2 books and an author

Hello all,

I want to recommend 2 books that I have just read.  The first is called The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein.  It's got a picture of a dog on the cover so, of course, I avoided it (I'm not a big fan of animals).  Joni and I were at an author's event a few weeks ago (Robert Crais) with Rich and Leslie.  They both strongly recommended the book and said that it was a human story told from the perspective of the family dog.  Since I was waiting for my next author to come out with his latest (Alex Berenson and his macho man star, John Wells), I figured I'd give it a try.  I tend to like almost everything Rich likes.  Well, I'm happy to report that it was darn good.  It was very clever and, in some parts, quite poignant.  I would recommend it to anybody and everybody, regardless of what types of books you like.

The second one is a non-fiction called Look Me in the Eye, by John Robison.  It's written by a man (Robison) who has asperger's.  He's now in his early to mid fifties, and he tells the story of growing up with the disease but not knowing that he has the disease.  At that time, people knew about autism but not about the autism spectrum - the fact that many people with autism are high-functioning.  The book is well written and gives us laypeople a really good idea of what asperger's is all about.  Although I'm not a big non-fiction fan, I liked this a lot.  Plus I actually learned something.  Imagine that.  Again, I think this is a pretty good read for everybody.

And now for the big news (drum roll, please) - Harlan Coben is coming to the Bay Area to promote his latest book.  He's going to be at The Book Passage in Corte Madera on Monday, March 28.  Yes, I know it's a Monday night and, yes, I know it's far for many of us, but this guy is great.  If you like murder mysteries, this author is right near the top of the list.  For those of us who read him, it's always exciting when he comes out with a new book.  He started his career by writing 6 or 7 books about a sports agent and his buddy, which were very entertaining, and then switched to stand-alones.  Everything he writes is top notch.  So far, Joni, Rich, Leslie, Alan, Lanie (unconfirmed), and I are going.  If you can get there, assuming you even care, this is a good one.  P.S., we always have dinner after the event.  Does that make a difference?

My next blog will focus on B-listers - i.e. those authors who we read and like but don't love.