The Reckoning by Robert J. Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A good fast reading western, and the origin of Jess Williams.

Jess is a fourteen year old when his father, mother, and young sister, are brutally murdered. This is a tale of how he became a gunslinger and exacted his revenge.

There are other westerns featuring Jess, and I am sure I will be reading them in the future.

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Age of Giants: Awakening by Rob Reaser
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fast read, and enjoyable start of a series.

Received from a First Reads giveaway.

Giants have taken over, using humans as slaves, and the women as concubines. Nora is a tall warrior type whose clan is wiped out while she is on a raid. She sets out to rescue her father and other survivors, and encounters a resistance group.

Will probably read more of this series in the future!

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The Last Good Man: A Novel by A.J. Kazinski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this through a First Reads giveaway.

A. J. Kazinski is the pseudonym of Anders Rønnow Klarlund and Jacob Weinreich. I think it would make a good movie.

There is a blend of religion, mathematics, international intrigue, good vs. evil, and a lot more. I admit that I would probably bypassed this, had I not read the "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" trilogy, as I am not fond of reading novels from foreign lands.

There are a lot of twists and turns, and in depth portrayals of the character's defects and personalities.

I will not say much further, so as to not ruin the read, but this has changed my mind about reading foreign novels.

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4 Gigs of Trouble by Stella Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good quick read. Kept my interest right from the beginning. A nice blend of Jewish and Italian family helping out, as well as a teacher/marine heroine.

The heroine, Toni Teitelbaum, is chaperoning a class visit to DC, when a student wanders away. Toni goes after him and finds a dying man, who slips a 4 Gig thumb drive to her, and a cryptic verbal message. The crime scene details don't seem to add up for Toni, and she takes it upon herself to go through the files on the drive. Toni is threatened, and decides to follow up herself. The rest I will let you find out for yourself.

Anyone who likes action/adventure/thrillers should read this!

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Google+: The Missing Manual by Kevin Purdy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoy Kevin’s posts at http://lifehacker.com/, and have been using Google+ since late July 2011.
When I saw this listed on the O’Reilly site, I immediately requested it for review.

About the Book

This book consists of an introduction and nine chapters. The following list will give you an idea what each contains:

Introduction:
How Google+ works, what you can do with it, a little about this book, the very basics, online resources, and Safari Books Online

Chapter 1—Getting Started:
Signing in, Joining up, and fleshing out your profile

Chapter 2—Managing Contacts with Circles:
How circles work, adding, creating, editing, organizing, & sharing circles

Chapter 3—Streams, Sharing and Privacy:
About streams; writing Google+ posts; choosing who sees your posts; sharing, interacting, editing, deleting, and controlling posts

Chapter 4—Notifications:
Where you get them, and controlling them

Chapter 5—Sharing Photos and Videos:
Viewing, sharing, tagging, editing, and more

Chapter 6—Hanging Out:
What they are, and how to use them

Chapter 7—Searching and Sparks:
How to search Google+, and tips for better searching

Chapter 8—Google+ Mobile:
Accessing and using Google+ on your mobile phone

Chapter 9—Playing Games:
Getting into, starting, and joining games.

The book can be read in any order. However, I suggest reading the Introduction and first four chapters in order, particularly if you are brand new to Google+.

Conclusion

I got a lot out of this book, even though I have been using Google+ for a while.
Of particular interest to me was Chapter 8, as I have just moved into the 21st century by getting a smartphone.

If you are just getting started with Google+, or interested in learning more about it, I highly recommend you read this book.

Disclosure

This book was received through the O’Reilly User Group Program, at no cost, in exchange for this review, which in no way influenced the above review.

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