Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National Review

 Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National Review
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Pages:295
Rating:3 out of 5 stars

After having worked at a couple of small newspapers in mid-Missouri and having dealt with publication renewals for a couple of libraries on the other side of the phone line, this title intrigued me. Conservative writer and public figure, William F. Buckley Jr., kept a file of what he considered the most interesting letters to the editor from the National Review. As the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief he had access to all of these letters. Here is his collection of these letters often with his reply. Sometimes funny, sometimes biting and rarely politically correct, this is a brief window into the 1970s and 1980 news and politics. With letters from Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Auberon Waugh, John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. 

Meddling Kids

 Meddling Kids

by Edgar Cantero

Pages: 322

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Quirky, fun story set in 1990 but full of nostalgia for the 1970s. In the 1970s a group of kids meet in a small mining town off the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon. They team-up to solve mysteries and become known locally as the Blyton Summer Detective Club since there are all only in Blyton in the summers. Then comes the fateful summer of 1977 and their final case together. Once again they literally unmask an adult pretending to be a monster for his own personal gain, but all of the kids know that this isn't really the end of the mystery and none of them return to Blyton after that summer. 

Now 13 years have passed and Andy decides that they have to get back together and solve the mystery once and for all so they can all have a chance of leading a normal life. After all, she is currently on the run from the law and wanted in at least two states and she knows the kid-genius of the group, Kerri, has dropped out of college and is now tending bar to scrape by and poor Nate, the horror nerd has been in and out of mental asylums. The only friend Nate has seen in recent years is handsome jock turned movie star, Peter. The problem with that, is that Peter has been dead for several years.

With the assistance of Tim, the great-great-grandson of their faithful dog Sean, the gang heads back to Blyton to find and defeat the real monsters once and for all. Full of playful word usage and references to the classic Scooby-Doo show and other 1970s nostalgia, what starts out as a quirky fun read - turns in to a seriously scary novel by the end. For fans of horror but with a sense of humor. 

Louisiana Power & Light by John Dufresne

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Billy Wayne Fontana comes from a long line of eccentrics and a town where everything and everybody seems to be dysfunctional.

Audio:  8 hrs. 37 min.

Print:  320 pages

The Cat from Hue: A Vietnam War Story

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Along with wartime portraits and a chronicle of daily life in a war zone, this book reveals the author's personal antiwar sentiment and admiration of American soldiers.  He brings back a cat who adopted him in Hue.

Audio:  31 hrs. 39 min.
Print:  864 pages

Love, Janis by Laura Joplin

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Her sister Janis was a hippie at heart, a blues singer, and a loyal and loving member of her family at home.  Many stories from the time she left home to her death. 

Audio:  14 hrs. 16 min.

Print:  394 pages