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Karen Comes Clean page 4
So I had a perfectly lurvely time lounging around on the stony sands of Grekenland. Nothing to do but drink beer, eat tzatziki and read books.
Read four really good ones:
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Hill is the son of Stephen King, one of my all-time favorites, though you wouldn't know it from the book cover. Seems ol' Joe is making his own way which is to be applauded. However, I gotta say the kid writes just like his old man. Heart-Shaped Box is horror in classic King tradition and reads like it could have been written by King himself. Way I see it, that's all good. I can't get enough of creepy thrillers. This one's got well-drawn characters and a terrific villain. It even kicks off with an Alan Moore quote. Looking forward to more from Joe Hill. I heard somewhere he's got a comic book out too...
Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh was the next book I read.
Highly entertaining, kinda disposable novel about Hollywood cops. Fast-paced, light, with a bunch of engaging good and bad guys. Nothing memorable, but a fine beach read.
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane was the best of the bunch.
A truly epic novel centering around the Boston Police strike of 1917 and thereabouts. Labor unions, racism, romance, anti-communist witch hunts, riots, bone-crushing violence and Babe Ruth. What's not to love? This book reminded me of nothing less than The Godfather. It's that epic. Martin Scorcese will probably make a movie out of it. I just hope he doesn't cast DiCaprio as the hero, who's supposed to be a 6 foot-four barrel-chested Irishman. But he probably will. Anyway, this one's not to be missed.
Finally, One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson is the sequel to her celebrated Case Studies mystery centering on the character of Jackson Brodie.
This one's set in Edinburgh and is kicked off by an incident of Road Rage that sets all the quirky characters spinning onto their intersecting paths. Hugely funny and intricately plotted. Another keeper.
So that's what I did on my vacation. Hope ya'll had a good summer too!
Oh yeah, here's a sketch:
Toodles!
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