Mitch reconnects with an old college professor after the professor, Morrie, is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. They meet each Tuesday for about 14 weeks and discuss a lot of philosophy.
I missed the whole Mitch Albom craze in the ‘90s and now that I’ve read Morrie and The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, I think I’m done with him. I really liked Heaven, but Morrie was a bit too preachy for my taste. Glad I picked it up as a freebie. I did shed a tear (or several) when Morrie died, and can see how it would make an excellent movie.
It’s very short so I’d recommend it if you need something to occupy yourself in a confined space (waiting room, airplane, etc) and have nothing better at hand.
I’ve wanted to read this book since the first time I saw 50 First Dates, because it’s what Lucy reads each morning during breakfast. Turns out, it was a good choice; I give the book 4 stars. The writing style is similar to Brautigan, but with a more cohesive plot and a much better ending. If I see Robbins at any books sales, I will get more of his books.
Max and Tilli, the ousted monarchs of an un-named European country, are living in a CIA safehouse in Seattle, awaiting a coup at home so they can return to power. The bulk of the book focuses on the love life of their activist daughter, Leigh-Cheri, with comic relief provided by the antics of their maid, Gulietta. Along the way you learn the purpose of the moon, how to make love stay, why the pyramids were built and a smattering of the planet Argon’s history.
The book’s beginning, ending and 4 “phase separations” are descriptions of Robbins’ new typewriter (a blue Remington SL3) that “speaks electric Shakespeare at the slightest provocation and will rap out a page and a half if you just look at it hard.” For me they were the funniest parts of the novel. At the end he gets so frustrated that he hand-writes the last few pages, and I was delighted that those pages were included exactly as written. I just love to see other people’s handwriting, more and more, as so much out our daily interactions are nothing more than Arial 10.
Recommended if you like modern satire with a little love on the side.
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui
Born in a village in Yemen, Nujood was married at age 9 to a man in his 30s who subsequently raped and beat her daily until she was able to escape during a visit to her parents' house some months later. She was sent out to buy bread alone, and instead took a bus, then a taxi to the city courthouse. Once there she found a courtroom, insisted on talking directly to a judge, and demanded a divorce. Nujood and her lawyer were named Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year in 2008.
Nujood's story is exceptional. Minoui's writing leaves a lot to be desired; she took some (a lot) poetic license and really fru-frued the descriptions of scenery, scents, etc.. so the book doesn't have a childish voice, even though it's first person narrative. Also it really flew over the legal proceedings so it didn't get me as riled up and angry as I expected it to.
It's a short, 2 hour read. Good for awareness of child-marriage, but I'm sure there are better-written books that advocate against the same horror.
Not as good as 17, but not as bad as 13-16. Lula had me laughing out loud a couple of times, and so did Ranger. Still wishing the series would wrap up or go back to a mystery-based plot line.
I have never seen this movie, only heard about parts of it (like the horse in the bed and this was in the book and just as graphic). The book was VERY good, I may have to continue with the next one.
The Corleone family is one of the major Mafia families and fill in the "gaps" as they would say that the police cannot provide. The Corleone's business is the numbers racket and "protection".
Don Corleone's advice is "Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people." He refers to the Italian word "rajunah" to rejoin. Then if someone does not reason with you, you kill them. Simple.
Also the famous line "Make them an offer they can't refuse" actually came from the book not the movie.
The story: The Don of the Corleone family is almost killed by a warring faction, so one of the sons must step up to run the family. The oldest and most suitable is killed, the middle son is not as capable, the youngest son rises to the occasion and takes over. The story is basically how he comes to lead the family while his father is convalescing, learning from his father and then eventually becomes the "don."
For the first half of the book I was as bad as Lula- WHAT HAPPENED IN HAWAII?? I thought this was an interesting way to get/keep readers interested. On the other hand, there wasn't a lot of other mystery to it, so I have to agree with A that I wished it would go back to a mystery plot series or end. I enjoyed this one more than the last few, though.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 1001BTRBYD
This book delivers exactly what the title describes: lots of drug-fueled paranoia and aggression as the author (a journalist for Rolling Stone) and his attorney take a road trip to "cover" a dessert rally/race in Vegas in 1971. I didn't really enjoy it, but I read fast because the action was fairly fast paced, courtesy of all of the drugs/alcohol consumed by the protagonist. I learned a LOT about 1970s drug culture and just drugs in general, many of which I didn't even know existed. Bonus, my version contained oodles of disturbing illustrations of their LSD hallucinations.
This much-quoted line from the first page of the book pretty much sums it up: "The trunk of the car looked like a mobile narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers ... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls."
There were some funny parts too. Thompson explains how to avoid traffic tickets by driving fast but with "consummate skill and a natural feel for the road:" "No cop was ever born who isn't a sucker for a finely-executed hi-speed Controlled Drift all the way around one of those clover-leaf freeway interchanges."
Thompson elaborates on his health and diet: “.. he [a doctor] told me to come back when the sweating stopped. That would be the danger point, he said--a sign that my body’s desperately over-worked flushing mechanism had broken down completely… I spent about two hours in the bar, drinking Bloody Marys for the V-8 nutritional content and watching the flights from L.A. I’d eaten nothing but grapefruit for about twenty hours and my head was adrift from its moorings.”
While I don’t give a high recommendation, I will say there is reasonable historical value in the way Thompson presents American ‘70’s culture: Drugs, Hippies, Police, Vietnam, Race – he touches on a lot of harsh themes and doesn’t make apologies for anyone’s prejudices.
I can't believe I've never read this before now. I loved it; much better than Robinson Crusoe because it's all action and very little preaching. The only problem is that there wasn't a lot of physical description of the characters, so I kept seeing them as the actors from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
A new personal reading rule: ¡No more fookin’ Defoe!
The cover page gives a very good summary of the story, so I’ll copy it here. “The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, etc., Who was Born in Newgate [a London prison], and during a Life of continu’d Variety for Three-score Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent, Written from her own Memorandums.” What it fails to mention is that there are no chapters, no sections, no gaps in the narrative at all that indicate to the reader “this might be an OK spot to stop reading” and given that Moll likes to mention major plot points just ever-so-casually, you can never be sure if you’re about to set the book down on a bombshell or not. Several times in the book a very detailed hour-by-hour description of some mundane event would be followed by one paragraph covering many months or even years. The entire work would be much improved by the insertion of some well-placed line breaks.
By my count Moll had 10 children - but never raised any past the age of five, either giving them up to the state, to a relative or the children themselves dying from one cause or another. For me, the middle third of the book, where Moll starts stealing and whoring for a living, was the best. She was quite a con-artist, that’s for sure.
Not recommended, but if you do read it, you’ll want to know these monetary conversions from the 1650s: 1 guinea = 21 pounds 1 pound = 4 crowns 1 crown = 5 shillings 1 shilling = 12 pence 1 pence = 4 farthings and as near as I can calculate, 200l. = $40,000; 500l. = $102,000 (as of 1993)
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rebellious Tilo, trained on a mystical island to be a Spice Mistress, runs an Indian foods store in Los Angeles. Part sorceress, part fortune teller, part sage and trapped in an old woman's body, she is bound by 3 sacred rules: Only use the spice-power to help other Indians (never yourself), Do not ever leave the store, Skin-to-skin contact with anyone is forbidden. Tilo complies for years, but when she meets a "lonely American" all red-chili breaks loose. The book predictably focuses on her temptation, "sin" and redemption, with sub-plots detailing the lives of those she is trying to help.
I picked this up on a whim at a used book sale; it met expectations but didn't go much beyond them. The best way to describe it is the Indian version of Like Water For Chocolate.
Recommended for a light read if you like Indian cooking (as you can imagine, many spices and their tastes/smells/powers are discussed) or if you enjoy magical realism.
I really, really love the movie based on this book - figured I would like the book even more. Not so. Though the book is good, it is not at all like the movie. Book version = extended travel log and home restoration with recipes and anecdotes. Movie version = romance with anecdotal home restoration. Lots of neat places in Tuscany described in detail -- if you're headed to Italy it would serve as a good guidebook, especially if you are interested in seeing Etruscan ruins/tombs. There are also several chapters of local Tuscan recipes.
If you liked A Year in Provence you'll also enjoy Under the Tuscan Sun.
An un-named catastrophe has nearly wiped out life on Earth; everything has been burned, ash blocks the sun, there is no food, armies of cannibals enslave the weak, it rains constantly and is very cold. Amidst this, two refugees, a father and son, are slowly migrating south, hoping to find a colony of "the good guys" or at least some warmth and food. Battling the elements and roving gangs of human-eaters, they fight their way to the coast; their skeletal bodies all that remain of compassion and humanity. Did I mention it was cold? Cold and black. "Nights dark beyond darkness"
J recommended this book; I might go so far as to say she raved about it. It does read fast, but it didn't get my pulse going that much. 1) No chapters 2) No quotation marks 3) Very random use of apostrophes (either use punctuation, or don't) 4) Repetitive Okay? Okay. Are you talking? Im talking Just okay? Okay. 5) Very little backstory.
McCarthy did win a Pulitzer prize. Maybe post-apocalyptic novels just aren't my thing?
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Zhuang Xiao Qiao (known in the book as "Z") is the only daughter of a lower-middle class family from Zhe Jiang, China. After giving up farming her parents open a small shoe factory; hoping language skills will improve their factory's prospects, they send her to London for a year to study. Z, born in July 1979, arrives in London in February 2003. The book's format follows Z through the calendar year she spends in London; each month is broken into short chapters titled with a new English word Z has learned. The main plot point is her relationship with a bisexual English man 20 years her senior, whom she moves in with 2 days after meeting because she misunderstands his use of the phrase "be my guest."
I really enjoyed it! Here's why: 1) the main character is almost exactly my age 2) I could relate to her experience studying abroad in a different culture and language, it reminded me a lot of my time in Uruguay 3) the characters are so wonderfully flawed 4) the first few months are written in very broken English. The book's grammar improves as Z studies and learns 5) Z explains which grammatical concepts are hard for her to understand with details about how those ideas are conveyed in Chinese 6) epilogue - I love books that give me a little glimpse of the characters' futures.
Not recommended to anyone who is shy about sex. =)
Martin Lynch-Gibbon, an English winery owner, whines and tries to recover for about a month after his wife asks for a divorce. There are 6 characters: Martin Antonia (his wife) Anderson (his best friend) Georgie (his mistress) Alexander (his brother) Honor (Anderson's sister) Over the course of the month these 6 people end up in a total of 8 (EIGHT!) different romantic pairings - and oh yes, one was knowingly incestual. Even with all the wonky couples and constant partner changes the book still felt dull and slow moving. The reader wasn't shown any sex and Martin talked about his feelings A LOT.
Overall not recommended, but might make a decent movie (in fact it was made into a movie in 1970)
I really liked Eye of the Needle by the same author (we read it in 2009, holy moly, can it really be 3 years ago?) so I picked this Cold War espionage thriller up at a book sale somewhere.
Rocket scientist Dr. Claude Lucas "Luke" wakes up suffering from global amnesia in a men's room at Union Station. The man next to him says they got blind drunk the night before and have been living on the streets in a drunken stupor for ages. But why does Luke detest alcohol, speak French, quote Shakespeare and know how to shake a tail? Come to think of it, why is he being tailed at all? Could it have anything to do with the Russian launch of Sputnik or the postponed launch of the American rocket Explorer I? As launchtime counts down to zero, Luke pieces together his past and uncovers a plot that reaches the highest levels of the CIA..
You'll figure it out early on, but it's well written and fast-paced. Recommended
I guess there's only one thing to say about this book: Mayonaise.
I would recommend this only if you really, really like Tom Robbins or have read and enjoyed other books by Brautigan. You can really only read it in 15 minute intervals, which is acceptable since it's about 100 pages long.
I really liked this novel/novella; it wasn't as off-the wall as the other Brautigans I've read, but it still had a lot of his trademark humor. It's set up as a sort of travel journal (he calls it a "calendar map") that covers January to July 1982, during which time the journal's author looses two close friends: one by suicide and one by cancer. Doesn't sound like a real happy book but it was full of interesting situations, oddball humor and some really fantastic prose.
After reading this, I think I'll hunt down some of Brautigan's poetry - he published 9 volumes.
I must have really thought this book looked good because I accidentally bought it twice in the last 6 months. As it turns out it was pretty good, though I didn't like it as much as the other Follett I've read.
Paris 1981: Jane (an English linguist) dates Ellis (American Poet) for a year and they are very much in love. Their relationship ends suddenly when Ellis is revealed to be a CIA operative and barely escapes death. A mutual friend Jean-Pierre (French doctor and deeply undercover KGB operative) pines for Jane.
Afghanistan, 1982: Jean-Pierre and Jane have married; pregnant Jane has trained to be a nurse and they are both working in a very remote village for a doctors-without-borders type agency during the Russian occupation/invasion. Shortly after the baby's birth, Ellis lands in their village, sent to broker an arms deal with the local rebel leaders. Chaos ensues as Jane discovers she married a spy and must choose between the 2 men she loves.
It was a bit gory in places but not excessive. Lots of discourse on male/female interaction in an Arab culture and good descriptions of daily life in rural Afghanistan. I liked that it was set in the 1980s. Didn't really care for the happy, cookie-cutter ending.
Bad News (Dortmunder #10) and Road to Ruin (Dortmunder #11) by Donald Westlake
Bad News - a decent Dortmunder story in which the team gets tangled up with a plot to scam millions in Native American casino profits by proving the existence of the very last member of the Pottaknobbee tribe. This involves some late-night grave digging and a lot of time spent "upstate." Not a lot of thievery in this one, it played out more like a comic John Grisham court-thriller.
Road to Ruin - now THIS was a great Dortmunder book! It had me laughing at several points and left me wanting just a little bit more at the end. An old buddy of Andy Kelp's is out of jail and comes to the team for help getting even with his previous employer, Monroe Hall. Hall is a crooked CEO who has just been nailed for tax evasion and embezzling. He owns a heavily fortified "compound" in Shickshinny, PA that houses several valuable collections, most notably 30-40 VERY expensive cars. Hall is such a a**hole that he has trouble keeping staff; to gain entrance to the grounds the team signs on as servants - Tiny = front gate security Kelp = personal secretary Murch = chauffeur Dortmunder = butler hilarity ensues.
I'm so glad I finally read this book - I loved it! I think we all know the premise: A poor Chinese family's rise to power in their farming community, set against the backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion and Communist revolution. While I'm not sure I'd classify this as an International Downer, it's definitely not a happy sunshine book either. Overall, well written, good plot and just enough day to day detail to satisfy my curiosity. I give it 5 stars.
I’m now a fan of Nevil Shute. This story is about John Turner who is shot down in the war (WWII) and suffers a head injury. He spends several weeks in the hospital recovering with his head bandaged and thus does not see 4 other patients who are also recovering. They all are released, finally John also leaves the hospital.
About 30 years later, John has trouble balancing and experiences some black outs. He goes to the doctor and is told his head injury is causing the trouble and he has one year to live. John gets a medical leave from his work and spends his remaining time trying to find the 4 people he spent time with in the hospital. This is the story of the book, his quest to find those people. The ending of the book is the VERY best. He goes back to the doctor, the doctor asks him “So what have you been doing since I saw you last?” and that is the end of the book. Such a perfect cycle.
Josh Redmont starts receiving checks for $1000 each month. The first month he tries to call the phone number on the check but gets no response. There is no street number on the check (this is all in NYC) so he can’t really go door to door to find out where the check came from. So he cashes it and continues to do so for 8 years. Then one day, Josh is approached by a guy who tells Josh that he has been “activated”. Turns out that Josh was getting money as a “spy retainer”. His apartment is used as a staging area for an assassination. He can’t let the crime continue but also doesn’t want to turn himself in since he is involved and has cashed all the checks. Josh finds a rather interesting way to get himself out of this mess and all live “happily ever after” in a very suitable ending.
True story of Louis Zamperini. Such an appropriate read while the Olympics are on. Louis is a long distance runner who goes to the 1936 Olympics and was a star. Funny part is all the food Louis ate while on the ship to the Olympics in Berlin. He would have gone to the 1940 Olympics but instead went in the air force to serve. Louis’ plane is shot down and he spends 2 months on a raft in the Pacific with 2 of his buddies. They survive shark attacks, the heat of the sun, storms, etc. Eventually they are “rescued” by the Japanese. The rest of the story chronicles the horrific treatment Louis undergoes as a POW. Since then he has carried the Olympic torch in several of the Olympic games.
I have NEVER read any of Stephen King’s books. This one was very good and rather intense at the end. I will say he is a good writer. And I have not seen this movie.
This is the story of Jack Torrance who takes a job as caretaker of the famed Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He, his wife, and son will spend the winter at the hotel taking care of it during the off season. The hotel is spooked and eventually drives Jack insane. The hotel convinces Jack to kill his wife and son. Jack’s son Danny (age 5) has the “shining”, can read people’s thoughts. Danny sends some POWERFUL thoughts to the hotel’s cook (in Florida) who also shines. The cook braves a vicious snowstorm to rescue the wife and Danny. Jack meets his demise with the hotel.
Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard #3) by Charlaine Harris
I treated myself to an easy read after all that heavy philosophy in Sophie's World; must have needed it because I finished this one in less than a day. The entire series focuses on Lily Bard, a self-employed house cleaner/womanfriday as she slowly puts her life back together after being horrifically raped and tortured. In book 3, returns to her hometown for her sister's Christmas Eve wedding only to find that her private-detective boyfriend Jack is already there on a case. Predictably it turns deadly and the groom is on the suspect list. Lily and Jack scramble to solve the mystery before the wedding.
I like this series because Lily is very kick-ass. After her "Bad Time" as she calls it, she used karate and self-defense classes to metamorphosis from victim into champion.
Harris also writes the Sookie Stackhouse series (True Blood).
This used-book-store find is not something I would normally read but I loved the title and the foreword so much I bought it. Tim Cahill is an avid outdoorsman, amateur spelunker and volunteers as a search and rescue worker. He writes for various magazines like National Geographic and the book is a collection of his articles and travel adventures (& mis-adventures). He has published several volumes like this, and I will pick up more if I see them going cheap. My favorite story in this volume was about hiking/camping with llamas as pack animals.
Kind of like a written version of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations (on the Travel Channel) but with more camping. Recommended as a great bathroom book. Each chapter is self-sufficient; lends itself well to 10-minute sessions.
The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel by Roberto Escobar
An interesting first-person account of drug lord Pablo Escobar's rise to power in Colombia written by his brother, who served as the cartel's accountant. I found it very interesting and fairly heavily biased in Pablo's favor. A lot of insight into contraband and drug smuggling, Colombian politics, and living on the lam.
An interesting factoid that Roberto shares: at the height of the cocaine boom the cartel was spending $2,500 per month just on rubber bands to bundle their cash.
There are some gruesome parts, but overall I recommend it.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese LOVED this book. The characters are so so good. I am certain this will be made into a movie. The story takes place at a “mission hospital” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The hospital has 2 doctors and is staffed by nuns. The first 125 pages are the birthing of conjoined twins, the mother is a nun, the father the hospital’s surgeon. The mother dies in childbirth, the father takes off. The remainder of the story is the separation and raising of these twin boys . Both end up in a medical career having spent their childhood at the hospital. It’s got everything a movie could want, drama, drama, drama at the hospital, romance, a government takeover and a mystery (where did the father go?)
It's a long story 600+ pages but well worth it. Highly recommended.
Story of a retired widowed army major in a small village in England. Major Pettigrew falls in love with a shopkeeper in the village, Mrs. Ali from Pakistan. Pettigrew’s brother dies, Pettigrew’s son is a spoiled brat who falls in love with an even more spoiled American girl. The “manors” are no longer able to be kept and slowly sold off to land developers. Pettigrew’s last stand is to save the town and love the Pakistani shopkeeper.
Joy forced this book on to me and it was quite good. Her plot summary is above so I won't repeat it. I will say that it was interesting to compare the main characters in this book with Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss.
34 comments:
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
Mitch reconnects with an old college professor after the professor, Morrie, is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. They meet each Tuesday for about 14 weeks and discuss a lot of philosophy.
I missed the whole Mitch Albom craze in the ‘90s and now that I’ve read Morrie and The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, I think I’m done with him. I really liked Heaven, but Morrie was a bit too preachy for my taste. Glad I picked it up as a freebie. I did shed a tear (or several) when Morrie died, and can see how it would make an excellent movie.
It’s very short so I’d recommend it if you need something to occupy yourself in a confined space (waiting room, airplane, etc) and have nothing better at hand.
Isn't this the book we got for our French teacher as a gift in high school?
Could be, the timing is about right. But I don't remember giving any book gifts to teachers in HS. (my memory is not so great)
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
I’ve wanted to read this book since the first time I saw 50 First Dates, because it’s what Lucy reads each morning during breakfast. Turns out, it was a good choice; I give the book 4 stars. The writing style is similar to Brautigan, but with a more cohesive plot and a much better ending. If I see Robbins at any books sales, I will get more of his books.
Max and Tilli, the ousted monarchs of an un-named European country, are living in a CIA safehouse in Seattle, awaiting a coup at home so they can return to power. The bulk of the book focuses on the love life of their activist daughter, Leigh-Cheri, with comic relief provided by the antics of their maid, Gulietta. Along the way you learn the purpose of the moon, how to make love stay, why the pyramids were built and a smattering of the planet Argon’s history.
The book’s beginning, ending and 4 “phase separations” are descriptions of Robbins’ new typewriter (a blue Remington SL3) that “speaks electric Shakespeare at the slightest provocation and will rap out a page and a half if you just look at it hard.” For me they were the funniest parts of the novel. At the end he gets so frustrated that he hand-writes the last few pages, and I was delighted that those pages were included exactly as written. I just love to see other people’s handwriting, more and more, as so much out our daily interactions are nothing more than Arial 10.
Recommended if you like modern satire with a little love on the side.
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui
Born in a village in Yemen, Nujood was married at age 9 to a man in his 30s who subsequently raped and beat her daily until she was able to escape during a visit to her parents' house some months later. She was sent out to buy bread alone, and instead took a bus, then a taxi to the city courthouse. Once there she found a courtroom, insisted on talking directly to a judge, and demanded a divorce. Nujood and her lawyer were named Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year in 2008.
Nujood's story is exceptional. Minoui's writing leaves a lot to be desired; she took some (a lot) poetic license and really fru-frued the descriptions of scenery, scents, etc.. so the book doesn't have a childish voice, even though it's first person narrative. Also it really flew over the legal proceedings so it didn't get me as riled up and angry as I expected it to.
It's a short, 2 hour read. Good for awareness of child-marriage, but I'm sure there are better-written books that advocate against the same horror.
Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich
Not as good as 17, but not as bad as 13-16. Lula had me laughing out loud a couple of times, and so did Ranger. Still wishing the series would wrap up or go back to a mystery-based plot line.
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
I have never seen this movie, only heard about parts of it (like the horse in the bed and this was in the book and just as graphic). The book was VERY good, I may have to continue with the next one.
The Corleone family is one of the major Mafia families and fill in the "gaps" as they would say that the police cannot provide. The Corleone's business is the numbers racket and "protection".
Don Corleone's advice is "Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people." He refers to the Italian word "rajunah" to rejoin. Then if someone does not reason with you, you kill them. Simple.
Also the famous line "Make them an offer they can't refuse" actually came from the book not the movie.
The story: The Don of the Corleone family is almost killed by a warring faction, so one of the sons must step up to run the family. The oldest and most suitable is killed, the middle son is not as capable, the youngest son rises to the occasion and takes over. The story is basically how he comes to lead the family while his father is convalescing, learning from his father and then eventually becomes the "don."
I think I'll have to watch the movie now.
Highly recommended.
Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich.
For the first half of the book I was as bad as Lula- WHAT HAPPENED IN HAWAII?? I thought this was an interesting way to get/keep readers interested. On the other hand, there wasn't a lot of other mystery to it, so I have to agree with A that I wished it would go back to a mystery plot series or end. I enjoyed this one more than the last few, though.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
1001BTRBYD
This book delivers exactly what the title describes: lots of drug-fueled paranoia and aggression as the author (a journalist for Rolling Stone) and his attorney take a road trip to "cover" a dessert rally/race in Vegas in 1971. I didn't really enjoy it, but I read fast because the action was fairly fast paced, courtesy of all of the drugs/alcohol consumed by the protagonist. I learned a LOT about 1970s drug culture and just drugs in general, many of which I didn't even know existed. Bonus, my version contained oodles of disturbing illustrations of their LSD hallucinations.
This much-quoted line from the first page of the book pretty much sums it up:
"The trunk of the car looked like a mobile narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers ... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls."
There were some funny parts too.
Thompson explains how to avoid traffic tickets by driving fast but with "consummate skill and a natural feel for the road:"
"No cop was ever born who isn't a sucker for a finely-executed hi-speed Controlled Drift all the way around one of those clover-leaf freeway interchanges."
Thompson elaborates on his health and diet:
“.. he [a doctor] told me to come back when the sweating stopped. That would be the danger point, he said--a sign that my body’s desperately over-worked flushing mechanism had broken down completely… I spent about two hours in the bar, drinking Bloody Marys for the V-8 nutritional content and watching the flights from L.A. I’d eaten nothing but grapefruit for about twenty hours and my head was adrift from its moorings.”
While I don’t give a high recommendation, I will say there is reasonable historical value in the way Thompson presents American ‘70’s culture: Drugs, Hippies, Police, Vietnam, Race – he touches on a lot of harsh themes and doesn’t make apologies for anyone’s prejudices.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
I can't believe I've never read this before now. I loved it; much better than Robinson Crusoe because it's all action and very little preaching. The only problem is that there wasn't a lot of physical description of the characters, so I kept seeing them as the actors from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
All in all, highly recommended.
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
1001BTRBYD
A new personal reading rule: ¡No more fookin’ Defoe!
The cover page gives a very good summary of the story, so I’ll copy it here.
“The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, etc., Who was Born in Newgate [a London prison], and during a Life of continu’d Variety for Three-score Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent, Written from her own Memorandums.”
What it fails to mention is that there are no chapters, no sections, no gaps in the narrative at all that indicate to the reader “this might be an OK spot to stop reading” and given that Moll likes to mention major plot points just ever-so-casually, you can never be sure if you’re about to set the book down on a bombshell or not. Several times in the book a very detailed hour-by-hour description of some mundane event would be followed by one paragraph covering many months or even years. The entire work would be much improved by the insertion of some well-placed line breaks.
By my count Moll had 10 children - but never raised any past the age of five, either giving them up to the state, to a relative or the children themselves dying from one cause or another. For me, the middle third of the book, where Moll starts stealing and whoring for a living, was the best. She was quite a con-artist, that’s for sure.
Not recommended, but if you do read it, you’ll want to know these monetary conversions from the 1650s:
1 guinea = 21 pounds
1 pound = 4 crowns
1 crown = 5 shillings
1 shilling = 12 pence
1 pence = 4 farthings
and as near as I can calculate, 200l. = $40,000; 500l. = $102,000 (as of 1993)
I forgot to mention that the first (of many) brain fevers in Moll Flanders appeared on page 37. =)
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rebellious Tilo, trained on a mystical island to be a Spice Mistress, runs an Indian foods store in Los Angeles. Part sorceress, part fortune teller, part sage and trapped in an old woman's body, she is bound by 3 sacred rules:
Only use the spice-power to help other Indians (never yourself),
Do not ever leave the store,
Skin-to-skin contact with anyone is forbidden.
Tilo complies for years, but when she meets a "lonely American" all red-chili breaks loose. The book predictably focuses on her temptation, "sin" and redemption, with sub-plots detailing the lives of those she is trying to help.
I picked this up on a whim at a used book sale; it met expectations but didn't go much beyond them. The best way to describe it is the Indian version of Like Water For Chocolate.
Recommended for a light read if you like Indian cooking (as you can imagine, many spices and their tastes/smells/powers are discussed) or if you enjoy magical realism.
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
I really, really love the movie based on this book - figured I would like the book even more. Not so. Though the book is good, it is not at all like the movie. Book version = extended travel log and home restoration with recipes and anecdotes. Movie version = romance with anecdotal home restoration. Lots of neat places in Tuscany described in detail -- if you're headed to Italy it would serve as a good guidebook, especially if you are interested in seeing Etruscan ruins/tombs. There are also several chapters of local Tuscan recipes.
If you liked A Year in Provence you'll also enjoy Under the Tuscan Sun.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
An un-named catastrophe has nearly wiped out life on Earth; everything has been burned, ash blocks the sun, there is no food, armies of cannibals enslave the weak, it rains constantly and is very cold. Amidst this, two refugees, a father and son, are slowly migrating south, hoping to find a colony of "the good guys" or at least some warmth and food. Battling the elements and roving gangs of human-eaters, they fight their way to the coast; their skeletal bodies all that remain of compassion and humanity. Did I mention it was cold? Cold and black. "Nights dark beyond darkness"
J recommended this book; I might go so far as to say she raved about it. It does read fast, but it didn't get my pulse going that much.
1) No chapters
2) No quotation marks
3) Very random use of apostrophes (either use punctuation, or don't)
4) Repetitive
Okay?
Okay.
Are you talking?
Im talking
Just okay?
Okay.
5) Very little backstory.
McCarthy did win a Pulitzer prize. Maybe post-apocalyptic novels just aren't my thing?
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Zhuang Xiao Qiao (known in the book as "Z") is the only daughter of a lower-middle class family from Zhe Jiang, China. After giving up farming her parents open a small shoe factory; hoping language skills will improve their factory's prospects, they send her to London for a year to study. Z, born in July 1979, arrives in London in February 2003. The book's format follows Z through the calendar year she spends in London; each month is broken into short chapters titled with a new English word Z has learned. The main plot point is her relationship with a bisexual English man 20 years her senior, whom she moves in with 2 days after meeting because she misunderstands his use of the phrase "be my guest."
I really enjoyed it! Here's why:
1) the main character is almost exactly my age
2) I could relate to her experience studying abroad in a different culture and language, it reminded me a lot of my time in Uruguay
3) the characters are so wonderfully flawed
4) the first few months are written in very broken English. The book's grammar improves as Z studies and learns
5) Z explains which grammatical concepts are hard for her to understand with details about how those ideas are conveyed in Chinese
6) epilogue - I love books that give me a little glimpse of the characters' futures.
Not recommended to anyone who is shy about sex. =)
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
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Martin Lynch-Gibbon, an English winery owner, whines and tries to recover for about a month after his wife asks for a divorce.
There are 6 characters:
Martin
Antonia (his wife)
Anderson (his best friend)
Georgie (his mistress)
Alexander (his brother)
Honor (Anderson's sister)
Over the course of the month these 6 people end up in a total of 8 (EIGHT!) different romantic pairings - and oh yes, one was knowingly incestual. Even with all the wonky couples and constant partner changes the book still felt dull and slow moving. The reader wasn't shown any sex and Martin talked about his feelings A LOT.
Overall not recommended, but might make a decent movie (in fact it was made into a movie in 1970)
Code to Zero by Ken Follett
I really liked Eye of the Needle by the same author (we read it in 2009, holy moly, can it really be 3 years ago?) so I picked this Cold War espionage thriller up at a book sale somewhere.
Rocket scientist Dr. Claude Lucas "Luke" wakes up suffering from global amnesia in a men's room at Union Station. The man next to him says they got blind drunk the night before and have been living on the streets in a drunken stupor for ages. But why does Luke detest alcohol, speak French, quote Shakespeare and know how to shake a tail? Come to think of it, why is he being tailed at all? Could it have anything to do with the Russian launch of Sputnik or the postponed launch of the American rocket Explorer I? As launchtime counts down to zero, Luke pieces together his past and uncovers a plot that reaches the highest levels of the CIA..
You'll figure it out early on, but it's well written and fast-paced. Recommended
Trout Fishing In America by Richard Brautigan
I guess there's only one thing to say about this book: Mayonaise.
I would recommend this only if you really, really like Tom Robbins or have read and enjoyed other books by Brautigan. You can really only read it in 15 minute intervals, which is acceptable since it's about 100 pages long.
An Unfortunate Woman by Richard Brautigan
I really liked this novel/novella; it wasn't as off-the wall as the other Brautigans I've read, but it still had a lot of his trademark humor. It's set up as a sort of travel journal (he calls it a "calendar map") that covers January to July 1982, during which time the journal's author looses two close friends: one by suicide and one by cancer. Doesn't sound like a real happy book but it was full of interesting situations, oddball humor and some really fantastic prose.
After reading this, I think I'll hunt down some of Brautigan's poetry - he published 9 volumes.
Recommended for a quick read.
Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follett
I must have really thought this book looked good because I accidentally bought it twice in the last 6 months. As it turns out it was pretty good, though I didn't like it as much as the other Follett I've read.
Paris 1981: Jane (an English linguist) dates Ellis (American Poet) for a year and they are very much in love. Their relationship ends suddenly when Ellis is revealed to be a CIA operative and barely escapes death. A mutual friend Jean-Pierre (French doctor and deeply undercover KGB operative) pines for Jane.
Afghanistan, 1982: Jean-Pierre and Jane have married; pregnant Jane has trained to be a nurse and they are both working in a very remote village for a doctors-without-borders type agency during the Russian occupation/invasion. Shortly after the baby's birth, Ellis lands in their village, sent to broker an arms deal with the local rebel leaders. Chaos ensues as Jane discovers she married a spy and must choose between the 2 men she loves.
It was a bit gory in places but not excessive. Lots of discourse on male/female interaction in an Arab culture and good descriptions of daily life in rural Afghanistan. I liked that it was set in the 1980s. Didn't really care for the happy, cookie-cutter ending.
Bad News (Dortmunder #10) and Road to Ruin (Dortmunder #11) by Donald Westlake
Bad News - a decent Dortmunder story in which the team gets tangled up with a plot to scam millions in Native American casino profits by proving the existence of the very last member of the Pottaknobbee tribe. This involves some late-night grave digging and a lot of time spent "upstate." Not a lot of thievery in this one, it played out more like a comic John Grisham court-thriller.
Road to Ruin - now THIS was a great Dortmunder book! It had me laughing at several points and left me wanting just a little bit more at the end. An old buddy of Andy Kelp's is out of jail and comes to the team for help getting even with his previous employer, Monroe Hall. Hall is a crooked CEO who has just been nailed for tax evasion and embezzling. He owns a heavily fortified "compound" in Shickshinny, PA that houses several valuable collections, most notably 30-40 VERY expensive cars. Hall is such a a**hole that he has trouble keeping staff; to gain entrance to the grounds the team signs on as servants -
Tiny = front gate security
Kelp = personal secretary
Murch = chauffeur
Dortmunder = butler
hilarity ensues.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
I'm so glad I finally read this book - I loved it! I think we all know the premise: A poor Chinese family's rise to power in their farming community, set against the backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion and Communist revolution. While I'm not sure I'd classify this as an International Downer, it's definitely not a happy sunshine book either.
Overall, well written, good plot and just enough day to day detail to satisfy my curiosity. I give it 5 stars.
The Chequer Board by Nevil Shute
I’m now a fan of Nevil Shute. This story is about John Turner who is shot down in the war (WWII) and suffers a head injury. He spends several weeks in the hospital recovering with his head bandaged and thus does not see 4 other patients who are also recovering. They all are released, finally John also leaves the hospital.
About 30 years later, John has trouble balancing and experiences some black outs. He goes to the doctor and is told his head injury is causing the trouble and he has one year to live. John gets a medical leave from his work and spends his remaining time trying to find the 4 people he spent time with in the hospital. This is the story of the book, his quest to find those people. The ending of the book is the VERY best. He goes back to the doctor, the doctor asks him “So what have you been doing since I saw you last?” and that is the end of the book. Such a perfect cycle.
Money for Nothing by Donald Westlake
Josh Redmont starts receiving checks for $1000 each month. The first month he tries to call the phone number on the check but gets no response. There is no street number on the check (this is all in NYC) so he can’t really go door to door to find out where the check came from. So he cashes it and continues to do so for 8 years. Then one day, Josh is approached by a guy who tells Josh that he has been “activated”. Turns out that Josh was getting money as a “spy retainer”. His apartment is used as a staging area for an assassination. He can’t let the crime continue but also doesn’t want to turn himself in since he is involved and has cashed all the checks. Josh finds a rather interesting way to get himself out of this mess and all live “happily ever after” in a very suitable ending.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
True story of Louis Zamperini. Such an appropriate read while the Olympics are on. Louis is a long distance runner who goes to the 1936 Olympics and was a star. Funny part is all the food Louis ate while on the ship to the Olympics in Berlin. He would have gone to the 1940 Olympics but instead went in the air force to serve. Louis’ plane is shot down and he spends 2 months on a raft in the Pacific with 2 of his buddies. They survive shark attacks, the heat of the sun, storms, etc. Eventually they are “rescued” by the Japanese. The rest of the story chronicles the horrific treatment Louis undergoes as a POW. Since then he has carried the Olympic torch in several of the Olympic games.
Recommended.
The Shining by Stephen King
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I have NEVER read any of Stephen King’s books. This one was very good and rather intense at the end. I will say he is a good writer. And I have not seen this movie.
This is the story of Jack Torrance who takes a job as caretaker of the famed Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He, his wife, and son will spend the winter at the hotel taking care of it during the off season. The hotel is spooked and eventually drives Jack insane. The hotel convinces Jack to kill his wife and son. Jack’s son Danny (age 5) has the “shining”, can read people’s thoughts. Danny sends some POWERFUL thoughts to the hotel’s cook (in Florida) who also shines. The cook braves a vicious snowstorm to rescue the wife and Danny. Jack meets his demise with the hotel.
Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard #3) by Charlaine Harris
I treated myself to an easy read after all that heavy philosophy in Sophie's World; must have needed it because I finished this one in less than a day. The entire series focuses on Lily Bard, a self-employed house cleaner/womanfriday as she slowly puts her life back together after being horrifically raped and tortured. In book 3, returns to her hometown for her sister's Christmas Eve wedding only to find that her private-detective boyfriend Jack is already there on a case. Predictably it turns deadly and the groom is on the suspect list. Lily and Jack scramble to solve the mystery before the wedding.
I like this series because Lily is very kick-ass. After her "Bad Time" as she calls it, she used karate and self-defense classes to metamorphosis from victim into champion.
Harris also writes the Sookie Stackhouse series (True Blood).
Pecked To Death By Ducks by Tim Cahill
This used-book-store find is not something I would normally read but I loved the title and the foreword so much I bought it. Tim Cahill is an avid outdoorsman, amateur spelunker and volunteers as a search and rescue worker. He writes for various magazines like National Geographic and the book is a collection of his articles and travel adventures (& mis-adventures). He has published several volumes like this, and I will pick up more if I see them going cheap. My favorite story in this volume was about hiking/camping with llamas as pack animals.
Kind of like a written version of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations (on the Travel Channel) but with more camping. Recommended as a great bathroom book. Each chapter is self-sufficient; lends itself well to 10-minute sessions.
10 minute sessions in the bathroom? The book sounds really interesting! :-)
The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel by Roberto Escobar
An interesting first-person account of drug lord Pablo Escobar's rise to power in Colombia written by his brother, who served as the cartel's accountant. I found it very interesting and fairly heavily biased in Pablo's favor. A lot of insight into contraband and drug smuggling, Colombian politics, and living on the lam.
An interesting factoid that Roberto shares: at the height of the cocaine boom the cartel was spending $2,500 per month just on rubber bands to bundle their cash.
There are some gruesome parts, but overall I recommend it.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
LOVED this book. The characters are so so good. I am certain this will be made into a movie. The story takes place at a “mission hospital” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The hospital has 2 doctors and is staffed by nuns. The first 125 pages are the birthing of conjoined twins, the mother is a nun, the father the hospital’s surgeon. The mother dies in childbirth, the father takes off. The remainder of the story is the separation and raising of these twin boys . Both end up in a medical career having spent their childhood at the hospital. It’s got everything a movie could want, drama, drama, drama at the hospital, romance, a government takeover and a mystery (where did the father go?)
It's a long story 600+ pages but well worth it. Highly recommended.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Story of a retired widowed army major in a small village in England. Major Pettigrew falls in love with a shopkeeper in the village, Mrs. Ali from Pakistan. Pettigrew’s brother dies, Pettigrew’s son is a spoiled brat who falls in love with an even more spoiled American girl. The “manors” are no longer able to be kept and slowly sold off to land developers. Pettigrew’s last stand is to save the town and love the Pakistani shopkeeper.
Not recommended.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Joy forced this book on to me and it was quite good. Her plot summary is above so I won't repeat it. I will say that it was interesting to compare the main characters in this book with Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss.
Highly recommended.
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