Good Reads & Views

The Faerie Hills by Susan McDuffie
Fiction

When a little boy disappears while searching for faerie gold in the Scottish Hebrides, a lot of old secrets get dragged into view. In 1373, being stolen by faeries is considered a perfectly reasonable explanation, but searcher Muirtech MacPhee suspects trouble closer to home, and he finds it. Plenty of it. But will any of it lead him to the missing boy? If you like this one, try also historical mysteries by Cora Harrison and Peter Tremayne.

Master of Shadows by Mark Lamster
Nonfiction

In his day, an acclaimed artist could go anywhere, and Peter Paul Rubens took ruthless advantage of his entrée to the royal courts of his world. Blockades by the warring Dutch and Spanish were strangling his native Antwerp, France & England kept making things even worse, and he was determined to do everything he could to craft a peace which would allow his home to become prosperous again. Round and round the courts he went, trying to reconcile the indecisive Phillip of Spain, the all-too-decisive Cardinal Richelieu of France, art lover Charles I of England, and the contentious Dutch republic to a peace none of them really wanted, except on their own terms. A fascinating look at behind-the-scenes diplomacy and art.

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
Nonfiction

Pat Tillman was not a typical looking Professional Football player.  In fact throughout his life, people told him that he would never have a career in football past high school.  He was determined to play football in college and then the NFL.  He proved to everyone that he could not only play football at the college level, but that he was one of the top players for his position.  He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the last round of the draft and again had to prove that he belonged on the team.  The events of September 11, 2001 changed his perspective on life.  He wanted to do more, so he enlisted in the Army and was deployed to Afghanistan.  The author of this book gives a detailed description of events that took place leading up to American presence in Afghanistan and events that took place while Tillman was serving there.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews
Fiction

Regina Foxton has a boyfriend, her own cooking show, and finally owns her own home.  Things couldn’t be better for the cooking star, until she learns that her boyfriend has had an affair.  This affair resulted in Gina’s show being canceled.  Desperate for a job, she agrees to a cooking showdown with Tate Moody.  Tate happens to be extremely handsome and the host of his own Southern cooking show.  Sparks fly between the two hosts and they fight their way through three cooking challenges on their way to having their own show on the bigger TCC network.  Who will win the cooking show challenge, quiet, reserved Regina Foxton, or the handsome, outgoing outdoorsman Tate Moody?

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe
Biography

The party game is “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” but this book makes you realize you could easily play a version called “Six Degrees of Rob Lowe.” During his years as a teen and adult actor, he’s met a lot of big names in Hollywood, and he’s probably six degrees of separation from all the others. While the name dropping and anecdotes about his fellow stars are enticing, Lowe’s own story itself is interesting. He discovered his love of acting early in life, and his passion for his work is evident. He also addresses the difficult parts of his life, including his parents’ divorce when he was young, and his own substance abuse and treatment. Lowe tells his story in a conversational tone, which makes his story a pleasure to read.

Violin Dreams by Arnold Steinhardt
Nonfiction

Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet and international concert soloist for over forty years, provides a fascinating account of his progress from first lessons in Los Angeles, study and teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the background and history of the increasingly valuable violins he was able to purchase and play as his career advanced, stories about early violin makers and great violinists, his love for Bach’s sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, and especially his increasingly proficient performances of the Chaconne, fifth movement of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor.  One thing that helped his interpretation: a scholar suggested that he learn to dance the movements of the partita and demonstrated them for Steinhardt, since the Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue, and Chaconne were all based on early dances, some so fiery and lusty that they were banned at one point in Spain.  A CD of the Partita No. 2 is included.

The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass
Fiction

Percy Darling, a retired reference librarian from Harvard University, faces a kaleidoscope of complications decades after the tragic death of his first wife. His quiet life in a historic farmhouse near Boston is abruptly changed when one of his daughters asks to use the barn as a site for a new child-care facility called Elves and Fairies. After years of loneliness he is attracted to the mother of one of the children, and she soon faces complications herself from breast cancer and a previous relationship. One of the popular teachers who helps build a magnificent tree house for the children is gay and fears revealing this because of loss of a previous position. And Percy’s grandson, an outstanding student at Harvard, gets involved in what turns out to be an eco-terrorism group whose next publicity exploit turns disastrous. All of this is handled deftly by Massachusetts author Julia Glass, winner of the 2002 National Book Award for Fiction.  Her previous novels include The Three Junes (2002), The Whole World Over (2006), and I See You Everywhere (2008).

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
Fiction

Is the “object of beauty” a painting or Lacey, a exquisite young woman who uses her increasing knowledge of art and her sexual allure to climb her way through the New York art world from a menial position at Sotheby’s auction house to enough wealth from her sale of a Maxfield Parrish painting of her grandmother to open her own art gallery.  Both…but much more.  Martin writes an absorbing account about the rarified world of collectors, galleries, auction houses, and artists over a twenty year period as prices rise and tastes change from old masters to pop to anything goes provided auction sales go stratospheric.  But then there is a crash.  Not only the World Trade Center towers, but the Wall Street Crash.  And suddenly galleries and collectors discover that the values of high-priced art works and the status of an artist can fall along with the values of foreclosed homes.  Everyone is affected, including Lacey.  At least for a while.

The Magic of Digital Landscape Photography by Rob Sheppard
Nonfiction

Drawing on years of experience as columnist and the editor of Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Sheppard provides a clearly written and superbly illustrated guide for beginning and intermediate photographers using Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras.  Included are chapters on gear, camera settings, responding to different types of light, composition, and special techniques for improving your views of sky, water, mountains, forests, flowers, and prairies.  See also The Magic of Digital Nature Photography by Rob Sheppard and The Magic of Digital Close-Up Photography by Joseph Meehan.

Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson
PBK FIC Robinson, Kim Stanley

The winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Lotus awards for previous science-fiction books such as the Mars trilogy, Robinson begins another trilogy about the earth’s future focusing on the potential catastrophes produced by global warming and the conflict between policies advocated by scientists and environmentalists and those championed by industrialists and their political supporters.