my wife gave me a Kindle for Christmas and I was skeptical. I use the library a lot for books that I read on the train, but I find that in addition to a ton of older books that are free, there are a lot of games and things like crossword puzzles and inexpensive magazine subscriptions on it. It is a lot smaller that a laptop and less expensive and smaller than an iPad. I use it a lot more than I thought I would.

I just read John Grisham's new book, The Confession. It is a typical Grisham book about the death penalty and Texas justice. It is a good, quick read.

I've had my NOOK for almost a week now, and I love it. Eye strain is no better or worse than with reading an actual book, the text is crisp and clear, and the long battery life guarantees hours and hours (days if you wish) of reading.

I'm currently reading MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY HUNT FOR LINCOLN'S KILLER. Reading through it, it astonishes me how easy it was for Booth to get through to the Presidential Box at Ford's Theatre and assassinate Lincoln. Not only that, but Booth's boldness to arm himself only with a Bowie knife and a one-shot Derringer, not to mention the ease in which he escaped. NOT TO MENTION the fact that Booth had only decided to actually kill Lincoln THAT DAY. This is all information that I learned in history class, of course, but rediscovering it through this book created the same sense of shock and awe as when I first learned about it.

Great book so far, can't wait to finish it!

Just finished a very interesting book called THE GALVANISED YANKEES by Dee Brown. All about Confederate prisoners who enlisted in the Union army to fight the Indians in the West, protecting the settlers and pioneers. A very good job of it they did as well apparently!

WISEGUY: LIFE IN A MAFIA FAMILY

So I was finally able to read the book that GOODFELLAS was based upon. Between the two, I prefer the movie but they did a great job at adapting it to a film. I thought the book was a little light with not much depth to it. Just seemed to be a bunch of stories superficially strung together. I felt Henry Hill could have divulged more, however it wasn't a bad read. Just wanted more I guess.

CASINO: LOVE AND HONOR IN LAS VEGAS

As was the case with WISEGUY and GOODFELLAS, I liked CASINO the movie better than CASINO the book. Quite a bit from the movie wasn't in the book but I found the book to skip around too much whereas the film seemed to have a better flow to it. This was more in depth than WISEGUY (longer too by 100 pages) but I felt there was too much emphasis at the beginning of the book dealing with the upbringing of Lefty (Ace in the movie) and Tony (Nicky) in Chicago. Again, not a bad read but I prefer the movie.

Game of Thrones

I finally finished this book, thankfully before the HBO series completed. It was a good book. Although this is in the "fantasy" genre, in truth in this book there is virtually no magic and there are no non-human races. There are no quests and no dark towers.

Rather this book is pretty much just what it sounds like-various noble families struggle with one another for power. Some of these families are downright evil, others less so but they are all quite self-interested.

Martin is a VERY dense writer. I still say that he could do with some tighter editing but when you have an epic to write that's what you do I guess.

Martin creates a world suspiciously similar to our own with areas that are like unto Europe, Asia and Africa.

Ned Stark, head of the Stark family rules in the North. He holds allegiance to his King, best friend and former brother-in-law, Robert Barratheon. Stark and Barratheon led a successful rebellion against the former evil and quite insane king some years ago.

Stark wants nothing more than to be left alone in the gloomy north. But his King calls him to court to be the Hand of the King (i.e underboss) as the previous Hand died under rather dubious circumstances.

Stark is very honorable, loyal and intelligent man but is unwise in intrigues. He finds that his old friend has become rather "pragmatic" when it comes to moral issues while the young Queen is a nakedly ambitious woman with plans of her own. And the children of the deposed king have escaped overseas where they seek allies among a Mongol/Comanche like people. They intend to return and conquer. Martin also throws in million different subplots-not all of which will come to fruition in this book.

This is VERY DIFFERENT from Tolkien, primarily because the prim Tolkien did not write realistically about two of the primary motivations of humans-lust and greed. Middle-Earth was a pretty sexless place. Martin's world is not. In an echo of dynastic practices of our own history, girls are betrothed before they reach ten and married off at fourteen. Bastard children don't inherit their father's name or wealth. The good guys don't always win in Martin's world-most importantly they can't always decide what is the right thing to do. Do you avenge your father if if means the lives of your sisters? Do you turn a blind eye to the murder of your family if to do otherwise would mean the destruction of the entire realm?

The other difference is that the women in Game of Thrones are well drawn characters. Whether they exert power in their own name or in that of their male relatives, few of them can be underestimated. Most of the characters, male or female, are complex. Even the evil ones have rational motivations for their actions.

Michael Moorcock once called LOTR "Epic Pooh". Game of Thrones is not. It's very adult. In LOTR Aragorn can return to Gondor 1000 years after the last king disappeared and be accepted as king with no issue. If he tried that in any kingdom in Game of Thrones, his head would have been on a spike in less than 24 hours.

I doubt that Martin meant it as a nod to the Godfather per se but in this book a well meaning but rather selfish and stupid person gives a piece of information to someone they don't realize is an enemy which results in the death of that person's loved one and the start of a devastating war.

Good stuff. Check it out. It is long (800 pgs+) but worthwhile. All of the Noble Houses have words to live by. The Starks' words are "Winter is Coming" which is not only a self-admonition to save and prepare for the multiple year winters but is also a boast and a battlecry...

*Speaking of LOTR, in the HBO series Sean Bean plays Ned Stark. But perhaps fittingly as the two series are similar, The Wire veteran Aidan Gillen has a role as a suitably smarmy and self-interested power-broker.

I've just completed "Thief" the bio of con man William "Slick" Hanner. Interesting story of a Chicagoan who gets involved with the Chicago Outfit and uses his connections in the underworld to get himself employed in 1970's Las Vegas. The story is well written and has a fast paced, as Hanner takes you through his life from his childhood in Uptown to pulling cons in Vegas under the scrutiny of the deadly Tony Spilotro.
Vegas in the 70's was like another planet, anything and every-
thing one wanted...Vegas was the place to get it. The Organized Crime Familys all had their own hotels/casinos which meant an income from the skim. Hits were off limits, that is until Spilotro started taking liberties and stopped asking for permission. I have to recommend it!!

Amongst others just finished SINATRA: THE LIFE by Anthony Summmers.

Fantastic read. What a talent,what a life,what a character!!

FINALLY finished FIVE FAMILIES, by Selwyn Raab (per the recommendation of Turnbull, SC, and may others.) Definitely the most thorough history on the mob (in book form) I've ever read. It's a huge book, but it never gets boring. I'll probably read it again.

Also recently read GASPIPE, by Philip Carlo. Certainly not the most accurate portrayal of Anthony Casso, but it was an entertaining read nonetheless.

I read recently that Philip Carlo died this past November. Apparently he suffered from A.L.S., otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease. I was saddened to hear of his passing.

RAGING BULL: MY STORY

This was a pretty dull read. I was somewhat disappointed. After reading WISEGUY, CASINO and RAGING BULL, comparing the books to the movies, I'd take the movies in all 3 cases. This book didn't really gauge my interest for very long and I'm glad I finally got through it.

I actually read THE DA VINCI CODE and THE LOST SYMBOL before reading the first book in the Robert Langdon series, ANGELS & DEMONS. I picked the hardcover copy up for a buck at the swap meet in Costa Mesa, CA.

I actually think this is the best book in the series. The formula is very similar to the other two books (dead body, clues to unravel, etc.), but the setting and story of this book was far more interesting than the other two (the other two were still great, though.) While Brown does take a lot of liberties with the "facts" he presents in his books, his novels are smart and full of intrigue, and hard to put down.

I'm now re-reading THE DA VINCI CODE, and I'll follow that one up by re-reading THE LOST SYMBOL.

A Song of Ice and Fire
by George R.R. Martin



A Song of Ice and Fire is the fantastic fiction series written by the author George R.R. Martin (GRRM), in which the first book is A Game of Thrones. He intends to write seven books in the series. The books in order after A Game of Thrones are A Clash Of Kings, A Storm Of Swords, A Feast For Crows and just recently released, A Dance With Dragons. I've read the first four books. I'm reading number 5 now.

It is virtually impossible to tell you what happens in the series without giving spoilers from the first book other than to note that in a world similar to our own circa 1300 a civil war breaks out over the correct royal succession on a continent suspiciously similar to Europe, named Westeros. While the various factions wage war and do their best to eliminate each other, chessmasters manipulate them from the shadows and a supernatural threat grows offstage. What makes this different than any number of other mindlessly bad historical fiction or fantasy series you ask?

It's because GRRM is one of the best living authors in the genre. He deconstructs the genre, turns it inside out and makes it his and his alone. And like any true master, his characters transcend the genre. His characters have depth. GRRM writes real people-with all of their warts, fears, hatreds and jealousies. He's on a par with Stephen King as far as this goes. Some characters are shown not to be either as evil or as good as earlier books might have you believe. And some characters do indeed always try to do the right thing no matter what it costs.

Most of his major characters have incredible depth-whether it's a 16 yr old boy trying to figure out how to lead his people after his father's murder or a strong yet shockingly ugly and touchingly naive warrior woman struggling against the prejudices of her time or a violent brutal retainer who tries to kill his conscience with alcohol.

GRMM has no qualms killing off major characters or having them get maimed or brutalized if that's what the story requires. The author does not hesitate to show war for what it is. It may start out with talks of honor and justice but it ends up with rape, massacre, torture, famine and other acts of cruelty. No one is exempt from this in GRRM's world.

For example, during the war a group of young kids (including a disguised princess) is captured by a group of psychopathic soldiers searching for the princess and other "threats" to their lord's rule. One of the children has injuries and before the capture was being carried by his friends. When a soldier asks the boy if he can walk he peevishly explains that he can't walk and that they will have to carry him. The soldier replies "That so?" and calmly stabs the child through the throat, to the great amusement of his fellow soldiers.

And things get worse from there. But when you look at what has gone on in our own world, whether it be the killing fields in Cambodia, the My Lai massacre, The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the lawlessness in Somalia, the bombing of wedding parties in Afghanistan, rapes in Congo, mutilations and child soldiers in Sierra Leone, fanaticism in Pakistan, brutality in Serbia and so on, it's hard to say that GRRM is exaggerating too much.

GRRM depicts court life and political machinations perfectly. Minor plot points from earlier books turn out to be essential to someone's master plan for conquering Westeros. GRRM draws some strong and realistic female characters-some traditionally minded, others much less so. The aforementioned princess who's fleeing for her life has a list of people she wants dead. And though she's only ten years old, she has the will and skill to do something about it. The cost is also shown: violence makes people go dead inside.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

A very fantastic book! The movie was very similar with not very many differences other than at the end (minor as they were). Since the two are so identical it was difficult for me to decide which medium I liked better. However, after given it some thought I'm going to go ahead and say I enjoy the novel more. At first the nadsat language used in the novel was a little diffucult to follow at first but once you got the hang of it, it was fairly easy. Plus, to help the readers, there was an Afterward proceeding the book with a homemade glossary for the nadsat language. Really a great tale by Anthony Burgess about free choice and free will. I know the movie turns a lot of people off with all of the violence but put in it's proper context, it really is a fascinating story. If you enjoyed the movie and were ever curious about reading the book, I'd say it's worth it!

Finally read BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES by Tom Wolfe. I seem to remember the film being a bit poor but the book is great, i really enjoyed it!

I LOVED the book, and also thought the movie was a lot better than it got credit for.

Great book, Yogi. A perfect representation of the excesses and class rage of Manhattan in the '80s.

Germane to this board: The lawyer in the novel, Tommy Killian, was actually based on Eddie Hayes, who is a high profile Manhattan criminal attorney. He represented one of the "Mob Cops" (Caracappa, I think).

Decent movie. Not as bad as critics made it out to be, but not really memorable, either.

I have this book. It's a good book. I picked it up for like two bucks in an op-shop once. I was cheering. You would not believe how "in" to the book I was. I took it to work, to bed, on the train and in the shower till I finished it.

Maybe a different one.

I recently read a bunch of Roald Dahl adult fiction. Id had them for a while but I was somewhat reluctant to get into it, since they'd been given to me by someone who's opinion I respected with the comment "its unmistakably Roald Dahl".

I assumed that even though it was for adults, Roald Dahl was a childrens writer. So I was pretty damn amazed to learn that ol' Roald could be pretty damn risque, even downright dirty when he wanted to be. His prose does that thing were it makes you literally lol.

Like his best known work, its so random, yet so compelling. But unlike his best known works, it centres around completely hyper-realistic and entirely adult and mature pursuits, and portrays a completely different side of the guy that thought up Witches, Willy Wonka and assorted BigFreakin(G)Randomness..

And now for something completely different; I recently re-read Riki Tiki Tavi and various Rudyard Kipling short fiction. Just..just awesome.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS:A SAVAGE JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

An easy read sure enough. Once again, the book and movie are VERY similar, however the book seems to not have as much detail as the movie. The illustrations are nice provided by Ralph Steadman (to give the reader a look into the mind of a drug user somewhat). Between the two mediums, I prefer the movie. I think Terry Gilliam did a fantastic job bringing Hunter S. Thompsons' novel to life.

I finished A Dance with Dragons (ADWD).

How to write a review without discussing specific events or naming who's alive? I could write that it was a good story and stop. Many people have not read the series so no spoilers here. However I can say that whoever your favorite character might be, you are more attached to him or her than Martin is.

ADWD is the long awaited fifth book in George R.R. Martin's (GRRM) planned seven book series A Song of Ice And Fire (ASOIAF). GRRM has stated that often morally good people can make poor leaders while people who are dreadfully wicked can turn out to be excellent executives. ADWD shows that intelligence, competence and morality are not correlated traits.

GRRM also tweaks our desire for vengeance. ADWD makes an explicit shout out to Titus Andronicus. A few evil characters who earlier committed savage violent acts encounter people who are so demonically depraved, so psychotically sadistic, so incredibly maleficent that you almost find yourself feeling sorry for the lesser baddies and perhaps a little ashamed of your previous bloodthirst. Some of this was hinted at or even detailed in previous books but here GRRM stomps on the fuzz pedal and turns the amp up to eleven. This is ninth circle of hell stuff. Luca Brasi would run for the exits sobbing in fear. Nightmare Fuel. It's as if GRRM is saying "Oh so you want vengeance huh? Let me show you just what that looks like. Still want it tough guy?" It's an echo of Ned Stark's warning that "If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die".

ADWD examines if it would be better to have a kindhearted but inept ruler who brought various catastrophes on his/her people or a tyrant who ruthlessly punished dissent and ripped people's tongues out for speaking before s/he spoke to them but otherwise left people alone and created a safe peaceful environment for commerce and daily life.

The royal succession dispute has seemingly been settled-mostly. One legendarily stubborn claimant still battles on without support. Secretly, rival House leaders are still jockeying for power and control. And there are some new Houses on the scene; some old Houses have fallen. Winter has finally arrived. GRRM has expanded the story beyond Westeros and near environs. Magic is more evident. Dead things are walking. Priests have more powers. The dragons and the Stark direwolves are maturing. Both have critical roles to play.

Some characters lose everything in an instant, just as in real life. The Romanovs didn't foresee the revolution; they didn’t think they’d be executed. How many Africans lived in freedom one day and three months later were sold as chattel in New Orleans? Stuff happens.

ADWD introduces minor characters and gives them POV chapters. We get new perspectives on things. ADWD strongly implies that some key justifications for Robert's and Ned's rebellion weren't valid. However, ADWD has too many characters. This 1000 page book could use some tighter editing. Some subplots could have been dropped or tightened up IMO. The reader must pay CLOSE attention to details. ADWD gives hints of future events.

I will need to re-read this book and some earlier ones.
ADWD ends on a cliffhanger and something of a downer. As usual with GRRM there were times I laughed out loud or cheered and times I wanted to throw the book at the wall. I hope GRRM enjoys life and his well deserved acclaim. I also hope I don't have to wait three years or more for the next installment.

PRIVATE PARTS

A very in-depth, personal, and honest read from the King of Radio. The first 6 chapters are what the movie is based upon. Some of these chapters I believe could have been omitted. Some dealt with the celebrities he hates the most and why. It was just his ranting about people who dislike his show and how he in return doesn't like them. Overall though, an enjoyable read of you are a Stern fan!

Just read a very good book about the famous jazz singer Billie Holiday called WITH BILLIE, written bt Julia Blackburn. Apparently in the 1970's, some woman did a load of audio interviews with old jazz pals of Billie with a view to doing something, but she died and all these years later the author has taken the tapes and put them down on paper.

So the general idea of the book is all these addled old musos giving their take on Billie, most of it good but a lot of it bad. She was some character, addictions to drink,drugs and bad men left her penniless, in jail and evetually dead. I know the story of her life is well known but the scenes these old wastrels dig up are great. Harlem and the jazz scene in the '30's. All these talented musos strung out on drink and drugs, promiscuous beyond belief. These guys were the ultimate hell riasers!The only down point is that they all contradict each other, saying they were all in the same place at the same time which can't be true, and it makes you wonder if they aren't just spilling a load of old baloney???

But that aside, i only found this book and read it by accident, but it is by far and away the best book i have read this year!

Great ADAD review Lilo. Hacking thorugh AFFC. Cant wait to start Dragons.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X: AS TOLD TO ALEX HALEY

I thought this was an excellent book. Rather long in length, but definitely chuck full of information about a very controversial figure. After reading this, my opinion has changed (for the better) about Malcolm X. You're able to hear first hand about his thoughts and beliefs which has often been misconstrued by the media or the Nation of Islam. A fascinating tale of a man who wanted to better his race and wanted them to take some pride/respect/initiative themselves. I think what a lot of people feel is that Malcolm X was a racist because he didn't want the white man's help. In this regard (some of the things he said in the past while a member of the Nation of Islam) I believe he was somewhat of a racist. However, throughout his life after prison, I believe wholeheartedly that his message was for the black race to better themselves BY themselves. Without the help of others, particularly the white race.

SCREAM DECONSTRUCTED: AN UNAUTHORIZED ANALYSIS

I picked this book up because the original SCREAM is my favorite horror movies of all-time. Actually, it's probably one of my favorite movies of all-time. Period. This goes in depth as to some of the underlining themes in SCREAM. I agree with most of what the author has to bring the table in terms of his theories. Some I don't, but most of them I do. Unfortunately, the book only reads at 154 pages. He deconstructs all 4 Scream's to show how the series has influenced not only the horror genre, but cinema as well. Really my only complaint with the book is the length. The author would bring up some interesting points and would barely expand upon them. I felt the book easliy could have been longer and more in-depth. However, if you're any kind of SCREAM fan, it's worth a shot. Again, only 154 pages and $9.99 on Amazon

The late Rex Miller was certainly not everyone's cup of tea. Although he was associated with the splatterpunk genre, that description was too limiting. His writing as he freely admitted, came from some painful places, some of which he didn't care to describe in depth. As he wrote in a Dark Muse piece, "..evil exists. [It] needs to be cut out of the herd and incarcerated."

Frenzy is a short novel that is a battle of wits between two Midwestern men, Jack Eichord, a detective who specializes in taking down serial killers and Frank Spain, a mild mannered St. Louis based man who also happens to be the country's best hit man. Spain is primarily associated with the Midwest Organized Crime Families (St. Louis, Kansas City, and ultimately Chicago). Spain takes no pleasure in his job. It is just something that he does. Spain does not let his wife know of his business which unfortunately turns out to be a mistake and later a tragedy for Spain.


His wife Pat, is tired of Frank's constant absences and infrequent amorous attention. She comes to believe he's a wimp so she cheats on him with their insurance salesman. He catches her but does not kill her as he still loves her and Frank only kills on business. Pat leaves and takes their teen daughter Tiffany with her. Under her mother's less than attentive care, Tiffany falls in with a fast crowd. On a visit from Tiffany , Frank tries to correct this but overreacts. Tiffany runs away with her no-good boyfriend who turns her out into prostitution and later much worse activities. Ultimately she's murdered. Frank is devastated.

However Frank is beyond enraged when he discovers that the people who murdered his daughter ultimately worked for the same Mafia group HE did. As far as Frank is concerned they're ALL responsible and they're ALL going to pay. The Mafia's number one murder machine goes off the reservation, leaves sanity behind and comes to the attention of Eichord, who doesn't understand at first that this is an intensely personal killing spree that he's trying to stop. This book was short (300 pages) and to the point.

I know this was written awhile ago now but I've just read it and felt the need to reply. Ha ha. Good stuff.

It's a while since I read it and I thought it had longueurs, but that bit at the start about walking past the reproachful shelves containing All The Books You Know You Should Read (...and so on, I forget the exact formulation) still pops into my head about once a week. Invisible Cities is the one I come back to all the time though. The best writing about/inspired by Venice since Ruskin (?) and also the most perfect, most highbrow accompaniment to enjoying a leisurely shit - bite-sized nuggets of brilliance to be dipped into at random (and other unpleasantly mixed metaphors).

Has anyone read "American Psycho"? I caught the movie on TV late one night and was of course thoroughly disturbed, yet somehow thought it'd be a good idea to see how creepy the book might be. I've almost finished it, but I temporarily gave up on it because of how sickening it is.. though it probably didn't help that I was reading it on lunch breaks at work. I think I need to get back to some of those feel-good Stephen King stories I'm more fond of.

Gina,

I didn't read the book but caught the movie (or at least some of it) a couple year ago. Man, it WAS disturbing. Good grief! Must have been one of Christian Bale's early films. Very creepy. Btw, I had heard they wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to be in the film but for whatever reason gave it to Bale.

Nice to see you again BTW


TIS

lol I've read the book and have seen the movie.