Iowa Books

Herb Plambeck does it again! This facinating tale of one man's date with destiny is filled with more plot twists than the Watergate scandal. From the explosive first chapter to the climactic duel with the rabid mountain goat, the book is impossible to put down.

Herb Plambeck sprang from the soil of Iowa in the early 1900's and has spent his life reporting on and improving the way of Midwestern agriculture. By dint of energy, intelligence, and devotion to his roots he became a pioneering farm broadcaster, reporter, and prime mover in programs and events that year after year continue to join farm families all over the world in improving farm practices. Although he never obtained a high-school or college degree, he was able to serve as a war correspondent in WWII and Vietnam and later in Washington as public affairs assistant to two secretaries of agriculture. There is probably not a farmer or small-town midwesterner of the twentieth century who does not recognize the name Herb Plambeck from having heard his farm reports during his years on WHO radio in Des Moines and reading his articles in Wallaces Farmer magazine. This well-illustrated and detail-filled memoir will bring to mind many more names and events most of us have long forgotten and will remind us just how important the farmer is in this world. Would that we could all lead the useful and adventure-filled life of Mr. Plambeck, and then recount it so warmly and enthusiastically.

Being an enthusiastic amateur treasure hunter myself, in years past, I diligently read each and every volume of Mr. Terry's exhaustively researched works. Although I found some the information erroneous or far from exact - for instance many locations cited as "ghost towns" are FAR from being one - there are so many intriguing stories of legends, factual evidence & stories of past recoveries that any true TH'r will be enthralled. Treasure hunting is supposedly America's fastest growing hobby: it's uniquely enjoyable for the adventure, historical aspects & healthy outdoor recreation. And when you really find something decent...Boy Howdy!! Not as easy as it sounds, though. To be a professional TH'r, one has to have patience, applying oneself with the perseverance of a detective: because that's what it takes to be successful. Exhaustive research is the key: going where people gathered long ago (old picnic grounds & abandoned schoolyards, for instance) will be beneficial for coin shooters who are after more than modern coins....for me, finding modern coins was a complete waste of time & energy. Going for the gold? Go where it is KNOWN to be & be creative: the better your equipment - i.e. a decent detector which finds gold & common sense makes this a most fascinating hobby. For some, it's a life's career. Good luck!!

Found this to be a very interesting paperback book for anyone dreaming of treasure hunting/finds. But, I wish it was updated. I'm sure there are more interesting things about Florida. Not all of Fla. treasure finds are in the sea as this book notes. Worth reading.Open anywhere and begin reading.

I thought this book would be like a invite to fairy land. but i was very disapointed. dont botherbuying this book.

This is a serious art book about the Victorian passion for fairy art. It includes information about fairy plays, musicals and most importantly the prominent painters of the day. I found the paintings very beautiful and the writing by Jeremy Maas first-rate. You won't find any pictures from the popular C.M. Barker here but you will find many from lesser known artists like John Anster Fitzgerald, Joseph Noel Paton and Richard Doyle.

This prequel to The Day the Music Died isn't quite as good as the first book, but it's still very, very good. As usual, Gorman creates a fantastic, vivid cast of characters, each with their own particular quirks that place them just left of center, and sets them all down in a compelling murder mystery. The period detail seems to capture the 50s without being heavy-handed. Let's hope there are many more Sam McCain novels to come in the future.

This is a fun book, with a novel story line, great humor and a credible small-town mess of characters. The fun is in the reading, not in detecting. The author is not absolutely surefooted about his time period of 1957, but who cares? Good reading with a gin and tonic in hand.

I just love this book and would recommend it without hesitation. I find myself referring to it again and again. Anyone who loves the wildflowers of the prairie is sure to enjoy the in-depth information it contains.

I bought this book because I was working in an Iowa prairie and wanted a good guide to the wildflowers. This is it! Large color photos are arranged by general blooming time/season. The text gives information about the plant, habitats, seasons, as well as some interesting folklore or other uses of the plant. This book certainly doesn't contain all flowering plants of the prairie, but it's a great start and a handy reference, especially for cross-referencing. Full-color photos are good, often showing both flowers and leaves.

Illustrations by Portia Rosenberg

This book I found purely at random as I walked through the fiction section at my local public library in search of reading material (one cannot go home empty-handed from a place where books are being given away!), starting at the front of the alphabet, hence the author's name beginning with C. Surprisingly, this book has many similarities to Pynchon's Mason & Dixon: A Novel, which I had just finished, in its massive size (700+ pages, surely a determining factor in discovering Clarke's book in a random shelf scan), its purported historicity, its seamless and matter-of-fact incorporation of fantastic elements in historical settings, its depiction of the relationship of two men who are both friends and co-workers in fast public projects, and in their gentle ironic humor.

Clarke's writing style is not so raucous as Pynchon's, but the fantastical nature perhaps elevated. Mr. Norrell is famed as the only "practical magician" in England, an honor he has diligently sought and brought upon himself by purchasing all the books on practical magic he can find (except one who will make his appearance later!) and by discouraging all others from practicing (sometimes with the help of lawyers). Norrell is a retiring, gloomy, private man, not given to public spectacles of magic, but desiring to use his magic for the national cause. He becomes his own federal bureaucracy as it were, working with the British government to help defeat the French on the continent.

Jonathan Strange is a young, vivacious man (Norrell's polar opposite) in pursuit of a woman he hopes to marry who has no notion of becoming a magician, practical or theoretical, until he meets with the character I introduced above who reads off a philosophy that Jonathan Strange will become the second great magician of the age. Drawn to Norrell in London, the two become master and pupil as Strange learns his craft, and partners in public works as Strange joins the British Army effort against the French.

Unlike Norrell, Strange hopes to spread the reach of British magic, and to learn more about its ancient past rooted in fairies and the "slave king" John Uskglass. In pursuit of this goal, Strange loses his wife, his sanity, his friendship with Norrell, and unlocks a chain of events that he can't control that ultimately ends up almost all for the good, and therein is the source of a 782-page novel.

Much like Pynchon, I find it hard to rate such a tree-killing effort as a classic, despite the quality and enjoyability of the results. Well worth reading as a potential classic, but that rating weighed against the commitment of time it requires drops it to the second level.

I can understand why many people didn't enjoy the book; it is long and wordy in the British sense. Personally, I enjoy this, however, I concede that there are those who do not. The novel is witty and understated in its grandeur, but it is grand, nonetheless. Also, if you do not have at least a passing grasp of British history, the novel will lose some of its efficacy. I definitely recommend the book, just know your personal tastes before you commit to reading it.

Picture an England during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, very much like the historical England, recognizable in many ways to readers familiar with the period, except that this England has a magical past, a distant connection to medieval English magic which has dissipated and diminished for hundreds of years but is now starting to come alive again. This is the setting of Susanna Clarke's wonderful book, which conjures up a familiar alternate England which becomes progressively more strange and fascinating as the story unfolds.

The seminal figure of English magic was The Raven King, a mysterious figure who emerged fully formed in the 12th century, a human child raised in Faerie, to become the ruler of the entire north of England for the next three centuries with his capital in Newcastle, and additional demesnes in Faerie and on the far side of Hell. The last of the golden age magicians, Dr. Martin Pale, was nearly contemporaneous, and upon his death the decline of English magic became manifest until our story opens in the early 1800s, when the self-taught bookworm Gilbert Norrell emerges in Yorkshire as England's first practical magician in nearly 300 years.

Like J.K. Rowling, to whom her work has been compared, Clarke is adept at plotting and characterization. Clarke has said that her favorite character is Childermass, Norrell's loyal and highly competent servant; my favorite characters are the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair (a powerful, volatile and amoral Otherlander) and Stephen Black, an admirable person who reminds me of a personal friend with a similar name. My favorite plot device is the hidden and indescribable double life of Lady Pole, which is as frightening as anything in Robert W. Chambers. Please believe that I have said nothing that will ruin the experience: you will enjoy this book. ***

This would be a very enjoyable book for a very sheltered kid who isn't afraid of a big book. Maybe this is who gave 5 stars.

Everything other reviewers have said is true. Boring expressionless characters. Painfully simple plot that never builds up to any climax.
This is like the scenes in Harry Potter when they go to the the strange train station and then see the school with its oddities for the first time It is wonderous for the first 100 pages but instead of the story continuing this scene just keeps looping endlessly with different descriptions and dialouge for 900 more pages.
Mabye this is enough for some people.
If I had spent the countless hours watching clouds pass, it would have been more exciting.

Only the most acute and active animals are capable of boredom.-Nietzsche

Here is my 5 theses regarding this horrid novel
First, Clarke uses the plot mainly as a giant anticliche against all other fantasy books
Second, She elaborates more on insignificant people by writing long footnotes that only stress your eyes with the sall print
Third, She lacks good variety in character, and her style practicaly causes characters to contradict themselves
Fourth, the story is MASSIVELY discursive
Fifth, you say the writing is beautiful? Her style is very modern and, once again, discursive. She directly refers to and converses directly with the reader too infrequently, as well as writing rhetorical questions, prose of her own. Her style is a sad attempt to bring the book an antique feel to it, but I myself write like that, and I'm twelve...HER WRITING IS CHILDISH!
Any good quality there may be is definitely overshadowed by the above.

For an Australian, this book gave a huge insight into the workings of high levels of U.S. government and the selfishness of the people ultimately responsible in the various organisations, eg FBI, Department of Defense, in making decisions that could have saved many lives, instead of thinking only of their own reputations or fear that another department might impinge on their territory. Dick Clarke has shown that political views cannot be upheld on beliefs from 10 years ago. Nowadays, history is only as far back as yesterday and we need to be informed and alert. We lost too many Aussies in Bali because of historical blinkers.
Thank you Dick Clarke for all you wrote.

As targets of the political mass suggestion discussed in my reviews of: Propaganda, U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication), and Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s, we must be careful with books like this from an "insider". The pattern is the same on all these books "written" by insiders who have "left" the administration: There is one and ONLY one controversial assertion given in the book (the hook to generate sales and publicity), with the remainder of the book running parallel with the party line.

I have no doubt, given corroborating evidence from other authors, that Clarke is correct that Bush and his cabinent were planning an Iraq invasion well before 9/11. The "Downing Street Memo" is the smoking gun on this.

The much bigger purpose of this book, in my opinion, is simply to disseminate the party line, yet again, that Osama bin Laden is the boogeyman, that his world-threatening military is al-qaeda, and that they can deliver mass destruction anytime, anywhere (you know, the Cold War program). It's the repeat, repeat, repeat that we get from George Tenet, Michael Scherer (sp) and all others who are wittingly or unwittingly part of the propaganda campaign.

The only question on Clarke is: is he witting or unwitting? The answer, however, is moot. As long as he is spewing party-line propaganda, his books are worthless to a suspicious public.

Rather interesting book by an counter-terrorist insider to several administrations. Clearly, he doesn't like Bush and his court very much, so it seems a wee bit partial. However, there is also some real insight about what it means to be tasked with keeping a democracy safe in the face of terror.

You get the impression that he would have liked a more nuanced, more cooperative and diplomatic approach to neutralizing international terrorists. In fact, he compares Bush senior's handling of the diplomatic runup to Gulf War I with GW's go-it-alone policy in 2003.

Nevertheless, no peacenik he. He strongly regrets having released the noose around the Republican Guards armor in 1991, in what people usually refer to as the Highway of Death. To him: escaping armor => Saddam stays in power and threatens neighborhood => US stays in Saudi => propaganda for Bin Laden's jihad. Mind you, as ugly as the Highway of Death was, Iraqi soldiers, maybe those troops, were soon afterwards involved in savagely repressing the Shias.

One annoyance is his heavy use of "I, I, I" and tendency to put himself forward at every turn. Though he also says several times that he, and his team, failed at preventing 9/11 and that they failed at protecting their country. No one else from this administration accepts blame or admits mistakes, so that's refreshing.

Concerning the pre-9/11 hunt for Al Quaeda, he often criticizes the CIA and the Pentagon, but just skewers the FBI and its director. Broadly speaking, he seems to sing the same tune as Ghost Wars, except that he thinks the CIA had unequivocal backing to kill Bin Laden and wasn't justified in hiding behind legal fig leaves.

After more than 1,000 reviews, what can I possibly add? I noticed one little thing, a very small point, in the book that kind of twisted my jaw.

Clarke is very clearly partisan in tone in the book. I think he comes across as being in the leftist/liberal mold politically. OK, that's fine, sometimes the libs get it right and sometimes the conservatives do. (Myself, I have no love or loyalty to either political party and prefer to endorse viewpoints that represent ordinary, self-supporting, responsible, hard-working people, as I think the majority of us are. Frankly, anymore, I think people who obey the law, work to support themselves and their families, pay their bills, try to teach their kids right from wrong, etc. are the most underrepresented and disenfranchised bunch in the country. Neither party represents us, in my view.)

With that out of the way, the little point I caught in this book refers to Clarke being advised by the U.S. Secret Service that he needed to carry a handgun for self-protection. He describes being "issued" a semi-automatic pistol for this purpose. He mentions something to the effect that he is a big supporter of gun-control, but in this case he felt he should carry this weapon.

Well, I'm glad he was issued this pistol and carried it. The underlying tone in his comment is that the rest of us really shouldn't have handguns, because guns are bad, kill people, etc. But of course, HE needed one for self-protection; so what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander. If he was true to his liberal view of the right/need of a handgun for self-protection as it applies to citizens, he should have been abhorred at the thought of a civilian carrying a weapon for protection and vigorously declined this advice--after all, he was not a law enforcement officer! (For what it's worth, I have been a federal law enforcement officer required to carry a firearm etc. so I have some sense of this.)

I admit I have figuratively expressed his views, he did not use verbatim the words I have used above. If you read this passage though, it was relatively early in the book, I suppose somewhere in the first 1/4 of it, I think you will see what I mean.

Does Clarke represent truthfully what really happened or does he have his own axe to grind? ONLY GOD KNOWS.

I am writing this some 4 years after the book came out though I read it right after it was published. Subsequent events have left more data for people to digest about the truthfulness of the Bush administration. Still, I recommend people read the book to receive one view of events and judge for themselves.

I see also now that Clarke has come out with a new book in the last couple of weeks. That should be an interesting read as well.

Thanks for listening.

People can say what they want about Scott McClellan, but there is no comparison as to the character differences between these individuals. Whereas Scott had no courage to do what he is now doing, Dick Clarke, here, had all the gull to infight with some of these individuals and let his discontent be known right off. Of course his book did come out a little over a year later, but that is still much more than most "tell-all's".

Now, there can be no doubt that some of this was done out of saving his own arse, it still has to be said that he DID do what he was supposed to. He informed, time and again, and was treated as if he weren't there. Richard's job was to analyze, then inform. He did that. The president ignored what was given to him. It was then astonishing to learn that the new "goal-post" for where the buck stops, was, suddenly, not with the president, but with others.

A sad-but-true tail, indeed.

This is a necessary book. Thanks, Dick.

I wish I had read this sooner but I had shied away from it because I figured that Mr. Brock was a David Horowitz in reverse (and we know what an opportunistic scum bag Horowitz is). But this is an important and authentic work from an insider who shows us exactly how the neo-nazi, neocon "conservatives" took over and nearly destroyed our American nation (we are a nation, not a "homeland" or "fatherland"). We must take back our country in November (we started that process in the 2006 elections) and be rid of the Republican war criminals but that is not enough: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet, Coulter/Limbaugh (Goebbels), and those already convicted (Libby, Abramoff, Delay, Cunningham, Foley, Craig, etc.) need to be brought before a duly appointed Tribunal to answer for their crimes against humanity and particularly their crimes against the American people (including our brave soldiers and my friend Pat Tillman, who they killed). Richard Clarke could be the chief witness for the prosecution. We need more jails to house the corporate crooks.
I had the privilege of meeting Barry Goldwater and his wonderful wife Peggy when I lived in Arizona in the early 90's. Senator Goldwater was an honorable, real conservative and he was appalled by the Falwells, Robertsons, Gingriches, etc. If you consider yourself a principled conservative, you must read this book and help us remove the cancers from our society that Mr. Brock so ably describes. Through it all, I have believed there are more good people than evil people in our nation ("the better angels of our nature", as Lincoln said): some start out evil like Brock but then their human heart and conscience kicks in; let's kick out every last slime bag with an (R) by his or her name this November and rebuild our nation.

Brock is a gay former flame-throwing GOP-"insider" conservative writer who increasingly felt "like a Jew in Hitler's army" due to growing Republican gay-bashing; because of that discomfort, Brock repented his conservative screeds and returned to his liberal roots. En route, readers also learn that neither Brock nor many others didn't understand the supposed rationale behind many of their positions (they just toed the "party line"), and that integrity, fair play, civility were anachronisms even to some high-placed GOP judges and other leaders.

Brock also credibly presents the rationale for Justice Thomas' nomination (would split Democrat opposition due to some representing areas with high black populations), and why his accusers were probably correct (eg. after a later expose, Thomas privately admitted being into porn), confesses to frequently writing mindless drivel (even more surprising was the sometimes support of George Will and New York Times book reviewers), and provides first-hand documentation (names, dollar amounts) of vendettas financed against the Clinton's, etc.

Bottom Line: Republicans would undertake any manner of illegality to pursue perceived Clinton (and others) illegality - this was justified by their pursuit of a "higher good." Lies and hypocrisy - no problem!

An excellent book!

There isn't much I can say about this book that hasn't already been said in other favorable reviews here. All I'll add is that even if you allow for the zeal of Brock's re-converson to liberal prinicples and some bitterness towards his former conservative and neocon mentors and paymasters, there is much in this book that rings frighteningly true. Most fascinating is Brock's inside look at the anti-Clinton smear machine of which he was part - and which, no doubt, is warming up for 2008. Arm yourself with knowledge that you'll need if Hillary runs for President. Read this book.

After hearing about this book a great deal from many people, I finally had to give it a read. What I got was a mostly well written account about how Brock gave the neo-con movement exactly what they wanted in terms of what can only be called propaganda. Brock does a good job in exposing the oft-ridiculed "vast right-wing conspiracy".

But it makes a boring read at times, what with long lists of people and publications. And it seems just a bit self-serving at times, like he is trying to say, "Oh, how bad I was to do all this, but I was very good at it." And, after all, he does say exactly what I, as a liberal person, want to hear about those on the right who keep insisting that people who believe like me are traitors.

I respect Mr. Brocks conversion to the left, and I like his work with mediamatters.org, but I am not sure I plan to read any more of his books.

In his 1950 study of the authoritarian personality, Theodor Adorno constructed a political-psychological profile of people he called "pseudo-conservatives." These were people who called themselves conservatives but in truth adhered to political agendas that betrayed the ideals of individual freedom and free markets. Pseudo-conservatives were motivated by hate, fear, and power, not the desire to conserve or guarantee liberty. A few years later, the eminent historian Richard Hofstadter appropriated Adorno's term in describing what he called "the paranoid style in American politics." In Adorno and Hofstadter's day, this paranoid style of pseudo-conservativism was still in its embryonic state, personified by the rantings of Joseph McCarthy but still far from being the game plan for the Republican Party as a whole. David Brock's Blinded by the Right chronicles how this movement slithered its way into power long before anyone had heard of Karl Rove, whose name isn't even listed in the index.

Blinded by the Right amazingly combines the political history of a loathsome political movement with the personal story of a sympathetic individual who found himself at the center of that movement. Always an idealist among opportunists, Brock's entrée to conservatism was admirable enough, as he was a former Kennedy liberal who was turned off by Berkeley protest-ologists who simply shouted down their adversaries, thus betraying the cause of free speech that had galvanized the campus in the glory years of the 1960s. But those ideals quickly dissolved into an us-versus-them battle which was motivated by a hatred for liberal enemies more than anything else. Ironically, Brock and his colleagues had much more in common with late 60s revolutionaries like the Weathermen, with their constantly escalating rhetoric of destroying the establishment, and Stalinists in the Communist Party, who enforced the party line by threatening dissenters with the charge that they were helping "the other team."

Blinded by the Right is an essential chronicle of a political movement and a historical era, but somehow it is even more than that. Its personal narrative of a young person's rise to power and fame, followed by descent into disillusionment and depression, is gripping enough for Hollywood. Brock came out as a homosexual while he was in college but then shoved himself back into the closet as he ascended to celebrity status on the Right, whose agenda became increasingly homophobic after the collapse of communism left them without the enemy they had depended on for so long. Brock now sees his willingness to parrot right-wing ideology as part of his attempt to fit in with the movement when he secretly knew didn't, and he sees the vitriol that he spewed in his writing as a subconscious expression of his own self-hatred. In fact, Brock offers many penetrating insights into the psychology of his right-wing former colleagues, and for the most part they appear to be a miserable bunch prone to textbook cases of projection.

Brock's break from the right corresponded with his personal move toward self-acceptance. It is heroic act of liberation that sometimes made me want to stand up and cheer for him, but it was clearly a journey full of pain. His liberation proceeds in stages, with Brock initially portraying himself as a victim, and then only later coming to grips with his own complicity and eagerness to serve the movement. Changed but not bitter, Brock comes out the other side as a very wise man who can see clearly now only because he is able to accept himself, his past, and his imperfections. I hope we'll see more books like this in the future coming from the current throng of right-wingers, but I'm not holding my breath, because this required a ton of courage and compassion, and that's precisely what this movement lacks most.

Shoeless Joe is an inspirational novel about a baseball fanatic from a small town in Iowa. Ray Kinsella the main character, is a struggling farmer economically. One night Ray hears a voice while on his farm saying, "If you build it they will come". Ray the dreamer he is, decides to knock down his valuable crops and build a baseball field, in hope of bringing back his favorite player Shoeless Joe Jackson. So Ray follows the voices and goes on a long journey from Iowa to Boston to Minnesota in search of answers to finally find the answers to his dreams and his economic problems.

If you are a fan of dreaming and hope then this book is for you. This book is very similar to the movie, Field Of Dreams. However, in the novel W.P. Kinsella elaborates a lot more on the settings and it is a lot more enjoyable. If you are a fan of non-fiction I do not reccomond this novel. The events in this book are farfetched but really inspiring.

The theme in this book mistaken by most is not baseball. Kinsella brings up the idea of hope, father-son, and to not give up on your dreams.

Well it's supposed to be about dreams, magic, life and not about baseball...wrong it's about baseball and an American understanding that baseball is a way to unlock dreams, magic, and life.

But I am not an American follower of Baseball so along with Underworld by Don DeLillo it went over my head (although DeLillo's books first chapter was a stunning, lyrical depiction of the centuries' baseball World Series final moments). So is Shoeless Joe...stunning, lyrical writing? No, assume wooden, workaday.

Think I am being harsh? Well I look forward to a story based of a brickie who puts a goal up in Norfolk. George Best then appears to help him build the football pitch and gradually all the world ** players appear (Lev Yashin as goalie, Carlos Alberto Torres, Nílton Santos as full backs, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore as centre backs etc for one last game with the Brickie's long lost father as the ref. That I would understand so Nick Hornby get writing it.

But for the moment I am sticking to the film of the book-Field of Dreams. And making a mental note to be wary of any book that has a sports theme!

** run past me again how in Baseball one country = a world series whilst the 2006 World cup has 198 counties competing and over 700 million people watched the actual finals

For anyone who loves baseball, and good lord I do, and for anyone who values the history of baseball, this novel holds a mirror up to us and explain to us why we love this game the way we do. The reader cannot help but feel identification and empathy with all of the wonderful characters Kinsella creates. Even those who do not really understand this whole baseball fascination will gleen an insight or two into why that is.

Mr. Kinsella has crafted a unique story, written in eloquent prose that speaks to the reader's heart. All of the facets of the human condition are explored in conjunction with this snapshot of baseball love.

The book is filled with so many wonderful scenes. It is much better and more fulfilling than the film, "Field of Dreams."

Baseball season or not, this is a perfect book to read when you have some free time.

Imagine listening to Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is" and feeling like you need to sleep for a week to escape the inane, predictable world. And then imagine youself feeling inspired by a short but magical novel that seems to say that just about anything is possible. If you're in the doldrums and tempted to become a cynic, read W. P. Kinsella's SHOELESS JOE. Peggy won't sound so convincing after you're finished.

Yes, of course, the plot is slightly different from the movie's, but not by much. A few scenes from the book are omitted for the sake of pacing, and Hollywood made J.D. Salinger into bestselling writer Terence Mann for legal reasons in case the recluse got his shorts all bunched up. But the storyline of FIELD OF DREAMS is quite faithful to the novel. So why read the book, you ask.

First, Kinsella's style is quite poetic. Although it becomes a bit saccharine in spots, it nevertheless has an easy feel to it. The paragraphs flow with a descriptive grace that is a bit magical in itself. There are some very long digressions, but even these are interesting as they slip nicely into Kinsella's tale of baseball as the saving grace of America--and one man in particular: Ray Kinsella.

The best reason to read this book, however, is to have the author's original words, as opposed to the resulting screenplay, sink into your soul so that you can feel the magic of the prose-poetry at a deeper level, where it can take root.

Kinsella manages to do two things in this novel: he speaks of the importance of the simple things in life: a farm, a pitcher of lemonade, a kiss, baseball. Simultaneously, he implies that there is a magic woven into the very fabric of reality, a magic that can happen to anyone. Paradoxically, it is this magic that ultimately makes the simple things accessible to us. Maybe that's why kids can have fun with rocks, sticks, and carboard boxes--kids who also believe in magic and baseball.

So "is that all there is"? No, Peggy. There is a mysterious world in the cornfields of Ray Kinsella's farm, a world that can touch our own if we allow ourselves to once again believe in dreams and possibilities.

Somewhere along the road the phrase 'if you build it, they will come' has come to signify a sort of brainless reassurance. In fact, the message of the book is that if you build something with a clarity of vision and purity of heart, there will be results worthy of your effort.

Reading this beautiful book about baseball (and make no mistake, it's really about baseball)will liberate you from the power of that cliche. It will also give you a haunting, beautiful model from which to build your own fields.

Lynn Hoffman, author of the novel bang BANG

This is one of the best books that I have read in recent years. The characters are wonderful and realistic. The suspense is maintained through the book. And most wonderful of all, the adults actually act like adults! The cursing is kept to a minimum -- I've started to be very annoyed by authors who seem to think foul language is a substitute for character development! I have no problem recommending this book to anyone.

This book is not bad for a first novel. He only uses "myself" in the subjective case once, and his editor should have caught that (pet peeve of mine.) While I'm not a big fan of cult mysteries, this one is reasonably well done, although his habit of using "cop speak" for the time of day as well as some of the various departments and titles can get a tad annoying. I will pick up his second book.

A Review by Matthew Lopez, high school student

Eleven Days by Donald Harstad is a book about this cop named Carl Houseman who goes face to face with a gruesome murder, involving four victims in an Iowa farm. Carl and his fellow cops go deep into the case, revealing that the murders were linked to a satanic occult. With a lot of detective work and putting suspects behind bars, they still couldn't find the killer. But one thing they don't know is that the killer could be right under their own nose.

I have to say this book was one of the most fascinating books I ever read, and trust me I read a lot of mystery, thrillers. Which most of them was intriguing but not as compelling as Donald Harstad's Eleven Days. Donald put a lot of captivating description that really makes you feel like you are there. One the best description in the book was when he was talking about the dead bodies that they discover in the farm. "The body by the door was supine, his legs bent in at not quite right angles. The object in his chest was a knife, and his right hand was gone." It was so well described; it made you sick to your stomach. And the way he tells the story through Carl point of view is also exciting. The story was more exciting in Carl point of view because you could feel what he is feeling. It's a book that you can't put down until you finish it.

One part of the book I also think is well described is when Carl and his female partner Hester were looking for the killer in the church because he killed a lot of officers in the police station. Anyway they follow the killer into the church where Carl and his partner were face to face with the killer. "I hit him hard; he sort of came apart, a sizable chunk of his skull flying off the rear. He disappeared, down into the pulpit." That part of the book had a lot of mind blowing action that it was like you where watching some sort of an action pack movie.

The book is really awesome, I enjoy reading it, but one thing I didn't like about the book was that all the detective work sort of put the book off topic. I think the detective work was engaging in some part of the book, and it does put the pieces of the murder mystery together. But I mostly prefer a book with a lot of action, and less detective work. I think the best audience for this book is for people who enjoy detective work and thrillers.

ISBN: 0-553-58148-1
Title: Eleven Days
Author: Donald Harstad
Publisher: Bantam Books
"Eleven Days," debut novel of ex-cop and Iowa author Donald Harstad is a blockbuster of a read. Harstad's experiences as a police officer shine through in his style, a style that reads like an official record of a crime. "Eleven Days" introduces us to Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman resident of Maitland, Iowa. The day officers discover mutilated bodies in an out-of-the-way farmhouse and the next eleven days of investigation consume the time and efforts of the town's police force.
Although top cops from around the state and even an expert from New York get involved in the inquiry, it is step-by-step, follow-every-lead good old fashioned detective work that opens the case and leads to its solution.
Harstad's narrative reads like a non-fiction case report, it is gutsy, true-to-life, in-your-face, criminal investigation. "Eleven Days" is action packed suspense with richly detailed characters, believable dialogue and a plot that keeps you turning pages all the way to the surprise ending and the unveiling of the perpetrator. I can't wait to pick up his next novel. Congratulations Donald Harstad on a magnificent debut novel.
Beverly J Scott author of "Righteous Revenge" and "Ruth Fever." Reviewer for Intriguing Authors and Their Books at http://www.funeralassociates.com/authors.htm

Donald Harstad's first novel (inspired by true events) was absorbing. I first read this novel during the winter of my final year of medical school (when I was researching the dark aspect of the human experience). I curled up with this engaging tome for an entire weekend. It was time well-spent.
The novel begins with a bizarre & twisted murder scene in a rural Iowa farmhouse. The juxtaposition of this scene in the setting of an innocent, serene town sets the stage for the novel. The ensuing investigation w/ its twists & turns is certainly suspenseful. I enjoyed the section where an expert in satanically-inspired crime is imported into the investigation from the East Coast. His analysis of the nature of the crime is intriguing. Moreover, the novel also alludes to the different strata which exist amongst practitioners of Satanism; for instance, there are the mere dabblers in this dark art who view it as a diversion while there are the ascetic devotees who literally adhere to its principles and thus are more warped & dangerous. If I had written this novel, I would have explored the psychological factors driving the different characters in this novel, especially the elusive serial killer. Perhaps Mr. Harstad is saving this material for a sequel, a psychological study of the serial killer. This would make a fascinating novel as well. It's been 3 years since I first read this novel. I plan to revisit it soon. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy reading suspenseful novels dealing w/ occult themes. Address an email letter to Dr. Nicholas Lianna (nehalpatel1975@yahoo.com) for further discussion of this work. In his spare time, Dr. Lianna, M.D. (in the realm of internal medicine) has been investigating aberrant psychology, psychopathology in the domain of psychiatry, different modalities of bio- & psychotherapy, and other instances of the dark aspect of the human experience during the last several years. He is in the midst of constructing a compilation of his findings, analyses, & final conclusions.