CHARMING BILLY by Alice McDermott

 Finished Th 12/24/20- Xmas Eve.

This was one of the books that the Contemporary Book Club selected to read this year. I think this is a book that I recommended. I hope the group liked the book as much as I did.

A man believes that the love of his life went back to Ireland and died of pneumonia. She actually left Long Island (she and her sister were taking care of the children of a rich family) and went back to Ireland and married another man. She even used the money that Billy had given her to start a small business with her new husband. 

The novel begins at Billy's funeral and most people believe that this 'emotional abandonment' caused his alcohol addiction.

His best friend and cousin is Dennis. He's responsible for the lie and the narrator of the novel is Dennis's daughter. She is not named. 

From the book:

"In the arc of an unremarkable life, a life whose triumphs are small and personal, whose trials are ordinary enough, as tempered in their pain as in their resolution of pain, the claim of exclusivity in love requires both a certain kind of courage and a good dose of delusion."

From the review at Publishers Weekly:

"The death of charming Billy Lynch from alcoholism is the starting point from which McDermott (At Weddings and Wakes) meticulously develops this poignant and ironic story of a blighted life set in the Irish-American communities of Queens, the Bronx and the Hamptons. With dialogue so precise that a word or two conjures a complex relationship, she examines the curse of alcoholism and the cost it takes on family and friends. Did Billy drink because of a broken heart caused by the death of Eva, the young woman he ardently loved who had gone back to Ireland after their brief summer together? If so, his cousin Dennis has much on his conscience, since he knew that Eva used the money Billy sent her for return passage to put a down payment on a gas station for the man she decided to marry. Dennis spared Billy the humiliation of public jilting by inventing the story of Eva's demise. Or is alcoholism ""the genetic disease of the Irish,"" a refuge for souls who can sustain their religious faith in an afterlife only if earthly existence is pursued through a bleary haze? Was plain, courageous Maeve, the woman Billy eventually married, devastated by his drinking, or was her uncomplaining devotion yet another aspect of an ancient pattern in Irish families? McDermott sensitively probes the ties of a people bound by blood, long acquaintance, shared memories, the church and the tolerance of liquor in its men. If Billy drank to sustain his belief in heaven, to find redemption for his unfulfilled life on earth, is the church's teaching about death ""a well intentioned deception""? McDermott's compassionate candor about the demands of faith and the realities of living brings an emotional resonance to her seamlessly told, exquisitely nuanced tale." 

I have read a couple of novels by McDermott and I plan to keep my eyes peeled for more of them.

A book that's meant to be savored rather than just read.

TONY & SUSAN by Austin Wright

 Refinished Su 12/20/20

See my entry on October 3, 2016. I wrote extensively about this book and I hadn't seen the movie yet.

I finished the book the first time the day after Bo's first birthday party. 

I liked the book and the movie, but I think that I liked the film slightly more.  

THE WRONG SIDE OF GOODBYE by Michael Connelly

 Finished Mo 12/14/20

This is a trade paperback that Janny loaned me when I met Joe and her in Washington Park last week. Her copy looks as if it was purchased in Britain because it's marked '4 pounds'.

SYNOPSIS: A billionaire contacts Harry Bosch to look for a woman that possibly could be an heir to his estate. The man had met the love of his life, but his parents convinced him to leave her behind, but what became of the baby?

My Problem: Whitney Vance, the aging billionaire was smothered by his secretary. This woman used his special pen to rewrite the will to allow her to inherit ten million dollars. Vance used the first part to change his will to leave money and property to his possible living relatives.

Since the second part of the will was written by the secretary, why wouldn't the whole 'new' will be thrown out. Couldn't the corporation that controls Vance's money just contend the the secretary made up the whole thing?

I'm going to see if I can find a 'Connelly Forum' to see if someone might know why this didn't happen. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from thirty years with the LAPD speak for themselves.

Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love. But soon after becoming pregnant, she disappeared. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it?

Desperate to know whether he has an heir, the dying magnate hires Bosch, the only person he can trust. With such a vast fortune at stake, Harry realizes that his mission could be risky not only for himself but for the one he's seeking. But as he begins to uncover the haunting story--and finds uncanny links to his own past--he knows he cannot rest until he finds the truth.

Swift, unpredictable, and thrilling, The Wrong Side of Goodbye shows that Michael Connelly "continues to amaze with his consistent skill and sizzle" (Cleveland Plain Dealer)."

There is also a subplot about the 'Screen Cutter Rapist' that was very interesting. An ex-cop  from the San Fernando Police Department (where Harry works part-time and for free on cold cases) is now working for city zoning and using his job to target women to rape. This man kidnaps Harry's female partner and Harry ends up saving her. 

Another enjoyable read and I would take anything by Michael Connelly. I had either read this one before or watched the TV adaptation. His stuff is always worth multiple readings. 

 

DROP CITY by T. C. Boyle

 Finished Sa 12/12/20

This is one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I first finished on Su 10/14/07 and had bought at the library book sale that summer. 

A hippie commune in 1970 near the Russian River northwest of Sacramento, CA relocates 3,000 miles north to Boynton, Alaska- 'Drop City North'. 

TC Boyle's 9th novel; released in 2003

From the KIRKUS review:

"Boyle’s protean imagination works overtime in his thickly plotted ninth novel, a big, racy tale of the conflict between a radical utopian commune’s idealistic visions and the simpler imperatives of survival in the Alaskan wilderness.

In Drop City, a California hippie enclave in 1970, we observe through the eyes of its newest members: “Star,” a restless dropout from her parents’ straight life, and Mario, a hardier type who drifts into the City because he knows he wants to build things. Boyle then shifts to Boynton, Alaska (near Fairbanks), where homesteader Cecil (“Sess”) Harder and his new wife Pamela begin their life together in Sess’s well-stocked cabin in the deep woods. As parallel chunks of narrative further introduce us to both sets of characters, a ludicrous auto accident brings the heat down on Drop City, and its putative guru Norm (whose inherited wealth pays the bills) leads the group’s relocation to Alaska, where the peace-and-love people collide with the Harders. A cruel winter, sexual and racial disharmony, and Norm’s decision to pull up his personal stakes exact their toll, and the story churns fatalistically toward its violent climax, on Halloween, in sub-zero cold. Boyle has worked this territory before in several sensationally effective stories, but never with such telling detail and devastating characterizations. The best of the latter include the stoical Sess and warmhearted Pamela, murderous trapper (and Sess’s mortal enemy) Joe Bosky, and weak-willed Ronnie Sommers (a.k.a. Pan), a lethal combination of ingenuous flower-power and uncontrollable appetites. Boyle (After the Plague, 2001, etc.) never fails to enthrall and entertain, but the mordant tragicomic momentum is perhaps too explicitly subordinated to his agenda—revealed in such sequences as the aftermath of a scary episode that endangered Drop City’s toddlers (“They [i.e., the adults] didn’t want to save children, they wanted to be children”).

Probably the fullest picture of the hippie culture of the late ’60s since Marge Piercy’s early fiction, and one of Boyle’s best."

The novel is about two 'alternatives' to 'The Straight World'. The first is a hippie commune in northwest California and the other is a remote village in the Alaskan interior populated by hunters and trappers. Two societies that appear to be opposed- one is pure hedonism and the other is an uphill struggle just to live, but they are all people who march to different drummers from mainstream society. 

"To live outside the law, you must be honest'- BOB DYLAN

My favorite scene is where a terrible traffic accident occurs and the driver and passenger are tripping their brains out.

Also the racial and social tension between a couple of black hustlers (rapists) and the 'peace and love' crowd.

This is a novel where the plot is secondary to the quality of the writing. Truly this is a book to be savored. 

I found another novel by T. C. Boyle in the stacks and it is in my queue. 

THE ETHICAL ASSASSIN by David Liss

 Refinished Su 12/6/20

I ordered this hardback from QPB on Mo 4/17/06 and finished it the first time Fr 6/9/06..."At The Club after an afternoon session and before dinner with The Brandenburgs at China Buffet near Cub Foods on Vets". This restaurant is not in business anymore. 

PREMISE:

A young man in Florida, Lem Altick is selling encyclopedias to make money to attend Columbia and finds himself in the middle of several murders and at odds with a drug gang and a corrupt policeman. When he makes his pitch to Karen and Bastard, a man enters the trailer and shoots them both, but spares Lem. When the assassin and Lem return to the scene of the crime they notice an additional body. This begins their trip down the rabbit hole. 

Melford Kean is the 'ethical assassin' and the reader wonders if he's a charming sociopath, eco-activist, or a vigilante for social justice.

The story is set in a trailer park adjacent to a hog farm. The residents get free stuff for living in the stench.

Horrifying descriptions of  the 'Waste Lagoon' and lots of commentary on the mistreatment of animals raised for food...The trailer park is a speed trap and the cop, Jim Doe will write a ticket if you are one mile over the limit.  

Great nicknames: 'The Gambler'- his name is Kenny Rogers and 'BB gun' his name is William Gunn. 'BB' is a well off middle age man who is very attracted to young boys, but he only sees it as 'he's saving them'. His partner, Desiree is a Siamese Twin who was separated from her twin Aphrodite by surgery. Desiree has a huge scar on her side and back and she is still 'Intune' with her dead sister. 

A link to the review of the novel at Kirkus:

 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-liss/the-ethical-assassin/

A well written dark comedy and I really liked it.

GUILTY AS SIN by Tami Hoag

Finished Mo 11/30/20

This is a hardback that I ordered from Amazon and received on Mo 8/24/20. This is the second and final novel in Hoag's 'Deer Lake Series'.

'NIGHT SINS' is the first book and I read that last summer. I wasn't wild about that book, and I'm pretty lukewarm about this one. 

Both are set in Deer Lake, Minnesota, a small town fairly close to Minneapolis. In both novels it's winter and temperatures plunge far below zero. 

In the first novel there is a steamy love affair between Agent Megan O'Malley of The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Mitch Holt, the local chief of police. 

In 'GUILTY AS SIN' Hoag features a love affair between Assistant County Attorney Ellen North and Jay Butler Brooks, a true crime author. 

The novel involves the kidnapping of eight year old Josh who was abducted after hockey practice. He is found, yet another boy is taken and he is killed. 

The book's page at Amazon:

"A cold-blooded kidnapper has been playing a twisted game with a terrified Minnesota town. Now a respected member of the community stands accused of a horrific act of evil. But when a second boy disappears, a frightened public demands to know: Have the police caught the wrong man? Is the nightmare continuing—or just beginning?

 Prosecutor Ellen North believes she’s building a case against a guilty man—and that he has an accomplice in the shadows. As she prepares for the trial of her career, Ellen suddenly finds herself swept into a cruel contest of twisted wits, a dark dance of life and death . . . with an evil mind as guilty as sin."

The ending is a bit abrupt and there were too many characters. Both novels were entertaining, but not really compelling.  

See the blog post of 'NIGHT SINS' for more plot details.

THE BAD PLACE by Dean R. Koontz

 Finished (again) Tu 11/24/20

This is one of my paperbacks and my favorite Dean Koontz novel.

I love the opening scenes. A man awakes in a dark alley and something (or someone) is chasing him. He flashes back and forth between different realities. And, he can only remember his name and what is this brief case filled with over one hundred thousand dollars?

Frank Pollard- he killed his mother and his brother Frank is the entity that is chasing him. Frank, Candy, their mother, and twin sisters, Violet and Verbina are cursed with telekinetic powers. The twins have a herd of cats and they can read their minds- 'Hive Mind'. Their mother was a hermaphrodite and impregnated herself. Her father was a hallucinogenic drug-abuser and her mother was his sister. Candy Pollard drinks blood and can never forgive his brother for killing their mother.  

Bobby and Julie Dakota- They run a security service. They both like 40's big band music and they are skimping so that they can pour the extra cash into their private eye business. Thomas is Julie's brother and he has Down's Syndrome and lives in a special care home. Thomas is able to 'link' with the Pollards and he senses that their energy is coming from 'A Bad Place'. Bobby and Julie want to make enough wealth to allow Thomas to live with them sometime in the future. 

Thomas and his friend, Dereck (also Down's Syndrome) are two of the most sympathetic characters in the novel.  

Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith were going to play Bobby and Julie Dakota in the screen adaptation, but the deal fell through. In the proper hands this could make a fantastic movie. 

The book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Place

I really loved the book and the telekinetic powers mixed up with a twist on the private eye drama was very effective. 

BETWEEN TWO RIVERS by Nicholas Rinaldi

Finished Fr 11/13/20

This is one of my old trade paperbacks that I had apparently not read. While checking the Internet about the book I noticed that the author died of COVID last May. 

The title refers to where the novel is set- the southern end of Manhattan Island which lies between the Hudson and East Rivers.

PREMISE:

Connecting stories of residents of a high rise condo in lower Manhattan. Farro Fescu is the concierge of Echo Terrace. He is the one who witnesses the action in the apartment complex...The building is a kind of exotic cross section of people: "An  Egyptian-born plastic surgeon who specializes in gender reassignment, a fighter pilot who flew for Nazi Germany during World War II, an Iraqi spice merchant and the world-famous quilter with whom he's having an affair, the adulterer's son who dreams of becoming an undertaker, and the widow whose apartment is a jungle Eden filled with a menagerie of specimens."

The book examines how this small community dealt with both the 1993 bombing and the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center.

I really liked the book.

A link to the book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_Two_Rivers

 

HANDS OF A STRANGER by Robert Daley

Finished Tu 11/3/20... Trump-Biden Election Today 

One of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read, but I always love anything by Robert Daley. The author ran the NYC police department for a time during the 70's so his novels have a real ring of truth.

MAIN CHARACTERS:

Joe Hearn: He's newly appointed to the head of the drug enforcement division and he's on an inside track for police commissioner. However, his mindset is stuck in the 1940's.

Mary Hearn: She's tired of Joe's inattentiveness. His job and career is foremost and Mary barely is on his radar. They were deeply in love, but now their lives have grown apart and Mary has begun to feel sexual feelings for her son's baseball coach, Marty Loftus.

Judith Adler: She works for the DA's office on the rape squad and one of the first women to reach such a high place in the department. She and Joe Hearn are thrown together on the job. Judith needs men from his department to help her on some rape cases. 

THE PLOT:

Mary agrees to go to a hot sheet motel with Marty. Before they have sex they are attacked and Mary and Marty are tied up and Mary is raped. Both Mary and Marty are then the victims of blackmail. George Lyttle was working at the hotel and looking for victims. 

In the end of the book Joe intercedes and kills George Lyttle. He had Lyttle handcuffed to a pipe in the subway. Joe begins shooting his gun in frustration and 'George just got in the way of the bullet'. Hard to believe that for one second a cop would use this ridiculous excuse as a reason why it was not his fault. 

THE CONCLUSION:

Judith realizes that her sexual affair with Joe is over. He and Mary loved each other enough to shield each other from charges. They did all they could to prevent each other from being implicated. Judith takes a short vacation to the Caribbean with the intention of submitting her resignation letter, but once she gets back she realizes that the world of cops and lawyers is her destiny. 

From the book's page on Amazon:

"Judith Adler is head of the DA's rape squad. Inspector Joe Hearn heads the NYPD narcotics division. A mafia porno ring and a terrible rape bring them together. A Literary Guild selection and a four hour NBC mini series. The author gives us an excellent lead character in New York Asst. D.A. Judith Adler as she grapples with a series of rape cases. But that's not all--there's a strong emotional plot as well between Adler, Joe Hearn--a New York cop--and his wife." 

The movie is not available and was a made for TV mini series. I would watch it and I'll always keep an eye out for anything by Daley. 

 

KILL THE MESSENGER by Tami Hoag

Finished very early on the morning of Su 10/11/20

This is a hardback that Janny loaned me. She is also a fan of Tami Hoag and so am I.

Her books are plot driven and a fast and satisfying read.

This was one of my favorite books by the author, although I didn't like the ending. The very last part of the book so lame that it reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel. It seemed like a random person was behind the murder, but not the kidnapping so I guess this is a little bit more interesting.

Jace Damon (JC) is a bike messenger in contemporary LA. He is living beneath the radar because he is slightly underage and supporting his ten year old brother, Tyler. If they become known to the authorities Tyler will end up in foster care and JC made a promise to his dead mother that he would always be there for Tyler. 

JC is called after hours to pick up a package for a lawyer. When he goes to the address to drop the material he is attacked and almost killed. 

So JC must uncover what's going on and do it without anyone's help because he would risk loving Tyler.

However, both boys do have a kind of mother in Mrs. Chen. She is a matriarch and runs a fish store in Chinatown. This is where the boys live.

A better synopsis than mine from Goodreads:

"With this new thriller, The New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers her own message to suspense fans everywhere: Don't turn off the lights, and keep reading if you dare. From the gritty streets of Los Angeles to its most protected enclaves of prestige and power to the ruthless glamour of Hollywood, a killer stalks his prey. A killer so merciless no one in his way is safe—not even the innocent.

At the end of a long day battling street traffic, bike messenger Jace Damon has one last drop to make. But en route to delivering a package for one of L.A.'s sleaziest defense attorneys, he's nearly run down by a car, chased through back alleys, and shot at. Only the instincts acquired while growing up on the streets of L.A. allow him to escape with his life—and with the package someone wants badly enough to kill for.

Jace returns to Lenny Lowell's office only to find the cops there, the lawyer dead, and Jace himself considered the prime suspect in the savage murder. Suddenly he's on the run from both the cops and a killer, and the key to saving himself and his ten-year-old brother is the envelope he still has—which holds a message no one wants delivered: the truth.

In a city fueled by money, celebrity, and sensationalism, the murder of a bottom-feeding mouthpiece like Lenny Lowell won't make the headlines. So when detectives from the LAPD's elite robbery/homicide division show up, homicide detective Kev Parker wants to know why. Parker is on the downhill slide of a once-promising career, and he doesn't want to be reminded that he used to be one of the hotshots, working cases that made instant celebrities of everyone involved. Like the case of fading pretty-boy actor Rob Cole, accused of the brutal murder of his wife, Tricia Crowne-Cole, daughter of one of the most powerful men in the city, L.A.'s latest "crime of the century."

Robbery/Homicide has no reason to be looking at a dead small-time scumbag lawyer or chasing a bike messenger...unless there's something in it for them. Maybe Lenny Lowell had a connection to something big enough to be killed for. Parker begins a search for answers that will lead him to a killer—or the end of his career. Because if there's one lesson he's learned over the years, it's that in a town built on fantasy and fame, delivering the truth can be deadly."

 

 

BLESSINGS by Anna Quindlen

 Finished We 10/7/20

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. I was somewhat familiar with Quindlen, but I was really surprised by how well written this novel was. I really loved the book!

A baby is left on the steps of a country estate in upstate Mount Mason, New York. This changes the lives of numerous people and uncovers deep and dark secrets.

The baby was left on the porch of the young man who was the handyman for the estate. He recently was released from the county jail for his part as the driver in a robbery. He didn't know that he was part of a robbery scheme, but thought he was just out for a ride with some questionable friends.

Skip Cuddy (Charles) bonds with the little girl that he names, Faith. 

Lydia Blessing is the 80 years old and has lived on the estate only with her housekeeper, Nadine. A Korean war bride with a teenage daughter, Jennifer.

Lydia learns of the baby and also bonds with Faith.

Skip and Lydia become 'parents'.

The Sub-Plot is that Lydia's brother was gay. The man that Lydia married was actually Skip's lover, Benny. 

During WWII Lydia became pregnant by an acquaintance, Frank, but this was never acknowledged.  

The Blessings family basically kept Lydia cloistered at the estate.

In the end, the girl that left Faith comes back to claim the baby.

Lydia dies and leaves the garage apartment to Skip. In the apartment is nearly a hundred thousand dollars in cash that Lydia's father had left for her, but she never paid it any attention. 

Skip starts a lawn care operation and Lydia's daughter sells the house, but decides that the name 'Blessing' should be left on the estate.

From Bookbrowse.com:

"... begins when a teenage couple drives up, late at night, headlights out, to Blessings, the estate owned by Lydia Blessing. They leave a box and drive away, and in this instant, the world of Blessings is changed forever. Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker of the estate, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him. The secrets of the past, how they affect the decisions and lives of people in the present; what makes a person, a life, legitimate or illegitimate, and who decides; the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community—these are at the center of this wonderful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the writer about whom The Washington Post Book World said, "Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family." 

I really loved the novel and have alerted Janny to see if she has more books written by Quindlen. 

METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN by Robert Heinlein

 Finished Sa 10/3/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I have apparently never read. I learned that this novel is the first in a series featuring Lazarus Long. The story was released as serialized fiction to an early 40's SciFi magazine and published as a book in the early fifties. 

The Federation vs. The Foundation. The story is set in the future and The Federation is the government of Earth and The Foundation is a collection of families that have realized that people who live extraordinary long lives should only breed with others who have a genetic tendency for long life. 

The government believes that The Foundation is keeping the secret of Long Life from  the rest of the world. This is not true, but it is clear that The Foundation family cannot stay on Earth because the rest of the population would resent the fact that they could live for so long. 

A crooked bargain is made where The Federation will allow The Foundation families to leave if they reveal the secret.

The Families head out on a stolen space vehicle and search for an Earth-like planet.

Jockaira- These are the 'people' that they meet on their first planet that they find. These creatures are 'man-like', although they are nearly eight feet tall and their faces are split vertically from the mouth. The humans are 'rushed' into becoming part of the Jockaira's religion. 

It's not a real religion, but the Jockaira are actually kept as pets by beings of this religion. The humans leave.

They go to another planet where the creatures are all connected telepathically and look somewhat like upright rabbits. The climate is perfect and the creatures are able to 'grow' whatever kind of food that the humans might like to eat.

Lazarus Long and the leaders decide that they should go back to Earth and see if they can try to live again. 

The mid section of the novel was kind of slow, but once they arrived at the first planet, things picked up.

Lazarus Long's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Long

An easy read, but 'STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND' it is not!

LEGION by William Peter Blatty

 Finished Tu 9/29/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks (released in 1983) and there is notation when I bought it or if it has been read. The book is a sequel to THE EXORCIST. 

I was surprised to learn that there have been five movies in the 'Exorcist Franchise'. 

A young black mute paperboy is brutally murdered. The killing looks like it was done by The Gemini Killer, but this man was murdered twelve years before. The kid was crucified on rowing oars.

A  priest is decapitated and another priest is murdered.

Lt. Kinderman is the detective in charge. He distinctly Jewish, near retirement and given to posing questions about the nature of reality and why does God act the way he does. 

The best parts of the novel are the philosophical discussions that Kinderman (A kinder man?) has with the other characters.

There is an eye-opening quote from Charles Darwin in which he says that he believes in a creator.

An Interesting Point of View:

"Let There Be Light" might actually mean "Let There Be Reality".

I guess that the novel makes the case that the murders have been committed by an angel who was mad at the original exorcism. 

From a review at 'deadendfollies.com':

"...it's not REALLY a horror novel and not REALLY a mystery either. It's a literary novel that tries to address the possibility of religious dogma being true in the most realistic possible way. I supposed you can say it's a novel about demonology? It may seem austere and maybe it is a little, but I thought it was a lot more convincing than the flying demon/battling angel type of supernatural horror."

I liked the book and would read more by Blatty.

I noticed that the film, 'EXORCIST 3' was available on Amazon Prime and I made it today's Morning Movie:

Although Blatty wrote the screenplay the ending is radically different from the novel. Kinderman has a 'Exorcism Struggle' with the man in the padded cell who claims to be Kinderman's friend, the priest. This exorcism seemed very tacked-on, and according to one of the YouTube video reviews, it was. The bit about the carp living in his bathtub is still in the film and one of the highlights; George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, and a very small role for a very young Kevin Corrigan.

A WOMAN AT WAR by Molly Moore

 Finished We 9/23/20

This is one of my hardbacks that I don't know when I bought it and apparently had never read.

This is NOT a story of 'a woman in a man's world', but it's more of a blue print on what went down during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It was only a three day war and thousands of  Iraqi soldiers surrendered during the first minutes of the attack. 

There is an excellent 'wrap-up' beginning on page 315.

Many military and government officials do not want reporters to be anywhere near the frontlines for fear of giving away the generals' battle plans. But, Molly reminded them that the generals on the frontlines were more than willing to get their plans 'on the record'. And, modern battles move so fast and the 'front' is so wide ranging that even if 'secret' information was released it would no longer be relevant. 

So much of the information that was gleaned from American intelligence agencies was just flat-out wrong. They over stated completely the strength of The Republican Guard and how many enemy soldiers were actually on the field of battle. Moore seems to believe that this was done for political reasons and none other. 

The biggest 'reveal' was that the 'new' battle plans were largely ineffective and tanks and 'boots on the ground' fighting is what carried the day. 

Communication was the biggest problem at the frontlines. During the battles generals had no idea what was going on....Just like Vietnam, WWII, and the Civil War. 

From the back cover of the book:

"During the Gulf War, most journalists were confined to media pools. But not Molly Moore, the senior military correspondent of The Washington Post. Moore was the only reporter to accompany a senior commanding general as he led his troops into battle in Kuwait. This is her eyewitness account of the war as she lived it by the side of the top Marine general, Walter E. Boomer. There has never been a book quite like Molly Moore's, for hers is the unique story of what a woman experienced inside the Gulf War military machine - in a male-dominated military amidst an Islamic culture in which women are on a level with the family pet. Molly Moore offers a detailed account of the buildup toward war in both Washington and the Gulf, and reveals the heroism as well as the calamity of the battlefield - the miscalculations, the failed communications, the distress and disarray among the troops and their officers. With an appealing combination of chilling authority and a warm understanding of the human dimensions of battle, she provides a frank and unprecedented view of the war planning councils as the action escalates. Here, too, are the tensions and exhilaration of daily life in a war zone - what it was like to wait for days for a gas mask when everyone else was well protected; how it felt to live in the desert, where, among other hazards, freezing winds made it impossible to take out a pair of contact lenses, and lack of privacy left women on duty with few choices about bathroom facilities. A Woman at War showcases as well the fresh and exciting new voice of Molly Moore herself, the first woman Pentagon correspondent in the history of The Washington Post. For its unusually candid and graphic depictionof men - and for the first time, women - in battle, A Woman at War will be highly valued and long remembered."

  

THE BIG FIX by Roger L. Simon

 Finished Th 9/17/20

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I had apparently never read. There is also no date when I bought the book.

This is a very well-written novel with a somewhat confusing and convoluted plot-line.

MODERN PREMISE:

A Democratic candidate for the California legislature gets endorsed by a former Leftist Radical. This could ruin his chances to have his name tied to a violent Socialist. Then, the Leftists issue a press release that the are bombing a secret section of the Los Angeles highway system in the name of the Democratic candidate.

They are probably too many characters and numerous red herrings, but I guess this style of novel is very popular. 

On Saturday, 9/18 I watched the movie of 'The Big Fix' on YouTube. I thought that the movie did a far superior job of telling the story. Although the film was still very complex, it made sense in the end.

 Richard Dreyfuss, John Lithgow, and F. Murray Abrahams looked so young that I almost didn't recognize them. Once I heard their voices, I knew who they were.

The film's page at Wikipedia which also gives a fair rendition of the story-line. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Fix_(1978_film)

Roger L. Simon's page at Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_L._Simon#Moses_Wine_Series

THE KEYS TO TULSA by Brian Fair Bekey

Finished Su 9/14/20

Last week I watched the movie with James Spader and Eric Stoltz and was confused, but I thought that the idea was great. I found the book on Amazon and ordered and I'm glad that I did. I'll watch the movie again (Amazon Prime) soon. 

Set in Tulsa, OK during the early 80's- The Reagan Years. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 is mentioned. I watched two YouTube documentaries about this incident of American genocide. May 31st, 1921 the white townspeople burned down the entire successful Black area of the town. Greenwood was destroyed and hundreds of blacks were murdered. In a town of 100,000, three thousand people belonged to The Ku Klux Klan. 

"Redneck Film Noire"

Richter Boudreau is a boozed up, drug addled newspaper reporter. He's barely hanging on to his job and writes movie reviews when it's convenient. He also teaches a college film class. He was born rich, but now has sunk to the bottom.

He falls under the spell of an old girlfriend, Vicky Stover. When he was in high school he was friends with Vicky's brother, Keith. Keith is now a morbidly obese man who does nothing but drink and drug. He is very rich and lives off his inheritance.

Vicky is now married to Ronnie. He's an over-aged juvenile delinquent who has come up with kidnapping plan. He knows a stripper who witnessed the murder of another stripper by a wealthy and well-connected white man. He wants to hit them up for over a million dollars in blackmail.

The book is about how Richter tries to get a handle on 'the plan and the players'.  

The review at Publishers Weekly:

"Berkey's manic and wildly raunchy debut novel is not likely to be warmly received by the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. He takes us on a seven-day out-of-control grand tour of this Western city's extensive seamy side. Berkey leaves skid marks on Oral Roberts University and racist country clubs, and rampages through the red-light district with quick pit stops in striptease parlors and drug dens. The company is less than wholesome: hookers, heroin addicts, a murderer or two, extortionists, millionaire prairie preachers and yahoos galore. It's as if the cast of Taxi Driver were to invade the set of True Grit ; a sort of redneck film noire. And it succeeds smashingly. Richter Boudreau, the novel's central character, is the ultimate scamp. He's a wisecracking Berkeley graduate in deep trouble with gangsters and the police. Not the least of his concerns is that he owes a lot of money to a temperamental drug dealer involved in blackmailing some of Tulsa's leading citizens. Richter's love life--by turns absurdly romantic and unbelievably sleazy--only complicates the mess. One of the most fiendish characters is Richter's very own mother, a glorious manipulator bent on straightening out her errant son. Mixed up in the story is Richter's partner in vice, journalist George Brinkman, who is investigating the death of a topless dancer, the novel's main mystery. Berkey's only bad habit is his continual mockery of the characters' cornball accents. It's the one note of condescension in a novel of great sympathy and enjoyment. The keys to Berkey's Tulsa unlock a raucous and exciting world."

From the book:

"Tulsa was a sociopolitical jerkwater, an isolated pocket of oilmen, defense contractors, racists, Republicans, and religious fanatics a place forgotten by time, like one of those tiny hamlets in the Appalachians where they still spoke Elizabethan English. Heterogeneous opinion was inappropriate; you spoke the common language or you kept your mouth shut."

I would love to read more by this author, but apparently this was his only book. Too bad, I would have loved to read more. 

MAZE OF DEATH by Philip K. Dick

 Finished Tu 9/8/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks and there is no indication when I bought it.

Plot:

A group of space colonists believe they are on Delmak-O, but really they are the crew of the spaceship of Persus 9, stranded in orbit around a dead star with no way of calling for help. Most of the explorers decide to continue the hallucinations. It's a 'reality vs. perception' novel and it's as if the characters embrace a non-reality. 

One of the people believed that they were picked for the mission through prayer. Prayers 'work', but they must be augmented electronically to reach all the known and unknown parts of the galaxy.  

The book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Maze_of_Death

The explanation of the book at Goodreads:

"Fourteen strangers come to Delmak-O. Thirteen of them were transferred by the usual authorities. One got there by praying. But once they arrived on that treacherous planet, whose very atmosphere seemed to induce paranoia and psychosis, the newcomers found that even prayer was useless. For on Delmak-O, God is either absent or intent on destroying His creations. At once a wrenching metaphysical thriller and an ingenious meditation on the nature of divinity, A Maze of Death is Philip K. Dick at his most dizzyingly provocative."

A link to the comments at Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216399.A_Maze_of_Death

I think that one of the most glaring irregularity is PK Dick's treatment of women. The only aspect of Dick's female characters is important is that they are physically beautiful. One of the people on the 'ship/planet' is a woman who is portrayed as 'the town whore'. 

The best part of the book is its' brevity. Slightly less than two hundred pages was just enough. 

The copy that I have is falling apart, but I think I'll keep it because I liked it.

AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Easton Ellis

 Refinished Sa 9/5/20

This is an old trade paperback that I bought at Barnes & Noble; Sa 11/5/94: $14.00. I finished it four days later, and I reread the novel and finished on Su 9/17/00.

Patrick Bateman is a psychopathic serial killer. He's quite open about his activities, but nobody listens.

Donald Trump is a hero of Bateman's. When people refer to 'The Plaza', he corrects them by saying, 'It's 'The Trump Plaza'. If Trump has eaten there, it's where Bateman's friends will definitely go there.

He claims that he works in 'Murders and Executions' instead of 'Mergers and Acquisitions'. 

Many times he is not recognized, but people never question that he is part of the top 'One Percent'. 

Many times he claims that he has to return video tapes to the store. 

Positive Criticism:

"...a gruesome little critique of the most shallow and depraved aspects of 1980s American capitalism..."

Negative Criticism:

"...“he most loathsome offering of the season, and “a contemptible piece of pornography.”

"...stupefying details about expensive clothing, food and bath products, that were it not the most loathsome offering of the season, it certainly would be the funniest..." I remember that this is what I loved about the novel my first time through it. But now it just dates the novel. Bateman's fantastic TV is only a 27" model and some of the trendy products are no longer for sale. 

 "...a hilarious, repulsive, boring, seductive, deadpan satire of what we now call—as if it were something in the past—the Age of Reagan."

"... a canonical work of social satire, widely regarded by gender theorists and feminist critics alike as a scabrous assessment of modern masculinity run amok."

Bateman is an expert on clothes and how they are worn. All of his friends defer to his opinions on fashion. 

Bateman is referred to by his friends as "Mr. Wallstreet".

I really loved the book all of the times that I've read it. Funny and horrifying.

TRUE TO FORM by Elizabeth Berg

 Finished Tu 9/1/20

This is a hardback that Janny bought at a lawn sale. I think that this novel could be aimed at the 'young adult' market, but maybe contemporary kids would think it too sweet.

The character of Katie was in two other novels; 'DURABLE GOODS' 'JOY SCHOOL'.

The novel is set in 1961. Katie is thirteen and this is her summer break and her father wants her to work. She gets a baby sitting job taking care of three young boys and also helping an old man take care of his elderly wife, Mrs. Randolph. And, her best friend Cynthia, has a mother who insists that young girls should be part of The Girl Scouts of America. 

Mr. Randolph is a retired teacher and he is able to get her into the exclusive girls school where he used to teach. Katie wants to be part of the 'popular' girls at the new school and she gets used. The new girls want to use her for her intelligence and she denigrates Cynthia in front of her new friends. Cynthia hears it and will not speak with Katie. This is the major 'clash' of the novel. 

The book is a kind of meditation on Friendship. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Living with her stern, unapproachable father and his new wife after the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Katie finds herself lonely and forges an alliance with Cynthia, a fellow misfit."

A review by 'Top 500 Reviewer Vine Voice':

"Written with wisdom and wit, this book by Elizabeth Berg—the third in a series—is a coming of age story to which any woman who came of age in the '60s will thoroughly enjoy, if not actually treasure.

It's the summer of 1961 and Katie Nash is 13, bridging that confusing time between childhood and adolescence. But Katie does something so terrible and upsetting that she can barely forgive herself, and the act may very well bring her remorse her entire life. How she tries to make amends is both endearing and sad and teaches us all lessons in not only how to forgive one another, but also humble ourselves to seek forgiveness from those we have harmed.

While this book can be read as a stand-alone novel, I think you will appreciate it so much more if you read "Durable Goods" and "Joy School" first."

A FAINT COLD FEAR by Robert Daley

 Finished Fr 8/28/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks and there is no notation on the flyleaf if I had ever read it.

Robert Daley is the gold standard for 'the cop procedural' and this is one of my favorite genres.

Robert Daley served as Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department in 1971-72. He was born in 1930 and he is still alive. The author's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Daley

The novel is mostly set in Columbia and South America. Ray Douglas was the head of a New York police narcotics division and he was kind of banished to South America due to an internecine 'turf battle' after a huge heroin bust. The novel is set in the 80's and was at the beginning of The War On Drugs and federal, state, and city agencies were fighting as to who would handle the planning and logistics of the operations. 

Douglas is sent to Columbia and it's left to him as to what to due. He is like a fish out of water and the drug kingpins of South America have completely bought the local governments and police forces and pretty much run the show. These men are ruthless criminals, but run their operations like they were CEO's of major international companies. 

Jane Fox is another 'fish out of water'. She is an investigative journalist and fights to be stationed to cover the South American drug operations. In the 80's women were fighting for their place in the workplace and she knows that if she had been a man, nothing would stand in her way, but since she's a woman she is scrutinized far more closely.  And, she is in a stale marriage and has outgrown her husband's outdated values and views on women. And, Jane and Ray are almost destined to fall in love.  Ray is a recent widower and he falls the hardest. He has grown children and he really loved his dead wife, but now it's time to begin again. 

Because Jane is pretty she is able to form relationships with at least one of the drug kingpins. And, late in the novel she is kidnapped by one of the drug lords. Ray moves heaven and earth to orchestrate the various agencies to work to get her back. He is successful and although she had second thoughts and was thinking of reunited with her husband, but on the last page you learn that she is going through with her divorce and she will be with Ray Douglas. 

A quote from the author at the book's page at Amazon Books:

"... Much later I served as an NYPD Deputy Commissioner, ducking under the yellow tape to get as close to the crime scenes as possible, and on that experience I based a number of the novels that were to come. I wrote also about bullfighting, opera, grand prix racing, France, wine, treasure diving, for I plunged into all those worlds as well, plunged all the way to the end if possible, where I stood around gawking for a time, then wrote as accurately as I could, whether in fiction or non-fiction about what I had found. There is a price exacted of those who ignore traffic signs. I paid it in fear, defeat, humiliation, even in lawsuits. But other times I reaped an incredible profusion of excitement and delight—and also made a good living. To keep my enthusiasm high, I had to keep discovering new worlds, new people, for otherwise writing is hard, hard, hard, sometimes impossible. There were so many strange doors out there, all of them strangely ajar, at least to a writer. One had only to lean a little and they would open and whatever was behind them would be revealed. It’s all in this book. This is my story."

I liked the book and I found another novel on the shelves by Daley which I plan to read.  

NIGHT SINS by Tami Hoag

 Finished Su 8/16/20

This is one of my paperbacks that I bought at the library book fair on Sa 1/11/20.

When I finished the book I was disappointed that it really didn't end. The kidnapped boy, Josh, just 'reappears' and a madman is captured but why and how he did the crime is not resolved. A new novel called, 'GUILTY AS SIN' (2000) must be read to find out the complete details. 

Set in Deer Lake, Minnesota, a small town fairly close to Minneapolis. It's winter and the temperatures plunge far below zero. 

A LOVE STORY AND A CHILD KIDNAPPING

Agent Megan O'Malley is sent to the town from Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to assist in the kidnapping of an eight year old boy, Josh.  

Mitch Holt is the local chief of police. He and Megan become lovers. Megan is dead set against any involvement with another cop, but the attraction is far too strong. At first I thought that the 'steamy cop affair' in the middle of a kidnapping seemed a little ham-fisted, but it works in a corny way. Mitch's wife and son are dead. He feels responsible because he allowed his wife and son to shop at a store located in a bad area. Both were gun downed during a robbery. He has an adorable five year old girl, Jessie. 

Hannah and Paul are Josh's parents. Hannah is a well-loved local doctor and Paul is a 'wannabe' beloved local businessman. Paul is having an affair with a neighbor, Karen Wright, that is also Hannah's friend. Paul wants to become 'the face of the search' for his son and Hannah is honestly devastated and feels that all of her competency of her medical practice is down the drain.  

Karen's husband, Garrett Wright, is the madman who is captured at the end of the novel. But, he couldn't have acted alone. This man was a teacher at the college and was helping in the investigation. At the end you don't even know if Karen was aware of the affair between Paul and Hannah. I even felt that Karen could have been aware of the kidnapping itself. 

***A janitor at the local ice rink where Josh was taken is the first suspect. He had a record involving child molestation that he had not divulged to the local police. This man commits suicide by shattering his glass eye and then slitting his wrists.

From the review at Kirkus:

"In Hoag's swell, sexy thriller (after Lucky's Lady, 1992), an eight-year-old boy is kidnapped, and two emotionally battered cops find love. There's a cold snap in Deer Lake, Minn., but it's all hot sparks when Agent Megan O'Malley meets police chief Mitch Holt. She's struggled to become the first female field agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension; he has "Harrison Ford's looks and an athlete's body" (sorry, Harrison). On the outside they're two tough cookies who've been scarred by life. But inside, their hearts are as mushy as marshmallows that have burned too long in the fire. When Josh Kirkwood is kidnapped after hockey practice, Megan and Mitch launch a search as the wind chill sends the temperature plummeting to 60 below. The kidnapper, who sends cryptic messages with pieces of Josh's clothing, is an evil maniac who likes to manipulate his victims. Josh's mother, Hannah, suffers most. A doctor who runs a hospital ER and still bakes her own cookies, she blames herself for neglecting Josh; her husband blames her too, even though he was committing adultery with a neighbor when Josh called him for help. Hannah turns to Father Tom, a hip cleric who plays a GameBoy, wears cowboy boots, and feels a little unpriestly about his parishioner. Hoag inserts strong doses of violence (a suspect slits his wrists with pieces of his own glass eye; the villain breaks Megan's hand), skillfully handles a complicated plot, and makes us care about her central characters. The whodunit is compelling, but never more important than the evolution of relationships. Sliding unashamedly from police procedural to purple prose, Hoag savvily steeps her novel in the conventions of steamy romance, where the color of the police chief's "whiskey" eyes are as important as the clues."

I will check Amazon and if 'GUILTY AS SIN' is priced right, I might pick it up. 

 

MODEL BEHAVIOR- A NOVEL AND 7 STORIES by Jay McInerney

 Finished Fr 8/7/20

I finished the novel, not the short stories. The novel is 178 pages.

The novel concerns a celebrity journalist, Connor McKnight and his long-time girlfriend and super-model, Philomena. She's leaving him for a famous actor and Connor seems unable to accept the fact.

From BookPage:

"...allows McInerney to return to the themes and stylistics of his earlier work. He overlays the vodka-doused story of Connor with cheeky pokes at popular culture, using his sardonic pen to skewer the self-anointed beautiful people, revenge-seeking book reviewers, and brash magazine editors. McInerney is sly, mischievous, and sometimes downright nasty as he writes his most trenchant social critique since Story of My Life." 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"In his latest novel, Model Behavior, McInerney offers us the portrait of a doubting devotee of the city where vocation, career, and ambition (which only occassionally coincide) run head-on with friendship and love--or merely desire. We see Conor McKnight's well-earned ennui fast becoming anxiety as he tries to protect himself from the harrowing fate that unfolds before his bleary eyes. McInerney is at the peak of his craft in what is sure to become a classic at the end of the century."

A funny passage:

"Don't you mean, 'The Cocteau Twins'?

"No, I mean 'The Simon Twins'- Carly and Paul...Chick Music!"

It was an easy, breezy read and could be read in a couple of settings. I'll leave the book out and maybe randomly hit the short stories. 

STRAIGHT MAN by Richard Russo

Refinished Su 8/2/20

This is one of my trad paperbacks that I first finished Fr 11/16/02 on a day off. In the flyleaf I had written, 'Best novel I've read in ages'. And, after the second reading I still agree absolutely.

PREMISE:

A look at the life of William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Hank) who is the chairman of the English department of a small college in west central Pennsylvania. He has a kind of snide, quirky manner and he never takes anything very seriously, although his life is unwinding before his eyes. 

***His nose is mangled during a staff meeting when one of his female teachers hits him with a notebook and the spiral catches one of his nostrils.

***His wife is away and probably having an affair with his dean

***One or more of his staff is eager for an affair with him

***The high-point (?) is when he threatens to execute a goose unless he gets the budget his department requires. Hilarious and compassionate simultaneously. 

Much of the novel might have been based on Russo's teaching career at Southern Illinois at Carbondale, IL. 

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"Straight Man (New York: Random House, 1997) is a novel by Richard Russo set at the fictional West Central Pennsylvania University in Railton, Pennsylvania. It is a mid-life crisis tale told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux Jr., the unlikely interim chairman of the English department. Notable moments include the chairman's hiding in the rafters as the faculty vote on his dismissal, his threat of killing a campus pond goose every day until the department receives a budget, flirtations between faculty and students, satires on academic scholarship and stardom, and love and health in the season of grace. It is rumored that the material for this book came from Russo's experiences teaching at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Southern Connecticut State University or at Penn State Altoona."

The author's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russo

The theme is that a man who has never taken anything seriously finally must make a stand. This doesn't mean that he has to do anything, but it's more like he just must 'let go' and accept his life,

THE COSMIC RAPE by Theodore sturgeon

Finished Sa 7/25/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I found on the shelves. No note on the flyleaf when I got it or if I read it. The book was published in 1958.

An interesting premise and there are many compelling passages and sections, but overall it lacks depth.

PREMISE:

A spore, 'THE MEDUSA' is traveling through space searching for sentient beings so that they can absorb it into 'the hive'. The spore is dropped to Earth and travels through the food chain until it reaches an alcoholic homeless person, Dan Gurlick. He is asked by this higher entity to 'find out how humans can reconnect' like they were before. In other words, humanity was intended to be live a hive of bees or a colony of ants and Dan Gurlick will become 'the host'.

As this process begins, the humans learn to 'grok' together and repel the alien plan.  Nothing in the novel sheds light on how this defense happened.  

Numerous characters are introduced that are not really connected to the overall story. 

Interesting Points:

(After human consciousness is re-united)

"Now children would never again wonder if anyone cared, or grow up thinking that to be loved is a privilege. It's a privilege only to adults. To any child it's a basic right, which if denied dooms the child to a lifetime of seeking it and an inability to accept anything but child-style love. The way things were now, never again would a child be afraid of growing up, or hover anxiously near half-empty coffers so very easy to fill."  

Chapter 26 is a short chapter that very effectively describes how a human 'united mind' would be. It makes it sound pretty fantastic. 

The ideas of the novel are interesting and compelling, yet as a novel, it doesn't quite gel. 

The novel's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cosmic_Rape

A reader's observations about the book at Amazon:

"Theodore Sturgeon's The Cosmic Rape (1958) is an unusual and refreshing take on the alien invasion trope -- especially for a 1950s novel. Unlike many other reviewers, I found that the mechanics of the work (innumerable characters, short length, and ramshackle structure) do not detract from the overall result. Sturgeon's prose is, as always, admirable. Although the novel can feel like an outline rather than a fully fleshed out novel like his earlier masterpiece of the genre, More than Human (1953), the end result is a poignant exploration of collective conscious/individuality.

Brief Plot Summary (limited spoilers)

Gurlick, an alcoholic homeless man, accidentally ingests a seed of the Medusa (in a half-eaten hamburger found in a trashcan). However, the Medusa does not immediately transform him. Instead, the Medusa's ability to convey/carry it's ultimate goal (to create a hive-mind) is restrained by the paltry abilities of Gurlick's intellect. Most importantly, the Medusa is baffled by humanity which has achieved so much individually without a hive-mind. The individuality of humanity (despite wars, struggle, isolation) is its most notable and positive quality. The alien believes that humanity once had a hive-mind that fractured overtime.

Thus the unusual galaxy spanning entity has Gurlick discover how to "put people's brains back together again." The alien's reward plays into Gurlick's base desires -- he can break whatever he wants. The chapters containing Gurlick's story are the most numerous.

Other secondary characters include Dimity Carmichael who is aroused by the sexual sufferings of others (in this case an abused co-worker). A perpetually frightened boy name Henry who is unable to differentiate between happiness and punishment because his abusive father begins all his punishments with smiles. And Mbala (clearly Sturgeon had just read Achebe's Things Fall Apart) whose manhood is challenged by a yam thief. Although there are numerous other side jaunts/characters everything wraps up in a relatively cohesive whole at the end.

Final Thoughts

The structure of Sturgeon's work can be quite frustrating. Sturgeon's preference for the short story form means that each character hardly receives more than one or two short chapters. Each story is linked thematically by a scene of guilt, fear, anger... The event causing the emotion-often characterized by miscommunication between individuals-serves to isolates the character from others. This isolation/miscommunication is paired with the arrival of the Medusa which seeks to create a human hivemind which it will be able to control.

For a novel barely clocking in at 160 pages and comprised of numerous small chunks, Sturgeon manages to ask and ruminate on some very pertinent themes. The Cosmic Rape is in no way a masterpiece of the caliber of More than Human but deserves to be read by all fans of Theodore Sturgeon and the genre. This is a fascinating re-invention of the alien invasion trope."

My observation-  "Nice try, but no cigar. "

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving

Finished Su 7/21/20

I loved the book and want to see the movie and read more by Irving.

This is one of my ancient paperbacks and there was no note on the flyleaf if and when I had read it.

I picked it up on the shelf when I read a review that said Elizabeth Berg was a similar writer. Somewhat true, yet her writing doesn't quite reach the sublime level of Irving.

I watched a YouTube video where Irving was interviewed on the 40th anniversary of the book's publication. Also, I saw a sixty minute documentary on Amazon Prime where Irving talks about his approach to the writing craft. 

It's a kind of satire of a war between the sexes or, more accurately, 'the polarization of the sexes'. Jenny Garp is killed by a man and Garp is killed by a woman. I saw an interview with Irving on the 40th anniversary of the release of 'THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP' and he was surprised had how little progress has been made in forty years. 

The definition of a 'picaresque novel'. This class of novel depicts the adventures of a roguish, but appealing hero. 

The book is jam-packed with interesting and crazy characters. 

John Irving studied under Kurt Vonnegut at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. 

Jenny (Fields) Garp's novel is called 'A SEXUAL SUSPECT'. She is 'suspect' because she shuns the traditional role of a woman. She 'uses' a wounded soldier to impregnate herself with Garp. She doesn't feel the need of a husband. 

Garp's name is 'T.S. Garp'. The two initials stand for 'Technical Sargent'. That was his soldier's rank in the service. 

Roberta (Robert) Muldoon is a central character. 'Old 90 from the Philadelphia Eagles'. This character is Irving's favorite and was intended to be the 'most grounded'. He is also Garp's closest friend. 

After Garp dies the book goes on for twenty pages. No matter who dies, life goes on...largely unaffected. 

The book is also about a father's fears. How can he keep all of his friends and family away from 'The Under Toad'?

Ellen Jamesians, a group of women named after an eleven-year-old girl whose tongue was cut off by her rapists to silence her. The rapist apparently 'forgot' that Ellen could still write to describe her attackers. The members of the group cut off their own tongues in solidarity with the girl (the girl herself opposes this tongue cutting).

Garp vehemently disagrees with this group for disfiguring themselves. Because of this he is vilified as an anti-feminist and a hater of women.  

Many attributes of Garp are shared by the author. Irving really was an English teacher and a wrestling coach with young children when he wrote the book. Also, just as Garp had a couple of unpopular novels before his 'break through', so did John Irving. 

The book's page at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_According_to_Garp

O-ZONE by Paul Theroux

Finished Th 7/8/20

This is an old hardback from my collection. There is no note on the flyleaf, but I'm sure that I've at least read most of this before. 

Paul Theroux is generally known for his travel books and this is one of his novels.

I almost stopped reading,  but I think that this book is very important especially today. The gap between the rich and the poor is getting worse and the plot in this book could be America's future.

The book was released in 1986 and the dystopic future that the book documents is probably about 2020 to 2030. 

Hooper and Hardy Allbright- Two brothers who are 'owners'. These are the licensed, upper-class members of America. Both are heirs to the Allbright fortune. It was a chain of clothing stores that went 'mail order' and as society broke down, more people ordered by mail (just like today during the pandemic).

Chemically induced 'comas' are acceptable ways to enjoy a weekend.

A new way for gangs to intimidate. They surround their victim in a 'swarm' and then scream at the top of their lungs. 

***A few of the characters begin to realize that essential freedoms have been given up due to the harsh security measures. Aliens are not sub-human and by treating them as harmful, the entire society is hampered by needless checks and counter-checks by police and private security firms. 

 

Moura is Hardy's wife- She has a son, Fisher (Fizzy), by her visit to a fertility clinic ('contact clinic'- actually this place is closer to legalized prostitution). The clients are masked (masks play a key role in the novel. They are used as a fashion statement and a protection against disease...just like in today's world of the pandemic). In order to insure her pregnancy she visited the clinic many times over a couple of months and formed a kind of 'love relationship' with the donor. 

The search for 'her donor' is a big sub-plot within the novel. 

O-ZONE is an area of the United States near the Ozarks in Missouri. A radioactive spill caused this entire area to be abandoned...The Outside Zone. 

The novel begins with a trip to the O-Zone by a group of wealthy 'owners' from NYC. They live in a 'gated' hi-rise called Cold Harbor. They have been told that this zone is uninhabited, but people live there. 

Aliens are people that are undocumented. They are described as being sub-human and I almost believed that they were from another planet. However, the denigration of these people is almost like the way people talk of 'foreigners' today. 

By the end of the novel we learn that a whole conservative section of the country lives in these outer zones. They almost have a kind of 'Andy of Mayberry' existence. This is very appealing some of the characters.

***Fisher is a repellent character, but I feel that he is a portrayal of someone 'on the spectrum'. He seems very intelligent, but completely devoid of social skills. He is an excellent pilot and very familiar with all things mechanical. 

Murdick is one of the rich owners. He is very right-wing and violent. He is rich enough to buy almost any form or weapon or transport vehicle. 

He is involved with a group of fanatics called 'Godseye'. These people murder undocumented aliens on sight. They patrol the edges of the settled areas and kill at random. They believe that they are protecting the country. 

Hopper is obsessed with a native girl called Bligh. She runs with a pack of aliens and Hooper kidnaps her. And the aliens take Fisher as a way of getting her back. 

Under Fisher's guidance the group travels to New York to make the exchange. Fisher grows during his time with the aliens. They almost become friends and it's the first time that Fizzy has dealt with people in a positive manner.  

***Hardy Allbright works for a company that attempts to change weather plans to create crops and temperate conditions. It is a way for oil companies to keep the price of oil up. This company plants a huge mountain of oil that makes the surface temperature warmer and this attracts clouds and causes rain. Whole areas of the world are transformed. He is hoping that he can accomplish this in the Ozark area. 

From Publishers Weekly:

"Theroux's view of humanity is becoming increasingly bleak even as he stretches his reach with this novel that brilliantly depicts the world as it may become. In the not-too-distant future, America has turned into a police state and a rigidly class-obsessed, terrifyingly racist society. On the verge of anarchy, the country is fragmented into many chaotic parts. The Owners, the remnant elite who live in armed enclaves protected by fearsome security forces, feel menaced by aliensalso called Roaches, Trolls, Skells, Starkiesall those who lead desperate lives of poverty and despair. A group of eight Owners, including a near-genius adolescent, seek an adventurous thrill in a rocket trip to the forbidden area of the O-Zone, formerly the Ozarks, which has been sealed off following massive nuclear contamination. The experience changes all of them, and a second, secret voyage there has terrifying consequences. Theroux has vizualized every detail of his desolate, all-too-plausible world. His scathing social commentary is powerful and convincing; his characters, while too unappealing to win the readers' sympathy, etch themselves in the mind. This highly literate science fiction is not a pleasant book to read, but it is a significant contribution to the literature of what may be a preapocalyptic world."

A link to an excellent critique of the book:

http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/06/08/reviews/theroux-ozone.html

Although I had trouble keeping my interest up, I finished the novel and realized that it could be viewed as 'important' especially during the real America of 2020. 

STRAIGHT WHISKY: A LIVING HISTORY OF SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK 'N ' ROLL ON THE SUNSET STRIP by Erik Quisling & Austin Williams

Finished Fr 6/26/20

This is one of my old hardbacks and according to the flyleaf I bought the book at E bay on the Internet and finished the book the first time on We 9/29/04.

The book deals with the birth of Rock'n' Roll clubs on the Sunset Strip.

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Straight Whisky is the first book to chronicle all the music, magic and mayhem of the Sunset Strip. Includes rare photos and original interviews."

During the early part of the 20th century movie stars frequented the bars and restaurants along the strip. There was no sympathy for the 'wild and woolly' rock and rollers and they were allowed into these more staid clubs. 

Lou Adler and John Phillips (MAMAS AND PAPAS) partnered with a guy named Henry Valentine to make a bar restaurant to cater to the needs of the new stars of the Rock World. Mario Maglieri was added to run the establishment on a day to day basis. This man had ties to the Chicago mafia.

The 'Whiskey A Go Go' was the place. This is where the concept of 'Go Go Dancing' with women in cages on stage was developed. 

Then came The Rainbow, Over The Rainbow, The Troubadour, The Roxy, The Viper Room, The Masque, El Cid.

***In the late seventies and early eighties the VCR Revolution greatly enabled the popularity of Porn-On-Demand and it went through the roof. Then the porn stars began to party with the rock crowd on the strip. Then the parties went into cosmic overdrive. 

Strange vignettes about the crazy stuff that went on at the clubs. 

-Bowie got punched out by a crazed guy wearing a karate outfit

-The Doors are banned from The Whisky

-Steve Marriott might have started the place on fire. And years later he dies in a fire

-THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW premieres at The Whisky. The film failed until it was released and shown after midnight and then it became wildly famous.

-Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison appear to be lovers, and then she brains him with a whisky bottle.

Not a very deep book, but filled with anecdotes. I can read stuff like this all day long.

WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT by Sarah Winman

Finished Mo 6/22/20

This is one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I bought on Amazon and received on Mo 11/4/13. No note on the flyleaf that I had read it, but parts of the novel were familiar.

I really liked the book because it is chock full of colorful characters and odd situations. 

The first part of the novel is set in Cornwall, England. The rural southwestern county of Great Britain. 

Elly is the protagonist. Her brother, Joe is five years older than her and he has been protective all his life. He has been gay since he was a very small child. 

Charlie was Joe's childhood friend. Charlie's father was a diplomat and when Charlie's family left Cornwall Charlie is held hostage by radicals. His ear is cutoff and he is held for ransom. No one sees Charlie again until they are adults. 

The second part of the novel occurs twenty years later so that you see the young children as adults. 

Elly's father was an avid lottery ticket buyer and when he finally wins he feels completely unworthy of his luck. They make the home into a bed and breakfast and it attracts an odd group of people. 

Elly's parents marriage is probably a sham. Her father's sister Nancy is a gay actress. She was in love with Elly's mother and she is the one that initiated the 'attraction' between Elly's parents. 

Arthur is an older man who is into yoga and knows the moment of his death. He is hit on the head by a coconut although he was supposed to have run out of his money at the same time that he runs out of money. 

Fro the New York Times review:

"“If this God couldn’t love me,” she resolves, “then it was clear I’d need to find another one that could.” This new divine entity is encountered some time later, after she tells her brother that she’s been sexually abused by their neighbor, Mr. Golan. “I’ll get you a proper friend,” her brother declares, as he holds her “in the darkness, as defiant as granite.” The new friend Joe finds for his sister turns out to be a Belgian hare, a pet she names “God,” who sometimes talks to her. Although Joe swears never to reveal Elly’s dark secret about their neighbor, it turns out to be mere prelude to total eclipse: the mentally disturbed Mr. Golan (who has lied about being a Holocaust survivor) commits suicide."

From Goodreads:

"Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives. It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister."

THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN by Lawrence Sanders

Finished We 6/17/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I have apparently never read. The book was released in 1985.

THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN:

Greed (Latin: avaritia), also known as avarice, cupidity, or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of desire.

PREMISE: (From the back of the book). "A celebrated New York psychiatrist- considered a saint by patients and colleagues is brutally beaten to death. There are no leads, no apparent motives, and six suspects- the doctor's own patients."

Generally I dislike when a writer throws out a 'bunch of suspects' and the reader is left to 'figure it out'. My feeling is that the writer will not allow the reader to know the culprit unless he is a bad writer.

Diane Ellerbee, the wife of the psychiatrist, Simon Ellerbee, is the killer. She is a beautiful woman and could not accept the fact that her husband of many years had fallen in love with a dowdy woman who was one of his patients. And, he wanted a divorce so that he could marry this woman. Diane felt that this would open her up to public ridicule and this would be unthinkable.   

I suppose there was a red flag because his wife is the one who gives the police the list of possible suspects. She would obviously use this list to maximize misdirection. 

Edward X. Delaney is a retired member of the police and he is brought back to oversee the murder investigation because the death of Simon Ellerbee was a murder that must be solved. He was very popular, well-liked, and influential. 

Within fifty pages of the ending, Delaney solves the case, and I thought that maybe this was a red herring, but this turned out to be the truth. I was waiting for a surprise ending, but this was not the case.  

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Lawrence Sanders (1920–1998) was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels including the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, as well as the acclaimed Commandment books. The Anderson Tapes received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel."

PROJECT POPE by Clifford D. Simak

Finished Sa 6/13/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read.

A fantastic concept and you could really tell that Simak had a background in newspapers. His writing style was clear and easy to understand. 

PREMISE:

For over a thousand years on a planet far away from Earth, robots and humans had been collaborating to located a 'one true faith' loosely based on Catholicism. 

Humans called 'Searchers' are used to 'visit' different dimensions. An old woman named Mary claims that she has visited 'Heaven'. She goes back for another visit and is expelled from Heaven. Later it's determined that it was not the real Heaven. 

This 'area' of the galaxy was populated by very ancient philosopher beings. They were in the forms of 'bubbles' and 'haystacks'. 

This is where the novel broke down for me. These beings were just too weird. The novel could have really taken a philosophical turn, but instead it became kind of clownish. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"Robot believers at the far end of the galaxy endeavor to create a true religion, but their efforts could be shattered by a shocking revelation. Far in the future, on the remote planet End of Nothing, sentient robots are engaged in a remarkable enterprise. They call their project Vatican-17: an endeavor to create a truly universal religion presided over by a pope, whose extreme godliness and infallible artificial intelligence are fed by telepathic human Listeners who psychically delve into the mysteries of the universe. But the great and holy mission could be compromised by one shocking revelation that threatens to inspire serious crises of faith among the spiritual, truth-seeking robotic acolytes while tearing them into warring religious factions; for the Listener Mary is claiming that she has just discovered Heaven.

There are those among the Clifford D. Simak faithful who consider Project Pope his masterpiece. But whether the crowning literary achievement of a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science-fiction Grand Master or merely another brilliant novel of speculative fiction to stand among his many, Simak's breathtaking search for God in the machine ingeniously blends science and spirituality in a truly miraculous way that few science fiction writers, if any, have been able to accomplish."

Random comments from Goodreads:

"Not sure why it happens that the man (Dr. Jason) Tennyson and the woman Jill (Roberts, journalist) arrived on this planet just as the robots' Search for Knowledge and for a constructed Faith also arrived. But so it did, and so we learn about these robots who are interested in humans and in relitions, and about humans, and about a bunch of other truly alien aliens."

"Tennyson is running from people, so he stows away on a ship going to a planet called The End of Nowhere. Arriving there with another passenger, a reporter, he settles down in a society called Vatican. The planet was built by human made robots and loosely based on the Catholic system. When a human "listener" thinks she has found heaven, the robots have to determine its validity and the split between factions begins to escalate. Meanwhile, after befriending a being called The Whisperer, he and the woman, Jill travel to strange new worlds of equation beings and the place that turns out NOT to be Heaven."

"Running from the middle of nowhere (the feudal planet Gutshot) after his patron dies and he’s afraid he’s going to be forced to take the fall for it, Dr. Jason Tennyson takes the first ship out and ends up at the end of nowhere—the planet End of Nothing.

End of Nothing has one settlement: Vatican, a robot project to discover the one true faith, preferably one that will include robots.

This is a typically nice Simak story, with friendly characters, who despite being friendly all have different motivations that cause conflict. Stories like this or Way Station are a refreshing change of pace. There are also some neat ideas here. Just as humans find it difficult to lose a reverence for their own hypothetical creator, robots find it difficult to lose their reverence for their visible creator: mankind. That’s one of the conflicts on End of Nothing, that some robots came to the planet, having been created by humans, and some were created later by the human-created robots.

Into all of this, one of the human researchers claims to have discovered heaven—the real deal, with golden stairs, ivory towers, and flying angels. A human heaven. And all the conflicts come out into the open."

I really liked Simak's writing style and would read more by this author. 

PHIL LESH: SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND- MY LIFE WITH THE GRATEFUL DEAD

Refinished Th 6/4/20 This is one of my hardbacks that I ordered from Amazon five years ago and finished the first time on Th 6/11/15.

Phil is a native Californian and first was a young trumpet player. He played at the 'youth symphony' level and even played in the Army band, but was discharged because he was unfit for military service. 

He was born in 1940, so he's quite a bit older than most of 'The Youth Culture'. 

I loved the early Dead's experimental stuff and it seems that he was responsible for this. And, I guess to a certain extent, Mickey Hart. Lesh doesn't seem to register the big change when the group released 'AMERICAN BEAUTY' and 'WORKINGMAN'S DEAD'. It would seem that a radical shift from 'electronic music' to 'country' would have been a tough thing for him to accept, but I guess that wasn't the case. It would bother me. 

He has a successful liver transplant. His drug of choice seems to have been beer, although pot and acid and everything else were part of his psychedelic diet.

He claims that Jerry Garcia had a cat that he taught to fetch; p. 273.

From the book's page at Amazon:

"In a book "as graceful and sublime as a box of rain" (New York Times Book Review), the beloved bassist tells the stories behind the songs, tours, and jams in the Grateful Dead's long, strange trip from the 1960s to the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 and beyond. From Ken Kesey's "acid tests" to the Summer of Love to bestselling albums and worldwide tours, the Dead's story has never been told as honestly or as memorably as in this remarkable memoir."

I read it this time in two days. Hard to put down and lots of details about the band and the community of Dead Heads. 

Musician's biographies are my soft spot. 

PALE KINGS AND PRINCES by Robert B. Parker

Re-finished We 6/3/20

This is an ancient paperback that Su 2/5/06 and according to the flyleaf I finished it that afternoon.

This is one of The Spenser Series. Spenser's first name is never revealed through the entire series. I spent a little time looking through the book to find his first name before I learned the truth.

The author's curious living arrangement:

"I plan to have sex with my wife for the rest of my life, but I never want to sleep with her again".

He and his wife lived in a three story home near Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. She had the top floor, he had the bottom floor, and they shared living spaces on the middle floor.  

In the novel Spenser is very much in love with Susan, however they do not live together.

Pithy dialog that leaps off the page. Spenser is a real 'wiseacre'. 

PREMISE:

Wheaton, MA has become a major distribution point for cocaine. Decades ago a wealthy factory owner from Columbia had trouble getting workers so he organized workers to come from his home town in South America. 

Spenser is being paid by a newspaper to find out who murdered one of their young reporters who was sent to the town to check out the coke trade. The authorities said that he was a womanizer and probably this was why he was murdered. 

Hawk- Spenser's friend and he is called in when the job proves dangerous. A huge black man with a shaved head.  

From the book's page at Publisher's Weekly:

"The TV series Spenser: For Hire is based on Parker's bestselling series of mysteries starring a Boston private detective, and this taut thriller will no doubt match its predecessors' success. The murder of newspaper reporter Eric Valdez takes Spenser to Wheaton, Mass., where Valdez was investigating a Colombian cocaine operation. After a meeting with the police chief, Bailey Rogers, the detective is waylaid by thugs whom he beats handily. Spenser confirms his suspicions that a grocery wholesaler, Felipe Esteva, is dealing the drug and paying off the police. The next murder victim, however, is Rogers, whose young son drives a truck for Esteva. Spenser daringly hijacks a fortune in cocaine and offers to sell it to Esteva, as dangerous a ploy as the macho detective has ever attempted. When his only ally, a state trooper, is ""reassigned,'' Spenser brings his lover Susan to help with psychological warfare and his sidekick Hawk to face Esteva's mob. Parker keeps the reader's adrenalin pumping overtime until Spenser and company claim the victory." 

I loved the book and would definitely read more of The Spenser Series or anything by Robert B. Parker. 

CUTTER AND BONE by Newton Thornburg

Finished Su 5/31/20

A couple of weeks ago I watched the film, 'CUTTER'S WAY' starring John Heard and Jeff Bridges and loved the film and wanted to read the book. I checked Amazon and the book was far too expensive, and I checked the library and noticed that it was available through Hoopla. 

Alex Cutter- Vietnam veteran who lost part of a leg and arm and body is disfigured. Maureen is his common law wife and Alex Jr. is his infant son.

Richard Bone- Alex's best friend. He's kind of a disillusioned hippie.  He missed the 'peace and love crowd' by almost a decade (the novel is set in the mid 70's). He's just as directionless, but all of his contemporaries seemed to have moved on. 

PREMISE:

Late one rainy night Bone notices a man disposing of a body. The next day he sees a very important man on the TV and believes that this was the man who was hiding a body from the night before. 

Cutter convinces Bone that they must seek justice. They recruit the sister of the girl that was murdered, and later they team up with another young woman. One evening Bone is swimming in the ocean. He leaves his clothes on the shore and swims out and loses control. He is washed up naked, and is met by three young women. Two of them have sex with Bone and the other woman becomes part of Cutter's team.

The dialog is just amazing. Alex Cutter has one of the 'smartest mouths' in literature. Bone's 'come backs' are equally as wicked. 

In the end Bone is shot and who did the killing is left up in the air but it is most likely 'the important man'. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"First published in 1976, Cutter and Bone is the story of the obsession of Cutter, a scarred and crippled Vietnam veteran and his attempt to convince his buddy, Bone, that the latter witnessed a murder committed by the conglomerate tycoon, JJ Wolfe. Captivated by Cutter’s demented logic, Bone is prepared to cross the country with Cutter in search of proof of the murder. Their quest takes them into the Ozarks—home base of the Wolfe empire—where Bone discovers that Cutter is not pursuing a murderer so much as the great enemy itself, them, the very demons that have dogged his life."

An excellent feature on the plot of the novel and film from 'Crime Fiction Lover. Com':

"For many, first contact with Cutter and Bone comes via the lauded 1981 film Cutter’s Way, directed by Ivan Passer. The movie had a difficult pathway to production – funding changes, Dustin Hoffman pulling out because of scheduling issues – and despite good notices, it struggled to find an audience. More recently it has undergone a critical re-evaluation, and has come to be considered a neo-noir classic of early 80s American cinema. The recent death of John Heard (pictured above, playing amputee Alex Cutter) may bring it further attention.

The film was based on Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg, published in 1976 during the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era. The influence of those two events runs very clearly through the story. Richard Bone (acted by Jeff Bridges in the movie) is a dropout and country club lothario, getting by day-to-day on the generosity of Santa Barbara’s wealthy middle-aged, middle class women. He’s looking for a spot of danger. Back east he has a wife and two young kids, but he walked out on them when he left his high-paying job as a marketing director.

In between his romances, which he ensures never last longer than 72 hours, he sleeps on the sofa at his friend Alex Cutter IV’s house. The other occupants include Cutter’s partner Mo, and their infant son Alex V.

Cutter is the son of rich parents and had a privileged upbringing. A tour in Vietnam led to devastating injuries and he lost one eye, his right leg and the lower part of his left arm. His anger is directed everywhere and nowhere. He swings from charming to cynical in a heartbeat, is frequently confrontational, and seems to enjoy the discomfort of his victims, knowing they won’t hit a cripple.

Mo is a beautiful girl, whom Bone fantasises about, but a lost soul who gets through the day dosed on alcohol and downers, perhaps in part because of Cutter’s callous disregard of her and their son.

Disposing of the body

On his way back from a hotel late one night, Bone witnesses a man putting a large object into a dumpster before driving off. The man’s silhouette reveals a distinctively large head. On the news the following day they see that the object being dumped was the corpse of a young girl, and Cutter latches onto Bone’s speculation that the man looks a lot like visiting tycoon JJ Wolfe.

With Bone somewhat reluctantly involved, Cutter hatches a plan with the victim’s sister to blackmail Wolfe. There are some half-hearted attempts to rationalise the scheme, but it is pretty clear that a concern for justice ranks low on their list of motivations. Predictably, things go comically wrong, and the trio head out to pursue Wolfe in his own backyard.

There are so many things about Cutter and Bone which make it a classic, but everything comes back to the writing. The tone of the novel is angry and despairing, but made enjoyable by smartly humorous putdowns, and nail-on-the-head observations. Thornburg is sometimes described as a noir version of Ross McDonald, a writer who also set many of his works in Santa Barbara, and knew a thing or two about the written word.

Simple geometry

There is an interesting symmetry to the novel as well. In each stage of the story, there is always a principal trio of characters; Cutter, Bone, and one woman. Initially this is Mo at their Santa Barbara home, then the victim’s sister in Los Angeles as they plan their blackmail sting, and finally a naive, resentful student they pick up on their road trip. Cleverly, Wolfe real role is kept a mystery and his guilt or innocence is only revealed at the very end.

And let’s not forget that ending; Bone high-tailing it out of Dodge, thanking his lucky stars, when he sees a truck in his rear view mirror, eating up the tarmac… It is the cherry on top of the cake, epitomising one of Thornburg’s main themes in the book, which is the creeping fear that corporations are taking over American life, and the rise of the interests of business over individuals. It’s an ending that makes Cutter and Bone seem timeless."

I liked the book so much that I might buy a paper copy at Amazon. Also I'd like to read many more novels by Thornburg. 

UNTIL THE REAL THING COMES ALONG by Elizabeth Berg

Finished We 5/27/20

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. 

Although still an engaging read, this was my least favorite of Berg's novels. 

PREMISE:

Patty has been in love with Ethan since they were children. The problem is that Ethan is gay. 

Patty is getting older and is fixated on marriage and having children. 

Patty convinces Ethan that they should have a child together and try to live as husband and wife.

They move from where they live in Massachusetts to Minneapolis. Ethan believes that he requires a new place to 'try out' his heterosexuality.  

Robert and Marilyn are her parents and the baby is named Marilyn, in honor of Patty's mother who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's 

Elaine- Patty's closest friend.

Mark is a man that Elaine tried to hook up with Patty. Patty isn't attracted to him, and later Mark marries Elaine. 

Sophia- Patty's foreign neighbor who has a 'convoluted sense of the English language'. 

In the end of the novel Patty is with her baby and living in a cottage by the sea (Massachusetts?). Ethan has a lover, Louis, and although Patty is alone she is hopeful for the future and grateful for all that she has. 

From the book's page at Google Books:

"Patty Murphy is facing that pivotal point in a woman's life when her biological clock ticks as insistently as a beating heart. Will she find Mr Right and start a family? But Patty is in love - with a man who is not only attractive and financially sound, but sensitive and warmhearted. There's just one small problem: He is also gay. Against her better judgment, and pleas from family and friends, Patty refuses to give up on Ethan. Every man she dates ultimately leaves her aching for the gentle comfort and intimacy she shares with him. But even as she throws eligible bachelors to the wayside to spend yet another platonic night with Ethan, Patty longs more and more for the consolation of loving and being loved. In the meantime she must content herself with waiting - until the real thing comes along." 

I wondered if there was a backlash from the gay community. Wouldn't gays be offended if a novel presented a homosexual character forcing himself to 'act straight'?