BLOOD BROTHERS, by Nora Roberts

In the town of Hawkins Hollow Maryland, three men have been best friends forever. They come from different families but were all born on 7/7/77. In 1987 on their 10th birthday Cal, Gage and Fox set out through the woods to camp at the mysterious location of Pagan Stone. They unleash an evil entity that dates back to 1652 and when they finally leave the woods the next morning, everything has changed. Fast forward twenty years where Quinn, an author who specializes in things that go bump in the night, comes to the town to research what happened 20 years ago and what happens to the town and its inhabitants on 7/7. I am a little disappointed in this story. It's not bad; it's just not that great, either, I wasn't wowed. Blood Brothers is a little reminiscent of the Three Sister Island Trilogy. I like the story premise; I love paranormal fiction, but feel this book is missing something. It failed to hook me like all other Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb books normally do and I think it is because of the characters; I never got that attached to any of them. We have three men bonded by birthdays and deep friendship and then three women, Quinn, Layla and Cybil come along for various reasons. You know eventually they are all going to "couple up" and normally by book one in her trilogies while couple number one is steaming up the pages you can feel the chemistry brewing between couples two and three. It wasn't brewing at all for couple two and it's barely simmering for couple three. I just don't think she gave us a real strong sense of who everyone was and where they are all coming from. Part of the reason why I love Nora books is because of her ability to paint the characters so vividly; normally we know the characters physically, emotionally, personally. I didn't get that with this one. I barely have a physical description in my head for the 6 of them. I don't want to be all negative as it is not a horrible book by any means. I like the plot and think with a little more development I will love the characters. I think Gage and Cybil are going to be fun. I am hopeful that the next two books The Hollow and Pagan Stone will be a little more gripping and engaging. All in all not her best work or start to a series, but it's still a good read.

THE BANCROFT STRATEGY, by Robert Ludlum

This is as exciting and convoluted as any of the master's thrillers; prior reviewers have detailed the story sufficiently. I'll only add that the plot's twists, turns and surprises continue right on up to the final paragraph in the epilogue. Although I enjoyed the story immensely, I had the sense that the action scenes lacked the "Ludlum Strategy" of realism and credibility [after all, how can many times can one super-agent overwhelm four or more opponents singlehandedly; or one untrained woman knock out two professional killers?]. On checking the book's front pages, I learn that the 'Ludlum Estate' (the author died 12-Mar-01 in Naples, FL) commissioned a "qualified author and editor"; the unanswered question remains whether this book -- prominently displaying Ludlum's name -- is an updated previously unpublished manuscript, a thriller developed from a premortem story outline, or whether the commissioned author wrote this book singlehandedly. If this is indeed an original de-novo piece of writing, then the true author deserves not only a great deal of credit, but ought to publish under his/her own name rather than remain anonymous; s(he) would make a genuine contribution as an independent, skilled and accomplished writer of thrillers. I have the uncomfortable gut sense that this ship may be flying under a false flag ... unless and until the authorship provenance is more fully clarified.

THE BOOK OF GENERAL IGNORANCE, by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson

This book is for the people who know they don't know very much." This comment, in the introduction of The Book of General Ignorance, sets the stage and presents the authors' challenge. I started reading it with a "Who do they think they are fooling" attitude. They made me a convert. This book only gets more interesting as you continue reading it. Some of the knowledge nuggets aren't big secrets, and in fact read as "trick questions," like "What is the tallest mountain in the world?" The trick is, "tallest," not "highest." Got it? Mauna Kea in Hawaii, not Mt. Everest. Then, what is the most dangerous animal that has ever lived? Answer? A mosquito, responsible, the authors say, for the deaths of about 45 billion humans. Of course (and they know this), one mosquito isn't responsible for these deaths, there are many species of mosquitos, and mosquitos really don't (directly) kill anybody. Trick question again. Then there were the questions that didn't hold any surprise at all: "What is the main ingredient of air?" Answer: nitrogen. But it got more interesting. What man-made objects are visible from the moon? None. Many are visible from "space" (a mere 60 miles above the surface of the Earth), but the moon is too far away. What is the biggest thing that a blue whale can swallow? What are violin strings made of? There are so many questions answered, that there is something here for everybody. This is better than Trivial Pursuit, because of the explanations given. This should be an entertaining book on CD to listen to on a long trip, and can easily be turned into a game for adults and kids. So I started reading it with a chip on my shoulder, and the authors made me a believer. Interesting, indeed. The book just kept getting better. And my favorite factoid? What is the longest animal alive today?

BORN STANDING UP, by Steve Martin.

The history of Western culture is full of artists who bled, starved, or courted madness for their work and their audience. But come on: How many of those phonies stuck an arrow through their head for us? Steve Martin's Born Standing Up is a spare, unexpectedly resonant remembrance of things past, the things in question being balloon animals and bunny ears, as well as the awkwardness Martin felt with his sullen father and the profound silliness he himself unleashed on stage. The book is unexpected not because fans have forgotten the sunburst that was Martin's stand-up but because you'd be forgiven for wondering if he has. It's been decades since he began reinventing himself as a wry, quietly powerful novelist, a snowy-haired movie dad, and a real, as opposed to ironic, sophisticate. ''I ignored my stand-up career for twenty-five years,'' he writes, ''but now, having finished this memoir, I view this time with surprising warmth. One can have, it turns out, an affection for the war years.''
Martin's prose is unusually meditative for a guy who once insisted that the ozone layer had to be saved because it was shielding us from another, more distant layer — of farts. Off stage, he always tended toward the non-wild and not-so-crazy. By 15, Martin was doing magic acts for Cub Scouts and making notes: ''Leave out unessasary [sic] jokes... relax, don't shake... charge money.'' At 20, he performed for a week at a club in San Francisco, where a sign in the kitchen read ''Anyone giving money to Janis Joplin before her last set is fired!'' It was here that his act became not comedy but ''a parody of comedy.'' Every desperate thing he'd done just to fill a 25-minute set — balloons, banjo playing, nose-glasses — suddenly cohered.
Describing the road to his colossal fame, Martin drops tidbits about being intimidated by Linda Ronstadt (''Steve, do you often date girls and not try to sleep with them?'') and passing Elvis backstage in Vegas (''Son, you have an ob-leek sense of humor''). He talks about anxiety attacks and his father's death. But this is not some star's tell-all. Martin's one true subject is the evolution of his comedy — the transcendent moments when he realized, say, that punchlines were the enemy, that a white suit could be seen better in a concert hall. Born is a smart, gentlemanly, modest book. That it comes from a man who's spent his life lampooning arrogance makes it all the more winning. In 2001, while hosting the Oscars, Martin had a one-liner that deserves to be remembered as one of the great skewerings of celebrity vanity. ''Please hold your applause,'' he said. ''Until it's for me.'' Fair enough. Here it comes: A

BOOK OF THE DEAD, by Patricia Cornwell.

Kay Scarpetta, who makes her 15th appearance in Patricia Cornwell’s BOOK OF THE DEAD, is settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where she decides to open a private pathology practice. Her mission is to help local municipalities that don’t have access to the technology she and her colleagues offer. She continues to work with Benton Wesley, her lover/colleague; Lucy, her brilliant niece; Pete Marino, a former cop, a longtime friend and her investigator; and Ruth, the loyal secretary who has always followed Scarpetta wherever she moved.When the story opens, Scarpetta and Wesley are “[i]nside the virtual-reality theater [with] twelve of Italy’s most powerful law enforcers and politicians, whose names, in the main, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta…and forensic psychologist Benton Wesley both…the only non-Italians” [in the room]. Both are…consultants for the International Investigative Response (IIR), a special branch of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI). They are there because the Italian government is in a very delicate position. Drew Martin, a 16-year-old American tennis player who was on her way to win the U.S. Open, has been found naked and mutilated “in the heart of Piazza Navona…the heart of Rome’s historic district.” As it happens she is not the only woman whose body has been torn apart in recent days. The bizarre murders cause outrage all over the world. Dr. Scarpetta, ever strong in her opinions and observations, goes head to head with Captain Ottorino Poma, a medico legale in the Arma dei Carabineri, the military police heading the investigation. He will argue with her about her observations and findings throughout the investigation. What Scarpetta and Wesley don’t know at first is that behind the scenes, psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Self, who hates Scarpetta, is demonically manipulating every aspect of this case. Dr. Self is determined to take revenge on Scarpetta, even making sure she dies, because Scarpetta testified against her in a court case that Self lost. Scarpetta has become her main target, but Self has no boundaries even when she is responsible for the deaths of others. Ironically Self has a very popular TV show where she is free to mess with her guests’ heads while keeping her own dark secrets locked away in some dungeon where she nurtures her psychoses. Back in America, Scarpetta’s niece, a true genius, is following everyone’s movements as she gracefully hacks into all of the computers the players are using. She is especially interested in Self’s email conversation with someone who calls himself “Sandman.” She and Scarpetta are worried about Marino who is out of control. A young woman picked him up at a bar and quickly takes over his life. Marino is a lonely, unhappy man who is very vulnerable, and this hussy knows it. She gets under his skin and begins a campaign to break him down for the purpose of undermining his relationship with Scarpetta. Does she have a personal agenda? Why in the world does she care about the friendship between Marino and Scarpetta? As the forensic team works against time, they start to concede that one killer is responsible for the actual deaths but may not be working alone. His “signature” is strange and grotesque. Scarpetta has always depended on her intuition when working a case. She is able to see what is “under” the surface of a crime. This “gift” emerges in full force after the body of a young boy is found face down in the mud; he had been starved and beaten to death. This murder can’t help but humanize the team. Automatically, comparisons are made to the other victims and adds to the theory that one killer is committing all of the crimes. Scarpetta is notorious for never closing a case until she is satisfied that every rock has been overturned to find the detritus underneath.While all of this is unfolding, personal problems cast a pall over the already troubling situation. Scarpetta is trying to understand what has come between her and Wesley; she is furious with Marino but doesn’t want to lose him; and suddenly, her indefatigable secretary, Rose, is acting strangely. Scarpetta is disturbed and distracted by the events in her personal life, yet she manages to keep her priorities in order by relying on her skills and common sense. Fans expect no less from the indomitable Kay Scarpetta. Although Patricia Cornwell began with a very interesting idea, BOOK OF THE DEAD does not reach the high standards of her previous works. While the beginning of the novel is engrossing, it has gaping holes and/or too much unnecessary information. She also brings characters on stage without giving them some kind of background, which leaves readers wondering what they are doing there. A good portion of the narrative is devoted to technical details, replete with confusing acronyms that don’t move the plot along in any significant way. Cornwell’s reputation rests on strong plot lines, well-limned characters and harrowing intrigue. Hopefully in Scarpetta’s next appearance, her creator will do a bit more editing to bring forth the strength of her earlier books.

BROTHER ODD, by Dean Koontz

Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night by a sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For this was a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love, and Stormy is dead, gone forever from this world. In the haunted halls of the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas is stalking spirits of an infinitely darker natureThrough two New York Times bestselling novels Odd Thomas has established himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictional heroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of a master storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontz follows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make a fresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old and inexorable as time itself. St. Bartholomew’s Abbey sits in majestic solitude amid the wild peaks of California’s high Sierra, a haven for children otherwise abandoned, and a sanctuary for those seeking insight. Odd Thomas has come here to learn to live fully again, and among the eccentric monks, their other guests, and the nuns and young students of the attached convent school, he has begun to find his way. The silent spirits of the dead who visited him in his earlier life are mercifully absent, save for the bell-ringing Brother Constantine and Odd’s steady companion, the King of Rock 'n' Roll.But trouble has a way of finding Odd Thomas, and it slinks back onto his path in the form of the sinister bodachs he has met previously, the black shades who herald death and disaster, and who come late one December night to hover above the abbey’s most precious charges. For Odd is about to face an enemy who eclipses any he has yet encountered, as he embarks on a journey of mystery, wonder, and sheer suspense that surpasses all that has come before.

BECOME A BETTER YOU, by Joel Osteen

There are few things I love to eat more than bread. I just love a good loaf of white bread. I eat it the way many people eat junk food (and, I suppose, one could argue that it is junk food). Not too long ago we bought a bread maker from a person nearby who was selling all his possessions to move back to his native Poland, having found that North American living was not to his liking. The machine worked well for five loaves but on the sixth, while the bread was being kneaded, I heard a strange grinding sound followed by a sharp crack. I opened the machine and saw that the paddle, the piece that beats against the dough, had broken. I removed the lump of dough and decided I could simply put it in a bread pan and bake it on my own. A few minutes later I pulled the loaf from the oven. It looked just perfect—golden brown on top and shaped a whole lot better than the loaves that come out of the bread maker. I eagerly cut into it, looking forward to enjoying a slice of bread. But, to my surprise, I cut into, well, nothing, really. Apparently the dough had not been properly kneaded. The loaf of bread was full of air; it was full of nothing. I had baked a crust.
As I thought about Joel Osteen’s new book, Become a Better You, I was reminded of that sad, pathetic little loaf of bread because this book, like that bread, is form without substance. This is Osteen’s second book, and the follow-up to his bestselling Your Best Life Now. Like the previous title, this one features a picture of the smiling pastor on the front cover and offers seven steps to a better life. Like Your Best Life Now much of the book follows this format: “The way to ______ is not to ______. Instead, you need to ______. You might say, ‘But Joel, I can’t do ______ and ______.’ I know it’s hard. Rise to the challenge. Don’t let yourself get beat up or knocked down. God has so much more for you.” And like his previous book, this one is maddeningly repetitive. It is a handful of his sermonettes for Christianettes expanded into 380 pages of mind-numbing repetition.
The book is divided into seven parts, which together are sure to improve your life every day. “What does it mean to become a better you? First, you must understand that God wants you to become all that He created you to be. Second, it is imperative that you realize that God will do His part, but you must do your part as well.” To become a better you, you must following the seven steps:
Keep pressing forward
Be positive toward yourself
Develop better relationships
Form better habits
Embrace the place where you are
Develop your inner life
Stay passionate about life
Each step is broken into several chapters and each part ends with a series of Action Points intended to give the reader concrete steps to tak to improve his life. It is, frankly, a lot like every other self-help book on the market today, but with one crucial difference—this one is built, supposedly, upon the Bible.
As I closed the cover on this book I began to wonder, What is it that draws people to Joel Osteen? Why do people enjoy his teaching so much? After all, tens of thousands of people attend his church each week and hundreds of thousands more watch him on television. He has become one of America’s most popular pastors, even while he teaches things that most pastors would testify are inconsistent with the Bible.
I think the secret to Osteen’s success is this: he teaches self-help but wraps it in a thin guise of Christian terminology. Thus people believe they are being taught the Bible when the reality is that they are learning mere human wisdom rather than divine wisdom. Osteen cunningly blends the wisdom of this age with language that sounds biblical. He blends the most popular aspects of New Age and self-help teaching with Christianity. And his audience is eagerly drinking this in.
And this raises an important and related question. What is Osteen’s authority? On what authority does he base what he teaches? Christians have long understood that the only authority we have when it comes to spiritual matters is authority given to us by God through the Bible. We are committed to teaching only things that are consistent with God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible. Without the Bible we have no authority. A pastor has no right to stand in front of a congregation and teach people what he believes. Rather, the pastor is to stand in front of the congregation and teaches people what God says about Himself. He bases all he does and says on this standard. In reading Joel Osteen we do not see this manner of authority. In reading Osteen we see a man who appeals to himself and to his own understanding and experience as authority. Rarely does he appeal to the Bible (66 times in 380 pages). Never will the discerning reader feel that Osteen has sought to understand the Bible first. Rather, it seems that he looks to the Bible to prove what he has already written or what he already believes. He uses the Bible, but not as a source of authority.
This is not to say that Osteen has no understanding of Christianity. Become a Better You contains some teaching that seems consistent with the Bible, and certainly there is lots of Christian terminology woven in. But Osteen teaches what is clearly a woefully inadequate theology of sin, repentance, sanctification and life. Osteen seems unable or unwilling to bring the power of the gospel to bear on life—real life. Life, he teaches, is not a meant to bring glory to God, but is meant to bring blessing and ease to the individual. He occasionally shares words that approximate the gospel, but ones that always stop short of providing the complete gospel as we find it in the Bible. “We’ve all sinned, failed, and made mistakes,” he says, “But many people don’t know they can receive God’s mercy and forgiveness.” That sounds fair, but he goes on to say, “As long as you’re doing your best and desire to do what’s right according to God’s Word, you can be assured God is pleased with you.” Is it enough to desire to do what’s right? Is God pleased with those who do their best? “That accusing voice will come to you and tell you, ‘You lost your temper last week in traffic.’ Your attitude should be, ‘That’s okay. I’m growing.’” But sin is never okay, whether we are growing or not. We can never excuse sin and can never minimize it.
My encouragement to those who intend to read this book and to those who enjoy the ministry of Joel Osteen is simply this: examine his authority. If you love Joel Osteen for who he is—a charismatic, smiling, successful, wealthy purveyor of advice—you will appreciate this book. It may change the way you live. But in that end that is all just puff. It’s like bread that is nothing but crust. If you are looking for teaching with true substance and for teaching that can really transform a life and renew a heart, look for a teacher who relies on an authority outside of himself—look for a person who humbly and faithfully teaches the Bible and who brings the wisdom of the Bible to bear on all of life.

BOOM!, by Tom Brokaw

n The Greatest Generation, his landmark bestseller, Tom Brokaw eloquently evoked for America what it meant to come of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Now, in Boom!, one of America’s premier journalists gives us an epic portrait of another defining era in America as he brings to life the tumultuous Sixties, a fault line in American history. The voices and stories of both famous people and ordinary citizens come together as Brokaw takes us on a memorable journey through a remarkable time, exploring how individual lives and the national mindset were affected by a controversial era and showing how the aftershocks of the Sixties continue to resound in our lives today. In the reflections of a generation, Brokaw also discovers lessons that might guide us in the years ahead. Boom! One minute it was Ike and the man in the grey flannel suit, and the next minute it was time to “turn on, tune in, drop out.” While Americans were walking on the moon, Americans were dying in Vietnam. Nothing was beyond question, and there were far fewer answers than before.Published as the fortieth anniversary of 1968 approaches, Boom! gives us what Brokaw sees as a virtual reunion of some members of “the class of ’68,” offering wise and moving reflections and frank personal remembrances about people’s lives during a time of high ideals and profound social, political, and individual change. What were the gains, what were the losses? Who were the winners, who were the losers? As they look back decades later, what do members of the Sixties generation think really mattered in that tumultuous time, and what will have meaning going forward? Race, war, politics, feminism, popular culture, and music are all explored here, and we learn from a wide range of people about their lives. Tom Brokaw explores how members of this generation have gone on to bring activism and a Sixties mindset into individual entrepreneurship today. We hear stories of how this formative decade has led to a recalibrated perspective–on business, the environment, politics, family, our national existence. Remarkable in its insights, profoundly moving, wonderfully written and reported, this revealing portrait of a generation and of an era, and of the impact of the 1960s on our lives today, lets us be present at this reunion ourselves, and join in these frank conversations about America then, now, and tomorrow.