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Book Review: The Roots Of an Assassin

Posted by Staff on July 3, 2022 - 5:41am

Review by Robert McCool

Occasionally a book comes along that captures and holds my interest until it's finished. Whether it is story or plot or writing skill, I'm pulled in and all other activities I'm doing fade away because I'm hooked into the book.

Booth (Random House, ISBN 978-0-593-55649-8) is Karen Joy Fowler's 2022 release, and her second novel. (Her first novel is We are All Completely Besides Ourselves). The well-written story is a meticulous glimpse into the past before Abraham Lincoln was killed in cold blood by John Wilkes Booth.

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Book Review: Aurora, when the lights went out

Posted by Staff on June 26, 2022 - 5:34am

By Robert McCool

When a monster solar coronal mass ejection (CME) strikes the Earth it destroys all of the power grids in the world, leaving our Earth in the literal dark as the electricity disappears worldwide. This is what  occurs in David Koepp's second book titled Aurora (ISBN 978-0-06-291647-1). Koepp is the screenwriter of many popular movies, including the first two Jurassic Park releases, Mission: Impossible, and War of the Worlds,  plus many more, some of which he also directed.

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Book Review: Two Gabriel Du Pre' novels by Peter Bowen

Posted by Staff on June 19, 2022 - 6:00am

By Robert McCool, Icon columnist

Welcome to the new Old West and a colorful cowboy and sometime deputy.

Life in Toussaint, Montana is all but disappeared. The Me'tis Indian people cling to their old ways while outsiders move into the area by the Wolf Mountains and bring their own problems to the town of five hundred survivors in this modern world.

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Cloud Cuckoo Land, take two

A second look at a complex book
Posted by Staff on June 6, 2022 - 6:53am

Review by Robert McCool 

I reviewed this book once before, but felt the need to look again at this very complex novel. Some readers will not like it for its complexity and length. All I can say is that it’s worth the investment of time and thought it takes. I hope you give it a chance and become a fan of Doerr’s twists and turns. 

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McCool is back with The Maid

Posted by Staff on May 22, 2022 - 9:21am

Review by Robert McCool

Icon Columnist

It's been quite a few weeks since I've submitted a book review for the Icon. It's been quite a few weeks since I have had the motivation to read a new pop-fiction release. I’ve found myself returning to some classics: “East of Eden,” “Travels with Charley,” and even the more recent “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”

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Bluffton teammates, Bluffton friends

Posted by Staff on May 20, 2022 - 6:00am

By Bill Herr, Icon columnist

What is the greatest example of friendship between two individuals you have ever known? My choice is two of my former students at Bluffton High School, Matt Schweingruber and Eric Smith.

Matt graduated in 1994. He next went to Taylor University (Indiana) and graduated with a degree in education. Today Matt and his wife, Shirley, live in Yonkers, New York. He teaches fourth grade at PS 128, the Audubon School, in New York City. Matt loves teaching.

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