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Texas on My Mind

The Friends We Keep

C. S. Lewis

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

Attribution

C. S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

Attribution

C.S. Lewis

George Washington

There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.

Attribution

George Washington

Linda Ellerbee

A good time to laugh is any time you can.

Attribution

Linda Ellerbee

Charles C. Noble

You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures.

Attribution

Charles C. Noble

February 19, 2016

As we were putting this newsletter together today, news came in that Harper Lee had passed away at the age of 89. To say that Harper Lee was a national treasure is an understatement. I have never heard anyone say that they did not like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Most instead talk about it as a book that made them love reading, or changed their lives, and in that way she had a huge impact on encouraging a lifelong love of reading.

Editorial Content for Brotherhood in Death

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jennifer McCord

BROTHERHOOD IN DEATH, the 42nd book in the In Death series by J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), is a romantic futuristic thriller. It’s a well-paced, gripping story that kept this reviewer up until the wee hours.    Read More

Teaser

Just as Dennis Mira is about to confront his cousin Edward about selling the West Village brownstone that belonged to their grandfather, he gets a shock: Edward is in front of him, bruised and bloody…and then everything goes black. When Dennis comes to, Edward is gone. Luckily Dennis’ wife is a top profiler for the NYPSD --- and a close colleague of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Now Eve is determined to uncover the secrets of Edward Mira, but whoever is behind this disappearance, Edward is not going to be their last victim.

Promo

Just as Dennis Mira is about to confront his cousin Edward about selling the West Village brownstone that belonged to their grandfather, he gets a shock: Edward is in front of him, bruised and bloody…and then everything goes black. When Dennis comes to, Edward is gone. Luckily Dennis’ wife is a top profiler for the NYPSD --- and a close colleague of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Now Eve is determined to uncover the secrets of Edward Mira, but whoever is behind this disappearance, Edward is not going to be their last victim.

About the Book

Sometimes brotherhood can be another word for conspiracy...

Dennis Mira just had two unpleasant surprises. First he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather’s magnificent West Village brownstone, despite the promise they both made to keep it in the family. Then, when he went to the house to confront Edward about it, he got a blunt object to the back of the head.

Luckily Dennis is married to Charlotte Mira, the NYPSD’s top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. When the two arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody. When he came to, his cousin was gone. With the mess cleaned up and the security disks removed, there’s nothing left behind but a few traces for forensics to analyze. 

As a former lawyer, judge, and senator, Edward Mira mingled with the elite and crossed paths with criminals, making enemies on a regular basis. Like so many politicians, he also made some very close friends behind closed --- and locked --- doors. But a badge and a billionaire husband can get you into places others can’t go, and Eve intends to shine some light on the dirty deals and dark motives behind the disappearance of a powerful man, the family discord over a multimillion-dollar piece of real estate...and a new case that no one saw coming.

Audiobook available, narrated by Susan Ericksen

Editorial Content for A Doubter's Almanac

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Harvey Freedenberg

In a recent post on the website Medium, mathematics PhD Junaid Mubeen complained that a mere five years after he obtained his doctorate, he no longer understood his dissertation, a painful discovery that led him to question the value of advanced mathematics study. To assuage his self-doubt, Mubeen quickly offered several justifications to support his belief in the worth of contemplating higher mathematics for its own sake. Read More

Teaser

Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley, he realizes the extent --- and the risks --- of his singular gifts. California in the ’70s is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there --- and the rival he meets alongside her --- will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.

Promo

Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley, he realizes the extent --- and the risks --- of his singular gifts. California in the ’70s is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there --- and the rival he meets alongside her --- will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.

About the Book

In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin, the New York Times bestselling author of AMERICA AMERICA and THE PALACE THIEF, explores the nature of genius, rivalry, ambition and love among multiple generations of a gifted family.

Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there --- and the rival he meets alongside her --- will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.

Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A DOUBTER'S ALMANAC tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A DOUBTER'S ALMANAC is a surprising, suspenseful and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as “the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation.”

Audiobook available, narrated by David Aaron Baker