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They say you should not talk about religion or politics in mixed company, and yet, that’s exactly what people want to talk about. Especially politics, and everyone has an opinion, and they are dying to tell you, and explain why. And if you disagree, well God help you, because they are going to convince you otherwise if it takes them all night. It seems that Americans have a love-hate relationship with politics, on one hand they just can’t get enough of it, on another hand they feel repulsed by it.

If you’d like to talk more about this philosophical debate, then I have a very good book for you to read. Not only is it interesting, but it will very much make you think. I keep a copy in my personal library; the name of the book is;

“Why Americans Hate Politics” by EJ Dionne Junior, 1991

Divide and conquer is the name of the game, but this author explains how political parties hurt Americans, and he gives an interpretive history of 30 years of politics from 1960 to 1990, it’s quite good indeed. He explains all the differences between; neo conservatism, liberals, socialists, reformers, libertarians, leftists, and even communists. He explains McGovern and the modern Republicans.

This book is broken into parts and in Part One; “the failures of liberalism” and the new left he goes into great detail. He explains Reagan’s issues and concerns about over regulation and he goes into great details about the divides that we have placed in our society and civilization such as; blacks and whites, family politics, and feminism.

If you are a liberal he won’t let you off the hook, neither will he back off from the conservatism contradictions or the religious right and how Christianity was hijacked by the Republicans. He also explains how politics and economics go hand-in-hand, and there is a chapter on supply-side economics.

The chapter I enjoyed the most was the one about “the logic of false choices and the lesser of two evils.” He explains how all these factors led to voter revolts and lower turnouts, as he shows us that people are tired of politics, and they no longer trust the system, which is a scary thought in and of itself. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this.

“Rainbows” is a fascinating tale about two sisters who seem so different from each other yet each has creative ability and the desire to bridge the emotional gap that has grown between them from the first day that they met.

Alexa Taylor is the older of the two and has gained notoriety as an actress. Her beauty and abilities have given her a high-profile position in society that opens doors to admiration from individuals in both the political and entertainment realms.

Her younger sister, Catherine, is an accomplished pianist who is opposite in that she has a shyness and innocence about her. Her bond with their parents, Jane and Alexander, appears to be stronger than the one that Alexa has with any of them or anyone else for that matter.

Then circumstances occur that allow the young women an opportunity to share living accommodations and work on their relationship. Both of them are worried about how this will evolve but both have a strong desire to get to know the other and hopefully find a friendship that they have never known.

And as the plot develops, we are able to join the sisters in their struggles that not only include their own relationship, but also relationships that they have with friends, lovers and their own identities. The people they meet and the things that they do all seem to be tied to the Mediterranean isle of L’ile des Arcs-en-ciel – the Island whose rainbows are a phenomena unknown anywhere else on earth.

This book has everything that you might imagine – love, hurt, murder, international intrigue, romance, politics, and secrets. So many secrets that each person holds and refuses to reveal because of their own fears.

The only criticism that I have regarding this book is that the characters frequently state that they will not tell the truth because of the love that they have towards another person and how honestly might hurt the other one. This is a repetitive theme that became somewhat annoying at times. Even though hiding the truth allowed the story to take interesting twists, I kept thinking that the real truth was that those with secrets were often either trying to protect themselves or just lacking in assertiveness skills and maturity rather than being honourable because of their love.

In fact, there seemed to be an underlying theme of confusion when it came to love. The girls easily moved from one relationship to another thinking and saying that they loved each person who they were with at the time and it was difficult to determine if they were truly in love or just didn’t really know anything about love.

In the end, however, reconnection with parents and the sacrifice that true love exhibits, leads the sisters into the type of happy ending that one would expect from any good romance story.

Evil gets what it deserves, all the secrets are revealed and the good guys get the girls!

“Rainbows” by New York Times Bestselling author Katherine Stone offers you 500 pages that spin a yarn about three generations and their lives over a period of several decades.

Oscar Fashion is a heavy book–literally, but not figuratively. The pages are made with the same process as hardcover textbooks, giving it the illusion of heft. At 192 pages, it certainly is long.

However, the book is not as substantive as one would hope. Of course, nobody opens a book like this expecting Tolstoy; but one does expect more detail than this book actually provides. Instead, the book is laid out like an extended People magazine, with little intellectually or aesthetically stimulating content.

One of Oscar Fashion’s most devastating shortcomings is the lack of vintage photographs. Granted, this book has photos on every single page; but the book only represents many Oscar years with one page of photos, which means three or four photographs for, say, 1944, or 1966. At the beginning this is understandable, since early Oscar ceremonies were not televised or photographed; for some years, only a few pictures are known to exist. However, for later years, showing only three or four gowns is simply inexcusable, and necessitates grievous omissions.

The book has some persistent features, which I would have liked to see expanded. The start of every decade (every chapter covers a decade) shows three different films which were somehow influenced or innovative in fashion, including The Graduate, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and so on. This is a very interesting topic, one we have tried to do justice to. However, three films, for ten years, is a little on the skimpy side, especially for a book devoted to a movie awards ceremony.

The book also features different outfits that persist through the years, such as The Big White Dress. I like this idea; it’s interesting to see common threads running through Oscar fashion, from the 1940s to the 1990s. This is one of the more interesting parts of the book, and I would have liked to see more of these features, with more detail (i.e. why such-and-such was a persistent feature).

On balance, though, the book is not worth buying, and skimming through it is likely to be a somewhat frustrating experience. Those looking for inspiration should go elsewhere.

Nate Rodriguez is a police sketch artist who has a reputation for being one of the best. Not only does he have an uncanny ability to be able to sketch the pictures from an eyewitness account that does not amount to a whole lot but he is almost psychic when it comes to it.

Several murders have occurred in New York City that appear to be unrelated. Due to Nate’s special abilities, he is placed on the task force investigating these crimes.

It does not take Nate very long to believe these murders are related. Then stranger things start to happen because more bodies turn up. These bodies are the killers themselves!

Now Nate’s biggest challenge is trying to convince the NYPD that there is more involved here than meets the eye.

The Murder Notebook contains many sketches personally drawn by the author. The sketches add a great deal to the detail the author uses to engross the reader. This novel is fast moving and loaded with suspense. What really makes this book interesting is the way the author has combined his two talents – art and writing. Readers will admire Nate Rodriguez for his ability to be able to recreate a person’s face from very few details and then take it to the next level by putting the entire puzzle together. The book has an interesting subplot involving the death of Nate’s father, a policeman who was killed on the job. Nate has not come to terms with the death. Be sure to add The Murder Notebook to your reading list. If you are a reader who likes a suspense story that will make you sit there and try to analyze the outcome, The Murder Notebook is the novel for you. I highly recommend it.

If we learned anything from childhood, it was not to build our houses out of straw. After all, that big bad wolf was just waiting to blow it down. But that was before the world knew the numerous advantages of using compressed straw bales, as a key building material as outlined in the book The Straw Bale House. This easy to understand book is comprehensive in its education on how to build with straw- so that no wolf (or tornado for that matter) can ever blow it down. The book covers why and how to build with straw bales, while also illustrating necessary details to create an aesthetically and sound home at an affordable price. To portray this point, The Straw Bale House provides a good number of enlightening black and white diagrams as well as impressive color photographs. I would have to say The Straw Bale House is the Bible of straw bale construction books and therefore an indispensable starting point for anyone looking into the straw bale home concept. After purchasing the book (well worth the price) I had no reservations about going ahead with my own project and building with straw bales. Both new and experienced builders will appreciate the clear, simple instructions and diagrams, as well as practical explanations for dealing with building codes and insurers.

The Straw Bale House also nurtures you on the many practical advantages of building with compressed straw bales. In addition to being inexpensive, straw bale serve as a clean, and lightweight building material that is easy to work with. The book discusses the many important advantages straw offers such as super high-energy efficiency (a need in today’s high heating costs), superior fire resistance, while at the same time seismically correct. In addition, this all-natural material, as a recycled agricultural byproduct of grain production, is a sustainable, renewable resource. While enthusiasts of straw bale construction praise this method of building for the aforementioned reasons, the actual reason so many people are turning to straw bale homes is because they are so often extraordinarily beautiful and inviting, as The Straw Bale House‘s many color photographs displays. Clearly, inexpensive doesn’t have to mean low quality nor unattractive. The natural materials used in creating a straw bale home exude a lot of chi. And so does this book. The Straw Bale House would be a good addition to any coffee table.