Book Nook

When Stacy Pershall was growing up in a small town in Arkansas she never felt like she fit in. She tried to blend in. She became active in her church. That didn't work out. The kids at school made fun of her. That really hurt. Her first boyfriend was not kind either. He told her that she needed to lose some weight.

The first time I interviewed Robert Crais on WYSO he was on his first national book tour. That was about 16 years ago, Crais had quit a successful career as a writer for TV shows like Hill Street Blues and LA Law to try out his hand writing novels.

February 6, 2011 is the 100th birthday of former President Ronald Reagan. To mark the centennial of his father's birth his youngest child, Ron Reagan, has written a memoir that reflects his own unique perspective on a man who has been written about many times before.

Ronald Reagan has become an iconic figure for many Americans. He is frequently quoted and emulated by politicians who range across the political spectrum, from Sarah Palin to the current occupant of the Oval Office, President Barack Obama.

This second novel in a futuristic trilogy imagines an America where immigration reform has taken a dangerous turn. In "House Divided" the Latino residents of America have been confined to quarantine zones and a civil war is being waged between the US military and some underground guerilla groups who are fighting on behalf of various constituencies within the Latino community.

In this interview the author discussed how he imagined this disturbing scenario and how he has made the transition from advertising executive to novelist.

Human beings put a lot of stress on the natural world. Our environment is adversely impacted by the pollution that we create and the animal and plant species that we have pushed to the brink of extinction.

Fortunately there are still occasions to celebrate good news about our natural world. A new book, "The Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival," is the story of how a pristine wonder of nature, Monterey Bay, California, was practically ruined by over-fishing and pollution and how that degradation has slowly been reversed,