Author: ekkarn

Harry Dolan’s Very Bad Men (David Loogan Series #2)

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Very Bad Men

Harry Dolan’s Very Bad Men is the second book in the David Loogan series,  Dolan’s follow-up to Bad Things Happen about which Stephen King  said….. “Great F****ing Book Man, I was totally hooked”  I am in total agreement with the great Mr. King’s assessment of Bad Things Happen and I feel the same way about  Very Bad Men!!

In Harry Dolan’s Very Bad Men, David Loogan and Elizabeth Waishkey have settled down to a simple life  after the tumultuous events in Bad Things Happen, until one day when David, as editor of Gray Streets magazine receives a manuscript that begins “ I killed Henry Kormoran”.  Not  long after David receives the manuscript, Detective Waishkey is assigned to a new murder case – Henry Kormoran,  and once again it appears that David and Elizabeth are on the trail of a psychotic killer. This time the killer is targeting members of a gang that attempted to rob the Great Lakes Bank seventeen years prior! During the attempted robbery Terry Dawtrey shot Sheriff Harlan Spencer, leaving Spencer paralyzed.  Now, Spencer’s daughter Callie is running for the Senate and the current killings are dredging up old memories about the robbery that may upset Callie’s campaign, especially with investigative  reporter Lucy Navarro on the case for the tabloid The National Current!  The question becomes who and why is somebody targeting these men after such a long time.??? Is it Callie and her campaign, was she involved in the robbery?  Or is it someone else??

Harry Dolan

Thoughts About Very Bad Men

Harry Dolan once again delivers a top-notch, intricately plotted mystery. While the setting is the present  day, the writing  creates a feel similar to one that one gets when reading Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. Does anyone else see Humphrey Bogart playing David Loogan!

The characters are vivid and the twists and turns of the plot keep the reader guessing and, at least for me, quickly turning the pages!!

Grade  A+

Bottomiine:

A series that, while it is still in its infancy, is getting better with each book, and I can’t wait to move on  to the next installment The Last Dead Girl..

Links

Author Website
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Goodreads
Buy Harry’s Work  Online

Book 33 for 2014

Thomas Marriott

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Primary Instrument: Trumpet

Born December 16, 1975

 

ThomasThomas Marriott Marriott is an award-winning and chart-topping jazz trumpeter from Seattle, Washington. Marriott is an eight-time Golden Ear Award recipient. The Golden Ear Awards celebrate contributions and achievements in Seattle Jazz.  In addition to his Golden Ear Award Marriott won the prestigious Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition in 1999.

Marriott’s jazz career started, when after winning the Carmine Caruso competition, he headed EAST! In New York City, he joined Maynard Ferguson‘s Big Bop Nouveau Band. Marriott completed three world tours with Ferguson’s band and Ferguson has called Marriott  “a truly great jazz trumpet player”!

Over the course of his career, Thomas Marriott has played on more than 100 recordings with musicians of all genres and styles including: Rosemary Clooney, Joe Locke, The Tito Puente Orchestra, Brian Lynch, The Chico O’Farrill Orchestra, Eric Reed, Les Brown and the Band of Renown, Kenny Kirkland, Charlie Hunter, Ritchie “Alto Madness” Cole, and many others.

Marriott’s career as a leader started in 2005 with the release of Individuation,  he has released a total of eight albums.

Individuation – released on Origin Records, and was named one of  the top 10 jazz records of 2005 by WBEZ radio, Chicago.

Both Sides of the Fence – released in 2007  received over 3300 spins nationally, and rose  into the top ten on jazz radio.

Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson  released in early 2008 received wide critical acclaim.

“This album [Crazy: The Music Of Willie Nelson] is a kick in the pants!”- Jazz Times Magazine

Flexicon released in 2009 climbed to number 10 on the national jazz radio airplay charts.

East-West Trumpet Summit released in 2010  saw Marriott collaborating with trumpeter Ray Vega.  That album made it all the way to number one on the national radio airplay charts and stayed, in the Top Ten for 10  weeks and was also featured on NPR’s “Morning Edit”

Constraints & Liberations – 2011

Thomas Marriott’s fifth CD as a leader marks a substantial departure from his earlier efforts. Not only does he focus exclusively on originals for this session, but his approach to the trumpet has moved away from a forceful pop style to a more reserved yet emotional technique Read more 

Human Spirit – 2012

This is a rare album that showcases all of the players at their highest levels, in both solo formats and intertwined…… This is the key to the album — the mix of styles and spotlighted abilities created by a set of top-flight players in their primes working together. More at AllMusic

Urban Folklore

 

Urban Folklore – 2014

FreeWheelin’ Jazz Safari: Thomas Marriott – Urban Folklore

 

 

Here’s what some folks have to say about the music of Thomas Marriott….

“Tom Marriott is a very accomplished young trumpet player. Recent hangs with Tom have reminded me of how much I enjoy his playing.” –Brian Lynch

“Thomas Marriott presents a musical vibe that is contagious and pleasing, brimming with creative imagination, technical fluency, and a deep respect for the jazz tradition.” – Jim Ketch, International Trumpet Guild Journal

In addition to his own work, Marriott  has produced albums for a number of artists including saxophonist Hadley Caliman and trumpeter Ray Vega. He has also served on the Board of Governors of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and the Board of Directors of Earshot Jazz. Since his return to Seattle in 2004 he has been the featured trumpet soloist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. Thomas Marriott is  like many jazz artists and I don’t think he ever sleeps!!

From YouTube.….

The collective talents of Matt Jorgensen, Tom Marriott, Ryan Burns and Mark Taylor come together as Human Spirit, currently on Origin Records. The four jazz greats perform a Tom Marriott original, “Reversal of Fortune”

Exploring the Music of Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner

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The Always Classy McCoy TynerToday Jazz Piano great McCoy Tyner celebrates his 76 th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. So let’s celebrate his birthday by exploring the music of this great jazz pianist McCoy Tyner!  From his biography at Facebook,

It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.

Here’s some  background about McCoy from Wikipedia:

Alfred McCoy Tyner  was born on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, He wad the oldest of three children and  encouraged to study piano by his mother.  On his website Tyner writes that he was given the choice y his mother to take singing or piano lessons and he was glad that he chose the piano!! Read More

The only McCoy Tyner album I have in my library is a cassette of his 1968 release Expansions. At AllMusic Scott Yanow writes about Expansions...

Of pianist McCoy Tyner’s seven Blue Note albums of the 1967-1970 period, Expansions is the most definitive. Tyner’s group (comprised of trumpeter Woody Shaw, altoist Gary Bartz, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter on cello, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Freddie Waits) is particularly strong, the compositions (four Tyner originals plus Calvin Massey’s “I Thought I’d Let You Know”) are challenging, and the musicians seem quite inspired by each other’s presence. The stimulating music falls between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of modern mainstream jazz. More

Though I only have one McCoy Tyner album, I have heard his jazz piano through the years, particularly on the Coltrane albums that he played on.  Tyner joined Coltrane’s group in 1960. From Wikipedia:

He appeared on the saxophonist’s popular recording of “My Favorite Things” for Atlantic Records. The Coltrane Quartet, which consisted of Coltrane on tenor sax, Tyner, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums, toured almost non-stop between 1961 and 1965 and recorded a number of classic albums, including Live at the Village Vanguard, Ballads, Live at Birdland, Crescent, A Love Supreme, and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays …, on the Impulse! label.

Tyner’s albums after leaving Coltrane’s group, are according to Wikipedia:

…often cited as examples of vital, innovative jazz from the 1970s that was neither fusion nor free jazz.Trident (1975) is notable for featuring Tyner on harpsichord (rarely heard in jazz) and celeste, in addition to his primary instrument, piano.

Tyner’s jazz piano style according to Wikipedia is…..

easily comparable to Coltrane’s maximalist style of saxophone.[1] Though a member of Coltrane’s group, he was never overshadowed by the saxophonist, but complemented and even inspired Coltrane’s open-minded approach.[1] Tyner is considered to be one of the most influential jazz pianists of the 20th century, an honor he earned both with Coltrane and in his years of performing following Coltrane’s death


Link for the Music of Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner

Wikipedia: McCoy Tyner
AllMusic: Biography
 Discography
Facebook: McCoy Tyner
All About Jazz:McCoy Tyner

So let’s wish McCoy a Happy Birthday and watch McCoy and John Coltrane’s son Ravi as they perform “Walk spirit talk spirit” at Jazz à Vienne in 2012.

1990 – I discovered William G. Tapply’s Brady Coyne and Elizabeth was born! A great year!

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Dead WinterI started to keep track of the books that I read  in 1988. I kept record of themin   A Book Lover’s Journal  and wrote short blurbs about the books. Here is a list of the 54 books that I read in 1990. That’s the most books read of any year, since I’ve   kept records! Reviewing the list, I see that it was the year I discovered William G Tapply’s Brady Coyne. After reading  Dead Winter, the eighth book in the series, which was released in 1989, I quickly went back and read the prior seven books! Tapply wrote 20 more Brady Coyne novels of which I’ve read 16.  Books #21 Shadow of Death and #25 One-Way Ticket are on my to be read bookshelves! Maybe it’s time to rediscover this great series! In 1990 the second most read  series was the Mongo Mystery series from George C Chesbro. I read four books from this series. From Goodreads….

Dr. Robert Frederickson, or “Mongo” to his friends. He’s a former circus tumbler, black belt in karate, doctor of Criminology, and professor at a New York City university. And he’s quite an unusual fellow as well, not only because he’s a private investigator but also because he’s a dwarf…

The stories and the characters in this are terrific! Chesbro wrote 13 Mongo books of which I’ve read 12.  The first seven books are probably my favorites. Here’s a link to a great synopsis of the work of George C Chesbro. Check it out and Chesbro’s work at Dangerousdwarf.com you won’t be disappointed!! Of course 1990’s reads also included some books by  other favorites like James Lee Burke, Loren Estleman, Bill Pronzini, Tony Hillerman  and Stuart Kaminsky. Here’s the complete list!

Title Author
The Cold Smell of Sacred Stone (A Mongo Mystery, #6) George C. Chesbro
Dark Side (Loren Swift Mystery) Doug Hornig
The Cat’s Meow Robert Wright Campbell
Saturday Night Dead R.D. Rosen
Murder on the Hudson Don Flynn
Perfect End William Marshall
Extenuating Circumstances Jonathan Valin
Nibbled to Death by Ducks Robert Wright Campbell
The Man Who Met the Train (Carl Wilcox, #7) Harold Adams
An Affair of Sorcerers (A Mongo Mystery, #3) George C. Chesbro
Peeper Loren D. Estleman
Dead Winter William G. Tapply
The Language of Cannibals (A Mongo Mystery, #8) George C. Chesbro
The Man Who Walked Like a Bear (Porfiry Rostnikov, #6) Stuart M. Kaminsky
Follow the Sharks (Brady Coyne, #3) William G. Tapply
You Bet Your Life (Toby Peters, #3) Stuart M. Kaminsky
Out of Nowhere William Marshall
Coyote Waits (Navajo Mysteries, #10) Tony Hillerman
The Marine Corpse (Brady Coyne, #4) William G. Tapply
Death at Charity’s Point (Brady Coyne, #1) William G. Tapply
Gone to Earth Rick Boyer
Quicksilver (Nameless Detective, #11) Bill Pronzini
A Void in Hearts (Brady Coyne, #7) William G. Tapply
Deadfall (Nameless Detective, #15) Bill Pronzini
Murder Among Friends Frank McConnell
The Vulgar Boatman (Brady Coyne, #6) William G. Tapply
The Frog King Frank McConnell
Wall of Glass (Joshua Croft, #1) Walter Satterthwait
A Ticket to the Boneyard (Matthew Scudder, #8) Lawrence Block
Blood Lake Frank McConnell
Icy Clutches (Gideon Oliver, #6) Aaron Elkins
Dead Meat (Brady Coyne, #5) William G. Tapply
Jackpot (Nameless Detective, #17) Bill Pronzini
At Ease with the Dead (Joshua Croft, #2) Walter Satterthwait
Sweet Women Lie (Amos Walker Mystery #10) Loren D. Estleman
The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux, #1) James Lee Burke
Shadow of a Broken Man (A Mongo Mystery, #1) George C. Chesbro
Client Privilege William G. Tapply
Black Cherry Blues (Dave Robicheaux, #3) James Lee Burke

Reading Three Books, added three to the “to be read” pile! Oh, my!

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Very Bad MenSo while I haven’t finished any books in a little while that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading and  out buying new books, much to the consternation of my better half. So what’s been happening. First I started to read the second book in the David Loogan series from Harry Dolan Very Bad Men, which I have checked out of the library. No, wait, first I started to read William Kent Krueger‘s latest Cork O’Connor book Windigo Island on the Kindle, then Very Bad Men. Then to compound everything,  I went to Dollar General where I  saw  Sanctus by Simon Toyne, which looked pretty interesting. From the cover: “Frightening, ruthless, and relentlessly entertaining” – Brad Meltzer “A cliffhanger ….. that aspires to towering heights” Kirkus Reviews So never being one to pass up a bargain book $3.00 for a $9.99 list book from 2011, I bought it and then started it. So now I am reading three books!! I am making progress in each one and right now, none of them have grabbed me to the point ,that I will only read that book!! Hopefully, one of them will!! Finally in the midst of all this, I went to the Dollar Tree the other night with my wife and much to her dismay I bought three more books! – At  dollar each how can you go wrong!!  The books are: Silent Screams – C.E. Lawrence The Coldest Fear – Rick Reed Delirious – Daniel Palmer Anyone have an opinion as to which of these I should read first?? Oh , the third Keye Street book from Amanda Kyle Williams is on my to  be read shelf, checked out from the library!! Can you say too many books, not enough time!!!  I wouldn’t want it any other way!! It’s time for me to crank up some jazz and get reading!!

“Into the Morning” with Kenny Barron and Dave Holland Part 1 – “Billie’s Bounce”

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Kenny Barron Dave Holland

So over the last few days, I have listened to the new album from Kenny Barron and Dave Holland The Art of Conversation and I will try to write about it tomorrow. But for now let’s go “into the morning” with a video of Kenny and Dave performing “Billie’s Bounce” and for folks like me, here’s a little about the song… from Wikipedia…

“Billie’s Bounce” (also known as “Bill’s Bounce”) is a jazz composition written in 1945 by Charlie Parker in the form of a 12 bar F blues. It was dedicated to Billy Shaw by the Yardbird. The original recording by Charlie Parker and His Re-Boppers was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.[1] Copyright 1945 by Atlantic Music Corp. Copyright renewed and assigned 1973 to Atlantic Music Corp.

The players on the original 1945 recording

Charlie Parker – Eb alto saxophone
Miles Davis – Bb trumpet
Dizzy Gillespie – piano (Gillespie also plays trumpet in other recordings from the same session)
Curley Russell – bass
Max Roach – drums

Read More

Enjoy!!

Amanda Kyle Williams – Stranger in the Room (Keye Street Series #2)

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Stranger iin the roomOk so I did not really enjoy the first half of Amanda Kyle Williams The Stranger that You Seek, but the second half of the book was really good, and propelled me on to the second book in the Keye Street series Stranger in the Room. For me, there was no weak first half in this book, it grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last page! Miki Ashton, Keye Street’s cousin returns home after a night on the town, puts the key in the front door of her house, before she can open the door, she hears footsteps in the supposedly empty house!! When she makes her way to the window in the front of the house, and peers in, she sees a slightly overweight man standing in the shadows, as he stands there he forms a gunwith his fingers and he pretends to shoot Miki!!  So begins this great twisting mystery!! Who was this stranger in the room?? Why was he there?? Is he the source of the mysterious calls, and noises that plague Miki??

Meanwhile. Keye’s boyfriend Detective Aaron Rauser is investigating the murder of a young baseball player on the cusp of good things! Soon the mystery man and the boy are entwined in an ever-growing murder investigation and Keye is once again drawn into the hunt for a murderer. Can she and Rauser put the pieces of the puzzle together before more lives are lost?  Soon Miki  and Keye become the focus of  the murderer’s wrath!! Why??

I imagine that one of the reasons that I liked this book more than its predecessor, is that now I know the players. All the characters from Book 1 are back including of course Keye and Rauser, along with Keye’s adoptive parents, her work partner, stoner computer geek Neil, Tyrone the bail bondsman who Keye does work for, as well as, Larry Quinn the attorney who supplies Keye’s PI firm work. In this installment Quinn asks Keye to  investigate into the actions of a North Georgia Crematorium. This subplot was better than the investigation of a missing cow in the last book!

But I think that’s only half of the reason I enjoyed the book more.  The other half is the story itself. In this book, I thought that Keyes profiling of the perp was more in-depth, and it really brought to life the how and why of the killer’s actions, but profiling alone does not capture a criminal, so the work of Rauser and hs team played a big role in the discovery of the identity of the killer.

Bottomline: This book was a real page turner for me. A good police procedural that coupled Keye’s keen profiling skills with Rauser’s dogged police work, kinda like Bones and Booth without the bones or the FBI!  Along the way there was also Keye’s addiction battle, juxtaposed against Miki’s love for both alcohol and drugs, and Keye’s mom’s  attempt to be the next “Paula Dean” which made the book enjoyable on more than one level! So I am now a fan and I am ready to move on to Don’t Tak to Strangers book 3  in the series!! Now watch when I checked out both Book 1 and 2 book 3 was on the shelf what do you want to bet that tomorrow, when I take back this book, book 3 will be gone!!

Grade: A solid  A – so check it out!!

Links

Amanda Kyle Wiliiams.com

Facebook

Twitter

Amazon

((Book 32 of 2014)

Where Monsters Dwell – (Odd Singsaker Book #1) – Jorgen Brekke – Hop on the Brekke Bandwagon!!

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Where Monsters DwellWhen I first picked up Where Monsters Dwell by Jorgen Brekke, I knew nothing about the book, but when I read what Steve Berry wrote about the book….

“History pulses with life and excitement in this chilling and foreboding read. Jorgen Brekke delivers what thriller readers crave, or at least what this reader craves – action, history, secrets, conspiracies, and international settings. Couldn’t ask for anything more.”

 

and Library Journal wrote’….

“Engrossing… grissly murders investigated by likable detectives. This mystery is perfectly grim without being bleak.”

 

About Where Monsters Dwell

I thought that this would be a book, right up my alley, and I was right, very right! I loved this book. The main action takes in Trondheim, Norway where the mutilated body of the former head librarian at the Gunnerus Libraryis found in the locked vault .The vault houses  the rarest books in the library’s collection.  While across the Atlantic the director of the Edgar Allen Poe museum is also found murdered. His body has been mutilated in a similar manner!  The two likable detectives, who are assigned to the respective cases, are Norwegian Odd Singsaker and Richmond’s Felicia Stone. Both of the characters have flaws. Singsaker’s flaws come from a brain tumor that has recently been removed. The tumor cost  him his family.  Stone’s flaws come from a rape that occurred in her senior year of high school, which sent her life in a downward spiral.

As the detectives investigate the murders, it seems, that both murders revolve around the Book of Johannes, a handwritten book bound in human skin that appears to be the journal of a sixteenth-century Norwegian serial killer!!   As the investigations progress readers are  introduced not only a variety of current suspects, but also the Norwegian monk and a variety of 16th century characters, not only in Norway, but also in Italy.  The investigations twist and turn and the American Stone joins Singsaker for the ultimate unraveling of the murder mystery.

Another blurb on the back of the book, from Kirkus Review says that the book is superb and is almost impossible to put down!!  Another statement that I totally agree with!! The pages flew by and the pace of the book never slowed down!!

Bottomline: A fine, fine read that left me eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Evidently, Mr Brekke already has book two in the works!!!

Grade: A+  A must read for any fan of Scandinavian mysteries. For me Brekke has joined the ranks of fellow countrymen Jo Nesbo and Karim Fossum!

(Book 31 for 2014)

 

 

From the Archives: Book 33 of 2011 Lassiter by Paul Levine ….

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By Paul Levine

Through the years two of my favorite mystery series are the Jake Lassiter and the Solomon and Lord series both from Paul Levine. I haven’t read a book of his since 2011, when I read Lassiter. Here’s the review I wrote about it back when I finished the book

Tonight as I was re-posting this review I went to Levine’s page at Amazon and I see that books 9 and 10 in the Jake Lassiter series are both available at Amazon for only $3.99 each!! What a steal! Now I only have to find time to read them!!!! Anyway here is the review for Lassiter!

So a couple of years ago after reading Paul Levine‘s book Illegal I sent him a message on Facebook and told him that I liked the book but sill missed Jake Lassiter! He emailed me back and told me that his next book was going to be a Lassiter novel.

Well, that book, appropriately named Lassiter is Book 33 for 2011.Jake Lassiter is a “low-rent”  Miami attorney, whose clients are usually not from the upper echelon of the Miami social scene.

Lassiter also previously played for the Miami Dolphins and was featured in a series of seven books that started with To Speak for the Dead in 1990 and ended with Flesh & Bones in 1997. I’ve read six out of the seven – Number 1 is the only one I haven’t read. And now thanks to reissuing of the books as e-books  for the Kindle, that can be read for only $2.99!

But now back to the current book Lassiter. For his return Levine has crafted a story that starts in Lassiter’s past, from his website:

Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida’s sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami’s rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. It’s a tale of redemption and revenge for the troubled Jake.

After a fourteen year lay-off Lassiter has lost none of his snap. Booklist one described him this way

 “Lassiter is smart, tough, funny, and very human. He’s coming on fast as one of the most entertaining series characters in contemporary crime fiction.”

I have enjoyed all the Lassiter books that I’ve read. The characters are always well drawn and the stories always entertaining. In between the Lassiter books Levine has written several standalone books along with another series (almost as good and in some ways better than Lassiter) featuring two other attorneys Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. There are four  books in that series and like I said they’re all highly entertaining! So check out any of Levine’s books sit back and enjoy the ride!

Now I was all set with my next book. I went to the library the other night to pick up a book for my wife and came back with two books. The new John Hart book Iron House and  Collusion the follow-up book to Stuart Neville‘s fine début novel The Ghosts of Belfast. I figured I’d start with the Hart book and then the Neville novel.

So what happens tonight, I get an email that the new Alex Kava Maggie O’Dell novel Hotwire is now available for digital download to my Kindle!! So I guess I’ll check that one out too, start both books and see which one I like the most and finish that one first! Hum, too many books, too little time!!

P.S. I read both Iron House and Hotwire, but not the Stuart Neville book……

Your Life Calling:Reimagining the Rest of Your Life – Jane Pauley

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Your Life CallingWhen I saw Jane Pauley’s book.Your Life Calling in the library last week it was like, yes! This is the right book at the right time! And while it was not exactly what I anticipated, it was nevertheless a good read. See two months ago, I applied for Social Security, more out of necessity than actually wanting to retire. Throughout this past year, the work that I have done for the last 34 years,  has just not been there, and I have mostly been collecting unemployment and thinking about how I want to move forward with my life. I really don’t want to go out and find another job doing  the same thing that I have done, so when my unemployment insurance ran out, rather than just take any job, I applied for my benefits and upped my hours at Target. So far,it has been a good thing, but  I still keep wondering, is this all there really is, or is there something else out there that I would want to do!!

This is what  Your Life is Calling is all about, In the book Pauley provides ideas and thoughts about reimagining your life through the stories of those who have done it.  Pauley in her Dateline voice, tells the stories of folks like Betsy McCarthy who traded her executive briefcase for knitting needles, Gid Pool, who launched a career as a stand-up comic, Richard Rittmaster, who joined the National Guard Chaplain Corps: Trudy Lundgren who took her home on the road in an RV; Paulie Gee, who opened a successful pizzeria and many more. The two stories that were the mostly  inspirational were  the Jenny Bowman who established the Half the Sky Foundation which began with the adoption of an infant girl in China and the story of Ken Woods, who was selling his drill rig in Maryland and ended up  traveling to Ghana and drilling over a thousand wells, providing thousands with clean water, all at his own expense ! 

As I look back over the  book, while I’ m writing this, I am saying to myself, hey that was a good story and that one was too, and I wish I could do something like that! So I guess I did ‘like the book more than I thought! I think that the whole thing was that the book really wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, a nuts and bolts book on how to reimagine your life, but rather it’s a book that through the stories of those who have done it,  what you can do, if  you try…. maybe Michael J Fox sums it up best….

“Jane Pauley is a wonderful guide to all the different ways you can open new doors in life, many of which lead to unexpected places. She shows with humor and a great generosity of spirit why the journey to reinvention can come from all kinds of places and produce all kinds of joys”

then there’s Jim Lehrer who writes….

“Well, here it is – finally. The guide for baby boomers on getting from here to there – from a state of panic over how to live the rest of their lives to a state of passion and performance as they do so  with grace and pleasure. Read it and then go!!

While I still don’t have a plan about what I am going to do with the rest of my life, this book certainly made me think about what may be possible and that maybe now, instead of doing the work that I HAD to do, I can do the work that I WANT to do! (Figuring out what that is – is still  my problem!) Anyway, the book should be checked out by all us boomers!!

Book 30 for 2014