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.

Movie review: Journey to the center of the earth 3d

Reader #83 wrote: Fun as thrill ride, but surprisingly poor as film, this is a story of three modern reluctant explorers who find out that the center of the Earth is just as Jules Verne described it with a lot of fast theme-park-like rides. It has even less logic than Verne gave it. Rent the 1959 version.

The 3D effects of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D are almost worth the price of admission. That means this film as a whole is almost worth the price of admission. As an adaptation of Jules Verne's novel this film is nearly worthless. In fairness I should say that no Jules Verne novel has ever been translated well to the screen and probably never will be. That is just not how Verne writes generally. Possibly the best film version of a Verne novel is the Disney 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, but that film has a lot of inventing. In the book, after the main characters are brought aboard the Nautilus they mostly just see wonders rather than have adventures. Similarly, in Verne's novel JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH there is not much action. Aside from occasional separations from the main party the characters mostly just see occasionally scary wonders. The 1959 film was one of the highlights of my youth but it made good cinema only because of heavy revisions to Verne's story by the writing team of Walter Reisch and Charles Bracket who had previously written films like NINOTCHKA and TITANIC (1953).

Strictly speaking, the new 3D version of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH is not an adaptation at all. It is an adventure that takes place in our world with characters who are very much aware of the Verne novel. (A similar approach was taken to the 2002 version of THE TIME MACHINE.) This film is more a vehicle to show off 3D effects than it is to tell a real story. Life in the interior of the Earth seems to have aspects of theme park rides, video games, and both Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons. There are some nice renderings of engravings from Jules Verne books into real-looking albeit digital sets.

Trevor Anderson (played by Brendan Fraser) is a scientist who discovers that he has to play host to his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) for two weeks. At the same time he discovers that for some reason he has a limited time to access volcanic chimneys into the center of the Earth. The reason for the rush is unexplained by it has something to do with changing numbers on a computer screen so it must be scientific.

Trevor packs up the nephew and off they head for Iceland. Along the way they pick up Hannah Ásgeirsson (Anita Briem) the daughter of a scientist who worked with Max. Max was Trevor's brother, Sean's father, and a friend of Hannah's late father. The name Ásgeirsson, incidentally, means "Son of Asgeir" and would never be given to a woman. The credits list her father as Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson so she should have been Hannah Sigurbjörnsdottir. Briem would have known that, being Icelandic herself, but getting things accurate was just not where this film was at. The group came to study the chimneys, but soon they are trapped inside the Earth a long distance below the surface. Which brings us to the falls.

Our hearty band frequently falls distances of many miles and manages to land with no ill effects, like Alice in Wonderland. Two such falls and they make it to the center of the Earth. That saves time and story-telling, but it cuts out most of what would be interesting in the film. Admittedly, how far down the center of the Earth is a moot point. If the center is just a single point it could be a long way down. If "center" refers to a very large region it might not be that far down. (Think of it this way. The center of an inflated balloon is a pocket of compressed air that begins a small fraction of an inch below the surface.)

These are most unusual explorers. They can fall hundreds of miles and land without breaking a bone. Hundreds of miles beneath the surface of the Earth they never seem greatly concerned for how they can get to safety. In 105-degree temperatures they never seem to break a sweat or in the case of Hannah even smear her lipstick. At one point a character is jumping from one rock to the next in a line of rocks floating in air suspended by magnetism. Somehow he manages to do this without imparting any rotational momentum until he gets to the very last rock. It just plays better if only the last rock has a rotational momentum. The travelers brought no food with them and rarely seem to pass much that is edible, but they always seem to be well-fed. The film exempts itself from any laws of physics or logic. Luminous birds that glow like fireflies illuminate the world beneath the earth. These are birds from 150 million years in our past, yet they look more like modern bluebirds than like the archaeopteryx of that period. What is more, the birds seem to understand English and show very human-like expressions like some fugitives from Disney's CINDERELLA. One of the birds adopts the travelers and follows them around like Tinkerbell.

Visually the film has some nice moments, but not all of the images work. There is a large Tyrannosaurus Rex that looks like a digital animation and is not believable as a living animal the way the T-rex in JURASSIC PARK did. Too often the lighting is too dim to really see the dimensional imagery to its full effect. There is some blurring. Frequently the left-and right-eye images do not coalesce. The 3D work, virtually the film's only virtue, is a step down from that of BEOWULF. For me it would be very hard for JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (2008) to match the enjoyment that the 1959 version brought me. However, this film does not even come close. The 3D effects are actually quite nice usually, but see it for the 3D or not at all. Rating: D

Movie review: Trumbo

Reader #83 wrote: The story of Dalton Trumbo's career is told, based on the play of the same name by Dalton's son, Christopher Trumbo. The story is illuminated by Trumbo's writings, particularly his correspondence dramatically read by major actors of the film industry. Actors recreate the moods of this always tremendously well-spoken man. This may be the last film to feature Trumbo's writing and it has some of his most powerful prose. It is may be the best film that has ever been made about the Hollywood blacklist and the Hollywood Ten.

The darkest chapter of the American entertainment industry was the years of the Hollywood blacklist during the McCarthy era. People accused of disloyalty to the government--usually for actions that were completely within their Constitutional rights-- could not confront their accusers, but would suddenly find that nobody would hire them. Careers were destroyed by innuendo.

Ten Hollywood screenwriters refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee's investigation into whether as anonymously accused, there were Communist influences in the film industry. In most cases this lack of cooperation was a refusal to betray their friends and give names of people who could be accused of being Communists. Unchecked the accusations would have spread in a chain reaction. If each person accused gave the names of two others the entire film industry could have been consumed. Ten screenwriters refused to cooperate. These were the Hollywood Ten.

One screenwriter among the ten was Dalton Trumbo. Before the years of the blacklist he was a successful screenwriter with an eloquent and powerful command of the English language. Like the others of the Ten, he was sentenced to a year in prison on the charge of contempt of Congress. When he was released he had become an un-person as far as his Hollywood career was concerned. Studios could not hire him for fear of being accused themselves of hiring Communists. Trumbo could submit only very few scripts he had written and then only under a pseudonym or by the use of a front man whom Trumbo would allow to claim credit for Trumbo's work. In 1956 a Trumbo script--submitted under the fictitious name Robert Rich--was given an Academy Award that could not be claimed. Then in 1960 two major films were released, SPARTACUS and EXODUS, each written by Dalton Trumbo. The producers and directors of these films risked the wrath of the American public and gave Trumbo screen credit for his own work. It was an extremely risky action. The decision to use Trumbo's name was made by Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger respectively of these two films. When there was little fuss from the public. Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper was a notable exception calling SPARTACUS "A story sold to Universal from a book written by a Commie [Howard Fast], and the screen script was written by a Commie [Dalton Trumbo], so don't go see it." When the public did go see it it was generally acknowledged that the blacklist was dead. Trumbo, Preminger, and especially Douglas had tested the waters and demonstrated that the government hunt for supposed Communist influences had lost the support of the American people.

The story of Trumbo is important and moving enough. But nine major actors give dramatic readings to his correspondence: Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, and Donald Sutherland. In addition Kirk Douglas also talks about his relationship with Trumbo and the history of the period. In addition there are filmed interviews with Trumbo to fill in gaps and interviews with family and friends still living.

The story covered by the film goes from Trumbo's career in the 1930s to his final acceptance back to public approval in 1960 (with a bit of a postscript in the 1970s). In the 1930s the Communist Party seemed to be the only American party that had a direct policy of opposing Fascism and confronting dictators. During World War II, the Soviets were at least nominally America's allies. But when the war was over the fear and hatred of the Soviets turned into a vicious anti-Communist witch-hunt. Some actors, afraid for their positions, willingly cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The first who did not cooperate were called the Unfriendly Ten. Later they were re-dubbed the Hollywood Ten. The film follows Trumbo through his time in prison and then to his self-exile to Mexico to find work that he could not find the United States. The actors dramatize his many moods reflected in his correspondence including Paul Giamatti's very funny reading of a letter from Dalton to son Christopher on the subject of masturbation, a letter that probably ranks with Mark Twain's 1601. The film follows Trumbo through times when he was taking any work he could get and when he returned by screenwriting, the career he had promised himself he would never enter again. He used fronts and pseudonyms to sell his scripts while hiding his name. All of this is described with great eloquence in his correspondence. It is also illustrated with scenes that he wrote for the movies, which take on new meaning in the context of Trumbo's life.

There is a certain continuity across the many actors who read his words. They can be funny or sad or serious and heavy, but it is the same voice behind them and the same carefully and powerfully wrought prose. TRUMBO is among other things a lesson in how two say volumes with an economy of words. As a sort of grand finale the actors all share a reading with overlapping segments so each can get a part of this one reading. As admirable as TRUMBO is, and as powerful in his convictions, Dalton Trumbo is not the hero of this story. Dalton Trumbo is a man whose strong character was more important to himself than his sense of self-preservation. By being a person of character he knowingly (or mostly knowingly) allowed himself to be the victim of dangerous political forces.

The real hero of this film is Kirk Douglas. He is present and speaking through stroke-slurred speech, but he obviously wanted to participate. Another hero is Otto Preminger who also credited Trumbo's work. These two men risked losing heir careers to make a stand against the Hollywood blacklist. TRUMBO is essentially the story of a rescue against high odds. And more than just Trumbo's career was rescued. Douglas and Preminger are the rescuers. This film concentrates on why that rescue was necessary, why it had to be done, and why all Americans are the beneficiaries of the rescue of one articulate contrarian with a bushy moustache. Kirk Douglas gives a good account of his part in the events in his autobiography THE RAGMAN'S SON. The film TRUMBO gets its New York City release on June 27. Rating: A.

Movie review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Reader #83 wrote: Guillermo del Toro makes great horror films like CRONOS and PAN'S LABYRINTH. His graphic novel films are just not his best work. HELLBOY II's visual images are spectacular and the film is full of fights and action, but there is only a bit of plot and that involves an epic fantasy premise that would have taken multiple films to do well. The characters are flat and the film has no center. This is a film to watch, but there is not much to think about. The conclusion holds no surprises.

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY has my vote for this year's "WHAT DREAMS MAY COME" Award for the most spectacular visuals in service to the least worthy story. The two films are somewhat different in that WHAT DREAMS MAY COME was saccharine while HELLBOY II has a graphic novel hero involved in a half-hearted attempt at Tolkein-like fantasy. And it pains me to say this, because HELLBOY II is written and directed by Guillermo del Toro whom I consider the best living horror film director. He makes horror films and films based on graphic novels. To my taste he is much better at the former than at the latter. Every film he makes is visually exquisite, but the graphic novel films just do not have the same quality of storytelling that he gets when he creates his own characters. He has a better touch telling stories about vulnerable characters than with invincible ones. Del Toro is probably missing the boat on the character of Hellboy also. The part-human and part-demon Hellboy should be torn between human and demonic urges. That would be a fairly dramatic premise. Instead he comes off as the brawny, master sergeant type, not very complex or very interesting. He is more earthy than most superheroes, but his character could be more engaging than it is.

Hellboy (played by Ron Perlman) is involved here in a Tolkein-like high fantasy. The film suggests there is a war between humans and the mythical creatures like fairies and elves. The adventure is a quest for the pieces of an ancient crown which gives the bearer the power to command a clockwork "golden" army. For most of the film it does not matter what they are looking for, the point is that Hellboy gets into fights to find the thing. The crown is actually the key to the war between humans and the creatures of myth. This is a big concept and one film devoted to the subject might not give del Toro sufficient time to develop the myth of the great crown or the mighty army. But it is not much of even this film. Most of the screen time is spent with Hellboy trying to clobber some great monster or with him sitting around drinking beer after beer and while bonding with his effete fish-man sidekick Abe Sapien. Sapien looks like a fugitive from Rene Laloux's FANTASTIC PLANET. The beer sessions give plenty of opportunity for a product placement of a particular Mexican beer. Hellboy's chief enemy is Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), an evil sorcerer who is tied by an invisible bond to his non-evil sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton). Any injury to one will afflict both. So nobody wants to hurt Nuada for fear of hurting Nuala. The look for Nuada seems borrowed from Michael Moorcock's Elric.

Part of the pleasure of a del Toro film is in looking for allusions and personal touches. Del Toro seems to have two trademarks that hail back to his first feature film CRONOS. He seems to always have visual imagery of clockwork and some of insects. In this film he goes overboard on the clockwork. There is clockwork under the opening titles. The final fight is on a giant clockwork set. There are no insects but there are small crawly things called "tooth fairies" that stand in for the insects. There is a doff of the hat to Stanley Kubrick and John Landis with an allusion to the mythical and non-existent film SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY.

More touches, good and bad: One might expect that after STAR TREK V a director would think twice about having drunken men bond by singing together, but del Toro tries it here and it still does not add much charm. There are also several shots on TV monitors of the Universal horror films that del Toro likes. There are supposedly scenes set at the famous Giant's Causeway. If so the "causeway" remains off-screen. The film does have a giant, but we are not told if it is supposed to be the legendary Fionn mac Cumhaill (a.k.a. Finn McCool) who supposedly built the causeway. The credit sequence at the end seems to have subliminal messages different from the credits. Perhaps people will want to rent the film to see the credits run by a little more slowly.

The visuals of HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY are a triumph of imagination, but the story is more of a failure. Rating B.

Book Review: The Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Reader #476 wrote: I recently finished reading The Dawn Treader by CSLewis, having read Prince Caspian I could not wait to read what happens next in the adventures of Caspian, the Pevensie children, and my favorite mouse Reepicheep. As they set sail to the end of the world, they experience amazing adventure both good and bad. I appreciated how often Aslan appears in this installment as he really plays a huge role in helping us realize that there might be a higher being looking after us, not just in our imaginations but in our reality. A lesson to be learned here is to face all or our fears head on knowing that we would never be given anything that we could not handle. Grade:B.

Book Review: Swan Peak by James Lee Burke

Librarian Tim wrote: Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux and his friend, private investigator Clete Purcell need a break from post-Katrina southern Louisiana, so the decamp to a friend's cabin in the Montana wilderness to fish and rest. That rest is short lived however, when Purcell accidentally wades into a trout stream owned by a wealthy family, and stirs up a hornets nest of trouble. When two students from the local college are murdered behind their friends property, Robicheaux and Prucell are pulled even deeper into a story involving a mysterious drifter, a lawman looking for revenge, a crooked preacher and a wealthy family that isn't all it is cracked up to be. It's interesting to read about Robicheaux and Purcell outside of their usual environment of the swamps and bayous of Louisiana. But the story is a familiar one for the series, actually tying up a loose end that has been fluttering since an earlier story. Burke is a natural storyteller whose affinity for the outdoors nearly borders on the poetic, with wonderful descriptions of the mountains and streams of Montana evoking the stories of C.J. Box. Fans of thought provoking crime fiction should enjoy this novel. Grade:B.

Book Review: The Dragon's Nine Sons by Chris Roberson

Reader #82 wrote:THE DRAGON'S NINE SONS by Chris Roberson is set in the same "Celestial Empire" alternate history universe as many of Roberson's other stories (including the Sidewise Award winner, "O One"). This universe supposes that the Chinese did not curtail their exploration in the 15th century, but went on to reach and colonize North America, and eventually expand to control almost the entire world. This story is set after Mexica has successfully broken away from the Han Empire, and during a space race/war between the two. It is sort of a "Dirty Dozen" in space (though with nine rather than twelve soldiers)--a band of misfits under death sentences sent on a suicide mission. As the first novel Roberson has written in the series, THE DRAGON'S NINE SONS suffers from some problems that one would not have in short stories. For example, there is (to my mind) far too much fore-shadowing at the ends of chapters (e.g., "That was the intention, at any rate. As with so many things, though, the reality fell far short of the ideal."). I also have a quibble with the method required to start the Mexic engines. (Without saying too much, let me just say that while it sounds plausible in theory, the exigencies of battle might cause problems if a ship is understaffed.) Given this method, however, the "practical joke" one Han character plays is so clearly stupid that one is reminded of Damon Knight's term, "idiot plot". Indeed, there seems to be a fair amount of coincidence and contrivance in the story. The most egregious, is how the characters justify the killing of women and children in a Mexic stronghold in their plan. Perhaps the idea is that the reader should *not* agree with them and should see it as an example of how the military rationalizes all its actions, however immoral they may seem. (On the other hand, one character explicitly condemns an action that directly copies a decision from World War II that most people accept as necessary--and no, it's not the atomic bomb.) And one final minor complaint: the copy editor at Solaris does not seem to know the difference between "flout" and "flaunt". The story itself has more of straight military science fiction and less of the "Celestial Empire" background than Roberson's short stories, and as such is a reasonably enjoyable read, even if not as "pure" an alternate history. Grade: B.

Book Review: Kissing Babies at the Piggly Wiggly

Reader # 97 wrote: The book is very predictable. It was ok but it is not memorable. I think the characters could be more interesting and the story more interesting. I would not recommend this book. Grade: C

Book Review: Wedding Bell Blues

Reader # 97 wrote: Very enjoyable love story. It delves into a lost love that returns after many years. You discover family secrets and a new found belief in the power of God. I would recommend it for a quick reading book that is uplifting. Grade: A

Book Review: The County Fair

Reader # 97 wrote: Very enjoyable book that shows the small town camaraderie and how everyone pulls together in a crisis. It has an uplifting ending. Grade: A