My Picks of the Month
We are
besieged with advice on what to eat and the government has long been involved
in steering everyone toward certain choices. Much of the advice it has given
out over the years has been erroneous and for anyone who has a serious interest
in this, there’s Nina Teicholz’s new book, The
Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Health Diet ($28.00,
Simon & Schuster) that debunks the dogma about the evils of disease-causing
fats that are part of the official dietary guidelines and the advice of diet
books gurus and other experts. They also are put forth by the multibillion
dollar industry of low-fat foods. Teicholz researched this book for six years
and her thick volume which includes more than a hundred pages of detailed notes
details how a single flawed study by a scientist who devoted his life to
convincing influential organizations like the American Heart Association to
point to the eating of fat as the cause of strokes and heart attacks. Tons of
literature has been written about cholesterol, but it is a vital component of
everyone’s body. All this and more is established with the evidence in this
book that exposes a hoax that still influences the choices we make. Dr. David
Perlmutter, MD, hailed this book saying the author “reveals the disturbing
underpinnings of the profoundly misguided dietary recommendations that have
permeated modern society, culminating in our overall health decline.” Frankly,
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 
If you
want to understand how Obamacare has destroyed the best health system in the
world, you should read Sandeep Jauhar’s Doctored:
The Disillusionment of an American Physician ($26.00, Farrar, Straus and
Giroux). In the wake of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Jauhar
reports on the deep loss of morale among physicians today who cannot practice
medicine in the way they would prefer because they are forced to see many more
patients for far less time than they want because they are paid far less than
in the past. They have to practice a defensive, self-protective kind of
medicine because of malpractice suits. A single patient might see fifteen
specialists in a single hospital stay. The sharp downturn in payments to
physicians and hospitals has forced them to devote less time to patients.
“There is no more wasteful entity in medicine than a rushed doctor,” says the
author of this profoundly revealing and disturbing book. It should be read by
every member of Congress, but it is a message to all Americans that Obamacare
should be repealed. Another book provides an insight to the problems
encountered by those seeking treatment. Misdiagnosed:
One Woman’s Tour of—and Escape from—Healthcareland by Jody Berger ($14.00,
Sourcebooks, softcover) is her story of having doubted the advice offered by
the physicians she consulted after being told she had multiple sclerosis when
in fact she had a sensitivity to gluten. One question, “What are you eating?”
unlocked the truth of minor tingling sensations she had in her hands and feet.
Berger, a journalist and marathoner, was skeptical of her treatment options and
the diagnosis and, after a year dealing with physicians, she found one who
examined her entire medical history and provided a completely different
conclusion. This book is well worth reading in an era in which physicians,
thanks to Obamacare, are forced to see many more patients in order to make a
living.
For anyone
who is concerned about the role of money in politics, there is no doubt cause
when a candidate for President must raise a billion dollars and a Senate
candidate must raise at least ten million. Much of that money comes from
corporations and the impact of it is addressed in Capitalism v. Democracy: Money in Politics and the Free Market
Constitution by Timothy K. Kuhner ($90.00/$27.00, Stanford University
Press). Yes, the book comes with a hefty price tag, but so does our government
these days. Kuhner is an associate professor of law at Georgia State University
College of Law who lectures here and abroad. “European audiences can’t believe
that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued official state justifications for an
unregulated open political market, the sovereignty of donors and spenders, and
the demise of political equality.” The relationship of money and politics,
along with the rights of corporations in our constitutional democracy is
vigorously examined in this book.
Advice
If you
have a problem in any aspect of your life, I guarantee you that there’s a book
out there to help you solve it. Here are a few that have recently arrived.
The Power of Positive Confrontation by Barbara Pachter with Susan Magee
($16.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) is subtitled “The skills you need to handle
conflicts at work, at home, online, and in life.” As the author points out, there’s always
someone out there who is annoying you in some fashion, failing to show respect
or courtesy. It’s tempting to respond by expressing your anger or just bottling
up your frustration and ignoring the person, but as the author notes, that
doesn’t solve anything. This book is being issued for its 15th
anniversary which means it has been around a long time, successfully providing
a practical guide to interpersonal problem-solving. It is filled with good
advice, starting with how you handle yourself and what kind of confrontational
style you employ or avoid. Being polite and powerful is the essence of this
books message, but mostly how to avoid the common problem of dealing with
others who think they don’t have to show you the respect you should receive.
Do you
ever feel stuck in a monotonous life built around a routine? Many do and Jamie
George was one of them. He was a reluctant pastor in a downward spiraling
marriage and he was finding it difficult to look past his circumstances and
really embrace life. If this describes you in some respect then the good news
is that Love Well: Living Life
Unrehearsed and Unstuck may just be the book for you ($14.99, David Cook,
softcover). It will help if you are Christian and have a sense of the spiritual
in your life, but the book shares many deeply personal stories on the author’s
journey from being stuck to his new life based on forming meaningful, deep
relationships, and living a life of purpose. Today George is the pastor of The
Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee which he founded in 2006 as a safe haven
for artists and the “religiously wounded.” Stuck? Read this book!
Messy Beautiful Love by Darlene Schacht
($15.99, Thomas Nelson, softcover) addresses the problems that marriages face
such as financial problems, sickness, aging parents, and a chronically unhappy
spouse. In a world where divorce is a family word and marriage is simply tossed
aside, many women are asking, “Is there hope for my marriage?” The author, married for more than 25 years,
understands the temptations and struggles many women face and, coming from a
place of brokenness, grace, and redemption, she candidly shares her personal
testimony of infidelity and a message of hope with a guide through Scripture.
It helps to have a spiritual orientation to benefit from this book.
Were you a
fan of Gilligan’s Island, the TV show that debuted in 1964 and is still being
seen in reruns by whole new generations? One of its characters was Mary Ann
Summers, a sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice Midwest girl played by Dawn
Wells. She was the good girl stranded with the other characters on an island.
In What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to
Life Wells makes it clear that good girls can and do finish first ($16.95,
Taylor Publishing, softcover) in a book written with Steve Stinson that is part
memoir, part humor, and a dose of classic TV nostalgia. Its twelve chapters
exploring everything from how Mary Ann would respond to changes in today’s
culture to addressing issues confronting single women and mothers. Dawn found
success in the 1960s, appearing in shows such as 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick,
Bonanza, and Hawaiian Eye before being cast in Gilligan Island. Since then she
has continued acting on the stage and screen, produced films, and been active
in a number of charities. Women will find this book worth reading.
A major
concern of parents is to ensure that their children do not fall into the trap
of taking drugs. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., who served Presidents Johnson and
Carter, the latter as the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, as
written How To Raise A Drug-Free Kid:
The Straight Dope for Parents ($15.99, Touchstone, an imprint of Simon
& Schuster, softcover). It is a guide to keeping children substance-free
through the formative pre-teen, teen, and college years. As the founder of The
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, this has been a long interest
of Califano’s. The book addresses when and how to talk to a child about drugs
and alcohol, what circumstances put a child most at risk, how binge drinking
and marijuana use threaten the development of a teen’s brain, how to address
the glamorization of drinking and drug use on social media, the Internet and in
films and on television, including how to find the right program if one’s child
needs treatment. Raising a child comes with many challenges and this book will
make this one easier to deal with.
Memoirs and Bios
There is no
end to memoirs and biographies, many of which provide information and insight
regarding those we admire and others which tell us the stories of people we
have never heard of before.
In Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the
Flesh ($37.95, W.W. Norton) one may be inclined to feel that John Lahr has
told us more about the legendary playwright than we really want to know. There
have been some forty biographies of Williams, but this one plumbs deeply into
his sex life, his alcoholism, and the way his warring dysfunctional family and
youth informed his greatest plays, “The Glass Menagerie”, “A Streetcar Named
Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” that transformed the theatre of his day,
all of which were made into films that made him famed to a vast audience. Lahr,
a prolific author and a regular contributor to The New Yorker where, for two decades, he was the magazine’s senior
drama critic, has penned over 750 pages with footnotes. It is enhanced with
nearly one hundred photos. In person, Williams was a difficult person to be
around in ways that only someone of his talent and personal traumas can be. I
once met him and commented on how much I had enjoyed his book of poetry, In The Winter of Cities, and he was
delighted someone had read it. The biography is a disturbing account of a
disturbed and disturbing man. Only someone seeking to know the man behind the
dramas will want to read this biography. Men of such talent are often seem more
frail, more self-absorbed, and more troubled when their lives are examined in
the depth this biography offers. This book is likely to be regarded as
William’s most definitive biography and it well deserves to be.
I doubt
there is anyone who has not heard of the Beatles and, for the U.S. their
astounding fame began in the summer of 1964. The Beatles and Me on Tour by Ivor Davis ($15.99, Cockney Kid
Publishing, softcover) who was the only British newspaper writer invited on the
entire tour. Over the course of 34 days and 24 cities, Davis watched them make
rock history while enjoying unrestricted access to the four lads from
Liverpool, from hotel suites to backstage to their private jet. He waited fifty
years to write the book because the years in between were filled with other
events that he also witnessed, from the assassination of Robert Kennedy to the
Los Angeles Watts riots. In the 1970s he was just as busy covering Angela Davis
and Daniel Ellsberg, and other figures of the era. In this book he recounts in
frank and amusing fashion the adventures of the now legendary band. Fans of the
Beatles will surely enjoy it. Ain’t It
Time We Said Goodbye: The Rolling Stones on the Road to Exile by Robert
Greenfield ($25.99, Da Capo Press) Written by a former associate editor for
Rolling Stone magazine’s London Bureau, who was a mere 25 years old when he
followed the most iconic band of the British invasion during their farewell
tour of their home country. Watching from the wings from Newcastle to Los
Angeles, Greenfield chronicles the group during the ten days before their leave
England in tax exile. The story is punctuated by Greenfield’s analysis of the
seething tensions between Mick and Keith on the cusp of their heyday.
He wasn’t
President for long before his assassination, but John F. Kennedy did have a
many-layered relationship with a fellow mid-20th century leader,
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of Great Britain. Based on previously unquoted
papers and private letters between them and their families, Christopher
Sandford tells the story of that relationship in Harold and Jack: The Remarkable Friendship of Prime Minister Macmillan
and President Kennedy ($25.95, Prometheus Books) which had to deal with
Kennedy’s disastrous Bay of Pigs episode in Cuba, the Soviet act of building
the Berlin Wall, and serious disagreements over the Skybolt nuclear deterrent,
that cause a major rift in US-British relations. Anyone with an interest in
history will enjoy this slice of it.
I frankly
had never heard of or read the works of Earle Birney and Al Purdy, two Canadian
poets, but their correspondence over forty years from 1947 to 1987 will surely
appeal to anyone who enjoys a look at the creative process at work. We Go Far Back in Time ($39.95, Harbour
Publishing, Madeira Park, British Columbia) are their letters, edited by
Nicholas Bradley, an associate professor in the Department of English at the
University of Victoria. Purdy is often considered Canada’s “unofficial poet
laureate” and Birney was a celebrated poet and novelist who received the
Governor General’s Award twice for his poetry. Canadians understandably will
find this of greater interest, but these two literary figures also reflect
their times in which they lives and the inherent issues of the creative
process. Both, however, were incredibly prolific, producing many books. By
contrast, no one would know of Susan Blumberg-Kason if she had not written a
biographical account of her cross-cultural experience in Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong ($14.99,
Sourcebooks, softcover). The author is an American who had a fascination with
China and, while attending graduate school in Hong Kong fell for what she
thought was the Chinese man of her dreams. They married and she believed her
intercultural marriage would play out like an exotic fairy tale. It quickly
turned into a nightmare as she examines the values of marriage and family in
contemporary China and America. As her husband Cai Kason becomes increasingly
controlling and abusive, the author is forced to forgo her own Midwestern
values to save the relationship and protect her newborn son. When Cai threatens
to take Jake back to China for good, she has to stand up for herself, her son
and their future. I think women in particular will find this book of interest,
but anyone interested in current Chinese culture will as well.
Math and Science
Prometheus
Books is a highly prolific publisher. One of its specialties are books about
math and science topics. For those who are interested in these topics, it has
four recent books. It Started with
Copernicus: Vital Questions about Science by Keith Parsons ($19.95) tackles
questions such as can science meet the challenges of skeptics? Should science
address questions traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion? The
corruption of science is on the minds of many these days as, for example, we
learn of how climatology has been used to advance the global warming/climate
change agenda when, in fact, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle for
seventeen years. This and other examples have troubled scientists. Parsons has
written a jargon-free examination of areas such as evolutionary theory,
paleontology, and astronomy, and others that have generated controversies.
Those interested in the history of science will enjoy The Chemistry of Alchemy: From Dragon’s Blood to Donkey Dung, How
Chemistry was Forged ($24.95) by Cathy Cobb, Monty Fetterolf, and Harold
Goldwhite. These three veteran chemists
show that the alchemist’s quest—often to turn ordinary metals into
gold—involved real science and recounts the stories of the sages who performed
strange experiments by separating and purifying materials by fire to
reconstitute them. Despite their objectives, by trial, by design, and by persistence,
the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts and other elements.
It is a fascinating story.
Lovers of
math will enjoy Mathematical
Curiousities: A Treasure Trove of Unexpected Entertainments by Alfred S.
Posamentier and Ingmar Lehmann ($19.95, softcover) who demonstrate that math
can be enjoyable as well as an important skill on which much depends. Exploring
our galaxy has been a quest that goes back to early scientists. Curiousity: An Inside Look at the Mars
Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen by Rod Pyle (19.95,
softcover) is a behind-the-scenes look at the recent mission of Curiousity, the
unmanned rover whose journey of discovery is providing researchers with
unprecedented information about Mars. The author provides stunning insights
into how the enthusiastic team of diverse individuals uses a revolutionary
onboard laboratory of chemistry, geology, and physics instruments to unravel
the secrets of the red planet. The story of the most advanced machine ever sent
to another planet makes for fascinating reading.
Kid Stuff
By far one
of the most unique and entertaining books for young readers age four and up is
Lori Scott Stewart’s Grandma, Aren’t You
Glad the World’s Finally in Color Today! ($19.95, Palmar Press), but it is
really for all the generations from grandparents, parents, and grandchildren.
Told in rhyming verse, it is a tribute to those generations who came well
before the technology today’s kids take for granted and tells the story,
replete with black-and-white photos on pages facing those filled with color
photos, of how those earlier generations lived through events that preceded and
included the Great Depression and World War Two, before television, air
conditioning, computers and all of the conveniences of our times. I had the
pleasure of recommending Ms. Stewart’s debut book, “If I Had as Many
Grandchildren as You” that went on to receive a 2013 Gelett Burgess Children’s
Book Award and Family Choice Awards. This book is sure to win a lot of award as
well. It is a delight to the eye, the ear, and the soul as it takes one from
those early photos to those that capture the world in full color today.
As the
school year begins many parents encounter a child who is afraid to go and
Ylleya Fields has written a clever book, Princess
Cupcake Won’t Go to School delightfully illustrated by Michael LaDuca
($15.95, Belle Publshing, Cleveland, OH). Young readers, age 5 to 7, will enjoy
the many excuses Cupcake makes to avoid that first day of school and recognize
them if they have tried them out. In the end, Cupcake does go and discovers
that school is a place to make new friends.
It’s
football season and a great way to combine encouraging one’s children to be
active in some sport and to enjoy, in this case, football, is Sports Illustrated for Kids “Football—Then
to Wow! ($19.95, Time Home Entertainment) which has the added benefit of
encouraging them to read. Telling the history of the game that was born in
1869, it takes the younger readers, ages 10 and up, on a journey through time,
explaining how the game developed—such as the way the shape of the ball came to
be the one we recognize today, how protective shoulder pads were introduced as
well as the history of helmets, the building of stadiums for the game, and tons
of information about its legendary players in various positions. There’s much
more and by the time the reader gets to the end of this book, they will be a
football whiz, enjoying it on a level well above others. Also from Sports
Illustrated for Kids is What Are the
Chances? The Wildest Plays in Sports ($14.95, Time Home Entertainment). It
will be a big hit with any younger reader who is into sports and, typical of
the SI books, it is extensively illustrated and has a lively text devoted to
the rare achievements by stars as they scored points to save a game, threw or
caught a ball that decided the outcome, The sports highlighted are baseball,
football, and basketball. Christmas is not that far off, so if you have a
youngster that loves these sports, you might want to put this one on the gift
list.
I’m of a
mixed mind about Tomboy: A Graphic
Memoir by Liz Prince ($15.99, Zest Books, softcover). Growing up, Liz
Prince was a tomboy and she tells the story of her transition to recognizing
what it meant to be female, doing so with humor, honesty, poignancy and a
straight forward account of the physical and emotional changes that occurred as
she matured. She goes from a girl who hated dresses, preferred boys clothes and
being with them. Her teen years would change that and, being a graphic novel, each
page is like a comic strip rather than just text. For young girls who share her
early preferences, this will be a useful book as they too must make adjustments
in adolescence. This is a “graphic” book as well in the language it employs and
sensitive topics it addresses. Hence my concern.
Novels, Novels, Novels
Fans of
the internationally bestselling novelist Ken Follett who have been waiting for
the third book in his “century trilogy” will be pleased to know that Edge of Eternity ($36.00, Dutton) is
now available. In 2010 he embarked on an ambitious project, a historical epic
that spans the twentieth century. It began with “Fall of Giants” which was
followed by “Winter of the World in 2012.”
The trilogy follows the fortunes of five intertwined families—American,
German, Russian, English and Welsh—as they make their way through the upheavals
of the twentieth century. Each book follows the next generation. The new novel
covers the tumultuous era of the 1960s through to today, taking in civil
rights, the Vietnam War, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK’s
assassination, presidential impeachment, revolution, and rock and roll. The
copy I received was 1,098 pages! So prepare yourself for a lengthy, but
fascinating reading experience. Follett’s trilogy is a real achievement,
capturing the last century in a way that people can relate to through the lives
of the characters.
In no
particular order there are three novels that offer entertainment. The Legend of Sheba: Rise of a Queen by
Tosca Lee ($23.00, Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster) retells a
torrid love affair and the after-effects between two of the most famous
monarchs in history. Based on extensive research into the life and times of
Makeda, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, the novel reflects one of biblical
history’s most unknown tales and brings the world of ancient Israel to life. In
the 10th century BC, the Queen has inherited her father’s throne and
all its riches at great personal cost. Her realm stretches west across the Red
Sea, but it is new alliances to the north that threaten the trade routes which
are the lifeblood of her nation. Solomon is the brash new king of Israel,
already famed for his wealth and wisdom. The Queen must test and win his
support, but neither rule has anticipated the clash of agendas and passion that
threatens to ignore and ruin them both.
Fast forward to present times and The Wishing Tide by Barbara Davis
($15.00, NAL Accent, the Penguin Group, softcover). This is her second novel
and the author lives in North Carolina, the setting for the story of Lane
Kramer who moved to Starry Point, North Carolina, with the hopes that the
quaint island village might be a perfect place to start fresh. She is now the
owner of a charming seaside inn, having put aside her hopes of being a novelist
and finding love again. When an English professor, Michael Forester appears on
her doorstep in the middle of a storm, his familiarity with the island has her
wondering if he is quite what he appears. Meanwhile, she has developed a
friendship with an older woman who possesses a special brand of wisdom, but a
fragile mind with a tenuous grip on reality. Put the three together and a
decades-old secret, stir vigorously, and you have an interesting story.
Seventh
Street Books has four softcover novels to offer, all available as ebooks as
well. The Sun is God by Adrian
McKinty ($15.99) involves a small group of mostly German nudists living an
extreme back-to-nature existence, worshipping the sun on the remote island of
Kabakon. When one of their members, Max Lutzow, dies it is assumed to be from
malaria, but an autopsy in the nearby capital of Herbertshohe raises suspicions
of foul play. Retired British military police officer Will Prior is recruited
to investigate the circumstance of the death and, while the group seems
friendly and willing to cooperate, Prior is convinced they are hiding
something. The tension grows steadily and the climax is worth waiting for. Cat on a Cold Tin Roof—An Eli Paxton
Mystery by Mike Resnick ($15.95) begins as hard luck private investigator,
Eli Paxton, is hired to find a missing cat. It is a very important one because
its collar is studded with diamonds worth a small fortune. What starts as a
routine search of animal shelters soon becomes a perilous journey through a
murky underworld. Turns out that the woman who hired Paxton is the wealthy
widow of a recently murdered financial adviser with an alias and mobster ties.
Eli finds the cat by not the collar. Suffice to say an intricate plot unfolds
into a treacherous maze that Eli hopes to survive.
Blind Moon Alley—A Jersey Leo Novel by John Florio ($15.95) takes
the reader back to the days of Prohibition. It’s Philadelphia and Jersey Leo
doesn’t fit in. He tends bar at a speakeasy the locals call the Ink Well. When
his old grade school buddy calls from death row and asks one last favor, all
hell breaks loose for Jersey who finds himself running from a band of crooked
cops, hiding an escaped convict in the Ink Well, and reuniting with his grammar
school crush, the sultry Myra Banks. Intrigued? You will be when you read this
delightful novel filled with some great characters. And lastly there’s The Button Man—A Hugo Marston Novel by
Mark Pryor ($15.95) in which a former FBI profiler, Hugo Marston, has just
become head of security at the U.S. embassy in London. He’s asked to protect a
famous movie-star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro who, while filming a
movie in rural England, have killed a local man in a hit and run. It is a
disaster from the beginning because, before he even meets them, he discovers
that Ferro has disappeared and her body has been found hanging from an oak tree
in a London cemetery. Hours later, a distraught Harper gives Hugo the slip.
Putting the connections together with the help of a cast of characters, he must
elude a serial killer after more bodies show up. Yes, it is another suspenseful,
well told gripping tale.
That’s It for September
Lots of
good books, fiction and non-fiction, this month as you can see. With the advent
of autumn, the publishing world kicks into a high gear, producing many more.
Come back in October and don’t forget to tell your book loving friends, family
and coworkers about Bookviews.com where you will find the work of authors who
deserve attention.
