Framing the Dialogue

Book Reviews

Last Testament

There seems to have been Mid-East “peace” talks as long as I can remember and there have even been some agreements.  The accords don’t last long much like the peace.  Author Sam Bourne uses yet another peace accord as the backdrop for his thriller The Last Testament.  The novel centers around archaeology, Jerusalem, a female mediator, Iraq, and some really bad people.  Overall this was a very enjoyable work.  Perhaps the best compliment is that I gave up a couple hours of sleep last night finishing the story.  I am tired this morning, but it was well worth the sleepiness, however, Bourne never quite reaches the pinnacle of many other thrillers.  Some of the twists just don’t really fit even though they are twists.  I also was a little disappointed by the “bad guy” and thought Bourne’s choice was a little too easy.

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In Secret Service

“In 1964, James Bond’s creator sealed a package containing a manuscript he thought no one would read until fifty years after his death.”

That’s the subtext of the storyline of the novel set in 2005.  The heroine, the granddaughter of a man close to an inner circle of the British government, finds herself in possession of an Ian Flemming’s manuscript that many people are “dying” to get their hands on.  The premise loosely tries to thread together several of the British monarchy’s skeletons including the death of Princess Diana and the abdication of the throne by the Duke of Windsor.  Author Mitch Silver provides some interesting theories in this novel, In Secret Service and differentiates between fact, fiction, and supposition in the Athor’s Note.

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Then We Came To The End

I don’t want to suggest that you need to work in a cube city office to enjoy this book.  I don’t want to suggest that you have to have endured a series of layoffs at your work to enjoy this book.  I don’t want to suggest that you have to work for an advertising agency to enjoy this book.  I do suggest that the more of these experiences you have the more you’ll enjoy Then We Came to the End and I consider myself somewhat an authority since I’ve experienced two of the three.

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The King of Torts

The next time I am watching television and one of those commercials comes on asking if I took a certain drug and now suffer one of a hundred or so maladies I’ll have a better understanding of the lawyers behind the ad. The King of Torts traces the meteoric rise of a struggling public defender to the “king of torts.” John Grisham spins a legal tale that includes greed, selfishness, waste, cheating, illegality, and jealousy and that’s just the lawyers.  Class action suits are shown to be the sleazy, ambulance-chasing profession that it is. 

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Korea Strait

The Korean War is perhaps the least understood of America’s modern conflicts. It is hard for me to understand the deep hatred between the different countries in the Pacific forged through centuries of occupation and wars. Former enemies are now allies; countries are split apart by ideology. Korea Strait is a novel using this geopolitical canvas as the base for an intense naval exercise reminiscent of Tom Clancy’s Hunt For Red October. While not in the same class as that novel, Korea Strait moves beyond the Cold War to what may be today’s version. Unless one has his head buried in the sand, it is hard not to envision some future conflict with North Korea who may just be capable of nuclear strikes.

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End of Story

So it was my last day of vacation.  I had just finished a book and wanted a book that was not too deep nor too long.  My goal was to sleep and read, read and sleep.  I guess that I judged this book by its cover in one of my “to read” piles of books.  End of Story fit the mold and was not too deep, not too long, and was suspenseful enough to induce me to read more than sleep.  That’s a good book to curl up with.

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Drive

I once had an unhappy guy working for me.  He felt like he was not paid enough for the responsibilities that he had and I agreed, however, I didn’t have any control over compensation.  He was a great employee and I worked to get him more money, but I knew that when I was finally successful his satisfaction would not last so I looked at ways to make our work more “fun.”  We still did our work, but I was able to introduce more autonomy to his schedule and involve him in some out-of-the-box tasks.  I’ve been gone from that company over twelve years, but I recently ran into Hank and he is still there and is close to retirement.

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10,000 Steps A Day

I had heard many times that in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle (weight, exercise, mental status) a rule of thumb is to take at least 10,000 steps everyday.  In some ways that sounds like a lot, but as much as I walk in a day I thought I’d be close.  As I was browsing around Amazon I found a very cool pedometer that counts steps, estimates distance, calories burned and keeps a record of the last seven days measurements. 

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Emergency

“There is no crime that a man will not commit in order to save himself.”

- – Tadeusz Borowski

This book is not really what I expected as the subtitle that “this book will save your life” prepared me for a “how to” book on surviving an apocalypse.  However, Emergency is author Neil Strauss’ journey from an inept, unprepared city dweller to an accomplished, prepared man.  In what began as a selfish (though wise) desire to prepare for disaster ended with a more balanced approach.  The author was able to share his experiences on the journey which made it a very enjoyable book.

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Out of Oz

I think that Gregory Maguire has saved his best for last.  His fourth and final book in the Wicked Years saga, Out of Oz may be my favorite.  Pitched against the backdrop of war, Maguire brings back many favorites to conclude the series.   The story centers around Elphaba’s granddaughter as she matures and faces the consequences of her ancestors’ actions.  Even Dorothy make a return visit to Oz. 

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