Melody

  1. My dog : the paradox, a lovable discourse about man's best friend

     	My dog : the paradox, a lovable discourse about man's best friend
    Matthew Inman drawing

    The intro to this book begins with the quote- “Every Pet is a tiny tragedy waiting to happen”, (George Carlin).  But apart from facing the relatively short mortality of our pet “children”, this book is also an affirmation of the joys and idiosyncrasies that are part of sharing our lives with pets.

  2. The Dogma of Rufus

    The Dogma of Rufus

    Rufus writes a guide for young dogs in which he shares essential ancient wisdom passed down over the ages from dog to dog. He also includes intimate knowledge of the human condition so young dogs can be better prepared to help humans lead a less pathetic existence.  Some things are left out, in case a human might be reading this book.

    The book is divided into three sections-The Fundamentals, Troubleshooting and Raising Humans.

  3. The Battle for Christmas

    The Battle for Christmas

    Now and again we hear about how there is a war being waged on Christmas. Yet the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas. In 1659, the Massachusetts General Court even declared celebrating Christmas to be a criminal offense. How did we get from there to here?

  4. Wrapped In The Flag

    Wrapped in the Flag

     Claire Conner was raised in the John Birch Society. Her father, Stillwell Conner was a national spokesman for JBS, and her mother, Laurene, made it her lifelong obsession. Her parents first met Robert Welch in 1955 and three years later paid a considerable sum to be life members of the JBS.

  5. Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson

    Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
    1955 wedding
    Cousin Joann, maternal grandmother and Charlie

    The author of “Manson: The life and times of Charles Manson” brings us a life story, rather than the history of the Manson murders.

    Charles Manson was born in 1934 to a teenaged mother. He often said that his mother was a prostitute, but here was no evidence of that.  She did get pregnant at 15 and when the father didn’t want any part of the baby, she somehow talked William Manson into marrying her before Charlie was born. Kathleen Manson was a party girl who liked a good time and drinking and dancing, which her Nazarene mother strongly objected to.

  6. Joyland

    Joyland

    I loved this book. Joyland is about characters, more than anything. Granted, there are a couple ghosts, but they are incidental characters. Since it is published by Hard Case Crime, there is a murder too, but it happened before the timeframe of the book and is peripheral until near the very end, where action takes over and we find out “whodunit”.

  7. Significant Objects

    Significant Objects
    Significant Objects (image in catalog)

    I picked this book off the shelf without knowing the back story on it. I thought it odd that is was in the fiction section, as it seemed to be a book that might be connected with Antiques Roadshow.  I opened it up to a page with a wine glass that had a Women & Infants logo. Wondering what the story was behind that I started reading and found myself pulled into a story about  family lies, abandonment, reunion, understanding and forgiveness. This, along with some great wine reviews. All on a single page!  (Tasting Notes, by Jeff Turrentine).

  8. Carrion Comfort

    Carrion Comfort

    In this novel Dan Simmons portrays psychic vampires in a horror genre, which he uses to illuminate real evil in this world.  I read this book in 1989 when it was first published and it has stayed with me.

  9. Joy of Cooking

    http://www.infosoup.org/search~S75?/Xjoy+of+cooking&searchscope=75&SORT=DZ/Xjoy+of+cooking&searchscope=75&SORT=DZ&SUBKEY=joy+of+cooking/1%2C83%2C83%2CB/frameset&FF=Xjoy+of+cooking&searchscope=75&SORT=DZ&12%2C12%2C

    This is a very worthy reference text for cooks at any level. Yes, you can now “Google” white sauce, etc and get any amount of suggestions, but this book was my go to place for all things cooking before that option was available. And it still holds.

  10. Remarkable Trees of the World

    http://www.infosoup.org/search~S77?/Xremarkable+trees+of+the+world&searchscope=77&SORT=D/Xremarkable+trees+of+the+world&searchscope=77&SORT=D&Submit=Search&SUBKEY=remarkable+trees+of+the+world/1%2C4%2C4%2CB/frameset&FF=Xremarkable+trees+of+the+world&searchscope=77&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C
    http://www.infosoup.org/search~S77?/Xthe+life+and+love+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ/Xthe+life+and+love+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=the+life+and+love+of+trees/1%2C104%2C104%2CB/frameset&FF=Xthe+life+and+love+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C
    http://www.infosoup.org/search~S77?/Xmeaning+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ/Xmeaning+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=meaning+of+trees/1%2C17%2C17%2CB/frameset&FF=Xmeaning+of+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C
    http://www.infosoup.org/search~S77?/Xseeing+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ/Xseeing+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&extended=0&SUBKEY=seeing+trees/1%2C33%2C33%2CB/frameset&FF=Xseeing+trees&searchscope=77&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C

    Perhaps it is the time of year, but I love reading books about trees, especially books that include awesome pictures of trees. One of my favorites is Thomas Pakenham’s” Remarkable Trees of the World”.  His previous book, “Meetings With Remarkable Trees” concentrated on trees in Britain and Ireland, but this book takes him all around the world. Each featured tree is illuminated with a large picture and a page or so written about why it is included in the book. I am hard pressed to pick a favorite.

  11. The Shining

    The Shining

    I first read this book when it was hot off the press in 1977.   I finished it one morning right before going in to work at an Owensboro, KY department store. It was hard to get my mind on work after experiencing the traumatic events at the Overlook Hotel.

  12. How To Sharpen Pencils

    How to Sharpen Pencils

    In this book, or rather manual, Mr. Rees adds to the current artisanal fad by presenting (in great detail) the craft of manually sharpening a pencil. He covers ten different types of pencil sharpeners, complete with pictures, sketches and clip art to illuminate the written word.

  13. Bad Glass

    Bad Glass

    Bad Glass has a great premise, especially if you are a fan of “what if” science fiction. The science here is physics, or perhaps metaphysics. We never find out. But weird things are happening in Spokane, WA. The military has separated the phenomena into 4 categories: things that appear that should not be there, things that disappear that should be there, voices/noises that have no apparent origin and “all else”. Most fall into the “all else” category; especially the human body parts that meld into inanimate materials, or that become part of other bodies.

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