Award-winning nonprofit media in the public interest, serving San Diego's inland region

Award-winning nonprofit media in the public interest, serving San Diego's inland region

East County Magazine

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BOOK REVIEW: NAVY STRATEGIC CULTURE

  Navy Strategic Culture: Why the Navy Thinks Differently. By Roger W. Barnett. Annapolis. Naval Institute Press. 2009. 223 pages. Notes, bibliography and index. $28.95   Reviewed by Walter Hall   “Seapower is our heritage…Seapower is not merely a fleet of ships and planes. Seapower reaches into every phase of our national life.” –Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz   April

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BOOK REVIEW: EASY AS PIE AT BOBBY’S DINER

  By Susan Wingate (May 2010, Blue Star Books) Book review by Dennis Moore April 12, 2010 (San Diego)–If ever the expression, “Love is Blind,” would apply, it would be in the book by Susan Wingate, Easy As Pie at Bobby’s Diner. Georgette Carlisle, the owner of Bobby’s Diner in Sunnydale, Arizona, falls hard for Hawthorne Biggs, and basically everything he

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NEED FREE INTERIOR DESIGN TIPS? AUTHOR OFFERS FREE DESIGN SESSION AT BOOK SIGNING APRIL 17 IN LA MESA

  April 7, 2010 (La Mesa) — Author, interior designer and local store owner Laurie Ann McMillin Ray is encouraging the ‘interior design challenged’ to bring in pictures of living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms or home offices that need a makeover. Picture providers will be given a free five-minute ‘design-on-a-budget’ consultation at her book signing at the Grossmont Center Barnes &

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MARK TWAIN CENTENNIAL TRIBUTE THROUGH MARCH 21 AT SDSU

    “My faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. –Mark Twain’s autobiography March 19, 2010 (San Diego) – The San Diego State Experimental Theater presents “A Mark Twain Centennial Tribute.” The show runs through this weekend, with performances Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 2

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JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES—AND WHY EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT

  A St. Patrick’s Day reflection on a writer’s own odyssey   By E.A. Barrera   "We may now imbibe freely of the contents of bottles and forthright books" Morris L. Ernst, Co-Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union. December 11, 1933.   March 13, 2010 (San Diego) — The same week this country ended Prohibition, America opened the doors

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BOOK REVIEW: SPEAK TO YOUR LIFE: DAILY DEVOTIONALS

  By Lady Shaunte’ Garrett   Book Review by Dennis Moore   February 4, 2010 (San Diego) — Yesterday, I ministered to inmates at the George Bailey Center Jail in San Diego County, reading from Speak to Your Life, a book of daily devotionals by San Diego's Stellar Award-winning gospel radio announcer Lady Shaunte Garrett:  “Today I will have an attitude of

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SUNBELT CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF INK AND IMAGINATION

    by Walter Hall   January 16, 2010 (El Cajon) – Sunbelt Publications, El Cajon’s award-winning regional press, observes 25 years of hard-won success in the book trade this month. The anniversary is a remarkable achievement by a singular couple – Diana and Lowell Lindsay – who have the mischievous look of people who know they’re onto something special. 

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SAN DIEGO BOOKSHELF: ROUNDING THIRD–A DASH FOR EAST COUNTY

By Christian Young   January 15, 2010 (San Diego)–Drawing on his own experiences, San Diego author Walter G. Meyer embarked upon a decade -long journey to create his recently published novel, Rounding Third. This book is much more than a fictional account drawn together from adolescent memories. Wthin the story’s characters can be found, according to Meyer, “a bit of everyone.”

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BOOK REVIEW: POLICE AND PUBLIC SECURITY IN MEXICO

  Edited by Robert A. Donnelly and David A. Shirk   Book Review by: Dennis Moore January 13, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)–Yajaira Mota Orozco,a San Diego mother of two children, lost her life while eating at a restaurant in Tijuana. During December, she became the 88th victim of alleged gang and drug violence in a single month, underscoring the

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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting — not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine’s local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

GALAPAGOS AUTHOR TO PRESENT SLIDE SHOW, SIGN BOOKS IN EL CAJON OCT. 13

October 9, 2009 (El Cajon)–Bette Blaydes Pegas, local author of Chasing a Dream in the Galapagos: A Personal Evolution, will be at the Rancho San Diego Library in El Cajon on Tuesday, October 13th. Pegas will give a slideshow presentation on her life-changing trip to the Galapagos in the library’s conference room at 5:30 PM. She will also be available afterward to

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NEXT THIRD THURSDAY IS A LESSON IN EAST SAN DIEGO’S HISTORY

  October 9, 2009 (San Diego)–Independent bookstore and coffeehouse Upstart Crow of Seaport Village and acclaimed small press Sunbelt Publications of El Cajon are teaming up to offer the public a free monthly author appearance and book signing. These “Third Thursday” events began in June, and have featured appearances by local authors of books on such diverse topics as the history

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BOOK REVIEW: TRUE CRIME STORIES (PART II)

  I’M IN THE TUB, GONE. By Richard James Carlson   Publish America, Baltimore. 2004. 123 pages. Available at the San Diego Police Museum and on Amazon.com   Reviewed by Walter Hall   “Today is the final day of this life…”   Only once in a long while do we encounter a book that just won’t let go. This is

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SAN DIEGO CITY COLLEGE HOSTS 4TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR, THIS WEEK

  September 27, 2009 (San Diego)—The Fourth Annual San Diego City College International Book Fair kicks off a full week of literary and cultural events on Monday. Already San Diego’s largest book event, the Lucha Libro theme for 2009 assures a broad regional appeal again this year–including paticipation by some East County writers. The Lucha Libro program offers San Diegans a

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BOOK REVIEW: TRUE CRIME STORIES

  EAST OF SAN DIEGO. The Lost History of the East San Diego Police Department, 1912-1923. By Gary E. Mitrovich   San Diego Police Historical Association, San Diego, 2008. 112 pages, illustrated.  Distributed by Sunbelt Publications, El Cajon, CA.   Reviewed by Walter Hall   To counter the reckless operation of motor vehicles, City Marshal J.P. Ayers “…declared war on

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HISTORY TO COME ALIVE AT LEWIS & CLARK BOOK PRESENTATION SEPT. 12

  September 11, 2009 (Rancho San Diego)–James Thomas, author of Corp of Discovery: Lewis & Clark will be at the Heritage of the Americas Museum for a presentation and book signing on Saturday, September 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. Garbed in period costume, the author will make a presentation about his book and the historic Lewis & Clark Expedition.

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BOOK REVIEW: FIRE, CHAPARRAL, AND SURVIVAL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

  by Richard W. Halsey   Second Edition, Revised and Updated Sunbelt Publications, San Diego. 2008. 232 pages, illustrated, color plates.   Reviewed by Walter Hall   “The Viejas fire in ’01, the Galivan fire in ’02, and then again during the Cedar fire in ’03. It’s always the same damn thing.” — A weary incident commander back on the

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A Requiem for Reading?

  by Craig S. Maxwell   The memorial service for my grandfather, Vernon Wahrenbrock, was sparsely attended; the inevitable consequence, I suppose, of his having lived nearly a century. All his friends and much of his family were gone. We, his survivors, were there of course. And so were a few of the folks he’d come to know at the

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BOOK REVIEW: HOWARD DEAN’S PRESCRIPTION FOR REAL HEALTHCARE REFORM: HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE AFFORDABLE MEDICAL CARE FOR EVERY AMERICAN AND MAKE OUR JOBS SAFER

By Howard Dean, M.D. Chelsea Green Publishing   Reviewed by Miriam Raftery   The free market just doesn’t work in medicine. You can’t be an informed consumer. I never saw someone with severe chest pain jump off the table and say, Doctor, I’m going to the cheaper guy down the street.” — Howard Dean. M.D. , on a recent book

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LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND: THE SAGA OF COMBAT SEARCH AND RESCUE

  George Galdorisi and Thomas Phillips. Minneapolis, Zenith Press. 2008. 642 pages.   Reviewed by Walter Hall   August 15, 2009 (San Diego)–This is a remarkable and opportune book. San Diego-based authors George Galdorisi and Thomas Phillips – both with significant operational experience in multiple theaters – are not poets. But they have given their narrative an epic quality.  

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Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting — not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine’s local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

Pretty Happy: healthy ways to love your body

Book by Kate Hudson Review by Heidi Hope October 5, 2025 (San Diego) – Pretty Happy is a New York Times best-selling self-help book written by my favorite actress, Kate Hudson. She thoughtfully researched each area and provided a variety of questions to ask, as well as suggestions to reference and ideas for carrying out each lesson to take better

Lucas and Emily’s Food Bank Adventure by Dave Grunenwald

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh September 28, 2025 (San Diego) – Lucas and Emily’s Food Bank Adventure is a children’s book for 5- to 10-year-olds. It is designed to inspire children and their families to volunteer in community programs that help those in need. In the book, two friends and a grandparent visit a group that make and deliver sandwiches. Next, they

Blood in the Water: an A.J. Hawke legal thriller

Novel by Donald McInnis  Reviewed by Pennell Paugh   September 4, 2025 (San Diego) —Blood in the Water, though fictional, exposes a flaw in the United States’ tripartite federal government structure as established in the Constitution.   The third branch of government, the Judiciary, cannot enforce its rulings, even when those rulings are necessary for protecting an individual citizen’s rights or the constitutional powers of the