Bryan Uecker

I have been an avid patron of The Book Nook & Java Shop since 2003. The White Lake area is so special - the beauty, the people, and the culture. The Book Nook & Java Shop is an important part of the community - a place to gather, find something good to read, and enjoy a cup of joe with friends, a computer or a book. I am greatful, thrilled and humbled to forge forward with the goal of not only filling the large shoes Debra has left behind but walking, skipping and jumping along with you on the bright road that is the future. So join us on the journey - we are only as good as our local support (you).

And a journey is never complete without something good to read, right?

Here's what I've been reading lately:

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Paperback)

By Gabriel Garcia Marquez

$16.99

ISBN-13: 9780061120091
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 6/2006

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Wow what a writer. I have heard of this book for years and finally chose it as the December book club book. It is so rich. Every sentence is a work of art and the story is so colorful, detailed treating the mundane and the fantastic the violent and the humorous all with the same non-chalant tone. The book warants another read because I'm sure I only scratched the surface of what is in there. The ficitonal town of Macondo is a metaphor for Columbia sharing some of the same historic events: Liberal revolution from colonial way of life, influx of American and European modernism, fruit company massacre of striking workers, etc.

The Case for God (Hardcover)

By Karen Armstrong

$27.95

ISBN-13: 9780307269188
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Knopf, 9/2009

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Karen Armstrong must be the most prolific religious writer of our time. Her amazing expanse of knowledge and depth of insight and understanding are the hallmarks of her numerous voluminous books. In “The Case for God” she takes a historic perspective of man’s religious impulses from the Paleolithic age to present. In her quest she examines Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism showing that God has many names: God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah and Tao. She makes a convincing argument for delving into the insights of the past in order to construct a faith that is relevant to our time. I especially resonated with her notion that scripture was not intended to be taken as a literal end in itself but as a jumping point to that which is beyond words. And that religion was not intended to be something believed but something that is practiced. Religion is a means to a “compassionate lifestyle” – a message relevant to our polarized age.

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Hardcover)

By Malcolm Gladwell

$27.99

ISBN-13: 9780316075848
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Little, Brown and Company, 10/2009

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I love reading Malcolm Gladwell (author of Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers) – I highly recommend all of his books. He uncovers the most interesting details about mundane things and radically changes how we view the world and ourselves. His newest book “What the Dog Saw” is a collection of his best writings from the New Yorker. Among the questions he tackles: What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century? In the preface to the book Gladwell claims: "Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head." Gladwell hits a homerun on all three counts. He has an amazing knack for uncovering the extraordinary hidden in the ordinary.

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream (Paperback)

By Adam W. Shepard

$13.99

ISBN-13: 9780061714276
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harper Paperbacks, 2/2010

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Sam Shepard graduated from college and instead of jumping into the job market decides to take on a challenge to rebut Barbara Ehrenreich's popular books Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch. His goal is to see if he can create the American dream from scratch beginnings - namely $25 and the clothes on his back. The game he undertakes is to have a roof over his head, a means of transportation, and $2500 in the bank within 1 year without divulging or relying on his education and background. Starting out in a homeless shelter in Charleston, South Carolina, he works his way from no job to a steady $10 per hour job with a moving company and ultimately achieves his goal well before his one-year deadline. He discovers that attitude and determination are the deciding factors for determining who "gets out" and who remains in poverty and despair. Also, having pride in a job well done and being of service to others is not co-related to financial status.

Worst Case (Hardcover)

By James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge

$27.99

ISBN-13: 9780316036221
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Little, Brown and Company, 2/2010

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Ok, so once in a while I need a little thriller fix. “Worst Case” is the 3rd in the Detective Michael Bennett series by James Patterson. One by one, the criminal (who takes social action to the extreme!) holds hostage children of New York’s wealthiest families and subjects them to a “test”. If they pass the test they are let free, if not they are killed because “they don’t deserve to live”. They are tested on their knowledge of the price others pay for their luxurious lifestyles. Like all James Patterson’s novels, they are a bit predictable but that doesn’t stop it from being a good page-turner.

Push (Paperback)

By Sapphire

$13.00

ISBN-13: 9780679766759
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Vintage, 4/1997

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Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart!

It is an utterly shocking novel: the language, the circumstances and the brutal honesty. "Push" is a story of Precious Jones, a 16-year old black girl living in Harlem. She is pregnant with her second child both as a result of being repeatedly raped by her father. Her mother hates her and abuses her because "she stole my man".

Precious protects herself through her fantasies of being a skinny pretty white girl with long blond hair. A spark of hope ignites and the world begins to open up for her when a courageous, determined teacher bullies, cajoles, and inspires her to learn to read, to define her own feelings and set them down in a diary. The word PUSH is used in different circumstances from pushing in the delivery room, getting pushed around, and finally pushing herself beyond the limits she thought were real.

The movie "Precious" is based on this book.

Depressing yet hopeful.

Wonder Boys (Paperback)

By Michael Chabon

$15.00

ISBN-13: 9780812979213
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 4/2008

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Michael Chabon has such a wry, exposed witty writing style. His characters are vulnerable with messy lives. In “Wonder Boys”, the main character, Grady Tripp is no exception. He is a washed-up college writing professor with a marriage that is breaking up, a mistress (dean of the college) who becomes pregnant, an editor that is losing his job, and a 2000-page book that is eight years in the making and doesn’t show the least signs of finishing. His marijuana habit takes the edge off but doesn’t help things. Grady finds himself in the most preposterous situations, from a picked-up transvestite, to a wild ride with his editor and a suicidal student in a stolen car that contains a tuba and the corpses of a dog and a boa constrictor.

The Lost Symbol (Hardcover)

By Dan Brown

$29.95

ISBN-13: 9780385504225
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Doubleday, 9/2009

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Dan Brown has an affinity for uncovering secret and hidden knowledge
and meaning in a thriller-type genre. In The Lost Symbol we learn
about the secret society of the Free Masons, it's symbols, rituals, and
most importantly the famous and powerful men that have been counted as
members - namely, many of the founding fathers and the architects of
the nations capitol. From the pyramid on the back of the dollar bill
to the pyramid of the Washington monument we see common sights through
new eyes and new meaning.

Dan Brown's famous page turner writing style seemingly has a tease
at the end of every chapter urging you on to read just one more chapter
to satisfy the itch. It really is difficult to put down.

Although I found the villain outlandish and unrealistic and the plot
formulaic and incredible, I enjoyed learning about the Free Masons and
the influence they have had on our country in the guise of a thrilling
national security crisis.

Pierre and Jean (Paperback)

By Guy de Maupassant, Guy de Maupassant, Leonard Tancock

$13.00

ISBN-13: 9780140443585
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Penguin Books, 6/1979

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Pierre and Jean are brothers living in Normandy with their mother and father. The brothers are competitive, Pierre an academic, doctor and realist. Jean more sensitive, idealistic and a lawyer. Their world changes forever upon the announcement of an inheritance of a family friend which is bequeathed solely to Jean. Pierre begins to question the gesture and eventually begins to question his mother's fidelity and the legitimacy of his brother Jean. The relationship of Pierre and his mother and the circumstances of Pierre's life continue to disintegrate while the fortunes and relationships of Jean flourish. This is a psychological journey into relationships, jealousy and the truths we hide in the name of comfort, reputation and success.