45. Frenzy

Frenzy - Jonathan Craig

This was a foray into an old pulp fiction crime novel. It was kind of fun. An enjoyable plot with characters that were interesting and full of the expected stereotypes. The book was originally published under the name "Junkie!".

Steve is a trumpet player in a jazz ensemble. The chics really dig him. Kathy is an ex-heroine addict that he has fallen in love with. She is being framed for murder...by Lois, who is in love with Steve but married to Mel. Lois and Donna also happens to run a call girl service disguised as a secretarial pool. Hey, if Lois can get Kathy to work for her then maybe she can get her hooked on drugs again and Steve will be free again... Wait, Donna is also a nymphomaniac? Wow! There is a real twist.

Poor Loreen. All she wanted to do was go to work as a secretary. She did some work at the Pentagon and then embezzled a grand from Lois thinking it would be OK because Lois would not want to make noise. I will bet Loreen's dying body sure made a noise as she was run down by that huge Chrysler! 

Steve needs to be taught a lesson. Ahh...let's frame him for the murder of Mel. If Lois can't have him then NOBODY WILL! Lois and Donna will run off to Mexico with the profits from the call girl business and start a new life... but the double-cross happens and Lois kills Donna and tries to force Steve to go on the run with her...   Oh, the tangled webs that get woven.

It was great fun.

44. The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki - US Army Corps of Engineers, Manhattan District

I wish I could call this science fiction or dystopian or even an alternate history. Sadly, the events were real.

This book was an assessment of the effects of the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It reads much like a battle damage assessment. It is very "scientific" in the way things are reported and how the findings are translated.

Then, at the end of the book, is a great first hand account of a man who witnessed the bombing and the aftermath. Talk about a change of direction. Wow. It went from statistics and distances from x....to emotion and opinion. It changed from the effects on concrete or metal frame buildings at carrying distances from ground zero to how people were in a dazed and bewildered state of confusion and unable to gather themselves together to for any kind of rescue efforts.

As for myself...I hate nuclear weapons and find them useless. I hope this type of assessment never needs to be done again.

43. On Loving God

On Loving God - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Another one of those outstanding Christian classics that get lost in all the horse poop interpretations and modernizations of modern writing.

I enjoyed it. Not as much as All Of Grace, but more than The Practice of the Presence of God. Worth a read.

42. The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi

This is definitely not your Disney Pinocchio! Yes, Disney adapted the story, so, technically this is the Disney Pinocchio. What I mean is that the story is much different. It is not so kid friendly. It is dark and mean and full of stuff that would never be in a Disney flick.

Pinocchio is hung from an oak tree until he dies so a gang of deviant con-man animals can steal his money.

Pinocchio is sold as a donkey to a circus trainer that abuses him until he is lame. He is then sold to a man who tries to drown him in the ocean so he can use his hide to make a drum.

Gepetto is abusive, jailed, and eaten by a huge shark.

The talking cricket (Jimeny in the movie) is killed by Pinocchio when he throws a hammer at the little fella.

Pinocchio is purchased as a slave by a farmer. He is tied to a dog chain outside and is told to bark if some weasels come and try to steal the chickens.

Lampwick is sold as a donkey and works very hard until he dies.

A serpent laughs at Pinocchio's misfortunes in some mud. He laughs so hard his heart bursts and he dies.

Pinocchio finds Gepetto inside a giant shark...which just happens to be asthmatic and has a weak heart so it has to sleep with it's mouth open.

These kinds of things made the story great for me. They are definitely not Disney. There are many similarities and some common story lines, but the book is much much better...for an adult.

41. The Little Red (Sox) Book

The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History - Bill "Spaceman" Lee

Bill Lee was one of those larger than life baseball players who were my heros in the mid 70's. He is one of the stars that helped me become a Red Sox fan. Fred Lynn, Rick Burleson, Yaz, Dewey, Jim Rice, Louis Tiant, Eck, Fisk, Denny Doyle, Butch Hobson, Rico Petrocelli, Bernie Carbo, Bob Stanley,  etc etc. I loved those guys...they thrilled me...and they broke my heart (along with a million other fans over many many decades.)

So, Bill Lee rewrote history in this book. It is full of what-ifs. What if Babe Ruth never left Boston? What if Jackie Robinson was signed by Boston? What if Ted Williams didn't go off to war? What if Bucky Dent was a pianist rather than a baseball player? What if Buckner wasn't on the field in '86? What if the Green Monster was in right field? What if Conigliaro didn't get beaned in '67? What if the Rocket stayed in Boston? What if, what if, what if?

Lee has written history the way Boston fans would prefer things happened. New York ending up a cesspool with a team that struggles to even maintain itself in MLB. Boston winning again, and again...and it is awesome!

What fun. Especially now that the Red Sox have actually won a few World Series and it makes the whole thing easier to laugh about. ;-)

The stories of the perpetually hapless Yankees are funny. The rewrites of the story lines for the '75 Reds, '78 Yankees and '86 Mets are especially touching to me.

The funniest "revision" was how Ted Williams killed Hitler with a line drive and thereby prevented World War II (at least in Europe).

The Spaceman cracks me up.

40. The Practice of the Presence of God

The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence

This is a collection of letters written by a Carmelite monk and the recollections of some of his speakings in the 1600's. It is a bit repetitive, but I guess the idea was important to him.

How do you get and stay in the presence of God? Practice, of course. How do you practice? Think about God. Read about God. Talk about God. Pray to God. Constantly strive to include God in everything. His presence in your life will become habit. :-)

This is no "All of Grace". OK, but no revelation from this one.

39. All Of Grace

All Of Grace - Charles H. Spurgeon

One of the best books I have ever read. I loved this one. I will read it again...right now.

38. The Mystery Of The Yellow Room

The Mystery of the Yellow Room: Extraordinary Adventures of Joseph Rouletabille, Reporter - Gaston Leroux   An old mystery novel first published in 1908. Think Agatha Christie who-dun-it detective novel and you will be dead on.   This one is about a crime committed that is impossible to solve, but it does get solved eventually. There is the massive explanation in a court of law to save the day and prevent the conviction of an innocent man...all in the nick of time. Whew!   It was a good story and a decent who-dun-it. I could not figure it out at all.   Once again though, a detraction for me was all the French words and name pronunciations. French really bothers me for some reason. It is probably due to bad memories from Miss Roberts class in Junior High School and not actually caused by anything with a rational explanation. :-)

37. The Diary of a Nobody

The Diary of a Nobody - George and Weedon Grossmith

Originally published in 1892. Funny. Nothing really happens other than the normal day to day grind of an average guy. Still, it is funny.

36. Black

Black - Christopher Whitcomb

Run of the mill thriller. I expected more. I read the book because of the helicopter on the front. I maintained those beautiful machines. They were never used int he book. Stupid book. LOL

I expected more of a military techno thriller from the cover and the description. It was not. It was more of a crime novel with some politics and a bit of terrorism. Whoop-de-doo.

It did not suck, but it was a waste of time compared to other books I have read.