I was standing in line at the Circulation Desk to check out some books at the Library. The woman ahead of me had an armful of Robert Parker’s Spenser novels. “I’m rereading the Spensers in order,” she confided to me. We chatted and I mentioned I’d just finished reading a Jack Reacher novel. She said, “Have you read the Peter Ash series? They’re better than Jack Reacher!” So, of course, I tracked down a copy of the first book in the Peter Ash series, The Drifter and read it in a day. Yes, there are some similarities between Peter Ash and Jack Reacher. Both have military backgrounds. Reacher was a military cop, Ash was a Marine with deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The differences between Ash and Reacher are more mental than physical. Ash has Post-Tramatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) which causes him to react whenever he’s inside a building or any enclosure. So Ash sleeps outside (mostly in his truck) and works outside as a handy-man. When Ash’s best friend commits suicide in Milwaukee, Ash travels to the city to try to help his friend’s wife and kids. Things go to a different level when Ash finds a suitcase with $400,000 in it while he’s fixing his dead friend’s wife’s porch. The suitcase also has some plastic explosives in it, too.

Like a Jack Reacher novel, once things get rolling it’s action, violence, and mayhem that keep the pages turning. I need to read the other Peter Ash novels before I can weigh in on whether Ash is better than Reacher. But the competition–so far–is a close one! GRADE: B+
PETER ASH SERIES:
The Drifter (2016)
Burning Bright (2017)
Light It Up (2018)
Tear It Down (2019)
The Wild One (2020)

Kate Weinberg’s first novel, The Truants, is being marketed as a mystery. It contains many of those mystery aspects: a suspicious death, some secrets from the Past that disrupt the Present, and a whole lot of lying. The narrator of The Truants is 19-year-old Jessica Walker. Jess, as she prefers to be called, attends East Anglia College solely to be in a class taught by charismatic Professor Lorna Clay. Dr. Clay’s course on Agatha Christie both binds the two major characters together, but also plants the seeds of the book’s puzzles. Jess is dating Nick, another student, when she finds herself strongly attracted to the boyfriend of her roommate, Georgie. Dr. Clay advises Jess to “think about triangles.” Could this be an allusion to The ABC Murders or something else? Instead of triangles, Jess thinks about sex.

It takes until page 130 for a death to show up, but then more deaths–Past and Present–complicate the plot until the oblique conclusion. Many of Agatha Christie’s mysteries were full of repellent characters, but there was always Miss Marple and Poirot to deliver Morality and Justice. The conclusion of The Truants just left me flat. GRADE: C

The only commonality between Robert Parker’s Spenser and Mark Wahlberg’s Spenser is the name. Forget Parker’s private eye, forget Spenser’s best friend Hawk, and forget Spenser’s psychiatrist girl friend Susan. Mark Wahlberg plays a former cop who is sent to prison for beating up his boss. Wahlberg serves his five-year sentence and the Netflix movie opens with Wahlberg being released. His ditzy girl friend, Cissy, shows up at the prison to greet him, but Wahlberg avoids her. Cissy is a dog boarder played by Iliza Shlesinger. Later in this movie, Cissy enters a Men’s Room and “seduces” Wahlberg. It’s an awkward scene in this current sexual behavior era.

My favorite character in Spenser Confidential is Black Panther actor Winston Duke who plays Hawk as an aspiring Mixed Marshal Arts fighter. After overcoming some initial hostility, Wahlberg and Duke start to work together to solve the murder of Wahlberg’s former boss and a cop who seems to have been framed for the murder. The script, by L.A. Confidential writers Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland, veers towards vigilante justice in The A-Team fashion. Director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, and Patriot’s Day) keeps things moving even if the plot is a bit loopy. Will there be more Spenser Confidential episodes? In the Age of the Coronavirus and people hunkering down, I think it’s a good bet that we’ll be seeing Mark Wahlberg’s Spenser again. Were you a fan of Spenser: For Hire? GRADE: C

Dr. Martha Claire Morris shares 25 years of research into the connection between diet and Alzheimer’s. The research found that study participants had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a slower rate of cognitive decline with:
1. an intake of vitamin E in their diet
2. intakes of vitamin B12, folate, and niacin
3. intakes of lutein, beta-carotene, and bio-flavonoids
4. consumption of seafood and omega-3 fatty acids
5. daily consumption of vegetables–in particular, leafy green vegetables
6. dietary fat comsposition that is low in saturated and trans-fats and high in vegetable fats
(p. 8)

As you might guess, possessed foods and fast foods accelerated cognitive decline. Morris also recommends berries (especially blueberries) because they are packed with antioxidants and phytrochemicals. And they taste good! In addition to all the research findings, Morris and her daughter, a nutritionist, include 80 brain-friendly recipes. I tried the Blueberry-Apple Pancakes (p. 143) and found them to be delicious!

If you want to stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia, Diet for the Mind is a good place to start. Are you worried about getting Alzheimer’s? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Where the Heart and Mind Meet ix
Part I Mind-Healthy Science
Chapter 1 Cognitive Decline and Dementia 3
Chapter 2 Essential Nutrients for the Brain 33
Chapter 3 Foods for Everyday Eating 53
Chapter 4 Foods to Eat Every Week 69
Chapter 5 Brainless Foods That Harm the Mind 87
Chapter 6 Comparing the Mediterranean, DASH, and MIND Diets 103
Part II Mind-Healthy Lifestyle and Recipes
Chapter 7 Create Your Healthiest Life 119
Chapter 8 Breakfast 139
Chapter 9 Whole Grains 151
Chapter 10 Leafy Greens 167
Chapter 11 Other Vegetables 181
Chapter 12 Beans and Legumes 195
Chapter 13 Seafood and Poultry 211
Chapter 14 Entertaining 225
Chapter 15 Snacks and Desserts 239
Acknowledgments 251
Notes 255
Index 261

This is the last Emma version I’ll be reviewing for a long, long time. Kate Beckinsale plays a childish Emma in this Andrew Davies costume drama. Mark Strong (who usually plays Bad Guys) manages to animate the character of George Knightly. Olivia Williams captures the reticence of Jane Fairfax perfectly (and she sings very well, too!). While the four-hour Emma starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller is the Gold Standard for me (you can read my review here), this adaptation presents Jane Austen’s Emma in an entertaining compact version. Kate Beckinsale portrays a rich socialite and beautiful young woman who tries her hand at matchmaking. Of course, Emma’s efforts produce unforeseen consequences. Kate Beckinsale moved on to more exciting roles as a vampire in the Underworld series. Are you a fan of Kate Beckinsale…or Mark Strong? GRADE: B+

My Emma binging continues with this new movie version directed by Autumn de Wilde. Yes, the screen radiates color and spectacle, ritzy Regency-era outfits and bonnets abound. England of 1815 never looked so good as de Wilde’s cameras capture the glamorized mansions with their luxurious furniture, paintings, and sculptures. Anya Taylor-Joy may be the most beautiful of all the Emmas in these film presentations of Jane Austen’s novel. Taylor-Joy plays Emma as petulant and occasionally arrogant–which makes her fall at the end of the movie much steeper than in most of the Emma films I’ve seen. The script is by Eleanor Catton who slowly builds the action throughout the movie. I’m a big Bill Nighy fan, but he is mostly wasted as the hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse. Johnny Flynn plays Knightley without Jonny Lee Miller’s apparent aloofness. De Wilde makes it clear that her Knightley is hot for Emma early in the film. Mia Goth captures the fragility of Harriet Smith convincingly. Miranda Hart manages the difficult role of Miss Bates by making her character both a chatter-box and a woman with heart-rending vulnerabilities. Although she wasn’t given much to do, Amber Anderson as Jane Fairfax steals every scene she’s in.

Diane and I saw Emma at our local AMC theater with six other people in the audience. If this becomes typical of movie audiences in the time of the coronavirus, then a lot of movies are going to fail at the Box Office. GRADE: B

This volume of THE GREAT SF STORIES series features two iconic stories. The first, Clifford D. Simak’s wonderful “The Big Front Yard,” brings back memories of reading the story in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION in the late 1950s. That issue had a brilliant Kelly Freas cover illustrating “The Big Front Yard” that remains etched in my memory.

The second story, C. M. Kornbluth’s dark “Two Dooms,” rocked my world when I first read it in the 1960s. Later, I learned Kornbluth died shortly after “Two Dooms” was published at the age of 34. Kornbluth shoveled snow from his driveway, which delayed him. Then, running to meet his train, Kornbluth suffered a fatal heart attack on the platform of the train station. What a tragic loss of a great talent!

Avram Davidson’s “All the Seas with Oysters, Silverberg’s “The Iron Chancellor,” and Sheckley’s “The Prize of Peril” still entertain after all the decades. But my favorite surprise in this anthology is Rog Phillips’s “The Yellow Pill” which cleverly explores the nature of Reality. Volume #20 of THE GREAT SF STORIES series is a winner! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 9
The Last of the Deliverers by Poul Anderson (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, February 1958) 13
The Feeling of Power by Isaac Asimov (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, February 1958) 29
Poor Little Warrior! by Brian W. Aldiss (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, April 1958) 41
The Iron Chancellor by Robert Silverberg (GALAXY, May 1958) 49
The Prize of Peril by Robert Sheckley (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, May 1958) 77
Or All the Seas with Oysters by Avram Davidson (GALAXY, May 1958) 99
Two Dooms by C. M. Kornbluth (Venture Science Fiction, July 1958) 111
The Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, October 1958) 167
The Burning of the Brain by Cordwainer Smith (IF, October 1958) 229
The Yellow Pill by Rog Phillips (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, October 1958) 243
Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICITON, November 1958) 259
The Immortals by James E. Gunn (STAR SCIENCE FICTION #4) 297

I just finished doing our taxes with TURBOTAX DELUXE (including New York State taxes). You would think that doing taxes with just four sources of income–Diane’s pension and Social Security, my pension and Social Security–whipping through the Income and Deductions (we don’t have any that count with Trump’s new tax structure) would be a breeze. Nope. There’s still the Audit Risk Meter to contend with. Fortunately, we’re at Low Risk of an Audit based on our tax return.

The last few years we’ve had to pay both New York State and the Feds because we were estimating withholding from my pension and Social Security (I just started collecting it in the Summer of 2019) while phasing out Spousal Benefits. And our estimated withholding needed to be tweaked. Now, we’re getting pretty close to breaking even. We owe New York State ZERO! We owe the Feds a small amount. That’s about as good as it gets. With Trump’s tax strategy of forcing most people to take the Standard Deduction, our years of getting refunds are a thing of the Past. Have you done your taxes? Are you happy or sad?

Kent Morgan recommended John McPhee’s Draft No. 4 a little over a month ago. I managed to acquire a copy and finally got around to read it. I’ve always been a fan of John McPhee’s writing. Here’s McPhee on interviewing Richard Burton: “Burton was even easier to interview than Woody Allen because he interviewed himself. You just listened, and wrote down what he said.” (p. 111). McPhee writes about his work with Time magazine. I loved his stories about interviewing the mercurial Jackie Gleason for a Time cover story. Hilarious! McPhee also writes about dealing with the prissy William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker. Very funny! Will you learn to be a better writer by reading Draft No. 4? I hope so. But, if you don’t you’ll at least be entertained by McPhee’s tales of writing for great magazines. Thanks, Kent! I enjoyed every page! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Progression — 3
Structure — 17
Elicitation — 91
Frame of Reference — 115
Checkpoints — 129
Draft No. 4 — 157
Omission –177

Chinatown (1974) ended a era of great film-making as the Old Hollywood morphed into the Corporate Hollywood of today. Sam Wasson explores the changes in Hollywood and the making of one of the great movies of all time in The Big Goodbye. All the elements aligned: Jack Nicholson was at the top of his game. Robert Towne wrote one of the greatest scripts of all time. Robert “The Kid” Evans produced the film. And enigmatic Roman Polanski, reeling from the incredible death of his wife, Sharon Tate, returns to Los Angeles to direct a classic. I watched the Blu-ray version of Chinatown before I read Sam Wasson’s The Big Goodbye. Wasson’s account of the making of the movie adds much information that I didn’t know about the film. If you’re a fan of Chinatown, don’t miss The Big Goodbye! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: First Goodbyes — 1
Part One: JUSTICE — 3
Part Two: EUCALYPTUS — 47
Part Three: THE MOUNTAIN — 143
Part Four: GITTES VS. GITTES — 291
Acknowledgements — 333
Notes — 335
Index — 383