Murder is Easy - Agatha Christie

Murder is apparently so easy some people make a career of it. What DO the people in Christie's books do for a living? They're all, apparently, independently wealthy and none the better for it. I'd tried to read this one years before but had to return it to the library before finishing it. It was worth the wait. A frighteningly high body count, though, wasn't it? At least for Christie? Seems like this should have been some kind of record for an English "cozy." Caught the TV version the other night and thought they did a pretty good job of it.

Groucho Marx, Master Detective - Ron Goulart

"Let's see you be funny with THESE boys," said the Herald Examiner reporter disdainfully.

"If you want to see that, you'll have to buy a ticket," said Groucho.

This is enjoyable little tale by Ron Goulart stars Groucho as himself, most of the time, barring a few side runs as his cigar wraggling alter-ego and even a brief stint, in full regalia, as his brother Harpo. For his crime-fighting efforts solving the murder of a Hollywood starlet, Groucho enlists a radio-show hack and a cartoonist. With his determined side-kicks, Groucho takes on crooked cops and movie moguls and manages to not make it all read like some bad cliche. We get only very brief historical references, placing us in the reality of the time without reading like a travelogue. There is some name-dropping, period style, and we get little run-ins with the likes of John Garfield, but nothing is over-done and it all manages to keep the story rolling along without stretching credulity. Of course, there are smatterings of Groucho's comedic patter, although there is never enough of that to satisfy my Groucho-fixation, but what there is is very welcome and quite in character:

"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships? Not to mention three dirigibles, a tuna barge and a garbage scow?" Groucho stroked his chin. "Next time, I'll tell them to use a champagne bottle."

As an avid movie-buff, I enjoyed the book enough to give it four stars. It's the first in a very short series and I hope to stumble across the rest of the series during my book scroungings.

The Read-'Em-If-You've-Got-'Em Reading Challenge: The Who Version

I'm not a bibliophile, although you wouldn't know it from my shelves. I'm a reader, and one of the results is I have lots of books. I've been gradually making the transition to electronic books, but it's slow-going when you've accumulated the number of physical books I have. Of course, when you have a lot of books, you tend to get creative with the storage: storing books behind books, stuffing end-tables, the reader's version of feathering the nest, as it were. Anyway, I took a restock of my hide-away bookshelves and realized that, through the course of a decade, I have accumulated some 144 Doctor Who novels. Well, to be exact, 144 hard-back and paper-back novels -- otherwise known as Dead Tree (aka DT) books. I bought these things, even paying outrageous shipping costs to have a good number of them airlifted from Britain, because I sincerely wanted to read them.

Reality check: I've read exactly five of these novels in the past five years.

How sad. I still want to read them. I'm a fan in good standing for several decades -- the Who franchise, after all, is almost as old as I am. I was two when the series first aired and even though it took a while for PBS to air it in the states, Who hit the US during my so-called formative years and I feel the good Doctor and I have grown up together. It's a kind of comfort food for the mind, I suppose. And now, the powers-that-be in the BBC are releasing the New Who series of books for the Kindle -- no shipping fees! -- and I'm anxious to read them, too.

But the reality is, I really need to get a handle on the Dead Tree situation in my house. It's off the chain between the books I've read and love and keep, and the books I've yet to read. So, here's my new challenge and a reading resolution for 2010: read fully half of the DT Who novels I already have. That will be 70 books to be devoured this year, just from the Whovian division. I'll squeeze in some other stuff, of course. I'm a Gemini, after all, and I have to satisfy the other twin, the one that's all serious and stuff. It'll be an interesting challenge and I'm looking forward to it. So, if any Whocentric reviews or notes show up on the blog, you'll be forewarned. Feel free to shake your head and pass on by. I'll be busy reading when/if you get back.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie

Apparently, I'm on an Agatha Christie kick this month, but wow, if I could plot like this, I'd never have time to read. I'd be too busy writing! All the clues were there and I still didn't see it coming. I admit that with all the whining family members, it was nice to find a couple of people with a spine. Too bad they were hell-bent on revenge. But still, with all the back-stabbing family members, who wouldn't feel right at home? Christie, not for the first time, borrows a page from Sherlock Holmes in this one, this time a page from The Hound of the Baskervilles with the family resemblance via an old family portrait. It was kind of fun realizing that, like a little inside joke between reader and author. I was reminded of the quote by Edith Wharton:

Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.

Dear Ms. Christie had no such difficulty and good for her. When it's this good, it's not plagiarism, it's homage.

They Do It With Mirrors - Agatha Christie

I love Miss Marple. My first was the filmed version of Murder She Said and then somewhere I caught just a piece of one of Joan Hickson's versions. My ideal Miss M is a cross between Margaret Rutherford and Joan Hickson.

As appealing as Marple is, however, I don't know why anyone would invite her anywhere. People drop like flies when she's about. Of course, with Christie's usual flair for populating her novels with so many people you need a program to keep track, the body count -- and suspect count -- can get hip deep pretty easily. I had this one figured out way too early. Still, a decent read.

Black Riders & Other Lines - Stephen Crane

More poetry. I'd not read Stephen Crane outside of high school. It was nice recalling where I'd first read the lines: "Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart" and

Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and ninety-nine lie.
Though I strive to use the one,
It will make no melody at my will,
But is dead in my mouth.

Who said there is no beauty in truth?

Tepper Isn't Going Out - Calvin Trillin

This week's book was Tepper Isn't Going Out, a novel by Calvin Trillin. It's an amusing little satire in which, in the end, you realize that things are not always what they seem. The realization makes the ride all the more enjoyable, though. It's a familiar gentleman-minding-his-own-business-becomes-a-folk-hero story with a twist: this gentleman (who also actually happens to be a gentle man) just wants to be left alone to read his newspaper in his (legally parked) car. In New York City.

While it won't have you rolling in the aisles, it will put a smile on you face and has its fair share of laugh out loud moments. Recommended.

Nine Horses - Billy Collins

I have difficulty reviewing poetry. I know what I like when I read it: the writer's talent for observation is numero uno; lack of pretention is numero dos. Billy Collins is well-deserving of his status as U.S. poet laureate. This very short little book is now listed among my favorites.

Five Skies - Ron Carlson

Five Skies is, at first glance, a simple enough tale: three men, near strangers, are hired to build a ramp to nowhere. It is a frivolous project, required for a stunt which will occupy mere seconds of a completely forgettable film.

As the project unfolds, however, so do the lives of these deeply wounded men. Five Skies is a quiet, understated novel. It is a glimpse at the violence our simplest decisions can do to our lives. It is a tribute, too, of the healing power of work and of friendships forged not by words, but by the simple act of being there, by the handling of a tool, by the shouldering of part of a load.

Carlson's writing is spare and deep as desolate and beautiful as the landscape he paints. Five Skies is the kind of book you became a reader for. It is a rare gem. Five Skies is five stars.

Sudden Death - David Rosenfelt

Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt. I was attracted to this series for the simple fact that the cover of one of the books featured a dog. I'm a sucker for books with dogs, no matter how slight the reference. In my defense, I checked out reader reviews before actually making a purchase. Even so, I find that I'm guilty of reading this series out of order, having read Dead Center first (which should have followed Sudden Death). I managed to keep track of everything just fine, however.

As with too many mysteries lately, I had the who-dunnit figured about mid-way through, but enjoyed the characters too much to care, Overall, the novel was pretty tightly plotted for what was still a "relaxed" read, with just the right level of humor and cynicism. I think this would make a decent TV series. A kind of Perry Mason meets Eureka, maybe.

Or maybe not.

The Worried Citizen's Little Survival Guide - Stephen Windwalker

Okay, so the full title is The Worried Citizen's Little Survival Guide to the Greatest Financial Crisis of the Century (Understanding and Surviving the Domino Depression)

Man. Windwalker loves those long titles. Really. I own several of his books on the Kindle and have found he can be relied upon to keep his writing on track and useful without losing the novice or boring the expert, so when I found this little gem, I scooped it up. Or the Kindle-download equivalent of scooped, anyway.

I was not disappointed. Those you still buying the talking head's insistence that our current financial situation is a market "correction" need to pull your heads out of the sand long enough to read this one. I've followed the trail of our current global depression for a good while now, and I was impressed by how Windwalker managed to condense the history of the global meltdown into the financial free-fall of Iceland. The breakdown followed a similar course in many other nations, of course, but rather than bash us about the head with it all, he focused on one case in point.

This is a small book and a surprisingly quick read, but it's not light, by any means. In fact, it is gut-wrenching, but that is scarcely the author's fault: it's the topic. Windwalker manages to tie together hyperinflation, climate change, victim nations, weapons proliferation, terrorism, and financial violence and still keep us reading.

Of course, there is some political bias. Windwalker doesn't claim to be a journalist -- not that many journalists these days have a problem with flouting their own political views. But hey, if you can't read with your own filters intelligently in place, maybe you should just give up reading entirely. ::shrug:: Take up knitting or marksmanship. Personally, I prefer the latter, but I digress.

This is no tale for the shrinking violet. This is the end of the world as we know it. And, despite REM's assertion to the contrary, I don't feel so fine. Like most, I lost big time on my 401k. In fact, I no longer even have one. As Windwalker points out, after the crash of 1929, it was 1954 before the Dow rallied to its 1929 level. That's twenty-five years, folks. Some of us don't have twenty-five years to wait for the market to recover, let alone the number of years it will take for it to replace what we lost in 2008/2009. Some of us -- myself included -- will never recover what we invested, let alone what those investments earned. Barring a miracle, I'll die at my desk, despite whatever age I attain. Nope, I'm not feeling sorry for myself, just stating a fact.

The depressing part is, I'll have plenty of company.

Most of us now lack the money for stock investments. Bonds, which usually fair well in a bad market, are no longer a haven; they're just another hole. Unemployment and underemployment are leading to a quickly shrinking tax base and God knows who'll be funding these bailouts. Child abuse indeed. And we haven't seen the end, yet. The housing crisis may be leveling (please God) but the giant, bank-fed Ponzi scheme that is the looming credit card crisis hasn't yet hit us. That won't be pretty.

True to his word on "Surviving the Domino Depression," Windwalker does provide some hints on how to begin with the "man in the mirror" and make necessary changes in our lives. Those hints are pretty basic: downsizing our properties, taking a closer look at how we define our "needs" and generally re-writing our expectations. I'll tell you one of the biggest hints: remember that life is for living, not for spending. Get off the track that has fed this roller coaster for decades and remember: you're a human being. Not a human buying. Think about it.

Well done, Mr. Windwalker. This one needs to be on the best-seller list.