Category: Books

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Waste Land

It’s almost porch reading season. Help! Good books wanted. Best Sellers. Either, I’ve read most of them a year ago. Or, they are 50 shades of insipid romance. And, I don’t follow Patterson or any other mystery serials. Any ideas? Donna Tartt’s third book in 30 years, Goldfinch, doesn’t come out until October.

Passover-Easter. Second week of Spring break continues. If you don’t like basketball, you are screwed. Sweet 16. Still have 3. FGCSU. Who? Golf delayed. Johnny Miller livid, a Tiger Sunday gone with the wind. Golf Channel today.

Too cold to take Sugar Shack Side Treks. Maybe next week.

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Shakey Ground

Hagel staggers into Pentagon today. Diminished by his own performance, just as sequester negotiations peak. Obama’s weak presence on the Hill will seal another fractured financial fate. Trickle-down redefined as reality in the States.

Women in the workplace hits tectonic plate. Yahoo’s mommy CEO rattling feminist base. Face-time still important in the office. Work-life balance teetering.

Girls on the cliff. Enough Lena butt already. Graphic testimony in crazy Arias slut trial, too. Eeeyu. Beyond Fatal Attraction. HBO’s Parade’s End a plodding facsimile without Downton’s appeal. Cummerbund mumbles and waggles.

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Mean Girls

Hilary Mantel gets vicious. Calls Kate Middleton a plastic breeding machine mannequin. None of which would describe the ManBooker queen. Bring up the “bones”.  After her last travesty, she should focus on writing better royal fiction.

Mean knows no gender on this week’s Girls episode, called Boys. Ray’s attempt at a male bonding moment turns churlish when Adam’s claws come out. Jenna emerges from the tub long enough to slap Hannah right on her writer’s block.

Women of different means. Hillary hits speaking circuit. Sarah’s back at CPAC.

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Sandy – Sandusky – Sandy Hook

2012 in a nutshell. Good, bad, very ugly. Here’s hoping 2013 will bring sanity, bonne santé, un esprit de corps. Bonne année.

Best ~
Giants SuperBowl Win
MadMen5-Joan’s revenge
Obama re-election team

Worst ~
Sandy
Sandusky
Sandy Hook

Best Books ~
The Cat’s Table
Gone Girl
Defending Jacob

Worst Books ~
ManBooker LongList- most
Bring Up the Bodies- especially

Great Restaurant Treks ~
Gramercy Tavern- NY
ABC Kitchen- NY

 Biz Fail ~
Facebook IPO

Au Revoir ~
CaffertyFile on CNN

SuperBowl Pick ~
San Fran beats Denver-wishful
Atlanta beats Denver- realistic

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Trek Books – 2012

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Defending Jacob, William Landay
The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje
The Chaperone, Laura Moriarty
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton, Elizabeth Speller

See reviews on Books page. Ondaatje’s cubistic ship story was beautifully written. The others caught my attention for clever and thoughtful premises. NYTimes list does not match mine. Several appear on my 2011 list. It hasn’t been a year of great writing. ManBooker List and Prize a total disappointment. Disagree with Mantel’s sequel getting any accolades. Hope 2013 will be better reading.

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Snowing Leaves

It’s snowing leaves. Colorful storm. Golden rusted flakes cascading to the ground. Crackling underfoot. Foliage suddenly gone. Took a Sunday detour from Autumn in New England to Summer in the Nevada Desert. Started Jana Richman’s new novel, The Ordinary Truth. Extraordinary read. Couldn’t put it down.

Compelling story, richly written. Great Basin beauty is artfully conjured, but Richman’s portrayal of familial relationships shone. I cared about these people. Raw generational dynamics stuck in time. Secrets, jealousies authentically, searingly evoked. Conditions common to every family. This takes creating a crisis as a catalyst for change to page-turning revelations. Highly recommend.

Pats-Jets ending. Wow.

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Paradise Lost

Once a glittering mecca, Northampton is called “Paradise City”. It’s the latest title and setting of Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther detective series. Gunther uncovers a stolen jewelry ring, and encounters some unsavory sorts. I’ve run into a few real-life residents portrayed in this book over the years. And, it’d be wise to be wary. Mayor hails from Brattleboro, Vermont, up the road.

K9Queen loves a good mystery series. I’m looking forward to Joe McGinnis’ local crime exposé. He’s the guy who moved next door to Sarah Palin and has been hunkered down in our Hampshire County Courthouse, at “15 Gothic Street”.

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UnToward NewYork

Quick jaunt to New York. First stop Katz’ Deli in New Haven. Next stop the Bronx. Pastrami on rye at Betsey’s Kingsbridge digs. Down to the Flatiron to our fave Hotel Giraffe, then for a sunny late afternoon Fika iced latte on Madison Park. Cebicheria La Mar al fresco dinner previewed mAdBen’s upcoming travels to Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu. All good.

Sunday morning, car gone. Towed. Legal spot. No! Officer Ward, with her Irish brogue, appreciated Dr.Husband’s kindness to a lost old lady and drove her NYPD buggy around the ‘hood and found our “re-parked” car. Whew.

Speaking of Irish cops in New York. BBCAmerica’s Copper set in 1864 New York, is a period piece of grit, grime and unbridled brutality. Mount Holyoke College Professor Daniel Czitrom the historical consultant for the show. First episode tonight was reminiscent of Kurt Anderson’s novel HeyDay.

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Cooked Books

JP Morgan trading losses, London Interbank Offered Rate manipulation. Perception is everything. Optics key. Makes the argument harder to justify for anti-regulation even if it won’t fix anything. As global financial boundaries continue to blur, it’s easier to hide stuff. Right, Mitt?

It’s not that Romney is rich. It’s that he is clueless about those who are not. If he was CEO at Bain after 1999, whether he was actively involved in management, who cares? Perception is everything. Bain Street vs. Main Street. And the ‘books’ of Mormon will be further roasted as the election looms. The church was, probably is the largest foreign exchange customer in the world. Global assets, cash beyond belief. From Marriott to Campbell’s to Huntsman, they rule more of the world than most people realize.   BloombergBusinessWeek.

So, on another sizzling weekend, read a book to escape. Or, if not re-read Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons in the horrific wake of Penn State.