This book was recently featured on our website in conjunction with the annual Philadelphia Marathon. I knew nothing about Steve Prefontaine and/or the history of professional running in America outside of the big names in Ultra-running before reading this book. This book is sure to remain popular as it provides a glimpse of his running years in California and Oregon, covers his Olympic years and record setting, as well as his relationships with other record holders. From the years running before Nike was even around to his tragic death this memoir is at once a “who to beat” on the track…but also at the mental game of surviving success in life and running. This book sticks to the facts and does not explore or hypothesize about what Prefontaine might have achieved had he lived longer.

I really enjoyed Running Like a Girl. Whether you are a professional or amateur or more of a couch potato here is finally a great running book for the ladies. I couldn’t appreciate enough Alexandra Heminsleys’ no holds barred approach to discussing the sacrifices we make for the sport. At once a memoir to running and also her life and fathers attachment to the sport it also chronicles a lot of the psychology of the self, the emotions that can be brought up when achieving something difficult. This book is less a chronology of races won, and more of a testament to all the bad ugly runs; the mile 11 tears, …a sort of benchmark mile marker. This is sure to be a continued favorite read for adults and I give 5 stars.

Lillian Jackson Brauns’ The Cat Who series is perhaps one of the most pleasant, quirky, un-dangerous, 100% non-scary Murder mystery series known to mankind. I grew up reading these for their dry wit and comical names in the 1990's. Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter did not exist yet and The Cat Who series compromised the entirety of my relaxation strategy. 

In this “episode” Qwilleran, Koko, YumYum and all the regular silly named characters are back, however Polly Duncan is extremely absent and that absence is felt by the reader through Qwillerans’ dol-drums throughout a huge part of the book. It is a great psychological exploration of suppressed loneliness, and much less a mystery. The real take-away from this book is the mystery of whether or not Qwilleran and Polly will survive this episodic workaholism entrenching most of Moose County, and much less about the actual new dangerous personality in town. Kudos to Mrs. Jackson Braun for her departure from the usual script and ascribing many of her personal emotions into main character Qwilleran. Kudos to Mrs. Jackson Braun for the gender swapping that went into characterizing “Polly Duncan” as the man and “Qwilleran” as Jackson herself “a crazy cat lady”. The psychology and nuances of this drama make it unique and one of the most successful books of the series. If you are new to the series I would read the earlier ones first, but if you’ve already read a handful of them and skipped this one this one is NOT TO BE MISSED !!!

When Michelle McNamera unexpectedly dies in her sleep at the age of 40 after half a life-time of researching the "Golden State Killer" (and dubbing him as such) the weight of printing her work is taken up nearly exclusively by Gillian Flynn. Here is the final published synopsis of what they, numerous investigators and the interwebs have produced after many decades of sifting through small details. This book is well researched. The book went to print and subsequently Joseph DeAngelo former police officer is being charged in Sacremento in one consolidated Trial for the multiple 10+ successful murders and 50 successful assaults. This book is especially disturbing for it's lack of conclusion at the time of publishing and the gory details of which parts of the human body were hardest to recover due to the small fragment sizes. If you can't stomach a 2hr rated R film; then this real-life story is not going to sit well with you. I can't recommend this book to anyone, man woman or child prone to obsessive fear who wants to still sleep at night. With the printing of this book his very journal handwriting is given to the masses. In conclusion: thanks to DNA advances as well as good old-fashioned human sleuthing the perpetrator has been captured and sentenced for life.

The magic of Whitney is her distinct '80s synthetic pop backbeats combined with her tremendous voice. Didn't we almost have it all and I wanna dance with somebody are on this album. This album earned four American Music Award wins, a Soul Train Music Award and a second Grammy.

Tana French is widely loved for her ability to immediately inject the reader into the scene at hand. Her ability to write a crime novel with prose is un-canny and a great pairing. If you have never read a Tana French Novel why not start here. They don't have to be read in order.

Little Fires Everywhere is a 2017 novel by American author Celeste Ng. It is her second novel and takes place in Shaker Heights, Ohio where Ng grew up. She described writing about her hometown as "a little bit like writing about a relative. You see all of the great things about them, you love them dearly, and yet you also know all of their quirks and their foibles."

The novel is about two families living in 1990s Shaker Heights who are brought together through their children. 

The book was voted as the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for fiction in 2017. (Source: Wikipedia)

Splash is one of the first Tom Hanks films, he was originally slated to play the role of the brother. Wonderful method acting was used to develop the scenes making it a must-be-seen for anyone in acting/theater/comedy. This is a film which is rich, hilarious, and the slap stick isn't too corny. They set you up for what you know is coming and then they tweak events ever so slightly to the right or left in a mind-blowingly satisfyingly unpredictable way. The flimsy plot is eclipsed by the real human characterizations and John Candy makes a wonderful 'older wiser' brother. Viewers who watched the Shape of Water will realize blatant copying of both themes in the abstract and certain scene shots which are a clear hat tip to this gem of a comedy.

This timely walk through recent historical military and political moves as relates to engineering and astronomical science is immensely well crafted, researched and searing with the gravity of the consequences of war and a military mongering mindset. Here comes the truth about China's space program superiority, 9/11, CNN's un-positive news spins at every given opportunity, and many more going's on. This book is forged from the heaviest most lugubrious subject matter and molded expertly by Avis Lang into a piece which is edible, eloquent and will hopefully be a call to arms for anyone in any industry to care about the death of freedom and planet earth. We can still shape the end-times into something more manageable instead of mis-directing all of our talents to starting wars to keep people distracted and misplaced. You will want to take notes while you read this. 

Uncover the hidden magic of the Philadelphia Eagles and coach Doug Pederson with this over-view cursory Autobiography of his time spent in the NFL as a Quarterback and everything leading up to summer 2017 season history. No stranger to disappointment, Pederson presents his un-raveling as a player for Miami who got cut more than 5times, to a private football coach and then back to the NFL. There is a certain intrigue hearing who knows who/who has played with whom over the years which kills some of the mystique of The NFL. This is an excellent read for all fans, sports geeks and non-geeks alike. His career as a sort of wing man to Brett Favre during his time with Green Bay is explored as well as other anecdotal personal relationships discussed. He waives a religious banner a lot which is not necessary but an accurate glimpse of his world view and sports view.

Bailey has always been a horse person but after an accident, her vision quickly worsens until she is legally blind. When the local breeder is unable to pair her with a guide dog he orders a miniature pony which is half-trained. With the help of her new friends helping her adjust Apple quickly wins over her parents and becomes part of the family. Bailey can re-create her previous hobbies and zest for life to much success and the accolade of her parents. This is a great film, for anyone who is not blind and can watch the film and also for anyone interested in supporting a loved one who is partially blind by encouraging them to adjust as it clearly is not a 2-hour Hollywoodized process. I greatly enjoyed the horse's acting and think you will too!

The Last Hours is an excellent example of historical fiction about the Black Death and the consequences of the population decimation it caused.  The author has obviously done her research, but don't for a minute think this is a dry history book.  Primarily an author of suspens

This well-done historical fiction set on Long Island chronicles the story of two prisoners of the French and Indian War who have been sent to live with a local family.  Tensions are high as the French have caused grievous harm to the family.  However, the patriarch of the family welcomes the men and comes to admire one of them.  A romance develops between one of the prisoners and the daughter of the household.  

Alternating with the historical story is the story set in modern times of a young woman from a prominent family who has come back to the town to run the local historical site where the original family lived.  There are rumors about ghosts and about a tragic love story.  She must use her research abilities to determine the truth as well as heal divisions in her own family resulting from her father fleeing to Canada as a draft resistor during the Vietnam War.  

Both time periods have concurrent somewhat idealized love stories but the history and setting are the primary focus.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This is a very serious glimpse of Borderline Personality Disorder as depicted from his career treating and counseling afflicted individuals. The fictionalized cases present a range of the severity of the trauma and symptoms of the disorder which are vivid, disturbing, and absolutely believable. When processed incorrectly it could be devastating or trigger destructive behavior. As a solution I advise reading this book slowly in small doses and checking in with someone if you are a sensitive person who feels this is necessary for your character development.

Gawdat's writing style is that of a Techie. Let him lead you through a narrative of success and loss as he presents his unique psychology and conceptualization of happiness. Honestly, I don't think of happiness as a formula and no amount of arguing is going to make me think about happiness and math in the same sentence. What is interesting for me about this book is the rarity of the honest glimpse of the trappings that come with a successful career working for Google X. (For example much mention is made of cars as a representation of status but not necessarily a good indicator of happiness) If happiness is contextual then that explains a large portion of how we as humans absorb different hardships throughout our lives. Even if you do not feel the need to re-vamp your own happiness equation; this book might be worth examining for the interesting view of what it looks like from the top of a certain corporate ladder; that of the uber-wealthy. Mo Gawdat seems to have tapped into the universal law that ‘sometimes we get the best results on our most difficult days’. If you possess a strong work-ethic and need to step back and re-analyze what makes you tick and where you can go in the future this book will help you get out of your own way and remember the wide angle lens view of yourself and your life.

I am addicted to Work From Home. Play this Album on a Friday night to get your weekend started or insert it as a little fun distraction between serious projects. You might need ten minutes to settle down after listening to it. It is not just another pop album it has some unique layers to the sounds.

This special edition of Get Lifted should be in keeping with the original. The album tracks are artfully arranged leading through a period of happiness and attraction through a love affair to a (hopeful) reconciliation song and then a ballad of regret/lamentation with “Not like I used to” towards the end. Such a wonderful voice and songwriter. The strength of Mr. Legends musicality is a true gift to the world of music.

Romanza album is a favorite Andrea Bocelli album. If your goal is to impress someone by learning to sing in Italian then this is the album you need. Bocelli's voice is fresh and timeless. Romanza is hard to top as an any time of day musical retreat. Play it from start to finish or just play the most popular hit: Con Te Partiro. This is a full hour long, 15 total tracks including one English version of Time To Say Goodbye.

Potiche stars the legendary Catherine Deneuve and is a relevent and fun exploration of female roles in politics and at home. This mis-en-scene includes its own scandals with charming French accents and Gerard Depardieu is sure to please. Brush up on your French with Potiche.

Here is a High-school survival story; here is a new film for dealing with teenage sexuality, public education, risk taking behavior exploration. This film has a very modern feel and of course Emma Watson is in disguise with alot of mood lighting and shadows which really suits. The best part of this film is that it provides an LGBT role-model who is tremendously self-assured of himself and seems to know exactly what he can get away with and still be happy in life. These actors are so well paired it makes up for the somewhat Hollywoodized plot.