The Picasso Flop--#61 finished

Vince Van Patten an announcer on the World Poker Tour, wrote a book and a mystery at a poker tour event and threw around a bunch of poker player names and casino names.  Was a quick and easy read, nothing too complicated or anything about this book.  Not that good and not that bad either, just sort of light reading entertainment.

I will post it back on PBS, there are no copies so it might move at some point.

About Schmidt--#60 finished

This book has been on my shelf for a long time.   I remember enjoying the movie with Jack Nicholson, it was filmed in Omaha which was also kind of neat to see too.  Took me a long time to get around to reading the book though and finding out Omaha had nothing to do with the book.  It is a New York and Hamptons location.  Still a good read, none of the characters are really good in all ways so they seem more down to earth even in their upper crust lifestyle.  The twist at the end of the book is that Schmidt becomes even more monied inheriting money from his step-mother when she unexpectedly passes.  Makes me think about reading the 2nd book, just for that reason.

I haven't posted it, there are already a few copies in system, maybe 5 or so but since an older book doubt it would go anywhere.  Will just keep & see about that 2nd book.

Judge Fuchs and the Boston Braves--#59 finished

Judge Fuchs bought the Boston Braves in the early '20's and owned them into the mid '30s.  A colorful owner and person of a basically bad team.  He even became the manager of the team for one season.  He was the owner in a last ditch effort to make enough money to keep team, he brought over Babe Ruth from Yankees, who were looking to move on from Babe.  Unfortunately for Fuchs it didn't work out & he lost the team.  Still had a long history with baseball and Boston after that though.  The book itself was kind of put together with notes & things from memoirs that never got done.  Book is rough but still lots of information about baseball at the time in there.

There were no copies in system so I had posted it after finishing and it has already been requested so I will be mailing it off this week.

Origin--#58 finished

The next Robert Langdon book by Dan Brown.  It is kind of the same formula, Robert Langdon is thrown into something & he has to figure it out with a beautiful woman.  This time an internet genius and multi-billionaire is going public with something he says will change the world & religion.  Of course this guy is an atheist as well.  He is killed during this presentation and Langdon & the beautiful curator, that is also engaged to the Prince of Spain, have to use their wits & this guys super computer helper to find & play the rest of the presentation.  The first couple books were really pretty good, exciting action filled.  Now with the same formula it just seems forced together, not as much entertaining but still ok.

There are a lot of WL for this, maybe 160 something or more, I don't remember.  I will mail this off at some point but no hurry right now.

Stay--#57 finished

I had read a couple other books by this author with crazy titles and futuristic kind of out there stories. This one seems like he is trying to go more mainstream action adventure type story.  Story was ok and has a lot of action.  I think I preferred his other crazier books but I understand him wanting to expand on the number of people reading his books, this type story probably does that.  A put on break special forces guy has to protect his wife and family from brutal organized crime lord.

I will be posting this book at some point I think there were 8 WL for it last time I checked.

The Painter--#56 finished

I had actually finished this book at end of October but just noticed now that I hadn't logged it in.  A really good read, this is 2nd book I have read by author and both were really good.  Really really different, first was after 99% of people in world died and main character was one of the remaining with a few others around.  This one is about a successful painter with issues and gets into a situation where he kills a guy, a bad guy but one with brothers that want his death avenged.  Also the local police are investigating and know but can't prove the painter was involved.  While all this going on he is still painting too, almost a way to work out he feelings.  Insightful stuff about painting and fly fishing, just a very good read.

There is a WL of 16 for the book so I will post it & mail off at some point.

The Vanishing American Adult--#55 finished

An interesting read about how children and young adults in some great numbers don't seem to be maturing into adulthood.  Ben Sasse is a Senator from Nebraska but is also a Phd in American History from Yale and before Senator was a university president at Midland University in Fremont, NE, near where I grew up.  His wife is also a long time public school teacher.  Ben is also 3 years younger than me, so this is not some old white guy telling kids to get off his lawn and is not blaming public school education for the evils.  He places the responsiblity for kids becoming adults on the parents and encourages them to help their kids.  He places big emphasis on reading, travel, learning independence at a young age, work experience and being around people of all ages--not just your same age peers in school.  He has brought up a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas, not sure how much play it is getting but lots of things to see and incorporate where possible.  I enjoyed this book because of the ideas, not always the easiest book to get through but worth it.

There are 46 WL for this book on PBS so I will mail it off at some point just to make sure the ideas do get passed along.

The Balfour Conspiracy--#54 finished

This is an older mass market paperback that I grabbed for a walking around book--take in my car in case have a few minutes to read kind of thing.  It was published in 1981 and was written in late '70s about Palestinian terrorists that steal plutonium being shipped over the ocean and the process of moving it to Germany--then West Germany to blow up Bonn when all the Western leaders are there.  Eventually find out the terrorist leader is actually from Taiwan and want to bring the US against mainland China.  An alright read and I guess an alright type of plot for the times, Carter was President and is mentioned the book too.  Also throw in the IRA helping out the Palestinians too--they didn't know it was plutonium and they were promised machine guns and ammo.  Lots of moving parts here but overall just a kind of ok story.  Really didn't like anyone involved in the whole thing.

There are a few copies in PBS so no reason to add another one since I can't imagine anyone ordering a copy of this book.  I will put it in my give away pile.