Category Archives: Books

          Frank, the Voice by James Kaplan (Doubleday, 2010. ISBN 978-0-385-51804-8) I’m not a fan of serials. Oh sure, I own a collection of old Buck Rogers episodes from the 1930s and ’40s. And those bits … Continue reading →

          Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames (2004. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-4907-6) OK. My title for this review is a bit harsh. To be fair, I don’t ordinarily choose humor as my choice of fiction: … Continue reading →

          The Winter War by Elise Engle and Lauri Pannanen (1973. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-2433-3) In the process of researching and writing my new novel about Finland, Karelia, Estonia, and the United States between the Great … Continue reading →

          Autobiography of Mark Twain Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith (2010. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26719-0). Wow. This is a ginormous work. The introduction is 58 pages alone. The main text runs 469 pages of … Continue reading →

  The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. (Mariner. 1947. ISBN 978-0-618-15463-0) Dark. Foreboding. Tense. Intense. Unapologetic. Testosterone-driven fiction. These are the adjectives I’d use to describe Guthrie’s classic western novel depicting the travels and life of Boone Caudill, a … Continue reading →

  A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (1964 (Restored Edition, 2010). Scribner. ISBN 1-4391-8271-0) So what’s not to like? Reading Hemingway’s memoir of the time he and his first wife Hadley spent in Paris in the 1920s in the company … Continue reading →

  Red Moon over White Sea by Laila Hietamies (1992 (English Translation: 2000). Aspasia Books. ISBN 0-9685881-4-x) My pal Gerry Henkel, editor of The New World Finn, handed me a copy of this novel a few months back when we … Continue reading →

Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert (Hyperion, 2004. ISBN 978-1-4013-5965-2) As an unabashed Liberal (note the large “L”) from a long line of unabashed Liberals (see the “books” tab in the dashboard and read the excerpt from my latest … Continue reading →

Under the Banner of Heaven: A story of a Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer (Anchor, 2004. ISBN 978-1-4000-3280-8) OK, I’ll admit to my prejudice. As an historian, I have a hard time buying Joseph Smith’s story regarding the discovery of … Continue reading →

Independent People by Halldor Laxness (Knopf, 1946. ISBN (Newer Edition)978-0-8446-6949-6) I never had the chance to break bread or have a glass of wine with Minnesota writer and Icelandic son Bill Holm. Though I was privileged to hear him read … Continue reading →