Texas Books

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.

My name is Woodrow and I'm in this dang book. Let me tell you it's all a pack of lies. Most of the stuff Reavis wrote about me NEVER EVEN HAPPENED! Well, SOME of it may have happened, but I don't think he needs to be airing all of our dirty longjohns out in public. Doc, Wrong Willie, Jerry Wayne and all the rest of us agree Reavis needs some kind of therapy... and fast. And I don't mean the kind of therapy he's been getting from Charlie Daniels' brother, Jack, if you know what I mean.

Eat Gas Now by R. Wortham brings two things together that makes me giggle: first, a group of hunting buddies who enjoy each other's company probably more than hunting (it's a male bonding thing); and second, the diner that grace's any small town where local's sip coffee and trade yarns. This group reminds me of my 'lunch bunch' who just have a funny way of looking at things. I highly recommend this book.

Set aside a couple of hours and read this book non-stop. You won't have a choice because you cannot put it down until you have finished. One story just makes you hungry for another. Caution: do not attempt to read one of the stories to another person, because you will be unable to speak, having fallen into uncontrollable spasms of laughter. I tried to read one to my wife and we both fell on the floor howling.

This book appeals to outdoor persons of course, but the humor will not be lost on anyone.

Double Shift is a wonderful story about Katy, a teenager faced with the same problems many teens face today. Ms. Hergenrader does an excellent job of portraying a sympathetic heroine, who wants to follow God's will, but who must first learn to be humble. The devotionals at the end of each chapter are thought provoking, and I think this book would make an excellent teaching tool for preteens and teenagers who are struggling to maintain their Christian beliefs in a secular world.

I honestly started reading the book as a daily devotional, but at about day 7 I couldn't stop reading and just finished it. I appreciate the value of serving so much more and am very excited about finding news ways in my life to serve others and let God work in my life. A great read for all ages and backgrounds, with an even better message.

Christina Hergenrader's DOUBLE SHIFT has one of the most refreshing heroines I've read in years. Katy is a vegetarian, has her eyebrow pierced, wears thrift-store clothing, and wants to serve God. In DOUBLE SHIFT, Katy is stuck working at a restaurant for the summer, serving grumpy patrons and putting up with the boss's cocky son. Katy has a lot of growing up to do and, in the process, she might just find what God wants of her too.

The third in Ms. Hergenrader's series, Katy's book can be read alone or with the other novels. After reading the first two books, I wanted to know more about Katy, and I'm thrilled she has her own story. Katy struggles with questions we all face: whether the work we do is what God wants or we want. This is an excellent book for any age group, any faith.

Mr Krebs's elucidation in re: diplomatic paradigms twixt Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Eastern European/Soviet Bloc countries circa 1952 was truly edifying in its analyses and exegeses. His utilization of lucid rhetoric facillitated exemplary cognizance of the subject material.

This is not the type of book I would normally pick up and read. I chanced upon it at this site and eagerly awaited it's release. I was not disappointed. The arguments were well thought out and ideas presented in a clear, concise manner. I would like to thank the author for the experience and look forward to reading his next published material.

An erudite yet readable, scholarly yet lively, account of the Eisenhower administration's Cold War strategy, focusing on Eastern Europe. Krebs writes fluidly, and he succeeds in bringing alive the struggles between two contending visions of the region's future--Finlandization and rollback. Like other scholars in recent years, Krebs argues that John Foster Dulles was a far more subtle thinker on international affairs than his public pronouncements would have led one to believe, and Dulles comes across here as the chief proponent of a vision for Eastern Europe modeled along the lines of Finland--that is, domestic autonomy combined with a highly constrained foreign policy. The Cold War began with the Truman administration's Eastern European "litmus test," in Melvyn Leffler's phrase, and the dissolution of the Soviet empire in the region was the Cold War's denouement. In many respects, Eastern Europe has served as the Cold War in microcosm, and Krebs' history of strategy toward Eastern Europe under Eisenhower is an important and impressive contribution to our understanding of the early Cold War. With its last chapter on the implications of the study for international relations theory, this is a book with interest for political scientists as well as historians.

I've lived in Austin for about 6 years and honestly didn't think I'd find too many new gems in this book. I was wrong!!!! I found a few of my favorite restaurants and stores, but now have a new list of places to hit. So far I haven't been disappointed and can't wait to try the guides for other cities.

This book is witty, informative & right on target. It lists all the best places to eat & shop in Austin in an appealing one-page format with tantalizing photographs. Makes you want to get out there & visit each & every place!

I love, love, love this book. As a new resident of Austin, I have no idea where to shop, eat or do anything else. And this book gives you such great ideas about what to do, where to go and what you'll find when you get there. There are so many great-looking restaurants and shops in this book. I can't wait to start exploring them. The style of writing and the photos add a lot to this great book. I highly recommend it!