Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 24

I ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL FICTION FICTION Pil 1. "Primary Colors." Anonymous. Random House. $24. 2.

"In the Presence of the Enemy." Elizabeth George. Bantam. $23.95. 3. "The Celestlne Prophecy." James Redfield.

Warner. $17.95. 4. "First King of Shannara." Terry Brooks. Ballantine.

$23.50. 5. "Spring Collection." Judith Krantz. Crown. $24.

6. "Guilty as Sin." Tami Hoag. Bantam. $21.95. Deepak Chopra.

New World LibraryAmber-Allen. $14. "The Way of the Wizard." Deepak Chopra, M.D. Harmony. $15.95.

"Rush Umbaugh Is a Fat Idiot and Other Observations." Franken. Delacorte. $21.95. "Undaunted Courage." Stephen E. Ambrose.

Simon Schuster. $27.50. 8. "Simple Abundance." Sara Ban Breathnach. Warner.

$17.95. 9. "How Could You Do Laura Sch-lessinger. HarperCollins. $22.

10. "Emotional Intelligence." Daniel Gole-man. Bantam. $23.95. I punishment? IMPERIUM," RYSZARD ON 1.

"In Contempt." Christopher A. Dard-en with Jess Walter. ReganBooks. $26. 2.

"Blood Sport." James B. Stewart. Simon Schuster. $25. 3.

"Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus." John Gray. HarperCollins. $23. 4. "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success." KAPUSCINSKI i off Wl 5.

6. Big Al 7. 7. "The Horse Whisperer." Nicholas Evans. Delacorte.

$23.95. 8. "Montana Sky." Nora Roberts. Putnam. $23.95.

9. "Absolute David Baldacci. Wc er. $22.95. 10.

"And This Too Shall Pass." Lynn Harris. Doubleday $23.95. want to take Mother away. Why, as A RESTORATION JOB: Phillip J. Lujan holds the art of bookblndery.

i it PHOTOS BY MARK HOLMJOURNAL restore. It's the kind of job that Lujan said shows a time-worn family Bible that he is going to WITH SIMPLE RestoringAfrosperin FAMILY APPROACH NOTABLE QUOTE: "They Book traces history, controversy of scraps from Old Testament "Eyewitness to Jesus" By Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona Doubledoy, $23.95, 206 pp. Review by Shlomo Karnl When were the Gospels written? In what order? And what exactly is a gospel? What were Jesus' aims, and would he have recognized and approved of early Christianity? Theologians, historians, linguists, archaeologists and other scholars have struggled with such questions for centuries. Since Albert Schweitzer wrote his monumental work "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" in 1906, scholars have made a continuous effort to cross what the German philosopher Gotthold Lessing called "the ugly ditch" between history and faith. The New Testament itself and the questions of its origins occupy center stage in this debate.

Enter the papyrologist, a scholar who studies ancient manuscript evidence on papyrus. Papyrus is material for writing on, prepared from strips of a water plant found in the Middle East. Many ancient documents from that region were written on this material. On Christmas Eve 1994, the usually staid and unflappable Times of London published a front-page See BOOK on PAGE B1 1 -3NIA31inVd 1 1 '11 HDIM1 Quirky characters, plot weave magic in Tool Me Twice' "Fool Me Twice" By Paul Levine William Morrow, $22, 34 pp. Review by Oline H.

Cogdill A sleazy client, a woman whose charms are exceeded only by her duplicity, and a seemingly penny-ante scheme that escalates by the hour: For Jake Lassiter, linebacker furned lawyer, it's business as usual. "Fool Me Twice," Coconut Grove, author Paul Levine's sixth Lassiter outing, utilizes humor, action and impressive scenery to create a thriller that is as quickly paced as it is entertaining. Typically, Levine, who practiced jaw in Miami for 17 years, begins Tool Me Twice" in the courtroom. This time Jake is defending con man Louis "Blinky" Baroso, for Whom "like smoking, breaching Contracts was a nasty habit." The charge is fraud, and attorney H.T. Patterson has the unsatisfactory job of defending Blinky's partner and co-defendant, Kyle Horn- See CHARACTERS on B11 EYEWITNESS IP ii I Mull -T Local novelist hits the mark with bold, blunt sci-fi novel "Whiteout" By Sage Walker Tor Books, $23.95, 352 pp.

Review by Jeff Watklns Albuquerque writer Sage Walker's debut novel is a marvelous action-packed tale that carries the reader on a powerful current of suspense, mystery and murder. Along the way she builds a thoroughly believable construct of the near future where people can use virtual-reality technology to not only hold hands with someone across the country but to step into their shoes and experience the world through that person's senses. Imagine the possibilities. The reader gets a taste of the technology through the main characters, a small group of people who are friends, lovers and business partners a neat trick if you can pull it off. Walker, however, understands the inherent friction of such a group and uses the occasional eruptions of conflict to advance the story.

The main characters are talented businessmen hired by a Japanese to ensure an international treaty on Antarctica fits its plans for WALKER: Riveting debut sci-fi novel harvesting the bounty of the ocean and the ice. Though harvesting krill to help feed the overpopulated, starving world is big business, the Tanaka Corporation has its sights on another requirement of life water. And there's plenty of fresh water locked up in the frozen continent. In Walker's believable future, the world's food and water supplies are vanishing as the human race continues to outstrip the planet's ability to replenish itself. Though Walker is never preachy, she uses subtle strokes to paint a bleak backdrop of a sick and dying planet.

The action on center stage, however, takes the reader on a twisty road of complex personal relationships and corporate executives' cold-blooded maneuvering. As those two worlds collide the conflict adds an important dimension to the story. And the writer's prediction of evolving virtual reality technology gives readers a fascinating glimpse of what might be. And it serves as a literary device to help weave together the many strands of the story. Walker has crafted a novel that's rich with characters and color, action and suspense.

Walker calls on her experiences in New Mexico to add a sense and texture of life that many here will recognize and those elsewhere might envy. She's obviously spent more than one snowy weekend in Taos. Walker blends the pieces together so well and sets such a lively pace the book is hard to put down. jeff Watklns is the assistant news editor on the copy desk. mmu Sage Walker will discuss and sign copies of her novel "Whiteout" p.m.

Saturday at Page One, 11018 Montgomery NE. She will also read from and sign the book at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at Old Santa Fe Trail Bookstore, Santa Fe and will sign the book 2-4 p.m. April 20 at the Taos Bookshop, 122-D Kit Carson Road, Taos. 1 vi DAVID STEINBERG a' Of the Journal were married on July 20, 1858.

"The Bible came to us almost in a shoe-box," Lujan said. Carefully, meticulously, he attaches the tattered pages to a PVC tape, puts on a new leather spine and hinge under the old ones, reconditions and polishes the original leather and reinforces the corners of the binding. "The book dictates what you have to do," Lujan said. He's just finished a restoration job on a Navajo hymnal, printed in the Navajo language, for a Farmington church. About 10 percent of Esperanza's total income comes from restoration work, but he'd like to do more of it.

"The reward in doing this work is that (the finished product) comes out real sharp," Lujan said. Phillip Lujan has come a long way since he got into the business. In 1963, he started out as a part-time apprentice bookbinder; he worked for New Mexico Bookbinders. Thirteen years later he and his wife were in business for themselves. After being rejected for a bank loan, the Lujans refinanced part of the house in order to finance the bindery.

The name of the company was probably another element in the Lujans' success. In Spanish, esperanza means hope. BOOKBINDERY A ere it is the last decade of the 20th century and about the only way you can learn about the concept of the small Ma and Pa business is to ask your grandparents or a professor of American history. Today Ma and Pa are likely to be employees of corporations, not employers. But please don't tell Laurie and Phillip J.

Lujan, owners of Esperanza Bookbindery, that the concept is one for the history books. Not just yet. The Lujans are proof that the legend of the Ma and Pa business lives. And prospers. The Esperanza bindery will celebrate its 20th anniversary in July.

And like so many thriving family businesses of past centuries, the Lujans operate the bindery from their home. The bindery is, in fact, in the large garage of their South Valley home. The garage had been used for the vehicles of an electrician. The garage had multiple doors when the Lujans bought the home. They walled in all but one garage door.

Over the years, they bought bindery equipment as they could afford it. Hard work and diversification and part-time help from their six children have built up Esperanza Bookbindery into a respected company. Since 1982, Lujan has been recognized as a certified binder by the Library Binding institute. Esperanza has done contract work binding technical documents and scientific magazines for the libraries of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. They've done jobs like doctoral dissertations, restaurant menu covers and music books.

They've bound journals for local physicians. "But now I want to do more restoration work," said the 52-year-old Phillip Lujan with a smile lighting up his eyes. "I get more satisfaction from it." The satisfaction comes because he feels that restoration requires the work of an artisan. "Each book brought in for restoration is a new challenge," Lujan said. "The paper may be brittle but the work is not as repetitious." Much of the restoration work the Lujans get is with Bibles that are family heirlooms.

One current restoration project is a Bible made in London in the last century. The inscription says the Bible was a gift to the newlyweds Thomas and Emma Crosby who ti AT A MACHINE: Laurie Lujan oversews the binding of a doctoral dissertation. TO MAKE THE OLD LIKE NEW: The spine of a Bible being restored at Esperanza Bookbindery in the South Valley. i v-- ,3. r-.