Category Archives: Books

          Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2008. Random House. ISBN978-0-8129-7183-5) I am not an award winning author. None of my books has won a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, a Minnesota Book Award, or achieved any other … Continue reading →

          The Discovery of Insulin by Michale Bliss (2007. University of Chicago Press. Eli Lilly 25th Anniversary Edition. ISBN 978-0-226-05899-3) Normally, I don’t read medical literature. But, when researching a character who’s afflicted with a particular … Continue reading →

            Finland’s War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in WWII by Henrik O. Lunde (2011. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-935149-48-4) In researching my novel-in-progress, Sukulaiset: The Kindred, a book that explores relationships (personal and governmental) … Continue reading →

            Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2003. 2005-English Translation. Pickador. ISBN 978-0-312-42708-5) I haven’t read any of Swedish phenom, Stieg Larsson’s, crime novels but I have read (and reviewed) plenty of Finnish crime novels … Continue reading →

            The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy (2004. Barnes and Noble Classics. ISBN 978-1-5908-069-3) The title of this classic collection by Russian fiction master, Leo Tolstoy, is a misnomer. The … Continue reading →

          The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943. Reprinted by Plume in 2005, Centennial Edition. ISBN978-0-452-28637-5) If your heroes or heroines of the day include Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Clarence Thomas, Alan Greenspan … Continue reading →

          Lucifer’s Tears by James Thompson  (2011. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-15700-4) The sophomore jinx. You know, the old adage that an author’s second book is never as good as his or her first. Is it true? I … Continue reading →

          Snow Angels by James Thompson (2009. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-15617-5) Sometimes good writing is simply that and nothing more. James Thompson, an American living in Helsinki with his wife who writes full-time after working stints (according … Continue reading →

          In Defense of Judicial Elections by Chris W. Bonneau and Melinda Gann Hall (2009. Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-99133-9) As a District Court Judge in my “other life”, I know this to be true: Outside of academia, … Continue reading →

          Alone by Lisa Gardner (2006. Bantam. ISBN 0-553-58453-7) Bobby Dodge takes the shot. He’s a SWAT sniper and he needs to take a life to save two lives. He does. His world starts spinning out … Continue reading →