Movies and Books

The list of stuff I've read and seen is getting a little long so I'd better get caught up quickly here:

Books:

The Marching Season, The Mark of the Assassin and Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva  Been a little bit of a binge with this author.  He writes very nice thrillers in the same genre as say Jack Higgins or Tom Clancy.  Silva falls somewhere between those two.  Assassin and Marching Season are part of an ongoing story line with a common hero - Michael Osborne.  They deal with a secret society of intelligence chiefs and international corporate types who have decided that business is better when the world is less peaceful.  They proceed to do everything they can to keep it that way.  I enjoyed them both even while Marching Season has one of the worst sentences I've come across in a major novel.  Osborne is in his bedroom talking with his wife when he "took off his clothes, made a sandwich and got into bed".  I've never actually considered moving the kitchen the bedroom but I suppose it might work.  Somebody should have caught that.

Prince of Fire is from Silva's longer series of books revolving around art restorer and Israeli spy Gabriel Allon.  Allon works undercover but discovers that somehow a dossier revealling everything about him has gotten into the other side's hands.  Along the way he will have to confront a few ghosts from his past.

I enjoy Silva's writing and will work my way through it all.

Lost Horizons - James Hilton  I read this book because of a movie.  Not curiously the movie version of the book but because of "Hearts in Atlantis" which I reviewed earlier.  I'm trying to get some older works in my reading list on a regular basis and this seemed like an interesting one.  Interesting it was!  This is the story of
 a small group of people who find themselves being taken high into the Himalayas against their will.  There they discover Shangri-La, a utopian lamasery where people for very long times.  Other secrets are revealed and choices have to be made.  The book sucked me right in.

The Library - and Illustrated History by Stuart Murray -   I love libraries.  They are one of my favorite places on earth.  So I was all set to love this book.  Beautiful pictures on great heavy paper, just wonderful.  And a disappointment.  The authors take the least interesting approach to the growth of the library (a linear one), spend time talking about some of the folks who created libraries (without every really getting into their stories), ignores several fascinating themes (the idea of a public library, the idea of a lending library, the entire question of organizing a library - Dewey Decimal System gets about two short paragraphs) and then relegates the actual libraries to brief summaries at the very end of the book.  Very disappointing.

Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre -  I enjoy Le Carre's stuff, he is the master of the Cold War era spy novel.  So I was interested to see how he was dealing with the post Cold War era.  With this one he moves into the realm of international crime and money laundering.  After a dreadfully slow start (the first 30 pages seemed rather disjointed to me) the book took off.  Enjoyed it.

Into the Darkness by Harry Turtledove - Turtledove is probably THE name in what's "alternative history", effectively taking a "what if" approach to actual history.  I've read several of his and enjoyed them, especially "Ruled Britannia" which looks at England if the Spanish Armada had succeeded in conquering.  So I thought I'd give a shot at this.  The cover doesn't indicate that it's the first of a SIX novel series which irritates me.  But not as much as the poor writing in this book.  In this case he has re-imagined the second World War by moving it to a new planet.  Many things aren't explained along the way, the character list is something like 7 pages long and nothing is resolved at the end of the novel.  I read it, I won't read the rest.  Disappointing.

The Axeman's Jazz by Julie Smith - I've never read anything of Smith's before but I enjoyed this.  It features a recurring character, female police officer Skip Langdon and takes place in New Orleans.  I like jazz, love New Orleans and am a Smith on my mother's side so when I found this while wandering the stacks at the local library I pretty much had to read it.  Smith calls on an old unsolved murder spree from the Big Easy back in 1918-19 then brings it forward to the present.  Nicely written and very enjoyable.

Movies -
Voyage of the Dawn Treader  - (2010) The latest in the Chronicles of Narnia series to come to the screen and once again they've done a nice job with it.  The young actors all do a very nice job and they stay quite close (not close enough for some I know) to the original materials.  Enjoyed it as well.

Bob Roberts (1992) Stars Tim Robbins and dozens of other names you'll recognize.  This is a mockumentary about a folk singing conservative political candidate who runs for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.  The feel is very good and the politics will look (sadly) very familiar.  As will the cast.  I spent a lot of time going "Who is that?"  and spotting a very young Jack Black(his first movie) among many others (Pamela Reed, Helen Hunt, David Straithan, Susan Sarandon, James Spader, John Cusak, Lynn Thigpen, the list goes on) If you're into politics you'll love this. If our current political model turns your stomach you might want to take a pass.

Unstoppable  - (2010) stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine.  Based on a true story of a runaway train this is a great, edge of your seat thriller.  The two stars create believable characters that you'll enjoy as well.  The story is set in south central and south western Pennsylvania (even though most of it was filmed in Ohio!  Heresy) and it made me feel profoundly home sick.  This will certainly not be one of the big money makers of the year it is certainly worth your time.