Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Lucy--now a successful and highly regarded author-- returns to Amgash to visit her brother Pete. Her sister Vicky, resentful, says she is busy--but she shows up.   They sit in Pete's house and discussed their dysfunctional upbringing and their odd parents.  Mom took her sewing shears to Vicki's clothes.  Dad's loud sex with Mom in the room right next to Pete.  Vicki forced to eat food she'd thrown into the toilet.  Pete and Lucy forced to eat food they'd thrown in the garbage.They share this tension regarding their upbringing, but they aren't close.  Pete is autistic, so he's not close with anyone, though he does keep the women from arguing.  Vicky is resentful of Lucy's success and even more of Lucy's escape from Amgash.  (Lucy hasn't been back in 17 years.) Lucy says she has returned because she is feeling her own mortality and wants to reconnect with her siblings. Toward the end of the visit Lucy has an anxiety attack. Lucy requests that ...

Mississippi Mary. This is a story of  the visit of Angelina, a middle-aged woman, with her mother (78)  who now lives in Italy with an Italian man who is 15 years younger. The two--close once--try to communicate across the generations and across the continents.  They succeed and fail at different times. Mom is content with her life in Italy, daughter (Angelina, mom's angel) is unhappy that mother is content.Daughter also reveals that she is having matrimonial problems of her own. Her problem: her husband complains that Angelina is more in love with her mother then she is with him. This struck me as a rather unlikely problem as the mother has been living in Italy for four years and this is the daughter's first visit. Uneven.

from Wikipedia: Middle-aged Mrs. Samuel Lawrence gives Lew Archer 50 dollars for one day of his time to find her daughter Galatea (a.k.a. Galley) who has been missing since just before Christmas. Archer soon discovers she was married to a small-time mobster named Joe Tarantine. Starting the investigation in the most likely place, with Tarantine’s brother, Mario, Lew finds the man in the hospital after a severe beating that has left him almost unrecognizable. And shortly after that, a big-time mobster offers him five thousand to find Tarantine. The investigation quickly gains a body count and Lew is constantly drawn from Los Angeles to Pacific Point (a fictionalized version of  La Jolla [1]  ),  Palm Springs ,  San Francisco , and back again, trying to tie together details that seem as random as they are violent. As the bodies pile up, so does Archer’s confusion, but he remains undeterred by the situation, relying on his well-honed instinct for deviant behavior and t...

The first in the acclaimed Lord Peter Wimsey series, the case of a dead bather draws Lord Peter into the first of many puzzling mysteries. Lord Peter Wimsey spends his days tracking down rare books, and his nights hunting killers. Though the Great War has left his nerves frayed with shellshock, Wimsey continues to be London’s greatest sleuth—and he’s about to encounter his oddest case yet. A strange corpse has appeared in a suburban architect’s bathroom, stark naked save for an incongruous pince-nez. When Wimsey arrives on the scene, he is confronted with a once-in-a-lifetime puzzle. The police suspect that the bathtub’s owner is the murderer, but Wimsey’s investigation quickly reveals that the case is much stranger than anyone could have predicted.

Charlie, Vietnam vet suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, meets with a prostitute who has become his lover.  She needs money for her son (a drug addict) who is in trouble.  Story is about the demons in Charlie, his problems with his wife, his family, his inability to feel. 

Finished the first story.  Return to the Lucy Barton story.  MC has his barn burn down.  He loses everything and becomes school janitor.  Meets up with young Barton girl, befriends her (sort of). Now she is a successful author, though back then she was a battered child.  MC goes out to visit her brother. He learns that perhaps the elder Barton burned down his barn, killed his cows, etc. out of spite for having been caught masturbating, and also out of PTSS from WWII concentration camps.  MC has never told anyone that he felt God spoke to him on the night of the fire, telling him to value his family and people over all. Now he tells Barton this . . . and is immediately doubted.  O'Henry ending, almost.  For years he wouldn't tell anyone of his religious experience; it was his secret. Now he has told his wife and the Barton son about it . . . but he no longer believes that God spoke to him.  His lack of faith becomes his new secret.

I'm doing my regular Audible/Kindle whispersync for this book.  Today it was all Audible as I had a 40 minute drive to the golf course.  Reader is fast! English comedy/murder.  Dead body in tub. Shockingly naked.  The discoverer laments that he hadn't had his breakfast before discovering it. He was so unprepared.  There's some anti-Semitism lurking--can't tell if it's the characters only or author & characters.    Our detective notes many interesting things about the body in the tub. Clean hands; dirty feet. Hair cut neatly; filthy ears, etc.  Conclusion.  The body was spiffed up after the murder to make it seem as if the victim was of a higher class than he was.

A fine book.  Orwell reaches his peak with Animal Farm and then 1984, his last two books before dying of TB.  His reputation and influence grow after his death worldwide.  His books transcend the criticism of USSR to become a criticism of all state totalitarianism. Predicts modern world where "truth" becomes something politicians believe they can bend. Predicts constant war on the edges being used as a reason for constant picking away at individual liberty. Churchill's end is, on the other hand, a decline.  His history of WWII drops off after the first two volumes. Succeeding volumes become "factory" books. Researchers and other writers take the main stage; he checks over and makes improvements -- when so inclined.  He becomes PM one more time, but is ineffective.  When he dies, LBJ does not attend his funeral, probably because Churchill did not attend the funeral of FDR. Both Orwell and Churchill share a belief in language as a means to truth; both are...

Churchill succeeds in bringing America into the conflict.  Brits contemptuous (and for some reason) of early efforts of American soldiers and brass. Americans learn quickly; British manpower wanes.  Americans take lead role, to Churchill's chagrin.  He sees USSR and USA as emerging world powers with Britain's power waning. Orwell's Animal Farm in response to Soviet Union.  He has trouble getting a publisher because the Left still wants to believe in USSR.  Orwell does anticipate Trump and his abuse of truth and facts.  Animal Farm, once published, is an immediate success and makes Orwell, for the first time, free from money worry--in fact, rich!

Book 3 of Lizzy Gardner series by T.R. Ragan. Lovebird Killer is killing couples (mainly) in Sacramento/Davis area. Lizzy Gardner recently escaped a serial killer; now she is after one. Plot jumps back and forth from victims to murderer to investigator.  Lots of cliff-hanging chapter ends.  Lizzy likely to be captured by killer, but it will be fun seeing how.

Joe Kennedy, JFK's father, ambassador to England and a defeatist at best and a Nazi (or at least fascist) sympathizer at worst.  Churchill does not sugar coat bad news.  RAF "never have so few done so much to protect so many."  But, oddly, a class thing.  RAF fighters were not from elite schools. English warning system incorporates radar, telephone, central "knowledge" room--well-coordinated and a big reason Germany failed to win Battle of Berlin.  Germans never had a coordinated plan--simply bomb. Early parts of the war, 33% of Brits reported trouble sleeping due to air raids.  Two months later, 5% say they can't sleep.

Excellent so far.  Churchill's circuitous route to the PM office is described--what kind of world would be living in if he hadn't made it?  Chamberlain/Asquith weren't going to fight.  Orwell (Eric Blair) nearly killed in Spanish Civil War.  A leftist who values clear thinking, not ideology.  Orwell was not valued in his own time; not mentioned in contemporary accounts of the 30's and 40's. This book is the perfect length--I really don't want 1000 pages on Churchill or 500 on Orwell.  350 on the two of them--just right!

I read this on the airplane, and it was a perfect airplane book. I'd seen the movie, so the plot was familiar enough that all the airplane distractions didn't throw me off.  Moreau is trying to transform animals into men. He's also the mad scientist, certain that every advancement is always progress.  So it's create new species and damn the consequences.  Our hero is thrown onto the island and is there when the beast-men turn on Moreau.  Exciting, with a warning about the dangers of science that is well ahead of its time.  Liked this very much.

The book was interesting throughout and made me laugh out loud on many occasions. And it had a great ending, pulling everything together. Spoiler follows--great passage of everyday wisdom. "I wish I could have ended this by saying that we didn't need a man at the helm. Our mother taking the helm herself and coping brilliantly all alone would have been a powerful finish. The thing is, no one can cope alone, not really alone. All those brave people who seem to do things solo actually have people in the background who love them or at least like them, wishing them well and worrying about them, saying kind and encouraging things and giving them a helping hand now and again. Our mother didn't have quite enough of all that until Mr. Holt appeared." "at least like them"  "saying kind and encouraging things and giving them a helping hand now and again" 

WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF is put to the test.  So far, this is an off-beat comedy in which two precocious preteens try to hook up their dysfunctional mother with a new man after Dad left Mom for his homosexual lover.  All of the scenes are very well written, funny, inventive.  My only problem is the girls.  They are able to absorb Mom's neglect/drunkenness/debauchery without any scarring. A nice fantasy, but definitely a fantasy.  The girls love Mom no matter how poor Mom's "mothering" is.  No psychic scars whatsover.

I found this a little on the 'over the top' side.  Our murderer is delusional.  He has a prison cell beneath his flower shop where he tortures and murders his victims, then puts mementos up on his wall.  Our hero, Lizzy, ends up saving her FBI beau (a feminist reversal that worked nicely.)  As for the other women:  Jessica isn't suited for the PI life and returns to criminology school.  Hayley, the tough chick, discovers on the last page that her mother has been brutally murdered, thus setting up the next book.