The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci

Title:

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The Whole Truth

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Author:

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David Baldacci

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(Bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Camel Club, Last Man Standing, The Collectors, and Stone Cold.)

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* ADVANCE READER COPY *

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Novel to be released in May, 2008 as hardcover.

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Also to be available as large-print and audio editions.

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ISBN-10: 0-446-19579-9

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ISBN-13: 978-0-446-19579-3

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Published by:

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Grand Central Publishing

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

.

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

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Price (as hardcover):

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$26.99 US / $29.99 Can.

He's done it again: upped the ante. Mr. Baldacci just keeps getting better! Rich characters and deep, skillful weaving of research and expert storytelling make this international thriller a book you won't want to miss.

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Delving far into the details of both war and global economy, the potential power role of big business (as in arms-dealers, in this case) brings us to the art of something called “perception management”, or “PM”. “PMing”, as Mr. Baldacci terms it, is the manufacturing of “the truth”. This was a thing made popular during the Viet Nam War, as I understand it. The question is, is what we see actually the whole truth... or not?

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Bring on the internet, world politics, and, just for kicks, two or three larger-than-life, highly sympathetic heroes. Throw in a self-made money-god and his well-paid, merciless minions. Toss in some serious mayhem, a little dash of murder. Stir well. The results? One delicious, page-turning novel written by a contemporary master of his genre.

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Do yourself – or all of us, maybe – a favor, though. If the publisher sees fit to leave the author's note (my copy was an ARC, or advance reader's copy, which can be altered considerably before the book is released to the general public) in the back, do as Mr. Baldacci asks. “DO NOT READ BEFORE YOU FINISH THE NOVEL.” And never stop asking questions of everything you encounter. A good one to start with is “Why?”

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Thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Mr. Baldacci's newest novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

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...

Comments? Questions? Speak your piece and welcome!

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-- The Fireside Reader

The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

Title:

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The Host

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Author:

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Stephenie Meyer

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(Bestselling author of the Twilight series.)

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* ADVANCE READER COPY *

Novel to be released in May, 2008 as hardcover.

Also to be available as large-print and audio editions.

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ISBN-10: 0-316-06804-7

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ISBN-13: 978-0-316-06804-8

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Published by:

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Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

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Price (as hardcover):

.

$25.99 US / $29.99 Can.

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Ms. Meyer, who resides in Arizona with her three young sons and husband, is a graduate of Brigham Young University, with a degree in English literature. In The Host, she brings to us her first adult-angled novel, a futuristic science fiction thriller with the survival of earth's humans at stake.

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Meyer makes us ask questions, and to consider answers as well, which we might not be comfortable with encountering. Love of family, romance, loneliness, desperation. The genetics of body versus the strength of soul. Pull a string, get a reaction. It might not be what you expected. It might not be what could, at first glimpse, be called “humane”.

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What is “humane”, anyway? Hmm? You'll probably get exactly as many answers as the number of people you ask that question.

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This book, though in a different context, reminds me strongly of such books as The Handmaiden's Tale, Wolf and Iron, Neena Gathering (all by different authors)... and a few others of similar genre as well. These titles might be considered as classics of their kind. They're all books that make you think on realistic terms of what might happen if our society as we know it broke down for some reason.

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Take a look for yourself. I was surprised and pleased at the depth of the story, the quality of the writing. Ms. Meyer offers us an interesting – and rather horrific – fictional tale about “preconceived notions”, so to speak, and the possibilities of (literally) universe-al love. It's a big universe out there, and who can know what, or more to interest, who, we might eventually find or be found by, here in our lonely ignorance? Plant, animal, mineral? Gas, even? Or any combination? Does the shape or construction matter, when the soul is in control?

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How would a mercurial, widely-varying, and highly emotional species such as we are appear to ... others? The wost ancient words I've ever been able to find for “stranger” also mean “enemy”. Would we then meet enemies or friends, and more than that, how does one define the one from the other? A parasite, by our medical definitions, is (roughly) a symbiotic creature that does minimal damage to its host, for example. Could you find such a thing beautiful? Do our preconceived notions set us to positive or negative paths?

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This is a novel that will make you think. Do you want to? What's out there? Don't you wonder...?

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Thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Ms. Meyer's new adult novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website. . ... . Comments? Questions? Speak your piece and welcome! . -- The Fireside Reader

The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner

Title:

The Geography of Bliss:

One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place on Earth

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Author:

Eric Weiner

(Correspondent, NPR)

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Nonfiction, travel.

Hardcover released January 2008.

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ISBN-10: 0-446-58026-0

ISBN-13: 978-0-446-58026-0

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Published by:

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Twelve Books

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue,

New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

.

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Price:

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$25.99 US / $29.99 Can.

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Any poor soul who has been on a family vacation of a week or more knows what an utter relief it is to get back home – how happy one is to simply be there, of all possible places. Mr. Weiner utilizes, in this book, “the emerging field of positive psychology”, and still comes up with the same answer. That's despite all of his “work-related” (and therefore tax-deductible) travels all over the world, visiting with various peoples. Um, I'm sure it's truly hard work, such an ambitious project. (Let's leave it at that, shall we?) . Need I say more? . .

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Mr. Weiner's travel book. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

. -- The Fireside Reader . Please refer others to this link: http://thefiresidereader.blogspot.com/

Girls in Trucks, by Katie Crouch

Title:

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Girls in Trucks

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Author: Katie Crouch

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(Debut novel.)

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*ADVANCE READER COPY *

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Novel to be released in April, 2008 as hardcover. Also available in large print and audio editions.

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ISBN-10: 0-316-00211-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-00211-0

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Published by:

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Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue,

New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

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Price (as hardcover):

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$21.99 US / $25.50 Can.

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This is interesting. The debutant author is a Cotillion attendee! She's from Charleston, South Carolina. She was also a writing student at Brown and Columbia, and now lives in San Francisco, California. What a history – and it shows in the story.

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Raw, funny, earthy, impractically practical, South to North and back again, this comic-tragic tale is woven with an eye to looking back, if y'all (ahem) will pardon the visual pun. Anyone with a family whose portrait should be the illustration – and in the more southern states, there are many of us – for the word “dysfunctional” in various reference books will get a laugh as well as a frustrated groan or two at various personal memories along the way. The antics Ms. Crouch's cast goes through are, in general, useless. Yet they are entertaining and interesting, to say the least. Ah, the search for love and self-confidence, despite some rather warped and formative childhoods.

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If you have any idea what entails in the intricate dance (another pun, Cotillion-aimed) step of society in the southern states versus the northern ones, you'll appreciate this story even more. Coming from a “neutral” state, a fence-sitter, not quite Northern yet not fully Southern, I can honestly say that the War Between the States is still raging in its own way, and racial slavery is now not the issue: love and existential angst in a weird social ladder is alive and well, and well-armed for battle.

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Pull out the hand-tatted white lace doilies, a cold-dewed glass pitcher of cold sweet tea, the lemonade and cookies, and find a shady spot with a squeaky old rocking chair. You'll need 'em for this one.

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Thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Katie Crouch's debut novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

.

...

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Comments? Questions? Speak your piece and welcome!

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-- The Fireside Reader

H2O, by Howard Schatz

Title:

H2O

. By

Howard Schatz

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Nonfiction, Photography. Hardback released November 2007.

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ISBN-10: 0-316-1176-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-11775-3

'

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Published by:

Bulfinch Press

Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

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Price:

$60.00 US / $69.50 Can.

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Mr. Schatz has done it again! His skill with the photographic tools and the additional medium of water in all of its properties is absolutely magical. The man is a visionary who has, with hard work and complete dedication to his art, brought the human body back to its fluid origins in a saline suspension of pure beauty.

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As one might guess, this book does include some nudity and freedom of artistic interpretation -- sometimes referring back to other great, easily-recognised works of Renaissance art. It is a coffee-table type book, intended for an adult market.

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However, I must say that isn't pornographic to my eyes: this is real art. Rare art. If you buy this book, don't miss the sections throughout which explain the artist's motivations, methods, and explorations that lie at the heart of his art. There is also (common in photographic art books) a thumbnail-and-comment section in the back. These items are most interesting.

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Mr. Schatz is fast becoming a classic, an icon in his business. Have a look for yourself: www.howardschatz.com .

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this beautiful collection of photographic art by Mr. Schatz. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

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Questions? Comments? Speak up and be welcome.

.

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-- The Fireside Reader

. Please refer others to this link: http://thefiresidereader.blogspot.com

Test Drive Your Dream Job, by Brian Kurth with Robin Simons

Title:

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Test Drive Your Dream Job: A Step by Step Guide

to Finding and Creating the Work You Love

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Author(s):

Brian Kurth (Founder and President of VocationVacations), with Robin Simons

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Nonfiction, self-help.

Trade paperback released January 2008.

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ISBN-10: 0-446-69888-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-446-69888-7

. Published by:

Business Plus Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

.

Price:

$16.99 US / $19.75 Can.

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This one brings back a lot of memories for me, and not all of them good. Oh, boy. To illustrate, in the (well, very nearly) 30 years since I finished high school, I've worked at a lot of things: concession stand in a local drive-in movie place; manual factory labor; fast-food, veterinary assistance, farm work on dairy, hay, tobacco, and as a professional groom with Thoroughbred horses in Kentucky's bluegrass region and with other horses in other places, in the foothills (the last of which always allows me the joke that I've also been a happy bride too). Since having to stop doing heavy labor, I've hobbied around in the arts world some (painting, writing, photography, digital image manipulation of various kinds, and more), and even won a prize or two as well as having long-term one-person shows here and there.

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Of all of that, earning a wage and grinning over the winnings and trophy ribbons, the details don't matter a whit anymore. There is only tomorrow, and tomorrow, for as long as tomorrows continue. What does matter is the amount of resource one can maintain, and one's relative location.

.

Mr. Kurth has a lot of lovely ideas here, and it seems that he has helped a number of people. One needs only to remember that there are limits, as in any other undertaking with both ambition and frustration as components. Mr. Kurth himself has illustrated the awareness of this in his author's statement at the beginning of the book, where he tells of changing locations to start over.

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The best I can say is, to you wishful job seekers out there, the best of you is in you, and if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way. Just like a girl from the foothills found a way into the elite work of the race-horse industry once upon a time. You'll be poor, most likely, without hope of becoming rich, yet if you love the work, you'll be free. That kind of freedom is the best. Good luck to you – I've been in your shoes, and it was no easy road to travel. I, for one, have no regrets.

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Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this interesting self-help book. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

. -- The Fireside Reader . Please refer others to this link: http://thefiresidereader.blogspot.com

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

Title:

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

Edited by:

Andrea G. Stillman

Nonfiction photography book, released as hardcover 2007.

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ISBN-10: 0-316-11772-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-11772-2

Published by:

Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

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Price:

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$40.oo USD / $50.oo CAN

...

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You don't take a photograph, you make it. -- Ansel Adams

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This is one fine retrospective. It's organized chronologically: (including some taken in 1916, with a Kodak Brownie, on a family vacation) 1920s to through the 1960s. It includes many of his most popular works, but also some of his lesser-known efforts. It is a peek into the development of a fine artist.

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As an amateur photographer and "child of the woods", I have always admired the works of Ansel Adams, who was at once fine artist and devotee of the wilderness. Here in this new book a nice collection of his works of some six decades is showcased admirably. From his well-known landscapes to still life and portrait work, one brilliant black and white photo succeeds the next with the elegance and careful work of a master plain to see.

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For the true devotee of photography, I recommend proceeding to the back of the book, where details of the works are documented. It's a fascinating look into the mind of a great photographer.

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For those of you who aren't familiar with the works of Ansel Adams (1902-1984), he was the most celebrated and honored American photographer of his era, the 20th century. He was also a devotee of nature, using his skills and artistry, through both publication and exhibits, to defend and protect the wilderness. To this he added his writings, leadership in the Sierra Club, and a world of followers. His how-to books are classics in regards to black and white photography still today. With the efforts of the Ansel Adams Trust, his good works continue today to make our world a better place -- and to keep up priceless preservation of our wild spaces.

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In 1980, this man, this photographer, was gifted by then-President Jimmy Carter with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The dustcover on the book gives us the wording of the citation:

At one with the power of the American landscape, and renowned for the patient skill and timeless beauty of his work, photographer Ansel Adams has been visionary in his efforts to preserve the country's wild and scenic areas, both on film and on earth. Drawn to the beauty of nature's monuments, he is regarded by environmentalists as a monument himself, and by photographers as a national institution. It is through his foresight and fortitude that so much of America has been saved for future Americans.

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Having edited seven books for the Ansel Adams Trust (of Mr. Adams' work), Ms. Stillman is a former staff member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (NY, USA), and personally worked for Ansel Adams during the 1970s.

...

Thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this remarkable view into the works of Ansel Adams, photographer. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

...

Comments? Questions? Speak your piece and welcome*!

-- The Fireside Reader

* As per the very basic rules of this site. See archives. ~ TFR

Sway, by Zachary Lazar

Title:

Sway

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Author:

Zachary Lazar

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Novel released as hardcover first edition January, 2008.

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ISBN-10: 0-316-11309-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-11309-0

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Published by:

Little, Brown and Company Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

.

Price:

$23.99 US/$27.99 Can.

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...

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Through a glass darkly? Yes, this is a dark yet realistic time capsule back to the turbulent 1060s, up to the turmoil of 1969 in specific. We visit the crossroads created by the juxtaposition of two phenomenons cast upon society during that time: The Rolling Stones and Charles Manson. It is, if you'll pardon the cliché, a crossing of mad stars.

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The names of the characters dance to their own tunes: Brian Jones, a soul spinning out of control in a machine he instigated the creation of; Bobby Beausoleil, who lost grip on his own soul during association with Charles Manson and his group of followers; gay filmmaker Kenneth Anger (Invocation of My Demon Brother – featuring Bobby Beausoleil, among others). Music, sex, the entire range of rawest human emotion, fame's cherished demons, murder, as well as the alleged accidental death by drowning of the first leader of the Rolling Stones.

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This one is a wild ride with the growling voice of Mick Jagger. Buckle yourself in for blast off. Yesterday is cast in stone – who knows what tomorrow brings?

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...

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Thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Zachary Lazar's new novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

...

Comments? Questions? Speak your piece and welcome!

-- The Fireside Reader

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild, by Craig Childs

Title:

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The Animal Dialogues:

Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

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Author:

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Craig Childs

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(Author of House of Rain and The Secret Knowledge of Water.)

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Nonfiction book released as hardcover edition December, 2007.

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ISBN number:

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ISBN-10: 0-316-06632-x

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-06632-7

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Published by:

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

.

Price:

$24.99 US / $28.99 CAN

.

...

"I have heard people tell me that at times they wish to get in touch with the animal spirit. I will tell you this about the animal spirit: it will tear you in two as quickly as it will bring you wholeness. It is not a thing of value or judgement. It is a thing of purity, and it will not take ussue with either death or ecstacy." -- Craig Childs

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In nature is truth -- and it pulls no punches for the unwary, the weak, or the outright stupid. Mr. Childs is clearly an experienced outdoorsman; this is becomes more obvious as one absorbs his spiritual yet practical essays of the wild.

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In this collection of essays (not in chronological order, but rather organized in nature's own forms), we are given songs of the wilderness, an earthy view of the animal spirit itself -- and that of a man who claims "all [my] relations" in his own way, in his own words. From the fiery sands of the desert to high mountain blizzard encounters, Mr. Childs takes us on a naturalist's tour of a world otherwise invisible to the majority of humanity. His feeling of kinship and joy in all of the aspects of nature, light and dark, are clear. Clear as a spring sunrise, just before a rain. His 'skies' are colorful and full of surprises.

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I opened this book thinking it would be yet another pitiful collection of backyard adventures dabbled in by some poor soul who thinks such a thing is the ultimate in contact with nature. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. This book was written by someone who is deep into the wild even when sitting on his own residence's front porch, yet has seen firsthand the haunts of mountain goats, grizzly, cougar, deer, who has seen the dance of life and death done in the sky itself by experts of flight in many colors and wing-styles. Mr. Childs gets his hands into nature long before he gets ink on them!

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If you like first-hand accounts of the wild and its denizens, dig deep into this book. It's a nice collection of tales. (In fact, it makes me wonder who Mr. Childs' agent is...ahem.)

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...

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this collection of nature essays by Craig Childs. For information on other books offered or soon to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

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... Comments? Questions?

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-- The Fireside Reader

Devil's Peak, by Deon Meyers

Title:

Devil's Peak

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Author:

Deon Meyer

.

(Author of Heart of the Hunter,

Dead at Daybreak,

and

Dead Before Dying. )

.

Translated by K.L. Seegers.

.

ADVANCE COPY.

Novel to be released as hardcover March, 2008, in its first U.S. edition.

.

Note:

.

This novel was published in English in 2007 by Hodder & Stoughton, a division of Hodder Headline, and in Afrikaans by LAPA in 2004 under the title Infanta.

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Mr. Meyer is an internationally acclaimed crime writer who resides in Cape Town, South Africa.

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ISBN number:

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ISBN-10: 0-316-01785-x

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-01785-5

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Published by:

.

Little, Brown & Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

.

Price (as hardcover):

$24.99 USD

.

.

...

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This is a well-written, well-thought-out novel, replete with rich symbolism and a deep knowledge of not merely the material, but also the country in which it is set. Mr. Meyer takes us into the heart of South Africa: its people. Their problems, post-Aparteid, their joys.

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We are, in Devil's Peak, offered insight in regards to the South African police system. We are also offered insight into things the rest of the world holds in common with a land that, to such as I, feels exotic and utterly alien in context. I'm talking about alcoholism, illegal drugs, "sex workers" (the oldest profession, and an occasionally highly lucrative one to all accounts), corruption in law, poverty, and the deeper mysteries of the human nature. . Degrees of darkness... set in a land where degrees of color can mean an entire world of difference in how things -- and people -- get treated. White, colored, black. Culture clash -- the roil of Apartheid still not faded completely away, as it may never be. The dazzle and wild swings of the damaged psyche. Love of children. Love, itself, and its counterpart of blasting hate. Joy, too, and hope. The things that make it all worthwhile to struggle against the evils of our species.

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The reader is drawn in tighter and tighter as the story comes together. This novel is a highly skilled interweaving of several strong threads of story, all tied off in a carefully intricate, artistic knot. It is a master work.

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Since Mr. Meyer is South African and I am an American, I had never seen his work before. I must say that I am not only delighted to find another good writer with something real to say, but that I am also impressed with the level of skill shown by this author. I certainly hope we see more of his work here in the U. S. in future. It's serious stuff.

.

...

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Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review Deon Meyer's fascinating, engrossing novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

.

...

Comments? Questions?

-- The Fireside Reader

Beginner's Greek, by James Collins

Title:

Beginner's Greek

.

Author:

James Collins

(This is his debut novel!)

.

Novel released as hardcover during January, 2008.

.

ISBN numbers:

ISBN-10: 0-316-02155-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-02155-9

.

Published by:

Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

.

Price:

$23.99 USD / $27.99 CAN

.

...

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Mr. Collins has written in this novel a romance that, wonder of all literary wonders, keeps the reader on edge. Being no great personal fan of romances, I can honestly say that this is an exceptional story. I'd call it, ahem, a novel novel of love lost, won, mistaken, and ... traded!

.

Subtle humor is the key. This is no mess of he-said she-said for endless, silly chapters in seemingly endless repitition. No flogging of shallow sexual/ romantic/symbolic (or real...) dead horses. This is simply a well-written, well-told story of the mating game. Er, with humor intact and in delicate literary lines.

.

At first I was strongly reminded of the movie, "Serendipity". As time went on, I realized that it was very different in certain respects. The story starts off slow, then gathers speed and style as it proceeds toward an ending that draws a replete smile where 'The End' sits waiting.

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Go on. Have fun. Laugh at weddings, cry at funerals, or vice versa as the case may be. Just read it! You'll see what I mean.

...

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review James Collins' debut novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

...

Comments? Questions?

-- The Fireside Reader

Theft, by N.S. Koenings

Title:

Theft

Author:

N. S. Koenings

ADVANCE REVIEW

Fiction short story collection to be released as original paperback in March, 2008.

Note: READER'S PICK Guide Inside.

ISBN numbers:

ISBN-10: 0-316-00186-4

ISBN-13: 978-0-316-00186-1

Published by:

Back Bay Books/ Little, Brown and Company

Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

Price:

$13.99 USD / $16.25 CAN

...

Ms. Koenings is a toymaker and collage artist who grew up on three continents; she currently resides in Massachusetts. Her works are influenced by this and other labors, "many languages and music", and it shows. I noted that the blurb saysh she "spends most of her time thinking about love, accidents, evil, money, and the concept of 'the nation'", and she hopes that her novels are "joyfully defiant".

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I found her short stories to show a quirky depth of understanding about various natures, ills, and relationships within a given society. Her artistic angle leans this collection strongly to the "art read" side of the spectrum. It takes us to other worlds, shows us things only a visual artist would see and think of as significant enough to write about -- a way of seeing that the general populace of the world doesn't know exists.

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The best I can say on a personal basis is that this book is a window to worlds I'll probably never see in person. What it lacks in hard-hitting story, it makes up for in delicate, subtle barbs that latch on and creep through one like a secret storm. I found it to be 'interesting'.

.

That said, I wouldn't buy another like it. It's simply not strong enough in style to appeal to the devoted reader. Very nice... but room for improvement. And a bit less wind, to my taste.

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... Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this short-story collection by N. S. Koenings. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website. ... Comments? Questions? -- The Fireside Reader