What I’ve Been Reading

What I’ve Been Reading


May 15, 2016


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Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. This is the eleventh book in the Jack Reacher series. I don’t think I’ve read this many books in one series since I read the Hardy Boys case files as a kid. I’ve read Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dexter, and The Chronicles of Narnia, but those series only reached a max of eight books. My goal is to finish the released Reacher novels by the end of the summer going into football season, so I can go ahead and read the new release, Night School, which is scheduled to come out in September of 2016. Despite the personal nature of the novel – some of Reacher’s Military Police colleagues wind up dead, so he investigates – I couldn’t get into this one quite as much as others. I won’t explain why because I don’t want to give anything away. I also think the Reacher books go a little too far at times into the realm of unbelievability. I want to read them as somewhat realistic action novels, but I’ll say this: the chances of someone getting away with these actions with no attention paid by spectators or police are very slim. I also grew tired of reading the phrase “You do not mess with the special investigators.” There was a little too much bravado and repetition, not to mention a lack of creativity, in that overused mantra.

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child. The twelfth installment of the Reacher series, Nothing to Lose is the tale of two towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Neither one of those towns exist in real life, but I’ve come across some other little-known geographical areas in Reacher novels that do exist, so I had to check. This one had some hints of Die Trying in it, which I found a little bothersome. Hope is obviously a fine place to live, whereas Despair is full of angry people who don’t want any outsiders meddling in their business. You also have to suspend your disbelief for this one, but the story has enough twists and turns and leaves you guessing enough to want to figure out how it ends. I was a little disappointed in how easily Reacher gets duped at one point in the story, but even a superstar ex-cop makes mistakes once in a while, I guess.

Hit the jump for some non-Reach novels, including books written by Elmore Leonard, Amy Poehler, Steven Levitt, and Matthew S. Hiley.

Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard. When I posted the last “What I’ve Been Reading” wrap in February, I had some pretty positive things to say about Raylan. I can’t say as much for Riding the Rap. It tells the story of Raylan Givens (the same character from the TV show Justified), who’s down in Miami – not Harlan, Kentucky – and working on finding his buddy Harry Arno, who previously appeared in the superior Pronto. I feel like the book could have been whittled down to a short story, and it seemed to drag on too long without many interesting developments or much action. This was my least favorite of the four books including Raylan Givens.

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. I realize I’m about ten years late on Freakonomics, but it’s never too late to get smarter, right? Levitt is an economist who takes a look at the data behind certain phenomena to find reasons for their existence. This book centers largely on education and why certain people find success, while others tend toward failure. As someone who works with youth, I found a lot of the discussions about child rearing and such to be enlightening. One of the main ideas of the text is, essentially, that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when talking about parenting. It’s a little bit sobering to think that some kids seem to almost be doomed because of their parents . . . who were also likely doomed by their parents . . . and so on.

Yes, Please! by Amy Poehler. I can be a sucker for comedians’ autobiographies, which is why I’ve read about Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Nick Offerman, and others. I’ve always thought Poehler played second fiddle to Fey on other projects, and I’ve found the same to be true when it comes to reading their memoirs. At times Yes, Please! reads like a book of advice, but I found some of her thoughts to be contradictory. I’m not looking to comedians for life advice, so it wasn’t disconcerting to find some inconsistencies; however, it sucked the air out of the book a little bit. I also had moments when reading Bossypants where I laughed out loud, but that didn’t happen in this one. If you’re a Saturday Night Live or Parks and Recreation junkie, it might be worth the read. If you’re not, it’s probably worth skipping.

I’m currently reading Baseball Dads by Matthew S. Hiley. It’s a fictional work based on some over-the-top Little League dads in Fort Worth, Texas, who have grown tired of their kids being coached by “liberals” and “Democrats.” The liberal, Democratic coaches want the kids to have fun and they don’t necessarily coach to win every game. Meanwhile, the dads are out for blood. I’m about 50% of the way through the book, and it’s a page-turner so far because I recognize so many traits from my own experiences with sports and players’ parents. Imagine if Quentin Tarantino were writing a book about parents and their kids’ Little League teams. It’s a fun read. In fact, if I had to recommend any book on this list for reading, this would be my #1 choice.

What have you been reading lately?

5 comments

  1. Comments: 359
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    GKblue
    May 15, 2016 at 8:26 AM

    Lee Child – I’ve read a bunch of the Reacher novels and had to take a break because while entertaining the Reacher formula gets old and far fetched. Somebody told me Tom Cruise plays Reacher in the movies? Can’t picture that.

    Dennis Lehane – I pretty sure a while back you recommended his stuff so I re-read Mystic River and the whole Boston detective Kenzie and Gennaro series, and Coughlin series. Good read thanks!

    Craig Johnson – Writes the Walt Longmire series. I strongly recommend you start with The Cold Dish if you like to laugh and like the wide open spaces.

    Stephen Hunter – Just plain bad ass, great characters.Read earliest books first and in order.

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      May 15, 2016 at 8:55 AM

      Tom Cruise does play Jack Reacher.

      Yeah, I’ve liked every Lehane book I’ve read so far. I haven’t read the Coughlin series yet.

      I’ve been meaning to watch the “Longmire” TV series because I heard good things, but I didn’t know it was based on a book series.

      I haven’t heard of Stephen Hunter before, but I just checked out some of his book synopses. I’ll add him to my list.

      • Comments: 522
        Joined: 8/12/2015
        DonAZ
        May 15, 2016 at 11:23 AM

        The “Longmire” TV series is pretty good … good acting, decent story lines, great scenery.

        I’m 56 years old and only recently read my first Louis L’Amour book. I purchased the “Sackett” series for Kindle and have been reading through those. The earlier in that series were excellent, but it seems L’Amour was less committed to some of the later ones.

  2. Comments: 1863
    Joined: 1/19/2016
    je93
    May 15, 2016 at 11:18 AM

    Freakonomics was definitely a good read. So good in fact, that I still listen to the podcast. If you liked the book, listening in occasionally might be worth your while.

  3. Comments: 1356
    Joined: 8/13/2015
    Roanman
    May 15, 2016 at 6:16 PM

    Thomas McGuane, “92 In The Shade”. I think of McGuane as a writer of short stories and vignettes, mostly about life in the Big Sky country, horses and fishing which evidently are two McGuane passions.. This is nothing like a Tom McGuane story except that it involves fishing and features McGuane’s keen eye for a loser’s battle to avoid self destruction.

    Thomas Skelton is a burned out druggie seeking to abandon his empty lifestyle by going back to Key West and the simpler, more healthy lifestyle of a fishing guide, where he runs afoul of a local skiff operator with no compunction about killing off the competition ….. literally. Pretty thrilling while at the same time, pretty funny. Nobody writes quite like McGuane.

    GKBlue gets it right with “Dish Served Cold”. Craig Johnson does a very nice job creating the most likable of characters. You just can’t help pulling for Walt Longmire, a man that truly loved his wife and can’t extricate himself from the grief of her loss while still trying to fulfill his responsibilities as a county Sheriff. Worse yet, her murder may not have been a random event.

    The TV series started out at A&E then got picked up by Netflix. It’s pretty faithful to the books and unlike Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, Robert Taylor is Walt Longmire. Actually, the books are a little better with the image of Robert Tayler as Walt, Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry and definitely Katee Sackhoff as Vic Moretti. As an aside, Katee Sackhoff rocks a pair of jeans like no other. Doris Day HAD the best ass in show business. Just sayin’.

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