Genre: Book
Grade: B+/B
Notable People: Linda Castillo
Title: A Gathering of Secrets
Review: the next in a long line of Amish Country Police Chief Kate Burkholder series. These books are extremely well written with a great sense of life in Amish- land. Castillo continues to further develop her characters and describe the culture very well. But, how much bad shit can happen in one Amish community? Gets a bit farfetched at times…but a good ride nonetheless.
Genre: TV Series (Paramount- 2 Seasons)
Grade: B+/B
Notable People: Kevin Costner, Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Cole Hauser, Created by: Taylor Sheridan
Title: Yellowstone
Review: this is one absolute guilty pleasure. Kind of a modern western soap opera, but a fascinating look at big ranching power and greed in Montana. Costner remains a fine actor, and the supporting cast is very good (especially the over the top firebrand, Reilly, as the wayward daughter). The cinematography is spectacular. May not be the most highbrow (or well written) show around, but we’re more or less hooked.
Genre: Book
Grade: B+/B
Notable People: Darryl Gregory
Title: Spoonbenders
Review: this is one weird book. The story of a family of psychics involved in fuzzy espionage with the government and trying for years to be famous. The characters are rich, the writing somewhat reminiscent of Tom Robbins. I could not decide how to rate this book…thought it was hokey at times…..and could not put it down. A random selection someone gave me. The Telemachus family is worth checking out….very strange.
Genre: Book
Grade: A
Notable People: Kristin Hannah
Title: The Great Alone
Review: I read Hannah’s Nightingale book earlier this month, and was so impressed I went looking for more of her work. It appears she is prolific and writes a lot of what is considered “romance novels”…but I found this recent one that is another clear split from the usual. This is one of the most challenging reads I’ve had in a while. Filled with PTSD and domestic violence, it is the story of a young girl relocating to the pure wilds of the Kenai Peninsula in remote Alaska with her crazed Vietnam vet father and helpless mother, circa early 70s. The portrayal of life in “the great alone” is spectacular and the story quite compelling. Trapped in a remote cabin with an explosive and paranoid father for eight months of 18 hour a day winter, it is a fearsome portrayal of living in a very narrow world without seeming options….until…..but I wont spoil it. Memorable characters and a well-developed setting takes this novel to another level. Difficult. Spellbinding. Captivating.
Genre: TV Series- Hulu- 1 Season- subtitles (in German and French)
Grade: B+
Notable People: Vicky Krieps, Tom Wlaschiha, Thierry Fremont and Lizzy Caplan, Created by: Johannes Betz and Tony Saint
Title: Knife Creek
Review: An adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 German novel and a remake of a 1981 film, this Hulu production is a fine retelling of the story of a brother and sister in the small coastal town of La Rochelle, on the French coast, during 1942…..the height of the Nazi occupation of France. One sibling is a radio man on a German U- boat; the other a nurse assigned to Nazi high command. A dark, brooding and brilliant portrayal of the Vichy regime and the extraordinary French resistance. A very subtle look at the tenuous relationship between the Nazis, the free French and the Vichy collaborators at the point of time when the Americans and the Russians have entered the war and the tide is clearly turning. I liked this series a lot, and thought it was only held back by the extremely odd casting of Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) as the American leader of the French resistance. Well worth watching.
Genre: Book
Grade: B+
Notable People: Paul Doiron
Title: Knife Creek
Review: Another in along lone of Doiron’s fine series about Maine Game Warden, Mike Bowditch. A compelling, and at times, spellbinding read…this book, like all in the series, is exceedingly well written. The characters are always intriguing and the remote Maine setting is well presented. That said, it is getting a bit farfetched that one Fish and Wildlife guy remote areas of Maine can see this much death, carnage and destruction. Makes it seem like the most dangerous place on earth. Still…..highly enjoyable…I’ll read the next one.
Genre: TV Series- 3 Seasons- Hulu
Grade: A
Notable People: Elizabeth Morse, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Created by: Bruce Miller
Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Review: This is brilliant and painful TV. Way too many similarities with Nazi Germany (and our current temperature in this country) to be comfortable, but Morse is absolutely brilliant and the storylines are so convoluted and complex to be hard to track at times. Overwhelming brutality and oppression, but hard to look way from. Each season has surpassed the previous one…and apparently more yet to come. Dystopia is becoming sheik….
Genre: Book
Grade: A
Notable People: Kristin Hannah
Title: Nightingale
Review: Two French sisters trying to live ordinary lives in France in 1939, become major players in the French Resistance. This book is a bombshell…..brilliantly written and conceived…and absolutely illuminating account of the war from inside the destruction and torment of small village France. The characters are marvelous, the Nazi brutality staggering, the French resolve far beyond belief. Could only read in small segments, as I wept throughout. Hannah is known for her catalog of “romantic novels”, but she apparently really broke the mold on this one. This book is not easy to read….but I would not have missed it for the world.
Genre: TV Series
Grade: A+++++++
Notable People: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Dominic Chianese, Jamie Lynn- Sigler, Steven Van Zant, Michel Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Tony Siricco, Created by: David Chase
Title: The Sopranos-Season One (1999)
Review: When we were in Ohio last month, we had no internet or cable for ten days at our closed –up- for summer house. Found season one of The Sopranos in the cabinet to have something to watch at night…..ON VHS, no less…. Got the player up and running and were absolutely stunned at going back to this show. Had not revisited this since its original air on HBO in 1999. Loved it the first time round….But not , maron….in retrospect….holy shit….this is the best show ever produced for TV. Groundbreaking in every way. The cast is unbelievable, the writing taut and explosive, the shots behind artistic. In retrospect, the show lost some luster over time…..but oh that first season…when it was absolutely shooting for Very dark humor most of the time…Bracco as the confused and complex Dr. Melfi and the startling weekly therapy sessions with a mercurial Tony Soprano……Carmella, Christopher, Big Pussy, Silvio Dante…these we characters for the ages. The weekly guest stars were a veritable who’s who of the best Italian character actors of the time. You can’t look away foe this show. If you haven’t watched this in a while….go back and take your time….best ever…..
Genre: Book
Grade: B+/B
Notable People: Steve Hamilton
Title: Exit Strategy
Review: this is Hamilton’s second effort in his new Nick Mason series- after his ten plus year run with his Alex McKnight books. I thought the first in the series (The Second Coming of Nick Mason) was an absolutely extraordinary kickoff novel…..but this one faltered a bit for me. In the first book, Mason scraped his way through some very dangerous situations; in this one the scenarios just seemed way too unbelievable…so crossed the reality line for me. That said, the book is extremely well written, as always with Hamilton, and Nick Mason is an utterly compelling character. You want to know Irish culture in Chicago…this is quite the education. The story of a small time criminal taking the rap for his friends , and getting a 25 year stretch – only to be handpicked by an imprisoned gangland kingpin to get his freedom back in trade for enslavement to his outside immoral bidding…is hard hitting and at times, riveting. I’d just prefer some shackles of reality be aped. Hoping for a better third installment.
