Doggoneit by guest blogger Steven Head

It is June and that means the new installment, number six, of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series is out, Junkyard Dogs. As promised in the post last week, this book violates Bev's three rules on books she will read. There is a dog on the cover, it involves dogs, and the book leads off with a detailed description of the weather.

At a reading earlier this month Craig reported Junkyard Dogs had to be a "town book" since the last one took place away from the fictional town of Durant, Wyoming. As a town book Craig could respond to the reader complaints about not enough coverage of the supporting cast. Along with the surprise complaint that his furry friend, Dog, had been ignored entirely in The Dark Horse. Craig's new concern is readers will expect more involvement from his twelve cylinder truck.

As the title suggests, this book involves the junkyard, aka the Municipal Solid Waste Facility, and the grandson and grandfather operating it. During an especially bitter cold period, described in bone chilling detail, around Valentine's day, Walt is called out to an incident where Geo, the grandfather, has been dragged on a nylon rope behind a car driven by the grandson's wife. Fleshing out the details of how this ride on the ice came about is a case of slapstick meets stupidity. But it made me laugh out loud.

Around page 100 Geo, who has had other life threatening episodes since the opening scene, runs out of luck and is found dead in the junkyard. The adult son of Geo's age appropriate girlfriend is discovered in his car, drunk, in front of the Sheriff's office, confessing to the murder of Geo. Walt goes out to investigate at the son-girlfriends house, finds lots of blood, but the victim has walked away from the scene. Walt follows his tracks through the snow into the junkyard to find a dead Geo. The circumstances do not add up but son is incarcerated just the same.

Before this adventure is completed Walt stumbles upon a large scale pot growing operation, the incarcerated son escapes from jail and is found shot under circumstances almost as strange as Geo being dragged behind the car, and what appeared to be a throw away character plays a pivotal role. And do not let me forget to mention the quirky Valentine's Day dynamic between Walt and Deputy Victoria Moretti. Meaning it is both a mystery and a love story, sort of. Along with a bucket of subplots and supporting cast appearances for good measure.

I hope you are curious enough to want to read this book. Craig confessed at the reading he started out wanting to write a book about all the petty things that makes a law enforcement officers' lives crazy, but it ended up being more of a comedy than anything else.

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Thanks Steve!

My search for a light, but satisfying summer read continues.

So far I have knocked off Bitter Sweet by LaVyrle Spencer. The author, so I am told, has a home in Door county, and the bulk of this book is set in and around Fish Creek. This lusty love story was fun the first time I read it, but, a horrible blizzard hits in the middle of the book, and goes on forever. Who need that.

Book #2... Lolita...not exactly light stuff, and certainly a bit twisted. Still not the perfect choice.

#3...Where is Joe Merchant by Jimmy Buffett...we're getting warmer. If you know me, you know that Jimmy can do no wrong (I have even managed to forgive him for his early country ditties.)

#4...Daphne Du Maurier's Echoes from the Macabre. I love short stories, and totally enjoyed Rebecca, so this collection had great potential. Just weird...demented little twins, turkey headed men...and those were in the first two stories. That is where I stopped.

#5...How about some Victoria Holt? Nothing beats a good Gothic romance. Oh, but...remember the great torrential rains two years ago that waterfalled right through my basement walls? My high school collection of Holt books turned to mush. I forgot all about that until, reaching out to the exact spot they had been shelved, I (GRRR) found that nasty DuMaurier paperback! So, I opted for one in a series I have been selling to heart-broken young ladies for a few years. Libba Bray is popular with the anti-Twilight crowd. It was OK; probably as good, if not better, than my memories of Holt's stricken, young heroines.

What's next? I have a copy of Jubilee staring at me. That's Margaret Walker's Civil War novel from the slaves perspective. This is another one I read in high school, so here's hoping if fares better that some of the others. Maybe I just don't do well with second readings.

My book groups is reading The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland. Se also wrote The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which I enjoyed. Keep your fingers crossed.

*****On the Lakeshore...River Rendezvous was fun. Our occasional H-A-R pianist, Tim, was making some noise with a crazy band yesterday. I'm beginning to wonder - is Tim really as conservative as he would like us all to believe? More H-A-R friends, Juliet and Jen, orchestrated an art happening on Saturday. Jen read an original story, while everyone sort of floated around the designated space with bright mylar sheets. When eeryone was in position, we had become a giant pixel fish. I was a red fin! They put tons of work into it, and , frankly, I still don't know how it all worked, but it did. Watch for the posting on You tube and on Comcast.

I ended up at the Two Rivers Car Show by accident on Friday night. I spotted Judy, who heads the TR rec department, and has helped transition HAR to TR. I stopped to run a few ideas past her, and found myself walking with her through the park, since she was on duty. Another simple, homegrown festival.

If you missed these events, there are lots more coming up in Manitowoc and Two Rivers. Check them out.

Saying Grace!

This is Grace. I spent the better part of a sunny morning with her in late May, and she was just tickled when I asked if I could take her picture. I arrived at her house with nothing more in mind than to deliver a book. Two hours later, I had a car full of plants, a bucket of bulbs and a those warm fuzzy feeling you get upon meeting someone special. Grace insisted that I dig whatever plants I wanted from her garden in return for the delivery. It was an order...non-negotiable. Within minutes, her husband appeared with the first of two boxes, saying, "Here, you're going to need these."

Grace is a little hummingbird of a woman, flitting from plant to plant, and talking a mile a minute. If I turned my back, or wasn't digging fast enough, she started digging plants, pulling bulbs, and making label stakes for me. All the while chattering, and laughing. What a gift that morning was!

Grace got me thinking about all the good that has come my way since I left teaching. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed nearly every minute being in the classroom, but, gosh was that a hard job. I am so very, very, very grateful each morning when the alarm does not go off at 6 A.M. That is huge. Now I have more time and energy to play around in local theatre sandboxes, and, of course, I have been able to continue work with Heart-A-Rama. I am not nearly as cranky, but not everyone would agree with that statement.

Even more important than that though, are are all people I have met since opening the store, along with all the friendships that have strengthened simply because I have more time, and am more relaxed. Under different circumstances, I wouldn't have met my new book club friends. We meet once a month, but the time between discussions seem so much longer. Valerie, Mary, Angie, Jes, Nancy, Steph, Liz, Sharon, Denise (who keeps in touch from Madison), Jacque (who chimes in from D.C.) and potential new member, Trish...what an interesting, diverse, intelligent, honest, and caring group. I am fortunate they keep me around!

Then there's Lisa, with resilience and courage beyond compare. Lisa survived a horrific car accident about eight years ago, sustaining a brain injury that left her with short term memory issues. Her doctors did not expect her to survive, but she showed them! She muscled through, and although she was never again able to use either of her two Masters degrees, Lisa found ways to apply bits of her knowledge in volunteer situations. Today, Lisa find herself facing yet another health issue that requires unimaginable strength.

This new normal is just fine with me. I applaud those who teach, and wish them summer days filled with R&R. I know the reality is most of their summer will be consumed with grad work, liscense renewal studies, prepping for fall, and perhaps squeezing in a mini-vacation with family and friends. Maybe they'll just stick around Manitowoc, and take in many of the free or nearly free events.

Check out this lovely alpaca that I met at LondonDairy Farms Alpaca Fest on Memorial Day weekend. Pretty nice huh? I entered a drawing to win one, but, alas and alack, so far I have heard nothing.

*****How's my light summer reading project going? Honestly? Not so well. No disrespect to Mary Higgins Clark fans, but, I am getting no where with There's No Place Like Home. The story is simple, and her writing style is even simpler. I am on page forty, and unless she has some mighty fine twists and turns planned, I can predict exactly what happen. After each chapter, I say, "I could have written this." To MHC's credit, I must then ask "Why haven't I?" Obviously some thing's working for her, and I will keep turning pages.

****Hope to see you out and around the Lakeshore this summer.

Truffles or Kisses by guest blogger Steven Head

(Sorry about the formatting. Blogger has a mind of its own today, and I am not interested in fighting with it!)

At the end of April I traveled to Nevada to visit family and attend a high school production of 'The Wedding Singer'. Upon my return the guy I work with, who had just been in Florida at a conference, was talking about Daniel Ariely, a behavioral economist. Ariely sounded like the type of social scientist Malcolm Gladwell references via experiments in books like Tipping Point and Outliers. So I picked up Ariely's 2008 book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

Ariely takes a dozen chapters to identify the forces from the title he and colleagues have observed. One is the power of free. The experiment involves offering people passing by the chance to purchase a Lindt truffle for 15 cents or a Hershey's Kiss for 1 cent with a sign announcing, One Chocolate per Customer. Of the two, the price on the truffle is an incredible bargain and was the choice 70% of the time. By dropping the price by 1 cent each, making the Kiss free, everything changed. It seems free was too much to resist and the preferred choice switched, 70% wanted Kisses.

On a rational basis, the truffle at 14 cents was still the great bargain it was at 15 cents, and the selection should have remained the same. But the free mass produced Kiss short circuited the rational choice.

Another experiment involved groups of people at a bar where they were offered a free sample from a menu of four micro-brew beers. The first group made their selections verbally and the common pattern was not to choose the same beer as another in their group, although many said they would not order it again. The second group made their selections by privately marking the menu. The likelihood of selecting the same beer was much higher in the second group and so was the inclination to order it in the future. Practical lesson, know what you want before the server appears and stick to it.

There are also experiments concerning honesty which I leave to your curiosity. The book is filled with revelation about how you, and those around you, make decisions. Which gets back to the point of behavioral economics. We love to think of ourselves as logical people. But when our decisions are studied, things like emotion, price, shortsightedness, the urge to be unique, and other irrelevant factors guide our choices.

If the Gladwell books interest you then you might enjoy this book. Next time I'll be reviewing Craig Johnson's 6th installment in the Walt Longmire mystery series, Junkyard Dogs. This clearly violates all of Bev's reading standards, dog in the title, series book, and detailed description of frigid weather in northern Wyoming in the opening chapter. But if you do not laugh out loud by page 5 you might want to see a doctor, your sense of humor may need some rehab.

*********Thanks Steve!

Frankie, the "Walk 'N" Roll Dog" made an impromptu stop here last week, and, she made some new friends in the process. Cute, huh?

Frankie has had some troubles, but thanks to a big-hearted owner, she has been outfitted with a neat little, wheelchair devise that attaches to her butt, making her totally mobile...and so adorable. Frankie will be back for a formal meet and greet (while her owner signs books!) in September or October.

Any Adam Sandler fans? I saw "Bedtime Stories" this weekend. Fun, funny, charming...a fairy tale for all ages. And, what can be said about the final guinea pig scene? Watch it and see!

I hope to see you soon.

Lazy Summer Reading

I have my reading rules, just as you do, I'm sure. No books that open with descriptions of weather, unless the book is about weather, like The Perfect Storm. Other than that, get me into the story fast, no need to describe every cirrus cloud hovering over the protagonist's home. No books with dogs on the cover - that can only mean one thing, the dog will eventually die. Third, no series books...too much of a commitment to hang on to the most recent cliff hanger while waiting for the next installment to be published. It's an author/publisher conspiracy, for sure.

Spencer Quinn's second Bernie and Chet book, Thereby Hangs a Tail, violates my three top rules. While it opens with Chet, the impulsive canine sidekick of Bernie, the washed up PI, taking down a perp, in just a few pages, the two are enjoying the sunset (weather!) over a canyon, celebrating with bourbon and chew sticks.

This is my second Spencer Quinn book, and against my better judgement, I have requested an advance copy of the third. I am hooked on this funny, storytelling, crime busting canine. Chet covers so much ground in a day, reporting on the activities of his little buddy, Iggy (who appears to be under house arrest), and other dog acquaintances whom he refer to as "my guys." Keeping his nose to the ground, Chet reports on the major scent-sations picked up on his travels - some irresistible, some sending him instantly into attack mode. Ironically, after every attack, someone feeds Chet...beef jerky, burgers and fires, donuts. All that and his determined quest to capture the illusive Javalia keep my giggling. Bernie is boring; Chet keeps me coming back for more. Somehow Quinn managed to capture a universal dog voice...funny, naive, impetuous, eager, faithful , and perpetually hungry.

I have decided that this will be my summer of light reading. Outside of the reading I will do for book group (Atonement and The Passion of Artemisia) I plan to read books that have been pushed to corners, relegated to bottoms of piles, or completely disregarded because they aren't what I am expected to read. It's an experiment. Will I enjoy these books less that those of fine literary quality? Will there be any redeeming qualities in the Lifetime movie-ish plots? Do these books offer any lessons, words of wisdom, or thought provoking issues? Are these the type of characters and plots that will stick with me, and randomly pop into my mind, begging for a re-examination of their intent? Can these books shift in meaning and intensity based on my state of mind on any given day? Who knows.

But, with that in mind, I will begin with There's No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark followed by a stack of young adult novels. I can see one of two things happening here. I could have a nice relaxing summer reading books about people, places, and incidents that I don't have to worry about. Once I close the book...POOF...they're gone. Or, my mind will turn to mush. I will not ask you to be the judge for fear of how you may respond.

*****McKinley Academy held its first graduation last week. What a nice event. The first eight students to graduate from Manitowoc's first charter school planned the evening, making it lighthearted and personal. Each student designed a PowerPoint presentation including family pictures, school memories, lessons learned, and favorite quotations. Each was set to a piece of music meaningful to the student. They passed out flowers to people instrumental in getting them to this point....parents, grandparents, and teachers. I was seated right behind the staff, so I heard many of the warm comments students whispered to teachers as they bear hugged them. Really, a couple of these guys are solid. I kept wondering how bigger graduations could be tweaked to be as meaningful as this one.

*****As we move into summer, try to kick back. The Garden Fair is this weekend, starting off a season of fun, hometown activities...Ethnic fest, Metro Jam, Acoustic fest....band concerts...Peter Quince...Showtime 2010...too many to mention. Who says there's nothing to do in Manitowoc?