Chapter Ninety-four

We're only a couple of weeks into April and - for the most part - the weather has not been Spring-like. We haven't had any more snow but it's been overcast and chilly. Thankfully, I'm still working on the pile of books that I picked up at the Library sale a couple of months ago.

Miscellaneous

Freedomland - Richard Price ($15.00/$1.00, copyright 1998, 655 pages, Trade Paperback)

I'm a big fan of Price's work. In fact, I spoke about his novel "The Wanderers" a couple of months ago. A white woman, Brenda Martin, stumbles into an inner-city emergency room and announces that she has just been carjacked by a black man and her young son was asleep in the back seat. Detective Lorenzo Council - who grew up in the Housing Project that's the scene of the crime - is assigned the case. Council jumps right in to the search but he has his doubts about Brenda's story. Then a reporter gets involved and sensationalizes the whole situation causing some serious tension between the Black Inner City and the next door White Suburb and all this takes place within 72 hours. This book is big and I have to admit that I expected to hit some padding but Price really does a great job of moving it along. His characters ring true and he keeps the suspense going until the end. I enjoyed it.

The Rhinemann Exchange - Robert Ludlum ($1.95/$.50, copyright 1974, 446 pages, Paperback)
I first came across Ludlum's work in the late '60's/early '70's and this is one of my favorites. During World War 2, the U.S. and Germany make a back-door deal to exchange industrial diamonds for a design for a new bombing element. The swap is to take place in Buenos Aires and Agent David Spaulding is assigned to the swap. The thing is, he only knows about getting the bomb part until a third party tips him off about the other side of the deal. He takes it on himself to right what he sees is wrong. Ludlum keeps the action moving at a brisk pace. He does a great job describing the locale and his characters are well defined. I enjoyed it.

That's it for this month.

I still have a couple of books stacked up in the Living Room from that Book Sale and I just got 3 more in the mail from one of the Discount sites I use.

Spring is finally here so enjoy it and ....


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Chapter Ninety-three

March has been a tough month with 3 Nor'easters  that hit within a week or so of each other. Every one of them was bad enough to keep me indoors for several days at a time - excluding  how long
I was outside cleaning off my car and digging out from what the plows did. I'm lucky to live close to  a few stores that I can walk to regardless of the weather and I'm happy that I have shelves full of books that I can revisit.

Off The Shelf

Noble House - James Clavell ($7.99/$7.99, copyright 1981, 1370 pages, Paperback)
I am a big fan of Clavell's "Asian Saga" so, when I was looking for something to help me pass the time, I found this in the back of one of my bookshelves. It's 1963 and the Noble House  is close to collapse.  Ian Dunross is now the Tai-Pan and must figure out a way to pay off his debts and save his inheritance. The narrative takes place in Hong Kong (as expected) and covers about a week and a half of it's history including cold war espionage, bank failures, hostile takeovers, drug smuggling, kidnapping, and murder. Clavell has two strengths - his knowledge of the history of the area and his insight into the human condition especially the interpersonal. He's built on his previous books and created a family saga that is very intricate but interesting. I suppose that you could read this as a stand-alone book but I would recommend that you read :"Tai-Pan" first. I enjoyed it.

OK. I had to do it.

Tai-Pan - James Clavell ($7.99/$7.99, copyright 1966, 732 pages, Paperback)
This is, probably, the 5th time that I've read this book and I still enjoyed it. It's a magnificent saga of  the 1840's founding of Hong Kong by powerful British trading interests. It's the story of - in my opinion - an unforgettable fictional character, Dirk Struan, founder of The Nobel House, the leading British trading combine in China. He's locked in a life-and-death commercial and family blood feud with Brock & Sons, another powerful British firm, that vies with him for primacy in the opium trade with China. Clavell brings in pirates, a Russian scheme, and some American interests to make things interesting but he's also good with dealing with his character's personal lives. Like I said, I really enjoyed t.

Four days from now it will be April. I'm looking forward to no more snow but I'm dreading the pollen. Until then ...

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Chapter Ninety-two

February turned out to be a hit-or-miss kinda month, weather-wise. We had some really cold days, we had some snow, and we had some warm days - including one record-breaking Wednesday. I'm still sitting with my Granddaughter twice a week (for a couple of hours) and I still have some follow-ups with a couple of doctors. And, I still have a lot of books from the Metuchen Library sale last month.

Miscellaneous

When you're at these kind of sales sometimes you get lucky.

The Wanderers - Richard Price ($15.95/$1.00, copyright 1974, 239 pages, Trade Paperback)
 I grew up in The Bronx in the '60's and I understand what Price was writing about. This book is sort of a coming-of-age story for a teenage street gang of the same name in the 1960's Bronx. In the first chapter, we are introduced to the world in which they live. In this world  street gangs are numerous, and based on ethnic identity. There are Italian, Black, Irish and Chinese gangs. Perhaps the most bizarre of the gangs described are the Ducky Boys, a whole neighborhood of dwarf-like Irish kids who carry straight-edge razors. I was sure that this was something Price had made up, but someone from the Bronx of that time once told me there really was such a gang. The novel follows the lives of the gang members, Richie, Perry, Joey, Eugene and Buddy as they try to figure out their lives in this rough environment. These guys are really just kids trying to make the best of things in challenging circumstances and, like teenagers everywhere, they go to school, fall in love and worry about their future. There is an unusual honesty about this novel. Price lays it out in an uncompromising way with recognizable characters and the story lines don't always work out. I enjoyed it.


Series

When you're at these kind of sales sometimes you take some chances.

Nevermore - Harold Schechter ($6.99/$.50, copyright 1999, 465 pages, Paperback)

What if Poe's famous Gothic stories were based not on imagination but reality? This book takes the idea that Poe was involved in the investigation of hideous murders in Baltimore in his youth, murders that seemed to be related to his family. While unravelling the dark thread of these horrific murders, Poe eventually finds the inspiration that leads to some of his most famous works.Fans of Poe will enjoy matching the murders to similar events in his stories, such as The House of Usher and The Masque of the Red Death. What I found especially interesting was that Schechter brings another historical figure into the story - Davy Crockett. I admit that I found this annoying at first but in the end the partnership does work out.  It was good.

Last Words - Rich Zahradnik ( $13.95/$1.00, copyright 2014, 237 pages, Trade Paperback)
Last Words
It's March of 1975 in New York and newsman Coleridge Taylor roams police precincts and ERs. When a body is brought into Bellevue, Taylor immediately knows something is off. Sensing a story, he begins to follow whatever thread he can to find out the truth. Zahradnik has created richly drawn characters, both the major ones and the minor ones. I have to say that one of the more enjoyable aspects of this book was the sense of time and place. I felt transported back to 1975, right to the streets of that time period. The political, economic and social climate of the era feels right It was an enjoyable mystery, atmospheric and suspenseful. This is one of those books I hope gets lots of attention. It enjoyed it.

That's it for this month.

Coming up is March, which means St. Patrick's Day and - hopefully - warmer weather. Until then .........

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Chapter Ninety-one

Though the Holiday Season was busy, I was able to attend a Book Sale in Metuchen just before Christmas. I got there early and pretty much had the freedom to wander around and pick up what I wanted. I spent $12 and had to borrow a bag to carry them to the car. So many books, so many genres. Here are the one's I read this month.

Miscellaneous

Confederates - Thomas Keneally ($.50/$3.50, copyright 1979, 437 pages, Paperback)
I don't usually pick up historical fiction but this grabbed my attention. This is not your typical Civil War Novel. There are no happy endings here, and no escape from the inevitability of this nightmare. The Confederate army we meet consists of ragged and hungry teachers, musicians, small farmers, orphaned children, men in their 60's, conscripts, and even the sorely ill and walking wounded, who share their stories and simple dreams as they trudge resignedly and painfully across Virginia toward their destiny at Antietam.  Keneally, from chapter to chapter, paints a compelling picture by showing us what various characters are going through while still giving us what I think is an historically accurate depiction. I enjoyed it.


The Death Of The Detective - Mark Smith ($.50/$1.95, copyright 1973. 636 pages, Paperback)
This book drew me in. On the surface the plot is very familiar: a grizzled detective named Magnuson is summoned to a friend's deathbed only to find him murdered, and he must solve the mystery and bring the killer to justice. The difference is that there is no mystery for the reader. From the opening pages we know there is an escaped mental patient looking to take vengeance on his intended victim. Magnuson, theorizes vast conspiracies and multiple suspects with imagined motives for the killing, and all the while the reader knows that he is wrong. This vast novel is full of characters, each of them has their own history that, once revealed, can change the entire way they are viewed. The character of Tanker is the best example of this but I won't get into that.  he is easy to write off as a young street punk, but in the space of a few pages his back story makes him into a tragic figure. I enjoyed it.

Series

The Insidious Doctor Fu Manchu - Sax Rohmer ($.25/$.40, copyright 1913, 191 pages, Paperback)
I'm a big fan of Pulp Fiction and have a collection of Doc Savage and the Shadow. I was lucky enough to pick up several volumes of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu series at the book sale. This is the first and introduces the main characters - Nayland Smith and his good friend Dr. Petrie . Smith brings Petrie into an adventure revolving  around the figure of a mysterious Chinese doctor named Fu-Manchu, the evil genius at the center of a plot to subjugate the white races to oriental domination. As the plot unfolds these two  Englishmen, encounter many of Dr. Fu-Manchu's terrifying agents, including numerous representatives of a mysterious Asiatic strangler cult. I really enjoyed this.

I still have quite a few books left over so I'm ready for February.

Talk to you then.

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Chapter Ninety

It's December so the weather has been a little erratic. We've had some days that were above average temperature-wise and days like today (and for the rest of the year) that are below freezing. We've had a few snow falls but nothing too bad, and I had a stomach virus that kept me home for a week. It's a good thing that I can always rely on my TBR pile and my bookshelves.

Miscellaneous

Ben Hur - Lew Wallace ($.50/$1.99,copyright 1996, 382 pages, Paperback)
I'm pretty sure that I picked this up at a Library sale in Woodbridge about 2 or 3 years ago along with several other books. It wound up in my TBR (To Be Read) pile because the other books I bought were more interesting. Being stuck at home, it caught my attention. It was published in the 1880's but I think it really became popular after the 1960 release of the Charleton Heston movie. It is the story of two childhood friends who become enemies. Judah Ben-Hur and Messala spent their younger days trying to outdo each other. As tensions grew they parted ways only to meet one day - years later - under very bad circumstances.  Wallace does a great job depicting how Ben-Hur's life long quest for redemption leads to salvation and conversion to Christianity and how the restoration of his name and life comes on the day Christ Himself is crucified. I enjoyed it.


Off The Shelf

The Source - James A. Michener ($3.95/$3.95, copyright 1965, 1088 pages, Paperback)

This book has been with me for a long time. It was an assignment for an English Class back in the mid-'60's and I've carried it with me through several moves over two different states. It's a fascinating, fictitious history of Makor, a city in Israel, from prehistory to modern times. The intro takes us to an archeological dig in the '60's that turns up artifacts in an ancient mound. Then, starting with the deepest, oldest artifact and moving forward in time, in successive chapters , Michener chronologically describes the inhabitants (who are often descendants of characters in earlier chapters) and events in and around the city over thousands of years. In this way, he tells the fascinating story of the people who populated that particular area and delves a bit into the interaction of the various, diverse religious groups. I enjoyed it.

It's cold here so I just turned up the thermostat. I've thrown another blanket on the bed and stacked up a few extra books on the night table. There's snow in the forecast but I hope it won't be bad.

The New Year starts next Monday. I hope you all have a great one and that you find some time to ..

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Eighth Anniversary Edition!

Eight years. That's a long time. A lot has happened and I have to say that the good has outweighed the bad ( and there has always been a book or two to get through the bad). Lately, I've found myself looking for specific titles  so I've been buying more from a couple of on-line discount sites but I still go on a Library run every week or so. You never know what you'll find.

Non-fiction

Ghost Soldiers - Hampton Sides ($14.95/$4.29, copyright 2009, 334 pages, Trade Paperback)
Recently, I've been picking up  some Non-fiction books - specifically Histories. This is a great war story that traces American GI's from the Bataan Death March through their internment in the Japanese prison system.   It is a gripping and well written story that begins with the massacre of American prisoners at Palawan and ends with the eventual liberation of several hundred during a daring raid on the prison at Cabanatuan.  Knowing that 500 prisoners were at the Philippines camp, the US Sixth Army unleashed what is perhaps the war's most dramatic rescue mission in early 1945. Hampton Sides is a good writer who knows how to keep a story moving. He weaves back and forth between the prisoners and their Ranger rescuers without breaking the story pace. He also traces the history of the prisoner's experiences under Japanese authority. The sadistic barbarity with which the captors treated American prisoners is amazing for its uniformity. The threads of the story come together nicely with a climatic battle scene that glued my attention to the pages. I enjoyed it.

The Murder of Napoleon - Ben Weider and David Hapgood ( $3.50/ $.50, copyright 1982, 256 pages, Paperback)
I first read this book back in the mid-90's. I don't know where that copy is but I picked this one up at the Library in Metuchen. It's common knowledge that Napoleon Bonaparte died while imprisoned on the island of St. Helena. Until very recently, it was widely believed that he died of stomach cancer, which was prevalent in his family. This book investigates the case made by Swedish dentist who began to suspect something else. Along with Ben Weider, the two delved into sources of available information regarding Napoleon, his imprisonment and those close to him. The authors present a very likely scenario of what really happened based on results of this investigation. A likely suspect to the murder as well as a motive are also named. I know that this review is a little vague but I didn't want to give anything away. It's written in a way as to make the scientific details understandable and they did a good job with the characters. It was OK.

Miscellaneous

The King Must Die - Mary Renault ($13.00/$.50, copyright 1958, 332 pages. Trade Paperback)
I picked this up at a Library sale about 2 years ago because it looked interesting and I've always wanted to read one of Renault's books. Here, she tells the story of Theseus as if he was a real person, not a mythical character, using history, archaeology, and a deep understanding of the cultures of the period to place him in a realistic context. I knew nothing of his history but her descriptions bring the period vibrantly to life in ways consistent with the historical record. From his lifting of the stone to find his father's sword to his becoming King of Eleusis, Renault writes with elegance and a fine appreciation for the details of daily life, the art of the period, and the pantheon of gods thought to control men's destinies. Still, it reminded me a bit too much of the Arthurian legend. It was OK.

Totals

I'm pretty sure I haven't read as many books this year, and I'm pretty sure I've spent more, but I've tried a few more genres and I've enjoyed the experience. (Again, there have been books that I tried but didn't like and I don't mention those). Here are this years numbers:

Miscellaneous -

19 Books, $227.86 cover price, $56.44 actual cost

Off The Shelf  -

5 books, $33.05 cover price, $31.80 actual cost

Series -

4 books, $57.93 cover price, $$3.00 actual cost

Non-fiction

2 books, $18.45 cover price, $4.79 actual cost

Overall Total For 2017

30 books, $337.29 cover price, $96.03 actual cost

Eight Year Totals 

324 books, $3212.75, $354.93

That's it for now. I'm looking forward to Year 9 and the upcoming Christmas Season.

Be good, Enjoy, and ...

Keep reading.

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Chapter Eighty-nine

It's October and the leaves are dropping but they haven't started to change color yet. Halloween is less then a week away and I noticed that there are fewer, less elaborate, outside displays this year. I have no idea what my Granddaughter's costume will be. I've been tempted to ask but I want to be surprised. This month, I bought the books I'm posting about from online, discount sites (this is what you have to do if you want something specific). I actually have a Holiday-related book to tell you about.

Miscellaneous

The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury ( $5.50/$4.29, copyright 1972, 145 pages, Paperback)
For years I would read Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" every October. Then my Granddaughter was born and I wound up reading books like "Where's Baby's Pumpkin" and "Daniel Tiger's Halloween". As she's getting older, I began to look into other books for her and found this for me. It's more of a Young Adult Book and deals with Tom Skelton and his friends getting ready for "Trick or Treating". But then their friend Pipkin is snatched away and Tom and his eight friends have to go looking for him. Bradbury uses the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud to teach the boys about Halloween across the ages. The writing is classic Bradbury but is aimed at a younger audience -  poetic with a touch of Dr. Seuss. It's short and it's fun and I enjoyed it.

"I Heard You Paint Houses" - Charles Brandt ($15.95/$5.65, copyright 2004, 307 pages, Trade Paperback)
I came across an article about Martin Scorsese's movie "The Irishman" (due out next year) starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci and it was being filmed here in New Jersey. I looked into it and found out that it was based on this book about Frank Sheeran (DeNiro), the Irish gangster, who carried out more than twenty executions on the orders the Italian mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and the Union Leader Hoffa (Pacino). The title, supposedly, were the first words Hoffa spoke to Sheeran and means to kill a man. After the tense beginning, the book goes back in time to capture Sheeran’s life and you see how his experiences during World War II, his entry into the Mob, and his climb up that ladder shaped his life. This was all interesting but then Brandt speculates about the Kennedy Assassination and Hoffa's disappearance. Also, he's written most of this as a first-person narrative that I didn't think rang true. It was OK.

We're entering the Holiday Season and Thanksgiving is just about a month away. I don't know what the plans are but I'm sure my immediate family will be together. For now, I just got another book in the mail that I'll be checking out tonight. Enjoy and ...

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