Nova Books

As an avid football fan, George Allen is one of the greatest NFL Coaches of all time. Throughout the book, Jennifer Allen describes they storybook life of an NFL coach from a footbal and personal perspective. George's rough-and-tough attitude made two winningless teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, into champions. However, his personality as a coach effected his role as a father, which created tension between him and his children. As the his only daughter, Jennifer tries to win her father's affection as she struggles of being a product of an NFL coach and well-known celebrity.

This entire story could have been written on the cover of a matchbook and saved me the time I wasted reading it. Endless complaining about her parents and siblings, If the peoples identities had been with held until the end, one might have expected to find out this was the childhood of a serial killer or some one else you might have expected to have a miserable childhood. Why would anyone even bother to write a book about people she seemed to care for as little as her family is beyond me except to possibly capitalize on her Dad's famous name and make a few bucks. A depressing read.

I was misled by a review in SI that said this was a great book. If you're an Oprah fan, then it's a great book. If you want to learn about the life of an NFL coach, the Washington Redskins or football in general, you're better off buying a subsciption to Sports Illustrated or reading the sports page.

About 80 percent of this book is about the struggle of the writer to get her father's attention and approval. Another 10 percent has to do with her mother, her brothers and the writer's life away from her house. Maybe 10 percent has to do with football. It is a maddening experience to put up with the "I was a girl, girls weren't important to my dad, someone please pay attention to me" anecdotes and thoughts in the hope of getting to, say, the Washington Redskins' 1972 season where the team finally made it to the Super Bowl, and then when you get there have Jennifer Allen say in almost these exact words, "I don't remember much about that the season the Redskins went to the Super Bowl." I almost hurled the book across the room.

It is unfortunate that George Allen essentially ignored his family in his obsessive quest to do what he believed he was born to do: coach. No kid should have to grow up with that kind of home life, and it's obvious that her father's inattention has left its mark on Ms. Allen. But darn it, this is an Oprah book of the month selection, not a sports book. Someone should be clear on that!

A few words about George Allen ... I am about Jennifer Allen's age. I am a lifelong Redskins fan and grew up in D.C. When Mr. Allen took the team to the Super Bowl, it was a highlight of my young life. I remember him licking his fingers, tugging his hat and mentioning milk as his drink of choice. I had no idea that he ignored his family. I'm sorry he did that, but I am also grateful that the man came to my hometown and coached my favorite team and finally made it a winner. I wish the book had a little more about what made George Allen such a successful coach and a lot less about the struggle of a little girl to get close to her daddy.

As a lifelong football fan I was hoping that "Fifth Quarter" would include more about football than Allen puts into her memoir. However, the book is well-written and engaging. If you're looking for a book about George Allen, this isn't really the book to read. However, if you're looking for an interesting book detailing the childhood of a coach's daughter, "Fifth Quarter" might be the book for you.

I was particularly enlightened by her descriptions of her brother's, former Senator George Allen, violent, hostile, even sociopathic personality. These sections completely and utterly presaged George Allen's violence, hostility and ultimate meltdown on the campaign trail.

I had received Light and Nova Swing as gifts, so I felt obliged to read both books. I was one of the few who didn't like Light, and hoped Nova Swing would be better. Boy was I wrong!!! This book claims to be set in the same universe, but if mentioning characters from Light for about two pages shouldn't count. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't like John Harrison's style of writing. If I could give it a zero, I would have. If you liked Light, I'm sure you'll like Nova Swing. If not, stay clear of this novel. There doesn't seem to be any additional insight into this world, just a cyberpunk story that doesn't seem to draw the reader in.

Set in the same universe as Mr. Harrison's "Light," but centuries later, a portion of the Kefahuchi Tract, featured in the former book, has fallen to earth (the author does not capitalize the term), creating a discontinuity known as the Saudade Event site.

This tale deals with the goings-on near the site, and with the Runyonesque characters who dwell there. You'll meet Vic Serotonin, illegal site guide; the Mysterious Woman Client of a thousand hardboiled detective novels; the detective Lens Aschemann, who looks like Einstein, as well as his crazed assistant.

There are entities who come in through the bathroom door, hordes of monochrome cats, pink Caddys, rickshaw Annies, and music called the old New Nueva Tango. And, oh yes, there's a starship named the Jayne Anne Phillips.

The prose is crisp and dazzling; occasionally it's moving. You'll care what happens to the characters. The story is convoluted, and not everything is explained; but that hardly matters--the journey's way more fun than the destination. Mr. Harrison proves yet again that there's nobody quite like him writing science fiction these days.

"Nova Swing" is a terse, jazz-inflected gem of a space opera science fiction novel from British writer M. John Harrison. An exhilarating literary trek replete with references to such familiar motifs as spaceships, androids and alien life intermingled with hard-boiled detective fiction of the kind favored by the likes of Chandler, Hammett and the early William Gibson. However, it isn't cyberpunk, but its own unique literary genre, which nonetheless demonstrates the creative literary potential of classic space opera science fiction. M. John Harrison has written a novel truly inspired by its jazz motifs, spinning complex riffs on characters and the strange locale of twisted space and time known as the Saudade Event Site; the complex geography favored by the novel's lead protagonist, one Vic Serotonin, who functions as a "travel agent" to and from this bizarre location. Harrison demonstrates that he is a superlative prose stylist and spinner of yarns as memorable as any from the likes of China Mieville or Iain M. Banks, two of his fellow distinguished contemporaries in British science fiction. Harrison has written a jazz-inflected gem of a novel that deserves ample recognition as among the finest science fiction novels published in the English language during this decade.

I've never felt compelled to write a review before. This book, however, was awful. NOTHING HAPPENS! It's just a melange of oh-so-lit'ry and arty pretensions, an endless stream of overly wordy (Oh, he's SUCH a clever writer) descriptions. The further I read, the less I cared. By the end I was barely skimming.

One of my favorite diversions while I'm reading is to guess what's on the author's bookshelf--for a lot of SF, I come up dry, as the authors in that genre seem to prefer scaling the heights of mediocrity unaided, but M. J. Harrison is a welcome exception. When I read "Light", I was fairly sure that "The Skriker' would be found there, and "The Man Who Fell to Earth". "Nova Swing" is harder, showing a clear benefit from other works and various movements, but nothing so vulgar as an obvious clue. What Harrison has accomplished in "Nova Swing" is a salmagundi of Dark Romantic, Expressionist and Noir attitudes and conventions. I wouldn't have thought to connect the climactic gestalt shift that resolves a Noir story to the penultimate Transcendental experience of Melville's or Poe's characters, but the linkage is a typical example of Harrison's ferocious creativity. Nor is there any reason to expect that the highly conventionalized and formulaic characters, settings and situations of Noir would dovetail so nicely with the often nameless types (characters is too specific a word for them) and the episodic nature of Expressionist drama.

How does all this fit together? "Nova Swing" is set on a planet whose main city was partially affected/destroyed by something they call `the event', which in turn creates `the site'. The site is something like a naked singularity--in that it is accessible from our universe, and it makes almost anything possible, among other things it sheds `physics' in little pocket universes, viral code that infects matter and artifacts--the products aren't entirely baneful, the `physics' can lead to new means of spaceflight, for example. What comes out of the site is capable of transforming or destroying the world as we know it, so the forces of law and order try to keep the lid on the bottle and manage anything that escapes or is brought out. Thus, one of the main characters is a Site Crime detective, Aschemann, who is charged with keeping people out and things in. Not surprisingly, there are people who want to go in, at the time of Nova Swing, they are primarily tourists, and in a prior generation , explorers or prospectors (before the law clamped down). So, another main character is a tour guide--Vic, who discreetly takes people into the fringes of the site to get a taste of its weirdness. He works on the margins of the law, going into the site is illegal, but as long as a tour guide doesn't bring stuff out, the police turn a blind eye to the occasional visit. However, when it is discovered that the site is generating people who start popping up in the bathroom of a Jazz bar, Vic becomes one of the suspects. In keeping with the finest Noir traditions, there is a femme fatale, Elizabeth Kielar, a woman who hires Vic to take her into the site. Naturally, Vic has a sleazy friend/partner Paulie a gangster boss, who is willing to take anything that he brings out of the site off his hands. Unfortunately, the last artifact that Paulie bought from Vic turned on him. And that's the basic setup.

Like a lot of Noir or Dark Romance (think Ross Macdonald or Moby Dick), the story has a very claustrophobic feeling, everybody goes to the same generic places, mostly bars and hotel rooms, and everybody is in everyone else's business. Though anything is possible in the site, it seems to function more as a terrifying limit than as something offering freedom or wonder (the wonders of the site are often tawdry, e. g. a cloud of old shoes exhibiting flocking behavior). The main characters, Vic, Aschemann, Paulie and Elizabeth are almost Ahabs in their relentless solipsism. They talk to each other and others, they show up at the same places, but they scarcely let anything impinge on their narrative. The words and actions of those they come in contact with are incorporated into their own soliliquoy, but they don't lead anywhere or fundamentally change it. Most scenes, interactions, or dialogues stand on their own and peter out without reaching a conclusion or pushing subsequent developments. The characters often act like they are performers who just walked into a room and need to improvise a scene with whatever clues and props they can find, there's no sense of history or future. There's a curious sense in which the audience can see that the characters are experiencing their lives as if they were in a movie, play or book. So Vic and the femme fatale seemingly become romantically involved for no reason other than the demands of the form. Aschemann's assistant is referred as `his assistant' throughout the book, and towards the end the reader discovers the detective doesn't know her name. That's the kind of ignorance encountered in works of fiction, understood as a device of the author, not a depiction of reality. The plot hangs together by the presentation of familiar formal elements, rather than any internal cohesion or motive force, the plot is a result of montage rather than growth. These aspects of "Nova Swing" tie it to the works of writers like Brecht and Genet.

So what kind of people are these? Let's consider this quote from Moby Dick: "But in each event--in the living act, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask." We know the site can create people, we know that it can transform them, for its own inscrutable ends, that it dominates everything around it, undermining commonplace notions of causality and identity. The thing that unites Aschemann, Vic and Elizabeth is their knowledge of this and their need to get through the mask, even if it's their own personae and discover the thing behind it. One of the interesting aspects of the story is that after the plot is resolved for the main characters, Harrison spends a fair amount of time taking care of several secondary characters and the contrast between the ends they fashion for themselves, and the fate of the major players highlights the fact that there is some fundamental difference between them.

I am reading the original 1913 edition. This is a truly great book. It is very well written, very exciting, and so far brutally honest.

It is quite clear where the British made mistakes but that should not be the point. This is a journal by a great explorer who was writing events as they happened. It is full of praise for his men. Scott also criticizes himself for his errors in judgment. In a sense, the die was cast: they had lost many of their animals and nearly lost their lives before the main trek to the pole even started. And they were now forced into a race for the pole, which had never been their intention.

They could not quit, as this would have been a national disgrace. So they went ahead anyway, hoping that hard work, the weather, and shear luck would prevail. But it didn't. Ironically, just a year later, many British solders would be facing the same hopeless odds in the battlefields of WW1 France.

This is a classic (tragic) story, told as it happened by a fine author. I highly recommend it.

The authoritive reference for what happened on Scott's polar journey - since it was written by the man himself. Don't be put off by the appalling introduction by Bainbridge (which ruins the story if you don't know all the details since it is just a brief summary of the rest of the book - just skip it!). I wouldn't recommend reading this first (try Scott by Elspeth Huxley as an intro) but for historical interest if you get into the history of the antarctic this is a must. The actual description of the southern journey only makes up the final section of the book, most of it is concerned with the depot laying and over wintering parts of the expedition. As such most of the book is mostly concerned with the details of preparing for the journey and hence probably won't appeal as a general introduction to Scott's last expedition.

It's really too bad that "Scotts Last Expedition" was heavily edited by Sir J.M. Barrie, the talented author of Peter Pan. We'll never get to read Scott's real diary, which, I suspect, is a good deal more forthcoming on his feelings about Lt. Teddy Evans (his No. 2), Cecil Mears (his dog driver), and perhaps his own flawed self.

Still, "Scott's Last Expedition" belongs in every collection on Antarctic exploration, regardless of whether you feel Scott is a hero or a buffoon. An original copy from the 1920s will set you back $300 or more, so this paperback reprint for $10 or so from Amazon isn't a bad deal at all. True, it doesn't look or smell the same, but it still has all of that great source material on diet, clothing, equipment and the officers and crew.

While the story is known to most armchair explorers, nothing beats the saga right from the horse's mouth. Yes, the journal does drag in places, but so do long days of waiting in the Antarctic. It makes us impatient and edgy, wondering if the storms will ever end or what equipment will break next. Knowing the climax detracts nothing from how they got there--or didn't. This and Shackleton's own story really have to be read if one enjoys this kind of tale.

About halfway through this diary account of the Terra Nova expedition, it becomes clear why Amundsen made it first to the pole ... and why Scott's was the greater achievement. The Norwegians focused completely on getting to the pole and back: no fuss, no elaboration, no scientific spin-offs. Amundsen cared not a whit about paleobotany, the discovery of a new parasite in fish livers or pony psychology. (More to the point, Amundsen kept to dogs.) Scott took an interest in everything, and he was willing to experiment. The diaries brim with accounts of sledging diets, weather balloons, penguin dissections, ice crystal formation, geologic strata and killer whales. He writes of what it is like to be without the sun for four months, of feelings stirred by the aurora australis, and of the colors of ice and sea and sky. He describes camp life and daily routines and the antics of ponies and dogs. And, knowing he has failed in his goal, he speaks movingly of his obligations to his country ... and to science. Among the items dragged to their final camp by three exhausted, half-frozen dying men were 35 pounds of fossils - fossils which would help rewrite geologic history.

An interesting non-fiction book on "the extraordinary sex lives of ordinary people".

Perhaps it's the openness in our society now, but I've failed to see what was so "extraordinary" about the sex lives of the people in the book.

Take Marie, a hairdresser who encouraged her husband to look for sex with others during her pregnancy, albeit jokingly, and got what she wanted. It is in my opinion that such things are happening all around us and that there is nothing shocking or alarming to it.

Guys and girls looking for a partner but at the same time sleeping around, women trying to find a husband and going through relationships that fail one after another; these are all nothing 'extraordinary'. I would think that the 'e' word was used with injustice for this book.

The main theme of the book is not about sex, but the role of it and how sex changes a relationship and the dating game.

I got tired of the book after awhile and there is nothing "funny" in it, as the backcover claimed. It is, however, fast moving but not an easy read.

Read this to help you get to sleep.

Reading Unzipped is like following someone around for awhile and just observing their life. It's written in a Helen Fielding/Brigit Jones type format although not as funny but interesting just the same. It's basically a bunch of girlfriends, some married some not talking about sex or lack there of. It's honest and sometimes a bit shocking,(as with main character Courtney's friend who leaves her husband to become a slave in the S & M culture) It's a very easy, fun read.

This book is funny and charming and as I was reading, it seemedobvious that Courtney Weaver was the model for Carrie in HBO's series"Sex and The City." If you enjoy that show, you will enjoy this book immensely. Weaver writes in a breezy, conversational style that is light and easy to read. The book isn't about sex, per se, although there are many references to it, but about relationships and being single in your 30's. Very enjoyable.

I picked this book up for the same reason that I pick up a Cosmo at the grocery store checkout every once in a while -- to get a flavor for what hip young women supposedly think about relationships and sex. I was not disappointed . . . at least at first.

I zipped through the first 100 or so pages, enthralled by the insidious, gossipy quality of it all. The wry humor was initially amusing but eventually began to wear on me. I think maybe it was just too much of something best imbibed in small portions. For example, I love "Seinfeld" but don't think I would be able to stand a feature-length movie starring those characters.

I think what soured me on the book in the end was the realization that I really didn't LIKE any of the characters. The women were all neurotic, self-obsessed, and shallow. The guys actually come off much better (which I DO NOT think was the author's intention) because they seem comfortable with who they are.

As a thirtyish guy who is suddenly "out there" after a failed ten-year marriage, I found this depiction of single life depressing. While I realize that it was at least partly fiction and probably intended as satire, its depiction of the relationship games that singles play (especially women) made me want to flee to a monastery.

Utterly contemporary, intelligent and witty, Courtney Weaver's "Unzipped" is a delicious page-turner. Sex and mating rituals are explored with a clear, ironic eye, and though she boldly mines her friends' private lives, I never had the feeling she was exploiting them. As she reports from the front about what it's like to be a single woman in today's confusing world, she comes across as strong yet vulnerable, charming and good-humored. She is also pitiless and self-deprecating in chronicling her own neuroses, which makes her all the more endearing. Telephone dispatches from her diverse friends, from San Francisco to New York to London, were endlessly fascinating installments of their latest dramas. I've already given the book to two of my girlfriends and they also enjoyed it enormously. Weaver's fresh, insightful voice made me eager to read a follow-up.

It's true, I always enjoy a Barbara Delinsky book! She's someone I read sort of off and on. I run across one of her books, read the back and usually end up buying. And often, their short descriptions on the back does not do them justice! Wonderfully, each of her books is quite different from the next.

Most women enjoy a great romance book, I am no different. Although, I prefer one with substance, a little more than the Harlequin's. Thus, Commitments is a great romance novel! It's got a steamy love affair, one that floats right off the pages. But it also has a story behind that love, one that I found inspiring, on many levels. Redemption, forgiveness, courage, commitment, unconditional love, dedication...the two people in this story have them all!

If you haven't read Barbara Delinsky, I'd recommend picking up one of her books. This one would be a good one to start, I also enjoyed Coast Road, Vineyard and Lake News.

What happened the book overall was good, but boy was I disappointed by the end. I felt that Ms Delinsky got tired and wanted to wrap up the story, The ending will make you wonder what
did the ballatine files contained, did sabrina have a girl or boy and what about the antagonist Geer did he get his in the end.I've read several of Ms.Delinsy's books and this was about to be my favorite if not for the end, she left so many potenial story lines loose and I felt cheated out of a potential good book

Of all places, I found this book when cleaning out my storage shed ~~ and this book is really a light read and a welcome break from my normal reading.

Sabrina Stone looks like a society wife ~~ all glitter and glam only to show Derek McGill that she is a woman made of substance. And their love story takes you from the top of a Manhattan rooftop to the farmland in Vermont. There are murder, intrigue and steamy sex scenes written in this little book.

If you're looking for something to read while taking a break from house cleaning, painting or any of those tiresome chores, this book is one I would recommend. It's not the deepest read of the year, but it is fun!

I remember reading this book of Delinsky's sometime ago and recall that it was an overall pretty good read. Sabrina Stone had married a little too hurriedly, and not wisely at all. When her son Nicky was born with many special needs, her husband of course, couldn't handle it at all. So Sabrina struggles along taking care of his needs on her own most of the time as her hubby is never around.

Meanwhile, she meets a reporter, Derek McGill, to whom she is very much attracted to. It is a shock later, though to learn that Derek was unjustly convicted of murder and sent to prison.
Sabrina however, with unconditional love for Derek, visits him in prison, and falls in love deeper and deeper unbeknownst to Nick.

As the book moves on, there is some mystery to be solved about some files that will help Derek's case, and Sabrina tries to help him all the way. The ending is unclear here, but Sabrina sticks with Derek no matter what. Some people have problems with her commitment to this man in her family.

I enjoyed the book very much.

Delinksy is always interesting. I have read almost all her books. In my opinion, this is not one of her best, but it is still a good book and will keep most readers interested throughout the duration. She gets better and better as time goes on. Her later books are all wonderful. One can see how her writing has improved when comparing early books such as "12 Across," "Bronze Mystique" and some of her early Harlequin stories to her later novels. If you have not read her before, start with "For My Daughters," "Suddenly," Vineyard" or "Coast Road." This is a good one to check out at the library, but not necessarily to spend money buying and keeping.

I purchased this book several years ago and finally got around to reading it this past week. It is an enjoyable read but not - in my opinion - one of Joseph Wambaugh's best. I was going to give it 3 stars but will upgrade to 4 because the book has a better ending than most of Wambaugh's books. Nothing bad happens to the main police characters. The best line in the book deals with Vietnamese restaurants.

Great crime mystery,this book has it all. Humor, suspense,drama and fantastic writing! Read ALL of Wambaugh's books.

It was a gift, my husband had read all Wambaugh books with the exception of this one and I lost him to it. He said wow, great.

Much, much more fun than previous work. My wife and I both laughed out loud while reading Finnegan's Week. It's larger than life, but believable all the way. In our opinion, this is Wambaugh's best novel.

Wambaugh has a flair for scriptwriting equal to Quinton Tarantino at his best. He's brutal, sly, topical, sharp, intense and outrageous all at the same time. This novel can be a bit silly at times, but never does it become stale. "Finnegan's Week" should appeal to readers of a wide variety of tastes, and I'm surprised that Wambaugh doesn't have a larger following than he has. His plots weave in and out, and he always finds a unique way to bring it all together at the end. His razor-sharp wit sets him apart from the rest of the thriller writers out there. A great, fun read with a superior style.

After howling in Bump and Run, I couldn't wait to listen to Full Court Press.

The first half of the book continues at a great pace with a slew of colorful characters. The last half was a let down. I enjoyed it, however, it wasn't as crisp as Bump and Run.

With that being said, I would still recommend either buying or listening to this story.

If you want to read a book from an extremely bright, informative, and seasoned sports journalist, read Full Court Press. Lupica is at his best in this epic basketball drama. Not only does he accuratley portray NBA life and off the court hardships, but he also portrays this from a woman's point of view. Amazingly descriptive, dramatic, and full of excitement, this book has Best Seller written all over it.

Mike Lupica's "Full Court Press" is a sports fantasy in which the flamboyant owner of the worst team in the league signs the first woman to play in the NBA. Dee Gerard is the illegitimate daughter of a New York playground legend and a star in Europe who impresses a scout for the New York Knights. If you hear echoes of the real world twisted this way and that (Dr. J's daughter, Nancy Lieberman, etc.), then you realize that is part of the game here (is Dee's teammate a "nice" Dennis Rodman?). Try not to get caught up in figuring out if you are dealing with stereotypes or Frankenstein like creations composed of the parts of various real people.

Understandably Lupica has to tweak things to put Dee in a position to play in the NBA once he sets up the desperate franchise idea: she is basically a female John Stockton (sees the court, knows the game, can make the pass) with a healthy injection of Globetrotter style and flair. She is also the fastest woman ever to play basketball, which works for me as the secret ingredient. However, in terms of the story "Full Court Press" reminds me of the old Sammy Davis, Jr. joke: Sammy is on the golf course and somebody asks him "What's your handicap?" Sammy does a double-take and points out that being a one-eyed, Jewish, black man is handicap enough. Lupica saddles Dee with similar baggage: she is having an affair with her coach and sometimes she gets what is basically acute stage fright. So being a woman is, ironically, the least of her problems in this book. Fortunately she is pretty much the most level headed person in the book and so most readers will be inclined to wish her well and remember this is a sports fantasy, not a social argument (Earl Monroe says it will happen one day; anybody out there got the chops to argue with the Pearl?).

I watch ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" on a regular basis, so I have to admit that the Mike Lupica who wrote this novel does not "sound" like the same one who goes from articulate rationality to passionate diatribes at the drop of a hat (or one liner from a cohort). There are insights into the world of sports in general and professional basketball in particular (they might not know the game, but these kids today are FAST) scattered throughout the book, and I found a really good insult for somebody from a farm I would dearly love to use someday. Certainly Lupica has a feel for the game (so does the dust cover, where the basketball feels like a basketball). The resolution leaves a lot to be desired, but the journey is fun and it is a good read. "Full Court Press" can keep you occupied during the first three quarters of a NBA playoff game when nothing is happening.

Lupica's got a great ear for the banter of the game and the City. He needed every bit of it to penetrate the blanket of intense namedropping, a syncophantic suck-up to Imus (Mo Jiggy in an Imus ranch hat) and overreaching for similes and metaphors (how does Earthwind snort the GNP of a city, Mike, and what is a "Gulfstream ex"?). I had it at 4 stars most of the way, but the last third really bogged down.

Eddie Holtz, jock with a blown out knee now scouting for the NY Knights (how many times has that set up been used?) discovers Dee Girard at a charity game in Monaco. She's the ultra cool 32-year-old daughter NY playground legend Cecil "Cool Daddy" Cody and the beautiful Swedish dancer Cool Daddy hooked up with in the late 60s. Eddie thinks she's as good as any point guard in the NBA, and Knights owner Michael De la Cruz sees headlines and ticket sales.

Some great characters: Knights Coach Bobby Carlino is a blatant composite of Rick Pitino and PJ Carlessimo complete with a bad boy player shoving his whistle down his throat when the coach lets his team rough Dee up. Eddie brings in Mo Jiggy, rap star turned sports agent from "Bump and Run", and the partnership of two super bright street-smart kids from the hood is born.

The last 40% or so isn't really a plot but a bunch of games, name dropping and trivia (like the female AAU phenom from the 50s who drops in on Dee in Minneapolis). The real story of Cool Daddy comes out. So what if he's more of a hustler than a hoopster, but bringing him back from the dead was a little much.

It had some great dialogue, fun characters but a little too much junk in between to make it a top tier story.

As a working sportswriter, like myself, the author should know that there is not a single player in today's NBA who would knock an opponent to the court, then utter the words: "You went down harder than the Hindenberg!" I doubt whether there is a single active pro basketball player that could even identify the Hindenberg, let alone use it as a taunt. (Who edited this novel?)

That sort of preposterous dialog -- and the hackneyed romance between Dee and her coach -- made it difficult to fully to enjoy Lupica's well-intentioned little fantasy.

I really like the way this was written, great directions, information about the trails. The GPS information would most likely be useful to people who had their GPS device...another purchase in the future. Highly recommend this book for those visiting the Cape Breton area.

I bought this book before our recent vacation to Nova Scotia, where we spent most of our trip on Cape Breton Island. This book covers only a small fraction of the available trails. We did "Middle Head" (which is covered in the book), but, at the suggestion of the ranger at the National Park information center, we also did Franey Mountain (just a short distance from Middle Head) and Skyline (on the other side of the park), both of which were more substantial and rewarding and not even mentioned in the book.

Save the cost of the book and stop by a visitor information center or National Park information center. You'll hear about a lot more choices.

It was a very good and detailed discription of the trails. The dis cription of the where the trail headsnare was excellant, even giving the GPS coordinates.

After doing my homework on the internet and searching for areas of great hiking in Nova Scotia,I came across the Cape Breton Highlands National Park area, the Cabot trail scenic drive, etc...and although I understand that the author/hiker wanted to include all regions of Nova Scotia in his book, I was terribly disappointed to see that there are only five hikes mentioned from the Cape Breton Island area. To be honest, I was able to retrieve much more info, simply by doing searches on the internet. L'Acadien, Skyline trail, Corney Brook, Coastal trail, and many more of what seem to be the most significant hikes in this area; were all left out of this book. On the positive side, it seems to include many great details about the wildlife in the area, the topo maps look like they will be helpful, and and directions to the trailheads seem thorough.

This is an excellent guide that we found useful throughout our stay on Cape Breton Island. The maps are excellent and the descriptions of the trails and how to reach the trailheads is great. The topographical maps were also very useful. I will comment on some of the great hikes included in Haynes' book.

As you leave Cheticamp and enter the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, you are given three immediate trails from which to select. Because of intense rain, we had to skip these trails and move further north into the park. Along the way, the ocean views from the Cabot Trail were incredible, some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery in the world.

Our first hike within the park was the Skyland Trail, a 3 hour hike on a high mountail plateau. The vegetation is naturally pruned and stunted by the ocean winds. The views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are stunning from this height. We looked for moose but saw only pheasants.

Our second hike was to MacIntosh Brook, where the spruce trees create alpine odors as you hike and Aspen trees were turning gold. The old growth Sugar Maples were turning flame red in our September trip. The Sugar Maples are propagated by a root system that allows saplings to develope all around the parent tree. These small saplings may remain short for decades in virtual shadow, nourished by the root system of the parent tree.

Our third hike was to Lone Shieling, a short hike that offered a stone replica of an ancient Scotish hut, a short walk along a brook, and another short hike through Sugar Maple forrests.

Our fourth hike was very short since a dirt road will take you almost to the Chutes Beulach Ban Falls. Our fifth hike was cut short due to lack of time. We tried to hike to the Glasgow Lakes Lookoff but the round trip takes 4 hours. We turned back before completing the hike but we did reach an altitude to see vast vistas.

We spent the night at the Markham Resort cottages in Dingwall and had a gourmet dinner at the Morrison restaurant in Cape North. The Markham cottages allow for wetland or beach front hikes where the granite pebbles offer infinite varieties of colors and shapes. Here we saw a young bald eagle just getting the white feathers of the mature adult.

We drove to Bay St. Lawrence where we went for a whale cruise. We saw two pilot whales, hundreds of curious seals, and an adult bald eagle. We were late in the season so I suspect most of the whales had migrated to the Carribbean. While on the road we found the convenience stores offered many quick meal selections. In Cape North, I was able to get a lobster sandwich and chocolate milk. An odd combination, but it tasted great.

Our sixth hike to Broad Cove Mountain was short but offered great views above the treeline. However, our seventh hike, to Middle Head, was one of my favorite hikes. The trailheads start behind the impressive Keltic Lodge hotel. The hike offers high cliff hanging views of the Atlantic.

Our eighth hike was up Cape Smokey, a long hike but which has 3 vista points along the way with incredible views of the Atlantic ocean and the rocky wave battered cliffs and rocks below.

This book was a great resource by which to sxplore one of the most beautiful areas in North America.

This time Mrs. Pollifax begins her adventure right in her own back yard when she discovers Kadi, a young woman who is fleeing her pursuers and is hiding in Mrs. P's house. She tries to help the girl get away, but the pursuers are right on her tail, so she appeals to Carstairs, her CIA contact, who sends her to a "safe house". Much to her surprise the safe house turns out to be a carnival and Mrs. Pollifax and Kadi learn some new skills to become part of their new environment. Someone who is also on the run and is hiding in the carnival is badly beaten and Mrs. Pollifax has a new angle to explore. This is all tied in with Kadi's friendship with a young man from a small African country and the disappearance of a wealthy American businessman. Before it's over, Mrs. P. and Kadi are whisked to Africa and new problems surface before a satisfactory ending is achieved. This is a delightful romp with the intrepid 60-something heroine and most of it is set in the United States, a nice change of pace from her other adventures.

There is a great difficulty in finding all the works of this author and that is a shame. They would be a great series especially for those of us entering retirement and preferring to listen to books rather then reading them. They are well written and fun and thoroughly enjoyable.The author needs to have all of the series put on tape or cd!!

_Mrs. Pollifax Pursued_ is definitely candy for the mind. It's a very quick read, entertaining precisely long enough to be a treat, contains nothing challenging and nothing difficult. The characters are fun, the plot isn't too unbelievable, and the writing is excellent. It should be just the thing if you're in the right mood.

Mrs. Pollifax finds young Kadi hiding out in her closet, and takes her on the run to escape her pursuers. The Bishop stashes them in a rather unusual safe house-- a carnival in rural Maine-- and together they need to discover why Kadi is in so much danger.

Mrs. Pollifax is an senior citizen who works for the CIA. When Mrs. Pollifax finds a college student hiding in her storage closet, she soon becomes the target of hitmen. Can Mrs. Pollifax elude her pursuers and protect Kadi (the college student) from harm?

I am a big fan of Mrs. Pollifax, but I found Mrs. Pollifax Pursued to be a bit disjointed, and cluttered with too many annoying minor characters. I liked the circus theme, but I found Kadi very irritating and too helpless for my taste. She acts like an infant, rather than a college age adult. I also wished the author had stuck with the Circus theme. I found the dynamics of the sideshow much more interesting than the farfetched African theme. Overall, while I enjoyed Mrs. Pollifax pursued, I wished it had been a tad more realistic. This novel was too farfetched for me to find it as enjoyable as the other adventures.

For a change, trouble finds Mrs. Pollifax instead of the other way around, when she finds a young woman hiding out in her closet. An extended chase ensues, ending up with Mrs. Pollifax and Kadi, the young woman, hiding out in a carnival subsidized by Mrs. P's CIA friends for just such a purpose. The threads are complex, and there are a few more coincidences than are comfortable, but it all boils down to a plot to take over the African country where Kadi grew up and where her friend Sammy has a politically prominent position.

It's another enjoyable Pollifax romp, weakened a bit by the coincidences, but again brilliantly read by Barbara Rosenblat, whose skill I admire ever more increasingly with each new voice she comes up with.

I started this book with great trepidation. Any book with the title 'The Colonel' had to be lacking in some department or another. At least thats how my thinking went until I became engrossed in these pages. The plot surrounds the brutal murder of an investigator of air force planes. Her job was to look into air-craft and see if they were sound. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about this situation and it really is both at the same time compelling as far as pushing the story along and ever more outlandish as far as conspiracy wise. I think that this aspect of the story both intrigued me and caused for my review to get notched down to just four stars.

The main character is Marty, an investigator who works as a consultant on military homicides. We follow him as he interrogates an ever more elaborate set of characters. You are never sure just who is in the wrong here or where the story is going. A couple of characters that help Marty along are also important. One is Simon Santos who is a character that mightily reminds me of the slick genius from Douglas Preston and Licoln Child's series of books. Simon knows everything, is wealthy, and a mysterious character to say the least. Also, Patrick Davis gives us an assistant to Marty, a young officer who prides herself in her ability and prowess.

All in all, this is a very fun book if just to see where it might be leading. Its worth reading.

Patrick Davis hit a home run with "The Colonel". I found it fast moving, full of suspense (the butler didn't do it) and a fast read. It is worth the price.

Patrick Davis has a real winner. You may think you know who dunnit but you don't. This book is one of the best I have read in a long time. Suspense from start to finish. I would love to see a new series started with Simon and Martin. You can throw in Amanda too. Bravo, great book!

I enjoyed this book. The characters were likable and well drawn out, the story very interesting. I love a well written conspiracy theory, but love it even more when people who gamble with others lives get what's coming to them. Mr Davis novels centering around the military are really well written, never a disappointment. I recommend this, and await his next.

I read this book and one of the author's other books, "The Passenger." Davis writes well and obviously intimately knows the kinds of characters, places, scenes, etc, that background his novel. Perhaps it is me and not Davis who is at fault for not awarding this book five stars, but I feel it is missing something. You are whisked along, helter-skelter, through a plot with the requisite twists, turns, and roller coaster plunges... but I want more. I want it to MEAN something. This book is solid entertainment, so maybe I am wrong to want it to snare me at gut level as well as taking me for a damn good carnival ride.