Hush Money Review

Hush Money by Robert B. Parker

(from the book jacket)

When Robinson Nevins, the son of Hawk’s boyhood mentor, is denied tenure at the University, Hawk asks Spenser to investigate.  It appears the denial is tied to the suicide of a young gay activist, Prentice Lamont.  While intimations of an affair between Lamont and Nevins have fed the campus rumor mill, no one is willing to talk, and as Spenser digs deeper he is nearly drowned in a multicultural swamp of politics: black, gay, academic, and feminist.

At the same time, Spenser’s inamorata, Susan, asks him to come to the aid of an old college friend, K.C. Roth, the victim of a stalker.  Spenser solves the problem a bit too effectively, and K.C., unwilling to settle for the normal parameters of the professional-client relationship, becomes smitten with him, going so far as to attempt to lure him from Susan.  When Spenser, ever chivalrous, kindly rejects her advances, K.C. turns the tables and begins to stalk him.

Then the case of Robinson Nevins turns deadly.  It is, Spenser discovers, only the tip of the iceberg in a great conspiracy to keep America white, male, and straight.  Spenser must call upon his every resource, including friends on both sides of the law, to stay alive.

I think the reasons I liked this book are the same reasons I like Spenser books in general.  Spenser and Hawk are great characters.  They are tough guys without being stupid; they are smart guys without being annoying.  And their friendship comes through as real and believable.  You can tell by the way they talk to each other that they have known each other for a long time.  And the book is written with a lot of wit.  So it’s fun to read.  It deals with issues like prejudice and racism without reading like an after school special or a sermon and without belittling the problem.  And since I tend to get annoyed when books preach at me, I appreciated that.  The plot line about Nevins was more interesting to me than the other one but both were fine.  But I was more interested in the people than in either of them.  If you like detective/PI novels and haven’t read any Spenser, you should.  If not this one than another.  They are easy to get hooked on.

Bless Their Hearts Mom Giveaways

Bless Their Hearts Mom is giving stuff away!  Run over there and check it out.

For These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen go here.  Open until April 17th to the US and Canada.

For The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark go here.  Open until April 22nd to the US and Canada.

For The 5 Love Languages of Children by Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Ross Campbell go here.  Open until April 24th to the US and Canada.

For The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch go here.  Open until April 25th to the US and Canada.

For the Top Shelf giveaway (you get to pick one book from a nice list) go here.  Open until April 30th to the US and Canada.

The Planets Review

The Planets by Dava Sobel

(from the book jacket)

The Sun’s family of planets becomes a familiar place in this guided tour of other worlds.  Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history.  Whether revealing what lies behind Venus’s cocoon of acid clouds of capturing firsthand the excitement at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when pictures from Cassini at Saturn are beamed to Earth, this intimate account is filled with fascination, beauty, and surprise.

There is a chapter for each planet (Pluto, the sun, and the moon have chapters too) and each chapter takes a different approach.  In most you get some of the same facts like the rotation speed and atmospheric composition and such so you do get some text book like information but there is more to it than that.  Venus is about beauty and includes poetry, Mars is told in the voice of a fragment found on Earth, Saturn talks about the music of the spheres, and Jupiter explores the astrology of the planet.  It is a rather brief introduction to each planet and does not go in-depth very much but the unique approach makes it less a study of the science of the planets and makes it a stargazer’s wondering look at the universe.  It is meant to teach you something but also to show you the wonder, imagination and glory of the planets.

Theme Thursday - Ending

 Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.

The rules are simple:

•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – ENDING - Last sentence from the last page of the book



Like the man’s legacy, it is certainly broad, manifestly massive, and, for all practical purposes, invisible to terrestrial eyes.

- Circumference by Nicholas Nicastro

The man in this case is Eratosthenes. Something was named after him apparently. Something apropos. I’m not sure what yet. But it seems I’ll find out when I finish the book I guess.

Skellig Book vs. Movie

Skellig by David Almond
Skellig: The Owl Man with Tim Roth



Michael moves into a new home with his parents and newborn sister. He finds a man in the run down garage that is not quite a man. And he and his friend Mina befriend this incredible being and all their lives are changed forever.

The book is a deceptively simple story about a boy who is both jealous of and worried about his baby sister who has been sick since the day she was born. There is a subtle magic and fantasy to the story that adds a nice twist to the traditional coming of age tale of a boy in a new home, with a new sister and all the other changes in his life. And it also shows what friendship and love can do in people’s lives.

The movie is more dramatic. It seems that everything is done bigger. Starting with small things like how rude Skellig was to begin with to a big dramatic flying scene. Everyone’s reactions are bigger. There’s more yelling between the characters. The magic is more obvious. All these things can be expected to try to make the movie more entertaining but it takes some of the simplicity that I liked in the book away.

Mina is a bit of a stuck up brat in both the book and movie but she seems less likeable in the movie.

One of Michael’s friends is also rather unlikeable. He made fun of Michael a bit in the book too. But at least in the book you could see why they were friends to begin with but it was hard to see it in the movie.

The stories are very similar and most of the changes can be forgiven for the sake of trying to make a dramatic movie but I like the way the book is a smaller, softer, subtler story where the power of it kind of sneaks up on you and surprises you.

Wasp Review

Wasp by Eric Frank Russell

(from the back of the book)

The war had been going on for nearly a year and the Sirian Empire had a huge advantage in personnel and equipment.  Earth needed an edge.  Which was where James Mowry came in.

If a small insect buzzing around in a car could so distract the driver as to cause that vehicle to crash, think what havoc one properly trained operative could wreak on an unsuspecting enemy.

Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, James Mowry is landed on Jaimec, the ninety-fourth planet of the Sirian Empire.  His mission is simple: sap morale, cause mayhem, tie up resources, wage a one-man war on a planet of eighty million.  In short, be a wasp.

It is a science fiction book but that shouldn’t scare away any non-science fiction fans.  It happens on another planet and there is space travel but the science fiction elements are not a big influence on the plot.  Change it from another planet to another country and it becomes an espionage story instead.  There is a dark humor to the story as you watch this one lone human running around an alien planet causing all sorts of trouble for the government and making them believe that there is a whole organization involved and not just one man.  There is suspense and a few thrills as Mowry runs for his life on a hostile planet amid the chaos he has created.  So if you are not a science fiction fan but like espionage stories with a lighter feel to them you should give this a try.  If you are a science fiction fan you should not be put off by the fact that it isn’t very science fictiony.  You won’t get warp drives, first contacts or time travel but it is still a good, fast story.

WWW Wednesdays (March 21st)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions...


*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you’ll read next?

Leave a link to your post (or the answers themselves if you do not have a blog) in the comments of Should Be Reading.



What are you currently reading?

Castle in the Air by Donald Westlake

I love Westlake’s comedy crime novels.



What did you recently finish reading?

Remote Control by Jack Heath

The second book in a young adult series. I like them. They are fun and quick to read.



What do you think you’ll read next?

I think I’ll start Circumference by Nicholas Nicastro. I bought it a while ago and just never got around to reading it. I think it’s time.

Win The Taker

Bea's Book Nook is giving away a copy of The Taker by Alma Katsu.

You will have to read the excerpt to find the answer to a question to enter.

Open until March 25th to the US only.

Was Superman a Spy Review

Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin has collected some of the comic book stories, legends, rumors, and myths that he has been exploring for years on his blog and collected them all into one book.

I was thinking of this book as a list of comic book rumors and the truth about them.  That is not exactly the format that this book takes.  It reads more like a history of the major comic book companies and how various characters and plot points came about.  So most of the time I didn’t know what the myth was he was responding to.   And I do think that Cronin uses exclamation points (!!!!) more often than the facts warrant.  Nothing is quite that exciting.  But that doesn’t mean that the information was not interesting.  I’ve never looked into it much before myself so most of the information here was new to me.  Not only do you learn why they came up with kryptonite and why Batgirl was introduced, and many other tidbits but you also learn about the crazy comic book politics.  The fighting and the way stories were changed around to fit with movies or TV shows and such and the battles over the rights to use certain names and terms. (Hulk Hogan had a run-in with Marvel about his name.)  Knowing all the weirdness that went on behind the comic books does not make them less fun to read.  In fact I think it might make them more fun.  You, of course, have to be a comic book fan to care about any of the information in this book but if you are I think you will find something here for you.

Check Out the Happiness Blog Tour

Go check out the Happiness Blog Tour.  Bryan Cohen is giving away paperback and audio book copies of his book The Post-College Guide to Happiness.  And a Kindle Fire.  Plus everyone who enters will get a free digital review copy.

The blog tour will visit 61 blogs in 61 days.  It started on March 1st and will go until April 30th.

The winners will be chosen after the blog tour is over.

Storm Front Review

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

(from the back of the book)

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does.  Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does.  So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers.  For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things – and most of them don’t play well with humans.  That’s where Harry comes in.  Takes a wizard to catch a – well, whatever.

There’s just one problem.  Business, to put it mildly, stinks.  So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs.  But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it.  And now that mage knows Harry’s name.  And that’s when things start to get…interesting.

Magic.  It can get a guy killed.

This is the first book in the Dresden Files series.  So there is some set up here as Butcher introduces his characters and explains the world they live in.  But the story never drags.  It is a fast read with a lot of interesting characters.  There is action and suspense and some mystery. It is fun to get to know Dresden and start to understand his relationship with the ‘magic’ world and the everyday ordinary one.  He is a witty guy who has a self-deprecating type of humor and is truly interested in helping people and doing the right things, so he is an easy guy to like.  He is slightly bitter about some things in his past without becoming obnoxious about it.  Which I think is hard to do in a character.  You get some glimpses at Dresden’s history and also some hints about information that you will learn in future books.  And you are left wanting to read future books to learn more about Dresden and all of his friends (and some people who aren’t all that friendly) and to watch him get into trouble and then get himself back out of it again.  It will keep you interested and entertained right to the very end.

Theme Thursday - Birth Date

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.

The rules are simple:

•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – BIRTHDATE - First snippet from the page that is your birthdate (So, I was born on the 22nd, so I would use page 22.)

Most “retired” Mrs. Malaprops were released into the BookWorld, where they turned ferrule, but just recently rehoming charities were taking note of their plight.

-- One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (page 22)

WWW Wednesdays (March 7th)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions...


*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you’ll read next?

Leave a link to your post (or the answers themselves if you do not have a blog) in the comments of Should be Reading.



What are you currently reading?

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde

This had a slow start but it’s picking up a little so I still have hope.



The Knight in History by Frances Gies

This looks like it is going to have a lot of information and most of it interesting but it might be rather dense and not as readable as I had hoped.



What did you recently finish reading?

Wasp by Eric Frank Russell

One man is sent to an alien planet to see how much havoc he can wreak to help the war effort.



What do you think you’ll read next?

I have no idea. I just got a review copy of The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. So maybe that. Then again, maybe not.

The Gods of Gotham Review

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

(from the book jacket)

It is 1845…Timothy Wilde tends bar near the Exchange, fantasizing about the day he will have enough money to win the girl of his dreams.  But when his dreams incinerate in a fire that devastates downtown Manhattan, he finds himself disfigured, unemployed, and homeless.  His older brother gets him a job in the newly minted NYPD, but Timothy is highly skeptical of this new “police force.”  And he is less than thrilled that his new beat is the notoriously down-and-out Sixth Ward of the city – at the edge of Five Points, the world’s most notorious slum.

One night while making his rounds, Timothy runs into, literally, a little slip of a girl – a girl not more than ten years old, dashing through the dark in her nightshirt…covered head to toe in blood.

Timothy knows he should take the girl to the House of Refuge, yet he can’t bring himself to abandon her.  Instead he takes her to his house, where she spins wild stories, claiming that dozens of bodies are buried in the forest north of Twenty-third Street.  Timothy isn’t sure whether to believe her or not, but as the truth unfolds, the reluctant copper star finds himself engaged in a battle for justice that nearly costs him his brother, his romantic obsession, and his own life.

This is a dark story.  But it happens in what was a dark time.  And through Faye’s writing you feel like you really, at least start to, understand what it was like to live at that time.  The setting is very realistically brought to life.  I like the use of flash (dictionary provided) which is a street language that not everyone understood.  It was interesting to learn some of the words and it added something to the realism of the dialogue.  There are a host of interesting characters that are complex and well thought out.  And with all the different political and personal motives and goals going on you are kept guessing as to how the mystery is going to resolve.  The history of the time is interesting to read about and I like the way Timothy turns from a copper star walking a beat into a detective solving crimes by the end of the book.  As I’ve mentioned it is a bit of a dark story but without belittling the bleakness of the times or the hardships of the people Faye manages to put some hope in the story too so it does not leave the reader depressed.  The ending does leave the possibility that we will be hearing about Timothy Wilde in the future.  Which I will be looking forward to.

His Girl Friday Review

His Girl Friday

With Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell

A newspaper reporter tries to win back his co-worker ex-wife before she remarries all while both are trying to get a story about an escaped prisoner and his plight.

I think this is supposed to be a romantic comedy but unfortunately there didn’t seem to be much of either.  There didn’t seem to be any warm feelings between Grant and Russell and they weren’t a couple you were rooting for.  You do feel sorry for Bellamy’s character, Russell’s fiancé, because he got involved with either of these rather unlikeable characters.  The slow nature of Bellamy’s character emphasizes the difference between what Russell is leaving behind and what she has in front of her but what I liked best about it was that it provided a break from the frantic pace and high volume of the rest of the movie.  There were a couple of funny lines but I think most of the comedy is supposed to come from the scenes where everyone is talking at once.  And instead of being funny it just becomes annoying as you can’t tell what anyone is saying and everyone just gets louder until my head started to hurt.  In my opinion this is not one of the better Cary Grant movies.

Friday 56 (March 1st)

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
 *Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it to Freda's Voice.
*Add your (url) post to Linky on Freda’s post

This week the book is The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye.  It is rather a dark story about the time when the NY police force was just getting formed.

Truthfully, my stoicism was all bluff – the thought of seeing myself turned my stomach.  It was a coward’s avoidance, not a resigned and phlegmatic survivor’s.

Theme Thursdays - Name

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.

The rules are simple:

•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – Name: The first name you come across while reading


It doesn’t make for the most interesting reading or even make much sense all by itself but here goes.


Ultimately, Quesada managed to get them to allow Milgrom to continue to work at Marvel on a freelance basis, although his staff position was taken away.

- Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin

Milgrom was inking comic books and slipped an insult into one of the panels. They were going to fire him completely but I guess Quesada stepped in.

Ah-Choo Review

Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold by Jennifer Ackerman

Learn all you want to know about the common cold; how and where you are most likely to catch a cold, what works or doesn’t to fight one, why you can catch more than one a year, and much more. 

Ackerman goes through all the different studies that have been done on the common cold.  How and where you catch one, what can factor into whether you catch one, what are the best ways to avoid catching one and research on all the cold medicines and folk remedies that claim to fight one off.  There are a lot of interesting facts here about what a cold actually does to your body, what causes the different symptoms, why it is impossible to create a vaccine and many others.  (Did you know that you swallow about a quart of mucus a day?  And that’s when you’re healthy.  I’m not sure I wanted to know that but now I do.)  It is very informative.   There are a few words like turbinates and cytokines that I’m not sure exactly what they mean but the general idea is always clear enough.  It goes through a lot of the commonly used medicines and supplements and tells you what research and science says about them.  It also gives you some pointers on what to do for various symptoms.  If you are interested in the science of the cold definitely read this. And if you can find nothing that helps you this book could be useful but if you have something that you swear works don’t read this. Sometimes the science does not support theory and you don’t want to lose any placebo effect that might be at work.

Theme Thursday - Smell

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.

The rules are simple:

•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – Smell



I could see sultanas poking out of a thousand-year cake, and its smell of candied orange peel livened my senses.

- The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye


I’m not really sure what a thousand-year cake is but it seems to have raisins and candied citrus peel. And now I want to try some.

WWW Wednesday (February 22nd)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions...


*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you’ll read next?

Leave a link to your post (or the answers themselves if you do not have a blog) in the comments of Should be Reading.



What are you currently reading?

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

The New York has just started the police force and some people don’t like it. It’s a dark time and a rather grim story so far but I like it.

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

I like Shakespeare and stories about Caesar and stuff like that so I’m liking this too. But it always takes me a little while to get into the swing of reading it.



What did you recently finish reading?

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

Not my favorite Hammett but still full of noir goodness. 

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Planets by Dava Sobel – it’s a library book so I’ll have to return it sooner or later and I want to use it for my Non-Fiction Non-Memoir reading challenge.

What's in a Name Challenge

I've decided to join one more challenge.

Beth Fish Reads is hosting the What's in a Name Challenge.

Here's How It Works:

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Bear Island by Alistair MacLean (review here)

A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Was Superman a Spy? by Brian Cronin (review here)
(Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane...)

A book with a creepy crawly in the title:  Wasp by Eric Frank Russell (review here)

A book with a type of house in the title:  Castle in the Air by Donald Westlake (review here)

A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title:  Hush Money by Robert Parker (review here) 

A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title:  Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (review here)

I don't have the book titles yet so I will fill them in as I figure them out.  I'll have to get going though or I'll never finish the challenges I signed up for.

I Am A Reader, Not A Writer Giveaways

I Am A Reader, Not A Writer is having a couple of giveaways you should check out.

For Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer Hubbard go here.  Ends March 8th.  Open to the US and Canada.

For an ebook copy of 77 Days in September by Ray Gorham go here.  Ends March 8th.  Open internationally.

For The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges go here.  Ends March 9th.  Open internationally.

For Angelina's Secret by Lisa Rogers go here.  Ends March 11th.  Open to the US only.

For The Muse of Edouard Manet by M. Clifford go here.  Ends March 11th.  Open internationally.

For Midnight Child by Bryna Butler go here.  Ends March 11th.  Open to the US and Canada.

For Milledgeville Misfit by T.L. Gray go here.  Ends March 11th.  Paperback copy giveaway open to the US only.  Ebook copy giveaway open internationally.

Good luck!

Vocab from The Disappearing Spoon and Before Versailles

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean


Lacrimator: a tear-producing substance (as tear gas)

Neologism: 1:a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase.
2: the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.

Transuranic: (of an element) having an atomic number greater than that of uranium

Susurrus: a soft murmuring or rustling sound; whisper.

Heuristically: 1: serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.
2: encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.



Before Versailles by Karleen Koen


Biddable: willing to do what is asked; obedient; tractable; docile

Ormolu: also called mosaic gold. an alloy of copper and zinc used to imitate gold.

Hautboy: oboe.

Gamine: 1: a neglected girl who is left to run about the streets.
2: a diminutive or very slender girl, especially one who is pert, impudent, or playfully mischievous.

Parterre: 1: also called parquet circle. the rear section of seats, and sometimes also the side sections, of the main floor of a theater, concert hall, or opera house.
2: an ornamental arrangement of flower beds of different shapes and sizes.

Parvenu: a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc.

Walking Through Walls Review

Walking ThroughWalls by Philip Smith

(from the book jacket)

After a full day of creating beautiful interiors for the rich and famous, Lew Smith would come home, take off his tie, and get down to his real work as a physic healer who miraculously cured thousands of people.  For his son, Philip, watching his father transform himself, at a moment’s notice, from gracious society decorator into a healer with supernatural powers was a bit like living with Clark Kent and Superman.

Walking Through Walls is Philip Smith’s astonishing memoir of growing up in a household where séances, talking spirits, and exorcisms were daily occurrences, and inexplicable psychic healing resulted in visitors suddenly discarding their crutches and wheelchairs or being cured of fatal diseases.

While there are benefits to having a miracle man in the house, Philip soon discovers the downside of living with a father who psychically knows everything he is doing.  Surrounded by invisible spirits who tend to behave like nagging relatives, Philip looks for ways to escape his mystical home life – including forays into sex, surfing, and even Scientology.

By turns hilarious and profound, Walking Through Walls recounts Philip Smith’s often bizarre but always magical coming of age in a household that felt like a cross between Lourdes and the set of Rosemary’s Baby, and shows how he managed to map out his own identity in the shadow of a father who, truly, loomed larger than life itself.

I like the matter-of-fact tone that Smith uses in writing his story.  He is not trying to defend anything or trying to convince you of anything.  He is not trying to push anything on you.  He is just telling his story.  His story just happens to include physic healers who can heal over the telephone.  Whether you believe it is up to you.  And Smith does have an interesting story.  Growing up with a designer father who invented the bead curtain and also happens to be a physic healer (his mother seemed a bit unusual too) gives him a unique perspective on things.  He ends up leading a double life as he tries to be ‘normal’ at school and then comes home to people queued up to be healed by his father.  Sometimes, though, I do think the story becomes more of a biography of his father than a memoir of his own life and there are a lot of anecdotes about who his father knew and all the things his father did.  Smith also explains terms like ‘akashic records’ and talks about the different ways that his father worked and different techniques that he used.  Some of which was interesting because I know next to nothing about such things but at times he describes things in such detail and at such length (a whole page of yes/no questions he asks to locate a tumor for example) that it becomes tedious and then boring.  Whether you believe in physic healing or dispersing clouds with your mind or not, Smith still tells an interesting story about an unusual life.  His father was, of course, the important influence in his life and we needed to know about him but I was more interested in the parts of the story that focused on Philip himself instead of his father.  The parts that dealt with how he was affected by, and learned to live with and come to terms with his father’s celebrity and unusual vocation that sometimes made his life difficult.

Ranchero Review

Ranchero by Rick Gavin

(from the book jacket)

Repo man Nick Reid had a seemingly simple job to do: Talk to Percy Dwayne Dubois – pronounced “Dew-boys,” front-loaded and hick specific – about the payments he’s behind on for a flat-screen TV, or repossess it.  Yet Percy Dwayne wouldn’t give in.  Nope, instead he saw fit to go all white-trash philosophical and decided that since the world was stacked against him anyway, he might as well fight it.  He Hit Nick over the head with a fireplace shovel, tied him up with a length of lamp cord, and stole the mint-condition, calypso, coral-colored 1969 Ranchero that Nick had borrowed from his landlady – and he took the TV with him on a rowdy ride across the Mississippi Delta.

Nick and his best friend, Desmond, fellow repo man in Indianola, Mississippi, have no choice but to go after him.  The fact that the trail eventually leads to Guy, a meth cooker recently set up in the Delta after the Feds ran him out of New Orleans, is of no consequence.  Nick will do anything to get the Ranchero back – and it turns out he might have to.

This book is fun to read.  It travels all around Mississippi (mostly from Sonic to Sonic) and goes from a simple TV repo job to car theft to kidnapping to an all-out war with a meth dealer.  And it does it with a sense of humor and is told by a narrator who knows how to turn a phrase.  But it is not all that long on plot.  There is a story here that you can follow from beginning to end.  It’s not that it doesn’t have a discernible story line; it’s just that sometimes it felt like the story line was just a convenient way to introduce us to all the characters the author wanted us to meet.  Are some of the characters slightly clichéd and lacking in depth?  To some degree, yes.  But are the characters interesting?  I think so, yes.  And well worth the time you invest in this book to meet them all.  There’s a lot of action and the story moves quickly from one crazy situation to the next which sets a good pace and makes for a quick read.  I think it is the kind of book that is best enjoyed if you don’t think too much about it.  You shouldn’t worry about where it is all going, don’t try to discern great meaning or figure out some mystery.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.