Tim Burton’s movie is better than Ransom Riggs’s book. Miss Peregine’s School For Peculiar Children is a novel of discovery. A teenage boy finds the body of his dead grandfather. His grandfather told his grandson incredible stories of a “special school” for special children. The boy find Miss Peregine’s School in Wales…and finds a lot more. Tim Burton’s movie follows the book closely until the end (which is a Good Thing). Yes, the children are “peculiar.” Samuel R. Jackson is the Bad Guy. Although there are monsters in the book and the movie, I didn’t find them very scary. Mildly entertaining. GRADE: B+ (movie), B- (book)

These two volumes present “The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek” in an entertaining fashion. Each episode, each movie, and all the trivia you could imagine–it’s all here. I’ve only read the first volume, but plenty of memories fired up as I encountered the decisions made at the beginning of Star Trek to focus on stories based on science fiction short stories. If you’re a Star Trek fan, these books are as good as it gets. Do you have a favorite Star Trek episode or movie? GRADE: A

The Bills lost their best offensive player, wide receiver Sammy Watkins, for 8 weeks because of a foot problem. The Patriots will be without Tom Brady who is serving his Deflategate suspension. Many fans thought that Head Coach Bill Belichick would lose games with Brady gone, but the Patriots are 3-0 using backup QBs. I think it’s time Bill Belichick is acknowledged as a great coach. How will your favorite NFL do today?

TV (The Book) is subtitled: “Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time.” Sepinwall and Seitz make their case for the “Best” TV shows and rank 100 TV series. But most TV fans will focus on the TOP 10. Here they are:
1. The Simpsons
2. The Sopranos
3. The Wire
4. Cheers
5. Breaking Bad
6. Mad Men
7. Seinfeld
8. I Love Lucy
9. Deadwood
10. All in the Family
I have no major arguments with this list. How about you?

Back in the 1990s, Oxford University Press published a series of anthologies collecting the “best” of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Spy Stories. All the books take a chronological approach. I enjoyed the fact-filled, insightful introductions to each story. All of the anthologies seem to feature more British writers than average, but that’s not a Bad Thing. Michael Cox chose some less than familiar stories for this anthology. And I liked Cox’s unconventional choice of Robert Sheckley’s “Citizen in Space,” one of my favorite SF stories. If you’re a fan of spy fiction, you’ll love this excellent collection. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
Parker Adderson, Philosopher By Ambrose Bierce
The Red Carnation By Baroness Orczy
The Rider in the Dawn By Arthur Quiller-Couch
The Brass Butterfly By William Le Queux
Peiffer By A. E. W. Mason
Mr Collingrey, MP By Edgar Wallace
The Lit Chamber By John Buchan
The Reckoning with Otto Schreed By E. Phillips Oppenheim
Giulia Lazzari By W. Somerset Maugham
Judith By C. E. Montague
The Pigeon Man By Valentine Williams
Jumbo’s Wife By Frank O’Connor
Affaire de Coeur By W. E. Johns
Flood on the Goodwins By A. D. Divine
How Ryan Got Out of Russia By Lord Dunsany
A Patriot By John Galsworthy
A Double Double-Cross By Peter Cheyney
The Army of the Shadows By Eric Ambler
Citizen in Space By Robert Sheckley
Risico By Ian Fleming
Keep Walking By Geoffrey Household
Paper Casualty By Len Deighton
Signal Tresham By Michael Gilbert
Final Demand By John Wainwright
The Rocking-Horse Spy By Ted Allbeury
The Great Divide By William Haggard
A Branch of the Service By Graham Greene
Waiting for Mrs Ryder By Edward D. Hoch
Notes and Sources
Publisher’s Acknowledgements

This is what obsession looks like. I ordered the 2-CD set of Van Morrison’s It’s Too Late To Stop Now, Vol. 1 a few weeks ago. Loved it! You can read my review here. Then AMAZON notified me that there was another box set of Van Morrison’s 1973 concerts in L.A. and London with alternate versions and extras. Three hours of unreleased Van Morrison plus a concert DVD! Of course, I had to have it. I ordered this new box set and it arrived in a couple of days. I’ve been listening to it the past week. It’s a mixed bag. Yes, there are some clunkers. But, if you’re a Van Morrison fan, there’s enough here to delight you. GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. Come Running
2. These Dreams of You
3. The Way Young Lovers Do
4. Snow in San Anselmo
5. I Just Want to Make Love to You
6. Bring It on Home to Me
7. Purple Heather
8. Hey, Good Lookin’
9. Bein’ Green
10. Brown Eyed Girl
11. Listen to the Lion
12. Hard Nose the Highway
13. Moondance
14. Cyprus Avenue
15. Caravan
Disc: 2
1. I’ve Been Working
2. There There Child
3. No Way
4. Since I Fell for You
5. Wild Night
6. I Paid the Price
7. Domino
8. Gloria
9. Buona Sera
10. Moonshine Whiskey
11. Ain’t Nothing You Can Do
12. Take Your Hand Out of My Pocket
13. Sweet Thing
14. Into the Mystic
15. I Believe to My Soul
Disc: 3
1. Listen to the Lion
2. I Paid the Price
3. Bein’ Green
4. Since I Fell for You
5. Into the Mystic
6. Everyone
7. I Believe to My Soul
8. Sweet Thing
9. I Just Want to Make Love to You
10. Wild Children
11. Here Comes the Night
12. Buona Sera
13. Domino
14. Caravan
15. Cyprus Avenue
Disc: 4 DVD
1. Here Comes the Night (Live)
2. I Just Want to Make Love to You (Live)
3. Brown Eyed Girl (Live)
4. Moonshine Whiskey (Live)
5. Moondance (Live)
6. Help Me (Live)
7. Domino (Live)
8. Caravan (Live)
9. Cyprus Avenue (Live)

“John O’Hara had three great themes: class, sex, and drinking,” Charles McGrath writes in his Introduction. Yes, I have most these stories in other John O’Hara collections, but I couldn’t resist this Library of America volume. It’s 860 pages of great writing! I consider John O’Hara one of the great short story writers of the 20th Century (his novels are more problematic). The 60 short stories in this book cover a broad range of American Life in the middle decades of the past century. I like what what Gay Telese said about John O’Hara: “He gave people like me a sense of a larger America. He got inside the political back rooms and the parlors and told us what Americans said, how they lived, the details of the clothing, the shoes, the cars.” If you’re looking for a collection of short stories by a master story-teller, John O’Hara: Stories delivers. Do you have a favorite John O’Hara story? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
On His Hands
Early Afternoon
It Must Have Been Spring
Over the River and Through the Wood
The Doctor’s Son
Price’s Always Open
Are We Leaving Tomorrow?
The Cold House
Trouble in 1949
Do You Like It Here?
Too Young
Bread Alone
The King of the Desert
Summer’s Day
Graven Image
The Next-to-Last Dance of the Season
The Pretty Daughters
Common Sense Should Tell You
Ellie
The Moccasins
A Phase of Life
Time to Go
Encounter: 1943
The Heart of Lee W. Lee
The War
The Time Element
Family Evening
Requiescat
Imagine Kissing Pete
Call Me, Call Me
Mrs. Stratton of Oak Knoll
You Can Always Tell Newark
In the Silence
Winter Dance
Appearances
Your Fah Neefah Neeface
Justice
The Lesson
Pat Collins
Agatha
Exterior: with Figure
The Flatted Saxophone
The Man on the Tractor
At the Window
The Answer Depends
Can I Stay Here?
I Spend My Days in Longing
I Can’t Thank You Enough
In the Mist
Afternoon Waltz
The Assistant
Fatimas and Kisses
Natica Jackson
How Old, How Young
The Farmer
We’ll Have Fun
The Sun Room
A Man To Be Trusted
The Journey to Mount Clemens
Christmas Poem

The Hollow Crown includes Henry IV: Part I, Henry IV: Part II, and Richard III. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Bonneville, Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, Sally Hawkins, Sophie Okonedo, and Tom Sturridge, these adaptations of three of Shakespeare’s best plays are a delight to watch. Special features include: deleted scenes and “The Making of The Hollow Crown. This package holds 6 hours and 19 minutes of pure drama. If you love Shakespeare, you’ll love these performances! Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play? GRADE: A

Will Trump have Gennifer Flowers seated in the first row next to Mark Cuban? Will Hillary be too wonky> Will Trump melt down? With the Debate turn into a yawner? I’ll be watching some of the Debate tonight, but I’ll be flipping over to Monday Night Football, too. Tomorrow morning, I’ll check with Morning Joe on MSNBC to see who the Chattering Classes think won the Debate. Will you be watching? What do you think will happen?

The Good News is that the Cardinals haven’t beaten the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo in 45 years. The Bad News is the Bills are a disappointing 0-2 and 4 1/2 point underdogs in this game. After the Thursday Night Football debacle, the Bills management fired Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman. Most Bills fans think the Roman firing was a simple case of scapegoating. This is a team with a lot of problems. Speaking of problems, the Buffalo Bills travel to New England to take on the Patriots next week! Yikes! How is your favorite NFL team going to perform today?