Obsessed with True Crime discussion
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Acquisitions ~ And WHAT ARE YOU READING? Anything goes ~ 2017
Hari: First, thanks for the tip on the time crime podcast site. Looks excellent. I like to download podcasts to listen to in the car. :)Your question about whether such books are true crime or not is a good one. I wonder myself. In my Calibre program I do tag such books as True Crime but also as Psychology. Tagging them True Crime works for me. Those books are about criminals and often get into the details of specific cases.
Shelley wrote: "Hari: First, thanks for the tip on the time crime podcast site. Looks excellent. I like to download podcasts to listen to in the car. :)Your question about whether such books are true crime or no..."
Shelley, what is a Calibre program?
Calibre is an ebook management program for managing ebook libraries but I also enter hard copy books I have too. It's free. I have used it for years now and would be lost without it. It's quite powerful with tons of features.
Hari wrote: "So I've found a new book while listening to the true crime podcast, "True Crime Profiles". The book is "A Journey to the center of the Mind" by Jim Fitzgerald". Not sure it can be deemed true crime as defined by the members of this (wonderful) group; it is a memoir of his during the 70's as a young profiler for the FBI. So, true crime, or maybe a hybrid? What to y'all think?"Well, there's not much to profile if no crime has been committed.
I'm confused by your comment, Fishface. What did you mean when you wrote "if no crime has been committed"? While the book is not focused on crimes themselves but rather the process of profiling, he worked with crimes and criminals. In a recent (April 2016) episode of "Real Crime Profile", Mr Fitzgerald described how he profiled Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber (it's episode #16, and an excellent one, by the way).
OK, but doesn't that mean they're taking a long, close squint at the crime scenes? Real ones? Making it a (rather narrowly-focused) work of true crime?
Actually, he pioneered in developing the science of forensic linguistics and methods like that. Not so much dealing with crime scenes. (" a long, close squint..." Have you been watching "Bones", Fishface?)
Seriously, Fishface? You aren't familiar with "Bones"?Yes, it's a TV series, loosely based on the true crime writing of Kathy Reichs. I found it entertaining to watch while knitting, for example, because it's catchy but not deep. More of a diversion.
The "squint" reference comes from the term "squints" used by the snarky FBI special agent (and love interest of the head of the forensic anthropology team he works alongside) to describe his scientificly gifted, but socially awkward, associates.
I hope you aren't pranking me.
Oh, sorry. Kathy Reichs' books are fiction, but she is a forensic anthropologist in real life.
I haven't watched TV since probably 2001. I'm not really caught up.
Ahh. Your probably better off for not watching. I don't watch TV either, but still manage to get caught up binge-watching TV series. Go figure...
I do that sometimes, but I still don't consider myself caught up. While I'm bingeing on THE WALKING DEAD, BATES MOTEL and so forth, there are 157 channels' worth of whatever churning out hundreds more episodes of shows I've never heard of.
Mod
Yes it's true crime! Put it on the shelf.
So speaks the moderator.
An Improvised Life by Alan Arkin 1 star
I saw Alan Arkin on TCM being interviewed by Robert Osborne and thought it sounded like he led a very interesting life. I had this book on my shelf so I grabbed it and began reading. The beginning of the book was interesting when he talks about his childhood. After that it is all downhill. There is almost no biographical information after his first marriage. He apparently had two marriages after that but each wife is mentioned by name once and you're left thinking "Oh, he must have gotten married again". He mentions a few of the movies he's been in but I was disappointed that my favorite movie" The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" didn't even get a mention. Most of the book is (taken from the back cover) " reflecting on the acting process and the life lessons that can be gleaned from improvisational theater". If this is what you are looking for than it is a very good book. For me it was a yawner. It is a short book and I read it in one day. Otherwise, I don't think I would have finished it.
The New New Rules: A Funny Look At How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass, by Bill Maher5 stars!
This one was so funny that although I borrowed it from the library, I'm going to buy myself a copy. It even made me forget for a couple of hours that someone filed a phony tax return with the IRS this year, using my name. Don't miss this one. It came out a few years ago now, but in this book Maher accurately forecasts all the problems we are having now with the Real Estate Broker In Chief.
I am currently reading A Call for Justice by Denise Lang.This is very intriguing and I found another page-turner too.
Rita wrote: "I am currently reading A Call for Justice by Denise Lang.This is very intriguing and I found another page-turner too."
And a very unusual case legally!
Mod
This is very intriguing and I found another page-turner too."
Fishface wrote: "The New New Rules: A Funny Look At How Everybody But Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass, by Bill Maher5 stars!
This one was so funny that although I borrowed it from the library, I'm ..."
What library do you borrow this from?
Fishface wrote: "Rita wrote: "I am currently reading A Call for Justice by Denise Lang.This is very intriguing and I found another page-turner too."
And a very unusual case legally!"
Yes, very unusual indeed!
I started reading Without Mercy by Gary Provost. This is a crime that happened some time back and it looks very interesting.
Fishface wrote: "I got my ILL copy of Nye's Sawney Bean. Imagine my pique when I realized it was a stage play written in 1970!"Frustrating!
I enjoyed The Lightning Thief and gave it 4 stars. It was a fun YA fantasy novel about a kid who finds out that his mood disorder and ADHD are actually something quite different than he'd been told; that his best friend Grover is a lot more than just a best friend; and that there are good reasons his mom is married to such a total creep. It's a great statement about finding the good in your life no matter how bad it seems.
I am reading Fatal Jealousy by Colin McEvoy and Lynn Olanoff. I am also reading One Breath Away by M. William Phelps. I like both so far. Very interesting.
R wrote: "I highly recommend this newly added book, Finding Madeleine.Finding MadeleineGREAT true crime!"
R...I read the book about her called Madeleine and it was written by Kate McCann. This one looks interesting too. Dang, it did not come up on Amazon. Everything but...
Mod
GREAT true crime!"
R...I read the book about her called Madeleine and it was written by Kat..."
It's an ebook Rita
I just started reading Don't Tell A Soul by M. William Phelps. It is an easy read so far.
Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found, Frances Larson3 stars
This was often very interesting, a discussion of some of the ways severed heads resonate in our own heads, and what we use them for, think of them, believe about them, and so forth. This book could have gone a lot farther, in my opinion, but it was a good read overall. I confess I cringed every time I saw the odious phrase "decapitated head," as if it were possible to cut the head off someone's head. Subject-verb agreement was also sorely lacking. But I was enchanted to learn for the first time that all the head-collecting in the Pacific Theater of WWII was not echoed in the European Theater, and the stories about the heads of guillotined criminals flushing with anger, flinching and snapping their jaws were nothing if not intriguing. Still, it would have been nice to see a single mention of Dr. Carl Hill, or the odd staying power of the rumor that Walt Disney's head is among those stored in one of those cryogenic deep-freeze facilities...
I realized that a great example of a survivor's memoir is staring me in the face in my own bedroom, so I started reading it: Denial: A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern. It's wonderful.
I just got The Devil's Daughter: The Epic Auto-biography of the Girl Who Was Told Her Father Is Ian Brady in the mail and could not resist opening it. It starts out great. Can't wait to get going on it in earnest.
I started Terror In Ypsilanti by Gregory A. Fournier. I am sure I read this years ago but perhaps it had a different title. Very intriguing.
Rita wrote: "I started Terror In Ypsilanti by Gregory A. Fournier. I am sure I read this years ago but perhaps it had a different title. Very intriguing."This book is brand new, Rita. It has only been out a matter of months. You may have read Michigan Murders which is on the same case.
I am reading Mind Games With A Serial Killer by Brian Alan Lane about Bill Suff. Enjoying it bigly so far.
I read that so long ago I hardly even remember it. I may have to revisit that one.
Fishface wrote: "I read that so long ago I hardly even remember it. I may have to revisit that one."The one I am reading says it's an updated 2015 version.
Well, I hope they gave more information on the unlucky victims in this edition.
I was horrified and even a little depressed by The Devil's Daughter: The Epic Auto-biography of the Girl Who Was Told Her Father Is Ian Brady; it's as if every life touched by Ian Brady somehow gets torpedoed. (See also For the Love of Lesley: The Moors Murders Remembered by a Victim's Mother and Witness: The Story of David Smith, Chief Prosecution Witness in the Moors Murders Case.)But I am loving Sharon Komlos's Feel the Laughter: The Inspirational Story of Sharon Komlos; this is another story I originally found in a long-lost issue of Reader's Digest, and as I rather suspected this one turns out to be a tale of a serial killer. This is perfect for the April challenge as it was written by an unlikely survivor of the killing spree.
I started reading Terror In Ypsilanti by Gregory A. Fournier. It is very interesting.
Mod
Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Rita wrote: "I started Terror in Ypsilanti: John Norman Collins Unmasked by Gregory A. Fournier. I am sure I read this years ago but perhaps it had a different title. Very intriguin..."Belleza, that's the book. Dang, I don't know how to get the picture of the book here. Thanks!!!
Rita, when you're typing in a new post you'll notice at the upper R of the text box you're typing in that there's a green link that says "add book/author." Click on it and up pops a search box -- there are two round buttons at the bottom of it that allows you to choose either a link to the book you are searching for or the cover of that book. Choose "cover" and type in the name of the book you are looking for. You'll get a list of options and from there you just click "ADD" next to the book you want. That will add the cover of the book to your post.Oh, and if the book you want shows that there's no cover -- just that anonymous brown Goodreads logo -- click on the little green link under the "ADD" button that says "other editions." That will bring up all the editions of that book and you can choose one with a cover, if there is one...
Oh, and as far as acquisitions go, I had a minor stroke when I saw that the only used copy of Amityville: House of Lies on Amazon was over $350. I composed myself, went to addALL.com, instantly found a good copy for $7.95 and I ordered it.
I started reading Tortured by Victoria Spry. It's a story about abused and neglected children by a sadistic mum.
The Legend Of Sawney Bean, Roland Holmes4 stars
I ordered this so I could read it for the March TC challenge, "The Family That Slays Together..." but it didn't arrive until this month. Just as well, really. The jacket copy on this book is all lies! Far from being the true story of the life and crimes of Sawney Bean, this is a scholarly attempt to clarify whether Sawney and his people-eatin' clan ever existed, and if so where, when and under what circumstances. This was an intriguing read, but I have to say it's far from convincing. After the meticulous, hairsplitting analysis I saw in The Discovery of King Arthur, this book came across as sketchy and incomplete. For instance, after devoting a whole chapter to the subject, Holmes never gives us a clear yes or no as to whether there is a real cave along the Galloway coast that matches the description of the one in the Bean story. I did find the history and anthropology in the story fascinating and Holmes makes me want to know much, much more. I came away feeling the truth was just around the next curve.
Fishface wrote: "The Legend Of Sawney Bean, Roland Holmes4 stars
I ordered this so I could read it for the March TC challenge, "The Family That Slays Together..." but it didn't arrive until this mo..."
LOL OMG You could be describing the book I just picked up. Same idea even if it is a different story. I picked up on Audible, "Ripper" by Patricia Cornwell. This book is page after page after page of her speculations. There is a lot of, "We could never know, but it could be...." She should stick to fiction. In fiction you don't mind speculative creativity. In TC it's just annoying.
Personally, I think she IS sticking to fiction and calling it fact. Actually, if you've ever read Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, you know it's neither -- it's just plagiarism.
Fishface wrote: "Personally, I think she IS sticking to fiction and calling it fact. Actually, if you've ever read Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, you know it's neither -- it's just plagiarism."lol I hadn't, but given that statement I think I'll give it a miss.
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Obsessed with True Crime
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Brian Alan Lane (other topics)Ellis Rubin (other topics)
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (other topics)
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon (other topics)
Your question about whether such books are true crime or no..."
So I've found a new book while listening to the true crime podcast, "True Crime Profiles". The book is "A Journey to the center of the Mind" by Jim Fitzgerald". Not sure it can be deemed true crime as defined by the members of this (wonderful) group; it is a memoir of his during the 70's as a young profiler for the FBI. So, true crime, or maybe a hybrid? What to y'all think?