Hemingway is not for everyone, and most of the time, he's not even for me. But the guy won a Nobel Prize for literature, and single-handedly changed 20th century fiction writing, so he's doing something right. Islands in the Stream is exactly that something.
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When two of your best friends recommend the same book in casual conversation within a week of each other, you gotta read it. If only to keep up with the conversation. Today I'm reviewing for my book-of-the-month of April: East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and to summarize my feelings, I think it should be re-titled: East of F!#@&ing Awesome.
Ian Fleming's second Bond novel. You may recognize the title from that less than favorite 1973 film featuring Roger Moore for the first time, but believe me when I tell you this is something else entirely. If Casino Royale was status porn for the gentleman wannabe, Live and Let Die is a rude awakening with real stakes, dire consequences and gritty frustrations all circling an ever more hopeless mission for Bond and his poor, poor pal Leiter who gets off lucky once, but not twice. After another World War, industrialization through automation brings peace and prosperity to the world. Just about everyone loses their jobs to go on surviving on the benevolence of an essential welfare state while the elite managers of the machines hold out the last meaningful careers as paternalistic overseers. One promising Doctor Proteus, on the verge of a career breakthrough, begins to second guess the system that leaves so many millions floating uselessly through a perfectly benign yet blah existence. This is Kurt Vonnegut's first novel. This is the original James Bond, the cold, calculating, gentleman playboy of the 1950s. He's not rich but his tastes are expensive. He's not a super spy, but he's determined to complete his mission. Ian Fleming debuts his famous Double-O agent with perfect, pulpy unpredictability and it's nothing like you remember from the movies. This is not Sean Connery. This is not Roger Moore. This is not Pierce Brosnan. Okay, maybe it's a little bit Daniel Craig, but that's on purpose. Join me as I begin a year-long tour of the original Bond series, beginning with Casino Royale. |
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