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Charles Bukowski
read 5/28/08
Another Bukowski book, I am half way though his novels now. This book roughly picks up with his life where Ham on Rye leaves off. It follows him as he travels back and forth across the country working, drinking, living. There isn't much suspense in the book you know what will happen.. he will get drunk and get fired then look for another job, repeat. But it is told in a compelling way that you just can not put down the book. I think what the book does well is capture a point in time (early to mid 40s) that does not exist any more. Rooming houses, moving in and out of meager jobs, roaming around the country.. you just can not do this in todays world.. as these things do not exist in the same fashion today. A realistic look at the gritty world that nobody talks about.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Ipcress File (14)
The Ipcress File
Len Deighton
read 5/23/08
This is Deighton's first book with the un-named Harry Palmer character. Like so many of Deighton's book (and spy books in general) it is a bit tedious in the beginning, not much going on, and you can't really see where it is going. Then all of a sudden something happens and they all the pieces fall together. The ending of this one was nice, and even better he goes through all of the other parts (while talking to another character) and explains the significance of them, incase you missed it. A worthy start to the Deighton legacy.
Len Deighton
read 5/23/08
This is Deighton's first book with the un-named Harry Palmer character. Like so many of Deighton's book (and spy books in general) it is a bit tedious in the beginning, not much going on, and you can't really see where it is going. Then all of a sudden something happens and they all the pieces fall together. The ending of this one was nice, and even better he goes through all of the other parts (while talking to another character) and explains the significance of them, incase you missed it. A worthy start to the Deighton legacy.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hard Living on Clay Street
Hard Living On Clay Street
Joseph T Howell
read 1/9/06
Back in January 2006 I read Hard Living on Clay Street. A book I had for nearly 20 years and is about 2 blue collar families in the 1960s. It was an interesting book, and I finally picked up the 1991 reprinting of the book, that includes an update on the families. Most surprising 2 of the 4 principals had died shortly after the book came out. Barry drowned in a boating accident, and June died of liver diease. It went on to talk about the other children. Some did well, other did about as you would expect. I was interesting to revisit this again.
Joseph T Howell
read 1/9/06
Back in January 2006 I read Hard Living on Clay Street. A book I had for nearly 20 years and is about 2 blue collar families in the 1960s. It was an interesting book, and I finally picked up the 1991 reprinting of the book, that includes an update on the families. Most surprising 2 of the 4 principals had died shortly after the book came out. Barry drowned in a boating accident, and June died of liver diease. It went on to talk about the other children. Some did well, other did about as you would expect. I was interesting to revisit this again.
Ham On Rye (13)
Ham On Rye
Charles Bukowski
read 5/10/08
My second Bukowski novel, and I am hooked, unfortunately he only wrote 6 novels, so I am 1/3 of the way through them. This is about his childhood growing up in LA during the depressions. Parts of it seem tragic, parts seem unbelievable. But mostly I think it just shows the passage of time. I don't think there is anything unique to his story, I just think that it was a lot different during the depression. He talks about everybody being angry.. he talks about his own lack of ambition and generaly hopelessness. In the other book I remarked on how detached he seemd from his own life, I think this book does a lot to explain why he felt this way. Perhaps my favorite line of the book is: "Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk."
Charles Bukowski
read 5/10/08
My second Bukowski novel, and I am hooked, unfortunately he only wrote 6 novels, so I am 1/3 of the way through them. This is about his childhood growing up in LA during the depressions. Parts of it seem tragic, parts seem unbelievable. But mostly I think it just shows the passage of time. I don't think there is anything unique to his story, I just think that it was a lot different during the depression. He talks about everybody being angry.. he talks about his own lack of ambition and generaly hopelessness. In the other book I remarked on how detached he seemd from his own life, I think this book does a lot to explain why he felt this way. Perhaps my favorite line of the book is: "Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk."
Big Trouble (12)
Big Trouble
Dave Barry
read May 12, 2008
Dave Barry wrote an actual novel.. and it is just what you would expect from Dave Barry, lots of slap stick. I read somewhere between a movie script and an Elmore Leonard novel. Lots of off beat characters and development similar to Leonard, but it seemed a lot like a movie. Not the best, but enjoyable none the less.
Dave Barry
read May 12, 2008
Dave Barry wrote an actual novel.. and it is just what you would expect from Dave Barry, lots of slap stick. I read somewhere between a movie script and an Elmore Leonard novel. Lots of off beat characters and development similar to Leonard, but it seemed a lot like a movie. Not the best, but enjoyable none the less.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The secret life of Henry Ford (11)
The secret life of Henry Ford
by John Côté Dahlinger as told to Frances Spatz Leighton.
read 4/20/08
When he was in his 60s Henry Ford fathered another child. The boy, John was raised with his mother and "father" but Henry Ford was always hanging about the Estate. Both parents worked for FMC, and the book is him memories of Henry Ford.
The book is a fairly straight forward look at the Mr Ford by someone who was around him a lot. The book is more a loose collection of stories. It is illustrated by his parents journals and his memories. It seems pretty subjective, and his views seem very much in line with the other books I have read on Ford (including his existence). He tends to gloss over some of the more controversial points including Mr Ford and the jews. But does talk a lot about Edsel and his mistreatment at the hands of his father.
This was an interesting good, but does not really add a lot to the insight of the life of Henry Ford that is not already covered by one of the other biographies available on him.
by John Côté Dahlinger as told to Frances Spatz Leighton.
read 4/20/08
When he was in his 60s Henry Ford fathered another child. The boy, John was raised with his mother and "father" but Henry Ford was always hanging about the Estate. Both parents worked for FMC, and the book is him memories of Henry Ford.
The book is a fairly straight forward look at the Mr Ford by someone who was around him a lot. The book is more a loose collection of stories. It is illustrated by his parents journals and his memories. It seems pretty subjective, and his views seem very much in line with the other books I have read on Ford (including his existence). He tends to gloss over some of the more controversial points including Mr Ford and the jews. But does talk a lot about Edsel and his mistreatment at the hands of his father.
This was an interesting good, but does not really add a lot to the insight of the life of Henry Ford that is not already covered by one of the other biographies available on him.
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