June 10, 2012

The Bad Guys Won! by Jeff Pearlman

The Bad Guys Won! by Jeff Pearlman
My rating: ✰✰✰
Library Book, E-Book, Finished: 6/6/2012

This is an account of the 1986 Mets, they beat the Red Sox in the World Series. The Red Sox almost won it in game six, an error that created the word “Bucknered” allowed the Mets to win and go to game seven.

Jeff Pearlman is a Mets fan, you find this out in the beginning of the book, and he grew up to be a sports writer. He begins his narrative of the ’86 Mets by introducing us to Cashen, GM of the Mets. He promised the owners he could build a championship team, but it would take time, he was right on both fronts.

The ’86 Mets were not nice guys, they drank, did drugs and chased women (even some of the married players). Most of their games they came into the clubhouse to find coolers of ice cold Budweiser. The drugs of choice were cocaine and amphetamines (speed, pep pills, uppers and greenies), and getting drunk in the back of the plane was common.

While Pearlman is definitely biased towards the Mets, this is a very candid look at the team, through interviews with former players, batboys, managers and many associated with the Mets organization, it is a very well rounded look at a championship team filled with ‘bad guys’. He has knowledge of the playing side of a team as well as the business side of it, how sometimes practicality overcomes sentimentality, and times that it should. His writing is easy to follow, he makes generous use of similes, Darryl Strawberry is described as “wholesome as a Nevada brothel”, “as charming as a starved pit bull” and “as lovable as a cobra”. He talks about a pitcher who’s pitches made him “as threatening as a doe at a rifle club”.

This is a very interesting book that I would recommend to baseball fans in general and Mets fans in particular.

View all my reviews

Posted by on June 10, 2012 in 2012, Non-Fiction and tagged , , , , , .

Comments Off on The Bad Guys Won! by Jeff Pearlman

June 10, 2012

S’MAC

345 E 12th St
(between 2nd Ave & 1st Ave)
New York, NY 10003
Neighborhood: East Village

Trying the gluten-free take out cause to many at the restaurant. It was good. It is an unfortunate fact of life that if you are on a special diet you will pay more for your food and it does not always taste good. Here I had to pay extra for the gluten-free pasta, and had to make sure to ask for no bread crumbs. But I got to choose my cheese and I could have gotten meat or veggies in it. The only problem was I had to eat it with my fingers which means I got some strange looks on the subway. Next time I’ll bring a fork.

Another plus, I didn’t have to wait long for my order, and it is near Union Square Park so you could sit there and eat it, if you have a fork and spoon with you.

I should add that I didn’t ask for a fork or look around to see if they were set out in the waiting area.

Reviewed on YELP

Posted by on June 10, 2012 in Manhattan and tagged , , , .

Comments Off on S’MAC

June 7, 2012

Acquisitions ~ 2012 ~ RIP Ray Bradbury

  • Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury ~ Paperback from Posman Books
  • Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof ~ Trade Paperback from Posman Books

Posted by on June 7, 2012 in Acquisitions, Non-Fiction, Novel, Science Fiction and tagged , , , .

Comments Off on Acquisitions ~ 2012 ~ RIP Ray Bradbury

June 4, 2012

Acquisitions ~ 2012

  • HOSTILE WITNESS by Rebecca Forster [Kindle Edition]

Posted by on June 4, 2012 in Acquisitions, Crime Fiction, Novel, Thriller and tagged , , .

1 Comment

June 3, 2012

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
My rating: ✰✰✰
Library Book, Trade paperback, Finished reading: 6/1/2012

This story takes place in Montana, told from the perspective and memories of the oldest Milliron boy, Paul. Their mother having died the year before, Oliver Milliron see an ad for a housekeeper and decides that is what they need. Rose Llewellyn arrives with her brother Morris Morgan in tow. There is a Big Ditch project- a gargantuan irrigation project that is drawing homesteaders from the east. The schoolmarm runs off and gets married, and Morris Morgan becomes the new teacher.

The only way I can think to describe this is as a fictional memoir. We learn of the Milliron household and the community of Marias Coulee. Morris’ rather offbeat way of teaching, Rose’s philosophy of housekeeping and negotiating skills. There is much going on in Marias Coulee. The narrative is straightforward, except it goes from the ‘now’ of Paul’s life, to the memories of his childhood and that year when Rose and Morrie showed up and changed their lives forever.

Ivan Doig does a good job taking us back in time to 1909, Paul narrative is clear and concise, while relating long stretches of conversation his prose is captivating. The story doesn’t drag, there is a surprise at the end, not really a twist and the characters stay true and all the questions are answered.

View all my reviews

Posted by on June 3, 2012 in 2012, Novel and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Comments Off on The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

June 1, 2012

Acquisitions ~ 2012

  • Nearly Departed in Deadwood ~ Ann Charles ~ Kindle e-book

Posted by on June 1, 2012 in Acquisitions, Crime Fiction and tagged , , , .

Comments Off on Acquisitions ~ 2012

May 30, 2012

I am reading

Here are the books on my currently reading list.

  1. The Bad Guys Won! by Jeff Pearlman
  2. The Postcard Killer by Vance McLaughlin
  3. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
  4. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  5. Thuvia, Maid of Mars (Barsoom #4) by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  6. Underboss by Peter Maas

Before you say there is no way I can be reading 6 books at once, let me explain. Two books are library books, one paper and one electronic. I carry my reader on the train, I keep the paper book at home.

One book is the next in a series. It’s on here so I don’t lose track of where I am. Two more are books I own that I want to get read in June and the last one I want to finish this year. Putting these books on my currently reading list keeps me from shoving them to the side.

That’s my system. Do you have a similar system?

Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Miscellanea and tagged , , , , , .

Comments Off on I am reading

May 30, 2012

Acquisitions ~ 2012

Today I went shopping. Not for books for clothes. My rule is, if I buy new clothes I have to get rid of old clothes. So I went through my closet, took out a few old things and took them to Goodwill. I decided to check out the book section. It was rather large about 6 bookshelves worth, although a little messy.

While I didn’t look at every book there, I did walk down slowly and gave a careful look over what was there. I picked out two books and went to pay for them. However, I had stumbled into their Wednesday Manager’s special, which was 4 books for $1. So I went back to take another look. I hadn’t seen any books that were true crime except for one about the mafia, it was about the same boss in a book I already have. Since I am not that interested in organized crime I didn’t get it. Instead I got a biography that had only mildly interested me but for 25¢ I picked it up, and a book about how bad cosmetics are for your skin. Not a bad haul.

Then I found a bar that has Brooklyn Lager on tap for $4. I may have hit happy hour though.

Picked these up for a dollar.

● Master of Shadows by Mark Lamster


● No More Dirty Looks: The Truth About Your Beauty Products and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics
by Siobhan O’Connor, Alexandra Spunt


● Dying to Live by Tolly Burkan


● In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution by Susan Brownmiller

Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Acquisitions, Biography, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Women's Rights and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Comments Off on Acquisitions ~ 2012

May 28, 2012

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: ✰✰✰
Library, E-book, Finished reading: 5/28/2012

Lisbeth Salander is lying in a hospital, at the end of the last book she was shot in the head. If she recovers she faces a trial where she could end up in a psychiatric hospital for the rest of her life. Two doors away from her is Alexander Zalachenko the man who tried to kill her. Mikael Blomkvist is still around still working to get Lisbeth free.

It is hard for me to write this without spoilers, it is the last book in the Millennium Trilogy. I enjoyed this book as much if not more then the first two. The main thrust of the story is injustice, the injustice done to Lisbeth by people in authority. There is one other main story and while not exactly sidelines, there are many threads to the story. Despite this it never devolved into a tangles mess, storylines stayed on track and characters stayed true.

There is a lot of narrative explaining the political climate of the time, how certain laws worked, while tedious it did help with understanding the why of certain characters, although at times I felt it was a little excessive.

While I saw the end coming I didn’t see it from far off, as the story kept going I was wondering why then remembered, oh we don’t know what happened to ____, and then the light went on.

View all my reviews

Posted by on May 28, 2012 in 2012, Foreign, Novel and tagged , , , , , , , .

Comments Off on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

May 26, 2012

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: ✰✰✰
Library Book, E-Book, Finished: 5/26/2012

This book also starts out slow with Mikael Blomkvist considering publishing an expose on sex trafficking. We also follow Lisbeth Salander as she travels around the world, she came into money at the end of the last book.

Shortly before the article is ready to go to print, the two people responsible for bringing the story to Blomkvist and doing the research on it are murdered and Salander is implicated.

Blomkvist is convinced Salander is innocent and starts his own investigation, he also continues working on the expose, convinced that this is the reason for the murders.

Everything that happens is tied to Salander’s past, which is revealed to us in cryptic flash backs by Salander and then in a narrative from an old friend. Blomkvist and Salander both track down the guilty party through different means.

What I like about this book is it continues Salander’s story, what happens that is connected to the previous book stays true to what happened. The characters stay true to themselves which gives continuity to the writing.

View all my reviews

Posted by on May 26, 2012 in 2012, Foreign, Novel, Thriller and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Comments Off on The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson