“You need a dog, and I’m it.” So begins the story of Merle, a stray dog, and Ted, a writer who likes animals. A man and his dog meet by chance and stay together  by choice. Their home in a rural Wyoming village is surrounded by open spaces and abundant wildlife. This gives ample opportunity for both man and dog to experience exciting, unexpected and always entertaining events.

Educational as well, the author does in-depth research on animal ancestry and behavior, Included is an extensive bibliography and index.

If you like Marley and Me, you won’t want to miss living, loving and learning with Merle.

The author’s purpose is driven home clearly in “The Notebook”.  The couple portrayed live the true meaning of love. Love endures forever! A lesson to be learned today is the need to work on relationships.

The topic of the book deals with two people coming from two different worlds. Can the gap be bridged? Is it possible for a relationship to withstand the pitfalls? The author covers the subject from the perspective of the male character in depth but not enough detail from the female point of view. The author is quite descriptive and the topic is addressed adequately.

The author supports his premise that miracles do happen. The notebook is the catalyst.

I could relate to Noah as he tries to awaken memories in Allie. I felt that need with a loved one and cherished those brief moments when she recognized me.

The author makes a persuasive argument that true love will persevere. I would recommend this book.

Atwan, a Palestinian Arab journalist living in London, is one of the few people to interview Osama bin Laden, which happened in 1996 in a cave in Afghanistan. Realizing the importance of the man and his organization, he followed and researched both, resulting in this book. There is a detailed account of his 2-day meeting with bin Laden and a history of his life, focusing on the time after his 1982 move to Afghanistan to participate in the jihad against the Soviet Union. Atwan describes the theological background of al Qaeda and other militant fundamentalists in a key section, noting that “It is a completely alien cultural concept for many in the West that a religion might not only sanction killing but enjoin its followers to kill as a religious duty. In certain circumstances Islam does just this.”

Written at a time when al Qaeda in Iraq was creating increasing havoc, the last two chapters have been overtaken by events, but his analysis of militant Muslim fundamentalists and Western secular societies is on target. Fundamentalists attack Muslims that they deem insufficiently pious, thus alienating the majority of Muslims in the middle and turning them to the West. Western societies mistakenly try to occupy Muslim lands, turning that majority against the West and towards the fundamentalists. But when the militants attack Western targets, most Muslims are behind them. Atwan credits poor economic and political conditions for this reaction, but Islam itself is also a factor. His analysis of the contradictory nature of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of both bin Laden and radical Islamic fundamentalism, is must reading for all of us depending on oil from that region.

This is a must read for every family, because no matter where you live, you are in danger of at least several kinds of disasters. Wildfires and earthquakes can happen here on the Central Coast at any time. In order to avoid being another helpless victim, this book gives you detailed plans to be prepared. It includes information on how to keep informed of potential disasters, organizing essential documents, proper insurance coverage, protecting your home, a family communication plan, first aid preparedness, supplies you need to “hunker down” for at least three days, and how to be prepared to evacuate. Are you prepared?

Being from Iran, Nasr brings more of a Shi’a perspective than most other books on Islam that generally focus on Sunni Muslims. Also, even though he has been in the U.S. since at least 1984, teaching at George Washington University, he has a much more serious belief than most immigrants, speaking in highly reverent tones about Mohammed. He says that he is a “traditional” Muslim, not “modernized” on the one extreme, or supporting “so-called fundamentalism” on the other. He is honest enough to admit that Islam is a theocratic system which “does not even accept the validity of a domain outside the realm of religion and the sacred…” However, he does try to soften the meaning of jihad, and does not mention or sidesteps Koranic or historical facts that would incline a person to question Islam. A final section of the last chapter (on Islam in the Modern World) deals with “modernist tendencies” in Islam. These have been many and varied in the last 200 years, leading to a complex situation today. Very interesting and important reading to understand tomorrow’s headlines.

Weldon has received information from an Iranian who claims to have well-placed sources, which are chronologically portrayed in the major part of this book. Some tips were on target, but others were either wrong or later changed. Without more information, the reluctance of the CIA to use his information is hard to evaluate. Weldon’s 20-page description of the antiquated operations of our intelligence agencies (“group think,” lack of coordination, etc.) and their dysfunctional relations with congress is more enlightening and well worth reading. However, his recommendation to encourage regime change in Iran is not well thought out.

“Dave Barry Slept Here, A Sort of History of the United States” by Dave Barry

If there is such a thing as literary sleight of hand, this writer, comedian & magician has it down!  Analytically, there are so many tongue-in-cheek references, hammy malapropisms & schlock terms interwoven with wry humor & a smidgeon of facts in this paperback as to make one think it a complete waste of time and a tree.  Yet the man’s unique spin & talent for knowing just when to use each is what separates this work from other fictitious trash.

It’s very tempting to list examples, however there are so many good ones that it would be like “showing you the whole movie in the trailer”.  I will say that if a person is not well-versed in actual American history, they could be thoroughly confused, though possibly not as badly as many people who fell asleep in class seem to be anyway.

One definitely would not want to read this to get any real sense of historic events; yet the reasonably astute student should get a ton of belly laughs out of the twisted points of view & hilarious ironic observations.