Visit Bookviews by Alan Caruba, July 2003

Books for review should be sent to Alan Caruba, Bookviews.Com, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Do not send galleys or bound proofs. Bookviews.Com accepts only the finished book. Thank you.

My Picks of the Month

Two books about the recent war in Iraq should be of interest to people who are concerned with current events. As a US commission probes what led to 9-11, Bill Gertz’s book, Breakdown: The Failure of American Intelligence to Defeat Global Terror ($15.00, Plume), newly updated and revised, is another one of those books that one would want to read for its insights. Gertz writes for the Washington Times on defense and national security. He has broken many stories as the result of his unprecedented access to those within various government agencies. In this book, he examines just what went wrong and what wasn’t done to prevent 9-11. A lot of what he reveals is information many top level government people would prefer to keep hidden from the public, but in a free society, it is essential that we understand what went wrong in order to correct it.

Another is Christopher Hitchens’ A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq ($8.99, Plume). Written as events leading up to the conflict were unfolding, Hitchens is one of those writers who is worth reading no matter what his chosen topic. In this case, it is an examination of the questions that swirled around the event, how despotic was the Hussein regime, did the US invade for oil, will more terrorist events be provoked, et cetera. Simply stated, Hitchens’ grasp of the big picture is sufficient reason to read this slim volume.

James Weinstein has written The Long Detour ($26.00, Westview Press/the Perseus Group), subtitled "The History and Future of the American Left." A dedicated Socialist, the author is also a skilled historian who has written about the movement in America, its contributions and its weaknesses, as well as what socialism, in his view, may contribute in the post-Cold War period. There is considerably irony in the fact that much of the history he relates is one of continual failure. Socialist candidates for public office did not do well at the polls and those that got elected often encountered resistance to their policies. Despite this, socialist policies and goals have transformed the nation in the form, most obviously, of Social Security, Medicare, and comparable programs that essentially redistribute the earnings of one group of people to another. The author unflinchingly decries what occurred in Soviet Russia under Stalin. He actually is a big fan of capitalism and says Karl Marx was as well. This is an interesting book to read and provides a great deal of insight into the U.S. socialist movement.

With all the news about unethical behavior at the highest levels of corporate power, along comes an amusing book by Marianne M. Jennings, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success (and a Very Large Rabbit) ($19.95, Amacom) which borrows from the hilarious play and film, "Harvey", to introduce us to Aristotle, a giant talking rabbit who gives bookkeeper, Edgar Benchley advice whenever he is tempted to emulate his unscrupulous colleagues who back-stab, cut corners, and cook the books. The balancing act between Edgar’s ambitions and his conscience forms the plot that is a much-need antidote to the overload of corporate greed and chicanery that has cheated and ruined the lives of investors and employees.

My longtime friend, Dr. Jan Yager, has penned Road Signs on Life’s Journey ($21.95, Hannacroix Creek Books) which any parent will want to tuck into their backpack as their child go off to college. It is filled with the kind of insights, aphorisms, and good advice that one hopes to impart to any young person setting out on life. These are life’s lessons that are better picked up from this book than the hard knocks experience can hand out for lack of having been exposed to them. Do your son or daughter a favor. Give them this book. Another friend, Sandra Lamb, is a writer who writes about writing. Her latest book is Personal Notes: How to Write from the Heart for Any Occasion ($19.95, St. Martin’s Press) and for those whose communications skills have atrophied as the result of writing brief emails and adding a smiley face, this is a wonderful book that will show you have to really reach out and touch someone with all kinds of notes. All kinds of occasions are opportunities to say thank you, plus there are graduations, anniversaries, birthdays and even advice on how to write a special love note. There is also advice on how to convey your feelings in the case of illness, divorce, and condolences. And those all-important notes of refusal, apology and forgiveness.

For the wisdom that can be found in Old Testament, there is an interesting book, Tree of Life: A Book of Wisdom for Men, selected by Eric Kampmann ($14.95, Beaufort Books) that permits one to extrapolate the best the Bible has to offer in 365 brief verses, one for each day of the year, that stimulate the mind to contemplate its message. This is an approach to Bible reading that is ideal for today’s fast-paced world and one that can, of course, lead to reading the Bible in its fullness. Kampmann’s selections are intended to guide men, but any woman would enjoy this book. This is the kind of book that can be kept by the bedside, in one’s desk or briefcase. It’s not just handy, it is a blessing.

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Books about Islam

There are an estimated 1.2 Muslims in the world. Heavily concentrated in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, they can also be found in large numbers in Europe, South America, and in the US. One might assume that they are all dedicated to their faith, but Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out by Ibn Warraq ($28.00, Prometheus Books) presents evidence that many Muslims have grown disenchanted with Islam and have, indeed, left it. It is a major decision because the penalty for leaving Islam is death. For this reason, many keep the decision secret even from their families. A companion book by the same author is Why I Am Not a Muslim ($19,00, Prometheus Books, softcover). For anyone seeking to understand the headlines, this scholarly examination of Islam should be "must" reading. While Americans are accustomed to extending tolerance to all faiths, this book not only demonstrates how intolerant Islam is, but how out of synch with the modern world it is. The violence being perpetrating worldwide may be a desperate effort to save this seventh century personality cult from eventual extinction. Keep in mind, the religions of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome are now just myths.

Noah Feldman has written After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy ($24.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) in which he suggests that (1) the jihad will end and (2) that democracy can find aplace in Islamic nations. It devotes considerable effort to this, but ultimately does not make his case. For one thing, jihad, making war on non-believers is an essential element of Islam, no matter what else you have been told and, secondly, Islam is totally incompatible with democracy since it insists that the only law is that given in its holy book, the Koran, and in the Hadith, the collection of Islamic traditions based on the life of Muhammad. The only Middle Eastern nation that has achieved any degree of democracy is Turkey and it had it imposed by a great leader, Ataturk, and backed up ever since by the military. He totally separated Islam from secular, civil governance. This is not the case in any other Middle Eastern nation where despots and monarchs still run the show. To accept real democracy, Muslims would have to reject the most elemental aspects of their faith. Nice try by the author, but naïve and far too optimistic.

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Listening to Books

Random House Audio has released a number of interesting books one can listen to in the car while commuting to work, laying on the beach, or just relaxing on the porch or patio. Late for the Wedding by Amanda Quick is novel ($25.00, 3 cassettes) about two lovers who want to escape London for a cozy interlude. Their plans are disrupted when a woman from his past shows up and from then on nothing goes as planned. Murder and intrigue intervene, as they investigate events. Oryx and Crake ($44.95, 9 CDs) by Margaret Atwood is set in a world where science-based corporations have taken mankind on an uncontrolled genetic-engineering ride. The internationally famed author takes you on a ride into a scary future. For those who love a good detective yarn, James Swain’s Sucker Bait ($29.95, 5 CDs, 10 hours) is about a hardened ex-cop, Tony Valentine, whose forte is nabbing hustlers, con men, bookies and grifters. This is a world where the fix is in and the author describes the many ways the suckers get fleeced. It’s a fast paced five hours. For a change of pace into the world of non-fiction, there’s Rick Reilly’s Who’s Your Caddy? ($25.95, 4 cassettes, 6 hours). A sports writer, Reilly got some of the top golfers to let him caddy for them and, from that experience, comes an interesting and fun look into their world. Billed as the ultimate investor’s road trip, Jim Rogers reads his book, Adventure Capitalist, ($29.95, 5 CDs), an account of a three-year drive around the world through 116 countries that included war zones, blizzards, epidemics, and some narrow escapes. For the less adventurous, this is a great way to vicariously explore the world and to contemplate some of the author’s interesting predictions for the future.

Time Warner Audio Books has a number of interesting new offerings. Again, the world of golf is the topic in John Feinstein’s Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black ($24.95, 3 CDs, 3 hours). This sports writer takes the listener into one of golf’s most famed events, the U.S. Open during 2002. It was the first time it was played on a true public golf course. Golfers will love this one. Some good novels are also available. David Morell’s The Protector ($25.98, 4 cassettes, 6 hours) tells the story of a former member of Delta Force who works as a protector of those rich enough to afford him and his team. When hired by a scientist who needs protection from a powerful drug lord, his entire team is attacked and wiped out, and the client seems to be in collusion with the man he said threatened him. James Paterson, a master of suspense, has When the Wind Blows ($31.98, 5 CDs, 6 hours) available. A riveting adventure-thriller, it begins with the murder of a young, female veterinarian and the FBI agent who wants to know who did it. A book I recommended last month, Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street by Gary Weiss ($25.98, 4 cassettes, 6 hours) tells the true story of Louis Pasciuto who, from the age of 19-25, moved stocks for 17 brokerage houses, most of that time without even a fake license. It is a cautionary story about those from whom he stole millions and those who can be the next victims of similar tactics.

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Novels, Novels, Novels!

Summer is the traditional time for reading a good novel at the beach or on the back porch. Our book bin does not lack for them. Indeed, it overflows.

Girls, if you want a big, fat novel filled with instantly recognizable characters, "female archetypes", pick up What She Wants by Cathy Kelly ($27.95, Dutton) for a story of four women whose lives are about to change, whether they want it or not. Their love lives are confusing, their family lives are overwhelming, and their work lives are equal parts of the same. This tale of their friendships and challenges will resonate with you for one heck of a good read. Fans of Rona Jaffe will welcome The Room-Mating Season ($24.95, Dutton). Set in 1963, it is the story of four girls, eager, naïve, and quite different personalities, who share a tiny one-bedroom apartment in a townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. This is the base from which they go out into the big city to establish careers, find adventure and love. Jaffe writes of how their decisions in 1963 shape their lives throughout the social turmoil of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It’s a real page-turner.

Dutton has also just published two other novels. A Friend of the Family by Lisa Jewell ($23.95) tells the story of three brothers in search of love, meaning, and happily-ever-after. Jewell is the author of One Hit Wonder (see Plume edition below) and this new novel is guaranteed to enhance her growing reputation. You will enjoy reading how the three cope with their mother’s mysterious new lodger, Gervase, and sort out their lives. Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb ($24.95) is a very different story from the other Dutton novels, an historically compelling Ballad novel that contrasts the lingering Civil War legends of the mountain-wise men and women of Appalachia with the lives of the area’s present-day residents. She will have you believing in the Civil War ghosts who show up at modern day reenactments of battles.

Caravaggio by Christopher Peachment ($23.95, A Thomas Dunne Book, a division of St. Martin’s Press) tells the story of the wild-spirited, violent-tempered Renaissance artist as it traces his many misadventures. A serial murderer, rapist, and thief, he was also in great demand for his remarkable talent. Michaelangelo Merisi is best known as Caravaggio. The book, written as his confession, tells his remarkable story and anyone who loves art will find it a good read, as will anyone who wants to read a lurid and convincing story about a madman and genius. Another novel from this publisher is Our Lizzie by Anna Jacobs ($25.95) set against the background of World War I. It follows the life of Lizzie Kershaw whose early marriage was a bad choice. While he is away on the battlefront, she finds the promise of new love, but as the war winds down, she must find a way to break free and seize her chance for a new life.

Modern day murder is the topic of Kate White’s A Body to Die For ($23.95, Warner Books). I recall reviewing her debut novel, If Looks Could Kill, and being impressed by her talent. She does not disappoint as she brings back Bailey Weggins, a true crime reporter for Gloss magazine. When she decided to escape New York for a weekend break at an inn and spa, her hopes for relaxation vanish when she discovers the body of a massage therapist wrapped from head to toe in Mylar. Needless to say, she becomes involved in the investigation and, soon enough, a second murder occurs. This novel won’t let go of you and you won’t let go of it.

Another thriller, First Degree, is the second novel by the current Edgar Award nominee, David Rosenfelt ($23.95, Mysterious Press). Andy Carpenter made his appearance in the first novel, Open and Shut, in 2002 and was greeted with high praise as a legal thriller. This new novel is likely to receive the same welcome for a plot that keeps you flipping the pages as Carpenter, a Paterson, NJ defense lawyer, takes on the case of a man who walks into his office and confesses to a brutal murder of a police officer. The problem is that the police have charged a low-level drug dealer with the crime and Carpenter feels his must defend him. It gets even more complex when his special investigator and love of his life, Laurie Collins, soon becomes the prime suspect after the first one provides a rock-solid alibi. If you like a good mystery, put this book on your reading list this summer. Also from Mysterious Press, A Cruel Season for Dying, by Harker Moore ($24.95) introduces an original, new detective series starring Jimmy Sakura, a Japanese-American homicide detective with the NYPD. In this story, he’s after a killer who puts wings on his victims to portray fallen angels. The detective’s skills are put to the test as he tries to track down an elusive and very demented killer. You won’t be bored!

A novel of financial intrigue, Conflicted ($30.00, Mecox Bay Press), marks the debut by Michael Culp, a former institutional investor and director of research at a famed Wall Street firm. His inside knowledge provides a look at the seamier side of Wall Street, but his narrative skills make this story of conflict of interests a winner. He takes you from New York to London, from the Hamptons to Moscow, and, if you have been following the headlines of late, you will feel like you are reading them with the special advantage of being taken behind the scenes. The lives of the novel’s characters reflect those who worked for and ran the firms that recently paid the highest fines ever for having fleeced innocent investors who trusted them.

Counterpoint is part of the Perseus Books group and this publishing unit has three excellent novels. Eleanor & Abel by Annette Sanford ($22.00) is a change of pace from most novels as it tells a charming story of two older people living in a small town. Love has passed each by over the years and yet, miraculously, it touches both of them at a point in life which each is old enough to "know better." Abel is 70 and Eleanor is 69. He is an itinerant carpenter who volunteers to fix her roof. A retired schoolteacher, Eleanor is put onto the path of romance with a fractious courtship in a warm and witty novel. Frederick Turner evokes 1929 ($25.00) in a novel about the life of Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke, a jazz musician whose rise to fame came almost as quickly as his descent. By 1929, his brief, brilliant career was already on its way to become a legend. This book reminds one of E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime. Told through the voice of a narrator attending an annual "Bix-Fest" in Davenport, Iowa where the musician was born, the reader is taken back to the fabulous Jazz Age, Prohibition, the rise and fall of the stock market. Anyone who enjoys jazz will enjoy this story filled with real-life characters that include Duke Ellington, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Bing Crosby to name just a few. Someone ought to make a movie from this book, but in the meantime, I recommend you read it.

Also from Counterpoint comes Gerard Donovan’s Schopenhauer’s Telescope ($25.00). It is a blend of the absurd, history, and a civic lesson for our times in which violence fills the headlines as civilization’s clash. It is an exploration of the way such violence shapes civilizations as its two main characters discuss and observe events around them. This is an intellectual exercise, but one worth undertaking.

If your taste runs to foreign lands and cultures, past times, and love stories, The Feast of Roses by Indu Sandaresan ($24.00, Atria Books) will more than satisfy you as it tells the love story of Emperor Jahangir and Mehrunnisa that resulted in the creation of the famed Taj Mahal. Better known as Empress Nur Jahan, she was his twentieth and last wife. It is seventeenth century India and the novel is filled with all the battles for power and wealth in a world where women do not rise to supremacy, but Nur Jahan is not like any other woman. You will fall in love with her just as did her husband. True love that never dies is the theme of The Forever Year by Ronald Anthony ($24.95, Forge), a vivid and intimate debut novel about the meaning of true love told from the male perspective. It is the story of a father who sees his son close to losing his opportunity for true love with an extraordinary woman, who takes it upon himself to insure this will not happen. He shares a story he never has before in a stirring family drama and touching romance. The author has filled the story with richly drawn characters and powerful situations.

Plume, a member of the Penguin Putnam group, continues to provide affordable, softcover novels for $13.00 each and among the latest are One-Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell. When the half-sister of an 80’s singer learns she has been found dead in her London apartment, she is dispatched to clear out her things. Turns out she had a secret life no one knew about and unraveling her past becomes a project to work on. I liked this one when it first was published and am glad to see it again. Cheet by Anna Davis is about Kathryn Cheet, a gal with five lovers who uses a color-coded system of cell phones to keep track of them. What could go wrong? I will let you discover that if you read this hilarious story as Kathryn, a London cab driver, enjoys her pick of whichever lover suits her mood. For a change of pace, there’s Peter Elbling’s novel, The Food Taster, about a starving peasant and his daughter who are taken from their farm by the despot Duke Federico. Ugo Di Fonte may not have to worry about starving, but since the Duke has many enemies, every bite could be his last. This is a 16^th century romp wrapped in a melodrama that will entertain you.

Some novels are written to evoke a time or place. This is the case of Eric Thomas Felton’s The March of the Fireflies ($31.49, hardcover, $21.24 trade paperback, Xlibris). He takes you to Lincolnia, a speck of a town in northwestern Minnesota. Twelve years in the writing, it is a loving tribute to a place where the winters last forever and the mosquitoes are said to hunt in packs. It is also filled with people nurturing dreams that may never come true. It is a place of oddities such as a marching band that performs on snowshoes, a blind police dog, or a trio of singing brothers that bill themselves as quintuplets. It begins in mid-summer and it will be one that will be celebrated for years to come. Felton, an excellent observer of life, has captured the lives of the folks who live in this town and, with humor and pathos, he will capture your interest in each one of them. Barry Silverstein’s expert knowledge of information technology companies over the course of 25 years is more than evident in The Doomsday Virus ($18.95, iUniverse), a novel about two powerful software entrepreneurs in a race to market a new operating system. They are counting on a favorable review by an influential Silicon Valley journalists, but things get complicated when she becomes romantically involved with one of them. After that, everything threatens to spin out of control when she becomes the reluctant conduit for a brilliant, yet warped, computer hacker named "Doomsday" who has created a virtually unstoppable virus. The FBI gets involved and, well, I won’t tell you the whole story, but I will recommend that you read it! Another iUniverse author is Robert Steiner. His collection of short stories, The Decoy and Other Stories, ($13.95) offer everything from realism to science fiction, fantasy and adventure. Talent shows up everywhere and, in this case, Steiner is a retired professor of chemistry with a keen ear for dialogue and a skilled storyteller. To learn more about this book, please visit our Featured Books section.

The paperbacks keep flowing off the presses, affordable and filled with hours of entertainment. St. Martin’s Press has published Janet Evanovich’s detective yarn, Hard Eight, a Stephanie Plum novel. She specializes in apprehending fugitives, but now she has to find a kidnapped child and her mother. It is complex and compelling. That description also can be applied to Keith Ablow’s Compulsion, a psychological thriller about a forensic psychiatrist who must help unravel the murder of a five-month old infant, the daughter of a billionaire.

Kensington Publishing Corporation has the Zebra and Pinnacle imprints, in addition to its own line. If its romance you’re looking to read, Lisa Plumley has penned Perfect Together about an actress trying to jump-start her career who appears incognito on a game show and falls for a fellow contestant. Romance and suspense are mixed in Kat Martin’s Midnight Sun set in the Yukon. A wish for isolation gives way to romance and is complicated by a killer stalking the new girl in the main character’s life. History and romance mix in Hannah Howell’s Highland Angel set in Scotland and the age of the clans; lots about blood and honor.

Zebra titles feature famed novelist, Janet Dailey and her book, Green Calder Grass, set in Montana in which a happy marriage is challenged for a former wife puts everything at risk. For those who enjoy westerns, there’s Robert Vaughan’s Trailback which occurs after the Civil War. Seeking a peaceful life as a cook on a Texas ranch. Gunslingers and warring neighbors offer plenty of action. A serial killer wreaks havoc in Watch Them Die by Kevin O’Brien. Seattle is the backdrop for this thriller.

From Wizards of the Coast come tons of paperbacks for lovers of fantasy that include Dragons of a Vanished Moon, volume 111 of The War of Souls series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, editors as well of the Ragon Lance series that includes The Players of Gilian and A Warrior’s Journey and Darkness and Light, both by Paul B. Thompson and Tonya C. Cook. There are enough of these and other paperback novels to keep you reading throughout the summer and into the fall.

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Books for Kids and Younger Readers

A publisher of some of the most beautiful children’s books is Illumination Arts of Bellevue, Washington. Their latest is In Every Moon There is A Face ($15.95) for those as young as age three right on up to grown-ups like myself. It is a poem by Charles Mathes, illustrated by Arlene Graston, that is a gift to the imagination as a little girl dreamily gazes up at the moon from her window and you share her thoughts. Words and beautiful art combine to make this book a treasure.

Little Red Snapperhood: A Fishy Fairy tale by Neal Gilberson and illustrated by Evon Zerbetz ($15.95, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co., Anchorage, Alaska) is a clever takeoff on the Little Red Riding Hoodtale and one that ends with a happy twist. No youngster to whom this story is read will think about the big bad wolf the same way again. This book is a feast for the eye with bold colorful illustrations. A visit to www.gacpc.com will reveal the many interesting books for all ages and interests that this unique publisher offers. R.G.’s On Vacation by Lisa L. Dwyer ($15.95, Window Seat Publishing, West Hempstead, NY) is about a day at the beach with R.G. and his family. For the very young, this is called a "counting" book because its verse and illustrations involve learning the numbers of various creatures pictured on the beach and in the sea that washes up to it. This is a good one for those aged 4 to 7. For the very young, aged 2-5, who love to be read to, there’s Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle ($15.95, Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company) that relies mostly on beautiful illustrations of a dozen endangered species. They will learn to recognize eagles, turtles, and such.

Written in the form of a 12-year-old’s tale, My Summer at the Lighthouse: A Boy’s Journal ($17.95, Avery Color Studios, Inc, Gwinn, Michigan) is ideal for ages 8-12 as a story of what it was like to be a lighthouse keeper’s assistant. Frederick Stonehouse’s book relates the boy’s busy vacation with his grandparents at a majestic lighthouse, telling about the work, a July 4 picnic with the nearby townspeople, a shipwreck and daring rescue. The watercolor illustrations by Susan Alby Meyer capture the magic of the text. Those in third to sixth grades will enjoy this one. I know I did!

Finally, Families are Forever by Craig Shemin, based on characters by Deb Capone, and illustrated by John McCoy ($16.95, As Simple As That, Montauk, NY) tells the story of a six-year-old girl’s heartwarming journey from China where she has been adopted by an American family to her new home. It is the first in an ongoing children’s book series confronting the issues of adoption and multi-racial family life. This book is targeted toward families with children aged 3-8. Currently, more than 150 million Americans have adoption in their immediate family and more than six million Americans are adopted. Every year, the number of international adoptions increases by an astounding 300%.

This book will please any child aged 3-8.

That’s it for July!

Don’t forget to visit our Featured Books section with its unique selection of fiction and non-fiction books, any one of which, may prove to be just the one for which you’ve been seeking.

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