Recent Books I've Read

Mostly so I remember myself, here are some books I've recently read. A lot of these I found through bookbub.com, which provides daily deals on selected eBooks (some free, some 99 cents, etc.). I will try not to write anything that could spoil things for a new reader, but will place a link to the book on Amazon so anyone interested (or forgetful like me) can read about it.

"The Spy Who Couldn't Spell" by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee. https://tinyurl.com/y9ff9lfj Still reading this non-fiction book about a spy.

Winged Obsession" by Jessica Speart. https://tinyurl.com/yd9va5zh This is a non-fiction book about something you might not think interesting, but the writing held my interest from beginning to end. It is about tracking down an infamous rare, endangered species, butterfly smuggler. Who knew this was such a lucrative business?

"Method 15/33" by Shannon Kirk. https://tinyurl.com/yagjhx72 This book is definitely not what you might think from the cover and won a number of awards. It's pretty gritty, but this 16 year old definitely knows how to take care of herself!

"The Fall of Japan" by William Craig. https://tinyurl.com/yarv68g5 A NY Times bestseller history of the final weeks weeks of World War II in the Pacific. I like to read history books from time to time.

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Gone Baby Gone (2007)

"Gone Baby Gone" is a 2007 film directed by Ben Affleck. Besides the stars shown in the picture (Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris), I recognized Titus Welliver who stars in the Bosch detective series. The film centers around a kidnapped 4-year-old girl in the Dorchester section of Boston. Private investigator Casey Affleck and his girlfriend partner Michelle Monaghan are hired by the missing child's aunt to augment the police investigation. The language is rough and this is a tough area of town. The mother of the missing girl is a drug addict and there is more to the kidnapping than first appears. Without giving away the plot, the ending of the film poses the question to the viewer as to whether the right choice was made. The cast is very strong and the film well acted.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

This 2007 crime thriller by the Coen brothers won four academy awards, including Best Picture. It stars Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and includes Woody Harrelson as well. It's a modern day western of sorts, set in Texas. But it is anything but the traditional type of western. The film explores issues of free-will and fate as well as the essence of good and evil. Some of the characters are complex, behaving morally one moment and less so the next. Tommy Lee Jones plays small town sheriff Ed Tom Bell whose narration begins the film and whose conversation with his wife at the end about his dreams closes the film. The rest of the film concerns the interplay between the three stars as interested parties seek to recover $2 million in cash from a drug deal gone wrong. If you only like the traditional kind of western where the good guys wear a white hat and always win, then you won't like this film. But if you enjoy a complex film that touches on the emotions and f...

British TV series "Injustice"

"Injustice" is 2011 five part British TV series about a criminal defense attorney (barrister) who struggles with legal justice versus true justice. The story moves between London and Ipswich and combines a current murder investigation with ramifications of a prior one. James Purefoy plays the barrister William Travers, who suffered a nervous breakdown after successfully defending a car bomb suspect he later learns was actually guilty. He returns to practice to defend a college chum of his accused of murdering a secretary in a hotel room. He makes a point of saying he needs to believe in his client's innocence to defend them. There's a pretty rotten and crooked police inspector involved as well. The show was well done and held my interest. You can see it on Amazon or for free on Vudu (with commercials). You can read more about it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injustice_(TV_series)

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