Linda says, "For a great armchair adventure, you can't beat Nevada Barr."

Anna Pigeon's first case—this is the story her fans have been clamoring for...this is where it all starts. In The Rope, the latest in Nevada Barr’s bestselling novels featuring Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr gathers together the many strings of Anna’s past and finally reveals the story that her many fans have been long asking for. In 1995 and 35 years old, fresh off the bus from New York City and nursing a broken heart, Anna Pigeon takes a decidedly unglamorous job as a seasonal employee of the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. On her day off, Anna goes hiking into the park never to return. Her co-workers think she’s simply moved on—her cabin is cleaned out and her things gone. But Anna herself wakes up, trapped at the bottom of a dry natural well, naked, without supplies and no clear memory of how she found herself in this situation.

As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, determination and will to live that she didn’t even know she still possessed to survive, outwit and triumph.

For those legions of readers who have been entranced over the years by Park Ranger Anna Pigeon’s strength and determination and those who are new to Nevada Barr’s captivating, compelling novels, this is where it all starts.

Linda says:
"This is vintage Nevada Barr! She knows how to tell a story, and for those of us who love the outdoors, and maybe especially the National Parks, she is a great and enjoyable find. Her heroine, park ranger Anna Pigeon, is always getting into and out of impossible scrapes, but along the way the reader gets to 'visit' one gorgeous park after another, and always the park plays as big a role in the unveiling of the story as do the characters telling the tale.

This story goes back to the beginning of Anna's career in the park service and is set in the Glen Canyon Recreational Area. Being a desert rat myself, I loved getting to climb around the rocks and pools with Anna, and learn, as she learns, how to navigate the challenges of both the terrain and the evil forces at play.

For a great armchair adventure, you can't beat Nevada Barr, and while this one starts you off at the beginning of Anna's career, you can pick up any of her Anna Pigeon mysteries and jump right in. It's always a great ride!"

The Pre-Civil War South Comes Brilliantly to Life in this Masterfully Written Novel About a Mysterious and Charismatic Healer

 

Mississippi plantation mistress Amanda Satterfield loses her daughter to cholera after her husband refuses to treat her for what he considers to be a “slave disease.” Insane with grief, Amanda takes a newborn slave child as her own and names her Granada, much to the outrage of her husband and the amusement of their white neighbors. Troubled by his wife’s disturbing mental state and concerned about a mysterious plague sweeping through his slave population, Master Satterfield purchases Polly Shine, a slave reputed to be a healer. But Polly’s sharp tongue and troubling predictions cause unrest across the plantation. Complicating matters further, Polly recognizes “the gift” in Granada, the mistress’s pet, and a domestic battle of wills ensues.
Seventy-five years later, Granada, now known as Gran Gran, is still living on the plantation and must revive the buried memories of her past in order to heal a young girl abandoned to her care. Together they learn the power of story to heal the body, the spirit and the soul.

Rich in mood and atmosphere, The Healing is the kind of novel readers can’t put down—and can’t wait to recommend once they’ve finished.

TC Tidbits: F. Scott Fitzgerald's Advice to His 11 Year Old Daughter

Check it out at listsofnote.com.

Hank Is Recommending The Riyria Revelations

Hank says:
"Originally published on-line, these stories have been collected into three books: Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron. Each contains two continuing, but satisfyingly self-contained, adventures. More toward the political intrigue end of the spectrum, but not devoid of magic, the adventures of Hadrian and Royce will probably appeal to fans of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar books. I was surprised to read in the bonus interview that Sullivan was not himself a follower of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser; however, he does pay a little homage."

Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles-until they are hired to pilfer a famed sword. What appears to be just a simple job finds them framed for the murder of the king and trapped in a conspiracy that uncovers a plot far greater than the mere overthrow of a tiny kingdom.

Can a self-serving thief and an idealistic swordsman survive long enough to unravel the first part of an ancient mystery that has toppled kings and destroyed empires?

And so begins the first tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

Theft of Swords was originally published as: The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha.

The adventure continues as Royce and Hadrian aid the struggling kingdom of Melengar as it alone stands in defiance against the newly formed empire. War approaches and a desperate gamble behind enemy lines is their only chance at forming an alliance with the Nationalists to the south.

But Royce has plans of his own as he uses this opportunity to discover if an ancient wizard is using Riyria as pawns in his own bid for power. To find the truth, Royce must unravel Hadrian's hidden past. What he discovers will lead them to the end of the known world, on a journey rife with treachery and intrigue.

Rise of Empire was originally published as: Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm.

The New Empire intends to mark its victory over the Nationalists with a bloody celebration. On the high holiday of Wintertide, the Witch of Melengar will be burned and the Heir of Novron executed. On that same day the Empress faces a forced marriage, with a fatal accident soon follow. The New Empire is confident in the totality of its triumph but there's just one problem-Royce and Hadrian have finally found the true Heir of Novron---and they have their own holiday plans.

Heir of Novron is the final volume of The Riyria Revelations and includes Wintertide and ---available for the first time--- the final volume, Percepliquis.

Vegan Goodies To Make Your Mouth Water

A Food Network Cupcake Wars winner shares her scrumptious recipes in a new cookbook that has vegans and omnivores alike clamoring for more.

When Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats opened in 2002, it instantly became one of the most popular bakeries in D.C.-a bakery that just happens to be vegan. Soon, Sticky Fingers was voted D.C.'s best bakery by The Washington City Paper, and chef Doron Petersan found herself beating out traditional bakers on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

Sweet! is packed with one hundred of her beloved recipes- from indulgent snacks like Fudgetastic Brownies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies to breakfast treats like Pecan Spice Coffee Cake and Cranberry Ginger Scones, and from celebratory desserts like Chocolate Seltzer Cake and Red Velvet Cupcakes to Sticky Fingers' most popular sweets- Little Devils, Cowvins, and Sticky Buns. Petersan also includes "love bite" nutritional tips and valuable tricks-of-the- trade techniques that every home baker will appreciate.

The number of people embracing a vegan lifestyle continues to grow. Like Erin McKenna's BabyCakes and Isa Chandra Moskowitz's bestselling cookbooks, Sweet! and Petersan's delectable-and secretly healthy-recipes will be greeted enthusiastically by anyone and everyone who loves to bake.

TC Tidbit: Lose (or Maybe Find) Yourself At "Bookfessions"

"These are confessions and/or thoughts of a book lover, bibliophile, book addict, reader, lover of literature, nerd...call me what you will, but here they are." 

These are the words that begin this fascinating collection of bookish confessions about reading, collecting, loving anything to do with books.  Check it out HERE.

John W. Says This Book Is "pure gold for those who love the music and history of popular music."

If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early ’70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew—whether you knew it or not.

On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny &  Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music—sometimes over the objection of actual band members forced to make way for Wrecking Crew members. Industry insider Kent Hartman tells the dramatic, definitive story of the musicians who forged a reputation throughout the business as the secret weapons behind the top recording stars.

Mining invaluable interviews, the author follows the careers of such session masters as drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel, as well as trailblazing bassist Carol Kaye—the only female in the bunch—who went on to play in thousands of recording sessions. Readers will discover the Wrecking Crew members who would forge careers in their own right, including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, and learn of the relationship between the Crew and such legends as Phil Spector and Jimmy Webb. Hartman also takes us inside the studio for the legendary sessions that gave us Pet Sounds, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the rock classic “Layla,” which Wrecking Crew drummer Jim Gordon cowrote with Eric Clapton for Derek and the Dominos. And the author recounts priceless scenes such as Mike Nesmith of the Monkees facing off with studio head Don Kirshner, Grass Roots lead guitarist (and future star of The Office) Creed Bratton getting fired from the group, and Michel Rubini unseating Frank Sinatra’s pianist for the session in which the iconic singer improvised the hit-making ending to “Strangers in the Night.”

The Wrecking Crew tells the collective, behind-the-scenes stories of the artists who dominated Top 40 radio during the most exciting time in American popular culture.

John says:
"The Wrecking Crew is a surprising look into the behind-the-scenes stories of many of the most famous pop tunes of the '60s.  It unearths the stories of the mostly obscure studio musicians in Los Angeles called on to play by producers from Phil Spector to Brian Wilson.

The Crew were a floating group of skilled, creative players who provided the music behind most of the Beach Boys hits, Simon & Garfunkle, The Monkees and scores of others.  They were a closely-kept secret at the time, as it was considered uncool for most musicians not to play on their own records.  Fantastic players like Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye remained obscure despite their work on hundreds of songs you may have heard, ranging from Herb Alpert to 'Mr.Tambourine Man' by the Byrds to most of the Monkees albums, the Grass Roots, up to 'Love Will Keep Us Together' in 1975.     

The only member to emerge from the studio shadow was Glen Campbell, who has a surprising musical background.  His work on Frank Sinatra's 'Strangers in the Night' is the source of one of many hilarious stories contained in these pages.

I found this a fascinating read.  Hartman has done a thorough job of research, though the format he's come up with is needlessly fragmented and at times confusing.  It's still a worthwhile read and pure gold for those who love the music and history of popular music."