MACHINE EATS HOUSE—

It took a track-hoe about three hours of leisurely munching to level a house on Bellville’s Main St., Monday. Brad Smith, owner of True Value Hardware, smiles as the last corner of the building falls just north of his store. The lot will be paved for much needed parking.

BOOK REPORTS—

28 By Stephanie Nolen

Literally 28 compelling vignettes of people in Africa who have battled HIV/AIDS. The author uses these stories to focus attention on the estimated 28 million people infected there; 5,500 of whom die every single day.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is literally a virus that weakens the immune system, ultimately leading to AIDS (A = aquired. ID = immunodeficiency. S = syndrome). AIDS is not one disease but rather presents itself as a number of diseases that attack as the immune system fails.

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A captivating first-novel takes a first-person look at two young boys growing up in Afganistan in the 1970s; one rich, the other the son of their servant. Then, a horiffic betrayal. Then, Russia invades Afganistan and the author and his father escape to impoverished asylum in the US. A stunningly personal autobiography posing as a novel. It likely makes my top 10 list of books, ever. Today, the author is a west coast physican.

Our American King by David Lozell Martin

The US government has collapsed and the coutry is in chaos. Millions die in the anarchy and of starvation. The White House has been abandoned and overrun; the corpses of dead politicians hanging upside down on the surrounding fence. A charismatic “King” Tazza rises to power and traverses the US assembling an army to restore order while the book drifts to the compelling conclusion “Governments (regardless of their form) never have the people’s best interest at heart.”

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

This yarn is about a professional football player whose lackluster career bottoms out with playing in an Italian league. Actually, it is a lackluster 258 pages of guaranteed cure for insomnia. What’s next from this otherwise talented author, fairy tales?