Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

Author: Chelsea Handler
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ISBN: 1416954120
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.7092

Book Description

When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense.

In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.

Review

I feel like I've come late to the party that is Chelsea Handler, but better late than never. This collection of stories is in a word, hilarious. Chelsea is a natural storyteller and these pages go by so quickly I found myself looking for more when I reached page 264. She's original, irreverent, bawdy, gutsy and VERY funny.

It's hard to pick a favorite, but the story of boyfriend Mohammad and the Peekapoo (apparently a gay dog), and another that included a night with the drunken "midget" named Kimmy, had me laughing out loud and sharing snippets. There are no stinkers in the collection, each is funnier than the previous as you get to know her humor and her quirks, which yes--DO include a lot of vodka.

If you like the work of Laurie Notaro The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life or Sandra Tsing Loh A Year in Van Nuys you'll love the work of Chelsea Handler.

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sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling

Author: Tori Spelling
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
ISBN: 1416950737
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.45028092

Book Description

She was television's most famous virgin--and, as Aaron Spelling's daughter, arguably its most famous case of nepotism. Portraying Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210, Tori Spelling became one of the most recognizable young actresses of her generation, with a not-so-private personal life every bit as fascinating as her character's exploits. Yet years later the name Tori Spelling too often closed--and sometimes slammed--the same doors it had opened.

sTORI Telling is Tori's chance to finally tell her side of the tabloid-worthy life she's led, and she talks about it all: her decadent childhood birthday parties, her nose job, her fairy-tale wedding to the wrong man, her so-called feud with her mother. Tori has already revealed her flair for brilliant, self-effacing satire on her VH1 show So NoTORIous and Oxygen's Tori & Dean: Inn Love, but her memoir goes deeper, into the real life behind the rumors: her complicated relationship with her parents; her struggles as an actress after 90210; her accident-prone love life; and, ultimately, her quest to define herself on her own terms.

From her over-the-top first wedding to finding new love to her much-publicized--and misunderstood--"disinheritance," sTORI Telling is a juicy, eye-opening, enthralling look at what it really means to be Tori Spelling.

Review

Tori tells her amazing story life with a brilliant insight and witty humor. She begins with her not-so-common childhood and goes through her awkward and difficult moments (which she had to overcome) due to being a rich-famous teenage girl/Aaron Spelling's daughter.

She highlights her absolutely strained relationship with her mother, whose name is ironically CANDY. She shows her mother is no sweet stuff but a HARD CANDY, not to mention ULTRA BITTER. Through her writing, I can't understand how a human being can be so cruel to her own and only daughter and such a stingy, penny-pinching woman in spite of being almost a billionaire. You have to read it to grasp what she means.

You will also be astonished at how carefree her father was when thinking about his daughter's future: he only left her $ 800,000.00 dollars of a $ 0.5 million fortune when he died, which makes you conclude he wasn't fair to her as her mother as well. This is totally unfair in any human perspective.

But in the end, you can witness a brand NEW TORI: she finds the love of her life with DEAN...fascinating the reader with a fairy-tale (but real) love story (of her very own).

Congrats, Tori! You are a hero and I am a big fan! You deserve to be the happiest!

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When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Author: David Sedaris
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 0316143472
Dewey Decimal Number: 814.54

Book Description

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.

Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (Seattle Times).

Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames:

"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --Kirkus Reviews

This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he's also getting better....Sedaris's best stuff will still--after all this time--move, surprise, and entertain." --Booklist

Table of Contents:

It's Catching
Keeping Up
The Understudy
This Old House
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?
Road Trips
What I Learned
That's Amore
The Monster Mash
In the Waiting Room
Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool
Memento Mori
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need
Town and Country
Aerial
The Man in the Hut
Of Mice and Men
April in Paris
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section

Review

Reading a David Sedaris short story is like watching the author think. Each one is told as a stream of consciousness that somehow ties together beautifully in the end. This collection includes some laugh-out-loud essays, and others that are touching and poignant. All are thoughtful and so original they are obviously taken from real life.

If you're not familiar with him, Sedaris is the Dave Barry of the National Public Radio set. I've been a Sedaris fan for a long time through NPR's "This American Life." This book is like a collection of the best of those quirky radio essays. (I also have the audio CD set, a 9-hour, 8-disc marathon that plays like an NPR fundraising marathon without those annoying pleas for cash.)

The stories are filled with memorable characters. Irritated Becky, who sits next to Sedaris on a plane flight and inspires incorrect answers in Solution to Saturday's Puzzle. Gravel-voiced Helen, who lives next door to Sedaris and is the unlikely heroine of That's Amore. Sedaris' sister Amy, the owner of a magazine called New Animal Orgy in Town and Country. Woven throughout the essays is the fast-walking Hugh, Sedaris boyfriend, who demonstrates true love by lancing a boil in Old Faithful.

Not all the essays are mass appeal (my husband, who is not a big NPR listener, hated the first one but loved the third) but I think there's plenty of good stuff in here to please just about any thoughful adult reader. There is plenty of sex and language, however, so it's not for your pre-teen or Aunt Betsy. But for most anyone else who wants a good laugh, it's a must-read.

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The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality by Jerome R Corsi

Author: Jerome R Corsi
Publisher: Threshold Pr
ISBN: 1416598065
Dewey Decimal Number: 320

Book Description

In this thoroughly researched and documented book, the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry explains why the extreme leftism of an Obama presidency would leave the United States weakened, diminished and divided, why Obama must be defeateda and how he can be.

THE OBAMA NATION Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality

Barack Obama stepped onto the national political stage when the then-Illinois State senator addressed the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Soon after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, author Jerome Corsi began researching Obama's personal and political background.

Scrupulously sourced with more than 600 footnotes, THE OBAMA NATION is the result of that research. By tracing Obama's career and influences from his early years in Hawaii and Indonesia, the beginnings of his political career in Chicago, his voting record in the Illinois legislature, his religious training and his adoption of Christianity through to his recent involvement in Kenyan politics, his political advisors and fundraising associates and his meteoric campaign for president, Jerome Corsi shows that an Obama presidency would, in his words, be a oea repeat of the failed extremist politics that have characterized and plagued Democratic Party politics since the late 1960s.a

In this stunning and comprehensive new book, the reader will learn about: -Obama's extensive connections with Islam and radical politics, from his father and step-father's Islamic backgrounds, to his Communist and socialist mentors in Hawaii and Chicago, to his long-term and close associations with former Weather Underground heroes William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrna associations much closer than heretofore revealed by the press

• Barack and Michelle's 20-year-long religious affiliation with the black-liberation theology of former Trinity United Church of Christ Reverend Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons have always been steeped in a rage first expressed by Franz Fanon , Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X, a rage that Corsi shows has deep meaning for Obama
• Obama's continuing connections with Kenya, the homeland of his father, through his support for the candidacy of Raila Odinga, the radical socialist presidential contender who came to power amid Islamist violence and church burnings
• Obama's involvement in the slum-landlord empire of the Chicago political fixer Tony Rezko, who helped to bankroll Obama's initial campaigns and to purchase of Barack and Michelle's dream-home property.
• the background and techniques of the Obama campaign's cult of personality, including the derivation of the words a oehopea and changea
• Obama's far-left domestic policy, his controversial votes on abortion, his history of opposition to the Second Amendment, his determination to raise capital-gains taxes, his impractical plan to achieve universal health care, and his radical plan to tax Americans to fund a global-poverty-reduction program
• Obama's naive, anti-war, anti-nuclear foreign-policy, predicated on the reduction of the military, the eradication of nuclear weapons and an overconfidence in the power of his personality, as if belief in change alone could somehow transform international politics, achieve nuclear-weapons disarmament and withdrawal from Iraq without adverse consequences, for us, for the Iraqis or for Israel.

Meticulously researched and documented, THE OBAMA NATION is the definitive source for information on why and how Barack Obama must be defeateda not by invective and general attacks, but by detailed arguments that are well-researched and fact-based.

Review

Mr. Corsi is the author of several books, including "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" (along with John O'Neill), "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" (along with Craig R. Smith), "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians," and most recently, "Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders."

And here he looks into Barack Obama's history, what little there is, and highlights how Obama's current rhetoric is hardly in synch with this man's past. As one of the most liberal US Senators and one who has been part of a "church" that seems more anti-American or more interested in wallowing in black resentment than worshiping God, Dr. Corsi isn't the only one wondering who Senator Obama really is. Obama's life is an interesting one, full of a number of achievements, but it is one that raises a number of questions about this man who is not far from occupying the Oval Office. In many ways, Senator Obama is an unknown quantity, well he is unknown for those who aren't interested in knowing anything about him. For some his rhetoric is more important than his deeds, beliefs, inclinations, history. Others who are interested in the latter would find this book by Dr. Corsi worthwhile, to see what an Obama White House might mean. Cheers

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Authors: Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Publisher: The Dial Press
ISBN: 0385340990
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6

Book Description

“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Review

Don't you just adore a book written through series of letters? That is exactly what The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society does. Juliet Ashton is a writer in London in 1946 at the end of WWII. London is still a city of bombed-out buildings and food rationing. Juliet needs a new subject to write about. The letters she writes are beautiful. She writes to her editor and friend, Sidney, as well as his sister and her best friend, Sophie, who lives in Scotland. Her correspondence increases when she receives a letter from a man on Guernsey Island, which was occuppied by the Germans during the war, thus she begins to see the possibility for her new book. Little does she know the other possibilities these correspondence will open up for her.

The letters between Juliet and the other correspondents are very touching and revealing. How very much we can learn from someone through their letter writing. Take Dawsey Adams, a pig farmer, for example. He is the first one from Guernsey to write to Juliet. He writes her originally to tell her that he has a book by Charles Lamb which once belonged to her. Mr. Adams further explains to Juliet that the book club started by accident when they almost got caught by the Germans after having an "illegal" roast pig dinner. Eben Ramsey and Isola Pribby are just two of the other delightful characters that are part of said literary club. All the characters in this novel are well-developed even though there are many of them.

Juliet herself is a lovely, bubbling personality full of life. She is a wonderfully delightful protagonist and you will not be disappointed with her. Overall, the book is heartwarming and happy but it does address some of the unpleasant and cruel aspects of the war. If you liked 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD then you will adore THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY.

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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Author: David Wroblewski
Publisher: Ecco
ISBN: 0061374229
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6

Book Description

Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm--and into Edgar's mother's affections.

Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires--spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes--the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain--create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.

Review from Amazon

It's gutsy for a debut novelist to offer a modern take on Hamlet set in rural Wisconsin--particularly one in which the young hero, born mute, communicates with people, dogs, and the occasional ghost through his own mix of sign and body language. But David Wroblewski's extraordinary way with language in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle immerses readers in a living, breathing world that is both fantastic and utterly believable. In selecting for temperament and a special intelligence, Edgar's grandfather started a line of unusual dogs--the Sawtelles--and his sons carried on his work. But among human families, undesirable traits aren't so easily predicted, and clashes can erupt with tragic force. Edgar's tale takes you to the extremes of what humans must endure, and when you're finally released, you will come back to yourself feeling wiser, and flush with gratitude. And you will have remembered what magnificent alchemy a finely wrought novel can work. --Mari Malcolm

Review

This is an astonishing, mysterious, bewildering and profound novel. And even though the story is sad and heart-breaking, it is written so well that it has resulted in a deeply satisfying novel as well. Not since I read Yann Martel's mesmerizing novel, "Life of Pi", have I found myself so deeply absorbed in a novelist's magical creation as I was while reading "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle".

The novel begins with a needless killing of an injured, limping, stray dog with poison by a medicine man or herbalist. This brutal killing fits into the novel later, as the novel progresses.
The protagonist of the novel is a fourteen years old boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who was born mute. His parents - Gar and Trudy Sawtelle are dog-breeders, who live on a farm in a remote part of northern Wisconsin, not far from the Chequamegon National Forest. They breed and train a unique and special breed of canine developed by Edgar's grand father, John Sawtelle; hence the name of the breed: Sawtelle. The dogs earn good reputation not only for their noble temperament, but also for their intuitive ability to anticipate their masters' command, and then interpret and act on the command independently also. The family's peaceful farm life is disrupted when Claude, Edgar's charming, conniving paternal uncle visits them. Gar offers him a job at the farm and a place to stay. Soon Gar dies suddenly and mysteriously. Edgar suspects that Claude murdered Gar. He tries to prove that Claude did indeed murder Gar, but his plan misfires, and so to save himself from Claude he runs away into the Chequamegon woods, accompanied by three young dogs.

The author's vivid descriptions of nature, his ability to describe the terrors of the wilderness and the horrors of living in a jungle, and his decision to narrate a part of the story from a dog's perspective have added distinct charm to the novel. The magic of his pen is such that even the supernatural and paranormal incidents in the story seem to be natural, logical and believable.

David Wroblewski is a masterful narrator. His prose is spare but mellifluous; and even though it lacks the grandeur and splendor of Yann Martel's or Joseph O'Neill's prose, its understated elegance shines through: "Late in the morning he found himself navigating along a heavily washboarded dirt road. The limbs of the trees meshed overhead. Left and right, thick underbrush obscured everything farther than twenty yards into the woods. When the road finally topped out at a clearing, he was presented with a view of the Penokee range rolling out to the west, and an unbroken emerald forest stretching to the north - all the way, it seemed, to the granite rim of Lake Superior. At the bottom of the hill stood a little white farmhouse and a gigantic red barn. A milk house was huddled up near the front of the barn. An untopped stone silo stood behind. By the road, a crudely lettered sign read, "For Sale."

This novel is so extra-ordinary and so exquisitely written that I am sure that I shall be reading it again soon. Reading it was a great joy.

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The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 0316068047
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6

Product Description

The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a future with the fate of humanity at stake.

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.

Review from Amazon

Amazon.com
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm

Review

In the future Earth has been taken over by a unique alien species. The infiltration was slow and undetected until it was too late. Now these aliens, known as Souls, live inside human bodies, which act as hosts for the invading parasites. Usually when a Soul is placed in a new host it is able to take full control of the body, pushing aside any remnant of the human consciousness that once lived inside.

After a Soul named Wanderer is inserted into her new host she soon realizes something isn't right. It seems the human who once inhabited this body refuses to give in and die. Melanie Stryder wants no part of Wanderer and is doing everything she can to fight back. Even though Wanderer controls the body, nothing she does is able to quench Melanie's spirit. She is always there, in her head, so to speak.

As time goes by Melanie's memories become Wanderer's and soon she finds herself longing for the people that meant so much to her host. Melanie left behind her brother and the man she loves, and now Wanderer has developed those same feelings. Soon Wanderer and Melanie begin working together to track down Melanie's loved ones, all the while being careful that they don't lead the other Souls to the humans who are in hiding. When they finally do find them, they must figure out a way to live peacefully with a group of humans who have grown to hate Souls. Emotions flare and relationships are tested in agonizing ways as two lives must share one body and as enemies must learn to co-exist and survive.

Stephenie Meyer has taken the publishing world by storm with her groundbreaking young adult Twilight series. The Host is her first stand alone adult novel and millions of readers are anxiously waiting to see how it stacks up. Having never read any of the Twilight books, I didn't know what to expect from a Stephenie Meyer novel. What I found was a fascinating story that is really unlike anything I have ever read.

While this story certainly has sci-fi elements, it is not what most would consider hard-core sci-fi. Meyer focuses more on the relationships of the characters and the intriguing dilemma of two lives sharing one body. Much of the book deals with Melanie and Wanda's complicated love triangle with Melanie's old flame and Wanda's new love interest. There is action and suspense laced throughout, and Wanda's relationship with the surviving humans is tension filled to the max. The novel's real strength lies in the character of Wanda as she is constantly pulled between her duty as a Soul and the compassion she develops from her connection with Melanie and the other humans. Indeed, Wanda is the most human character of them all.

Meyer's writing is top-notch throughout and never lags despite the massive page count. Readers who expect a fast paced storyline wrapped up in a mere 100,000 words may be disappointed. However, those who enjoy a steady paced tale that slowly builds into a powerful and emotional ending will love The Host. In the end we are left with just the right amount of closure, but also with a little taste of what is to come. I can only hope Stephenie Meyer will continue this incredible saga she has begun.

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THE BOURNE SANCTION by Eric Van Lustbader

Author: Eric Van Lustbader
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0446539864
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54

Product Description

Jason Bourne returns to Georgetown University and the mild world of his alter ego, David Webb, hoping for normalcy. But after so many adrenaline-soaked years of risking his life, Bourne finds himself chafing under the quiet life of a linguistics professor.

Aware of his frustrations, his academic mentor, Professor Specter, asks for help investigating the murder of a former student by a previously unknown Muslim extremist sect. The young man died carrying information about the group's terrorist activities, including an immediate plan to attack the United States.

The organization, the Black Legion, and its lethal plot have also popped up on the radar of Central Intelligence, where new director Veronica Hart is struggling to assert her authority. Sensing an opportunity to take control of CI by showing Hart's incompetence, National Security Agency operatives plan to accomplish what CI never could-hunt down and kill Bourne.

In Europe, Bourne's investigation into the Black Legion turns into one of the deadliest and most tangled operations of his double life-the pursuit of the leader of a murderous terrorist group with roots in the darkest days of World War II-all while an assassin as brilliant and damaged as himself is getting closer by the minute . . .

Review:

At this point, Jason Bourne is an institution in the thriller genre, second only to James Bond. Part of this is due to the popularity of the film franchise, but the bedrock reason is that Bourne has benefited from having some of the best writers in the business continuing the tradition of the character established by the late Robert Ludlum. The newest book in this bestselling series, written by Eric Van Lustbader, is a thrill-a-minute work.

THE BOURNE SANCTION begins with the return of Bourne to his alter ego, linguistics professor David Webb, within the peaceful confines of Georgetown University. While acquiring the quiet and solace that he sought, Bourne soon realizes that this is not what he really wants. Dominic Specter, his mentor at Georgetown and one of the few people aware of his dual identity, gives him the opportunity to explore what one might call his more active side.

Specter asks Bourne to aid in the investigation of the murder of a former student by a previously unknown Muslim extremist sect. The young man's slaying, it turns out, was not random, as he was in possession not only of information concerning the group and its activities but also of its plans to carry out a terrorist attack on United States soil. U.S. Central Intelligence is aware of this organization, known as the Black Legion, and newly installed director Veronica Hart is coming to grips with her position even as members of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Pentagon plot to stage what is in effect a palace coup, usurping the duties of Central Intelligence.

One of the lynchpins of their plan is to perform a deed that no one has been able to do previously: assassinate rogue Central Intelligence agent Jason Bourne. Even as he is pursuing the Black Legion, which has ties that date back to Hitler's notorious SS troopers, Bourne himself is targeted by NSA assassins who have the wherewithal of their agency's intelligence apparatus to pit against him. Bourne doesn't have many allies, and even fewer whom he can trust completely. As he races against time after an invisible enemy and a totally unexpected adversary, Bourne finds that his existence, as well as that of the nation's, hangs in the balance to an extent he has never experienced before.

Lustbader's focus here is primarily on action as opposed to plot. There are a couple of moments where the entire concept of the book threatens to collapse under the weight of its own storyline. Lustbader, however, remains one of the best at creating believable and extremely dangerous villains who are the equal, and then some, of his protagonists, and placing his characters in hair-raising situations while shaking and stirring everything up. He does this to fabulous effect in THE BOURNE SANCTION, giving the reader enough carnage and mayhem to fill three books and to satisfy even the most jaded fan of action/adventure fiction.

Lustbader's cinematic vision is once again on display as he sends Bourne on a chaotic chase that leads from Washington to Moscow and back again, dogged by pursuers even as he himself pursues. This is one novel that will keep you reading long into the night.

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Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva

Author: Daniel Silva
Publisher: Putnam Adult
ISBN: 0399155015
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6

Product Description

The extraordinary new Gabriel Allon novel from the gold standard (The Dallas Morning News) of thriller writers.

Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the world s finest writers of international intrigue and espionage a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carre (Chicago Sun-Times) and Gabriel Allon as one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He s playing by Moscow rules now.

This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.

One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealer and he is about to deliver Russia s most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11 and the clock is ticking fast.

Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the East and Silva s finest novel yet.

Reviews

In his eighth Gabriel Allon espionage thriller, Daniel Silva moves from investigating the historical crimes of the past, often related to the Holocaust, and their effects on the present, to crimes of the present and their possibly catastrophic effects on the future. In this intense and absorbing novel about uncontrolled arms sales, the biggest threat to the future comes from Russian arms dealers, aided by Russia's president and former KGB operatives who are now unimaginably wealthy independent brokers and contractors. These arms merchants operate with impunity, selling all manner of weapons to terrorist organizations throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Gabriel Allon, formerly with the Israeli Mossad, is on his honeymoon in Italy when he is contacted by Ari Shamron, the grand old man of Israeli security. Allon, a trained art restorer, has been working for the Pope, but the recent assassination of a Russian journalist who may have had information he wanted to reveal to the West brings him out of retirement and back into action. When the murdered man's Russian editor-in-chief is also murdered, Allon travels to Russia, where he learns the name of a Russian arms dealer, Ivan Kharkov, who has been supplying Hezbollah, and who now appears close to selling sophisticated weapons to al-Quaeda.

Kharkov and his wife are collectors of Mary Cassatt paintings, and the fascinating art world which has added so much life to other Gabriel Allon thrillers in the past is also a major aspect of this novel. Art dealers, down-in-their-luck gentry who own prized artwork, and, in the case, of Allon, restorers, all play unexpectedly major roles in this effort to prevent Kharkov from selling advanced weapons to al-Quaeda. As the high-stakes plotting by the conjoined security services of England, the US, Italy, and France builds to a crescendo, Allon follows the action through various countries leaving multiple murders, beatings, car crashes, and betrayals in his wake. Always, the fine hand of the Russian mafia is pulling the strings, purportedly with the aid of the Russian president.

Silva keeps the action moving briskly, and his ability to convey the atmosphere of disparate locations adds depth and drama to the plot. The characters, even the minor ones, are paradigms of the countries they represent, imbued with the cultures of their homelands, rather than mere stereotypes. His major characters are complex and carefully drawn, and the action and underlying themes of the novel are intelligent and thought-provoking. As always, Silva creates a complex and exciting story, but this time the focus is on contemporary politics, rather than on the past. Providing evidence that future catastrophes are shockingly easy to inspire, given the venal nature of unscrupulous international arms dealers, Silva employs his formidable talents to create a terrifying picture of a cynical world--and a warning for the future. n Mary Whipple.

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