The Closer returns Monday. It’s been on hiatus since late August. The new episode, “The Life”, is one of three left in the fifth season of the crime drama. Just going by the preview I saw on the TNT web site, it looks like this may be a three-story arc.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit is investigating the death of a 12-year-old boy who father and brother are both gang members. Brenda and her top cops then discover two more bodies in different locations that are related to the original murder. Fritz also brings home “a surprise” for Brenda, according to TNT. This will most likely be a family member (maybe his sister is back). You can also see in the preview that Provenza has broken up with his much-younger girlfriend.
I’ve enjoyed The Closer since I got season one on DVD as a gift. Kyra Sedgewick is great as Brenda Johnson, a Southern cop who is a top-notch interrogator but out of place in L.A. However, I’ve also enjoyed how the show has developed all of the supporting characters as well. It gives the show a more complete feel and you miss it when any of the supporting characters don’t show up in an episode.
The new episode premieres Monday, Dec. 7 at 9 p.m. eastern standard time. Don’t miss it. I’ll be watching.
Caleb Carr was a new author to me and I decided to try The Alienist because the dustjacket copy sounded interesting. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed it immensely.
At it’s heart, The Alienist is a Jack-the-Ripper story. It’s even set during the same time frame. A killer is murdering boy prostitutes who cross dress in turn-of-the-century New York City. When the police run into a wall, Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt calls on a reporter and a psychologist (called “alienists” at the time) to help him find the killer. Dr. Lazlo Kriezler gathers a team that includes a pair of policeman brothers, a police secretary who is also an heiress and former mental patients of Kriezler.
Not only does the group have deal with a killer who leaves few clues and no trace of himself, their investigation seems hampered by someone powerful who is silencing witnesses.
The story accelerates as the team begins to understand the killer and even predicts when he will strike again. It then becomes a race against time to catch him before he strikes again.
The power of the novel lies in the dark underbelly of New York City that Carr creates so well. The story is rich with details of an ugly side of the city and also the neighborhoods of the rich and privileged. It’s also interesting to see how things like psychology and fingerprinting could have been helpful in an earlier time.
What I think is interesting is the effect The Alienist had on other writers. Certainly it’s no surprise that it created fiction imitators, but the exploration of the dark side of late-19th Century city life is also explored in non-fiction books like Satan’s Circus, The Beautiful Match Girl and The Devil in the White City.
I was looking forward to the remake of The Karate Kid. I enjoyed the movie as a youngster and my sons recently discovered it and enjoyed it. So when we heard there was going to be a new Karate Kid movie next year, we were all excited. My sons were even more excited when they heard that Jackie Chan was going to be the star.
Now as I hear more details about the remake, I’m wondering if it will be a flop like The Next Karate Kid starring Hillary Swank in 1994.
Look at what they’ve changed. It was a movie about how out of place a teenager can be when moving to a new place. Jaden Smith may be a great actor, but he’s no teenager. Though he will be trying to fit in to a new home, it won’t be to the same degree that a teenager feels that angst.
The strength of the symbiotic relationship between Mr. Miyagi (wonderfully played by Pat Morita in the original) and Daniel (played by Ralph Macchio) gave the movie heart and made it stand out. The two of them were both out of place in California. Mr. Miyagi belonged in Japan and Daniel was an East Coast boy. Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel karate, self-confidence, focus and discipline. Daniel gave Mr. Miyagi back the family he had lost during World War II. Together, they made each other better.
This new movie is set in China with Mr. Miyagi being Chinese and no longer out of place.
The more I hear about the new movie, the more it seems simply like a take-off movie rather than a remake. It’s using the ideas from the original but in a way that doesn’t seem like it will honor the original. I think the movie officials have finally realized this and renamed the movie The Kung-Fu Kid.
Here’s the original The Karate Kid movie trailer for those who want to enjoy it again.
Last week I blogged about Publishers Weekly’s list of top 10 books for 2009. Well, they also have a list of the top children’s books for the year. It’s actually three lists: Picture books, fiction and non-fiction. There are some great stories in here. I’ve read more than a few of them to my son.
Picture Books
The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton, illus. by Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge).
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown (Little, Brown)
Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales by Lucy Cousins (Candlewick)
Dinotrux by Chris Gall (Little, Brown)
John Brown: His Fight for Freedom by John Hendrix (Abrams)
Stagecoach Sal by Deborah Hopkinson, illus. by Carson Ellis (Disney-Hyperion)
The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)
Otis by Loren Long (Philomel)
Crow Call by Lois Lowry, illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline (Scholastic Press)
Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World by Marilyn Nelson, illus. by Jerry Pinkney (Dial)
Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illus. by Tom Lichtenheld (Chronicle)
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illus. by Marla Frazee (S&S/Beach Lane)
Fiction
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking)
Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Delacorte)
Fire by Kristin Cashore (Dial)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (Dutton)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt)
Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray)
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck (Dial)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Random/Lamb)
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic/Levine)
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Levine)
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor, illus. by Jim Di Bartolo (Scholastic/Levine)
The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)
Nonfiction
The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P. T. Barnum by Candace Fleming, illus. by Ray Fenwick (Random/Schwartz & Wade)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG/Kroupa)
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge (Viking)
I started re-reading some of my Michael Crichton books since with the release of his new posthumous book, I was reminded he’s not around anymore. Though The Andromeda Strain is 40 years old, it’s still a good read.
Four scientists, experts in clinical microbiology, epidemiology, pathology, and electrolyte chemistry, are brought together in secrecy to the Project Wildfire laboratory, also a secret and hidden below the Nevada desert. Though they have state-of-art equipment at their disposal, they are cut off from the outside world. Their mission is to find an antidote to an unknown microorganism that killed everyone in a small town except for an old derelict and an infant.
If the team can’t find the antidote the microorganism may cause a pandemic, but it is like nothing they have seen before. Not only is it foreign in origin, but it is extraterrestrial. As the team begins to unravel what is called The Andromeda Strain, the microorganism breaks the sterile seal in the laboratory and puts their own lives at risk.
You can read in The Andromeda Strain why Michael Crichton was bound for fame as a novelist. It has his trademark combination of fact extrapolated to the next level in order to create a suspenseful thriller.
I’ve always collected books like some boys collected baseball and football cards. My early collections were paperbacks because they were what I could afford. I gradually moved up to remaindered hardbacks and book club hardbacks. Then I moved into regular hardbacks and now I collect signed books.
Still, being able to collect rare books eludes me. I just don’t have that kind of money. But I can still appreciate those books. I had the opportunity a couple years ago to look at and handle a rare book collection where some of the books were 500 year old illuminated manuscripts. The photographer with the newspaper that I was working with told me, “You look like you’re in Heaven.” And I probably did.
Obviously, it’s not the text that caught my attention or any other rare book collectors. It’s the book itself. For instance, the old illuminated manuscripts are works of art. It is also the history of the book. When I held a first edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, I found myself wondering is a colonist had read this very same book and been moved to rebellion against England. In this sense, rare books become artifacts like a Civil War sword or ancient coin.
Rare books gain value, according to experts, because of three things: importance, rarity and condition. So you may be able to find a second edition of a book that’s rarer than the first if the second print run smaller. However, first editions are still generally more valued because it’s the first way anyone ever saw that particular book. I remember a line in old movie where one boy shows his friend a copy of Robinson Crusoe. The second boy says, “That’s my what my Robinson Crusoe looks like.” Then the first boys says, “Well, that’s the first way anyone ever saw Robinson Crusoe.”
The only problem I have with rare books is that they need to be protected as an investment. Crack the spine in the wrong way and you can cut the value of the book in half. You can’t enjoy rare books as books. I find that sad, which is why I’ll stick with my collection which is well cared for, but also well read.
Witch and Wizard looks like it will be another bestseller for James Patterson. The first printing of the book is 700,000 copies which hits the stores on Dec. 14. This will be a new young adult book by Patterson and co-author Gabrielle Charbonnet.
Witch and Wizard is the beginning of a new series. It’s about a brother and sister who discover they have magical powers and must stand up to repressive government called The New Order, which seeks to take away people’s freedoms.
Little, Brown has already created a web site for the book (http://www.max-dan-wiz.com/). You can preview the written chapters or listen to an audiobook preview. You can download a Witch & Wizard app at iTunes that allows you to preview chapters and create your own “Wanted” poster using your own pictures. The book promotions have shown up on a number of teen-oriented web sites. Sample chapters, tattoos and tote bags could be found in bookstores during the Halloween kick-off of the promotion.
If Witch & Wizard doesn’t do well, it won’t be from a lack of effort on Little, Brown’s part. I wish them luck. Though I’m not a big Patterson fan, I’m always happy to see young adults and children getting bitten by the reading bug.
Flyboys changed the way I looked at the Pacific War. I knew about kamikazis, Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but I guess I never really put it all together. In reading Flyboys, I saw the brutality that can be committed in war on both sides and how even enemies can become friends.
James Bradley wrote Flags of Our Fathers, which is about the battle for Iwo Jima and the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi. Flyboys focuses on the next island closer to Japan, Chichi Jima, and the American airmen who were shot down and captured near the island.
All of the flyboys were eventually executed, but this book puts together the stories of their last days. Some were executed quickly by beheading. Others were kept alive for some time due to the compassion of some of the Japanese officers, but eventually these men were also executed and eaten.
I thought the book started fairly slowly by reaching back to look at American-Japanese relations from the time the two cultures first met. Much of the information was not relevant to the main story and what was could have been worked in later. It would have been much better if the book had started with the Pearl Harbor chapter. That’s when I became engrossed.
Though it’s sad that the Americans committed some atrocities, they were far from being the only guilty party in the conflict. I’m not even sure I could tell you who acted worse.
What I was encouraged to see was that humanity that was demonstrated when the interactions came down to a personal level. It’s hard to hate a stereotyped enemy if you have to live with him day after day.
I got hooked on Bloom County in college and not only read it our university newspaper, but I bought the softbound collections. Someone even got me a small, stuffed Opus the Penguin that I still have on my bookshelf in my office.
For those of you who don’t know, Bloom County was a Pulitzer-Prize-winning comic strip penned by Berkley Breathed. The initial star of the strip was Milo Bloom, a young newspaper reporter with a penchant toward the sensationalized story. However, Opus, the penguin with a big nose soon became the star.
There were many other interesting characters such as Binkley, the confused best friend of Milo; Steve Dallas, an unethical and ineffective lawyer; Lola Granola, the hippie; Cutter John, the wheelchair-bound vet; Rosebud the basselope and others whose names escape me at the moment.
Breathed’s storylines went after anyone and everyone on all sides of the political spectrum. He was actually better balanced than many of the newspapers his work appeared in. He was also funny. I found myself not only laughing at how he made fun of the positions I didn’t like but I could even laugh at his take on the positions I supported.
Now, the entire comic strip is being collected to be released in five volumes. Bloom County: The Complete Collection, Volume One has been released and I’m reliving my college days. This volume offers margin notes with information about the subject matter in the comics and also gives them some context. This is useful for younger readers because many of the storylines skewered current events of the 1980’s.
Gone South was Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Life, which is one of my favorite books of all time. So I had a lot of high expectations for Gone South. While I loved Boy’s Life, I only liked Gone South.
Gone South is darker than Boy’s Life, but McCammon still writes it with a distinctive voice that pulls you in.
This is the story of Dan Lambert. He’s a bitter, disillusioned Vietnam vet living in Louisiana. He’s slowly dying and the bank is trying to repossess his truck. He kills a bank loan officer in a fit of madness and goes on the run.
He is pursued by two of the most-unlikely bounty hunters you’ll ever meet. Flint is a former carnival freak who has the partial head and arm of his unseparated twin brother in his torso. Cecil is an unusual Elvis impersonator who goes by the stage name of Pelvis.
While on the run, Lambert gains a traveling companion in Arden, a pretty girl with an ugly birthmark. She is seeking a faith healer named Bright Girl to help her.
McCammon wrote of the book, “Gone South is a journey from Hell back to the Garden of Eden. Back to a fresh start.”
The book has plenty of action and I enjoyed the two bounty hunters, but the ending left me feeling a little unsatisfied.
