A Lion Among Men

September 1, 2008
The entertaining third installment of bestseller Maguire's Wicked Years series, a revisionist chronicle of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, examines the tragically misunderstood life of the Cowardly Lion before and after his adventures with Dorothy and company. As all-out war looms between the Munchkinland guerrillas and the emperor of Oz's Emerald City soldiers, Brrr the lion, now working as an imperial spy, must somehow glean invaluable information from a crone named Yackle before she dies. But during his interrogation of the irritable oracle, Brrr, the proverbial loner and outsider, uncovers insights into his own mysterious past—and finally begins to understand what it feels like to belong. As usual, the author mixes some relatively weighty existential themes—the search for self, faith, redemption—into his whimsical story line. Newcomers to Maguire's Oz should probably begin with Wicked
, the first entry in this darkly enchanting saga. 11-city author tour.

Starred review from December 22, 2008
Always outspoken (and so-called “Dr.”), Denis Leary returns with this hilarious look at sucking; why we suck, how not to suck and how to help others who suck become suck free. Pulling no punches, Leary storms his way through everything from skinny jeans being for skinny people to vegetarians, and never fails to make listeners laugh out loud. Reading in his trademark self-deprecating and hard-nosed manner, Leary plows through his book at such a strong and commanding speed that listeners will think his well-polished rants are off-the-cuff. Leary is almost performing stand-up; his tone is so unrelenting and unabashed that listeners will beg for more. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 15).