The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

This is the bluntest, toughest, most scathing critique of American imperialism as it has become totally unmoored after the demise of the Soviet Communist empire and taken to a new level by the Bush administration. Even the brevity of this book - 182 pages - gives it a particular wallop since every page "concentrates the mind".

In the event a reader knows of the prophetic work of the American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, you will further appreciate this book. Bacevich is a Niebuhr scholar and this book essentially channels Niebuhr's prophetic warnings from his 1952 book, "The Irony of American History". The latter has just been reissued by University of Chicago Press thanks to Andrew Bacevich who also contributed an introduction.

In essence, American idealism as particularly reflected in Bush's illusory goal to "rid the world of evil" and to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East or wherever people are being tyrannized, is doomed to failure by the tides of history. Niebuhr warned against this and Bacevich updates the history from the Cold War to the present. Now our problems have reached crisis proportions and Bacevich focuses on the three essential elements of the crisis: American profligacy; the political debasing of government; and the crisis in the military.

What renders Bacevich's critique particularly stinging, aside from the historical context he gives it (Bush has simply taken an enduring American exceptionalism to a new level), is that he lays these problems on the doorstep of American citizens. It is we who have elected the governments that have driven us toward near collapse. It is we who have participated willingly in the consumption frenzy in which both individual citizens and the government live beyond their means. Credit card debt is undermining both government and citizenry.

This pathway is unsustainable and this book serves up a direct and meaningful warning to this effect. Niebuhrian "realism" sees through the illusions that fuel our own individual behavior and that of our government. There are limits to American power and limits to our own individual living standards and, of course, there are limits to what the globe can sustain as is becoming evident from climate changes.

American exceptionalism is coming to an end and it will be painful for both individual citizens and our democracy and government to get beyond it. But we have no choice. Things will get worse before they get better. Bacevich suggests some of the basic ways that we need to go to reverse the path to folly. He holds out no illusions that one political party or the other, one presidential candidate or the other, has the will or the leadership qualities to change directions. It is up to American citizens to demand different policies as well as to govern our own appetites.

While this is a sobering book, it is not warning of doomsday. Our worst problems are essentially of our own making and we can begin to unmake them. But we first have to come to terms with our own exceptionalism. We cannot manage history and there are no real global problems that can be solved by military means, or certainly not by military means alone.

Fellow citizen, you need to read this book!

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/20/the_limits_of_power_andrew_bacevich

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

With sales of over half a million copies in Europe, this clever novel, newly released in the United States, may make Muriel Barbery as much of a literary phenomenon here as she is there, despite the novel's unusual focus on philosophy. Narrator Renee Michel, is a fifty-four-year-old woman who has worked for twenty-seven years as concierge of a small Parisian apartment building. A "proletarian autodidact," Renee grew up poor and quit school at age twelve, but throughout her life she has studied philosophy secretly, searching for knowledge about who she is and how she fits into the grand scheme of life. Grateful for her job, she finds it prudent to keep her rich intellectual life hidden from the residents, maintaining the façade of the perfect concierge, someone who lives in a completely different world from them.

Alternating with Renee's thoughts about her life and studies, are the musings of Paloma Josse, a twelve-year-old who lives in the apartment building, the daughter of wealthy parents who have active professional lives. Like Renee, Paloma pretends to be just average, carefully constructing her own façade so that she can fit in at school, though she has the intellectual level of a senior in college. Ignored by her parents and her school, Paloma plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday. As the lives of Renee and Paloma unfold and overlap, the rough parallels in their lives become obvious, both in their isolation and in their need to hide their talents.

When one of the apartment residents dies, Kakuro Ozu, whom Renee thinks may be related to the Japanese film maker that she most admires, moves in. Paloma, too, is impressed with Ozu, bemoaning the fact that he has moved in just as she has decided to kill herself. When Ozu suspects that Renee is not what she seems to be, he wants to know her better, and as Ozu confides in Paloma, Paloma begins to feel hope for the future.

Barbery is a skilled writer who artfully combines the philosophy of Renee's studies--from Husserl: Basic Writings in Phenomenology, to The Dilemma of Determinism and Kant's Idealism--with aesthetics and the desire of both Renee and Paloma to find beauty in art and poetry. Always, however, she remembers that this is a story, with characters who must appeal to the reader. As the characters begin to change, the reader understands them and the forces that have made them the people they are, hoping for their happiness. Motifs from Japanese film and the novels of Tolstoy combine with images celebrating the perennial beauty and death of flowers, especially the camellia, adding universality and connecting the characters to broader artistic themes. Thoughtful, ironic, and often darkly humorous, the novel creates moods which bring the characters vividly to life, even as they are contemplating death and the deepest of life's mysteries.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

Mma Precious Ramotswe, warm-hearted proprietor of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Gaborone, Botswana, is drinking tea at an outdoor café when she witnesses the theft of a bracelet. In her haste to apprehend the female thief and return the bracelet to the poor vendor, she leaves her table without paying her bill. The waitress hurries after her, accuses her of intentionally neglecting her bill, and then offers to "forget" about it if Mma pays her an extortionate fee. Distressed by what she sees as the loss of Botswana's traditional values, Mma Ramotswe believes fervently in setting a good example, respecting others and promoting friendships in her own life. Recently married to Mr. J. L. B. Matekone, proprietor of the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, Mma Ramotswe runs her detective agency (where she doles out homespun advice and often serves as a "mother confessor"), takes care of two orphaned children, mentors Mma Grace Makutsi, her assistant, and endeavors to get the two apprentices at her husband's garage to become responsible citizens. Throughout the series, plots and subplots serve primarily as vehicles for character development and the exploration of cultural values. In this novel Mma Ramotswe has a deep secret, not shared even with her husband, and she is desperate to have it remain a secret. Her house is broken into, her car is stolen, and Note Makoti, her first husband, returns to Gabarone. Mysterious goings-on occur in Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni's former house, now rented; the detective agency looks for a missing man from Zambia; and Mma Makuti finds herself receiving the attentions of a clumsy suitor. None of these events are, of course, world-shaking, but they are significant in the lives of the hard-working and honest people who populate this delightful novel. South African playwright Lisette Lecat, reader of this audiobook, puts her feeling for dialogue to work here, giving a dramatic but completely realistic sound to this story of Mma Ramotswe, rolling the MM in "Mma" in a completely natural way, impossible for a foreigner to duplicate. Her ability to assume different voices for different characters, without being "cute," adds to the sense of place and to the characters' personalities. Her clear diction and ability to duplicate the cadence of Smith's writing make her reading particularly memorable. Conveying gentle humor, Lecat adds warmth and wit to this rich novel.

The Help

A new classic has been born. Kathryn Sockett's "The Help" will live in hearts and minds, be taught in schools, be cherished by readers. The three women who form its core, idealistic Skeeter, loving Aibileen, and sarcastic, sassy Minny, narrate their chapters each in a voice that is distinctive as Minny's caramel cake no one else in Jackson, Mississippi, can duplicate. These stories of the black maids working for white women in the state of Mississippi of the 60s have an insiders' view of child-rearing, Junior League benefits, town gossip, and race relations. Hilly is the town's white Queen Bee with an antebellum attitude towards race. She hopes to lead her minions into the latter part of the century with the "enlightened" view of making sure every home in Jackson, Mississippi, has a separate toilet for the help. Her crusade is, she says, based on clear hygienic criteria, which will save both blacks and whites from heinous diseases. Despite the fact that the maids prepare the food, care for the children, and clean every part of every home, privy to every secret, many of the white women look at their black maids as an alien race. There are more enlightened views, especially those of Skeeter, a white, single woman with a college degree, who aspires to more than earning her MRS. Skeeter begins collecting the maids' stories. And the maids themselves find the issue of race humiliating, infuriating, life-controlling. Race sows bitter seeds in the dignity of women who feel they have no choices except to follow their mamas into the white women's kitchens and laundries. Aibilene says, "I just want things to be better for the kids." Their hopes lie in education and improvement, change someday for their children. There is real danger for the maids sharing their stories as well as danger for Skeeter herself. The death of Medgar Evers touches the women deeply, making them question their work and a decision to forge ahead, hoping their book can be published anonymously and yet not recognized by the very white women they know to the last deviled egg and crack in a dining room table. The relationships between the maids and the white children, the maids and some kind employers, including "white trash" Cecilia Foot, illuminate the strange history of the South. The love Aibileen shows for Mae Mobley matches the love Skeeter felt as a white child from her maid-nanny Constantine. There is never a dull moment in this long book. It is compulsively readable while teaching strong truths about the way the United States evolved from a shameful undercurrent of persistent racism to the hopes and dreams of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Ultimately, will the next generations children learn (and be taught) that skin color is nothing more than a wrapping for the person who lives within?

A Tourist In The Yucatan

The story begins with a bloody shoot-out on a ferry between the Yucatan Peninsula and Isla Mujeres, then moves to an idyllic, lazy vacation day with Jack and Josephine Phillips at their hotel. The ferry shoot-out seems a world away to Jack and Jo, who head to the mainland the following morning, befriending fellow American Stephen Potter on their way to Chichen Itza. They travel with Potter for a couple of days, until one morning's headlines claim Stephen Potter is someone else--a wanted drug dealer. Jack is too late to steal away with Jo, as she is missing on his return to their hotel, and Jack is soon arrested by the federales. Jack finds himself in the middle of a web of intrigue involving both the U.S. and Mexican governments and a dangerous gang of drug dealers and tomb robbers as he searches for the truth about his wife's disappearance. Ordinarily, books where the protagonist is an unwitting victim trapped in a series of events wherein everyone knows what's going on but him do not appeal to me. Jack, however, while at times numb and passive, does not live at the whim of others. He catches onto survival pretty fast, while working his way through the maze of intrigue around him, and I found myself rooting for Jack and the other good guys to beat the impossible odds. There are two stories unfolding; Jack on the run from the bad guys, and at the Washington end, Nelson Carlton unravels a series of murders directly related to the plight Jack finds himself in. Both are packed with action and intrigue that kept me turning the pages. I look forward to Brumfield's next book.

The King of Lies

When Ezra Pickens disappears, the town of Salisbury, NC loses one of its shrewdest - and richest - lawyers. His son, Jackson Workman "Work" Pickens tries to continue running his father's practice, but his heart isn't really in it. The practice is failing, his marriage is failing, and his relationship with his sister is failing. In short, Work's life is on the ropes. When Ezra's body turns up 18 months later with two bullet holes in it, Work garners initial sympathy, but when it turns out his father has left him $15 million, Work finds himself as the prime suspect in his father's death. He's left with few friends and a legal establishment that once welcomed him as one of its own trying to crucify him. For a first novel, this was very well plotted, well paced, and well written with just enough twists to keep it interesting right to the end, but not so many twists that you felt you were being manipulated. I actually thought I had figured out who the killer was about a third of the way into the book, and Hart let me feel quite sure of myself until the last few chapters, at which point he threw things for a loop and the real killer's identity was revealed. Hart's use of language is rich and descriptive and he develops his characters, particularly our protagonist, quite well. In spite of Work's failings (and there are many) we grow to like him, and by the end of the book we even admire him in spite of those failings. Hart resolves the book nicely in the epilogue, so we don't leave with any dangling threads. There's even a little zinger he leaves until the final page (literally) that give the whole story an ironic and satisfying conclusion. From the first few pages, I thought the King of Lies must surely be Ezra Pickens. But by the end of the book, I felt there were perhaps two Kings: father and son. One for telling lies, and one for believing lies. I have no doubt there will be other book's from Mr. Hart after such an outstanding debut.

Down River

"Down River" is Hart's second book, both taking place in Rowan County, NC. I haven't read the first, and it did not seem as if I needed to in order to fully enjoy this book. I appreciate it when serial authors allow you to read in any order from any book. My experience with this one will definitely have me reaching for his first novel, and keeping an eye out for future works. It will be hard for me to keep the bias out of this review. "Down River" is a story of the prodigal son returning home to the farm where familial relationships are strained. An aging, ailing father, a brother who never left home, and a rebelious sister all play major roles. While reading this book, my father had a massive heart attack and I had to return home to the family farm to help care for him. My brother still lives a mile away, and my gregarious sister completed the circle. So much of this book reminded me of my childhood that my pleasure is probably somewhat derived from pure nostalgia. There is more to love here than just my tickled loins, however. Hart excels at populating his work with dozens of suspects, all with ample motive and opportunity, without beating you over the head with what he is doing. The pace of the work is extremely swift, but your brain will tumble along after as you compile a line-up, each entrant guiltier than the last. Every five pages I KNEW who the killer was, and turned to my wife, who had just finished the book, looking for a glimmer in her eyes as I presented my latest theory. Every single last one of them was wrong. Another draw in "Down River" is the protagonist, a rough-and-tumble farm boy with big-city street smarts. Not too strapping, but never one to avoid a bit of fistacuffs, he reminds me of myself when I was trying to survive the rigors of living in a rural setting where being smarter than everyone else was a mixed blessing. Told from his perspective, Adam Chase is returning to a town where everyone thinks he got away with murder five years earlier. His father refuses to sell land to a prospective Nuclear power plant, costing investors dearly, and his boyhood friend has gone missing. There is danger at every turn, and Chase's situation keeps going from bad to worse as he attempts to solve murders faster than the body count can outpace him. If you enjoy a rough murder mystery, give "Down River" a try. Everyone in the Carolinas will get a kick out of the local color, but there is obviously something here for all readers as "Down River" has been nominated for the prestigious Edgar Award for best mystery book.

Hurry Down Sunshine

Hurry Down Sunshine is Michael Greenberg's candid, often brutal, account of his daughter's slipping into psychosis.
The first part of this three part memoir carries the reader through the events that lead up to the hospitalization of his only daughter Sally. The pace is frenetic, and the immediacy of things is exhausting. Details of Greenberg's life, his first marriage, where he lives, what he and his wife do for a living, even the child custody arrangements, are all woven seamlessly with the sudden necessity of getting Sally the help she needs.
The second part of the memoir slows down as Greenberg delineates the details of the experience and the people encountered, other patients and family, including the more extended family of his own--a brother who has his own form of mental illness, his ex-wife, and his own mother. All dance in and out of the story of Sally's meltdown and healing while in the hospital .
The third part has the daughter coming home and how Greenberg and his wife cope with the demands that are made on them while caring for a still struggling Sally is not always flattering but consistently honest. As Sally strives to return to her life before the summer, one day needing to return to school and another convinced she cannot do so, the reader feels the same ambiguity between hope and despair, trust and doubt.

At a time when published memoirs are a dime a dozen, practically speaking, it is difficult to find ones that offer something new. Greenberg's willingness to share from his experience, one that most any parent would struggle to survive let alone revisit in writing, is remarkable. While I have faulted other memoirists for avoiding their emotional responses to their circumstances, Greenberg's sometimes removed account is more emotionally charged than a mere listing of the details. As he describes historical and literary examples of people who struggled with manic depression the reader understands that these intellectual distractions are anchoring this father who is struggling to find answers to questions he is afraid to ask. Is he responsible, somehow? Should he have seen this sooner? What could he have done differently to keep from losing his daughter? Even the most banal or horrifying news reports are not enough to do more than contextualize the details of how this family fights to hold themselves together when one of their own is falling apart.
This is not an easy book to read, although it is easily read. The subject matter is harrowing to anyone with a child. Nevertheless, I would recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about how mental illness has repercussions that go far deeper than anyone could imagine.

Stone Cold

Stone Cold is the third installment in the Camel Club series and is easily the best. The first novel in the series (The Camel Club) was a bloated, convoluted mess. The second (The Collectors) was a considerable improvement but still a far cry from `must read fiction'. With Stone Cold, Baldacci finally delivers the knock out punch.

Baldacci hits the ground running in Stone Cold, carrying on where The Collectors left off. Stone Cold is lean for a Baldacci novel, maintaining a relentless pace from start to finish. The novel incorporates two story lines: one involving a casino boss determined to track down the woman who scammed him out of millions, and one involving the son of a former CIA agent falsely accused of treason, who is methodically murdering the men responsible for his father's death.

My only complaint (actually, more of an observation than a complaint) is related to the big showdown in the closing chapters of the novel. There is a point (I don't want to reveal too much) where Stone is on the verge of escape after a daring rescue, when something happens to make him very angry. He turns back and, almost single-handedly, annihilates a highly trained, heavily armed team of men.

My issue with this scene is three-fold. First, it's just too `Rambo-like' to be plausible. (Stone is described as killing with such efficiency, it is as if he can direct the path of his bullets through sheer force of will). My second gripe is the fact that Baldacci writes this scene `after-the-fact' in summary. There is a missed opportunity for the reader to experience the action `as it happens'. The third issue I have with this scene is the misplaced morality of it. The men that Stone retaliates against are only foot soldiers following orders, armed with inaccurate information (much as Stone was, as a member of an elite assignation squad during the Cold War). Stone's fury is misdirected in this case at men who are just doing their job and think that they are protecting the interests of their country. (Rest assured, Stone will settle all old scores before the final page is turned)

My complaint (ok - my `petty whining') about this scene is half-hearted. There isn't much to complain about. The genre doesn't get much better and let's face it; `Rambo-like' behavior is a requirement in this type of novel and, quite frankly, if a few faceless, nameless soldiers have to die so we can fully appreciate Stone's fury - so be it.

The bottom line: If The Camel Club left a bad taste in your mouth and you're reluctant to read another bad Baldacci novel, put your fears aside. Stone Cold is a good one. In fact, it's very good.

Divine Justice

If you haven't already read a David Baldacci book, can't imagine how you missed him. He's penned fifteen bestsellers four of which feature affecting protagonist John Carr also known as Oliver Stone. Once a CIA assassin Stone now battles mightily to right wrongs. Through this character Baldacci has taken readers to Washington, more often than not shocking them with scenarios that may be too close to the truth.

Stone is back in this the fourth installment in the Camel Club series, and he's once again on the run. "With two early morning pulls of the trigger he'd become the most wanted man in America."

He's too smart to try to board a plane knowing the major airports are alive with those looking for him but instead buys a ticket on the Amtrack Crescent, headed for New Orleans. Once settled in his seat, ever alert, he takes note of his fellow passengers - a mother with a baby, a thin man eating a cheeseburger, and a kid a few years out of high school but still wearing his varsity jacket. "To Stone's eye the young man also had the look of someone who was certain that the world owed him everything and had never bothered paying its bill"

The young man is Danny Riker who is soon assaulted by a trio who accuse him of cheating at cards. Stone rescues Danny and the two leave the train at the next stop. When Stone finds out that Danny is from an Appalachian coal mining town, Divine, Virginia, he decides that might be the perfect place for him to hide out.

Divine might be a good place to take cover but it's also a place where corruption is rampant and most of the coal miners are methadone addicts due to the daily injections they take to pass inspections. Couple this with a suicide that in truth might have been murder, and you have an idea what Stone is up against.

In addition to being a masterful storyteller, an expert at creating riveting suspense, Baldacci is a native of Virginia and lives there today. Thus, he brings an added realism to his descriptions of this area and its people.

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown’s new novel, the eagerly awaited follow-up to his #1 international phenomenon, The Da Vinci Code, which was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, will be published on September 15, 2009.
The Lost Symbol will once again feature Dan Brown’s unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon.
“The Lost Symbol is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown’s prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait,” said Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Brown’s longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, “Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan’s readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises.”
"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey," said Brown. "Weaving five years of research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide

If you enjoyed the last Eat This, Not That then wait till you get your hands on this one. The last guide was great, but when you don't eat out often there are only so many times you can use it. Everyone goes to the grocery store so the information in this guide is indispensable. It's amazing the items you will find on the Not That side. Many of which, seem like they would be the healthy choice. Not so! The Barilla Plus pasta I was so thrilled to have switched to? On the Not That side. You'll also find many wheat breads, "healthy" cereals, granola bars, etc... It would be hard for me to say enough great things about this book. My girlfriend and I LOVE it and we will never again go shopping without it. It plainly helps you see what you should be getting and all the things that need to be avoided. This is a guide real people can use. We all like to indulge and have our treats, but do we have to waste 400 calories on mint chocolate chip when there is another non diet brand for 150? It just makes sense. My favorite features include: The salad bar decoder, The fruit/veggie guide and the sandwich maker. Somehow they make mayo sound like a disgusting addition to a great hoagie when before it was what I always used. My only complaint is the meat decoder matrix thing. I can't quite understand what those ratings mean. (If you know please feel free to leave a comment. I would much appreciate it.) Also I was a little sad seeing the rabbit listed as a great protein when I have two live rabbits hoping around me. Then, that is just personal opinion and people have the right to eat what they want. Neither of those things effect the 5 star rating for me though. This book is endlessly fascinating. I keep picking it up and exclaiming things to my other half and she does the same whenever she picks it up. This guide is going to have a very positive effect on what we eat and how we shop.
Examples of this part of the book. For instance, pages 176-177 feature corn chips. The conclusion, if one chooses to get some corn chips, is to purchase and eat products like Snyder's of Hanover Multigrain (130 calories, 5 grams of fat [0 grams of saturated fat], 110 milligrams of sodium) and not those like Frito's Original Corn Chips (160 calories, 10 grams of fat [1.5 grams of saturated fat], and 160 mg of sodium). Or take frozen pizzas, if you must. Think in terms of buying Palermo's Primo Thin Margherita (260 calories, 12 grams of fat [5 grams of which is saturated], and 520 mg of sodium)--not DiGiorno's Traditional Crust Pepperoni (770 calories, 35 grams of fat [14 grams saturated], and 1430 mg of sodium). Some of the comparisons as those above are quite stunning, and suggest that doing some decision-making at the store can have nutritional consequences. Some interesting features--Survival guide for supermarket tips (pages 2-9), including a depressing check of stated calories per serving on the package and what the book says are the real calories per serving. the 20 worst packaged foods for a person in the country (e.g., Haagen-Dazs chocolate peanut butter ice cream; the book suggests purchasing Edy's slow churned peanut butter cup ice cream instead), tips on which produce to purchase for nutritional kick, "making sense of meat," tips on snacking, and so on. But, in the final analysis, it is the tips on which are the best and which the worst, in terms of nutrition, products in a variety of food categories. This book provides a nice service along those lines. I had thought that this would not be particularly useful when I ordered it (one look at the wild and wacky cover illustrates one reason for my pessimism), but I am happy to say that my doubts were not realized.

A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez

The real story is about A-Rod. Roberts' painstaking investigative reporting of the highest-paid, most talented player in baseball over the course of nearly a year is revelatory. First, she broke the biggest story in sports by outing Rodriguez as a steroid cheat during the height of his career. With this book, she has filled in the narrative. "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez" is more than the salacious snippets reproduced in the New York tabloids, it is a study of a flawed hero searching for self. A-Rod, like many baseball stars, germinated in the steroid era, aided and abetted by self-interested father figures who pretended they could fill the hole left by the original. In many ways, Alex Rodriguez is the protagonist of a Greek tragedy. Roberts has provided the exposition; it's up to A-Rod to write his denouement.

Red Mars

Nominally a future-history of Martian colonization, Red Mars covers the initial 100 Martian colonists, the influx of workers as corporations attempt to exploit the planet's resources, and the consequences as conditions worsen. The book is divided into eight parts, each telling the story from the point of view of one of six characters. Each character is interesting and three dimensional. The first, Frank Chalmers, is a stunning example - a machiavellian sociopath who arranges the murder of his best friend. The book suggests early on that the characters are dysfunctional, but most are not, and Robinson describes each personality in a way that's easy to relate to. Most readers will see some of themselves in every character, and will be moved when many disappear from the story as events unfurl.Robinson's prose is easy to read and descriptive. He lovingly describes the Martian landscape, and the events that change the planet. He explains the processes and technologies being used to make the planet more habitable. Mars and its future is viewed through different cultures and ideologies. And Robinson describes political and social systems evolving, growing, and collapsing - the only challenges the colonists seem unable to solve are those that cannot be fixed technologically. The ending is dramatic and, cheesy last line notwithstanding, overwhelming.A word about the politics: Several reviewers have trouble understanding the concept of sympathetic characters not representing the author. Nobody argues that, through Chalmers, Robinson is advocating murder, so why assume that characters portrayed as idealistic hot-heads advocating an enlightened Utopia (not communism) are attempts to convert readers to Marxism? Robinson's prediction of a near future where a handful of democratically unaccountable transnational corporations wield more power than governments is neither unreasonable nor extremist propaganda nor unique; nor is it that people sick of these conditions might reject them for something Utopian, and might make up a sizable proportion of those wanting to leave Earth. Robinson is describing what might happen and why, rather than pushing a particular ideology. It is notable that the consequences of the actions of most of the first 100 are hardly positive: why would an author promote a vision of an enlightened Utopia by having for it such divided, belligerent, builders?
If Red Mars has faults, they are that it is fairly humourless, and some of the science (nothing, fortunately, important to the principle of convincing the reader that colonization is possible) is somewhat stretched.
There are no ray-guns or bug-eyed aliens: there is much to think about. If you're looking for an airport novel, go read L. Ron Hubbard. If you can watch CNN talking 23 hours a day about scandals effecting minor Democrats, and still grumble "Darned liberal bias", you may be too right-wing to cope with fictional characters disagreeing with you; go read some "Doc" Smith or something instead. Otherwise the reader needs patience and a willingness to get inside a whole range of radically different characters. Most of the book is interesting, but the climax is especially so.
Posing more problems than answers, Red Mars leaves the reader uneasy about humanity's progress, with a mix of optimism about what we can do, and pessimism for what we are likely to do; it portrays characters the reader can feel for, and a planet to fall in love with. What a wonderful book.

Assassin's Apprentice

This review refers to the whole series: Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy is very different from any other fantasy book you've ever read. The main difference is that it's not action-packed or even action-based. Oh, there's a lot of royal-court plotting and murder, there are battles and journies to distant lands, there is magic and magical creatures and all the other stuff you've learned to expect in a fantasy work - but somehow it's not the main thing, as is evident from the relatively slow-pacing of the plot. So if you're looking for a Robert Jordan kind of action-thriller - you better move on. But if you're an adult (emotionally, that is) and looking for something more substantial and profound - you've found the right book. The Farseer trilogy, as I have already said, is not action-based. Instead, it is charcter-based and relationship-based. it is concerned with the process of a young boy's maturing and becoming a man and an adult (in an environment which is mostly hostile) more than it is concerned with the machinations of a royal court, or the hero's training as a royal assasin. It depicts in great accuracy and detail the relationships between the hero and those around him - various father-figures, the women in his life, his enemies, and the animals he becomes magically attached to. In a sense, it is the most "realistic" fantasy novel i've ever read - not because the world described in the books is realistic, but because the relationships described seem "real": Hobb employs real feelings and gives them psychological depth, her heroes experience real love and real hate, which are often hard' complicated, ambiguous, and have moral aspects that make them even harder. Not the adolescent clear-cut love/hate we've learned to expect from fantasy heroes. Hobbs heroes experience a wide range of emotions, complete with disappointment, disillusionment and acceptance - a vital part of growing up. In that sense, Hobb's books belong to the literary tradition and genre of the Bildungsroman (a novel of formation, initiation, self-development, of training and education), of which Dickens' "Great Expectations" is a prominent example (and indeed, while reading the farseer trilogy, you can sense the influence of Dickens on Hobb's themes, mood, and character development - the disillusionment and acceptance element in particular).This genre is described in some cases as "an apprenticeship to life" (Assasin's Apprentice...) and "a search for meaningful existence within society". Hobb's hero, Fitz, finally finds his "meaningful existence" within his society and social order by making a great sacrifice (for his loved-ones and for his king), at a great cost to himself - thats what we all do when we grow up, don't we? that's another aspect of Hobb's realism - despite the final victory of the "good" in the novel, it is a bitter victory, not the superficial happy-end we know from other books. the fact that the novel is relationship-based is also reflected in the original magic-systems brilliantly devised by Hobbs for the Farseer world. It's not the kind of magic that gives you the ability to bring down lightning or throw a fire ball. it is a communication-based magic system, based on feeling, empathy and a mutual bond (or hate and emotional abuse, when the bad guys use it), between humans, or between a human and an animal. It gives Hobbs an opportunity to use the magic as an amplifier of feelings - brilliant. I've read a few of the reviews by other readers and I agree that the trilogy's end is a bit disappointing - elements of the plot are wrapped up hastily and without a satisfactory explanation. A lot of story elements are left in the dark. but the weak points of the ending concern the fantasy and plot elements of the story - which, as i already said, are not the main thing in this novel.from the emotional aspect, i think the ending is still very powerful and moving. In short, the farseer trilogy is a fantasy novel for adults. If you're ready to commit, to experience real emotions (good and bad), you're in for a treat. Robin Hobb's books stand out among modern fantasy works - they are among the few which can be considered real literary efforts, not just adventure books for kids.

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

Organized by topic from A to Z, Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts contains complete instructions and brief histories for more than 30 techniques, detailed descriptions of the necessary tools and materials, and easy-to-copy templates. Martha and her team of crafts editors guide readers through each subject, from botanical pressing and decoupage to rubber stamping and wreaths, with characteristic clarity and unparalleled attention to detail.

fully admit it - I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart's crafting projects. I was given a subscription for Martha Stewart Living Magazine for Christmas a couple of years ago and have kept every issue. But that one year is just a fraction of what appears in this new release from Random House Canada. It covers 17 years of craft content from the magazine packed into 32 chapters! I have been reading (drooling over) Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts for the last couple of weeks, savoring every last page (and there's over 400 pages!) Each craft has an overview, the supplies needed, very explicit step by step instructions and many projects incorporating the techniques. All are accompanied by absolutely gorgeous full colour photos. Many of the ideas presented are updated techniques on historical crafts such as candle making, soap making and quilling to name a few. Although some crafts may seem daunting on first view, they really aren't. I'm thinking of making candles for Christmas gifts next year. I could tin punch some holders for them. And then use stencilled gift wrap, stamped cards, origami boxes and calligraphic notes from other chapters to package them! I've enjoyed working with stained glass before, but haven't tried my hand at glass etching. There are some great ideas for starting small with tumblers and working your way up to mirrors and hanging pieces. Some of the ideas are so simple and yet so visually stunning. I loved the framed pressed botanicals. Sun prints were something I'd never heard of before. Using light sensitive paper, you burn the image in reverse and use it for a variety of designs. Some of the chapters use newer techniques. I'm a dedicated sewer and had a huge light bulb moment when I came to the chapter on polymer clay. Buttons! I've always purchased those cute crafty buttons to finish off a child's outfit, but I'm going to try making some of my own. I haven't even begun to touch on everything included in this truly encyclopedic book. There's beading, decoupage, gilding, mosaics, silk screening, wreaths and lots and lots more! There is a glossary in the back as well as templates and patterns for all the projects presented. I'm thrilled to have this book in my library. I'll post some pictures of finished projects - but for now, I am happily rereading this book - there's just so much to take in in one read. One final word - I WANT TO LIVE IN MARTHA STEWART'S CRAFT ROOM!

Sookie Stackhouse

What you should know before reading this: I've never seen True Blood as I don't have HBO. This is my critique ONLY for the books in this set. I've realized there are two different types of vampire readers on this earth from reading the previous reviews: those who just want to read about vampires and those who want to feel something about the story of the vampires they're reading about. If you just want to read about vampires, this is not 100% for you. True, it does contain vampire material, but the story itself centers around Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a little Louisiana bar known as Merlotte's. She is the main character, the vamps (and other strange, darker beings) are definitely background material. Now, if you're someone who wants to feel something about the vampires you're reading about, this definitely will not happen. Again, mainly due to the fact that Sookie Stackhouse is the main character. Vamps go in and out of her life as fast as hair ties and bar aprons. Just when you get really settled into one, he's gone. On to the next. (Unlike Anne Rice, where a vampire is telling the story, which I personally find more compelling and rich.) This is a very Whedonesque (Joss Whedon, folks) writing style. Main character never wins at love. Main love interests are nothing alike. Some readers will root for one, other readers will root for another. Just don't root too hard, they're not going to stay together. (Don't fret, the relationships don't have much emotion packed into any of them, so the split won't hurt when it occurs.) My main problem with this series is Sookie Stackhouse. Maybe I just am one of those pretentious, snobby New Englanders, you say? Well, although I was born and raised in NY, I was born and raised UPSTATE. I lived in an old house, which was added onto, and we heated with wood. I still live in a place just like that. I have a lot of things in common with Sookie's humble story, but she's just not enough to keep my interest. And by enough I mean, she's just nothing special. She's blonde, has a nice body, reads dumb books, and is a barmaid. Oh yeah, she has ESP, but she doesn't use it to any advantage at all, which makes it almost non-existent. So? With Buffy, you could say, yeah, she's the Slayer, I get it, but with Sookie, you can't help but ask yourself, "Why the heck do any of these guys want her?" You just don't get it. And when you're asking yourself why anyone would like the main character, you find yourself just not caring about the main character. On the plus side, I know I'll read every book in the series, which I consider praise. This is why I gave it 3 stars. Some series, I read the first book and move on, but the author writes well enough to keep you wanting to know how it ends. I just hope it does end (hence only giving it a 3). Okay, someone stick a stake in me already. I'm done!

Losing Mum and Pup

For all right thinking persons in America, William F. Buckley was an icon. He was a gifted, eloquent writer whose political and philosophical analytical skills were unsurpassed in the 20th century. His death last year was a huge loss that was recognized by public figures from across the political spectrum. After all, when the leftist octogenarian George McGovern makes an immense physical effort to fly across the country to attend the conservative Buckley's memorial service (in Saint Patrick's Cathedral of course), it says something about the esteem that the arch conservative had gathered from the political elite of his time - whatever their philosophical point of view. Now Buckley's only son, Christopher Buckley, has come forth with a memoir of both his father and his mother in a book that clearly carries the Buckley stamp: LOSING MUM AND PUP: A MEMOIR is stylish, insightful and the prose comes across like some sad but lyrical adagio. There is, however, good and bad news about this book The good news: LOSING MUM AND PUP is at once an amusing and a very, very well written book, something one would expect from the son of the erudite William F. Buckley. For Christopher, Bill Buckley was the dominant influence in his life. Even though they had their difficulties, the elder Buckley was clearly a mentor to "Christo" (his father'snickname for his son) and when the young Buckley set off on his own in the real, grown-up world, he became a writer, just like his father. The bad news: This book probably tells a lot more than his parents might have wished. Young Buckley (figuratively speaking -- after all, as he was 56 years of age on publication of this book) takes on both his mother and his father in a manner where no holds are barred. The son writes that his father was not only a brilliant writer, he was a dominating father whose weaknesses (impatience, a domineering manner and an unfortunate reliance on alcohol and pills) had an adverse impact on their relationship. The two were close but not totally harmonious. The young Buckley describes any number of instances when his Dad causes him both pain and disappointment. The disappointments have been so many that at the end of the elder Buckley's life, when Christo cancels family plans to stay with his failing Dad, the father tells the son he would have done the same for him if their roles were reversed. As an aside, the younger Buckley tells his readers the elder Buckley would never have changed his plans in similar circumstances. "I smiled and thought, 'Oh no, you wouldn't'," Christo writes. "A year or two ago, I might have said it out loud, initiating one of our antler clashes. But watching him suffer had made my lingering resentments seem trivial and beside the point." The sections of this book about Bill Buckley are probably the most interesting, because of his public notoriety. But the remembrances of young Buckley's mother, Patricia Buckley, are more sensitive. Indeed on completing the book, one has to wonder whether the young Buckley was more his mother's son than his father's. The cover of the book features a portrait of the author and his parents. It is a handsome family, to be sure, but on studying the photograph, one has to conclude that Christo has the same penetrating, curious look of his Mother, rather than the aloof, superior countenance of his father. Yet one cannot imagine a more dashing, daring family than the Buckleys, and young Buckley leaves no question that his family established itself as one of the most prominent American families in the 20th century (in the book, Christo drops names like his parents dropped pills). Pat Buckley was stylish and became the doyenne of Manhattan society. She had her foibles, of course, as reported by her son. She was a consummate liar who on a whim made up stories out of whole cloth. Like Bill, she drank too much and she popped pills like candy. Her behavior was at times so outrageous that on occasion her son would write her letters scolding her: "Dear Mum," he wrote in a letter that he found, unopened, after her death. "That really was an appalling scene at dinner last night...." Christopher discovered after her death that she left many of his letters unopened, apparently fearing more criticism from her son. Indeed, when her time finally came, when she was unconscious on her deathbed, the young Buckley stroked his mother's hair and whispered: "I forgive you." Later, in his memoir, Christopher recalled: "It sounded - even to me at the time - like a terribly presumptuous statement, but it needed to be said." The bottom line on this book: one could argue that a family memoir should uphold the family legacy, and if that is true, all the dirty laundry in this book tarnishes the Buckley aura. On the other hand, one has to concede that if, in the end, every genuine legacy has to be founded on honesty, then Christopher Buckley has polished, to the good, the memory of his parents. Would the family patriarch agree? In his book, Christo tells how his father once he sent him an email upon publication of one of the son's books: "This one didn't work for me. Sorry. xxB." Would WFB have a similar reaction if he could come back to life and read his son's book on Mum and Pup? My guess is that he would, grudgingly, approve (in spite of the younger Buckley's endorsement of Barack Obama). But then we'll never know, will we?

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity

BILL O’REILLY, a three-time Emmy Award winner for excellence in reporting, served as national correspondent for ABC News and as anchor of the nationally syndicated news magazine program Inside Edition before becoming executive producer and anchor of Fox News’s breakout hit The O’Reilly Factor. He is the author of the mega-bestsellers The O’Reilly Factor, The No Spin Zone, Who’s Looking Out for You?, and Culture Warrior, as well as Kids Are Americans Too, The O’Reilly Factor for Kids, and the novel Those Who Trespass. He holds master’s degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Boston University.

Readers who are expecting a "blistering" sermon on Bill's political beliefs will be disappointed. But readers who enjoy a wonderfully nostalgic coming of age memoir with insights to a worldwide broadcasting icon's upbringing that ranges from catholic school to high school to college and the great beyond... will be enormously rewarded with this literary treasure. If you are a "BABY-BOOMER" you will be constantly exhilarated and your thoughts will go back to your early years as you are taken back in a historical time machine to the TV programs and rock and roll songs of your youth, with Bill as your contemporary tour guide. Heavily sprinkled throughout his life story, at just the right moments, are TV programs such as "The Ed Sullivan Show", "Mr. Ed", "Leave It To Beaver, "The Donna Reed Show", "The Mickey Mouse Club", "Ozzie and Harriet", "Happy Days", and more. Interspersed to make a point are lyrics and song titles from such classic rock and roll performers as Elvis, Sam Cooke, Rod Stewart, The Beatles, The Isley Brothers, The Standells, and others. I feel it's important to mention this, as I feel a large core of potential readers, will be "touched" by the romantic humanity that Bill displays in sharing his life with you... which among other things included teaching high school for two years in Florida. The author does not flinch from his central belief system which is: "IF THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT YOU TAKE FROM THIS BOOK, LET IT BE THIS: DESIGN YOUR OWN LIFE. NEVER GIVE UP TRYING TO MAKE IT ON YOUR OWN. GET BACK UP WHEN YOU GET SLAPPED DOWN, AND DON'T WASTE TIME BUYING INTO IDEOLOGICAL NONSENSE. EXPECT - AND ACCEPT - NOTHING FROM ANYONE ELSE DO IT YOURSELF." Being that I am the same age as Bill... and from the exact same part of the country as Bill... it's amazing how the main mantra's he built his life around are the same as mine. The following quote is from Bill... but it is exactly the way I was raised by my Father... and the exact way I raised my son... so even though it was in Bill's book... I will take credit for it also (you can verify it with my son) "IF YOU EARN IT, IT'LL MEAN A LOT MORE THAN IF IT'S GIVEN TO YOU. TAKING STUFF MAKES YOU WEAKER. EARNING STUFF MAKES YOU STRONGER." *AMEN!* Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the book is Bill's time spent at St. Brigid's parochial school where he and his "EVIL-TWIN" Clement made the Nun's life a living hell... and Clement always believed in payback... even during the schools Rip Van Winkle play. (Even Bill refused to participate in his pal Clement's dastardly plan.) The author shares some of the punishments at his elementary school: TALKING OUT OF TURN - SLAP ON THE HAND WITH A RULER. TALKING BACK TO THE SISTER - SLAP IN THE FACE, OFTEN HARD. BEING A WISE GUY IN GENERAL - NOTE HOME TO PARENTS, WHICH HAD TO BE SIGNED AND BROUGHT BACK TO NUN. (THIS USUALLY LED TO DOMESTIC PUNISHMENT.) SLOPPY APPEARANCE OR WORK - AFTER SCHOOL DETAINMENT. Bill is very proud of the fact that he never did any drugs and has never been intoxicated. He is very proud of his religion and his belief's, but will never push it on anyone... nor discuss it on his show unless he is led there. He is very proud of America and when he went to England for a time in college he was so tired of all the anti-American comments and being constantly mocked because of his "NEW YAWK ACCENT" that he finally said: "HEY BUD, YOU'D HAVE A GERMAN ACCENT IF IT WASN'T FOR MY FATHER AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER NEW YORKERS LIKE HIM. SO "BLANK" YOU, FISH AND CHIPS AND THE BEATLES. GET ME?" The author has covered wars in El Salvador, the Falkland Islands war in Argentina, Northern Ireland at the height of the trouble, the Golan Heights, and the current situations in Iraq and Afghanistan... yet the event that made him "KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT JOURNALISM WOULD BE MY PROFESSION"... was when he covered the forced integration of South Boston in 1974. Having grown up in a working class neighborhood Bill has never forgotten his roots. To this day he fights for the underdog and perhaps a good summary of his life goal is the following quote: "WHEN IT IS ALL OVER, WHEN YOU ARE DEAD IN THE GROUND OR IN AN URN, YOUR LEGACY WILL BE DEFINED BY TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS: HOW MANY WRONGS DID YOU RIGHT, AND HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU HELP WHEN THEY NEEDED IT?"

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

By Michael J. Fox

'Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist' is a wonderfully shared memoir of a gentle gentleman who positively affected the lives of many.

Michael Fox suffers from the physical challenges of Parkinson Disease; however, what he has done in his life, and what he shares strongly in this book to his reader audience is that in one way or another, we all are faced with human hardship. What we do in the face of these difficulties ... these unexpected changes ... these new paths that our life may unexpectedly take us down - what really counts is to find the moments of happiness within the challenges, to never lose hope and faith in change, and to use the changes in your life in one way or another as an advantage. In fact, Michael shares that his relationship with his wife, the gentle-heart and compassionate Tracy Pollan (I say this of Tracy not because of her unquestionable love of Michael, but her sense of kindness she always acts within to others), that if fact, his relationship became stronger due to the challenges that he and Tracy faced together ... his battle with the neurological degenerative disease that is Parkinson's.

I am a fan of Michael's work; however, I am clearly an admirer of Michael J. Fox the man, the husband, and the father - and with good reason. Michael is on multiple missions : the first is clear: to find a cure for Parkinson's Disease. However, the second is equally as important: to teach the world to find the optimistic view no matter what the situation.

'Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist' is a very meaningful book that all readers will walk away from with an added perspective of the wonderments of our life no matter how difficult the challenges we have.