THE QUEEN ANNE FOX – “Life Changing”

The Queen Anne Fox

by Jerol Anderson

Whiskey Creek Press

256 pages, paperback $14.99

This book has affected how I feel about my parents, both dead nearly twenty years, and how I feel about myself. On one hand it is a page-turner who-done-it, on the other it is a profound experience you will never forget. Here is the voice of one of the nurturing principle characters:

I think the secret of growing up is to create a nurturing mother and father inside your own soul. Takes away a lot of the neediness of the child within us. Then you can react to life and those around you as an adult.

I came across this book by accident. My wife had it from the library and read a few pages. Not a fan of crime stories (a young boy and a prostitute are killed months apart and their bodies left in the same Seattle location) she gave it to me. In the first few pages I discovered the narrator had been called in by the police to help solve the murders because of her ESP powers. Give me a break”

THE TWENTY YEAR DEATH – “She was beautiful. He was damned.”

The Twenty-Year Death, Publisher: Hard Case Crime,  Hardcover $25.99, Kindle $7.79, 700 pages 

This Kindle book has an unusual form. There are three connected crime stories and each part is written in the style of a famous mystery story author. The first one was suppose to be that of Georges Simenon (to be honest I found it tiresome). The second is Raymond Chandler-ish. And the last owes much to Jim (The Killer Inside Me) Thompson.

The first part brings in someone new at the end of the book who is responsible for the death of French prisoners found dead outside of a prison. The second, has a murdered who is the deranged son of the head of a movies studio. Again, we don’t get real scenes with him and don’t much care because we’re not personally connected with the central character. The last story is the one that works, we care about the narrator and the resolution fits the crime (he accidentally killed his estranged son).

HELLO, MY NAME IS NOT CANCER – “One Book You Must Read”

Hello, My Name is Not Cancer

 by Guy Beck

Huff Publishing Ass./Quill House Publishers

192 pages, paperback $14.99

Picture yourself on a cross-country airplane ride and the guy next to you starts talking. You immediately connect, in a way you seldom do even with family and friends. Before you know it you’ve arrived and you have learned things that will benefit you the rest of your life. Things you will think about late into the night, that will change how you feel about yourself, about others, about death and, yes, about God.

That is how this book will hit you. Not as a trip to California, but a trip to Cancer. It is remarkable. Guy takes us through his challenges, but more important they become ours. Sometimes startling, as when a worker tells Guy concerning his cancer, “You know they (fellow workers who resent Guy’s Christianity) hope to see you fall to pieces.” or “Truth is, they didn’t choose this anymore than we did. So together we need to work to create an environment that will allow our loved ones or friends to be open and honest with us about how this is impacting them.”

And open communication is what we get.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS – “Welcome to the New Short Story”

Living Arrangements 

by Laura Maylene Walter

BkMk Press

210 pages, paperback $15.95

This book is like…well an old Gershwin tune that has specific, personal memoires attached. Once you read the stories you will never quite be able to get them out of your mind. The title piece recollects places the narrator has lived over her life (and I guarantee you will be doing the same thing). I played my brother’s clarinet, so that story rings uncomfortably true.

Some, like “The Ballad Solemn of Lady Malena” and “The Last Halloween,” are harrowing pieces you want to skip over, but can’t;

ZEN AND THE ART OF HAPPINESS – “You Are Already There.”

Zen and the Art of Happiness

 by Chris Prentiss

Power Press

148 pages, paperback $10.95

This book literally changed my life. I’ve read other books on Buddhism but, to be honest, couldn’t grasp what they were pontificating about (after all, if things are always in a state of change how do you come up with any truth about it that itself isn’t subject to change?). Prentiss does this by using plain words and simple, easy to grasp, life examples. This is one of the few books that, when I finished it I began reading it from the beginning again. And what I love best is it gives you the means to rise above whatever happens. Like dogs and cats we don’t need to fret about death, being locked in a car or bad job, the plight of others. We live in the present and the present is good once you drop the old baggage. To quote the author: “Here’s how to be happy, be happy.”

Buy directly from Amazon for $8.50. Click here: Zen And the Art of Happiness

REX AND THE CITY – “To the Dogs”

Rex and the City

by Lee Harrington

Villard (June 26, 2007)

272 pages, paperback $11.88

This is a book you will love if you have a dog and won’t bother to finish if you don’t. But using how a dog is treated by each member of a couple is a wonderful metaphor for their relationship.

READING MAGIC – “Teach Your Kid to Read in 15 Minutes”

Reading Magic By Mem Fox

Harcourt Brace, 2001,

$23, 160 pages.

You don’t want to read a book review, you want to learn how to teach your kid to read in 15 minutes, right? I’ll tell you, but first let me ask, Why? I can’t remember when my two learned, but who cares. My daughter went through college, NYU no less, in three years, but doesn’t read much. My son reads all the time and he barely made it through high school. Don’t get me wrong; as a writer I want people to read (or at least buy) my work and I do think books allow richer participation than TV or movies, but I hazard to guess that it is over-achieving parents who need something to brag about that are behind this library run.

THE STORYTELLING ANIMAL – “Not a Happy Ending”

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

by Jonathan Gottschall

Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt, 2012

250 Pages, $24

This book begins with startling questions, such as, “The riddle of fiction comes to this: Evolution is ruthlessly utilitarian. How has the seeming luxury of fiction not been eliminated from human life?” and picks up other equally thought-provoking ones along the way—why is storytelling fixated on trouble, why do boys and girls play in different ways, what is the link between madness and creativity and exactly what role do stories play in religion?

THE CRY OF THE SLOTH – “Why You Won’t Read This”

The Cry of the Sloth

by Sam Savage

Coffee House Press

228 pages, 20095, $14.95

Most people won’t read this book, but not for the reasons you think. It is an original, well written story about a literary magazine publisher (novelist and landlord) who is going crazy. Somehow these three things fit. Someone who has to turn down submissions for a magazine that is losing money, a landlord hounding tenants for their rent and a novelist whose work reflects the frustration of his life.

Why won’t someone jump at a chance to read this?

THE POETRY HOME REPAIR MANUAL – “Best Book on Poetry Ever Written”

The Poetry Home Repair Manual

by Ted Kooser

University of Nebraska Press

168 pages, 2005, $19.95

Imagine being in a new city and stopping someone to ask directions. No problem. Unless you ask a Seven Day Adventist who tries to sell you redemption instead or a chamber of commerce guy who wants to point out all the traditional landmarks or maybe it’s someone who doesn’t speak English. The place you are in is poetry and Ted Kooser tells you what you need to know in plain language with clear examples to make sure you don’t get lost.