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Lights, camera, action, love and friendship
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GIRLS IN THE PICTURE. By Melanie Benjamin. Random House Audio. Read by Kimberly Farr. 16 ½ hours; 13 CDs. $50. Melanie Benjamin has made quite a successful career by spinning the real-life stories of famous people into entertaining novels. As she does so, she largely sticks to the known…
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Franklin Roosevelt, meeting the challenges
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: A Political Life. By Robert Dallek. Penguin Audio. Read by Rick Adamson. 30 hours; 24 CDs. $79. Also available in print from Viking. 704 pages, $40. Robert Dallek’s new book about Franklin Roosevelt, published in November, has earned well-deserved spots on more than one “best book of…
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A prudent president at a dangerous time
Tom Dillon says Jeffrey Engel’s new book on the first President Bush takes a worthwhile look at a time most of us lived through without fully understanding. WHEN THE WORLD SEEMED NEW: George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War.” By Jeffrey A. Engel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 596 pages. $35. Reviewed by Tom Dillon…
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The more things change…
Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer TWO KINDS OF TRUTH. By Michael Connelly. Little Brown. 402 pages. $29. ‘Things change.” On his way to downtown L.A. from San Fernando, Harry Bosch reflects on how the landscape, the office he’s going to, the former partner he’s meeting, have all changed. Not to mention his own life, of…
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Waiting for the gun
Bob Moyer’s New Year’s resolution is to review more books even when he’s on the road, as he often is. He just doesn’t know about this resolution yet, but one hopes he will after reading this post. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE CUBAN AFFAIR. By Nelson DeMille. Simon and Schuster. 429 pages. $28.99. Looking…
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Zombies, a giant snake and a Plum good story
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson HARDCORE TWENTY-FOUR. By Janet Evanovich. Random House Audio. Read by Lorelei King. 7 hours; 6 CDs. $32. Also available in print from Putnam. How does she do it? This is No. 24 in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and it’s just as outrageous, hilarious and entertaining as any of the…
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Hard-won rewards
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE MIDNIGHT LINE. By Lee Child. Random House Audio. Read by Dick Hill. 13 hours; 11 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Delacorte Press. I’d heard about Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, of course – 21 or so best-selling thrillers, some short stories and, oh, a movie or two, among…
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Murder, sex and Barbie dolls
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DEEP FREEZE. By John Sandford. Penguin Audio. Read by Eric Conger. 10 hours; 8 CDs. $40. If you don’t think murder and assorted lesser crimes can be funny, you haven’t read any of John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers detective novels. A detective with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil gets…
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Awakening? Not so much
Bob Moyer loves to read, and his interests are wide and varied. He’s also discerning, and he doesn’t mind saying what he thinks – all of which makes him a good reviewer. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer MRS. FLETCHER. By Tom Perrotta. Scribner. 307 pages. $26. It’s about porn. The dust jacket claims it’s about…
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The mysteries of life, solved – or are they?
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson ORIGIN. By Dan Brown. Random House Audio. Read by Paul Michael. 18 hours; 15 CDs. $50. Robert Langdon, intrepid Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, is at it again, with all the expected mystery, codes, drama, action, danger, beautiful women, evil villains, cosmic ideas and earth-shattering revelations. My audio…