I love these books because they hold thinking as the highest virtue, and they value the rights of the individual. I like to challenge the norm. These stories seek to preserve and enhance human life through art and science.
Of all twenty-some books (and counting) in Child’s Jack Reacher series, this one stands out. In an interview, Lee once said, "I just wrote this one by the numbers." To me his final solo effort feels like he finally figured out how to say what he always wanted. It’s personal, yet geopolitical. Empathetic, yet very tough. In this tale of two half-cities run by rival gangs, the Armenians and the Ukrainians, he does so simply and brilliantly.
The story’s government is corrupt, as so many are, full of bribe-taking politicians who are unable to protect the citizenry from organized crime. To fill that void, in steps Jack Reacher with some intuitive detecting, a little romance, and a lot of bad-guy killing.
There's trouble in the deadly wilds of Nebraska . . . and Reacher walks right into it. He falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire country into submission.
But it's the unsolved case of a missing eight-year-old girl that Reacher can't let go.
Reacher - bruised and battered - should have just kept going. But for Reacher, that was impossible.
What, in this fearful county, would be worth dying for?
_________
Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, Worth Dying For follows on directly from the end of 61 Hours.…
I am deeply passionate about human resilience. From Louis Zamperini's unwavering spirit in the face of war and captivity to Santiago's quiet determination against nature's harsh realities to Michael Jordan's relentless drive to overcome setbacks, these narratives resonate with me on a profound level. I'm particularly drawn to how these stories explore not just physical resilience but emotional and psychological strength as well. They serve as a powerful reminder that true victory lies not in the outcome but in the unwavering spirit we bring to life's struggles.
Jim Harrison's book is a masterpiece. I love how Harrison crafts Dalva's character; she's simultaneously tender and tough, with a complexity that resonated deeply with me. I found myself completely immersed in her world. The bold narrative structure, especially the contrasting voice of Michael, thrilled me as a reader. I love how Harrison fearlessly explores themes of loss, resilience, and self-discovery through Dalva's journey.
The vivid portrayal of the American West and its history added layers that I found fascinating. What I appreciate most is Harrison's prose—it's so powerful that I often find myself rereading passages just to savor the language. This book touched me profoundly.
From her home on the California coast, Dalva hears the broad silence of the Nebraska prairie where she was born and longs for the son she gave up for adoption years before. Beautiful, fearless, tormented, at forty-five she has lived a life of lovers and adventures. Now, Dalva begins a journey that will take her back to the bosom of her family, to the half-Sioux lover of her youth and to a pioneering great-grandfather whose journals recount the bloody annihilation of the Plains Indians. On the way, she discovers a story that stretches from East to West, from the Civil…
I've been writing for decades, as one genre evolved into another. Local Colorado history led to the identification of "Boulder Jane Doe," a murder victim. During that journey I learned a lot about criminal investigations and forensics. I devoured old movies (especially film noir), and I focused on social history including mysterious and intriguing women. Midwest Book Review (see author book links) credits In Search of the Blonde Tigress as "rescuing" Eleanor Jarman "from obscurity." So true! Despite Eleanor's notoriety as "the most dangerous woman alive," she actually was a very ordinary woman. I've now found my niche pulling mysterious and intriguing women out of the shadows.
Mollie was 18 years old and a new bride in 1860 when she and her husband left eastern Nebraska for the gold diggings of Colorado.
The 7-week journey across the plains tested her strength and endurance, but Mollie battled the hardships and isolation of pioneer life with humor, intelligence, and honesty. She never intended her journal to be published, but it was, and I found it inspirational.
Mollie is a vivid, high-spirited, and intensely feminine account of city people homesteading in the raw, new land west of the Missouri. More particularly, it is the story of Mollie herself - just turned eighteen when the Dorseys left Indianapolis for Nebraska Territory - of her reaction to the transplantation and to her new life which included rattlesnakes, blizzards, Indians, and the hardships of pioneer life. Mollie describes her nearly three-year engagement to Byron Sanford, during which time she worked as a seamstress, teacher, and cook. Following her wedding Mollie's life took a new turn. Catching "Pike's Peak Fever," the…
When I finished this book, I immediately told all my close friends to read it so we could discuss. At year’s end, it’s the book I’ve recommended most. This is a quick, juicy, sometimes infuriating read, and I could not put it down.
Jess is a Black liberal from Nebraska, starting her first post-college job at Goldman Sachs. Josh is her white, conservative coworker from Connecticut and a former thorn in her side from undergrad.
Watching these two opposites attract during the Obama-Trump transition was the most fun I ever had (the banter is top-notch) and had me squirming with its hyper-realistic portrayal of America’s political polarization. Will Jess and Josh’s love survive, or will it suffer death by a thousand microaggressions? Everything’s Fine is a romance wrapped in an enigma.
I am a writer of science fiction and fantasy, and a humorist. My husband and I fell in love over Star Trek and puns, and we both share a deep abiding hatred of people acting stupidly to further a plot. I read to escape, so I’m looking for laughs but also compelling characters who live their stories rather than act out the author’s wishes. I will toss a book as soon as it insults my intelligence or bores me. Thus, when I write, I let the characters run the show—and they never fail me.
Rifts happen, so you should be ready when universes collide. A policy with Stranger & Stranger can cover all of your interdimensional insurance needs. But Tom Stranger faces his greatest challenge yet. Despite being assigned the wrong—and woefully inadequate—intern, Tom must still provide quality customer service to multiple alternate Earths, all while battling tentacle monsters, legions of the damned, an evil call center in Nebraska, and his archnemesis, Jeff Conundrum. It's time to kick ass and adjust claims. This is my go-to for road trips. Tom Stranger is such a straight man, but the humor never stops.
Have you ever seen a planet invaded by rampaging space mutants from another dimension or Nazi dinosaurs from the future?
Don't let this happen to you!
Rifts happen, so you should be ready when universes collide. A policy with Stranger & Stranger can cover all of your interdimensional insurance needs. Rated "Number One in Customer Satisfaction" for three years running, no claim is too big or too weird for Tom Stranger to handle.
But now Tom faces his greatest challenge yet. Despite being assigned the wrong - and woefully inadequate - intern, Tom must still provide quality customer service to…
I’ve always been drawn to stories about wrongful convictions. I can think of nothing worse than losing your freedom for something you did not do. More importantly, I think it’s important to hold those responsible accountable. I believe in the sentiment that it is better to let ten guilty men go free than to have one innocent man convicted.
This book covers false confessions, which comprise a good portion of wrongful conviction cases. This story is even more unbelievable because there was not just one false confession but six involving the same crime.
If you believe no one would confess to a crime they did not commit, read this book. If you want to learn how police use lies, deception, and intimidation to obtain a false confession, read this book.
This story has also been covered in the documentary The Beatrice Six.
Six Times More Explosive Than 'Making A Murderer'!
"John Ferak has carved his necessary true-crime niche with another fascinating exploration of unalloyed evil in overlooked places, and a dysfunctional judicial system. A chilling piece of journalism."—Ron Franscell, author of THE DARKEST NIGHT and MORGUE: A LIFE IN DEATH
From The Bestselling Author of BODY OF PROOF and DIXIE'S LAST STAND
Everyone felt the same way: small-town Nebraska widow Helen Wilson didn’t have an ounce of meanness inside her body. Then on February 5, 1985, one of the coldest nights on record, the unthinkable happened. The sixty-eight-year-old resident was murdered inside…
I am from rural Kansas, and I find that most rural areas are overlooked in mysteries. So it was with great pleasure that I discovered Shannon Baker’s Kate Fox series, set in the Nebraska Sandhills.
These books introduced me to this fascinating area of the Midwest with intriguing descriptions of landscapes and weather patterns, and reminded me of the close-knit everyday life of ranchers and surrounding communities in small towns.
When everyone knows everyone else, few are neutral about their neighbors. Every individual has an opinion, a prejudice, and sometimes a hidden agenda. Kate Fox is the new sheriff in the county and needs to deal with it all with all eyes focused upon her.
Sometimes, even the best-kept secrets can’t stay hidden forever.
"Bitter Rain seeps into your bones and stays with you, its characters haunting your thoughts long after the rain stops and the sun breaks through the clouds.” —Colorado Book Review
Sheriff Kate Fox is still settling into her new role when Deputy Kyle Red Owl’s sister, Shelly, vanishes from the nearby Lakota reservation. Convinced it’s an “Indian issue,” neighboring sheriffs are reluctant to get involved. Tempers flare—and Kate knows things are bound to get even more heated.
But when Kate and Kyle start to gather evidence, they realize the case isn’t…
I am a very realistic person, curious by nature, who loves a good thrill. A good twist—no matter the genre—that has all the above recommendations captures my attention. A feel-good chick flick or book does nothing for my curious side but adds a twist or two and you have me hooked. Love at war is that kind of book. It has a few twists that touch on important topics and leave you with a few thoughts to think about afterward. Life is not only marshmallows and sprinklers. Life is real and I like my books like that, too. Therefore, I call myself a multi-genre author. I don’t want to be bound by one genre.
There are many negatives about this book that told me to stay away. For me, the subject that deserved to be highlighted is forgiveness. The way the author weaved it into this story was perfect. The topic does not fit with the genre, and though paranormal and suspenseful, forgiveness ties it over for me.
Our Trespasses’ negative was the paranormal side of the book. I’m not a big fan of the genre but once my interest was piqued, I really enjoyed the book. In the end, it wasn’t that big negative, but it made me hesitant to read at first.
Drowning in a meaningless existence flipping burgers, Matthew Davis suddenly collapses from a powerful psychic connection he shares with his twin brother, Jake. The pain is violent and immediate, and Matt knows exactly what it means… hundreds of miles away, Jake has been viciously killed. But instead of severing their connection, the murder intensifies it and Matt begins to suffer the agony of Jake’s afterlife.
Hell bent on solving Jake’s murder in order to break the connection, Matt travels to his troubled hometown of Hatchett, Nebraska, where an old lover and savage new enemies expose the…
I recall the exact moment when my interest sparked about frontier prostitution and Denver’s underbelly — a friend mentioned the ‘bad blood’ in her family — an ancestor who was a second-rate madam and who employed her own daughters. The quest started. Who were these women, and why did they make the choices they did? I’ve spent years chasing down traces of the old west’s prostitutes, fascinated by their identities and lives. The west had opportunities for women who were willing to take chances. As a fifth-generation Coloradoan, I hoped to capture the story of these enterprising and overlooked women, their lives, and the world around them.
Slogum House is a fairly brutal account of the dynamics between a gentle patriarch who married a shifty woman and the influence her brutality had on the family. Parts of this novel are disturbing and hard to read, but this is an interesting tale of a desperate and driven woman who will literally stop at nothing to get what she wants, and how that ruthlessness colors her family and children’s lives. The setting is the remote western sand-hills of Nebraska. Brilliant writing.
Slogum House "lay on the winter flat of Oxbow like the remains of some great, hulking animal that had foraged the region long ago, leaving its old gray carcass to dry and bleach at the foot of the hogback." Ruled by Gulla Slogum, the house was headquarters for a clan that terrorized what it couldn't seduce or steal. Using her daughter as poisoned bait and her sons as predators, Gulla plotted to put a whole county under her control. She had been insulted too often and worked too hard; now she sought power, land, and revenge.
In my stories and novels, in my reading, and in my life, I'm inspired and captivated by what I call resonant places, places with deep connections to the past as well as the present moment. I grew up in a mid-century modern house my parents built. Although no other family had lived in it before, our own family—like all families—was haunted by ghosts of our past. My childhood home was bulldozed by the next owners; the house has become a ghost itself. But memories remain long after a family or a home is gone. As a writer, a reader, and a psychotherapist, I believe that memories are the seeds for both remembering and imagining.
Wright Morris believed that we are “inhabited” by the places where we have lived.
The Home Place is set on the plains of Nebraska where Morris was born.The text is combined with his photographs of farm buildings, farmhouse interiors, farming implements, cooking utensils, and furniture. Narrator Clyde Muncy returns from New York to the farm in Nebraska where he grew up, bringing his own family. He re-experiences the farm through the eyes, ears, and especially noses of his city wife and children. When his son sniffs a croquet ball and says it smells like the subway, Muncy observes, “Two thousand miles from New York a city boy turns up something in a farmyard, it smells damp and earthy, like a storm cave, so he calls it the subway smell.” Morris eschews sentimentality. His plain prose and black-and-white photographs are austere, like the farm itself. “Home is where you hang…
Reproduced from the 1948 edition of The Home Place, the Bison Book edition brings back into print an important early work by one of the most highly regarded of contemporary American Writers.
This account in first-person narrative and photographs of the one-day visit of Clyde Muncy to "the home place" at Lone Tree, Nebraska, has been called "as near to a new fiction form as you could get." Both prose and pictures are homely: worn linoleum, an old man's shoes, well-used kitchen utensils, and weathered siding. Muncy's journey of discovery takes the measure of the man he has become and…
