Book Review by LeeAnn Sharpe

Henrietta Lacks led a life of poverty not all that unusual for a black woman in 1950’s Virginia. She had five children and a husband who stood by her through many trials, including a handicapped daughter and Henrietta’s own illness with cervical cancer. What was unusual was the way her cancer cells multiplied in a lab and that is why scientists know her as HeLa, the first initials of her first and last name. That is how they would name cell cultures in the lab. When the scientists cultivated her cells they grew at a phenomenal rate when most other cells would not survive at all. They were shared from lab to lab over the years growing more cells in labs than she ever had in her body. She and her family had no idea this was going on until many years later.

As interesting as her story was, the real story is in how medical research uses these cells to grow cultures that help to cure illnesses and develop vaccines. The ethical issues of who has rights to what had never been addressed until recent years when people started to patent cells and DNA. Now the question is who owns the rights to Henrietta Lacks’ cells. The issues of rights and monetary gains open all kinds of concerns.

The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, HeLa, are still alive today, though Henrietta has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine. They have uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects. They helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping.  They even went into space to see how zero gravity would affect man. They are so prolific they have contaminated many labs and sometimes create problems with other specimens.

A good deal of the book dealt with the author working with Henrietta’s daughter Deborah and her often psychotic on again off again support of the book Rebecca Skloot was writing. The author became a major character in the story. She did a good job of weaving the family and their story into the history of medical research from the 1950’s to modern day.

This is an excellent example of educating on a specific topic by sharing the history of a single person’s life into the significant events in history. It took Skloot over ten years to out the story together with interviews and travel, research and history unfolding. She had the book finished and then had to go back and amend when Deborah died. The story continues today as cell research climbs to new levels.

I enjoyed the book, listening to the audio CD’s. It even included an interview with the author which was nice.

I understand this is one in a series of light hearted romantic Regency era novels. Short and simple it is an entertaining read to anyone who enjoys the likes of Jane Austin and life in England of a certain time. For my reading this is an ideal quick treat and I shall look forward to all of Ms. Kleypas works in the near future.

Christmas was an especially good time to set this story as the tradition of putting a tree in the home and decorating had just started to become popular in America and was now being carried to Great Britain. The story brings to focus how trends can skip form Germany to the USA and back across the pond to England when families travel from one area to another.

Rafe Bowman is a rake who has arrived from America to settle on a marriage his father has decreed to earn his stake of the family fortunes. His chiseled good looks impress everyone, but his wild ways are known and may hinder his betrothed from accepting. Several love scenes get pretty juicy and my shock some readers. The author does a good job of being graphic without being obscene. His sisters and the Wallflowers (their friends) work in the most unexpected ways, seeing where his heart truly lies and work their magic to a happy end.

I enjoyed this story and will seek out more from this author.

Written as a telling of history from the Revolutionary War through Washington’s death, Beck used a chronology of dates, with frequent back tracking to significant points, noting the date and location such events took place. If you follow the timeline it makes sense and brings a fullness to the story he tells.

The moral of the story here is that George Washington was something of a God given instrument for the birth of our nation. He often said, “that doing the easy thing is rarely right, and doing the right thing is rarely easy. “ Building this nation was not easy.

The first three quarters of the book deal with the War and how difficult and almost impossible a feat it was to defeat the British. Basically we could not likely have succeeded had it not been for the French and their support. They only wanted us to succeed because they were also at war with the British.  The incredible losses early in the war make it remarkable the Revolution was won at all.

Once the War was won another battle came with building a Constitution and government. Many of the key players did not agree and the battle between small and large states made a bit of lobbying necessary to compromise on anything. Some wanted to name Washington King and even referred t o him as “Excellency” against his wishes. Even when he served as President he stepped down after two terms knowing that professional politicians did not serve the country well.  

Beck brings forth the point that many want to rewrite our Constitution and make it a “living document” changing with the times. Washington foretold of this desire from the beginning and warned against such as the beginning of the end for the republic. Further the Constitution relies on a moral populace with a belief in God and liberty. It’s also based on a free market economy of honest people. When treachery and deceit reign, the house of honest men will fall into civil disobedience and decay. Further, that career politicians have crippled our government with an elderly and unproductive group living off the public dole and doing little more than showing up to vote their party line.

 Many of the founding fathers who played a lesser role in our nation’s formation were exposed in a greater light than most of us had known them from grade school or even college history classes. There were some interesting connections as relationships were built on staying at one another’s homes or sleeping in battlefield tents and sharing scant rations. Even physical descriptions allow us to see Washington towering over slightly built soldiers and commanding with his stature alone.

Although the battles can become a bit tedious they build the story and engage the character of George Washington as an almost angelic force and definitely the most indispensable man in history. Where would we all be if not for his success and where would the world be without America for the last two hundred plus years?  

Beck calls out for our country to work toward creating the next George Washington through education, morality, and conscious. At a time when we really need him again, who will be the next George Washington?

You wouldn’t think a factual reconstruction of the building of an exposition would hold so much interesting story as this tale told by Erik Larson. The combination of the building of the 1894 Columbian Exposition in Chicago interwoven with a mass murderer taking advantage of the large volume of unescorted young women visiting the fair and his story make this an intriguing historical biography of the time.

Chicago was a dirty slaughterhouse town at the time. The stench of rotting blood and guts along with the blackened buildings from massive coal fires to heat the cold windy city made it a fairly unattractive place at the turn of the previous century.  So the concept of a fair celebrating the 400^th Anniversary of Columbus discovering America being set in such a place was fairly far-fetched. But somehow they pulled it off building a beautiful white city with the largest building and George Ferris’ wheel which brought in over $200,000.  It was not without a great deal of pain and even loss of life.

Set against that background a mass murderer took advantage of so much transient traffic and used his businesses as a cover for his devious deeds. It’s hard to believe he was able to perpetuate his crimes for so long without notice.

 Larson weaves and exciting and horrifying story based on copious documents and research of the time. He acknowledges the many inventions and standards that became commonplace in the country after the fair. Use of alternating current as opposed to direct current because that is what was used at the Fair on a grand scale with much success is now the standard. Walt Disney’s father Elias worked on the White City and surely helped Walt with inspiration for DisneyLand .  L. Frank Baum found some inspiration for his book the Wizard of Oz in the magic of the White City. And what on the Japanese templed wooded island inspired Frank Lloyd Wright? Buffalo Bill made over a million dollars which helped him build the city of Cody, WY. Cracker Jacks and Shredded Wheat were first introduced at the Fair.  Every fair now has it’s own midway and Ferris wheel  thanks to the White City. It seems no one visited the White City without being touched in some way.

For the victims of H.H. Holmes it was not in a good way.  He was responsible for untold number of deaths and swindled hundreds of people for millions of dollars. At the time he was touted as the most evil man alive.  He was hung in 1896 admitting many of the crimes and even writing about them.

Larson tells a grand story with incredible detail bringing out a colorful portrait of the times. He goes into detail about the menus and clothing, plants and architectural detail that may be a bit too much for the casual reader. But for the student of history it is delicious.   All in all it is a wonderful story and all the more interesting because it is true!

Based on facts known in one the most studied assassinations in history, this story keeps you turning the pages even when you know the outcome. When you grow weary of all of the battles and Civil War deaths in the early part of the book, you have to realize this was but a small part of the total of four years, 1861-1865, and over 625,000 American victims. An entire generation of young men were lost to our country and the book helps you understand why it wasn’t only southern sympathizers who were fed up with the war.  The north was about to say get it over with as well.

Not a student of war history I found the background and character painting of the key players interesting. I learned more about Custer than I previously knew. Many of these players have been in and out of later significant moments in our history, so they are not strangers. Yet this gives a new side to their life.

After growing up hearing the abbreviated and simple story of John Wilkes Booth shooting Abe Lincoln, it is fascinating to learn many details, some of which have only been discovered this decade. The book even mentions the possibility of DNA matching to vertebrae of Booth’s in a museum being matched to descendants to put to rest theories that he had escaped to South America.

Taking some dramatic license,” Killing Lincoln” follows the plot and footprints of each of the would be assassins the night of the killings. Most brutal were the Seward stabbings with several victims. But the thought process Booth went through to plan Lincoln’s killing was brilliant. Everything from boldly wandering the theatre as he was a regular eccentric  actor comfortable in the venue, to drinking in the tavern next door with the bodyguard.  It also brings out the fact that much was subject to chance. Booth wasn’t sure which theatre Lincoln would attend as he had tickets for another venue, but changed at the last minute.  Everything seemed to play out in Booth’s favor.

With all of the warnings and premonitions it is almost as if Lincoln knew his fate and just walked the steps to play it out. He could easily have demanded better security to prevent his death but did nothing to protect himself. He boldly rode and walked openly in public knowing half the country wanted him dead. Even Secretary of War Stanton had warned him against the theatre, yet he went anyway.

And the conspiracy theory involving Stanton is truly fascinating. There is evidence he covered up or destroyed materials confiscated from Booth; pages from his journal missing.  There was no love between Lincoln and Stanton but did Stanton really want to see him dead?  Was he building a case toward his ascension to the presidency? How sympathetic to the south did he lean? And what of the mysterious address where messages originated that shared a monetary connection with Booth and the sympathizer slush fund.  This is an area that could use new revelations. You never know, things turn up even one hundred and fifty years later!  

As a student of history and fancier of the era I found the book very interesting and a good read. I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject.

MAINE by J Courtney Sullivan

I so much wanted to be there for our Seasoned Readers Book Club at Barnes & Noble last night. But, Mom had an Alzheimer's melt down and I couldn't go. So to calm her I had a discussion of the book with her instead.

Our family spent summers in Maine near where this story takes place in Needick Beach, Maine, although our cabin was at Sebago Lake, not the ocean. Mom and Dad are both from the area and I still have oodles of cousins there. This story reminds me of my cousin Debbie’s home on the beach, just south of Old Orchard, surrounded by tall windswept pines. They get snow drifts in the winter up to the second story windows! But the summers are lovely. Only a five minute walk to the Atlantic Ocean!

I like the way Sullivan broke up the chapters speaking from the voice of each of the women in the family. That way we got into their heads and learned what they were thinking and feeling.  Seeing the same summer from each of their points of view examined the dynamics that come into play in every family.

The matriarch, Alice held a life altering guilt her entire adult life. Once on the road to a bohemian artist lifestyle, a tragedy, the Coconut Grove night club fire, made her reach an agreement with God to do what her sister, lost in the fire, would have done, instead of playing out her own desires. No one else would have dumped the guilt on her that she herself held. The results paint her life in shades of dysfunction, the impressions of neglect and a devotion to her church beyond the norm.

My Mom remembers that huge fire at the Coconut Grove in Boston. It was on the radio and in the papers for months. I attach a picture of her family at exactly that time. The Philco radio they listened to is in the background. Her two eldest brothers both went off to war and Larry was captured by the Germans and was a prisoner for much of the war. He came back only 90 pounds down from 250 he left with. Mom is in the white blouse in the back row. She was 11-12 years old at the time.   

Alice’s daughter Kathleen never felt loved the way she craved and felt the need to care for an alcoholic mother and then repeated the pattern with her own alcohol abuse. She even ran off with a new man after her marriage failed, effectively abandoning her daughter physically as her mother had abandoned her emotionally.

The daughter, Maggie, sought love from an emotionally unavailable man, just as both of her parents were unavailable to her. Her life apart only reconnected once she announced her pregnancy to her mother who came running to fix everything. Maggie was smart enough to lead her own life and even determined to raise her child alone.

Ann Marie is the daughter-in-law who wanted to control everyone and paint a pretty picture of life at the same time as her own world was far from the perfection she had envisioned or portrayed. She even decorated dollhouses as perfect slices of life she could not always have control of in real life.  A gay daughter off in the Peace Corp and a son who couldn’t hold a decent job and was on allowance from daddy were represented as perfect children. Ann Marie held a secret longing for a neighbor, yet played the perfect wife. It all starts to unravel when she acts on her desires.

Sullivan gives sufficient description to the home and occupants to make you feel as if they are real and appreciated. It made me long for those days of my family at the beach with sand between our toes.

I recently learned why we all feel so invigorated after a barefoot walk on the beach. The earth’s electromagnetic charge actually charges our body and makes the brain and entire body process better!  

This book made me feel like every family has similar drama surrounding life and death, alcohol and finances, personalities and control issues. In the end we all have to deal with what is there or walk away, which is one way of dealing with it. We still have our families and end up accepting them the way they are with all of their faults. It made me look at how I interact with my family and why. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done because you are there and a part of a family.

When reading Dr.Shinya's book "The Enzyme Factor" you will be awakened to an entire world of nutrition that you probably never knew anything about! No matter how much good healthy food you eat, it can not be utilized without enzymes which are destroyed when you heat food to over 118 degrees.

In his book Shinya explains the tragic circumstances that lead him to create the colonoscopy. The death of his wife and illness of his children motivated him to find a way to see what was happening in his patient's colon without the need for surgery. Today his procedures including the polopectomy have saved millions of lives and educated us how to improve our health. He graphically demonstrates how you can see a person's physically health through their colon.

Not only will you learn about your body and how to keep it healthy, you will be moved by his personal story.

The Sixth Lamentation by William Brodrick

The Sixth Lamentation, published July 26, 2004, was the August selection for my Seasoned Readers Book Club. I read that the author, William Brodrick, was a Franciscan friar before leaving the order to become a practicing barrister. His character in the story, Father Anselm, has done just the opposite and serves as the narrator as such, going back and forth between the telling of the history and current trial and lives of the present generation. He weaves the church’s involvement into the Nazi war crimes suspects lives as they seek sanctuary in his Suffolk priory and learns they had been housed directly after the war as they escaped and assumed new identities to avoid prosecution.  

The author notes his own family history that inspired the story including his mother’s attempt to smuggle an infant during the war, her arrest by the Gestapo and ultimate death from motor neurone disease in 1989. As a history laden thriller full of twists, turns, moving through time between occupied France and modern day England, it keeps you glued to what comes next.

The heroine Agnes Aubret writes her history in a simple notebook, knowing her life will end with terminal motor neuron disease, and wanting her granddaughter Lucy to know the stories she can not speak of aloud. Lucy, reads about her grandmother’s past in Occupied Paris as a member of a resistance group that smuggled Jewish Children to safety. Her story takes on a new life as Schwermann, a Nazi criminal is brought to trial all these many years later in London.  

Father Anselm researches the heroic French resistance fighters of the Round Table, a group of students who attempted to rescue thousands of Jewish children. He weaves a story together that is never quite what it seems on the surface. Friends turned collaborators, babies adopted by conspirators, confusion over who died in death camps and who survived add up to an unfolding story filled with intrigue.

Brodrick writes well with a touch of prose to enhance the mood and bring this tragic story of tremendous loss of so many during the war to a bittersweet climax that brought tears and heartwarming satisfaction.

By Caleb Carr

Carr had been the author of several historic works of non-fiction prior to embarking on this his first novel. So it is not curious that he would fill his novel with rich historic detail and characters who leap out as we know them from news of the past had painted them to us explicitly.

One such character is Teddy Roosevelt, Commissioner of the New York police department.  Portrayed in his full bully persona, Roosevelt plays a part in allowing his old Harvard  college buddies his support in capturing a serial killer using cutting edge techniques of the day including profiling and fingerprinting, in their earliest stages of acceptance by the legal system of the day.

The Alienist , refers to a common term for a  psychologist, here known as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a specialist in children of tragic circumstances who become victims and perpetrators of crime. A series of murders with horribly mutilated adolescent boys, all prostitutes from New York brothels, pulls the doctor and his team including New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore, Sara Howard, who works as a secretary in the police department, two Jewish detectives trained in the strange new science of 'forensics', a black man in service to the doctor after being tried for murder and Stevie, a young boy the doctor has befriended, into a bizarre series of investigations. Colorful people and places known to New York City’s past play minor parts in coloring this adventure with sights, sounds and tastes that transport you into a different era. Carr holds your attention and leaves you wanting more.   The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr (1998, Paperback) Book Club rated this book A
My Review
Our book club, the Seasoned Readers Club on Meetup read Caleb Carr's " The Alienist" several months ago and loved it so much we voted to read the "New York Times" bestselling sequel, "The Angel of Darkness".

The characters in these books become your friends and you get to know them so well you sometimes can predict what they will do next. But you won't predict the end of this book and all of the twists and turns.

It is about a turn-of-the-century doctor who tracks a cunning killer in this historical thriller.  Dr. Kreizler, the Alienist, (a doctor of psychology in those days)  investigates the kidnapping of the baby daughter of the wife of a Spanish diplomat, who ties into the politics of the day, and in the process uncovering a fiendish woman who has already murdered a number of children including her own. The cunning murderer is defended by the great Clarence Darrow in a riveting trial before he became so well known.  The book is filled with real people in history like Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell. Even the geography of the day with tourist gaming towns and bridges playing into the story are fascinating details. Forensics was a new science and well proven evidence of today, like unique rifling of a bullet’s fingerprint, was being invented and rejected by some as fact or fiction.

At more than 600 pages, it’s actually a swift read with a desire for more at the end!

 By Scott W. Cohen, M.D., F.A.A.P.

 Dr. Cohen, co-founder of Beverly Hills Pediatrics, is a father of two, and author of Eat. Sleep. Poop. He will be at a special event Saturday, October 23rd 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM (Dr. Cohen's Sessions: 11:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 1:30 PM)at Destination Maternity, Chauncey Ranch, 18560 North Scottsdale Road, Phoenix, AZ 85054 (480)-563-3437. A Free copy of Eat. Sleep. Poop. goes to the first 50 customers.

Dr. Cohen, co-founder of Beverly Hills Pediatrics, is a father of two, and author of Eat. Sleep. Poop. He knows from experience the questions new parents have and what they need to know. So he wrote a user-friendly guide that walks moms-to-be through everything from preparing for baby to preventing illnesses to the ins and outs of those three basic functions: “Eat, Sleep, Poop”.

It's especially interesting to read a book written from both a father and doctor perspective. Dr. Cohen comments about what he has read or heard and what his personal experience has been. Often he relates to his own daughter and how they treat her and even when he has medical knowledge, parent intuition comes into play.  

 "Dr. Scott Cohen has managed to condense everything parents need to know for their baby's first year into a fun and readable guide. Today's parents have more questions than ever and Dr. Scott answers them all in this handy book. I will be recommending this one to parents for years to come," Says Dr. Jenn Berman, Marriage, Family and Child Therapist and author of Los Angeles Times best-selling book The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy Confident Kids.

 In his pediatric practice, Dr. Cohen often finds that new parents come to him anxious, overwhelmed, and confused-they receive conflicting advice from books, the internet, neighbors, and relatives. He wanted to provide an alternative to encyclopedic, overwhelming books, strict regimens, and old wives' tales, so using his unique position as award-winning pediatrician and new father, Cohen set about writing a guide to your baby's first year that offered essential information in an engaging, easy-to-use format. Thus, EAT, SLEEP, POOP (Scribner; March 30, 2010) was born!

 Dr. Cohen believes the best tool for parenting is informed common sense: know all the facts and then do what is medically sound and what feels comfortable for your family. It's an approach that's meant to simplify and reassure at a time when you need it most.

 Organized by subject and chronology and filled with helpful diagrams, quick reference worksheets, and entertaining and revealing daddy vs. doctor sidebars, Eat, Sleep, Poop's user friendly format walks readers through everything from preparing for baby's arrival to preventing illnesses to the ins and outs of those three basic functions that will come to dominate a new parent's life. Chapters include:

· Eat-Breast, Bottle and Beyond, which addresses breastfeeding basics, introducing the bottle, and solid food guidelines.

· Sleep-Rock-a-Bye Baby includes advice for establishing a bedtime routine, teaching your baby to self-soothe, and preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

· Poop-The Scoop on Poop, which has tips for dealing with constipation and diarrhea.

· Hachoo!-Common First-Year Health Concerns, your go-to guide for handling illnesses from vomiting to Hand, Foot and Mouth.

· Protect-Vaccines, Dr. Cohen's thoughts on vaccines and autism, vaccines and Mercury and Aluminum and more.

 Dr. Cohen handily uses his medical background and experience as a first-time dad to advise his readers, providing a straightforward "common sense bottom line" for each subject. This isn't a guide that dictates, but one that helps parents to work out what is best for their baby. Lively, practical and reassuring, EAT, SLEEP, POOP provides the knowledge you need to parent with confidence and to relax and enjoy baby's first year.

 The film rights for EAT, SLEEP, POOP have been bought by DreamWorks.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Scott W. Cohen, M.D., FAAP, is the co-founder of Beverly Hills Pediatrics and an attending physician at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he was awarded Pediatrician of the Year in 2006 and the Physician Recognition Award in Pediatrics in 2005 and 2008. He completed his pediatric training in 2003 at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he was the recipient of the Victor E. Stork Award for continued excellence and future promise in the care of children and the Associates and Affiliates A ward for scientific knowledge, clinical judgment, and excellence in human relations. He was selected as one of the Best Doctors in America® for 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.

 EAT, SLEEP, POOP: A Common Sense Guide to Your Baby's First Year By Scott W. Cohen Scribner; March 30, 2010 304 pages, $16.00

A COOK'S TOUR
Anthony Bourdain
Bloomsbury 2001

If you are a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel program “No Reservations” you will enjoy this more detailed travelogue of exotic food and interesting people. I had often wondered about the behind the scenes of the crew and shooting adventures they must have encountered and this story lets the reader in on all of the graphic details of Chris hanging over the toilet bowl. Lydia wants Tony do shoot a scene and he’s not in the mood but she cajoles him into it anyway. The roads are dangerous and they bounce on endlessly in the middle of desert or jungle not knowing when it will end.

 And then there is the food. Food porn is the latest obsession with TV shows or any books about food, it's an awful lot like the relationship between pornography and sex. Throw Anthony Bourdain, who understands the whole food porn phenomenon, into the mix and you have a winning combination. He spends pages and pages waxing poetic about ingredients and dishes that the reader wants to experience, but probably never will, and like porn you get it only in your dreams.

A COOK'S TOUR finds Anthony Bourdain, America's favorite ex-junky celebrity chef, traveling the world searching for the perfect meal, with each chapter devoted to a particular country or trip. Bourdain talks about what he loves including the Japanese obsession with quality, the toughness forged of hardship on the Russian frontier, the sense of community in small town Mexico from where most of his kitchen staff hail. Obviously his favorite, Vietnam is painted in contrasts of extremes that surprise him and shed light on a world many Americans experienced in the 1970’s.

Bourdain's previous book, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, was a huge success and led to the TV series. A COOK'S TOUR reads like series of TV episodes but delves into more than any show could possible say. It’s an enjoyable read and satisfied my desire for more Bourdain wit and adventure while safely tucked into my nice comfy bed. What better way to enjoy great food without the calories!

The Back Roads (Arizona Highways: The Back Roads)
I love back roads and where they lead. This book will stay in the vehicle while out on the back roads exploring. It is great to plan off road trips - a day or even longer. There is no place like the back country for solitude and peace of body and mind. Arizona is filled with history on our scenic back roads. This book divides the state into sections and lists the best trails in those areas. 40 Scenic trips with route finders directions and maps and 220 color photos make this a must read before you hit the trial!

Review by LeeAnn Sharpe

“The Butterflies of Grand Canyon” by Margaret Erhart, is an “Indie Next List Notable Pick” with good reason. Erhart brings the Grand Canyon of the American West to life with an intriguing romance and mystery. Her gentle characters, complemented by the sweet butterflies, provide considerable imagery against the might and majesty of the Grand Canyon.

 Using local historic characters, Erhart builds a believable and interesting community where anyone can envision themselves stopping in for a summer vacation. For a young housewife, Jane Merkle, a summer visit rediscovers a sensuality that had been misplaced in her marriage to a much older St. Louis insurance salesman. Park Ranger Euell Wigglesworth awakens her desire. Communing with nature and chasing butterflies opens opportunities allowing Mother Nature to take her course.

 Watching her sister-in-law, Dotty, carry on a tryst of her own, Jane is surprised to learn her brother-in-law, Oliver, knows all about it, and has for years. His sensitive understanding that his wife needed more than their marriage could provide allowed him to give her loose reins, which in turn, kept her coming back to him without a word spoken of her indiscretions.

 Erhart created characters whose names were inspired by tags affixed to butterflies in the museum at the Grand Canyon National Park. The tag reads, “Mrs. Merkle, on the 17th of July, 1951, brings down a wood nymph or two at Point Sublime on the North Rim of Grand Canyon.” Another reads, “E. Wigglesworth captures a red admiral” in the same place at the same time. From here Erhart builds her story.  

 Grand Canyon National Park brothers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb photographed the canyon for decades and become an integral part of the story with a skeleton found in Emery's garage. Real life botanist Elzada Clover and her associate, Lois Jotter Cutter, are called into action to solve the mystery of the skeleton with a bullet hole at the back of the skull.

 “The Butterflies of Grand Canyon” is a well woven mystery that combines romance and intrigue. Erhart keeps the reader coming back for more. This, her 5^th novel, puts her hiking guide at the Grand Canyon experience to good use and may teach you a thing or two about its butterflies as well.

 For more info about this and other Penguin titles please visit www.penguingroup.com

 THE BUTTERFLIES OF GRAND CANYON By Margaret Erhart Plume Original/$15.00 978-0-452~29549~0

By LeeAnn Sharpe

 The Civility Solution by P.M. Forni, published 2008 from St. Martin’s Press

ISBN 0-312-36849-6, has 166 pages.

 This book answers many questions with an extremely civil attitude that common sense dictates to most people, but frequently seems to be lost in today’s world.  P. M. Forni, the award winning professor of Italian literature at Johns Hopkins University, has founded a Civility Institute. His 2002 book Choosing Civility has sold over a hundred thousand copies proving that what was once taught from childhood, has been lost for generations, and now must be learned by adults unaware that civility is what drives peaceful co-existence.

It’s no wonder we live in times where road rage and sideline parents at sporting events result in violence. Keeping ones cool in tense situations seems to be deemed as weak. 

 Forni’s book offers Eight Rules for a Civil Life that I find so simply elegant as to be words to live by. 

1. Slow down and be present in your life. It sounds so easy but who among us isn’t guilty of rushing to get everything done. And isn’t that generally when civility flies out the window?
2. Listen to the voice of empathy. I know it can be hard when the creep you are trying to empathize with has just stolen your parking place, but it will do you more good to let it go.
3. Keep a positive attitude. No one likes a downer. Positive breeds happy and happy breeds joy and joy breeds… well you know.
4. Respect others and offer them plenty of validation. This goes exceptionally well for a child or spouse. But it applies to the rest of the world as well.
5. Disagree graciously and refrain from arguing. This is pretty much the most important chapter in this book in learning how to be civil. The book is worth it just for this one chapter!
6. Get to know the people around you. How many people don’t know their neighbors these days? There you are.
7. Pay attention to the small things. My Dad goes crazy when he works so hard to maintain his clean yard and the wind blows his neighbors unkempt leaves over. It may be a small thing but it leads to a loss of civility.
8. Ask, don’t tell. Wouldn’t we all enjoy a bit more civility in the world?

 Retails for $19.95 at all fine booksellers today.