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canuck
Active Member
Have just finished reading Dead of Winter by P. J. Parrish, a Detective Louis Kincaid thriller. It's well written, a tense and suspenseful plot, a Chief of Police you'd like to throttle, and a youngish detective who is a bit rough around the edges. I think this is one of her earlier books as I've read other books written by Ms. Parrish where Detective Kincaid is older and smarter. Certainly a worthwhile read - I enjoyed it.
ricko
Member
The adventures of huckleberry finn
This satirical novel is the sequel to 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and is one of the first novels to be written in the vernacular with local color. How about this from Jim ,the slave as an example: “ I tuck out en shin down de hill, en ‘spec to steal a skift ‘long de sho’ som’ers ‘bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumble-down cooper-shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go ‘way. Well, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz somebody roun’ all de time”. Is that great, or what? The language does slow the reader down, but emits all the local color of the mid 1850s! This is the story of Huck Finn and his adventures down the Mississippi River on a raft trying to escape his drunken father. I never saw so many words go red on Google as I did writing this review of Twain’s novel. I loved this book because Twain made me feel like I was in the milieu of the South living on a Mississippian river raft. I could actually feel the heat of the day! Absolutely a great job of recreating the atmosphere of the south before things got chaotic and uncontrolable. In another words, this novel’s setting is just before the North/South conflict. This is the second novel that I’ve read recently pertaining to this time period in the South and quite frankly I’m stunned by the Southerner’s cavalier attitude towards the suffering of their slaves. Yet Mark Twain made this novel seem like it had a jocular theme, I guess that’s all part of his satirical style of writing. This version of the novel has 148 illustrations and is a reproduction of the original 1885 masterpiece now published by Piccadilly Books, LTD.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
This satirical novel is the sequel to 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and is one of the first novels to be written in the vernacular with local color. How about this from Jim ,the slave as an example: “ I tuck out en shin down de hill, en ‘spec to steal a skift ‘long de sho’ som’ers ‘bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumble-down cooper-shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go ‘way. Well, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz somebody roun’ all de time”. Is that great, or what? The language does slow the reader down, but emits all the local color of the mid 1850s! This is the story of Huck Finn and his adventures down the Mississippi River on a raft trying to escape his drunken father. I never saw so many words go red on Google as I did writing this review of Twain’s novel. I loved this book because Twain made me feel like I was in the milieu of the South living on a Mississippian river raft. I could actually feel the heat of the day! Absolutely a great job of recreating the atmosphere of the south before things got chaotic and uncontrolable. In another words, this novel’s setting is just before the North/South conflict. This is the second novel that I’ve read recently pertaining to this time period in the South and quite frankly I’m stunned by the Southerner’s cavalier attitude towards the suffering of their slaves. Yet Mark Twain made this novel seem like it had a jocular theme, I guess that’s all part of his satirical style of writing. This version of the novel has 148 illustrations and is a reproduction of the original 1885 masterpiece now published by Piccadilly Books, LTD.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Wild Thing by Josh Bazell
If you possess delicate sensibilities......don't pick up this book, or the previous book of Bazell's, Beat the Reaper. Violence, vulgar language, sexual tension (but no real sex!), and funny as anything I've read. Not overtly funny, but deeply, cynically funny. Warped humor even. Just my brand of funny.
Interesting premise of a young man deep into the mob at an extremely early age, and for many good reasons turns against them. He enters the Witness Protection Program, goes to medical school, becomes a doctor, and then has to flee (again)for his life. All of that is in the first book. In this one he is in yet another incarnation of the Program and becomes involved in a Big Foot/Loch Ness/monster problem.
There has to be another sequel.....the ending is wide open for it!
If you possess delicate sensibilities......don't pick up this book, or the previous book of Bazell's, Beat the Reaper. Violence, vulgar language, sexual tension (but no real sex!), and funny as anything I've read. Not overtly funny, but deeply, cynically funny. Warped humor even. Just my brand of funny.
Interesting premise of a young man deep into the mob at an extremely early age, and for many good reasons turns against them. He enters the Witness Protection Program, goes to medical school, becomes a doctor, and then has to flee (again)for his life. All of that is in the first book. In this one he is in yet another incarnation of the Program and becomes involved in a Big Foot/Loch Ness/monster problem.
There has to be another sequel.....the ending is wide open for it!
753C
Active Member
Shield of Thunder (Troy II) - David Gemmell 
+
So I like this guy. Read the first one in about three days and had to dive right into the second installment. Gemmell writes a fast paced and intriguing story full of interesting characters. People who like historical fiction set in ancient Greece would probably like this series. Gemmell re-imagines all of the cast of the Odyssey, some in a flattering light, and some not so much. Pretty fun stuff.
+So I like this guy. Read the first one in about three days and had to dive right into the second installment. Gemmell writes a fast paced and intriguing story full of interesting characters. People who like historical fiction set in ancient Greece would probably like this series. Gemmell re-imagines all of the cast of the Odyssey, some in a flattering light, and some not so much. Pretty fun stuff.
beer good
Well-Known Member
Mo Yan, The Garlic Ballads 
+
Not entirely sure I would have given him the Nobel, but it's a novel with a lot of piss and vinegar (quite literally), starting almost at the end and then flashing back and forth in a really impressive way. Rough around the right edges, too. Would have called it fun if it weren't so depressing.
+Not entirely sure I would have given him the Nobel, but it's a novel with a lot of piss and vinegar (quite literally), starting almost at the end and then flashing back and forth in a really impressive way. Rough around the right edges, too. Would have called it fun if it weren't so depressing.
readsalot
Member
Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn.I got to read it early b/c of the amazon vine program. It might not have been a solid 5 but certainly a 4.5 that could be rounded up. I give the author a lot of credit for being able to write an entertaining story set within certain boundaries of the star wars EU.
ricko
Member
The catcher in the rye
J.D. Salinger published this reputed American classic in 1951, which was probably the most censored book in high schools and libraries until the mid 1980s. I’m not sure why it’s considered a classic other than the fact that professors and publishers like looking for hidden meanings in each chapter. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the novel, because I did enjoy it, but mainly because I think Salinger’s descriptions and language usage of the late 1940s was terrific. I forgot about the word “crumby”- meaning inadequate, or “phony”- meaning pretentious. The narrator and protagonist of the novel, Holden Caulfield ( a seventeen year old boy ) uses these words a lot in his narration. And how about “flitty”, or referring to people as “old” this or that? The writing in this novel is very strong, but the story is moderate at best to this reviewer. I don’t see myself debating hidden meanings with anybody. I’m assuming it was censored in schools because of sexual allusions, the morality codes of the 1940s and 50s, family values and some coarse language ( very mild compared to today’s language). The thing that puzzles me is the title of the book! Holden is walking through N.Y.C. and hears a little boy singing a song to himself. What’s up with the title of the book? Shmoop states: “What's up indeed. The first mention we get of this mysterious catcher in this mysterious rye is when Holden overhears a little kid singing, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." Momentarily, it makes him feel not so depressed, in part because Holden is a fan of little children, and the only things better than little children are little children who are singing.” Apparently, Holden sees himself as the catcher in the rye catching the children as they fall off a cliff as he construed Robert Burns’s 1796 poem. Who knows? Salinger was a kind of recluse and didn’t give many interviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
J.D. Salinger published this reputed American classic in 1951, which was probably the most censored book in high schools and libraries until the mid 1980s. I’m not sure why it’s considered a classic other than the fact that professors and publishers like looking for hidden meanings in each chapter. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the novel, because I did enjoy it, but mainly because I think Salinger’s descriptions and language usage of the late 1940s was terrific. I forgot about the word “crumby”- meaning inadequate, or “phony”- meaning pretentious. The narrator and protagonist of the novel, Holden Caulfield ( a seventeen year old boy ) uses these words a lot in his narration. And how about “flitty”, or referring to people as “old” this or that? The writing in this novel is very strong, but the story is moderate at best to this reviewer. I don’t see myself debating hidden meanings with anybody. I’m assuming it was censored in schools because of sexual allusions, the morality codes of the 1940s and 50s, family values and some coarse language ( very mild compared to today’s language). The thing that puzzles me is the title of the book! Holden is walking through N.Y.C. and hears a little boy singing a song to himself. What’s up with the title of the book? Shmoop states: “What's up indeed. The first mention we get of this mysterious catcher in this mysterious rye is when Holden overhears a little kid singing, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." Momentarily, it makes him feel not so depressed, in part because Holden is a fan of little children, and the only things better than little children are little children who are singing.” Apparently, Holden sees himself as the catcher in the rye catching the children as they fall off a cliff as he construed Robert Burns’s 1796 poem. Who knows? Salinger was a kind of recluse and didn’t give many interviews.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Just finished The Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell.
Well written, The Bayou Trilogy will haunt you with it's lushness, it's depravity and it's total handle on realism. Noir in a sense, but more. The three stories Under the Bright Lights, Muscle For the Wing and The Ones You Do reverberate with the atmosphere of the Louisiana Bayou. They follow the Shade family, first focusing on two of the three sons Rene Shade and his brother Tip, the former a police detective, the latter the owner, continue(er) of paternal family tradition, a barkeep/pool hall owner. The third, youngest, of the brothers Francois (Frankie) is a lawyer, part of the local D.A.'s office.
The first two of the Trilogy focus on the sons, the third zeroes in on their wayward, deserting father, John X(avier) Shade. Pool hustler extraordinaire, now eaten up with booze and who knows for sure what else.
Their moral struggles, and decisions are what drives these books, although not exactly in the manner you'd think.
Recommended, but not for the squeamish.
Well written, The Bayou Trilogy will haunt you with it's lushness, it's depravity and it's total handle on realism. Noir in a sense, but more. The three stories Under the Bright Lights, Muscle For the Wing and The Ones You Do reverberate with the atmosphere of the Louisiana Bayou. They follow the Shade family, first focusing on two of the three sons Rene Shade and his brother Tip, the former a police detective, the latter the owner, continue(er) of paternal family tradition, a barkeep/pool hall owner. The third, youngest, of the brothers Francois (Frankie) is a lawyer, part of the local D.A.'s office.
The first two of the Trilogy focus on the sons, the third zeroes in on their wayward, deserting father, John X(avier) Shade. Pool hustler extraordinaire, now eaten up with booze and who knows for sure what else.
Their moral struggles, and decisions are what drives these books, although not exactly in the manner you'd think.
Recommended, but not for the squeamish.
Just Finished ..
Hi all,
I read, 'A Country Doctor's Notebook, by Mikhail Bulgakov,' on my travels. Wow. Gutsy fella'. It's heck of a story for anyone who likes fact-based stuff.
I have in my hot and sticky 'lickle' hand, 'Hustling on Gorky Street by Yuri Brokin.' A pressie from the wife. I'll let you know.
My very best to all for the coming year.
Ben.
Hi all,
I read, 'A Country Doctor's Notebook, by Mikhail Bulgakov,' on my travels. Wow. Gutsy fella'. It's heck of a story for anyone who likes fact-based stuff.
I have in my hot and sticky 'lickle' hand, 'Hustling on Gorky Street by Yuri Brokin.' A pressie from the wife. I'll let you know.
My very best to all for the coming year.
Ben.
ricko
Member
To Beneak
Have you read ' The Master and Margarita ' by Mikhail Bulgakov? The novel combines fantasy, a satirical look at the Stalin run government, and a story within a story.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
Have you read ' The Master and Margarita ' by Mikhail Bulgakov? The novel combines fantasy, a satirical look at the Stalin run government, and a story within a story.
Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O
BeerWench13
Active Member
11.22.63 by Stephen King (actually 4 1/2)
Though not as creepy as standard King novels, this book is suspenseful and keeps you wondering what will happen next. It is difficult to review this book without any spoilers, so I will just give a brief synopsis.
Jake Epping is a regular guy who teaches at the local school. One day he gets a call from the owner of a local eatery he visits regularly and it changes his world. He steps into the "rabbit hole" and travels back in time to 1958 and attempts to stop the assassination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 and also attempts to change a few other things while he is there. But what are the consequences? What about the butterfly effect? The outcome of his attempts can change the world from which he comes, but how much?
A riveting tale centering around a historically significant incident in American history, Stephen King thinks outside the box again. The ending is good, but the journey there is amazing.
(actually 4 1/2)Though not as creepy as standard King novels, this book is suspenseful and keeps you wondering what will happen next. It is difficult to review this book without any spoilers, so I will just give a brief synopsis.
Jake Epping is a regular guy who teaches at the local school. One day he gets a call from the owner of a local eatery he visits regularly and it changes his world. He steps into the "rabbit hole" and travels back in time to 1958 and attempts to stop the assassination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 and also attempts to change a few other things while he is there. But what are the consequences? What about the butterfly effect? The outcome of his attempts can change the world from which he comes, but how much?
A riveting tale centering around a historically significant incident in American history, Stephen King thinks outside the box again. The ending is good, but the journey there is amazing.
Hedwig
Member
Finished during the last three weeks:
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
A beautifully written book about a very old lady who has been living in an Irish lunatic asylum for as long as anyone can remember. One day, the resident doctor begins to doubt that Roseanne is actually insane and tries to research her background. It's the sad story of a wasted life, but there are so many phrases and sentences like lovely little pearls to be discovered.
Robert Leckie - Helmet For My Pillow.5
A vivid account of Leckie's tour of duty in the South Pacific as a young Marine in WWII that had me riveted from the first page on. I also liked his use of language; it shows that he had been writing for a newspaper from a very young age.
Curtis Sittenfeld - American Wife
The story of an unlikely marriage - reticent small-town librarian meets up-and-coming politician offspring of a dynasty of entrepreneurs - loosely based on the life of Laura Bush. I quite liked the book, especially the insights into the workings of long-time relationships between seemingly mismatched couples.
Rex Pickett - Sideways
I didn't last more than 40 pages in that one. An arrogant know-it-all narrator who thinks he's a better wine connoisseur than anyone else, low-level humour, an appalling view of women and grown-up men behaving like hormone-driven teenage boys. No, thanks.
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
A beautifully written book about a very old lady who has been living in an Irish lunatic asylum for as long as anyone can remember. One day, the resident doctor begins to doubt that Roseanne is actually insane and tries to research her background. It's the sad story of a wasted life, but there are so many phrases and sentences like lovely little pearls to be discovered.
Robert Leckie - Helmet For My Pillow
.5A vivid account of Leckie's tour of duty in the South Pacific as a young Marine in WWII that had me riveted from the first page on. I also liked his use of language; it shows that he had been writing for a newspaper from a very young age.
Curtis Sittenfeld - American Wife
The story of an unlikely marriage - reticent small-town librarian meets up-and-coming politician offspring of a dynasty of entrepreneurs - loosely based on the life of Laura Bush. I quite liked the book, especially the insights into the workings of long-time relationships between seemingly mismatched couples.
Rex Pickett - Sideways
I didn't last more than 40 pages in that one. An arrogant know-it-all narrator who thinks he's a better wine connoisseur than anyone else, low-level humour, an appalling view of women and grown-up men behaving like hormone-driven teenage boys. No, thanks.