Texas Books

I love all the Hank books, and this is a great one for the Christmas season. These books are hilarious and more important to the young reader, fun to read. I'd also check the rest of the series.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" editor "Of A Predatory Heart"

I highly reccomend the Hank the Cowdog books if you're a dog lover, or if you just enjoy good, clean humor and fun! The books
are written in Hank's perspective, which, I think, makes them funnier than if they weren't written in his persppective. He tries to talk "intelligent," but really he is actually quite, um,
well, to be to-the-point... DUMB. And Hank's conversations with Drover are priceless. If you don't have this book, you really should get it.

I read this book about two years ago for the first time and have reread it since. I really enjoy John R. Ericson's writings and he has a good personality, too. If you or your child like Hank the Cowdog, this is probably one of the best of them all. Email me if you want at sgooch@anet-dfw.com and tell me if this review helped you. Love ya!

This book is riveting and will take the reader to places he or she may never have been before. Plotted around a gay man, his "business", and the passions of and in his life, this book is full of good old fashioned sleuthing, intriuge, and a bit of moral-values clarification. This is simply a very good read.

Let me start off by saying that I have a real weakness for revenge books. There is just something truly decadent and delicious about taking a well-orchestrated (and violently nasty!) vengeance against those responsible for the murder of...the only person you've ever loved! Even more impressive is solid writing and interesting dialogue (how often can you say that?) which are accented by a tight plot that actually avoids the usual genre-driven pitfalls. Oh, and the hero is _totally_ hot (or at the very least, smart and charismatic).

Santos De La O (yep, it's a fake name) is a half Italian, half Mexican gunrunner/enforcer for a drug cartel in Mexico. He has family connections in the Italian mob, but leaves to start his own business because he's gay and his uncle, Vito the fixer, "can't employ no finocchio in this business, if you'll pardon the expression."

We get to watch Santos be really clever, make lots of money selling cool high-tech guns and missiles, and discover his softer side by of course falling in love with Tony. (All this happens in only about 70 sparse but perfect pages. The novel is only 200 pages long.) I can't express what a pleasure it was to read a book that has NO wasted filler, yet manages to convey a clear and emotional impact. When Santos is standing over Tony's body at the morgue "he kissed his fingertips and pressed them gently against the empty face" and says "Te amo...te amo tanto, tanto. I love you. I love so very much." Yes, my eyes actually teared up.

Without giving the rest of the book away, let me just mention some of the things the book doesn't do.

(1) Santos doesn't magically know who is responsible. We have an actual witness. And a license plate number. Wow.
(2) The drug cartel has nothing to do with Tony's murder. Yes, we were spared the tired and annoying drug cartel conspiracy plot.
(3) Not all of the cops are stupid and corrupt.
(4) Not one of the cops is a genius. ;-)
(5) Santos only does "normal" stupid things and he's only mostly lucky. We are not subjected to plot holes a 12 year old can figure out.
(6) There is no impossible action. No one jumps through a second-storey window and survives.
(7) The violence is not our usual boring blah, blah, blah violence. Really. Santos's revenge against one of the murderers is, um, original.

Hopefully I've convinced you to try this book. Oh, and if you're worried about the gay sex angle, well I'm sorry to have to say, it's of the boring ...and the next morning they woke up together...variety. Alas there is no explicit sex.

This well constructed, tightly edited mystery brings a new character to the mystery/thriller genre. This is the assassin we have all been waiting for. This is the killer with a heart that we yearn to identify with in all those other books, but with whom we are never really satisfied. The "man with no name" in Conner's story is based on the stereotypes we thriller fans have met before, but succeeds somehow in a very short space of time to grab our sympathies and rivet our attention.

Tales of revenge are many. In some the hero is redeemed and returns to society, in others he goes down with his foe. This book leaves us hanging, hopeful that he will come back again in another incarnation, and wondering whether this is a character who will be able to live any other way but in the thick of deceit, lies, and greed on the grand scales of drug empires and intelligence agencies.

Necessarily short, so carefully worded that it could not be longer than it is, it reads quickly and when I came up for air I ran to Amazon looking for a sequel. Guess we just have to wait and hope.

I really enjoyed this book. The author wove together her personal experiences --the pain of growing up in a loveless yet nuturing home in Texas, and a type of everyman's history of the civil rights movement and the annonomous worker bees and vanguard her mother belonged too. She does this in an interesting and engaging way. She weaves her story of being born at the "wrong time" and coping with feelings of being an unwanted late life child which lead to an emotionally and physically abused childhood into the visual story and history of Blacks in media and film at the time Blacks created the protest movement(s) to erase injustice, and pyschological pain the african Americans experienced in America's south. Her story is a compelling one. Especially because it is so universally human. Her love hate relationship with her mother was the most poinant aspect of this book. She describes her response to the abuse of her mother yet she so admired, love, and comes to understand and forgive her finally.

There were some unanswered questions the reader might have , like what about her brother. What kind of relationship did they have? Was he too mistreated by her mother? Is she still married and what role did being married have on her relationship with her mother? but this is a story about a tragic and troubled and mother and daughter relationship.

IT IS A VERY INTERESTING READ for anyone interested in autobiography/civil rights movement and the media.

This is one of the most creative approaches to autobiography I've read in a long time. I enjoyed reading and studying it. The book is a highly visual autobiography---part prose, part poetry, part history and historical images. I particularly enjoyed how Ms. Blue revealed the nuances of an African American middle class mother-daughter relationship. Telling her story against the backdrop of the movies that were coming of age when she was growing up provided an enlightening perspective on the powerful influence of American movies on the human psyche. This book is a wonderful gem!

If you appreciated Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt for its presentation and viewpoint of growing up in poverty, you'll like this book for the same reasons--not on the subject of poverty but on race and understanding what it's like to grow up Black (& middle-class) in this country. It just tells, in a straightforward voice, the story of her life.

As a 10 year old, my mother had me read a book called "Black Like Me." It was a white man's experiment with wandering around in the world as a Black man. Carroll Parrott Blue's book is a better, more authentic version written by a Black woman who has lived the experience and is willing to talk about it.

I loved this book because from the first pages, with its pictures and its text, it lets the reader inside like an intimate friend--she shares what most Black people don't talk about. She lets you inside her experience. It's personal, yet it's nonfiction that reads like a novel. She shares her difficult personal relationship with her mother and her view of the world through popular culture that is familiar to all of us--but seen through Black eyes.

..."You've done it again! Another winner with "Death and Texas". It was a late night until I finished but you kept me guessing until the end. I really enjoy your books. Keep it up!"

Dear Mr. Joria,

"You've done it again! Another winner with "Death and Texas". It was a late night until I finished but you kept me guessing until the end. I really enjoy your books. Keep it up!"

After reading Joseph's first book I was waiting in anticipation for the next book in the series and I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed reading this book. The story keeps you guessing right to the end of the book as to who committed the crimes.
I'm now looking forward to the next book - so come on Joe get writing.

This is the 3rd book in this series and I enjoyed the first two as well as this one. I've never been to TX or Mexico but these novels make me feel like I have. This book has an involved plot that is eventually all connected and sorted out. The reader is not left with any loose ends. The characters are interesting and charming. Texana's husband is a vet, so there are even interesting animal characters. I particularly enjoy Phoebe, their pet bobcat who lives in the trading post with them. While some horrible things happen, we are not given such graphic details as to give nightmares. Simply, a nice old-fashioned mystery to wile away an evening.

Allana was my high school journalism teacher when she taught at Fort Worth Paschal High School in 1971 so I think you ought to buy several copies of this book.

One of those rare books that is a good mystery and a good novel. Not a 'cozy' but basically traditional. Reminds me of Sue Grafton. Complex characters, fascinating background (Te-Mex border)but still a good read. Ending a bit weird. My first exposure to this author, and I will definitely read the others in this series.

In DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS, Miranda is the pampered rich man's daughter, and Jacob is a fugitive wanted for the murders of his wife and son five years ago. In the beginning, we find Miranda in a dark and dreary room, and Miranda knowing that she was going to die. The "hermit" aka Jacob, but we don't know that yet, finds her and sets her free. Spikes, the man who kidnapped her and works as her father's foreman, is determined to find her. The hermit hides her, then, after she begs him,tells her that he'll take her within a mile of the ranch so that Spikes can't find her. On their first night, Spikes "finds" them, and lets it slip that someone in her family did this to her. On the two day trek to her home, she and Jacob grow closer. He tells her about how his wife and son were killed, which was absolutely heartbreaking, and that he's wanted for their murders. Miranda tells him right away she can't believe that. When they get to the ranch, she rides off, with Jacob watching. When she hears gunfire, she rides back and is shot. I'm not going to spoil the story more than I already have, except to tell you that the secrets that come out of the Maddox family (Miranda's) when they try to find out who kidnapped Miranda were prety amusing. I thought Ms. Warren wrote a very romantic love story and a very suspensful mystery.
Is probably the best book I've ever read. I can't wait to read Lucas' story!

Miranda is the pampered and protected daughter of a millionaire rancher. Then she gets kidnapped and hidden in the woods, deep in the Texas Hill Country.
Her [and your] first introduction to Jacob Culver, a fugitive who is living in the Hill Country, for the past five years is a bit spooky. Jacob was framed for the murder of his wife and young son.
Jacob's finding and protecting of Miranda really changes his life. He is aided and abetted by a little dog called "Bandit" ---
You will love this one and won't be able to put it down. --- I do believe it should be rated a keeper. Highly recommended. But then I love those Texans.

I loved reading this book. The suspense and mystery mixed with the romance was a great combination. It is always amazing to see how somenone who grows up in the lap of luxury can take to a normal lifestyle.

The Deer Pasture is centered in the rustic beauty of the Texas Hill Country. Author Bass tells the story of the deer pasture and its significance as a family traditon.
A collection of 17 essays. Each essary contains a wonderful story of the Bass men and their fall deer hunt. A good read for everyone.

Rick Bass is not your typical hunter, and The Deer Pasture is not your typical hunting story. An admitted "tree hugger," Bass uses his family deer lease as the setting for a narrative essay that deals with everything from hunting ethics and wildlife conservation to family values and romantic love. His observations on Texas Hill Country society (including the dogs--especially the dogs) are thorough without sounding scientific. Bass's Mark Twain-style humor serves as comic relief to the very serious issues that he tackles. This book is destined to become a Texas literary classic.

This is a great book for all deer hunters, especially those who hunt in the Texas Hill Country. Bass goes beyond the hunt to take a light-hearted look at why we go back to deer camp year after year. The essays put into words the excitement and wonder of hunting, the Hill Country and all the small things that make deer hunting so much more than just the hunting of deer.

Delfino's Journey begins in an Aztec village in southern Mexico. After he and his slow-witted but intuitive cousin Salvador almost drown crossing the Rio Grande and are tricked into a slave camp in Texas, they eventually escape and make their way to Houston where they find jobs, solve a murder, and help bring about the closing of the slave labor camp. Finally, Delfino is able to send money to his pregnant sister in Mexico and faces a brighter future. The author incorporates Aztec mythology with realistic situations that illegal immigrants often face into a believable story that can be read on several levels and offers much food for thought about intelligence, languages, exploitation of immigrant workers, and Aztec philosophy and mythology.

A new title about the im migrant experience, Delfino's Journey (Texas Tech University Press...) by Jo Harper, tells the contemporary story of a 14-year- old Indian boy's desperate excursion across the Rio Grande to earn money so his weak, pregnant sister in Mexico can get medical help. Delfino's impatience contributes to his becoming the victim of a slave-camp operation in Texas. Although the slavery issue seems to stretch reality, this exciting and suspenseful novel weaves Aztec legend and values with current issues of illegal entry into the United States. Young readers will love the tension.

--Barbara Samuels is co-director of the Greater Houston Area Writing Project and a consultant with the Rice School Writing Project.

I have to admit, (embarassed) that I did not read the book, but got it for two 4th grade, high ability reading circles. The students LOVED this book and were deeply moved by the theme and story. Their conversations about immigration - legal and illegal - were very thoughtful. Ten year olds cannot typically embrace the complexity of any argument, but the difficulty of resolving issues of immigration were not lost on them. On behalf of their recommendations, I also recommend this book.

If you love reading about the Old West, if you value the language of settlers, pioneers, cowboys and cowgirls, then you will find this little gem hard to put down. You can open it anywhere and be instantly transported to cattle drives, saloons, cabins, and the wide open prairies. Wonderful slang, near-forgotten names for plants and people and the work they did - it's all here. There is pure Americana here and a real feel for our past with all its color, exaggeration, bravado and poetry. A rip snorter of a read and an invaluable asset for anyone aspiring to add a tone of authenticity to their Western writing.

This is a wonderful dictionary. Western language takes work and violence and humor and a canny sexuality and uses them to enrich the terse conversation of cowboys, Indians, loggers, and other wild folk with history, culture, tradition, puns and irreverence. It's a language that comes from Spanish and French and Dutch and Indian and cussedness.
This dictionary pauses in its definition of mayordomo to discuss New Mexican acequias in a liesurely way. The definition of dogie, and speculation on its origins, is a satisfying essay on its own.
It's a book for reading, not a reference tool--it's too hard to get out of to be resorted to on a purely practical basis. Makes you glad to be a speaking creature.

* A murder. A body in the streets at dawn. Said to have been commonplace in the early days of Los Angeles and in Denver.

This book is invaluable to me as I work in a Museum that specializes in western exploration and life. There have been very few inquiries from visitors from all over the world that cannot be found in this book. Information from the early 1800's to the present time abound in this book in very digestible terms. Excellent reference book.

I loved this book. It was soooooooooo cool. But, maybe that's just my opinion. Everyone reading this reviw should stop, and read the book instead; then tell me what you think.

Though this is a short book (only 112 pages) , Joyce Filer has packed it with information. She opens with a chapter on the effect of the environment on Egyptian health. Egypt had a "remark-able landscape." The Nile was its focal point. Unfortunately it was this close contact with the Nile that led to contact with parasites in its waters.

The evidence for the existence of disease is often the surviving art of the people. Yet art can be subject to ideology. Akhenaten is thought to have Froehlich's Syndrome. He is portrayed with feminine atributes. But those who suffer from this malady can _not_ have children and Ahkenaten had six. At this point the expression "go figure" comes to mind.

In addition to disease due to the environment, there are congenital diseases, acquired disorders, and trauma. Seqenenre is the pharaoh who rid his country of the Hyksos. His mummy shows six wounds. Did he suffer these during battle? X-ray analysis shows that bone around one of the wounds had partially healed. So did Seqenenre die of palace intrigue?

Two things need to be said about Filer's book. First of all, the reader will not need a medical dictionary to follow along. Filer does a good job of explaining medical terms. Don't know what anencephaly is? See page 63.

Second of all, the reader may ponder the causes of death then and now. Then...in ancient Egypt sand was used to help grind wheat. Since it could not be sifted back out, it became part of the bread. Egyptians developed abscesses which could become fatal infections. Filer mentions (p. 76) that tumors were a feature of the elderly. Now... our longevity has been increased and we face those diseases which Filer found in the elderly.

Illnesses, such as tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, teeth infections and bone diseases, were part of the ancient Egyptian life. Thanks to evidence provided by mummies, papyri and painting, this book, written clearly, presents many of the health problems encountered in Ancient Egyptian society. The author gives an account of sicknesses and infections afflicting pharaohs, peasants, dwarves and court officials. This is an interesting slim volume, which proves to be most practical for students.