tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-386566332009-07-13T11:30:48.009-05:00The problem is I want to read it all but I fall farther behind every day.Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.comBlogger1012125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-41457638498144450242009-07-12T15:49:00.003-05:002009-07-12T16:02:21.892-05:00

It is still painful to look around Galveston and remember what the city was like before Hurricane Ike devastated it in September 2008. Such massive destruction of property makes for a very slow recovery, but Galveston is making great progress in getting things as close to "normal" as they ever will be again.This week comes the good news that the city's Rosenberg Library, housed in a 105-year-old

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-44495123483798211782009-07-11T11:26:00.004-05:002009-07-11T11:48:16.964-05:00

Well, I've been back from Kentucky for almost two weeks but I'm still finding it difficult to get back into all my old routines. I'm not reading nearly my usual number of pages per day, nor am I posting to Book Chase quite as regularly as I like to do. There's just something about having the old routine broken up for a week that's making it difficult for me to get back on track.Part of the

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-25067874872400120452009-07-09T18:05:00.004-05:002009-07-09T18:18:23.896-05:00

In a move lifted right out of the Marketing 101 textbook, Amazon announced yesterday that it is dropping the price of its basic model Kindle to $299. The company seems to have caught up with demand to the degree that it has inventory to spare and is willing to bet that its bottom line will increase more by selling more units at the new, lower price than by selling fewer units at a higher

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-6399972095414416832009-07-08T17:24:00.004-05:002009-07-08T17:37:58.394-05:00

As I mentioned before leaving for Kentucky on June 23, I made my 1000th Book Chase post a few days ago (this is post 1,012 in way of context). Book Chase had been in existence for almost exactly 29 months when I reached the milestone. Anyway, as promised, I would like to give away the last book I reviewed in order to mark the occasion.Take a look directly below for my thoughts on Scottsboro: A

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-27171833599074610632009-07-07T17:09:00.003-05:002009-07-07T17:15:05.988-05:00

When, in 1931, nine young black men were pulled off a train in rural Alabama and accused of raping two young white women who happened to be on that same train, no one could have imagined the ultimate outcome. Earlier, the young men had drawn attention to themselves by tossing some white boys off the moving train and, subsequently, the train was halted by a group of vigilantes seeking revenge

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-20867879529796109122009-07-06T13:37:00.003-05:002009-07-07T17:17:43.203-05:00

Greg Kot’s "Ripped" offers a clear look at how the old school recording industry, primarily the major record labels, committed group suicide by allowing the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to attack the customers who put money into its various corporate pockets. The dinosaurs managing the major labels failed to recognize the multitude of potential benefits offered by the new

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-6609727953635142782009-07-04T09:27:00.003-05:002009-07-04T09:39:01.231-05:00

The Winter Vault is a complex, passionate novel about loneliness, destruction, replication, personal loss, and memories of one’s roots, and it requires high levels of patience and concentration if one is to absorb everything that Anne Michaels is trying to say. It is neither a plot-driven nor a character-driven novel and, in fact, those are its weakest elements. Rather, it is a philosophical

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-23444895798532718522009-07-03T10:24:00.005-05:002009-07-03T11:03:29.713-05:00

I have paid very little attention to the hoopla about Michael Jackson's death. I was out of town the week he died, and didn't turn on a television set for the six days I was away from home, so I managed to miss the worst of the media blitz about his tragic end. Frankly, though, I found the man to be kind of creepy and not too many years after his "Thriller" period I began to ignore him. So the

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-42013793790435287342009-07-02T21:32:00.000-05:002009-07-02T21:33:31.003-05:00

Rosine, KY, the birthplace of bluegrass music is about a 40-minute drive from Owensboro and the International Bluegrass Music Museum. Despite my attendance at the ROMP festival for the last four years, I have found it difficult to make it to Rosine. ROMP ends late on a Saturday night and the Bill Monroe home in Rosine does not open its doors to the public before 1:00 p.m. on Sundays - timing

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-18255745333936377932009-07-01T16:37:00.003-05:002009-07-01T16:49:59.616-05:00

Anyone calling himself a serious mystery fan probably owns at least a handful of Lawrence Block books. Block is best known for his Matt Scudder series, of course, but he has also had success with a mystery series featuring burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. This time around, though, Block offers a memoir focusing on his years of as a competitive racewalker (competitive only in the sense that Block

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-67719698777120693562009-06-30T10:03:00.002-05:002009-06-30T10:07:22.431-05:00

Recently widowed, Felicia Fontenot has moved back into her childhood home in order to care for her elderly mother and she finds that not much has changed in the old neighborhood. Her mother’s neighbors are older than she remembers them but they are still keenly aware of what is happening on their street. Felicia is quick to notice one change, however - her first serious boyfriend, Luther Jackson

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-70206512118576698262009-06-27T09:48:00.001-05:002009-06-27T10:25:19.776-05:00

ROMP 2009 moved to Yellow Creek Park yesterday for its final two days, two of the hottest days I've ever experienced in Owensboro. The temperature supposedly hit 96 degrees yesterday and the humidity is very high - a bad combination for folks staying outdoors for 10 or 12 hours, many of those hours in direct sunlight.It appears that the heat may have kept some of the locals from coming out this

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-29920830242732332822009-06-26T07:42:00.004-05:002009-06-26T08:59:20.426-05:00

The RiverPark Center - on the Ohio River, Owensboro, KY - Concert center for much of ROMP 2009 Bluegrass Music FestivalJust a quick note to say that I'm still alive.It has been non-stop music for the last two days and by the time I get back to the hotel there's barely time to recharge batteries for the camcorder, digital audio recorder and camera before it''s time to crash for about six hours of

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-13990000291955975022009-06-24T08:20:00.002-05:002009-06-24T08:26:56.685-05:00

A few miles down the highway from Texarkana, ArkansasThe driving went so well yesterday that I decided to drive straight on through rather than to break the drive into two days. I ended up driving 933 miles, arriving in Owensboro just over 15 hours after I left my driveway. I've made this drive four times now and, for whatever reason, drivers seemed more laid back and willing to drive the speed

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-83274344647954633572009-06-22T18:29:00.003-05:002009-06-22T19:23:48.160-05:00

Just a quick note to tell everyone that I will be "on the road again" beginning tomorrow morning. I'm heading back to Owensboro, KY, for four glorious days of bluegrass music presented by the International Bluegrass Music Museum there.I plan to get in a lot of music, a little reading, and some blogging while I'm away. Much of the blogging is likely to be on my other blog, Bluegrass & Honky

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-45256700585206813372009-06-22T16:43:00.001-05:002009-06-22T16:47:35.649-05:00

When Will There Be Good News? is Kate Atkinson’s third Jackson Brodie novel and in it, as she did in the first two Brodie novels, Atkinson successfully keeps several seemingly unrelated plot lines in the air long enough to bring them all together at the end for another of her rousing climaxes. Kate Atkinson is one hell of a juggler - she never drops anything.The book begins on a rather normal

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-87191046470377710222009-06-21T17:19:00.006-05:002009-06-21T17:52:20.577-05:00

I might have some bad news for Kindle owners. If this report from paidContent.org turns out to be correct, Amazon will have to raise the average price of Kindle books substantially if the business model is going to work in the long term.We think Amazon’s strategy, however, is to raise electronic book prices over time, while simultaneously influencing the book publishers to accommodate at least a

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-24321112364950306422009-06-20T11:28:00.006-05:002009-06-20T11:45:46.521-05:00

One seven-year-old author and his family have put the self-publishing concept to good use. Drake Senseney, a student at Woolmarket Elementary School (Mississippi), decided to write a book to raise money to help a fellow student, Lexi Moore, who is being treated for T-cell lymphoma. And, despite not being able to sell his book at the local Wal-Mart, Drake has managed to raise about $2500 for his

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-56967373207582769552009-06-19T20:09:00.007-05:002009-06-19T20:27:18.746-05:00

I'm not sure what word best describes British grocery chain Tesco's decision to include one particular book as part of its special Father's Day book display.Should I call it ironic, or should I call it stupid, that someone in charge at Tesco think's it's a good idea to include a book about a man who imprisoned his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and had 7 children with her in a display of books

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-17405658790086685642009-06-18T17:07:00.001-05:002009-06-18T17:11:11.722-05:00

Lisa Barkley and her husband, Sam, are struggling to maintain their toehold on the upper income lifestyle they enjoy on New York’s East Side with their two young daughters. If their impending fortieth birthdays were not bad enough, both are facing a crisis of sorts in the workplace. Lisa’s PR firm has just been taken over by an aggressive Chicago firm and she senses that she is being squeezed

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-67473339630121708272009-06-17T16:54:00.003-05:002009-06-17T17:18:09.146-05:00

The New York Daily News has another of those "feel good" stories that I love so much.It seems that a New York City special education student by the name of Hakeem Bennett won a national essay contest in which he wrote about his real-life hero, his favorite teacher. That teacher, Matthew Brown, is vision-impaired and Hakeem admires and loves the teacher for the way he does his job so well despite

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-19566918123123706372009-06-16T18:50:00.002-05:002009-06-16T18:56:34.216-05:00

The Turnaround, set deep in the heart of Washington D.C., is the story of six teenage boys, three of them white and three of them black, who have their lives forever changed on what should be just another day in the summer of 1972. Alex Pappas knows that he and his two friends, Billy Cachoris and Pete Whitten, have no business going into a black neighborhood looking for trouble but he cannot

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-22555417055939047582009-06-15T17:09:00.003-05:002009-06-15T17:15:47.410-05:00

Even after its admission to the Union, Texas was a dangerous place for those staking a claim to a new life there. Life, already tough enough for the small farmers and ranchers working so hard simply to survive from one season to the next, was complicated by the presence of Comanche warriors unwilling to give up their tribal lands without a fight. Sudden, violent, death was still common enough

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-73273958431100976892009-06-13T13:26:00.004-05:002009-06-13T13:48:29.617-05:00

Seventh grader Demarcus Porter received a special medal from his teacher at the end of the school year, a well deserved award to recognize his outstanding reading feat. (Read the whole story here at the Truman Democrat.)Porter, a Truman, Arkansas, student read an astounding 503 books during the school year, over 50 books a month, more than a book every day of the school year. "I knew I was

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38656633.post-50950569494921117322009-06-12T14:02:00.003-05:002009-06-12T14:11:45.808-05:00

I abandon something in the range of 6 to 12 books in an average reading year but I seldom mention them by title or tell why I made the decision to toss them aside. Every so often, however, one of those books will irritate me so much that I decide to document exactly why I tossed it in the trash. My recent experience with Susan Faludi’s The Terror Dream is one of those cases.The Terror Dream is

Sam Sattlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17448913705757509608SamHouston23@gmail.com4