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“San Francisco – Then and Now” by Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and Karl Mondon

“San Francisco – Then and Now” by Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and Karl Mondon
2009, Thunder Bay Press
ISBN: 978-1-60710-003-4

I don’t know about you, but I love looking at before and after pictures. Before she lost weight and after. Before the bathroom was remodeled and after. How about history? In “San Francisco – Then and Now” we have an opportunity to look at scenes from earlier days and then on each opposing page of the book, and from the exact same perspectives, the same scene as it is in 2009.

Eric Kos, Dennis Evanosky and photographer Karl Mondon have teamed up for yet another gorgeous book. This one, as the name suggests, is about San Francisco, one of America’s most famous cities.

Evanosky and Kos combed dusty halls and library archives for the historical pictures used in the book. From an original collection of over 300 historical pictures, many not seen in years, the 70 used in this book were chosen. Karl Mondon, a life-long San Francisco native, helped to identify the locations of the old pictures and then tromped about the city of San Francisco to take the incredibly sharp and beautiful up-to-date pictures. The perspectives demanded that he climb atop the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building.

Each set of pictures in the book is accompanied by “Then and Now” stories. Who lived there then and who lives there now. How the sites have changed in years gone by and how some have remained the same.

It’s always fun to learn of a story behind the story. And here's a secret: have a look at the pictures of Alcatraz on pages 24 and 25. That's Evanosky and Kos standing next to the cells.

Even people who have lived in San Francisco their whole lives will find something new to learn about their historic city. “San Francisco – Then and Now” can serve as a good-will ambassador to the rest of the world for years to come.

Good job guys!

“The Geometry of Sisters” by Luanne Rice

“The Geometry of Sisters” by Luanne Rice
2009, Bantam Books
ISBN: 978-0-553-80513-0

Our library has a book bin outside the front door and in the dead of night people come to leave their orphan books. On my trip to the library the day I checked out “The Geometry of Sisters” I stopped by the box and saw an old textbook of beginning geometry. Geometry was one of my favorite subjects in high school and it had been a long time since I’d done anything with it. I had a yen to explore the world of numbers and angles again.

Then, wouldn’t you know I go inside the library and in the new book section, “The Geometry of Sisters” practically screams my name. Psychic stuff is funny that way. Anyway, I checked out the book and haven’t been able to put it down.

This is a really terrific book. I’ve read other things by Luanne Rice and I do like the way she tells a story. I was not disappointed with this one.
It has to do with the close ties between sisters and how secrets can tear apart relationships and families. How we react to things and do the only thing we can do and we can manage to really mess things up. And, it’s how to fix things too.

I loved the geometry part and was able to slide back in time to where I also got lost in the infinity, the logical sense, the oneness of numbers. I’m looking forward to that old beat up text book too. “Introductory Geometry – An Informal Approach” by James R. Smart.

“Under the Done” by Stephen King

“Under the Done” by Stephen King
2009, Scribner
ISBN: 978-1-4391-4850-1

“Under the Dome” by Stephen King is 1,074 pages long. I weighed it after my wrists started hurting and I had to put on my wrist splints. It is 3.8 pounds. It doesn’t feel like 3.8 pounds. It feels like it weighs about 7 pounds. Now, for the first time in my life I have a better perspective where I can appreciate small losses of weight when I step on the scale in the morning.

Okay, to the book. I absolutely loved it. I positively, absolutely loved it. If you’ve never read a Stephen King book in your life before you will love it. If you are already a Stephen King fan you will know what to expect: horror that seeps out of everyday life.

There are always so many ways to tell a story and I love the way Stephen King does it. It’s like being able to swim underwater for long periods of time. As a writer I can appreciate it not being able to do it myself very well. It’s the ability to give bones to a character and to relationships. To take the time (thus a very long book) to paint for the person reading the book an exact picture of what is going on.

Yet, there is always that underlying talent of King’s where he says to himself, “But, what if?”

Remember when you were a kid and examined a bunch of busy ants? Remember when you and your friend sat there with a magnifying glass and smoked them? When did you start feeling remorse for having done that dirty deed? If ever? Did doing that cruel thing as a child help to develop the upstanding, moral character you are now? Or, do you still kill ants? Personally, I haven’t felt much lately when I squash them as they send their scouts into my kitchen. Now, I’m going to have to do a re-think on the matter. That much really unsettled my breakfast.

I’m not giving anything away here, am I? Okay, the Dome comes down on a small town in Maine one day. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out. Nobody can see it either. People get cut in half as it comes down. People crash into it. Animals do too. So do the birds. Picture this: You’ve got a really bad-ass politician running the town. This is perfect for a grab for power.

There’s a whole lot more to it. I don’t want to tell you the whole thing here. I’m just saying you will enjoy this story. You will probably call upon some unsettling memories you have too. It’s a win-win situation any way you look at it. Enjoyment of a horror story and a little introspective look into your own business.

“The Rebels: Sons of Texas” by Elmer Kelton

“The Rebels” by Elmer Kelton
1990, A Forge Book
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1526-7

I’ve become a huge fan of Elmer Kelton. Step back into the 1830’s and he will tell you a story of the Lewis family as they meet up in Texas. Years earlier Michael and Andrew left Tennessee for Texas. Times were hard. Stephen Austin had brokered a deal with Mexico for American settlers to come to Texas to live.

It had been 15 years since the brothers had built up their farms and in “The Rebels: Sons of Texas” more family from Tennessee were traveling west to join them. Frank, their cousin, his wife Hope and their children brought a wagon and in the other wagon Andrew and Michael’s brother James and their sister Annie.

Their lives were difficult. Times were fraught with tension as Mexico became concerned with the number of American settlers in Texas. Living in a foreign country with hardly any rights gnawed at the settlers and eventually it became war. This is where they cried, “Remember the Alamo”.

Elmer Kelton showed me the history of the state of Texas in a way I just hadn’t seen it before. He brings the life and times into such a clear focus that you can’t help but gain a better understanding of what people were like in those days.

This is the third in the trilogy of The Sons of Texas. Click on the titles of the first book, "The Sons of Texas" and the second book, "The Raiders: Sons of Texas" to see the reviews I wrote for those books. It would be so cool if Elmer would write more about the Lewis family. I feel I've come to know them.

“The Raiders: Sons of Texas” by Elmer Kelton

“The Raiders” by Elmer Kelton
1989, A Forge Book
ISBN: 0-765-31525-4

I am a huge fan of Western stories by Elmber Kelton. “The Raiders” is the second in a trilogy called, “Sons of Texas”. I’ve got the 3rd book, “The Rebels” sitting at my side, ready to go and past due at the library. I am considering just letting the fines accumulate so I can finish it up.

Andrew and Michael Lewis came from Tennessee to Texas. “The Raiders” takes place 10 years after they arrived in Texas. Michael has married Marie, but he’s got his father’s wanderlust in his veins. There are times as he gazes off to the west and the urge to travel is upon him. Andrew is concerned for Marie and Mordecai, their son, when his brother leaves, especially now that Marie is pregnant again. Michael does not appreciate Andrew’s concern and is forever telling him to mind his own business.

What Marie and Michael figure is that Andrew needs his own wife. But going out to find a wife in the early days of Americans in Texas is hard.

There are many adventures. Dangerous situations that come to show the truer natures of the people involved in these stories.

Elmer Kelton’s stories have a different sort of rhythm than a romance or a mystery. These stories are not rushed. There’s a really natural flow. This stuff really happened to people, our ancestors from all parts of the world, as they settled the land of Texas.

“Strangers in Death” by J.D. Robb

“Strangers in Death” by J.D. Robb
2008, G.P. Putnam’s Sons
ISBN: 978-0-399-15470-6

It’s easy to pick up books in the library if you zoom right in on a favorite writer. J.D. Robb is Nora Roberts, but, as J.D. Robb she’s writing futuristic detective stories and the person who is the focal point of all of those stories is Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

It is the year 2060 in New York City and crime is the same there as it is in our own days. Motives just don’t change.

A man, prominent in the community, respected for his work dies in what appears to be a kinky sex session gone horribly awry.

You get to hang onto every twist and turn in the story as Eve, her husband Rourke, and her team of detectives search for motive and for a killer. This is a terrific story.