Reviews and Comments

Story of a man (pot smoking NY Yankees peanut vendor) and his father (former adman with terminal lung cancer) in 1978. The father (born in 1918) is a Red Sox fan and has healthy "good days" when they win, less when they lose, so the son concocts a scheme to hide Sox losses from his dad. Behind this sitcom farce is a story of a son getting to know his father and himself, from life to love. The ending (and the title) come with tickets to the one game playoff in Boston and rest on a light hitting Yankees short stop.

The author's style is some of what we have seen on TV, a mile-a-minute reference filled internal dialogue, and for the main character this is strongest under the influence of weed. Nearly all told in first person, the two times the perspective shifts are jarring. Partway through I switched to the audio book (read by the author) and was impressed, but not enough to rate 5 stars.

The point repeated often through this book is that burglars do not use the architectural features of most buildings at they were intended. Additional locks on the door are not much use if they can go through the wall, the ceiling or the floor. Chapters are spent discussing tunnels, roof jobs, and holing up within a Toys R Us. The book begins and ends with George Leonidas Leslie, an architect turned burglar.

Extraneously, the author rode along in LAPD helicopters, looking at street layouts but mostly gathering anecdotes. Also contained here are non-thorough discussions of what breaking and entering is, and how laws vary state by state. A large chapter is taken up with a discussion of amateur lock picking and the author's attempts to learn the skill - which has little to do with the title.

Several actual crimes are mentioned, but none in thorough detail. This book is better for it's bibliography.

This book was local author Frank Herbert's first and is on a list of Defining Science Fiction books of the 50s. More thriller than SF, it is part sub warfare and part psychological drama. It is set in the near future of an ongoing world war between West and East, where oil is scarce and some targets (including the British Isles) are uninhabitable due to nuclear fallout.

I love a good sub war book, and this reminded me of [b:The Hunt for Red October|19691|The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan Universe, #4)|Tom Clancy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1281995542s/19691.jpg|1112006]. Some of the technology is a advanced (a signal repeater and inserted alarm pellets) but the majority is set in the 1950s (manual gauges, wheels and pumps). Torpedoes are used in the usual and also some very creative ways. The author served in the navy as a photographer.

This is also the first book I've read by Frank Herbert, as I somehow missed reading the Dune series as a kid. This watery first book is the opposite of those desert novels, but is still a recommended read.

This SF road story with mythic elements was lucky enough to share the 1966 Hugo award with Frank Herbert's [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1434908555s/234225.jpg|3634639]. I have read that it is not as good as Dune, nor Zelazny's other Hugo winner, [b:Lord of Light|13821|Lord of Light|Roger Zelazny|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330127327s/13821.jpg|1011388], but this is a good read.

Starts off in confusion, but that is to be expected with a main character who is immortal and the victim of evil rumors - or are they true? Many of these elements are not completely cleared up, but the main narrative definitely is. Zelazny's characters have solid motivations and personalities, interacting to form a great narrative. The character least detailed and most alien is... the blue alien (and member of the earth's overlords) being escorted around parts of a post-apocalyptic earth.

Before this I have only read short stories by [a:Roger Zelazny|3619|Roger Zelazny|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207671346p2/3619.jpg], though the Chronicles of Amber sat on my shelf for many years. At the time, I think I was leery of diving into a 10 volume series. I read this as part of a 1960s reading challenge, and it was quite good for having come out 50 years ago. 3½ stars.

Starts off well (the first chapter really shines) and contains some interesting observations about maps, 2D vs 3D, and child labor. Also a fairly quick read, and more interesting than my own memoir from ages 8 to 13 would probably be.

In each chapter, the author uses a video game experience to focus on a particular portion of his young life. This is very well done in the first chapter (Suspended) and less so later on. The cover (an allusion to text-based adventure games) is also quite catchy. In the Wolfenstein chapter, he jumps out of context and gives an approximation of his later years, which may or may not be chronicled in his first published memoir, [b:White Out: The Secret Life of Heroin|15824289|White Out The Secret Life of Heroin|Michael W. Clune|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348542038s/15824289.jpg|21555095]. This and the overall dark demeanor of his Catholic school upbringing is not easy to read.

A five star beginning and a two star finish.

Set 5 years before "The Force Awakens", this book starts out with bipartisan gridlock in the New Republic senate. This felt like a reflection of current US politics, down to some of the measures discussed. Senator Organa champions an investigation into post-Hutt criminal activity, a senator from the other party joins her, and things finally start to roll.

I liked the different tensions between these two characters and the action of the investigation, from card playing to wild flying. Of course things end up being connected to much bigger things, and this spiral increases the risk and speeds up the action.

This is not the Leia of the movie, of course, so a major event happens 2/3 of the way through this book. From this point the plot is on rails, and those tracks lead right to the film. I liked the wrap-ups of some points from the earlier story, but the rest of the novel felt rushed and the ending not satisfying.

I like the author's writing style and plan to read her earlier Star Wars universe novel, [b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars Journey to the Force Awakens)|Claudia Gray|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1462731623s/25067046.jpg|44751860].