JC Library Book Reviews

December 31, 2007: “WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE WORLD AS A STAGE " by Bill Bryson.
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself. Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.

September 11, 2007: “Hurricane Audrey” by Cathy Post.
In a gripping and fast paced account of one of the worst storms to strike the United States in the twentieth century, Cathy Post has captured the hearts of many even though the book has only recently come off the press. Ms. Post, a descendant of one of the families greatly affected by the storm, introduces us to six families before the storm lands on the Louisiana Gulf Coast near Cameron Parish, and then she carries us through the destruction, wind and flooding, with those families, showing us how, hour by hour, each fares in this rapidly developing and fierce hurricane of June 1957. It’s a page turner, I guarantee!

August 20, 2007: “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley .
During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron, Percy Bythe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley spent a summer touring Europe and ended up staying for an extended time at a rural chateau. The men issued a challenge to each other to write a ghost story. They did not know that 18-year-old Mary would take the challenge on herself. Guess who won?!?!? “Frankenstein” is the heartrending story of a sadly hideous being created by Dr. Frankenstein who experiences rejection by many and is hoping to find acceptance and love elsewhere. His encounters during his travels are just as painful for the monster as the ones from which he is running. Unfortunately, the once innocent creature turns evil. Everyone should read this classic story and consider the profound questions it raises concerning the very nature of mankind and our behaviors.

August 14, 2007: “Warriors Don’t Cry" by Mary Pattillo Beals.
In 1957 trouble was brewing in Little Rock, Arkansas with integration on the minds of everyone. Since this is the 50^th anniversary of the integration of the Little Rock school system it is fitting to take a look at this account of the brave Little Rock Nine. Ms. Beals, one of the nine, tells the poignant story of this valiant group. You will be amazed at the varying attitudes of the citizens of this community. This landmark decision has shaped all our lives and has created the society we have to day. Read this book and share in the bravery, heartache, despair and triumph of this determined group of teens and their families.

May 22, 2007: “1776” by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2005, 294 pages)
In this bestseller, Pulitzer Prize winning book, author David McCullough tells the story of the American Revolutionary War during its pivotal year,1776. Most of the year went poorly for George Washington's army, resulting in repeated retreats and the loss of Boston, New York, and other key areas. However, the year ended with Washington's brilliant nighttime crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas Eve for a surprise attack on the mercenary Hessian troops encamped at Trenton, New Jersey. This stunning victory turned the war from the British to the Americans' favor. The book is much more than a mere chronicling of events. McCullough is an engaging storyteller who has written a very readable, gripping, popular history book. I highly recommend it. By Tom Walston

April 17, 2007: “PORTRAIT OF A KILLER: JACK THE RIPPER CASE CLOSED” by Patricia Cornwell

Over the course of legal history, some names have lived in infamy due to their cold-blooded killings. In this list of names, one most intriguing murderer must be mentioned. In the late 1800s in London, a number of murders led to the naming of a character. The fact that these murders were so vicious in their depravity is one of the things that make them so famous. The fact that the murderer kept in contact with the police by letter, taunting them at every turn, is also outrageously ghoulish and draws us in further. No one knows who he or she was, and there are so many suspects that everyone has a favorite. In Portrait of a Killer, Patricia Cornwell---using 21^st century police investigation techniques---states chilling, conclusive evidence in her case.

April 9, 2007: “ISAAC’S STORM” by Erik Larsen
This engrossing disaster book covers the Galveston hurricane on September 8, 1900---considered one of the greatest natural disasters in U.S. history. As had happened in the Jonestown Flood ten years earlier, nature’s wrath was mightily aided by man’s obliviousness. Larson highlights two central actors in the drama: the hurricane itself, beginning with its origin in Saharan westerly winds, and Isaac Cline, the professional weatherman who discounted the warnings from Cuba about the strength of the approaching storm. This compelling story gives the heartbreaking details of the storm’s devastation: homes destroyed by ocean water driven by 200 mph gusts of wind; men struggling to save their families; and the survivors frantically searching for their loved ones among the corpses buried in mud. A truly unforgettable read!

April 4, 2007: "DO TWO WRONGS = RIGHT?" by Si Mills. “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” by Jimmy Carter & “Night” by Elie Wiesel
Two Nobel Peace Laureates, one in 1986, one in 2002, two authors, two books---each new to the library and compelling “reads” on one of today’s most difficult and devilish threats to world peace. Elie Wiesel’s “Night” is a chilling account of the horrific abuse visited by Nazi Germany on the European Jewish community. Jimmy Carter’s “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid” is a compassionate plea to recognize the homeless, displaced, scarcely enfranchised Palestinian political refugees---displaced largely by the same Jewish families who fled Europe in the wake of the Holocaust recounted so vividly by Wiesel. Both accounts are riveting. Carter’s assessment is incomplete but well chronicles the failures of the U.N., the U.S. Congress, Great Britain and the Jewish people to recognize and respect an ethnic population larger than their own. Both are current, challenging, thought provoking, and painful; yet very readable and understandable.

March 25, 2007: "A Tejano Son of Texas: An autobiography by Jose “Polly” Rodriguez", edited by Rudi R. Rodriguez
This autobiography chronicles the varied and interesting life story of Polly Rodriguez from his early years in San Antonio as an apprentice gunsmith, to his years as a guide, soldier, Texas Ranger, and concludes with over 25 years as a Methodist minister in Central and South Texas. Follow Polly as he leads the famous “Whiting/Smith Expedition” from San Antonio to El Paso, fights in the Civil War along side men such as Robert E. Lee, and experiences many aspects of early Texas frontier life as a Texas Ranger and Justice of the Peace in Bandera County. Visit www.texastejano.com for more information on Texas Tejano History and to learn more about other early Tejano leaders.

March 20, 2007: "THE INNOCENT MAN" by John Grisham
Here, in true Grisham style, there is a hero and a villain. The primary difference in this and his 18 previous novels is simple---this is a true story of not one, but four innocent men convicted of murder and rape; three of whom are condemned to death. Set inthe 1980’s in Ada, Oklahoma, a high school athletic star passes up a college scholarship, fails at professional baseball, falls into a pattern of joblessness, alcohol, drugs, nightclubs and their poisonous relationships. His family accommodates to the progression of an ever more disabling mental illness and does not forsake him when he and a friend are arrested and charged---wrongly---with the grisly rape and murder. It is a chilling account of two murder trials, the death penalty, incarceration in an underground cell, endless appeals, police and prosecutorial abuse, sloppy lawyering and judging, then excellent work by dedicated lawyers and judges. As Grisham says at the end: ‘I had enough material to write 5,000 pages’. He stopped at 350, beautifully. It is a compelling story that reminds each of us of the importance of ‘justice under law’; and the importance of law to ‘justice’. Reviewed by - Si Mills

March 5, 2007 : "COMPANIONS OF THE BLEST", a Novel of the Texas Hill Country, by Jim Boyd
A successful New York journalist, Rene Merrill, is suddenly isolated at a remote Texas ranch where she meets mysterious Mac Taylor and becomes friends with his mother, Juanita Navarro Taylor. Juanita’s stories of her family are based upon historical facts about the Texas Revolution and cultural conflicts researched by the author. A Hill Country reader will travel through familiar terrain and architecture as the story unfolds, and values lost too much of our society become alive again. Jim Boyd, a seventh-generation Texan, and his wife Veleda, are ranchers in the Texas Hill Country.