Book review: Choice of Evil by Andrew Vachss

Choice of Evil by Andrew Vachss

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
When con-man and unlicensed private investigator Burke's girlfriend is killed at a gay-rights rally, Burke seeks vengeance, only to find out that the killers have already been dispatched by a serial killer who is murdering anti-gay activists. Employed by a gay-rights group who wants to help this vigilante get away, Burke is drawn into a very complex web of crime and murder that could possibly involve the only man he has ever feared, the ice-man assassin Wesley. Vachss turns the conventions of tough-guy noir on it's head with strong women and gay characters that defy the stereotypes of the genre. He is a master of the form, and this is one of the most memorable of the Burke stories.


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Library Event Review: The Wag Band Concert

Reader number 51 wrote: What an enjoyable Saturday afternoon listening to the acoustic sounds of the Wag Band. I immensely enjoyed their mix of songs which included Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel as well as the Boss, "Bruce". I highly recommend seeing this band performed locally in our area as evident by the fact I signed up for their email listings of performances.
Rating: A.

Book review: Ghosts of the Garden State by Lynda Lee Lacken

Reader #110 wrote: This was a very interesting book. Grade: B.

Book Review: The Second Home Book by Marylouise Oates

Reader # 110 wrote: This had lots of helpful tips. Grade: A.

Book Review: The Science of Fear by Dan Gardner

Librarian Tim wrote:

The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
As someone who suffers from anxiety and fear problems that can be pretty debilitating at times, it was looking forward to reading this book to see if there were any ideas that could help me recognize and alleviate my fears. Gardner focuses on the psychological aspects of fear, quoting at lengths from researchers and their experiments. While he does bury the reader at times in numbers and studies, he narrows his thesis down to humans having split personalities: the head, thoughtful and rational, and the gut, impulsive and reckless. In this sense, it is the flipside to Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink. In that book, the gut was responsible for good decisions, in this book the gut the gut takes all information at face value and ratchets up the fear. Gardner is successful with presenting his ideas, but the scope is somewhat narrow, as he focuses on the psychological and it would have been interesting if he could have included some neurological research about how gut and head co-exist and conflict within the brain.


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Book review: True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Reader #529 wrote: Good summer read - romance and supernatural mystery. Grade: B.

Book review: Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Reader #529 wrote: An okay read, a little predictable. Grade: B.

Book review: The Joys of Reading by Burton Rascoe

Reading old books about books is enlightening. One discovers that authors were considered great and lasting in 1937 are completely forgotten now, and one is perhaps reminded that many authors currently in favor may fade from view in another few decades. THE JOYS OF READING: LIFE'S GREATEST PLEASURE by Burton Rascoe (copyright 1937, and of course there is no ISBN) has hapters on "The Joys of Reading" and "How to Judge Literary Values," but it also has lists. The list of twenty-five favorite authors from 1900 to 1925 includes many that have withstood the
test of time: H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, and Jack London. But it also includes Joseph Hergesheimer, Gamaliel Bradford, May Sinclair, and W. J. Locke, and omits (for example) Arthur Conan Doyle. A list of the twenty-five favorite books lists two by Wells: THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY and MR. BRITLING SEES IT THROUGH. Admittedly, his classic science fiction novels were written before 1900, but this century still saw THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, THE FOOD OF THE GODS, and IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET. Grade: B-.

Book review: Spellbound by James Essinger

Reader #83 wrote: SPELLBOUND: THE SURPRISING ORIGINS AND ASTONISHING SECRETS OF ENGLISH SPELLING by James Essinger (ISBN-13 978-0-385-34084-7,
ISBN-10 0-385-34084-2) is more a history of the English language
and less an explanation about spelling. Essinger also makes some
mistakes, or rather, has some misunderstandings. He refers to "a
holy book, such as the Christian Bible, the Muslim Koran, or the
Jewish Talmud" (page xxviii). The Talmud is not really a holy
book; it is more a set of annotations to the Torah, which *is* a
holy book. He says of "kosher" that it "has come to mean in
modern English not just food that is prepared according to Jewish
but also, more broadly, anything that is correct, genuine, and
legitimate" (page 26). The only problem is that that is what it
means in Hebrew; one speaks of a "kosher scroll" in a mezuzah,
for example.

And in writing about languages which do not use the Roman
alphabet, Essinger says, "where there is an accepted romanization
system, the writing of a foreign nonalphabetic name is fairly
straighforward. But a strange-looking name in a foreign language
that is written using Roman letters will not have any
standardized way of being written" (page 52). If it is already
in Roman letters, why change it at all?

On page 77 he gives a sample of text written in the International
Phoentic Alphabet (IPA). I found myself thinking how interesting
it looked. Then on page 78 he says, "purely phonetic writing
looks absolutely horrendous, as the physical appearance of
Hamlet's speech in the IPA shows all too well." Well, that
wasn't my reaction at all!

Essinger talks about how the English language became basically a
completely different language by 1500 from what it was in 1400,
and the "Great Vowel Shift", which made what had been pronounced
"Saw it is team to say the shows on the sarm fate noo," to our
present "So it is time to see the shoes on the same feet now."
Again, though, a lot of this is only marginally related to
spelling. Grade: B.

Movie review: The Incredible Hulk

Reader #83 wrote: The Army created but cannot control Bruce Banner, the Hulk. Banner's anger has the power to turn him into a bouncing ten-foot monster as hard as rock. Edward Norton (who plays Banner) is one of the finest actors of his generation. This may not be the best film for him, but he is an asset to the film. THE INCREDIBLE HULK is a darker and grimmer superhero film with a more tragic hero than we have seen of late from the Marvel films.

[Following the main text there is a minor spoiler on some points that did
not work for me.]

Within weeks of each other we have seen at theaters two Marvel Comics
superhero films. While they also stand alone, they are really chapters in
a longer story whose arc has yet to be revealed. IRON MAN and THE
INCREDIBLE HULK are both good as superhero films go. The public seems to
prefer IRON MAN, which I reviewed previously and gave a high +1 on the -4
to +4 bell-curve scale. THE INCREDIBLE HULK gets the same rating, but of
the two I give the edge to THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Why do I prefer this
film? First, I am never likely to meet a playboy arms dealer like Tony
Stark. Do I doubt that such a person drives around war zones drinking
cocktails? Let us say I am unconvinced. Perhaps characters like this
exist in the real world, perhaps not. On the other hand I can well
believe that there are people living in the slums of Brazil coming to
terms with personal problems like anger. Do I believe that when they
become enraged they grow to twice their scale, turn the color of avocados,
and adopt a doors- optional policy for getting around? Perhaps they do in
their imaginations. For me that is not a big stretch. And do these
people become so possessed by their rage that they become supremely
violent? You bet they do. For me Bruce Banner (The Hulk) is a much more
believable main character than is Tony Stark. He is a man of very common
emotions, simply exaggerated. Needing the violent outlet while detesting
it is very real. Iron Man being kidnapped and forced to develop missiles
is not quite as real and certainly less primal.

The plot of THE INCREDIBLE HULK can be summed up in two or three
sentences. In the Ang Lee THE HULK the military used super- science to
turn Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) into an awesome fighting man. When he
gets mad enough to fight he becomes a ten- foot-tall monster. After the
early transformations he did some really bad things (only hinted at for
those who have not read the comic or seen THE HULK). Banner ran away and
is now hiding out in the crowded slums of Brazil trying to learn to manage
the world's deadliest rage. To keep busy he corresponds electronically
with an enigmatic friend whom he knows only by the code name Mr. Blue.
The army, personified by General Ross (William Hurt), has tracked him down
and sends a special commando, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), to capture him.
Well, we know how well that will work. And admittedly here and elsewhere
there are few real surprises in the film. Banner evades capture and works
his way back north to an East Coast school, Culver University. At this
school is his girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and the scientist Mr.
Blue (Tim Blake Nelson). (There are also quaint bicycle-stands labeled
"City of Toronto".) There he will find the ultimate confrontation--or at
least the biggest in the film.

Marvel films seem to be developing their own style that continues from
film to film. We have the cameo for Stan Lee. This time he is not at the
end of a garden hose as he was in the last X-Men movie, and he is not at
the end of a conversation as he was in IRON MAN. This time he is the
end. More specifically he is a very much a loose end in the plot. I
waited in vain for the plot to explain what happened to his character, but
if it was there I missed it. Also there is a certain inexorable
predictability in the plotting. There is segregation of each to his own
type. What does a man in a power-suit fight in the climactic battle? He
is matched against a man in a bigger and more mighty power- suit. What
does a hulk fight in the climactic scene? It has to be a bigger meaner
hulk. Another element of the Marvel style in recent films to have a final
scene at the end of the credits. It has some unexpected twist to reward
those audience members who stay through the credits. X-MEN 2 had such a
scene, as did IRON MAN. Here the scene is moved to the beginning rather
than the end of the credits. It looks like someone in production decided
that too many people were missing what could be a pivotal teaser scene.
Stan Lee is not the only in-joke casting. We get to see/hear Lou Ferrigno
as both the voice of the Hulk and as a minor character. There are cute
allusions to Godzilla movies, to King Kong, and even to Tiananmen Square.

Edward Norton acts with a low-key style. I am not sure he conveys the
angst as much as was needed, but his persona is a nice counterpoint to the
thrashing monster he becomes. The most memorable acting in the film is
from Tim Blake Nelson, whose boyish glee for studying the Hulk makes him
one of the most likeable mad scientists in recent film history. Nelson,
some of the realistic settings, the tragedy of the main character, and the
dark style make this a better than average Marvel superhero film. For my
money it is also better than the very recent IRON MAN. Grade B

Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0800080/

Minor spoiler warning:

I did have a few problems with the script. At one point after a blackout
spell Banner asks a stranger, "where am I?" The stranger responds, "In
Guatemala." If a stranger asked you where he was, would you say "the
United States"? My wife wanted to know how Banner had managed to cross
the Panama Canal without anyone noticing how really big and green he was.
Perhaps he had switched back to Banner. After all, the rules of this
particular mutation are unclear. There is a nice tender King-Kong-Anne-
Darrow sort of scene in which he is Hulked, but does not seem to have been
angry for hours. Why is he still engorged?

If someone about 160 pounds actually threw a helicopter, it is the human
who would do most of the flying according to the laws of physics. You
learn to ignore the fact that he would have to be a lot more massive as
the Hulk than he is as Banner. It is therefore probably bad form to show
an examination table that held Banner perfectly well moments before but
crushes under the massive weight of Hulk. It rubs our noses in the fact
that Banner's mutation circumvents conservation of mass.

Movie review: Untraceable

Reader #5 wrote: This "R" rated, action-packed, suspense/thriller movie stars Diane Lane as the lead FBI agent assigned to a track down a killer who airs his murders on his web site. This movie is not for the weak at heart but milder than the "Saw" movie series which made it much easier for me to watch. Not too many movies made in the last few years have kept my interest but this one I would say is the best I can remember watching since the movie "Seven" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman (watch that one too). The box cover compares "Untraceable" to "Silence of the Lambs" and I would have to agree. "Untraceable" is creepy and you may want to watch it with someone and keep some lights on! I would definitely say that it is worth renting and watching not once, but a few times. It was very well made and with technology what it is these days, it is extremely believable which adds to the high entertainment quality of this film. Why are you still reading this, go out and rent it today!

Book review: Apocalipstick by Sue Margolis

Reader#536 wrote: Even though it took a while to finish, I really enjoyed it. It's based in the UK. I can relate to it. I love the love twists...The main character is Rebecca. She works for "Vanguard" which is a small newspaper (based in UK). She finally gets her big break when a girl working for a cosmetic company reveals the dangers of a popular cream. On top of that, her enemy from school has re-emerged and is about to marry her dad. At the end it all works out...with a good mix of sweet suspense! Grade A.

Book review: The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

Reader# 83 wrote: Khalid Hosseini was born in Afghanistan and today lives in California as a physician and now a novelist. In fact, THE KITE RUNNER (ISBN-13 978-1-594-48000-3, ISBN-10 1-594-48000-1) is his first novel, it was adapted into a popular film, and he has now written a second novel, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS which itself is in the early stages of production as a film.

THE KITE RUNNER begins as the story of the relationship of two boys. Amir is a boy of Kabul whose father, a wealthy merchant, owns a nice mansion with servants. Hassan is the son of Amir's servant. The two boys are inseparable. They seem apart only when Amir goes to school and Hassan returns home to for the household chores of a servant.

For sport Amir flies kites competitively and is becoming very good at the
sport, attracting local attention. His servant Hassan is his kite runner.
That means Hassan chases after the rival kites that Amir has decapitated.
Hassan dotes on Amir, which bother Amir a little. Amir also tells stories
that enchant Hassan. Together they face the local bullies who terrify them
both.

The day of a great kite competition comes and Amir has a great victory.
Hassan runs to get the loser's lost kite. Eventually Amir runs after
Hassan and sees him being confronted by the bullies. Amir watches on as
his friend is raped. He wants to defend his friend and knows he should,
but is terrorized and instead sulks off.

After that nothing is the same between the boys. Amir comes to hate
himself for his cowardice and disloyalty. Hassan does not admit to knowing
of his friend's betrayal of him, but he almost certainly does. Amir turns
his shame into rejection of Hassan.

This is all just the set-up of the story. We will follow Amir through
tumultuous years of history for Afghanistan and his father's and his own
perilous escape to the United States. His shame at the one action will
bring him back to a Kabul under the Taliban in an effort to redeem his
life and to recover his self- respect.

There are some minor faults to the book. The character of Hassan is just a
little too perfect and it adds a melodramatic feel to the book. Amir did
so much worse than betray a friend, he betrayed the wonderful, loyal,
faithful Hassan. He denied, if you will, a Christ-figure. This weakens the
story. If Hassan had not been so perfect would the betrayal be any more
forgivable? Do we need to be just only to the faultless?

Much of the thrust of the book is the contrast of life in Kabul before and
after the coming of the Soviet invasion and later of Taliban. The old
Kabul under the monarchy is a place of contentment (at least for the
wealthy Amir and his family) whose similarities to the West are more
apparent than the differences. Kabul under the heel of the Taliban is a
place of constant fear, of public executions, of corruption, and of
systematized child rape under the guise of religious orthodoxy. It is the
place that Amir must go to redeem himself and his self-respect.

As bad as the Taliban is for the men in THE KITE RUNNER, it is far worse
for women as we see in the haunting A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. These are
purported to be the first novels written in English by an Afghan. If so
they are an enthralling start.

I read in sequence THREE CUPS OF TEA (by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver
Relin), THE KITE-RUNNER, and A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. The three make a
very good combination. The Mortenson book is non-fiction and tells of his
efforts building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least to
Mortenson this work is a powerful weapon against the Taliban and other
Islamic extremists. His schools give education to the young and with
education they can resist the extremists. His book also describes what a
virulent evil the Taliban has been for Afghanistan. It also sees that part
of the world through the eyes of an American. This has a downside and an
upside. The downside is that Mortenson cannot understand the area as
thoroughly as someone who was born and raised there. The upside is that he
knows how an American would see that part of the world. To Mortenson the
area is very alien to his and our expectations. On the other hand in
Hosseini's writing Kabul sounds not too unlike the town I grew up in. Each
book in the succession expresses more rage and frustration at what the
Taliban did to Afghanistan. Together they make a strong case for anything
anyone can do to defeat this terrible movement. Grade A.

Movie review: Refusnik

Reader #83 wrote: This is the saga of the Refuseniks, Jews in the Soviet Union who requested to leave knowing they would be treated as enemies of the state and given harsh and at times barbaric treatment. A new documentary written and directed by Laura Bialis tells the story of the nearly thirty years of courage in the face of repression in the Soviet Union. This is polished and evocative filmmaking.

It is spring. This is time of Easter and Passover and the time of year
that it is traditional for television to run the film THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. This year there is another and somewhat parallel story being released, though this one is a documentary of recent history. The film is REFUSENIK, and it tells the story of Jews again held against their will in a country that will not let them go. The country was Russia in the last decades of the Soviet Union. Russia's tradition was to suppress and abuse the Jews with discrimination building to pogroms back in Tsarist times. The coming of communism to Russia brought only a short respite before the new rulers of the country continued with their repressive policies. Under Stalin the repression began again and it specifically targeted the Refuseniks--Jews who had requested to leave the country--for almost three decades. With American and the newly founded Israel ready and anxious to provide a haven for these Jews they needed only the permission of the government to exit. As a policy permission was never granted. Being refused the people came to be called Refuseniks, but their punishment went beyond merely being refused. Jews who requested to leave were treated with barbaric hatred. They typically lost their employment and frequently were imprisoned and even tortured. Many were exiled to the frozen Gulag. Others were treated as mentally ill for wanting to leave the "ideal workers' state" and were committed to mental institutions. With the fall of the Soviet Union and with pressure from the West and worldwide eventually the Jews of the Russia were allowed to leave. 1,500,000 of them did leave, most settling in Israel and the United States.

While in the 1970s and 1980s the Refusenik movement got some public
attention, little has been said about it since. So as not to forget what happened Laura Bialis writes and directs this documentary about the story of the Refusenik movement. The style is mostly eyewitness accounts by participants, many of whom were activists in and out of the Soviet Union in the events of the movement. Their stories are illustrated with archival and newsreel footage. Best known among the activists is Natan Sharansky, who had requested and been denied an exit visa. In 1977 Sharansky was arrested and tried for invented charges of treason and spying for the United States. These charges have since been shown to be false. Sharansky was incarcerated in Leftorovo Prison were he remained under barbaric conditions for 16 months. He was then sent to a prison camp in the Siberian Gulag where he remained for nine more years as his wife desperately worked for his release. By 1986 the USSR was foundering and was anxious for Glasnost. Then President Ronald Reagan made clear that the treatment of Soviet Jews would be a strong consideration in the negotiations. Sharansky was released in 1986. His story and the stories of Kirov Ballet star Valery Panov and of physicist Andrei Sakharov, all Refuseniks, are part of the story.

Where the documentary falls down a bit is in not discussing the motives of the Soviets in repressing the Refuseniks. Michael Gorbachov is quoted as saying that these people were considered to be people of value to the Soviet Union, but they could make little contribution as laborers in the Gulag. It is more likely that he did not want to set a precedent of letting one group go when so many other groups might have wanted the same privilege. And eventually they as well as the Refuseniks got it.

REFUSENIK bears witness to the struggle of the Refuseniks and of the
changes that their courage and that of the international community brought about. This film makes a good pairing with THE SINGING REVOLUTION (2007), which was released earlier this year and tell the story of Estonia's campaign to free themselves from the yoke of the Soviet's. Both have messages that we need just now. REFUSENIK scheduled to be released in New York City May 9 and in Los Angeles on May 23. Grade A.

Book Review: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Reader #62 wrote: Watchmen is far from your average "superhero" comic. The year is 1985, and US relations with Russia are, predictably, cold. The action starts with the investigation of the murder of a "costumed crimefighter" called The Comedian (no relation to The Joker). In fact, all of the main characters in Watchmen are costumed crimefighters, mostly retired and estranged, though, after the government outlawed "vigilante justice". These "superheroes" are all too human, with broken marriages, histories of violence, and lots of old grudges against one another. Even Doc Manhattan, who as the result of a lab accident is transformed into a physics-wielding demigod, has the tragic flaw of losing his capacity to understand emotions. Despite their broken and long-past-prime condition, however, this reluctant team must solve the puzzle of who would want them out of the way. Time is running out for America, too, because Russian tanks are moving into Afghanistan, and Russian fingers are tickling the red button...

Watchmen is dark, creepy, and violent, as one would expect from the creator of V for Vendetta . It's also thoroughly engrossing; I read the entire novel, a rather hefty thing, in one day. Besides the excellent character development, I particularly enjoyed the fact that the line between right and wrong was rather blurry, something that's not often done in the superhero genre. By fighting crime without the consent of the government, the "good guys" are inherently lawbreakers (not to mention their acts of arson, sexual assault, and murder), while the "bad guy" has, arguably, the well-being of the entire world at heart. Grade: A.

Book review: Dark Prince by Christine Feehan

Reader #8 wrote: The first in this series, it was hard to put down. It was a love story about about a vampire and just great! Grade: A.

Book review: Lost Duke of Wyndam by Julia Quinn

Reader #8 wrote: I love Julia Quinn's books. They make the past come alive for me and the stories hold me and I wish they want on and on. Grade: B.

Book review: What She Wants Lynsay Sands

Reader # 8 wrote: Going back to 1199 and finding living so different, but life so much the same. Willa has hidden her whole life and those around her try to keep her alive. But in the end, the killer is not who you think it is. Grade: B.

Book review: Safe House by Andrew Vachss

Librarian Tim wrote: When ex-con, con-man and unlicensed private investigator Burke is contacted by a former jailhouse buddy about his need to disappear, he gets pulled into a secret underground of women who are protecting battered and abused women and children from harm. This is one of the wildest Burke stories, involving neo-nazis, undercover government agents and the witness protection program. When Burke gets in deep, he calls in his "family": reclusive tech genius The Mole, con-man and former strong-arm bandit The Prof and weapons expert Clarance. Together they must save Burke's friend, outwit the feds and the neo-nazis and thwart a terrorist attack. This was a very interesting book, not your typical noir crime novel. Vachss pushes a the envelope a lot, particularly in his descriptions of "warrior women" who run shelters and protect others from harm. Grade: B.

Book review: Knight's Honour by Roberta Gellis

Reader #8 wrote: I love books about the dark ages and how different life was then from now. Elizabeth is a strong woman in a world where women have no power. Roger has great power and is quick in all he does. Both are proud and driven to each other. Grade A.

Book review:The Eternal Highlander by Hannah Howell & Lynsay Sands

Reader # 8 wrote: Great stories set in 1474 about a family trying to blend in to different styles. I'd like to read more to see how they live on, I love vampire stories. Grade: B.

Book review:Single White Vampire by Lynsay Sands

Reader #8 wrote: A 600 year old man gets the rug pulled out from under him. I laughed out loud through most of the book. This is the second in the series about this family of vampires and I just love it. Grade: B.

Book Review: The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick

Reader #82 wrote: THE FORGER'S SPELL: A TRUE STORY OF VERMEER, NAZIS, AND THE GREATEST ART HOAX OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Edward Dolnick
(ISBN-13 978-0-06-082541-6, ISBN-10 0-06-082541-3) is primarily about Han van Meegeren, a painter who forged several Vermeers which fooled even the leading art critics of the day. Dolnick goes into a lot of technical detail of how van Meegeren did this, and even more on the psychology of convincing people that forgeries are real. He also explains how critics in the 1930s were fooled but we can tell immediately these are fakes. One reason, he says, is that van Meegeren's women have features that were considered beautiful in the 1930s when he painted them, but not now. So while his audience saw beauty, we do not. He actually makes a science fiction connection, saying, "science fiction always tells as much about the era when it was created as about the era it tries to imagine. In the future as it was
portrayed in the fifties, for instance, husbands commuted to work in personal rockets and wives stayed home and cooked up meals in a pill. For a decade or two, readers found it all quite plausible." (page 221)

One might compare this to films. We can look at a film made about Troy for example, and be able to tell whether it was made in the 1930s, the 1950s, the 1980s, or the 2000s. Even if someone tries to make a film now that looks old, there are often things that give it away. Some are technical, but others are harder to define. The Timothy Hines version of WAR OF THE WORLDS was made to look Edwardian--though obviously no one was making color sound films then--but it is clearly a product of the 2000s rather than, say, the 1950s.

I have two quibbles with THE FORGER'S SPELL. One is that the book is told in a strange order. For the first hundred pages Dolnick talks about Nazi art looting and thefts, then he jumps back to the creation and selling of forged Vermeers in the 1920s and 1930s. As each major character is introduced Dolnick has to jump back in time again to give the background of that character, which gives the narrative a "stop-and-start" quality. Then he finishes with the discovery of the forgeries, after the war. So Dolnick tells the middle chapter of the story, then the beginning, and then the end.

It is not until the epilogue that Dolnick addresses why a painting thought to be by painter X is worth millions, but whenit turns out to be by painter Y, it is worth $1.98. (Actually, good forgeries are worth more than that, but as curiosities rather than as art.) We have this idea that art should be valued as art, but it seems that much of it is valued as relic. Van Meegeren asked, "Yesterday this picture was worth millions of guilders, and experts and art lovers would come from all over the world and pay money to see it. Today, it is worth nothing, and nobody would cross the street to see it from free. But the picture has not changed. What has?"

Dolnick's answer is three-fold. First, "the world was full of people who thought of themselves as art lovers but were in fact merely snobs." Second, he quotes Alfred Lessing, who said that Vermeer was great because "he painted certain pictures in a certain manner at a certain time in the history and development of art." And lastly, Dolnick says, "When we praise a work of art, we have in mind not only the finished product but the way that product was made. ... [The] forger has the unfair advantage of working from someone else's model." (page 291) Grade: B.

Book Review: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton

Reader #82 wrote: I really like the BBC radio adaptation (I cannot find the name of who did it) of AGATHA RAISIN AND THE QUICHE OF DEATH by M.C. Beaton (ISBN-13 978-0-312-93916-8, ISBN-10 0-312-93916-7), so I decided to read the book (and possibly the whole series of Agatha Raisin books). While the book was okay--and had I read it cold, I might even have said good--I discovered that the best parts of the radio adaptation were not in the book at all. The basic plot is there: London public relations executive Agatha Raisin retires to a cottage in the Cotswolds, where she tries to gain acceptance by entering the local quiche-baking content. Her quiche, however, is actually store-bought, and what is more, has poisoned the judge! But the adaptation has an acerbic wit that is missing from the book, where the characters are flatter and less appealing, even the ones who are supposed to like. The book is very popular--there are seventeen sequels--but not up to my expectations. Grade: C

Movie review: Short reviews part 2

Reader #83 wrote: THE NAKED SPUR Made the same year as Shane, but THE NAKED SPUR outshone it in the box-office. Aside from the acting power the budget was not very high. It does have some nice high country nature photography, filmed in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Under Anthony Mann's direction it was one of the first films in which Jimmy Stewart got beyond his aw-shucks, country boy image and was shown as a driven and disturbed man. In this film he is full of rage and suspicion. The plot is sort of a portable TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE crossed with 3:10 TO YUMA. Stewart is a bounty hunter looking for a former acquaintance with a big reward on his head. Along the way he picks up a gold-hungry old prospector and a disreputable ex-soldier (Ralph Meeker). They get their wanted man (Robert Ryan) and the young woman who is traveling with him (Janet Leigh wanted a role where she had to do more than just pretty up a set). The three bounty hunters have to get their prisoner back to civilization to claim the reward. Ryan is clever enough to play his three captors off against each other. Three men want the reward split as few ways as possible. One man wants to kill his three captors. One woman is deciding what she wants. This is a good story and the scenery is a plus. Grade A.

THE BARON OF ARIZONA This is a 1950 film by Samuel Fuller. Fuller worked outside the studio system and was what we would call today an independent filmmaker. Many of his films had a sort of amateurish or unpolished appearance. Perhaps they have the feel of the short film that the studios assigned to their new directors to give them practice. Nevertheless Fuller frequently took on themes that were taboo at the time. Here Fuller tells the story of real-life James Addison Reavis (1843-1914) and one of the greatest frauds in American History. Reavis used forged papers in an intricate plan to falsely justify his purported claim to virtually all of the land in Arizona. Supposedly it was his inheritance from a land grant by the King of Spain. Spanish deeds had to be honored by the US Government under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The government could not prove his claim was a fraud. With a plan perhaps more elaborate than cinematically intriguing Reavis creates and plants forged evidence to make his claim. The story is not polished, but will appeal to fans of THE HOAX and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. In spite of some awkwardness and the mostly static telling the story is basically good. Grade B.

Movie review: Short reviews part 1

Reader #83 wrote: THE LAST WINTER. 2006 brought one of the better efforts from maverick horror film maker Larry Fessenden. It is not special effects heavy. The film shows a drilling crew led by Ron Perlman having some odd and unprecedented problems. It seems this year it is just not getting cold so the roads are slushy rather than icy, a big inconvenience. But something else is desperately wrong. The warming is causing something very bad to happen under the permafrost, though nobody is quite sure of the nature of the evil. People are dying, and those left alive have an inexplicable sense of doom. Fessenden seems to set many of his stories in the cold North. He is good at creating an eerie, chilly mood. This film reminds me a lot of John Carpenter's THE THING, but without the explicit scenes of a monster. Fessenden tends more to Val Lewton's approach of showing very little of the real horror and letting the viewer's imagination run wild. This is a very strange, mysterious film. Grade B.

THE FALLEN IDOL. This 1948 drama is one more fine film from Carol Reed, the man who directed THE THIRD MAN, ODD MAN OUT, and a personal favorite of mine, the almost impossible to find OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS. A young boy idolizes his family's butler (played by Ralph Richardson). As pleasant as the butler is, that is just how nasty his wife the head of the service staff is. When the wife is accidentally killed the boy believes the butler is guilty of murder, but loves him enough to try to lie for him. The story is by Graham Greene and Reed is his very best screen interpreter. The photography is excellent sharp monochrome with very black blacks and very white whites, in start contrast to the writing. I liked the film so much I watched again THE THIRD MAN, Reed's best known class. Two Greene/Reeds in one day makes for a very good day. Grade A.

Book Review: Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke

Reader #62 wrote: As far as vicarious vacations go, this one wasn't half bad. O'Rourke is a snarky, alcoholic journalist who travels to some of the world's most dangerous and impoverished places, at least the ones that were "hip" in the late 80's. His ability to interview parties on both sides of various armed conflicts is impressive, and his language is colorful and entertaining (if occasionally obscene). O'Rourke makes no pretense of being some noble champion of the opressed; he frequently, in fact, reminds us that he's just a selfish jerk who's looking for fun on his publisher's dime. But in spite of himself O'Rourke sheds light on the absurdity and hopelessness of the Third World and more effectively crying out for answers than he probably intended. Grade: A.

Book Review: Danger in Tibet: A Miss Mallard Mystery by Robert M. Quackenbush

Reader #5 wrote: Miss Mallard searches through the foothills of Mount Everest for her nephew. They are world famous detectives and her nephew vanished while attempting to track down an infamous thief! She meets an inn keeper and the housekeeper at the inn where her nephew was staying in Tibet. They let Miss Mallard into her nephew's room and inside she discovers several clues to help her in her quest to find him. One very crucial clue is a gold coin and a map! This book takes Miss Mallard on an awesome adventure that kept us guessing the whole time as to where her nephew disappeared to and why. Just when we thought we had it all figured out, we were thrown for a curve and very surprised at the ending. It was a delight to read and I would even read it again in the future! Grade: A.

Book review: Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey by Ralph Leighton

Reader #83 wrote: One of the great scientists of the 20th century was Richard Feynman. Feynman got a doctorate in physics from Princeton and went to work at the Manhattan Project. There his whimsical nature and his ability to think "outside the box" made a real reputation for himself. He taught himself to crack safes in order to demonstrate security holes at America's most secret project. By 1951 he was a professor at Caltech which he remained until his death in 1988. His lectures on physics have become classics in book and film form. Feynman Diagrams are a visual way to describe subatomic particles he invented in 1948 and remain in heavy use to the present. He also was considered a great bongo player. He had a wild sense of humor and loved telling stories about his exploits. The stories were collected by a Ralph Leighton and published in two delicious volumes, SURELY YOU'RE JOKING, MR. FEYNMAN and WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK? He was appointed to the Rogers Commission to investigate the Challenger Disaster. He traced the cause of the disaster to the rubber O-ring seals which failed to function in the wintry temperatures of the Challenger launch. These are just highlights of a great career. Any books about Feynman should be fascinating and most are. TUVA OR BUST! would seem on the surface to be one such book, but it is a serious disappointment.

The book is by Ralph Leighton, the close friend of Feynman who collected stories for the above two books. Leighton was something of a traveler and thought he knew geography until Feynman asked him whatever happened to Tannu Tuva. Feynman remembered from his youthful days of stamp collecting that there were triangular and diamond-shaped stamps supposedly from a place called Tannu Tuva. [See comments at the end of the review.] Leighton was stumped and the two began researching the place. When they found out that the capitol was Kyzyl they decided they had to visit any place that has such a strange spelling. It seems to have become an obsession with the two (or at least Leighton). The book TUVA OR BUST! is Leighton's memoir of his search and plans to visit Tannu Tuva with Feynman. Most of the book's illustrations are photographs featuring Richard Feynman. Leighton lets us know over and over what good friends the two of them were. He drops stories of going to parties with Feynman, playing bongos with him, having Feynman as the best man at his wedding, etc. However, little of Feynman's wit comes through in the writing.

Instead, we have a longish account of Leighton's travails in trying to arrange a trip to Tannu Tuva in Outer Mongolia, part of the Soviet Union, during the Cold War. The account is highly detailed and much of it leaves one wondering why we are being told much of what is in the book. The same story made an entertaining hour documentary for the BBC, "Horizon--The Quest for Tannu Tuva" (a.k.a. "The Last Journey of a Genius"). However that same charm spread over two hundred pages, even with wide margins, is a little thin. Much of it is about Leighton butting heads with bureaucracy heightened by international tensions. Contending with the bureaucracies is a major effort. The story is a race against time as early on Richard Feynman is diagnosed with cancer. The book does not focus closely enough on Feynman to track his failing health, but is puts some pressure on Leighton to solve the problems necessary to arrange a visit. It is hard to feel a lot of concern in spite of this because Leighton repeats over and over that one of the chief attractions for the two is the spelling of Kyzyl.

The path to arranging the trip is arduous and requires more than ten years. During this time we observe form an arm's length what is happening in the international competition between the United States and the USSR. We here about the Challenger crash. The pair makes discoveries like finding pieces of the throat-singing music that can be found only in Tannu Tuva. Incidentally, the book comes with a plastic record of with a sample of the music. Samples can be found at .

The book is mostly about Leighton, many of whose journeys were made alone, yet it repeatedly keeps mentioning that there is a connection to Feynman, lest we forget. Leighton bets on the mentioning of Feynman keeping the book interesting and loses that bet. If the traveling partner were some unknown Joe Smith the account would probably have a very much smaller readership. Other stories include how the two go on bongo playing forays. We read about Russian restaurants and how bad the service is. We are introduced to various Eastern Europeans, some of whom are helpful and some are not.

I would recommend this book really only to people who have already read SURELY YOU'RE JOKING, MR. FEYNMAN and WHAT DO YOU CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK? They are more entertaining and give the reader much more of a feel for Richard Feynman.

Incidentally, I am informed by a stamp collector that the Tannu Tuva stamps that started the whole proceedings probably never saw Tannu Tuva and were never used for postage. Apparently the future Nobel Prize winner was taken in by some fraudulent stamps. My friend showed me a few. Though cancelled, they have full gum on the back, indicating that they served no postal purpose. The postmarks carefully never obscure the pictures on the stamps, so that they can be sold to unwary collectors. Perhaps some government official gave permission in return for a cut of the take. Rating: C.

Book Review: Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft

Reader #82 wrote: Eureka Productions has a series called GRAPHIC CLASSICS, each of which has six to ten short pieces by the featured author, each done by a different person (or people). For example, the H. P. LOVECRAFT volume (ISBN-13 978-0-9746648-9-7, ISBN -100-9746648-9-8) has "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" adapted by Alex Burrows and illustrated by Simon Gane, "The Shadow Out of Time" adapted and illustrated by Matt Howarth, and so on. This means that if you do not like the style of one piece, you may like the next. "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" had (in my opinion) too many panels that were almost entirely black and dark gray. "Dreams in the Witch-House" has a very stark (one might almost say harsh) black and white look. "Sweet Ermengarde" uses a much lighter touch, with thinner lines and more detail. "The Cats of Ulthar" is basically a text story with one large illustration on each page. And so on. Similarly, the MARK TWAIN volume (ISBN-13978-0-9787919-2-6, ISBN-10 0-9787919-2-4) has a variety of styles as well. I would love to see GOTHIC CLASSICS (ISBN-13978-0-9787919-2-2, ISBN-10 0-9787919-2-4), which features NORTHANGER ABBEY by Jane Austen and THE MYSTERY OF UDOLPHO by Ann Radcliffe, among others. How they manage to condense a full novel down to forty pages or so is perhaps something I do not want to see--even CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED had more pages than that, I think--but I am still curious.

Of course, a large part of the attraction of both Lovecraft and Twain is their language, and what the graphic form often does is to sacrifice some of the text for pictures. As such, it's more comparable to a film made from the story, rather than the story itself. Grade: B.

Book Review: Suspended In Language by Jim Ottaviani

Reader #82 wrote: SUSPENDED IN LANGUAGE: NIELS BOHR'S LIFE, DISCOVERIES, AND THE CENTURY HE SHAPED by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis (ISBN-13978-0-9660106-5-7, ISBN-10 0-9660106-5-5) is 318 densely packed pages of physics. (Indeed, at times Ottaviani and Purvis abandon the graphic style for solid paragraphs of text-- and hard-to-read text at that, with closely spaced san serif typeface with normal, bold, *and* italic fonts, all in the same paragraph. This would be difficult to follow even as a regular biography, but the added graphics make it even more difficult. (Indeed, one of the points it makes is that the "solar system model" of the atom is the last one that people could visualize--and it is wrong. Part of the Heisenberg Indeterminacy Principle is that one cannot see some things, so there is a certain irony in the graphic format here. Grade: C

Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards by Jim Ottaviani

Reader #82 wrote: BONE SHARPS, COWBOYS, AND THUNDER LIZARDS: EDWARD DRINKER COPE, OTHNIEL CHARLES MARSH, AND THE GILDED AGE OF PALEONTOLOGY by Jim Ottaviani & Big Time Attic (ISBN-13 978-096601066-4, ISBN-10 0-966010663) is about ... well, what the title says. At 165 pages, it covers the subject fairly well with a straightforward approach done in sepia tones. It does not deliver the dinosaurs that the cover seems to promise, except as museum skeletons and isolated fossils, but it does give the reader an idea of what paleontology was like in the Gilded Age. Readers should be sure to read the "Fact or Fiction?" section at the back to find out where Ottaviani took liberties with the truth. Grade: B+.

Book Review: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer Lee

Reader #82 wrote: THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES: ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF CHINESE FOOD by Jennifer Lee (ISBN-13 978-0-446-58007-6, ISBN-10 0-446-58007-4) began in 2005 when the Powerball lottery had 110 second-place winners instead of the expected 3 or 4. Why? Because five of the six winning numbers were printed on thousands of slips in fortune cookies, and 110 people picked them in the lottery. Lee started out trying to find out the origins of the fortune cookie, and along the way also discovered the truth about General Tso's Chicken, what "chop suey" really is, why Jews like Chinese food (and at least something about the Kosher Duck Scandal of 1989), what the connection is between Chinese restaurants and illegal immigration, and why no one can agree on what soy sauce is. Eventually, Lee does track down the fortune cookie, but the digressions are actually more interesting than that particular search. Grade A-.

Book Review - Handbags and Homicide by Dorothy Howell

Reader #412 wrote: Great book! Not a typical mystery. It's a combination of Legally Blonde and Agatha Christie. Haley wants to be a Beverley Hills detective but she works at a department store with a credit card debt. Howell makes the reader keep guessing. For sure this is a woman-only book. Great surprise ending, not the usual "who kills who and goes to jail." I will be waiting for another Haley Randolph mystery! Grade: A.

Movie review: Chop Shop

Reader #83 wrote: Life on the streets of Queens, New York, is a hand-to- mouth existence for a twelve-year-old Latino and his sister. The camera seems simply to follow young Alejandro around and show us the story of his life and his relationship with his older sister with whom he shares a plywood-clad room over the title auto body shop. Made on a very small budget, this film is actors in front of a camera telling a story that seems very real. The low-key drama has a real feel for the texture of life in the underbelly of Queens. Ramin Bahrani (of MAN PUSH CART) directs and co- authored the script.

This review contains minor plot spoilers. Using no music, little cinematic artifice and an almost documentary style, we are ushered into to the world of Alejandro. Ale (played by Alejandro Polanco) is a Puerto Rican boy about twelve surviving by doing whatever he can. He lives in an auto bodywork shop in Queens. Roger Ebert's review informs me that this area is the "Valley of Ashes" that F. Scott Fitzgerald describes us in THE GREAT GATSBY. It has not greatly improved over the years. Now it is the kind of dead end trap that we think of as being in the Third World.

Ale goes from one small job to the next. He works at the shop and tries to drag in customers; he does day labor for construction; he steals hubcaps; he hawks illegal DVDs; he sells candy on the subway. When he does the latter he announces to the subway car that he is NOT selling for a basketball team. In fact he does not go to school at all. We simply follow Ale around with a handheld camera and watch as he gets himself in and out of trouble. Ale's sixteen-year old sister is Isamar played by Isamar Gonzales. The five major actors all use their real first names.

Isamar has just run away from a safe house and is now living with Ale above the chop shop in a room with plywood walls and apparently one small bed. Together the two of them banter like brothers and sisters do anywhere. Their dream is to own a taco and beans truck. Isamar says it should have her name painted on the side, Ale insists it should have his name. Isamar cooks and cleans the tiny room, Ale hustles earning what money comes in. He and his friends talk in a disarmingly normal way about baseball and hookers. Trouble begins as the boys watch the hookers ply their trade on the ugly streets and Ale thinks he sees Isamar in a truck cab. Now the snack truck means to him not just an easier living, it is also how he hopes to rescue his sister from prostitution.

Ramin Bahrani is an Iranian-American filmmaker whose film MAN PUSH CART was well-received on the film festival circuit. In this follow-up film, he uses a style with a real feel of authenticity. Before the plot takes hold one might almost think this was a documentary. Yet eventually, as with THE BICYCLE THIEF, the scenes start adding up to a poignant plot. Alejandro Polanco has a lot of personality that holds this very low-key drama together as the story wends it way to a melancholy and inconclusive conclusion.

The setting may be New York, but it could be Africa or Central America. And the story could be from post-war Italy with filmmakers like Vittoria De Sica. Grade: B.

Movie review: The Dark Knight

Reader #83 wrote: THE DARK KNIGHT In a year in which one film after another is based on comic books this is a super-hero film whose depth is like no other. It plays with the whole philosophy of the superhero and the whole nature of superhero battles. It manages to bring together an action film and a thought piece. This is a lot more than we have come to expect from a comic book film.

Spoiler warning: This review discusses more abstract concepts and issues than plot points, but they still might be considered spoilers.

In Gotham City (here apparently a visual amalgam of Manhattan and Chicago) five criminal gangs have pooled their resources only to have them stolen by a brilliant but psychotic sociopath, the Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger). The presence of the Joker brings out Gotham's other strange resident, the Batman (Christian Bale) and thus begins a giant battle between two very twisted men in costumes.

THE DARK KNIGHT is possibly the most hyped film of the summer. Surprisingly, for once, the hyped film is also one of the most serious and complex films of the year. Within the lines of this comic book story are some ambiguous moral decisions, and between the lines of the script some deep philosophical questions. This is the second Batman film directed and written by Christopher
Nolan, whose films are best described as astonishing. FOLLOWING, his first, was an unconventional thriller seen by relatively few people. But his MEMENTO was an amazing introduction to Nolan for most film fans. THE PRESTIGE, his latest film before this, was an intricate puzzle box that is fascinating on first viewing and is even more so on the second. Even considering THE DARK KNIGHT, it is still THE PRESTIGE that is his best work.

As for his Batman films, BATMAN BEGINS (which preceded THE PRESTIGE by two years) has a much deeper psychological pitch than any other superhero film in memory. Nolan painted Batman as twisted from childhood and not so much a hero as a victim of his own demons. It was one of the best super-hero films, but BATMAN BEGINS still rested comfortably within the conventions of the comic superhero genre.

Nolan's second Batman film surpasses his first with a dark psychological drama that nearly reinvents the superhero film. It brings us to a land where in spite of the possible good intentions of the superhero, the innocent can become victims of the fight itself. THE DARK KNIGHT is a comment on all other superhero films and the implicit safety net with which they operate. It reminds us that with great power comes not just great responsibility but also some great psychological burdens.

The concept of Batman, as with most superheroes, has usually been that he can do anything that needs to be done to stop evil. The end of a Batman story or nearly any superhero story has traditionally been that order is restored and things have returned to the state they were at the beginning. All dangers have been averted and evil has failed. Somewhat more sophisticated superhero stories might allow one or two innocent people killed to reinforce how bad the evil is. But in general the butcher's bill in a superhero film has been small. That is just part of the formula. And we are supposed to feel fortunate we had the superhero around to keep down the killing. That was just how a superhero story works. But in THE DARK KNIGHT Batman is faced with the proposition that innocent people are killed and others will die until he reveals his identity. He must decide how valuable to him is the secret of his identity. People are dying and that rips away the traditional safety net that his protection is infallible.

With the invisible safety net of superhero story convention gone, there are collateral deaths that Batman cannot avert. They are killed because the Joker wants to show the limits of Batman's power and also for the simple abstract cause of chaos. The Batman supposedly defends order without seeing that he himself, a bat-masked, self-appointed vigilante, is a breach of that order.

THE DARK KNIGHT takes us to a new world in which there can be serious casualties in a battle between super-hero and super-villain. The Joker is attracted to fighting the Batman specifically because he is the Batman. He is not trying to get rich from the proceeds of his crimes; he is simply playing a game with the Batman. And the Batman cannot back away from the fight because he is the Batman.

For the Joker the game is mostly about Batman, but just for kicks he also adds an object lesson for the rest of us. He shows us with a psychological experiment that fear can turn many of us
into mass murderers also. One of his crimes is an exercise to do just that. It is it a potent message in the post 9/11 world. But clearly this is a deeper Joker than Jack Nicholson's or
Caesar Romero's Joker clown who laugh gleefully as they defaces paintings or do other mischief. It is like comparing an abyss to a little furrow. Heath Ledger gives a good performance as the
Joker. He does make one the great silver screen creeps, nearly a polar opposite of his Ennis Del Mar in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.

Where Nolan falls down is the background world for his story. At times the background has a very realistic feel, like that of a MYSTIC RIVER. Other times it seems to fall back on the less credible logic of a comic book. One case is when a character has figured out Batman's identity and is scheduled to reveal it on television. We are led to believe the station was ready to put him on television for the revelation, but they do not know whom he is going to name.

THE DARK KNIGHT has an enviable cast of usually lead actors playing supporting roles. In addition to Bale and Ledger, Aaron Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent on a strange journey from crusading public servant to the featured villain in the next Batman film. Both Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are reduced to playing squires to the Dark Knight. Gary Oldman plays the future Commissioner Gordon who wields the Bat-searchlight. Finally, Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Rachel Dawes (the Batman's love interest) and Eric Roberts plays a mob boss. The screenplay is co-authored by brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan who collaborated on the scripts for MEMENTO and THE PRESTIGE.

By July of 2008 the filmgoer might not be blamed if he were a little tired of comic book action films hitting the theaters one after another. IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, WANTED, ... the list goes on. THE DARK KNIGHT leads the pack and is the most intelligent of the lot. Grade: A.

Jews of Cochin

This July 15th program went very well IMHO. Turnout of 80 was amazing! Gila and I estimated a crowd of only 20-30, so she only made 50 vadas (the Indian-Jewish fusion equivalent of falafal). Luckily they were large enough to cut each in half and give them out one at a time. All the vadas went, along with virtually all of the tamarind sauce (the sweet one). For some reason, we had almost all of the super-spicy pickle chutney left. I thought the chutney was great, but that’s just me.
Oh yeah, the presentation. Gila was very informative, speaking about how Jewish people came to a town in southern India, and how they kept their customs while integrating themselves into the community. For example, despite being Jewish, Gila attended catholic school. She said she never felt discriminated against while growing up.
Gila also showed photos of her family and of the interior of temples. The photo of Hebrew torahs, bedecked in colorful Indian garlands, was another example of combining Jewish and Indian customs.
--dena

Book Review: Harshini by Jennifer Fallon

Reader #519 wrote: This book concludes "The Hythron Chronicles." I thought that Ms. Fallon did an excellent job finishing this trilogy. After reading these books I've added Ms. Fallon to my list of great fantasy writers. Throughout all her books, she has so skillfully developed the characters and really brought them to life. The third book wraps up the story, but makes you want more. I definitely recommend this author! Grade: A.

Book Review: Treason Keep by Jennifer Fallon

Reader #519 wrote: This is the second book in the Hythron Chronicles. Picking up where Medalon left off, Ms. Fallon continues the story at the breathtaking pace. I loved the introduction of a second very headstrong female character, Princess Adrina. Some of the antics in the book had me laughing. I also love a good romantic side to the story and the characters certainly deliver. After finishing this book, I couldn't wait for the sequel. Grade: A.

Book Review: Don't Fill Up on Antipasto by Tony Danza

I don't recommend this book. Dull stories, dull writing and dull recipes. Grade: D.

Book Review: Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl

Reader #529 wrote: Great book for food lovers - interesting memoir with mouth-watering food descriptions and recipes. Grade: A.

Book Review: My Guy Barbaro by Edgar Prado

Reader #74 wrote: A very touching story about a very special horse, but what really makes the book worth reading is the endearing story told by the jockey who loved Barbaro the most and his "rags to riches" story, from poverty in his homeland of Peru to the USA where he went on to win the Kentucky Derby with Barbaro. A must for any horse racing fan, too! Grade: A.

Book Review: Rock On by Dan Kennedy

Reader #74 wrote: A very funny book about life in the music business and the record industry. It is filled with hysterical inner monologue from the main character who wonders how he landed in the dying music industry, but rejoices in his chance at success and basks in the image of his hip self. Hilarious! Grade: B.

Book Review: Instamatic Karma: Photographs of John Lennon by May Pang

Reader #74 wrote: A lovely photo tribute to John Lennon from May Pang, Lennon's girlfriend from 1973-75. Many of these photos are rare, never before seen images of a much loved icon. An absolute must for any Beatles or music fan. You will discover a private side to John Lennon and his relationship with May Pang as well, seldom seen before. Enjoy! Grade: A.

Book Review: Simplexity by Jeffrey Kluger

Reader #82 wrote: SIMPLEXITY: WHY SIMPLE THINGS BECOME COMPLEX AND HOW COMPLEX THINGS CAN BE MADE SIMPLE by Jeffrey Kluger (ISBN-13 978-1 4013-0301-3, ISBN-10 1-4013-0301-3) has such chapters as "Why is it so hard to leave a burning building or an endangered city?", "How does a single bullet start a world war?", "Why is a baby the best linguist in the room?", and "Why are your cell phones and cameras so absurdly complicated?" But while Kluger generally covers these topics, he often leaves out key information, while at the same time adding digressions. For example, in the chapter on leaving burning buildings, he talks about how difficult to was to evacuate the World Trade Center towers, not just because of psychological reasons, but because the four of the stairways were 44 inches wide, and two were 56 inches wide, designed in 1970 for two people to walk abreast. The problem is that people in 2001 were much wider than those in 1970, and this disrupted the flow. Interesting and important, certainly, but not a question of simplicity versus complexity. And in his chapter on "How does a single bullet start a world war?", he never actually says what he is referring to. (I assume it is the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip that started World War I.) Even with these flaws, the book is thought-provoking. And perhaps complexity can best be summed up by this paragraph of Kluger's:

"The act of buying nearly any electronic product has gone from the straightforward plug-and-play experience it used to be to a laborious, joy-killing exercise in unpacking, reading, puzzling out, configuring out, testing, cursing, reconfiguring, stopping altogether to call the customer support line, then calling again an hour or two later, until you finally get whatever it is you've bought operating in some tentative configuration that more or less does all the things you want it to do--at least until some error message causes the whole precarious assembly to crash and you have to start all over again. You accept, as you always do, that there are some functions that sounded vaguely interesting
when you were in the store that you'll never learn to use, not to mention dozens of buttons on the front panel or remote control that you'll never touch--and you'll feel some vague sense of technophobic shame over this." Grade: B-

Audiobook review: Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie

Reader #82 wrote: I listened to MURDER IS EASY (a.k.a. EASY TO KILL) by Agatha Christie read by Hugh Fraser (ISBN-13 978-1-572-70490-9, ISBN-101-572-70490-X) on a recent trip. Or rather I listened to most of it, and then finished it in book form after I arrived. However, this was a bit confusing, as the audio version refers to the old woman as Lavinia Pinkerton (even with a reference to the name-sharing with the detective agency), while in the book she is Lavinia Fullerton. I cannot seem to find any indication of when the change was made, or why. As for the story, there may be one level too many of mis-direction for the story to be considered elegant--or maybe not. Grade: B.

Book review: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Reader #83 wrote: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, but writes English well with a simple, pure writing style. His first novel was THE KITE RUNNER, a favorite with reading clubs across the United States. That book tells a power story of two boys who are close friends growing up in Kabul. The main character in a moment of cowardice betrays his friend to save himself. It is a sin that he carries with him all his life, eating at him until he reluctantly submits to doing a dangerous and selfless mission to atone in part and to expiate his sin. The boy, like Hosseini himself, left Afghanistan to live in the United States and to write. The character's mission of self-redemption takes him back to an entirely different Kabul under the barbaric rule of the Taliban. The main character is much like Hosseini himself and the book is about the relationships of male friends and of fathers and sons. In particular it shows the destructiveness of the Taliban to males. As bad as that is, Hosseini recognizes that the plight of women under the Taliban is far worse. That situation is explored his second novel, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS.

First, the bad news about A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. Because this story is not autobiographical he could tell any story he wanted. He chose an apparently borrowed framework. His story is at base a retelling and amplification of Alice Walker's THE COLOR PURPLE. It is much broadened and the setting is very different, but the situation and even the plot is much the same. Each is the story of a young woman who is forced into a loveless marriage with a much older man who uses her as a slave and as a target for abuse. The situation goes on for years and just when it seems it can get no worse the husband brings another more attractive woman into the household. The two rivals conflict and fight for the number two position in the household until they realize they have more in common than they have differences. The hatred turns to a solid friendship and genuine affection as well as a shared hatred for the offensive husband. They team up against the abusive husband. That plot fits both stories. Its lack of originality is the one demerit of Hosseini's otherwise fine book. Since THE KITE RUNNER was for me a new plot, I would rate that book a little higher. But SUNS is still an engrossing and excellent read. [A small admission here. My knowledge of THE COLOR PURPLE is based on the film. I have not read the book.]

In this novel Mariam was always mistreated as a child because as an illegitimate daughter she was a family embarrassment. At fifteen she is married off to an abusive husband of forty-five, Rasheed. She lives in virtual slavery to the brutish and physically repulsive Rasheed. I do not remember one scene in which Rasheed rises above being a hissable villain. But a new indignity is coming to Mariam.

Rasheed takes a second young wife, Laila, the daughter of a wealthy family who is pregnant by another man, Tariq, who was her true love. Laila receives word that Tariq has been killed in battle and resigned herself to marriage with Rasheed. After many long months of a rocky start Mariam and Laila find a genuine affection for each other. Each helps the other through her difficult situation in the household.

But there are worse things in the woman's lives than Rasheed. We are given background of the wars in Afghanistan and the two women seem to suffer with each regime change. But when the Taliban take control the situation becomes truly harrowing and nearly unbearable. Women are treated lower than animals. Most medical facilities are male-only. The conditions at the rare and distant women's hospitals are completely barbarous. The descriptions of the "hospital" are nightmarishly the most haunting images of the book.

Both of Hosseini's books will be an education for Americans on the concentrated evil that the Taliban brought to Afghanistan. The first book had a scene of the stadiums in which women are stoned to death in front of large audiences. The newer book has the stadium stonings become an important part of the plot. In that sense the two books dovetail.

Both books are about courage. THE KITE RUNNER also focuses on cowardice, guilt, and responsibility. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS is more about victimization, which perhaps is not so uncommon a theme. Both books are an education in the barbarity of the Taliban and what they have done to Afghan society. Two such books are an impressive start to Hosseini's career. Grade: A.