December 8, 1980, The Day John Lennon Died by Keith Elliot Greenberg

Saw this book at the library last week and decided to pick it up. I have read Beatles biographies and such but this book told in the style of a log of the fateful day looked interesting.

In the book we see the lives of Lennon and Chapman unfolding on that day as well as over their histories which led them to this day. This is a technique that seems to be growing such as the MLK/James Earl Ray book I read last year as well.

Chapman had struggled with some sort of mental illness for much of his life. At times prospering in life, finding faith and marrying there were times where it appeared he would get control of his demons. In interviews given to Larry King and referenced in the book we see that even as the act approached on that day Chapman had moments of clarity when the voices were not winning.

In the end however the demons did win. We learn about John, his time as househusband as well as fleeting looks back at his life as a Beatle and the history of the band. We see his interactions with New Yorkers both famous and civilian and his love of the city.

After his shooting we see numerous reactions from everyday citizens to famous people. Truly John Lennon's death was a cultural touchstone for millions.

I remember I myself did not know until the next morning when turning on the Today show I watched the coverage.

This is a quick book with some interesting information about a day that changed America and the world's cultural history.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

I am told that Faulkner is one of the great writers of the modernist period. I am a Hemingway fan and he is as far from modernism as one can get. Still this book is challenging and if one sticks with it a novel to behold.

The first chapter is told through the eyes of Benny a 33 year old man who is autistic, although in those days is defined more as a dummy. The chapter from Benny's point of view is very hard to read. Told in Faulkner's often used stream of consciousness writing style we learn about Benny in three different ages. We are told that we can define what age Benny is speaking by his caretaker at the time. The second chapter focuses on Quentin the older brother who...struggling with his relationship with his sister and her troubles...commits suicide.

The first chapter is difficult, the second chapter is in parts lose to impossible. Later we follow the last brother, Jason, as he deals with life is manipulative, mean spirited, vengeful and petty. This book is hard and very easy to give up on. Eventually it all comes in focus, the lives of Jason, Quentin, Caddy, Benjy and the mother Caroline. Caroline and Jason are two very unlikable characters but Caddy is exceptional. Her love for Benjy is later compromised by her issues with men. This becomes the nexus of all the brothers troubles. Benjy needs her as his only truly caring person, Quentin struggles with her impurities, and Jason hates her for a loss he felt her responsible for to his future.

Also in the book is the long history of the Compson family attendants, namely a negro family led by Dilsey and three generations of her family.

I have read so many great books it is hard to say this is the best, thiis is the top ten. Faulkner is never easy. He is always worth the effort.

Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams

I am not sure if any performers release more albums year after year than Ryan Adams. Some albums are great but most are more workmanlike. Nothing has measured up, at least for me, to the depth top to bottom of the albums such as Gold and Heartbreaker released at the start of the last decade.

Ashes and Fire is a step up from most of his albums though still not on a par with those early efforts. For this album Adams has given up the rock and roll jacket and is singing mostly small songs, in a soft voice and smoky ballads.

The album has received good reviews and rightly so. The first song on the album is called Dirty Rain. The song is well written, with a catchy phrase and one can almost hear the call and answer in Adam's head as he sings it. The album ends with the same song in a different sound. Adams makes comparisons through many last times and now. A good song.

The title track and the song after it Come Home are keepers. The album is a rainy Sunday afternoon album. A Monday afternoon with the snow falling and your girlfriend having just left you. This album will not make you stomp, it will make you shuffle. It is a pondering album.

Perhaps the best song on the album is I Love You But I Don't Know What to Say. This is a feeling many of us have had many times. All in all this album is good but as our friend Simon Cowell says I am not sure there is anything to remember in it. Having listened to it on Spotify if I now had to purchase it to listen to it again I would decline to do so.

That, in itself, might be the best measure of the album. Ryan Adams is married and happy and to a certain extent seems to be going down a path he has worn well. Maybe he needs to go out into the brambles and bushes on his next effort.

Taken

I remember when this movie was in the theaters that we all felt that the trailer that we were seeing on TV was a very good one. In the trailer we see a girl being kidnapped and her father on the phone with her telling her that she is going to be taken but to leave her phone on and shout something that she sees that can help him find her.

In the movie the set up is that Liam Neeson is a retired CIA agent who is working security for celebrities. He foils an attack on a singer he is protecting. Next we see him debating with is daughter and his ex wife about allowing the daughter to go to Paris with a friend on a trip to visit museums. He is against it but is convinced to allow it, he gives her a phone to call him. The girl goes to Paris, finds out that she and the girl are staying alone and is not happy. After not calling her Dad she eventually picks up the phone and as this call is taking place discovers that people are breaking in and kidnapping them. This is the call we see in the trailer.

The rest of the movie is Liam Neeson on a mission. Tracking his daughter through a white slavery ring being run by Albanians he does eventually find his daughter. This is all expected. One might want to suspend disbelief a bit in watching this movie but it is entertaining.

I told my daughter that letting me watch a movie like this is bad for her ability to have any freedom before she is thirty.

As my wife said what happened to this girl is the ultimate I told you so moment for a Dad.

A movie worth watching.

Hemingway's Boat by Paul Hendrickson

I love Hemingway. I consistently name him my favorite author. So this book purporting to speak of the last twenty five years of is life held interest for me. It is schlock. Perhaps not the authors fault due to the subject matter but still terrible. By all accounts he was a bad man who wrote only of masculine things such as war and hunting. Ecause he could not relate to women. This books make clear he could deal with little.

What he could do was write i think that os all I need to know.

American Horror Story

This new series on FX debuted last week too much fanfare. Brought to us by the producers of Glee and being aired on FX one assumes the show will be on the edge, certainly not network fare.

The cast is strong led by Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and in a deliciously nasty role Jessica Lange. The show is over the top. You cannot look at something else, you will miss something. My wife had bad dreams and was up in the hour after watching this.

That said it is kind of campy, it is not slightly scary it is over the top scary all the time. The first episode did a good job introducing much of the plotlines. We see two boys killed in a house twenty five years ago. We see an East Coast couple suffering through a found out about affair. Next we see the family moving into the house.

We see weird neighbors, little children with down syndrome telling people they are going to die. We see a young man with violent fantasies being treated by a psychiatrist played by McDermott and befriending his daughter who has her own issues.

This show is weird. It is scary. You cannot take your eyes off it. Connie Britton is wonderful in everything she does. I joked with my wife that Coach Taylor is going to be awful upset when he finds out what she is doing.

FX has the ability to give a show some rope to succeed. This show should for awhile though the history of shows like this is that they burn out fast. Watch now so you can say you were there at the beginning.

Last Man Standing

I have always liked Tim Allen. So I was looking forward to seeing him return to network television. Watching the first two episodes of this show Tuesday night was like looking into a time machine.

This show is not much of a stretch for Tim Allen. Rather than three boys as on Home Improvement he has three girls. Rather than cars he is the marketing manager of an outdoor shop.

He is a man who does not understand today's world. He does not know what Glee is, he things men should change tires and he thinks men should hunt.

I know plenty of people who feel this way. I am sure criticism will be leveled at this show as being nothing different. It is not. So what. Allen is likable, his cast is solid and the points he makes in his humor are certainly felt by a good amount of men in America.

If ABC promotes this show and feeds it to it's audience it will be a hit. It is a show that will play well in the broad expanses of the country. My house is included in that list.

I am glad to have Tim Allen back.