MACK BOLAN TIME TO KILL

 TIME TO KILL

Mack Bolan Time To Kill - like James Bond

- Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan -

Mack Bolan is kind of like James Bond...'kind of' is the key word.
Bolan takes on impossible tasks and leaves a trail of dead bodies behind him - but, it's okay because all of the dead are bad guys. The body count doesn't matter in this case. I find most of the Mack Bolan books have at least two dozen deaths, but sometimes upwards of fifty. Doing a little math - we are on book 108...that's upwards of five thousand lives snuffed by one man. A small town - small town were full of nasty characters. But, I try not to think about this while I'm in-read.
This book, Time to Kill, reminds me of a good old James Bond book. In this novel Bolan is like Bond when the time comes to fight the 'big boss'. Both Bolan and Bond usually have to sneak onto a boat, or into a warehouse, or break into a super secure secret nuclear terrorist run bomb making plant...and they always complete the task in a death defying impossible way. Which makes for some good, dramatic, reading...although don't think too hard about the statistical chances of them actually completing their task, time after time, after time. Just sayin. Also instead of just out and shooting Bolan the 'Boss' had a good long monologue explaining his reasons for wanting to use nuclear warheads on the world.
There was also a strange Boss's sidekick. That happens in Bond books a lot. In this book the sidekick is a monster. A giant of a man with a grotesque face that moans a lot and hangs out in an old castle. 

TIME TO KILL MACK BOLAN

What I find hard to swallow is Bolan's motivation. It is somewhat confusing. He is fighting the fight nobody wants to fight...which may be a quote of his. He takes on evil organizations the governments of the world won't take on like terrorists, international drug smugglers, those damn Soviet Russians. He has some unresolved anger that drives him to kill boatloads of 'bad' guys, day after day. There is some patriotic ideology, some moral justification, and some machoism. But, if you take a few steps back he just seems insane. Which makes for good reading. This is definitely a world you would never find outside of a book.
Personally, I like this adventure. I wouldn't tell most of my friends. It's like a dirty secret. Since the book is full of violence and out dated stereotypes, which many would find offensive in today's day. It's like an 80s action movie.

GRAY MOUNTAIN - JOHN GRISHAM

GRAY MOUNTAIN

Gray Mountain - John Grisham

- John Grisham -

I'm a Grisham fan. You caught me. This book caught me too. I pick up every Grisham I see...at yard sales, thrift stores, and from that free take-a-book-leave-a-book shelf where I work. Through all those avenues I've managed to read almost every one of his books. I've loved them all. From The Client to Playing for Pizza. I think The Broker was my favourite. Anyway, getting off topic.

Gray Mountain. That pretty much describes the book:

Gray, as in a great neutral tone to paint a room. Not very bright, but not too dark. 

Mountain. A long climb where the trees get sparse and you get a great long view of things, but no details.

That's the book for you in metaphoric terms.

Gray Mountain - the title describes the book

A young lawyer is quasi-forced to volunteer at a legal aid clinic in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia. Coal mining country. She helps a few sad poverty stricken clients, but she quickly escalates up the food chain and is part of cases that are suing the big bad coal companies for millions, perhaps billions of dollars. There are cover ups, bugged phones, murder, and some 'lovin' by the fireplace. All the makings of a page turning thriller...

I put the ... because I'm implying that the 'thriller' part never really took off. It was the gray tone and lack of details that caused this. Grisham takes a route with his writing that tells us all about how coal companies are stripping the land to mine coal, ruining beautiful country and leaving a desolate hill behind. How the coal companies, over the years, have done terrible things like take down the unions, covered up workers health problems like the dreaded black lung, and poisoned the water supply. 

This is all great info, interesting to read, but it took pages away character development, storyline details, etc. Unlike the mountains left over after the coal mines are through, the novel was not destroyed but it wasn't a typical Grisham thriller. This was no Runaway Jury or The Firm. Even my favourite part of thriller and action type books - when the characters are being tailed by spies - were rather lackluster in Gray Mountain.

The one high point, not counting the mountains (bad Dad joke), was that the main character was a woman. Smash that glass ceiling. Unfortunately, Samantha was a gray character. She was there, added some tone to the room, but wasn't a splash of colour. She was reluctant to do anything. It was a constant fight by the other characters to get her to do anything other than read contracts and do paper work. Yes, there was some character development, going from a shallow big city girl who only cared about making partner in a big law firm, to a lawyer that had a heart and wanted to help genuine good people (and even the environment). I didn't particularly like her, but I didn't not like her. I guess the best way to describe my feelings is that I hope Grisham doesn't make a series with her as the main character.

John Grisham tells BIG COAL to take a hike in Gray Mountain

This book will not make my library book shelf as a keeper. But, I didn't consider it a waste of time. It wasn't 'typical' Grisham, but that's okay with me. I like when people take a stand for something and that is what John was doing in this book. I've read a few other books about the poverty in the Appalachians, but also how resilient the folk are - like the book Rainbow Pie (see my review), and I always find them very interesting. Anyway, onto something completely different, a Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) book...I've never read Bachman, so this should be interesting too. Oh, I love books.

UNSEEN ACADEMICALS - TERRY PRATCHETT

Unseen Academicals

- Terry Pratchett -

Another episode of the crazy wizards of the Unseen University taking on something out of their comfort zone. This time, the over eating, sedentary, extra-old, overly-academic, unathletic, gang of magic 'users' take on the old game of football (aka soccer). The jokes come from the difference between the actual game of soccer and the perception of soccer by a non soccer fan...which I'm assuming would describe most readers of Terry Pratchett. 

So, there is this perception that football is more than just the game of kicking a ball around a field. It is all encompassing to some folk, ie where you reside determines what team you like. You support that team no matter what. Then there is the crowd behaviour during a game. I'm thinking of the hooliganism that used to take place. The fighting, the rioting, etc. Pratchett takes this to a new level. Anything to an extreme is funny. So selling pies in a crowd of fighting fans is funny, especially if they are a good deal like 3 for 5 knuts. 

There is another storyline involving a cook from the university and a goblin. This storyline takes up most of the book, and kind of leads nowhere. Which is frustrating and disappointing. One of the few down points I've ever had to read through with Pratchett.

Back to the positives folk. There were plenty of laughs. Plenty of the misinterpretations that cause confusion which leads to humour. The book was not missing any of that. It wasn't overflowing with it either. I wouldn't put this book on Terry's top ten list, or top twenty list, or if there were a top thirty...it wouldn't place on that one either. So, not his best. But a good try nonetheless.  

The best part of this book for me was actually the purchase. I was at a local thrift shop perusing the books as I always do. I happen to look on a shelf I haven't looked at before - the hard cover novels. I know, it sounds funny, but maybe you just had to be there to understand? Anyway, I spotted this book right away and to make the purchase even sweeter was that the book was only $1...and an orange tag. That day orange tag items were 90% off. Therefore, get the calculator out, I only paid 10 cents for the book! It was well worth it.

Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals

Book bargain at 90% off

This book hasn't put me off Pratchett and his hilarious Discworld series. The other dozen I've read have been very funny, I think this was a 'one-off'. Even if I don't talk about the actual story I will always have that treasure hunting tale where I found a Terry Pratchett book for 10 cents.

If you would like to buy this book off of me, I'll sell it for $2. It's a great hardcover, wonderful story, and would go great in anybody's collection.

I have a little video review of the book here :

Vintage James Bond Books SOLD

Vintage James Bond Books SOLD!

THE VINTAGE JAMES BOND BOOKS

These books were sold for $20, which is a really good deal for the lot of both of them. Unfortunately, it wasn't sold to me. I had a bid in mind of $11 (just a bit over the $10 mark to beat any $10 max bids), but I was quickly outbid days before the closing. The other thing is the auction pickup location was about an hour and a half drive from my house. So, it didn't seem worth it to me. 

However, there are always more auctions...stay tuned to see what I did end up winning.

VINTAGE JAMES BOND BOOKS

Vintage James Bond Books

My collection of Bond books may get bigger in the next few days. I found these two books on an online auction site - maxsold. It is a collection of estate sales, business downsizing sales, etc. I have gotten a lot of books in the past through these auctions - books seem to go for a reasonable price. Sometimes even really, really cheap. For eg. I picked up 44 western novels last summer for $6.

I am hoping to be lucky this time as well. I have a one vintage Bond book, Dr. No...and original 1958! I didn't know it at the time, but it is worth a fair amount of money. I bought it at a yard sale for $1, then promptly threw away the cover (which I guess gives it the most worth). So instead of $40, it's probably worth $10. But, it's a good start to a vintage James Bond Book collection!

 

THREE DAY ROAD - Joseph Boyden

 - Joseph Boyden -

I've been meaning to read this book for years now. And I finally did, not in three days, but pretty close. It was a real page turner.

The book is about a pair of young indigenous boys who join the Canadian Army at the start of the first world war. They are sent to Europe and fight the war - they take part in all of the main battles that the Canadians fought in, like Vimy Ridge.

The boys become well known as excellent marksmen and snipers. They possess skills, like hunting and shooting, that were developed as indigenous people living off the land. Unfortunately, they can also use these skills to kill other men. One of the boys takes this route and his obsession with getting the most kills grows and grows. The other boy hates killing. Together they balance each other out. But, when the scales tip ... one dies.

The surviving boy, man at this point at the end of the war, comes home to heal. His Aunt is a healer and tries her best to use her powers to keep him alive.

Throughout the book the story weaves in and out of memories, the present, the past, the even the spiritual world. The transitions are amazing. There is not the typical start a new point of view at the beginning of a chapter, or a break in the prose. Nope, these transitions often take place right in mid paragraph. Very hard to achieve something like that, but Boyden does it. I never felt lost or had to stop and say to myself, who is this and when is this happening. It just seemed natural.

The story of the war was great. It was obvious a lot of time and research went into this book. The details of life in the trenches really painted a vivid picture of how terrible it was. The image that sticks out in my mind is when they are watching no man's land and they decide to take a shot at a rotting horse. It was swollen, bloated, and when they hit it with a bullet it blew up like an overfilled balloon. 

I've been meaning to read more Indigenous writers and I'm glad I read this book. Boyden gives us some great insight into the traditions, the thinking, the healing methods, of the Cree people. It reminded me of my favourite book from my younger years, Lost In The Barrens. In that book the two boys, one white and one Cree, have to survive in the northern Canadian wilderness. 

THE SHINING - Stephen King

 

The Shining by Stephen King

- Stephen King - 

The Shining 

I'm sure you have all watched th movie, starring Jack Nicholson...here's Daddy! But, have you read the book? As with all books turned movie, the book is better!

I like Stephen King's style. I'm not a big horror fan, but I am a big fan of a book that has a fast paced story. That's how King writes. Not too many divergent trains of thought. He sticks to the story. In this case the story is about a dysfunctional family that take the job as caretakers of an isolated hotel. Simple enough. But, King makes the father an alchoholic who has a violent past. He makes the wife a spineless wife, but a grizzly bear of a mother. And, last, but not least, their child has the power to tap into the spiritual world...which is just great because the hotel is full of old ghosts and mean spirited spirits.

I love that this book was predictable. I mean that in the best way. I knew right from the start that this story was going to end badly. It was foreshadowed throughout the entire book. But, how bad would it get!? That's what made me keep reading. I kept asking myself, when will this Jack guy break and start using a pick axe to kill people? Will the wife finally stand up to him, with a butcher knife? Will the kid get his soul taken over by a gruesome zombie? 

You knew something like that is going to happen. That is the whole point of reading this book. I'll let you know that the last quarter of the book is a blood filled, high octane, hauntingly good cat and mouse type 'game'...do the mice escape? Well, you'll just have to read the book to find out.

So I found this book at a thrift shop and paid a buck for it. I had always wanted to read The Shining, and I thought this vintage cover looked cool. It turns out this is one of the first paper back versions of the book. I looked it up on ebay, and they are selling for $30. Looks like I won big on this one. 

Vintage The Shining Book

One Bird's Choice - Iain Reid

 

- Iain Reid -

A hilarious account of Iain moving back in with his parents - a returning to the nest story.

This book is extremely relatable. Everyone thinks their house is 'normal', until they leave and live independently for a decade, then you realize how weird your parents really are. And, without kids around the parents tend to get more extreme and, I won't say weird, I'll say eccentric. Reid has plenty of examples of his parents hobby farm, and all the animals, taking over most of his parents' time and sanity. In one case his mother has a five page list of directions on how to feed the cat! From the timing, to the ratio of hard to soft food, to exactly how to mix in the cat's medication...there are instructions like this for all the pets. It's obsessive to the point of being funny.

The generational divides really show up as well. Reid is used to the young, single life of eating whenever the mood strikes, and eating badly (saltines for dinner anyone?). His parents, on the other hand, eat three solid meals a day. They talk about these meals for hours a day. They spend hours preparing them. They spend the time eating by planning the next meal. Then the Dad always says the same thing after every meal, "we eat well"....he says it after every single meal, every day! Months after moving back Iain is still giving stories about the food and after every meal his Dad still says, "we eat well". The daily routines are so far removed from Iain's life that it is funny.

And the phone! The phone call situation at the farm I can totally relate to. Reid screens calls, but his parents find it extremely rude to not answer the phone. So there is a constant battle when the phone rings. Iain tells them to screen the call, but the parents get so worked up that they have to answer it...the phone is always for Iain which makes it even funnier. But, even if it is a telemarketer, the parents' will politely listen to the caller until they can politely say good bye. Oh that generation!

This was probably one of the funniest books I've read in years. I actually laughed until tears came into my eyes at some points. It's just so relatable!

How To Feed A Dictator - Witold Szablowski

- Witold Szablowski -

How To Feed A Dictator 

A very interesting book told from the point of view of the cooks of dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot. What a different view of these dictators these cooks had. Most of the cooks seemed to have liked their dictator. They even told stories that made them sound like nice guys. How the dictators gave them cars, or how the dictators were always very thankful for the food, etc.

There were lots of stories about the madmen being irradic as well. Apparently Saddam would get into bad moods and would not eat the food. He would say it was cooked wrong and then he would make the cook pay for the food. The next day, when he was in a better mood, he would praise the food and give the cook a bonus...usually the money the cook paid for the 'bad food' from the day before. 

The relationships between dictator and cook were very dynamic. If you think about it, these dictators had to have trust in their cooks, since they could easily poison them. On the other hand, these cooks had to know exactly how to make the dictators favourite meal or they could be killed. So, a very extreme situation!

The research into this book was great. Szablowski travelled around the world to get first hand interview with the cooks. He would even talk to others closely associated with the dictator. Which made for a well rounded point of view, good background to put things into perspective, and very interesting stories you would have never heard. 

The one thing I found very strange about all of these stories was that the dictators ate very little food. Even when they had a choice of eating whatever they wanted, how much they wanted, they would not eat a whole lot. And them most interesting thing to me was that most of the dictators didn't eat much meat, they were vegetarians or very close. Strange eh?

So, a great book that takes you into a world you would never be a part of.

LEVEL UP - CRAIG ANDERSON

 

Level Up by Craig Anderson

Level Up - Craig Anderson

What if your life turned into a video game...the question all of us have asked ourselves at some point right? Well, Anderson's book Level Up is one version of that. A fun, witty, adventure that had me levelling up through the pages late into the night. It was one of those books I ripped through b/c I couldn't put it down.

Level Up reminds me of  Ready Player One, a book I read a few years ago and loved - I still think it is one of the best books I've read this decade. Both stories are full of out of this world - literally they take place in a video game type of world - adventure. Level Up is lighter, and full of laugh out loud moments. There is maybe a tad too much 'ball humour' for most folk if you get my drift, but I still laughed at all those jokes - what? A squirrel named nutsack is funny on so many levels! 

The overall story is what really kept me reading. It is a fast paced quest full of exciting fights and mystery items that make the impossible seem possible - just like any good video game. 

The problem I sometimes have with books like this is the transition between the real world and the fantasy world - books like Magic Kingdom For Sale - Terry Brooks did a wonderful job of making the transition seem believable. Anderson does that in this book. I didn't miss a beat when Marcus went from the real world being, um, real...into the 'real' world being a video game version of the real world. What I'm saying is that the story makes sense and is believable. 

I also liked that it was written in the first person. At some points I'd find myself thinking I was the hero, that I was the one telling the story. That perspective worked really well with this book.

Overall, this is a book I'd pass along to friends...which is a way of saying I really liked this book.