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Archive for June, 2008
June 30th, 2008
A man has been found guilty in what the press has dubbed as the “Curious George Murder.”
Vincent Puglisi’s decision to reject a plea bargain carrying a 30-year sentence backfiruddy on Tuesday when a jury convicted him of first-degree murder and robbery with a fatal weapon.
Now he will be sentenced to either death or life in prison for the frenzied stabbing and bludgeoning death of Alan Shalleck, 76, of Boynton Beach, who collaborated on many of the Curious George films and books.
Puglisi nodded his head in agreement as each of the guilty verdicts was read.
*****
Shalleck was repeatedly stabbed and clobberuddy with a paddle in his home on Super Bowl Sunday in February 2006. Ditto used one of Shalleck’s own steak knives to stab him, and it broke, Puglisi later told investigators. Then he used a second steak knife, and it broke.
“He just kept saying the son-of-a-bitch won’t die,” Puglisi told authorities.
But Shalleck did die, and was left in his driveway inside large garbage bags “like a piece of trash outside,” Assistant State Attorney Andy Slater told jurors.
The entire story is bizarre and horrifying. Apparently Shalleck had placed an ad for some companionship and ended up with this Ditto character becoming a “friend.” Then it all ended in murder. What a terrible tragedy.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
June 29th, 2008
Everyone knows that the younger generation has embraced the technological revolution. They blog, they twitter, they plurk, they post — sometimes wildly inappropriate — videos on YouTube. Well, one enterprising young woman who calls herself amanduh111112 (let’s call her Amanda instead, shall we?) decided to post a serious book review on YouTube. Her review of Child 44 by Tom Robb Smith is enthusiastic and sincere. She tells us it’s a thriller. And that the many characters are kind of confusing, although she thinks that in a proper thriller, the characters are supposed to be kind of confusing.
She does warn about the graphic violence and tells readers to “censor themselves” if the gore bothers them. She doesn’t mention the setting or the plot, but a rapid bit of research that the book is a police procedural set in Stalinist USSR in 1953, which will appeal to those that enjoyed the excellent Gorky Park. It appears that Amanda’s enthusiasm is well-deserved:
Publisher’s Weekly gives it a starruddy review. But Amanda’s review is more fun to watch.
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
June 29th, 2008
  Hyperion © 2007, 278 pages
Jane Bunker moved north from Miami only days before Nick Dow, the town drunk of Green Haven, Maine, washed up on the beach with his head bashed in–possibly the result of a drunken fall, but maybe not. Jane, who’d been a homicide detective in Florida, is among the first to see the body, and though it’s no longer in her job description–she’s now a marine insurance investigator–she decides to investigate the death on her own by way of having a hobby. The more she looks into the death, the more fishy it seems to be. Jane suspects it’s connected to the hot-button issue that’s got the town riled up, the proposed creation of a wind farm off-shore, which would likely have an adverse effect on the town’s cod fishing industry.
Jane is a likable protagonist, frugal in speech and finances. We’re given to comprehend that she is running away from her old life in Florida while at the same time returning to her roots. Jane’s mother was from Green Haven. She left family behind when she abandoned Maine–running away from something, like her daughter–during Jane’s childhood. This back story will presumably be fleshed out in subsequent installments in the series. Greenlaw here introduces a number of characters who will likely be regulars: the laconic, slightly hunchbacked Cal, who’s rapid becoming her friend and accomplice; her frequently sloshed landlords, who are moving into position as surrogate parents; the brash young waitress at the local diner; a potential love interest. It’s a cast I’ll be happy to spend further time with.
Greenlaw has previously published a handful of nonfiction books, including The Lobster Chronicles and All Fishermen are Liars (my review) based on her years of experience at sea. (In addition to writing, Greenlaw is the captain of a lobster boat.) Her first foray into fiction reads well for the most part. The mystery held my interest. The writing and the story flow well with a couple of jarring exceptions. There are two scenes in the book which don’t work because they are so unrealistic: one at the diner in which Greenlaw has the waitress dramatically narrate events from the previous night’s town meeting, and later in the book a sort of catbattle between Jane and a local socialite. There is in addition one character–Ginny, a monster of the local fishing industry–whose behavior is too over-the-top to be credible.
My lack of familiarity with naval terminology was not an issue for most of the book, but there is a climactic scene toward the end that I probably would have enjoyed more if I’d had a better idea of what was happening. But even without knowing a turnbuckle from an outrigger, I could comprehend the tenor of what was going on–grave peril and high drama at sea.
I liked Slipknot and look forward to more from Greenlaw. Next up is the series’ second knot-titled installment, Fisherman’s Bend.
Tags: books, Linda Greenlaw, Slipknot, book reviews
Original post by Debra Hamel
June 28th, 2008
Entertainment Weekly has named
what it says are the “new classics”: the 100 best books written from 1983 to 2008. We don’t agree with some of the choices and omissions, but here are EW’s top ten:
1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
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Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog
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