The Pyramid: and Four Other Kurt Wallander Stories by Henning Mankell

After writing Brandvägg in 1998, translated to Firewall in English, Swedish novelist Henning Mankell indicated that he was no longer intending to write about police inspector Kurt Wallander. Then almost immediately, he put together five stories (not particularly short) into a book to recount Wallander's early years as a policeman and investigator. Published in Sweden in 1999, American readers finally got The Pyramid: and Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries in 2008. The fifth story ends with an early morning phone call telling the groggy inspector to go to a murder scene which any devoted reader will recognize as the start of Faceless Killers, the first Wallander novel.

Though I have read several of the books and seen the Wallander television series with Kenneth Branagh, I made several connections in Wallander's character that I had not before. It helped to witness his relationship with his wife Mona instead of just hearing of it after the separation. The marriage seemed a mistake from the beginning and he could not see it - very much like real life. I also think that his domineering father primed him for involvement with an unsuitable partner. I also found, as in all Wallander books, his lack of personal discipline maddening at times but now see that it is the same unwillingness to adhere to the smart and logical that lets him disregard rules to make important discoveries.

"Wallander's First Case" is particularly interesting to anyone who has read Before the Frost, Mankell's novel about Kurt's daughter Linda. Father and daughter both get drawn into investigations before official police job appointments. Both foolishly put their lives at risk. Unlike all other Wallander stories, "The Man with the Mask" takes place in a single day. In "The Pyramid," Wallander juggles care for his  elderly father with official duties. All are as well crafted as the full-length novels.

Because the Wallander chronicle now starts with The Pyramid: and Four Other Kurt Wallander Stories, it would be a good introduction to the inspector. Readers can try out a story without as much of a time investment as the longer works and might even have a little more insight into the world that Mankell has created.

Mankell, Henning. The Pyramid: and Four Other Kurt Wallander Stories. New Press, 2008. 392p. ISBN 9781565849945.

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

Life in 1990s Kiev is hard. The winter is brutal, jobs are scarce, and the government is corrupt. Viktor Alekseyevich Zolotaryov is very lucky to have been hired to write obituaries for the Capital News, though it does seem odd that none of his subjects are dead - yet. He even interviews a few of them. But he can not be choosy about work. He has a penguin to feed.

It is now 2012 and only a year since American readers have gotten an English translation of Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, a darkly comic tale published in Russian in 1996. Melville House has added it to its growing Melville International Crime Series, paperbacks that give us affordable literary fiction.

Back to Victor and the penguin, whose name is Misha. Both are lonely guys. The impoverished Kiev Zoo gave away most of its animals to anyone who would take them, so Victor took Misha to his apartment where they are lonely together until four-year-old Sonya joins them while her father goes underground. They become an odd sort of family, decorating a Christmas tree and hiding from the gangsters that Victor has unwittingly crossed.

Death and the Penguin is a great read for anyone who enjoys offbeat humor and a totally unfamiliar menacing setting.

Kurkov, Andrey. Death and the Penguin. Melville House, 2011. 228p. ISBN 9781935554554.

Which President Killed a Man? : Tantalizing Trivia and Fun Facts About Our Chief Executives and First Ladies by James Humes

I am weeding books again. As I always do, I find some books whose inactivity surprises me. This time I found Which President Killed a Man? : Tantalizing Trivia and Fun Facts About Our Chief Executives and First Ladies by James Humes. According to our records, we have had it eight years, and no one ever borrowed it. Since I was probably the librarian who bought it, I checked it out and brought it home. I had a great time reading it from cover to cover - though Bonnie may not have appreciated all my "Did you know?" questions.

As you might guess, Which President Killed a Man? is an extensive collection of questions with answers grouped in thematic chapters. The author suggests readers could use it to play trivia games at parties or family get-togethers. That sounds like a nerdy thing to do, but I actually think it would be lots of fun. You have to have the right kinds of friends. (Pete Midkiff, Jack Oliver, Don Richmond, Robert Goehring, or Glenn Kersten might do.)

The book does not look pristine, so I wonder if the circulations stats are to be trusted. Maybe browsers at the library thumbed through it to learn the following:

• Which general was a winner when he faced four other generals in an election?
• Who was the only president to be granted a patent for an invention?
• Who was the only president to be elected to an office of the Confederacy?
• Who was the first president to be born west of the Mississippi River?

James Garfield, Abraham Lincoln, John Tyler, and Herbert Hoover are your answers. Humes tells stories in revealing the answers to these and several hundred other questions. There are two or three questions per page. Much can be learned painlessly.

The author does not seem to have updated the work, but I think there are only a couple of answers that need revising. Check it out if you can find it.

Humes, James. Which President Killed a Man? : Tantalizing Trivia and Fun Facts About Our Chief Executives and First Ladies. Contemporary Books, 2003. 242p. ISBN 0071402233.

Bird Cloud: A Memoir by Annie Proulx

Memoirs revolving around house construction are many. Anthony Shadid told about restoring his great grandfather's house in Marjayoun, Lebanon in House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East. Similarly, Tahir Shah recounted how in Casablanca he turned a ruin into a family home in The Caliph's House. Novelist Annie Proulx describes new construction in rural Wyoming in Bird Cloud: A Memoir.

While Proulx's book will seem less exotic than either of the other books, many of the same themes run through her account. Choosing trusted contractors, buying hard to find materials, and dealing with delays and budgets. All of the authors deal with disappointments and have to make compromises to get their houses built. And what they want is more than a house, as each seems to be dealing with the past, present, and the future.

As a reader, I found Proulx a bit contradictory, as we all are. She says that architects often want unpractical features just for the look. She claims to have more modest wants, but when she is unhappy with a cement floor, she pays a second floor man twice as much to fix the problem. When the floor is still not to her liking, she finds rare tile to cover it. No wonder the house takes so long to build. Still, having dealt with a few house repairs myself, I know the feeling of wanting things right.

After Proulx gets her house built, she turns to the land, a section of prairie and wetland below cliffs along the North Platte River that she seeks to protect for wildlife. The constant wind and severe winters prove too much for year round living, but she makes a necessary compromise. Her wonderful nature descriptions throughout remind readers why she makes the great effort to build.

Proulx, Annie. Bird Cloud: A Memoir. Scribner, 2011. 234p. ISBN 9780743288804.

The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America by William G. Thomas

The course of every war is influenced by the technology of its age. In America's Civil War of 1861-1865, rapid developments in communication and transportation fostered the broadening of the battlefield over greater area, as the telegraph allowed the sending of intelligence and commands and rail travel allowed quick movement of troops. Historian William G. Thomas examines the role of the railroad particularly on the war in The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America.

Thomas starts his history with a look at the state of railroads in the South before the war began. He states that it is a common misconception to portray Souther rails as far behind those of the North. While it is true that many gauges had been used by the many rail lines, the same was actually true in the North. Also, while there were fewer miles of track, there was more track per capita. Southerns were confident in their modern system of transportation, as were important European investors. The advantage for the North was not obvious.

Thomas also describes in detail the state of slavery before the war. The common image is of slaves working on cotton and tobacco plantations. Few readers realize that Southern railroads were quickly becoming a major employer of slaves to lay track, build rail stock, and operate lines. Rail companies had driven the price of slaves higher by buying ande leasing them. Many slave owners were making record profits. Rail lines also used their slave holdings as collateral for loans, when not getting generous grants from the states. Slavery was not going away.

Thomas's account of the use of rails by the military, civilians, and slaves during the war is fascinating. Many campaigns moved along the rail lines, and held lines and stations became obvious targets for guerrilla attacks. The author recounts how efforts to protect rails led to the destruction of many farms and forests along them. The lines also became symbolic of the ties that held the states together.When the Union truly controlled the rails, the South was defeated. The author also explains how the rail lines that had been destroyed and rebuilt many times actually came out of the war expanded and modernized.  


Though not a long book, The Iron Way does require some devotion to read as every page has a wealth of details and stories. Serious Civil War history buffs will enjoy sinking their teeth into this account. 


Thomas, William G. The Iron Way: Railroads, the Civil War, and the Making of Modern America. Yale University Press, 2011. 281p. ISBN 9780300141078.

Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked the Nation by Deborah Davis

The Civil Rights Movement was successful. While there is still prejudice and racism, and while there are still improvements to make, the nation is a more civil place now than before. If you need evidence, please read Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked the Nation by Deborah Davis.

On October 16, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt (who never liked being called Teddy) welcomed African American educator Booker T. Washington to his dinner table in the White House. It was an unpublicized meeting to discussion federal judicial appointments in the South. Though it was Sunday evening with most White House offices closed, one newspaper reporter noticed Washington come and go. In Monday papers, the visit was simply noted, but by Tuesday there was an uproar of disgust across the nation. Columnists and editors in cities both North and South decried the dinner using many racial slurs that would be unimaginable today.

In Guest of Honor, biographer Deborah Davis recounts how Roosevelt and Washington had lived remarkably similar lives up to the evening of their dinner, despite their differences in race and wealth. Then she tells how the dinner and the outcry effected both leaders and their working relationship. It is a good example of focused biography that is informative, entertaining, and quick to read. With Roosevelt being an ever popular subject, it can be found in many public libraries. I enjoyed the book greatly and think it would be an excellent selection for discussion groups.

Davis, Deborah. Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked the Nation. Atria Books, 2012. 308p. ISBN 9781439169810.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

It has been four years since I listened to Nathan Englander's excellent collection of short stories For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Having greatly enjoyed that book, I was eager to get his new collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. As you might guess from the title, Englander focuses once more on the Jewish experience.

In the title story, an American couple awkwardly entertains another couple who emigrated to Israel several decades earlier. The wives are old friends, but the husbands clash, verbally sparring about issues of politics, orthodoxy, and kosher laws. The Americans are surprised to find that the seemingly zealous Israelis like to smoke pot, and the American wife steals some from her teenage son. Under the influence of the pot, the four begin to question each other about what sabbath laws they would break in emergency situations to save the lives of friends and family. The revelations are uncomfortable for all. 

"Sister Hills" is the most historical of the stories. In it, two zealous families claim farms on adjacent hills in disputed territory intent on forming new settlements. While the region becomes a metropolis, one family thrives, but the other is reduced through war and misfortune to only the matriarch. In a desperate attempt to find solace, she demands the payment of a terrible debt, bringing heartache to all. Her struggle to get her way involves the invoking of Jewish laws.

There are six more stories, each read by a different reader on the unabridged audiobook. With each, Englander creates a different world, showing great range of setting, pacing, and mood. All revolve around the ways Jewish laws are interpreted and applied. Serious book discussion groups should consider this worthy collection.

Englander, Nathan. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. Knopf, 2012. 207p. ISBN 9780307958709.

6 compact discs. Books on Tape, 2012. ISBN 9780307989314.

Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert

Like many people my age, I discovered film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times watching Sneak Previews, a PBS movie review program that paired him with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune. I enjoyed their jolly and sometimes heated rivalry which framed an entertaining selection of clips from upcoming and recently released movies. They proved so popular that PBS could not keep them, and they started a syndicated program, which Bonnie and I watched on Saturdays right before Star Trek The Next Generation. The program later moved to Disney and ran until Siskel's death in 1999. Ebert tells much about his friendship with Siskel, their programs, and much, much more in Life Itself: A Memoir.

Ebert begins his collection of autobiographical essays with a description of his current life. Complications from thyroid cancer which has destroyed much of his jaw have left him unable to eat, drink, and speak since 2006. Still intent of reviewing films and commenting on life, he blogs and writes books. In this book, film fans will particularly enjoy his personal essays about actors and directors, including Robert Mitchum, Lee Marvin, Woody Allen, Russ Meyer, and Robert Altman. Ebert fans will enjoy the stories of his childhood and youth at the beginning and the later essays that deal with his current life and about finding love and a new family.

I listened to the memoir read brilliantly by Edward Herrmann, quickly forgetting that it was not Ebert's own voice recounting his life. Throughout Ebert is quite open about his family's problems, beating alcoholism, failed romances, and religious doubts, saying he has often been told that he "over-shares," but I found him refreshingly candid. I especially enjoyed hearing about his love of books and movies. 

Life Itself is highly entertaining, and many readers will identify with Ebert's family and school experiences (and wish they had his job). It can be found in many public libraries.

Ebert, Roger. Life Itself: A Memoir. Grand Central Pub., 2011. 436P. ISBN 9780446584975.

12 compact discs. AudioGO, 2011. ISBN 9781611137927.

Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini

For the holiday, here is a book about the evolution of our national character.

If you are like me, and you probably are, you have not read all of the historically important books. You may find lists of such books interesting and resolve to read them all. If so, you will appreciate Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini. Thirteen books is such a reasonable number to contemplate reading. Also, Parini's reports on the books may tell you all you want to know and relieve you from the self-imposed obligation to read them.

I found that I had read five of Parini's thirteen:

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Walden
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• On the Road

It has been years since I read any of these, except Twain's book about Huck Finn. I enjoyed rediscovering the stories and learning what impact they have had on literature, politics, and society.

Of the other eight, I did not even know of The Promised Land by Mary Antin. According to Parini, this 1912 memoir was widely read at a time when many immigrants from Eastern Europe were struggling to fit into an American society that was not so accommodating as they had been led to believe it would be. Reading Parini's summary is enough for now. I learned much about the willpower that made many immigrants succeed.

I also will not plan to read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock, or The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, for I think I have read plenty of the titles they spawned.

I have read portions of Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, The Federalist Papers, and The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Reading only selections is recommended for all of these.

That leaves The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches by W.E.B. Du Bois. It sounds like it might be a very interesting read.

If you want more than thirteen books, Parini does add a list of 100 more in the appendix. Happy reading.

Parini, Jay. Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America. Doubleday, 2008. 385p. ISBN 9780385522762.

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin

I was slow to warm to Steve Martin. I vaguely liked some of his goofy standup routines on television's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and other variety programs, but he seemed to repeat himself in various appearances. All the standup comedians did. Their routines were like pop songs that some people liked to hear again and again. A few years later, one of my college roommates was greatly impressed and liked to say "I'm a wild and crazy guy," but I did not pay that much attention. I was not won over until the movie version of Little Shop of Horrors - Martin was great as the dentist. Then there was the movie Roxanne, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Of course by then Martin had left standup far behind.

In Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, Martin lovingly looks back on his childhood and his evolving comedy career. It is a great coming-up-from-the-bottom story, starting with young Steve doing magic tricks at Disneyland long before he was legally old enough to work. He honed his skills at Knott's Berry Farm mixing magic, banjo, and jokes, getting $2.00 a show. Money hardly mattered. Life was great on the stage. Life at home, however, was not so good. On one occasion his angry father reacted to a smart remark and beat Steve up.

I listened to Martin skillfully read his book and was greatly moved by his matter-of-fact honesty. He expresses some regrets, but he never dwells on the bad and moves on. He is also very funny at times. I especially laughed at a thing his ninety year old mother said from her bed in a nursing home. I won't spoil it for you by telling.

After listening Born Standing Up, I checked out the book to see its many pictures. I had forgotten that he ever had dark hair. The one with the beard will make you laugh.

Martin, Steve. Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life. Scribner, 2007. 207p. ISBN 9781416553649.


4 compact discs. Recorded Books, 2007. ISBN 9781428181052

Rereading of The Girl from Foreign

When traveling to new places, I enjoy hours of looking out car or bus windows, noticing the traffic, trees, flowers, fields, mountains, wildlife, livestock, bridges, side roads, houses, and people. Perhaps it is then natural for me to enjoy travel books describing drives to remote destinations. I am please by accounts such as those in The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home by Sadia Shepard, which I am rereading for a book club discussion. 

Rereading is not something I often do, as there are so many books left to read, but it is enlightening to see how a book can be so different a second time. My memory from the first reading is an emphasis on Shepard's own spiritual/emotional journey. That is still present but I see how much she tells us about the people and places that she encountered in my second reading. The mostly forgotten story of the Jew in India suggests that much of what happened in the 20th century did not have to happen as it did.

I puzzled over some of the photos, wishing Shepard had written captions. I also would have enjoyed some maps in the book. Still, rereading was journey worth taking again, as there is a rich mixture of past and present and places I could not gone had not Shepard taken me there.


Shepard, Sadia. The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home. Penguin Press, 2008. ISBN 9781594201516.

The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I remember reading a lot of poetry in 7th grade when Mrs. Coates required that each student put together a poetry scrapbook. I recall cutting out pictures from my parents magazines and gluing them to lined notebook paper on which I then hand-copied poems from library books. Most of the work was done the night before the project was due, and the photos were as random as the poems. For the slapdash effort, I did not get as high a grade as I usually earned. I am sure that with a word processing program and photos from the Internet I could do a much better job now. In minutes.

Around this time I was introduced to the long historical piece "The Courtship of Miles Standish" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which at least has a story, unlike some of the poems that we read. It dramatises the early days of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts when Standish, the commander of the colony's small militia, asked his friend John Alden to communicate the commander's love to orphaned beauty Priscilla Mullins, whose family members had died just before or after the landing of the Mayflower. Standish was sure that the bookish Alden could find better words to win the heart of the young lady. Many readers will remember that Priscilla turns the tables and said to the messenger, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"

I found an illustrated edition of Longfellow's poem in our collection. The verso says copyright 1903 below dates of 1858, 1886, 1883, and 1888, in that order. The paintings and drawings by Howard Chandler Christy have very hard to read dates by the signatures. One looks like 1923. Maybe it is 1903. It is a handsome book. Even the text has a subtle background design.

I was surprised to find no rhyming, but I am not surprised to find 19th century attitudes toward women and American Indians. I'll bet this is not taught in many schools today. It probably should be (in context) so students can understand how attitudes have changed. It could be paired with an unedited The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Another funny thing is that is more about John and Priscilla than about Standish. Check it out yourself and see what you think.

Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris by Christopher Kemp

I am inclined to read any book dealing with New Zealand and enjoy investigative reporting, so Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris by Christopher Kemp was a welcomed reading assignment for me. (Thanks, Brad.) I did not know, however, whether I could read a whole book about a strange substance that comes from the intestines of sperm whales. Luckily for me and others who may chose to read this unusual book, Kemp is a clever author who keeps us entertained with his obsession to find ambergris while instructing us in natural history and varied uses of the strange rock.

So what is ambergris? It is a substance that builds up in the intestines of one in every hundred sperm whale's intestines. The statistic is based on findings of whalers who cut open whales. It is thought that the substance obstructs and eventually kills some whales. In their demise and putrefaction (or being torn apart by scavengers), the ambergris is released and might float around the oceans for months or years before it washes up on be aches, such as those of New Zealand. There, if found, it can sell for many thousands of dollars.

Identifying ambergris is really difficult, as the curing time and environment can effect its appearance greatly. The key is its smell, which may be described as a mixture of cow dung, tobacco, mown grass, turned earth, vanilla, Brazil nuts, and violets. You may be surprised to learn that it is used by the makers of very expensive perfumes, who bid on ambergris finds at exclusive auctions. Readers learn much about the valuable substance as Kemp combs beaches and travels the world in search of experts, some of whom are particularly strange characters.

I hope this book does not just get lost back in the science shelves, as it is entertaining.

Kemp, Christopher. Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris. University of Chicago Press, 2012. 232p. ISBN 9780226430362.

Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy by Howard Brenton and David Hare

Bonnie and I attended a slew of plays when we spent two weeks in and around London in late spring 1985. I was reminded of this when I found Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy by Howard Brenton and David Hare at my library. At the National Theatre we saw Anthony Hopkins in the role of Lambert Le Roux, a very Rupert Murdoch-like newspaper tycoon. We knew of Hopkins from several programs that we had seen on Masterpiece Theater. He was big then but not as big as he would become soon after. We were very lucky to get tickets, as the play had just debuted. We were at the right place at the right time to get returned tickets and had great seats.

After 27 years, my memory of the actual play is fuzzy, so I borrowed and read the book. I was surprised to learn that we also saw a young Bill Nighy as La Roux's evil aide Eaton Sylvester. I verified this with the playbill, which we still have. In Pravda, La Roux and Sylvester dissect the very lax-standards British newspaper publishing industry for their own profit. The comedy is very dark in this play that foresaw much that seems to have become true in Britain and the U.S.

If you have not tried reading plays since high school, let me recommend them to you. They are usually dramatic (of course) and take just an hour or two to read (depending on your reading speed).

Brenton, Howard and David Hare. Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy. Metheun Inc., 1985. 148p. No ISBN.

The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose

When I reviewed Letters from Eden: A Year at Home, in the Woods by Julie Zickefoose nearly three years ago, only one library in our local library consortium had bought the book, which was already three years old at the time. Only two of the libraries have bought her 2011 book, Backyard Birding. I am happy to report that in 2012 her latest book is getting more attention. Already 16 libraries in the SWAN consortium have her new work The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds.

Zickefoose, a columnist for Bird Watcher's Digest and contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered, has always been a good storyteller, but her entertaining collection of bird rescue stories in The Bluebird Effect is worthy of the increased attention it is getting. As the only local person willing to take injured birds into her Ohio home, she is often called upon to raise orphans or rehabilitate songbirds who have been attacked by cats or run in to picture windows. She has cooked gruel and diced mealworms for her patients while raising her own children. Most of the birds have either been released or died in her care. A few that could not be returned to the wild became members of her family.

Each chapter focuses on a different bird species and may recount several cases. Most focus on the behavior of the birds and how she was able to work with them. A few chapters near the end question human actions that harm birds, sometimes sending patients her way.

I want to emphasize that Zickefoose is also an artist whose drawings and water color portraits of birds illustrate all of her books. These beautiful books would be great to own.

Zickefoose, Julie. The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds. Houghton Mifflin, 2012. 355p. ISBN 9780547003092.

The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea by Callum Roberts

The oceans are so big that we have long believed that nothing we could do would ever effect them. Our pollution and garbage should just disappear into the vastness. And the fish are so numerous that we should be able to harvest them at will. If the fish in one area dwindle, there should always be somewhere else to cast our nets or lines.

In a similar vein, most of us living away from the coasts do not believe the oceans to be of much consequence to us.

According the marine environmentalist Callum Roberts in his new book The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea, our assumptions are all wrong. The oceans have been absorbing our excess carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and various air pollutants for centuries, serving as a planetary safety valve, but now water temperatures and acidity are rising. The combination is killing the coral reefs that protect many shores from ocean storms. Warm water is shifting air currents, changing the weather of many regions. Because the air is also warming, glaciers are melting and the oceans are rising. Global warming is already here and will be difficult to abate.

Also, the fish are not so unlimited as believed. Huge industrial fishing ships have systematically taken so many fish that populations of some species have crashed. While they take all the large breeding individuals, they often also destroy breeding grounds. As our world population increases, we are hampered by the constant reduction of fish caught.

While Roberts excels at describing what has brought about our ocean of troubles, he is not a pessimist. He argues that we have no choice but to make the best of the bad situation - and soon. He proposes stricter regulations of fishing, reduction of the use of fossil fuels, and restoration of natural environments as the key to the survival of life at sea and on land.

The Ocean of Life follows Roberts' acclaimed The Unnatural History of the Sea. It will appeal to readers of natural history and current events.

Roberts, Callum. The Ocean of Life: The Fate of Man and the Sea. Viking, 2012. ISBN 9780670023547.

Remarkable Creatures: A Novel by Tracy Chevalier

It is often said that a benefit of belonging to a book discussion group is being required to read books that would not otherwise come home with you. This is true. I would not have chosen to read Remarkable Creature by Tracy Chevalier if it had not been our book for May. Having seen Girl with a Pearl Earring, I had a positive impression of Chevalier, but fiction is not my usual reading fare. (Although I have listened to several novels in the last month as it is often hard to find nonfiction audiobooks that I want.)

It certainly helped that Remarkable Creatures is historical, as history is one of my main interests, and the substantial dose of science made the book more appealing for me. I liked reading how fossils would have been discovered, collected, preserved, and studies in the early part of the nineteenth century. I also enjoyed the early women's rights movement part of the story. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot are characters with who I sympathize, and I was glad to learn at the end that they were real people.

Of course, not everyone see things as I do. One member of the discussion group wished all the science had been cut by the author, but I don't think Chevalier would have had an interest in the story without the fossils and the issues of religious men of science accepting the idea of evolution. It appears that all her stories revolve around the history of women in the arts and science. Her novels might even make good listening for this summer's gardening if my supply of history and biography runs dry again.

Chevalier, Tracy. Remarkable Creatures. Dutton, 2010. 310p. ISBN 9780525951452.

Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter by Frank Deford

Just like Queen Elizabeth II, it seems like sportswriter Frank Deford has always been here. As long as I can remember, he has been writing for Sports Illustrated, appearing on television, and commenting on sports for National Public Radio. He's also published 18 books (or more). In truth, the queen has Deford beat by ten years, as he did not start his job until 1962. Still, that is 50 years in sports reporting about which he writes in his new book Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter.

Sports Illustrated was a much different magazine when he started. As the least of weeklies from Time-Life, it focused more on individual athlete sports, such as boxing, track, golf, and tennis, than on team sports, such as football or basketball. A horse was more likely to make the cover than a basketball player. Having played a bit of high school basketball, he knew more than most of the reporters and got some early assignments that no one else wanted.

As television coverage of games spread, print sports became less about reporting games and more about examining the players. That was where Deford excelled. He interviewed many of the key athletes and executives who transformed their sports and society, including Muhammad Ali, Billy Jean King, Wilt Chamberlain, and Pete Rozelle. The person that he seems to have admired most, however, was tennis champion Arthur Ashe, about whom he writes several chapters.

Over Time serves as a memoir in that Deford tells about his work and travels. Highlights are his editorship of the ill-fated The National and his role in the famous Lite Beer commercials. Still, the book is more about his times than himself. Over Time is especially reader-friendly for people just like me, boomers who enjoy sports in a context of their times.

Deford, Frank. Over Time: My Life as a Sports Writer. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012.354p. ISBN 9780802120151.

Review for Read On Biography and Other Read On News

The first of the reviews for my book Read On ... Biography is out. Booklist likes it. I appreciate the word "essential." If you have not heard, I reviewed 450 biographies, most written since the year 2000. They are organized by appeal factors into topical lists. There are author-title and subject indices to help you find books that you know, which are grouped with books that you might try. Of course, I would like to see Read On .. Biography in libraries everywhere.

Here is other Read On news. In celebration of National Audiobook Month, Libraries Unlimited is offering a 20% discount on Joyce Saricks' Read On...Audiobooks for the month of June. Use promo code 12LU189B to receive the special offer. You may read more about the book and order from http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?isbn=9781591588047.

Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick

This is very much a biography and should not be assigned Dewey 639 where it will be lost.

For a number of years, Bonnie has been a fan and avid supporter of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Orphan's Nursery in Nairobi National Park. Every month she receives email reports from Dame Daphne Sheldrick about the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned elephants. Until recently, there were notes and pictures of Zarura, the elephant that Bonnie sponsors, but he has chosen to leave the sanctuary and live wild. Bonnie passes the reports to me, so I also learn about dramatic rescues, wonderful keepers, mud baths, soccer games, and special friendships among dozens of orphan elephants. We are not the only fans.

Thanks to Elephant Diaries on Animal Planet, a couple of stories on CBS's 60 Minutes, and the 3-D IMAX film Born to Be Wild, many people now follow and contribute to the trust. Some of them even travel to Kenya to visit the nursery and witness the daily feedings and baths of the orphans. So we are the target audience for Dame Daphne Sheldrick's new autobiography Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story, in which she recounts a lifetime of caring for orphaned animals. Even as a girl on a farm in the Kenyan highlands, she befriended numerous small mammals and birds that had been orphaned or injured. Her stories about the creatures are always entertaining and sometimes sad, as many do fail to thrive or become the prey of other creatures.

Much of Love, Life, and Elephants is a romance, as the author tells about her life with her second husband David Sheldrick, the warden of Tsavo National Wildlife Park for over twenty years. It was David who introduced her to fostering large mammals, including elephants and rhinoceros. Together the Sheldricks worked to expand Kenya's parks, protect the animals from poaching and habitat loss, and develop ecological tourism at a time when Kenya was given its independence and was struggling with political corruption. Sheldrick is a congenial writer with a wealth of stories and passionate about her cause. Her book should be popular with many readers.

Sheldrick, Dame Daphne. Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. 352p. ISBN 9780374104573.