The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm: Mini-Review

I picked this up at the local Friends of the Library Used Bookstore because I enjoy a good sarcastic bon mot as much as the next person. And it reminded me of my good friend Richard. Honestly--I think my good friend Richard could put together an even funnier and more stinging collection than James Napoli, the executive vice president of the National Sarcasm Society, has managed. Sure, there were some definitions that had me laughing out loud and a good number that had me nodding and smiling. But there were also quite a few that weren't funny or particularly stinging at all. 

Fairly amusing. Definitely worth checking out from the library or picking up for yourself if you can luck into a $2.00 bargain like I did. Not really worth spending full price on, though. ★★★

[finished 4/14/17]

Harry & Bess's Excellent Adventure: Review

I'm absolutely convinced that Matthew Algeo missed a great marketing tool by NOT titling his book Harry & Bess's Excellent Adventure (full stop). I mean, just look at that cover there on the right. Harry & Bess Truman look like they're ready for shenanigans, don't you think? Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip just sounds so normal and researched and boring.

So...Harry Truman was the last President who didn't leave the White House with a cargo of Secret Service to follow him around and protect him. He didn't have a pension. He was expected to lead a fairly public life and yet pay for it all himself. It cost him $10,000 in a single year for postage to respond to his official mail. When he was invited to Philadelphia in 1953 to give a speech regarding anticipated defense spending cuts (he wasn't in favor), he decided to load his car with traveling gear, bring along his co-pilot, Bess, and set off on a cross-country journey. 

Truman loved cars and he loved driving cars. He loved driving them fast--to Bess's dismay. She agreed to the road trip with one caveat: Harry must keep his speed under the limit. Harry hoped to make the trip as a civilian--no fanfare, just him and Bess enjoying a road trip vacation. Unfortunately, even in the years before instant internet access, his face was too well-known and the couple made few stops without having fellow diners or motel customers lined up for autographs--or to just shake the Ex-President's hand. But the Trumans were always gracious to those seeking a few minutes of their time and they soon learned that folks had started missing Harry almost the moment he walked out of the White House. He left office with a low approval rating (22%), but he was repeatedly asked along the way to think about running for another term. 

My husband and I enjoy taking road trips (especially on Route 66), so it was interesting to read about Harry Truman's love for the road. The best of the book is the first hand reports from families who hosted or met the Trumans along the way. Algeo attempted to recreate the journey and this might have been more effective if so many of his stops hadn't been derailed by restaurants and hotels having either been torn down completely or converted for other uses. Several of the stops could have been more interesting if he had planned better--he could have visited restaurants that were closed when he stopped by, for instance. Overall, a fairly interesting read which can be finished in a single sitting.  ★★★

March: Books 1, 2, & 3: Review

The series of books titled March (Books One, Two & Three) by Representative John Lewis tells the story of his early life in Alabama and the journey that took him from his parents' sharecropper farm through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s to the halls of Congress. Framing Lewis's story is the inauguration of Barack Obama, America's first African American President. It is a powerful story that is much needed in the current American climate--a reminder of where we have come from as a nation and what too many of our citizen's have had to go through, as well as providing a reason to pledge that we not go back.

Book One shows Lewis's life in rural Alabama--highlighting the groundwork for his mission of peaceful resistance. At first he felt a call to preach, but hearing about the work and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired him to use his calling to work with others for the freedom and rights of his people. We see his involvement in the beginnings of the Nashville Student movement and his participation in the lunch
counter sit-ins. We see his willingness to go to jail for the cause he believed in and his growing dedication to the cause.

Book Two continues the journey with the movement progressing from lunch counter protests to the Freedom Riders boarding buses to the deep south and the heart of racial hatred. The Freedom Riders face beatings, more imprisonment, and even a bus explosion. But their efforts are not in vain--the Riders get the attention of Martin Luther King and Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Lewis continues to move to the forefront of the group's leaders. This volume ends just after the March on Washington. Lewis has become one of the Big Six, giving his powerful speech just before King's "I Have a Dream."
 
Book Three follows Lewis and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee through efforts to secure voter registrations for all adults--especially in the South where black men and women are, when allowed into the courthouse to try and register, given unfair "literacy tests" to prove their ability to vote. They continue to protest and march, facing blatant injustice, legal tricks, intimidation, violence....and for some, even death. After JFK's assassination, President Johnson pushes for Congress to move on and pass the Civil Rights Bill for which Kennedy had fought. But the bill helps little when no one forces Southern states to follow through on it. Eveything pushes Lewis and his fellow activists towards the historic showdown and march from Selma to Montgomery.

The Black Count: Review

Among the endless portraits and trinkets celebrating Napoleon, I discovered a framed sheet of miniature engravings of the other French generals of the Italian campaign. The portrait of Dumas leapt out from the rows of his lighter-skinned comrades, with their romantic pompadours and bushy sideburns. Dumas's hair was trimmed close and neat, his head turned in three-quarter view, an eyebrow cocked high. Most of the other generals looked off to the right or left or into the distance in a pose of destiny calling. Other presented themselves in full antique profile or looked straight at the artist with a self-satisfied air. But Dumas peered out with an open, almost quizzical expression, and I had the uncanny feeling that while the others were frozen in their lost worlds, he was alive within his oval--impatient, curious--staring back at me from the two-hundred-year-old paper. (p. 189)

So...somehow, to my great embarrassment, until The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss came out I missed all the memos that would have told me that Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Cristo (one of my favorite books, by the way), came from a mixed-race heritage. 

It was amazing to read the remarkable story of General Alex Dumas who rose from life as the son of a slave in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) to the highest ranks in Napoleon's army. A man who was a fearless one-man fighting machine who led his men into battle, often wounding more of the enemy than his (at-first) own small band of Dragoons numbered. He never held back and directed his troops from behind, but rather led them into the fray. He was courageous and did not hold his life more dear than those of his men. And--when he had conquered, he refused to allow the bullying and pillaging that most armies indulge in after the battle.

In all his adventures, the main thing that set Dumas apart was his refusal to countenance the bullying of the weak by the strong....Dumas was unrestrained when outnumbered and outgunned, just as he was unrestrained when he disagreed with his superiors. But towards anyone less powerful than he was, Alex Dumas showed nothing but self-restrant, and a kind of violent love. (p. 157)

This is the real life story of a man of mixed race who saw people of color begin as slaves and rise to equality through the revolution, only to have it all snatched away under Napoleon. He was a hero to his country...but then he was captured by Neapolitans and imprisoned in the dungeon at Taranto and when he was finally returned to France he found his rights had been taken away and that even his pension as a member of army was in danger. He died in reduced circumstance that did not reflect the honor that his fellow white soldiers received upon home-coming, but he also died a hero to his small son who would take the stories of his father and turn them into great literature. Stories that would outlast the memories of many of those white soldiers who got their dues immediately. A fascinating historical read. ★★★★

Challenge Commitment Complete: Non-Fiction Advneture

  A Non-Fiction Adventure

August 10, 2013 - August 10, 2018

hosted by Michelle of The True Book addict at A Non-Fiction Adventure's blog Sign- up here

 

Back in 2013 I signed up for the Non-Fiction Adventure, a book challenge on the five-year plan. We were to choose our own goals to meet for the five-year period and/or per year. I just finished my 10th non-fiction book for 2016.

My Goal: 50 books Total and an Average of 10 Books Each Challenge Year

10-Book Goal Met 2013: 12/31/13
10-Book Goal Met 2014: 7/20/14 (23 total over-all)

10-Book Goal Met 2015: 8/7/15 (35 total so far)
10-Book Goal Met 2016: 12/27/16 (45 total so far)  

 

Here's my list of books in 2016

 

Oh Myyy! by George Takei (1/24/16) 
Four Against the Bank of England by Ann Huxley (1/25/16)
The Avengers: A Celebration by Marcus Hearn (2/29/16) 
A Is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup (6/8/16)  

The Films of Agatha Christie by Scott Palmer(9/14/16)

The Life & Times of Miss Jane Marple by Anne Hart (11/13/16)
The Making of The African Queen by Katharine Hepburn (12/22/16)

Books: a memoir by Larry McMurty (12/22/16) 
Keep Laughing by Morey Amsterdam (12/23/16)
Those Funny Kids! by Dick Van Dyke (12/27/16) 

A Non-Fiction Round-up

It's that time of year when preparing for the holidays interrupts my reading time and especially my reviewing time and so, in an effort to catch up, I'm going to give mini-reviews of my last three non-fiction reads. All are fairly short books and don't really give a lot of room for in-depth examination anyway...

[Finished on 12/22/16]
Books: a memor (2008) by Larry McMurtry is McMurtry's attempt to make his life as a reader and a writer, as a book buyer, scout, and seller interesting to the average reader. I say attempt because he's not entirely successful. He gives us his memories in a very stream-of-consciousness, rambling sort of way. There's not a great deal of organization in his stories...one thing leads to another and he jumps back and forth in time like a regular H. G. Wells in The Time Machine. There are some interesting anecdotes and memories of particularly good finds. But overall it's just not as interesting as I'd hoped it would be. ★★

[Finished on 12/23/16]
Keep Laughing (1959) is a collection of jokes and anecdotes by Morey Amsterdam which was put together before he became well-known as Buddy Sorrell on the Dick Van Dyke Show. Amsterdam was well-known for his ability to come up with a joke on any subject, an ability that earned him the nickname "The Human Joke Machine." This collection has some very good one-liners and short jokes. Some of the longer stories don't quite meet Amsterdam's best work, a few of the jokes are dated, and the jokes about women drivers got old fast. But, overall, the humor is good and there are several laugh-out-loud moments. ★★★
    
[Finished on 12/27/16]
Those Funny Kids! (1975) by Dick Van Dyke is a collection of anecdotes and one-liners sent to Dick Van Dyke by teachers throughout the United States. It contains definitions by children who really don't know what words mean--but that doesn't stop them from coming up with a meaning--and historical "facts" from misinformed miniature historians. Readers even get a dose of kid-filtered religion from the children who attend parochial schools. Some of the stories are a bit dated, but there is still plenty of good, clean humor for today's readers. ★★★

The Making of The African Queen: Review

Bogart: Katie, what's happened to you? You're a decent human being.
Hepburn: Not anymore I'm not. If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

The Making of the African Queen OR How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (1987) by Katharine Hepburn is the actress's recollections of her great African adventure some thirty years after the fact. She tells us straight off that she never kept a diary, but later in life she often wished she had because "when you've lived as long as I have...you can't even remember the plot of many of the movies you've made--or the plays--really not anything about them or who or why." So, the reader might be tempted to take her memoir with a grain of salt. But she also tells us that "there are some happenings you can't forget. There they are. A series of facts--pictures--realities. This happened to me with The African Queen. I remember it in minute detail--I can see every second of its making and of me at the time...." And we know that there are, indeed, memories like that and are ready to take her at her word.

Of course, as with many celebrity books, one is also tempted to wonder if Katharine Hepburn really did write this. I don't know if she did sit down and write it all out (or type it all out...), but this is most distinctly her voice. If she didn't write it herself, I suspect she dictated it to someone who produced it exactly as she told it. Full of vim and vinegar and a spirit of adventure that comes through in so many of her characters--particularly that of Miss Rose Sayer in this movie. Hepburn tells us that she always wanted to go to Africa and she certainly didn't want to miss out on any adventures while she was there--up to and including going on an elephant hunt (she didn't shoot any and neither did any in her party) with John Huston who was a very poor shot and certain NOT to be much protection if there was any danger. 

If I have one complaint about her memoir, it is that it is less about the making of the movie than it is the use of the movie's production as a backdrop to Hepburn's memories of Africa. Not that those memories and her story aren't worth reading about--they are, but it's not quite the story the reader expects. [Which explains a four-star rating instead of five.] 

The book has an overall feel of an afternoon visit with Hepburn. The memories pour out of her like the reminiscences which might come up in a friendly chat . It makes for an enjoyable read and an interesting peek into the life of one of America's great actresses. She not only gives great descriptions of the locales in Africa, but has also given us plenty of pictures from behind the scenes on location. 
★★★★

Miss Jane Marple and The Body in the Library

Before the events of this past week, I had every intention of doing a really in-depth look at my two most recent reads. But the aftershocks of the election are still rolling the ground underneath me, so I'm not sure how this is going to go....

Twice a year Megan at Semi-Charmed Kind of Life runs the Semi-Charmed Reading Challenge (Summer and Winter editions). Winners get to suggest categories for the next round and my suggestion for the Winter 2016 Challenge was to read two books: a nonfiction book and a fiction book with which it connects. For example: A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie and one of Christie's mystery novels that features poison, or The Monuments Men and All the Light We Cannot See. Having suggested Agatha Christie as an example, I couldn't resist using her--although I've already read the Arsenic book. Fortunately, I had The Life & Times of Miss Jane Marple, a biography of Christie's sleuth, and several unread editions of Miss Marple stories hanging about on the TBR stacks. I hooked up The Body in the Library with the biography and I was all set.

Anne Hart has done an excellent job mining the Miss Marple series for details about our favorite sleuthing spinster. She carefully read all of the Marple stories and tells us every little tidbit that she has found--from who Miss Marple's relatives are to what might have been her very first case to what a day in the life of Miss Marple is like. Sprinkled throughout are bits of Marple wisdom on life, her fellow man....and the wickedness of the common man.

The trouble in this case is that everybody has been too credulous and believing. You simply cannot afford to believe everthing that people tell you. When there's anything fishy about, I never believe anyone at all.

Hart manages to give readers an in-depth look at Miss Marple's career without revealing too much about her cases (in case anyone hasn't already read them all). This is an excellent book for any Christie fan to have upon the shelf. ★★★★

Once finished with the fictional biography of Miss Marple, I plunged into The Body in the Library (1942), the second of the novel-length stories to feature her. Colonel Arthur Bantry and his wife Dolly wake up one fine morning to discover their usually well-ordered house in disarray (or at least their household staff to be dismayed). Mary, their maid, on her usual morning rounds had opened the curtains in the library, letting the sunshine in to reveal the body of a blonde woman on the hearth rug. The Bantrys have a difficult time believing that they didn't just dream that Mary came in and announced she'd found a body, but Dolly finally convinces Arthur to go and see. And then when it's proved that there really is a body in the library, the first thing to be done after ringing up the police is to get Miss Marple over as soon as possible to begin sleuthing like mad. Dolly very naturally wants to play detective--after all it's her very first dead body--but she knows that she won't be able to make heads or tails of it. Jane Marple will take care of that and Dolly can play Watson to Miss Marple's Sherlock Holmes.

What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean. (Dolly Bantry)

Of  course, it's not all just fun and games. Dolly is also very worried about how her husband will take the police scrutiny and she knows that the village gossips will be hard at work offering up theories before any official investigation begins. She's hoping that Miss Marple will have the crime solved before the tongues can begin wagging.

But it's not quite that easy to discover how a cheaply dressed dance hostess from the Majestic Hotel wound up on floor of the library at Gossington Hall.  While there are no real connections to the Bantrys (other than the fact that Colonel Bantry had lunched at the Majestic just the week before), there are several leads that come to light during the course of Miss Marple's investigations--alongside those of the official police--Inspector Slack and Chief Constable Colonel Melchett. There is  Basil Blake, a local young man with connections to the film industry. Blake has been the subject of local gossip due to his frequent parties and the platinum blonde who has been living with him. And he's been known to dance with Ruby Keene--was she making trouble for him with his own blonde?

It's also discovered that Ruby had insinuated herself into the lives of a wealthy family by making herself agreeable to the patriarch, Conway Jefferson. He had taken such a shine to the girl that he had decided to adopt her and add her to his will to the tune of 50,000 pounds. That didn't go down so very well with his son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Did they do away with a young woman they felt was a gold digger before she could get the gold? Then there's Ruby's cousin, Josie Turner. When Josie is called upon to identify the body and then visit Gossington Hall (so Slack can see if she recognizes Bantry), Miss Marple notices that she seems more angry with her cousin than sorrowful at her death. Did Ruby get mixed up with a young man and ruin her chances with Jefferson? Was Josie depending on a share of the winnings and do away with her cousin in a fit of anger? And what about the missing Girl Guide, Pamela Reeve? Miss Marple is convinced that she fits into the puzzle somewhere. It will take several parallels with village life and a cunning trap devised by Miss Marple to capture the villain.

Miss Marple is at her inquisitive best. She sips tea at the Majestic and listens to the suspects chatter away about poor Ruby. She goes round with her collection box to check in on Basil Blake. She's comfortably cozy to have around, but shrewd as all get out when it comes to analyzing the crime. As she says about one of the suspects, 

Yes, I do [like him]. Most women would. But he can't take me in. He's a very attractive person, I think. But a little unwise, perhaps, to talk as much as he does.

No, they can't take her in. And that's one of the things we like so much about Miss Marple. Most people think she's led such a sheltered life in St. Mary Mead, but her everyday experiences give her a view direct to the heart of the matter. An excellent vintage mystery that, like so many of Christie's words, takes what is now a standard of detective fiction (the body in the library) and gives it a merry twist. ★★★★ and a half.

The Films of Agatha Christie: Review

The Films of Agatha Christie (1993) by Scott Palmer was, then, the most complete and up-to-date compilation of visual adaptations of Christie's work both in the cinema and on television. He presents the films in chronological order from Die Abenteuer GMBH (aka Adventurers Inc), made in Germany in 1928, through all the favorites such as Ten Little Indians, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile up to the series starring David Suchet as Poirot and the incomparable Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Palmer gives us detailed synopses of each film and episode without spoiling the ending of any of the stories. He also gives information on changes made in the novels and short stories when the script adaptations were made.

While this book does provide invaluable information about the films and the actors involved in each production as well as being full of photographs from the films and episodes, what keeps this from being a five-star effort is the fact that once Palmer begins describing the series starring David Suchet and Joan Hickson he seems to weary of his work. We are treated to a pretty standard final summation episode after episode: "The usual actors (fill in the names of the standard players for Poirot or Marple episodes) all give their usual exemplary performance and the directors and filming crew do their usual fine job putting the thing together." The last third of the book is far less enjoyable to read than earlier summaries. Still--this is a fine reference book and one would hope that an updated version would be produced now that Suchet has given us the final Poirot story. And one would hope that a more consistent (and original) enthusiasm could be maintained in the synopses. ★★★★

A Is for Arsenic: Mini-Review

A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup is a very good read for anyonewith an interest in poisons-- whether scientifically or because you're plotting your very own Golden Age style mystery--and/or Agatha Christie. Harkup gives the reader an A through V (Arsenic through Veronal) look at the poisons the Queen of Crime used in her stories. Each chapter features a new poison with a historical look at its development/discovery, actual murders committed using the poison, and the most pertinent Christie novel to incorporate the concoction in a crime. A handy list in the appendix gives a more detailed look at all the stories and the murder methods employed. For most of the chapters she manages to explain the poisonous substances and their use by Christie without spoilers and in cases where spoilers are unavoidable she gives fair warning so no one need fear having an unread Christie (is there such a thing?) ruined.

She also gives a great deal of detail on Christie's extensive knowledge of poisons and medications which the author gained through her work as a nurse and apothecary's assistant during the First World War and as a dispenser at the University College Hospital during World War II. While, Christie did make some errors in her stories, she was correct most of the time with a high percentage of her scientific errors being due to a lack of information about the drugs at the time she wrote. And many doctors and critics of the time praised her for getting her details right.

The most tedious portions of this book were the sections within each chapter that gave all the scientific details of each poison--chemical makeup, how to distill it (if distilling is necessary), how many different compounds were related, all the gory details of how the poison acts on the human body (details about the copious vomiting, extreme muscle spasms, etc. that Dame Agatha spares her readers), etc. I was far more interested in the relationship between Christie's knowledge and her usage in the books and the connections between her fictional murders and any real-life murders that occurred either before her books were written (and which may have influenced her stories) or the murders that occurred after publication (and which some critics tried to say might not have happened if Christie hadn't highlighted such-and-such poison).

Overall, a thoroughly researched book that, for the most part, presents the subject matter in an engaging format. The scientific explanations, while a bit tedious to me, were not so technical that they went over my head and are written in language that the average reader should understand. It is particularly engaging for the Christie enthusiast who is looking for insight on her crimes. ★★ ★★

The Avengers: A Celebration (mini-review)

I seem to be on a 1960s television connection reading jag. First The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and now The Avengers. This is a lovely coffee-table book that does it exactly what the title claims--it celebrates the show that made bowler hats and brollys chic; that played the top-secret-agent scene with tongue firmly in cheek; and that introduced the world to strong female leads in the persons of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel. The ladies were allowed to wear black leather fight suits and overpower the men without turning a hair or wrinkling their outfits. The show used the Mod background of Britain in the sixties and gave us stories with rare wit and high adventure...and the most unlikely crimes.

The book traces the story of The Avengers from the early days with Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry (yeah, I know, who?) through the advent of Honor Blackman as the first of Macnee's stylish, intelligent and assertive assistants to Diana Rigg and the addition of color and the final days with Linda Thorson as Tara King. It features 350 photographs including rare stills from the first shows with Hendry. Unfortunately, only two episodes remain from Hendry's stint with the show, so modern viewers can't really get a good taste of what The Avengers were like before women came along to keep John Steed in line. In addition to the photos, the book is broken into six chapters which cram a lot of production background and anecdotes from Macnee & others into very little prose. The showcase of the book is the collection of photographs. It is interesting to note that there are around 10,000 photographs in the Avengers archive. One can only imagine what other treasures might show up another day. A lovely book for the Avengers fan. ★★★★★

Four Against the Bank of England: Mini-Review

In 1872 four Americans devised a daring plot to milk the heretofore impregnable Bank of England of £100,000. Four months previous, the brothers George and Austin Bidwell and their associate George Macdonnell landed in England without references, influence or introductions. By carefully learning the ways of business in and around the Bank, they were able to build Austin into privileged customer status through the recommendation of his tailor. MacDonnell was the master forger in the fraud syndicate and provided flawless forged bills of exchange purporting to be from the leading financial institutions of Europe. Edwin Noyes was brought in late in the game to provide a way of moving the money about from bank account to bank account. The audacious group had achieved their criminal dreams and had packed their bags in preparation to leave the country when a small error in the matter of dating the last bundle of bills was questioned. Their elaborate house of cards collapsed and the chase was on--with arrests in France and Cuba and George Bidwell leading the authorities all over the British Isles before capture. 

Ann Huxley's Four Against the Bank of England (1969) is meticulously researched and provides all the details of an almost-forgotten masterpiece of crime. She reconstructs all the details while vividly portraying the Americans and bringing them to life. This is no dry and dusty historical record, but a high-speed true crime story that has all the excitement of classic suspense thriller. It seems incredible that these four men could have pulled off such an audacious crime, but the details in the story provide the proof and logic behind the plot. If not for that small dating error, it certainly seems possible that they might have successfully managed one of the greatest frauds in British history. An interesting study of both the period and the crime. ★★★ and 3/4.

Oh Myyy!: Mini-Review

Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet is a peek at George Takei's venture at 75 years old into the world of Twitter and Facebook. The Star Trek actor took social media by storm, gaining nearly four million fans on Facebook in just a few short years. His posts earn more likes, shares, and attention than nearly any other pop culture icon. He has used to his status as "Uncle George" to share humor, advocate for causes, and raise awareness. He has used his affiliation with Allegiance (the musical based on his family's experiences in the U. S. Japanese internment camps) to ask Americans to reflect on this dark moment in our history. He tells it like it is, but uses humor generously so that only the hard-hearted or thoroughly biased could possibly take offense.

The book is candid, funny, and informative--telling readers of his missteps and successes in navigating the social media super highway. He reveals some of the secrets behind his spectacular success on the internet--explaining (as best he understands it) when and how to share for the best crowd-pleasing results. The book is liberally sprinkled with some of his favorite memes, sayings, and jokes. An entertaining and interesting read. ★★★★

A Pound of Paper: Mini-Review

John Baxter's A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict is a deceptive little thing. I went in expecting a book about books and about someone with an all-consuming passion for books. Which this is...more or less. Actually more less than more. This is a far cry from 84, Charing Cross Road or The Yellow-Lighted Book both books that wonderfully represent the book lover and collector and their relationship to the printed page.


Baxter takes us on a meandering tour of his life--long, boring bit on his childhood which leads up to his discovery of science fiction which launched his love for books and his fledgling attempts at book collecting. We follow him through a bit more book collecting then we get side-tracked by movies and the theatre and collecting screenplays and whatnot. Lots of fixation on Graham Greene and Kingsley Amis and his ways and means of getting hold of autographed copies of their works. Yeah, we can tell he loves books, but it seems far more important for him to name drop all the famous people he met and got autographs from and to to tell us how much he paid (or how little, as the case may be) for spectacular first editions of tasty little literary tidbits. Which might impress me more if he didn't come across as so darn full of himself. His writing is good, but not congenial. The words flow nicely from the pen (or the keyboard...), but they don't compel the reader to keep reading. I started and stopped and started again so many times that I wondered if I were ever going to come to the end. It starts well, lags terribly in the middle 200-50 pages and ends well. I did enjoy the lists of collectible books and the responses from his literary friends to the question "What would you save if your house were on fire..." Overall--just barely decent with ★★ given for pretty prose with bursts of interesting nostalgic book-collecting instead of compelling memoir about a book lover (which is what I hoped for).

Challenge Commitment Complete: Non-Fiction Adventure

  A Non-Fiction
Adventure

August 10, 2013 - August 10, 2018

hosted by Michelle of The True Book addict
at A Non-Fiction Adventure's blog
Sign- up here

 

Back in 2013 I signed up for the Non-Fiction Adventure, a book challenge on the five-year plan. We were to choose our own goals to meet for the five-year period and/or per year. I just finished my 10th non-fiction book for 2015.

My Goal: 50 books Total and 10 Books Each Challenge Year (September thru August)

10-Book Goal Met 2013: 12/31/13
10-Book Goal Met 2014: 7/20/14 (23 total over-all)
10-Book Goal Met 2015: 8/7/15 (34 total so far)

Here's a list of the non-fiction books I've read so far (they have been lifted from my over-all list of available non-fiction books and, thus, the numbering appears a bit weird):

 

1. RFK: His Life & Death by Editors of American Heritage (4/15/15)8. Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: The First Encounter by James L. Christian (ed) [12/26/13]

16. Into the Valley: A Skirmish of the Marines by John Hersey [2/28/15]

17. The Mystery Lover's Book of Quotations by Jan Horning (ed) [9/27/13]

19. Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books by H. R. F. Keating (12/31/13)

20. Selections from the Essays of Montaigne by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (trans & ed by Donald M. Frame) [7/7/14]

24. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis(7/20/14)

38. Conundrums for a Long Weekend: England, Dorothy L. Sayers & Lord Peter Wimsey by Robert Kuhn McGregor with Ethan Lewis (8/7/15)

50. The Wit & Humor of Oscar Wilde by Alvin Redman (ed) [12/29/13]

55. Naked Is the Best Disguise: The Death & Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes by Samuel Rosenberg (4/18/14)

60. The Films of Sherlock Holmes by Chris Steinbrunner & Norman Michaels (12/30/14)

64. The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkerson (10/1/13) 65. The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier (10/6/13) 66. Mystery & Crime: NYPL Book of Answers by Jay Pearsall (10/30/13)  67. By a Woman's Hand by Jean Swanson & Dean James (11/2/13)  68. Good-Bye to All That by Robert Graves (11/7/13)

69. The Armchair Detective Book of Lists by Kate Stine (ed) [12/29/13] 70. The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux [1/20/14] 71. You Can Write a Mystery by Gillian Rogerts (2/9/14)  72. XCIA's Street Art Project by Hank O'Neal (2/20/14)  73. It's Not All Flowers & Sausages by Jennifer Scoggin (3/10/14)  74. Ships of the Line by Doug Drexler & Margaret Clark (5/1/14)  75. The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw (5/9/14) 76. Beyond Uhura: Star Trek & Other Memories by Nichelle Nichols (5/29/14)  77. Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell (7/30/14)  78. Zingers, Quips, & One-Liners by Geoff Tibballs, ed (8/25/14)  79. Book Lovers' London by Lesley Reader (12/30/14) 80. Mystery! A Celebration: Stalking Public Television's Greatest Sleuths by Ron Miller (2/3/15)  81. I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics by Ritch Shydner & Mark Schiff (2/10/15)  82. Glenn Ford: A Life by Peter Ford (3/9/15)  83. The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum (3/22/15) 84. The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (5/5/15)  85. The Witch & the Hysteric by Alexander Doty & Patricia Clare Ingham (7/14/15)  86. The British Invasion by Barry Miles (7/20/15)