The Genius of James Ellroy

Over the holidays and into the new year, I went on a James Ellroy tear, powering through almost his entire collection.  Many of the books were re-reads for me, but I was discovering new and brilliant things in each.  There are complex crime novels, and then there is Ellroy.  His plots are twisty and twisted and they snake back and forth until their inevitable and bloody conclusions.
Going through many of the books for the second time brought me a deeper appreciation of Ellroy and his unique talents.  From the first book of his LA Quartet (The Black Dahlia) through the second to last book of his Underworld USA trilogy, he is simply magnificent.  In that stretch (bearing in mind I still have to give Bloods a Rover a decent shot) he writes 1 for sure Pantheon novel (American Tabloid), two great novels that are borderline pantheon (The Cold Six Thousand, LA Confidential), two cusp of great novels (White Jazz and Dahlia) and a very good novel (The Big Nowhere).  Very few other crime writers can claim anywhere near that level of greatness.
Ellroy matches up against anyone, and I still have two novels of his to get through.  He is the one author who I delay reading to forestall getting to he end of his works.  All of his books are highly, highly recommended.
Also - Amazon's recently released series Bosch is really great! Surprisingly so, and the acting is brilliant (given that they use two awesome Wire actors AND he great Titus Welliver).  This show was well done because it remains tightly focused on a single case with two branches.  Hopefully future seasons will be equally as well constructed.

Best of the Year 2014

Another year has come and gone, and it is time to get the best books, movies and TV shows of the year up on the blog – you read that right!  The Best of the Year is expanding to include other pop culture beyond books.  Strap in for a ride down through the year…except for the fact that not all of the books, movies or TV shows necessarily need to be made in 2014; this is simply when I got to them.

Movies –

Admittedly, I do not watch too many movies but I saw three that are in contention and given the types of movies I generally enjoy they are pretty surprising choices;

Guardians of the Galaxy; Captain America: Winter Soldier; Snowpiercer

The first two movies are, obviously, Marvel movies but that does not take anything away from them.  Both Guardians and Winter Solider are more subversive Marvel movies, particularly the dark take on Captain America.  They are outsized and incredible and Guardians is one of the funniest movies of the year.  Each actor stole scenes from one another and the performances are off the charts.  Captain America is a 70’s style conspiracy thriller where the entire US government and their policies around terrorism are basically the “bad guy” – not to mention it is an intense and tightly packed action movie.  It is so good and intense that I actually watched it twice.

Snowpiercer on the other hand, is a stunning movie that is gruesomely, and punishingly dark and brutal.  It is a relentless take on the apocalypse in a frozen world where the only survivors live in a horrific class system aboard a never stopping train.  Additionally, there are characters who speak only Korean…and there are no subtitles.  It is not an easy movie to watch but it is incredibly filmed…but also tinged with nihilism and a subtle hope that things can be better.

 

TV Shows

I watched several good TV series this year: True Detective, The Knick, Utopia…but as I struggled to figure out what my favorite show of the year was, it smacked me in the face.  While each of the other shows had indelible features (Utopia the way it is filmed; The Knick with its incredible sense of place; True Detective with one of the most amazing tracking shots of all time) none of them sucked me in so completely and totally as The Missing. 

The Missing is both thrilling and meditative.  It is punishing and powerful and the performances are absolutely magnificent.  A simple plot rundown: a five year old boy goes missing, and we track the family in the immediate aftermath and eight years later when the father phones his (now) ex-wife and says simply, “I found something.”  From that moment, the viewer is drawn into an amazingly haunting and intricate world of shattered people in the past and present.  Each piece slots into every other piece like a puzzle the viewer simply cannot see in its entirety.  Stylistically, the colors contrast beautifully, from the  washed out palate of the present to the vividness and vibrant brightness of the past.  One of the reasons this is so successful is the fact it was an eight episode miniseries and there is nothing more or less than perfection.  One scene which stands out: a full on car chase from inside the police car that speeds with futility through the streets of a small town French village.  Then the episode ends with an explosive revelation that powers much of the next episode: but, none of it feels fake or cheap, but genuine and powerful.  An indelible viewing experience and one I highly recommend.

To the books!

Page Turner of the Year:

Fiction: Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly – Try putting down a Michael Connelly book, he draws you in and powers you through a tale of moral corruption as fast as you can turn the pages. 

Non-Fiction: Showtime by Jeff Pearlman – An amazing book about the history of the Showtime, LA Lakers and all the gossip that flowed through the era.  I never thought I would rethink my opinion of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but this book gave it a good shot.  A great, soapy and fun sports book that covers all five championships.

Smartest Book of the Year:

Brilliant Orange by David Winner – Try comparing the Swiss Watch abilities of Dutch football players to the versatility of the floor of Schipol Airport and you will have some idea of exactly how brilliant this book is.  This was a great world Cup primer, and not many authors could make the way the team uses the space on the field interesting.  Another fascinating feature was the incredible description of how much Dutch people hate the Germans, and why losing to them in the World Cup was the psychological equivalent of being invaded again.  Unreal and a must read.

Most Disappointing Books:

3) High Crimes by Michael Kodas – After reading other books about Everest and Mountain Climbing in general, this one was a terrible disappointment.  Do not go in expecting Krakauer because it is not even on the same planet.

2) The Racketeer / The Appeal by John Grisham – Both are entertaining reads and make you want to get through them quickly because Grisham is a great storyteller…but…both feature ghastly endings.  Grisham has apparently forgotten how to end a book with any semblance of decency other than the false feeling idea of “the bad guy wins”. 

1) Bottom of the 33^rd by Dan Berry – It is about a long baseball game, and while it was entertaining at points…it is about a 33 inning baseball game. 

Topic of the Year

Part 1: Football Books – Specifically, books about football being bad: League of Denial, Against Football and King of Sports were three of the books I read which basically make the argument that the NFL is big tobacco and needs to radically change. 

Part 2: Futbol Books- Specifically, books about futbol!  I read about Dutch football, Brilliant Orange, tactical football, Futebol: the Brazilian Way of Life, Inverting the Pyramid, and the business of football, The Football Business (a notable book for its harrowing and brilliant chapter about Hillsboro).  All are recommended highly, especially in the next World Cup or Euro year.

Harper Lee Award (Best Female Author)

Non-Fiction: Night Games by Anna Krien – Few authors, let alone female authors, have the gall to take on the role of rape and sexual assault within the culture of elite athletes.  This was a remarkable book about the depths our heroes feel entitled to sink to and how little we understand about the crime of rape itself.

Fiction: Code Name Verity / Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein – Heartbreaking and beautiful books about friendship amidst horrible circumstances during World War II.  One features resistance fighters in France, the other a pilot who ends up in a horrific concentration camp.  Both are well written and will pull all the strings of your heart. 

Best Books of the Year:

Fiction:

5) The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy – Rare is the author who can create and destroy a character like James Ellroy.  This is the one classic book he wrote that sat on my shelf for more than three years.  I finally dug in and it was more than worth the wait.  Brutal, dark and graphic, this is a crime story more complex than anything anyone else can put out.  Read the entire LA Quartet and Underworld USA Trilogies for the full effect.

4) Silo Saga (Wool / Shift / Dust) by Hugh Howey – An apocalyptic vision of a world underground and run by the most brutal of dictators, these novels are riveting and hard to put down.  The absence of hope pervades throughout and these books are melodic and beautifully written stories of an unimaginable (but frighteningly plausible) future. 

3) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – For years I avoided this book because I was scared it would be too depressing; well, spoiler alert, the book chooses to embrace life rather than focus on death.  This is an incredible book that stretches far beyond simple teen fiction.  Read it and enjoy.

2) World of Trouble by Ben Winters – Now seen in its entirety, Ben Winters, The Last Policeman Trilogy is one of the great achievements in pre apocalyptic fiction (probably the only one) and a series of amazing crime stories to boot.  The central focus of the series has been how people react to a world that is going to end, and frighteningly soon.  The first book was stunning in its originality, the second, slightly hopeful and melodic.  This one is all about the end, literally.  As the world counts down, and the reader wonders whether or not it will all be over, Winters takes his main character, Hank Palace on a desperate quest to find his wayward sister.  Palace is a man who cannot idly sit by and wait for the end, and there is always a mystery to solve.  How does it end?  All I will say is this: Winters could have phoned it in, or struggled, but instead saved some of his best writing for the final paragraphs.  A stunning achievement I cannot recommend highly enough.

1) Troubles Trilogy by Adrian McKinty – Mix Ireland in the 80’s, with its troubles, with a modern detective who solves ingeniously plotted crimes amidst a terrorist state.  Stir it all together and you get a haunting, stylistic and thought provoking meditation on Ireland and its difficulty reconciling with the past.  These books are my Fiction Book Championship Belt Holders for 2014. 

Non-Fiction:

5) Into the Abyss by Carol Shaben – Many authors write about survival scenarios, but few discuss the aftermath and the cost of survival so eloquently. 

4) Griftopia by Matt Taibbi – On small planes in Africa I read about how the world financial market has been manipulated and controlled and I was completely captivated.  An awesome book and one which will help you understand the world in a whole new way.

3) Down by the River by Charles Bowden – An obsessive quest to solve a murder seemingly unrelated to Mexico’s burgeoning drug trade destroys the life of a DEA Agent, while across the border a shadowy Cartel boss and his empire traffic in death, blood and misery.  An amazing, hypnotic read.

2) Going Clear by Lawrence Wright – Having already read a great book about Scientology I tucked into this one feeling like I probably knew it all.  This blew my mind because, like Reitman’s wonderful Inside Scientology, Wright presents a sobering picture of exactly what Scientology is…and the depths it will sink to.  The difference being that he draws the horror out slowly, and methodically, showing exactly how much L. Ron Hubbard actually believed what he was doing was true at the outset, before being rejected and turning into a money making cult.  Fascinating and well worth the time.

1) Spillover by David Quammen – The 2014 Book Championship Belt Holder (Non-Fiction) has been at the top of the list since January.  Rarely have I ever wanted to read a book twice in the same year but I resisted the urge with this one.  Given how much coverage Ebola has gotten in the news, an astute reader would pick up this meditative and authoritative volume which combines wonderful writing with science facts.  It is not often that I want to re-read something about zoonotic diseases, but try putting this book down.  Also: please do yourself a favor and read Laurie Garrett’s fantastic The Coming Plague to fully understand Ebola and the dangers we face. 

Books I am Looking forward to in 2015:

Marlon James – A Brief History of Seven Killing (Everything about this book sounds awesome)

James Ellroy – Perfidia (Return of the grand master)

Don Winslow – The Time of the Wolves (One of my favorite books of all time gets a sequel?!?! And it is released right before my summer vacation?!?!? I know what I am doing on June 23^rd…)

Robert Kurson – Pirate Hunters (One of the greatest Non-fiction authors ever releases a book for the first time since 2008!  Again, my summer reading schedule is filling up)

Dennis Lehane – World Gone By (The conclusion to the series he started with The Given Day and a direct sequel to the great Live by Night)

Marcus Sakey – Brilliance 3 (I have not written enough about this incredible series, but cannot wait for the third book after two incredible reads: Brilliance and A Better World.)

What did I miss?  What else deserves to be on the list?  Was Station Eleven a pantheon novel?

The Hypothetical Book Championship Belt - Oct 21, 2014

Since January the Fiction of the Hypothetical Book Championship Belt Holder has been John Green's fantastic The Fault in Our Stars, this is a great book about celebrating life in the face of death.  There have been no serious challengers to this novel as this has been a year in which I have not read a lot of fiction.  Until the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend that is when I was able to finally finish Adrian McKinty's indelible Troubles Trilogy.  These novels, set amidst Ireland's 1980's are stunning, literate takes on the Detective genre.  They feature a wisecracking and way too smart for his own good man who just happens to be a Catholic on a mostly protestant police force.  Detective Sean Duffy is an intelligent, University graduate who has joined the force to make a genuine difference in a world torn apart by Civil war and reprehensible terrorist acts. 
Each of the three novels is a window into the soul of a terrifying time of uncertainty through a prism of a brutal crime.  The first The Cold Cold Ground features the murder of a homosexual man who also happens to be one of the top men in the IRA - and a victim who may be the target of a serial killer.  The second I Hear the Sirens in the Street is about an abdomen found inside a suitcase that links to American intelligence forces and a recently widowed woman.  In the shattering conclusion In the Morning I'll be Gone Duffy must utilize all his skills as a detective to solve a locked door mystery in order to gain access to an escaped IRA master bomber - who just happens to be his former high school buddy. 
The books are tinged with the darkness of the times, and link to key moments in British history under the iron reign of Margaret Thatcher (the miners strike, Falklands War, her re-election).  They are brilliant and powerful stories full of regret and sadness and like Duffy are a reflection of the modern times and commentary on the cyclical nature of history and time. 
Needless to say these are books one devours, and then, reflects upon afterwards.  They are the rare page turner that is actually saying more than simply what is on the page, and we feel every single ounce of Duffy's terror, regret, love and pain.  These are more than crime novels, they are an accurate portrait of a place and time of absolute chaos, where no one was safe and the line between right and wrong was haphazardly drawn.  Duffy is Bernie Gunther in Ireland - and for me that is the highest possible compliment I can give a crime novel. 
The trilogy is well worth the time and well deserving of the Hypothetical Book Championship Belt for 2014. 

Best of Spring / Summer 2014

Been a long time since any book related activities were updated, and not for lack of reading (although I am on pace for my lowest reading totals since 2007).  Here are some of the best books I have read in the last few months:

Michael Jordan: A Life by Roland Lazenby - A really in depth view of the life of Michael Jordan, and his family background.  Stalls slightly with the things we already know (the titles / Bulls years) but overall a very well written biography.

Griftopia by Matt Taibbi - Incredibly rich look at the financial crisis in the United States and why the economy collapsed (and why it will again).  Taibbi examines all aspects of the crisis from mortgage disasters to oil speculation and beyond.  Highly researched and powerful reading.

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright - A book that forms a rough dark religion trilogy with Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and Janet Reitman's searing Inside Scientology, this is the other side of a devastating coin.  Wright details the life of L. Ron Hubbard and the movement he started (and how he began twisting it into something it did not set out to be), and how Scientology is as rich and powerful as it is.  There is plenty of horrifying material here and it certainly cuts deep.

League of Denial by Mark and Steve Fairnua-Wade - The truth about concussions is much, more worse than you can imagine, and the impact much more devastating.  This book is a seminal work on a topic which demands more investigation.

The Hypothetical Book Championship Belt

At the last writing, David Winner's Brilliant Orange snagged it, but...
as time has passed, it has become increasingly clear that Spillover by Quammen is a much more important book and one that has had a bigger impact on my reading.  Quammen, in a shocker, regains the belt. 

Hypothetical Book Championship Belt - June 14, 2014

When we last touched base, the Hypothetical Book Championship Belt was firmly in the hands of David Quammen's peerless Spillover which is a borderline pantheon book.  No other book was going to make a serious challenge on the belt unless it too was Pantheon worthy.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the best football book ever written: David Winner's Brilliant Orange. 
What Winner has done is capture the very essence of something completely in definable: why the Dutch play football like they do.  He examines every aspect of their culture, history, architecture and personalities to explain what Total Football is and means to the people.  The book is a fascinating look at the players and their exquisite agony over repeated collapses on the world stage.  Take his heartbreaking rendition of the fateful 1974 World Cup Final against Germany which he argues, was the psychological equivalent of being invaded again.  His writing is clear and concise and so engaging it a very simple prospect to become completely engaged in the book for an hour or more with almost no time seeming to pass at all.  Do not get me wrong though, this is no page turner but a thoughtful meditation that challenges with its slim complexity.  (The book is only 251 pages but is intellectually twice that).
As the World Cup begins this is a perfect book to pick up, and joins my "sub pantheon" of Football books alongside Among the Thugs, Fever Pitch and Richer than God.  Read this book and prepare for an indelible experience - few other books can manage to be so engrossing when comparing both an airport and the countryside to football tactics.  An absolute must read and our new Hypothetical Book Championship Belt holder.

Hypothetical Book Championship Belt #2

Another couple of months and another few books down - has something overtaken Quammen or Green?

Non - fiction contenders:
Showtime by Jeff Pearlman - I have always enjoyed Pearlman and his books, and this one was one of his best.  He expertly weaves the tale of the eighties Lakers and their brilliant control of the league during the period.  Given the sort of heat he took from the last book he wrote, about Walter Payton, this has been receiving almost universal praise and deservedly so.  The Lakers stories are full of tawdry affairs and Pearlman brilliantly weaves it all together with the success on the court.  Although I really liked Boys Will Be Boys about the Cowboys, this was a stronger book.  Perhaps the best part was the parts about enigmatic Laker Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  No writer has better explained who Kareem is and why he is he way he is.  Overall, a great read, which for Pearlman is business as usual.

Fiction contenders:
The Silo Saga (Wool / Shift / Dust) by Hugh Howey - If you like your dystopia rather totalitarian and grim, this is the series for you.  Released as an ebook, this was transformed by an incredible amount of reviews and press.  Howey has written a very good series that does not go in necessarily conventional ways - namely the second book completely ignores the characters from the first, and the third brings the two books together.  I could not put these books down, and they were very well written and the characters are immersed in a frighteningly real world that is too recognizable for comfort.  Prepare to go down a bit of a rabbit hole with these ones.

The belt holders: remains Green and Quammen

However...a serious challenge is being laid down by another book about viruses (I cannot get enough) called The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett...stay tuned.

The Hypothetical Book Championship Belt

For the past couple of years I have read a lot of books, and I have used this blog to detail the best books I read every couple of months and then the best of the year.  In lieu of that, I have decided this year to hand out a hypothetical book championship belt.  Inspired by the "Hypothetical NBA Championship Belt" I will keep the belt with the best fiction and non-fiction books I read this year.  Only one question remains, which books are currently holding the belt? 

Fiction:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - For nearly two years I avoided reading this book mostly because I was too scared.  It is a book about two teens who are star crossed lovers, who also happen to have terminal cancer.  Not exactly a cheery premise but, after hearing nothing but praise for a very long time, I finally gave it a shot.  All I can say is it justifies the high praise; it is beautifully written, thought provoking and a passionate book that celebrates all the life to be lived.  Truly Green has written a book that juggles a tricky act near the line of life and death, and he pulls it off in spectacular fashion.  Worthwhile of the belt and a strong contender to hold it for some time.

Non-Fiction
Spillover by David Quammen - I am highly fascinated by two topics: astronauts and highly infectious diseases.  One of my pantheon books is Richard Preston's The Hot Zone about Ebola.  Quammen's book examines the zoonotic origins of many diseases and pandemics we are facing today (Ebola, AIDs etc).  While you might expect a heavy dose of science this is instead a fast paced, thrilling and genuinely enlightening read about diseases and their intriguing origins.  At times this is a terrifying book, at others a brilliant look at a world waiting, always, at the edges of our own and threatening, forever to crash in. 

In Praise of...Daniel Silva?!

The best spy novel of all time is John LeCarre's classic The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, a stunning tale of deceit and the truth about being a spy.  There is no machine gunning in the streets, but rather file reading and drawn out chess matches of maneuvering. 
Daniel Silva has, rather remarkably, taken LeCarre's mantle as the premier spy novelist currently writing. 
In the beginning of his career, this seemed somewhat impossible: his first "real" novel was Mark of the Assassin which was a solid page turner but nothing spectacular.  It dealt with the battle between two killers.  While it was a good book, it was nowhere near a spy thriller classic.  After Silva's third book, a new series featuring art restorer / Israeli assassin Gabriel Allon, I was out.  The books seemed to fall into a predictable and familiar pattern. 
After a decade long hiatus from his work I returned to his books when one of them appeared on my kindle.  The latest Allon thriller (at first I could not believe the series was still going) was shockingly getting a lot of praise from critics and then readers.  Amazon.com voted it one of the hundred best books of the year!  Shocking!  I figured it was time to return to Silva.  Am I ever glad I did. 
Some authors can be written off (Ha!) because over time they get worse as writers.  Their best books are the first ones.  Other authors peak later on after they have spent the proper amount of time honing their craft.  Silva, definitely falls into the later category.  That is not to say that all of his early books are not worthwhile, because most of them are.  He writes with genuine passion and he writes books that are smarter than your average thriller.  All this time I was comparing his work with the Lee Child / Brad Thor level authors when a more apt comparison would be Robert Harris or LeCarre - true thinking persons novels. 
The English Girl is nothing short of a superb novel with true depth.  The action is good, thought provoking, twisty and complicated: this is how real spies operate.  At the conclusion there is no shoot outs or massive explosions, rather it is a contemplative end where the cost of success it readily apparent.  I was hooked.
Over the holidays I spent my extra reading time tearing through multiple Silva books, alternated perfectly with Michael Connelly's equally addictive novels and found them all to be excellent reads.  Knowing I have more of the series to go makes me very excited indeed.  Sometimes author's just need time to develop their skills and polish their ideas.  Silva has certainly achieved that and readily deserves the praise he has received for his excellent works. 

Best Books of the Year 2013

Here are the best books I read in 2013 - please remember not all of these books were written in 2013 this is just the year I read them.  I know I am behind the ball as Amazon and other outlets have long since released theirs, but I just kept reading good books and did not want to fail to include them.

Clive Cussler Award (Best Page Turner)
Fiction: Michael Connelly books - This was the year I discovered that Connelly's books are sometimes well written, very engaging,  and ultimately pretty impossible to put down.  I tore through two of his Mickey Haller books, five Harry Bosch novels and the serial killer classic Blood Work.  Not all of the books are great, but many are very good and all of them are page turners.
Non Fiction: The System by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian - This was not necessarily a page turner, but I simply could not stop reading it.  The way it was organized; each chapter almost a self contained article, lent itself to struggling to put it down.  It was a fascinating look inside college football and the world around it.  An incredible, investigative journey.

David Simons Award (Smartest Book)
Difficult Men by Brett Martin - The new golden era of television demanded a comprehensive study, and this look at the creators of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Mad Men and others was an in depth and very intelligent look at the men who changed television forever as well as how the medium grew from cheap entertainment to true art form.

Topic of the Year
College Football -  One of the hot button topics of the year was the corruption of the college game, and I managed to read several books that were quite illuminating, and at times, downright terrifying.  Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls by Stewart Mandel was a witty and funny look at the craziness of how champions and Heisman trophy winners are chosen.  The System was indelible and momentous, a panoramic shot of the whole rotten apple.  If the Benedict book was an all encompassing look at the system, the brilliant Scoreboard, Baby is a microcosm of all that is wrong with College Football.  That the book was not only one of the best sports books of the year, but also won an Edgar Award for Best Crime Fact tells you a whole lot about the subject matter.  A horrifying look at the abuses and criminal activities committed by the 2000 Washington Huskies.

James Patterson Award (Most Disappointing Books)
1. Ancients by David Golemon - Once in awhile you read a book that is not very good, and once in a while you may read something that is downright terrible...and then you might read something on the level of Golemon's truly horrible book.  This one might be in contention for worst book I have ever read. 
2.LA Noir by John Buntin -   Too grand for its own designs, this is a book that managed to make the story of the first police commissioner and Mickey Cohen into a drab and wholly uninteresting story.
3. The Big White Lie by Michael Levine - Horribly boring and pretty hard to do when you are writing about drug lords and the DEA.

Bill Simmons Award (Best Sports Books)
Muck City by Bryan Mealer - Cross Friday Night Lights with the Wire and you end up with this book, all about football in the Florida Everglades (one of the poorest areas in the United States).  One poor, crime ridden area has sent a shocking amount of players to the NFL.  This is a heart breaking book, full of tragedy, pain and ultimately deliverance.
Sweetness by Jeff Pearlman - There are two types of sports biographies; those that completely glorify their subjects and gloss over anything slightly real, and those that seek to take the full measure of a man and provide a full portrait.  No need to guess which one this is.

Best Crime Books
A Man without Breath by Philip Kerr - Once again Kerr manages to write a stunning thriller that transcends its genre and looks deep into the heart of evil.
Countdown City by Ben Winters - The sequel to last years Best Book of the Year, this one picks up the story with 77 days to go.  The best part about these books is the sense of melancholy that seeps into every part of the story.  Hope fades and dies as the world falls apart, but in the end, the smallest gestures end up the most meaningful.  Counting the days until the third book arrives.

Harper Lee Award (Best Female YA)
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - Prepare to have your heart broken by this wonderful historical novel, full of character, life, love and death.  Two girls in World War Two must show their courage amidst insurmountable odds.  Well written and very poignant.

Twist of the Year
Alliegent by Veronica Roth - She went for it, she really, really went for it.  This is a writer with some serious cojones.

The Five Best Books of the Year
5. One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard - An inspiring, life altering book about a coach and a baseball team that nearly went all the way against all the odds.
4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King - What if you could go back in time and change the past?  What if the past did not want to be changed?  King has created a world that lives and breathes and makes nearly a thousand pages fly by. 
3. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - A classic and rightfully so.  This book is staggering, teeming with facts and an indictment of the way we eat. 
2. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight - A child dies, and then, suddenly, the book spins back to tell both the story of the child and that of the mother desperate for answers.  A worst nightmare that tells a powerful story of how disconnected youth are from our lives, and we, from theirs.
1. The Monstrumologist Series by Rick Yancey - As Yancey writes in his introduction to the fourth and final book, he set out to write a series about chasing monsters: those that terrify us and haunt us, and those that are more difficult to see.  Yancey is ultimately more concerned with the darkness that wells up and grows inside each of us.  Of course, he says, if you spend long enough looking into the abyss, eventually the abyss will look back.  The achievement of these books is monumental.  They are marketed as YA fiction but are much more than that.  These are simply great books, among the most complex and beautifully written as you will ever find.  They are horrifying, gory and at times difficult to read (bleak is a word that could be used) but the challenge is well worthwhile.  Rarely has an author dared to seek the monsters inside all of us; the ones we try hardest to hide from.  Right down from the smallest character, to the two main ones, Yancey has succeeded brilliantly in creating a series of four novels (The Monstrumologist, The Curse of the Wendigo, The Isle of Blood and The Final Descent) that will withstand the test of time.  As a bonus he wrote another great book this year: The Fifth Wave that was also among the best of the year.  Pick up these books and prepare to settle in for what might be the best horror series, well, ever.

Best of September / October

Some recent reads:

Fiction

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon - A dark and twisty novel that has been compared to the first Harry Potter books, this is one of the most intriguing series debuts in a long while.  Shannon has created a rich and horrifying world that is complex and deep.  Her main character is a powerful young woman who drifts through the world, and in many cases more than one.  To say more would be spoilerish, but the main issue with this novel is I struggled to see where it was going.  There was a lot of world building without a lot of plot (at least until the propulsive ending).  The rest of the Seven book series bears watching and reading.

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey - Ironically similar to the Shannon book, the main premise of Sakey's brilliant novel is that in the 1980's people began being born "brilliant" (or with intellect and the ability to see patterns far beyond that of normal human intelligence).  Humanity, obviously, panics and begins "acadamies" to deal with the brilliant children.  Nick Cooper is an agent of DAR, an organization which hunts down suspected Brilliant terrorists (led by a shadowy figure named John Smith) and then kills them.  Sakey has created a frighteningly real world amidst the shadows of our own, and allegories that touch on everything from today's War on terror to the civil rights movement and the holocaust.  The result is one of the best novels I have read this year - the only conceit: at the end, it seemed as if there were too many balls in the air.  Then it ended and there was a preview for "Book 2".  While the main plot was resolved, much of the world was left up in the air - and the reader is hungry for more.

Non-fiction

The System by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian - An amazing, insightful book into the world around college football, the authors have written an investigative report that shows all aspects of the sport.  Fantastic, well written and completely immersive this is an important and landmark book that needs to be read to understand a complex game. 

Crime Spree

Summer is a great time to catch up on a number of books you may have missed over the years, and sometimes to discover an author who has been staring you in the face for a very long time.  My reading is (obviously) eclectic but one genre has remained a pretty solid part of my rotation: mysteries / crime fiction.  This year for some weird reason I had not read a lot of crime thus far; that has definitely changed this summer, here are some of the reads I have enjoyed this summer:

Michael Connelly - Previously to this summer, I had read 3 Connelly books; 1 Harry Bosch novel and 2 Lincoln Lawyer books.  All of that changed when I picked up The Fifth Witness while on vacation.  Since then, I grabbed and tore through the following novels: The Drop, The Black Box, The Black Echo, The Reversal, The Black Ice, Blood Work.  So...I went back and read some of the earliest Harry Bosch books in addition to some of the first ones.  The breakdown: Connelly is a good writer, in some books a very, very good writer.  The best ones I read: Blood Work, The Drop and The Black Echo.  All the books were enjoyable and well done overall.  Connelly has a new convert and I am looking forward to making my way through his catalogue.

The Innocent Man by John Grisham / The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston - Two true crime books that for some reason I find inextricably linked and that somehow I missed before.  I know why I skipped the Grisham novel as it came out right after I read Sebastian Junger's brilliant A Death in Belmont.  The two seemed too similar so I avoided the Grisham book and should not have, as he tells a truly outrageous story of corruption and horrible miscarriages of justice.  The Monster of Florence tells a rather bizarre story of a serial killer who operated in the scenic hills around the famous city.  Another tale of bad investigating and terrible miscarriages of justice, this one is interesting because of the author inserting himself into the story.  Still it is worth a read.  Both books were interesting and well written.

Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice by Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy - I have read about Bulger before, but this is the first account that covers his entire life and criminal career.  He is a fascinating character who has never really had a full measure taken of his life, and it is a testament to the authors (who followed his career for more than 30 years) that he becomes a three dimensional person and not simply a cartoonish bad guy.  The book is well written and a deep dive into an incredible story.  Given the plethora of books on the topic (for an overall look at Irish criminal history check out TJ English's excellent Paddy Whacked )  it is important to make sure you reach for a good one, and this is definitely one of those.

Holiday Reading

Reading while on Holiday is one of the best things ever - but you have to make a decision as to which direction you are going to go: easy, beach reads or, now that you have the time, more complex works? 
During my recent vacation I decided to try and do a couple of both. 
Firstly, in praise of classic Clive Cussler - the man, regardless of his later works wrote 12 good to great books.  The writing is deep, the ideas are somewhat complex and he genuinely tackles social and global issues.  They are action packed and somewhat unbelievable but they are very well done and he writes in such a way as to make the stories logical.  The books become better and better when you consider the writers Cussler is unfairly lumped in with: Matthew Reilly, James Rollins, and of course, David Golemon.  Cussler is a good writer (for 12 books or so) but the others ignore all the things that made the Dirk Pitt series so great: the writing and the social conscious.  Compare two plots: Cussler's Treasure and Golemon's Ancients.  In Cussler's story there is an international conspiracy of criminals; in Golemon's the same.  In Cussler's there is a treasure hunt...in Golemon's not so much.  The writing and plot is where Cussler excels - not even taking into account his characters, who, although somewhat stereotypical are at least interesting.  Golemon's book was pure nonsense about the evil legacy of Julius Caesar.  Not only that but Cussler genuinely tried to do different things stylistically, consider the following:
Raise the Titanic - A thrilling novel that is only a Dirk Pitt adventure on the surface and moreover a deep and resonant story of the Cold War. 
Vixen 03 - Features a lengthy section about Apartheid South Africa, in addition to being one of the most sensual of the Dirk Pitt novels. 
Night Probe - Has two different protagonists, and our hero, Pitt, loses the girl at the end (Spoiler Alert!) not to mention the fact that this is a spy novel in which there is no clear person to root for. 
This is simply a smattering of the ways in which Cussler is infinitely better than the generation of thriller writers who came afterwards (as a final point: Cussler also wrote a way better novel simply on Atlantis than Golemon did.  Atlantis Found is a much superior novel in every way, including the worldwide conspiracy actually making sense.)
In my opinion there is only one writer Cussler can accurately be put in the same category as, and that is Michael Crichton.  Obviously the two wrote very different books but their ability to put forward a driving plot while also informing and engaging the reader.  No one of this generation has been able to do so. 
I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that later Cussler (post Atlantis Found) has done exactly the opposite of his earlier works and essentially trashed his previous reputation.  The new editions of his books have all gotten new covers / descriptions that cheapen them and the relative complexities within.  These days he simply provides outlines and cashes cheques for novels which are beneath his earlier works and are mostly written by other people.  A sad end to a legend, but at least us true fans have a twelve book stretch to revisit time and again. 

The other side of holiday reading took on a much more complex form this year:

Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo - A rollicking tale of shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916, this book is virtually impossible to put down.  It tells the story of a rogue shark that killed multiple people during the summer of 1916 and transformed American understanding of the dangers of sharks.  Before these attacks sharks were completely misunderstood, afterwards they were even more so.  A great picture of a different time, this book is well worth a read.

Difficult Men by Brett Martin - The second book I have read about the "Golden Age of Television", this takes a very different approach than Alan Sepinwall's The Revolution was Televised because while Sepinwall focuses on the plots of the shows such as The Sopranos and The Wire, Martin choses to focus on how the shows got made and how they changed the world of television.  It is a brilliant book, a complex one that examines the importance of television and the rise of the antihero.  Well worth while and a perfect companion to the equally good Sepinwall book.

2013's Best Books of the Year - So Far

With 2013 half over and summer here tomorrow, it seems an appropriate time to look back at some of the best books I have read thus far this year.  Once again, these are books I have read this year...not necessarily that have been published this year. 

Non-Fiction

Area 51 by Annie Jacobson - Instead of delving into a huge amount of conspiracy theories, Jacobson instead chooses to focus on the facts and Area 51's history as a military base.  What she digs up is almost better than any theory.  Area 51 revolutionized the American Military and their testing.  This book is well written, doggedly researched and excellently argued. 

Ballad of the Whisky Robber by Julian Rubenstein - A madcap adventure through post-communism Eastern Europe, this book features semi-pro hockey, bank robbery, pelt smuggling and brutal alcoholism.  Prepare to turn the pages faster than a Grisham novel. 

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - I tried to read this book a couple of times and was not successful because I simply was unable to get through the introduction.  So, it sat, unread on my kindle for more than a year, and then suddenly I was struck by an urge to read it.  Am I ever glad that I did: this was one of the better books I have read this year.  Well written and an in depth look at how fast food changed America and ultimately the world.  Disturbing, fascinating and at times completely horrifying (the slaughterhouse sections are among the most terrifying things I have ever read).  If you only read one book about the food industry ever, make it this classic.  One of the best books ever on the subject.

Sweetness by Jeff Pearlman - Sometimes it is important to get the full measure of someone, even when they have been deified by everyone around them.  Jeff Pearlman does this in his biography of Walter Payton.  Does he occasionally detail not so great aspects of the legendary running back?  Yes, he does, and does he also detail the incredible and good things?  Yes he does.  This is a well measured, and overall compelling book about an ultimately tragic figure.

One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard - Imagine a tiny school making the state championships in baseball thanks to a hippy coach who changed his small town forever.  One of the most inspiring books I have ever read, this is an instant classic of David vs. Multiple Goliaths.  Read and enjoy.

Fiction

Reconstructing Amelia  by Kimberly McCreight - Imagine if Gone Girl and Gossip Girl had a baby, and now imagine this baby is the most taut and intense thriller of the year.  I did not care for Gone Girl but this was one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.  A stunning thriller that spins the reader in so many different directions and then actually has a logical ending.  Not a happy book, but a truly deep and resonant one.  The plot is twisty and engaging: a high priced lawyer gets a call from her daughter's private school.  The daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating.  By the time her mother gets there her daughter is dead, the victim of an apparent suicide.  However, a text from a mysterious source states: she didn't jump.  Saying any more would spoil all the depth and incredible turns.  Maybe the best book of the year so far.

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr - Once again Kerr releases a book and once again it is a stunning literary achievement.  This one set deep in the second world war has antihero Bernie Gunther trying to figure out who is responsible for a mass grave in the Katyn Forest.  If the Russians were the killers, Germany has a huge PR coup - but if the Germans are responsible it needs to be hushed up quickly.  The most meditative of Kerr's works, this is a stunning book that is one of Kerr's better novels.  Deeply thematic and full of action, twists and turns, you cannot help but cheer for Bernie even as he sinks as low of the Nazi's he utterly despises.

Best Books of April and May

Here are some of the books I have read and enjoyed in the past few months.

The Monstrumologist Series by Rick Yancey - YA and Teen books are often characterized by two things: the first being simple writing, the second being simple characterization.  Yancey's incredible books feature neither.  These are elegant tomes full of darkness, deep themes and very vivid character growth and development.  The series also does something that very few authors (YA or otherwise) dare to do: be complex.  Yancey presents the deep and twisty story and allows his reader to draw conclusions.  Nothing is spoon fed and the answers are neither clear nor pretty.  Each of the novels could be read as a standalone but work best as a series exploring the darkness within all of us.  The first book The Monstrumologist serves as stark reminder that the real monsters are among us; The Curse of the Wendingo flits with the fantastical, and the nature of myth and reality (to this point the novel could be interpreted a couple of different ways, it might just be the Shutter Island of teen fiction); the final novel (so far, as #4 comes out in Fall 2013) is The Isle of Blood which again ties together the theme of monsters among us and the true horrors of the world being right in front of us.  One of the more remarkable things about these novels is that at no point did I feel like I was reading a teen book.  They are gruesome, haunting and resonate deeply.  I am still thinking about them long after I finished reading.  The characters are neither simple or one dimensional.  They are real, flawed and strikingly complex.  Read this series and enjoy it as quickly as possible.

The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubenstein - A madcap adventure featuring a backup hockey goalie in post- Soviet Hungry who becomes a bank robbing, whiskey swilling, pelt smuggling, Robin Hood-esque hero to the people.  The man, from Romania (and more specificially from where Dracula made his bones) is a fascinating character whose experience serves as a microcosm for a truly bizarre time in the history of Eastern Europe. 

Sweetness by Jeff Pearlman - So many biographies are straighforward and refuse to take into account the whole measure of a person.  Pearlman's subject, the much beloved Walter Payton, has been deified for a very long time and this book does a wonderful job of humanizing him.  There are no punches pulled - all of Payton's faults and dark moments are captured in this moving and well written account.  One can see why Pearlman took a lot of heat about "slamming his subject" but that is simply not true.  He has written a great, balanced and full measure of the man known always, and forever, as Sweetness.

Best of Jan, Feb and March

There are a lot of books to read, and in the past few months I have read some good ones.  Here are the most notable:

Area 51 by Anne Jacobson - Imagine a book that does not shy away from the mysteries of Area 51 but rather addressed them in a genuine and logical manner.  This, my friends, is that book.  For one of the first times an author pulls back the curtain on one of the most secretive locations in the entire world.  Jacobson is a great writer and some of the secrets she divulges are shocking - but always truthful.  She does not write about aliens and conspiracies (other than a whopper of one around Roswell 1947) but rather focuses on the military history of the installation.  There is truth here, and Jacobson writes it fluidly.  Believe her or not, this is a solid book.

Ashfall / Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin - In dystopian fiction there is often a very dark tone, and in many cases this is well deserved.  There is dark and then there is what Mullin writes - these books are incredibly bleak.  Set in a world where the Super Volcano underneath Yellowstone unexpectedly erupts throwing the entire United States into chaos, the struggle to survive is desperate and brutal.  For the two main characters Darla and Alex, life becomes a dire prospect which grows dimmer with each passing day.  As the two find love in a dying world, the importance of things we take for granted like water, food and vitamins take on an added dimension as unthinkable actions (like cannibalism etc) become commonplace.  These are richly imagined books and the world Mullins destroys and then rebuilds is fascinatingly realistic.  Truly an achievement leaving me eagerly anticipating the third volume. 

The Best Books of the Year 2012

Another year has drawn to a close, and another year of reading continues to wind down.  Amazon.com and various other publications have now released their own "Best of the Year" lists (albeit with books written in 2012 only).  Once again please remember these are books I have read this year but they are not necessarily written in 2012 - though many are:

Clive Cussler Award (Best Page Turner) 
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane - After a couple of stumbles (notably the "pulled punches" of his previous effort Moonlight Mile) Lehane returned to form with this fantastic sort of sequel to his historical novel The Given Day.  Instead of focusing on the characters from the previous book, Lehane strikes out to create new terroritory with a Godfather-esque tale that slowly and subtly twists and turns.  The novel is Lehane at his dark best and features a brutal sequence set in prison that shapes the remainder of the tale. 
Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger - As the baseball season wound down I picked up this gem from the author of the classic Friday Night Lights and was not disappointed.  Bissinger breaks down a three game series between the Chicago Cubs and Saint Louis Cardinals through the eyes of manager Tony La Russa.  The book goes inside the world of baseball amd allows an unforgettable and intimate glimpse inside a world often viewed as simple or mundane. 

James Patterson Award (Most Disappointing Books of the Year)
The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson - A horror classic and supposedly one of the scariest books of all time, this one actually read like a series of "and then...and then...and then..." and not one bit of it rang true in any way.  Ultimately incredibly disappointing, especially in the way Anson writes - without any tension or sense of terror. 
Snowblind by Robert Sabbag - Sabbag has to be complimented on one aspect of his book: it takes someone with great skill to make the story of a drug trafficker boring.  Zachary Swan was a drug dealer in the 70's who realized money could be made on cocaine...and then virtually nothing else happens aside from Sabbag's failed attempts at stylish writing. 

Harper Lee Award (Best YA / Female Authors)
Divergent / Insurgent by Veronica Roth - After finishing The Hunger Games one must turn to other dystopian YA series and Roth's is one of the best.  Her books are fast paced, interesting and twisty. 
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - Dark, serious and powerful, this is a book that stays with you after you have read it.  Unlike other dystopian thrillers, this one is set in a world we do not recognize and one undergoing a transition to a new era.  Bardugo gets a lot of credit for literally manifesting the darkness in the world into a physical place ominously called "the fold".

Bill Simmons Award (Best Sports Books)
Richer than God by David Conn / Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby - Two sides of the same coin, Conn's book owes a great debt to Hornby's classic of the sport, and then becomes almost the sequel Hornby never wrote.  Both authors wrote about their teams (Arsenal and Man City) and both covered their own, autobiographical rises in relation to their love of said team.  Where they differ is Conn's attempt to understand the world of football beyond his own small sphere.  He examines the oil sheik who bought the squad and the impact of money in the world of the game.  Two incredible reads by any estimation.
The Dream Team by Jack McCallum - A whimsical and interesting look at the 1992 Olympic basketball team (with many parallels to the 2012 squad) this is a great, lighthearted read. 
The Best of Down Goes Brown by Sean McIndoe - In what could have easily been a series of blog posts (and is) the author elevates his material by being absolutely hilarious.  A quick and funny read for all those who miss the game we all love during this awful lockout.

David Simon Award (Smartest Books)
Supergods by Grant Morrison - A brilliant look at how superheroes reflect and shape our culture, Morrison's book is not an easy read.  It is however a rewarding one: challenging, complex and utterly fascinating this is a worthwhile book to understanding just why superheroes have been around for such a long time.
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Keen - Imagine sitting in Grade 9 Science class and having to learn about the periodic table.  Now imagine learning it is completely awesome thanks to Keen's great book which is interesting and enlightening about the elements we absolutely need and do not really know. 

The Best Books of the Year
(A Quick Note: this list does not include Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn simply because I absolutely could not decide on the book.  Did I love it?  Did I hate it?  I simply cannot come to any final thoughts on it, but I did read it and acknowledge that it exists)
5. The Twelve by Justin Cronin - Like the first book The Passage this one is a post-apocalyptic story set after a virus radically changes twelve death row convicts (and one scientist).  Just like the previous book, Cronin shapes and molds a world that has fallen apart in absolutely breathtaking style.  In the hands of a less skilled writer this would have fallen apart completely but Cronin is such a great writer that the world he creates is beautiful and haunting.  His book deepens and complicates the world he created before and is so heart wrenching and sad that it makes up for a challenging (and chaotic) ending. 
4. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - A stunning book that evokes the best of Harper Lee, this novel (the first of a series) is a powerful book about being an outcast and fighting to fit in.  Add a gothic setting and mystery and it all adds up to a wonderful novel.  The love story at the center of the story manages to be so real and tragic that the book elevates and challenges the reader to put it down. 
3. On Writing by Stephen King - A book about the ins and outs of writing that is actually good and readable?  You had better believe it, especially when it is written by Stephen King.  Absolutely fantastic.
2. Fever Pitch
And the best book of the year is:
1. The Last Policeman by Ben Winters - Many authors have tried their hand at post-apocalyptic tales that detail a world and civilzation jarred to a brutal end through some kind of devestating catastrophe.  Many authors have written hard boiled noir so dark, complex and thrilling that it is virtually impossible to put down.  Then there is Ben Winters who has written a flat out brilliant novel that sets a noir mystery against the backdrop of a pre-apocolayptic world slowly consuming itself and its citizens.  What Winters does is create a world held together by duct tape, and a man struggling to do the same within himself.  All his main protagonist has ever wanted is to be a policeman and now that he is getting his chance the world will be completely destroyed in six months.  The book moves through one haunting scene of desperation, decadence and devestation to another and all along the policeman keeps plugging along, following his instincts to solve a crime where the outcome does not matter.  Amidst all of this is a series of conspiracy theories and the frightening destruction of our society, piece by piece.  The book sticks with you long after it has been read, and Winters writes with such an emotional and deadpan style that perfectly gibes with the world falling apart.  One scene however sticks apart from all others: the policeman awakens one more to a vibrating rumble and believes the asteroid coming to Earth has arrived early.  His heart wrenching panic and the complete disintegration of his carefully constructed composure falls apart completely as the true horror of his future washes over him completely.  Then he realizes his phone is ringing.  He pulls himself back together, but it is still simply by bits and pieces that are barely hanging on.  What happens to the world when there is no hope, none at all.  As Winter's elegantly notes: some fall apart while other struggle to hold some sense of order together, no matter what the cost. 

The Scariest Books Ever

With another Halloween come and gone, it seemed a perfect time to reveal the Scariest Book I have ever read:

The Shining by Stephen King - Not sure why this book was so scary when I read it until I realized that haunted houses / creepy isolation terrify me.  This book is naturally a combination of the best of those two things so it makes sense it would be pretty scary to read...alone...in an old house...at night.  For my money this is the most terrifying novel King has written.  You have been warned. 

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston - A non-fiction thriller about a highly infectious African disease that kills up to 90% of those infected?  No idea why this would be scary, no idea at all.

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons - The main reason this one was creepy to me was because it reminded me so much of my friends and I hanging out during the summer.  This sort of thing (well, not all of it) could have happened to us.  Sure it goes slighly off the rails near the end but that does not take away the full effect of a creepy and dark summer horror.

It by Stephen King - A classic horror story that meshes every single scary thing into one giant stew of terror: evil clowns, monsters, and of course a giant freaking spider.  This is also a great book and one of King's true masterpieces (along with The Stand and The Shining). 

Bedbugs by Ben Winters - Winters set out to write a modern version of Rosemary's Baby and succeeded in writing a very, very scary novel about creepy crawly little bugs and losing your mind.  This is a taunt, top of the line novel.  Read it and prepare to do a lot of scratching. 

What other novels should I read to add to this list? 

The Best Lately

Lately I have read quite a few note worthy books - here are some of the best:

Richer than God by David Conn - More than twenty years ago, Nick Hornby wrote an absolute masterpiece about football called Fever Pitch, now Conn has done a very similiar thing.  Writing about the rise of Manchester City and their trillionaire Oil Sheik owner, he is able to contrast the Premier League's business feel of today with the feeling of years ago when he was a boy.  The combination is incredible and his conclusions show just how much of a business it all is.  A fantastic read for any sports fan.

Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg - A reissued noir horror classic, this novel about a private detective who has to track down a missing singer in the years after WWII is a stunner.  Dark, twisted and downright horrifying, it pulls the reader into a deep and horrifying hole.  The final twist is a shocker of epic proportions.  A great spooky read for Halloween.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean - How interesting is the periodic table of elements?  According to Kean, it is very interesting and he proves it with his fascinating and well written book about the elements we take for granted.  He delves into how each came about and breathes live into a fantastic cast of historical characters.  Additionally, he gives you brilliant tidbits about the stuff that makes up our lives and just how fragile it all is.  A wonderful read even if you do not love all thing science. 

Great Book: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

In 2012 I have read a lot of good books and a few very good books, but I have not read too many truly "Great" novels yet this year.  All of that changed during the last week of summer when I read The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters. 
The premise of this novel is inventive and downright brilliant: In six months an asteroid (cleverly nicknamed "Maia") is going to strike the earth and wipe out all life.  There is no hope of salvation, no last second Armaggedon-like scenario and yet the world keeps on turning.  What would happen to that world?  Winters begins his story with a death, one of many, and a detective who is determined to do his job right until the last horrifying moments,  Winters intercuts his great story with a bunch of thought provoking lines and gives glimpses of a world without hope.  The book is deeply complex and full of horrifying scenes in a rapidly disintigrating world held together by the thinnest of strings.  As a noir mystery novel it is amazing; as a preapocalypse noir mystery story it elevates even higher.  Run out and get this book and while you are at it pick up another book by Winters Bedbugs   which is a fantastic update on the Rosemary's Baby-ish story of a creepy and psychological thriller set in a New York apartment.  It is a very dark and truly terrifying story.  Read it and prepare to scratch a lot...

The Joy of Re-Reading

In the dog days of summer reading is a favorite occupation on the beach and in the parks.  Nothing beats reading in the sunshine with a cool drink.  Summer is a time for action packed, exciting books which require little or no deep thought. 
Another great joy of summer is re-reading some old favorites.  Occasionally I will re-read books, but generally only if they are complex enough to demand it.  This summer has been different: I have torn through three of my all-time favorites.  Here are my re-reading faves and perfect summer books:

Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane - I last read this book in 2007 and it has been awhile since I went back to this classic.  Reading it took me down a dark and deep rabbit hole and made me want to tear through the rest of Lehane's catalogue (if you have never read Lehane before start with the Patrick Kenzie series before hitting Mystic River).  This is a fantastic meditation on violence and the creation of darkness within all of our souls.  Prepare to spend way too much time on the beach trying to read this book in one day.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow - I read this one every couple of years, it is one of my favorites.  Taking on the Mexican Drug Cartels and the complex government conspiracies which allowed they to become emeshed into the fabric of Mexican society, Winslow has written a great book.  At times it stretches some credulity but overall it rings true.  This is a horrifying and deeply thematic book and is meant to be read and enjoyed over and again.

The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum - It had been more than a decade since I read this classic (some call it the best book Ludlum wrote) and it lived up to my memory.  A deep action and plot driven book push this into the upper echelon of spy thrillers.  There is a complex web of intrigue going on in addition to a couple of great characters.  Thrilling and intense this is the perfect beach book. 

What are the books you re-read?