Book #6 + BONUS

Lamb by Christopher Moore is one of those books that catches you off-guard and takes time to be truly appreciated. The premise, is hilarious and simple: the gospel according to Biff, the best friend of Joshua (Jesus to some). One of the interesting approaches that Moore takes is in relying as much as possible in a hysterical comedy of a novel on the truth of the gospel. No one really knows what happened to Jesus from the time he was little boy until the time he was thirty. Suffice it to say in Moore's version: hilarity ensues. On the back one of the tag lines states what if Jesus knew kung-fu? That should get some people to buy the book, but obviously not all.

At this point the book could easily be dismissed as a comedy of errors but it is much more than that. The writing is fluid, deep, engaging and emotional. This story tugs at the heart strings and at the end the soft beauty was evident. This is a touching book, and it is easy to get involved with characters whose names we have heard before in the bible. There is a slow melancholy at work here, and it mixes perfectly with the humor to create a wonderful blend of a novel.

There are others who will dismiss it based upon the whole "blasphemy" thing, but prove to me that this is not how Jesus spent thirty years and we will talk (and no, the bible does not count as "proof").

Highly recommended, and highly readable this story has a little bit of something for everyone. Read, learn and enjoy!

The Bonus:

From time to time, we are struck by something we read because it is so frighteningly powerful it becomes nearly overwhelming. Just last week, I learned something new about a part of the world where a history of brutality is becomming lost in the shadows of time. I was born after 1983 and thus had never really heard about the Khmer Rouge before, as there was really no connection to make. It seems as if that time period is still struggling to be understood by those who were silent witness to the atrocities. The level of brutality has never been connected to the Holocaust or "ethnic cleansing" and I believe we are at a crossroads. Should we continue to hold on to memorys of past atrocities in order to make sure they do not repeat, or should we try and put them past us? I say we can never forget the past because it will inform the future. Despot dictactors continue to exert control but their names are blurring over time - sure, I had heard the name Pol Pot but I never made the connection until I read this article on www.gq.com entitled "Never Forget" by Michael Paterniti. I read magazines now and again, mostly when I am intruiged by five or more of the articles. Gary Smith who writes for SI is my all time favorite magazine writer and had written the best article I had read. Until last week. Yes, this article is that good. It is long, haunting, powerful and really, there are not enough adjectives to do it justice. Go to the website and hit features to read one of the best pieces of literature I have yet come across. Period. If he ever writes a book on the subject, I will be first in line on the first day it comes out. The article pushed me to research and discover new things on the topic. Good articles make you curious; Great articles push you into entirely new territory. "Never Forget" falls into the great catagory. I have a new magazine writer who I will faithfully follow. Read this article, and never forget.

Book #5

Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane is one of those books that grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go until the last, brutal page. I read Mystic River and Shutter Island by Lehane but steered clear of his PI books featuring the team of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
That was a huge mistake.
I love the way Lehane writes, he truly makes you feel as if you are along for a pulse pounding ride with the characters. He writes with such emotion and naked truth that you cannot but glimpse the dark side of life and how it affects his protagonists. This story, like most that he writes, starts with a simple premise that explodes into a twisty landscape one can barely hold on to. Lehane shifts the mysteries within his book with a deft hand and pulls the reader from a confrontation with a mob enforcer to a story of a twisted serial killer looking for revenge against a mob that killed his partner. The twists are breath-taking and the writing elegant. Lehane is a master and this book stands out for me above all else. He examines the worst of us and finds a strange, twisted beauty beneath the darkness. All the Patrick Kenzie books are incredible and he writes few unmemorable bit players. The character Bubba, a childhood friend of the protagonist is an example: he is a psychopathic, homicidal, near-warlord, arms dealer who just happens to like the flawed hero of the story.
This was the book that reignited a love for mysteries I felt I had lost. I tend to have one guy for areas of the US (Pelecanos for DC, Burke for NO) Lehane is, and will always be, my Boston guy.

Book #4

Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr actually comprises the first 3 books of his Berlin Noir trilogy (since expanded to 6 books!) These first three books grab you by the throat and refuse to let go for the entire time you are reading them. In order they are: March Violets (a tale in which intrepid detective Bernie Gunther searches for a missing girl amidst the background of the 1936 Olympics), The Pale Criminal (in which infamous Nazi Reinhard Heydrich brings Bernie back to the police to investigate a murder in 1938) and finally, A German Requiem (which takes place after the war in 1947 with Bernie still struggling to escape the Nazi grip through a shattered Germany and Austria).

These books trace the Nazi arch throughout Europe and, in the next three books of the series South America. What makes these thrillers so fantastic is they are written so beautifully and hauntingly that being drawn in is unavoidable. Philip Kerr mixes humor, with the horrors of the Nazi regime which moves like an inescapable top spinning towards the edge of the table. One of the best things about the books is the way Kerr slowly builds you up and then completely pulls the rug out from under you. His twists are pitch perfect and staggering. Nothing seems out of place, even when Bernie is crossing paths with among others: Herman Goring, Heinrich Mueller, Himmler and Heydrich. He drifts dreamlike amongst the worst of the worst and still comes out seeming to be better than them, even as he frequently drops to their level. Bernie Gunther is a hard nosed detective quick with a quip and his gun. These novels are hard boiled and envoke a range of feelings in the reader. When I finished the second one, centered around the infamous Kristalnacht, I felt almost sick. The third was nearly a spy novel, with Bernie battering between the Americans and Soviets in postwar Europe. The fourth and fifth novels (watch for them in future posts!) were also taut, staggering achievements.

These books combine mystery and history in the best possible way. If you are at all interested in Nazi Germany and like mysteries, READ THIS BOOK! There is also a sixth Bernie Gunther mystery coming out in September, it's already at the top of my "To Buy" list.

Book #3

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson is the rare book which successfully combines history, true accounts, suspense, drama and harrowing survival stories. When I was younger I dreamed of becoming a wreck diver and undersea jack-of-all-trades. However, this book showed exactly what wreck diving - dangers included - is actually like. Suffice it to say, it is not as fun as originally expected. The dangers are at times insurmountable. The plot details the journey of two men - John Chatterton and Richie Kohler - who attempt to discover the truth and identity of a U-Boat discovered off the coast of New Jersey. Slowly, their quest takes over their lives and the lives of several others, ultimately leading three people give their lives in an attempt to discover the truth about the sub. Chatterton and Kohler, once bitter enemines become closer than brothers and find an incredible chemistry under water.
The book is incredibly written, well detailed and a fantastically gripping story. I was recently talking with a friend about the best books we have ever read, we both agreed on Shadow Divers as one of our top three. Another example of how incredible gripping this book is: my grandmother, who has read nearly everything under the sun, wanted me to find the email address of the author so she could send him a note telling him that Shadow Divers was the best book she has ever read...period. Yes, its that good. This is a read-it-at-red-lights kind of book and once you start, you cannot put it down. Without a doubt, this is the best example of what a true account history book can be. Everyone I have given this book to has torn through it and declared the same thing: Five stars, worth the hype, highly recommended.

Book #2

Book #2 is a recent read and I cannot honestly say it was one of the best books I have ever read. However, the first 200 pages came as close to representing my own childhood as I have ever found in print. The lazy summer mornings of bike riding, hanging out with friends and searching out the answers when weird things happened (invented or not). Like the characters in this thriller, I grew up with a group of kids who have remained lifelong friends. Throughout reading this book I continually wondered about how I would have reacted to the circumstances and placed myself into the vivid characterizations. The straight forward plot of this book contains a town which is beset upon by an ancient evil and group of kids who have to come together to fight it. I picked this up because it sounded alot like another book I had recently enjoyed, Stephen King's masterpiece "IT" (more about that book in a future post). I figured it would be generic and very similiar and could not have been more wrong. It was entertaining for all 600 pages but sort of fell apart at the end. While the conclusion was touching, it was a tad unrealistic and seemed hollow at times. However, that will not stop me from recommending this book to those who want to recapture small town summers of their youth. A fantastic book, terrifying at times and overall a great accomplishment of rememberance and terror. Simmons expertly captures the essence of why, deep down, we are all scared of the dark, even in the dead of sticky, hot summer nights.

A "NEW" APPROACH

In the last little while I have posted more infrequently than Steve Nash on Dwight Howard. A grevious lack of time is the only excuse I can offer. Perhaps I took on too much, or perhaps I just did not have a wonderful flow of ideas I expected to. Well, in any event I am going to try and post at least once a week with an "AWESOME BOOK" of the week which I will review and write about. These will be books I have read over the course of my life and enjoyed in one way or another. Just a note about my reading habits in case anyone worries they are being left out: I read non-fiction true accounts, history, mystery, thrillers and some horror. I apologize if those are not really your cup of tea...without further ado, here is book #1.

Sahara by Clive Cussler


I decided to start off with a book which hooked me on reading. Now, Clive Cussler does not write the most "realistic" fiction but this book is a staggering achievement. His hero of over twenty thrillers, Dirk Pitt faces just about everything the world can throw at him in this rip-roaring page turner. This is the definition of what a novel should be. It is well written, contains characters who are more than just stock "good guys" and "villians" and at times the suspense is gut wrenching. A quick summary: A red tide out of Africa is threatening to decimate the world's population, Dirk Pitt and longtime confederates Rudy Gunn and Al Giordino agree to ride up a river into Mali and the source of the outbreak. Along the way they have a few run ins with corrupt African dictators, one of the best imagined war standoffs in novel history and a heart shattering conclusion. If you need a beach read, grab this book. It takes you by the throat and refuses to let go for five hundred plus pages. Many will know Clive Cussler only by the moderately entertaining mass market novels he "co-writes" but this way Cussler in his heyday. This book has something for everyone - a love story, action, heroism and a scene in which the intrepid heroes walk across the blazing Sahara desert. Truly, this among all the other novels he wrote remains the gold standard of Dirk Pitt novels. Highly, highly recommended. I was once asked what one novel I would take to a desert island: this is it.

The Good, the Bad and the Oprah

Yes, Barak Obama will probably be the next president of the United States. His candidacy marks a progressive twist in American elections, however, a few things trouble me mightily.
Firstly, does anyone else realize that Oprah Winfrey has selected who will be the next president? Before she gave him the "Winfrey Bump" he was way behind Clinton. Should we allow an uneducated billionaire to choose our president? Um, I think that happened before and it did not work out so well. I am not saying Barack will not bring changes and be a good choice, I am merely pointing out the disturbing fact of how much power Oprah has. Why? Can anyone tell me why she is so powerful?
Secondly, I liked Obama's speech, but I cannot really listen to the guy without getting a small chuckle. He sounds like the Rock. Try and deny it, but he does. The way he was talking I expected him to break out, "And come November 4th, I'm going open up a can of whup-ass on John McCain. Then I'll whup the whole damn republican party! Hell, I'll take them right now!" When he was calling McCain out for debates I half expected him to rip off his shirt jump and step into the ring pounding a couple of chairs on the mat.
Thirdly, despite Oprah's endorsement, I hope Obama wins. We need change and he may be the person to do it. To get there will be a long, brutal battle and I hope he is ready to succeed.

Things I liked This Summer?
1) The Celtics won!
2) The Olympics - man, you figure you'll just watch for 20 minutes but watching volleyball (go beach!) is so intensely awesome you cannot stop.
3) Hackey sack - not just for hippies anymore!
4) Fruit - I love the summer season of fruit, it is so delicious! Mmm, berries and peaches and nectarines and strawberries and blueberries and at reasonable prices!
5) USC dominating Virginia - Mark Sanchez played wonderfully and Joe McKnight looks a lot like a young Reggie Bush. Love watching this team play well.
6) Book (s) of the week-
Harry Potter 1 through 7 - I swore up and down a few years ago I would never read them. I never saw the movies or read the books until 3 weeks ago. I finished all 7 in that time. JK Rowling deserves all the accolades for getting kids to read and her plots are wonderful. They are by no means the best books of all time, but they are entertaining. Anything that gets kids to read is okay by me.

Things I intensely Disliked this Summer
1) That we all seem to have forgotten about Kobe Bryant and what he did.
2) Did China win the Olympics Russian Boycott style? Were there athletes properly vetted? Nice to see China trading with Dominican for passports.
3) The Republican Party - Sarah Pallin, well played to get back into the race. Hopefully, in our society today, the issues around her will not factor in. However, it said the daughter will marry the guy who knocked her up, is that just so her mother has a better shot in November? If so, that is awful, simply awful.
4) No sun in the last two weeks! C'mon!
5) Canadian elections - no one is paying attention and that is never good, but as I've said before, our politics just are not that interesting. At least it will bring about the end of ineffective liberal leader Stephan Dion. New blood is desperately needed.