The Hard Way

The Hard Way is Lee Child's tenth Jack Reacher novel; I've managed to get my hands on maybe six of them so far. Jack Reacher is like a modern-day Lone Ranger. In this book he gets mixed up in a kidnapping and with some nasty mercenary soldiers. Lee Child is a terrific suspense writer. ****

Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage The Graphic Novel

I found this with the rest of the graphic novels and comic books I've been writing about lately, at my local library. I checked this one out because I have to teach American Literature next year, and differentiate the curriculum. I thought it was a passable retelling, though not exceptional, and the visual elements were kind of underwhelming. *** at best, maybe only ** Here's a link to a more detailed review that concurs with and expands on mine

Rising Stars

J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars is a series of comic books about a goup of people who receive extraordinary powers in utero. I really enjoyed book one, Born in Fire and book two, Power. ****
Straczynski's name above links to a wikipedia entry on him. Rising Stars links to a site dedicated to his work. He also created Babylon 5

Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore

Click on the picture to go to Amazon.com
Bettany Hughes sets out to find the reality behind the myth of Helen of Troy. She adds much nuance. The early chapters with details about the Myceneans, Minoans, and Hittites are especially informative. Later chapters trace interpretations of Helen throughout history. Hughes's television work has given her a strategy for raising suspense that extends the book by a good fifty pages and grows wearing after a while. Still ****

The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin

This is the fourth Fandorin mystery by Akunin that I've read. They are romantic in the classic mystery style, like a Sherlock Holmes story. Certainly they need some patience, but they lie in the sweet spot that formula mystery series rarely find: familiar enough for comfort, unique enough not to seem cliche, without being unique for the sake of being unique. For a good review click on the post title. ****

The Chronicles of Conan, Vol. 3

Near the tail end of my adolescent love for comic books I was enamored of both the Barry Smith-drawn Conan, and the many paperback books of Conan stories popular at the time. The other day I couldn't resist picking this up at the library, and taking a brief hiatus from the two "serious" books I'm reading (one far more serious than the other -- give me a through the weekend, I'll write them both up here). It includes "Hawks from the Sea," which I think is the original comic that made me conscious of Smith's art. The prose is purple, bombastic, overblown. Most of the art does not rise to the level of "Hawks..." I wasn't disappointed, but I couldn't recommend it. **

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Great entry at Wikipedia on this comic book series that inspired the movie. I found it great fun. One must have quite a bit of literary background to get the references. I didn't know until I read the entry in Wikipedia that every character had previously existed in fiction. That's a project! ****

Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh

I like the comment in the review on Ted Naifeh's web site: "more for the young-at-heart than the young." A graphic novel about a girl at a boarding school who finds out she's the daughter of the Pirate Queen. Lots of cartoon pirate fun. ****

The Greatest Story Ever Sold

Bush loyalists (how can there still be any) would view this as a partisan attack, but I think a big point Rich makes is that the media abdicated its traditional role and continues to do so. Just today I heard a BBC radio guy talking about how people are beginning to doubt the truthfulness of the reasons given for the Iraq war. Well, Rich shows that it's been a lie from the start (not honest difference of opinion, not carelessness with language -- a calculated lie), and the media let the lie slide. ***** Everyone should care, and everyone should read it, but if you care and you aren't going to read it, at least go to his web site and look at the time line.

The Complete Guitar Course

The Complete Guitar Course is a Reader's Digest book I checked out of the local library. It has a nice explanation of power chords, barre chords, "rocking" between the fifth and sixth (the shuffle AKA Chuck Berry boogie), and funk playing: all stuff I've been meaning to work on adding to my repertoire.
Typical of those kinds of guitar books that give a little bit of all kinds of stuff: it has twenty-lessons, including rock lead playing, and fingerstyle, along with the stuff above. It has two-page profiles of some innovative players, and some history of the development of the guitar. I give it **** as exemplary of its type, but if you aren't an absolute beginner, much of it would be redundant.

The House of Moses All-Stars

Charley Rosen is about the most prolific writer of books about basketball around.
The House of Moses All-Stars is about a touring team during the depression. It's got an authentic feel about old time basketball, barnstorming professionalism, and the Depression. Basketball is partly a Mcguffin, but partly a religion.
This is a piece of American literature that has more to say as I think back on it than it did as I read it. **** (Is that four stars, or three with an asterisk?)

WildCATS Street Smart

WildCATS Street Smart is a comic book containing issues 1-6 of volume 2.
The story, by Scott Lobdell with Joe Casey is based on a complicated sci-fi concept of two alien civilizations using Earth as a battleground. Some of the characters are aliens and some are androids -- it's hard to follow. The art, mainly by Travest Charest and Richard Friend, is good comic book art, but frequently serves to obscure the story line rather than clarify it. Maybe young people who more regularly read this type of comic would rate it more highly, but I'm tempted to give it only two stars. Call it a low ***