Congratulations, Who Are You Again
Harrison Scott Key
Uniquely Southern yet universal, Key's second book pushes both hilarity and common sense. A memoir in part, "Congratulations" works its wonders when you stop and analyze the changes Key makes in his life in comparison to yours. An accomplished writer, Key's prose is beautifully written. As a comedic writer, his punch lines pack a real laugh and often make you go back to read that paragraph again. As imaginative as James Thurber, Key's hyperbolic flights are stratospheric. However, like Mark Twain, these are not merely stories he wishes to tell - but a means of imparting to you that these changes can be made to better any life.
ATOMIC HABITS
James Clear
One of the newest book trends are collections of blog posts, web stories, and various internet postings being turned into nonfiction. James Clear has a harrowing story. Once you get through it, you realize that "Atomic Habits" is not just another "Fix Yourself/Advice" book. Clear has given a lot of time and energy to a non-scientific study of simply increasing the changes you make in your life daily as opposed to doing it all at once - and then tumbling back into old habits. His analysis of many facets is crystal clear. His analysis and comparison even better. "Atomic Habits" is just that book for you to finish around say..New Year's Day.
OPENING WEDNESDAY AT A THEATRE OR DRIVE-IN
Charles Taylor
Books about film are always a heavy read. Most of them feel too academic or even too drawn out. The measure of a truly great film book is how much it makes you want to dive into the cinema cited inside.
Charles Taylor bases his B-movie criticism around the central theory that in the 1970's, even the second-rate low-budget movies made in America were a part of the revolution. Michael Ritchie's "Prime Cut" and Floyd Mutrux's "American Hot Wax" are no "Bonnie & Clyde" or "Easy Rider," but they serve as important stops on the timeline. Taylor's central dictum is that American films were on a path to greatness until Hollywood returned to making "blockbusters."
So, even after "Star Wars," there are several low-key, cheaply-made movies with statements wrapped up in their exploitative marketing. You'll be reading this and then racing for YouTube to see the trailers for these masterworks of "Shadow Cinema."
THE KILLER INSIDE ME/POP. 1280
Jim Thompson
American Tabloid/White Jazz
James Ellroy
Crime novels are always a tough but fascinating read. The ones that really rivet you to your chair are those that seem real. Unlike "Law and Order" or any other franchise crime drama, the classic American crime novels give you a deep, chilling glimpse into the criminals themselves. Pulpy, hard-boiled and always edging too close to glorification, the novels of Thompson and Ellroy continue to be overlooked.
Thompson wrote in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, yet his novels never seem dated. Your distrust in the narrator makes you grit your teeth. Your inside knowledge of the crime as it unfolds and is investigated makes your skin crawl. "The Killer Inside Me" is chilling, while "Pop.1280" is more exaggerated and even functions as a mirror on the degradation of American society.
"The Killer Inside Me"
James Ellroy is most famous for the gritty, hyperreal action of "L.A. Confidential." "White Jazz" completes his "L.A.Quartet" of works in a flash of choppy prose and tangled action. Curtis Hanson's film of "L.A.Confidential" set out the notion of Ellroy's works following a certain style and direction. "White Jazz" is his frenzied slash-and-burn of it all. Cliches are dangled as red herrings. Los Angeles is the only point of unification in the flurry of activity Ellroy illustrates in two-word sentences and whiplash action. "American Tabloid" opens his next sequence of books, the "Underworld USA Trilogy" where he turns the sordid events of the last 50 years into historical crime fiction. Five sections cover five years in the entanglements of the CIA, the FBI and the Mafia. For once, Ellroy injects some dark humor into his work. However, the events from working for Howard Hughes in 1958 until just seconds before the motorcade drives through Dealey Plaza in 1963 are riveting to even readers who would steer away from pulp fiction.
