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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 8, 2019 11:38:10 GMT -5
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore. This is the second to last book by Moore that I hadn't read. I think it came out about the time that I was coming off my last Moore kick and the subject matter didn't pump me up so I passed on it planning to come back to it at some point. Boy was that a mistake. Let's start off by saying I don't know much of anything about fine art. I took an art history class in college but I've lost the vast majority of that. I also know little to nothing about the practical matters of painting. Pop art is another matter, but fine art is a mystery to me. And that didn't matter because Moore gave me all of what I needed in the book and Google gave me the icing on the cake. The book focuses on Lucien Lessard, a baker and struggling artist, and Henri Toulouse-Latrec attempting to unravel the mystery of the apparent suicide of Vincent van Gogh. Also involved are the mysterious Colorman, who provides the mineral pigments that become the paint, particularly ultramarine ground from lapis lazuli, which becomes the sacre bleu (sacred blue). And Juliette, Lucien's long-lost love, who returns and inspires him to paint his masterpiece. Along the way we spend time with Pisarro, Monet, Manet, Whistler, Seurat, Renoir and Gaugain (among others). This is not "laugh out loud" Moore. This a bit more introspective and thoughtful along the lines of Lamb. Which isn't to say that it's not funny. Because it is. It's just a more subtle humor than, say, the Pine Cove books. This one vaulted up in to my upper tier of Christopher Moore books. Considering I was not really expecting to love it...that's a very good thing.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 13:08:54 GMT -5
Continuing my tour through first volumes of pulpy series, I finished Sax Rohmer's first Fu Manchu novel last night, The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu... First serialized in the slicks, not the pulps, it still has all the earmarks of a pulp tale. It really does read more like a patched together set of serialized pieces than a complete whole of a novel, however it still presents a story with a beginning, middle and an end (though there are set ups for sequels in the denouement). It's a fun romp, even if the yellow peril themes and ingrained stereotypes of eastern cultures have not aged well. I was familiar with some of the characters through their portrayal in Marvel's Master of Kung Fu series I read through a few years back, but they are the central characters here, not sporadic supporting guest stars, which makes it a different experience of these characters here. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 10, 2019 13:26:25 GMT -5
Continuing my tour through first volumes of pulpy series, I finished Sax Rohmer's first Fu Manchu novel last night, The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu... First serialized in the slicks, not the pulps, it still has all the earmarks of a pulp tale. It really does read more like a patched together set of serialized pieces than a complete whole of a novel, however it still presents a story with a beginning, middle and an end (though there are set ups for sequels in the denouement). It's a fun romp, even if the yellow peril themes and ingrained stereotypes of eastern cultures have not aged well. I was familiar with some of the characters through their portrayal in Marvel's Master of Kung Fu series I read through a few years back, but they are the central characters here, not sporadic supporting guest stars, which makes it a different experience of these characters here. -M I love this book a lot. You you can definitely tell it's pieced together from short stories. But it's a crazy fun book. It's hard to believe how really incompetent Smith and Petrie are. To the extent they prevail it's through luck not anything they've done. I really want to re-write this with Fu as a Chinese nationalist fighting the evil colonial powers. Seems unlikely I'll ever get around to it though.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 11, 2019 4:17:50 GMT -5
Stallion Gate by Martin Cruz Smith This is only the second book by Smith that I've read, the first being the horror/thriller Nightwing a few month ago, and I have to say, based on this one I doubt I'll be reading any of his other stuff. This one is set in New Mexico in 1945 against the backdrop of the last phase of the Manhattan Project, closing with the Trinity nuclear test in July. A number of real life personalities are characters, some major, some minor, most notably Robert Oppenheimer, but also Gen. Leslie Groves, and Teller, Fermi and several others involved in the development of the A-bomb. The main character is Joe Pena, a Pueblo Indian who had seen some action in the Pacific theater in the early part of the war. After barely making it out of the Philippines with his life, he was then sent back to the States to recover from injuries and illness, but then ended up in the brig in Ft. Leavenworth because he slept with an officer's wife. That's where we find him as the book opens. He's pulled out by a captain in charge of security at the Los Alamos Laboratory, who wants to use Pena to find suspected Soviet spies who've infiltrate the project. Pena, who has the rank of sergeant, gets assigned to be Oppenheimer's chauffeur and, apparently, general assistant. The captain is convinced that Oppenheimer is a traitor, and is even willing to frame him to prove it, so Pena is perfect as an inside man because he has so much leverage over him (i.e., he can send him back to the brig at any time). Pena, of course, has other ideas, and soon gets involved in all kinds of problems on the side (including romantic entanglements with two different women and some explosives smuggling) that complicate everything. If that summary makes it sound interesting, well, that's what I thought this novel would be. But for the most part, the story is really - surprisingly perhaps - boring. The plot meanders quite a bit, and after a while, I found myself really uninterested in Sgt. Pena and his many problems and schemes. It was a struggle to get through this, and it only picked up somewhere in the final quarter, but even then, the main thing I felt when I finished was relief that I can find something more interesting to read.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 11, 2019 11:45:37 GMT -5
Over the last 3 days I pored over 2 books. Six-Gun Law 1: the Westerns of Randolph Scott, Audie murphy, Joel McCre and George Montgomery by Barry Atkinson. Six-Gun Law 2: the Westerns of Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Sterling Hayden and Richard Widmark by Barry Atkinson. These are comprehensive reviews of EVERY western movie from these stars of yesteryear. The book also includes a lot of "Hollywood/personal" highlights to help you know where and when and what the actors were doing at the time of each movie. The author breaks it up going by years from their start and contracts they signed with individual companies. This helps to break up the flow and make for easier reading in chapters.
Alternating each actor in the respective time frames with notes of other A or B movies they were in direct competition with provides some splendid insights. These actors were the "backbone" of western movies during the 30's, 40's, 50's heyday of cowboy movies and several hung on well into the late 60's with a few westerns into the 70's before riding off into the sunset along the trail. Each one of them had their following of fans guaranteeing any of their westerns would be seen and make money. Back in the days when these western movies were being cranked out quickly for matinee shows for a million or less, each actor was to be found usually making 5 or more movies in a years time along with other types of movies taking them up into the possibilities of 8-10 movies in some years. Amazing how the times have changed both in cost and time involved.
In those earliest of years when televisions were few and far between it was the Friday and Weekend at the movies for families to go out and enjoy themselves. These rough and tough and ready cow hands were the stars that folks went to see regularly, knowing that ANY western movie was going to be fun and exciting, even if it was a stinker. It was fun reading about movies I haven't seen and adding them to my look for list (many are NOT on DVD) while watching GRIT TV and other movie stations. It was more fun to read about these randy cow pokes adventures in the golden days of yore when they ruled the silver screen and every man, woman and child watched their adventures.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 11, 2019 17:12:19 GMT -5
Fast One by Paul CainHuh. Well. That was certainly a book. This may be a case of me just not getting it. This is generally considered one of the great hard-boiled books. To me it was pulp...but not in the better sense of pulp. This was far closer to Carroll John Daly than it was to Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. The protagonist, Gerry Kells, has come to L.A. (we know it's L.A. because a good 10% of the prose is devoted to telling us the directions and streets everyone drives and walks on) from New York. The local gangsters and political machines keep trying to lure Kells in...for reasons. At the same time they keep trying to double cross him even if he doesn't want to be involved...for reasons. Then when he decides to get involved various things happen...for reasons. Part of the problem with discerning the motivations of the characters is that Cain spends pretty much no time developing any of them. There are no discernible personalities here. There are names of characters who are about an inch deep in characterization. One of the things that people tout about the book is that it just keeps driving forward. And I guess it does, except when it's explaining how to drive from one side of L.A. to the other road by road. But the drive doesn't add up to much. And to the extent is adds to anything it's not much that we haven't seen done infinitely better in Red Harvest or in The Glass Key. I wouldn't say that I'm unhappy I read this. I just have to say that I don't find it in any way special.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2019 20:07:52 GMT -5
SO I had three hours to kill in a Second and Charles today, and brought home a chunk of new used books (as well as some comics and trades). These were just added to my to read pile-pulps, Bond, Executioner, Destroyer, Alistair MacClean, a Superman Quiz book, Asimov, Jack Vance, Karl Edward Wagner Howard pastiche, Star Trek and the adaptation of the Luana movie based on the Frazetta painting... Most of the vintage paperbacks were 75 cents to $2 each, the Bond book and the pulp anthology were a little more. now just to find time to read all (or even some) of it (the Big Book of Pulps is going to take a while to get through all by itself. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 12, 2019 5:59:17 GMT -5
I tried to get through Sax Rohmer a while back, and it was too boring, I just couldn't do it... one of the few old books I just didn't like.
Riding the Rap Elmore Leonard
I grabbed this quite a while back after watching Justified.. and just recently discovered it in the 'to read' pile. While I was a little disappointed that it wasn't the direct prequel to the show I was hoping for, it an excellent story. Now that I've actually looked it up, I suspect 'Pronto' is the one that has the story of the guy Raylan shoots to get him sent to Harlan County.. this is a story after that, where he's been transferred to hunting people with Warrants out on them, but really he's just helping a friend.
The characters were really great throughout... from Bobby the Gardner to Louis Lewis, the Jamaican that tried being Muslim than settled on African American, the bad guys were a wonderful hot mess that you could very easily picture on the show.
The best one, though was the psychic Reverend Dawn. Leonard does a fantastic depicting her process, and leaving just a bit of doubt. It's clear Raylan thinks she a con artist, but she does come up with a few bits of info that, as the reader, you can't quite figure out where she gets it from.
There's not as much of Raylan as I'd like, and it's a little weird that he's basically working on his own on a case that isn't a case while doing his regular marshall duties, but you can forgive that for the sake of reading a good story.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 15, 2019 22:53:12 GMT -5
The Strangled Queen Maurice Druon
This book picks up just where the last one left off, with the funeral of Phillip the Fair. Louis is presented to us as small minded and sickly, and the others at court are ready to pounce and take over.
There's some really interesting intrigue all around, and I love how small actions by minor players have HUGE impacts... the butterfly effect in all it's glory.
Most of the main players in the first book seem to have reduced roles in the drama, as some are off the board, and others are in the background. I did finally get someone to root for, happily, as I LOVE Guccio...I hope he continues to randomly be on hand for all the important happenings while visiting his lady love in between.
At some point, they really need to focus on Robert of Artois, but thus far he's just had brief snippets of a role (and this time quite an evil one).
The main issue with the book I have is the title is actually a spoiler... it IS historical fiction, so nothing is that big a surprise, but you could be a bit subtle. I wonder if the french title was better?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 16, 2019 14:10:32 GMT -5
Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story by Ray Charles and David RitzI'm always pretty iffy on these "as told to" type books. But I'm a big fan of Ray Charles and he's clearly lead an interesting life. And Ritz has done straight bios that have been well done. So when I was struggling with a bit of reader's block I decided to give it a whirl. And I'm pretty glad I did. Charles doesn't hold back about his life and the way he lead it. He doesn't shy away from his womanizing or his drug use. He cops to being an absentee Dad to his various children. He acknowledges his inspirations and, I think, downplays his own innovations and, honestly, his genius when it comes to fundamentally changing music. So as a autobiography this is a step above most. Charles comes across as not pulling a lot of punches. So if you're interested in the man and his music this is probably a good place to go. Which isn't something I say about a lot of autobiographies. They tend to be sanitized to the point that I really want an objective biography. Not that I'd be opposed to one here, but I don't think it's necessary in this case. I'll also add that one of the things I love about reading about music and/or musicians is the opportunity to delve back into the catalog of songs covered in the books. In this case I got the opportunity to delve into some of Charles' big influences (Nat King Cole, Charles Brown) as well as Charles' own work. That probably did focus a bit too much on his Atlantic output along with Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (one of my picks for top ten albums of all time) but that's okay.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 16, 2019 20:18:18 GMT -5
Pale Mars Garnett Elliott
Captain Gura's 2nd story takes place about 2 years after the first, and brings us to a Mars the the USSR isn't too interested in, but that America has a colony on for tourists, and a bit of research on the dead Martian Culture. When the colony sends up a distress call.. Captain Gura is surprised to investigate.
There's a couple fun shout outs to other Martians in the book, but otherwise this one is just a bit too similar to Red Venus for me to really enjoy it. There is a big cliffhanger that could lead to future stories, but considering this was written in 2016, it seems the author may have moved on to other things.
Too bad, because there is definitely at least one good novel to be had out of Elliot's still in the cold war travelogue style world, but as is, it's more just a love letter to Burroughs.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 19, 2019 0:01:18 GMT -5
The Da Vinci Machine Earl Conrad The cover and back of the book makes this seem like a novel, but it's in fact a short story collection.. many of them VERY short. The author has a wry sense of humor that shines through in a few of them, but a couple of the others are just nonsensical. His main issue is population control, as all his story refer to the world population being far in excess of what it is and that it's a huge issue. I think the oddest one is the title story, the Da Vinci Machine, which talks about how all the old art and artists are no longer appreciated because there's a type writer-like machine that lets anyone create a masterpiece... is his dissing typewriters? Printing? I very odd thing indeed for a writer. He talks about the impact of musicians as pop icons in 'Ook Ook Ook', which is so over the top it's awesome, even if I think his purpose was to 'warn' against it. Then there's the final story, which is just weird. Considering how short it is, probably worth a look.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2019 0:25:11 GMT -5
Just finished Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon... The movie is one of my absolute favorites, but this is the first time I've read the novel. I couldn't help but "hear" Spade's dialogue in Bogart's voice, but I immensely enjoyed the novel. I will have to track down more Hammett, though I believe there is at least one in the Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps I picked up last week. I DVRed the movie off of TCM a week or so ago, so now I want to watch it again while the book is fresh in my mind. -M
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 19, 2019 2:33:49 GMT -5
All of Hammett's novels are outstanding. The best one by far, though, is The Glass Key.
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Post by berkley on Jun 19, 2019 6:56:07 GMT -5
All of Hammett's are outstanding. The best one by far, though, is The Glass Key. I think The Glass Key, The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and Red Harvest are all outstanding, but things like The Dain Curse very obviously rank several notches below those four.
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