O?Reilly

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity Unabridged on 6 CDs
$24.70
The year was 1957, the month September, and I had just turned eight years old. Dwight Eisenhower was President, but in my life it was the diminutive, intense Sister Mary Lurana who ruled, at least in the third-grade class where I was held captive. For reasons you will soon understand, my parents had remanded me to the penal institution of St. Brigids School in Westbury, New York, a cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one. Already, I had barely survived my first two years at St. Brigids because I was, well, a little nitwit. Not satisfied with memorizing the Baltimore Catechisms fine prose, which featured passages like God made me to show his goodness and to make me happy with him in heaven, I was constantly annoying my classmates and, of course, the no-nonsense Sister Lurana. With sixty overactive students in her class, she was understandably short on patience. For survival, she had also become quick on the draw. Then it happened. One day I blurted out some dumb remark, and Sister Lurana was on me like a panther. Her black habit blocked out all distractions as she leaned down, looked me in the eye, and uttered words I have never forgotten: William, you are a bold, fresh piece of humanity. And she was dead-on.

Who's Looking Out for You?
$24.95
O'Reilly makes another splash, but this time he teaches from his own mistakes. He provides a survival type list of situations to avoid and then gives real life personal examples of why they should be avoided. This book should be categorized under the old axiom "learn from the mistakes of others so you don't make the same mistakes".

Kids Are Americans Too
$14.95
Thank goodness I found this book at Goodwill and paid only a dollar; I will be re-donating it shortly. I'm very interested in our founding documents and how to teach children about them, which is why I picked up the book. I read it in about an hour, as the book's 160 pages with large print aren't exactly content heavy. No, this book falls under the "fluff" category.

O'Reilly is condescending, glosses over the cases he uses as examples (and doesn't relate the cases to particular rights or amendments), and has no references to getting more info about subjects or cases mentioned (except to direct readers to HIS website.) The end of the book is sorely missing what one would expect from this genre: there is no index, no recommending reading, and no works cited. The book doesn't even list the Bill of Rights specifically until the very end!

If you want a book that explains the Bill of Rights to children, buy "A Kids' Guide to America's Bill of Rights: Curfews, Censorship, and the 100-Pound Giant" by Kathleen Krull. It presents the Bill of Rights at the very beginning, very specifically talks about what each amendment means, and discusses related court cases as they pertain to each amendment. Krull's book additionally doesn't dumb down the message, nor does she talk down to children as if they were naughty morons, as O'Reilly does. Krull's book shines where O'Reilly's book fails miserably.

Sex, Straight Up (Harlequin Blaze)
$4.99
I work across the street from the World Trade Center site, and I usually avoid any entertainment related to 9/11. In a moment of boredom, though, I read an excerpt and bought "Sex, Straight Up," anyway.

I'm glad I did. The book is tastefully done. I don't think I could have read it if Daniel relived that morning in graphic detail or if he was guilt-ridden for surviving while his wife died. Luckily, the author focuses instead on what it's like to move on after a sudden loss. The book is more about the people than the tragedy, which I needed.

Also, the writing is much better than the average Blaze. The characters stay true to themselves -- no overnight personality changes or descriptions that could come from any other romance book on the planet. I love her description of Daniel the accountant sorting photographs until the two stacks balance, or Catherine the art appraiser thinking of their romance in terms of art movements.

Bottom line: This short little book is definitely worth the time. It's sexy, of course, but it's also engaging as a story. And it's packed with emotion (not the over-the-top, rage and wail, TSTL emotion, either).

I really liked Catherine. I really, really liked Daniel. And I'll definitely read through the series after this.