The Caine Mutiny
Have you ever wanted to quit a good job because of office politics? You'll love this book. You'll know all of the characters, only by different names of course. The thing was, it was WW II. No going home at 5, no weekends off, and no holiday to keep you going. The boys lost it.
Read this and your office won't look quite so bad. I hope. |
The Riddle of the Sands
This little book has been called the first spy novel and is also on the 100 Greatest Novels list of The Observer. I stumbled upon it in an estate box. Written in 1903. A little full of that Boys Own. You know, "fight the good fight', "for God and country", "Pluck". That sort of thing. A different time. It does have a great vocabulary but a much slower pace. Interesting.
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The Secrets of Harry Bright
Two Los Angeles detectives are enticed out to Mineral
Springs. Maybe play a little golf at these high-end clubs and see if they can't figure out what really happened out in the desert a couple of years back. No one individual shines and that I guess is why I like Mr. Wambaugh so much. |
Outsider in Amsterdam
I know the Scandinavian authors are popular right
now and this is from another era but... the story about detective-adjutant Grijpstra and sergeant de Glier is just a bit too contrived. It's all too smooth and charming. Charming? I guess that's why I don't like Mr. Wetering so much. |
The Snapper
I love Roddy Doyle. His use of language/dialogue is just so brilliant. Jimmy Sr. truly cares for his daughter Sharon. Only she's single, living at home and pregnant. The back and forth between the two of them. He's mad at her but he really loves her. I think it would be great to go for beers with all of them. It'd be a fun time.
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Letourneau's Used AutoParts
Big Lucien, E. Blackstone, Lillian, Crowe Bovey, Junie. What a tough crew that live in and around Miracle City. Carolyn Chute has spun a tail of hardship and pain. There is love of family and a love of God, but my Lord, there is a lot of pain. I can't honestly say as I'd like to go out for beers with any of them.
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The Guts
God, I love the Rabbitts. They're not grabbin' life
by the tale and hangin' on. They're grabbin' it by the throat and screaming in its ear. They're just brilliant. They make the Crawley's look like shite. The only problem with me reading Roddy Doyle is I start cursing and slaggin' everyone. In a fun way. Not everyone gets it. Ah well. |
Eureka Street
Well, for me this book was a lot of things. Whimsical, funny, sad, tragic. Mostly tho it was just plain great. A really great read. What can I say. I truly have a soft spot for Irish story telling. " The weekend opened out to me like a menu in a cheap cafe. There was nothing I wanted there."
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The Seeing Stone Out of the Dust
"My new Bow! It is so Beautiful. I know I am meant to keep it in the armory with my father's coat-of mail and the practice-swords and spikes and everything, but I have brought it up here so I can keep looking at it." This book just makes you feel like your twelve again. You are right there in the year 1199. It's wonderful. So full of everyday detail. What fun.
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I was just a little down on finding a good read and then this. Wow. Someone referred to Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust as a " novel in poetry " and were they ever right. Books will never die when we have authors like this. Take this gem home and you'll see what I mean. |
The Tale of Despereaux
A customer recommended this book about a brave little mouse. It was a fun read. The author throws out new words for us. She also drops clues and hints about what the future may hold. In short she treats a young person as she would an adult. It is hard to go wrong with the award winners and this is no exception.
Duende |
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How to describe this book. It's Jason Webster's struggle to put his middle class upbringing behind him. I mean we've all done it but nothing like this. He so totally embraced the world of Flamenco that it almost did him in. He lived this life in a far more real way than Hunter S.
Thompson ever did with the Hells Angels and with a more devastating affect. Read on. Klutz Book of Knots
This is the best knot book ever. Yes, yes, I know, the Ashley Book of Knots is.... But as the Klutz people point out, "We are neither woodsmen, wranglers nor soldiers of fortune". These are the 25 work-a-day, 9 to 5 utility knots that will keep the average person going. Truly, over the top best ever.
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A bit of a tough act to follow after Jason's total immersion in Flamenco. Well, doesn't help that Mr. Miller slips into being that of a gaucking tourist with his chicken bus descriptions. I mean we've all been there. But then he'll get on a roll and give us a bit of true travel writing. Some history, some colour, a bit of insight. I think his next book will be even better.
The Book of Knots
Being a complete treatise on The Art of Cordage. Illustrated by 472 diagrams showing the manner of making every knot, tie, and splice, by Tom Bowling'. What the Klutz Book of Knots misses I suspect this one might fill in? |
End of the Line
Seemed to be a awful lot of bursting going on in this book. Their muscles were bursting through there shirts, they were bursting through locked doors, bursting with pride in a job well done. The author has set this book in a different time but the style of writing is also of that time. Prim and proper and just a bit romantic. Best sit up strait as you read it.
St. Burl's Obituary
Burl is on the lam. He's had to flee his overly comfortable life in New York as an obit writer. On the run across America he's forced to face the demons. Mostly of his own making. The drive west is full of turns that kept me entranced the entire time. A culinary trip and a fun read. The Five Love Languages
Alright Hogs, listen up. No one is asking you to start eating rice cakes, take a yoga class or listen to whale music. I am telling though to get your butt down to your local book store and buy this title. It'll make you think. That's a good thing. |
Mr. Doyle & Dr. Bell
Everywhere you look there's a new Sherlock-style knockoff. I find a lot of them kinda fun. "Monk". It's very corny but change from the every day. I think Howard Engel's book is like that. Fun. Well, and I'm a sucker for London of the 1800s. What can I say? You gotta take a break from life once in a while.
A Confederacy of Dunces
"The adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society." That's from Wikipedia when I looked up the term Picaresque Novel. A fun read. If you're an author who's been turned down by publishers you may want to read about Mr. Toole. A truly sad tale. Keep writing in spite of what anyone says.
The Seven Habits
Who am I to disc a book that's sold 15 million copies? But when we start talking "sequential relationship," "synergy," "paradigm of effectiveness." Oh, and a 1-800 number for your "self-scoring Seven Habits Personal Feedback..."? Who are the people who sell these books, courses and seminars. I think I'd just as soon give it a miss.
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