Book Excerpt: "One Soldier's War" by Arkady Babchenko

Book Excerpt: One Soldier's War by Arkady Babchenko.

Babchenko was drafted into the Russian Army in 1995 when he was 18-years-old. He fought in the First Chechnya War and was demobilised. Babchenko re-enlisted in 1999 for the Second Chechnya War.

Here is an excerpt that illustrates the Russian Army and Babchenko's experience.

Chickens Unite!

Comic Book Novel

Elmer: a comic book by Gerry Alanguilan. A window into an alternate Earth where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, where they consider themselves a race no different from whites, browns, or blacks. Recognizing themselves to be sentient, the inexplicably evolved chickens push to attain rights for themselves as the newest members of the human race.

That'll crimp your dinner plans. No more chicken tacos for you, Anthony Neil Smith. I write Anthony Neil Smith because I am desperate for website hits. Okay, I'm not desperate for hits. If I were desperate I'd type in words like boobs, and Libya, and Japan Earthquake. Our blog regularly gets hits from people looking for images of outdoor ice rinks and skating.

Fiction

Containment by Vanda Symon. Shipping containers wash up on the Irish shore and are quickly looted. Detective Constable Sam Shephard finds a skull and a washed up body.

Barbie and Noomi Are Unstoppable as They Fight Jackasses From Nowhere For Three Days

DVD

Man From Nowhere starring [Korean actors]. Pawnshop owner is an ex-spy. His neighbor is a drug smuggler. Neighbor's young daughter is kidnapped by the mob. Emotionally isolated ex-spy wants to rescue girl using guns and cinematic blood spray. You saw this before as The Professional.



Unstoppable starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. Runaway train with toxic chemicals must be stopped. You saw this before as Runaway Train.



Jackass 3 starring Johnny Knoxville and a cast a Nitwits. Painful stunts including roller skating in a buffalo herd. You saw this before as Jackass.



The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale. Boxer trains for an important bout with the assistance of his junkie brother. You saw this before as Rocky or Cinderella Man.



The Girl Who Played With Fire starring Noomi Rapace. "International best-selling...explosive...cinematic hit...phenomenal...expose the truth about the sex trade...brutally murdered...unpredictable and violent behavior...danger to society...shocking details...." You saw this before as The Muppet Show.



The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Brian Dennehy.
Man plans prison break for his innocent but convicted wife. You saw this before as Die nächsten drei Tage.



Barbie: a fairy secret starring [Plastics]. Ken is whisked away by fairies [*giggle*] and Barbie's "fashion stylist friends reveal they are actually fairies" [*chuckle*] and Barbie sets out to "a magical secret fairy world" to rescue Ken. You saw this before as Mahna Mahna and the Magical Snowths.

Three: The Anthony Neil Smith Edition!

One

Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Recommended by Smith's doppelganger, Ant Nero Swaddle.

Two

Night Road by Kristin Hannah. Hannah is blond haired. Smith has black hair.

Three

Ten Commandments of Money: survive and thrive in the new economy by Liz Weston. Save money for buying tacos, sump pumps, and multiple copies of Smith's novels.

Novels and NonFiction With False Advertising

NonFiction

The Monster: how a gang of predatory lenders and Wall Street bankers fleeced America - and spawned a global crisis by Michael W. Hudson. I thought it was Anthony Neil Smith who gave a recommendation for this book on the twitter. I think I am wrong because I could not find the note again.

Big in China: my unlikely adventures raising a family, playing the blues, and becoming a star in Beijing by Alan Paul. Reporter for Wall Street Journal packs up family for job in Beijing. Reporter teams up with a Chinese guy to form a popular blues band that tours China.

Internet for Seniors by Michael Price and Sue Price. "Plain English, easy to follow, fully illustrated." The cover is correct, there are many illustrations.

The 4-Hour Body: an uncommon guide to rapid fat-loss, incredible sex, and becoming superhuman by Timothy Ferriss. Four hours? Really? If I want to be superhuman can I just read for 1 hour and 20 minutes?

Red: my uncensored life in rock by Sammy Hagar. Hagar's father was a drunk. Just like Eddie.

Cracking the GED: 2011 Edition by Princeton Review.

Master the GED by Peterson's.

Fiction

Cold Wind by C.J. Box. NO matter how strong that wind Box's hat will stay in place.

Live Wire by Harlan Coben. No matter how electric that wire, Coben will still be bald.

Keep a Little Secret by Dorothy Garlock. My secret about Garlock? Every time I read her name I think of oar locks.

Breaking the Rules by Suzanne Brockman. Here is a rule to never break: Never join the Russian army.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith. Open bar?

Five Flicks and a Novel

DVD

Faster starring Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton. Revenge flick with shooting and overacting.



The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest starring Noomi Rapace and other Swedes. Intrigue under the Northern Lights.



Mesrine: Killer Instinct starring [French People]. Part one of a biopic of the famous French killer and thief who worked across Europe and the Americas in the '60s and '70s.



Animal Kingdom starring Guy Pearce and other Australians. Brutal Australian crime family in Melbourne clashes with corrupt police, and a 17-year-old orphan is stuck in the middle. With you. And jokers. Wondering what he should do.





Megamind starring [famous people]. Animation with bad guy being heroic. I think. You know who does a fair amount of voice over work? Kevin McDonald.



Young Adult Large Print

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. Wolves.

Hap and Leonard Make More Trouble

Fiction

Devil Red by Joe R. Lansdale. Best pals Hap and Leonard "return in a red-hot, mayhem-fueled thriller to face a vampire cult, the Dixie Mafia, and the deadliest assassin they've ever encountered - Devil Red." Lansdale is big in Italy and very kung-fuey. Bill Crider says Lansdale's daughter is kung-fuey as well. (I don't actually know any of these people.)

Toys by James Patterson and Neil McMahon. All these Patterson novels should be in paperback.

Pacific Glory by P.T. Deutermann. Navy novel set during World War Two.

Large Print

Here to Stay by Catherine Anderson. Boring cover.

Young Adult

You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin. Nice cover design.

Blink and Caution by Tim Wybbe-Jones. Average cover design.

AudioBook on CD

Journal of the Gun Years by Richard Matheson. 6 CDs at 7.5 hours. No cover design. Only a standard, stock image for the cover. A western following Marshal Clay Halser through is own diary.

Large Print, Imaginary Book, and Ron Reagan

Large Print With One Title I Completely Made Up

Glittering World by T. Greenwood.

Perfect Mistress by Victoria Alexander.

Country of the Pointed Firs and The Dunnet Landing Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett.

The Jungle by Clive Cussler.

The Mafeking Junction by Lars Edwards.

Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear.

Though Not Dead by Dana Stabenow.

Audiobook on CD

My Father at 100 by Ron Reagan. Reagan was really hitting the talk show circuit for a month or so. I heard Ron speak on one television show and he commented on how even though he and his father were politically opposite they never let that interfere with their relationship.

A Pleasant Day Slightly Spoiled by Chicken Manure

Pleasant Day

A nearby farm must have spreading their chicken manure this morning. The smell only slightly disturbed the sunny and pleasant weather.





Some Sort of Coffee Cake

I found this in the staff break room. These food items are always appearing. So I eat them.




Fiction

Mercy Kill by Lori Armstrong. Sequel to No Mercy which circ'ed well. Former sniper Mercy Gunderson is adjusting to he new post-Army life in in South Dakota. Mercy's part-time bartender work is must by a murder in her bar's parking lot.

Satori by Don Winslow. "A Novel based on Trevanian's Shibumi" I read Shibumi and the novel was entertaining but far-fetched. Nicholai Hel is 26 years old and in solitary confinement in 1951 Japan. The Americans promise freedom and a passport if he travels to Beijing and kills a Russian.

Four

One

Monster High by Lisi Harrison. Welcome to Monster High where freaky is about to get fabulous.

Two

Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer. Dead contagion released during State of the Union and capitol building is quarantined.

Three

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy. Some cover as regular print.

Four

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb. Also the same cover.

Lego Mind Storm: Build and DESTROY!

Hosted on 7 March 2011. We had a great turnout with 31 kids joining us after school.

Seven Items of Pressed Wood Pulp with Dogs

Young Adult

Clarity by Kim Harrington. I usually don't list YA books but this was in the pile. Girl is clairvoyant. No dogs.

Fiction

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy. Cover illustration is a painting with people and two dogs.

Betrayal by Fern Michaels. Ghost written? I'm wondering because Michaels cranks'em out. Author photo includes three dogs. One is a small poodle. My family had a toy poodle named Rex. Rex liked to lick. Lick, lick, lick like a snake. Lick, lick, lick. My aunt used to call Rex a lizard. Lick, lick, lick. Rex used to ride on my shoulder like a parrot.

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult. I tried reading a Picoult book but I never finished it. Dog status is unknown. My dog's status is HAIRY.

Large Print

Border Lords by T. Jefferson Parker. Like the regular print version but with larger font and a different cover design. The cover design incorporates the silhouette of a Beretta 92 for the L in Lords. Lame. This book has the bad guy taking in a stray mutt in Mexico.

Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Moseley. How do you pronounce Ptolemy? Mosley wrote a book entitled Walkin' the Dog. I did an image search on Google trying to find a photo of Mosley with a dog. No dice. I did find this near Mosley's name on Neil Gaiman's blog. Gaiman really seems to like his dog; he has dog photos all over his posts.

I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. 1998 London has two life long David Cassidy fans finally getting to meet the former teen star. Was there a dog on that awful Partridge Family show?

Nice Hat

Tight Dress in the Jungle? Love You More.

AudioBook on CD

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison. 14 CDs at 18 hours. The cover has a gal in a tight mini-dress covered in arcing electricity. Can a witch, and elf, a living vampire, and a pixy survive in one car for over 2,300 miles? I hope not.

Fiction

The Jungle by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul. The cover lists the authors as Clive Cussler and Jack DeBrul.

Love You More by Lisa Gardner. Female cop kills her husband and the daughter is missing. Other cop investigates.

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde. Heck if I know. I'm not sure what the deal is with this series.

Silent Mercy by Linda Fairstein. Serial killer novel with religious angle. Mercy has been a very popular title word over the past couple years.

Without Mercy
In Search of Mercy
No Mercy
Acts of Mercy
Mercy Watson
Cry Mercy
Love Mercy
Mercy Street
A Mercy
Mercy on these Teenage Chimps

One DVD, Two Books, Coffee, Earthquake

DVD

Freakonomics: the movie by Morgan Spurlock. Film version of the book. Using economic theory and methods to examine social issues and sumo wrestling.

Large Print

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg. As children, Celia and Djuna reigned mercilessly over their schoolgirl followers. One afternoon, they decided to walk home along a forbidden road. Djuna disappeared, and for twenty years Celia has blocked out the actual events of that day.

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell. Guy named Will leaves life as a farmer to be missionary in North China. Marries missionary lady and they stay through years of strife and civil war to "improve the lives of the people of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng - the City of Tranquil Light."

Coffee

I cleaned out my French press: coffee maker by Gerard the Library Director.










New Zealand

Once again, I hope Dunedin was not effected by the quakes. I erroneously think of after shocks as being tamer. Not so this time.

Hunting From a Bicycle

NonFiction

A Grouse Hunter's Almanac: the other kind of hunting by Mark Parman. Twenty years of bird hunting. I was flipping through this and came to:

Once while mountain bike hunting in a section of county forest where both pursuits are allowed, I rolled up on a young couple out mountain biking. the dog was thirty yards ahead, leading me down the trail. When I rounded a corner, the couple was petting him, and he was working the free massage for all it was worth...When he spotted my gun and the tail feathers poking out the front of my vest, his face went cold. Clearly both were uncomfortable with me, although maybe they just didn't like or understand guns...Did they think I rode around with a loaded shotgun, blasting away at whatever moved like some sort of mountain bike Rambo? They pedaled away quickly, looking over their shoulders and whispering to each other. They didn't seem sure about me, but they did seem to like the dog, which is a start.

Fiction

Vicious Cycle by Terri Blackstock. I'll open this to a random page as well. She looked away, "I didn't say that." "You meant it. But that's okay."

Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb.

A Taste of Romance by Roni Denholtz. Romance.

Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. Are these ghost written? The frequency makes me wonder.

Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini. "An Elm Creek Quilts Novel."

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund. Swedish murder mystery.

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding. Non-Swedish. Very conventional title, too. Woman sees her dead daughter everywhere. Daughter's drowned body was never recovered, so hey, can you blame her?

Delays Due to Cataloging Issues

Cataloging Delays

After a recent software update by Sirsi all newly uploaded records are showing double. So we have not been unable to add new material. This is not too bad for a small library like ours but I imagine Beaver Dam, Racine, and West Bend are really annoyed. Here are some items that were already in the pipeline.

Fiction

Heartwood by Belva Plain.

Large Print

Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter. Another love letter to .30 caliber rifle shooting. The novel is dedicated to Nick Ziolkowski.

Nashville Chrome by Rick Bass. Some sort of novel.

NonFiction

If your adolescent has depression or bipolar disorder by Dwight L. Evansm, M.D. and LInda Wasmer Andrews. Notice how I typed that title in cataloger style? No capitals but for the first word? What do you mean you don't care? What do you mean I barely passed my basic cataloging class?

Large Print and a Piccirilli

AudioBook on CD

The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli, 7 hours on 6 CDs. The first novel in Piccirilli's great series with former wheelman and crook, Chase.

This morning I received an email in my junk box from Piccirilli asking for assistance. He is in Southern England on vacation and has lost his money and passport! Oh, what disaster! Please help me!
I assume the real Piccirilli is not pleased with someone using his name for a scam.

Large Print

Strategic Moves by Stuart Woods. Front cover has illustration of car crashing into a swimming pool. I could try and draw parallels between the cover and the current state of ghost writing. But, this series is still popular so the publisher must be hiring good ghost writers.

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag. Murder mystery.

The Sentry by Robert Crais. Large print version of the Joe Pike novel.

Marrying Daisy Bellamy by Susan Wiggs.

Casting About by Terri Dulong. The cover implies the plot involves knitting.

Waking up in Dixie by Haywood Smith.

Separate Beds by Elizabeth Buchan.

Music on CD

Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen. Do you really like his songs or are you being hip?

Super Bowl 45

Packers!

Music, Fiction. Jogging in the Desert

DVD (NonFiction)

Running the Sahara by James Moll. "An attempt by three ultra marathoners to run across the length of Africa's Sahara desert, tackling not only the elements, but also unimaginable physical and emotional obstacles...anticipating two marathons a day, for eighty days...without a day off."

Ha! The guys in Top Gear out did that. They drove across across an African desert in crappy, used cars. (This episode scared my oldest son when he first watched it. He thought one of the show's hosts was going to be left behind in the desert.)

Music on Shiny Plastic Discs

Street Songs of Love by Alejandro Escovedo. The last Escovedo CD I bought went out very well.



Greatest Hits by Goo Goo Dolls. Bleah.

Bob Dylan: At Budokan by Bob Dylan. Grubble grbl Simple Twist of Fate Buerbelle krumpfhler Like a Rolling Stone cracckkleter All Along the Watchtower.

Country Song: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. This is a bestseller list.



Psycho Sonics by The Sonics. Another byproduct of Little Steven's radio station on Sirius Satellite radio. The Sonics were a Tacoma garage band in the '60s with a loud, raw, rock sound.



Georgia Warhorse by J.J. Grey and Mofro. A continuing byproduct of Anthony Neil Smith who gave an online recommendation of Orange Blossoms.



Be in Love by Locksley. Very energetic pop songs with plenty of guitar. Dudes are out of Madison and, once again, favored by Little Steven. A well-done video that catches the energy of the tune:



Made Up Stories Printed on Paper

Wisconsin Angel: Cordelia Harvey, Civil War Heroine by Jane Walrath Solem. Fictionalization of Harvey's work on behalf of Wisconsin's soldiers.

Though Not Dead by Dana Stabenow. Danger in Alaska with investigator Kate Shugak. Shugak's uncle has died and his will requests Kate to "find his father" who disappeared right after the uncle's birth. Danger ensues.

Fatal Error by J.A. Jance. Ali Reynolds is about to enter the Arizona Police Academy when an old friend, Brenda, shows up looking for her fiance. The fiance is a sociopathic bigamist who ends up murdered with Brenda as the main suspect.

Fadeaway Girl by Martha Grimes. Cover illustration has a maid, in maid's uniform, peaking through a keyhole.

Strong Justice by Jon Land. I read something good about this one. Something about a female Texas Ranger. The cover photo if a pistol muzzle in focus with an out-of-focus gal pointing the gun at the camera.