reviews

A life of loss... Author:  Zora Neale Hurston Eye-witness testimony.  It can be uniquely potent stuff, particularly when it involves mankind’s sordid tradition of slavery.   It’s been more than 150 years since the last African slave ship arrived on the shores of United States of America.  Almost 70 years later, a young woman named Zora Neale Hurston – who would go on to become an acclaimed novelist – spoke to the last surviving slave on that ship, often transcribing much of his story word for word.  Notably, almost another century passed before the man’s story was finally published in 2018, [...]

A Sci-Fi Thriller About Small Decisions and Apocalypse Author: Blake Crouch A universe of possibilities exists within each choice. Some are obvious: whom should I marry? What should I choose first: money, career, love – a strange, unbalanced mix? Should I have children, and if so, where do they fall within this delicate, imprecise juggling act? Yet other choices are small, subtle, meaningless when we talk of life, paths, regrets, the endless drumming of “what if.” Takeout or microwave meal? Back roads or interstate? Sleep-in or exercise. Coffee or tea. Every moment is a choice, every breath an irrevocable step [...]

Pedaling north... Author:  Kimball Taylor Mysteries on two wheels.  They were turning up all over in southern California just across the border from Tijuana.  Bicycles of every kind – road bikes, mountain bikes, beach cruisers and more.  Mixed in with all the other detritus that frequently accumulates when the Tijuana River overflows its banks, no one thought much of them initially.  But as the number of bikes grew into the hundreds and thousands, San Diego based journalist Kimball Taylor – a bike enthusiast in his spare time – realized that something was up.  The Coyote’s Bicycle is his thoroughly engaging [...]