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Obama, commander in chief
By Paul T. O’Connor CONFRONT AND CONCEAL: OBAMA’S SECRET WARS AND SURPRISING USE OF AMERICAN POWER. By David E. Sanger. Read by Robertson Dean. Random House Audio. 13 CDs, 15 hours. $50. Also available in hardback from Crown. Given the way President Barack Obama has used the American military, whether in the Afghanistan surge, the…
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To laugh or not to laugh
Jesse Kellerman may know the business of writing best-selling novels as well as anyone. For him, it’s a family business; he is a son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, both highly successful crime writers. And he’s followed in the family tradition admirably with four novels: The Executor, The Genius, Trouble and Sunstroke. Sometimes, after a…
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Justice, present and past
Bob Moyer touched down in North Carolina just long enough to write reviews of the books he’s been reading while on his travels. Here’s one of a police procedural that meets his discerning standards. He’d give it two thumbs up if he weren’t too busy holding onto his luggage. By Robert Moyer CRIMINAL. By Karin…
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This year’s new gems from Anne Perry
Fortunately for her legions of fans, Anne Perry continues to produce fine novels in her two series set in Victorian England, the William Monk novels and those featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. These books offer so much: They are excellent historical novels. Perry does her research well, presenting us with an unsentimental picture of life…
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A comedy with not a single laugh
Our roving correspondent, Bob Moyer, takes a look at a 1947 novel by a German Jew. The book was translated into English in 2010. This novel travels some of the same territory as Anne Frank’s famous diary, but from very different perspectives. By Robert Moyer COMEDY IN A MINOR KEY. By Hans Keilson. Farrar Straus…
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Understanding, with compassion
Chuck McGathy is the pastor of a small Cooperative Baptist congregation in Piedmont North Carolina. Earlier, he spent many years as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. He’s used to ministering to people with different beliefs and experiences of religious faith. Here, he finds a book that is surprisingly insightful and useful in helping others…
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Move over Queen Elizabeth – I’ve had a James Bond moment myself
By Linda C. Brinson Readers who have access to the Greensboro News & Record may have seen my James Bond spread on its book page Sunday, Aug. 5. I can’t link to it here because the News & Record is trying to avoid giving away its content online. I wish it well in that endeavor…
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Let’s mess with Texas
On part of his cross-country drive this summer, Paul O’Connor was accompanied by Gail Collins, a well-known New York Times political columnist. Well, Gail wasn’t really in the car with Paul, but her voice was, reading her latest book on CD. Its subject is a big one: Texas, and its influence on American politics. And…
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Peculiar times in London
What is literature for if not to take us into places and experiences that we might otherwise miss? I’m missing London right now; I see it nightly on TV coverage of the Olympics, and I wish I were there. There’s no way I could make it to London for the games, but I’ve done the…
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Life, love and respectability
When I was in school, my history classes rarely made it beyond the first few years of the 20th century. I learned about the Great Depression, World War II and the other formative events of my parents’ generation mostly by hearing their conversations and stories. Maybe that’s why I’m fascinated by recent historical fiction that…