Review of Our Father: Recollections of a Small Town Boy (Paperback)

What a wonderful book. I have never felt that wonderful feeling of going back to my childhood to explore all the pranks and laughs all over again.I think of the Wonder Years, Dennis the Menace and That 70's show when I flip through these great pages.It is important not to go into this book looking for a begining, middle and end but to just read it as a type of journal documenting the best parts of a someones life. Joe Brucato is a well kept secret in the author business.Be looking for his latest book A Rose in Feilding....gonna be a good one im sure!!

Product Description
For a third generation Italian-American boy life takes on a number of twists and turns as he matures from a child into a teenager. He must cope with the pressures imposed by a strict dad and a younger brother whose antics are intolerable. In his journey into adulthood Nicholas D'Napoli encounters a number of bizzarre people and episodes that will leave you laughing or crying. The characters are hilarious. In this walk down memory lane you'll witness the escapades and pranks of people that defy normalcy, like the transvestite who dresses like Greta Garbo, or the voyeur who plays peek-a-boo while hiding in the neighbor's bushes. Through Nick we're reminded of our first kiss or the embarrassment of blowing that special moment with the love of our dreams. D'Napoli guides us through our own youths; old friends, the bully in the schoolyard, first loves and broken hearts.

About the Author
Joseph Brucato holds a B.A. degree in History from the College of the Holy Cross and a M.Ed. from Worcester State College. He is presently a Social Studies teacher and its department chairman at Milford High School where he has worked for the past twenty-two years.

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Review of The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club (Debutante Dropout Mysteries, No. 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

A big cheer for Susan McBride and The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club!The third installment in the Debutante Dropout books is a great addition to this series.I love the author's witty writing style and her true to life, yet, quirky characters she has created.The great dialog between Andy and Cissy, and humorous observations, provide plenty of laughs as they go through a slight role reversal of mother and daughter in this book.

Cissy has a much larger role in this book than the previous two, which I was delighted to see with this character.Cissy is convinced her dearest friends were murdered because of the evidence she discovered, a nightgown and smudged lipstick.Andy, however, is not convinced of anything, except that her mother may have just flipped out under the stress of finding her friends dead.Andy does her best to humor her mother until the tests prove her friends deaths were from natural causes, while Cissy pushes forward to investigate with help from a reluctant Andy.When things aren't adding up like they should, Andy begins to realize Cissy might be closer to a truth no one wanted to believe, which could place Cissy right in the cross hairs of the killer.

Susan McBride takes us on a great ride into her world, giving fans and new readers of the Deb Dropout Series a fun, often hysterical, and exciting journey for us to enjoy.




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Review of What It Takes to Get to Vegas (Paperback)

I was hooked by the first few pages of Murray's fast-paced, street-wise story of Rita. Murray's writing is fresh, powerful; she made me care about Rita -- in the beginning. The novel seemed to wane in the middle; Rita'smom disappears almost as soon as she is introduced, then re-appearssuddenly -- although Rita supposedly still lives at home as an adult. Themen and all the women of the barrio are stone stereotypes who could've beencreated by just about any Anglo writer. And while I understand that thestories of the Ritas in el barrio should be told, I wanted something morethan the stereotypical 'hot-mama, promiscuous Latina.' These charactershave been done to death -- it's time for them to die. Why is it that inorder for a woman (fictional and real) to get to the top or to get respect,she has to spread her legs? With respect to the previous reviewer (C.Guerrero "Dreaming in Cuban"? ), for the sake of the children whohave yet to escape, I certainly hope this isn't what it takes to get out ofthe ghetto. As a professor of law, as a Latina, as a woman, does Murraywant us to believe this of her? Hopefully, she will incorporate somepositive attributes into her next barrio character or perhaps she should'write what she knows.' And if she really came from the ghetto-barrio, shewould know that sometimes good things -- and good girls -- do come from badsurroundings.



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