The Cairo Affair is a clever title because at the heart of this twisty plot a romantic affair lurks. Sophie Kohl is the wife of an American Embassy analyst in Cairo. Sophie embarks on a love affair with one of the Embassy’s CIA personnel. When Sophie’s husband transfers to Budapest, the affair ends. But while eating a dinner in a Budapest restaurant, an assassin shots Sophie’s husband dead. Instead of returning to the United States with her husband’s body, Sophie secretly returns to Cairo to learn why her husband was murdered. The plot of The Cairo Affair has many strands leading to many countries and many incidents in the past. One aspect The Cairo Affair shares with 24 is that you never know when a major character will suddenly die. If you’re looking for an entertaining Summer spy novel, I recommend The Cairo Affair. GRADE: B+

Just in time for the 4th of July Holiday come this very smooth blend. Jim Beam Honey is made by infusing four-year-old Jim Beam bourbon with honey. As you might suspect, this is a sweet drink. My brother introduced me to Jim Beam Honey a few weeks ago. I’m not a big bourbon fan, but this blend tickled my fancy. I drink it on the rocks. If you’re looking for a smooth, tasty drink for a hot holiday, I recommend Jim Beam Honey. Try it, you’ll like it!

AMAZON had this 4-disc set on sale for $19.95 (that’s 57% off the $49.99 retail price) so how could I resist? All 26 episodes are here featuring some of my favorite Super Villains: Rhino, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Electro, and Venom. I had one or two of the DVD sets (usually cheap at BIG LOTS) but these Blu-ray discs are way better. AMAZON still has this set on sale. If you’re a Spider-Man fan and like animated series, this set is a bargain!

Readers of The New Yorker will instantly recognize Ros Chast’s cartoons. They’re edgy and funny. Roz Chast’s memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? centers on her parents. When the memoir starts, her parents are 78 and still living in their original apartment in Brooklyn. But as the years go by, Roz Chast (an only child) has to contend with the ups and downs of her aging parents. Her mother falls, her father suffers from dementia. You would think this would make for some grim reading, but Roz Chast’s clever cartoons and brutally honest commentary blend to make this a very moving story. I could recommend this wonderful book to anyone dealing with aging parents. And, if you are an aging parent, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? shows where you’re headed. This is one of the best books of 2014! GRADE: A

I’ve read John Sutherland’s books (my favorite is Henry V, War Criminal? & Other Shakespeare Puzzles) and I scooped up this gem despite the incredibly bland cover. Sutherland defines the literary terms and provides examples of how they could enlighten a reader. What I liked about this approach is Sutherland’s lack of pretension. I emerged from reading How Literature Works with a clearer understanding of some of the more obscure literary concepts (like Heteroglossia). If you’re looking for clarity and insight into current literary theory, this is the best place to start. GRADE: A
Table of Contents
Introduction

SOME BASICS
1. Mimesis
2. Ambiguity
3. Hermeneutics
4. The Classic
5. Intentionalism
6. The Affective Fallacy
7. Narrative / Story
8. Epic
9. Lyric / Prosody
10. Gothic
11. The Translation Paradox

MACHINERY: HOW IT WORKS
12. Culture
13. Milieu
14. Base / Superstructure
15. The Canon
16. Genre
17. Closure
18. Paradigm Shift
19. Ownership
20. Critical Authority
21. Style

LITERATURE’S DEVICES
22. Allegory
23. Irony
24. Imagery
25. Allusion
26. Defamiliarization
27. Bricolage
28. Metafiction
29. Solidity of Specification

NEW IDEAS
30. Structuralism
31. Deconstruction
32. Textuality
33. Double Bind
34. Postmodernism
35. Heteroglossia
36. New Historicism
37. Post-Colonialism
38. Semiology
39. Reception Theory
40. Sexual Politics

WORD CRIMES
41. Plagiarism
42. Obscenity
43. Libel
44. Blasphemy
45. Permissiveness
46. Literary Lies
47. Ghost-Writers

LITERARY FUTURES
48. Fanfic
49. The e-book
50. Literary Inundation

Answers to Quizzes
Glossary

I’ve enjoyed Sharan Newman’s previous Catherine LeVendeur medieval mystery novels so I binged on three more. In The Wandering Arm, Catherine and her husband Edgar solve the mystery of the missing saint’s relics. Strong As Death features Catherine and Edgar on a pilgrimage. All of the pilgrims in their party possess secrets. As the pilgrimage continues, suspicious deaths occur. Catherine untangles the sinister plots. In Cursed in the Blood the murder of Edgar’s brothers brings Edgar and Catherine from Paris to Scotland. Religious and political fractions battle for power and property. Cursed in the Blood won the Herodotus Award for “Best US Historical Mystery.” If you enjoy mysteries from the 12th Century, I highly recommend Sharan Newman’s Catherine LeVendeur series. GRADE: B+ (for all three books)

Back in the 1960s, I was transitioning from comic books to paperbacks. At that time, my favorite publisher was ACE Books because they seemingly brought out cool books every month. Warrior of Llarn caught my eye because the author was Gardner F. Fox. Could this be the same Gardner F. Fox that wrote for DC Comics? Yes, it was. Fox’s story of Alan Morgan, an Earthman transported to a planet light-years away, had many of the story elements I loved when Fox was writing stories for DC Comics about Adam Strange. Alan Morgan encounters an ancient world on Llarn; a world ruined by a nuclear war. The survivors mutated in different ways. Morgan found himself serving a being who sent him on quests to find rare artifacts. Morgan also falls in love and joins a revolution to unseat a corrupt warrior. In the sequel to Warrior of Llarn, Fox transforms Alan Morgan into a master thief who has to steal a rare gem with incredible powers. Secret technologies amid the ruins of fabulous cities, cunning adversaries, and a clever conclusion make Thief of Llarn one of the best “Sword & Planet” stories ever. If you haven’t read these entertaining adventures, you’re missing a lot of fun.

I grew up listening to The Animals. “House of the Rising Sun” was in heavy rotation on the Top 40 stations around here. But I preferred “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.” The lead singer of The Animals, Eric Burdon, went on to have a solo career. I’m glad to have this nice box set of The Animals newly available and completely remastered. Great sound! What’s your favorite song by The Animals?
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. I Just Wanna Make Love to You
2. Big Boss Man
3. Boom Boom
4. Pretty Thing
Disc: 2
1. House of the Rising Sun
2. The Girl Can t Help It
3. Blue Feeling
4. Baby Let Me Take You Home
5. The Right Time
6. Talkin’ ‘Bout You
7. Around and Around
8. I’m in Love Again
9. Gonna Send You Back to Walker
10. Memphis, Tennessee
11. I’m Mad Again
12. I’ve Been Around
13. Talkin ‘Bout You (full version)
Disc: 3
1. Boom Boom
2. How You ve Changed
3. Mess Around
4. Bright Lights, Big City
5. I Believe to My Soul
6. Worried Life Blues
7. Let the Good Times Roll
8. Ain’t Got You
9. Hallelujah, I Love Her So
10. I’m Crying
11. Dimples
12. She Said Yeah
13. Baby What’s Wrong
14. F-E-E-L
15. New Year’s Radio Spot
Disc: 4
1. We Gotta Get Out of This Place
2. Take It Easy Baby
3. Bring It on Home to Me
4. The Story of Bo Diddley
5. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
6. I Can’t Believe It
7. Club A-Go-Go
8. Roberta
9. Bury My Body
10. For Miss Caulker
11. Roadrunner
12. Don’t Want Much
13. We Gotta Get Out of This Place (U.K. single version)
14. It’s My Life
15. I’m Gonna Change the World
Disc: 5
1. Don’t Bring Me Down
2. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show
3. You’re on My Mind
4. She’ll Return It
5. Inside-Looking Out
6. See See Rider
7. Gin House Blues
8. Maudie
9. What Am I Living For
10. Sweet Little Sixteen
11. I Put a Spell on You
12. Don’t Bring Me Down (stereo)
13. Cheating (stereo)
14. See See Rider (stereo)

A couple days ago, I reviewed John Carey’s memoir, The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books. Carey talked about a book he was particularly proud of, Pure Pleasure: A Guide to the 20th Century’s Most Enjoyable Books. Carey, unlike many commentators, didn’t try to identify the 20th Century’s “Best” books. Carey simply recommended what he considered “the most enjoyable books.” There are some interesting choices here. I’ve read about half the books on Carey’s list. Carey’s essays about each book are edifying and sometimes amusing. I’m a sucker for this type of book. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why Read? A Polemical Introduction
A. Conan Doyle, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, 1902
Andre Gide, THE IMMORALIST, 1902
Rudyard Kipling, TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES, 1904
Joseph Conrad, THE SECRET AGENT, 1907
E. M. Forster, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, 1908
G. K. Chesterton, THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY, 1908
Arnold Bennett, THE OLD WIVES’ TALE, 1908
H. G. Wells, THE HISTORY OF MR. POLLY, 1910
Maxim Gorky, MY CHILDHOOD, 1913
Thomas Hardy, SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE, 1914
James Joyce, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, 1916
D. H. Lawrence, TWILIGHT IN ITALY, 1916
T. S. Eliot, PRUFROCK AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS, 1917
Edward Thomas (d. 1917), COLLECTED POEMS, 1936
Katherine Mansfield, THE GARDEN PARTY, 1922
Jaroslav Hasek (d. 1923) THE GOLD SOLDIER SVEJK, 1930
Aldous Huxley, THOSE BARREN LEAVES, 1925
F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE GREAT GATSBY, 1925
Mikhail Bulgakov, THE COUNTRY DOCTOR’S NOTEBOOK, 1925-7
Sylvia Townsend Warner, MR. FORTUNE’S MAGGOT, 1927
Evelyn Waugh, DECLINE AND FALL, 1928
Robert Graves, GOODBYE TO ALL THAT, 1929
William Empson, SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY, 1930
W. B. Yeats, COLLECTED POEMS, 1933
Christopher Isherwood, MR. NORRIS CHANGES TRAINS, 1935
Elizabeth Bowen, THE HOUSE IN PARIS, 1935
John Steinbeck, OF MICE AND MEN, 1937
Graham Greene, BRIGHTON ROCK, 1938
A. E. Housman, COLLECTED POEMS, 1939
George Orwell, COMING UP FOR AIR, 1939
Keith Douglas, ALAMEIN TO ZEM ZEM, 1946
Thomas Mann, CONFESSIONS OF FELIX KRULL, CONFIDENCE MAN, 1954
Kingsley Amis, LUCKY JIM, 1954
William Golding, THE INHERITORS, 1955
V. S. Naipaul, THE MYSTIC MASSEUR, 1957
S. J. Perelman, THE ROAD TO MILTOWN, OR UNDER THE SPREADING ATROPHY, 1957
W. H. Auden, COLLECTED SHORTER POEMS 1927-57, 1966
Gunter Grass, THE TIN DRUM, 1959
Muriel Spark, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, 1961
Jean-Paul Sartre, WORDS, 1964
Seamus Heaney, DEATH OF A NATURALIST, 1966
Stevie Smith, THE FROG PRINCE AND OTHER POEMS, 1966
Ted Hughes, CROW: FROM THE LIFE AND SONGS OF CROW, 1970
Ian McEwan, THE CEMENT GARDEN, 1978
Clive James, UNRELIABLE MEMOIRS, 1980
John Updike, A RABBIT OMNIBUS (1960-82) 1991
Philip Larkin, COLLECTED POEMS, 1988
Vikram Seth, A SUITABLE BOY, 1993
Kazuo Ishiguro, THE UNCONSOLED, 1995
Graham Swift, LAST ORDERS, 1996
AFTERWARDS: A Books-Choice Postbag
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series in Blu-ray format includes all 156 episodes on 24 discs. That’s nearly 4,500 minutes of entertainment! If you’re a fan of The Twilight Zone, you’ll love the audio commentaries, the rare unofficial pilot episode “The Time Element,” and Original unaired pilot version of “Where is Everybody?” I loved Rod Serling’s network pitch, as well as numerous audio commentaries and interviews, Rod Serling’s audio lectures, promos for “next week’s” show, radio dramas, sponsor billboards, and isolated music scores. Great box set! What’s your favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episode?
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Special Features
Features Stunning Brand-New High-Definition Transfers
Twilight Zone Radio Dramas
Video Interviews
Conversations with Rod Serling
Highlights from the Museum of Television and Radio seminar
Isolated Music Scores
Twilight Zone Billboards
Twilght Zone Stills
George Clayton Johnson Home Movies
Rod Serling Blooper Reel
Genesee Beer spot
Saturday Night Live Clip
Twilight Zone Comic Book
Complete script for Twenty-Two with Serling’s handwritten notes