Comic actor Kumail Nanjiani plays a struggling stand-up comic (and UBER driver) in Chicago. He meets Zoe Kazan after one of his comedy shows and their relationship begins. But, of course, Life intrudes. Zoe gets sick…really really sick. Kumail has to sign a document that allows the doctors to put Zoe in a medically induced coma.

Yes, I know this doesn’t sound funny, but Zoe’s parents show up: Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. Kumail and Zoe’s parents “bond” because of the crisis. This isn’t your usual romantic comedy. Diane and I enjoyed The Big Sick and you would, too. Clever, funny, and heart-felt. GRADE: B+

Once again STARK HOUSE delivers a fabulous omnibus edition. This time, the treat is three Al Wheeler mysteries by “carter brown” (the pen name of Alan Geoffrey Yates). I started reading “carter brown” books back in the early Sixties (and had numerous cashiers hassle me for buying books they deemed salacious).

This STARK HOUSE edition includes The Wench is Wicked (1955), the first Al Wheeler mystery. It has never been published in the United States. It introduces the wise-cracking Lieutenant who is like no other police detective. Wheeler chases women and murderers with equal enthusiasm. In this case, Wheeler investigates the murder of a writer with ties to a group shooting a Western movie.

Also included is The Blonde (1955), where a missing woman who suddenly comes out of hiding for a scheduled TV interview is murdered before she can tell her secrets.

Blonde Verdict (1956) was published in the U.S. by Signet in 1960 under the title, The Brazen. The U. S. edition was revised. This STARK HOUSE omnibus reprints the original Australian version.

Chris Yates provides a useful introduction to the prolific Alan Geoffrey Yates. There’s a nice Art Scott quote from his article on Carter Brown in Crime and Mystery Writers of the 20th Century. This book has it all!

Several times in my reading of I Was Told To Come Alone I thought, “Souad Mekhen is going to be killed!” She meets with the Talban, ISIS leaders, and other very dangerous people. I could not do her job! Souad is relentless in the pursuit of an interview. This book tells her story growing up in Germany and Morocco. From the earliest years, she displays her fearlessness and independence. As Souad moves her way up the journalistic world, she takes increasing risks. Her imprisonment in Egypt was hair-raising! If you want to understand what’s happening in the shadow world of Jihad, this book explains everything. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue: Meeting with ISIS Turkey, 2014 1
1. Stranger in a Strange Land Germany and Morocco, 1978-1993 7
2. The Hamburg Cell Germany, 1994-2003 33
3. A Country With a Divided Soul Iraq, 2003-4 58
4. A Call from Khaled el-Masri Germany & Algeria, 2004-6 84
5. Even If I Die Today or Tomorrow Lebannon, 2007 101
6. The Lost Boys of Zarqa Jordan, 2007 123
7. The Value of Life Algeria, 2008 143
8. Guns and Roses Pakistan, 2009 156
9. Mukhabarat Egpypt, 2011 170
10. This Is Not an Arab Spring Germany & Tunisia, 2011 192
11. Threats Bahrain, Iran & Germany, 2011-2013 208
12. Boys for the Caliphate Germany, 2013 230
13. Brides for the Caliphate Germany and France, 2014-15 243
14. The Search for an Islamist Beatle, or Finding Jihadi John Britain, 2014-15 261
15. Terror Comes Home Austria, France & Belgium, 2015-2016 285
Epilogue: The Deepest Cut Germany & Morocco, 2016 305
Notes 321
Acknowledgements 340
Index 343

August Octavio Snow, former Detroit detective, gets unjustly fired, sues the city, and wins a $12 million settlement. But, money doesn’t bring Snow happiness. He finds himself involved in a complex murder investigation that leads to the world of high finance. Yes, August Snow is a mystery, but it has elements of the Executioner, too. This is Stephen Mack Jones’s first novel. It won’t be his last. GRADE: B

In July 2016, Carole King performed her iconic album Tapestry at the BST Hyde Park London to a sold-out stadium. Not only did Carole King perform her album in its entirety for the first time in concert, King also treated the 65,000 plus fans in attendance to a number of classic Goffin/King compositions and an energetic performance of “I Feel The Earth Move” with Cassidy Janson and the London cast of Beautiful The Carole King Musical. DJ Scott Shannon introduces the program and there’s a special interview with Carole King included. Check your local Regal Theaters because this event happens tonight! Diane and I have our tickets! How about you? What’s your favorite Carole King song?
SET LIST:
1. I Feel the Earth Move
2. So Far Away
3. It’s Too Late
4. Home Again
5. Beautiful
6. Way Over Yonder
7. You’ve Got a Friend
8. Where You Lead (with Louise Goffin)
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (with Louise Goffin)
10. Smackwater Jack (with Louise Goffin)
11. Tapestry
12. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Other Hits
13. Take Good Care of My Baby / It Might As Well Rain Until September (without band)
14. Go Away Little Girl / I’m Into Something Good / One Fine Day
(without band)
15. Some Kind of Wonderful
16. Hey Girl
17. Chains
18. Jazzman
Encore:
19. Up on the Roof
20. The Loco-Motion
21. I Feel the Earth Move
Encore 2:
22. You’ve Got a Friend

Submission was a controversial Best Seller in France in 2015. Michel Houellebecq writes about the growing Muslim influence on French society. His narrator, a college professor in the Literature Department, finds himself “retired” when a Muslim faction takes over the French education system. Polygamy becomes standard. Houellebecq’s story of France slipping into an Islamic culture generated plenty of debate a couple years ago. You can’t read Submission without coming away pondering the issues it raises. GRADE: B+

I’m a big fan of Jonathan Lethem’s book reviews and articles. More Alive and Less Lonely collects dozens of great pieces. My favorites are the articles on Philip K. Dick. I wanted to drop everything and reread some PKD! You’ll come away from with book with a list of books you’ll want to read. The articles and reviews range from recent books to classics. You’ll have an irresistible impulse to read Kafka’s THE CASTLE (I know I did!). Just check out the Table of Contents so see the depth of this author’s interests. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. Engulf and devour —
The loneliest book I’ve read —
Footnote on Sylvie Selig —
Engulf and devour —
The figure in the castle —
The greatest animal novelist of all time —
The counter-Roth —
II. It can still take me there —
The only human superhero —
Forget this introduction —
What’s old is new (NYRB) —
To catch a beat —
Footnote —
III. Objects in furious motion —
Fierce attachments —
Attention drifting beautifully (Donald Barthelme) —
Rock of ages —
My hero: Karl Ove Knausgaard —
A new life (Malamud) —
A mug’s game —
Steven Millhauser’s ghost stories —
IV. Lost worlds —
The mechanics of fear, revisited —
On the Yard —
Walter Tevis’s Mockingbird —
Everything said and exhausted (Daniel Fuchs) —
How did I get here and what could it possibly mean? (Bernard Wolfe) —
‘Twas ever thus (Tanguy Viel’s Beyond Suspicion) —
Russell Greenan’s Geniuses —
V. Ecstatic depictions of consciousness —
Consumed —
Dog soldiers —
Bizarro world —
On two sentences from Charles D’Ambrosio’s “Screenwriter” —
Remarks perhaps of some assistance to the reader of Joseph McElroy’s Ancient history: a paraphase —
VI. Thomas Berger and I have never met (Ishiguro, Berger and PKD) —
Kazuo Ishiguro —
The butler did it —
Footnote on Ishiguro —
High priest of the paranoids —
The man whose teeth were all exactly alike —
To Ubik —
Life after wartime —
Thomas Berger —
Letters from the invisible man: my correspondence with Thomas Berger —
Footnote on Berger —
VII. OK you mugs —
Heavy petting —
More than night —
You talkin’ to me? —
New York characters —
Lost and found —
The original piece of wood I left in your head: a conversation between director Spike Jonze and critic Perkus Tooth —
Johnny’s graying teenaged sense of what isn’t boring (Da Capo Best Music Writing 2002) —
Close reading (Ricks on Dylan) —
Rod Serling —
Mutual seduction —
VIII. Fan mail —
Carved in need —
New old friend (a toast to Kenneth Koch) —
Eyes wide open —
Something about a slice —
Pynchonopolis —
To Cosmicomics —
Anthony Burgess answers two questions —
A furtive exchange —
Books are sandwiches.

Spiderman: Homecoming returns to the roots of the Spiderman saga with the casting of Tom Holland who actually looks like he’s 15 years old. Much of the story takes place in Peter Parker’s High School in NYC. Michael Keaton plays a complicated Bad Guy called the Vulture (a bow to Keaton’s role in BIRDMAN) who deals in alien technology and weapons. Robert Downey, Jr. shows up as Tony Stark and IRON MAN. So does Chris Evans as Captain America in some humorous bits (be sure you stay for all the credits!).

However, my favorite character in this Spiderman movie is “Karen” voiced by Jennifer Connelly. I can’t wait for the next Spiderman movie! Great Summer fun! GRADE: A-

Miskatonic University is H. P. Lovecraft’s home for the Necronomicon and other occult books. Miskatonic University is located in Lovecraft’s Arkham, Massachusetts where weird things happen all the time. This collection of original stories runs the gamut of faux-Lovecraftean creepiness. In addition, check out the cool Miskatonic University shirt that is tempting me below. Wouldn’t it be perfect for my appearance at the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio in November?
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
9 · A Letter from the President to Incoming Students · Stefan Dziemianowicz · pr *
15 · Kali Yuga Comes · Tina L. Jens · nv *
57 · Teachers · Mort Castle · ss *
75 · Her Misbegotten Son · Alan Rodgers · na *
145 · Scavenger Hunt · Brad Linaweaver · ss *
153 · Black Celebration · Jay Bonansinga · ss *
167 · To Be as They · Stephen Mark Rainey · nv *
189 · Second Movement · Benjamin Adams · nv *
211 · A Dreaming of Dead Poets · Jane M. Lindskold · nv *
233 · Mandelbrot Moldrot · Lois H. Gresh · nv *
255 · The Smile of a Mime · Billie Sue Mosiman · ss *
271 · The Sothis Radiant · Will Murray · nv *
301 · The Play’s the Thing · Christie Golden · nv *
323 · Ghoulmaster · Brian McNaughton · nv *