A Clash of Kings

Someday fall may actually arrive, or at least below 100 degree weather, and I'll be able to leave the house. In the meantime, as always, I've been reading. I took a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick up "A Clash of Kings" (761 pages). It's the follow up to George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones." From Goodreads:

"A Clash of Kings is the follow-up to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin's fabulous introduction to a multilayered epic fantasy adventure that marked one of the most auspicious kickoffs in years. For those who enjoy their fantasy big, thick, and complex -- Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is for you. Fans of Jordan, Brooks, Goodkind, Feist, and high fantasy escapism in general are recommended -- no, commanded -- to flock to this breathtaking series. You'll be doing yourself an immense favor."

I don't know who Jordan, Brooks, Goodkind, and Feist are since I don't really read anything in the fantasy genre but I'm now hooked on Martin's series in spite of the complexity and mammoth lengths of each book.

There's really not a lot I can say since this book is a sequel in a series. The writing is engaging with many characters and plots all working together. I'm definitely going to snag "A Storm of Swords" the next time I hit the book store.

Sizzling Sixteen

I can't believe Janet Evanovich has written 16 books about Stephanie Plum. I can't believe I've read them all, including the latest entry yesterday, "Sizzling Sixteen" (326 pages). From the back of the book:

"Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a 'lucky' bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck....

BAD LUCK:
Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.

GOOD LUCK:
Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.

BAD LUCK:
Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie’s messing up local stoner Walter 'Moon Man' Dunphy's vibe, running up pay-per-view porn charges in security expert Ranger’s apartment, and making Stephanie question genetics.

GOOD LUCK:
Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, Mooner’s Hobbit-Con charity event, and Uncle Pip’s mysterious bottle, they just might raise enough money to save Vinnie and the business from ruin.

BAD LUCK:
Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a Turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.

GOOD LUCK:
The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky---the only question is . . . with whom?

Sizzling Sixteen . . . so hot, the pages might spontaneously combust!"

One word review of the latest books in the Stephanie Plum series: meh. "Sizzling Sixteen" was better than "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" but that isn't saying much. I really enjoy the characters of this series and the overall premise of the books but unfortunately after sixteen installments there has been zero growth. Stephanie gets a new case or two and bumbles her way around while flirting with Joe or Ranger. Exchange plot lines every novel and that's pretty much all you have. The first few novels in the series were really fantastic but unfortunately the formula has grown stale over the course of many, many books.

I'll continue to read each new entry yearly, at least they're always good for a chuckle. Recommended for fans of Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum series.

Orange Power!!

10. More. Days.

I know the video is a little cheesey but I'm so pumped about the 2011 college football season. I just found out I have tickets to the first game of the season! Commence foaming at the mouth...

Go Pokes!!

Thunderstruck

With the conclusion of "Thunderstruck" (463 pages) I have read everything Erik Larson has written, so far. From the book's cover:

"A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s 'great hush.'

In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men — Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication — whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, 'the kindest of men,' nearly commits the perfect crime.

With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form."

Another great read by Larson, though my least favorite of in a collection of great stories. Like "The Devil in the White City" Larson takes two seemingly different stories and shows how they intersect in history. Brilliant and a pleasure to read as always. I don't think there's another author in the world that could coax me in to reading anything about Guglielmo Marconi, despite the visionary he might have been.

The work of non-fiction is fast paced and full of Larson's wonderful ability to retell historic events as though it was a work of fiction. Highly recommended as with all his other books. Not to be missed.

The Heaven Eleven Meme

It's been a while since I participated in Sunday Stealing so I thought I would get an early start and post my answers today. I know my blog is slowly dieing but I'm just not feeling it lately. It seems that Facespace has been a better venue lately to be snarly. That and I'm still shell shocked to be back in the south...

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. If you could live in any other time period, which would you pick?
Between the two great wars, the 1920's, either in America or Europe. I'm fascinated by this time in history.

2. What is your favorite topic to write on your blog other than a meme?
Nothing really, I just write about what interests me at any particular time. If I had a theme it would be more empty than it already is around here.

3. What are some traits that you admire in a lover?
I like eyes and smiles and also someone who is clean.

4. Could you adjust to life in another country?
Absolutely, especially in Europe. I'd totally settle in Berlin if I had the money to move there.

5. If you could study anything, what would it be?
Quantum physics.

6. What is your favorite possession that cost less than $15?
I'm quite fond of my Oklahoma State iPhone protector that has Pistol Pete on it.

7. Which color do you wear most often?
Off the top of my head I would have to say blue.

8. What has been your “theme song”, or favorite song this summer?
"Hello," "Just Can't Get Enough," or "Take Over Control." All these songs remind me of time in Chicago or Louisiana this summer.

9. What's the most romantic thing that's ever been said to you?
Nothing. A close second would be "who is this?"

10. What would be your dream birthday cake?
I'm not a big fan of cake especially from bakeries, usually they're shitty. My mom makes a pretty decent strawberry cake though.

11. What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?
That's a tough question. Traveling is the coolest thing I can think of off the top of my head. I was an exchange student in German when I was 17, that probably counts as travel.

A Game of Thrones

I finally had to see what all the hype was involving George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" (694 pages). From the cover of the book:

"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."

I really wanted to like this novel more than what was given me. I plugged through a bunch of different chapters centered around a multitude of characters. So many characters in fact it was hard to keep everyone straight initially. Finally after about 500 pages into this tome everything started to click and the action began to pick up speed. By the end of the first part of this series I was thirsty for the story to continue and naturally it ended on a cliff hanger. Now that I'm somewhat sucked in I guess I'll need to buy the next novel.

A friend of mine described "A Game of Thrones" as "Lord of the Rings" with tits. I'm not sure I would go that far. There is some gratuitous sex sprinkled throughout the novel but nothing too extreme. I enjoyed Martin's writing style for the most part and give him credit for creating an engrossing world with a ton of characters and cultures. As a book to set up a series I think "A Game of Thrones" mostly succeeds but damn if it doesn't take its time getting on with it! Recommended especially for fans of fantasy which admittedly I'm not.

After reading the "A Game of Thrones" I watched the first season of the HBO series of the same name online. It's a great treatment to the novel, following it very closely. Violence, sex, and nudity abounds. All good stuff...

Fancy a Ride to Coober Pedy?

Well I'm back in in Oklahoma, boo. I guess I should post some of my adventures in New York City. I was lucky enough to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Musical on Saturday night. It was fantastic, probably my favorite now just edging out Wicked.

For those of you unaware, the musical is based on the movie of the same name starring Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp. The plot chronicles the three drag queens on their journey through the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in their bus named Priscilla. It's a fun and often touching movie that should not be missed.

The musical followed the plot of the movie very well incorporating 80's songs into the mix. The performances were all very strong and the set design very well done especially the bus which moved all over the stage and even opened up for an interior view. On a slightly disappointing note the role of Felicia normally portrayed by Nick Adams was replaced by his understudy Bryan West. West was still outstanding in the show and my favorite member, not to mention cute with an unbelievable butt!

If you're in New York City in the near future see this musical!




"I hereby christen this budget Barbie camper van, Priscilla Queen of the desert!"

Check!

Laundry done and bags packed. Check.

Book and iPod for the plane. Check.

Bath house membership in my wallet. Check.

I'm ready to go to New York City!!


I'm totally kidding, I'm not taking a book on the plane...

I have no clue what to expect from the Big Apple as I've never been to New York City before. The only firm plans I have are to see my friend Lindsey, to see "Wicked" and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert," and to eat at "Craft." Other than that the sky's the limit!

Everyone have a wonderful week, see you on the flip side...

Screw This: Fire and Brimestone Edition!

One of the favorite past times of any self respecting Oklahoman is bitching about the weather. We're like the Goldilocks of America. It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too windy, we need rain! As of right now it's too fucking hot. The graph above is one of the more conservative estimates I've seen around the local web sites. Some forecasts say we could hit highs between 108 and 110 next week. My yard is completely dead, did I mention we're in a drought as well?

The sign from Moore Liquor Marquee isn't too far from the truth. Check out their Facespace page for more of their marquee shenanigans. They seem to have a comment on everything under the sun especially fighting the Christians of south Oklahoma City (my favorite).

Fortunately I'm going to miss some of this dreadful heat as I'll be heading east next week to relax on a little island called Manhattan!

Approaching the weather in a glass is half full kind of way, today is supposed to be the hottest average day in Oklahoma. From this point, as an average, the weather will slowly cool down as we march toward spring. Something to look forward to, no?

The Short History of a Prince

I was beginning to wonder if I would hit fifty books this year but at the rate I'm going I should be able to catch up. Next on my reading list via the bookshelf of mom was "The Short History of a Prince" (349 pages)by Jane Hamilton. From Goodreads:

"As a teenager in Oak Ridge, Illinois, Walter McCloud is desperate for adventure, hoping for love and success as a dancer. 'If life for Walter was composed in part of confusion, shame and deception, the ballet was order, dignity and forthright beauty.' In 1995, at 38, nothing has turned out as he had expected. Having spent years working in a dollhouse shop in New York and engaging in that city's ready sexual excitement, Walter finally returns to his Midwestern roots, accepting a teaching job in Otten, Wisconsin--a place that might have little to recommend it save its proximity to his family's summer home. ('It had taken Walter several years to admit to himself that he couldn't go on indefinitely selling Lilliputian Coke bottles and microscopic toilet-roll dowels.') In this new community, he will have to keep his head down, a stance that has long suited him, because he prefers to hold one memory of lost intimacy and perfection in high, private relief.

Walter's exile, or new start, allows memory to come to the fore, particularly that painful year in which his brother was dying of Hodgkin's and he and his fellow dancers were dying for experience. Jane Hamilton explores the distance between desire and reality, satisfaction and secrecy, irresistibly alternating between past and present. At first, we can't wait for Walter to break through, and it's tempting to race through her prince's history--one which is, happily, not that short. But to do so would be to miss out on Hamilton's fine major and minor characters and her exploration of competition, complicity, and silence. At one point, Walter fears that his pupils have 'no clue that there was pleasure to be found in observing character. They seemed to be afraid to look around themselves and find a world every bit as amusing, ridiculous and unjust as Dickens's London...' Hamilton's readers, however, will find this pleasure in abundance."

Hamilton's novel is a nice little story about family and loss and one's perception of failure. As the book's dust cover states: "With compassion and humor, and alternating between Walter's adolescent and adult voices, the novel tells of Walter's heartbreak as he realizes that his passion cannot make up for the innate talent that he lacks." What I really like among all the grief and reflections of the past is the revelation by Walter that maybe one can be happy with simply a place to live, a boyfriend, and a dog.

I've read through some other reviews that this novel requires some "heavy lifting" by the reader. I didn't find this to be the case. Hamilton's style is full of detail and rich characters but I think this enhances the simple story of Walter McCloud and two years in his life from two different decades. I also appreciated that many parts of the story took place in Chicago. How can this be bad thing? Recommended.

In the Garden of Beasts

My reading of Erik Larson continues with his newly published work of non-fiction, "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin" (448 pages). From the author's web page:

"With this new book, I invite you to journey to Berlin during Hitler’s first year in power, 1933, in the company of a real-life father and daughter from Chicago who suddenly found themselves transported to the heart of the city. They had no conception of the harrowing days that lay ahead. At the time, nothing was certain—Hitler did not yet possess absolute power, and few outsiders expected his government to survive. The family encountered a city suffused with energy and optimism, with some of the most striking, avant-garde buildings in the world. Its theaters, concert halls, and cafés were jammed; the streets teemed with well-dressed attractive people. But my two protagonists were about to begin an education that would change them forever, with ultimately tragic consequences.

The father was William E. Dodd, a mild-mannered professor who, much to his surprise and everyone else’s, was picked by President Roosevelt to be America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany. His daughter, Martha, was 24 years old, and chose to come along for the adventure, and to escape a dead marriage to a New York banker. They and the rest of their family settled in a grand old house on the city’s central park, the Tiergarten—in literal translation, the Garden of Beasts.

Dodd expected to encounter the same warm citizenry he had known three decades earlier while a graduate student in Leipzig; he hoped to use reason and quiet persuasion to temper Hitler’s government. Martha found the 'New Germany' utterly enthralling, totally unlike the horrific realm depicted in newspapers back home. For her, as for many other foreign visitors at the time, the transformation of Germany was thrilling and not at all frightening. Not yet.

As that first year unfolded they experienced days full of energy, intrigue, and romance—and, ultimately, terror, on a scale they could never have imagined. Their experience tells volumes about why the world took so long to recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler."

Another wonderful effort by Larson to take another point in history, this time a year in Berlin, and transform it into an edge of your seat work of non-fiction. The book chronicles Ambassador Dodd's family in their first year in Nazi Germany, as told mostly through the eyes of Ambassador Dodd and his daughter Martha. The narratives combines notes, diaries, and diplomatic cables that all combine in an engrossing story of the truly horrific rise of Hitler's power. One has to wonder how Germany could be transformed so easily with the German people and the diplomatic world at large doing little or nothing to protest.

Again, another well written and meticulous account by Larson. Highly recommended for fans of the author or the subject matter. Read this book!

One for the Money Casting

The most popular post in my entire blog at least since late 2009 has been One for the Money: The Movie. Since this is the case I thought an update to the movie based on the best selling Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich was in order. The series has generated 17 novels so far, I'm a little behind having stopped at 15 last year.

A quick search at IMDb produced a list of the full cast:

Katherine Heigl ... Stephanie Plum
John Leguizamo ... Jimmy Alpha
Daniel Sunjata ... Ranger
Jason O'Mara ... Joe Morelli
Debbie Reynolds ... Grandma Mazur
Patrick Fischler ... Vinnie Plum
Sherri Shepherd ... Lula
Leonardo Nam ... John Cho
Nate Mooney ... Eddie Gazarra
Ana Reeder ... Connie
Gavin-Keith Umeh ... Benito Ramirez
Adam Paul ... Bernie Kuntz
Brenna Roth ... Sara
Danny Mastrogiorgio ... Lenny
Michael Laurence ... Lonnie Dodd

While I'm not exactly thrilled by the casting I'll reserve judgement until January 27th, 2012 when the movie is released.

I think Debbie Reynolds is actually a pretty good choice to play Grandma Mazur but I was really hoping for Betty White.

What do all of you Stephanie Plum fans out there think?

The Twenty-Fiver Meme

Happy Sunday everyone! I just returned from "Captain America" with the Rents (parents). It's surprisingly good, so check it out. Now on to today's Sunday Stealing...

Cheers to all of us thieves!

1. Tell us about something that made you laugh last night.
Futurama. I was watching the third season on DVD last night.

2. What were you doing at 8 PM last night?
Oozing on the sofa watching show from question number 1.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Driving the Rents home from the theatre.

4. What happened to you in 2006? (Feel free to republish an old post from '06.)
I went to Mexico with Shimmy. Check it out.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"Bye Felicia."

6. How many beverages did you have today?
I had a soda at the theatre.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
I haven't used a brush or comb in many, many years.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Bought a pack of smokes this morning.

9. Where were you last night?
At the house all night.

10. What color is your front door?
Red. Gotta live the feng shui.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In a beer growler on the floor next to my desk.

12. What’s the weather like today?
It's supposed to get up to 105 today. I'm so over summer. I haven't had to mow at all in the month of July.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Double chocolate from Baskin Robbins!

14. What excites you?
The prospect of moving.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Not quite, it hasn't hit the ears yet.

16. Are you over the age of 35?
I am amazingly! 38 and counting.

17. Do you talk a lot?
Not really.

18. Do you watch Franklin and Bash?
I have no clue what this reference is.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Not anyone in the inner circle.

20. Do you make up your own words?
Yeah, usually a combination of curse words.

21. Are you a jealous person?
Not usually.

22. What does the last text message you received say?
A post from Amy telling me I should go after someone newly single that I don't know.

23. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
New York City baby! Just over a week to go!

24. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Probably my friend Brucifer, but in a good way.

25. Are you crushing on anyone that you shouldn't be?
Not at the moment, enjoying my solitude.

Isaac's Storm

Does anyone know the greatest natural disaster in American history? I do now after reading "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History" (323 pages) by Erik Larson. From the back of the book:

"September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged by a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over 6,000 people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history - and Isaac Cline found himself victim of a devastating personal tragedy.

Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Thrilling, powerful, and unrelentingly suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen human arrogance meets the uncontrollable force of nature."

Not normally a subject matter I would be interested in reading, "Isaac's Storm" drew me in for one reason: Erik Larson. After reading "The Devil in the White City" last year by Larson, I would be willing to read anything he writes on any subject. "Issac's Storm" doesn't disappoint on every level a story can be measured. It has Larson's addictive style and foreshadowing that literally kept me on edge throughout the reading, which I pretty much did in one sitting tonight. The accounts and historical record that the author takes and combines into a story that reads like a fictional thriller is superb. Highly readable and emotional, this isn't a dusty work of non-fiction of the events of a period of time in 1900. I don't think I'll ever be able to shake the description of the 90 nuns and orphans who died in an attempt not to lose anyone by tying each other to ropes as the flood waters were rising in the orphanage... The story is a study of disaster and loss, the technology at the time, and man's hubris all rolled into one.

Highly recommended, one of the best books I've read so far this year. Get up now from your computer, quit your job, abandon the kids and go to a bookstore and buy this book or download it online. It's that good.

Thanks for the book Dann!

Angela's Ashes

Amazingly I still haven't had to purchase a book since the death of Borders here in Oklahoma City. I continue to visit the bookstore of mom. Where does she get all these books? My latest theft is "Angela's Ashes" (364 pages) by Frank McCourt. From the book's jacket:

"'When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.'

So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story.

Perhaps it is a story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness."

"Angela's Ashes" has to be one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Following McCourt's childhood journey of poverty from Brooklyn to Ireland and back to America in the 1930's and 40's is truly an ordeal and sometimes hard to read. Having said that, "Angela's Ashes" is also one of the funniest books I've read as well. McCourt presents several of his memories as a confused child unsure what's going on and slowly the stories evolve along with his age and maturity.

There's not really a whole more I can say about a memoir. Essentially we are taken on a journey through McCourt's childhood where he suffers through extreme poverty, the Catholic Church, and an extended family with sometimes less than good intentions. The author's wit and charm makes this tale of woe a more positive experience. Highly recommended.

If I hear the term "Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Joseph" one more time I might convert to Catholicism!

Eating Ramen Noodles and Starbursts While in Witness Protection

From WTF Weekly Meme:



1) If you had to go into the witness protection program and were given the chance to chose your new name, what would you pick for your name?

Rollo Tomasi. Bonus points to anyone who knows what that's from without looking it up.

2) In many books there are random blank pages, sometimes right after the credits page or between chapters. Sometimes the pages say "This page is intentionally left blank." Why do you think they feel the need to say that, and is it really "blank" if that is printed on it?

Your guess is as good as mine. Here's what Wikipedia said about it. I like the idea of "rest for the restless mind."

3) The makers of Starburst candies has based its current ad campaign around the idea of contradictions (They're solid but juicy like a liquid). In what way or ways is your life a contradiction?

I'm like those Sour Patch Kids candy, except first I'm sweet and then I'm sour.

4) July 20 is "Ugly Truck Day." Who seriously comes up with these things? What is the ugliest type of vehicle?

I dislike most Dodge vehicles because they are ugly. Who came up with that half car half station wagon monstrosity?

5) People who drive pickup trucks and own dogs often drive around with their dogs roaming around loose in the bed of the truck. Do you think this practice is okay or is it wrong in a PETA type of way?

I'm not sure. Living in Oklahoma you see more of this than you think. I'm not sure what to think about it. A dog can be killed just as easily in the cab as in the back of the truck.

6) Borders announced this week that it will close the rest of its 399 stores after a bankruptcy earlier this year and closing many stores already. With the invention of electronic book readers and e-books, do you think the print book industry is totally dying or do you think there will always be people who prefer to read books on paper?

I'm one of those people who prefer to hold a real book, even better if it's a hard cover copy over a paperback. Borders closed down here some time ago and I was devastated as it was my favorite place to purchase books. I'm sad to see the chain close completely. From here on out I'm buying local I guess.

7) Have you ever thought you saw the face of the Virgin Mary or Jesus or some other religious figure in an inanimate object?

No but I'm not a crazy person.

8) I heard a local radio talk show discuss ramen noodles in depth last week. A woman called in saying she made spaghetti with ramen noodles, tomato soup, and Italian seasoning. Do you have any good (or just interesting) recipes that use ramen noodles?

Who doesn't love Ramen noodles? If you dislike them you're a Communist! I eat them occasionally and I only prepare them by the instructions on the back.

9) What do you think is the most repulsive form of music?

There are certainly forms of music I dislike but I don't think I would characterize it as repulsive. Even some forms of rap and bullshit country bumpkin red neck music does have some artistic talent somewhere.

10) When I was a kid and all my classmates were at summer camps, I was always stuck at home because my parents couldn't afford to send me off to camp. Were you one of the lucky kids who got to go to a summer camp of some sort?

The only camp besides band camp I ever attended was a Baptist bible camp one year. I had a Coors sleeping bag they wouldn't allow me to bring and all these many years later I'm disgusted by that action. My dad worked for a Coors distributor my entire life. This is what fed and clothed me! I should've went to a Catholic camp!

Burnt and Home

How sad my life is that even returning from a weekend trip to eastern Oklahoma makes me a little depressed. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to live there with all the toothless folk, I just loathe Oklahoma City the more I travel.

Okay, enough whining.

My favorite quotes from the float trip that I happened to save on my iPhone:

Floyd: "I've had my tongue up your ass so don't act like you don't know me!"

Matt: "Dann thought he sharted but he didn't."

Matt: "Never trust a fart over 30."

Flyod: "Allegedly."

Unknown but I think Russell: "I went to vodka, I mean vacation bible school."

I had a really great time with a fun group for the most part. There were some lesbians with sticks up there ass next door to us and a couple incidents with some homophobes but nothing too dramatic went down. The paramedics only had to come to our bunkhouse once! Yeah, were that group.

I look forward to doing the trip again next year, if not sooner. Only next time I'll be sleeping in a better cabin/bunkhouse.


Edit: thought I should add one with me in it:

Tahlequah Bound!

Heading to eastern Oklahoma to float the Illinois river this weekend with a couple hundred of my closest friends! Well I'll know a dozen anyways. Que the banjo music...

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Divine Justice

Welcome back to Dave's World book club! Is everyone keeping up with their required book a day reading? I certainly hope not, otherwise you'll be as pathetic as I am holed up at home. Fortunately I'm on the mend. Unfortunately I think my antibiotic are making me sick. I just can't catch a break. So between eating and sleeping I've been reading a lot. The latest entry is "Divine Justice" (523 pages) by David Baldacci, the fourth book in the Camel Club series. From the author's web page (is web page one or two words? I never can seem to get that right...):

"Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in David Baldacci's most surprising thriller yet... DIVINE JUSTICE.

Known by his alias, 'Oliver Stone,' John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone’s life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.

But his freedom comes at a steep price: The assassinations he carried out prompts the highest levels of the U. S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. He, more than anyone else, wants Stone dead.

With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now, as the hunters close in, Stone’s flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D.C., to the small, isolated coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia—and into a world every bit as bloody and lethal as the one he left behind."

"Divine Justice" I think brings to a close the storylines which were established and continued in "The Collectors" and "Stone Cold." I really enjoy this series of stories but I'm definitely ready for a change and luckily I'm all out of Camel Club books. You know the saying about too much of a good thing.

Another fantastic read by Baldacci with his oddball assortment of characters only this time the group is coming to the aid of their leader, the mysterious Oliver Stone. For a change most of the action in the novel takes place in a rural destination in western Virgina. A nice and needed change I think.

If you're a thriller or political intrigue fan, the Camel Club series is not to be missed. Recommended. Again one should start with the first book in the series, the Camel Club, to catch everything that has happened thus far.

I have three books queued and ready to go. Where to begin? A Gothic novel? Irish poverty? Maybe a story about a boy who wants to be a ballerina...

Stone Cold

My reading convalescence continues with "Stone Cold" (511 pages) by David Baldacci, the third book in the Camel Club series. From the author's web site:

"Oliver Stone, the leader of the mysterious group that calls itself the Camel Club, is both feared and respected by those who've crossed his path. Keeping a vigilant watch over our leaders in Washington, D.C., the Camel Club has won over some allies, but it has also earned formidable enemies - including those in power who will do anything to prevent Stone and his friends from uncovering the hidden, secret work of the government.

Annabelle Conroy, an honorary member of the Camel Club, is also the greatest con artist of her generation. She has swindled forty million dollars from casino king Jerry Bagger, the man who murdered her mother. Now he's hot on her trail with only one goal in mind: Annabelle's death. But as Stone and the Camel Club circle the wagons to protect Annabelle, a new opponent, who makes Bagger's menace pale by comparison, suddenly arises.

One by one, men from Stone's shadowy past are turning up dead. Behind this slaughter stands one man: Harry Finn. To almost all who know him, Finn is a doting father and loving husband who uses his skills behind the scenes to keep our nation safe. But the other face of Harry Finn is that of an unstoppable killer who inevitably sets his lethal bull's-eye on Oliver Stone. And with Finn, Stone may well have met his match.

As Annabelle and the Camel Club fight for their lives, the twists and turns whipsaw, leading to a finale that is as explosive as it is shattering. And when buried secrets are at last violently resurrected, the members of the Camel Club left standing will be changed forever.

With unrelenting pacing, stunning reversals, and two of the most compelling characters in modern fiction, STONE COLD is David Baldacci writing at his breathtaking best."

Obviously I like this series by Baldacci as it's the third book I've read of his this year. The writing is crisp and fast with great deatil into the military intellegence world written in a way that is easily understood by the reader. "Stone Cold" is more of a direct sequel to "The Collectors" rather than a stand alone novel like the first entry in the series. Again these kinds of thrillers usually aren't what I read on a regular basis but I really like the content of the stories and the many interesting characters that Baldacci writes.

Recommended by fans of the genre and the author, however since it's the third book in a series of stories featuring these characters, if you haven't read any of them it would be more enjoyable to start with the first book, The Camel Club.