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Review by Robert McCool

With the release of 2021's New York Time's best-selling novel, "Dark Sky" (G.P. Putnam ISBN-13-978-1-4328-8563-2) C.J. Box ("Open Season", "Long Range") increases his count of "Joe Pickett" books to a truly binge-worthy twenty-one.

Peter and Anna Marie Kammeter Neuenschwander • 2 of their daughter's families: Catherine and David Stauffer, and Elizabeth and John Ulrich Badertscher

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• This is the 31st installment in this series. Click here for the previous installment.

Peter Neuenschwander, a younger brother of the first Swiss settler in the Bluffton settlement, Michael Neuenschwander, came to America with his wife, Anna  Marie Kammeter, and their children. They first settled in Virginia and later moved to rural Bluffton.

The novel is an elegant ode to the opportunities of living in America, and an indictment of civil war. Grisham writes with intense compassion for his characters and the world they live in. It is a joy to read while understanding a  different world exists

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Review by Robert McCool
John Grisham, again.

First off, I apologize for being gone so long. Life throws stuff at us that alters our plans without warning. But that stuff is over now and I have time to read again. And what a book to begin with.

John Grisham's thirty-ninth novel, Sooley ( Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-54768-0) is a masterwork written by an author at the top of his game. And a game is just what this novel about. Basketball.

Our Swiss connection - part 30

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• This is the 30th installment in this series. 
Click here for the previous installment.
• An index to this series is at the bottom of this column.

Abraham Steiner was the sixth child of John (or Johann) and Elizabeth Stauffer Steiner, a Mennonite couple both born in Alsace, France.

I take solace that my daily grind now starts and stops at my door

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Reviewed/Written by Craig Hoffman 
My long work day got the best of me one late evening. I spent a good number of minutes griping to my lovely wife. I complained about my company, my boss, my coworkers, and even my lunch. 

“What would you like me to do about all that?”
“I don't know. Sympathize? Empathize?”
“What difference would that make?”

“Heigh-Ho”- The Seven Dwarfs, Disney (1937)

Workers around the world can relate to this classic tune. The daily slog can get the best of even the most dedicated of employees. 

Our Swiss connection - part 29

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This is the 29th installment in this series. Click here for the previous installment.

Three Althaus brothers Rudolf, Gotthard and Henry, each born in Landschaft, Bretzwil, Canton Basel, Switzerland, came to the America separately in the 1840s and 1850s. The village of Bretzwil is located about 25 miles south of Basel, Switzerland.

Rudolf lived in Bluffton. Gotthard and Henry lived on farms in the Swiss Settlement.

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