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| Ghulam |
 Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 9:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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. Re: The James Comey Interview on ABC:
Stephanopoules 9
Comey 7
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Comey seems like an egotistical asshole with bad judgment.
Hey Syd:
Quote: the Senate narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump’s choice of a tea party congressman to run the space agency in an unprecedented party-line vote.
In a 50-49 vote Thursday, Oklahoma Rep. James Bridenstine, a Navy Reserve pilot, was confirmed as NASA’s 13th administrator, an agency that usually is kept away from partisanship. His three predecessors — two nominated by Republicans — were all approved unanimously. Before that, one NASA chief served under three presidents, two Republicans and a Democrat.
The two days of voting were as tense as a launch countdown.
A procedural vote Wednesday initially ended in a 49-49 tie — Vice President Mike Pence, who normally breaks a tie, was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida — before Arizona Republican Jeff Flake switched from opposition to support, using his vote as leverage to address an unrelated issue.
Apparently Bridenstine used to be a climate denier. And has no relevant experience to run NASA. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:53 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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| Trump continues his appointment fetish for Okies with zero credentials. Pruitt remains the number one disaster. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 10:52 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Hey folks, I wanted to get a rec on where is the best place to start with Donald Westlake (or his alter ego Richard Stark). And same for Peter Robinson.
My niece wants to get my mother some books for Mother's Day and has hit me up for suggestions.
My mother reads tons of crime fiction, murder mystery, espionage type stuff. I know she's read a lot of the Nordic crime stuff (inc. Iceland). I took suggestions from here over the years. For Lawrence Block, I have specific titles. For Westlake and Robinson I have no clue what's best or best to start with.
My mother likes well-researched books with interesting facts, but nothing overly technically immersive. She still likes the page turning and clever twist with the research details the topping on the gruesome murder sundae. I don't think she's fazed at all by gruesome violence and demented serial killers. Which is a bit odd since she's the type that never even uses a curse word. She is closing in on 80, was a 4th grade school teacher for decades, but one who has traveled the world.
These genres really aren't my cuppa. So I'm pretty clueless about these authors and titles. I sent them The Name of the Rose, which is about the closest our tastes come to overlap, though that's probably a bit too literary for their taste (so far only my father read Rose and thought it was okay but a bit long and not fast-paced enough). And I sent them Josephine Hart's Damage which didn't really click with them. Certainly a page turner.
Some other suggestions I culled from here:
Donna Tartt
The Secret History (1992)
The Little Friend (2002)
Chelsea Cain
1. Heartsick
2. Sweetheart , a sequel to Heartsick
Paul Auster
The Invention of Solitude
Moon Palace
New York Trilogy
Anyone a big advocate of any of those?
Anyone think any of those would be good (or bad) for my folks (after my mother reads a book, my father usually reads it next).
I'm not really sure, but I assume my niece is aiming for 3 or 4 titles.
Responses can be here or in the Reading Room. I just thought more folks would be liekly to see my post here.
Thx. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Coincidentally, I just finished a Peter Robinson--"When the Music's Over." Detective Superintendent Alan Banks likes all kinds of music, and talks about it a lot in this book, though the plot has nothing to do with it except that the perp he's trying to catch is an elderly entertainer--much like Bill Cosby, except that his victims were young teenage girls who were too afraid/shy to accuse him back in his peak years. Apparently England has seized on the MeToo challenge as well. The novel starts with the murder of a drug-abused teenage girl on a rural road in Yorkshire, though, not really connected with the pederast, but the two cases are being worked on by Banks' people so he's involved with both. I've read almost all of Robinson's books, and some are better than others--I liked this one. There are a couple that get a bit gruesome, but I don't recall the titles offhand. He's been writing about Banks for decades, from starting as a young detective sergeant with a wife and kids to a divorced superintendent whose children have their own families.
I tend to prefer British detectives, and P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Peter Dickinson, and Minette Walters come to mind as authors I'll always pick up and check out. My mother likes the Maisie Dobbs novels by Jennifer Winspear, set in England between the wars, but I haven't gotten around to those yet--though I will. I have so many other mysteries on my Nook that I haven't read, trying them out at $1.99 apiece.
I loved "The Name of the Rose"--rather silly to make such a dense story into a movie, but at least it had good actors. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 9:40 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Just remembered two old favorites, maybe because they're mostly out of print, though some can be found online: Jonathan Gash's antiques-tweaking Lovejoy mysteries, and Simon Brett's showbiz-centered Charles Paris novels. I've mentioned them before, I think--Lovejoy is a lazy skirt-chaser who knows everything about antiques and can build or paint or otherwise create an "original" for a price (very educational), while Charles Paris is a London-based actor whose skill at solving murders doesn't help his skimpy income as an aging but still struggling performer. (His memory for his many bad reviews is phenomenal.) I've sometimes wished the two would meet up--maybe in a theater where Lovejoy is crafting props that he plans to sell.
Oh, and there's always Dick Francis--very dependable. Skip the ones written after his (researcher) wife died and in collaboration with his son, though. You don't have to be a horse-racing fan--one of my favorites was the one in which an artist was the protagonist; as with Lovejoy, I learned a lot about painting from it. Of course I don't remember the title. There was also a good one that took place on a train on its way across Canada (I think the title was "The Edge"). His protagonists are different in most of the books, but they're basically the same smart, likeable, curious Brit, so it always feels like I already know him well. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 9:44 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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knox wrote: Trump continues his appointment fetish for Okies with zero credentials. Pruitt remains the number one disaster.
Bridenstine's a much better choice. He used to be executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, has sponsored lot of space legislation, and wrote a paper (manifesto really) spelling out what he wants to do in space. Oklahoma Space Alliance has been following his career for years.
Best thing about Pruitt is that he's missed the deadline to run for governor of Oklahoma. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 10:57 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| I know they've read some Dick Francis. That dates back. I remember seeing some of his books in the house way back in the early 80's. I think my folks like to stay pretty current. Though if they like an author, they'll plow through most of the series. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 8:37 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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I like Auster for his originality. Out of state for the last week, whenever I tried to even look at this website I got a blocking screen telling me I was banned.
Anything by Westlake, or any of his Stark novels, is a fine read. A true yarn spinner. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 9:13 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| I was looking for specific titles for Westlake and Peter Robinson. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 10:28 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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It's hard to keep track of titles in an extensive series like Peter Robinson's, or even to remember which ones were very good. "When the Music's Over" is the most recent, I think, but some years ago "Aftermath" was probably his best seller, used for an episode (or two) of the British TV series--which I didn't often watch, because the actor playing Banks didn't look like my image of him.
Trying to find the old books, I ran across a series I'd forgotten, the Iain Pears "art history mysteries" set in Italy--there aren't many of them, but I enjoyed them all and wish he'd write more (he's a serious author, though--see "An Instance of the Fingerpost"). The detectives are an art historian and his beautiful associate in the police force. Titles: The Last Judgment, Giotto's Hand, Death and Restoration, and The Raphael Affair (the last, which I have on hand, has a 1990 copyright). |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 10:48 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: I was looking for specific titles for Westlake and Peter Robinson.
As Carro noted, it's hard to name specific titles. Maybe this will help: the Dortmunder novels. In my memory of Westlake (haven't read him in years), those stand out. Humor and sly wit and likeable characters are never lacking in them.
Of the Stark(Westlake)books, I do recall his series in which the next title would take the last syllable of the previous title - those were Parker novels, and I liked them. E.g. Flashfire ----> Firebreak ----> Breakout. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 10:28 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Useful computer trick:
To reopen a closed tab in your browser:
Ctrl + Shift + T for PC's
That will reopen the last closed browser window.
Do it again, get the one closed before that.
Works at least 4x -- that's the most I've tried it.
Never knew that. Quite helpful.
I think for Macs it is Command + Shift + T |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu May 10, 2018 10:39 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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| Deleted |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun May 13, 2018 11:48 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Well, she bought a ton of books:
Calling Out For You (Inspector Sejer) - Fossum, Karin
Heartsick: A Thriller - Cain, Chelsea
Big Little Lies - Moriarty, Liane
The Secret History - Tartt, Donna
The Little Friend - Tartt, Donna
Gone Girl - Flynn, Gillian
Aftermath: An Inspector Banks Novel - Robinson, Peter
An Instance of the Fingerpost - Pears, Iain
The Hot Rock - Westlake
I really thought she was going for 3 or 4 books.
She sort of went with every suggestion (I would have saved 1/2 for Xmas).
This was all through Amazon. Personally I'd prefer to support Powell's, if prices are about the same.
In any case will probably be some time (if ever) before I get feedback on which they liked. I tried to stress that if they enjoy any of these titles/authors, for most there is a whole series out there to move on to. Hope that sank in. |
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