This compilation CD from 1996 mixes well known groups like ABBA with more obscure groups like Rusted Roof. There doesn’t seem to be any theme to this music CD other including songs that were hits in their day. Do you recognize these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

1	ABBA–	Dancing Queen	4:08
2	Van Morrison–	Brown Eyed Girl	3:03
3	Rusted Root–	Send Me On My Way	4:20
4	John Cougar Mellencamp–	Jack And Diane	4:14
5	Smokey Robinson & The Miracles*–	The Tracks Of My Tears	2:55
6	The Moody Blues–	Nights in White Satin	7:24
7	Cream (2)–	Sunshine Of Your Love	4:10
8	Bon Jovi–	Wanted Dead Or Alive	5:06
9	The Police–	Every Breath You Take	4:13
10	Frankie Valli–	Grease	3:23
11	Bryan Adams–	Summer Of ’69	3:33
12	Rush–	Tom Sawyer	4:32
13	Barry White, Love Unlimited Orchestra–	Love’s Theme	4:08
14	James Brown–	Cold Sweat	2:51
15	Peter Frampton–	Show Me The Way	4:39
16	Rod Stewart–	Every Picture Tells A Story	5:57

I picked up this anthology of H. P. Lovecraft pastiches and set the bar low. Jennifer Brozek’s “To Fight the Black Wind” involves a psychologist named Carolyn Fern who is treating a woman who bloody wounds on her back seem to be caused by something inside of her…trying to get out! I especially enjoyed the journey Fern and her patient take to The Dreamlands. GRADE: B-

My favorite story in Grim Investigations is “Blood of Baalshandor” by Richard Lee Byers. I love stories about arcane, mysterious books with hellish powers! Stage magician Dexter Drake and his lovely assistant Molly run into a group in Arkham who want to use to use the forbidden knowledge in The Blood of Baalshandor to bring forth an evil being from a different plane. Hair-raising adventures result! GRADE: B

I wasn’t drawn into “Dark Revelations” by Amanda Downum where a writer visits Arkham to finish a novel of her fellow author. But, the words escape and all hell breaks loose! GRADE: C

If you’re a fan of Lovecraft pastiches, these novellas provide some diversion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

“To Fight the Black Wind” By Jennifer Brozek — 7

“Blood of Baalshandor” By Richard Lee Byers — 151

“Dark Revelations” By Amanda Downum — 269

Investigator Origins — 393

ABOUT THE AUTHORS — 457

Noah Centineo (who looks like a young Mark Ruffalo) does a great job playing the lead character in this quirky series. Centineo’s role as Owen Hendricks, a rookie lawyer for the CIA who quickly gets in over his head, generates plenty of surprises and humor amid the violence.

Creator Alexi Hawley gives us a Central Intelligence Agency that is a nest of vipers ruled by Machiavellian rules. Trust no one!

As a CIA newbie, Owen is given stacks of “graymail,” written letters by people who threaten to release government secrets. Most of them are kooks, but Owen has to check them all. Sure enough, Owen finds someone who might be the real deal, a woman named Max Meladze (Laura Haddock), who is currently in an Arizona jail for murdering a truck driver. She is threatening to release secrets unless she is set free.

As Owen investigates Meladze’s claims, he’s beaten, tortured, and assaulted–much of the abuse caused by his naiveté and ignorance of spy craft. After all, Owen is a recent Law School graduate with little field training. But, Owen learns fast and as he follows the clues, larger issues emerge.

I love spy novels, spy movies, and spy series. If you’re looking for something different in the espionage realm, give The Recruit a try. GRADE: A-

I’m a sucker for books like Kristen Lopez’s But Have You Read the Book? (2023). Lopez chose 52 movies based on books and delivers a quick but pithy comparison of the original book and the resulting movie in short essays. Lopez shows which movies are exceptional adaptions faithful to the book…or completely altered by cinematic “creative license.”

For example, Lopez discusses the various versions of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and the controversy each iteration produced. I was also fascinated by Lopez’s commentary on movies that were deemed “unfilmable” like The Lord of the Rings and Dune that eventually got made.

Lopez shows why Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. But King loved Mike Flanagan’s film version of Doctor Sleep (2019).

Of course I now want to rewatch several of these movies…and reread many of the books!

How many of these 52 movies have you seen? How many of the original books have you read? Any favorites? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — 8

Frankenstein (1931) — 11

The Thin Man (1934) — 15

Wuthering Heights (1939) — 19

Rebecca (1940) — 24

To Have and Have Not (1944) — 28

Mildred Pierce (1945) — 32

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) — 36

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) — 40

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) — 44

Psycho (1960) — 49

Dr. No (1962) — 55

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) — 59

The Haunting (1963) — 64

In Cold Blood (1967) — 68

Valley of the Dolls (1967) — 73

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) — 76

True Grit (1969) — 81

A Clockwork Orange (1971) — 86

The Last Picture Show (1971) — 90

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) — 94

The Godfather (1972) — 98

Jaws (1975) — 102

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) — 106

The Shining (1980) — 110

Blade Runner (1982) — 115

The Color Purple (1985) — 119

The Princess Bride (1987) — 124

Goodfellas (1990) — 128

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — 132

The Age of Innocence (1993) — 136

The Joy Luck Club (1993) — 139

Jurassic Park (1993) — 143

The Remains of the Day (1993) — 147

Clueless (1995) — 150

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) — 154

The Virgin Suicides (1999) — 158

Cruel Intentions (1999) — 162

Fight Club (1999) — 166

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) — 170

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) — 175

Children of Men (2006) — 179

No Country for Old Men (2007) — 183

Coraline (2009) — 187

The Social Network (2010) — 191

The Hunger Games (2012) — 195

The Great Gatsby (2013) — 199

Call Me By Your Name (2017) — 203

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) — 207

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) — 211

Little Women (2019) — 215

Dune (2021) — 219

Passing (2021) — 223

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 227

BIBLIOGRAPHY — 229

About the Author — 240

Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, writes about the greatest quest in Science. When Sir Isaac Newton discovered the laws of motion and gravity, he unified the rules of physics. Since then, physicists have been discovering new forces and incorporating them into ever-greater theories of how everything works. But the major breakthroughs of the 20th century–relativity and quantum mechanics–are incompatible. So today’s physicists have been attempting to find a way to combine the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics to ultimately tie all the forces in the universe together into one beautiful equation that can unlock the deepest mysteries of space and time.

We’re not there yet, but Michio Kaku thinks we’re getting close. Despite the complexity of these ideas, Kaku writes clearly about what research is being done and the direction physics is likely to take in the future. If you’re interested in the state of the quest for “The Theory of Everything,” The God Equation holds a lot of the answers. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction to the final theory — 1
Unification, the ancient dream — 7
Einstein’s quest for unification — 32
Rise of the quantum — 52
Theory of almost everything — 77
The dark universe — 106
Rise of string theory : promise and problems — 141
Finding meaning in the universe — 182

Acknowledgements — 201

Notes — 203

Selected Reading — 211

Index — 213

Diane and her Book Club read Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See–which won the Pulitzer Prize–and loved it. So when Diane learned that the Just Buffalo Literary Center’s BABEL series was bringing Anthony Doerr to Buffalo to talk about his work we quickly called and bought a couple tickets.

Diane and her Book Club buddy, Cindy, heard Anthony Doerr speak at a New York City book event in March 2017. Diane was impressed by Doerr’s speaking style and his message on climate change. To prepare for Anthony Doerr’s Buffalo appearance, Diane read Doerr’s latest novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land–600+ pages!–which involves five characters from the Past to the Future.

Hundreds of Anthony Doerr fans showed up on March 30, 2023 at Kleinhans Music Hall (home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) for Doerr’s appearance. Doerr uses a Power Point presentation to illustrate his points as he spoke about writing his novels and his concern for environmental issues. The evening ended with a Q&A session where Doerr demonstrated a lot of humor with his witty answers. When asked how he decompresses after writing all day, Doerr answered: “Mario Cart.”

Diane and I did not stay for Doerr’s book signing, but dozens did. I came away with a better idea of the Creative Process and the amount of research needed to produce a First Rate novel. Are you an Anthony Doerr fan? GRADE: A

I came across Diana Waggoner’s The Hills of Faraway published in 1978 simply by chance. Yes, the book stops with fantasy works from 1975 so the book is dated. But, if you’re interested in J. R. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, William Morris, Ursula Le Guin, Patricia McKillip, Fletcher Pratt, Thorne Smith, E. R. Eddison, Roald Dahl, A. Merritt, and dozens of other fantasy writers from 1858 to 1975, this is the reference book for you.

Waggoner spends 100 pages or so defining various types of fantasy fiction and discusses the sources of what we consider Modern Fantasy. Then she presents lists of various Fantasy books and stories organized by type. Waggoner also provides a sampling of classic Fantasy illustrations!

If you’re a fan of Fantasy works from the period Waggoner analyzes, The Hills of Fantasy provides plenty of insights and information about the Fantasy types and the authors who wrote them. It’s a fun book to browse and discover new facts. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preface and Acknowledgements — v

Theory of fantasy — 3

Some trends in fantasy — 28

1. Mythopoetic fantasy — 31
2. Heroic fantasy and adventure fantasy — 36
3. Ironic fantasy — 49
4. Comic fantasy — 51
5. Nostalgic fantasy and sentimental fantasy — 56
6. Horror fantasy — 60

APPENDIX A: A timeline of fantasy, 1858-1975 — 65

APPENDIX B: Some fantasy award-winners –68

APPENDIX C: Fantasy illustration — 70

APPENDIX D: Subgenres of fantasy — 94

Sources — 119

A bibliographic guide to fantasy — 125

Index of Names and Terms — 303

Index of Titles — 314

Stax of Soul (aka, Soul Emotion in a previous release) brings together some Oldies but Goodies and some head-scratching choices. Most of us remember Inez Foxx’s “Mockingbird” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” But do you remember the Detroit Emeralds’ “Feel the Need in Me” or First Choice’s “Love and Happiness”?

I love Silver Convention’s “Fly Robin Fly” and The Three Degrees’ “When Will I See You Again.” But the compilers of this music CD have Al Jarreau sing “Ain’t No Sunshine” instead of Bill Withers’ iconic rendition. Ike and Tina Turner’s “Living For the City” sounds fine–but it’s no “Proud Mary.”

Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: B

TRACKLIST:

1	Al Wilson–	Show And Tell
2	Climax (6)–	Precious And Few
3	The Whispers–	Seems Like I Gotta Do Wrong
4	Inez Foxx–	Mockingbird
5	Al Jarreau–	Ain’t No Sunshine
6	Detroit Emeralds–	Feel The Need In Me
7	The Philly Groove Orchestra–	Didn’t I Blow Your Mind
8	Ike & Tina Turner–	Living For The City
9	First Choice–	Love And Happiness
10	Ohio Players–	Summertime
11	Sister Sledge–	We Are Family
12	Rose Royce–	Wishing On A Star
13	Silver Convention–	Fly Robin Fly
14	The Three Degrees–	When Will I See You Again
15	Ben E. King–	Supernatural Thing
16	The Fantastics–	Something Old Something New
17	Freda Payne–	Band Of Gold
18	Marvin Gaye–	What’s Going On
19	James Brown–	Get Up Offa That Thing
20	Commodores–	Rise Up

Dark Origins is the first volume of the Arkham Horror “Collected Novellas.” I already read and reviewed Volume 2, Grim Investigations and my review will be posted in a few weeks. All of these stories have Lovecraftian aspects to them. The writing is a step above fan fiction so to enjoy these stories you’ll have to set the bar low.

“Hour of the Huntress” by Dave Gross begins with the mysterious disappearance of gun-toting dilettante Jenny Barnes’ beloved sister, Izzie, and triggers a frantic search through Arkham’s underworld. The climactic shoot-out is a dandy! GRADE: B

“The Dirge of Reason” by Graeme Davis follows for federal agent Roland Banks whose investigation of a bizarre incident exposes him to the supernatural horrors of Arkham. GRADE: C+

“Ire of the Void” by Richard Lee Byers concerns an astronomer and professor Norman Withers who finds himself the subject of a strange creature’s gaze when he agrees to assist in a fellow scientist’s weird experiment. This story features the famous Hounds of Tindalos who Frank Belknap Long made famous. GRADE: B+

“The Deep Gate ” by Chris A Jackson writes about a sailor, Silas Marsh, who must return to Innsmouth and confront his harrowing nightmares when he stumbles on a tome foretelling the end of the world. GRADE: C

If you enjoy Lovecraft patiches, Dark Origins will provide some mild Entertainment. But my quibble with these Arkham Horror anthologies is that the stories lack the dread that Lovecraft infused most of this stories with.

Beetlejuice, the 1988 film directed by Tim Burton, was a mild success even though it had Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, and Jeffrey Jones. But, over the years, a cult following supported Beetlejuice and the musical version came to life. The musical had a tryout at the National Theatre, Washington, D.C. in October 2018, prior to opening on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 25, 2019. It is produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures (a unit of franchise owner Warner Bros.). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show played its final performance at the Winter Garden on March 10, 2020.  It reopened at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway on April 8, 2022, and closed on January 8, 2023; a US national tour of the production began in December 2022. Two days ago Diane and I saw Beetlejuice: The Musical at the Shay’s Performing Arts Center with a sold-out audience.

With music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect and book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, this version modifies the story concerns a deceased couple who try to haunt the new inhabitants of their former home and call for help from a devious bio-exorcist ghost named Betelgeuse (after the star; the name is pronounced and often spelled “Beetlejuice”). Beetlejuice is summoned by saying his name three times. One of the new inhabitants is a young girl, Lydia, who is dealing with her mother’s death and her neglectful father.

Where the focus in the movie was on the dead couple trying to get their house back, this musical version focuses on Lydia (played by Winona Ryder in the original), a teenager who is grieving over the death of her mother, played by Catherine O’Hara–who was alive the entire movie.

I wasn’t a big fan of the movie and I’m not a big fan of this musical version. Your mileage may vary. GRADE: C

Musical numbers:

Act I“ Prologue: Invisible” – Lydia and Ensemble The Whole “Being Dead” Thing” – Beetlejuice and Ensemble “Ready, Set, Not Yet” – Adam and Barbara “The Whole “Being Dead” Thing, Pt. 2″ – Beetlejuice and Ensemble “The Whole “Being Dead” Thing, Pt. 3″ – Beetlejuice “Dead Mom” – Lydia “Fright of Their Lives” – Beetlejuice, Adam, Barbara and Ensemble “Ready Set, Not Yet” (reprise) – Barbara and Adam “No Reason” – Delia and Lydia “Invisible” (reprise)/ “On the Roof” – Beetlejuice “Say My Name” – Beetlejuice, Lydia, Barbara and Adam “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” – Delia, Charles, Maxie, Maxine and Ensemble

Act II “Girl Scout” – Skye “That Beautiful Sound” – Beetlejuice, Lydia and Ensemble “That Beautiful Sound” (reprise) – Beetlejuice and Ensemble “Barbara 2.0” – Barbara and Adam “The Whole “Being Dead” Thing, Pt. 4″ – Beetlejuice† “Good Old Fashioned Wedding” – Beetlejuice “What I Know Now” – Miss Argentina and Ensemble “Home” – Lydia “Creepy Old Guy” – Lydia, Adam, Barbara, Beetlejuice, Charles, Delia and Ensemble” Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)” / “Dead Mom” (reprise) / “Home” (reprise) / “Day-O” (reprise) – Lydia, Barbara, Adam, Delia and Charles