The Shadow President by Michael D' Antonio

Everyone who gets into politics sooner or later gets a book written about them. Since Pence is vice president at the moment it is time for him to start to get his anal exam.

It is very important that we know just who it is we have in office. Politics is not an easy profession to do. There are thankless hours and tedious events. Most politicians you never hear about. I mean, how many vice presidents can you name? Not too many, I would venture.

I have heard someone say a person doesn’t enter politics because they love it. They enter politics to make a difference. When it comes to Mike Pence, I am sure, it is something he feels would make a difference doing.

He didn’t start out seeking political office. “Radio was Pence’s medium and as soon as he had arrived in Washington, he made sure he would some presence on the airwaves,” records D’ Antonio.

 He sought to live a lifestyle that was compatible with his Christian values and at the same time a life marked by aggression. Being third born in a family of six children he needed to be different from those who were born before him. A typical trait of middle children. In other words, he became, a person more complex than we know.

Which is one reason we need books such as this one.

D’ Antonio puts forth that Pence may be leaning toward a future role as president. Underneath what we see could very well be a striving for power.

It is not easy being a vice president. You must appear to agree with your mate and at the same time be your own person. That is the game plan for each person that gets this place on the ticket.  Expediency finds members of a party embracing programs to solve problems they should stay away from, he has once put forth.

Pence in the past has called for immigrants to be treated with compassion but now serving under Trump, Pence has become branded a hypocrite. Yet if he is seeking to move into the office of president he must act as Trump’s surrogate. Trump, as you know, has a record of firing people who don’t agree with him, so Pence has to play the part.

If this is so than this book is a good start to understand the person. In fact, I would highly recommend a person first understand what they are ranting against, so they act with knowledge.

It is published by St. Martins Press and retails for $28.99. It could also be found in your local library. Read it and be informed.

Pandemic 1918 by Cathrine Arnold

   One hundred years ago we faced an epidemic that was just as bad if not worst than our present- day HIV or Ebola. And since it was 1918 we had not yet discovered through research exactly what it was.

   It seemed a flu. But a flu, or influenza, would only last a few days. But this new disease took twenty-four hours incubation and appeared up to four or five days later. It would bring about headaches, chills, dry cough, fever, weakness and loss of appetite. You would experience fatigue and, in some cases, bronchitis and pneumonia.

   This new strain also caused people to collapse in the streets, hemorrhaging from lungs and nose. The person may also go blue because of oxygen failure. Pus would gather in the lungs.

   It became known as the Spanish flu, but it was worldwide.

   “It was the H1N1 influenza virus and it inflicted higher casualties than the war itself, from Europe to Africa, from the Pacific to the Arctic, from India to Norway. Ten to 20 per cent of those inflected died, a third of the world’s population. As many as 2.5 million are believed to have perished during the first twenty-four weeks of the epidemic.”, Arnold reports.

   It was thought of as a plague.

   Some names you may recognize who survived this disease are John Steinbeck, Lloyd George, Mahatma Gandhi, Katherine Anne Porter.

   Arnold details the story using eyewitness accounts. It must not have been an easy time to live through.

   It is easy reading. I like her writing style. You can see she did her research.

   Yes, I recommend this book for those who want to have an account of the time covered.

   It is published by St. Martin’s Press and sells for the retail price of $27.99. I am sure you can purchase it from Amazon, but it is better you support your local book store.

Open to the Spirit by Scot McKnight

The Trinity is a hard subject to handle. You know. Three in one. One in three. Father. Son. Holy Spirit. Each a person. But one in essence.

Each has his own role in the Godhead. The Father creates. He begets the Son.  Begets in the same sense we beget children. The Son reveals in Human flesh. The Spirit comforts us and reveals the Son.

McKnight claims that we don’t allow ourselves to be open to the Holy Spirit as we should. Since, he contends, not many Christians understand the work of the Holy Spirit, they don’t completely know how to handle being open to Him. Thus, he has written this short 204-page book. It has the footnotes following the text and this adds thirteen more pages. He divides it into five parts.

It is easy reading and compels you to keep reading and interacting with the areas spoken of (new creation, the people, the virtues, the victory). As you read, you find yourself involving yourself in a safe non-threatening way.

In some of his illustrations used to clarify what to him are important aspects, he gets away from what is written in the Bible as the basis for our belief. He does differentiate between Pentecostals and Charismatics, but then quotes a Monica A. Coleman, professor of Constructive Theology and American religion at Claremont School of Theology in Southern California. She fellowships at an African Methodist Episcopal Church. In her book named “Bi-polar Faith: A Black Woman’s journey with Depression and Faith “, on the subject of the gift of tongues, having prayed in tongues with her friend Cynthia and a minister from a Harvard doctrinal program to each other, standing in a corner talking to each other in tongues.

That is not found in the Bible. In fact, in 1 Corinthians we are told tongues does not edify the body but is a sign for the unsaved. He slips here.

His background is Anglican with a leaning toward Anabaptist. His profession is that of a Professor of New Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary at Lombard, Il. And that should be considered while reading this book.

Still, it is well done and, yes, I would say it is one I would consider looking at. It is important to be open to the Spirit

It is published by WaterBrook, Penguin Random House.. It retails for $15.99.

A Measure of Darkness by Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse Kellerman.

Here once again we have the team of father and son writing another mystery. Both Kellerman men write well separately and when writing together they add extra depth to the tale.

I guess what I am saying is, I enjoyed it very much and look forward to their presentations as co-authors. I major in reading Jonathan’s tales when they appear since he has a psychologist/sleuth as a major character in his stories, but from time to time I pick up and read Jesse’s. It is just a preference.

I guess if you were to ask a mystery reader why they read mysteries they would answer ‘for the thrill of the chase.” This genre needs a victim, a person who solves the puzzle, and one who commits the crime. Basic plot and red herrings help in the story.

When two authors come together and write a book together they must bind their styles into one unified voice. The Kellermans seem able to do this.

People are throwing a party. Gunshots are fired. Chaos follows. Bodies are found. One body is unidentified., A female. Who is she? Why was she murdered? What is the story this female has to tell?

This question leads our sleuth-- a coroner—along with a young female officer to seek answers in the past. Soon other incidents crop up. A cult is found, or maybe a different type of educating kids. What is Jane Does link to this school?

Along with this case, our hero must deal also with his brother who is trying to fit back into society after a period in prison.

It is purely plot driven. Characters are only there to keep the story moving forward. The police are police. Our hero is a coroner, but we don’t spend any time in a coroner’s theatre as you would if you were reading a Patricia Cornwell story with Dr. Key Scarpetta. Our victim is not anything but a body.

Mystery readers form a unique group of readers and have their own special preferences. Not all read police procedurals. Not all read who dun’ its. But they all enjoy a good puzzle. That may be why they come back again and again to favorite authors. I think this one is a good Kellerman tale and should be enjoyed by fans. It has 31 chapters.

The Outsider by Stephen King

Once again, he is on the best sellers list. If you are looking for a good read, you can’t go too wrong by picking up a novel by this writer. Sure, there have been a few that are a bit disappointing, but this one is worthy of his skills.

All writers worth their salt, so to speak, seem to slow down as they age and put out a few books to keep their name before the public. That is especially true of those the world deems authors of best sellers.

King likes to write in the genre of horror. That is, mostly. He has also written in the mystery realm (End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes) as well as the western realm (The Dark Tower trilogy). But he seems to be more at home in the horror realm.

He has tried to make a statement about the environment (Under the Dome) using the horror motif. He has lots of short story anthologies in print of his works. So, we know he can produce.

This story starts with an arrest. Did they arrest the right person? What are the repercussions of that event? Who gets hurt? Is it possible there is a supernatural element at work?  What is going on?

Kings use of senses and his use of words, not large or complicated, move the tale along. He has control, as he should after writing all these years. It is something to admire his craft about. You can sense the rewrites to find just the right verbiage.

He has said in the past in his book ‘Danse Macabre’, a book explaining this writing technique, he likes to shock people. In this book, as the reader gets involved in the flow and texture of the tale, he is pleasantly rewarded by spurts of uneasiness.

 King is weaving his magic.

I enjoy finding out in each book what kind of monster it contains. In Cujo it was a rabid dog. In Misery it was a zealous fan. In this one; No, I will not do a spoiler.

When you finish this book, you are satisfied. And isn’t that why you read books?

It is published by Simon & Schuster, Inc and can be found at your local bookstore or online. It may even be in your local library. That way you can save some money and enjoy the tale at the same time.

Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff

 
Here we go again. But wait, are we picking on President Trump or trying to explain him? It would seem this author, Michael Wolff, is writing a book to explain Trump.
  Wolff spent some time tracing Trump and observing the activity around him.
 Up to this point Wolff seems to have been writing books exposing other great figures. And with this book, Fire and Fury, he may have hot a jackpot. But you have to ask yourself, how much of this is true? It comes down to how much can you trust the media? Forget the rant and raving Trump makes about the media. Just how much truth does the media actually put out?
   The left has for along time been allowed to infiltrate the news media both in print and on the air. It just sells better. And since our schools no longer as a whole are training students to think but to accept without questioning what some grownup at the front of the room or who writes a book says as proven truth, how are we to know just how much of what Wolff discloses is true truth.
   How are we to know which details disclosed are true and which ones are bias?
   The answer is , we can't
   But the first step is to discern.
   If what Wolff has written is true we have a person in the White House now who doesn't know what he got himself into. If that is the case we need Christian to pray for him and for the vice president to get us through the next few years without destroying America and its' foundation.
    I would be very careful about accepting the facts presented in this book as true truth. Read with an open mind.
   Try to get this at a library and read it. I am not sure it is worth having in your personal library as something to keep.
   Should you decide to buy it at your local book store it is your money. Save yourself the cost.

Origin by Dan Brown

Here we have another entry into the saga of Robert Langdon, the renowned Harvard professor. We have met him in the Da Vinci Code, the Inferno, The Lost Symbol- all recorded by Dan Brown.

This time we have Langdon interfacing with his former student, Edmund Kirsch, who is revealing to the world his take on the origin of man. This is information that could reshape the religious world. The question he is dealing with is; Where Do We Come From ?  And Where Are We Going? Before Kirsch can revel completely what he has deduced he is assassinated.  Langdon must run, and his guide is a computer hookup called Winston.

Technology plays a big part om this story.

This is a plot driven tale. The characters are shallow with action pulsating throughout.

For some reason, Brown enjoys writing in this realm.  He seems to like writing tales that concern the Catholic mind set. He enjoys tweaking them.

It doesn’t take place in Vatican City. It starts in Spain and moves around. The so-called discovery of our origin, so Brown would have us believe, is important enough to base a whole 461 pages on.

Brown, as a writer, can grab the reader and pull him along. The problem with this one is, does it really matter? The ending is weak.

But what can we say about it in a positive light? It has a different kind of villain It has a different feel than his other books concerning Langdon.

For the reader who can really suspend unbelief this will be one to read. For fans of Langdon it will also satisfy.

It is published by Doubleday and retails for$29.95.