"High Hat,"
by Greg Mandel
I hadn't read four complete paragraphs of "High Hat" when I began asking myself if I'd had enough and it was okay to stop.
The same question came to mind many times, but I kept forcing myself on, just to see if Greg Mandel could pull off this wacky idea of a Mickey Spillane-type pulp fiction novel in which the private detective has a day job -- as the pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
After plodding through all the obtuse private-eye vernacular for 130 pages, the answer was, "No."
Sorry, Greg. All the kitsch in the world can't save a hokey plot. And how many 130-page paperbacks can you describe as having to plod through?
It's like the author put all the energy into trying to come up with cute similes and metaphors ala Mike Hammer and forgot that realistic drama was an essential element to hold readers' attention.
The storyline has someone trying to get possession of the bones of St. Peter because they allegedly have mysterious powers. The pope, as alter ego A. Pope -- get it? -- Vatican City's only private detective, stumbles on the bad guys and goes through the usual ups and downs the pulp fiction genre requires, getting into as much hot water as, well, as Mandel might have put it, enough hot water to bathe the whole College of Cardinals.
And the creative P-I lingo? Papal garments are call "the holy muumuu;" lips are "ruby smoochers;" the pope never walks anywhere, he "ankles" over; the Mennonite splinter group bad guys are "pretzel benders." All that's campy for a while, and silly almost to the point of funny, but not quite.
Save yourself the two hours. If you need a fix of stuff like this, find a "Batman" rerun on cable TV. That's about the quality of the story and the action -- and you'll only be wasting 30 minutes of your life. -- bz
Friday, February 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
From Shakespeare's quill to our lips
"Shakespeare: The World as Stage,"
by Bill Bryson
William Shakespeare's birth was recorded in Latin, but he dies in English.
It's a factoid that summarizes well the impact that playwright and poet Will Shakespeare had on his native tongue -- and it's been a lasting impact. More than 400 years later; English speakers around the globe use -- without knowing their source -- words and phrases created by the Bard of Avon.
If you've ever said, one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, be in a pickle, cold comfort, foul play, tower of strength, you've been quoting Shakespeare.
Bill Bryson points to a dozen or so words first found in Shakespeare, too, but he digs up little known facts about Shakespeare the man, not just the literary figure, to keep the interest of any reader, not just wordsmiths.
Bryson posits, for example, that Shakespeare exploited the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1586), leveraging renewed British patriotism to stage his history plays to the audiences of the day.
Those audiences were working people primarily, evidence that Will knew how to write for the masses. Although late 16th century laborers were poor, they found Shakespeare's plays worth spending a pence or two to get into the Globe Theater for a "groundling" spot.
A couple times throughout the book there references to Shakespeare's religion. Was he Catholic? Not enough evidence to say one way or the other, Bryson concludes, but what his research offers is insight into the anti-Catholic prejudice of the day.
Catholics were seen as such a threat to the government after the failed "Powder Treason" of 1604, where 36 barrels of gunpowder were found in a cellar beneath Westminster Palace and one Guy Fawkes waiting for the signeal to light the fuse. Bryson reports, "The reaction against Catholics was swift and decisive. They were barred from key professions and, for a time, not permitted to travel more than five miles from home. A law was even proposed to make them wear striking and preposterous hats, for ease of identification, but it was never enacted."
There's much, much more about who Shakespeare knew, who influenced his work, the royalty who supported him and his players, and plenty of investigation into the literary question that continues through the centuries: Did Shakespeare really write everything attributed to Shakespeare?
You aren't likely to be interested in the details that Bryson goes into, but he's such a good writer even those parts go quickly in this brief, 199-page book. Bryson makes even Will's will interesting reading. -- bz
by Bill Bryson
William Shakespeare's birth was recorded in Latin, but he dies in English.
It's a factoid that summarizes well the impact that playwright and poet Will Shakespeare had on his native tongue -- and it's been a lasting impact. More than 400 years later; English speakers around the globe use -- without knowing their source -- words and phrases created by the Bard of Avon.
If you've ever said, one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, be in a pickle, cold comfort, foul play, tower of strength, you've been quoting Shakespeare.
Bill Bryson points to a dozen or so words first found in Shakespeare, too, but he digs up little known facts about Shakespeare the man, not just the literary figure, to keep the interest of any reader, not just wordsmiths.
Bryson posits, for example, that Shakespeare exploited the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1586), leveraging renewed British patriotism to stage his history plays to the audiences of the day.
Those audiences were working people primarily, evidence that Will knew how to write for the masses. Although late 16th century laborers were poor, they found Shakespeare's plays worth spending a pence or two to get into the Globe Theater for a "groundling" spot.
A couple times throughout the book there references to Shakespeare's religion. Was he Catholic? Not enough evidence to say one way or the other, Bryson concludes, but what his research offers is insight into the anti-Catholic prejudice of the day.
Catholics were seen as such a threat to the government after the failed "Powder Treason" of 1604, where 36 barrels of gunpowder were found in a cellar beneath Westminster Palace and one Guy Fawkes waiting for the signeal to light the fuse. Bryson reports, "The reaction against Catholics was swift and decisive. They were barred from key professions and, for a time, not permitted to travel more than five miles from home. A law was even proposed to make them wear striking and preposterous hats, for ease of identification, but it was never enacted."
There's much, much more about who Shakespeare knew, who influenced his work, the royalty who supported him and his players, and plenty of investigation into the literary question that continues through the centuries: Did Shakespeare really write everything attributed to Shakespeare?
You aren't likely to be interested in the details that Bryson goes into, but he's such a good writer even those parts go quickly in this brief, 199-page book. Bryson makes even Will's will interesting reading. -- bz
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Don Rickles you never knew
"Rickles' Book,"
by Don Rickles with David Ritz
Okay, I admit it. I never respected Don Rickles or his brand of humor. Insulting people so that other people laugh at them seems a cheap way to make a living, so I put Don Rickles -- the king of insults -- a cut or more below comics I admired.
His memoir, however, sheds light on a different Don Rickles.
His struggle to survive as an entertainer, his willingness to accept any kind of work on stage and work long hours, his gratitude to the people who gave him opportunities, his humility, his faith life (as a Jew) and his faithfulness in marriage are all cause for admiration.
Don Rickles, who belittles celebrities and non-celebrities alike, turns out to be a loving son -- one who adored his father and who lived with his widowed mother for many years; their family stories betray a mutual caring for one another, and the comedian shows a soft side in recalling how his mom stood behind him -- and even gave his career a push.
Living in Miami at one point, Etta Rickles makes it her business to make friends with Dolly Sinatra, mother of you-know-who, who also happens to be in Miami. "It would be great if you could get Frank to go see Don," Etta Rickles tells Dolly. Franks shows up where Don is performing, Don insults him, Frank loves it and the two become friends. Friendship with Frank Sinatra opens doors for Rickles.
Short chapters -- Rickles' many stops on the way up the ladder in the entertainment field and anecdotes about the stars whose lives touch his -- make this an easy and interesting read.
Sprinkled throughout the book are examples of cutting remarks that are the lifeblood of Rickles' routine. I still don't appreciate the shots Rickles takes at overweight people in the crowd or people with odd clothing. But there a couple of good lines he gets off at the expense of some Hollywood stars. "You'd be great," he tells Clint Eastwood, "if you'd ever learned to talk normal and stop whispering."
And he zings Bob Hope and his USO Tours. At one of the Dean Martin Roasts, Hope walks in while Rickles is doing his routine. Thinking-on-his-feet, Rickles says, "Bob Hope is here. I guess the war is over."
Rickles, who on stage seems to have no respect for anyone, shows an enormous respect for the talent of others in the entertainment field, and his ability to win their respect -- people like Jackie Gleason, George Burns and closest friend Bob Newhart -- is evidence that the Rickles in this book deserves respect himself. -- bz
by Don Rickles with David Ritz
Okay, I admit it. I never respected Don Rickles or his brand of humor. Insulting people so that other people laugh at them seems a cheap way to make a living, so I put Don Rickles -- the king of insults -- a cut or more below comics I admired.
His memoir, however, sheds light on a different Don Rickles.
His struggle to survive as an entertainer, his willingness to accept any kind of work on stage and work long hours, his gratitude to the people who gave him opportunities, his humility, his faith life (as a Jew) and his faithfulness in marriage are all cause for admiration.
Don Rickles, who belittles celebrities and non-celebrities alike, turns out to be a loving son -- one who adored his father and who lived with his widowed mother for many years; their family stories betray a mutual caring for one another, and the comedian shows a soft side in recalling how his mom stood behind him -- and even gave his career a push.
Living in Miami at one point, Etta Rickles makes it her business to make friends with Dolly Sinatra, mother of you-know-who, who also happens to be in Miami. "It would be great if you could get Frank to go see Don," Etta Rickles tells Dolly. Franks shows up where Don is performing, Don insults him, Frank loves it and the two become friends. Friendship with Frank Sinatra opens doors for Rickles.
Short chapters -- Rickles' many stops on the way up the ladder in the entertainment field and anecdotes about the stars whose lives touch his -- make this an easy and interesting read.
Sprinkled throughout the book are examples of cutting remarks that are the lifeblood of Rickles' routine. I still don't appreciate the shots Rickles takes at overweight people in the crowd or people with odd clothing. But there a couple of good lines he gets off at the expense of some Hollywood stars. "You'd be great," he tells Clint Eastwood, "if you'd ever learned to talk normal and stop whispering."
And he zings Bob Hope and his USO Tours. At one of the Dean Martin Roasts, Hope walks in while Rickles is doing his routine. Thinking-on-his-feet, Rickles says, "Bob Hope is here. I guess the war is over."
Rickles, who on stage seems to have no respect for anyone, shows an enormous respect for the talent of others in the entertainment field, and his ability to win their respect -- people like Jackie Gleason, George Burns and closest friend Bob Newhart -- is evidence that the Rickles in this book deserves respect himself. -- bz
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Characters to warm up to in a cold, cold climate
“Light on Snow,”
by Anita Shreve
When as a reader you are drawn into a story, when you rush home from work to pick up reading where you left off, when you get out of bed and start reading while you are pouring your morning coffee half into the cup and half onto the kitchen counter, and when, in the end, you wish there were a few more chapters, that’s a good book.
“Light on Snow” is that kind of read.
Anita Shreve pulls us into the lives of Nicky and Robert Dillon, a daughter and father who find a baby in the snowy woods near their New Hampshire home. How they react -- and how their reactions impact their lives -- reveals not just a life-saving response for the infant but a chance to reclaim the lives they have run to the northern forest to escape.
Part crime story, part family-relationship story, part mystery, “Light on Snow” is so much more than any literary genre can describe, and it’s because Shreve makes us care about the characters. The Dillons are people we want to know – people we want to reach out to – people we want to do the right thing – for their own sake, for their own sanity, for their own saintliness. - bz
by Anita Shreve
When as a reader you are drawn into a story, when you rush home from work to pick up reading where you left off, when you get out of bed and start reading while you are pouring your morning coffee half into the cup and half onto the kitchen counter, and when, in the end, you wish there were a few more chapters, that’s a good book.
“Light on Snow” is that kind of read.
Anita Shreve pulls us into the lives of Nicky and Robert Dillon, a daughter and father who find a baby in the snowy woods near their New Hampshire home. How they react -- and how their reactions impact their lives -- reveals not just a life-saving response for the infant but a chance to reclaim the lives they have run to the northern forest to escape.
Part crime story, part family-relationship story, part mystery, “Light on Snow” is so much more than any literary genre can describe, and it’s because Shreve makes us care about the characters. The Dillons are people we want to know – people we want to reach out to – people we want to do the right thing – for their own sake, for their own sanity, for their own saintliness. - bz
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
If you like ‘Cold Case,’ you’ll like ‘Shadows’
Shadows,
By Edna Buchanan
“Shadows” is a good, “Cold Case”-type detective story with interesting twists that go back to the Cilvil Rights Movement days of the 1960s.
Author Edna Buchanan has at least a half-dozen good novels to her name, and you've gotta love her writing.
When you get a chance, pick up a her non-fiction work, “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face.” It’s filled with stories Buchanan picked up as a crime reporter for The Miami Herald. At a journalism workshop I went to not long ago, one of the presenters said he makes it must reading for all new hires and interns, because it models the colorful, interesting writing he wants in his newspaper.
"Shadows" offers much the same as a work of fiction, and its plot is complicated enough to keep you turning the pages. - bz
By Edna Buchanan
“Shadows” is a good, “Cold Case”-type detective story with interesting twists that go back to the Cilvil Rights Movement days of the 1960s.
Author Edna Buchanan has at least a half-dozen good novels to her name, and you've gotta love her writing.
When you get a chance, pick up a her non-fiction work, “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face.” It’s filled with stories Buchanan picked up as a crime reporter for The Miami Herald. At a journalism workshop I went to not long ago, one of the presenters said he makes it must reading for all new hires and interns, because it models the colorful, interesting writing he wants in his newspaper.
"Shadows" offers much the same as a work of fiction, and its plot is complicated enough to keep you turning the pages. - bz
Monday, February 11, 2008
Everything by a top-selling author is not gold
“Playing for Pizza,”
by John Grisham
Do not waste your time reading “Playing for Pizza” just because John Grisham’s name is on the cover.
With a weak, predictable plot, this will make a made-for-TV movie of the poorest kind.
Here’s a guess: John G. went on vacation to Italy, and, to write-off the expenses on his taxes, he wrote this garbage-y tripe to pass off his airfare, train, hotel and restaurant bills as “research.”
All the “local color” can be found in any guidebook on Italy. Actually, some of those guidebooks make better reading than this football-based schlock.
If Grisham had the slightest sense of shame he would travel the world buying back this book from all who have wasted their money on it. – bz
by John Grisham
Do not waste your time reading “Playing for Pizza” just because John Grisham’s name is on the cover.
With a weak, predictable plot, this will make a made-for-TV movie of the poorest kind.
Here’s a guess: John G. went on vacation to Italy, and, to write-off the expenses on his taxes, he wrote this garbage-y tripe to pass off his airfare, train, hotel and restaurant bills as “research.”
All the “local color” can be found in any guidebook on Italy. Actually, some of those guidebooks make better reading than this football-based schlock.
If Grisham had the slightest sense of shame he would travel the world buying back this book from all who have wasted their money on it. – bz
Friday, February 8, 2008
We all need to know this story of going from slavery to freedom
"I've Got a Home in Glory Land: The Lost Tale of The Underground Railroad"
by Karolyn Smardz Frost
What would it have been like to be a slave?
And what kind of courage did a slave have to have to risk escaping to freedom?
Archeologist and historian Karolyn Smardz Frost dug up some facts and artifacts about a Black couple named Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, and she puts together the scraps of her finds and tedious research to answer those questions and more in “I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land.”
This is a great read, one with dramatic turns that keep you turning pages.
And it’s an educational read as well.
If your American History classes brushed by the era of the Underground Railroad in a hurry to concentrated on the U.S. Civil War, “Glory Land” will fill in the missing gap.
It’s a part of history every North American should know.
And I say North America because, for the people Frost traces back to their one-time slave state of Kentucky, “Glory Land” is Canada.
More we were never taught
That was news to me. I thought the end of the Underground Railroad was just somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In fact, a line of the series of safe houses and sanctuaries for fugitive slaves ran up into Detroit and across the Detroit River to what was then Upper Canada, now Ontario.
How laws in the United States worked against slaves who tried to escape their bondage was news to me, too.
Of course in school we learned about the Dred Scott Decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protected the rights of slave owners. But legalisms that cooperated with the slave faction abounded. When the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 opened up the Midwest for settlement, its article six provided that runaway slaves be returned to their owners.
As early as 1793 there was even a federal law, the Fugitive Slave Law, that required slaves to be returned to their masters.
Canada deserves some props
The Canadians don’t come off pure as the driven snow with regard to racial bias, but their protection of the right of freedom for any British subject saved the day for the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn and thousands of other former slaves who fled the cruelty and inhumanity of the slave system.
Theirs is a story all should know.
And the refresher course on what slave owners did – how they treated other human beings – is a lesson Americans should never forget. – bz
by Karolyn Smardz Frost
What would it have been like to be a slave?
And what kind of courage did a slave have to have to risk escaping to freedom?
Archeologist and historian Karolyn Smardz Frost dug up some facts and artifacts about a Black couple named Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, and she puts together the scraps of her finds and tedious research to answer those questions and more in “I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land.”
This is a great read, one with dramatic turns that keep you turning pages.
And it’s an educational read as well.
If your American History classes brushed by the era of the Underground Railroad in a hurry to concentrated on the U.S. Civil War, “Glory Land” will fill in the missing gap.
It’s a part of history every North American should know.
And I say North America because, for the people Frost traces back to their one-time slave state of Kentucky, “Glory Land” is Canada.
More we were never taught
That was news to me. I thought the end of the Underground Railroad was just somewhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In fact, a line of the series of safe houses and sanctuaries for fugitive slaves ran up into Detroit and across the Detroit River to what was then Upper Canada, now Ontario.
How laws in the United States worked against slaves who tried to escape their bondage was news to me, too.
Of course in school we learned about the Dred Scott Decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protected the rights of slave owners. But legalisms that cooperated with the slave faction abounded. When the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 opened up the Midwest for settlement, its article six provided that runaway slaves be returned to their owners.
As early as 1793 there was even a federal law, the Fugitive Slave Law, that required slaves to be returned to their masters.
Canada deserves some props
The Canadians don’t come off pure as the driven snow with regard to racial bias, but their protection of the right of freedom for any British subject saved the day for the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn and thousands of other former slaves who fled the cruelty and inhumanity of the slave system.
Theirs is a story all should know.
And the refresher course on what slave owners did – how they treated other human beings – is a lesson Americans should never forget. – bz
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Priest gets inside scoop on NY theater scene and theater people
“A Jesuit-Off Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus, Judas, and Life’s Big Questions,” By Father James Martin, SJ, Loyola Press
“A Jesuit Off-Broadway” is a tell-all book.
Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Capote”) is in it.
You won’t find the latest dirt on him, but you will find Hoffman explain how, in directing “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” he wanted the audience “to see a Christ who fought for people with desperate conviction,” who was “tough and real and exciting.”
You will read what actors struggle with in their personal lives, what they think about religion, and how they grow in understanding the spirituality of their art.
And you will read about a priest-author whose time with the theater company reminds him not only why he entered the Society of Jesus but of the essential truth of Christianity.
Asked to be the theological adviser for a play, Jesuit Father James Martin’s pulls the curtain back to show what theater is like, as you might expect, but more importantly what theater people are like.
The play itself is created on-the-go, built up from a mere concept into a script with action. Along the way Father Jim, as the cast calls him, is asked to explain the teachings of the church on forgiveness, how Scripture came about, how Jesus was fully human and fully divine, and, of course to answer the really important questions like, “Was Mary Magdalene really married to Jesus, like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ says?”
I enjoyed this book so much because it both entertains and teaches. There are some funny, funny lines.
During the casting-call time, for example, Father Martin tells a fellow Jesuit, “They’re looking for Jesus.” The other priest replies wryly, “Aren’t we all?”
Reading sessions for “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” turn into freewheeling discussions covering almost every topic in Scripture and theology. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis – who first sought help with the religious aspects of his play concept – spouts one day, “I feel like I’m in grad school.”
Read “A Jesuit off-Broadway” and you might too.
Or at least feel like you’ve taken a refresher course in your faith. -- bz
“A Jesuit Off-Broadway” is a tell-all book.
Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Capote”) is in it.
You won’t find the latest dirt on him, but you will find Hoffman explain how, in directing “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” he wanted the audience “to see a Christ who fought for people with desperate conviction,” who was “tough and real and exciting.”
You will read what actors struggle with in their personal lives, what they think about religion, and how they grow in understanding the spirituality of their art.
And you will read about a priest-author whose time with the theater company reminds him not only why he entered the Society of Jesus but of the essential truth of Christianity.
Asked to be the theological adviser for a play, Jesuit Father James Martin’s pulls the curtain back to show what theater is like, as you might expect, but more importantly what theater people are like.
The play itself is created on-the-go, built up from a mere concept into a script with action. Along the way Father Jim, as the cast calls him, is asked to explain the teachings of the church on forgiveness, how Scripture came about, how Jesus was fully human and fully divine, and, of course to answer the really important questions like, “Was Mary Magdalene really married to Jesus, like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ says?”
I enjoyed this book so much because it both entertains and teaches. There are some funny, funny lines.
During the casting-call time, for example, Father Martin tells a fellow Jesuit, “They’re looking for Jesus.” The other priest replies wryly, “Aren’t we all?”
Reading sessions for “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” turn into freewheeling discussions covering almost every topic in Scripture and theology. Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis – who first sought help with the religious aspects of his play concept – spouts one day, “I feel like I’m in grad school.”
Read “A Jesuit off-Broadway” and you might too.
Or at least feel like you’ve taken a refresher course in your faith. -- bz
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