Reviews

Despite a million dollar football contract, his engagement to his high school sweetheart, and the opposition of his family, after 9/11 Pat Tillman felt it necessary to put his life on hold and join the fight against al-Qaeda. When asked how he would deal with the media when his Army enlistment became public knowledge, he answered, “I’m not going to.” And he never did. Despite the best efforts of politicians and the media, Tillman and his brother Kevin, who joined at the same time, never granted an interview or explained themselves to anyone but their closest friends and relatives.

When Novella Carpenter and boyfriend Bill move from Seattle to Oakland, they choose their apartment for its cast of eccentric neighbors and the empty lot behind the building. In short order, Novella has taken over the lot, not only with a garden of heirloom vegetables, but chickens, bees, and even pigs. Because she is essentially squatting on another’s property, she is very generous about allowing strangers to partake of the fruits of her labor, while waiting for bulldozers to clear her space for condominiums.

Along with the long-forgotten contents of the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry Lee’s memories of 1940’s Seattle are unearthed.  When new hotel owners start to renovate the boarded up, old Japanese-designed building they discover the personal belongings of numerous Japanese families who were interned during WWII. As a resident of Seattle’s Chinatown, just the other side of the Panama Hotel from Japantown, Henry witnessed first-hand the removal of the Japanese.

It's true to say I've been a Superman fan as far back as I can remember, but it's also true to say I haven't always been a fan.

When Charlie Nancy’s estranged father passes away, family secrets come tumbling out at the funeral. Disbelieving that he could possibly be the son of a god, Charlie inadvertently calls the brother he didn’t know he had into his life. Havoc ensues and Charlie must find a way to extricate himself from his brother while learning what it means to be the son of Anansi, the African and Caribbean trickster god. Adult fans of Harry Potter will enjoy the sudden revelation of a secret life and Charlie’s ensuing transformation.

From the beginning, Ralph Truitt knew Catherine Land was not who she pretended to be. Expecting the “simple, honest woman” from the picture she had sent after answering his advertisement for “a reliable wife”, beautiful Catherine came as something of a shock. Thinking her act wholly convincing, Catherine plays the role of simplicity and innocence in hopes of accomplishing a deadly deception.

Books that don’t match their descriptions are extremely annoying, and this one especially so. The book jacket says, “It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.” And the beach scene really is exceedingly horrific. Unfortunately, the comic relief I was led to expect never followed. I failed to be even slightly amused by this story of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, whose life becomes entangled with a vacationing English couple.