Refinished Fr 5/27/16
This is one of my paperbacks and according to the flyleaf, I read it on the weekend of Sa-Sun 12/8-9/ 2001.
The author's younger brother is the rock star Eddie Money- TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE. The author is also head of Holmes Detective Bureau. This kind of an agency (computer savvy and able to do things that the police can't because of existing laws) is mentioned in the book and run by a character named Hurley. Maybe based on the author.
A terrific good read and an excellent example of the finest police procedurals. Although it was 432 pages, it never ever lagged.
A well connected couple is murdered in the Cloisters in NYC. The guy's father is a prominent Virginia politician and the woman is the daughter of a NYC city councilman.
Brutally torchered and subjects of maybe the most valuable Snuff Film ever made.
The only beef I had is why did he have two of the lead characters share the same last name. Tommy and Brian McKenna. No reason, and introduced unnecessary confusion.
Police realize it's two killers when the notice how far the bodies were thrown.
All killings take place in beautiful, scenic and isolated spots. Could be 'cased' from above, and police conclude that they could be involved in the airlines.
Black is a professional airline pilot and White is a steward.
Prominent family of the victims in NYC arrange it so that the two killers are charged in Taiwan. Trial to hanging is just a week.
The library has a few of these, and it is on my Wish List.
Amazon link-
http://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Dan-Mahoney/dp/0786118067
Author's website-
http://www.danmahoney.com/
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
THE CRIMINAL by Jim Thompson
Finished Mo 5/23/16 In one day; recovering from Hernia Surgery the previous Thursday.
This one of my oversized paperbacks, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, that I had apparently not read before.
Not my favorite Jim Thompson, but definitely worth the effort.
Author's page wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(writer)
From Amazon-
"Everyone in Kenton Hills knows that short-tempered, tongue-tied Bob Talbert wasn't the one responsible for the brutal crime that ended Josie Eddleman's life. Nevermind that he was the last one to see her alive.
But in a town filled with the likes of an amoral tabloid reporter known only as The Captain, a district attorney who'll do anything for a confession, and Bob's parents, who care as little for Bob as they do for each other, guilt and innocence are little more than a matter of perspective.
In a masterfully woven tapestry of multiple points of view, THE CRIMINAL explores the nature of guilt and responsibility in a psychological thriller of an entire town under the spell of an act of brutal violence. Jim Thompson unlike you're ever read him before."
Amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Criminal-Jim-Thompson/dp/0316403962
This one of my oversized paperbacks, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, that I had apparently not read before.
Not my favorite Jim Thompson, but definitely worth the effort.
Author's page wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(writer)
From Amazon-
"Everyone in Kenton Hills knows that short-tempered, tongue-tied Bob Talbert wasn't the one responsible for the brutal crime that ended Josie Eddleman's life. Nevermind that he was the last one to see her alive.
But in a town filled with the likes of an amoral tabloid reporter known only as The Captain, a district attorney who'll do anything for a confession, and Bob's parents, who care as little for Bob as they do for each other, guilt and innocence are little more than a matter of perspective.
In a masterfully woven tapestry of multiple points of view, THE CRIMINAL explores the nature of guilt and responsibility in a psychological thriller of an entire town under the spell of an act of brutal violence. Jim Thompson unlike you're ever read him before."
Amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Criminal-Jim-Thompson/dp/0316403962
IN THE CUT by Susanna Moore
Refinished Su 5/22/16 Three days after the hernia repair surgery and Morrissey's birthday.
This is one of my paperbacks and I first finished it on Sa 1/20/01. According to my note on the flyleaf, this day was George W. Bush's inaugural.
Darkly erotic and very well written.
The female protagonist is a college English teacher, Frannie Thorstin, and student on the nature of language. There are several Slang Lists that I've bookmarked in the front of the book.
I got taken and fell for the misdirection. The killer is not Malloy, the detective on the case, but his partner, Rodriguez.
In the end of the book the female professor dies, but I'm pretty sure that in the movie version, she is saved. Maybe I'll rewatch on Netflix.
On amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Vintage-Contemporaries-Susanna-Moore/dp/0307387194
This is one of my paperbacks and I first finished it on Sa 1/20/01. According to my note on the flyleaf, this day was George W. Bush's inaugural.
Darkly erotic and very well written.
The female protagonist is a college English teacher, Frannie Thorstin, and student on the nature of language. There are several Slang Lists that I've bookmarked in the front of the book.
I got taken and fell for the misdirection. The killer is not Malloy, the detective on the case, but his partner, Rodriguez.
In the end of the book the female professor dies, but I'm pretty sure that in the movie version, she is saved. Maybe I'll rewatch on Netflix.
On amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Vintage-Contemporaries-Susanna-Moore/dp/0307387194
Sunday, May 22, 2016
CHARMING BILLY by Alice McDermott
Finished Sa 5/21/16 The third day after the hernia repair surgery.
One of the better novels that I've ever read. Really a cut above!
Author's page at Wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_McDermott
wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charming_Billy
Billy and Dennis meet two Irish girls, Mary and Eva at the end of WWII. Billy falls for Eva and although she is returning to Ireland, he offers to pay to bring her back. Dennis has a brief sexual relationship with Mary, but, in the end, he's uninterested.
Eva takes Billy's money and marries another guy from Ireland. Mary tells this to Dennis, but he decides that it would be more emotionally humane to tell Billy that she died of tuberculosis. Decades later the full story is revealed.
The narrator is Dennis's adult daughter. I don't think she is identified by name. This offers a strange perspective.
The novel is chock full of colorful characters.
The longest scene is the beginning of the novel- Billy's funeral. He was so poisoned by alcohol that when Dennis identifies the body, at first he thinks that it is a black man.
CHARMING BILLY won the National Book Award for fiction as well as the American Book Award, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin IMPAC Literary Award. The novel was published by FSG in 1997.
One of the better novels that I've ever read. Really a cut above!
Author's page at Wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_McDermott
wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charming_Billy
Billy and Dennis meet two Irish girls, Mary and Eva at the end of WWII. Billy falls for Eva and although she is returning to Ireland, he offers to pay to bring her back. Dennis has a brief sexual relationship with Mary, but, in the end, he's uninterested.
Eva takes Billy's money and marries another guy from Ireland. Mary tells this to Dennis, but he decides that it would be more emotionally humane to tell Billy that she died of tuberculosis. Decades later the full story is revealed.
The narrator is Dennis's adult daughter. I don't think she is identified by name. This offers a strange perspective.
The novel is chock full of colorful characters.
The longest scene is the beginning of the novel- Billy's funeral. He was so poisoned by alcohol that when Dennis identifies the body, at first he thinks that it is a black man.
CHARMING BILLY won the National Book Award for fiction as well as the American Book Award, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin IMPAC Literary Award. The novel was published by FSG in 1997.
NICKEL AND DIMED- On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Finished Fr 4/20/16, the day after hernia surgery. This was one of the 'free books' that I picked up on the run the day before the procedure.
I had read this several years ago, but it was probably a library copy. I loved the book and I'm glad to own it.
It seems that most of the customer reviewers missed what she was trying to do. She isn't trying to provide a blueprint of what it is like to be poor in America, as much as she is demonstrating how class infects almost all areas of American life. I think that the negative reception is that most people are still under the false assumption that, "In America, if you truly work hard, you will succeed". And, I think this hasn't been true for several decades- if it ever was.
If Walmart is the biggest employer in the country, and their employees don't even receive a living wage, how in the hell can anyone boast about this 'free market' system?
There is no such thing as 'unskilled labor'. That's just a myth and an excuse for employers to offer the cheapest wages. Sometimes this is beautifully demonstrated on the TV show UNDERCOVER BOSS. The 'high paid suits' can't even begin to do the job of their entry level employees.
The book at amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681
I had read this several years ago, but it was probably a library copy. I loved the book and I'm glad to own it.
It seems that most of the customer reviewers missed what she was trying to do. She isn't trying to provide a blueprint of what it is like to be poor in America, as much as she is demonstrating how class infects almost all areas of American life. I think that the negative reception is that most people are still under the false assumption that, "In America, if you truly work hard, you will succeed". And, I think this hasn't been true for several decades- if it ever was.
If Walmart is the biggest employer in the country, and their employees don't even receive a living wage, how in the hell can anyone boast about this 'free market' system?
There is no such thing as 'unskilled labor'. That's just a myth and an excuse for employers to offer the cheapest wages. Sometimes this is beautifully demonstrated on the TV show UNDERCOVER BOSS. The 'high paid suits' can't even begin to do the job of their entry level employees.
The book at amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681
Friday, May 20, 2016
WHILE I WAS GONE by Sue Miller
Finished Th 5/19/16
Read over half of the novel in a six hour marathon from 6pm to midnight after the hernia surgery
"While I Was Gone" was an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2000. I think that all of Oprah's picks are worth a look.
Miller has taught creative writing classes at Smith College, Amherst, Tufts, MIT, and Boston University.
Grabbed from amazon books- Publishers Weekly-
"The shadowy and inexorable nemesis of past secrets to a reclaimed life, and the inability even of those who are intimates to really know one another, are poignant themes in Miller's resonant fifth novel. Narrator Jo Becker, now a veterinarian married to a minister in a small Massachusetts town, was once a runaway bride who assumed a false name and lived with other disaffected '60s bohemians in a group house in Cambridge. Her special friend in the house was sweet-spirited and generous Dana Jablonski, whose shocking?and unsolved?murder broke up the group and left Jo with unresolved questions about her own identity. She manages to ignore the memories of that time until, almost three decades later, one of the former housemates, Eli Mayhew, moves to her town. Eli, now a distinguished research scientist, provides a revelation that acts as the catalyst provoking Jo to face her guilt about her past behavior?and to act impulsively once again. Her moral conundrum occasions a heartrending change in her heretofore strong marriage and undermines her relationship with her three grown daughters. As usual, Miller (The Good Mother; Family Pictures) renders the details of quotidian domesticity with bedrock veracity and a sensitivity to minute calibrations of family dynamics, especially the nuances of sibling rivalry. But while the pacing, tone and measured exposition are handled with masterly skill, the way in which Jo's decision to make amends for her past rebounds on her present life seems staged and convoluted, since her husband and children seem to think that retribution for a murder should take second place to their own emotional needs. That cavil aside, Miller's narrative is a beautifully textured picture of the psychological tug of war between finding integrity as an individual and satisfying the demands of spouse, children and community."
Jo has two twins that are radically different. Nora is a suburban mother and Cass plays in a punk rock band. They love each other like sisters and hate each other like enemies.
Daniel, Jo's second husband, delivers a remarkable sermon about grief and loss. A young child who loses their parent might be in a better position, psychologically than a sibling who is too young to understand. At least the older one has the memories. Memory is a major theme in the book.
Interesting Mouth-to- Mouth resuscitation; Tries to administer 'the breath of life' but cheek is deeply cut and punctured. Dana's murder is based on a real incident.
I'm not sure a person can redeem themselves from murder. Eli feels that the good that he has accomplished erases his grisly deed.
I'd like to read more by Sue Miller, and
Read over half of the novel in a six hour marathon from 6pm to midnight after the hernia surgery
"While I Was Gone" was an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2000. I think that all of Oprah's picks are worth a look.
Miller has taught creative writing classes at Smith College, Amherst, Tufts, MIT, and Boston University.
Grabbed from amazon books- Publishers Weekly-
"The shadowy and inexorable nemesis of past secrets to a reclaimed life, and the inability even of those who are intimates to really know one another, are poignant themes in Miller's resonant fifth novel. Narrator Jo Becker, now a veterinarian married to a minister in a small Massachusetts town, was once a runaway bride who assumed a false name and lived with other disaffected '60s bohemians in a group house in Cambridge. Her special friend in the house was sweet-spirited and generous Dana Jablonski, whose shocking?and unsolved?murder broke up the group and left Jo with unresolved questions about her own identity. She manages to ignore the memories of that time until, almost three decades later, one of the former housemates, Eli Mayhew, moves to her town. Eli, now a distinguished research scientist, provides a revelation that acts as the catalyst provoking Jo to face her guilt about her past behavior?and to act impulsively once again. Her moral conundrum occasions a heartrending change in her heretofore strong marriage and undermines her relationship with her three grown daughters. As usual, Miller (The Good Mother; Family Pictures) renders the details of quotidian domesticity with bedrock veracity and a sensitivity to minute calibrations of family dynamics, especially the nuances of sibling rivalry. But while the pacing, tone and measured exposition are handled with masterly skill, the way in which Jo's decision to make amends for her past rebounds on her present life seems staged and convoluted, since her husband and children seem to think that retribution for a murder should take second place to their own emotional needs. That cavil aside, Miller's narrative is a beautifully textured picture of the psychological tug of war between finding integrity as an individual and satisfying the demands of spouse, children and community."
Jo has two twins that are radically different. Nora is a suburban mother and Cass plays in a punk rock band. They love each other like sisters and hate each other like enemies.
Daniel, Jo's second husband, delivers a remarkable sermon about grief and loss. A young child who loses their parent might be in a better position, psychologically than a sibling who is too young to understand. At least the older one has the memories. Memory is a major theme in the book.
Interesting Mouth-to- Mouth resuscitation; Tries to administer 'the breath of life' but cheek is deeply cut and punctured. Dana's murder is based on a real incident.
I'm not sure a person can redeem themselves from murder. Eli feels that the good that he has accomplished erases his grisly deed.
I'd like to read more by Sue Miller, and
Monday, May 16, 2016
THE TODD GLASS SITUATION by Todd Glass with Jonathan Grotenstein
'A Bunch of LIES About My Personal Life And a Bunch of TRUE STORIES About My 30-Year Career in STAND-UP COMEDY'
Finished Sa 5/14/16 (The day I activated my first smartphone, GALAXY PRIME CORE (Tracfone))
I first heard of this comic on the GETTING DOUG WITH HIGH video podcast. When he gets stoned, he 'gets a bit chatty', but always hilarious. In reading about his life I found that he came out on Marc Maron's, WTF. He was 47 years old. I listened to the entire podcast on Youtube and knew I had to read his book. After finishing the book, I glad that I read it.
He's very insightful about everything in his life and his overall outlook is very level headed.
Suffers from OCD, ADD, and dyslexia. He was not able to finish high school, but started in the comedy business at sixteen (Philadelphia).
He opened from many music performers early in his career, and never acted as if this was a bad gig. Patti LaBelle gave him one of his first big breaks. I thought that most comics HATE opening for bands because the audience it there to hear the music, not to listen to comedy.
Finished Sa 5/14/16 (The day I activated my first smartphone, GALAXY PRIME CORE (Tracfone))
I first heard of this comic on the GETTING DOUG WITH HIGH video podcast. When he gets stoned, he 'gets a bit chatty', but always hilarious. In reading about his life I found that he came out on Marc Maron's, WTF. He was 47 years old. I listened to the entire podcast on Youtube and knew I had to read his book. After finishing the book, I glad that I read it.
He's very insightful about everything in his life and his overall outlook is very level headed.
Suffers from OCD, ADD, and dyslexia. He was not able to finish high school, but started in the comedy business at sixteen (Philadelphia).
He opened from many music performers early in his career, and never acted as if this was a bad gig. Patti LaBelle gave him one of his first big breaks. I thought that most comics HATE opening for bands because the audience it there to hear the music, not to listen to comedy.
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