Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Monthly Archives: May 2025


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Joseph, Tennis Shoes & ‘Wear’ Everybody Knows Your Name

Joseph Wore Tennis Shoes

Stories From Small Town Journalism

By Dale Kovar

Genre: Non-fiction/Biography

Pages (print): 197, Inc. Appendices and Index

Via: Author Request

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pour yourself a lemonade. Grab a chair. Sit down. Put your feet up. Breathe. And treat yourself to a stroll through small town Americana via this cogent and convivial look at events, people, places, and perspectives from a seasoned news pro with a 50-year career in newspapers. Brimming with warmth and wit, Jospeh Wore Tennis Shoes is part news. Part biography. Part trip down Memory Lane. And all heart.

The book covers the author’s 50-year career at Minnesota weekly newspapers with reprints of the best stories from over the years. Kovar takes you beyond the nuts and bolts of a weekly newspaper and into a wide variety of behind-the-scene stories and anecdotes. What emerges is an entertaining mix of Eureka! moments, belly laughs, guffaws, colorful reportage, and a few You have got to be kidding me-s. This collection may also have you grabbing a tissue or two.

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‘Divine Justice’ an Adrenaline Rush!

Divine Justice

By David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, 2008)

Genre: Fiction- Thriller, Action/Adventure

Via; Library Book Sale

Pages (Print): 387

He’s lost beloved friends. His wife. And his daughter. And with two pulls of the trigger, Oliver Stone has become the most hunted man in America. Meanwhile, whoever thought a sleepy little coal mining town in the hinterlands of Virginia would end up like the Wild, Wild West? But it doesn’t take long in this David Baldacci page turner.

Well. At least “John Carr” is finally dead. But can the same be said about the shadowy “Camel Club” and the even shadowier “Triple Six Division of the CIA” – aka: the agency’s “political destabilization arm”?

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How to Get On Our Loser List in 3 Easy Steps

Her Crankiness is at it again. That scrunchy face eye roll thing.

“Good grief!” Mom flounces. “Not again!” (“Flounces.” Isn’t that a great word? No idea what it means. But Mom likes it. So I do too.)

Now what? says I, Kimber the Magnificent. You know. The level-headed one. All even-keeled and imperturbable. (No idea what that means either. But it sounds good, huh? Can I eat it?)

Well. Gonna cut to the chase here. Save you some time. As in:

IF YOU’RE AN AUTHOR OR AN AUTHOR WANNABE REQUESTING A REVIEW, DO NOT DO THIS!! EVER!!

Can you hear us in the back?

Here’s what we mean. On the Sure Loser List. DO NOT do any of the following.  Starting with review requests that send us to third parties. Like:

Dude. Dudette. Listen up. We’re busy. If you can’t be bothered to provide the relevant info we ask for in our Rating System and Submission Guidelines or Sample Review Request, then don’t expect us to bother with your book. We’re just funny that way.

Variation on a theme #2:

Generic much?

We get something like this on our In Box and it tells us:

This author couldn’t be bothered to spend 5 minutes on the blog finding out who we are, what we review, or what our bookish interests are. Also, we could care less about your Goodreads on Amazon page. Cuz newsflash, Cupcake: We’re neither. Hello?

This kind of request also tells us the author is too lazy to provide a decent synopsis of their work in the body of the request email. They expect us to click external links instead. Good luck with that.

#3: Other newsflash, Sweetness: This kind of generic request tells us you not only haven’t read our Submission Guidelines, but you’re also on a fishing expedition. Haven’t even bothered to check if your title is a good fit for this blog or not. Ergo, you’re wasting our time. Not. Cool. So off to the Big Kitty Litter Box In The Sky with you!

These kinds of review requests get dumped. Cuz guess what else, Cookie? We don’t have time to waste on authors who can’t or won’t follow simple instructions. There are plenty of other authors who can. And do. They’re way more likely to get our attention. Savvy?


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5 Thrillers: Which Are High Octane, Which Run Out of Gas?

Fort Knox

Mom and I recently came back from a trip to Fort Knox. Aka: The lobal library book sale. We brought home a boatload of titles on everything from high altitude climbing and historical fiction to action/adventure, whodunits and murder mysteries. Thirty-two titles for under ten buckaroos.

Oh yeah.

On that last book category. We nabbed some authors we’ve never heard of. And one we offered a second chance. Cuz we’re all nice and gracious-y. Sometimes. (Tip: The last James Patterson book we read was coma-inducing. Just sayin’.)

Anywho. The thriller thingies we’re gonna look at today are Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn. Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman. 21st Birthday by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Unfinished Business by J.A. Jance. And The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. Which are worth reading? I’ll let Mom tell ya more: Continue reading →


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First-Hand Account of Everest Disaster a Riveting Read

The Climb

By Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt (St. Martin’s Press, 1997)

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 255

Via; Library Book Sale

On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by some of the finest, most experienced climbers in the world set off on the final leg of a five-day climb to the top of the world. Along the way, things went terribly wrong. Traffic jams along the route, miscommunications, inexplicable delays that burned up vital oxygen. Questionable leadership and decisions. A ferocious rogue storm. Time. All at the cruising altitude of a 747. All conspired to kill. Eight climbers from three expeditions died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit.

It remains one of the worst disasters in the history of Mount Everest.

Several survivors wrote memoirs after the disaster. Climber and journalist Jon Krakauer published his first-hand account of the tragedy in 1997, Into Thin Air.  It was a bestseller. Anatoli “Toli” Boukreev, a guide with Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness team, felt impugned by the book.  Toli co-authored his version of events in The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, also published in 1997.

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The Kimster Explains ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’

Greetings Lovable Bookwormish Buds!Kimber the Magnificent here. Saying yepster, we hear ya. That is, we hear the hoomans who are scratching their heads over a phrase we sometimes deploy referring to Her Momness: She Who Must Be Obeyed. Ever heard that? Wondered where it came from?

‘I am too a lap dog! Am too! Am TOO! AM TOO!’
Kimber Explains
Not to fret or fluff, friend. Cuz The All Knowing Kimster is here to ‘splain everything. Kind of.
First thing ya may want to know about She Who Must Be Obeyed is yes, it’s bookish in origin. Second, it’s not original with us. See, we kinda like stole the phrase from British barrister and author John Mortimer.
Name doesn’t ring a bell? Not to worry. Cuz I, The All Knowing Kimster, shall ‘splain. Like this:
Rumpole!
John Mortimer passed away in 2009. But he was one cool cat… er… canine! Mortimer was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He’s best known for short stories about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Which we like, Totally Love. The books were adapted for the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey, also written by Mortimer. Leo McKern stars as the cunning and witty Rumpole.

Broadcast on ITV between 3 April 1978 and 3 December 1992, ‘Rumpole Of The Bailey’ is a thoroughly entertaining British series about Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defends a broad variety of clients, often underdogs. (We love underdogs, too. Go figure.)
The ‘Bailey’ is a reference to the Central Criminal Court Of England And Wales. It’s commonly referred to as the ‘Old Bailey’, after the street on which it stands, a criminal court building in central London.
Betcha didn’t know that.

Hilda
So, what does this Rumpole dude have to do with She Who Must Be Obeyed? you ask. Well. If you’ve read the book(s) or seen the TV series, you already know the answer to that: Hilda Rumpole. Aka: Mrs. Rumpole. She Who Must Be Obeyed is Horace’s humorous nickname for Hilda.
Yea, verily. Hilda Rumpole is not to be trifled with. Cranky and curmudgeonly, she’s a veritable force of nature. Underneath her crusty exterior beats a soft little bunny heart. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?
You gonna eat that? What?
***
Have you seen or read Rumpole?


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Are You a Discouraged Blogger?

Kimber the Magnificent here. Being all beautiful and brilliant. And bloggy.

Speaking of “bloggy,” that got She Who Must Be Obeyed (sort of) and I thinking the other day. (Okay, okay. It does happen. Now and then.) Harkening back to the crusty days of yesteryear, we recalled our initial foray into the wonderful (or frustrating) world of blogging. You know. Sortly after the discovery of fire. We remember how fun it is. How discouraging it can be. How much work it takes.

Being brilliant and generous and all, we thought we’d share a few pearls of wisdom we picked up along our blogging journey. We don’t have all the answers. But here are a few tips and reminders for our fellow bloggers and readers. Ready? Set? Let’s go!

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Derby Day and A Champion for the Ages

“Inevitable.”

Isn’t that a great word? Learned it from Mom the other day. As in, the 149th annual Run for the Roses is today! So debates about who was the Greatest Thoroughbred of All Time are… inevitable.

DSC_0005

Or so I’m told.

A few other things I learned:

The “Run for the Roses” is also known as The Kentucky Derby. The Derby is always run on the first Saturday in May. It’s the first jewel in the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred horse racing.

Why do I, Kimber the Magnificent, care about Thoroughbred racing? Well, I don’t. Not really. But Mom does!

She’s been reading a Walter Farley book about one of the greatest champions to ever set hooves on a race track: Man O’War. Along with legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat, Man O’War is a top contender for Greatest Thoroughbred of All Time honors.

Back to the Farley book.

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