Non-Fiction

Remember Landvik's, Patti Jane’s House of Curl? Funny, sassy female characters that you enjoy in part because they make you feel good about being female and in part because they make you feel good about being human!

Landvik is adept at getting to the quick of human emotions and motivations and providing fun along the way.

This one starts out with Caro Dixon, who is rich, drunk, sarcastic and always in the tabloids that chew her up like she was a piece of toast. Well, she often IS toasted... After she decides she's hit bottom with the alcohol she checks into a clinic to battle the addiction. During her treatment the only two people who respond to her "making amends" letters are Astrid, her former Norwegian nanny, and an Arizona rancher, Cyril. Cyril and his now deceased wife, Cassie, had hosted Caro when she was 14yrs. old at his southwest ranch during the sad tender time her father was dying. Rather than repeat herself Caro starts to email both of them at the same time and they all get to know one another through the emails. Landvik knows how to flesh out her characters so even though the emails are short we learn a great deal about each character. Why Caro started drinking in the first place and what is really behind the drunken misbehavior. Why is Astrid practically hiding on an island off the southern coast of Norway and will Cyril ever heal from his all consuming grief over his beloved wife's passing? There are surprises and lots of heartwarming holiday cheer to be found here. I particularly enjoyed Cyril's down to earth, cowboy common sense and humor. Below is the recipe for a book where every dangling story line gets tied up like the prettiest bow on a Christmas gift!

'Tis The Season!: A Novel Reserve It! By Lorna Landvik 2008-10-28 - Ballantine Books 9780345499752 Read more details...

Lorna Landvik's Holiday Recipe for Fun Take a gunny sack and add: 1part rattlesnake 2 parts Arizona dessert 1part grieving cowboy 1part drunken celebrity 3 parts love, support and the True meaning of Christmas Shake until done. Enjoy!

All aboard! This fun book by suspense author Baldacci is an easy breezy read. Get ready for a cross country train ride with a cast of characters! You will find a thief, more than one love interest for the central character and plenty of train lore and history.

In 2001 John Grisham departed from his usual fare with Skipping Christmas. Baldacci's The Christmas Train was published the next year in 2002. Between the two I preferred Baldacci's. I know, most people loved Skipping Christmas but to me Baldacci's is more interesting, warmer and okay, I love trains. In Grisham's I was actually rooting for the parents to have a Christmas in the Caribbean and maybe that said more about my life at the time than anything to do with the book. I didn't think the "funny stuff" was all that funny. In the Christmas train, I was introduced to new characters with different problems than I had! The CT was warmer (isn't that what we are looking for in December?) and more interesting and has timeless appeal for all!

The Christmas Train

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Replace the sugar cookies and specks of glitter for spies and specks of blood in this novel by Morrell, famed "father of the action novel." It's Christmas Eve and Paul Kagan is desperately trying to avoid being killed and having the "package" he is carrying stolen from him. When the story begins, he is bleeding from a wound as he desperately seeks shelter along famous Canyon Road in Sante Fe, NM. The streets are ablaze with Christmas lights, carolers, shoppers and three ruthless killers who belong to the Russian Mob and they are certain they will find and kill "Pyotyr" to take back the small "package" he is carrying. They feel especially vengeful toward Pyotyr because thirty minutes earlier he too was a member of their organization. Why did he turn on them and what is he protecting at the cost of his own life?

This story will be enjoyed for the interesting story line and the rocket suspense as we learn what the significance of the package is and why a Russian gangster is willing to kill lots of people to have it returned to him.

You will also get a recipe for dehydration and a new spy version of the Christmas story. A real page turner with a satisfying end.

Morrell is the the author of over thirty spy novels including, "First Blood” introducing the world to Rambo.

The Spy Who Came For Christmas
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By David Morrell 
2008-10-28 - Vanguard Press
9781593154875 
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DISH!! For those of us who were disappointed when Madonna's nanny's tell all book was deep sixed by a herd of attorneys, (and I would put myself myself near the top of the disappointed list), the scoop is here!!

Life with My Sister Madonna was penned by Christopher Ciccone, brother of Madonna (aka "The Material Girl," aka "Midge," aka "Esther"). His sister's closest companion during her rise to stardom -- but treated with as much disdain as any other lowly mortal by the pop star -- the author divulges the lowdown on his sister from childhood.

Other than those who think she "can walk on water," (Christopher's description of her starry-eyed fans, not mine), we all knew Madonna was shallow to say the least. The depth of her shallowness, vindictiveness, and self-absorption is appalling -- and chronicled in depth in this captivating book.

Life with My Sister Madonna
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By Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh 
2008-07-14 - Simon Spotlight Entertainment
9781416587620 
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Responding to a rash of bestselling books penned by what Wolpe dubs, "anti-theists," Why Faith Matters is an articulate response in defense of religion. The book addresses the various arguments of the critics of religion (science disproves religion, unfairness in the world proves there is no God, religion causes wars, etc.) in an articulate and warm manner.

Wolpe is very familiar with the arguments of those who ascribe to atheism having been a firm atheist himself for a number of years. His journey to God, he notes, actually began as a journey away from God. The son of a rabbi, Wolpe traveled far from religion and immersed himself in the teaching of Bertrand Russell. However, after learning about Russell's tremendous personal failures, Wolpe became disenchanted with his guru of atheism and searched elsewhere for answers to the questions of life. He found himself back in the religion of his forefathers. Now a pulpit rabbi, Wolpe shares the reasons for his faith with readers.

"Religion," argues the author, "increases social stability, enabling people to live happier, more charitable, more productive and better lives. That does not demonstrate religion's truth. It does remind us, however, that we are creatures designed to flourish -- to heal and to help -- when we believe."

Why Faith Matters

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by David J. Wolpe 

2008-09-01 - HarperOne

9780061633348 

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Forget everything everything you've ever heard or read about improving your marriage through communication. It not only won't help, say authors Patricia Love and  Steven Stosny, but will make matters even worse. The problem with "talking things out" is that men and women resolve issues in entirely different ways. Talking is the way the female gender solves problems, but for males, hashing problems out verbally is akin to torture. This difference in gender is not a good thing or bad thing -- it's just a true thing, say the authors.

Want proof? Love and Stosny begin their book by posing a question to women: 'If you were to say to the man in your life, "Honey, we need to talk about our relationship," what do you think would happen?' If he would respond, "I thought you'd never ask!" then neither of you needs to read this book, note Love and Stosny. 

How to Improve Your Marriage is for the other 99.9% of married couples. Instead of "talking about" their problems, the book advices couples how to draw closer together by viewing problematic situations through their partner's eyes, and responding effectively through nonverbal communication.

How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It
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By Patricia Love, Steven Stosny 
2008-04-29 - Broadway
9780767923187 
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Escape from Saddam: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Journey to Freedom
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By Lewis Alsamari 
2008-03-18 - Crown
9780307394019 
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Alsamari's book, Escape from Saddam, reads like an adrenaline-charged suspense novel. But the story is his, and it's not a work of fiction.  Life under Saddam's brutal regime was difficult enough, but it became unbearable after Alsamari was conscripted into Saddam Hussein's army at the age of seventeen. The training was barbaric, so brutal that it's hard to even read about. Escaping meant certain death if the deserter was caught. But Alsamari decides even possible death is a necessary gamble rather than becoming part of Saddam's secret police -- the path chosen for him by Saddam's powers that be (or were, anyway.)
His escape is harrowing but the story is far from over. After making his way to England, marrying, and building a new life for himself, Alsamari learns his family -- including his mother and sister -- has been detained, tortured and imprisoned because of his escape. He knows he must go back to Iraq and attempt to get out alive once again, this time bringing his family with him. The author's story is more riveting than any work of fiction, and he is to be commended for this well-written book as well as his incredible bravery under a murderous regime.

Escape from Saddam: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Journey to Freedom
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By Lewis Alsamari 
2008-03-18 - Crown
9780307394019 
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All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
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By Janelle Brown 
2008-05-27 - Spiegel & Grau
9780385524018 
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Ah yes, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything -- is that too much to ask? I love the title of this book and I love the novel itself. The story depicts the painful unraveling of  a family after Paul Miller, the husband and father, makes it big financially and chooses to then "make a clean break" away from his family and into the arms of his wife's best friend.
Janice Miller is the perfect housewife -- kind of like Martha Stewart but without the TV show or the magazine. Her life revolves around  her husband, her children (two daughters -- Margaret in her 20s, and Lizzie in her early teens), and her home. Her world seems to end with her marriage (or will it?).   Margaret is an uber-feminist, the total opposite of her mother. But she finds it's hard to live on idealistic principles alone and she won't--she simply can't--take daddy's money to bail her out of the mega-debt she's dug herself into (or can she?).  Lizzie is the chubby kid whose social life is nominal at best -- until she finds offering sexual favors to boys makes her Little Miss Popularity (or does it?).
All We Ever Wanted is painful, poignant and exceptionally honest with regard to women of all ages -- their dreams, aspirations, desires, and heartaches. Most women will be able to see at least a little bit of themselves reflected in All We Ever Wanted Was Everything.

New Baking Book (Better Homes & Gardens)
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Better Homes & Gardens Books
9780696209710 
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The leaves are beginning to blush crimson and gold, the air's turning cool and the days are getting shorter. What season is this? Well, sure, for most people it's football season. But not for me!  Autumn is my baking season -- the time of year I like to fire up the ol' electric oven after its long summer hibernation and bake, bake, bake!
Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book is the ultimate guide to baking -- bar none! In addition to loads of mouth watering pictures, this book has a recipe for whatever you fancy baking. It's got recipes for cookies, pies, tarts, cakes, pastries, crackers, muffins and ... wait for it ... freshly baked yeast breads. (Yes, I know bread machines take all the "work" out of baking bread, but they also take the fun out of it too.) There's nothing as therapeutic as kneading a mound of dough, watching it rise successfully above the edge of the bowl, and come out of the oven in golden, heavenly-scented loaves.  The recipes in the B H &G New Baking Book are all simple to do and none require exotic, hard-to-find ingredients. Grab this book and start your ovens!

A Vineyard Killing (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries (Avon Books))
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By Philip R. Craig 
2004-06-01 - Avon
9780060575274 
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Craig, a retired English professor, truly brings his character, J. W. Jackson, to life.  Jackson is level-headed, a good husband, a reliable neighbor and friend, as well as an ex-cop from Boston.  J.W. lives on Martha’s Vineyard with wife, Zee and his two young children.  He likes to fish and enjoys a beer now and then.

While Jackson is having lunch with friends an attempted murder takes place out on the street.  The next day, a real murder takes place.  The murder victim is the person who tried to kill real estate mogul Paul Fox the day before.  Everyone agrees the real estate company Saberfox might have some real enemies but who exactly?

Next  J. W. is asked by a friend if he can check out the man her mother is seeing.  John Reilley, a local carpenter, has no known address, no car, no paper trail at all – who is this guy and what is he hiding? 

This series of books taking place on Martha’s Vineyard is well written, easy-going and interesting without graphic violence or bad language. They are as pleasant as a sunny day on a dock.

A Vineyard Killing (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries (Avon Books))
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By Philip R. Craig 
2004-06-01 - Avon
9780060575274 
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows 
2008-07-29 - The Dial Press
9780385340991 
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This is a lovely little book.  One of those books you could read fast, but you deliberately take it slow to savor the writing, dwell a bit more with the characters, and imagine the story a little longer in your mind.

The story takes place in England in 1946, just after WWII.  Young Juliet Ashton, along with the rest of Europe, is trying to find her way back to a normal life after the devastation of war.  She is a writer and has written a book on Charles Lamb.   She receives a letter from one, Dawsey Adams who lives on Guernsey, a channel off mainland England.  Dawsey has enjoyed her book on Lamb and has questions for Juliet.  Off we go, through a series of letters, into the heart of the story which is how a group of friends dealt with the German occupation of their island for five long years.  Five years of being cut off from the outside world, barely enough to eat (hence the creation of the potato peel pie via a member of the Society who would not attend unless there were refreshments).  Five years of young children being swept away in big ships to live on the mainland without contact with parents.  Five years of fear and curfews.  And yet they maintained, they met and talked of books, and friendships deepened and brought comfort and meaning to their splintered lives.

You have it all in this book.  History, humor, romance, heroes and a view of humanity at its best under extraordinarily hard times.  Read this book; it will do you good.

The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel (Joe Pike Novels)
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Robert Crais 
2008-01-29 - Pocket Star
9781416514978 
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Larkin Connor Barkley is beautiful, spoiled, and rich.  She is often in the tabloids for being a photogenic wild child.  Familiar you say, reminds you of someone whose name rhymes with “heiress”? 

Joe Pike, a man of few words but lots of combat skills, has been hired to keep her alive after her Aston Martin collides with another car.  In Larkin’s innocent attempt to help the victims of the accident she becomes embroiled in a secret federal investigation.  Bad people want her dead.  The plot heats up when Pike and Larkin’s location gets leaked to the shooters -twice- by… who?  Pike's old buddy and police partner?  Larkin’s father??

Enter private investigator Elvis Cole, Pike’s loyal best friend.  If you are familiar with Crais you will surely recognize Cole as he is Crais’s original lead character in his earlier award-winning novels.    Elvis is smart, witty, capable and all-American nice.  Pike and Larkin depend on him for help, wisecracks and the steadiest of nerves in a battle of wits and gunfire with cold-blooded killers. Cole’s character also helps humanize the often silent and stony Pike. 

Crais makes use of flashbacks to illuminate Pike’s situation as well as his past.  The reader gets more insight into what makes him tick. We find out what motivates him, what his past experiences as a Special Forces combat soldier was like, learn about his life as an L.A. cop and find out why he hates bullies so much… The flashbacks are easy to follow and provide good information that helps us to understand the man behind the dark glasses (which Pike wears even at night). 

Crais’s writing style is minimal with maximum effect which keeps the story moving at a fast pace until the anticipated showdown at the end.

Lonely rich girl needs strong, silent bodyguard with a heart.  No new story line here, but not to worry!  In Crais’s deft hands you are in for a fast moving suspense filled romp!

Puppy Chow is better than Prozac: the true story of a man and the dog that saved his life, By Bruce Goldstein with Tom Amico

This is a whirlwind of a book. The authors draw the reader in with manic descriptions of Goldstein’s life, (he suffers Bipolar disorder) of fear, intimidation, hallucinations and painful thoughts, including suicide. His girlfriend has dumped him and he gets fired from his job in advertising. His mother has to call him to talk him into getting up in the morning. His attempts at getting help by taking several kinds of medicines and by going to counseling are not working. He is desperate, anxious and afraid.

With all the courage Goldstein can muster (he is painfully afraid of everything) he gets a black Labrador puppy and names him Ozzy. By taking care of Ozzy, Goldstein begins to trust the world again.

This work is heartfelt –dizzying even, with his mental distress and rapid fire thoughts and Goldstein is also a creative person and the story sails along with clever explanations and quips. This is an amazing and often funny true story about the healing powers loving a pet can bring.

Puppy Chow Is Better Than Prozac: The True Story of a Man and the Dog Who Saved His Life

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Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love, and Luncheon Meat by John Welter

This book was published in 1994 and it remains one of my all time favorite fiction titles. I actually still feel some tenderness toward the main character, Doyle Coldiron, after all these years. Has Doyle found love yet? Has Doyle found the baseball game between the CIA and the Secret Service that had a date but the time and place was “unclassified”? I hope Doyle’s team won- he needed a break for sure. But then he manages his life by not managing it and the result is hilarious and at the same time, touching.

Both men and women have enjoyed this book, so guys – don’t let my reference to “love” scare you off- Doyle is a character we all can relate to. He is the guy who appears crazy but is actually the only sane person in the room. This book is fun for all ages - if you are young, Doyle is your hero – if you are older you enjoy the sheer lunacy of it all.

Interesting that they asked Joseph Heller to comment on the book’s cover, because if you liked Catch 22 and please say you did, you will enjoy Night of the Avenging Blowfish!

Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love, and Luncheon Meat

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A Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South by Roy Blount Jr.

Blount is never very far away from his southern roots and thank goodness for that! In his first book in ten years he defends, laments, carries- on and sings his Southern pride! For fun, get this on CD and listen to Blount’s wonderful southern accent if for no other reason than to listen to the “The Way Folks were meant to Eat” story. It is just perfect both in wording and accent and it will make you wish you could go to your Grandma’s house for Sunday supper and eat some homemade gravy just one more time before you have to up the Lipitor. He mentions Southern food has recently been labeled, “comfort food.” He thinks that is condescending. He says it is more like the "fiber of being food." Mmmm..mmm..m.

He meanders through the south with us in tow and we are the richer for it. He has a vast (yes, vast) collection of different recordings of “Mama’s Little Baby Loves Short’nin’ Bread.” As a bonus you will find out what short’nin’ bread actually is.

He defends Mark Twain - seems there is a debunking of Mark Twain going on somewhere (north?) in the country. Blount defends each point as they come up and is fairly polite about it. In fact, there is so much here of interesting and varied topics you roll along with him just for the open air ride of it all.

He is smart, articulate, engagingly humorous (sometimes out loud) and I think we should listen or read his books just because we are Americans and he brings up things we should know about or at least think about for a spell.

He may live in Massachusetts but he is all southern fried and critically acclaimed as one of the best humorists of our time.

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South

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Schmoozing with Terrorists, by Aaron Klein

After 9/11, Americans were all aflutter with the burning question, "Why? Why do these terrorists hate us so much?" Forests-worth of trees were felled so print media could speculate endlessly on the question, formulating opinions that were derived from every angle -- and often from a hodgepodge of "experts" all contradicting each other. Politicians, activists and psychologists held forth on the news and special programs regarding their opinion on what would cause healthy (physically, anyway) individuals to board planes and turn them into airborne missiles, incinerating their fellow passengers in the process. Instead of airing his personal opinion, journalist Aaron Klein decided to go directly to the source, asking terrorist leaders, radical clerics and and angry extremists the burning questions, "Why do you hate us?" and "What do you want from us?" Klein's chutzpah is staggering -- as an Orthodox Jew and a Westerner, he is doubly detested by those whom he interviews. There was certainly more than one occasion, chronicled in Schmoozing with Terrorists, in which the author was lucky to have left the interview (held on the terrorists' turf) with his body unmarred by bullets.

Klein doesn't tiptoe around the terrorists. He asks the hard questions and, more often than not, gets the answers because the extremists believe in their murderous agenda, and they're not shy about explaining exactly why they hate us.

Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans to a Jew!

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Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D:
Looking out across this vast country, and the vast girth of those who dwell here, it's apparent that Americans are doing a lot of eating.  Author Brian Wansink, Ph.D., posits in his book, Mindless Eating, that a lot of our gastronomic indulgences are carried out under our mental radar.  The John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and the author of three professional books on food and consumer behavior, Wansink knows his subject. Wansink has even leant his expertise to the military to help them find a way to encourage deployed soldiers who are "overworked and overstressed," and who often have to eat in the dark -- all factors that cause them to under-eat.

The author takes the reader by his or her pudgy little hand and acts as an informed tour guide into the world of food marketing, labeling, restaurants, and packaging -- all meant to entice the populace into eating. And eating. And eating. Wansink's book is not only informative it's also loads of fun -- and all calorie-free! You know the saying of a certain fast-food chain --"You gotta eat!" It's true, and Mindless Eating gives readers the inside scoop necessary to do so in an informed manner.

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

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Imagine being able to create a customized version of the perfect lover -- looks, personality, emotional capacity -- everything. James Patterson and coauthor Gabrielle Charbonnet have given that ability to the main character of their book, Sundays at Tiffany's.

Jane Margaux is a lonely little eight-year old who's career-driven mother, a Broadway producer, has no time for her only child. Every Sunday Jane's mother takes a client out for a power lunch and lets her little girl dine at a table all alone. But Jane isn't truly alone -- she is always accompanied by Michael, her perfect-in-very-way imaginary friend.

Of course all good things must come to end, and so Michael will have to exit. On Jane's ninth birthday, he tenderly tells her goodbye as that's "the rule" concerning imaginary friends, but he promises that she won't remember him at all. But remember him she does, every day until he reenters his life when Jane is an adult. But will she remember him? Will he remember her? Will they be able to recapture that perfect love from childhood? Will Michael vanish and leave Jane alone and broken hearted a second time? There's only one way to find out -- read this imaginative novel!

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• By James Patterson, Gabrielle Charbonnet
• 2008-04-28 - Little, Brown and Company
• 9780316014779

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