:

Title: Hypatia of Alexandria / Maria Dzielska ; translated by F. Lyra.

Then I read: Hypatia of Alexandria: mathematician and martyr / Michael A.B. Deakin. Both of these books are more scholarly works from academians who have studied Hypatia and her influence on mathematics, philosophy and astronomy.

If you go into the library's Biography in Context, you will obtain articles from several reference sources, including the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Notable Mathematicians and Astronomy and Space: from the Big Bang to the Big Crunch.

The other nonfiction story about a little known woman of history was:

Ireland's Pirate Queen: The True Story of Grace O'Malley, 1530-1603 by Anne Chambers

Born in 1530, the daughter of an Irish chieftain, she inherited her father's taste for the seafaring life and eventually took command of his fleet of galleys and their hard-bitten, all-male crews. For fifty years she traded the clan's produce in Ireland, Scotland, and Spain, skillfully practiced the time-honored craft of piracy and plundering, and led rebellions against the invading English.
On land and sea she was a fearless leader, a political pragmatist, a ruthless mercenary, and a shrewd negotiator -- as shown in her fabled meeting with her rival and protector, Queen Elizabeth. And yet, as thrilling and fascinating as her life story is, what happened to her after her life is equally instructive.
She was literally "disappeared" from the pages of history, ignored by the official chroniclers and omitted from the great books of Irish and English history. Obviously, a woman who challenged the might of England and the traditional power of men -- a woman who did not let religious, social, or political convention get in her way -- could not be tolerated. But Grace O'Malley could not be erased from the hearts of her countrymen. Granuaile became a beloved figure in Irish folklore, the subject of countless stories, songs, and poems (several of which are included in this book's appendix).

The Troubles by Tim Pat Coogan

2010-11-18T12:56:00.000-06:00

The Troubles by Tim Pat Coogan

I bought this book back when it first came out in 1996, and it has sat on my bookshelf for the past 13 years. I have always followed and read a great deal about the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. And I believe I had a pretty fair understanding of the various issues that exploded on our TV screens during the 70's and 80's. I remember thinking how the media always seemed to focus on just the IRA. Many Americans probably never heard of the UVF or the Unionists, the Loyalists, the UDA or how about the Shankill Butcher. Because I had a preternatural inclination to follow the news in Ireland and a desire to know more about what was really happening, I sought out books like Tim Pat Coogan's "The Troubles". So why didn't I pick it up sooner?

When you first look at it, the book is quite daunting. Did I really want to bury myself in a topic that I knew would be tragic, heartbreaking and wrenching? And now that there finally is a sense of hope to the situation in Northern Ireland, why would I want to revisit it? I will attribute my decision to finally pick up The Troubles after all these years, to the fact that I actually had an opportunity to visit Northern Ireland this past summer and actually walk the streets and the areas of Belfast and Derry that dominated the news. It was an experience I will never forget. We had the experience of hearing about these events from people that lived it. This gave me an even greater appreciation, understanding and insight into exactly what it must of have been like to live in a constant state of uncertainty and fear. This experience gave me a greater desire to read more about it.

In fact the taxi driver, Gerard, who gave us a personalized taxi tour of the Falls Road (Catholic area of Belfast) and Shankill Road (Protestant area), recommended several more titles of insightful and accurate reporting of the situation in Northern Ireland to read. One particular title, "The Enemy Within" by Martin Dillon, was Gerard's personal copy, which he gave to me. If you are interested in a bibliography of Irish literature titles that include these titles related to the "Troubles" or of titles related to the history of Irish independence, I will be glad to post such a bibliography on the Reader's Cafe' blog.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

2010-11-01T14:03:00.001-05:00

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

This is the final installment of the phenomenally successful Millenium Trilogy. And I am really going to miss the main characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Anyone who loves intricate plots, intrigue, suspense with well developed characters, will love these three books. You not only get to know these two characters, but you also come to really care about them.

It is such a tragic story of the author, Stieg Larsson, who died about a month after delivering the manuscripts of all three novels to his publisher. He died tragically from a heart attack at the age of 50. He did not live to see what a phenomenon his first novels have become.

Larsson was an investigative journalist and an activist who worked to counter the actions of right-wing radical groups in Sweden. In fact I believe Larsson patterned his main male protaganist, Mikael Blomkvist, after his own life as an investigative journalist.

As I said about the first two novels, the same holds true with this last novel. You will not want to miss this last installment. And like so many of us, you will mourn the fact that there may never be a fourth novel with Blomkvist and Salander. According to news reports, Larsson was nearing completion to a fourth novel in the series, before he died suddenly. His family claims that it will never be published.

All of us Millenium fans can still enjoy the Swedish made films of the three novels. The first two are out on DVD and the third novel, Hornet's Nest, is in theaters now. We also have the American film versions to look forward to in 2011.

I have purchased copies of all three novels for the RHS Library. They hopefully will be here by Thanksgiving.

Girl Who Played With Fire

2010-09-04T11:50:00.000-05:00

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

I just finished the second book in Larsson's Millenium Series, and once again it held me captive. This sequel focuses more on the main female character, Lisbeth Salander, providing you with more insight and understanding into her character. I don't want to give any background into the plot, because this story is better if you go into it without any preconceived ideas of the plot and the characters. It is better if you just let Larsson pull you into the story and then let it unfold in front of you as you are drawn into its complex web of intrigue. The only thing I will say is that when you finish this second in the series, you don't have a choice, you will have to pick up the third novel in this series: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which I have already done.

Sit back and just enjoy the ride!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2010-08-19T19:03:00.000-05:00

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

If you have not yet picked up this bestseller, then you must as soon as possible. I will guarantee that you will not be able to put it down. Not only that, but after you finish this first novel in the Millenium trilogy, you will immediately run out and purchase the second in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I just started reading this second in the trilogy. Larsson's third in the series is entitled, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

To echo some reviewers, this is the quintessential page turner. But it is much more than your run of the mill mystery. This novel has everything, from mystery, political intrigue, industrial espionage, spies, computer hacking, murder, suspense, romance, good old fashioned revenge and two, well developed main characters that you will come to respect, enjoy and care for. In fact all of the major characters are well developed. Larsson writes in such a way that it makes you feel like you are seeing what that person is thinking.

It has been awhile since I have read a book that is this engrossing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Get it and read it!!

Sunflowers: a novel of Vincent Van Gogh

2010-08-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Sunflowers: a novel of Vincent Van Gogh
by Sheramy Bundrick

Much has been written about Vincent Van Gogh, his life, his mental condition and his paintings. But no one has attempted to weave a historical novel around the facts, the paintings and documents that survive this artistic genius who took his own life at the age of 37.

First of all, Sheramy Bundrick is an art historian and professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. While she has written a couple of scholarly works dealing with classical Greek images and Roman portraiture, this is her first novel. Bundrick does a masterful job of infusing well-known historical moments (like Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation) with vivid details, while humanizing Van Gogh and putting his famous works in context. Bundrick generates a very believable scenario of what the last two years of Van Gogh's life might have been like if he had developed a relationship with the young woman, to whom he delivered his severed ear. The young "fille de maison's" name was Rachel, and surviving historical sources reveal nothing of the real Rachel. This enables Professor Bundrick to fully develop and breath life into this character.

The way Bundrick skillfully weaves several of Van Gogh's paintings into the narrative, will have you seeking a book of his paintings to compare how each painting is described, discussed or presented in the novel. Bundrick, as an art historian, naturally has conducted extensive research into the last two years of Van Gogh's life, pulling from his letters to his brother Theo and other works, to recreate Van Gogh's experiences in the the town of Arles, the asylum of Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy, and his death in Auvers-Sur-Oise.

As a long time admirer of Van Gogh's paintings and having stood, literally within, awe inspiring inches of many of his masterpieces, this novel brings the artist and his paintings to life. Vincent Van Gogh was well known for corresponding with his brother Theo. Here is the link to a digital edition of the complete collection of his letters. http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/

This fascinating collection was created by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute. On the site, visitors can view 902 letters from and to Van Gogh, complete with detailed annotations and illustrations from the master himself. First-time visitors should definitely click on the"Quick Guide" to get an overview of the site’s holdings, and then they should also take a look at the sections "Van Gogh as a letter-writer","Correspondents", "Biographical & historical context", and "Publication History". The letters include those from many of his contemporaries, including Paul Gauguin, and of course, those lovely pieces of writing from his brother, Theo. Users can also use the search engine here to look around by keyword.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

2010-08-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

A retired Sherlock Holmes takes on a young, female apprentice. While this scenario is quite plausible, and lends itself to a unique twist on the Sherlock Holmes genre. The one area I would question is the age at which King introduces her protagonist, Mary Russell. Mary Russell is just 15 years old, when she comes across a gaunt, elderly man sitting on the ground, "watching bees.'' This gentleman turns out to be Sherlock Holmes, and the resulting acquaintance evolves into a mentoring experience for the young woman. As a Sherlockian, I had difficulty accepting the premise that Holmes would have too much to do with a 15 year old with a smart mouth on her. I believe King should have made her protagonist a couple years older to make it more plausible.

However, the novel quickly ages Mary Russell and has her attending Oxford and coming of age for her inheritance. I will add that as the relationship between Russell and Holmes matures, you will find yourself naturally buying into the apprenticeship and the crime solving partnership. King has created an original and entertaining series for any Sherlock Holmes fans. The story is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue, with Holmes and his young apprentice, Mary Russell, matching wits with some of the finer criminal minds of the times.

The novel flows well and the suspense is building appropriately, until suddenly, King chooses to have her two main characters flee England for Palestine to escape an unknown assassin. This one chapter slows down the narrative and does nothing to carry the story forward. It is almost as if the author, King, wanted to find a way to comment on Palestine and Jerusalem and the future Jewish homeland.

Everything else about this book rings true, from the ambience of World War I England to the intriguing relationship between Holmes and Mary Russell...enough for me to seek out the second in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes partnership.

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

2010-07-06T09:06:00.000-05:00

The Death and Life of the Great American School System:
How Testing and Choice are undermining Education by Diane Ravitch

From the subtitle of this book, you would think it was written by some liberal former educator. But actually Diane Ravitch is a former Assistant Secretary of Education under President H. W. Bush, and a one time strong supporter of NCLB, charter schools and choice. But Ravitch also is a Research Professor of Education at New York University, who believes in researching and examining whether these decades long methods have actually succeeded. Ravitch, once a passionate advocate for these conservative policies of testing and accountability, school choice, privatization, and business-style management, powerfully shows that these reform methods actually leave students trained to take tests but not prepared to participate in the 21st-century economy.

Changes she suggests include curricula that emphasizes all subject areas and not just reading and mathematics. She stresses the importance of having a comprehensive curriculum that teaches students to think, analyze, question and research the content in social studies, literature, science, music and art. Ravitch emphasizes that students need to be taught these subjects from professional educators rather than politicians, business leaders, and philanthropists, who currently are running and controlling the education system.

She systematically blows holes in the effectiveness of NCLB with the emphasis on testing and accountability. She states that no single policy has warped classroom life more than the NCLB testing regime. And she skewers the Obama Administration and Secretary Duncan for their obsession with charter schools, in spite of a 2009 study, funded by pro-charter groups, that show that 83% of charter schools do not perform any better than the public schools, in fact 37% had learning gains that were significantly below those of local public schools.

The most frightening chapter in the book is called, the 'Billionaire Boy's Club". Ravitch focuses on three major corporate foundations in education (Gates, Walton and Broad Foundations). These three have the money to "buy" and dictate whatever they want. Ravitch illustrates that even when the results of their more than adequately financed education approaches fail, they choose to ignore these negative results, and shift their money elsewhere. But the public never hears about the failures.

While this book is definitely worth reading by any person who cares about public education and would like to know the truth behind the effectiveness of NCLB, testing and charter schools, there are three shortcomings in the book.

First, Ravitch states that “American education has a long history of infatuation with fads and ill-considered ideas. The current obsession with making our schools work like a business may be the worst of them, for it threatens to destroy public education. Who will stand up to the tycoons and politicians and tell them so?” However Ravitch fails to point out that this current obsession is not the making of the public school system or educators, instead it is the creation of the corporations that will profit from this approach, and the politicians that are beholding to those corporations and not to their constituents, who actually use the public schools.

Second, Ravitch fails to specify that not all public schools are failing. It is primarily the urban schools with low-income kids that need help and improvement. Thousands of kids throughout this country go to good public schools, many of them are excellent.

Third, her suggestions of what should be done to improve the country's education system and the "low performing schools" are offered without a prescription of how to implement these changes, especially when the current education system is controlled and dictated by politicians, business leaders, and ideologically driven philanthropists. My question is how do you get the people in power, like Obama & Duncan, to start listening to the people that truly understand education? People like Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jonathan Kozol and others.

As I stated earlier, you should read this book in spite of these three shortcomings.

Brendan by Morgan Llywelyn

2010-06-29T20:28:00.000-05:00

Brendan: The remarkable life and voyage of Brendan of Clonfert by Morgan Llywelyn

Being a student of Irish history, I naturally was drawn to this new book by Morgan Llywelyn. I have read several books by Llywelyn, and I will add that I have loved each of them. She is a tremendous historical story teller. She really brings legends, history and Celtic mythology to life.

This is the story of Saint Brendán the Navigator, whose legendary quest to find the Isle of the Blessed is one of the most remarkable and enduring of early Christian tales. Among Irish saints, Brendán the Navigator is second only to St. Patrick. Llywelyn bases her story on the medieval text “Life of St. Brendan,” and retells it in the form of a personal journal written by an elderly Brendan, as he reflects on his life and his constant wanderlust to travel and explore new worlds. (Just a footnote on Brendan, there is speculation that it was Brendan who actually first discovered North America.)

We follow a restless, headstrong, and curious Brendan, who embarks on dangerous pilgrimages first by land and then several different voyages by sea. He travels with his pet raven, Préachán, who becomes a character in himself through Llyweln's beautiful prose. In fact you mourn with Brendan when he finally has to bury his fine feathered friend.

Llywelyn's narrative is laced with fifth-century Irish history and lore, and climaxes with a fantastic voyage of mythical proportions, when Brendan sets out with 14 other monks in handmade Irish vessel, called a currach, to cross the Western sea in search of the earthy paradise, the "Isle of Blest".

Llywelyn has been referred to as a modern day Bard of Ireland. A few of her other books, well worth picking up and reading include: The Lion of Ireland, The Last Prince of Ireland, her Irish troubles series: 1916, 1921, 1949, 1972 and 1999.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower

2010-06-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude by Claude Izner

To be honest with you, I was disappointed in this mystery. For a couple of reasons. First you never really know why the protaganist, Victor Legris, a bookseller, decides to "investigate" a series of murders that take place on or around the Eiffel Tower. Second, in spite of a muddied plot, I guessed who the murderer was without any real clues being left.

The review from Barnes and Noble had this to say about this first in a series of novels with the bookseller, Victor Legris, as the amateur sleuth. "the mystery has its share of problems -- among them: thinly drawn characters and wooden dialogue...." Perhaps the best part is the historical setting, the 1889 Paris World Exposition.

I would avoid this mystery series and focus on the various other mystery series mentioned on this blog, like: Death at La Fenice or any of the Mistress of the Art of Death novels, or Blind Justice. And of course you can never go wrong picking up any of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

The Shadow Elite by Janine R. Wedel

2010-06-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

The Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market by Janine R. Wedel

This title may sound like some conspiracy theory. But contrary to what the title may sound like, this expose was not written by some right or left wing pundit or some "over the edge" conspiracy theorist, who sees a conspiracy behind every major event. This is a scholarly work written by an anthropologist.

Janine R. Wedel is a Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and a fellow at the New America Foundation. Using her expertise in Eastern European communist governments, Wedel has pulled together a shocking expose of those individuals dismantling U.S. democracy from the inside.

I will warn you, it is a slow read and the first chapter might discourage you from reading on. But once you get through the first chapter, where Wedel labels the new breed of U.S. political operators as "flexians," and their personal networks as "flex nets", the rest of the book flows a little easier. She defines "flexians" as lobbyists, government insiders or elected officials that converge into a single network "snaking through official and private organizations, creating a loop that is closed to democratic processes."

Wedel shows how a flexian can gain extraordinary insider knowledge and influence in order to custom-tailor a version of the "truth" benefitting the highest bidder. In this way, they not only "co-opt public policy agendas" but "craft policy with their benefactors' purposes in mind."

Wedel does more than just create descriptive labels, she names names and provides concrete examples of the connections between these flexians and their various organizations. These same influential people seem to reappear time after time in different professional guises, pressing their own agendas in one venue after another.

Wedel charts how this shadow elite, loyal only to their own, challenge both governments’ rules of accountability and business codes of competition to accomplish their own goals. From the Harvard economists who helped privatize post-Soviet Russia and the neoconservatives who have helped privatize American foreign policy (culminating with the debacle that is Iraq) to the many private players who daily make public decisions without public input, these manipulators both grace the front pages and operate behind the scenes. While you will recognize many of the names, it is their actions and how they manipulate events to their advantage that remain in the shadows.

Death in La Fenice by Donna Leon

2010-05-24T09:04:00.000-05:00

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

This mystery practically reads like a screenplay. You can visualize each scene as you are reading. This is the first in a mystery series with Guido Brunetti as the vice-commissario of police and detective genius. And to be honest it won't be my last. I enjoyed this book. It is a quick and engrossing read. Plus the setting of story is Venice. Having recently visited Venice, it was easy for me to visualize the descriptions provided by Leon, who currently resides in Venice. Just as the author is enamored by the location, so am I. You quickly become fascinated with anything that has to do with Venice. Leon's description of the city at night, jives with my memory. Unlike other major European cities that come alive at night, Venice settles down at night, making you wonder, where did all those people go that were crowding the calli (alleyways of Venice) during the day.

Beautiful and serene Venice is a city almost devoid of crime. But that is little comfort to Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who is poisoned one night during intermission. As Guido Brunetti, vice-commissario of police and a genius of detection, pieces together the clues, a shocking picture of depravity and revenge emerges.

As Library Journal states, "you certainly won't want to go to Italy, especially Venice, without bringing a few Donna Leon mysteries featuring Commissario Brunetti, whose love of good food and despair about corruption in Italian politics play prominent roles in every book."

So pick up Donna Leon and start following the exploits of Commissario Brunetti.

A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

2010-05-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

This is the second novel in Franklin's Mistress in the Art of Death series. The first novel, with that as its title, introduces Franklin's strong female protaganist, a Medieval forensic specialist by the name of Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar.

The first in the series, Mistress of the Art of Death, is set in the era of Henry II of England, who calls on his cousin the King of Sicily-whose subjects include the best medical experts in Europe-and asks for his finest "master of the art of death," an early version of the medical examiner, to help uncover a killer of small children in Cambridge, England. The King of Sicily sends his best "forensic pathologist", who just happens to be a young woman, Adelia Aguilar. In Medieval England, a woman doctor would never be accepted, and most likely viewed as a witch. Adelia has to travel with a male companion, Mansur, a Moor, who speaks Arabic. Adelia is able to pose as the intrepreter.

This series needs to be read in sequence, because all the main characters are introduced in Mistress of the Art of Death, and subsequently appear in The Serpent's Tale. In this sequel, King Henry II's mistress is found poisoned, and suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia, expert in the science of death, to investigate-and hopefully stave off a civil war.

The third in the series, of which I am currently engrossed is entitled, Grave Goods. While I have enjoyed all of this series, Grave Goods, really delivers the goods in terms of suspense (a page turner) and historical fiction. Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death series is a beautiful blend of history, forensics, mystery and suspense. You could call this series, Bones in King Henry's court.
This is a relaxing, enjoyable and an engrossing series, with a great female protagonist. I would recommend investing your time in this series.

Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill

2010-04-24T15:25:00.000-05:00

Blackwater : the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army

This is a scary book. Even if you thought you knew something about the rise of this private firm, that provides "military troops for hire", and its close ties to the Department of Defense, you will be taken aback by how insidious this whole trend toward privatizing our military really is. President Eisenhower, who warned us of the possibility of allowing the military industrial complex to learn what has transpired in regards to our military and the Department of Defense.

In this brilliant expose by investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill, you will meet BLACKWATER USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world.

Blackwater was founded by an extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian mega-millionaire ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, the scion of a wealthy conservative family that bankrolls far-right-wing causes. This book is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf to Washington DC, where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror.

It took me awhile to pick this book up, because I knew it would disturb me. But it is a story that needs to be told and read, not just by U.S. citizens, but by the people in power, who might be motivated to pass legislation that would transfer control of the military back to the people and elected officials in the executive branch, as well as the Department of Defense and the State Department.

MN Author Will Weaver to visit RHS

2010-03-30T08:17:00.000-05:00

Award winning Minnesota Author, Will Weaver

will be visiting Rosemount High School on Friday afternoon, April 16 during periods 6 and 7. His program will be held in the Performing Arts Center, so there should be plenty of room for several classes.

Will Weaver writes fiction for adults and young adults. He was born in northern Minnesota in 1950 and grew up on a dairy farm. His novels and short stories have earned the praises of reviewers from coast-to-coast for their unflinching realism. Each novel in his Billy Baggs series (Striking Out, Farm Team, and Hard Ball) was honored as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.

His novel Memory Boy (2001) is used widely in schools across the United States. Following the novel, Claws (2001), his novel Full Service (coming of age in the Vietnam era) won starred reviews and was also listed as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Defect (about being different) was a winner of the 2008 Minnesota Book Award, is the story of a young man with a miraculous birth abnormality.

A Prolific Writer

Saturday Night Dirt, a novel focused on stock car racing, was released in April, 2008. A sequel, Super Stock Rookie, was released in April 2009. And a third in the trilogy, Checkered Flag Cheater, is due ouit this month. A sequel to Memory Boy should be out in late 2010.

Weaver describes his presentation as an integrated program on reading and the process of writing. He states, “My presentation comes at reading, literacy and the value of books from a “stealth” direction: through the attention-getter of a race car, and then to my novels for young adults, and then Q & A about how a writer writes, and so on."

Be sure to visit his website for more information....

http://www.willweaverbooks.com/pages/youngadult.php

The Last Campaign by Thurston Clarke

2010-03-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

I had just turned 18 a week before Robert F. Kennedy was shot. I remember my father coming down to wake up my older brother and myself, and breaking the news that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. It was somewhat devastating then, but being 18, I wasn't really into politics.

More than 40 years later, much more involved and informed, and reading this book by Thurston Clarke hasn't made it any easier. Clarke provides an insight into Bobby Kennedy, the man and the politician, that could only be obtained from the people that knew and campaigned with RFK in the last 82 days of his life. Anyone who would like to gain greater insight and a better understanding of this charismatic leader should pick this book up.

After JFK's assassination, Robert Kennedy--Jack's political warrior--almost lost hope. He was devastated by his brother's murder, and by the nation's inabilities to solve its problems of race, poverty, and the war in Vietnam. Bobby sensed the country's pain, and when he announced that he was running for president, the country united behind his hopes. Over the action-packed days of his campaign, Americans were inspired by Kennedy's promise of a better time. And after an assassin's bullet stopped this last great stirring public figure of the 1960s, crowds in the thousands lined up along the country's railroad tracks to say goodbye to Bobby as his funeral train made its way from New York to Washington D.C.

Historian Clarke provides an absorbing historical narrative that goes right to the heart of America's deepest despairs and tells us more than we had understood before about this complicated man and the heightened personal, racial, political, and national dramas of his times.

The Angel's Game

2010-03-01T10:34:00.000-06:00

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I was really looking forward to reading this novel by Spanish writer, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really enjoyed his first novel, translated into English, entitled "Shadow of the Wind". Shadow of the Wind is a beautifully written story about a young boy and the mystery that surrounds a book he chooses, or it may be the other way around, from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. However this a much darker and sinister story.

The Angel's Game once again incorporates a secret visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for David Martin, the main character. This is an intricately plotted novel, with parallels to Great Expectations (the book by Dickens does play a role in the story) and Faust by Goethe. David, who starts out as cub reporter for a Barcelona newspaper, and is recruited by the editor, because he has a talent for telling tales, to write serial stories for the paper, entitled ''The Mysteries of Barcelona''. David moves on from the newspaper work and begins to write cheap "B" grade tales for a local publisher under a pseudonym. This success enables him to buy an abandoned tower house he was always interested in. His life begins to unravel, from the pressure of pumping out the cheap, sensationalized novels and the mysteries that surround his new home.

David is given the opportunity to break out of his literary rut, when a French publisher, Andreas Corelli, offers him a significant sum to write just one novel. This Faustian bargain that David enters into, unfortunately, further leads to his unraveling. The literary project in which Corelli has enlisted David winds up involving him in all manner of deceptions and outright crimes, including a fair number of violent deaths (NY Times Book Review).

Zafon at times is a beautiful writer and quite a storyteller. His prose, at times, flows like poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow of the Wind. However, while the Angel's Game started out with that same mystical and mysterious tone, it seemed to spiral out of control like a promising horror film that ultimately turns into just another slasher film. But I will say, his closing chapter pulled me back from that dark abyss that David Martin was in, and brought tears to my eyes. Zafon weaves such a spell that you will stay with David and ultimately find yourself caring for what happens to him.

The Fleet Street Murders

2010-02-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

While this is the third book in the Charles Lenox series, you do not need to read these novels sequentially. I was not aware of this 19th century London sleuth, until I came upon this book at B&N. Being a Sherlock Holmes fan, this book naturally caught my attention.

There are several parallels to Conan Doyle's iconic character, including a couple of sidekicks, a friendly member of Scotland Yard. But Charles Lenox is more of an amateur detective and a gentleman. Here is a quick summary of the story:
It’s Christmas, 1866, and amateur sleuth Charles Lenox, recently engaged to his best friend, Lady Jane Grey, is happily celebrating the holiday in his Mayfair townhouse. Across London, however, two journalists have just met with violent deaths--one shot, one throttled. Lenox soon involves himself in the strange case, which proves only more complicated as he digs deeper. However, he must leave it behind to go north to Stirrington, where he is fulfilling a lifelong dream: running for a Parliamentary seat. Racing back and forth between London and Stirrington, Lenox must negotiate the complexities of crime and politics, not to mention his imperiled engagement. As the case mounts, Lenox learns that the person behind the murders might be closer to him--and his beloved--than he knows (think Moriarty type character).

While the novel bounces back and forth between Lenox's interest in the two murders, and his commitment to running for a seat in Parliament in northern England, it is still a fun read and another interesting mystery series. Fleet Street did pique my interest in picking up Charles Finch's two previous Lenox novels: A Beautiful Blue Death, which was nominated for an Agatha Award and named one of Library Journal's Best Books of 2007 and The September Society.

Two Powerful Literary Voices Gone

2010-01-29T07:30:00.000-06:00

To view biographical entries for both of these literary giants from Biography Resource Center, Click Here:

As a reader, I am mourning the passing of two great literary voices...

J.D. Salinger

Generations of students and teachers have been forever changed by author J.D. Salinger and his acclaimed novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger, the reclusive author of Catcher and numerous other books and stories, has died, but his stories live on in the canons of great literature. Although Holden Caulfield is Salinger's best-known character, most of Salinger's writing featured incredibly intelligent, sensitive, children or adults who had trouble functioning in the real world. Many would say that J.D. Salinger was writing about himself as the Catcher in the Rye.

Howard Zinn

We also mourn the loss of author, activist, historian and beloved folk hero Howard Zinn. I don't know how many knew this, but it was Howard Zinn who protected copies of the Pentagon Papers for Daniel Ellsberg, and even hid them in his apartment for awhile. Zinn, never afraid to stand up against injustice, testified as an expert witness at Daniel Ellsberg's criminal trial.

Ellsberg writes that his friend is “the best human being I’ve ever known [and] the best example of what a human can be.” I would say that kind of sums up Howard Zinn's life.

Author of "A People's History of the United States" (1980) and numerous other works, Zinn surveyed all of American history from the point of view of the working classes and minority groups. He documented the history of race, sex, and class; the history of civil disobedience; how his hope for a more egalitarian society had been frustrated, and how a small, upper-class elite had retained its hold on power and wealth.

The Trilogy is Complete

2010-01-26T10:09:00.000-06:00

If you recall an earlier post of mine from this past summer, I was looking forward to obtaining the final copy in the Robin Hood trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. Well for Christmas, I received the third book in his trilogy...Tuck.

And it was worth the wait. This is one of those series that you don't want to see end. Unfortunately this is the final installment of a completely reimagined telling of the Robin Hood legend. If you recall, I stated earlier that Lawhead places Robin or Rhi Bran y Hud-(Robin Hood) in Wales and in an earlier time period. Lawhead skillfully introduces all of the key characters from Robin's merry band from Little John, Will Scarlet, Merian, the Sheriff, Guy of Gysburne. And instead of King John, we have King William Rufus.
The novel concludes as Abbot Hugo and the Norman invaders attempt to wipe out King Raven (Robin Hood). Rhi Bran uses this 'mythological' symbol of the raven as a disguise to intimidate and frighten the superstitious knights of the Norman invaders.

This final book focuses on Friar Tuck, who was introduced in the first book in the trilogy, Hood, and appears in the second book, Scarlet. Tuck is a most unconventional priest, and he has a daring solution to Robin's dilemma of trying to regain the throne to his family's territory of Elfael, that has been taken over by the Freincs (French).

While this trilogy will radically alter all you've known about the legendary figure known as Robin Hood, it is well worth the shake up. Speaking of which, there is a new film about Robin Hood coming this Spring with Russell Crowe as the legendary outlaw. You can bet I will be in line to see this interpretation of the Robin Hood legend.

ALA Announces Literary Awards

2010-01-20T15:41:00.000-06:00

Click on the link below to view a list of the Award Winners, including The Newbery and Caldecott Awards. In case you are not familiar with the various awards, here is a list of the awards and what they honor.

Caldecott Medal: is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Newbery Medal: is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Michael L. Printz Award: is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Coretta Scott King Award: annually recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience.
Theodore Seuss Geisel Award: established in 2004 is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children's literature known as beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year.
Schneider Family Book Award: honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Pura Belpre' Award: presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award: honors the most distinguished informational book published in English in the preceding year for its significant contribution to children's literature.
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award: honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 to October 31 publishing year.
Andrew Carnegie Medal: honors the most outstanding video productions for children released during the previous year.

To see a list of the winners, click on the .pdf file below:
http://www.mackin.com/PDFs/ALAAwardsJan2010.PDF

Holiday Reading

2010-01-04T08:42:00.001-06:00

I got through two books this holiday season. I finished reading "Defiance". This is the book that the movie, Defiance, was based on. It is a tremendous film, if you have not seen it yet. Defiance deals with a little known account of a Jewish "Ostriad" or Resistance group, that chose to fight the Nazis.

This true story focuses primarily on Tuvia Bielski, the oldest of three brothers, that created this Jewish resistance group and provided a refuge for Jews escaping from the various ghettoes in Poland and Belorussia, before being shipped to concentration camps. The book is well written and researched by Nechama Tec.

Drawing on wide-ranging research and original interviews with survivor partisans--including charismatic leader Tuvia Bielski himself, two weeks before his death in 1987--Tec reconstructs the lives of those in the community and tells how they survived in a hostile environment.

Read the book and then rent the movie.

Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander

Two of my favorite genres to read are historical fiction and mysteries. This book is a combination of the two. Alexander recreates London in 1768 with a cast of characters that will remind you of Dickens' list of colorful characters.

This is the first of a series featuring Sir John Fielding, a magistrate who in the 18th Century co-founded London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners. Sir John Fielding, the brother of the author Henry Fielding, is blind.

Sir John is a brilliant, compassionate magistrate of London's Bow Street Court. The book is written in the first person, with the narrator being one of the main characters. He is Jeremy Proctor, a 13-year-old orphan who serves as Fielding's eyes. The series opens with the "suicide" of a lord known for his gambling and extra-marital affairs. While the scenario of his death is not unique to mystery readers, in which Lord Richard Goodhope is discovered shot through the head, gun at his feet, behind the locked door of his library. So is it suicide or is it a murder?

Alexander also employs the standard resolution of a murder mystery, where all of the suspects are brought together to 'smoke' out and resolve the mystery at the scene of the crime.

This was a relaxing, enjoyable read wrapped around a great story brought to life during a fascinating time in history. Now all I need to do is research the Bow Street Runners and the history of law enforcement in 18th century London.

Bruce Alexander was the pseudonym for Bruce Cook, who died in 2003. He was the author of eleven novels in the Sir John Fielding mystery series. Now that I have been introduced to Sir John Fielding and Jeremy, I believe I will investigate this pair of 18th century London crime fighters further.

The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

2009-12-07T07:43:00.001-06:00

You might want to label this book by Matthew Pearl as a novel about a novel. The novel, which lies at the heart of this story, is Charles Dickens' last, but incomplete, novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens died of a stroke at the age of 59, before he could complete the final installments of this novel.

Matthew Pearl weaves a tremendous tale involving the authorized U.S. Publisher of all Dickens' works, Fields, Osgood & company, as they scramble to determine if Dickens left any indication as to how the Mystery of Edwin Drood will be resolved. The first six installments of the novel are stolen from Osgood's trusted clerk, Daniel Sand, who is killed before he can deliver the manuscript to the publishing house, and the manuscript disappears.

Could Osgood's publishing rivals, using bookaneers (book pirates), have stolen it, or is there an even deeper mystery going on? Accompanied by Daniel's sister, Rebecca, Osgood travels to England to search for clues about how Dickens planned on finishing Drood, unaware his enemies are close at hand. Pearl enriches his story through extended flashbacks, the inclusion of actual historical figures, including Osgood himself, and an in-depth knowledge of Dickens' career and literary works. I strongly recommended this one.

Other good reads from Matthew Pearl include: The Dante Club and Poe's Shadow. There is also another book that paints a scenario on Dickens' last novel, entitled: Drood by Dan Simmons. I haven't read it yet, but it is now on my ever growing list of books to read.

A Story of Espionage, Love and Betrayal

2009-10-20T20:57:00.000-05:00

Tamar by Mal Peet
Having visited the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam a few years ago, I was interested in reading this story of two English trained Dutch resistance fighters. This story flashes back and forth between the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1945 and England in 1995, as fifteen-year-old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, slowly begins to uncover the secrets of her grandfather's life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.

While there are moments of suspense, especially during the final year of occupation in Holland, it does not sustain that suspense as Tamar is trying to unravel the mystery behind her grandfather's role in World War II. In fact when she follows a map of Northern England, left to her by her grandfather, the story slows down, almost like a travelogue in slow motion.

Tamar received glowing reviews from Booklist, VOYA, Kirkus, School Library Journal, Library Journal, Horn Book. As a young adult novel, it will keep the reader in suspense. I enjoyed the portion of the book that takes place in wartime the Netherlands, but personally I found the behavior of one of the main characters (Dart) to be somewhat juvenile or childish, not the type of behavior you would expect from a resistance fighter trained by the British. I will leave the final verdict on this book up to the intended audience. On a scale of 5 stars, I would give it 3.

Welcome Back Sherlock Holmes

2009-09-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye
Simon and Schuster, 2009.

Step aside Professor Moriarty, Holmes takes on Jack the Ripper in this tremendous debut novel by Lyndsay Faye.

Sherlockians will relish this return of the super sleuth. Faye does an excellent job of recreating the mood, the atmosphere, the characters and the setting that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced to readers in the late 19th century.

In this case, Inspector Lestrade calls upon the unconventional Sherlock Holmes after the savage killing of two prostitutes in London in 1888 that are attributed to Jack the Ripper, and Holmes is forced to break a few rules when a journalist accuses him of being the very villain he is trying to catch.

According to Library Journal, Faye writes effectively in Watson's voice. "She is faithful to both the Holmes oeuvre and the Ripper case, and she successfully evokes 1880's London. The secondary characters are interesting and believable."

I for one Sherlock Holmes fan is hoping that Faye continues with the reincarnation of the world's greatest detective, and will be looking forward to her next adaptation of SH & JW.

Tilt: a Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa

2009-08-29T15:29:00.000-05:00

Continuing in the architectural realm, I decided to try Nicholas Shrady's cleverly designed book, Tilt: a skewed history of the Tower of Pisa. Grant you the design of the book is a marketing gimmick, but it works. This is an entertaining and quick read. Shrady quickly recounts the history of the bell tower that was begun in 1173 and not completed until 1370. The tower today continues to captivate the world's imagination.

He summarizes the tower's history, including its importance for the city of Pisa, explains why the story of Galileo's use of the tower to conduct experiments on falling objects was probably fabricated by one of the master's disciples; discusses the 19th-century Romantic poets' fanciful idea that the tower's tilt was deliberate; and tells the story of the tower's near destruction by the Allies in WWII after they discovered that the Germans were using it as an observation post. Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of the tower's history is that the original architect is unknown. He probably did not want his name connected to the structure, because the tower was built on unstable subsoil, and started to lean toward the south shortly after construction began.

Shrady also discusses the numerous commissions throughout the tower's history that have studied the problem and outlines a series of unsuccessful stabilizing attempts, until the most recent commission in 1997, which successfully stabilized the tower's TILT through a soil extraction process on the North side of the tower.

Eiffel's Tower

2009-08-21T12:39:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has visited Paris would probably have put this icon of France on their itinerary. The Eiffel Tower is one of those wonders of the world that everyone recognizes and could tell you where it is located. It is also one of those wonders that you actually have to see to believe. Just as it marveled those who attended the Paris World's Fair in 1889, it continues to be awe inspiring today.

But it was not a very popular choice in Paris to serve as the main attraction for the World's Exposition. In fact there was even tentative plans to tear it down after five years. Since the state would only agree to fund a part of it, architect Gustave Eiffel had to commit his own resources to assure it was completed on time for the opening of the Exposition universelle de 1889 in Paris, France.

This book by Jill Jonnes is more than just a history of the tower. Not only does it discuss the difficulties in getting the tower constructed, but it also presents developments in the arts, globalism, technology, and journalism in the late nineteenth century as represented at the event.

Her book is similar to Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City", which discusses the preparations and construction of the Chicago World's Fair, but without a serial killer in the neighborhood. Both great reads for architecture and history buffs.

The Legend Lives

2009-08-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

How many of you are fans of the Robin Hood legend? As a kid I enjoyed watching the Robin Hood series on TV. I also made sure I caught any new films on the Robin Hood legend from the Robin and Marian movie with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn to the Kevin Costner production. Well now the literary tale of Robin Hood has been revived by Stephen Lawhead with his trilogy, The King Raven Series. The first of the three novels is Hood. But Lawhead does not place Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart. Instead Lawhead sets Robin in the time of the Norman invaders of England and under the reign of King William II or William the Red (William Rufus) in 1093. Instead of Sherwood Forest, Robin (Bran ap Brychan) is in Wales.

Steeped in Celtic Mythology and political intrigue, all the characters are gradually introduced: Little John (Iwan), Friar Tuck, Marian and Will Scarlet, Guy de Gisbourne and the Sheriff. This trilogy is a fun read.

First in the Trilogy. Introduces you to Bran, heir to his father's kingdom and forced to flee to the greenwood, after the Normans attack and kill his father and his knights as they are traveling to Lundein (London) for an audience with King William II.

Second in the Series, introduces Will Scatlocke (Scarlet). After losing everything at the hands of the Normans, forester Will Scarlet becomes a refugee and embarks on a search for the now legendary King Raven (Hood).

According to a synopsis of the series, Lawhead conjures up the ancient past and holds a mirror to contemporary realities.

I am waiting for the paperback copy of Tuck, the third book in the trilogy, to come out.

In Memory of Frank McCourt

2009-07-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

In memory of this former teacher and prize winning author, I would highly recommend, if you have not already read his Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, to pick it up and read it. Or if you have already read it, it would be worth rereading. It will bring tears to your eyes both from laughing out loud and crying. Frank McCourt revolutionized the memoir genre with his story.

After reading Angela's Ashes, pick up his sequel, T'is, and the final installment of his life story with the Teacher Man. Copies of Angela's Ashes and Teacher Man are both available in the RHS library.

2009-06-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

Currently reading The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter, an editor and columnist for Newsweek. While very readable and enlightening about FDR's leadership abilities during the Great Depression, I have read where the book contains several minor factual errors. These should have been caught by Alter, if not, then by the book's editor before going to press.