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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 26, 2018 13:21:48 GMT -5
Gideon's Trumpet by Anthony LewisGideon v. Wainwright is one of the seminal criminal procedure cases to come from the U.S. Supreme Court. It's almost certainly the single most important Sixth Amendment case (though you could make an argument for Powell v. Alabama). And it's in large part responsible for my job. I'm very familiar with Gideon v. Wainwright. And I remember watching the TV movie made from this book back in the day (holy crap what a cast...Henry Fonda, Jose Ferrar, John Houseman, Sam Jaffee). But I don't think I'd ever read this book. And I thought it was probably time to remedy that. With the kind of background that I have the interest here is less in the case itself or even the fact that Gideon managed to get the case to the Supreme Court pro se (an amazing feat), but in the procedures that the Court uses and the look back at the political situation surrounding the case. It's also very interesting to look at where both the author and others involved thought the country with keen hindsight. It's almost a certainty that I'm not ever going to argue a case in front of the SCOTUS. And it's equally unlikely I'm ever going to file a petition for Certiorari. So the procedure in the Court is a bit of a mystery even to me. While I'm sure some things have changed in the ensuing fifty years it's still interesting to look at the process. More interesting was the historical context of the case. I didn't realize that prior to Gideon most states had procedures in place for providing counsel to most indigents in, at least, felony cases. The exceptions tended to be in the dirty south (what a shocker) though Pennsylvania was a conspicuous exception as well. I also had no idea that there was an amicus brief filed by 22 states (lead by then Minnesota Attorney General Walter Mondale) to overturn Betts v. Brady and find a right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. It was also interesting to get a bit of a look at the personalities of the members of the Court at the time. I really need to find a good biography of Justice Black. Because his evolution over time has to be fascinating. This is a good book that is a look at an incredibly important case.
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Post by Jesse on Dec 26, 2018 16:54:18 GMT -5
One Shotby Lee Child The ninth Jack Reacher book in the series comes full circle for me personally as it's the story the film is based on. The only reason I checked out the movie is because it was filmed in my hometown which of course led me to picking up the books. I can't say I remember much about the film with Tom Cruise as far as how accurate of an adaptation it was but I did recall certain plot points and characters as they appeared in the book. The premise is basically when a sniper opens fire on innocent bystanders the alleged perpetrator refuses to answer any questions after being arrested but does name Jack Reacher. Reacher already on his way to where the crime took place after seeing the alleged perpetrator named on the news recalls events that occurred while he was still a military investigator. This one reveals an interesting conspiracy and set up that has a great climactic ending same as the movie. As always Reacher solves the case, kills the bad guys and gets the woman. The books are pretty paint-by-numbers at this point but no less entertaining.
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Post by brutalis on Dec 27, 2018 8:27:55 GMT -5
The Spawn of Lilith written by Dana Fredsti (Thomas). A new series and a fun romp full of thrills and laughs. Written by real life B movie ex-stunt woman Fredsti (from her website: "novelist and screenwriter, B-movie actress (okay, C movie actress), zombie aficionado, exotic and domestic feline advocate, swordfighter, wine lover and beach glass junkie.") this is the 1st book in an ongoing series. The heroine is Lee Striga, a successful stuntwoman/actress who is injured in a high fall stunt. As she recovers and struggles with her new fear of heights she takes on odd stunt jobs in lesser movies utilizing her weapon and ground stunt skills. The big catch in this series: is that mythology/demonology is all real and working in Hollywood as actors and stunt people and producers and directors. Full of fights, stunts, humor and movie insider information and movie anecdotes this is one really interesting and funny book. It is a bit of a slow start as Lee doesn't really confront any big name demon stuff until the very end where she finds out that she is a living ancestor of Lilith, Mother of Demons and that shemust now fulfill the family debt and hunt/kill evil demons who threaten humanity.
There is enough personality and story to keeping you interested and desiring to read more. Hopefully with the 2nd book (due in April 2019) Blood Ink the story will pick up and gain a bit more depth now that the "origin" story is out of the way. Fredsti has preformed stunts and acted in movies and television so her Hollywood stuff is pretty spot on and insightful and interesting. She has been in Army of Darkness, Time Barbarians, Princess Warrior, Blood Bath and others.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 28, 2018 0:07:19 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley, great write-up on Gideon's Trumpet. The movie was very impressive, especially for a TV movie of its time. A couple of quick comments. Seeing Anthony Lewis's name made me think of Anthony Lukas and his book of 20 or so years ago, Big Trouble. Given its subject and setting, I think you might enjoy it. (The IWW, a bomb in a mailbox, a governor murdered, Big Bill Heywood, and the great state of Idaho.) Also, one of my all-time favorite Supreme Court justices is Robert Jackson. Wondered if you had read and/or could recommend a good bio of him. If you don't know of one, I just may have to write one. I think he's a very interesting character. Only person, to my knowledge, ever to have been a SC Justice, Attorney General and Solicitor General. Plus he was (lead?) prosecutor at Nuremburg., where he apparently was a bit in over his head as a questioner. Jackson was also the last Justice without a law degree to be appointed to the SC.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 28, 2018 1:04:30 GMT -5
Conan the Cimmerian Howard/de Camp/Carter This one has to get 5 stars, because it contains my absolute favorite Conan story, the Frost Giant's Daughter. My personal Conan timeline puts that tale as his first.. de Camp here has it after he's travelled some, which doesn't make alot of sense to me based on the naivety he displays.. de Camp then tried to cement his time line with reference in one of his filler stories, but whatever. It also contains the Song of Belit, which taken by itself is not all the great, but which of course was taken and run with by Roy Thomas and made into some of the best comics of Conan's very long history in the medium. I'd say Snout in the Dark is one of the better de Camp offerings (written from a Howard outline, not surprisingly).. it would have made a bit more sense if the monster wasn't magical, IMO, but that's kinda how he rolls, sadly.. much like the earlier story, The Bloodstained God.. a magnetic monolith trap just isn't enough, there has to be a slime monster attached. Still, anyone mildly interested Conan should read the Frost Giant's Daughter, if that doesn't grab you, forget it, you just aren't a Conan sort of person.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 28, 2018 10:46:47 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , great write-up on Gideon's Trumpet. The movie was very impressive, especially for a TV movie of its time. A couple of quick comments. Seeing Anthony Lewis's name made me think of Anthony Lukas and his book of 20 or so years ago, Big Trouble. Given its subject and setting, I think you might enjoy it. (The IWW, a bomb in a mailbox, a governor murdered, Big Bill Heywood, and the great state of Idaho.) Also, one of my all-time favorite Supreme Court justices is Robert Jackson. Wondered if you had read and/or could recommend a good bio of him. If you don't know of one, I just may have to write one. I think he's a very interesting character. Only person, to my knowledge, ever to have been a SC Justice, Attorney General and Solicitor General. Plus he was (lead?) prosecutor at Nuremburg., where he apparently was a bit in over his head as a questioner. Jackson was also the last Justice without a law degree to be appointed to the SC. I'm definitely familiar with Big Trouble. I checked it out of the library when it first came out and read pieces of it. But it's a really big book and life tends to get in the way of me reading really big books. I should probably get an e-copy and read it while I'm waiting in Court and for clients at the jail. My middle son actually wrote his history thesis paper for his bachelor's degree (History/secondary education/political science) on the Big Bill Haywood trial so we talked about it a lot as he was doing his research and writing. As far as Jackson goes, I'm only finding one adult biography and that one doesn't look terribly authoritative...and it's out of print. Your best bet is probably " Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices" by Noah Feldman, which is a more general look at Roosevelt's Supreme Court picks and the New Deal Court. Jackson is definitely an interesting man. Brilliant writer. I always respected him for his dissent in Korematsu and that he eventually got to the right decision in Brown v. Board of Education. I'm a pretty big fan of Hugo Black and the feud between Black and Jackson is pretty legendary.
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 28, 2018 13:23:39 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , great write-up on Gideon's Trumpet. The movie was very impressive, especially for a TV movie of its time. A couple of quick comments. Seeing Anthony Lewis's name made me think of Anthony Lukas and his book of 20 or so years ago, Big Trouble. Given its subject and setting, I think you might enjoy it. (The IWW, a bomb in a mailbox, a governor murdered, Big Bill Heywood, and the great state of Idaho.) Also, one of my all-time favorite Supreme Court justices is Robert Jackson. Wondered if you had read and/or could recommend a good bio of him. If you don't know of one, I just may have to write one. I think he's a very interesting character. Only person, to my knowledge, ever to have been a SC Justice, Attorney General and Solicitor General. Plus he was (lead?) prosecutor at Nuremburg., where he apparently was a bit in over his head as a questioner. Jackson was also the last Justice without a law degree to be appointed to the SC. I'm definitely familiar with Big Trouble. I checked it out of the library when it first came out and read pieces of it. But it's a really big book and life tends to get in the way of me reading really big books. I should probably get an e-copy and read it while I'm waiting in Court and for clients at the jail. My middle son actually wrote his history thesis paper for his bachelor's degree (History/secondary education/political science) on the Big Bill Haywood trial so we talked about it a lot as he was doing his research and writing. As far as Jackson goes, I'm only finding one adult biography and that one doesn't look terribly authoritative...and it's out of print. Your best bet is probably " Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices" by Noah Feldman, which is a more general look at Roosevelt's Supreme Court picks and the New Deal Court. Jackson is definitely an interesting man. Brilliant writer. I always respected him for his dissent in Korematsu and that he eventually got to the right decision in Brown v. Board of Education. I'm a pretty big fan of Hugo Black and the feud between Black and Jackson is pretty legendary. Thanks, Slam! I hear you on Big Trouble and similarly lengthy books. I figured you'd be familiar with it. I couldn't find much on Jackson, either. I will check out Scorpions now, though. Thanks for the tip! First was made aware of him thanks to my daughter, who when in law school wrote about the overturning of the 1940 Minersville v. Gobitis Pledge of Allegiance decision ( West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette). As he apparently did in Korematsu (I will find that!), Jackson wrote memorably in delivering the decision. I used to refer to Jackson's decision when I was teaching high school and the Pledge was reinstituted as part of the school day when someone discovered a 1902 state law that mandated it be said. Disputes often ensued. Which I loved.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 1, 2019 14:50:40 GMT -5
Seetee Shock by Jack Williamson More of a rewrite than a sequel.. Williamson mainly explores the social and political ramifications of his proposed 'fifth freedom' (unlimited free power). To do so, he goes back before the beginning of the first book to more specifically set up how his world came to be, and then does go past to a new conclusion.. skipping the event of the first book over as if they weren't really important. This one focuses on Nick Jenkins only, and his female foil/love interest.. the others are just bit players. , and his uncle the former idealist turned robber baron. There was plenty of pretend science to go around, but the story and its implications (from 1950) were clearly meant to be applied for the considering of the budding nuclear power industry (which, in this story, had been tapped out). While not particularly unique or inciteful, this is just the kind of old sci fi I appreciate, using a possible future to make people consider the present. Alot of those points are a bit dated (then don't even consider solar power, for example) but the talking points can certainly be applied and considered today. The down side is the plot isn't very interesting, it's very basic, and has an ending that one can see coming on page 10.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 2, 2019 8:20:40 GMT -5
Thomas Jefferson and ther Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. Friend bought this used for me since he knows I am a history buff. It is an interesting book if very light and fluffy in details. The book makes for a nice entry into reading history books as it reads quick and goes down easily with very little details or specifics. The book actually does fit into the current mold of news reporting styles: that it provides the major headlines and grabs the attention without providing "all" the accuracy and important details. If it gets people to actually read about historical moments and drives them to researching more deeply and wanting to discover our history and culture then at least that will be something good. For myself the book felt a little "soft" in the facts and focused overly much on the "Adventure/romanticsm" as a story. Which is fine and better than just a book of cold hard facts which might bore. Worth a read if you are interested in Revolutionary history.
The book was good enough that I went ahead and ordered their other 2 books George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy ring that Saved the American Revolution and Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle that Shaped America's Destiny.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 2, 2019 13:36:21 GMT -5
Thomas Jefferson and ther Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. Friend bought this used for me since he knows I am a history buff. It is an interesting book if very light and fluffy in details. The book makes for a nice entry into reading history books as it reads quick and goes down easily with very little details or specifics. The book actually does fit into the current mold of news reporting styles: that it provides the major headlines and grabs the attention without providing "all" the accuracy and important details. If it gets people to actually read about historical moments and drives them to researching more deeply and wanting to discover our history and culture then at least that will be something good. For myself the book felt a little "soft" in the facts and focused overly much on the "Adventure/romanticsm" as a story. Which is fine and better than just a book of cold hard facts which might bore. Worth a read if you are interested in Revolutionary history. The book was good enough that I went ahead and ordered their other 2 books George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy ring that Saved the American Revolution and Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle that Shaped America's Destiny. I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I can't see myself reading anything by Kilmeade. Guy has the intellectual gravitas of a wet rock.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 2, 2019 13:45:20 GMT -5
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov This is a pretty recent re-read as I last read it in 2013. But having recently re-read the Lije Bailey mysteries I wanted to go back and reread the "Robot" short works. I'm not unhappy that I did, even though I remember pretty much everything about the stories in this book. These are both seminal SF and definitely seminal Asimov. The older stories are a bit hoary. The Donovan and Powell stories aren't as humorous as one wants to remember them being. And almost all of these are "puzzle" stories (a trait of early Asimov) where the point is how to figure out the solution to the problem. Which I guess is fitting given they end up leading to full-on SF mysteries. For all that this is still a very enjoyable read. It's a window into the Golden Age of SF when what was in one particular pulp set the tone for over a decade of genre writing. Well worth the read both for enjoyment and history.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 4, 2019 13:23:17 GMT -5
Mildred Pierced by Stuart M. Kaminsky The penultimate chapter of the Toby Peters saga sees some significant changes to the cast of characters. A minor supporting character is murdered and Sheldon Minck is accused. And the witness is Joan Crawford. Of course Toby has to try to prove that Shelly didn't commit the murder. And he's hired by Crawford to try to keep her name out of the papers as she does not want to lose the upcoming role in Mildred Pierce. The enjoyment in this one mostly comes from the supporting cast that Kaminsky has slowly grown as the series progressed. The actual mystery was pretty self evident about half-way in and was blazingly obvious by the 2/3 point. But that didn't matter that much. It was the character moments that mattered. And the ending would have actually been a perfect send-off for the series. I'm wondering if Kaminsky can top it in the final book.
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Post by brutalis on Jan 7, 2019 14:00:41 GMT -5
Forgot to write up last week after having finished Bernard Cornwell's book 14 of Richard Sharpe: Sharpe's Sword. Where in our favorite Captain of the Rifles becomes embroiled in a spy plan where Colonel Philippe Leroux masquerading as Captain Delmas who is trying to escape the British with the identity of El Mirador one of Britain's best spies. While hunting Leroux down for Wellington, Sharpe is gut shot by Leroux and thought lost for dead. Harper will have none of that nonsense and finds his injured friend and spends his days and nights with the aide of his wife nursing Sharpe back to life. Sharpe had his sword broken by a Kluigenthal sabre which Leroux carries. While recovering, Sgt. Harper crafts a new sword (of the Title) in hopes of restoring Sharpe's strength, desire and courage to heal and live to fight another day.
And indeed our boy Sharpie does just that. Back once more in the fight Sharpe cannot sit and watch as his beloved rifle team goes back into the thick of things. Sharpe joins his friends and inspires them to success and finds out the truth of El Mirador through the death of Lord Spears (another spy) and finds Leroux amid the retreating French army and hides in a French military square where he believes himself safe. A truly false belief as British and German cavalry charge and breach the square and Sharpe rushes in after the Colonel before he can escape again. Leroux falls from his mount and refuses to fight Sharpe in a duel in hopes his aristocracy will save him. Sharpe will have none of that as Leroux has lied, and damn neared killed Sharpe forces Leroux into fighting with the expected outcome (can you guess?) and claims the very coveted Kligenthal for his own. But in the end Sharpe throws away they sabre knowing his life was saved by the love and friendship crafted in the sword from Harper.
By now Cornwell has had 5-6 novels under his belt with Sharpe and is finding his way in crafting some wildly entertaining stories. His descriptive battle stand out supremely and Sharpe and Harper and other recurring characters have begun taking on lives of their own that you want to read about. What new adventures will come our way as Captain Richard Sharpe continues to battle for King and Country against Napoleon? The next book awaits...
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,571
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Post by Confessor on Jan 8, 2019 1:02:15 GMT -5
Neuromancer by William Gibson. I finally managed to make it through Neuromancer, but jeez...what a slog! This was a book that I was really expecting to love. After all, it's something of a modern classic and one of the most influential and widely praised works in all science fiction (as well as undoubtedly the best-known book of the cyberpunk genre). But I found it to be a very frustrating read. The novel follows Case, a washed-up, drug-addicted computer hacker, who is recruited by a mysterious criminal named Armitage to help a tremendously powerful artificial intelligence merge with another AI into a super consciousness. To accomplish this task, Case teams up with the mysterious mercenary Molly Millions, who is arguably the book's most likeable and interesting character – which isn't really saying much! My problems with Neuromancer are two-fold: firstly, although I kinda like the hip, rapid-fire way in which it is written, the unusual writing style also makes it kinda hard to follow exactly what's going on. On a number of occasions I had to keep flipping back a few pages to remind myself who was who, or what was happening in the story. Don't get me wrong, Gibson's turn of phrase can, at times, be exquisite, but all too often the narrative becomes unwieldy and difficult to follow. I get what Gibson was going for in writing in this "shoot-from-the-hip" way, but it's damn hard work to follow. The ending too is hopelessly convoluted and really hard work to read. The second major issue I had with the book is that, although it's really exciting in places, it's also deathly boring for a lot of the time. I found that the novel would grip me and I'd be really caught up in it for a little while, and then it would let me go and I'd have to wait 3 or 4 chapters before the narrative would pick up again. This last impression of mine isn't helped by Gibson's stylised prose. On the surface, it's vibrant and dazzling, yes, but it's also full of barely comprehensible techo-jargon, while the characters that inhabit this futuristic world are so utterly unsympathetic and two-dimensional that it's really hard to care about any of them. Neuromancer might well be the most important and influential science fiction novel of the last 40 years, but for me at least, it's also one of the most unrewarding reads I've ever encountered.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jan 9, 2019 16:22:25 GMT -5
After the absolute disaster that was State of Fear, I was wary of starting the other Michael Crichton book I picked up last autumn... but good news, Airframe turned out to be quite the page turner!!! O.K., it's a bit of an info dump at times... but the thriller aspect of it is effective, as it is clear the writer knows where he is going but does not give away his game early. He also thankfully keeps away from cheap and improbable conspiracies or deus ex machina resolutions... his conspiracies are perfectly credible and the answer to the core question "just what happened to that $#% plane?" is explored very systematically. I especially liked the bittersweet conclusion... it felt so infuriatingly probable!!! The point he makes about how the mass media industry behaves was also spot on, if a bit mean. It's surprising how quickly books get dated, though... in this "modern" thriller full of technology, we are treated to fax machines, camcorders with cassettes, camera film, pagers... how quickly time flies. I put it among the good Chrichton books. Far, far from the State of Fear turkey!
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