Category Archives: Uncategorized

FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #719: MIAMI MARAUDER and HARLEM SHOWDOWN By Barry N. Malzberg

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As Barry N. Malzberg (writing as “Mike Barry”) passes the half-way point of his Lone Wolf series, both book #9–Miami Marauder–and book #10–Harlem Showdown–reveal aspects of Wulff’s desperate mission to destroy the drug trade. The lurid violence amps up as Wulff surrenders totally to his key preoccupations and concerns about the toxic drug culture in America and his obsession to end it once and for all.

The size, the scope, and the heightened intensity of Wulff’s dark and deadly odyssey, tempered with only the bleakness of his chances against the army of thugs and killers surrounding the rulers of the drug cartels, sets off a series of chilling events.

From Miami’s sinister sunshine shrouded in secrets to Harlem’s dangerous darkness, Wulff pursues his devastating destiny as he feverishly fights the forces that seek to crush him and poison America with opioids. GRADE: B+ (for both)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and BUFFALO BILLS VS. DETROIT LIONS

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By the time you read this post, Diane and I will be flying to JFK Airport. Once we land and pick up our luggage, we’ll be traveling by Lyft, Uber, or cab to Patrick’s apartment in Brooklyn where Patrick and Katie will have a Thanksgiving feast waiting for us. Our nieces Elise and Kristen will join the celebration as well as some “strays” who have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving. I’ll add some pictures of our Thanksgiving Feast to this post later today so check back and see what delights Patrick and Katie prepared.

The Buffalo Bills will be playing the Detroit Lions while we’re in the air to NYC. The Bills are favored by 9 points.

Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving!

WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #100: FOSTER By Clair Keegan

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David Mitchell’s blurb on the cover of Claire Keegan’s novella, Foster, says “As good as Chekhov.” I wouldn’t go that far based on reading Foster, but Keegan is a very good writer. Foster is the story of a child taken by her wretched father to live with some relatives in rural Ireland while her mother gives birth to yet another child.

The little girl doesn’t know if she will ever be brought home again. The farming couple, the Kinsellas, provide the girl with a structure missing in her oversized and impoverished family. She’s cleaned up, given clean clothes, and taught to take care of herself. Mrs. Kinsella insists on truth, but the girl learns a few of the secrets of this new household.

Keegan’s story follows the development of the nameless girl over the summer. Mrs. Kinsella teaches her how to read. The girl’s narration of her experience with this couple operates on several levels. Yes, learning is going on. This life with the Kinsellas is vastly different from the grinding deprivation of her own family.

If you’re in the mood for a moving, subtle, and nuanced story, Foster provides in heart-rending glimpse into a desperate situation. GRADE: B

SHANTARAM [Apple TV+]

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Based on the internationally best-selling novel (2003) by Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram follows an Australian fugitive going under the name “Lin Ford” (Charlie Hunnam) looking to get lost in vibrant and chaotic 1980s Bombay. Alone in an unfamiliar city, Lin struggles to avoid the trouble he’s running from in this new setting. After falling for an enigmatic and intriguing woman named Karla, Lin finds himself drawn into a web of intrigue.

I’ve watched the first episode and the fabulous location of Bombay with its many schemes and unusual characters drew me in. The series will consist of twelve episodes directed by Justin Kurzel and Bharat Nalluri.  Rotten Tomatoes reported a 56% approval rating. It’s too soon for me to assign a grade, but I’ll be watching this series in the weeks ahead.

THE BOOKS THEY GAVE ME: TRUE STORIES OF LIFE, LOVE, AND LIT Edited by Jen Adams

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Jen Adams collected nearly two hundred of the most provocative stories submitted to the tumblr blog TheBooksTheyGaveMe.com to capture the many ways books can change our lives and loves, revealing volumes about the relationships that inspired the gifts of books.

These stories are, by turns, romantic, cynical, funny, dark, and hopeful. There’s the poorly thought out gift of Lolita from a thirty-year-old man to a teenage girl. There’s the couple who tried to read Ulysses together over the course of their long-distance relationship and never finished it. There’s the girl whose school library wouldn’t allow her to check out Fahrenheit 451, but who received it at Christmas with the note, “Little Sister: Read everything you can. Subvert Authority! Love always, your big brother.” These are stories of people falling in love, regretting mistakes, and finding hope. Together they constitute a love letter to the book as physical object and inspiration.

Do you give books as gifts? Have you received books as gifts? How many of these gift books do you recognize? GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  • INTRODUCTION — xv
  • Burroughs, Dry — 1
  • Pernice, Meat Is Murder — 2
  • Yeats, The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats — 3
  • Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept — 4
  • Mulford, Love Poems by Women — 5
  • Rombauer, The Joy of Cooking — 6
  • Nobody. — 7
  • Beatty & Dixon & Lopez & Martin. Batgirl: Year One — 8
  • Harvey. The Chicago Way — 9
  • Anonymous. — 10
  • Taleb. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable — 11
  • Burroughs. Possible Side Effects — 12
  • The Life and Doctrine of St. Catherine of Genoa — 14
  • de Saint-Exupery, Le Petit Prince — 16
  • Gregory. Unpossible and Other Stories — 20
  • Percy, The Moviegoer. 21
  • Milton. Complete Poetry and Essential Prose — 22
  • Wright. Tony and Susan — 24
  • Winterson. Art and Lies and Art Objects — 25
  • Wallace. Infinite Jest — 26
  • Tayli. 60 Indian Poets –27
  • Vonnegut. Cat’s Cradle — 28
  • Various. A Treasury of the World’s Best Loved Poems — 30
  • Tolstoy. Anna Karenina — 31
  • Lamont. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life — 32
  • Waters. The Night Watch –34
  • Kundera. The Unbearable Lightness of Being — 35
  • Styron. Sophie’s Choice — 36
  • Gibran. The Prophet — 36
  • Stoddard. The High House — 37
  • Poe. The Poe Reader — 38
  • Baum. The Oz Books — 38
  • Bradford. Red Sky at Morning: A Novel — 39
  • Gorey. Amphigorey — 40
  • Tolkien. The Children of Hurin — 42
  • Martin. The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice — 43
  • Smith, Zadie. On Beauty — 44
  • Smith, Lane. It’s a Book — 45
  • Slang — 46
  • Salinger. Franny and Zooey — 47
  • Shakespeare. Henry V — 48
  • Spoto. The Art of Alfred Hitchcock — 50
  • Schlink. The Reader — 52
  • Welch. Trainspotting — 53
  • Russell. The Sparrow and Children of God — 54
  • Walters. Clean Food; Loux. The Balance Plate — 56
  • Reclam Verlag. Various — 57
  • Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone — 58
  • The World Book Encyclopedia — 60
  • Wyndham. The Day of the Triffids — 62
  • Nabokov. Lolita — 63
  • Dylan & Rogers. Forever Young — 64
  • Hemon. The Lazarus Project — 66
  • Moore. Absolute Watchmen — 68
  • Plath. The Collected Poems — 69
  • Gaiman. The Sandman Vol 9: The Kindly Ones — 70
  • Waller. The Bridges of Madison County — 71
  • Rilke. The Book of Images — 72
  • Smith. Just Kids — 74
  • Kipfer. 14,000 Things to be Happy About — 75
  • Romeo & Romeo. 11, 002 Things to be Miserable About — 76
  • Robbins. Jitterbug Perfume — 77
  • Bukowski. Ham on Rye — 78
  • Rimbaud. Rimbaud Complete — 80
  • Lawrence & Lee. Inherit the Wind — 81
  • Disney. Beauty and the Beast — 82
  • Seuss. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! — 84
  • Brown. The Runaway Rabbit — 85
  • Bronte. Withering Heights — 86
  • Seth. A Suitable Boy — 88
  • Mayhew. The Soup Bible — 90
  • Suskind. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer — 91
  • Ghosh. The Calcutta Chromosome — 92
  • Plascencia. The People of Paper — 93
  • Nabokov. The Original of Laura — 94
  • Creeley. For Love: Poems 1950-1960 — 95
  • Levithan. The Lover’s Dictionary — 96
  • Cervantes. Don Quixote — 97
  • The Oxford English Dictionary — 97
  • Mrozek. The Elephant — 98
  • Kenyon. The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook — 100
  • Redacted. — 101
  • Rand. Atlas Shrugged — 102
  • Pynchon. Gravity’s Rainbow — 103
  • Pullman. His Dark Materials — 104
  • Eugenides. Middlesex — 106
  • Pausch & Zaslow. The Last Lecture — 107
  • Pancake. The Stories of Breece D;J Pancake — 110
  • Ochsner. People I Wanted To Be: Stories — 110
  • Neruda. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair — 112
  • McCourt. Angela’s Ashes — 113
  • Arthur. The Autumn People — 114
  • Klosterman. Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story — 115
  • Kerouac. The Subterraneans — 116
  • Joyce. Ulysses — 116
  • Krakauer. Into the Wild — 117
  • Quinn. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit — 118
  • Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 — 120
  • McKillip. Riddle-Master — 121
  • Bryson. The Mother Tongue–English and How It Got That Way — 122
  • Dickens. Great Expectations — 123
  • Du Bois. W. E. B. Du Bois: A Reader — 124
  • Martel. Life of Pi — 125
  • Cohen. Leonard Cohen — 126
  • Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go — 127
  • Maugham. Of Human Bondage — 128
  • Lightman. Einstein’s Dreams — 129
  • Krauss. The Physics of Star Trek — 130
  • Fadiman. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader — 131
  • Hofstadter. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid — 132
  • Hesse. SIDDHARTHA — 134
  • Hesse. Siddhartha — 136
  • Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises — 137
  • Fitzgerald. Tender Is the Night — 138
  • Gaarder. Sophie’s World — 139
  • The Book of Mormon — 140
  • Warren. PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God — 142
  • Tengbom. I Wish I Felt Good All the Time — 143
  • Rilke. Letters to a Young Poet — 144
  • Krakauer. Under the Banner of Heaven — 146
  • Anthony. The Source of Magic — 147
  • Brooks. The Zombie Survival Guide — 148
  • Austen & Grahame-Smith. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — 148
  • Antunes. Knowledge of Hell — 149
  • Burroughs. Magical Thinking — 150
  • Blake. The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake — 152
  • Allen & Greenough. Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar — 153
  • Erdrich. Love Medicine — 154
  • Goodkind. Wizard’s First Rule — 156
  • Eggers. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius — 157
  • Faulkner. Light in August — 158
  • Bittman. How to Cook Everything: The Basics — 159
  • Bishop. The Complete Poems 1927-1979 — 160
  • Milne. Winnie-the-Pooh — 161
  • Murkoff & Mazel. What to Expect When You’re Expecting — 162
  • Hemingway. The Sun Also Rises — 163
  • Heller. Catch-22 — 164
  • Heller. Something Happened — 164
  • Flynn. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City — 165
  • Hay. A Student of Weather — 166
  • Gelardi. Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria — 167
  • King. The Dark Tower — 168
  • Hass. Sun Under Wood — 170
  • Khayyam. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam — 171
  • Tolkien. The Hobbit — 172
  • Rawicz. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom — 174
  • Spillane. The Long Wait — 175
  • Evanovich. One for the Money — 176
  • Albom. Tuesdays with Morrie — 177
  • Jones. Light Boxes — 178
  • Saterstrom. The Pink Institution — 180
  • Robertson. Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker — 181
  • Langenscheidt. Taschenworterbuch: Englisch-Deutsche, Deutsch-Englisch — 182
  • Ferris. The We Came to the End — 183
  • Child, Bertholle, Beck. Mastering the Art of French Cooking — 184
  • Hodges. Harbrace College Handbook — 185
  • Byatt. Possession — 186
  • Gershwin. Ira Gershwin: Selected Lyrics — 186
  • Fisher. The Art of Eating — 187
  • Doyle. The Collected Sherlock Holmes — 188
  • Murakami. Norwegian Wood — 189
  • Kafka. Die Verwandlung — 189
  • Yellow Pages — 190
  • Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — 191
  • Dreiser. Sister Carrie — 192
  • Brooks. Selected Poems — 193
  • Card. Ender’s Game — 194
  • Danielewski. House of Leaves — 195
  • Crowley. Little, Big — 196
  • Cohen. Let Us Compare Mythologies — 198
  • Chesterton. The Bull and the Cross — 200
  • Fischer. Saint Ben — 201
  • Brashares. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants — 201
  • Duras. The Lover — 202
  • Sedaris. Holidays on Ice — 203
  • Fleming. News from Tartary — 204
  • Russell. Moon Rabbitt — 206
  • Bukowski. O Capital Saiu para o Almoço e os Marinheiros Tomaram Conta do Navio — 210
  • de Saint-Exupery. Le Petit Prince — 212
  • Brainard. Joe Brained: I Remember — 214
  • Faulks. Birdsong — 215
  • Derrida. Limited Inc — 216
  • Grimwood. Replay — 217
  • Hall. The Hidden Dimension — 218
  • Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita — 221
  • Zusak. The Book Thief — 225
  • Eliot. Middlemarch — 225
  • Tolkien. The Silmarillion — 226
  • de Saint-Exupery. Le Petit Prince — 227
  • Young. Rough Trade — 228
  • Strunge. Samlede Strunge — 230
  • Prose. My New American Life — 230
  • You — 231
  • Acknowledgements — 233

CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET

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On a cold snowy night last week, Diane and I drove to Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall to hear the Castalian String Quartet: Sini Simonen (violin), Ruth Gibson (viola), Daniel Roberts (violin), and Stefan Morris (cello). We found the music a little dark, but it fit the wintery weather we were experiencing. The Quartet played well and the 200 listeners in the audience with us clapped enthusiastically at the end of the performance.

Diane and I arrived early to hear the Q&A session before the performance and learned interesting facts about the musicians’s lives and backgrounds. The Quartet will be in Schenectady, NY and then New York City next week. Worth traveling in the darkness and snow showers to hear. Are you a fan of chamber music? GRADE: B

PROGRAM:

STRING QUARTET IN D MINOR, K. 421 — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

STRING QUARTET NO. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata” — Leos Janacek

STRING QUARET in B flat, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 —Ludwig van Beethoven

FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #718: THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, 23rd SERIES Edited by Edward L. Ferman

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My favorite story in The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, 23rd SERIES is John Varley’s “In the Hall of the Martian Kings,” a story of a exploration of the Red Planet with a lot of problems. I also liked Jane Yolen’s “Brother Hart” involving shape-shifting and sadness.

Edward L. Ferman continues the inclusion of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction “Competition” entries. You may or may not like them. I’m not a fan.

I did like Joanna Russ’s essay on “Books: In Defense of Criticism” which extends the discussion beyond Fantasy and SF. Thought-provoking!

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, 23rd Series is the penultimate volume in this long-running anthology series. Next mouth, the final volume…after two years of monthly reviews on this blog! GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

’70s SOUL GOLD (2-CD Set)

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There are plenty of songs to like on 70s Soul Gold. I like the mix of well-known songs like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with more obscure songs like The Originals’ “The Bells.”

I love Smokey Robinson and The Miracles’ “Tears of A Clown,” Chic’s “Le Freak,” and The Staple Sisters’ “I’ll Take You There.” And, then there are classics like Curtis Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead,” Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” and The Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.”

All in all, this compilation delivers great music from the 1970s. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: A-

TRACK LIST:

1-1The Delfonics–Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)3:24
1-2The Originals–The Bells3:08
1-3The Supremes–Up The Ladder To The Roof3:16
1-4The Moments–Love On A Two Way Street3:30
1-5The Jackson 5–I’ll Be There3:58
1-6Smokey Robinson & The Miracles*–The Tears Of A Clown3:02
1-7Marvin Gaye–What’s Going On3:54
1-8James Brown–Soul Power Pts. 1 & 23:23
1-9Ike & Tina Turner–Proud Mary3:17
1-10Jean Knight–Mr. Big Stuff2:31
1-11Undisputed Truth (2)–Smiling Faces Sometimes3:17
1-12Isaac Hayes–Theme From Shaft4:38
1-13Al Green–Let’s Stay Together3:42
1-14Betty Wright–Clean Up Woman2:47
1-15The Dramatics–In The Rain5:08
1-16The Stylistics Featuring Russell Thompkins, Jr.–Betcha By Golly Wow3:49
1-17The Chi-Lites–Oh Girl3:38
1-18The Staple Singers–I’ll Take You There3:14
2-1Billy Preston–Outa-Space Producer – Billy PrestonWritten-By – Billy Preston, Joe Greene4:10
2-2Brothers Johnson–Strawberry Letter #23 Producer – Quincy JonesWritten-By – Shuggie Otis5:01
2-3Curtis Mayfield–Freddie’s Dead (Theme From Superfly) Producer, Written-By – Curtis Mayfield5:28
2-4The Temptations–Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone7:00
2-5Brighter Side Of Darkness–Love Jones Producer – Clarence JohnsonWritten-By – Clarence Johnson, Ralph Eskridge*, Randolph Murphy3:21
2-6Four Tops–Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I Got) Producer – Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter, Steve Barri Written-By – Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter3:05
2-7The Isley Brothers–That Lady Pts. 1 & 2 Producer – The Isley Brothers Written-By – Christopher Jasper*, Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley, O’Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley5:37
2-8Marvin Gaye–Let’s Get It On Producer, Written-By – Ed Townsend 4:54
2-9Eddie Kendricks–Keep On Truckin’ Producer – Leonard Caston Written-By – Anita Poree, Leonard Caston3:35
2-10Aretha Franklin–Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) Producer – Aretha Franklin, Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler Written-By – Clarence Paul, Morris Broadnax3:28
2-11Dionne Warwick & Spinners–Then Came You Written-By – Phillip Pugh*, Sherman Marshall4:00
2-12Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes–Bad Luck Arranged By – Bobby Martin Producer – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff* Written-By – Gene McFadden, John Whitehead*, Victor Carstarphen3:10
2-13Diana Ross–Love Hangover Written-By – Marilyn McLeod, Pam Sawye3:51
2-14Commodores–Easy Producer – Commodores, James Anthony Carmichael Written-By – Lionel Richie4:53
2-15The Floaters–Float On Producer – Woody Wilson Written-By – Arnold Ingram, James Mitchell, Jr.*, Marvin Willis4:14
2-16Chic–Le Freak Producer, Written-By – Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers4:19
2-17Bell & James–Livin’ It Up (Friday Night) Executive-Producer – Thom Bell Producer – Leroy Bell, Casey James3:24
2-18Ray, Goodman & Brown–Special Lady Producer – Vincent Castellano Written-By – Al Goodman, Harry Ray, Lee Walter4:10

WEDNESDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #99: NIGHT LIVES By Phyllis Eisenstein

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My favorite story in Nine Lives: Nine Stories of the Dark Fantastic (Five Star, 2003) is “The Island in the Lake,” a story about Eisenstein’s troubadour, Alaric, who has the power to teleport himself…usually into trouble. I also enjoyed “The Amethyst Phial” where Eisenstein explores the nature of revenge.

The stories in Night Lives vary from early stories in Eisenstein’s career to later stories. If you want to read a representative collection of Eisenstein’s short fiction, Night Lives would be a good place to start. GRADE: B

Table of Contents:

  • Introduction: Straddling the Spectrum – (2003) – essay by Phyllis Eisenstein — 9
  • In the Western Tradition – (1981) – novella — 13
  • The Island in the Lake – (1998) – novelette — 77
  • Nightlife – (1982) – novelette — 127
  • Wallpaper World – (2001) – shortstory with Alex Eisenstein — 176
  • Subworld – (1983) – novelette — 211
  • Altar Ego – (1977) – novelette with Alex Eisenstein — 240
  • The Amethyst Phial – (1984) – short story — 268
  • Dark Wings – (1982) – short story — 290
  • Sleeping Beauty: The True Story – (1976) – short story and Alex Eisenstein — 299
  • About the Author – essay — 308
  • Additional copyright information –310