Critics Rave

Lamb traces the self-discovery of David Lamb, a narcissistic middle aged man with a tendency toward dishonesty, in the weeks following the disintegration of his marriage and the death of his father. Hoping to regain some faith in his own goodness, he turns his attention to Tommie, an awkward and unpopular eleven-year-old girl. Lamb is convinced that he can help her avoid a destiny of apathy and emptiness, and even comes to believe that his devotion to Tommie is in her best interest.

In this gripping first-person account of adventure and survival, author Scott Wallace chronicles an expedition into the Amazon’s uncharted depths, discovering the rainforest’s secrets while moving ever closer to a possible encounter with one such tribe – the mysterious flecheiros, or “People of the Arrow,” seldom-glimpsed warriors known to repulse all intruders with showers of deadly arrows. Writers Francisco Goldman, Sebastian Junger, Peter Matthiessen, and David Grann (author of The Lost City of Z) are all fans.

“Every Day by the Sun provides a beautiful rendition of a girl’s coming of age among an unusual family,” says bookseller Richard Howarth of Square Books in Oxford, MS, “and is highly entertaining and interesting, a must for Faulknerphiles, for Oxonians, and for readers everywhere who enjoy fine books.”

Some friendships feel destined. I started wondering today if it isn’t that way with people and their dogs too. How do people get matched with their dogs? As far as I know, there is no match.com for people and dogs. You don’t meet dogs in the workplace. I suppose friends can set you up with a dog. Lots of people seem to have stumbled into adopting their dog. That is where I think fate has a hand.

Diana heard the news first, and speed dialed Liz – “I just got an email that says we are in People Magazine!” she said. Liz went to the nearest newsstand, opened to page 67 and Liz promptly burst into tears. he called Diana: “It’s the lead review!” she said. “There are two photos and a book jacket image that takes up 1/4 of the page!” She next called Dan and Amanda and read the review to each verbatim.

I told a friend the tragic story of my parents’ lives, how their once beloved backpacker lodge was now a brothel, how my Mom was reduced to cooking meals on a portable gas cooker, that my Dad was cultivating a marijuana crop to earn a little money. Tears were rolling down her face. But she wasn’t crying, she was laughing. She said something like, “I’m really sorry but what you just told me is actually quite funny.” I realized then that I had to look at it in a completely different way.