The Book Club: a Colorado shooting, a Jo Nesbo thriller and more
Editor s note The opinions of the smart well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables So we appealed them and all Denver Post readers to share their mini-reviews with you Have any to offer Email bellis denverpost com Barbara Ellis Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo translated by Robert Ferguson Knopf Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo translated by Robert Ferguson Knopf Two brothers who have uncovered success in their rural town believe they have cleverly covered up the murders that helped them rise The sheriff has other specific would say obsessive ideas As Nesbo writes Sticking together no matter what is perhaps the family s greatest blessing but it s also its greatest curse Read Nesbo s latest thriller to discover who are the winners and losers No in the Kongeriket series stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver Penitence by Kristin Koval Celadon A terminally ill teen is shot by his sister in the opening pages of Penitence How the family responds and learns to move forward is the crux of this debut novel A Colorado resident and former lawyer Koval sets the action mostly in a small southwestern Colorado ski town The setting is fictitious but the characters are quite real and I located the story compelling There are not a great number of answers here but the questions are worth pondering and discussing stars out of Neva Gronert Parker Sea Stories My Life in Special Operations by Admiral William H McRaven U S Navy Retired Grand Central Publishing This memoir by four-star Adm William McRaven about his years serving in the U S Navy from the time he became a SEAL until his retirement as commander of the U S Special Operations Command is filled with accounts of the details and planning required to complete missions at the very highest levels under extreme circumstances Learn how someone makes it through SEAL training and the intimate details of the planning and missions to capture Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden McRaven writes each story as if it happened the day before and he is a master storyteller of adventure intrigue and secrets stars out of Donna Brady Centennial You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson Button Publishing Inc Colorado Poet Laureate Gibson s poetry written in verbal prose style provides a piercing look into her head Each line expresses an insight not necessarily a pretty turn of words but constantly phrasing or intuition that brings shafts of Making the Best of What s Left When We re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered by Judith Viorst Simon Schuster perception Their poems often deal with the the greater part painful situations love gone wrong or astray misplaced faith details or reminders of lost partner souls Gibson seems to know every nuance of human emotion from the personal to the universal Celebrated for performance pieces Gibson s books show how wonderfully their poetry translates to the written word stars out of Bonnie McCune Denver bonniemccune com Making the Best of What s Left When We re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered by Judith Viorst Simon Schuster The author of among other things the Alexander and Lulu series of children s books and age-related humorous poetry Viorst here comments on what she calls The Final Fifth of life in her jaunty signature conversational prose style sprinkled with her poems Based on her own circumstances and also interviews with others Viorst s latest work can take your mind off your own troubles for a bit stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver
