Here's an interesting article about a controversy 'revolving' around the famous Capitol Records Building in Hollywood. I have a vested interest.... my boy works in this building.
A little fun after today's thunderstorm:
Lately I've had no ambition to do anything but sit on the patio with a pile of books and read. No movies, no music, no blogging, and definitely no work around the house. (Well,truth be told, a bottle of Stoly and some ice are always welcome companions. Maybe that has something to do with the ambition thing.)
Here are a few things I've been reading lately:
The Scarlet Letter - a Novel 100 read - Finished up Vanity Fair, which I loved, and decided to go with something a little less ambitious. This was a quick and easy read full of snappy passages like this one, where Hester and her daughter Pearl, who is dressed in scarlet, walk into Boston:
As the two wayfarers came within the precincts of the town, the children of the Puritans looked up from their play - or what passed for play with those sombre little urchins--and spoke gravely one to another.
"Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter: and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!"
Crazy kids!!
Currently reading: Wuthering Heights.
Child 44 - this first novel by screenwriter Tom Rob Smith was heavily promoted by Barnes and Noble, with a prominent display in the front of the store. It was already discounted 30% for members and I had a coupon for an additional 30% off so I figured how bad can it be for a buck two ninety? Turns out is was well worth the hype. It's the story of a Stalin-era Russian policeman who is trying to track down a serial murderer of children in a society where, officially, crime does not exist. Smith really captures the through-the-looking-glass paranoia and terror that pervades every aspect of his characters' lives. A first class mystery with a fascinating historical context. This novel really piqued my interest in the history of that time, and today I found a copy of Robert Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow: A History of Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine for sale in our local library's Book Cellar. It's one of the histories that Smith used in his research for Child 44.
The Last Refuge and Two Time are two excellent mysteries by Connecticut ad-man Chris Knopf. The setting is the Hamptons on Long Island and I worried a little that they were going to be novels about rich people. In fact, they're more centered on the real locals and on the destructive influence the influx of so much wealth has had on their world. Sam Acquillo is a former corporate executive, sometime amateur boxer, and all-around tough guy who lives in a ramshackle cabin built by his brutal father on the shores of the Peconic Bay, one of the few original dwellings left standing in a sea of mammoth grotesqueries erected by the big money types who have invaded the island. Having escaped the corporate world (by means of punching one of his company's top executives in the face) and following an ugly divorce, Sam is content to sit in his Adirondack chair with a book and a large tumbler of Absolut and to watch the light and the weather work their magic on his beloved Bay. (Why do I like this guy so much?)
In the first novel, The Last Refuge, Sam is drawn into a whirlwind of money and corruption when he discovers the body of an elderly neighbor. In Two Time, Sam and a lawyer friend are injured when a local investment advisor is blown to bits in a car bomb explosion. Sam is recruited by a local cop to clandestinely investigate the case.
These books are full of great characters and smart, funny dialogue worthy of Bogie and Baby. On the basis of only two novels, Knopf has earned a place pretty high in my pantheon of favorite mystery writers. I just discovered that the third novel in the series Head Wounds, came out in May. I'm all over it.
a This weekend I took a bike ride down to Wolf Pine Farm in Alfred, Maine. This has been "our" farm for six years, which is how long they've been a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. The chickens (and the portable chicken coop) are new this year.
After a hot 30-mile ride, it was nice to cool off in the Mousam River!
Now here's some damn useful information from the Boston Globe.
After a great finish to the ride and a long bus ride home Sunday, I was treated to a Zoe-prepared appetizer plate, decorations and a new lobster-y bike jersey. Plus, a delicious dinner!
In Belfast, Maine. Wet ride today but feeling good. Woo!
A beautiful day for riding. Held a good pace and had lots of fun. Special visitors at the finish line :)
