Reviews

 I first saw Peter Arnell on the Martha Stewart show talking about this book and his rebranding of himself.  I was definately interested when I found out he had gone from 406 lbs. to 150.

Having read most of Kelley’s other books, I was slightly disappointed in this one but not because of the writing. Since it is an unauthorized biography, Kelley had to work with mainly press reports and very few interviews. She states at the beginning of the biography that everyone who works/worked for Oprah had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Therefore, there were not many people willing to speak about Oprah.

British Historian Tony Judt has written a brilliant polemic on the way we view government.  Judt’s Ill Fares the Land

I've been a James Lee Burke fan (and especially a fan of his character Dave Robicheaux) for many years, so I was delighted to discover Swan Peak, a novel that features Robicheaux and his friend Clete Purcel out of their usual Lo

This book, about the disastrous 2008 ascent of the Himalayan peak K2 which claimed the lives of 11 climbers and severely injured 2 others, is a riveting account of ambition, human error and heroism in one of the most punish

This is another first book by a new author. And it is a good one. Cold Kiss by John Rector begins with a young couple, Nate and his pregnant girlfriend, Sara, heading from Minnesota to Reno to get married. They stop at a roadside diner in Nebraska just as a snowstorm begins. They are low on cash so when Syl White, a fellow traveler whose car has broken down, offers them $500 to take him to Omaha, they accept.

Daniel Clowes' masterpiece, in my opinion, is Ghost World, his graphic novel about a youthful social misfit named Enid. (The credible film adaptation was aided considerably by the acting talents of Thora Birch.)

1952 South Africa is the setting for this mystery that brings the first years of apartheid to life. An Afrikaner police Captain has been found shot dead and left face down in a river near his hometown of Jacob’s Rest. Detective Emmanuel Cooper is dispatched from Johannesburg to solve the case.