By Alan Renga and Katrina Pescador (bottom right), (America Though Time, Arcadia Publishing, 2019, 96 pages)

Book review by Jeff Thurman

June 13, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) - In the interest of full disclosure, I have a confession to make.  I am that guy in the museum who reads every one of the placards and captions on all of the exhibits. This led to a traumatic incident at the Omaha Beach Museum when the tour guide informed us that we had 30 whole minutes to explore the entire museum.  I am still haunted by that dark episode. When I get a new nonfiction book with a photo section, my first action is to turn to the pictures and happily read each and every caption. Twice.

I am also an aviation nerd.  Since grade school, I’ve been in love with anything that flies.  I have a particular passion: all things World War II and firmly believe the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is the most underappreciated warbird of the last 100 years.   This all resulted in my becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, where I fell in love with a beautiful girl named “Huey.” It was here I learned that life is best experienced at 90 knots, preferably below treetop level.

In other words, I am the target demographic for this book.

Saving Lou, by Linda Loegel, (Linda Loegel, Columbia, SC, 2017, 242 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

May 27, 2019 (San Diego) - Linda Loegel, a born New Englander, and former East County resident of San Diego (El Cajon), now living in Garner, North Carolina, has written a poignant and heartwarming story; Saving Lou.

Having written two earlier reviews of Loegel’s books, Bumps Along the Way and If you Don’t Like Worms, Keep Your Mouth Shut, I can attest to the author being a master story teller. Saving Lou follows suit. She tells this story from beginning to end in her own inimitable and folksy manner, which is characteristic and expected of her from readers such as myself and others that have read her book(s).

East County News Service

May 26, 2016 (La Mesa) – AP students at Grossmont High School recently researched Japanese-American students who attended Grossmont and the impact that the 1942 internment of program had on their lives.  Now the results of their efforts are on display in a special exhibit at the La Mesa Historical Society: May through September on the 2nd & 4th Saturday  from 1-4pm: “WWII Internment and the Japanese-American Students of Grossmont High School.”

May 26, 2014 (Lemon Grove) --  When J. Elke Ertle heard John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963, America suddenly became more real than ever.  Ertle will relate the story of her flight to America from a "walled-in" existence domestically and politically on May 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lemon Grove Library, 3001 School Lane.