The Sinister Pig
Tony Hillerman writes some of the best mysteries I've read. I especially like the ones featuring Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn.
The Sinister Pig is the latest of these novels I have read, and as with the previous ones, I couldn't put it down. Not to give away the ending but for those who have read the four corner novels before, Jim finally asks Bernie to marry him. Hillerman manages to once again blend mystery with adventure with romance into the Navajo culture of the four corners. Great book for the airport or to just relax in an easy chair and soak in.
11:14
Here is another film that surprised me. The film stars Barbara Hershey, Patrick Swayze, and Hillary Duff, just to name a few that you would be surprised to see in a film such as this. This black comedy begins with a guy, slightly drunk, driving along talking to his girl friend when a body is dropped off of an overpass in front of his car. The time is 11:14 PM. The rest of the film is a series of flashbacks that explain who all the characters are and why the body is being dropped. In a style similar to Memento, this film has some extremely tense moments but also some of the funniest scenes I have watched in a long time. The sex in the cemetary scene is among the funniest ever. This is for sure a film that you should put at the top of your viewing rental list.
My work being cited
It is always good when you find others reading and appreciating your work. I was a little surprised this morning to find that an article I wrote while working on my doctorate in communication is being quoted and used as source material in Sociology in the United Kingdom. The article,
To Define Culture in a Virtual World (2001), can be found on my Web site at
http://www.summittnewmedia.com/paul/nonfiction/culture.htm or at the Sociology site at
http://www.sociology.org.uk/as4mm3d.htm.
Mind Hunters
This was an interesting film. We rented the DVD last week. I really don't know how long it has been out. The only actor I recognized was Val Kilmer and the only actress is the girl from Closed Case (I think that's the name of it, it's on CBS and I think it is on Sunday nights).
This is a who-done-it that will keep you guessing all the way to the very end. I was actually suprised by the ending and by the fact that the writing was so good. There were a couple of things that you could begin to catch on to once you realized how the murders are being committed but that still didn't help decide who the murderer was.
If you are looking for a good mystery to get lost in for a couple of hours this is one you should grab.
James Lee Burke's Half of Paradise
One of the things I decided to start doing again on this site is reviewing books and films. You can find some of my older reviews around the site but the newer ones will be posted here. The first I want to review is James Lee Burke's
Half of Paradise published by Hyperion Publishing in 1965.
Let me first say that I normally love Burke's works, especially his Robicheaux mysteries. The back cover of this paperback lured me in by saying "Robicheaux fans, start at the beginning; the first novel ever written by best-selling author James Lee Burke." I say lured because with the possible exception of a female character who may have had the last name Robicheaux, I don't remember because by the time she was introduced I knew I had been suckered by the publisher's PR people (who probably didn't read the book anyway).
But I did suffer through it. I say suffer because there appears to be no plot whatsoever unless two guys dying and the other back in prison is the plot. For the most part it was totally disjointed and lacked connectivity. Nothing was ever explained. It was almost as bad as the slasher trash Dean Kootz writes except there was no blood and gore to titalate and excite bored borderline psychotic readers.
This book should never be compared with Faulkner's
As I Lay Dying as one person suggested to me when I was considering reading it. It is not a good character study because non of the characters grows. They are the same when they die or go back to prison as they were when the book begins its meandering.
The only value I found in reading this book was in learning just how far Burke has come. He as truly developed into a great mystery writer.
