Book Review: Squeeze Me

 

Carl Hiaasen has been one of my favorite authors ever since I finished Tourist Season. I’ve read all of his books and they’ve been pretty much 4 or 5-star ratings. Until now…I know he’s got a big political target down there in West Palm and if he wants to do a political comedy, no problem. But Squeeze Me was just so…lame. Worst of all it was a waste of Skink. (2 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Squeeze Me on Amazon (Paid Link)

 

Book Review: Pulp

 

I’m not sure what “good old Bukowski stuff” really is, but Pulp smacks on a couple of good themes for me:  a good old fashion noir detective tale (“A dick without a gat is like a tomcat with a rubber”) and the dark undercurrents of Lady Death, Celine (the writer, not the singer) and the fate of the Red Sparrow: “Sometimes I looked at my hands and realized that I could have been a great pianist or something. But what have my hands done? Scratched my balls, written checks, tied shoes, pushed toilet levers, etc. I have wasted my hands. And my mind.” (4 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Pulp on Amazon (Paid Link)

 

Book Review: In the Distance

 

 Wow! So many Editorial Reviews listed on Amazon. I kind of fell for the one that said In the Distance was “…something like Huckleberry Finn written by Cormac McCarthy…”  Too much like The Road and not enough Mark Twain.  Most of the “adventures” were kind of boring and my mind tended to wander off on its own trying to follow all of Hakan’s wanderings. (3 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to In the Distance on Amazon (Paid Link)

Book Review: White Noise

 

I tried, but I just couldn’t finish this.  I got a hundred pages in, but I guess I missed the “brilliant satire of mass culture and the numbing effects of technology.” Maybe the Hitler Studies professor was funnier in the last millennium.  (Unrated)

 

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Book Review: Dead Wood

 

Private Eye John Rochne has got a snarky enough noir attitude about him (“The perfect lunch spot for two guys who thought arugula was an island somewhere near the Caribbean”) that sucked me in big time. His investigation into the murder of a local Grosse Point guitar maker hooked me in as well. Some of the situations pressed the willing suspension of my disbelief, but it was a good mystery read. (4 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Dead Wood on Amazon (Paid Link)

Book Review: Open Season

 

The most important thing is that Joe Pickett is a likable guy. He’s a bit careless with his pistol, but that’s probably just to make him a bit more of a regular guy. The endangered species thing works well with his Game Warden role and inevitably leads to murderous mayhem. C.J. Box lays out a good start for this Longmire-type series. (4 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Open Season on Amazon (Paid Link)

Book Review: Scottish Alliance

 

Not really a Vampire/Werewolf kind of reader…but it has a compelling opening, a strong female character in Tara, and good descriptions, especially of New York. Scottish Alliance is a tease of a short story that sets the stage for a full length novel.  (4 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Scottish Alliance on Amazon (Paid Link)

Book Review: Steve Jobs

 

Man, it seems like there was a lot of screaming and crying going on in the Apple Offices. And then the weird bromance with John Skulley, which didn’t work out so well. The supporting cast—Steve Wozniak, best friend, Larry Ellis, and his wife, Laurene Powell—all seem like cardboard cutouts. What is clear from this book is how critical Steve Jobs was to the creation and, later, the reinvention of Apple with the iPod, the iPhone, and iPads. But by the end of the book, I didn’t really feel like I knew much about him, except that he was dedicated to integrated closed systems and a stickler for product introductions. I felt like I missed something along the way, but maybe that’s just the way he was. (3 of 5 Stars)

 

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Book Review: Lord of the Flies

 

“Why don’t I write a children’s story about how people really are, about how people actually behave?” asked the author of Lord of the Flies.

 

Indeed…

 

William Golding’s chronicle of the descent of Ralph, Jack and their minions into tribalism and savagery is only so horrific because deep down—without the guardrails of civilization—we know that it is true.

 

And here and now, watching the unrelenting rage of young protesters as they attack the icons and foundations of society, it gives me pause to wonder what kind of islands those “safe spaces” of academia actually are. (5 of 5 Stars)

 

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Book Review: Brave Companions

 

You know, sometimes I just don’t want to plow through seven or eight hundred pages of biography. Besides Charles Lindbergh and Teddy Roosevelt, most of the information was new to me and for the most part entertaining. Personally, I enjoyed the Fred Remington, Washington Roebling, and David Plowden pieces the most. Sometimes a snack is much more satisfying than a five course meal and David McCoullagh delivers some tasty morsels. (4 of 5 Stars)

 

Link to Brave Companions on Amazon (Paid Link)