If you grew up in Los Angeles, Orange County or any of the surrounding areas between 1958 and 1995, you most likely remember Jack Smith. He was a writer for the LA Times, producing a column 5 days a week for most of that long career. He wrote about life from his home on Mt. Washington in LA, his family and his neighbors, or just about anything that he happened to be thinking about that day. He was one of the great voices of Los Angeles, but he was never afraid to put tongue to cheek when talking about his city. The first thing my family did when we opened the paper was check out the latest from Jack Smith. He was an LA institution.
One of the main reasons I loved Jack's column SO much was I could catch up on his latest exploits with Mr. Gomez. Romulo Gomez was the "owner" on the land on which Denny and Jack Smith built their vacation home in Baja, California. I say "owner" because they never actually saw the title to the land. Most of their transactions with Mr. Gomez over the 20 years they spent in Baja were done on blind faith. This sounds crazy now, but you have to know Romulo Gomez. He did things his own way, with the help of God, of course! I think this quote from the book, a year and a half since they started the adventure of building their Baja dream home, says it all:
I told him about the refrigerator. "It's freezing everything," I said. "Look." I opened the door and took out a dish of olives that had a crust of ice.
Gomez got down on his knees to check the thermostat. "It is on 'Least Cold,'"he said.
"Yes. That's the warmest setting."
He turned the dial carefully and stood up. "Now it will be all right," he said. "I have put it on 'Medium'"
"But Romulo," I said, "that will make it even worse. 'Medium' is colder than 'Least Cold.'"
"Not in Baja," said Gomez.
God and Mr. Gomez was first published in 1974 and went out of print sometime later. The good news is you can get it again! (I just checked Amazon and it said there were only 9 left in stock, but maybe you have it on a family book shelf somewhere.) So, go find God and Mr. Gomez, crack open a cerveza, and enjoy! Adios amigos!!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
What Most Americans Don't Know About World War I Is A Lot
The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller is sold as a mystery, but it is so much more. True, there are questions to be answered and problems to be solved, but the characters in the story are the biggest mystery. Not because they are not developed, but because they are so complex, like the era in which the story is set.
World War I was a particularly horrible conflict. The War started in Europe in 1914, but the US didn't really join the battle until October 1917. When the Armistice was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, our soldiers had been in Europe for a little over a year; the British and their allies had been fighting for over 4 years. The men fought in mud trenches, or went "over the top" directly into enemy fire, all for capturing or losing a few miserable feet at a time. The US suffered approximately 116,000 casualties and 205,000 wounded out of a population of 92 million. Great Britain had approximately 887,000 killed and 1,663,000 wounded out of their population of 45 million. Almost a whole generation of British men disappeared either from death, terrible injury or what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Again, it was a tragic war, but except for learning that the end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles led to WWII, I didn't really learn much about it in school. I think this was because WWII was so much more a part of us here in the States and affected all of us so much more. (Hopefully it was for THAT reason and NOT that I wasn't paying attention!) But back to England in 1920...
Laurence Bartram fought in the Great War for England. Although he wasn't physically injured, he has definitely come back a changed and reclusive man. It takes a letter from a school friend's sister, asking him to look into the suicide of her brother, Captain John Emmett, to draw him out of his self-imposed exile. At first the quest seems fairly straight forward, but the twists and turns and dead bodies soon get in his way. I really enjoyed this book. It is a time and place that fascinates because I DON'T know very much about it. But you need to pay attention when you're reading it! So take it on vacation, or lock yourself into a closet, but be sure to read The Return of Captain John Emmett.
Note: All of my statistics were taken from Wikipedia. I am sure you will find different numbers in different places, but you get the idea!
World War I was a particularly horrible conflict. The War started in Europe in 1914, but the US didn't really join the battle until October 1917. When the Armistice was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, our soldiers had been in Europe for a little over a year; the British and their allies had been fighting for over 4 years. The men fought in mud trenches, or went "over the top" directly into enemy fire, all for capturing or losing a few miserable feet at a time. The US suffered approximately 116,000 casualties and 205,000 wounded out of a population of 92 million. Great Britain had approximately 887,000 killed and 1,663,000 wounded out of their population of 45 million. Almost a whole generation of British men disappeared either from death, terrible injury or what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Again, it was a tragic war, but except for learning that the end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles led to WWII, I didn't really learn much about it in school. I think this was because WWII was so much more a part of us here in the States and affected all of us so much more. (Hopefully it was for THAT reason and NOT that I wasn't paying attention!) But back to England in 1920...
Laurence Bartram fought in the Great War for England. Although he wasn't physically injured, he has definitely come back a changed and reclusive man. It takes a letter from a school friend's sister, asking him to look into the suicide of her brother, Captain John Emmett, to draw him out of his self-imposed exile. At first the quest seems fairly straight forward, but the twists and turns and dead bodies soon get in his way. I really enjoyed this book. It is a time and place that fascinates because I DON'T know very much about it. But you need to pay attention when you're reading it! So take it on vacation, or lock yourself into a closet, but be sure to read The Return of Captain John Emmett.
Note: All of my statistics were taken from Wikipedia. I am sure you will find different numbers in different places, but you get the idea!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Beauty Queens
Libba Bray has written a series of books that my daughter loves: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. She keeps telling me that I MUST read them, but I just haven't gotten to them yet. However, we were at Barnes and Noble and saw Beauty Queens, also by Libba Bray, and I just had to give it a try. I confess, "Toddlers and Tiaras" is one of my guilty pleasures!
The story begins with the 50 contestants of the Miss Teen Dream Pageant crash landing on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Unlike Ginger on "Gilligan's Island", their evening gowns and makeup cases do not survive intact. So what are the surviving plucked and spray tanned Miss Teen Dreamers to do??? Some want to keep practicing their routines for the upcoming pageant, others want to focus on survival. And Miss New Mexico has an airplane food tray stuck in her forehead. A menacing volcano, strange totems, mutant snakes and a wayward pirate ship make for not your run-of-the-mill castaway story.
Part spy thriller, part political commentary, part Disney Channel comedy and part cautionary tale, the book was lots of what I expected, and a lot of what I didn't. We found it in the young adult section, but some of the themes a quite mature. I probably wouldn't let a young teenager read it. But that's just me. You read it and decide!
The story begins with the 50 contestants of the Miss Teen Dream Pageant crash landing on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Unlike Ginger on "Gilligan's Island", their evening gowns and makeup cases do not survive intact. So what are the surviving plucked and spray tanned Miss Teen Dreamers to do??? Some want to keep practicing their routines for the upcoming pageant, others want to focus on survival. And Miss New Mexico has an airplane food tray stuck in her forehead. A menacing volcano, strange totems, mutant snakes and a wayward pirate ship make for not your run-of-the-mill castaway story.
Part spy thriller, part political commentary, part Disney Channel comedy and part cautionary tale, the book was lots of what I expected, and a lot of what I didn't. We found it in the young adult section, but some of the themes a quite mature. I probably wouldn't let a young teenager read it. But that's just me. You read it and decide!
To Become an Expert in Murder, Cannot Be So Difficult
My list of favorite authors is growing daily, the latest addition being Nicola Upson, who has written An Expert in Murder, A Josephine Tey Mystery. (Thanks, Sarah, for the recommendation, and yes, it's another mystery, but I love them!!!)
It is 1934, and Josephine Tey is a mystery writer and play write with a smash hit on the London stage. Long running Richard of Bordeaux is in it's final week of production and emotions are running high. The actors are worrying about their next jobs, disgruntled stage hands are nurturing their resentments, and the fans are lining up in hope of seeing the show one more time. Josephine is taking the train from Scotland to London for this last week when she meets Elspeth Simmons, a huge fan and admirer of both the play and Josephine. Josephine is enchanted by Elspeth, but this being a British puzzle mystery we need a dead body to get things going, and Elspeth gets the part. Enter stage right a handsome Scotland Yard detective, murders with props carefully arranged, secret passageways, hidden identities and an atmosphere of danger around every backdrop and set. (This would make a great script for Mystery! on PBS.) All is revealed before the final curtain, of course, but the most revealing bits are in the author's note at the end of the book. Josephine Tey was a real person! At least Elizabeth Mackintosh was, and Elizabeth Tey was one of her pseudonyms. She really did write Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for 463 performances in London before closing on March 24, 1934. And get this: the part of Richard was played by John Gielgud! It made him a star overnight.
So, this is a work of fiction, but it is based on real people and real events. And the truth always makes for a great and strange story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
It is 1934, and Josephine Tey is a mystery writer and play write with a smash hit on the London stage. Long running Richard of Bordeaux is in it's final week of production and emotions are running high. The actors are worrying about their next jobs, disgruntled stage hands are nurturing their resentments, and the fans are lining up in hope of seeing the show one more time. Josephine is taking the train from Scotland to London for this last week when she meets Elspeth Simmons, a huge fan and admirer of both the play and Josephine. Josephine is enchanted by Elspeth, but this being a British puzzle mystery we need a dead body to get things going, and Elspeth gets the part. Enter stage right a handsome Scotland Yard detective, murders with props carefully arranged, secret passageways, hidden identities and an atmosphere of danger around every backdrop and set. (This would make a great script for Mystery! on PBS.) All is revealed before the final curtain, of course, but the most revealing bits are in the author's note at the end of the book. Josephine Tey was a real person! At least Elizabeth Mackintosh was, and Elizabeth Tey was one of her pseudonyms. She really did write Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for 463 performances in London before closing on March 24, 1934. And get this: the part of Richard was played by John Gielgud! It made him a star overnight.
So, this is a work of fiction, but it is based on real people and real events. And the truth always makes for a great and strange story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
No Turning Back, A Witness to Mercy, by Donald H. Calloway, MIC
I'm having trouble writing about this book, and I don't know why. Maybe because this amazing story speaks for itself. Just know this: If your child is a drop-out/stoner/criminal, there is hope. They may not go from drop-out/stoner/criminal to Marian Priest, but don't give up. And that's all I have to say about that!
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was not really on my book radar until my daughter asked me if I'd read it. Apparently all of her friends LOVED it. Fast forward to a few days later at Lindbergh Field, where we were getting ready fly to Ohio to visit some friends. Well, there it was, just waiting for me in the airport bookstore, so I bought it. Have I mentioned that I love airport bookstores?! Anyway...I read it all the way to Atlanta. Then I read it while waiting in Atlanta. Then I read it all the way to the Akron/Canton Airport and finished it before we arrived. Needless to say, I LOVED it!
This is not the type of book I normally enjoy. It takes place in the future, in what used to be the United States. The people in charge are cruel despots, and their sport is watching the children of their subjects kill each other in the annual Hunger Games. Think of the Olympics, but with only 1 boy and 1 girl from each country, and the winner is the one who manages not to die. (Sounds awful, doesn't it? Just try to put it down once you've started.) As soon as we got home I raced on over to Barnes and Noble and picked up the next installment in the series, Catching Fire. Unfortunately I haven't started it, because I know I won't want to put that one down, and then I'll have to go get the third book in the trilogy and nothing will get done around here.
So, if you haven't read The Hunger Games, do so SOON! I'll get back to you on the 2nd and 3rd books, but I have a daughter that needs to get to college first. Bye for now!
This is not the type of book I normally enjoy. It takes place in the future, in what used to be the United States. The people in charge are cruel despots, and their sport is watching the children of their subjects kill each other in the annual Hunger Games. Think of the Olympics, but with only 1 boy and 1 girl from each country, and the winner is the one who manages not to die. (Sounds awful, doesn't it? Just try to put it down once you've started.) As soon as we got home I raced on over to Barnes and Noble and picked up the next installment in the series, Catching Fire. Unfortunately I haven't started it, because I know I won't want to put that one down, and then I'll have to go get the third book in the trilogy and nothing will get done around here.
So, if you haven't read The Hunger Games, do so SOON! I'll get back to you on the 2nd and 3rd books, but I have a daughter that needs to get to college first. Bye for now!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
And Now for Something Completely Different
After plowing through Undaunted Courage I felt the need for something light and fluffy. Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich fit the bill!
Smokin' Seventeen is the, and I'm not trying to state the obvious here, 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a reluctant bounty hunter in the city of Trenton, NJ, a place where pot-roast-making mothers, Tony Soprano wannabes, and crazy curse-wielding grannies all meet to gossip at the local deli. Which means that EVERYONE knows your business in Trenton, which can be helpful when trying to track down FTA's. (That's "failure to appear" in bounty hunter-ease.) The trouble with Stephanie is that she attracts trouble. And explosions. And really psychotic perps. Not to mention TWO gorgeous but complicated men.
So if you are looking for a light read and a good laugh, try Smokin' Seventeen. Then go back and start at the beginning...One for the Money, Two for the Dough...etc., etc. Enjoy!
PS: Thank you to Monty Python for the title of this post!
Smokin' Seventeen is the, and I'm not trying to state the obvious here, 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a reluctant bounty hunter in the city of Trenton, NJ, a place where pot-roast-making mothers, Tony Soprano wannabes, and crazy curse-wielding grannies all meet to gossip at the local deli. Which means that EVERYONE knows your business in Trenton, which can be helpful when trying to track down FTA's. (That's "failure to appear" in bounty hunter-ease.) The trouble with Stephanie is that she attracts trouble. And explosions. And really psychotic perps. Not to mention TWO gorgeous but complicated men.
So if you are looking for a light read and a good laugh, try Smokin' Seventeen. Then go back and start at the beginning...One for the Money, Two for the Dough...etc., etc. Enjoy!
PS: Thank you to Monty Python for the title of this post!
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