OCTOPUSSY and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

An enjoyable collection of 4 short stories. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in the James Bond novels. The films are definitely better. The novels weren't horrible mind you (you do have to put them in context such as when they were written, etc) but they just didn't 'wow' me like I was hoping/expecting.

Just read TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG by Peter Carey. Award winning book about the famous Aussie outlaw Ned Kelly. Brings to life the harshness of their lives down under back then. Awesome book,well worth a read!

In the Night of the Heat. This book was written by Steven Barnes and his wife Tananarive Due with creative inspiration and some input by the actor Blair Underwood.

It's the second in a series but it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. It's a retelling of the OJ Simpson story. It features the writers' fallen hero, Tennyson Hardwick, one time ladies man, struggling actor, and informal private investigator/martial arts enthusiast. Hardwick turns down the request of an old girlfriend to help protect her cousin, the recently acquitted football star TD Jackson, from murder threats. Shortly afterwards TD Jackson is found dead from apparent suicide. Hardwick gets drawn into the case, much to the displeasure of the LAPD, and other more sinister parties.

Barnes lives in LA and also works in the entertainment industry. Barnes has said that he thought OJ was guilty as hell and that if he did have any hearsay inside information about how OJ would have committed the crime and gotten away with it, a mystery novel certainly would be the place he'd put it. So that part was fun. It was also fun trying to pick out the book sections that were written by Barnes and the ones written by Due. Both writers have pretty distinctive tones but do a good job at making the shifts in the book close to seamless. There's a lot of backstory about how Hollywood really works from the POV of disposable actors or writers. Thinly veiled versions of Farrah Fawcett and Bruce Willis have cameos. YMMV on that stuff.

Barnes & Due do a good job of making the violence work as part of the story. My only quibble was that I think that for this book Barnes & Due may have slightly underestimated their readers' intelligence. There's a few "Scooby Doo" moments where some antagonists seem possessed to explain everything that took place so a particularly dim reader won't miss anything. That was unusual coming from these two but this is clearly their attempt to write for a more commercial market and appears to have paid off. That aside, this was fun reading.

The Great Castles of Europe
Say what you like about those inbred aristocrats, they certainly knew how to live. This book is a lot of fun and will give anyone travel ideas.

"Medium Raw" is Anthony Bourdain's long awaited sequel to "Kitchen Confidential." It pretty much picks up right where "Confidential" left off: In the year 2000, when Bourdain was still a 44 year old Journeyman Chef, who found himself an instant celebrity due to the success of his memoir. He pulls no punches in deatailing how his life actually got a lot worse after the first book before it got better. His marriage of 20 years broke up and he disappeared for awhile on a drinking binge in the Caribbean. He credits his new wife and the birth of his first child (when he was 50 years old) for getting his life turned around.

But don't worry, he's hardly become warm and fuzzy. Still an unrepentant drinker and pot smoker (he finally gave up the "hard stuff"), Bourdain still maintains what can only be described as a hatred bordering on Jihad for pseudo "foodies," pretentious and untalented tv hosts (Rachael, Sandra and Guy), and the liberal Food Police who want to make duck liver illegal to eat. Time has, however, softened his position on Emeril, Bobby and Mario. Today he counts all three among his friends.

Be warned: If you're not familiar with Bourdain, you'll either love the guy or hate him. For me it's the latter; I love the guy, as obnoxious and bombastic as he is. If Hunter S. Thompson knew how to chop onions and bone out a chicken, he may have written something like this. In these silly, politically correct times that we live in, it's refreshing to hear Bourdain call a douchebag a douchebag. This book doesn't cover as much time as "Confidential," but what it lacks in length (at 281 pages), it more than makes up for with its heart. And if anything, Bourdain is a better writer than he was ten years ago, being that he doesn't have to write in between orders of foie gras.

Highly recommended.

It's funny you mention Sandra Lee. Evidently she and Andrew Cuomo are "cooking together" now. About a month or so back there was an article about how she was making Cuomo a better cook of pasta sauce of all things..

That's pretty sad, considering that Cuomo is an Italian American from Queens, and Lee is as vanilla as can be, whose recipes are all "semi" homemade (mostly canned ingredients) .

Loved "Kitchen Confidential", which was loaned to me by my good friend Plawrence. And it's true - that book really changed the way I order in a restaurant. I'll try to get my hands on this sequel.

It's brand new, Babe. You should be able to reserve it online at your library pretty easily. I only bought it because I'm a big fan of his .

Thanks for the recommendation. Plawrence turned my on to a few authors that I've become addicted to, like Bill Bryson. I just finished his hilarious "Neither Here Nor There", which I had read before, but I always find it so entertaining. Basically, Bryson tries to recreate a backpacking trip he took in his college days. He travels through Italy, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, and ends his trip in Turkey. His take on the various cities, their restaurants, museums, hotels and so on are wonderful. I love his chapters on Italy, although he absolutely hated Florence, which I found surprising. However, I haven't been to Florence since I was 12, and I prefer not to think about how long ago THAT was! His descriptions of the red light districts and the various wares available for purchase had me laughing out loud.

The Imperfectionists.

Next up
No Way To Treat A First Lady by Christopher Buckley.

BANDIT ROADS by Richard Grant.

Grant is a Brit travel writer who decides to travel through the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico all by himself. A hilarious and sometimes scary tale of drugs,corruption,violence,over the top machismo,alcoholic Indians and grinding poverty. A must read!

THE CLASH

Their story told in their own words. The Clash has quickly become one of my all-time favorite bands and having not known much of their history, I was really excited to read this book. I did learn a lot of interesting things about the band, however, I felt the book was a little short and only skimmed the surface. They went through the 8 years they were together but not a lot of in-depth or behind the scenes stories which was a bit disappointing. Not a bad read at all, but again, was hoping for more.

As I had just rewatched the movie I decided to read the book. The movie makes some pretty key changes in the story and I heard that Spillane wasn't too happy about that. But the book really brings out the devil-may care attitude of Mike Hammer and it's clear that there's not a lot of difference between him and the Mafia thugs who cross his path. It's simple writing but not simplistic. There's a few twists that were actually left out of the movie. No one ever accused Spillane of subtlety but there are some instances of that here.

One thing that was offsetting to read is that Mike Hammer literally is starting a new Lucky Strike every third paragraph.

"I, the Jury", "My Gun is Quick", "Vengeance is Mine" all by Mickey Spillane.

This was pulp fiction of course and reads like it. The three stories are all pretty much the same-ugly, abrasive and decidedly pugnacious private eye Mike Hammer gets involved in a situation where an old war buddy or hooker with a heart of gold dies. Despite being warned off the case, Mike Hammer always wades in with two fists, flirts or sleeps with several femme fatales who always know more than they're letting on, and with the occasional reluctant assistance of his police contact, Pat, and his secretary/girl Friday Velda, Mike finally manages to set things right/clear his name/put a .45 slug in the bad guy's (or girl's) gut.

The writing is very much of the times wrt to women, minorities, or anybody that's not "true blue American" but it's still enjoyable. It's sorta like well made fast food (if there is such a thing). Spillane was consistent, for good or bad.

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan Howard is pretty hilarious mashup of Faust, Wicked and Something Wicked this way Comes.

Cabal has long ago sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for sorcerous power but discovers that the lack of a soul is interfering with his experiments. So he travels to Hell in order to retrieve his soul from Satan, who not unsurprisingly takes the viewpoint that a deal is a deal.

Nevertheless, since the Devil is nothing else if not a greedy sort, He agrees to return Cabal's soul to him if Cabal can , within one year entice another hundred people to sell their souls to the Devil. In order to assist with this the Devil gives him an enchanted carnival.

Of course both the Devil and Cabal have some hidden interests. It's a fun read. Cabal is assisted by his older brother,Horst, who Cabal accidentally turned into a vampire in another experiment gone wrong. The book is written in a very sardonic tone, not unlike that of Terry Pratchett or Simon Green but is a little darker. Cabal is a self-centered, egotistical, immensely practical man who doesn't suffer fools lightly.

Deathstalker Return, Deathstalker Legacy and Deathstalker Coda, all by Simon Green.

Simon Green was a favorite author of mine but he's about run the string out here. He writes the literary equivalent of comfort food. You always know what you're going to get and it's fun but it's not overly challenging and in this trilogy he's become a little too repetitive.

Michael Moorcock once claimed that JRR Tolkien was writing "Epic Pooh" in his LOTR , a characterization I don't disagree with entirely but Tolkien was a LOT more serious and hardnosed than Green.

Green writes space opera. It's set millions of years in the future in which humanity is united under a single government (British derived of course) and has spread across the universe. There is peace, largely because a now legendary hero, Owen Deathstalker , led a great rebellion in which the corrupt Empress was overthrown. Now 200 years after Owen disappeared fighting an alien threat to humanity, his descendant Lewis is also outlawed, at least in part because he's stolen the wife of his best friend and current King, Douglass. Unknown to Douglass, a man who was jealous of Lewis' position has set into motion plans to overthrow Douglass and take control of the Empire himself. And oh yes there is another threat to all life (human and alien) in the universe that only the disappeared and presumed dead Owen can deal with.

It's fun writing if you've never read Green before. The heroes are snarky and ironic. The bad guys are suitably despicable. Green ALWAYS has rational male heroes and slightly more powerful, slightly more dangerous female heroines. He writes more strong female characters than any other male sci-fi/fantasy author I can think of. There are plenty of last stands, derring do, plots within plots, double crosses, close calls and battles to the bitter end. Green writes books (and chapters) like old time radio serials.

But if you've read Green before this will all seem recycled. And if heroes won't stay dead and can do thoroughly impossible things, how heroic are they really? Tolkien, for his faults, did a MUCH better job of writing heroic fiction.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin.


This is the first in a trilogy. Yeine Darr, a woman who is the daughter of an exiled Arameri (think Northern Europe) princess and a Darr (think pre-Colombian Meso-American) nobleman is summoned to her mother's home city after her mother has died suspiciously.

A new heir to her grandfather's throne must be chosen and somehow she must play a part. Some of her relatives want to kill her on sight; others are more sympathetic. But no one is telling her what's really going on or why her mother, the original Heir, fled in the first place.

The Arameri-her mother's people- are great wizards who have conquered the world (All 100,000 kingdoms) via the use of enslaved gods. The gods are throughly amoral with regards to humans. The Arameri live in a city that literally floats in the sky.

This was written by a woman and she has chosen to use first person narrative throughout. I HATE first person narrative in general. Nothing ever happens unless the narrator is there. In addition the author is a feminist who very much wants to play with and throw out traditional genre assumptions. Nothing wrong with that of course but the book really wasn't quite entertaining enough. I did perhaps learn to appreciate a little of my own male bias by having to attempt to look at everything through a woman's eyes. I might read the second book when it comes out but I'm not sure I'd buy it. It was a challenging read which is more than I can say for some authors these days.

Johnny Porno by Charlie Stella.
Finally got around to reading this this week. I finished it this morning in the barbershop while waiting my turn with a frustratingly slow but very skilled barber.

This book was a gem. It twists a number of stories around the phenomenon that was the reaction to Linda Lovelace and Deep Throat circa 1973. Although the book takes place almost entirely in NYC the author doesn't hand hold. Locations and neighborhoods are named via streets and subway stops for the most part, not "THIS IS QUEENS" or "THIS IS BROOKLYN". For the non New Yorker this may be initially disorienting but I got over it fast enough. For the New Yorker who knows these areas or how they were in 1973 this will be no problem at all.

The primary story in the book, although they are all interrelated, is that of John Albano, a down on his luck laborer whose sense of honor and quick fists have gotten him kicked out of the union and unable to consistently make rent, let alone pay alimony and child support to his shrewish ex-wife, Nancy.

Albano takes a job picking up cash from distributors showing Deep Throat after the previous person who had that job was permanently demoted by the Mob. Albano knows his way around the life (as does Stella) and promises himself he can keep the Mob at arms' length. Of course things don't work out entirely as Albano plans.

In some aspects this is not just a mob book, although the mob plays a major role, so much as it is a book about small time criminals, guys just trying to make a living and cops playing both sides of the fence. Everyone in the story is hustling to make a buck but most of their dreams are small. With the exception of an FBI agent who I didn't quite get, the character's motivations all make perfect sense for the limited lives that they have. This book is quite sleazy. I mean that in a good way. It's the written equivalent of a nasty Funkadelic riff. Stella turns everything up to 11 and you can almost smell the Lysol used to clean up the no-tell motels, strip clubs and restaurants where much of the action takes place.

Stella loves his characters but he also has fun with them. In one hilarious scene a bigoted dimwit can't stand to listen to the vocalizations in Soul Makossa but is just fine with similar nonsensical lyrics in Shambala.

Stella also does a tie-in with the DeMeo crew. There is room for a sequel so let's see if he wants to revisit some of these characters. Stella has gotten a lot of comparisons to Westlake , Higgins or Leonard. Those are fair. I would also add Ridley and possibly even Goines. Again, this is a profane book so if that's not your cup of tea, be forewarned.

The only thing which irritated me was

That aside and my quibble about the FBI agent, I enjoyed this book. I will have to go back and re-read Shakedown because it seems like Stella changed his style quite a bit since Shakedown. But I might be wrong. Anyway, a good read and worthwhile.

Ancestor by Scott Sigler. Sigler is a sci-fi horror writer but he doesn't write any supernatural elements in his stories. Everything is based in hard science. Ancestor was one of his earlier books, which he originally did as a podcast for free.

It is about the process of xenotransplantation-using animal organs to replace human ones. Whoever solves this will not only help millions of people live longer but will of course become exceedingly rich.

So a group of scientists backed by the requisite mercenary minded corporation with a hidden agenda are working on this issue. As most mammals are far too different from humans to be good organ donors the scientists decide to attempt to recreate the first mammalian ancestor under the idea that its organs will be a match for all of its descendants. Of course things go drastically wrong and bloody events take place.

This should have been a better book. It was one of Sigler's earliest ones and the characters are sort of flat. Insert feuding lovers here, insert cold military man there and so on. The book's tone was very staccato and it was quite apparent that it was written for the radio/internet downloads. It was still fun, just not great. As he does in many (all??)of his books, Sigler uses his home state of Michigan as a setting, specifically the beautiful remote shores and islands of Lake Superior.

In the novel Sigler can't resist taking a few shots at the people who said his business model wouldn't work and also gets in a few digs at Twilight fans.

A Gathering of Crows by Brian Keene.
This TRIES to be the sort of book that Stephen King used to be able to write while he was sleepwalking.
Decrepit old town? Check.
Malevolent outside attackers? Check.
Young people with unknown abilities? Check.
Lovers who refuse to admit they love each other? Check
Deep characters and logical story? NOPE

I wanted to like this book. It was about a dying old town in West Virginia, named Brinkley Falls. Brinkley Falls is attacked one night by five supernatural shapechanging entities whose very presence puts out all light in the town. They proceed to butcher the town's citizens in the darkness. However an Amish magician is passing thru and he intends to defend the town against these Lovecraftian inspired human looking monsters.

But since ALL of the characters in the book were cardboard, it was VERY difficult to care about any of them. They weren't well defined. Also the writer did not maintain internal logic. The entities attack at night and extinguish all electricity or light by their very presence. Absent candles no one can see anything. Yet the heroes, who don't have any candles, are constantly described as doing such things as reading, searching for equipment, looking at each other's faces, or preparing meals, in TOTAL darkness. Sigh. A quick read but not a very good one.

THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY

My first Beatles book and it was FANTASTIC. Quite a bit of information and it took me a while to read, but I loved the fact that it was told by the band (not from someone else's point of view). They did a great job at being able to speak for John Lennon from interviews prior to his death. HIGHLY recommended for any Beatles fan!

Just read HELLFIRE by Nick Tosches about rock n roll legend/wildman Jerry Lee Lewis. Very informative and interesting. He was/is certainly a character!

Just read Don Winslow's THE DAWN PATROL. Another epic story by a fella who has rapidly become one of my favourites!

For some reason I've been more interested in the classical world recently so I just bought and read Ernle Bradford's book Thermopylae The Battle for the West.


The title is actually somewhat misleading. It's actually a detailed historical account of three key battles between the Greeks and the Persians: Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea. It's really not written at the grunt level per se though there is some of that but skillfully uses the benefits of hindsight, Greek and Persian records, and a good knowledge of the climate and environment of Greece to show why and how Xerxes' plans ultimately failed. I would recommend this to any historical buffs.

One can not read this book without at least thinking about the movie "300" which got some essentials right but got so very much else wrong, although it remains a favorite movie of mine. The reality was actually much more interesting. I think I may do another post on 300/Sparta in general.

One thing which remains interesting, thousands of years later is just how divided the Greeks were, since at that time the strongest loyalty was to the city-state, not to "Greece" as a whole. There were several Greeks who fought on the Persian side or switched sides depending on who was winning at the time or what their rival was doing. An exiled Spartan King advised Xerxes while his best admiral was a Cretan woman. Truth is often stranger than fiction.

Lilo you might want to check out the author MASSIMO MANFREDI then. He writes historical epics all set around this sort of period. Pretty good as well.

Thanks Yogi! I'll put it on the list..

Just blasted through a very good book by a chap called Alex Wheatle, called THE DIRTY SOUTH. It is a coming of age tale of young black Jamacians in south London, all about drugs,violence and the search for love and redemption. If you can get past the Jamacian patois used it is a damn fine story!

I'm just about finished with David O. Stewart's 1787 about the Constitutional Convention. There is so much more to it and its delegates than is usually presented in history or government texts.

Just blasted through 2 books at work last night (yes it was very quiet LOL).

THE MISSING by Chris Mooney. Good read. Takes famaliar themes of kidnap, murder and suspense and gives it a shake up with a nice twist.

Then a clever little number called DRIVE by James Sallis. A old school noir pot boiler sat in LA. A guy is always the getaway driver at heists and never anything else,but when he is double crossed he has to take matters into his hands and do a bit more than drive. Excellent this!