Chapter Five

OK, it's been a strange month full of good news and bad. It looks like this chapter is going to fall into the same categories as well.

Miscellaneous

The London Pigeon Wars - Patrick Neate (323 pages, $24.00/$.50, copyright 2003, Hard Cover) One of the blurbs on the jacket compared Neate's use of language to "A Clockwork Orange", so I bought it. My mistake. It was interesting at first, a group of 30-something Brits bemoaning their lives meets up with a friend from 20 years passed and plan a bank robbery, interspersed by section narrated by a pigeon involved in the War. Unfortunately, it got too involved with the language, and I began to lose interest towards the end. OK.

The Worst-Case Survival Handbook - Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht (176 pages, No price marked/$.25, copyright 1999, Soft Cover) Definitely worst-case! I can't see anyone who grew up in the Bronx ever being in any of these situations. I'll help you out - in the situation involving wild animals - STAY AWAY! No opinion, since it's not a novel.

Series

PlayBack - Raymond Chandler (168 pages, $2.25/$.50, copyright 1958, Paperback) This should go under the heading of "Holy Crap! Look what I found! Philip Marlowe! What more could you want. Marlowe is the archetype for all the wise-cracking, hard as nails PIs that came after him. This one is no real mystery just classic Marlowe doggedly getting at the truth. Enjoyed it.

Downside to Library Shopping

Yes, there are two drawbacks to library shopping, and they are perfectly illustrated by the following:

Everglades - Randy Wayne White (351 pages, $7.99/$.50, copyright 2003, Paperback) To paraphrase the Stones - You can't always like what you get. I could see where this one was going after 94 pages (about 1/4 of the way through). The main character is a Marine Biologist with a past, and the action hadn't even left his boat. I've got too many other books piled up to keep struggling with one. Back on the Pile.

Person or Persons Unknown - Bruce Alexander (325 pages, $5.99/$.50, copyright 1997, Paperback) Draw back number 2. I read it already. This is part of a series, and I wasn't sure I'd read it, but I had. Nevertheless, it's a great series centered on Sir John Fielding (brother to Henry Fielding of "Tom Jones" fame), who was the blind magistrate who started the Bow Street Runners in London. Excellent period piece, and a good mystery to boot.

Comic Books

The Brave and the Bold: The Book of Destiny - Mark Waid (writer), George Perez and Jerry Ordway (pencils) ($12.99/30 percent off coupon, copyright 2008, Hard Cover) This volume includes issues 7 through 12 of the individual comic. I bought it because in addition to the usual superheroes (i.e., Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.) on the cover, there were - THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN -one of my favorite groups ever, and sadly underused for most of the last decade. Anyway, there were some different pairings, and some unusual situations not normally found in a team-up book. To tease you into looking for this it included The Doom Patrol, and the BlackHawks along with The Flash and Green Lantern. Enjoyed it.

Now, a reason for buying comics in Trade Editions. When I was a kid, you'd get your dose of your favorite superhero monthly. Each issue was a stand alone adventure, and it was an Event if there was a two-parter or a cross-over. Nowadays, most story lines run in 6-issue arcs. I was lucky to get the first 3 issues of the recent Flash:Reborn series from my brother. This was back in August. Now all I had to do was collect the last 3 issues of the arc, and I'd have the whole set. It's now March, 7 months later and I'm still waiting for issue number 6 - THE LAST ISSUE - to come out. The guy in the store said maybe next week. This is why I usually wait for the Trade to come out. No muss, no fuss.

ALSO, for anyone who actually reads this, I finally started the jigsaw puzzle from Christmas.

Talk to you later.