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.

Comments

Altered Carbon

Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnamen) in "Altered Carbon" "Altered Carbon" is a 2018 Netflix science fiction series. There are 10 episodes in season one. Like so many other shows about the future (e.g. "Blade Runner"), it portrays a human society with highly advanced technology but vast gaps between rich and poor, and plenty of brutality and corruption. There are a lot of creeps in this future world! The setting is the year 2384 and the key premise of the show is that it is possible to store a human's consciousness in a device called a "stack" that can be inserted into another body. The wealthy have disposable bodies called "sleeves" ready to accept their consciousness whenever their current body needs replacing. Effectively they can live forever unless their stack is destroyed with no backup, referred to as "real death". Given their enormous wealth and longevity these people have great power, and even the police follow t

Out of Time (2003)

Out of Time (2003) is a fast paced crime thriller starring Denzel Washington as the police chief (Whitlock) of a small town on the Florida Keys. His affair with one of the characters evolves into a complicated plot involving stolen drug money, a million dollar life insurance policy, and a double homicide. The evidence points to Whitlock but all is not as it seems and the film keeps you on edge as Whitlock attempts to stay one step ahead of the lead homicide detective assigned to the case, his wife who has filed for divorce (played by Eva Mendez). You can read more about the film here: Out of Time

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.

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