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March 2008 Book Reviews: Non-Fiction
	Horse Conformation: Structure, Soundness and Performance (Click Cover to Buy) By Equine Research—Juliet Hedge DVM, Veterinary Editor and Don Wagoner, Editor The Lyons Press, $24.95 US 496 pages ISBN 1-59228-487-6 reviewed by Nicole Persun	Horse Conformation, Structure, Soundness and Performance is one of the best books written for horse buyers and owners everywhere. It is a great and complete guide to have on hand when buying or selling a horse, and is filled with helpful insights into all areas of horse anatomy. This straightforward book has numerous professional photos to give the reader a better understanding of the sometimes-complex text. * Besides horse conformation, readers receive a good explanation of a horse’s basic body anatomy, including the positioning of the bones of the head and neck--both important conformational elements. Further chapters highlight and explain the bones, veins and conformational ideals and flaws of each body part. Throughout the book there are explanatory pictures and diagrams to help the reader better understand the structures of the horse being detailed. * The final chapters bring readers additional information about the colors and markings of the horse, including the different breeds and types, as well as chapters on teeth and ageing and other bodily systems of the horse. This book is a handy, must-have guide for horse enthusiasts and professionals.
	The Hamburger: A History (Click Cover to Buy) Josh Ozersky Yale University Press, $22.00 160 pages ISBN 978-0-300-11758-5 reviewed by Kevin Lauderdale	The opening of the West in the mid-1800s led to vast cattle herds, as they were almost the only creatures that could eat what grew there. Add refrigerated railway trains, and suddenly inexpensive beef was everywhere in America. This, Ozersky argues, was the first step in the making of an American icon. The Hamburger traces the burger’s rise via the history of two fast food establishments. First, Ozersky takes us through the 1920s, where the Machine Age’s obsession with standardization, combined with the quest for cleanliness brought on by the horrors of meat processing depicted in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, resulted in White Castle. This, the first store dedicated to selling the burger on the bun, was also the first to make sure that all of its stores sold them exactly the same way every time. Then on to the McDonald brothers, who perfected the assembly-line process, and Ray Kroc, the marketing king who saw franchising as a way of spreading small business everywhere, and created the empire we know today. By the time of the backyard barbecue of the post-war suburbs, a burger cookout was not merely a way of socializing with the neighbors, but of living the life of simple abundance that separated America from the Communists. The Hamburger is a short history of its topic. Scholarly (with sources as diverse as a 1763 cookbook, R. Crumb cartoons, and industry propaganda films), it succeeds in routing fact from legend while still maintaining a breezy tone. Filled with anecdotes (White Castle once promoted its sliders as a replacement for finger sandwiches at tea parties) and enthusiasm, this book does what very few can do: it makes you hungry.




Fiction
	Song Yet Sung (Click Cover to Buy) By James McBride Riverhead Pub, $25.95 359 pages, ISBN 978-1594489723 Review by Jen Baker	Best known for The Color of Water: a Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, McBride also wrote a novel casting a unique perspective on World War II history, The Miracle at St. Anna: the story of a black military patrol caught behind enemy lines in Italy and the villagers who shelter them. In this fabulous new historical novel, the author transports modern readers into the mid-nineteenth century, just prior to the Civil War—a society on the cusp of industrial change, confounded by the subjugation of one race by another. In this story, as in his previous novel, McBride sheds light on the everyday choices facing the average citizen, rather than focusing on wealthy slave owners and politicians. This approach invites readers to consider the question: what would I do in these circumstances? The novel begins with a graphic scene involving a beautiful captive slave woman and her cruel jailor, each facing such a dilemma. Wounded, shackled and dreaming of the future in a slave stealer’s attic, Liz Spocott awakens to an old woman’s voice quietly whispering “the Code,” forcing her to repeat and remember words that make no sense–yet. Liz’s dreams have shown her a confusing future in which some blacks squander their freedom and others fight to be heard. Without thinking, she commits an astonishingly violent act of desperation that frees her and her fellow slaves from their attic prison. Then she disappears into the swamplands of Maryland’s eastern shore, chased by vicious Patty Cannon and her gang of slave stealers, finally hiding in an old Indian burial ground. Stories about Liz pass quickly among local slaves, as the Dreamer who sees a free future for black people, then among the whites, who call her a devil and send one of the fiercest slave catchers, Denwood Long, to capture her. Amber, slave and friend to a widowed landowner, loves Liz and the hope she represents, and vows to save her even at the cost of his life. The drama unfolds: its characters are the everyday people of 1850, both black and white, trapped in roles they are powerless to change and faced with moral decisions created by the abomination of slavery. Only the Code’s secret signals–the quilt hung upside down or the phrase spoken sotto voce–and the fearless heroes like Amber can move the Dreamer onto the Underground Railroad, though she refuses to go. In addition to fascinating references to the Code (“it ain’t the song, but the singer of it,” p. 49; “scratch a line in the dirt to make a friend,” p. 81), the heroes along the Underground Railroad, and the troubled enemies of freedom, McBride makes a powerful historical connection between a Dreamer in 1850 and Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., the Dreamer for our day, urging us to be worthy of their sacrifice. As moving as Morrison’s Beloved and as immediate as Octavia Butler’s Kindred, this unforgettable novel creates a bridge between our history and our future--one we all need to cross.
	The Princess Diaries, Volume IX: Princess Mia (Click Cover to Buy) By Meg Cabot HarperTeen, $16.99 288 pages ISBN 978-0060724610 Review by A.B. Mead	The Princess Diaries series continues with a volume that is a marked improvement over recent entries. For those who might have missed the earlier books (or the Disney movies which the books delightfully criticize), Mia Thermopolis is a New York City teenager who learns that she is next in line to rule a tiny European nation. The basic conceit of the series is that, as an awkward kid who's just trying to fit in, being a princess is not a dream come true, but rather a colossal embarrassment. In this volume, Mia is growing up, and her friends and family are finally getting tired of her self-centeredness. Granted, Mia's self-absorption and over-analysis of situations is what lends the series its charm. There is no one more self-absorbed than a teenager, and you don't have to be a princess to relate to her relationship and academic woes. This is, however, the ninth book, and it's good to see Mia stretched in other directions. Here she's broken up with her boyfriend Michael, and the funk she falls into forces her parents to send her to a therapist who's more cowboy than Freud. When she's dragooned into giving a speech before a businesswomen's group, Mia finds strength (and an unexpected plot twist) in the diary of another young lady who briefly ruled her country long ago. Cabot also returns to one of the staples of the earlier volumes: pop culture as a guide to real life. In a great aside, Mia and a friend examine the entire Drew Barrymore oeuvre in terms of her predicament.
	The Commoner (Click Cover to Buy) By John Burnham Schwartz Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $24.95386 pages ISBN 978-0-385-51571-9 Review by Jen Baker	Haruko grows up in a privileged Japanese family in the mid-twentieth century; protected from the harshness of life, she attends the best private schools, plays competitive tennis and has loving parents. After meeting her at a tennis match, the Crown Prince becomes enamored of Haruko’s high spirits, beauty and determination, and asks for her hand in marriage. Haruko agrees, not fully realizing the consequent upheaval this will cause. The royal family in Japan had for centuries cloistered itself from its citizenry as a mark of divinity and honor. Even wealthy commoners rarely penetrated this bubble of propriety. Haruko faces huge challenges, such as Mrs. Oshima, the Queen’s confidant, whose disapproval reaches down to the very pinpricks during Haruko’s dress fittings. Because she eventually rises above her difficulties and accepts her proscribed royal role, Queen Haruko’s position disallows compassion when her son marries a commoner. This fascinating novel is reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden: a glimpse into the rigidity of social roles in historical Japan and the cruelty of the women forced to perpetuate tradition.
	The Guilty (Click Cover to Buy) By Jason Pinter Mira Books, $7.99 384 pages ISBN 978-0-778302463-8 Review by Kevin Lauderdale	Although this is the second thriller featuring young investigative journalist Henry Parker, those who missed his debut in The Mark are quickly brought up to speed. After surviving a manhunt where he was mistaken for a killer, Henry and his girlfriend Amanda are just trying to lead a normal life again. But violence has a way of following him, and the murder of a wealthy socialite launches Henry on the search for an antique Winchester ’73 rifle and the killer wielding it. Parker is decidedly twenty-something, and cell phones, references to YouTube, and the like abound. But they’re not just there to give the characters “net cred.” In an era where anyone can be a celebrity, the book’s take on the nature of celebrity and legend (and their use and misuse) gives the novel just enough heft. Readers with little knowledge of–or even interest in–the outlaws and heroes of The Old West will still find a lot to like in The Guilty. Pinter sketches the applicable history (both ancient and modern) and tosses in controversy and conspiracy theory (both real and invented). The book’s snappy dialogue and view inside newspaper bullpens, peppered with professional and romantic rivalries, all combine to keep us turning the pages at a brisk pace.
	The Fiction Class (Click Cover to Buy) By Susan Breen Plume, $14.00 304 pages ISBN 978-0- 452-28910-9 Review by Peter Anderson	The Fiction Class is the gentle tale of Arabella Hicks, a 38-year old single woman who teaches writing in New York City. Over the course of one term Arabella juggles her class work, her students, her own stalled-out novel, and weekly visits to her mother in a nursing home. As the story progresses, these four disparate elements become very closely connected. Oddly, since the author herself teaches fiction, the book’s flaws are typical of a fiction student. Her style is often loose, her voice undefined, and she uses the present tense for reasons I can't discern. Writers are often tempted to use the present tense to make an uninteresting story more engaging, but Breen's story is already quite interesting, and the present tense is a needless distraction. Yet even with these flaws, her plot moves steadily toward a graceful and worthwhile ending. The individual relationships are compelling and genuine, whether on a broad canvas (such as mother-daughter) or a smaller one (among staff at the nursing home). The nursing home scenes are tender, frightening, sad, and funny. The progression of the class itself is familiar–anyone who’s taken an evening class (fiction or otherwise) knows that moment, usually around the fourth session, when something happens to bond the class and raise them to the next level. Breen lets this happen naturally. Probably most appealing to writers, and female writers at that, The Fiction Class is a charming effort by a first-time novelist.
	The Cure for Modern Life (Click Cover to Buy) By Lisa Tucker Atria Books, $24.95 336 pages ISBN 0-7434-9279-X Review by Jen Baker	When a brilliant researcher who wants to cure the world of disease can’t love his own child; when a corrupt businessman, whose goal in life is to be rich and powerful in pharmaceuticals, takes in two homeless kids; and when the woman who loves them both is a conflicted whistleblower, a solution is required. The premise for Tucker’s thought-provoking, often hilarious novel: can anyone be a completely moral, responsible and loving human being? The delivery of this serious theme hovers between chick lit and sitcom – a unique combination. Think David Schwimmer, Hugh Grant and Reese Witherspoon vying for attention, conjuring lies and messing up. A “cure” slowly emerges as each character struggles with the huge issues of modern life: how to be compassionate, who to trust; what is integrity, does the end justify the means? Despite a slow start, the novel is compulsively readable for its winsome morality and appealing characters, especially the children (lock-picking Danny and crack baby Isabelle) whose basic needs and humor offset the philosophical battles around them. A cross between book club literary and pop fiction easy, this one’s a winner!
	Dakota (Click Cover to Buy) By Martha Grimes Viking, $25.95 432 pages ISBN 978-0-670-01869-7 Review Jen Baker	Amnesiac Andi Oliver returns in this sequel to Biting the Moon, hiking through North Dakota on her way to Alaska. Solitary backpacking gives Andi plenty of time to invent her past and intercept memory-flashes of the awful secret she hides even from herself. After rescuing an abused mule, Andi drops into the town of Kingdom and winds up staying long enough to get hired on at Klavan’s, a pig farming facility. Andi’s affinity for animals leads her to mount a one-woman animal rights crusade, which lands her in a heap of trouble compounded by a threatening stalker and a hired assassin. Only a clever author could write Andi out of this mess! Grimes’ shocking descriptions of the pig farm, the petty unthinking cruelty and the horrific slaughterhouse conditions, are all scenes most readers would prefer to skip. However, Grimes integrates her animal rights message effectively with her compellingly vulnerable heroine, creating a taut suspense story we can neither put down nor forget. This is a great character study and a powerful cautionary tale reminiscent of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungles.
	Atmospheric Disturbances (Click Cover to Buy) By Rivka Galchen Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $23.00 256 pages, ISBN 978-0374200114 Review Judy Bryant	This is a smart, clever book that deals with the disturbances of love. Dr. Leo Liebenstein, a New York City psychiatrist, arrives home to find a simulacrum instead of his wife: a woman who looks, acts, talks, and even smells like his wife Rema, but who, he insists, is not. From there proceeds his sometimes hilarious search for the real Rema, from the cafes of New York City to the cafes of her native Buenos Aires, accompanied at various times by Magda, his mother-in-law, the simulacrum, and one of his patients who thinks he can control the weather. Rivka Galchen relates that though the narrator is “not exactly crazy, he nevertheless reveals himself most through his rigorous misunderstanding of the situation, through the very particular delusion he creates in order to protect himself from the ordinary and extraordinary pains of a longtime love.” Unfortunately, I found myself growing tired of Dr. Liebenstein, his slightly skewed mind, his detailed interest in the science of weather, his hopeless search. The writing is wonderful, but I longed for more to happen outside the claustrophobia of his mind. Just like Rema, I wanted Dr. Liebenstein to just go home. We were both tired.
	Alphanauts (Click Cover to Buy) By J. Brian Clarke EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, $14.95 US 325 pages ISBN 978-1-894063-14-2 Review Terry Persun	A small band of men and women leave Earth and colonize Genser’s World, an earth-like planet of Alpha Centauri. In the vein of true science fiction, Alphanauts builds on solid science, as well as known science fiction elements, to create a unique and engaging story about real people. The colony experiences contact with another space-traveling race, empathic symbiots and cyborg intelligences residing inside space ships. J. Brian Clarke delivers the type of writing one expects from literary works where character is as important as place and action. He uses thought his book and characters in such a way that if the plot doesn’t grab you the characters definitely will. Alphanauts is a good example of the craft of writing: the characters come alive, and you can’t wait to see how they’ll react to the situations presented them on Genser’s World. This is an intelligent and complex novel that will make you think while never losing touch with its need to entertain the reader. It was difficult to put down, and exciting to talk about. It was highly entertaining and interesting. Alphanauts is one of those books worth more than its cover price. If you enjoy science fiction, this is the real stuff.
	Split Estate (Click Cover to Buy) By Charlotte Bacon Farrar, Straus, Giroux, $24.00 304 pages ISBN 978-0-374-28183-0 Review Peter Anderson	When Laura King leaps to her death from the window of her tenth floor Manhattan apartment, the lives of her husband and two teenaged children are shattered. Split Estate is the moving tale of the family’s struggle to deal with this singularly unbearable event. The novel begins in the aftermath of Laura’s suicide. Arthur, Laura’s widower, takes his two teenagers, Celia and Cam, to live on his mother’s ranch outside of Callendar, Wyoming. Here the story is played out, the chapters alternately highlighting Arthur, Celia, Cam, and Arthur’s mother Lucy. Each character confronts grief on his or her own terms, and the supporting cast of Wyoming locals helps them move forward through scenes that are dramatic, funny, and terrifying. The book’s title provides a powerful metaphor: a split estate is land whose surface is owned by one person but whose mineral rights have been sold to someone else. While a subplot revolves around this aspect of Lucy’s ranch, the split estate we really watch is the King family itself, each character struggling to discover and control the forces hidden beneath the surface. For all her strengths in character and setting, Bacon’s style is decidedly uneven. Some passages will take your breath away, like “The silence between them was as worn as Lucy’s furniture.” Others, such as “Mist curled off the water like pencil shavings of moisture,” will leave you cold. And yet even with this distraction you will care for each of these characters, and you will hang on their brave, stumbling progress toward healing to the very last page.