Sunday Salon: Happy Lunar New Year of the Dragon

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. It's the Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon, which begins tomorrow, Jan. 23! Look for excitement and good fortune this year, according to the fortune tellers.

One custom is to pay all your bills, clean your house, throw away anything that is broken, and fulfill your obligations before the new year sets in. I've been doing new and overdue book reviews like crazy, not that many really, but a lot in one week for  me.  Here are the past week's:
 Oath of Office by Michael Palmer

 The Barbary Dogs: A Mystery by Cynthia Robinson

 Breakthrough: the 5 Living Principles to Defeat Stress, Look Great, & Find Total Well-Being by Shea Vaughn

Living Fully by Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, Buddhism and philosophy

My Evangeline by Heidi Radford Legg, literary fiction
plus posted an interview with the author of The Dark Rose, Erin Kelly.

I have slowed down on accepting new books for review, as I hope to finish the ones I now have first!

What are you planning for the rest of the year?

Book Review: The Barbary Dogs by Cynthia Robinson

The Barbary Dogs: A Mystery by Cynthia Robinson
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books (November 8, 2011)
Source: library

According to Wikipedia, the Barbary Coast in San Francisco is a seedy red light district. I was expecting more dogs in this mystery, as the author has written a previous novel titled The Dog Park Club. However, there is only one dog of note, a small pug owned by opera singer Max Bravo.

In this mystery, Max is conned into taking care of the affairs and funeral of a former friend, an unsuccessful writer named Frank Kelly, who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. Max finds Frank's journal and is immediately visited by the ghost of Baba, Max's grandmother, who frequently visits to tell Max what's going on and what to do. She thinks that the mysterious man who wrote 20 pages in Frank's journal made Frank commit suicide and will now target Max. Never mind that this man died years before Frank's time, in 1906, the year of the great earthquake in San Francisco.

There is a bit of the paranormal, a lot of Barbary Coast history and San Francisco earthquake history, descriptions of the fog of the city as well as landmarks such as the San Francisco Mission, Chinatown. The book is not just history, however, but what is described as a "quirky literary mystery," with an odd group of writers and references to literary works such as Paradise Lost.

This was a unique book, with parts that I liked as history and mystery and parts that I felt were just a long excuse to describe the city of San Francisco.  Residents and fans of SF are sure to like it.

© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Hard Target: a Novel by Howard Gordon - Opening Sentences

Opening sentences in a novel can set the tone and help readers decide about the book. Here are the opening sentences for Hard Target, a thriller by Howard Gordon.

"Gideon Davis scrutinized the Windsor knot in his yellow tie in his rearview mirror as he waited for the stoplight to change. It had been eight years since he was last in front of a classroom, and tying a knot was just one of the skills he had lost. Now, as he fiddled with it in the mirror, he missed his days as a diplomat and presidential adviser, where he'd conducted his business in rolled up shirtsleeves.A least his tuxedo had come with a clip-on bow tie.

The light turned green, and Gideon turned right off the bridge that connected Virginia to Washington D.C. " (ch. 1)

Title: Hard Target by Howard Gordon

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published January 3rd 2012 by Touchstone
Genre: political thriller
Source: Publisher

Book description:
A follow-up to Gideon’s War involves a harrowing attempt to stop a homegrown terrorist plot to destroy the U.S. government.
Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon’s source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. Both Gideon and Nancy become increasingly convinced that a serious plot exists, but their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him. So Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman—newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon— as an undercover operative to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved.

Eventually, Gideon and Tillman get on the trail of the real conspirators and uncover their audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy’s support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled.

Author Howard Gordon has been a writer and producer in Hollywood for more than twenty years. He is the executive producer of the television show 24 and was a writer and executive producer for The X-Files. This is his first novel.

I was sent a complimentary copy of this book.

Book Review - Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath by Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche

I have been reading books on yoga and modern approaches to healthy living and find a recurring theme - living in the moment, being aware of the present, being "mindful" of whatever it is you are doing at each moment. To me that means being reflective and self-aware, enough to be conscious of your own breathing. Of course, this also means that you have to be able to block every noise and distraction or be in a quiet place for most of the time.
 
Spiritual leader Shyalpa Enzin Rinpoche doesn't advocate living in a monastery or a cave in his new book, however. He teaches about living in the world while observing the Buddhist philosophy of negation of the self or ego, and "living fully" while nurturing positive qualities in yourself such as honesty, sincerity, generosity, simplicity, openness, respect, and confidence. He devotes separate short chapters on having a compassion heart, how to face obstacles, meditation as a way of life, learning from others, and avoiding the duality of seeing a difference between the self and others.
 
I found that the book is not just for Buddhists, but for anyone open to a different approach in dealing with the stresses of modern life.  I did think some of his teachings would be challenging to follow. Perhaps that's why he advocates also having a teacher or guide, someone that is still not always easy to have or find. His words are full of practical wisdom, however, and I found his words very inspiring. 

 Title: Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath
Author: Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche
Hardcover: 296 pages; New World Library; January 24, 2012
Genre: Buddhist philosophy, self-help
Objective rating: 5/5

About the Author:
Preeminent Buddhist Teacher Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche was born in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. Trained as a lama from the age of four, Rinpoche received transmissions from all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Rinpoche is a lineage holder of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) tradition.

His Eminence Shyalpa Rinpoche has conducted countless retreats, seminars, and empowerments at centers throughout the world and has given talks at Harvard, Yale, Wesleyan, and Naropa, among other venues. His current teaching schedule includes North America, South America, Asia, and Europe.

A complimentary review copy of this book was provided to me.
© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Book Review: Breakthrough by Shea Vaughn

"The mind-body connection is the idea that our thoughts can positively affect our bodies and our physical reactions, particularly  to stress. The mind leads and the body follows." (ch. 3, Thought and Motion)

Title: Breakthrough: the 5 Living Principles to Defeat Stress, Look Great, & Find Total Well-Being by Shea Vaughn
Paperback, Health Communications, Inc., October 3, 2011
Objective rating: 5/5

I was interested in how Shea combines eastern thought on well-being with modern ideas on exercise and health. She focuses a lot on the mind-body connection, showing that focus on the body and leaving out the mind doesn't work, or vice versa.

"When we are overburdened by chronic stress the mind is doing so much work that the body is sometimes left behind." (ch. 4, Modern Meditation).

Her tips on managing stress, such as: breathe, exercise, laugh, music, think positive sound like common sense but her motivational advice and insights I found very helpful. Her Sheanetics - 5 Living Principles of Well-Being - include commitment, perseverance, self-control, integrity, and love. Again, so much common sense but with added insights, exercises, and advice that make the book enjoyable and easy to read as well as informational and inspiring. Shea also teaches by using examples of different people with specific problems and the solutions for each of them.

I especially like what I call the yoga stretching exercises, instructions and photos that are included as just that - exercises to stretch and balance and "boost the mind and body."  This is one of the books that goes on my easy to reach shelf of reference books I'll refer to frequently.

About the Author: Shea Vaughn is a fitness expert, professional trainer, and wellness coach who lives in Chicago. Shea has gained national recognition as an inspirational speaker, certified personal trainer, and media personality. She was featured on the Ellen DeGeneris show in December 2011. Visit http://www.sheanetics.com/
A complimentary review copy of this book was sent to me.
© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Review: My Evangeline: A Novel by Heidi Radford Legg

"Eve, how do your paintings come to you?"

"Well, in the past I just found a subject I admired or found beautiful, but lately, since the end of the summer, they have been coming to me in dreams." (p. 95)

Title: My Evangeline by Heidi Radford Legg
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: www.heidilegg.com (October 25, 2011)

Book description:

When small town Acadian girl, Evangeline, 18, is faced with choosing between living out her late-mother's unfinished dreams at her father’s insistence or following her own charted path that includes her summer boyfriend, the American Max, the magnitude of her decision weighs heavily. When she folds to her father’s pressure and moves to Montreal, she not only finds herself embroiled in political protests and losing Max, but begins to unravel a family secret her father was desperate to hide. My Evangeline, set in retro 1995, tells the story of a willful heroine, who with all her irreverent and rebellious undertones, is stopped in her tracks by duty. With a nod to Longfellow’s epic Evangeline who was faced with the same choice, we meet a contemporary heroine who begins her journey naïve and dutiful. And like the fabled heroine of old, she finds her inner strength once she realizes the casualty of her choices. Elements of magic realism permeate the story as she unravels the secret. She meets an owl, a panther and a raven that challenge her ability to reason as she sets out in search of her true spirit. (Amazon)

Comments: A work of literary fiction with an historical background, the story of Evangeline is reminiscent of the poet Longfellow's Evangeline, whose character inspired the author's novel. The book is a contemporary work about choices and it is also a love story with magical elements. The setting is the town of Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada and the Montreal art world around 1995.

About the Author:

HEIDI RADFORD LEGG has written six screenplays and piles of essays and poems. Born in New Brunswick, Canada, she has a graduate degree in journalism from Concordia University in Montreal and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her family, a short walk from Longfellow's home. This is her first novel. http://www.heidilegg.com/

 I received a complimentary review copy of this book.
© Harvee Lau of Book Dilettante. Please do not reprint without permission

Book Giveaway: Oath of Office by Michael Palmer

Author Michael Palmer is offering a reader a copy of his finished novel, Oath of Office, his newest medical thriller. (See my review.)

Title: Oath of Office by Michael Palmer
Release date: Feb. 14, 2012
Hardcover; St. Martin's Press

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment with
1) an email address and
2) the title or author of another mystery or thriller that you liked.

This is open to U.S. residents only, no P.O. box addresses please. The contest runs through Jan. 25. A winner will be chosen at random, emailed on Jan. 26 and will have two days to send in a mailing address before another winner is chosen. The author will send the book directly to the winner! You will enjoy this thriller. Good luck!