"Reading the book is like peering through the windows of a big dolls' house and catching glimpses of lots of well-crafted, ill-assorted, flickeringly lighted interiors. The effect is superficially attractive but unsatisfying."... I might just have to read
11/59
The Informationist: A Thriller, Taylor Stevens[1]
My Mother’s Lover, David Dobbs[2]
Saving Rachel (A Donovan Creed Crime Novel), John Locke[3]
Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices, 36 authors during a writing marathon called The Novel: Live![4]
Building the Successful Theater Company, Lisa Mulcahy[5]
JANE I’m-Still-Single JONES, Joan Reaves[6]
The Billionaire Bum, Samantha Blair[7]
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, David Kaiser[8]
A Dance With Dragons, George R.R. Martin[9]
The Bitch-Proof Suit, De-Ann Black[10]
Wahoo Rhapsody, Shaun Morey[11][1] Written in a flat, factual style that was vaguely off-putting in the beginning, it actually explains a lot about the main character, who I came to appreciate.
[2] Kindle Single.
[3] When your main character doesn’t show up until halfway through the book and then he doesn’t turn out to be very sympathetic… not so good, actually.
[4] Having participated in a similar writing joint venture under not quite as strict time constraints, I have a huge appreciation for the work that went into making this incredibly twisted tale work. My buddy El Capitan would especially appreciate the work it takes to tie up all those loose strands and give you a palatable ending to such an undertaking.
[5] I had a lot of questions. While this book by no means answered all of them, it certainly pointed me in the right direction and gave me a lot of food for thought.
[6] I’ll plead to having read one crap book and one business-oriented book before this one and needing a light read. This was pure dandelion fluff.
[7] Ditto. But better fluff than the previous book.
[8] While I have never been a science geek, I do appreciate the stories of the people behind the science. A terrific read if you’re interested in quantum physics and how it affects us on both micro and macro levels.
[9] Far superior to book 4 in the series. If you’re not reading this series, at least you should be watching it on HBO.
[10] Funny, smart, fast-paced rom-com set in
[11] Wanna-be screwball comedy/thriller. I’ll give this author a second shot, just to see if he can make his main character less one dimensional. Fingers crossed.
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In-N-Out is the Barack Obama of hamburgers. Puny, over-hyped, from a union-led blue state that’s fiscally boned, and laughably inadequate once you take time to research it and its alternatives.That's gotta hurt.
An assistant museum curator who questioned the authenticity of a Leonardo da Vinci has been murdered — but before he died, he left a code in his appointment calendar and a cryptic trail of clues connected to secrets in works of art that point to the killer.Anybody interested?
Now, would-be gumshoes must figure out what drove one of four suspects to kill him. Was it greed? Fame? Lust? Or revenge?
That’s the plot of Murder at the Met, a murder-mystery scavenger hunt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York run by Watson Adventures, a private company offering a series of such games at 27 museums in seven U.S. cities, including Chicago.
Pat Quinn is Jerry Brown without the hot-chick past. Like California Moonbeam, our Governor Soybean is signing the Dream Act. The Dream Act is a boilerplate pander piece that gets good press and WOW Progressive support. A Progressive would step over a starving Mexican blocking his way into Whole Foods.Who wrote that? The same guy who wrote this:
I worked to help Pat Quinn, become Governor and I voted for Pat Quinn. It took the Governor no time at all to prove to me that he does in fact believe in the Easter Bunny: Gov. Quinn immediately paid off Planned Parenthood by wedging in Terry Cosgrove for a State salary; Quinn sprung more felons than George Ryan in much less time; pushed the Civil Union and made war on Catholic Charities; ran business out of Illinois; crawfished on Real Labor as well as his bet with Gov. Walker; and now is signing the Illinois Dream Act that completely ignores immigration and the economic jackpot that is our State economy in the hope that Ralph Martire is correct that more people will vote for Pat Quinn again. Hug that Bunny, Guv....When you alienate your base, you're really screwed here in Illinois.
Pat Quinn will sign the Illinois Dream Act on Monday.
Way to go, Hickey. Way to vote.
So I fibbed. Big changes coming in January. In the meantime, here's my October reading list containing 11 books and bringing my total for the year to 138:Easily Amused, Karen McQuestion*
Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese[1]*
Ape House, Sara Gruen[2]*
The Last Block in
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory, Ben Macintyre[3]*
The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, Jim Gorant[4]*
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, Lauren Willig*
Whiskey Sour: A Jack Daniels Mystery, J.A. Konrath[5]*
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, Lauren Willig*
Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned about Love and Live with a Blind Wonder Cat[6]*
Cross Roads, Fern Michaels*[1] Set mainly in
[2] By the author of Water for Elephants, this novel combines working with primates (bonobos) in a language lab setting, animal rights activists and reality television in an intriguing morality tale.
[3] The true story of The Man Who Never Was, which is actually more fantastic than the
[4] If you are a dog lover this is a must. You will never, ever look at Michael Vick as a good human being again.
[5] Far superior to what the cutesy title and the conceit would indicate. I’ll be reading more of these.
[6] Very, very funny… and no person or animal dies.
"The Weir" always owes part of its success to a set designer's vision. The atmospheric touches have to be just right to move the audience into the total picture. Here the worn pub set by Robert Groth and Jenniffer J. Thusing is perfect in every detail, from the massive bar to the family pictures on the wall and the iron stove around which the storytellers gather.-- Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times
Director Miller found the perfect actor in Armacost, who gives a standout performance as the likable Jack, a man who has never married and claims he has no regrets. But as his tale unfolds, he clearly does have problems with his solitary life.
Theis is suitably manic as always as Finbar, a man whose mission is to succeed above everyone else. And Wellington carefully etches a woman filled with pain and loss who is trying her best to recover some semblance of happiness.
Perhaps you saw the play at the Steppenwolf about 10 years ago. I thought that version was quite good, but the current effort from Seanachai Theatre Company is far more effective in capturing a type of campfire intimacy, and director Matt Miller uses the small-ish confines of Seanachai's space to the show's advantage (even if the theater's air conditioning isn't quite up to the task). The set from Robert Groth and Jenniffer J. Thusing, with its dark wood tones and old photos on the wall, is evocative enough that you may want to climb in there for a drink yourself....What is a belief in the supernatural, after all, if not an explanation for things that go bump in the night? McPherson's script takes it a step further, to include all the things that go bump in our minds. Certainly those assembled in the pub have plenty of baggage to go around, and Miller's cast embodies a believable, lived-in chemistry as longtime neighbors who have forged friendships out of circumstance — their nightly pub stops a brief reprieve from self-imposed isolation.
Jeff Christian's mama's-boy handyman aches with incipient loss and confusion.-- Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader
Under the direction of Matt Miller and dialect coaching of Barbara Zahora, THE WEIR ensemble is authentic in pub talk, walk and gawk. To impress the feminine stranger, the conversations between Brad Armacost (Jack) and Kevin Theis (Finnbar) is a healthy pour of boast with a shot of swagger. Armacost is outstanding as the charismatic Irish drunk that hold courts with his nightly tavern rehashing of the past. Theis is hilarious as he competes with Jack's overshadowing presence. By bragging, he continually sets himself up as the arse of Jack's joke. Meanwhile, the gawkers, Brad Smith (Brendan) and Jeff Christian (Jim) are delightful as the awkwardly entranced barflies with the lady company. Smith's bashful bartender, debating over joining in a libation, is understated charming. Christian is a perfect social misfit that bumbles into the limelight with a graveyard remembrance. The chemistry between the guys is like good Irish whiskey. It goes down smooth with a bit of a bite and lingering giddy affects. Holding her own with the tavern buddies, Sarah Wellington (Valerie) is equal parts frivolous and poignant. She flirts with tease expertise and then halts the playful banter with a haunting narrative.-- Katy Walsh, The Fourth Walsh
This is a movingly powerful drama that is a tribute to the depth of the human spirit. Seanchai Theatre Company’s production i[s] filled with terrific performances led by the brilliant work from Brad Armacost. This is marvelous Irish storytelling.--Tom Williams, Chicago Critic
The ensemble is on top of a tough script filled with demanding monologues. The actors goose the humor with nice, natural touches; Christian’s awkward pauses and over-long eye contact are genius. But the jewel of the evening is Armacost; his mundane tale of love and life squandered is heartbreaking; his pain is very much of this realm.-- Lisa Buscani, New City Stage
