Oregon Books

I was ready to devour Warren's novel, Drive Me Crazy, but the characters were stereotypes and the writing was just so-so and soured quickly. How many times to I have to read about Duncan looking like a man who spent time in the sun? Sheesh. Also, Warren may have wished to do some research on librarians before writing about them. Librarians must have a master's degree to do their work. It is not beneath Alex to take the job. Many are young, hip, and even like to wear leather. She's portrayed as a tightly wound spring just waiting to be unsprung, but she just seems brittle. Also, Goosebumps would not likely be shelved in Dewey Decimal order. Other meaningless little things that made the book seem annoying and the work so someone who doesn't spend much time in a library.

Drive Me Crazy by Nancy Warren is a great mix of mystery and two great romances. Duncan is in search of stolen painting and finds the last known link being a very hot librarian brings him to his knees. If you enjoy this genre, I would also suggest Glory Days by Irene Peterson, The Ice House by Minette Walters and Squeeze Play by Kate Angell.

I really enjoy Nancy Warren's work. One reviewer said that Ms. Warren needed to research for her book because librarians need master's degrees, but Ms. Warren said exactly that within the first few pages of the book. I think Nancy gave her characters solid characterizations and motivations. Her work is sexy and fun.

Known in academic circles as "the Indiana Jones of the Art World," Duncan Forbes is in a sleepy Oregon village on the trail of a stolen Van Gogh painting. He suspects that Alex, the sexy town librarian knows where it is stashed. His sources tell him that her grandfather was involved in the plot to get the paining out of Europe during WW2. But before he can drill her for information, a dead body shows up in the library.

Soon an investigation ensues, throwing Alex and Duncan together, where they act on their smoldering feelings for each other. The chemistry between these two leaps off the pages.

The storyline is made all the more compelling with the colorful secondary characters including the second-chance romance between Alex's cousin Gillian and her former beau Tom, now a police officer.

Part suspense, part romance and part comedy, this one has something for everyone!

I didn't like this book as much as the other reviewers here did. The suspense plot is well-designed (although you'll likely guess the murderer early on) and the dialogue has snappy moments, but I never got caught up in the romance. I think the success of a romance novel depends in large part on the quality of the hero and heroine's first meeting, and in this book, their initial exchange fell flat. Duncan is immediately attracted and hits on Alex while she is distant and sarcastic (rightfully so, I thought). I didn't get the sense of a passionate attraction-- just a weird guy making rude comments while the woman wishes he'd stop bothering her. There's a fine line between believable instant-attraction and creepy stalker guy making a sleazy play for a woman, and for me, Duncan and Alex never fit into the first category, only the second.

As the plot develops, the book gets more interesting, especially as Alexis' cousin and the town sheriff meet. In fact, the supporting characters were a lot more interesting to me than Alex and Duncan. When Alex and Duncan do get together, the sex scene is pretty mundane and again, there was no build-up of sexual and romantic tension-- just Duncan confidently asserting to Alex that she would sleep with him until she actually did.

This isn't a bad book; the plot will probably hold your interest. But I'm not going to seek out Nancy Warren's books in the future. She didn't sell me on the romance-- the fact that Duncan was gorgeous wasn't enough to convince me I should be swept up in his interest-- which seemed very shallow-- in Alex. Warren never quite got me to care about these two as lovers or individual characters, despite a very promising premise.

Following on the heels of his beguiling Felicia's Journey, the incomparable Irish storyteller, William Trevor, brings us a collection of 12 poignant tales that illuminate the human condition.

Acknowledged by many to be the master of his oeuvre, Trevor commands our attention with dignity and subtlety. Amazingly adept at shifting perspectives from male to female in varying locations and scenes, the author's championship form is evident in After Rain.

His initial offering, "The Piano Tuner's Wives" is an incisive rendering of a middle-aged second wife's jealousy. Haunted by the happiness her husband once shared with another, she seeks to establish her place in surprising ways.

A lifelong bond between two women is broken in "A Friendship" when the clever plotting of one backfires. Timothy, the gay protagonist, in "Timothy's Birthday" seems to seek to punish his parents for their perfect marriage. He refuses to visit them for his birthday celebration as he has always done. Instead, he sends a friend with an excuse. The disreputable Eddie delivers his hurtful message, then steals from the older couple.

Trevor's spare prose shimmers in this story's summary paragraph: "They didn't mention their son as they made their rounds of the garden that was now too much for them and was derelict in places. They didn't mention the jealousy their love of each other had bred in him, that had flourished into deviousness and cruelty. The pain the day had brought would not easily pass, both were aware of that. And yet it had to be, since it was part of what there was."

Another story takes place in the fields of Ireland today. Here, Trevor displays his gift for knowing the female heart as a young woman challenges the culture and mores bred into her parents' bones.

Trevor's work is meat compared to the broth of some of today's fiction. He continues to astound as he explores the complexities of family relationships with sympathetic candor. After Rain is one more triumph.

- Gail Cooke

It's a dismal commentary on the state of contemporary readership when this book has not been reviewed on Amazon for almost five years. After Rain is top-shelf literature, an excellent introduction to William Trevor's mastery of the short story. Of particular note are: Timothy's Birthday, Gilbert's Mother, A Day and Marrying Damian. (Curiously, I found the title story somewhat muddled, but I'm convinced I missed something and I'll be re-reading it soon.)

As others here have mentioned, what distinguishes Trevor is his ability to handle a great variety of points of view (frequently within the same story) and his lack of condescension as he subtly presents the failings of his characters. A great eyewitness to the human drama. I seriously believe these stories are the equals of those in Joyce's Dubliners.

Like Grieg in the musical sphere, and Cheever in the literary one, William Trevor seems to be at his best in the smaller forms, where his sharply etched insights and compellingly profound characterization can glitter without the "imposition" of relaxation dictated by the novel. Reading his "Collected Stories" was among my favorite literary "events" of the past 20 years (since reading, of all things, Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" [talk about strange bedfellows!]), and if the present volume seems a bit less well-stocked with masterpieces than the earlier, larger collection, it also shows Trevor polishing his craft to an almost superhuman degree. Every word tells.

A couple of the stories in "After Rain" struck me as surprisingly weak: "The Piano Tuner's Wives," in which an elderly man's second wife contrives to distort his happy memories of his first, seemed architecturally imbalanced: the second wife was drawn with less fecundity than the first and as a result the cutting insights of the story's end seemed like the proverbial "too little, too late." The other relative disappointment for me was "A Day," in which a married woman meditates on her husband's infidelity. Maybe it was that the central character seemed annoyingly passive, but to my mind Trevor added little to a situation that has been visited many times before.

The bulk of the remainder of the stories was exceptionally fine, though, particularly "A Friendship," which limns the dissolving of a lifelong relationship between two women at one of their husband's instigation.

However, the real gems of the collection, in my opinion, were "Child's Play" and "Lost Ground," which may be among the finest short stories written. The first is spare and knife-edged, the second weighty and full of tragedy. In "Child's Play," two children of divorce play act, with uncanny accuracy, their parents' sordid affairs, but when something happens to threaten the children's own relationship, their sudden reversion to reality proves more poignant and devastating than any play they can put on. "Lost Ground," the longest and perhaps greatest story in the collection, tells the tale of a Protestant family, one of whose sons is visited by, and asked to carry the word of, a Catholic saint. By encapsulating the religious conflicts in Northern Ireland in the guise of a single family, Trevor manages to comment on the intolerance of humankind while presenting a family drama of piercing sorrow.

I read recently that some people find Trevor's works offputtingly depressing. Maybe so; there are no happy endings here and virtually no happy people. Perhaps his truths are just too painful for a few to face. But then, sometimes, life is that way too.

"After Rain" is a stellar proof that William Trevor is one of the most respected Irish short story writers. As a literary artist, Trevor is known for his elegant and hushed rendering of the psychic state of his characters. In addition, Trevor is also a humanist of great empathy, allowing him to uncover hidden or neglected angles of seemingly pedestrian situations. One story in this collection, "Gilbert's Mother," amply demonstrates Trevor's empathy. The story opens with a crime scene, told from an objective, clinical tone akin to a newspaper report. Just when you expect the next scene to develop the mystery further, Trevor switches the lens to a bystander, a woman, who, for the remainder of the story, contemplates whether her troubled son would be capable of committing such a crime. Trevor developed her skillfully, weaving with ease strained dealings between mother and son, as well as painful details of her past. The true crime to be solved here is how external circumstances beyond our control irrevocably sever our emotional ties from our loved ones, preventing us from ever knowing them fully.

A few pieces in this collection seem less inspired and not as well-executed. Some authorial comments that serve to wrap up stories seem forced. And as much as I admire Trevor the stylist, the elegance of language may border on the self-righteous when situations described do not warrant such treatment--minor quibbles in an otherwise fine collection.

Highly Readable, Highly Enjoyable. Just what you would expect from Trevor. In a clear and simple style he writes about ordinary lives, and when you finish you realize there is nothing ordinary about them.

Want a book that holds your interest? I recommend this entire series. I discovered Gunn on accident; really it was a blessing! I liked this entire series. Good wholesome values and interesting plots that intertwine with the other books.

If you have read the other books in this series, you won't want to miss Woodlands. It will not disappoint you! I have read through the complete series 4 times. This series is a "Must Have."

Robin Jones Gunn writes awsome books and brings her characters alive. I've read the whole series and this is one of the best. It is a wonderful romance amoung man and woman and woman and God! It's worth the money and the time.

All of the Glenbrooke series is awsome, but this one is tops on my list. You feel as if your taken into the book and go on the journey with Leah. I recommend all of Robin Jones Gunn books, she is an amazing author. This book, especially is worth your time and money.

I thought this was the best book in her series because Leah seemed so much like so many people I know. She was such a giving, loving person-beautiful inside and out, but did not feel like she was. So when she meets a wonderful man and he sees her beauty it is so sweet. She had so many negative voices from her childhood, especially the ones referring to her name, to overcome to accept love that it was an inspiration to me.

This book is very well written. If you are a mystery buff you should read this it is a real whodunit. I am looking for more books by Kate Wilhelm as a result of reading this book.

Kate Wilhelm is one of my favorite authors, and she never lets me down. What I always find particularly satisfying is the way she richly describes her characters, all people you could meet in the street and recognize instantly. The mystery is straightforward. I identified the murderer by the time I was two-thirds through -- but a page later I found that key characters had identified the murderer, too, so it felt intended. After that, it was a pacey thriller -- the heroine deliberately places herself in jeopardy, which sounds banal, but works well here because she is unknowingly aided and abetted by two other characters -- and the pages keep racing by as the reader wonders if she will come out alive. I awaited the usual good ending, and got better than I expected. Highly recommended.

You keep wondering that through the whole book? Isn't that what the author is trying to achieve. I listened to the audio and it had the same effect on me. This story is pulled together exceptionally well, the characters area excellent and the storyline makes you wonder what exactly Judd knew. The ending is great. I can see this being made into a movie. I will make Kate Wilhelm a must to read.

It's a bit puzzling why this "mystery" has received such stellar reviews here on Amazon. Wilhelm is a fairly competent writer, but judging from Deepest and several others of her titles, plotting is not her forte. As some of the professional reviewers have noted, it's pretty obvious early on who dunnit, and why. Even the dog knows. There's a lot of angst throughout, and Wilhelm's portrayal of the grief of Jud's daughter and friends is sensitively handled. And the cop's not the dolt he seems to be. The thread about clues embedded in Jud's final novel is also intriguing, but behavior is the key here, and the perp's behavior's a dead giveaway. Not a bad story, but far from a thriller, with minimal suspense of the psychological sort.

Kate Wilhelm always surprises me.This books starts out so predictably,a dead body at a secluded cabin and the mystery of who the killer might be,however as the story unfolds she makes each character so unique especially all the women.She also describes flawlessly the geographic locations.The ending is stunning.

This series of three books, is one of the most beautiful, heart-warming stories, I have ever read. Living in the Northwest, made it even more interesting.

Jan Kirkpatrick's books keep me coming back. Her characters are so real that I feel I recognize parts of them in the "real" people I know and my own life experiences. I was born in Eastern Oregon and my ancestors traveled the Oregon Trail to settle in the Heppner and Echo area. The accurate history that Jan weaves through her stories is fascinating. Madame Dorion is a strong woman that listened to her heart and kept searching for the thing that would satisfy that empty longing not met by the people in her life. Great story.

I was not thrilled or excited by anything I read in this book...I found it dull and threw it in the trash before I finished it. Too much using of french words which an ordinary person has no understanding of and I don't want to take time to figure them out as I try to hold on to the plot.

After reading the "All Together In One Place", I was expecting a lot more from the Tender Ties series. It's not that they aren't particularly good, they're just not as good as the others of Jane Kirkpatrick's that I've read. The timelines are a little harder to follow because they sometimes skip ahead months and even years. Like I said, it's not that these aren't good books, they just aren't quite what I've come to expect from her.

I've read the first two books of this series (all my library has). These are the first two books I've read by this author. I really enjoyed them! I read a lot and she is going to be one of my new favorite authors! Now I've got to get that third book!!

...this series is too dark and violent for me. I'll stick with Tinker.

A bit out there, I enjoy fantasy more then SF and the basis of this series is a bit difficult for me to believe, but the writer is so good, that I have read the entire series and found I could not put any of these books down... A Great Read..!

Bitter Waters, the third in the Ukiah Oregon series and sets up the story for the forth one. These books are better if read in order,otherwise you will end up confused. This is a good series, I liked every one of them and wish the author would write more of them. The relationships between the charactors is why I enjoyed this series as much as I did. Along with Hex there are knew protagonists in this book. I can't go into the story line w/o spoilers, so I will just tell you that the books are worth reading, and I liked them enough that I will get any other books that the author writes.

This was the first book by this author that I had read, and although I read it out of order for the series and was rather confused, I still enjoyed it immensely. One of the advertising blurbs said "Don't plan on getting anything else done if you start a Wen Spencer novel; they are exceedingly hard to put down!" So true. I read it in one day and then went scrambling to get the other three in the series. My only regret is that now I have read them all and wish there were more. Definitely a keeper. Alien invaders, kidnapped babies, government agents, plenty of action and mystery.

"Bitter Waters" picks up where "Tainted Trail" left off -- litterally, one day later. U. and his partner, M., are private detectives. They arrive home and are immediately drawn into investigating child kidnappings and a cult that has turned to crime. If you haven't read the previous books, U. is an alien pretending to be a human, and the detective work is greatly complicated by alien threats to Earth.

My problems with "Bitter Waters" were twofold. First, if you have read the previous novel, the beginning of this one goes really slowly. After the first 57 pages, there really isn't any reason to go back and read either "Tainted Trail" or the book before, because you've just read it. To be fair, I prefer stand alone books to sequels. Second, the main plot is that U.'s son is kidnapped, and I abhor kidnapped children plots, particularly when the main character's child is kidnapped. I'm a parent, and this just isn't a laughing matter for me.

I recommend this novel to people who don't mind kidnapped children plots and either haven't read Spencer's U. books before or adore sequels. All else is well done.

WHile this book seemed a bit tedious for me to get through...i did enjoy it for the most part, especially Petie and Eddie. I am anxious to read another Dianne Hammond book.

On page 160 I thought....well, when is something going to happen? This book went nowhere, and while it was fast reading to.. nowhere, I found it to be a waste of my time. I find it amazing that I am the only reviewer that found the book to be uneventful, and not even that exciting when trying to establish the bond between the two girls. How mundane, and how pathetic, that the most interesting thing about this book was the soup!!!

I enjoyed this book in general. The characters were interesting, and the story moved along at a nice pace. I enjoyed how the author went into the background of the characters and explained why they were the way they were. But, i do have a bone to pick with the author. I grew up on the Oregon Coast, in a small town, and have lived here for 39 years. I began reading the book and within two chapters i knew not only was this author not from here, but had some misconceptions of how the coast works. ( i read later that she is from the east coast and lives in newport or). I don't appreciate that the characters were not only all very uneducated, but they all lived in very bad mobile homes or shacks. The character from LA had to get bagels there because obviously the backward morons in this town did not know what a bagel was. Give me a break! The character from LA also stated that she had trouble conversing with the locals, that she had to resort to body language. I understand the book is fiction and not supposed to be an accurate picture of coastal life, but does everyone have to be involved in incest, unemployment, poverty, and child abuse? Overall it was a good book, but over and over I was offended by how the coastal residents were portrayed. Do your homework next time.

This is the story of 2 remarkable women who transcend their upbringing, circumstances, and environment. More remarkable, is how well written this first novel by Diane Hammond is. Her particular talent is to make even a series of ordinary events absolutely compelling. While the women have a marvelous friendship, it is real and nuanced. The secondary characters are naturally drawn.

What a wonderful debut novel. I could just eat it up with a spoon.
Encore, please! From the delightful coastal underbelly setting to the juxtaposition of characters, gritty and soothing, rebellious and sensitive, flirty and horrified, I was hooked from beginning to end.

This was a great read. I love reading trail journals and this book was no exception.

A hilarious romp through the wilds of North America. Anyone thinking about hiking the PCT should definitely buy this book!

Now I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. The story is well told, a real page turner. Well written, very interesting, and an inspiration for getting myself on a trail.

This book was an easy read, but disappointing in its lack of photos and descriptions of life on the trail and destinations seen.

Although I commend the author for his courage and humor, some things about the book distracted from reading pleasure. This read like a self-published book (maybe it is) that had not been edited at all. There were no paragraph indents, and many sentences were run-on (strung together with commas when there sould have been a period). I'm not a stickler about grammar, but this was distracting and made it hard to read. There was also a problem with tense and scenes suddenly switching. For example, in a camping scene, the author would suddenly mention that he saw 3 bears while camping, but it turned out that this was referring to something that would happen several chapters later, so that during the present scene I would wonder, "Where are the bears?" Often I would hope for an interesting scene only to be disappointed by a blow by blow of each day and night on the trail (including the days where nothing really happened). If you can deal with the amateur style, you may enjoy this book.

A good read. The book kept me guessing throughout, which for a suspense novel, I enjoy. I even bought a copy of The Oregon Project for my newphew.

This book rocks. Being an attorney, I do not do much pleasure reading, but THE OREGON PROJECT was nothing but pleasure---from beginning to end. Also, not being a gambler, I generally go with safe bets---purchasing THE OREGON PROJECT is the safest of bets---as demonstrated by the fact that 9 (now 10) out of 11 (now 12) reviewers concur---THE OREGON PROJECT IS A 5-STAR WORK.

The cover says she's an even better writer than a lawyer. Wow. That's really scary, if true.

Considering the tin ear she has for language - the paragraphs seem written by a high school student - I'd hate to rely on Ms. Roit for any legal advice. Besides the general lack of quality of prose, the book is full of outright errors in usage: "you guys have peaked my interest", "she took to her task with glutinous longing" just for two examples.

This looks like a vanity publishing job to me. She must have gotten all her friends to write glowing Amazon reviews.

I would stay away from this one.

If you missed the book signing, that's OK, but at least pick this one up, you will not regret it. Great job guys!

Andy

the book was not as long as I thought it would be. But it was good reading

Westward to Home is a great book to read about. Joshua, the boy in the story, and his family are going to Oregon in a wagon train.
Joshua writes about everything that happens in his diary.
I liked the part where Joshua and his family were fording down a river. Then his little sister almost drowned, but Joshua saved her.
One day his Grandpa took Joshua hunting and he shot a male buffalo.
The leader of the wagon train was cousin Daniel, who had no toes on one foot because of a frost bite.

I learned some interesting facts. Life on the Oregon Trail was hard, because of the bad wheather, not enough food and people got sick.
The migration to Oregon was 159 years ago.
The Indians respected the military.
I also learned that the author of this book is Patricia Hermes.

I would recommend this book for three reasons.
First, it's an interesting story. Second, it's suspenseful to read.
Finally, it's good to know, how life was over 150 years ago. It makes me
appreciate how good life is today.
Westward to Home is a great book!

Jessica Stedman, 3rd. Grade, Glenmeade Elementary School, Chino Hills, CA.

If you think you have it hard, wait until you read the book Westward to Home, Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary. Joshua has hard times all through the book. He tells you many things about his family, friends, and neighbors. This book gets sad in parts but gets better in other parts.
The book Westward to Home takes place in 1848. The people in the book are never really in one spot the whole time, but their journey should end up in Oregon. Will they make it?
I think people who like reading diaries would enjoy reading this book.

This is a story of a boy who is about to set out on the Oregon Trail. His grandpa gives him a journal to write about the journey westward, but instead his grandpa goes with him. It tells the story of a young boy traveling westward and the difficulties that take place. Many people die while they are on the Oregon Trail from illness and other things. It mostly takes place while they are on the Oregon Trail. I thought this was a pretty good story telling about the Oregon Trail.

I'm in 3rd grade and I read Joshua's Oregon Trail Diary (book 1.) When I read it, I just fell in love with it! I suggest this book to anyone who likes adventure, excitement, and realistic historical fiction.

The book Joshua's Diary is about a boy and his family who are traveling on the Oregon Trail. I enjoyed this book because it has so many wonderful details that make you feel as if you were with them. This is a very good book, but has very sad and frightening parts.