Books | featured news

“Colorado in the Civil War,” by John Steinle (Arcadia Publishing)

Be warned: “The Boys in the Boat” is no “Chariots of Fire.”
Sorry, George.
The film, which is being released on Christmas Day, had all of the elements for a memorable movie: a big-name director (George Clooney); a handsome young leading man (Callum Turner); and a story filled with loads of inherent drama, like the Great Depression, the Olympics, Nazis, and a sweet romance.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and other readers, to share these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

“Play of Shadows,” by Barbara Nickless (Thomas & Mercer)

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

Even 65 years later, the name “Starkweather” brings chills.
Charles “Charlie” Starkweather, 19, accompanied by his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, murdered 10 people in six days in Nebraska and Wyoming. He was America’s first contemporary mass killer, a psychopath who thought of himself as an outlaw and dreamed of going down in a blaze of glory in a shootout with the cops. When he was captured instead, he said he wanted to be put to death in the electric chair with Caril on his lap.

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.

“Galloping Gourmet: Eating and Drinking with Buffalo Bill,” by Steve Friesen (Bison Books)
One of history buffs’ favorite tales concerns an aging Buffalo Bill, a prodigious drinker. It goes something like this: Told by his doctor to limit his liquor consumption to two shots a day or the result would be calamitous, the showman agreed and told a bartender to serve each shot in a tankard.