50 Best Books for American History Buffs

If you enjoy history, here's a list of books you might like. An article called 50 Best Books for American History Buffs provides a list that runs the gamut from colonial American times onward.

I'll quote the article, word for word:

While a young country in comparison to many others around the globe, the United States nonetheless has a rich and engaging history. 

From the early days of settlement on the East Coast, to the wild days of outlaws and Indian wars in the West, from shore to shore, there is plenty to learn about when it comes to studying how our country came to be the nation that it is today.

Isn't that interesting? But wait! There's more.

Best of all, you don't have to major in history to do it. All you need is a passion for history and a few good books.

Here we've compiled a list of just a few of these wonderful books on America's past that offer an education on the complexities of the history of our country you likely didn't even touch upon in your previous history courses.

Yeah, complexities ...

It's All About the Money and Family in 'Steal the Show'

Review: STEAL THE SHOW (Minotaur Books 2011)
Author: Thomas Kaufman

Willis Gidney isn't your average private eye. For one thing, he was raised in the tender loving care of the Washington, D.C. juvenile justice system. Which is to say, he grew up hard and fast.

Incidentally, Gidney is a white man. For good or ill, race plays a significant role. D.C. has a large black population. And it's juvenile justice system is no exception. So Gidney grew up a minority within that system, as well as one within his own hometown.

He's also unmarried and looking to adopt a daughter who's currently in the clutches care of the D.C. Adoptive Services agency. Her name is Sarah. Well, Gidney calls her Sarah, anyway. Her actual name is Baby Jane Doe or some really institutional "who gives a good crap about you" name.

And wouldn't you know that Gidney's case worker turns out to be the biggest b*tch most ruthless bureaucrat of them all.

So Gidney really needs to get his hands on some moolah big time. To pay his lawyer. So he can grease the legal wheels and adopt this kid.

As a result, Gidney does just about the stupidest most desperate thing you can imagine. He agrees to break into a warehouse and ends up finding a lot of movie pirating equipment.

But he does it for the money, so he can grease the wheels and get the kid, so it's okay, right? No, it's not.

Turns out his client is an asshole a jerk and takes pictures of him breaking into the warehouse. Imagine!

So then the client uses the pictures to force Gidney to work for his father. The client's father, that is. Gidney don't have no daddy, remember? :( Anyhow, Gidney is forced to work for the client's dad, a lobbyist for motion pictures. Don't ask. He needs the money, okay?

Plus, have I mentioned how much I like Gidney? He's really awesome, tough and funny. Plus, Thomas Kaufman writes about D.C. with a style that's wholly his own. He captures the feel of the place perfectly. His prose reflects the hardboiled sensibilities of a modern Raymond Chandler, but does so in a fresh and unique way.

As for the plot, I don't dare tell more for risk of spoilers. Just know that Gidney's girlfriend, Lilly, is an important part of it. Gidney and Lilly share many touching scenes together. (No pun intended. Ha ha ... ) The book also features many other colorful characters, like his clever, albino attorney, various ruthless ganstas and a diva actress who tries to seduce Gidney while impaling his foot with her spike-heeled shoe. Nice! And as is customary for hardboiled mysteries, this one's got twists and turns aplenty.

So ... why is the book called STEAL THE SHOW? Because it involves film piracy. However, the great director Alfred Hitchcock used a plot device called a MacGuffin. It was a thing the characters sought or desired that was used to drive the plot, which could end up being essentially meaningless in the grand scheme. In my opinion, the film piracy in this novel seems like a MacGuffin. This story is really about Gidney's need for money and his desire for a family. This gives the book far more emotional resonance than the average private eye novel. Pretty damned awesome.

PS: How does someone in the trunk of a car survive an accident in which the auto flips over, crashes and burns, then emerge from the trunk without a scratch? I don't think so ...

PPS: It's Hopkins Street, not Hopkins Place. Ahem! :)

Mystery Scene Magazine Review of 'City of Whispers'

Before the awesome Sara Paretsky (who I've just found out is on Twitter and is a cappuccino drinker -- love it!) and even the amazing Sue Grafton (who I heart so dearly), there was Marcia Muller.

As you can see, Muller endures. CITY OF WHISPERS is her 28th Sharon McCone mystery, and I reviewed it for Mystery Scene Magazine. Here's the link to the review right here.

I love hardboiled mystery writing women. And I love the Internet. :)

Libraries -- I Remember When They Came in Buildings

You know, when I read this article about the Occupy Wall Street Library, I wondered, "What kind of librarian carts books outside and leaves them for days weeks months at a time under a tent? Seriously?"

So ... the article says (and I quote): 

The NYPD raided the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park last night, tossing tents, tarps, pallets, sleeping bags and 5,554 books into dump trucks. This afternoon, the Mayor’s Offices released the photograph embedded above with some welcome news: “Property from #Zuccotti, incl #OWS library, safely stored @ 57th St Sanit Garage; can be picked up Weds.” However, activists reported that books were damaged or lost.

The OWS Library posted this response: “We’re glad to see some books are OK. Now, where are the rest of the books and our shelter and our boxes? Nice try guys, but we won’t be convinced until we actually have all our undamaged property returned to us.”

Hey, stupid. Try not storing things made out of paper outside. Are you real librarians? Didn't they teach you anything about book preservation when you got your library science degrees? The whole idea is to protect books from the elements not expose them to same!

And it's not the cops' job to look after these books. Duh! It's yours. You're the librarians. Dumbass librarians. Apparently.

Tonight ReOccupy Writers will help rebuild the library in a rally in Foley Square. Even though the New York City camp has been cleared, these People’s Libraries are popping up around the country. We are building a list of Digital People’s Libraries, if you want to contribute.

Yeah, I'll get right on that. Dumbasses. 

The Occupy Wall Street librarians tweeted the eviction all night:

“NYPD destroying american cultural history, they’re destroying the documents, the books, the artwork of an event in our nation’s history … 

Right now, the NYPD are throwing over 5,000 books from our library into a dumpster. Will they burn them?”

No, no, no ... cops don't burn books. Firemen burn books, right?

Of course, I also thought librarians protected books from the elements. But, hey, what do I know ...?

Please, Tell Me This is a Big Joke

That's exactly what I thought when I saw an article with the headline Should YouTube Add a Literature Category?

I was like ... seriously?

Fortunately, it wasn't. Maybe.

The article featured a video called 50 Book Spoilers in 4 Minutes.



The video looked, for all the world, like a big joke.

But then, I read the article.


And here's what it said, word for freaking word (parts bolded by me for emphasis): 

Fiction Circus has launched a movement to create a “literature” category on YouTube, hoping to build a new space for authors and readers on the video sharing site. For instance, the 50 Books Spoilers in 4 Minutes video embedded above was put in the “Entertainment” category, despite the fact that it deals with 50 great works of literature.

Check it out: “You will note that while Google has made serious, extremely well-organized attempts to purchase and control all out-of-print literature and create a massive online digital library, they have not bothered to create a ‘literature’ category for YouTube, revealing once again that they would be terrible shepherds for the human inheritance of written knowledge. Perhaps it can be argued that literature is ‘entertainment.’ But aligning literature with ‘entertainment’ is disingenuous. Literature is never merely ‘entertainment.’”

Disingenuous? Hmm ... the last time I checked, that word meant "lacking in candor; also : giving a false appearance of simple, etc., etc. ..." In short, I don't think that word means what you think it means.

In 'Stirred', Jack Daniels Takes the Highway to Hell

Review: STIRRED (Thomas & Mercer 2011)
Authors: Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath

STIRRED finds (retired) Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels (formerly) of the Chicago Police Department seated not-so-comfortably in the ER with her significant other, Phin, a bank robber-turned-nice guy. Apparently. Jack is, not to put too fine a point on it, preggers out to here. Eight and half months into pregnancy and suffering from preeclampsia. As in pre-eclampsia. Eclampsia being a condition that could kill her and/or her unborn child. So. Not. Cool.

Mid-examination, Jack learns that a sociopath named Luther Kite -- a man she both hates and fears more than anyone else on earth -- has killed someone in the most spectacular way.

Well, what's a little eclampsia when a maniac is out there, maybe after your ass? Jack hops off the table, pulls her clothes on (maybe), runs out the freaking door and catches a ride with her reluctant chauffeur/business partner Harry McGlade straight to the crime scene.

And learns that Luther left a message inside the body for Jack.

Turns out this message is a clue to the next murder. Because there is a next murder.

It's all part of huge game (involving Dante's Divine Comedy and the nine circles of hell) that Luther's devised for Jack, who's so stubborn/determined/scared/idiotic/take your pick that she just has to be the one to apprehend this man. Even though eclampsia is nothing to sneeze at. It's a freaking serious condition that requires bed rest or you could seriously kill yourself. Honest!

Thing about thrillers is that they are big concept stories. And one concept here is the amazing, sometimes awful capacity for people to survive ordeals.

So as I read this story, I could buy its premise despite its over-the-top quality. I am not a stranger to the concept of ordeals.

In addition, Jack isn't just confronting Luther. She's trying to come to grips with a proposal from Phin. To marry, that is. Jack has all these issues. Control issues. Commitment issues. Independence issues. "Hey, guy. You're not the boss of me." Blah, blah ...

Anyway, Jack's got this alien life form growing inside her and she feels weird about that. At the same time, she feels protective of the unborn child. Plus she loves Phin and doesn't want to lose him. These plotlines create more layers of tension within the story and support the good vs. evil theme of the book.

Besides, Jack is so freaking funny. And she and Harry McGlade get to trade some of the book's best banter.

To put it in a nutshell, Jack must defend herself, her unborn child and her closest friends from her worst nemesis, a man determined to take her straight to hell. Smart, snappy and darkly humorous, STIRRED is a thriller that moves faster than a rifle shot, deftly combining the absurd with the grotesque.

Oh, and did I forget to mention Lucy and Donaldson? Two crippled and mutilated sociopaths bound by the desire to avenge themselves against Jack. They end up insinuating themselves into the story and, inadvertently, into Luther's plans. They're a match truly made in hell. But can two sociopaths find true love?

Is it really a spoiler to say Jack prevails? Even so, the book ends with a twist I never saw coming.

PS: If ebooks came with soundtracks, this song would be most appropriate.

PPS: Harry McGlade wins the award for having the funniest lines ever during a torture scene!

PPPS: Um ... falling down stairs while attached to bar stools and only suffering bumps and bruises? Seriously? :)

PPPPS: This story has a familiar ring. No, er, pun intended.

Parnassus Books Opens in Nashville

In keeping with my ever-continuing fixation with indie bookstores, here's a post about another one that just opened in Nashville, Tenn.

Parnassus Books already has a website (just click on that link right back there, okay?). And it has a Facebook page. Which I've liked, BTW. Nice going, guys. But I don't see nothing about a blog. What up with that, huh?

Oh, look, here's a New York Times article about the store. Awesome.

And it says:

After a beloved local bookstore closed here last December and another store was lost to the Borders bankruptcy, this city once known as the Athens of the South, ...

rich in cultural tradition and home to Vanderbilt University, ...

became nearly barren of bookstores.

A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is the product of six months of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.

“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”

Awesome. Congratulations, Ms. Patchett. For someone with no interest in retail or opening a bookstore, you've taken on quite a commitment. And based on reading the article, you've put a whole sh*tload of work into this.

Plus that must be a quite a "healthy infusion of cash" you've got on hand, but it won't last forever if you spend your time in your pink brick house sipping tea serenely. Consider the example of St. Mark's Bookshop cited within the New York Times article. Getting a rent break is nice, but it won't solve the problem in the long run, will it?

May I make a friendly suggestion? Start a blog to market your bookstore. And try not to take yourself too seriously, okay? :)

As a gimpy self-published author, that's been my approach and it seems to have worked.

Finally, I strongly suggest you take a look at this post and think about it. Because while I agree that it's important for bookstores to serve unique community interests, if you're going to compete with a giant online retailer, you should get your online act together, am I right?

Josh Anderson for The New York Times

Ahh ... that's where you belong. Standing proud in your store. Be a retailer, Ms. Patchett. You can do it. Booksellers are awesome. Go for it!

PS: Did you know that Vanderbilt is one of the world's most expensive universities? I didn't until now. Yikes!