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Learning To Breathe Fire: The Rise Of Crossfit And The Primal Future Of Fitness By J.C. Herz chats with Dr. Alvin

JC Herz Click Here To Listen One of the most illuminating books ever on a sports subculture, Learning to Breathe Fire combines vivid sports writing with a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human. In the book, veteran journalist J.C. Herz explains the science of maximum effort, why the modern gym fails an obese society, and the psychic rewards of ending up on the floor feeling as though you're about to die. The story traces CrossFit’s rise, from a single underground gym in Santa Cruz to its adoption as the workout of choice for elite special forces, firefighters and cops, to its popularity as the go-to fitness routine for regular Joes and Janes. [...]

By |June 5th, 2014|Fiction, Sports|Comments Off on Learning To Breathe Fire: The Rise Of Crossfit And The Primal Future Of Fitness By J.C. Herz chats with Dr. Alvin
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Off Course By Michelle Huneven chats with Dr. Alvin

Michelle Hunevan Click Here To Listen A bear climbs onto a cabin’s deck, presses his nose to the sliding door. Inside, a young woman stands to face him. She comes closer, and closer yet, until only the glass stands between them . . . The year is 1981, Reagan is in the White House, and the country is stalled in a recession. Cressida Hartley, a gifted Ph.D. student in economics, moves into her parents' shabby A-frame cabin in the Sierras to write her dissertation. In her most intimate and emotionally compelling novel to date, Michelle Huneven--author of Blame, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award--returns with her signature mix of fine-grained [...]

By |June 4th, 2014|Fiction|Comments Off on Off Course By Michelle Huneven chats with Dr. Alvin
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The Visionist By Rachel Urquhart chats with Dr. Alvin

Rachel Urquhart Click Here To Listen After 15-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father, she and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called the City of Hope. It is the Era of Manifestations, when young girls in Shaker enclaves all across the Northeast are experiencing extraordinary mystical visions, earning them the honorific of "Visionist" and bringing renown to their settlements. The City of Hope has not yet been blessed with a Visionist, but that changes when Polly arrives and is unexpectedly exalted. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with [...]

By |June 4th, 2014|Fiction|Comments Off on The Visionist By Rachel Urquhart chats with Dr. Alvin
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When The Cypress Whispers By Yvette Manessis Corporon chats with Dr. Alvin

Yvette Manessis Corporon Click Here To Listen On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of mortals come together in a lushly atmospheric debut celebrating the powerful bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother. The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne has been brought up to believe in the American dream. When her husband dies in a car accident, leaving her with an inconsolable baby and stacks of bills, she channels everything she has into opening her own Greek restaurant. Now an acclaimed chef and restaurateur, she has also found a second chance at love with her wealthy, handsome fiance. Although American by birth, Daphne spent many blissful childhood summers on [...]

By |June 4th, 2014|Family, Fiction|Comments Off on When The Cypress Whispers By Yvette Manessis Corporon chats with Dr. Alvin
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Death At The Door By Carolyn Hart chats with Dr. Alvin

Carolyn Hart-Death At The Door Click Here To Listen   Annie Darling—owner of the mystery bookstore, Death on Demand—prefers fictional crimes as opposed to the real things. But in one tragic week, two acts of violence shake the island community of Broward’s Rock. First, a beloved doctor is found shot dead, seemingly by his own hand. Only days later, a local artist is arrested after his wife is found murdered, bludgeoned by her husband’s sculpting mallet. Convinced her brother did not commit suicide, the doctor’s sister turns to Annie and her husband, Max, for help. She has found a cryptic sketch her brother drew, linking him with the murdered woman. Did someone want them both [...]

By |June 3rd, 2014|Crime, Fiction|Comments Off on Death At The Door By Carolyn Hart chats with Dr. Alvin
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The Residue Years By Mitchell S. Jackson chats with Dr. Alvin

Mitchell Jackson 2 Click Here To Listen Mitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighborhood in America’s whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the ’90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Mitchell writes what it was to come of age in that time and place, with a break-out voice that’s nothing less than extraordinary. The Residue Years switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace. Grace is just out of a drug treatment program, trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Champ is trying to do right by his mom and younger [...]

By |May 30th, 2014|African Americans, Crime, Fiction, Law|Comments Off on The Residue Years By Mitchell S. Jackson chats with Dr. Alvin
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The Golden Gate Chronicles: Out Of The Ruins By Karen Barnett chats with Dr. Alvin

Karen Barnett Click Here To Listen   While her sister lies on her deathbed, Abby Fischer prays for a miracle. What Abby doesn’t expect, however, is for God’s answer to come in the form of the handsome Dr. Robert King, whose experimental treatment is risky at best. As they work together toward a cure, Abby’s feelings for Robert become hopelessly entangled. Separated by the tragedy of the mighty San Francisco earthquake, their relationship suddenly takes a back seat to survival. With fires raging throughout the city, Abby fears for her life as she flees alone through burning streets. Where is God now? Will Robert find Abby, even as the world burns around them? Or has [...]

By |May 30th, 2014|Fiction, Gospel, History, Women|Comments Off on The Golden Gate Chronicles: Out Of The Ruins By Karen Barnett chats with Dr. Alvin
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Small Plates: Short Fiction By Katherine Hall Page chats with Dr. Alvin

Katherine Hall Page-Small Plates Click Here To Listen Katherine Hall Page, author of the beloved Faith Fairchild series, invites you to enjoy her first-ever collection of short fiction. Readers will delight in the broad range of these mysteries—tales to suit every taste and mood. Page's tales will take readers from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the dunes of Cape Cod and even "Across the Pond." Her characters include a man who longs for widowerhood, dreaming of the attention from the casserole brigade—good women lining up at his door offering food and perhaps themselves as well. A newlywed discovers her husband's ingenious hiding places for objects like spare keys. One spinster turns to friends for help [...]

By |May 29th, 2014|Fiction, Mystery|Comments Off on Small Plates: Short Fiction By Katherine Hall Page chats with Dr. Alvin
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Numberlys By William Joyce chats with Dr. Alvin

William Joyce Click Here To Listen From the team who brought you The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore comes an alphabet tale extraordinaire! Once upon a time there was no alphabet, only numbers… Life was…fine. Orderly. Dull as gray paint. Very…numberly. But our five jaunty heroes weren’t willing to accept that this was all there could be. They knew there had to be more. So they broke out hard hats and welders, hammers and glue guns, and they started knocking some numbers together. Removing a piece here. Adding a piece there. At first, it was awful. But the five kept at it, and soon it was…artful! One letter after another emerged, until there [...]

By |May 28th, 2014|Fiction|Comments Off on Numberlys By William Joyce chats with Dr. Alvin
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Natchez Burning By Greg Iles chats with Dr. Alvin

Greg Iles Click Here To Listen An American writer at the height of his creative powers, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Greg Iles returns with his most eagerly anticipated book yet, and his first in five years—Natchez Burning, the first installment in an epic trilogy that weaves crimes, lies, and secrets past and present into a mesmerizing thriller featuring southern mayor and former prosecutor Penn Cage. Raised in the historic southern splendor of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn Cage learned all he knows of honor and duty from his father, Dr. Tom Cage. But now the beloved family doctor and pillar of the community has been accused of murdering Viola Turner, the African-American nurse with whom [...]

By |May 28th, 2014|Fiction|Comments Off on Natchez Burning By Greg Iles chats with Dr. Alvin
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