Montana Books

I wish I could remember where I read the glowing review that led me to pick this up, because I'd love to go back and see what the writer found so compelling. Admittedly, the protagonist Gil Strickland, an alcoholic high-school English teacher is pretty compelling. Unlike most fictional drunks, Gil is fairly functional as he gets through his days at school and home life with his long-suffering wife. However, he's mostly lost the will to teach and spends most schooldays counting the minutes until happy hour. The story takes a while to get going, but a cheerleader's death in a car crash and another student's wild outburst at her funeral rekindle Gil's long-dormant interest in his students' lives, and he starts to poke his nose into the tragedy.

Unfortunately, what starts as a reasonably promising amateur detective story drifts further and further into implacability as it goes on. It comes as little surprise to the reader that there's a seedy underbelly to the seemingly all-American Montana high school. However, the conspiracy at the root of the evil becomes harder and harder to swallow as Gil uncovers all the links. (Although, for all I know, it's based on real events!) His "investigation" consists of questioning current and former students, and ludicrously half-baked confrontations with dangerous men. While it's hard to discuss specifics without spoiling the story, the book falls victim to the flaw that has undone many an amateur detective story -- the failure of the protagonist to simply report all he knows to the authorities and thereby save himself a heap of trouble. Like most authors in this predicament, McCulloch struggles mightily to explain why Gil doesn't take this course of action, but fails to convince.

The book does have some fine moments. As mentioned, the treatment of Gil's alcoholism is nicely done, as are various classroom and bar scenes. The numerous "action" scenes are also quite good, as McCulloch proves adept at keeping all the moving parts clear to the reader. However, by the latter stages of the book, credulity is strained again as one starts to wonder just how much more damage the middle-aged teacher can take, and how many more cars he can crash. At the end, McCulloch appears to be striving for some kind of Jim Thompson-like classic pulp noir ending, and it totally fails. Gil takes several actions that make no sense, and the sheer pointlessness of it all is driven home in the final page.

Note: McCulloch is a pseudonym for Keir Graff.

I originally bought this book as reading material for a road trip. I opened it a couple of days before the trip and found I couldn't put it down and finished the entire book before we took off. The author has an uncanny ability to make the characters seem perfectly real by providing intimate details along with the daily minutia of their lives. The main character is a bitter, sarcastic, and troubled man who is just trying to get by and do the right thing. It's hard not to cheer him on while at the same time wondering, "what is this guy thinking?!" This book was suspenseful, witty and totally absorbing.

And, if you've ever had the experience of working with a commercial grade Hobart mixer, you'll really appreciate the school cafeteria scene!

In the interest of full disclosure, I attended high school with Michael McCulloch's alter-ego (Keir Graff) and have found this book thoroughly enjoyable and parts of it something of a flashback. The characters are often familiar (yes, it's fiction, however there are some familiar faces in there for those who attended "Porte l'Enfer" with the author!) and the places often have their names changed (for protection of the innocent?). I found myself after a surprisingly short period NOT so focused on who I was reading about or who had written the book but focused instead on the story. Focused on the main character and what and his attempts to save the kids at his school from coke pushers. Remembering that in the late 80's, the strongest drugs we had at the time involved coke and booze; having the perspective of knowing the area (particularly in the winter!) it's heartening to see the main character, Gil Strickland, as the imperfect and all-too-human character he is throughout the book. I love that he refuses to preach but still has SOME moral fortitude - that there are some lines even he won't cross. I love that though he never had kids of his own and in spite of his alcoholism he sees the kids he teaches as his kids and that with the death and injury of kids in his school and blatant threats coming from odd places within the school hierarchy (from a noted corn-dog addict no less!) he will stand up for the kids and do what he can to put a stop to the kids getting hurt. How's THAT for a run-on sentance?! I've read a few things that my classmate has written about this, stating that the nom de plume was so that he wouldn't get pidgeon-holed into writing only one style - I somehow doubt he would ever do that regardless of the name on the cover. He's got a gift of "spinnin' a yarn" as the old Montana cowpunchers would have it. He tells a story that grabs you and holds on for the whole dark, sordid ride. It leaves you wanting more and my sole complaint: It's not longer.
Well written, Keir. Can't wait to read your next SEVERAL efforts!

I just can't get this book out of my head. I read it over a long period (5 weeks, maybe), and somehow that worked for this novel. The protagonist is just so human, and so frustrated, and so wonderful. And he slogs the slog of life in such a heroic but decent way.

It's just a glorious book, in my opinion. Some wonderful details about a (semi-)functioning alcoholic's way of getting by and getting his fix. And a wonderful, sad humor pervades.

This one moment keeps cropping up in my mind -- where our hero confronts a drug dealer and asks his dog's name, and gets this extremely funny little answer right before the rough stuff kicks in.

The protagonist fights the good fight again and again and again and again. He just won't quit, and it's so wonderful and heartbreaking.

The ending is just breathtaking. It reverberates like the last page of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.

Honestly, you should read this novel. It's got such a strong, subtle, gorgeous humor throughout. I can't recommend it enough.

In 1969 in Garden City, Montana Gil Strickland, an idealist, was named teacher of the year who made his classroom a fun learning experience. Eighteen years later and almost three decades as a teacher has destroyed his ideals as he is a baby sitter not an instructor; coming to work at Porte l'Enfer High School sober quite an ordeal. His lack of caring endangers his job as Vice Principal Flannel warns him to shape up or else.

The school is shook when cheerleader Kristen Swales dies under the influence of drugs by crashing her car. Teacher Dick Simsonsen, who has always placed Gil on a pedestal, tells him he was having an affair with Kristen, which shocks the alcoholic, but fits his belief that moral decay is the norm. However when Kristen's friend Maria sneezes and blood shoots out of her nose, something inexplicable inside Gil resurfaces: a need to help his students. He begins to investigate the drug cartel preying on the local students over the objection of his travel writer wife of over three decades Lolita, but soon finds himself wondering if the red pen is mightier than the sword, make those guns.

COLD LESSONS starts off as a well written gloomy deep character study of how far an idealistic caring person can fall when the optimistic armor is destroyed. Towards the middle of the intense story line, Gil converts into a born again needing to save the world one student at a time. However, the latter half of the story line is more an amateur sleuth thriller though the audience will still have some insight into the crusader who as he did in his youth is willing to risk all for his beliefs.

Harriet Klausner

You have to read the entire series to truly enjoy these novels. Powerful work.

This book was just as good as I thought it would be - maybe better. It's a great picture of why why can't allow bitterness to creep in to our lives and of how to let God handle any wrongs done to us.

I usually love Christian fiction - but this one just overflowed with misery. I couldn't stand it.

Having just finished the book The Holy Road which is the sequel to Dances with Wolves, it was interesting how well Tracie Peterson in The Coming Storm gives a different perspective about the same time period. I like historical novels that are so true to the time they are written about. I also liked how various family members were again included in the story such as re-introducing Trenton Chadwick in a greater role. Diane is truly a woman of faith and courage as she continues to face life on the frontier. This is not a 'happily ever after' kind of series so it's refreshing and encouraging to read how one woman faces all of these adversities in her life. Looking forward to reading the third book.

Victories but more heartache, disease and accidents threaten the ranch in spite of its' growth and the various families love for each other. Diane has LOTS of responsibility and with it the emptiness for Cole. Three men are in love with her, but she loves only one and he is the absent one. Koko is lonely and torn. Is she Indian or is she White? What about her brother?

A mystery woman travels through and so far, Tracie has not made known what part she will play in this series. Her entrance and quiet exit left a big gap and lots of questions.

Trenton comes back into the book with his infamous past. Horrible tragedies threaten the very existance of the ranch and the town. Can this extended family and friends survive with anything less than a miracle from God? I am anxious for book three. Thank you Tracie Peterson for an historical, Christian book that continues to intrigue the reader.

Crossing Montana by Laura Torres is a book about a girl Carrie who went on a trip across Montana searching for her missing grandfather and also discovering the hidden secrets of her father¡¦s death. Fifteen year old Carrie and her half brother stink along with their mom rushes to Idaho from Washington after they heard that his grandfather left again without leaving a note to tell his whereabouts. It wasn¡¦t the first time that grandpa left without a sound, but it was the first time after Carrie¡¦s father¡¦s death. Carrie looks over the things grandpa left in the house and finds a old antique bamboo fishing pole and some bates missing. Carrie then uses these hints that her grandpa left behind to find him. Carrie stole her mom¡¦s credit card, money and car thinking she¡¦s alone on the quest for grandpa to Montana until she finds Stink hiding in the truck of the car. Just when Carrie and Stink are about to spend their last cent, Carrie¡¦s love Raf comes from Idaho to rescue them. When Carrie finds her grandfather, he tells him all about their family¡¦s secret. On this trip, Carrie finds not only her grandfather, her true love, her family secrets, she also finds herself.
Even though this book is quite short, only 119 pages, it was still one of the best books I have read recently. The story slowly unfolds and the author always makes me wonder what is going to happen next. Torres also does a good job at keeping me involved and interested.
The title was particularly interesting to me; in fact, it was the thing that made me pick up this book. ¡§Crossing Montana,¡¨ got me interested and made me think ¡§what about crossing Montana? What happened when the people in the story were crossing Montana?¡¨
I would recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a good, quick read and touching book!

Crossing Montana by Laura Torres is a book about a girl Carrie who went on a trip across Montana searching for her missing grandfather and also discovering the hidden secrets of her father¡¦s death. Fifteen year old Carrie and her half brother stink along with their mom rushes to Idaho from Washington after they heard that his grandfather left again without leaving a note to tell his whereabouts. It wasn¡¦t the first time that grandpa left without a sound, but it was the first time after Carrie¡¦s father¡¦s death. Carrie looks over the things grandpa left in the house and finds a old antique bamboo fishing pole and some bates missing. Carrie then uses these hints that her grandpa left behind to find him. Carrie stole her mom¡¦s credit card, money and car thinking she¡¦s alone on the quest for grandpa to Montana until she finds Stink hiding in the truck of the car. Just when Carrie and Stink are about to spend their last cent, Carrie¡¦s love Raf comes from Idaho to rescue them. When Carrie finds her grandfather, he tells him all about their family¡¦s secret. On this trip, Carrie finds not only her grandfather, her true love, her family secrets, she also finds herself.
Even though this book is quite short, only 119 pages, it was still one of the best books I have read recently. The story slowly unfolds and the author always makes me wonder what is going to happen next. Torres also does a good job at keeping me involved and interested.
The title was particularly interesting to me; in fact, it was the thing that made me pick up this book. ¡§Crossing Montana,¡¨ got me interested and made me think ¡§what about crossing Montana? What happened when the people in the story were crossing Montana?¡¨
I would recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a good, quick read and touching book!

This book was not a very long read but for this particular novel I think that it is better that way. This book could not have been carried on for a long time and still kept the readers attention. But thanks to the fast pace nature of the book, it was fun to read. I finished this 119 page book in one night but I couldn't put it down. This book is always adding another piece or leaving you wondering what is going to happen next. The author does a great job at keeping the reader interested and involved. The only reason I didn't give this book five starts was because we never really get to know the characters that well. The twists and turns in this book are put together in a way that isn't overwhelming. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a first-class quick read.

This book is about a young woman who faces many problems with her family, friends, and herself. Her dad died many years ago and she doesn't get along with her mother. She has a crush on a guy named Raf, who she rarely sees and her grandpa is always running away. When her grandfather runs away, yet again, she sets out to look for him on her own. Her adventure leads her to find out who she really is too.
This story had a plot that always left me hanging. The way she goes about doing things is probably a little different than some of us and it's always interesting to see how she will deal with obstacles that come her way. The author does a fantastic job of letting you get to know the characters really well without making the reader bored. There is always something going on in the story that makes you want to read on and on until you're finished! I started reading the first couple of chapters and the next thing I knew, I was done! The first couple of chapters are a little less interesting but the author gives the information needed, and then moves along to the fascinating more detailed plot.
This book was especially interesting to me because my family has always loved Montana and fly-fishing, and I was able to relate to some parts of this story. I would recommend this book to younger readers, maybe between the ages of 10 and 13. The book says that it should be for ages 12 and up but I believe some younger kids might enjoy it as well.

This book is about a young woman who faces many problems with her family, friends, and herself. Her dad died many years ago and she doesn't get along with her mother. She has a crush on a guy named Raf, who she rarely sees and her grandpa is always running away. When her grandfather runs away, yet again, she sets out to look for him on her own. Her adventure leads her to find out who she really is too.
This story had a plot that always left me hanging. The way she goes about doing things is probably a little different than some of us and it's always interesting to see how she will deal with obstacles that come her way. The author does a fantastic job of letting you get to know the characters really well without making the reader bored. There is always something going on in the story that makes you want to read on and on until you're finished! I started reading the first couple of chapters and the next thing I knew, I was done! The first couple of chapters are a little less interesting but the author gives the information needed, and then moves along to the fascinating more detailed plot.
This book was especially interesting to me because my family has always loved Montana and fly-fishing, and I was able to relate to some parts of this story. I would recommend this book to younger readers, maybe between the ages of 10 and 13. The book says that it should be for ages 12 and up but I believe some younger kids might enjoy it as well.

A Daily Rate was a great story. It is about a young, innocent girl who is struggling to make it on her own. She lives in a boarding house with various different characters. The girl comes into an inheritance, which changes her life and the life of a favorite aunt, who she sends to live with her. A Girl from Montana was a little too sugary-sweet for me, and somewhat hard to believe, but still a good read nonetheless. It is about a young girl who loses her family and travels across the country on horseback to find other relatives. Aunt Crete's Emancipation was okey-dokey. Still hard of sugary-sweet for me. I like A Daily Rate the best.

I love all the books by both Grace Livingston Hill and Isabella Alden. Isabella Alden's books are especially thought provoking.Very uplifting to those trying to live a consecrated Christian life.

This seems to be a pathetic attempt at Anti-Mormon Literature, made worse as it is from a popular Christian writer who gave only one case and only one side of that case. To have re-printed it without an explaination of the true history of Polygamy is to hit the LDS Church again. Most reading this book will have never met a 'Mormon' and this will be all the exposure they get. Is that a Christian way of doing things. By the way, the LDS Church is the 5th largest religion in the USA and most of its members live outside of the USA. Very poor writing and re-printing. If you write anti-Mormon lit. at least be up front about it.

I loved "Aunt Crete's Emancipation" and "A Daily Rate," both books containing mistreated aunts who still stayed "Christlike" throughout the story. "The Girl From Montana" is a similar plot to another Grace Livingston Hill book, "Ladybird," in that both books are about young girls who have lost their families in the mountains and go east to find relatives.

I agree 100% with the review created by another reader from Utah. I purchased this collection from Avon several months ago, and was very displeased with Isabella Alden's false information about Mormons - I received credit from Avon, but as they didn't want it back, I removed the slanderous Isabella Alden story and "blacked out" all references to it elsewhere on the cover. NOW it's a good book.

This book actually contains four different novels: 1-Aunt Crete's Emancipation covers to touching store of a young nephew who takes over the care of an elderly spinster aunt. The aunt unselfishly serves the whims of her sister and niece at the expense of her own happiness. The story is a wonderful example of how we should treat others how we would like to be treated. 2-A Daily Rate is the winsome story of a young girl who is trying to earn her way in the world. When she comes upon an unexpected inheritance she uses it to help guide the lives of those around her so that they might find some happiness. 3-The Girl From Montana seemed a little contrived but still entertaining. The girl in question comes from the rough and tumble of the West to the refinement of the East. There she learns that people have different perspectives on what is right and what is wrong. 4-Mara by Isabella Alden is the touching account of four friends and how their lives change after leaving college. One faces the death of her fiance and another faces the devastating lies of her beloved. The final part of this story details the reunion but under the sad circumstances of one of them who has been betrayed and tricked into marriage. Be aware that the last part of the book is racist in its views towards The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, often known as the Mormons for their belief in The Book of Mormon. The guy is a jerk and a slime but some of the religious references are not true and very slanderous in tone. The story started out so nicely and wound up like a vendetta against the mormon religion that was not based on fact. I would recommend that people find out the truth themselves from the Mormons.

This book provide all the information you need to plan a trip to this part of Alberta/BC. Great information and advice!

Simply the best source of information on fly-fishing in Southern Alberta. This book takes the reader to each stream to learn it's charms and secrets.

A compehensive coverage of best streams, best flies, best times to fish in Southern Alberta. The kind of book you wish nobody would read because it reveals too much of a good thing!

The first reviewer got it right on the excellent information at hand in this book. Chris Dawson gives you practically everything you need to know about Alberta's major rivers, including how precisely to get there, which flies work best, and where to find a good guide. I live abroad and rarely get home to Alberta, but I occasionally open this book to remind myself of some of the glorious streams I've fished and of some of the fine rivers I've yet to wade through. Though Dawson possesses a good narrative gift, I wonder sometimes at his occasional criticism of other fishermen. At one point in the book, Dawson questions the sanity of a guy who likes to photograph his favourite trout streams from an airplane. Maybe it is an odd avocation, but when you come to think of it, so is fly fishing itself: many of us spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on equipment, strain our eyes all winter long attaching fur and feathers to hooks, and manage to enter the water only a handful of times a season -- just to feel the primal tug on the line; when we're actually successful at landing our little fish, many of us forget the hunter/gatherer instinct and let the creature swim away! It is all rather peculiar stuff, and I have yet to adequately rationalize it to myself. In comparison to most fly-fishermen, myself included, Dawson's "Map Man" doesn't seem all that odd to me. The sections that rankle add up to no more than a few pages of the entire book. Unfortunately for Chris Dawson, I see that this book's amazon sales don't compare with Grisham's or Oprah's picks, but that's good news for me; I'll be fishing in Canada this summer, and I hope more people will be at home reading potboilers than driving the backroads of Alberta, Dawson's book on the passenger seat, looking for all the great places to hook a trout.

Does not cover enough of the smaller creeks and rivers in the area. Also, covers a river in BC. Needs more detail info. I spent two weeks up there recently and had fair success on many streams not covered in the book.

Karen Brichoux writes with beautiful detail and description, making for a pleasant, but not engaging, reading experience. I struggled to make myself pick up this book to continue reading. I found it difficult to get a sense of who the characters were and what motivated them. For example, the main character obviously has conflicts with her Great Aunt and her Uncle Charles, but the reader never gets to venture past the surface of these conflicts. The book is filled with questions, and no complete answers. I still feel as though I don't know who this character is. Nothing exciting happens during the entire book . . . the main character is trying to find herself, period. And when she finally comes up with a temporary solution at the end of the book, I'm left saying, "So what?" Who is this character, and when did this book climax? In my opinion, the author's beautiful writing doesn't make up for the lack of an engaging story. Yawn.

Karen Brichoux's "The Girld She Left Behind" centered around Kat, who left her hometown, Silver Creek in Montana at the age of eighteen, to Los Angeles with her high school sweetheart Stephen. Three years later, she returned to Silver Creek after leaving Stephen in a gas station. Kat was not sure why she returned to Silver Creek as in a way, she had been running away from her past. Some things had changed and some had not. She found out that her great aunt Eva, who raised her was dying, while her relationship with her uncle Charles was still strained after all these years. In the meantime, Kat was not sure whether her decision to return was right.

This was an okay book for me. I was not very engaged as a reader as the main character was unlikeable, difficult and the secondary characters were not fully developed. In addition, the constant flashing back of Kat's past was unpleasant for me. However, this is not your regular chick-lit as the book is deeper, and more thought-provoking. I think this is a great improvement to Karen Brichoux's first novel, "Coffee & Kung Fu." I recommend this book for those who would be interested in a story of a young lady returning to her hometown to search and understand herself.

This is a gem of a book about the struggle all women face, no matter what their backgrounds -- learning from past mistakes without being overwhelmed by the pain and guilt thos errors engender. In THE GIRL SHE LEFT BEHIND, Kat's physical journey ends at the novel's start when she lands in her hometown after leaving her husband in the dust. But her emotional journey is just beginning as she encounters the living ghosts of her childhood and has to make peace with each one in her own way. The characters are complex and surprising -- just when you think you have one pegged, Brichoux shows you another dimension to their personalities, making them fully-realized people and not staged caricatures. This is a sweet and poignant coming-of-age story that women of all ages should enjoy.

The Girl She Left Behind by Karen Bichoux is a slightly melancholy treat that deftly tackles issues of place and identity. Montana seems to be all the rage these days but this novel relies more on story and characters than the environs. Silver Creek is the sort of small town that many of us dream about but how would it be, really, to live there?

At a gas pump in Los Angeles, nineteen-year-old Katherine Earle drives off with the U-haul holding all the possessions of her marriage, leaving her husband behind. She doesn't stop moving for three years. This is the second time she's run away. The first time, she left the small town of Silver Creek, Montana, with the boyfriend who later became her husband. Without a word to anyone.

Now Kat is back in Silver Creek. She has drifted across the country for three years, running away from her marriage and running away from herself, finally ending up back where she started, like a tumbleweed caught on a fence. She doesn't know why she is here-she just has to be. But even now, she doesn't come into town like the prodigal daughter looking for the fatted calf. She slinks in, getting a job at a motel and a bar on the other side of town from where the woman who raised her, hard-eyed, no-nonsense Great Aunt Eva lives and rules.

Kat has no regrets about running away, but guilt seeps in. There's plenty of blame to go around in small towns, and she's not immune. But as Kat is drawn back again into the warp and woof of the town, she begins to see facets of herself she never knew existed. They are revealed to her one by one, like Salome removing her veils.

Katherine Earle knows how to close doors, but it will be here that she learns how to open them. Here in the town she left behind, Kat learns the scope and dimensions of her own strength.

I've been to Silver Creek, Montana. I know the place in my bones. I was in that drugstore with the creaking floorboards and the lazy ceiling fan moving like boat oars through the air. I know that cottonwood tree where Katherine would go to think. It might not have been in Montana, but I've seen it, sat under it, smelled the grass underneath. The bar. The motel. The people. They are real.

Brichoux's prose is straightforward and honest, vivid in its characterization of people and sure in its depiction of place. The ending seems preordained, growing as it did out of the characters and the story.

The Girl She Left Behind is a beautifully told tale, heart-warming and unflinchingly honest. A story that stays with you long after you've read the last page.

Just finished a 6 week trip through 6 states with the family. We used the Moon books in every other state because they were the best we could find. We (my wife and 8 and 10 year-old kids) thought they all had a lot of information, but were helpful only with pointing out highlights of an area. When it came to finding places, it was lacking in details. They all list restaurants, but only a few in the area. In Montana we were fortunate to find another, much more complete and easy to use book (The Ultimate Montana Atlas). The Moon Montana book went pretty much unread as it never seemed to give us the information we were looking for. Were it the only thing we had to use, it would have sufficed. It is small, which is one advantage, but you will need several other books to supplement it (ie maps, hikes, scenic drives, etc.). You get what you pay for with this book. My advice is to spend a few dollars more and get one that has everything in it.

The Montana Handbook gives very insightfull information on Montana. The book is throughly detailed and is far supior to the AAA tourguide. This book gives information on ghost towns that are in areas not well traveled, and is great for people who want to travel the 2 lane highways of America and see something besides Interstate Highways. If only the Idaho Handbook was half as good.

Moon's guide to Montana is an unexpected delight. It's in the details: the small towns with unusual histories, the monuments that go unnoticed by the side of the road, the off-the-beaten path places for which we learned to divert our course. If you're interested (as we were not) in AAA Tour Guide type reviews, this will not do the trick. If you really want to learn something about the place through which you're traveling, this is the book. Some of the large attractions, like Glacier National Park, get shorter shrift than in other guidebooks (Foders was one of the others we used), but Moon has a guide specific to Glacier if you want additional info---and it is voluminous! We're converts.

I would highly recommend any of the Moon Publication Handbooks, the Montana handbook is an excellent example of the accurate, in-depth coverage the Moon Company provides. There are many little things covered in the Moon handbooks that are omitted from the big travel names such as AAA and Frommers. This includes personalized information on ghost towns and local restaurants, and unique details on off the beaten path destinations often omitted from other major travel guides. Keep up the good work Moon!

I bought this along with several other books on Montana. Its a good resource and has a lot of information, but I found it was hard to use. It was more like a textbook that required me to dig and take notes. While they did provide a few maps, they were sketchy and really didn't help me find where things were located. This is compared to the Montana Roadside Directory which I found to be nicely laid out, and easy to use. I would still recommend the purchase of this if your planning a trip as a supplement to other information. It was my second favorite book of the several I bought.

This book was a gift for our 9 year old granddaughter. It was a big hit. She read it all in a single day... but would not tell anyone the plot or anything else about the book ..after all its a secret!

If you've seen the TV show, then you'll get a reminder of the story. It tells of how Miley/Hannah try to keep her indentity a secret from friends in the "biz". My daughter reads it with me as we get ready for bed....she's totally in love with the dual girl!

miley finds out that her good friend oliver has a crush on hannah montana!!! scary!!!!!! Then when oliver sneeks in her limo her dad throws her wing on her. then oliver wants her to kiss his hand she makes lily's dog do it insted of her. good job miley!!! if you love hannah montanayou haveto get this book i loved it.

my daughter loves these books and now has the set waiting for next one to come out

This book is really awesome. Hannah Montana kept her identity from her best friend, Lily, and one day Lily had asked her if she could go to the Hannah Montana concert. Miley said that she couldn't because she needed to spend quality time with her brother. The night of the concert Lily snuck into Hannah's dressing room and caught her and found out that Hannah Montana was really her friend, Miley!! I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves Hannah Montana books! It was great!

This book surprised me in how well it weaves an ongoing, moving story. It has all the elements a good book should have: good guy, bad guy, a woman who will sleep with a man to manipulate him later, haughty, prejudiced women, violence, a glimpse at the seedy underside of our culture and prison system. A huge glimpse into Indian life and struggles. I highly recommend it as a good read.

The Indian Lawyer is a great book for many different reasons. I think the book holds a lot of emotional impact for many different people and you don't have to be a fan of James Welch or Montana Literature to enjoy the book. I recommend anyone who just wants a "good read" to read this book- I guarantee you won't be able to put it down!

This book was a very gratifying read.The misconception of tradition against contemprary society shows through loud and clear.Welch depicts the Indian Lawyer as someone that we all know in our every day lives.The predjudice and shame that "Yellow Calf' faces is very apparent.

I couldn't put the book down once I started reading. The novel painted an intricate web of characterization between prison life, growing up on a reservation raised by grandparents, the contrast between native and white cultures, politics, and confused romances. The plot was provoking, the story well written and cast fully human. I put the book down feeling exhilerated, wanting to explore Mr. Welch's other works.

By the second page, I was drawn into this strange world of prisons, Indian Reservations and Helena, Montana (circa 1990).

The story is about two men, Sylvester Yellow Calf--Native-American-ex-high-school-basketball-star-turned-lawyer and Jack Harwood--college-educated accountant with a penchant for felony crimes and doing hard time. Caught inbetween them is Jack's wife, Patti Ann Harwood. Sylvester is an up-and-coming trial lawyer with his sites set on the traditionally Democratic congressional seat in western Montana. He also sits on the parole board that is reviewing Harwood's case. Harwood manages to convince his wife, Patti Ann, into orchestrating an accidental 'meeting' with Yellow Calf. He wants her to get close to Yellow Calf so that he can blackmail him to use his position on the Parole Board to get Harwood released early.

Things take a turn for the worst, when Patti ends up fulfilling her husband's wishes too well. Suddenly, she is caught between the man she is married to and the man she is falling in love with. Harwood and Yellow Calf, too, are caught in a deadly dance of blackmail and power plays.

All in all, an excellent book. The only downside is that you know it eventually ends and the windows on these characters that are so well-fleshed out will be closed. Small price to pay, though, for such a compelling story.

Another novel dealing with people estranged from family, home and themselves. This novel is heartening in that the characters sometimes find the courage to try to transcend their normal mode of existence. Success is by no means a given, but that makes things all the more compelling and heartening. McGuane's dialogue always delights.

While Montana is cast as "the last best place" by many of its writers, McGuane seems to see the place as a land of lost hope and illusion. Knee deep in ironies, the story turns in many ways on a faded painting in an abandoned ranch house that Joe, the main character, remembers from boyhood. Grown up now and a painter himself, who doesn't paint anymore, he abandons a Cuban girlfriend in Florida and fetches up after a cross country drive at the old home ranch to spend a season fattening cattle for market while having no faith that much of anything will happen to give his life any direction or purpose.

While most of this story takes place in Montana and most of its characters are nominally Montanans, they seem unmoored not only to the land but to any reason for being there. Those who come from elsewhere tire of it and leave. Those who would leave can't. Only a land-hungry rancher Overstreet seems to have a purpose in life, and it's clearly an empty one - buying up more land.

An old girlfriend figures in the story, and her jealous husband, and there are family members who are able to betray each other, and do. The relations between men and women swing wildly between romance and erotic encounters to bitterness. Greed lurks darkly everywhere. It's a vision not unlike the one in Larry McMurtry's "Texasville." His Duane is a distant cousin of Joe, and it's easy to imagine Jeff Bridges in a movie version of the story - beleaguered and wryly puzzled by what's become of his life. I recommend this novel to anyone ready for an anti-romance about the West, which questions - often humorously and outrageously - most of what the West has stood for in the American imagination.

Much of this book is vivid, funny, and even moving. McGuane's 7-page description of Joe's desperate drive from Miami to Montana is terrific -- I haven't read a better summary of a cross-country trip.

But I felt the author went a bit too far in deflating just about everything in the last several chapters. Obviously, that's a valid artistic choice, but I was left shrugging my shoulders -- "Whatever..."

I'm glad that I read Keep the Change, but my initial excitement died away somewhat as the book progressed. I think a similarly deflationary approach was much more successful in the final pages of McGuane's "Panama."

I picked this up at yard sale for a quarter, so my expectations were pretty low. At first, I thought it was flaky, but after I got into it, it's really quite funny with very sharp dialogue and memorable characters. An interesting view of the modern West, without sentimentality. Joe Starling is a womanizing artist, who can't keep out of trouble with women or his pants zipped so to speak. He returns home to Montana imagining getting back to his roots, but women problems and family problems derrail his plans.

If there is a flaw, it's that Joe is completely unbelievable as a painter -- it just seems like a device to work into the story. He doesn't talk or act like an artist, nor does the beauty of Big Sky country cause him to do as much as break out a pencil to sketch all through the novel. The author might just as well have made him a used car salesman.

But the dialogue is sharp and funny, and his raunchy misadventures with old girlfriend Ellen and live-in lover Astrid have a nice sexy charge to them.

A different kind of novel and one I would probably re-read just to enjoy the quality of the writing.

"Thomas McGuane lives here" I was told last year during a Montana visit. "Who cares?" say I, never having heard of him. Oh, how I wish I had known, wish I had read this wonderful book and taken the time to visit Mr. McGuane and thank him for wonderful vacation reading a year later. Raced through this book; raced back to the bookstore for "Some Horses", embarked on "An Outside Chance" and contemplated sending Mr. McGuana a fan letter! Seldom does a book make me laugh out loud and have to put it down until I recover. This book is delightful and you wonder how anyone can possibly think up a story like this.