Moonlight Mile

I discovered Dennis Lehane, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro sometime in 1995, shortly after A Drink before the War was released in paperback. I had been a fan of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series for a while and the prospect of reading about another Boston detective was too tempting to resist. When I picked up that first Kenzie-Gennaro novel, I had no idea who Dennis Lehane was or that he was planning to write a series based on the pair.As it turned out, Lehane would write five Kenzie-Gennaro books in about six years before suddenly (in this fan’s eyes) abandoning the series in 1999. I remember thinking what a big mistake Lehane was making – which shows what I know, because Lehane then produced his two most successful books in relative short order: Mystic River in 2001 and Shutter Island in 2003. Both books went on to become big time movies. That 2008’s The Given Day did not have nearly the same impact, might have had a little to do with Lehane’s decision to return to the Kenzie-Gennaro series but, whatever the reason, longtime fans of the series are just happy to have a new entry after an eleven-year drought.

Lehane has allowed Patrick and Angie to age in real time, and Moonlight Mile sees them forced to deal with some of the same characters involved in the traumatic case that almost permanently ended their relationship a decade earlier. Back then, four-year-old Amanda McCready had gone missing and Patrick was hired to find her. Patrick’s decision to return Amanda to her dangerously neglectful mother rather than to leave her with the couple that had her illegally, but so plainly loved her, was one that Angie could not understand – or easily get over.

Amanda, now 16, is missing again and her aunt has asked Patrick’s help in finding her for a second time. Patrick and Angie, now married and with a four-year-old daughter of their own, soon find themselves reliving some of the same emotional trauma they suffered through the first time they searched for Amanda. It was not easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys when Amanda went missing the first time, and Patrick and Angie will soon find that it will be no easier this second time around.

The good news is that Amanda McCready has grown into an exceptionally bright young lady who will be able to get a free ride from just about any Ivy League college she chooses. The bad news is that she has somehow become so involved with Russian mobsters that she has gone into hiding. Soon, what Patrick and Angie learn about Amanda’s predicament will have them struggling with the same kind of right vs. wrong decisions that split them up twelve years earlier.

Moonlight Mile is quite an adventure (and a fun reunion with two old friends) but it does not have quite the seriousness or grit of earlier books in the series. Amanda’s character, particularly toward the end of the book when she starts calling the shots, does not ring quite true. Despite the upbringing she suffered, it is hard to believe that a 16-year-old would be so world-wise or speak to Patrick in the authoritative, but sarcastic, tone she uses on him. Too, the Russian mobsters in the storyline are the usual invincible lot for which U.S. law enforcement officers seem never to have an answer. They are interesting, but they serve to remind the reader how their “type” has become little more than a fictional cliché.

I particularly enjoyed the way Lehane flavored the novel with occasional flashes of observational, sarcastic humor, such as this exchange between Patrick and a newspaper buddy of his:

“…it’s directly connected to Amanda McCready. She went missing again.” (Patrick)

“…And her aunt says no one cares. Not the cops, not you guys.” (Patrick)

“Hard to believe. Twenty-four hour news cycle and all? These days we can make a story out of anything.” (Reporter)

“Explains Paris Hilton.” (Patrick)

“Nothing explains that.” (Reporter)

Or this bit from Patrick after his interview with several 16-year-old girls at Amanda’s school:

Big Whoop, Amazon

So now Amazon announces that purchasers of its e-books can loan them to friends - for a whole 14 days and one loan ever per book.  And that is only if the book's publisher agrees that its books can be sold that way by Amazon.  I get the impression that Amazon foolishly expects to get some good publicity for its Kindle book reader from this announcement.

Well, Amazon, here's a big Whoop from me.  All you have done is highlight yet another problem I have with the way e-books are being marketed.  That you have joined Barnes & Noble in this same stupid loan policy only makes you look as naive about your customer base as that company has looked in marketing its Nook reader from the beginning.

Thanks, Amazon, for reminding me again of one more thing I give up when I purchase an e-book instead of a hard copy.  I'm sorry, e-book retailers, but you can't have it both ways with me.  You claim that you are selling me the equivalent of a hard copy but that is not true because I don't have the same degree of ownership in an e-book that I have in a physical one.   If you want to charge me almost the same price for an e-book that you charge for a physical copy, than I want the same rights to apply to my electronic book.  It's mine, right?  I should be able to loan it to friends and family if I want to do so.  I should be able to give it away.

I was an early adopter of Sony's Reader and I even upgraded to a newer model so that I could gain access to all those free e-books available in the generic epub format.  I love the Reader for traveling and because it allows me to store copies of dozens of classic books from the past in one place.  I also download books from my public library system onto the Reader and greatly enjoy that service.  In fact, I read about one book per month on the Sony Reader but that is still only about 10% of the reading I do.  But I find myself buying very few new books for the Reader because they are, in my opinion, overpriced and their usage over-restricted.

So, Mr. Amazon, I'm not impressed by your announcement.  Way too little...let's hope it's not too late for you to come to your senses.

Shoeless Joe

Just as there is comfort food, there is comfort reading.  And for me, there is no better comfort reading than W.P. Kinsella’s classic baseball fantasy, Shoeless Joe.  I re-read this one every few years to remind myself why I fell in love with the game in the first place – and why that romance has lasted for over 50 years now.  What is not to like about a novel about baseball, family and second chances?  Keep in mind that this is not Field of Dreams, the great Kevin Costner movie based on Kinsella’s novel.  Shoeless Joe is better.

Ray Kinsella, an accidental farmer, lives with his wife and little girl on a rented Iowa farm.  Ray is still learning on the job, and things are not going well.  But despite the family’s financial problems, Ray is willing to plow up a substantial portion of his cornfield when he hears what seems to be the voice of a baseball announcer saying to him, “If you build it, he will come.”  Weird as that is, Ray instinctively knows that he is Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the disgraced Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series (and his father’s favorite baseball player).  So build it, he does. 

Building the stadium, though, is just the beginning of Ray’s quest, a quest that will lead him on a cross-country road trip to the hideaway home of reclusive author J.D. Salinger.  Ray knows that he needs to bring Salinger back to his little Iowa ballpark, but he does not know why – and Salinger is having none of it, so Ray kidnaps him.  On the way back to Iowa, Ray stops in Boston to deliver on the promise he made to Salinger to bring him to a game at Fenway Park if he would just get in the car.  Late in the game, Ray’s personal announcer makes another appearance to give Ray and Salinger a hint about what they need to do next.

Shoeless Joe is, especially for hardcore baseball fans, a thing of beauty.  It is primarily a novel about the beauty of second chances.  Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox get to play baseball again; Ray reconciles with the twin brother he lost track of years earlier; old men who barely missed out on the opportunity to play major league baseball get a chance to see their younger selves compete with and against ghost players from the past; Ray gets to see his father as a young man.  And Ray gets a second chance to save his farm from his scheming brother-in-law.

This is a book about following one’s dreams, taking chances, and joyously living the only shot at life any of us will ever be blessed to have.  When I need to remind myself of these principles, I reach for Shoeless Joe.  It has done the trick for three decades – and I hope there are still several more re-reads in my future.

Rated at: 5.0

How to Trash Your Professional Image on Facebook in One Easy Lesson

Some writers are much better at fiction than they are at real life.  I was reminded of that last night.

Thousands of professional writers and performers use a Facebook page to sell books and music, and most of them do an effective job in balancing what they display of their personal lives with the image they want to project to potential customers.  Others, though, manage to insult or offend so many potential buyers of their wares that their Facebook page does more harm than good.  That is particularly a problem around election day for those who get so caught up in the emotion of the moment they forget why they started a Facebook page, in the first place.

East Texas author Beth Fehlbaum fell into that trap last night, a trap she had come dangerously close to falling into several times over the last month or so.  Not long after it became obvious that Rick Perry had won another term as Texas governor, I noticed that Fehlbaum was not taking the news well, and that she found it hard to believe that so many people had voted for Perry rather than for former Houston mayor, Bill White.  I posted a brief comment on her page that my vote for Perry was actually more a vote against White than it was a vote for Perry because I was unhappy with the way that White, as mayor, had transformed Houston into a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.

Her first response was this generic rant (not, I think, aimed specifically at me):

"What's sad is, I am related to a bunch of the people who voted this prick into office again.  I've changed the channel because I am in disbelief that JOHN F'ing BOEHNER, Captain Suntan, is going to be the *!?!@! SPEAKER OF THE #!?!@ HOUSE!!! He's an obnoxious twit. Alright, Republicans, you've done it now. Great job. Fan-f'ing-tastic. And I'm also disappointed that the Democrats couldn't pull their shit together.  Wave bye to Rick, y'all, cause he's headed off on his damned BOOK TOUR now to kick-start his presidential campaign. Maybe he and Palin will team up and all the sheep that voted him back into office will vote that team into office, then our country will truly be screwed. I will never, never, never, never, never understand how people can watch shit like Fox News and actually believe it. On that note, I am going to bed. Do me a favor, by the way. DON'T TELL ME IF YOU VOTED REPUBLICAN, because I don't think I will be able to scrape together enough self control to use symbols like *!?!@! to express my feelings."

This was almost immediately followed by one for me, personally:

"@ Sam: bullshit. That is all."

One minute later, there was this:

"Know what, Sam? Vote Green or Libertarian then. At least be able to look at yourself in the morning."

I responded something to the effect that I would be fine in the morning and would be able to shave with my eyes wide open.

Seven minutes later, Beth posted a link to an editorial in the Austin newspaper that defended Bill White from charges that he had made Houston into a sanctuary city.  The crux of the editorial was that since no city ordinance doing so had ever been considered, White was innocent of the accusation.  I responded that an official ordinance was not necessary for Houston to have been transformed into an effective sanctuary for illegals and that politicians were not suicidal when it came to protecting themselves from the voter- so, of course, no ordinance existed.  White was more subtle than that. I also indirectly quoted friends I have within the HPD who described a culture within the department during the White years that discouraged them from doing much to determine the legal status of anyone they came into contact with during the course of their duty.

Next up, was this reply from Beth:

"So your problem is with Mexicans living in the U.S., then? Is that it? I teach exclusively Mexican-American and Mexican children. My teaching partner and my compadres in the program I teach in are Mexican Americans and Mexican citizens. My brother is a police officer.  I don't have a problem with Sanctuary cities. I definitely have a problem with what Rick Perry stands for and the way he has consistently F'd over education."

At this point, I stated this was certainly not “my problem” and that she should not so loosely play the race card.  I suggested she stop while she was ahead because she was starting to embarrass herself.

Within seconds, I was blocked as one of the woman’s “friends.”  That’s no big loss since I have only communicated with her two or three times in the last two years, but I do believe that she did, in fact, embarrass herself.

Beth Fehlbaum wrote a novel two years ago that moved me, a novel I reviewed here on Book Chase as one that could help ease the pain of young victims of sexual abuse.  It is a sensitive novel that has now turned into a series, and it was being promoted on the author’s Facebook page in a very positive way.  Now, for me, and probably for more than a few others who have read the recent political rants on that same page, it has all been tainted by a display of foul language and hypocritical self-righteousness on the author’s part.  And I doubt that I will ever be tempted to read anything she writes in the future.

An aside: (Why do people who curse on forums like Facebook do it with a few real letters and a bunch of cute little comic strip symbols, anyway?  That reminds me of a 7-year-old trying to impress his teenage brother.  Either have the guts to spell the actual curse words or refrain from using them at all because you are only kidding yourself that this kind of self-censorship makes you less guilty of stooping to that immature level.)

I didn’t see this one coming and wish it had not happened but I do find it a bit humorous – in a sad kind of way, if that makes any sense.

It is not true that there is no such thing as bad publicity.  Facebook is dangerous in many ways and for many reasons.  This is just one example.

Zen and the Art of Surfing

I really did not know much about surfing when I picked up the Greg Gutierrez short story collection, Zen and the Art of Surfing. Frankly, I was not sure that I could much get into a series of stories focusing on “the art of surfing.” It turns out that I need not have worried because Zen and the Art of Surfing is as much about surfers as it is about surfing. Gutierrez, a California high school English teacher and lifetime surfer, knows the surfing culture well and his short stories make it easy, even for non-surfers like me, to understand the allure and addictiveness of the lifestyle.

There are over 40 short stories in the collection and, based upon what Gutierrez reveals about himself in the book’s dedication and author description, one has to believe that the stories are a subtle mixture of truth and fiction. Among my favorites is “The Paddle,” a neat little story about a domesticated young surfer who paddles deep into the ocean to do some fishing on his own – only to find that he will be lucky to make it out of the ocean alive. His first words to his wife, when he has finally made it home and both are in tears, say it all: “Tell the kids I caught a white sea bass.”

Another of my favorites, “Sunset Cliffs,” is the story of a surfer/schoolteacher who decides to do a little preventive maintenance to the benefit of one of his students who is being threatened by the pervert just released from prison for what he did to the girl several years earlier. The teacher’s solution is one many would like to see happen more often than it does.

And then there is “The Eyes of Night,” a story less than two pages in length that I could not help wishing had ended in exactly the opposite way it did. Even now, several days later, when I think about this story I imagine my alternate ending rather than the one I read. That probably says more about the mood I was in when I first read the story than anything else, but I cannot remember feeling that way about a story before.

Hardcore surfers are a breed apart. This paragraph from “Aldo’s Bus” explains why that is:

“Somehow surfing brings friends together in a way that is solid. My closest friends are the friends I have surfed with all my life. Perhaps it’s the fact that we know we may have to count on one another for our lives. Being air breathing creatures, the ocean is not our natural element. Every time a surfer enters the water he is automatically entered into the food chain, and if for some reason he is unable to keep his head above water, the outcome isn’t pleasant.”

Zen and the Art of Surfing gave me something new to think about - and that is what reading is all about for me. Surfers will almost definitely love this book; but it is not just for them.

Rated at: 4.0

(Review Copy provided by Publisher)

City of Tranquil Light

City of Tranquil Light, Bo Caldwell’s second novel, is a beautiful story set in China just when that country was on the cusp of all the cultural shocks the rest of the 20th century would bring it. It is the story of two young Mennonites who were inspired to return to rural China with the charismatic minister who came to their communities seeking the funds and volunteers he needed to keep his mission there alive.

The saga begins in 1906 when a 21-year-old farmer from Oklahoma and a 22-year-old nurse from Cleveland decide to become foreign missionaries. For Katherine Friesen, the decision is a little easier than it is for Will Kiehn – Katherine’s sister is married to the charismatic young minister with whom she will be traveling to China. Will, on the other hand, has never known a life other than farming and he fears that he is unprepared for what is ahead. He is right about that. But no one could have been prepared for the lives he and Katherine will lead in a remote Chinese village for the better part of the next twenty-five years.

A few short years after their arrival, Katherine and Will have married and have started a mission of their own in the even more remote village of Kuang P’ing Ch’eng (the “City of Tranquil Light”). There, as their mission steadily grows, the couple overcome the initial distrust of the villagers and learn to deal with threats from bandits, invading armies, drought, and their own religious doubts. Katherine and Will Kiehn grow to love China and its people so deeply that, when forced to return to the United States for their own safety, they find the transition to life in California to be an unsettling one. Thankfully, they also find that their mission is not yet complete.

Some will say that City of Tranquil Light is at times over-sentimental, and perhaps it is, but it all works beautifully because of the remarkable characters involved. Caldwell based the book’s two main characters on her own grandparents (using their real surname) and, by alternating Will’s first person narrative with excerpts from Katherine’s diary, she uses both voices to tell their story. Surrounding the couple are memorable Chinese characters that, over time, come to consider the missionary couple as members of their own families. This fierce, two-way loyalty will allow Katherine and Will Kiehn to change countless lives even in a country as turbulent as the China of the first half of the 20th century.

City of Tranquil Light is an inspiring story about a simpler time during which, despite the great logistical challenges involved, one or two people could make a huge difference in the world. If only it were so simple today.

Rated at: 5.0

Review Copy provided by Publisher