Review: Lulu in Hollywood

Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks


A very entertaining look at early Hollywood and the wildness of the stars pre and post sound. About half of this is about Louise, and half are essays written by Louise about others, like WC Fields. Brooks brings these actors to life.

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Review: West of Last Chance

West of Last Chance by Peter T. Brown


A one word review, at least of the pictures in this book, is "stark". If you kick it up to three words, "stark, but beautiful". I found Haruf's writing as enjoyable in these shorter paragraphs as his novels. The pages start with barren landscape, and almost as barren writing, but you start to see and read more detail as you go through. I enjoyed the church story near the end the best, and it's also the most fully drawn and longest.

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Review: Prelude to Foundation

Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov


My first read of Asimov's extended Foundation series. I found this one an easygoing romp. I enjoyed the writing, especially the action scenes. I found it kind of funny how Seldon seemed to have some action, and then announces he has figured out a bit more about his theory, then more action than another announcement. Those announcements, though, didn't seem to be breakthroughs based on the action, but a bit separate, kind of like a Sherlock Holmes story with a successful conclusion without explained deduction. Oh well, it was a fun read and I'm going to try the next one soon.

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Review: Esther

Esther by Henry Adams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Headstrong socialite gets mixed up in an art project at a church, falls for the minister, then realizes she can't stand the ways of the church. You can picture this as a Merchant & Ivory production with some humor, but as written there isn't much out and out humor but more a comedy, or is it a tragedy, of "modern beliefs" meeting a congregation. Enjoyable.

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Review: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The writing was well done, the concept was interesting. Truthfully, listening to this on audio felt quite a bit like listening to an extended Joe Frank episode, which I tend to like. Weird, fun in a way, but I wonder if I got lost along the way, or if there wasn't really a path were I thought I was going...Might be worth trying again, but not on audio.

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Review: The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy

The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy by David Halberstam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Halberstam writes one of the better books to analyze the candidate Robert Kennedy, following him on the campaign trail while relating his history and analyzing his turn from a rough anti-crime, anti-communist fixer to a champion of hopeful causes. I picked this book up to read a page or two, and got pulled into finishing it. That rarely happens to me. I was not very knowledgeable on Kennedy, so perhaps that helps make this a book that grabs you. The ending was very abrupt, much like the ending of "The Diary of Anne Frank", and for about the same reason. Halberstam shares many anecdotes from his life on the campaign trail with RFK. The funniest was that campaign advisor Dick Tuck was given responsibility for keeping track of RFK's dog while campaigning. When others commented how the mighty had fallen and asked how he liked taking care of the candidate's dog, Tuck replied that while they saw a dog, he saw an ambassadorship.

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Review: God and Starbucks: An NBA Superstar's Journey Through Addiction and Recovery

God and Starbucks: An NBA Superstar's Journey Through Addiction and Recovery by Vin Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story of addiction, mostly to alcohol but also to the NBA star lifestyle. Starbucks wasn't the savior here, just a small step on the path between Baker's playing (and drinking) career and his role in an NBA team's player development. Baker also had a stint as a preacher that was probably longer and more interesting than his Starbucks experience, but perhaps it wasn't novel enough to put in the title of his book. The most interesting thing about this story is that Baker had a drinking problem when most of the addiction stories you hear about now are for drugs. An old school addiction for an NBA star is different. Also, his inside view of the NBA star lifestyle was everything you'd expect.

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