I just finished reading the last Harry Bosch book Desert Star. What does everyone think, is Connelly retiring Bosch? Is he doing the Sanford thing by having Harry's daughter become a police officer; or spinning of Ballard as Sanford did Virgil Flowers?
In case these are dumb questions, I wasn't a reader of the Bosch series until recently, so I've read the series within the last four or five months.
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
Man, I remember reading that years ago, and enjoying it. I don't recall if it was part of school, or we just happened to have it. Probably ought to pick it up again, since any cultural commentary probably missed me at the time.Originally Posted by JAD
I've often said that even if you don't believe it you should at least know what the Bible has to say, since it's the most influential book in Western history. In that vein, I've started Pagans by James J. O'Donnell. It's a neutral look at how and why Christianity spread through Europe. I'm not very far into it but it's pretty interesting.
"Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. Religious scholar James J. O’Donnell takes us on a lively tour of the Ancient Roman world through the fourth century CE, when Romans of every nationality, social class, and religious preference found their world suddenly constrained by rulers who preferred a strange new god."
I'm not religious in any sort of traditional way... but "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis was a fantastic book which impressed me deeply as a late teen.
Kazantzakis also wrote several other worthy novels.
There's nothing civil about this war.
What I like about Bosch is that Michael Connelly is letting Bosch age. He's not some guy who is running around, getting into fistfights and gunfights in his late 70s to 90s (cough Spencer, Mike Hammer).
But it's hard work and takes a lot of research to hold a character back in time. Sue Grafton tried with Kelsey Millhone, but she still had anachronisms creeping into her stories.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
You'll get some of that from Quo Vadis -- it's one of the things I enjoyed about it. The best take on it that I know of is Augustine's Confessions -- Augustine was raised across multiple geographies and held a couple of faiths before becoming a bishop. His perspective on Christianity-as-other is striking, and he expresses it unusually well.
Ignore Alien Orders
His Odyssey is particularly good, and Zorba should be read in high school as a great juxtaposition of the Apollonian with the Dionysian.
LTC is not something I would suggest unless a person has a really good grounding in 'real' thinking about the hypostatic union -- Kaz was kind of a whackjob* but he's such a good writer that if you didn't know better you might take his perspective on Christ seriously.
*a great admirer of both Mussolini and Lenin. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Ignore Alien Orders
The problem with Davenport and Bosch is that they are aging out. Reading about Harry liking dinosaur era Jazz gets pretty old. Another problem is when the character for some reason leaves their primary agency. Bosch becoming some half baked PI, didn't work really. Working with his brother was ok but his cooperation with Ballard doesn't ring true. Super PIs - just novel and TV BS. Should have stayed a cop, being on some weird consultancy - nope. Never like Ballard.
Davenport never should have left a MN agency. Being a marshal to act as the secret agent for politicians, don't like. He is aging out though in favor of Virgil - whom I like. However, Virgil's tendency not to carry was cute for awhile but stupid nowadays. I have a theory about Lucas, the character was being set up to work for a Hillary like President. That didn't work as we get marshal Lucas. His supporting characters were never as rich as Del and the others in MN. Letty is an interesting character. She certainly is a touch of killer. The scene where she took out the Cartel assassins in an injured shooter routine and the head shot to the surrendered member was OK. She is a touch sociopathic. However, in the last book, she was a little too John Wick - mowing throwing bad guys with abandon.
Another character I like is Gabriel Allon. Israel assassin and super spy. However, the author's book plans must have been flushed down the toilet by Oct. 7 as his agency was pretty super duper. Luckily for Gabriel he was retired and not agency head anymore. How this plays out - interesting to see.
Reading The New Makers of Modern Strategy: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age From the Ancient World to the Digital Age
Brands, Hal, Bew, John, Freedman, Lawrence, Mead, Walter Russell, Yoshihara, Toshi, et al.
Interesting follow on the other editions given our perspective. Good chapter on the Lieber code of conduct, relevant to our discussion of Oct. 7 war, civilians, etc. Confirms my thoughts that trying to postulate rules of war is a noble but futile endeavor when the bullets fly in existential battles.
Cloud Yeller of the Boomer Age
After having read "Doc" by Mary Doria Russell some years back...(about the life of "Doc" Holliday), I forgot that she wrote a second companion volume, "Epitaph" which completes the tale of Holliday and the Earps.
Just started "Epitaph" a day or so back, and enjoying it so far. Gives much more background information about the lives of the characters we followed through the saga of "Tombstone".
(Got lucky the other day and picked up the Kindle version for $2.99. Don't know if that special is still available...but sign in and see.)
There's nothing civil about this war.
So Others May Live by Martha J. LaGuardia-Kotite
A episodic history of the US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. Starting with the origins of the program (I hadn't realized how recent its birth really was) through just a hair post-Katrina. There are some annoying tics in the early chapters with references to future chapters plus closing out with what happened next bios (though these become less annoying deeper in). The middle bulk of the book is utterly gripping as it tells the stories of individual rescues. The close on the aftermath of a lost rescue aircrew feels incomplete and as if the book ended mid-story without a decent wrap-up. In many ways, in total, it feels like a serious of magazine articles tied together by a theme. Overall a worthwhile read. 4 out 5.
no one sees what's written on the spine of his own autobiography.
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