Will Ebooks Spell the End of Personal Libraries?

One good (or bad) thing about ebooks is that they take up no shelf space. Whether that's good or bad thing depends on how you look at it. You can free up a lot of shelf space in your home by reading only ebooks. And e-readers make it possible to travel with lots of books that take up no room in your suitcase.

However, one possible downside according to this article is that ebooks can't be displayed in personal libraries. For my own part, as much as I love my Kindle, printed books are sometimes more than just good reads. For instance, I keep all my autographed copies of books.

And, while it's true I haven't read every single book on my shelves, I've read most of them. And, unlike the article's author suggests, I don't see it as fraudulent to display books I've read (or hope to, eventually). I think of my books as keepsakes. I store them anyway I can and wherever they'll fit. If guests see them, they may provide a small window into my soul or the basis for a conversation. So, as I see it, books are much more than mere decoration.

But then, I don't live in a house with a personal library. Nor do I live in "a gaudy trophy home in the Hamptons," where "the crowd [is] blond and beautiful and the conversation dull and dutiful." (Photo by Ahndraya Parlato)

Trying to Walk Away From a War by 'Going After Cacciato'

Review: GOING AFTER CACCIATO (Dell Publishing 1979)
Author: Tim O'Brien

My first Tim O'Brien book was THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, a collection of stories based on his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War. I was so taken with his writing I decided to read JULY, JULY next. A novel about a class reunion that I thought might be too much like The Big Chill – but it wasn't.

So, knowing (I thought) what to expect, I picked up GOING AFTER CACCIATO. I guess I was expecting something like Saving Private Ryan, but it's not even close to that. In this book, O'Brien once again drew on his experiences in Vietnam, but unlike THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, this is a novel. And unlike either of the other books, this one delves into the realm of "magical realism."

The story in sum is that Cacciato is a young, seemingly slow, rather goofy soldier that no one in his unit takes seriously. One day, Cacciato simply disappears – walks away from the war. He says he's going to walk west until he reaches Paris, France.

News of Cacciato's plans are met by the troops with a mixture of disbelief, wonder and perplexity. So, what to do? Cacciato is guilty of desertion, so the lieutenant in charge says they have to follow and apprehend him. They end up going after him, catching glimpses of him from time to time, but somehow he keeps eluding them.

The story (while flashing back and forth in time) takes the troops on a kind of spiritual journey, as well as a mission. It's told from the point of view of Paul Berlin, who undergoes his own personal journey along the way, after the troops encounter a group of Vietnamese refugees. (People who are fleeing the war – symbolic much?) One of them is a beautiful young woman who Berlin falls for and who provides her own unique perspective on the situation. As the troops who seek Cacciato get further and further from the front, the notion of actually reaching Paris becomes less and less like a dream and more like a possibility.

The story has plenty of symbolism, but to discuss it might reveal some spoilers. Suffice it say, it's clever and deepens the story's meaning without making it less engrossing or too pedantic.

During the journey, the soldiers undergo hardships that include all sorts of suspenseful situations (even dire ones). It's an enthralling and well-written tale that will keep you hooked up until the big finish. (Again, to say more about the end would be saying too much.)

Do they make it to Paris? Do they ever find Cacciato? And, if they do, what should they do with him? Take him back? Cut him loose and leave the war behind, too? These questions and moral dilemmas are raised throughout the story.

While simply walking away from a war may be a dream, GOING AFTER CACCIATO presents it as a hope and even a possibility.

A Book That Hits Home Like 'A Nail Through the Heart'

Review: A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART (HarperCollins e-books 2008)
Author: Timothy Hallinan

Having previously read BREATHING WATER and QUEEN OF PATPONG, I felt compelled to read A NAIL THROUGH THE HEART, not only because Timothy Hallinan did such a great job writing those books, but because I wanted to see how the series started. Boy, do I wish I'd read them in order. (I happened to pick BREATHING WATER first, only because it was being "talked about" so much online at the time.)

Now, I finally know that Poke Rafferty (the intrepid protagonist) is not only a writer, but a writer who made his mark creating travel guides for tourists looking to take a walk on the wild side of Southeast Asia (kind of the seamy, Southeast Asian version of Rick Steves, if you will). During his somewhat aimless, if interesting, travels, he walked into a strip club in the notorious Patpong Road red light district and was smitten by the sight of its most renown dancer/prostitute, the very tall and beautiful Rose. Poke took Rose off the stage and into his arms, so to speak. They ended up bringing a child into their home -- a girl named Miaow, who'd been living on the streets.

As the story begins, Poke and Rose (who's struggling to start a legitimate house cleaning business to provide a healthier career path for her stripper friends) are trying to build something resembling a stable life (a change for both of them), adopt Miaow and become more of a family. I say "more" of a family, because Rose is resistant to Poke's suggestion that they get married. These are among the interesting little details and storylines that make the characters seem so real and the give the book more depth and substance than the average thriller.

In the beginning of the book, we're also introduced to Boo (nickname: Superman), another Bangkok street urchin who's acquired a rather nasty reputation, but to whom Miaow is devoted. She convinces Poke and Rose to clean him up, take him in and (possibly) adopt him, too.

Those details (along with Hallinan's exquisite descriptions of Bangkok) provide the backdrop for the main storyline, in which Poke is hired by two very different clients to find a couple of missing people. A woman (at the suggestion of Arthit, Poke's friend and one of Bangkok's few honest cops) asks Poke to find her beloved uncle and another (not so nice) woman hires Poke to find someone who's stolen something from her. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that there ends up being a connection between the cases. The questions are, what happened to the uncle? Where is the missing thief? And what does the uncle's maid have to do with any of this?

While Poke's investigation into these matters plugs along nicely (and leads Poke into scrapes with various ruffians), problems crop up on the domestic front, between Rose's floundering business, Poke's difficulties navigating the adoption process, Superman's tendency to bite (or even kill) people and Miaow's overall sulky/defensive attitude. Not to mention the fact that Arthit's wife is dying slowly from a degenerative disease. So, there's plenty to sink your teeth into here.

The complex narrative is so seamlessly constructed and beautifully written, it's breathtaking. So is the story's pace. The plot builds in twist after twist toward a revelatory and shattering conclusion.

Also, be advised that the subject of child molestation and sexual predation is covered in some detail. When a man as worldly as Rafferty throws up after looking at photos, you know they're bad.

Needless to say, all's well that ends well, or there wouldn't be a series, would there? The matter of how matters get resolved and the moral complexities behind the resolution are what put the proverbial icing on the cake of this superb novel.

A Book Room -- Literally!

I've always thought it would be cool to have one room in my house where I keep all my books. Call it a library or a book room. It would be both a storage area and shrine, of sorts, to my books. Complete with a comfy chair and a lamp where I could read them.

However, when I think of book rooms, I didn't exactly have this in mind.

It's supposed to be art (and, just as an aside, wouldn't it be better to give the books away than to create a structure from them?), but it got me thinking about what you could do with all those books you don't read anymore, but can't bear to part with.

It's an interesting curiosity, at any rate.

'The Insider': A Roller Coaster Ride and Life Lessons Learned

Review: THE INSIDER (Berkley 2010)
Author: Reece Hirsch

San Francisco lawyer Will Connelly's day gets off to a rough start when a colleague at his high-toned law firm takes a deadly tumble (right past his window, no less) off the roof of their office building. Oddly, the colleague had tried to phone Will twice that morning and even more oddly Will's card key for entering the building was switched with the dead colleague's. Based on this highly circumstantial evidence, the San Francisco police consider Will a suspect.

While all is not doom and gloom for our hero (who later that day finds out he is being offered a partnership with the firm), things take a turn for the even-worse when Will decides to celebrate his new status by going to a pick-up joint for the express purpose of picking someone up. He picks up the wrong girl and ends up blundering his way in between a rock and a hard place. As an attorney who handles mergers and acquisitions, he has (in the wake of the colleague's death) just been assigned a career-making case: handling the acquisition of Jupiter Software, the world leader in encryption software. The ill-advised pick-up leads to an unhappy brush with two Russian mobster wannabes. They threaten (and inflict) physical harm and promise to do worse, unless Will plays along and gives them insider trading information.

So now Will is facing scrutiny from the San Francisco police, threats from would-be Russian mobsters, and the choice between either pissing them off royally by going to the authorities or violating law and legal ethics by complying with their wishes. Not cool. Along with various authorities with whom Will could run afoul, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the California Bar, it appears Jupiter has ties with the National Security Agency. Are we having fun yet?

THE INSIDER is, indeed, an engaging and ambitious debut novel. Author Reece Hirsch does a superb job of teasing out a complex and fast-paced plot from this initial set-up. As a practicing attorney, Hirsch also does a masterful job of informing readers about the legal niceties of handling corporate transactions without bogging them down in excess detail and jargon. As the story progresses, the stakes get raised considerably and Will is put through his paces and then some. The question that kept me turning the pages was "How the hell is he going to get out from under all this?" The resolution is elegant (even if one must suspend disbelief on a key plot element in its execution) and does a nice job of tying up all the threads. And a final hurdle to be overcome adds emotional resonance to the story, as well as a slam-bang ending.

One of the things that puzzled me was Will's lack of willingness from the first to simply go to the SEC, DOJ and whoever else and tell them, "Hey, a couple of would-be Russian Mafiya types are blackmailing me. A little help here, please?" To understand why he wouldn't, consider Will's character when the story begins. He is, to put it bluntly, naive, ambitious, concerned with maintaining his status at a high muckety-muck law firm and, though essentially likable, suffering a teeny bit from the kind of hubris and I'm-too-special-for-words attitude I've seen on (thankfully rare) occasion in legal practitioners. He has, as I would put it, "drunk the Kool-Aid." (I speak as one who has observed this directly and from the inside of the legal profession.) He is also a person very concerned with keeping up appearances, and maintaining a well planned and orderly life.

Unlike many thrillers, this book is not just about Will's external struggle with evil forces and the apparent ruination of his legal career. As Will grapples with his problems, enlisting the aid of a fellow student from his law school class who took another, ostensibly less exalted, career path (and, ultimately, became a solo general practitioner), he learns that being a great lawyer isn't about being on law review and making partner at a high muckety-muck firm. And in learning these lessons, Will not only overcomes his problems, but reconnects with his own passions and realizes that the word "lawyer" doesn't have to be synonymous with "type A, buttoned down over-achiever."

'The Glass Rainbow': Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcell Together Forever?

Review: THE GLASS RAINBOW (Simon & Schuster Audio 2010)
By guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, James Lee Burke; read by Will Patton

This is the 18th Robicheaux/Purcell caper—is it the last? I will get to that in a moment.

Dave, as legions of fans know, is a mercurial cop-family man guy, who was tossed off the New Orleans cops and landed in the New Iberia, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Department. Clete is his bigger-than-life brawler of a pal, late of the NO cops, never at the Sheriff’s Department, and now sort of a freewheeling PI and world-class drinker.

These two are low-life Velcro. They find every reptilian, old-money, new-money, pimp and scoundrel rattling around Louisiana. In THE GLASS RAINBOW, they are entangled with a creepy old oil man and his dilettante son, Kermit. Added to the mix are some young women tossed into landfills like trash and one of those celebrity criminals. You know, the kind celebrities lionize.

About then, Dave starts spotting a phantom steam paddlewheeler on his beloved Bayou Teche outside his house. And the guys in the black SUVs start to show up.

Amidst the trademark Burke nature lore (the bruised skies, the tink of raindrops), the great grand-daughter of a New Orleans famed voodoo queen glances at Dave and remarks that he is “disappearin’, thinning out.”

Now, I don’t want to spoil this, but let’s say the ending is ambiguous. Dave boards the paddlewheeler, sees his long-dead parents, spots medics from Vietnam…Clete tries to pull him back down the gangplank.

Is this the end for our guys?

Star Lawrence owns two websites—one, HEALTHSass (http://healthsass.blogspot.com), contains interesting health tidbits and the other, Do the Hopey Copey (http://hopeycopey.blogspot.com) is for those seeking to stay alive in this economy.

Life Gets a Bit Surreal in 'The Scrubs'

Review: THE SCRUBS (Kindle Edition 2010)
Author: Simon Wood (writing as Simon Janus)

While horror is not usually my genre of choice, a book like THE SCRUBS could easily make me a convert.

The novella opens with prisoner Michael Keeler being led by guards to the mysterious North Wing of the Wormwood Scrubs penitentiary, where he's agreed to participate in a hush-hush project of some kind. One in which prisoners go in, but don't come back out.

Since he's serving time for a double homicide committed during a bank robbery (and since one of his victims was a child he killed by accident) Keeler feels he has little to live for or lose by signing up for the project. Little does he know what awaits him.

Inside the North Wing, deranged serial killer James Jeter has been hooked up to a bizarre contraption and force-fed hallucinogens, in order to create an alternate reality using Jeter's subconscious mind -- a place reachable via The Rift (a portal between worlds, also created by Jeter's mind).

Two other prisoners have entered The Rift and failed to return. Keeler's job is to find them and bring them back.

I will say no more about the plot, except to applaud Simon Wood (writing as Simon Janus) for his incredibly imaginative (if occasionally grotesque -- be aware that the book includes scenes that aren't for the faint of heart :)) imagery and deviously clever plot twists. He even manages to weave in a subtext in favor of prison reform and against cruel and unusual punishment. Not to mention one deriding the evils of greed realized at the expense of human decency.

I exaggerate not when I say that, from the moment I started reading this novella, I simply couldn't put it down. I could scarcely wait for the next page to come up on my Kindle after the end of each chapter, so I could see where the story would go next.

THE SCRUBS is short enough to be consumed in one sitting (which is how I read it), but substantial (and haunting) enough to leave you pondering the end long after finishing it.