Recent Reads

Sometimes I need encouragement Song of the Week

Recent Reads

Here are four recent reads:

I enjoyed the heck out of Al Pacino’s Sonny Boy (I read the hard copy version)…here’s my goodreads review:

How anyone rates this book less than five stars, I don’t understand. Mr. Pacino takes us through a whirlwind of fantastic, poignant, funny, tragic, and creative stories in his lifetime.

There’s the kid from the Bronx, poor but surrounded by loving family and friends who’d die for each other. There’s the young artist, who knew he’d make it because he’d found the spark of the creative experience. He’s the successful actor, going through peaks and valleys of his career. There’s the art, the love, the politics, and the seesaw of success and financial worries.

But he always falls on his feet, and people love him, and they take care of his shortcomings. In the end, he contemplates death, and I hope he finds eternity with The Lord, because selfishly, it would be amazing, to chat with him in Heaven, and perhaps unselfishly, he could share his art with the Heavenly Host.

There is some profanity in the book, but I tried to ignore it. It is not really excessive, just something that does not move me. I hope you read this book. If you are an actor or artist, the same thing, really, if you are creative and like that process, I think the book will score for you. Kudos and prayers and best wishes, Mr. Pacino…

The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country

This telling volume, by the author of BlackkKlansman, Ron Stallworth, is great, but I put it down for profanity… here is my review… I might go ahead and finish it later to see what he did with it:

Full disclosure: I did not finish this book.

It is rare that I’ll review a book I didn’t complete; I’ll usually unshelve it and move on, but Stallworth’s book is very well done, it just had so much profanity that I felt it wasn’t helping me.

But I assert that the author was “Getting things done!”; he is living as a black man in a racist world, and has a black cop in the same. He faces gangsters calling him “Pig” for being a cop (and much worse), and other cops, freezing him out and stymieing his career, and through it all, he is fierce, brave, effective and insightful. He goes to great lengths to understand white people, gang members, hip hop culture and more. He doesn’t slink, he doesn’t waver, so I really give him props.

I was going to give this book four stars due to the content, but will give it five, as the author is a champion in his world, and conveys his dilemmas well.

I can’t recommend the profanity, but mostly it is used to convey specific ideas; it just took me places I didn’t want to go too much. Maybe like the white Mormon cops and officials not wanting to face the fact their cities were falling prey to L.A. gang violence. They denied the author’s claims, despite overwhelming evidence.

I recommend the messages of this book highly, as I understand them; I’m sorry I didn’t want to read it ’till the end.

Silverview, by John le Carré

I’ve read some le Carré in the past, and he is one of the few espionage writers I can deal with; others being Robert Dugoni and of course the great Graham Greene… I picked up Silverview in the library as it is a novella… normally I can’t take too much cloak and dagger…I’ll have to see how I like this one.

No Plan B by Lee Child

I recently read a great short story by Lee Child, my first foray into his books, and here is what I wrote about it on goodreads:

A clear winner in the field of short espionage fiction

This is my first Lee Child outing. I would have to say the book is expertly written, entertaining, and satisfying.

I’m enjoying No Plan B so far, but this will be my first full length novel by Child.

Here’s one I wrote myself; it’s called Red Blood White Dove

Movie mogul Camden Peterson is wrapping up his latest action thriller, a picture designed to save his fading career. When funds are pulled from the budget, he seeks help from the mob, but then his leading lady Rita Monteith is found murdered. To Camden’s relief, Rita’s ex-brother-in-law hires detective Ray Kaminski, who’s never left a case unsolved. Unfortunately, however, the mob wants their chief’s moll to finish out the picture, the feds are getting suspicious about the film’s funding sources, and Camden is tearing his hair out, wondering what will become of his career. With murder, suspense and romance, Red Blood White Dove packs a wallop.