The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-revisited
By: Metallica
Allegedly recorded in a garage(natch)between albums and record companies, this collection of cover songs frigging rocks.
Reviewer: John Lee Barton
Historia del estado Zulia
By: Juan Besson
Traditional, though still very useful, history of this important western Venezuelan state. The approach is chronological, and each volume includes interesting and useful transcriptions of primary documents, without, however, providing information about their sources.
Reviewer: Peter S. Linder
Little Scarlet
By: Walter Mosley
Easy Rawlins is rough, self-assured, mature, street smart, definitely a man’s man. A businessman who loves family and respects women, he is the amateur investigator featured in 10 books by Walter Mosley.
It’s the 60’s – a violent time in our history. An violence is the vehicle that Mosley uses to drive this story. Watts 1965. For those who don’t know what went down, go Wiki it for the full 411. But here’s a snapshot… (continue)
Reviewer: G. Perrin
Looking beyond the highway : Dixie roads and culture
By: Claudette Stager and Martha Carver
This is a well researched work- a good choice for historians interested in roadside architecture and American culture. For more on this subject see the Society for Commercial Archeology.
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
By: Alexander McCall Smith
Mma Ramotswe’s good humor and good will continue to shine, and Alexander McCall Smith continues to find engaging, non-life-threatening mysteries for her to solve in this ninth book of the series (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) set in Botswana. This novel particularly touches on telling the truth (and how to react when people don’t) and deciding what to believe is the truth.
Look for Jilly from Philly as Precious Ramotswe in the forthcoming BBC adaptation of the series.
Reviewer: tonstant weader
The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women
By: Sherry Ruth Anderson
This book is a diverse examination of the uniquely feminine aspects of faith in God. The authors interviewed a variety of women, including a Seneca elder, an ex-nun, a rabbi, a social worker and a Jungian analyst. Each woman shares her story about how the traditional patriarchal models of religion lack relevance for her life. Instead they speak of how they’ve redefined their spiritual beliefs and practices to embrace their experiences as women. The book follows the unfolding of life from childhood to adult experiences of creativity, love, family, sexuality and community. I had a lot of “a ha” moments when I read this book. The experiences described and feelings expressed by the interviewees articulated many of my own thoughts and feelings about faith in ways I had not been able to articulate them myself. I recommend this book for any woman who has ever found more spiritual truth in her own personal experiences than in the traditional beliefs and practices of patriarchal religion.
Reviewer: Cindy Lennartson
The Millstone
By: Margaret Drabble
Written and set in Swinging London in the mid-1960s, The Millstone is a story of a common predicament, told in an uncommon manner. Rosamund Stacey - attractive, intellectual, conscientious, and self-sufficient - is intimidated by the idea of sex, and has successfully managed to avoid it altogether until her late twenties. When her first sexual encounter leaves her pregnant, her life contracts and expands in unforeseeable ways, as her perceptions are heightened and her preconceptions softened. Structured as a coming-of-age novel, but slightly inverted, The Millstone presents the true awakening of a young woman who had already considered herself enlightened. Drabble’s sensitive, humane portrait of the 1960s sexual revolution in Britain is as fresh and relevant as if it came off the presses today.
Reviewer: Missy Nelson
Empire Falls
By: Richard Russo
I am really recommending any of Richard Russo’s works. All of them are great and you can follow a rise in the quality of his writing as you read newer and newer works. The basic premise seems to be the same in each of his novels (at least the 4 of his 5 which I have read): they’re all set in a small town in the American Northeast and full of wacky characters — some in dire situations, some suffering for caring about those in dire situations, and some suffering at the hands of those in dire situations. Either way, the characters are what are great about Russo’s writing. He makes you believe that these unreal folk are real and he makes you suffer along with them, while at the same time you often want to give them a smack-in-the-head wake-up call. This title won Russo the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 2002. Basically, it is a chilling commentary on Columbine, but the plot, as in his other works, is almost incidental to how the characters react to what is occurring. Russo is always funny and often at the same time heart-wrenching. His books are quick reads and all wonderfully realized.
Reviewer: Beth Kerr
Liars and Saints
By: Maile Meloy
In beautiful stark prose, Maile Meloy tells the story of the Santerre family, following the complex relationships among four generations from World War II and the family’s arrival in California to the present. As the story shifts from one generation to the next and one decade to the next, Meloy competently shifts the tone of the novel to match the tone of each era and provides insight into the effects of social change through time on the structure of the family. While it dabbles in the realm of literary soap opera and has its moment of melodrama, the characters and the family secrets they share provide an engaging and compelling story of heartbreak, Catholic guilt, and sexual temptation.
Reviewer: Meghan Sitar
Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America
By: John Charles Chasteen
If you are interested in a compelling and easy-to-read overview of the history of Latin America, this is the book for you. Instead of trying to relate the events that took place throughout Latin America over five centuries, Chasteen looks at larger themes and movements shared by countries throughout Latin America. These themes include the first indigenous encounters with Spaniards, colonialism, independence, neocolonialism (America’s policy of influencing Latin America), national movements, and neoliberalism, among others. Each chapter is broken into a theme, and Chasteen effectively demonstrates how that theme affected and directed the energies of countries throughout the hemisphere. The book is enjoyable to read, and perfect if you need to know the high points of Latin American history but would also like a more in-depth insight into its complexities. If you are traveling in Latin America, doing business there, interested in the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America, or just interested in history, this is the book for you.
Reviewer: AJ Johnson
