The Five Love Languages of Teenagers by Gary Chapman; 2000; Northfield Publishing, Chicago, IL; 259 pages; 649.125 C466f/1-881273-39-3; 4/17-4/26

Another insightful book by Gary Chapman.  The love languages haven’t changed they are still physical touch, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service and quality time.  What has changed is the way our offspring react to the different languages as they move from childhood through the teen years into adulthood.  What worked for us relating to our children probably won’t work with our teenagers.  Dr Chapman reveals much of what we already knew but need to be reminded of.  Please read this.  RRRR

Tilt, A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa by Nicholas Shrady; 2003; Simon & Schuster, New York; 161 pages; 945.5 S561t/0-7432-2926-6; 4/16-4/17

Jaime Putorti is the book designer of Tilt.  If not for Jaime I don’t think I would have picked up this interesting little book.  It is an exceptional job of design, which breaks through the clutter of all the other books around it.

Tilt is a history of Pisa and most importantly the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  The tower is a bell tower which was meant as a companion piece to the church, baptistery and cemetery which are in the city square of Pisa.  It was begun in 1173 and was completed in 1370 by several different architects, with the designer lost to obscurity.  The history of the tower is tied in with the history of Pisa itself.  Shrady does a great job of tying all the aspects of history together and dispels many myths that have persisted about the tower.  RRR

Borderline by Mark Schorr; 2006; Thomas Dunne Books, New York;262 pages; Fiction Schorr/0-312-35915-2; 4/15-4/16

Brian Hanson is an alcoholic, Vietnam vet who has cleaned up his life and become a mental health counselor in Portland.  One of his clients dies and Hanson is skeptical when the entire law enforcement community rushes to rule the death is a suicide.  As he investigates he uncovers a conspiracy to keep the crime rates low in town.  His wife is drawn into the mess by a womanizing deputy mayor, and is debased and blackmailed.

Mark Schorr has done a good job of getting Portland geography and personality right.  I am looking forward to reading more adventures of Brian Hanson.  RRR

Billy Bob’s Hot Rod Cafe 3150 NE Division, Gresham, Oregon

I got a SMOKIN DEAL from KUPL. I purchased a $50.00 gift certificate for $25.00 to Billy Bob’s from one of their partners. Drive out Division to Billy Bob’s and you are in for an adventure, especially if you are a NASCAR fan.

We walked in and we greeted by our server Angela, as we came in we saw a great poster signed by Dale Earnhardt, Sr. We were surrounded by hoods from various eras and sponsors. We sat down next to Jeff Gordons firesuit. From where we sat we could see car sides of Sterling Marlin, Tony Stewart, Dale Sr, Dale Jr, Jimmy Johnson and Kasey Khane among others. Angela brought us menus and a friendly personality. As we perused our menus Angela came back and took our appetizer and drink order, we ordered an appetizer of Teriyaki wings and I ordered a Margarita and Ruth Ann ordered Coconut Rum with something, Angela laughed and took our order to the bar. She returned with our wings and drinks, the Margarita was great and huge, my only complaint is there was no salt on the rim, Ruths’ drink arrived with cranberry juice mixed the rum. She also thought it was very good. The Teriyaki wings were excellent and very well marinated in the sauce. We ordered, Ruth Ann had steak and prawns and I had steak and teriyaki chicken. I had a really good salad with my meal and Ruth had a bowl of seafood chowder. She said it was really good and had been made with milk and cream, instead of water as many chowders are. Both our steaks were cooked just as promised, the teriyaki chicken was also good. We will be returning, with or without a 1/2 gift certificate. RRRR

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger; 2001; Atlantic Monthly Press, New York; 311 pages; Fiction Enger/0-87113-795-X; 4/9-4/15

The narrator of this book is eleven year Reuben Land, Leif Enger has created a wonderful voice and a great character.  This is the story of Reuben, his sister Swede, brother Davy and their father.  Jeremiah, the father, is a miracle worker of sorts at least in the mind of Reuben.  Jeremiah is a janitor at a high school who confronts a couple of punks who decide to escalate the violence, which ends when Davy shoots the intruders one night.  But that is just the beginning of the story as Davy breaks out of jail and the rest of the family goes searching for him through the Badlands of Dakota in their Airstream trailer.  Each member of the family deals with the tragedy in a different way, but Jeremiah continues to see the hand of The Lord in everything that happens.  The characters are wonderful, but never saccahrine, the action is relentless and the relationships are sweet and real.  RRRR