Mark Lieberman's Blog: Mark Lieberman's BOOK REVIEWS , page 6

Robert Parker’s Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch, #1 through #10 – by Robert Parker and Robert Knott

While I was waiting for one of the Spenser books at the library, also by Robert Parker, I decided to start another of his series. I have already read all the Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall books, and I like his style of writing.

I read that first book, Appaloosa, last October and was hooked. It was also made into a movie starring: Ed Harris (Virgil Cole), Viggo Mortensen (Everett Hitch), and Renee Zellweger (Allie French, she is Virgils partner throughout all the books).

The banter between the three of them in all of the books is fun to read as Allie is not exactly supportive of Cole’s job and is also a bit jealous of the professional relationship between Cole and Hitch. She cheats on Cole and when Cole and Hitch are elsewhere and even though it’s known to Cole and Hitch, Cole loves her and won’t leave her.

Robert Parker started the series and after his death, Robert Knott has continued it. A few days ago, I finished book 10 by Robert Knott. Book 11 is already in my Goodreads Want to Read list, but I will be waiting till next year!

The stories are told from Hitch’s point of view, and they take place in the late 19th century American West, with Appaloosa serving as the central location. There are lots of references to saloons and everything that takes place in them.

Cole and Hitch are law abiding Marshall’s, and do what must be done to uphold the law. They have been together for a long time, and work very well together. People know their names and have heard tales of what they have done. Sometimes, things don’t work out as they expect.

I have really enjoyed all of the books, and can’t wait for the 11th.

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Bookmarkdad.com BOOK OF THE YEAR

This year, I read 131 books (my Goodreads challenge was 110). Included are all 51 books in the Spenser series, which I really enjoyed. Don’t get me wrong, Spenser is a kick-ass private investigator, but none of them stood out for the book year of the year.

So, let me glance through my Goodreads list and see if something pops out to me.

I got two:

Connie: A Memior – by Connie Chung

I was a bit skeptical about reading this book, as I wasn’t sure I would enjoy her story.

I had had no clue her parent’s marriage was arranged.

I had no clue who father was a spy in the Chinese government, and because of that, that is how her family was able to migrate to the USA. Her father documented it and Connie repurposed it for the book. A lot of things happened and if anything went wrong, we wouldn’t have Connie Chung today.

I had no clue Connie worked at an independent news station in LA after she left CBS news. At that station, Maury Povich (whom she would later marry, was the Sports Director). Connie had a lot of interesting celebrity stories during that time; dude, it was LA!

She got to report on a lot of historical stories and got to interview a wide range of people. She tells the good and the bad. I had a little bit of a clue on the male presence of television news, and how hard it was for females to become equals or even take over something, but she persevered. I think she may be one of a very select few who can say they worked for all the BIG THREE stations.

One thing I really enjoyed about the book was the Connie Generation. It’s girls who were named after Connie Chung as she is a strong Asian woman and is a role model for kids and parents while she was on television. There was a gathering of Connie’s, and the original Connie was so happy to talk to everybody and hear their own story.

I am super glad I read this, because I have a totally different understanding of her.

Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up The World Of Sports – by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob

I was immediately intrigued as in 2022, I read Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters by Ben Green.

So, I was already familiar with the team, but was looking forward to reading about the man behind the team, Abe Saperstein.

I didn’t know how much influence Abe had during his lifetime for bringing the world together and not giving a care in the world about the color of somebody’s skin. I didn’t know he helped bring Larry Doby and Satchel Paige to the Cleveland Indians baseball team in 1948 with the magnificent, Bill Veeck, as the owner. I have read a few books on Bill Veeck, and wasn’t surprised to see Abe and him having a positive business relationship.

I didn’t know it was his idea to bring the three pointer to basketball.

I didn’t know how much there tours overseas helped bring more awareness to basketball and improved relations with those countries. He even had portable basketball courts stashed overseas for those appearances.

He was a pioneer in everything he touched and grew the team into a powerhouse. Remember, this was during the 1930’s to 1960’s. The Great Depression, wars, racism, with no social media to spread the positivity of Abe and the Globetrotters. The Globetrotters barnstormed throughout the country and the team they played against the best, and won! They even defeated the Minneapolis Lakers twice during there George Mikan time.

All the gimmicks and hijinks throughout the games made it fun and the variety acts he had for halftime, were a perfect fit. Just look at an NBA game today, and you can see Abe’s influence, although you may not know it.

He was inducted after his death to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

It was an amazing read and purview in to Abe’s life. I really enjoyed it. There were references to books, newspaper articles, and sports writers throughout the book. One book, in particular, caught my eye. It’s The Legend of Red Klotz: How Basketball s Loss Leader Won Over the World 14,000 Times, which I have just finished and am working on review now.

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My Friends – by Fredrik Backman

I got this book from Netgalley so I can and review it before it’s published. Now, let me also preface that I really enjoy his style of writing and have read all of his prior books.

As I was reading this new one, it reminded a bit of two books: Niko Draws a Feeling (a children’s book about a boy named Niko who draws, but nobody can see how wonderful they are except a neighbor around his age named Iris, and they become friends) and The Princess Bride because it’s a story being told about a story!

I won’t spoil anything from the book, but I will say, the way he introduces his characters are perfect and as I was reading the book, I could easily see them. I loved the plot, the characters, and the overall friendship of everyone and how they overlapped. Also, some funny things happened. At a few moments throughout the book, I was surprised by what happened and who appeared.

My favorite characters were Louisa and Ted. I hope he can continue this book with more adventures.

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Damn Glad to Meet You: My Seven Decades in the Hollywood Trenches – by Tim Matheson

I only knew of him as being in the movie Animal House. I had no clue he was a child actor and he started work with the greats of Lucille Ball and Dick Van Dyke; just to name a few.

I enjoyed reading about his story growing up, his relationships, his stories from television series and movie sets, and how he became a director for television shows and movies. Oh, how can I forget, he also talked about his days as a reserve in the Marines.

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Your Mom’s Gonna Love Me – by Matt Rife

I knew who Matt Rife was as for some unknown reason, his comedy clips of reacting with his audiences, kept hogging my feeds on Facebook and Instagram. Of course, I stopped to listen and he was funny and vulgar. I needed this type of memoir as I have been reading a lot of fiction thrillers. 

It was interesting to hear him tell his climb to success, his Grandpa Steve (who took him to his first open mic comedy night), and some behind the scenes of his popular “red flags bits”. Although I don’t mind, there was a lot of sexual talk and bad language – just letting you know as some people don’t care for it.

I will admit and tell you that even though I finished the book, at about 80%, I was ready to be finished reading it.

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Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property – by Mike Lupica

This is the last book in the Spenser series, and I am sad to say goodbye, but I am hoping that more books appear. It took me a year to finish all of them. Will I watch the television shows for Spenser and Hawk? I started them, so maybe, but I will admit and tell you, when it comes to television, I have a short attention span. It took my 4 days to watch the new Beverly Hills Cop movie!

So, for this one, Rita, a lawyer who has helped Spenser quite a bit is shot, and it’s up to Spenser and his team to solve it. 

Rita, besides being a lawyer, is a sexy red-head, who always flirts with Spenser, and he always turns her down as he has Susan Silverman. 

The team being Spenser, Susan, Hawk, Quirk, Farrell, Belson, Vinnie Morris, Tony Marcus, and a few more surprises, of which I won’t say as this is a new book. But, I will the say surprises really surprised me and I was super excited to see there names ( I jumped out of my area where I was reading).

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What You’re Made For: Powerful Lessons from a Life in Sports – by George Raveling

I got this book from Netgalley so I can read and review it before it’s published. I really thought I would enjoy this book, but I struggled through it. It wasn’t a chronological timeline of his life, rather advice from his life with his career scattered throughout it.

One of the coolest things about him that I probably knew but didn’t know was after Dr. Martin Luther King gave is famous “I Have a Dream” speech, George was there as security and he asked him for the copy afterwards, and King said of course. Raveling was offered money to sell it, but he donated it to Villanova University and occasionally, the school will loan to museums.

I did enjoy reading his basketball stories with Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Bill Walton, John Wooden, and Bobby Knight – just to name a few.

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The Wild Robot Protects – by Peter Brown

This was written by Niko, my 8-year-old son with a just a teeny bit of editing by me.

Yesterday, I finished The Wild Robot Protects because you know it’s a bestseller and that’s not a joke. It’s the best book in the series and the best book I have ever read.

I am going to spoil the book a little bit but I hate spoiling things so I will only spoil a BIT!

Roz has to stop a thing called the Poison Tide and she is away from the island for months. It’s an epic adventure and I rate it ten stars out of ten stars!

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Protecting Whitney: The Memoir of Her Bodyguard – by David Roberts

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. So, David Roberts was indeed her bodyguard or as he calls it, her CPO (close protection officer) during the 1990’s with this stint starting during her European tour. He got to be up close and personal with Whitney, her entourage, Bobby Brown, and their daughter Bobbi Kristina. It was a lot of work and coordination with a bunch of people as well as staking out venues before-hand to see what needed to be implemented.

He didn’t get to be her bodyguard while she was filming The Bodyguard, but did for Waiting to Exhale. He did witness the beginning of the end with her drug abuse, and the higher-ups in Whitney’s company basically tried to hide it so they could keep on making money!

He tells a lot of interesting stories from the trenches of being a bodyguard for Whitney and I really enjoyed it.

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While I Have Your Attention: It’s Never Too Late for a New Beginning – by Lucille O’Neal

I got this book from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. When I saw this book, I was immediately intrigued, as she is the mother of Shaquille O’Neal, and I wanted to know more about her life. And, what a life it was for her.

Lucille and her siblings were raised by their grandparents after their parents divorced when she was three. During the divorce, their father took them and moved. However, after a few years, Lucille’s mother, Odessa, re-entered their lives. She met Joe Toney, whom was a few years older than her, and at age 17, she became pregnant with Shaq (she had three more). Toney struggled with drug issues and didn’t want to share the responsibility of being a parent. Later, Lucille met Phillip Harrison, and he became the father figure for Shaq. They were married and she was his military spouse traveling around the world with him and the 4 kids! After 28 years, she filed for divorce as they had some struggles in their marriage. But, she persevered and has flourished since. She went to college and got an undergraduate degree and then got a masters degree – both as an adult!

It was really interesting to see how much her family matters to her and the fact that she would do anything for her kids. She didn’t know all the greatness Shaq would eventually do, but as he dove down that path, she was right behind him helping him. After he settled down at LSU, she returned home and was right back to being mom and taking care of the kids and all of their daily activities.

Even though she isn’t heavily involved in religion, she does mention God and praying quite often throughout the book, for her parents and her kids.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it was an interesting perspective about her life and also knowing that Shaq came from it as well. Not often, do we get these books where the mother or father of a celebrity writes a memoir.

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