Books - June

The Art of the Steal - Christopher Mason (2005)  What's the sign of a truly fine writer?  Taking a topic as unexciting as the collusion between the world's two great auction houses to fix prices and turning it into a fascinating story is no small feat.  Mason does have several large personalities at the center of the story and that helps a great deal.  The book takes you into the high stakes world of the fine art auction world, a world dominated by the two great auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's.  They are the only players in this arena on a worldwide basis.  And for several centuries they were old school, class ridden English institutions.  When the old ways start to break down both houses will reach out to new leadership who will fundamentally change the way business is done.  One of the changes is agreeing to fix prices on certain fees that will cost clients millions of dollars and deposit that money directly into the auction houses pockets.  The question of who made those decisions would eventually end up in U.S. Federal court and several of the actors would face serious prison time.  Mason weaves the story beautifully and draws you deeply into the story of this arcane world.
Rating - *** Worth a Look

Lilith- A Snake in the Grass - Jack L. Chalker - (1981) Imagine a solar system with four planets inside the livable zone around the sun.  On the world known as Lilith you will receive the potential of great power very much like magic and where sickness and injury are no longer a problem.  The problem is that it all comes at a price - you can never leave the solar system or you will die.  Humanity uses the Warden planets as prisons and now suspects those prisoners may be conspiring with an unknown alien race.  Jack L. Chalker kicks off a four book series with this one which Phoenix Pick is now re-publishing them.  Chalker does a great job weaving the story and exploring all the possibilities of the world he creates.
Rating - *** Worth a Look

Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure   - Julia Flynn Siler - The story of how the U.S. gained a foothold in what would become the 50th state.  Sadly like too much of American history it involves devastation of indigenous people, lying, subversion of ideals and a blindness to any other point of view other than our own.  For those who think that the role of big business in the halls of power is a new trend in our history (which would only prove that you've read very little of our history) this shows that it's been around a long time.  With the same goals and often the same techniques.  Certainly the results are the same.  Profits are snatched short term, not thought is given to long term impact and the every day population takes it in the shorts at the end.  A cautionary tale.  Written in a more academic historical style the book isn't a bad read but does get bogged down in details sometimes.
Rating - *** Worth a Look

The Enemy of God - Robert Daley - Daley is the former Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD and a writer who has gained a solid reputation.  This effort however was disappointing.  The main characters, four boyhood friends raised in the Roman Catholic church and its schools, all failed to engage me.  All four are paper cutouts of men too dedicated to their own internal drives and therefore poor husbands, friends and in large part human beings.  The story centers on the death of the one who went into the priesthood.  The other three (the cop, the lawyer and the journalist) are determined to figure out the truth.  Along the way they display a lack of concern for wives, friends, colleagues or even common sense.  At the end you get a rather silly and unconvincing twist ending.  Daley can write certainly but this was just disappointing.
Rating - ** Unimpressed

A Graveyard for Lunatics - Ray Bradbury - In honor of the passing of what I believe to be one of the greatest American authors I'm going to work my way through as much Bradbury this year as I can.  I was sorry to discover a very thin selection at the local public library.  This one is from my personal collection however and it's a favorite.  The story of two young men living out their dreams in the movie industry of the 1950s.  In true Bradbury style nothing is quite what it looks like especially not the quiet Middle America streets found on the fantasy back lots of Hollywood.  Bradbury's characters are large and energetic and fling themselves into the action of the book.  Because how else would people who make their living in Hollywood behave?  Between my love of the author and my live of the great days of Hollywood this one is a keeper for me.  I won't say that it's one of his all time best.
Rating - **** Gotta Read it