Finished Tu 9/27/11
Katniss Everdeen has been chosen to represent District 12 in The Hunger Games. In this post-apocalyptic/adventure novel, Panem is the name of the country which was once the USA. "The Capitol" is the ruling city-state, and the rest of the country has been divided into twelve subservient sectors. Each year, two teenage candidates (boy/girl) from each sector are selected to participate in a competition in which all twenty-four participants must fight to the death until only one is left alive. The entire event is televised all over Panem to encourage regional unity/rivalry, and to demonstrate the absolute power of the state.
The novel primarily concerns Katniss's preparation for The Games, and her participation in them. Next to nothing about the political history, motivations of the leaders of Panem, or much cultural detail about the various sectors are included in the novel. District #12 (nickname-The Seam, probably a reference to the seams of coal) is the old Appalachian area of the Eastern US. Her partner in the competition from #12 is Peeta, the baker's son, and he forms a personal and professional alliance with Katniss during the competition. Peeta is very much in love with her, yet his feelings only bemuse and puzzle Katniss.
Although Katniss is an accomplished hunter and gatherer, she seems to lack confidence and has an unusual low level of self esteem for such a proficient individual. She really doesn't have much of a clue as to how capable that she really is. And, even though she has phenomenal success in The Games, it really doesn't do much for her feelings of inferiority.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and there will be a movie released based on THE HUNGER GAMES in the spring of 2012.
KATNISS is a plant similar to a potato
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
IMPERFECT BIRDS by Anne Lamott
Finished Fr 9/23/11
Book Club Selection for September
Rosie Ferguson- Junior; lives in Landsdale, CA(fictional city probably near Larkspur)
Elizabeth- Rosie's mother
James- Rosie's step-father; Andrew is father(deceased)
Jody- Friend of Rosie; Alcoholic, veteran of programs
Alice- Also friend; Student of fashion
Claude- Jody's soldier boyfriend
Fenn- Rosie's older dealer boyfriend
Rae and Lank- Married friends of Elizabeth and James. Rae is an artist/weaver. Lank teacher high school.
Rascal-cat
Ichabod-dog
Rumi- 13th century Persian poet/theologian
"Each has to enter the nest of another imperfect bird"
Reasoning with an addict is like trying to blow out a light bulb
FINE Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, Edgey
Lamott wrote a first novel dealing with these characters called, "Rosie", but this novel is clearly a 'stand alone'. I would guess that it contains more on Elizabeth's first marriage to Andrew. Possibly lays the groundwork for Rosie's addictions, and an examination with Elizabeth's problems with alcohol which is alluded to in 'Birds'.
Book Club Selection for September
Rosie Ferguson- Junior; lives in Landsdale, CA(fictional city probably near Larkspur)
Elizabeth- Rosie's mother
James- Rosie's step-father; Andrew is father(deceased)
Jody- Friend of Rosie; Alcoholic, veteran of programs
Alice- Also friend; Student of fashion
Claude- Jody's soldier boyfriend
Fenn- Rosie's older dealer boyfriend
Rae and Lank- Married friends of Elizabeth and James. Rae is an artist/weaver. Lank teacher high school.
Rascal-cat
Ichabod-dog
Rumi- 13th century Persian poet/theologian
"Each has to enter the nest of another imperfect bird"
Reasoning with an addict is like trying to blow out a light bulb
FINE Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, Edgey
Lamott wrote a first novel dealing with these characters called, "Rosie", but this novel is clearly a 'stand alone'. I would guess that it contains more on Elizabeth's first marriage to Andrew. Possibly lays the groundwork for Rosie's addictions, and an examination with Elizabeth's problems with alcohol which is alluded to in 'Birds'.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLAR POP A Frank Behr Novel by David Levien
Finished We 9/21/11
Frank Behr Mystery
Frank Behr is working as an executive body-guard for Bernard Kolodnik, a hard-driving business mogul on the verge of making a move into big-time politics. Behr is employed by the 'white-shoe' investigation firm called, The Caro Group, an uneasy fit both philosophically and literally because working for someone else rubs him the wrong way - but with his girlfriend nine months pregnant, Behr is doing what he has to get paid. An attempt is made on the client, and Behr manages to protect his man, repel the attackers, and get both of them to safety. Behr is celebrated for his heroism and moved to a different assignment, but he can't stop himself from finding out what really happened in that garage - and why the cops are either making no headway, or burying the incident.
Hit-man from Wales is a great villain, and he is badly wounded, but escapes.
This is the third in the series, and I plan to read more.
Frank Behr Mystery
Frank Behr is working as an executive body-guard for Bernard Kolodnik, a hard-driving business mogul on the verge of making a move into big-time politics. Behr is employed by the 'white-shoe' investigation firm called, The Caro Group, an uneasy fit both philosophically and literally because working for someone else rubs him the wrong way - but with his girlfriend nine months pregnant, Behr is doing what he has to get paid. An attempt is made on the client, and Behr manages to protect his man, repel the attackers, and get both of them to safety. Behr is celebrated for his heroism and moved to a different assignment, but he can't stop himself from finding out what really happened in that garage - and why the cops are either making no headway, or burying the incident.
Hit-man from Wales is a great villain, and he is badly wounded, but escapes.
This is the third in the series, and I plan to read more.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
DISASTER WAS MY GOD A Novel of The Outlaw Life of Arthur Rimbaud by Bruce Duffy
Finished Tu 9/20/11
This is a well-written and engaging biography of Arthur Rimbaud(1854-1891). It sticks very close to the details of his life, yet the scenes and dialog would have to be fictional.
The book begins with his mother attempting to bury his body, and finally wraps up with this same scene. I liked that the book did not recount a linear examination of his life, and jumped between his adventures in Ethiopia, to his Parisian encounter with Paul Verlaine, scenes of his childhood with his mother, and his flight from Africa. And, it did not dwell on the particularly lurid accounts of his debauchery with Paul Verlaine in Paris which I was kind of expecting in a book about Rimbaud.
Basically, Rimbaud was a man who wrote poetry for a few years as a teenager, was discovered by Parisian literary society, and completely changed the entire art form. I don't think that anything similar was written for another half century. The spirit of Arthur Rimbaud can clearly be seen in the Punk Rock genre of the late 1970's, and that was nearly a century after Rimbaud had ceased to write. When it seemed that he was at the zenith of his powers, he suddenly stopped writing. He no longer even considered himself an artist, and turned to the business field. Where he decided to engage in probably the lowest form of commerce-Gun Running. A very strange individual indeed! Tremendously talented, yet clearly slightly unhinged.
Bruce Duffy writes with a maximum of style and verve, and really moved the story along.
Notes:
Rimbaud's meddlesome and controlling mother
Rimbaud had a sister that died of tuberculosis
Paul Verlaine lived with his in-laws while in Paris
Verlaine married a sixteen year old, and she was pregnant at seventeen
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud
This is a well-written and engaging biography of Arthur Rimbaud(1854-1891). It sticks very close to the details of his life, yet the scenes and dialog would have to be fictional.
The book begins with his mother attempting to bury his body, and finally wraps up with this same scene. I liked that the book did not recount a linear examination of his life, and jumped between his adventures in Ethiopia, to his Parisian encounter with Paul Verlaine, scenes of his childhood with his mother, and his flight from Africa. And, it did not dwell on the particularly lurid accounts of his debauchery with Paul Verlaine in Paris which I was kind of expecting in a book about Rimbaud.
Basically, Rimbaud was a man who wrote poetry for a few years as a teenager, was discovered by Parisian literary society, and completely changed the entire art form. I don't think that anything similar was written for another half century. The spirit of Arthur Rimbaud can clearly be seen in the Punk Rock genre of the late 1970's, and that was nearly a century after Rimbaud had ceased to write. When it seemed that he was at the zenith of his powers, he suddenly stopped writing. He no longer even considered himself an artist, and turned to the business field. Where he decided to engage in probably the lowest form of commerce-Gun Running. A very strange individual indeed! Tremendously talented, yet clearly slightly unhinged.
Bruce Duffy writes with a maximum of style and verve, and really moved the story along.
Notes:
Rimbaud's meddlesome and controlling mother
Rimbaud had a sister that died of tuberculosis
Paul Verlaine lived with his in-laws while in Paris
Verlaine married a sixteen year old, and she was pregnant at seventeen
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud
Friday, September 16, 2011
CONVICTION by Richard North Patterson
Finished Fr 9/16/11
CONVICTION examines the legal nightmare of the California appeals procedure. In 1987 two brothers were convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a nine year old girl. Their lawyer was cross-addicted to booze and cocaine, but he did offer a defense which was legally adequate. although it was really just good enough to get them executed. Fifteen years later, one brother is executed, and now there is a slim chance that the appeals process can save the other brother.
The brother who remains on death row suffers a significant degree of retardation, and this was not properly addresed in the original trial. To the court, he was perceived as an unrepentant, angry black male, and the state of California will not execute anyone with an IQ under 70, and Renell scored a 72, so he was good to go.
The important fact to remember is that the appeals process only seeks to determine if the defendants were treated fairly in the original trial. The question of 'guilt or innocence' is not an issue for the appeals court, and in this particular case, the fact that one of the defendants had such a low IQ implied that he had not been treated fairly. This is the basis for his right to an appeal, even though new evidence points to the fact that he was not even involved, this is largely irrelevant.
I read three quarters of the novel, and then skimmed to the end, because I got bogged down by the endless minutia of the appeals process. You will learn a lot, but I don't even think many lawyers fully understand this procedure.
CONVICTION examines the legal nightmare of the California appeals procedure. In 1987 two brothers were convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a nine year old girl. Their lawyer was cross-addicted to booze and cocaine, but he did offer a defense which was legally adequate. although it was really just good enough to get them executed. Fifteen years later, one brother is executed, and now there is a slim chance that the appeals process can save the other brother.
The brother who remains on death row suffers a significant degree of retardation, and this was not properly addresed in the original trial. To the court, he was perceived as an unrepentant, angry black male, and the state of California will not execute anyone with an IQ under 70, and Renell scored a 72, so he was good to go.
The important fact to remember is that the appeals process only seeks to determine if the defendants were treated fairly in the original trial. The question of 'guilt or innocence' is not an issue for the appeals court, and in this particular case, the fact that one of the defendants had such a low IQ implied that he had not been treated fairly. This is the basis for his right to an appeal, even though new evidence points to the fact that he was not even involved, this is largely irrelevant.
I read three quarters of the novel, and then skimmed to the end, because I got bogged down by the endless minutia of the appeals process. You will learn a lot, but I don't even think many lawyers fully understand this procedure.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
ELECTION by Tom Perrotta
Finished Tu 9/13/11
A wry tale set in a contemporary suburban high school which focuses on a student election. Supremely ambitious, Tracy Flick, seeks to annihilate popular jock, Paul Warren, in her bid for president of the student body. Along the way, Perrotta examines the dreams, aspirations, and sexual relationships of the students and the staff.
Tom Perrotta is a very perceptive writer, and each character is well developed and multi-faceted. The novel occurs in 1992, and several of the political references are 'spot on'.
And, of course, the novel only whets my appetite to watch the film, starring Reese Witherspoon, one more time.
A wry tale set in a contemporary suburban high school which focuses on a student election. Supremely ambitious, Tracy Flick, seeks to annihilate popular jock, Paul Warren, in her bid for president of the student body. Along the way, Perrotta examines the dreams, aspirations, and sexual relationships of the students and the staff.
Tom Perrotta is a very perceptive writer, and each character is well developed and multi-faceted. The novel occurs in 1992, and several of the political references are 'spot on'.
And, of course, the novel only whets my appetite to watch the film, starring Reese Witherspoon, one more time.
Monday, September 12, 2011
SHATTER by Michael Robotham
Finished Mo 7/12/11
Michael Robotham is the author of "THE WRECKAGE", and in that riveting thriller Robotham focused on financial mismanagement and corporate corruption manifested by the war in Iraq. SHATTER also deals with a kind of collateral damage from that war. Gideon Tyler is a trained military interrogator who is supremely adept at breaking captives in The War On Terror through the forbidden application of torture. His wife and child have left him, and he kidnaps friends of his wife to try to find them. Tyler's evil psychological manipulations create some of the most sinister dramatic situations that I have ever read. Merely by the use of inference to terrifying suggestions, he is able to convince two women to commit suicide, and confuse and confound the authorities. Joe O'Loughlin is a retired criminal psychologist raising two young daughters, and suspects his wife of infidelity. O'Loughlin suffers from the onset of Parkinson's disease, and portions of the novel deal with how an individual learns to cope with this affliction. Soon Joe becomes a key player in the investigation, and gets swept up in Gideon Tyler's psychotic web of deception and duplicity.
The novel begins with an an inventive and alarming scene in which O'Loughlin watches a naked woman jump from a bridge, and the police have no idea who she is or why she jumped, and, most important, who was she talking to on her cell phone at the moment of her plunge.
The novel is set near the town of Bath, England.
Another excellent and adventuresome read, and Robotham's journalistic style really adds a sense of hyper-reality to the work.
Michael Robotham is the author of "THE WRECKAGE", and in that riveting thriller Robotham focused on financial mismanagement and corporate corruption manifested by the war in Iraq. SHATTER also deals with a kind of collateral damage from that war. Gideon Tyler is a trained military interrogator who is supremely adept at breaking captives in The War On Terror through the forbidden application of torture. His wife and child have left him, and he kidnaps friends of his wife to try to find them. Tyler's evil psychological manipulations create some of the most sinister dramatic situations that I have ever read. Merely by the use of inference to terrifying suggestions, he is able to convince two women to commit suicide, and confuse and confound the authorities. Joe O'Loughlin is a retired criminal psychologist raising two young daughters, and suspects his wife of infidelity. O'Loughlin suffers from the onset of Parkinson's disease, and portions of the novel deal with how an individual learns to cope with this affliction. Soon Joe becomes a key player in the investigation, and gets swept up in Gideon Tyler's psychotic web of deception and duplicity.
The novel begins with an an inventive and alarming scene in which O'Loughlin watches a naked woman jump from a bridge, and the police have no idea who she is or why she jumped, and, most important, who was she talking to on her cell phone at the moment of her plunge.
The novel is set near the town of Bath, England.
Another excellent and adventuresome read, and Robotham's journalistic style really adds a sense of hyper-reality to the work.
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