Books Reviews - Page 25

The Angels of Morgan Hill
By Donna Van Liere
softcover, 228 pages ($14.95)

In the narrative, warm-your-heart vein of her blockbuster Christmas Hope series, best-selling author Van Liere returns with a new nostalgic, coming-of-age tale set in a rural Tennessee town in the 1940s, where a family’s difficult decision to “do the right thing” has profound, life-changing consequences.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Firstlight
By Sue Monk Kidd
hardcover, 227 pages ($19.95)

Better known as the author of the fiction bestsellers The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, author Sue Monk Kidd actually began her career in the 1970s at the inspirational magazine Guideposts. This collection of her earliest first-person writings, which trace her spiritual roots with well-crafted, journal-esque essays on life, love and loss, is also a poignant reminder of the profound revelations that are often cloaked in the simple textures of everyday living. 
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Monopoly
By Phillip E. Orbanes
Hardcover, 288 pages ($27.50)

With 250 million copies sold since Parker Brothers popularized it in 1935, Monopoly is the most successful name-brand board game of all time. Author Orbanes skillfully untangles its deep roots, tactfully explains its connections to American capitalism and politics, spotlights the cast of characters who have shaped its development throughout the century and examines the marketing magic that made it a fixture in homes not just in America, but around the world.

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The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived
By Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan and Jeremy Salter
softcover  ($13.95)

Just how much clout do cartoon heroes, movie characters and literary creations carry in our cultural world? A lot, according to Lazar, Karlan and Salter, who convincingly corral monsters (King Kong, Godzilla), fictitious adventurers (Tarzan, Robinson Crusoe), folk legends (William Tell, Don Juan) and other imaginary icons from the worlds of theater, television and film, advertising, folk tales and mythology into a delightful, lively dissection of the many ways they continue to influence our lives.

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Big Sky
By Tim Fitzharris
hardcover, $45

For this beautiful coffee-table book with more than 72 breathtaking photos of color-splashed canyons, snowcapped mountains, desolate badlands, mist-shrouded Pacific coastlines and explosions of prairie flowers, renowned nature photographer Fitzharris  spent almost 20 years trekking to awe-inspiring sights in the western regions of North America, shooting each panorama as multiple images and then combining them seamlessly on his computer so they could be reproduced as striking, high-resolution15-by-11 inch photo spreads. Big Sky is an awesome art gallery that dazzles the eyes with some of Mother Nature’s most glorious brushstrokes.

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Millions of Americans have grown up with this perennial October TV special since it first aired 40 years ago. Now this dandy anniversary salute—by the program’s producer and animator—takes viewers on a wonderful jog through the pumpkin patch with a script of the show’s dialogue, full-color scene-by-scene artwork, dozens of tidbits about the special, and recollections from the now-grown-up kids who provided the well-known voices of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty and the rest of the immortal gang of Peanuts characters.

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Agatha Christie Classic Mystery Collection
DVD $99.92

With this set of eight 1980s TV movies based on novels by the world-famous mystery writer, you could plan your own murder-mystery weekend—which is about how much time you’d need to devote to sorting through all the twists, turns and deliciously detailed dastardly deeds in its nearly 13 hours of running time. Starring Helen Hayes (as prim investigator Miss Jane Marple) and Peter Ustinov (as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot), the cast also includes turns by Bette Davis, Faye Dunaway, Tony Curtis, Olivia DeHavilland and Jean Stapleton, providing all-star, whodunit hijinks for armchair detectives of all ages. (Unrated)

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Elizabeth
By J. Randy Taraborrelli
Hardcover, $26.99

The legendarily private Elizabeth Taylor didn’t participate in this hefty 500-page biography, but many members of her inner circle did, helping celebrity journalist Taraborrelli (who has memorably also profiled Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson) create a vividly detailed, definitive account of her life both in and out of the spotlight. More than 50 rare personal photos help round out his portrait of the legendary movie star, businesswoman and philanthropist—a real-life “American princess,” writes the author, who “seduced us, charmed us and inspired our admiration” like no one else.

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The World of the Polar Bear
By Norbert Rosing
hardcover, $45

Rosing, an award-winning wildlife photographer, spent 18 years documenting these magnificent Arctic mammals. The result is a spectacular, 204-page portfolio of their little-seen lives as predators, parents and playmates in a frozen, top-of-the-world snowscape that’s awesomely scenic, brutally forbidding and—with rising temperatures changing the tundra ecosystem year by year—in real danger of disappearing.

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Gentlemen, This is a Football
By Eric Zweig
softcover, $15.95

Taking its title from a back-to-basics comment from the late coach Vince Lombardi as he prodded his champion Green Bay Packers to concentrate on the game’s fundamentals, this 176-pager is packed with dozens of exciting photos and hundreds of delicious tidbits of wisdom, wit and whimsy from star players and legendary coaches. “Playing middle linebacker is like walking through a lion’s cage in a three-piece pork chop suit” (linebacker Cecil Johnson). “Football doesn’t build character—it eliminates the weak ones” (Texas Longhorn coach Darryl Royal). “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein” (Joe Theismann). For armchair quarterbacks everywhere, Gentlemen, This is a Football a wonderful bit of seasoning to sprinkle on the fall gridiron.

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