Thoughts on Living the Life Creative
Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton (1934) When I realized how much I had enjoyed "Lost Horizon" I kept my eyes open for his other work. This is one that I had heard about for years but never got around to reading. So when I finally got a copy for my Nook Color my first... Continue Reading →
Smokin' Aces (2006) - Rated R - OK, start by thinking Tarantino. Think Grindhouse. Then take away any sense of humor, any wit or any real style. What you're left with is "Smokin' Aces". It's violent, its obscenity laden, it's bloody in the extreme. Add in, shall we call it, leisurely pacing and you end... Continue Reading →
The Prophet by Ethan Cross (The Story Plant) - Why do we love serial killers? We have TV shows that are dedicated to tracking them down or even making them the hero. None of us would ever want to meet one in person but we are fascinated by what kind of person would do such... Continue Reading →
When The Devil Whistles by Rick Acker - Allie Whitman is a whistleblower. In fact she's figured out how to make a career out of it. With the help of an inevitably good looking male attorney they've set up a shell company called "Devil to Pay" and are working their way through California corporations that... Continue Reading →
The Elizabethans by A.N. Wilson The age of Elizabeth the First is arguably one of the two great eras in the history of England (the other being the reign of Victoria). It is an age of exploration, the arts, the creation of the church tradition that would become my own, the birth of the tiny... Continue Reading →
Ellery Queen - Five Complete Novels by Ellery Queen - I've somehow never managed to read any of this series before. Queen is a rather strange duck in the annals of the fictional detective. First he gets his own byline on his novels. Archie Goodwin writes the stories of Nero Wolfe and John Watson those... Continue Reading →
Our Game by John le Carré (1995) - When it comes to spy novels there is John le Carré and Ian Fleming and then everyone else. The two at the top of my list take a very different approach to the subject. In fact they take diametrically opposed approaches. For the serious spy novel no... Continue Reading →
Sunshine Cleaning (2008) - A good cast can sometimes (not always) overcome a weak script. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt manage to do just that with an otherwise predictable sweet story. Rose and Norah are single women trying and mostly failing to make it in this world. Their mother killed herself when they were small... Continue Reading →
Last King of Scotland (2006) - Based on the facts of the rule of Idi Amin in Uganda this is the fictional story of a young Scots doctor who gets pulled into the dictator's inner circle. James McAvoy is wonderful as the footloose, ethically challenged young man who is running away from his life at home and... Continue Reading →
The Maid and The Queen - The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone - This is a fascinating background history of a woman who was deeply involved in the events surrounding the Maid of Orleans, Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily. Yolande was one of the great powers "behind the throne" in... Continue Reading →
Stories Are My Life 