LOW DOWN: JUNK, JAZZ, AND OTHER FAIRY TALES FROM CHILDHOOD by Amy Jo Albany

Finished Mo 5/6/19

I got this memoir on Amazon after seeing the film 2014 film, 'LOW DOWN' starring John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, and Glenn Close.

This is a biography of Joe Albany's daughter, Amy Jo, and deals with her life in the sixties and early 70's.

"Her childhood on the slummy side of Hollywood among addicts, prostitutes, sexual deviants is not a fairy tale with a happy ending".

Reminded me of the children in books by Charles Dickens

Joe Albany (born Joseph Albani; January 24, 1924 – January 12, 1988) was an American modern jazz pianist who played bebop with Charlie Parker as well as being a leader on his own recordings. Most of the 1950s and 1960s saw him battling a heroin addiction, or living in seclusion in Europe. He also had several unsuccessful marriages in this period. He returned to jazz in the 1970s and played on more than ten albums. He died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest in New York City at the age of 63.

She spent most of her early life with Joe except the times that he spend in jail or rehab. During those times she lived with Joe's mother.

A.J.'s mother was a lush and an addict. She had little or no contact with Amy Jo.

Amy Jo's name is taken from two of the characters in 'LITTLE WOMEN'.

This is a particularly harrowing story: both for Joe and his daughter. The end of the book seems like AJ's life might have even been grimmer than Joe's.

"I would dive into the bottomless darkness of my life and sink all the way down. It was a beautiful drowning."

THE BAT by Jo Nesbo

Finished Sa 5/4/19

This is a trade paperback that I got on Amazon and received on Mo 4/15/19. I had seen the film, 'THE SNOWMAN' and ordered the book by Jo Nesbo.

'THE BAT' is the first in the Harry Hole (pronounced:Harry  Hoo-Leh, Harry's Australian police comrades call him Harry Holy) series.

At GoodReads someone posted that the title would actually be 'The Batman' from Swedish, but it couldn't be used because of copyright issues with the famous comic book series.

Harry is invited to Sydney, Australia because a Swedish news anchor was murdered. She was believed to have been killed by a serial killer.
Harry is living in the Kings Cross section of the city. This is the 'red light' district.

Harry meets a red headed girlfriend, Brigitta.

Many plot twists and it was a little hard to follow.
Harry is befriended by an Aboriginal police detective, Andrew.

At the start of the novel Harry is sober, although he has an alcoholic past. He begins drinking heavily as the novel unfolds.

This man is a friend of the killer. Toowoomba. Both Andrew and the killer had a background in amateur boxing (similar to Golden Gloves).

They are also involved with members of a traveling circus act. A number of the clowns are gay and are early suspects.

I probably should have read this faster because I kept losing steam when I went back to it. I still like the series, but it's not as good as Ian Rankin or John D. McDonald, and nowhere close to Michael Connelly. But, maybe the series will pick up since this is only the first novel. ( A reader commented  that the first two in the series are the weakest)


The plot from wikipedia:

"The story revolves around the Norwegian police officer Harry Hole, who is sent to Sydney, Australia to serve as an attaché for the Australian police's investigation into the murder of a young female Norwegian celebrity, Inger Holter. Her boyfriend, Evans White, is initially approached as a suspect. Hole is assisted by Aboriginal colleague Andrew Kensington; together they find out that they are dealing with a serial killer who strangles blonde women. Hole befriends a red haired Swede named Birgitta. As the story becomes more complex, Harry struggles to find the killer and becomes more alcoholic. There are more back stories about Harry's past and culture in Australia".

The novel's page in wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bat_(novel)

PAGAN BABIES by Elmore Leonard

Finished Tu 4/23/19
This is one of the paperbacks that I bought at the library book sale on Sa 4/13/19

My interpretation of the very twisty plot:

An American priest is present during the genocide in Rwanda during the 1990's. The church was packed with people believing that they would get sanctuary. Hutu rebels entered the church and 46 people were murdered- small weapons fire and machetes.

Hutus were the perpetrators and the Tutsis were the victims.

Hutus are the taller race and Tutsis were shorter.
Hutus would often chop the feet off of Tutsis before murdering them.

Father Terry Dunn is really not a priest. His mother always wanted him to join the priesthood, and he left Detroit saying that he was going to California to study, but he really hooked up with a girlfriend.

Terry's uncle was a priest and he always respected this man. When he went to Rwanda to visit the man, the uncle needed a priest as a replacement and he rammed it through.

Terry would always give ten hail marys for any offense. Before leaving the country he executed four members of the Hutu rebels who were responsible for the killings in his church. They told him what they had done and they would be coming back to finish the job- kill all Tutsis!

Terry returns to Detroit and stays with his married brother, Francis, and his family.

Fran believes that Terry is really a priest. Terry tells everyone that he is starting a charity for the Rwandan orphans- 'pagan babies'.

Terry meets a woman, Debbie, who did legal work for Fran.
Debbie went to prison for running down her boyfriend, Randy, with her Ford Escort.

Randy is a hustler and owns a restaurant that he got by swindling Debbie for $67,000.

Randy is getting shaken down by a mob boss, Victor.

Terry and Debbie take Randy and the mob for thousands of dollars.

Debbie tries to double cross Terry, but Terry wins and takes all the money.

He returns to Rwanda and uses the money to help the Rwandan children.

The novel begins in Rwanda. The protagonist is a priest named Terry Dunn. It is a few years after the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus.

Father Terry lives in Rwanda with his girlfriend Chantelle. He doesn't have qualms about substituting punishment for penance. If that means killing four Hutu murderers who slaughtered his Tutsi congregation, so be it. After being an instrument of divine wrath, Dunn breaks camp and heads for Detroit. He wants to raise money for 'Pagan Babies' — the children orphaned during the genocide.

Dunn's brother Fran specializes in lawsuits for personal injuries. He is helping Debbie, a woman who spent three years in jail for deliberately hitting her ex-husband Randy with a Ford Escort. Debbie is trying to have a career as a comedian. In the meantime we learn more about Terry's past and his problems with the IRS, which was the reason for his fleeing to Rwanda to help his uncle.

Debbie's ex-husband Randy now owns a restaurant and is involved with some of the same gangsters that Terry once knew. Debbie and Terry begin a relationship. Randy stole sixty-seven thousand dollars from Debbie and now it's only a matter of time before Debbie's desire for cold, hard cash and Terry's fundraising for Rwandan orphans join forces in a carefully plotted financial assault on Randy. They want to receive a donation of 250,000 dollars from Tony Amilia, the local wiseguy, for the 'Pagan Babies'. In Randy's restaurant all of the local wise guys, hit men, and scam artists twist and twirl around each other for the money and for their lives.

HIT MAN by Lawrence Block

Finished Sa 4/20/19

This was one of the paperbacks that I picked up at the 'Romance/ Mystery/ Thriller' Sale at the library on Sa 4/13/19.

John Paul Keller (Just Plain Keller)

The is an anthology, but really can be read as a novel. The chapters can be read as short stories, or a novel because the chapters refer to each other.

From Google Books page:

"But he is a complex person: understandably guarded and reclusive, icy and ruthlessly efficient, he is also prone to loneliness, self-doubt, and career worries. Indeed, he is going through a full-fledged mid-life crisis. Keller may be a crack assassin, but he is also an all-too-human being.

As Keller goes about his rounds, fulfilling his contracts, he learns a few crucial truths about himself and the ways of the normal world and winds up a wiser (if not a better) man".

Keller is a hit man who lives in lower Manhattan.

Many times when he visits a new town for a 'kill', he falls in love with the area and dreams of moving there. He even visits local realtors to check out the area.

He gets his 'contracts' from an unnamed man in White Plains, NY.

Keller deals with Dot, the old man's secretary.

Keller's life changes when he gets a dog, Nelson.

Nelson is an Australian Cattle Dog

When he gets the dog he takes a girlfriend, Andria. She watches Nelson while Keller is 'on the road'. She eventually leaves Keller and takes the dog as well.

Keller goes into therapy, Dr. Breen, and the therapist uses him to kill for him. Keller kills the therapist

SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward

The April, 2019 for the Contemporary Book Club

Finished Sa 4/20/19

This is the author's third novel; 2n was 'SALVAGE THE BONES'- also set in Bois and is about a rural poor family as they wait for Katrina.

'MEN WE REAPED' is her memoir

Southern Gothic Genre, Lyrical, Poetic, Magical Realism, Fantasy

Set in the fictional city of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, somewhere in the Delta region

From Amazon:

"A slamming, heartbreaker of a novel that is rendered with such stinging beauty and restrained emotion that despite the anguish taking place on the page, you won’t want it to end. For her third novel, National Book Award winning Jesmyn Ward, tells the story of Jojo, a young black Mississippi boy raised by his grandparents, who is forced to become a man far before he should because his mother is a drug addict, his father is in jail, and his baby sister needs a guardian. When Jojo’s dad is released from prison, Leonie packs Jojo and Kayla in the car, picks up her meth addled friend and drives north. What transpires is a nightmarish journey that weaves in and out of the present – Leonie’s meth induced highs, when she dreams of her dead brother who was killed by white hands decades ago, and the past -- when a man named Ritchie served time alongside Jojo’s grandfather. Sing, Unburied, Sing shimmers with mythic southern memories to tell a story of the drugged and the damned and the fluttering promise of youth".

Mississippi State Penitentiary- Parchman Farm 28 square miles. Center of the state; halfway between Memphis (100 miles south) and Jackson. 1901 started as three large farms, over 20,000 acres; women- mostly black, white men, and the largest farm consisting of all black men. Elvis Presley's father did time in Parchman for check forgery. 'COOL HAND LUKE'.



William Kenneth (Kinnie) Wagner (February 18, 1903 in Scott County, Virginia – March 9, 1958) commonly known as Kinnie Wagner (although Kennie and Kenny were also used) was a bootlegger in Mississippi, who murdered five people, including three lawmen. He escaped from custody numerous times, but ultimately died in prison.

A very good roundup on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing,_Unburied,_Sing

Meaning behind the title:

"The spirits of those who died violently and cannot rest in peace are singing to whomever can hear them, the way JoJo, Leonie, and Kayla can, in search of way home, their final resting place".

"It refers to the ghosts the children are able to hear and see as birds on the trees, singing their song of grief, the spirits of those who died due to a violent act, those (mostly black people) who were killed, or hurt, abused, mistreated and left unburied, without justice".

Link to the author's page at wikipedia:

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

Link to GoodReads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920226-sing-unburied-sing

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC by Michael Zadoorian

Finished Su 4/14/19

I got this on Amazon on Mo 4/8/19 after watching the movie 'THE LEISURE SEEKER'. That film, a 'road trip' by people in their 80's, was also based on a novel by Michael Zadoorian.

'BEAUTIFUL MUSIC' is a 'coming of age' film about Danny Yzemski. He lives in a northwestern suburb of Detroit with his mother and father in the early 70's. The neighborhood is racially changing.

His mother has mental problems and takes pills and drinks regularly and heavily. She loves Danny but resents him and her husband.

His father loves 'easy listening' music (1,000 Canadian Strings, something that would appear on Lawrence Welk- although not mentioned in the book because this show was on way before the timeline in the book) and sound effects records.

He likes to take Danny on trips to Korvettes to buy records. He's refinishing the basement and he bought one stereo system and then bought a better one.

Danny's father teaches him to drive before Danny even wants to learn. This is probably because he feels that his wife is going to need Danny's help.

When Danny starts high school his father dies of a heart attack.

His mother begins to drink more and become increasingly more unhinged.

She wants an 'art room' because she always felt that she gave up her dreams to get married and have children.

Danny's life was truly saved by rock'n'roll. Lots and lots of references to dozens of 60's and 70's bands.

He becomes the radio announcer for his high school and they allow him to play music of his choice. Later he loses the job because he didn't play enough black music. He would have played black music, but no one told him to do this. I think they really wanted a black student in the job to calm the racial division in the school.

He gets a job after school where he puts together advertising material about housing. He works with a couple of hippies and he doesn't like them, but they do share a kind of love and respect for the same kinds of music.

Danny finally finds a friend. John is a tall, gangling guy that is just as nerdy as Danny, but doesn't get picked on because he's tall and just slightly hipper. He smokes his first joint with John.

Danny was terrified that when he got to high school he would be offered drugs.

They bond over music, and Danny begins to become a person because he won't let John force his opinions on him.

They cut school to go to one of the only stores in the area that sells Music Maker magazine. John gets tickets to see the Stooges and Danny's mother tries to stop him from going because he's been cutting school. Danny stands up to her and goes anyway.

Because Danny doesn't act quick enough on helping his mother clear out the dining room to make her 'art room', she ties a rope to a large china cabinet and the bumper of her car and drags it out the front door. It damages the front door and tears up the front lawn. Smashes into a car parked on the street up the block. Danny clears out the damage both inside and outside the house. He also repairs the damage to the room and paints the walls. Her art room is ready to use.

On of Danny's school counselors told him to begin writing a letter to his dead father. This is supposed to help him deal with his grief.

The novel ends with a letter to his father where Danny says that he'll be attending broadcasting school and he tells how much he likes the Canadian announcer sign off for the night....and then listen to the static.

LAYER CAKE by J.J. Connolly

Finished Th 4/11/19

Streamed the Netflix film, 'LAYER CAKE'-

From a customer review of the movie:

"The title "LAYER CAKE" refers to the layers or levels anyone in business goes through in rising to the top. What is revealed is a modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no 'codes', or 'families' and respect lasts as long as a line. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to use all his 'savvy', 'telling' and skills which make him one of the best, to escape his own."

The book and the movie are about 'business'-  It's 'The Art of Being a Middleman'. A successful business man is all about arranging and using connections. This is how deals are created.

Much is made of loyalty and trust, and therein lies the rub. All of your friends and business connections may turn on you at any moment, because you are not aware of all of their possible deals and relationships.

The book is a first person account of a mid level player in London's gangster scene. He doesn't reveal his name: "If I told you my name you'd be as clever as me".

The crew gets word of a huge shipment of ecstasy pills from the Netherlands by a crew of crazies. These are possibly worth millions, but they were stolen from an even crazier mob.

The crew's boss is Mr. Jimmy Price. He's an upper level mobster and later we find that he's an informant for the police. His only reason is 'the money'. There is no real trust or loyalty because it all boils down to 'the money'- regardless of the deal, connection, or the relationship.

When the boss learns that Price has turned he executes him. He uses a gun that one of his co-conspirators had used on a murder many years ago. This guy almost beats the boss to death when he learns that he murdered Mr. Price. But, all is right again when he hears the disc of Mr. Price ratting out the crew to the police.

Tammy is a girl that the boss seems to love. This is the girlfriend of one of the bosses of 'the crazies' nephew. This crew is foolish in that the purposely draw attention to themselves. They drive around in a bright yellow Range Rover and make a big splash in clubs and discos.

Mr. Price's opposite number is Mr. Ryder (Mr. Temple in the movie; why'd they have to change the name?). This is the man who delivers the disc to the boss. Mr. Ryder wants the pills to give to the Japanese Yakuza. He's going to give it away so that he can gain their favor in future deals.

The movie is one of the best adaptations of a novel that I've ever seen. Daniel Craig is perfect as 'the man with no name'.

Before I finished the movie I ordered the sequel to the novel on Amazon.