Longmire on A&E wraps up its first season tonight. For my money, Longmire was the best cable program this summer. Great cast! Robert Taylor plays Walt Longmire, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. He’s a wily veteran detective who solves some baffling cases. The scripts are above average. If you missed this fine series, you can watch Longmire online at the A&E website. It may be available to you on-demand with your cable system. And, I’m sure the DVD set will show up in stores within the month. I’ll be looking forward to Season Two of Longmire.

You don’t have to know much about the Bourne trilogy of movies to enjoy the latest installment: The Bourne Legacy. Without giving much away, all of these movies are chase movies. The Government wants to shut down a secret spy operation and instead of giving everyone a severance check, the Government decided to kill everyone associated with the secret program. Only, they didn’t quite kill Jason Bourne and in The Bourne Legacy they didn’t kill Jeremy Renner’s character (although they tried really, really hard!). Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton lead an impressive cast on this summer action thriller joy-ride. You will love the incredible motorcycle chase in Manila! GRADE: B+

Evan Lewis occasionally blogs about Race Williams, classic Private Eye, and I’ve finally gotten around to reading one of his classic adventures: The Hidden Hand. The Hidden Hand is a secretive crime lord who has put a $50,000 bounty on Race Williams’ head. The adventures in The Hidden Hand were originally published in a different form in Black Mask back in the June, July, August, September, and October issues in 1928. Obviously, this is a fix-up novel, but for those of you who like your noir straight, then this Race Williams novel will take you directly to the Dark Side. Race Williams is tough as nails, gets gassed, manages to survive a sniper attack, and eliminates gangsters with ruthless efficiency. If you’re looking for action and violence, The Hidden Hand has plenty!

Kim Stanley Robinson’s new SF novel, 2312, starts around page 70. Robinson develops a solar society of space colonies on Mercury, Venus (being terraformed), Mars, the asteroid belt, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. On top of all this, Robinson introduces possible murders committed by (or with the assistance of) quantum computers (early artificial intelligence). At 561 pages, 2312 is one of those big Summer Books people take to the beach. There’s plenty here to ponder. GRADE: B

Most readers recognize Nick Hornby as the author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Juliet, Naked. Hornby also wrote two good screenplays: Fever Pitch and An Education. But I’m not only a fan of those works, I love Nick Hornby’s “Stuff I’ve Been Reading” column in The Believer magazine. Hornby boldly lists the books he’s bought that month…and the books he’s actually read. And Hornby’s reviews not only concern the books he’s reading, but his life, frustrations, addiction to soccer, etc. It all gets blended into entertaining, humorous riffs about books and life. More Baths Less Talking is the fourth collection of Hornby’s book reviews. I’ve read the three previous collections: The Polysyllabic Spree (2004), Housekeeping vs. the Dirt (2006), and Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008). I recommend all of them. GRADE: A

It’s been 44 days since my total knee replacement surgery on my right knee. I’ll be in front of a class of students in 27 days. So far, my recovery has been a bit tougher than last summer’s recovery from getting my left knee replaced. My right knee had more arthritis and bone spurs. More issues. I had little pain last summer. This summer, I was popping Lortabs like they were Tic-Tacs. But the Good News is that the metrics are improving on all fronts. I have full extension of my new right knee. I can bend my new knee 104 degrees. I can ride a stationary bike for 10 minutes (but it hurts!). The swelling in my new knee is decreasing. Strength is slowly returning. I’m getting better range-of-motion daily. Pain is lessening incrementally day by day. And today I got the Green Light to return to the pool! Last summer, those daily trips to the pool accelerated my recovery immensely. For those of you with knee problems, total knee replacement surgery is a viable option to retaining your mobility. The recovery takes a few months, but if you work at it you’ll be happy with the results. I am!

Thank you all for the kind wishes, gifts, and advice during my recovery. Your positive karma gave my physical and mental health a boost!

Summer is the perfect time to get caught up on the stacks of DVDs and Blu-rays that have grown over the past years. Predators appeared in 2010 to lack-luster reviews. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the first Predator movie back in 1987. My favorite predator movie, Predator 2 (1990), starred Danny Glover. Predators is a mixed bag. Oscar Award winner, Adrien Brody, and a group of violent mis-fits find themselves stranded on a planet-sized game preserve where they’re hunted by alien predators. It should come as no surprise that there’s plenty of action and violence in this movie. But producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal add enough twists and surprises to make what could have been a predictable action film fairly entertaining. Grab some microwave popcorn and enjoy! GRADE: B

Here’s another hefty group of P. G. Wodehouse audiobooks that I’ve been listening to. For those of you who haven’t tried Wodehouse’s wonderful confections, you’re missing some entertaining delights. I’m very fond of the CDs narrated by Martin Jarvis (Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves), Jonathan Cecil (Very Good, Jeeves, and even Ian Carmichael (Jeeves in the Offing. Right Ho, Jeeves is a BBC full-cast production with plenty of comic situations to laugh at. No matter who narrates these humorous stories, Wodehouse’s cleverness and wit shine through. Reading these stories is fun, but listening to them is even more fun! Check your local public library for these CD sets and find some time to listen to them. You’ll love it!

Katie needed a GPS for the Altima we’re lending her. With her new hospice job, Katie needed a way to find her clients in the Boston area easily. Bill Crider and other friends recommended the Garmin GPS line. Diane, Katie, and I went to BEST BUY and found the Garmin Nuvi 50LM at a reasonable price. The audio is crisp and clear. The Garmin features accurate maps with an easy to use interface on a nice, big 5″ touch screen. We picked the model with the life-time updates (an extra $30). If you’re looking for a GPS for your car, consider the Garmin line.

My son, Patrick, and his Pittsburgh friends would meet each Tuesday for dinner. Patrick hosted the dinners because his apartment had a huge dining room. Each week, two of the friends would make dinner for the others with the responsibilities rotating among the group. All that came to an end this week as Patrick packed up his stuff and is moving to his new loft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He begins his teaching job at the University of New Mexico on August 13. So this “last supper” was the final time this group could enjoy the ambiance and camaraderie. Click on the photo for an expanded view.

In other breaking news, my daughter, Katie, begins her new job at a hospice on Monday. Katie called this position her “dream job.” When I was Katie’s age, my dream job was to be a librarian. Good luck, kids!