Drew's #20 -- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

 

Do I believer what is before me??  This might be the funniest thing I've ever "read"--quotes here because I listened to the book; you should too should you decide to try this out.  The narrator for the audible edition hits the accents and timing of the narrative just right and really brings it to life.

The story focuses on a 30 year old post grad, reclusive slob living with his mother in New Orleans in the early 1970s named Ignatius Riley.  Hopelessly out of touch with societal norms, preferring instead to force the events around him into his unique world view.  When he is forced kicking and screaming to step outside his childhood home to find a job after his mother winds up in financial hardship, he winds up in a series  of woefully fated misadventures.   Bold but painfully hopeless, he thrusts himself onto the black civil rights movements (Ignatius's Crusade for Moorish Dignity) and, later, the local gay community thinking them an ideal platform from which to launch a movement for peace.  A smattering of other's are woven into Ignatius's antics--Ignatius's exasperated mother, a bumbling patrolman, a disillusioned clothing manufacturer and his harpy of a wife, and a small but curious cast of others.

Highly recommend it.  Huge laughs, wild story, and the whole mess is tied together brilliantly.  Enjoy!

Drew's #19 -- Spandau Phoenix by Gregg Iles

 

The book is a (and I use the term loosely and do not wish to imply there is a significant degree of accuracy contained therein) historical fiction narrative centered around Hitler's invasion of Russia during the WWII.  The story asserts that Germany's divided efforts on two fronts (England and Russia) was strategic suicide and therefore a ruse to cover a deeper conspiracy to hibernate the Nazi scourge, planning to re-emerge once its agents have secretly aligned themselves in pivotal positions in key organizations around the world (various police forces, intelligence agencies, underground criminal org's...).  In actuality, its much more likely that Hitler's decision to invade Russia was due to Stalin's brutal takeover; one of his first moves was to execute ALL of the country's top military leaders--classic genius of dictatorial paranoia--leaving its military in rudderless and in confusion.  Neither here nor there however.

When this alleged conspiracy is threatened to be exposed in the looming reunification of GE in the late '80s, interested parties of all nations clash to keep the facts under wraps--either for nefarious purposes or for posterities sake.  This struggle draws out across several fronts and makes for an epic spy vs spy story. And I mean EPIC!  The story weaves several sets of "good guys" against several sets of "bad guys", ultimately converging in a mammoth battle.

Fun but LONG!  This is actually typical of the author should you want to commit to one of his stories.  Lots of action, twists, turns, assassins, soldiers, and thugs--all operating under the radar.  One of a couple of such books yet to be reviewed on my 52 this year.

Drew's #18 -- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

 

Whatever; future posts will show that I've read worse...  Besides, it was better than The Scarlet Letter!  Anyhoo, coming to a $4.99 DVD bin near you shortly, the epic yet little known exploits of America's 16th president into vampire extermination.  This book asserts that slavery was the endeavor of vampires to keep a ready and stable supply of human feed at their disposal.  Somehow, all these blood sucking tyrants were based in the rural south prior to the civil war (not the aristocratic, industrially dominated, northern united states with it's endless supply of migrant workers--who would later become conscripts) and this is why America went to war against herself in the early 1860's.  Not an entire waste of time, there are some amusing parts such as when Abraham Lincoln, convinced by Gen. McClellan's ineptitude in the early part of the War Between the States is evidence he is in league with vampire conspiracy, accuses him of being a vampire and demands "show me your fangs!".  Classic.  The book is peppered with such incidents and is amusing in parts.  These run alongside several violent encounters as the early president hacks his way through the vampire ranks.  All these anecdotes, however, get drowned out in the rambling narrative that tries to tie them all together.  Basically, you get sporadic moments of humor or violence that punctuate an otherwise dry, abysmally researched attempt at satire.  It could be worse--you could wasted and equal amount of your life reading Hawthorne...

Drew's #17 --1984 by George Orwell

 

Everything D'souza left out of his documentary on Obama...  I know that's a little harsh, but you only think that because it hasn't happened yet.  This book is the about a dystopian, hopeless world collapsed into desperate and total socialism of the kind witnessed under Stalin (...and perhaps coming soon to a country near you...).  Everything from the media to business to education is controlled by the government (known here as Big Brother) under the arm of a crushing secret police.  Its people are lied to as matter of course, history is rewritten to suite the powers that be in the moment and there is NO perceptible resistance.  ...save for a hopeless pair who work desperately from the inside to free the world from the grasp of big brother.  Read alongside Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, After America, and D'souza's 2012.

Drew's #16 -- Empire of the Summer Moon by G.S. Gwyne

 

Really interesting historical narrative following the American/Indian war from the point of view of the Comanche front (that is, the plains area of the U.S.); particularyly in relation to Quanah Parker--the half-white Comanche chief who ended the Indian wars in his surrender.  The book takes a look at both sides and does a good job of juxtaposing the atrocities committed on/by both--necessary to give a real perspective.  What we find is that there are people who respond violently out of anger and outrage, people who suffer horribly and needlessly, innocents (in terms of the here present conflict), brave and noble men and women, and, if nothing else, some VERY interesting people forged in VERY turbulent times.  What's intriguing, too, is that there's no single point for any finger.  Like a number of conflicts in more recent history, this story highlights that grace and forgiveness are the only answers, sometimes.

The book covers a long period of time and goes into great detail to tell the stories of principle players and their circumstances.  From bands of settlers to the Comanche and their compatriots, and all the warriors, politicians, leaders, and unfortunates caught in between, this book paints the circumstances vividly against the environment and terrain of the great plains.  Fantastic book!  A must for any history buff.

Drew's #14 -- 14 By Peter Cline

 

This was a fun read; sort of a Ghostbusters meets Lost (the 1st season at least...).  When a curious tenant moves into a remarkably inexpensive apartment, he begins to notice strange things going on around the building.  The more he gets to know his neighbors the more curious things get.  And he's not the only one.  Treading lightly to avoid the attention of the mysterious superintendent, the group begins to uncover deeper and darker secrets about the building that may keep the fate of the whole world in it's shadow.

The book moves evenly along (not so fast as to brush over important details and not so long as to belabor the point).  This is especially true in the build up--there's nothing arbitrary or, worse, made much of only to be dismissed with a quick line of dialogue.  That's not to say its not outrageous in places but after all, it's fiction.  The characters are simple but likable (the book plays off its "Scooby Doo" mystery gang feel well).  Nothing really scary or gory but it does have some violence.  Still, lots of fun.