Reading recommendations: Hailey's War, a novel, Jodi Compton

Hailey Cain has a history of testing the limits of her fate: as a fearless bike messenger on the twisted competitive streets of San Francisco; as a young female cadet in the sea of men at West Point. But Hailey also has secrets, the biggest of which led her to leave the academy just two months short of graduation, two months away from becoming a lieutenant in the U S Army.

Now, scraping and fighting her way through life, Hailey finds focus only when she's in motion. When an old friend from her former life in Los Angeles calls in a favor, Hailey doesn't have to think too long before she accepts the mission. She will escort a young Mexican woman across the border to a remote mountain town in the Sierra Madre. But what happens there will alter Hailey's life irrevocably.

From the dustiest Mexican roads to the meanest streets of East LA, Hailey finds herself ensnared in a war more deviant and ugly than any she trained for as a cadet. Deep in the gang underworld, pursued by mobsters and authorities alike, Hailey must use her instincts to stay alive, and to protect the innocent from a past that still haunts her.

A real pager turner - one of the best of the best!

And, Washington; A Life, Ron Chernow celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breath and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian Wars, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a lifeless wax work for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than affection. In this ground breaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereo type of a stolid, unemotional man. A strapping six foot, Washington was a celebrated horseman, an elegant dancer, and a tireless hunter with a fiercely guraded emotional life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods. Pushing his private life, the author explores Washington's fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his youthful relationship with the married Sall Fairfox, and his often conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren. Chernow also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of Washington's marriage to Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.

Most of all ,Washington is an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not only did Washington gather around himself such foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation of powers, establish the office of the presidency, and forge a nation.

Some 90 + pages, including the Index, simply brilliant! I'm so glad I set out to read and finish this marvelous, informative work.

As we enter this glorious time of the year, another book comes to mind; Angels, God's Secret Agents, Billy Graham. This book has a 1975 copyright, has been on our shelves many years. The reader will be truly blessed checking out and reading what Mr. Graham shares with us.

Best wishes from all us at Rylander!