Customer Comments

Brian Grouhel has commented on (12) products.

White Sands, Red Menace (08 Edition) by Ellen Klages

Brian Grouhel, May 16, 2013

White Sands, Red Menace was a thoroughly enjoyable book. Had I not noticed on the inside jacket cover that this was a youth story, I would have been hard pressed to figure that out. About two young girls growing up in Alamogordo, New Mexico at the dawn of the rocket age and learning how to live with the bomb. The author has woven historical fact into an enthralling story that depicts what life in the late 1940's might have been like for the two main characters. After reading this book and enjoying it so much, I will now look for Ms. Klages' first book and give that one a read also.

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One Ranger: A Memoir (Bridwell Texas History Series) by H Joaquin Jackson

Brian Grouhel, January 30, 2013

I'm usually leery of first person memoir stories, unless they embody some of my preset conditions. They would be a legal or law-enforcement use of firearms, the old west and a colourful story. I've usually found such memoirs from personal exploits of Border Patrol veterns and local south-western sherrifs, of which I have read and collected more than a few.

This story, One Ranger, caught my attention from the get go. The picture on the cover had me from the first. I saw a tall man beneath a white Resitol felt hat, wearing chaps with a belt gun strapped on and holding a Winchester. After looking at the back cover and scanning a few random pages from inside the book, I had to have it. I'm happy to say that my first impression was more than realized after having read the book.

Joaquin Jackson starts his tale in mid 1930's Texas growing up hard in a hard place. From an affinity for throwing baseballs accurately and having to take the family .22 with a measured handful of cartridges to help fill the pot for dinner, we follow the young man as he grows and measures up on his way into law enforcement. You might think that this would be a standard story following set out rules and in some way that is partially true. However, Joaquin manages to bring just enough of his personal information into the mix to make it extraordinarilly interesting. Nothing drags in this story. We get to follow this man from his beginning into the Rangers until shortly after his retirement in the early 90's. We see both the high's and the low's of his active career from life threatening to life devastating events. A story like this, about this time in history would not be able to be written by a similar law enforcement official today. Times are different, methods have changed, technology has altered the landscape of the way our guardians do their work. In fifty years the stuff of Joaquin Jackson's tale will seem as ancient and romantic to our children as the exploits of Charlie Barton, Bob Bell, Bill Tilghman and Bat Masterson seem to us.

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One Ranger: A Memoir by H Joaquin Jackson

Brian Grouhel, December 18, 2012

I'm a sucker for first person stories about the Old West and also modern day tie ins. Not to say that "One Ranger" is a tie-in. It is an awesome acount of the Genisis of a Texas Ranger, from childhood in the Dirt Bowl to when he decided to enter law enforcement. As a first person account it shows up many imperfections (make that in my view, and others) about the intergration between (At the Time) Americans and Tejanos. As in all Good and Bad Guy stories the weird and funny stories come out. But also the soul searching defination of the Law (figure our hero)in that place and at that time in history for this one, it is a very Good story. Who would have known the naturalized Mexican peoples would begin to assert their rights as Americans to vote and in some cirumstances the Rangers would be called to Up Hold The Law. An awesome insight to a tiny bit of the personal history of a Texas Ranger.

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Armageddon 2419 Ad Buck Rogers by Philip F Nowland

Brian Grouhel, August 3, 2012

The cover blurb on the old paperback says this is "The Seminal" Buck Rodgers story. I had to look that one up and I believe the second definition fits. Influencing future development. Every Buck Rodgers version since has had roots in this book. So have many other similar science fiction stories. I know it has had loads of influence in the type of space stories I have grown to enjoy. Decades worth as I first discovered Buck Rodgers and Wilma Deering as a teenager more than a few decades ago. I've found it to be one of those timeless books and I take it up every few years to enjoy all over again. If you have yet to read this classic, I would urge you to do so. If you already have, try it again!

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #07) by J. K. Rowling

Brian Grouhel, January 3, 2012

This is the last chapter in the Harry Potter story. I've just finshed reading the saga again for the third time and I enjoyed it once again as much as the first time. Ms Rowling has created a lasting classic in these stories that will rival the original Peter Pan and The Wind in the Willows. Two more classics that I read at least once each year even though I'm on the south side of fifty.

Harry Potter embodies the virtues of perseverance and belief in yourself. Two very worthy ideals. Besides whatever we Boomers read into the stories, Harry Potter will forever remain an entertaining saga that will capture the hearts of young readers for years to come and in the reading will highlight virtues that most of us can only wish we had learned and followed in our years gone past. The next time you pick one up, start at the beginning and follow the heroes along their path and remember what you too could have done, if only you had the gift of time.

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