[josemas]

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend- by Susan Orlean   For those who have never heard of him, Rin Tin Tin (Rinty to his friends) was originally one of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s.  He was also a dog-specifically a German Sheppard.  He was so popular and his film's made so much money that they took the poverty row studio (Warner Bros) that produced his films to the point where they were able to buy out other studios, afford to make blockbusters with big stars and directors and invest in something called Vitaphone which brought sound to movies and changed them forever.
A few years after the coming of sound Rin Tin Tin passed away at the age of thirteen.  Other dogs, some his actual descendents and others just using his name continued in movies (and later television) for years afterwards.
Orlean's book isn't always right on the money when it comes to Hollywood history (there are a few groaners in fact) but she does get right the part about the relationship between people and dogs and how Rinty changed a lot of that!

Dying To Tell- by Robert Goddard   Another fine book from Goddard which like the others I have read digs into decades of mystery with twists and turns all along the way.

The Poet- by Michael Connelly   This is the one Connelly book which I had been wanting to read for quite some time as it was referenced in some of his later books which I had already read.  Every time I went to the library though it was always checked out.  Well I finally got it and it was worth the wait.  This one features reporter Jack McEvoy as he works with the F. B. I. to track down a serial cop killer.

Steve McQueen- by Marc Eliot   Eliot keeps getting a little better with each bio of his that I read.  In this one he looks at the "King of Cool" who comes across as a a lot more insecure and unfocussed than cool.  Eliot makes some interesting comparisons between McQueen and Clint Eastwood (the subject of his previous biography) as the two men were the same age, came to Hollywood at roughly the same time and got their starts in TV westerns but who took very different tacks with their careers.

The Ice House- by Minette Walters   I believe it was Jim who recommended this one and it is a good mystery with a lot of good (if dysfunctional) character work in it.  Look forward to checking out more of her books.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

I have not seen the early Rinty movies but loved the TV show as a kid. Then my son and I were big fans of the 80's tv series

[josemas]

The Complaints- by Ian Rankin   I had several people recommend Rankin to me before I got around to checking one of his books out.  Good police procedural set in Scotland.  This is the first in his Inspector Malcolm Fox series.  I understand he also has a number of earlier volumes featuring an Inspector Rebus which I also plan on sampling before long.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention- by Manning Marable   Excellent bio.  Will probably be the definitive book on the man unless there are great revelations in the government files that have not yet been made public.

So Long as You Both Shall Live- by Ed McBain   McBain's 87th Precinct series is one of best known and longest running police procedural series.  I've read and enjoyed a number of them over the years.  This one isn't quite up to his better efforts though.  Seems rather rushed and uninspired.  Likes he's just going through the paces getting it written.


Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Joe, Rankin made his name with the Rebus books and it has been made into a t.v. series with, first of all, John Hannah starring, then Ken Stott, who is superb in the role.
I've just finished the latest Bryant and May story by Christopher Fowler.  This one titled, "In Memory of Blood"  Perhaps an acquired taste (Linda just doesn't get it) but they are quite superb,  Thrilling, sad, thoughtful, very eccentric.
Next, I'm about 1/3rd. into," Kris Longknife, Daring" by Mike Shepherd. Space opera, not that well written and loaded with some silly government/family background but quite exciting in the space scenes.  Especially as he seems to be introducing a major alien enemy in this one.
I used to enjoy the Honor Harrington stories until the "cod" politics and duff family stuff became too much.  But, if you enjoy sailing ship adventures, the space tactics and, especially, the occasional stern chase, are pretty enthralling.  This sort of space opera is just another version of old gung ho sailing ship adventures - for foreign parts read new solar systems.

[josemas]

Joe, Rankin made his name with the Rebus books and it has been made into a t.v. series with, first of all, John Hannah starring, then Ken Stott, who is superb in the role.

Paw,  I've found the Rebus episodes available online for watching but was wondering if these are adaptations of the books and if so would you recommend reading the books first?

Curious

Joe

[paw broon]

Admission time - while the books are seriously well written, they are a bit too serious and dark at times for me. Same with the t.v. series.  John Hannah, while a very good actor, was a bit miscast in this as he looks almost too young and not world weary enough.  Ken Stott, however, is neither of those and is also a fine actor.  Try a book first, earliest possible.  The t.v. series gives glimpses of parts of Edinburgh not usually seen in the travel books.  Same as the Taggart t.v. series, where the dark side of the city is shown at times.  Although many would say that Glasgow is dark and edgy most of the time.
Don't think I've been much help but I hope you enjoy them.
By the way, Ian Rankin is a comics fan and has turned up at various marts up here.  He's a really nice bloke.

[josemas]

Thanks for the insights Paw.  I'll try one of the Rebus books before too long.  The TV shows can wait a bit as I still have plenty of Doc Martin episodes to get through for now anyway.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Star Surgeon- by Alan E. Nourse   One of Nourse's juveniles holds up well.  Its storyline of tolerance for those of a different species parallels the civil rights movement then going on in the United States when it was originally published.

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery- by Eric Foner  Nicely told and very well researched examination of Lincoln's constantly evolving views on the "peculiar institution".

Windy City Blues- by Sara Paretsky  Generally enjoyable collection of short stories featuring Paretsky's tough Chicago private eye V. I. Warshawski.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

I've read Star Surgeon several times always enjoyable. I just started the Hunger Games

[josemas]

I've read Star Surgeon several times always enjoyable. I just started the Hunger Games

With all the recent hullabaloo about The Hunger Games(because of the movie being released) the Lil Missus was telling me something about the book series it is based on and it piqued my interest.   
I thought I'd check it out at the library but apparently so did a lot of other people as I soon found out that there is a huge number of holds on the title so it'll be awhile before I get to it.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

$19 bucks for all three digital at Amazon

[josemas]

To be honest Narf, with the exception of art books, comic collections and the like I buy almost no books these days.  I don't mind waiting a bit to get them at the library.  Plenty of other stuff to read for now. 
Usually if something is hot at the library I find if I give it six or eight months the interest has lagged and then I can get it without much of a wait.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Same with me. I don't buy many books and will put in a request at the library, if what I want isn't on the shelf.
Currently, I'm just reaching the denouement of The Dark Vally by Valerio Varesi, an Italian story, well translated into English, featuring Commissario Soneri.  The author is a journalist at the newspaper, La Repubblica.  There is currently a t.v. series featuring Soneri, which, hopefully, will appear soon on British t.v.  Needless to say, this is the 2nd. story, so I'll have to request the first one.  As usual, I've got things backwards.

[josemas]

The Snowman- by Jo Nesb

[narfstar]

I wish I could read like I did when I had young eyes. Reading on my phone has made things easier though

[paw broon]

 I'm rapidly approaching the end of the most recent Lost Fleet book.  This is the new one where "Black Jack" Geary has to take the fleet back out into alien space.  Real aliens now not just the Syndics.  Pretty exciting in places and lots of intrigue.  A friend gave me the most recent Mark L van Name book, Children No More. S.F. again, despite what I said somewhere on here about not reading much S.F. it's simply that recently some folk have mentioned titles I might like. I've enjoyed the previous 3 in the series so that's next up.

[josemas]

The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion- by Loren D. Estleman   Estleman is an author I've been reading every now and then since I picked up his two Sherlock Holmes books (Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula; or, The Adventures of the Sanguinary Count and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes) back in the 1970s.  He writes interesting mysteries (best known for his Amos Walker novels), historical novels and westerns.  This one is a western.  Not a conventional western though as it concerns a traveling theater troupe who also happen to be bank robbers.  They get away with it for quite awhile until both the Pinkertons and a real outlaw gang get on their trail.  A good deal of humor is in the mix.

The Garner Files: A Memoir- by James Garner and Jon Winokur   While reading this I couldn't help comparing Garner's career with those of Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood (both of whom I've read bios on over the past year or so).  All three men were close to the same age, served time in the military (although only Garner fought in combat), drifted into acting after being in the service, played bit parts in films while mostly doing television work, then all three found stardom in western series and then movies and eventually formed their own production companies.

A Metropolitan Murder- by Lee Jackson   This one's a pretty interesting Victorian era murder mystery that Paw recommended.  Does a very good job of recreating a feel of 1850s London.  I gather that this is the first book of his featuring Inspector Decimus Webb.  At this time it appears to be the only one of Jackson's books that my library carries.  Hopefully they'll get in more.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Live and Let Die- by Ian Fleming   Time for another cold war flashback.  IIRC, this is the second Bond novel which means it was probably written in the mid 1950s and its "less than enlightened" view of African-Americans really shows.  Definitely some un-PC moments in this one.  I was caught by surprise by the brutality visited on Bond's CIA buddy Felix Leiter.  Possibly I never read this one in my younger days or somehow had just forgotten the incident over the years.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can make a Big Difference- by Malcolm Gladwell.  Another enlightening book by Gladwell that shows us different ways of looking at things.  I believe I'm currently through the Gladwell canon as it now stands.  All good reads.  Thanks for recommending them Jim.

Secrets Behind the Comics- by Stan Lee   My first rereading of this in over thirty years.  Lee does a good job of explaining to the layman in general how comics were produced in the post WWII period. I do remember noting during my first read that he could have used a few more specifics (such as the size of the original art) and it would have been nice if he had also discussed the coloring process and a bit about the printing process and its limitations and such.
On this reread the one thing that jumped out at me was his retelling of Captain America's creation which contains no mention at all of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon and is all about Martin Goodman. A disappointing rewrite of history by Stan on those few pages.  Despite that flaw overall the book is a could document of the period and a fun read for comic historians.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

It is believed by many that Stan wrote very little of what he is credited with in THE MARVEL AGE. The MARVEL STYLE was actually the artist doing most of the work including the majority of the writing. The big differences in stories and styles and quality of writing tend to verify this. Not wanting to argue it because from my understanding it is producing big arguments elsewhere on Masterworks.

[josemas]

Yeah I've seen the whole "what did Stan actually write" argument get real ugly real quick on some of the boards.

Doc V, whom I consider to one of the top Timely-Atlas-Marvel scholars, recently chimed in on this regarding Lee and Kirby and his feeling was that Stan should be credited with approximately 30% of the writing in that particular teaming.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Re. more info on how comics are made:-
I don't know if you're aware that A.D. says, and told me years ago, that when he started drawing comics pages he pencilled them same size as he thought they would appear and it was a bit of a revelation when he learned that he should draw on layout boards and it would be resized pre-publication.
I haven't read Secrets Behind the Comics but our library has the Joe Simon book (I forget the title) so I should borrow that.
I've just finished, "Tiger Standish Steps On It" by Gerald Horner (Horner for excitement", as it states on the cover) a sort of sub Bulldog Drummond.  Almost impossible to list all the traps the bad guys set for him. 

[Roygbiv666]

I had a quick look thru' the topic, but couldn't tell - who is "A.D."?

Re. more info on how comics are made:-
I don't know if you're aware that A.D. says, and told me years ago, that when he started drawing comics pages he pencilled them same size as he thought they would appear and it was a bit of a revelation when he learned that he should draw on layout boards and it would be resized pre-publication.
I haven't read Secrets Behind the Comics but our library has the Joe Simon book (I forget the title) so I should borrow that.
I've just finished, "Tiger Standish Steps On It" by Gerald Horner (Horner for excitement", as it states on the cover) a sort of sub Bulldog Drummond.  Almost impossible to list all the traps the bad guys set for him.

[paw broon]

Yes, sorry about that but as I started to write his name, I thought, Should I be embarrassing someone whose work I've always enjoyed?   I shouldn't perhaps have made the post.  So, suffice it to say, there is at least one very popular, currently working, British artist who started out not knowing how comics were produced but quickly, as he is so talented, got it right.
Now I'm embarrassed! 

[Roygbiv666]

OK. Well, there's no shame in not magically knowing how comics are made, there wouldn't' have been any way for him to know.

Yes, sorry about that but as I started to write his name, I thought, Should I be embarrassing someone whose work I've always enjoyed?   I shouldn't perhaps have made the post.  So, suffice it to say, there is at least one very popular, currently working, British artist who started out not knowing how comics were produced but quickly, as he is so talented, got it right.
Now I'm embarrassed!

[Yoc]

If A.D. is who I think it is... he turned out just fine as an artist and has nothing to be embarrassed about!