The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler

Believe it or not, I first read this book about 35 years ago. I was somewhere between 11 or 12 when I read it. Nobody ever said that my parents had very good parental discretion. The Lady in the Lake has got sex, violence, dirty cops and several gristly murders. 

I remember being enamored by the title that was a reference to the Arthurian legend. I'm here to tell you, this Raymond Chandler classic has absolutely nothing to do with King Arthur and Merlin. It would have been neat had the main setting, a secluded cabin in the Californian San Gabriel Mountains, had the name of Camelot. But nobody ever said that a Philip Marlowe mystery had a lot of symbolism. 

There was one point where Marlowe provided false information. That lie really confused me. The private investigator states that a murder suspect wore a certain piece of clothing when in fact, it was Philip who wore the accessory. I spent a good half hour going back through the book, thinking that I had missed something. Instead, I should of followed my own personal rule when I read a Raymond Chandler classic: just follow along for the ride.

Being a re-read, despite it being decades since I first read this book, I still had some memories of my first interaction with it. But my memory was foggy enough to still be surprised from time to time. Plus I was just really shocked by the content of this 1943 work, both for the level of loose morals for a time period otherwise considered puritanical compared to today. Plus I still can't believe my mom let me read this book when I was barely in middle school!!!

Marlowe is hired to find a missing wife. Her husband is a high level executive who's more afraid of the scandal behind his wife's history of infidelity than he is concerned about her safety. The last time she was seen was about a month earlier when she went to summer at her mountain cottage. Added to the mix was a bizarre telegram win which the woman claims she's gone to Mexico for a quickie divorce and even quicker remarriage. Only the guy she claimed was going to marry her never took the plunge and hasn't seen her in weeks.

When the shamus visits the cabin, he learns that the caretaker's wife disappeared at about the same time as the missing socialite. When Marlowe discovers a body partially submerged in the water, it's identified that the victim is the caretaker. But could the murderer have been his client's missing bride? It's up to the detective to solve two mysteries that while seemingly unaffiliated; the clues keep entangling like a fast growing vine around each other.

One thing that readers need to understand about this book is that it was written during the height of World War II. There's a lot of situations that seem very unusual to modern day readers as those moments should. There was a very great fear of sabotage especially along the West Coast. Plus with priority going towards the war effort, shortages and rationing was a very real first world problem for Americans in the 1940s. Once you understand the impact the war made on everyday life in the United States, despite our country not becoming an active war zone, it will help you better enjoy this work.

A great read. Just remember to let Raymond Chandler guide you. Things might seem out of sorts at time. But it all circles back in the end.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler

When I read Agatha Christie, I feel like I'm challenged to solve the mystery before her main characters do. When I read Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, I feel like I'm sitting in on a lecture about criminology; learning new and unusual facts. But when I read Raymond Chandler, I'm merely along for the ride. 

Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories are fast paced, wordy whodunits filled with slimy thugs, morally questionable cops and dangerous dames. Private Detective Marlowe doesn't always seek the justice. He's like a 1930s Robin Hood who tries to solve the crime while making sure that the player treated the least fairly is given a fighting chance to better themselves. Marlowe is the lone narrator of his adventures. I just wish I knew what the hell he was talking about sometimes.

Written in a different time where California was still more Wild West than the home of Tinsel Town, nobody can or should be trusted in a Raymond Chandler work. It could be argued that you shouldn't even trust Philip as he'll turn against a paying client if he determines that they're in the wrong; even if every rule in the law book is squarely on their side. But as Marlowe runs the reader through each story, both the private eye and the characters he encounters use verbiage that is so antiquated that the last time they were used in public was during the filming of a Philip Marlowe mystery!

Dictionaries and Google are definitely needed to understand what's being said. 

There are 4 short stories in this collection. Now before some of you Raymond Chandler experts out there berate me on what I just said. Yes, I know, Trouble is my Business contained 5 novellas when the collected edition was first published by Penguin in 1950. I have no idea why 'Guns at Cyrano's' is no longer included in this 1992 edition from Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. Here, you only get the title story along with 'Goldfish', 'Finger Man' and 'Red Wind'. 

'Trouble is my Business' sees Philip being hired out to by a wealthy widower to hopefully persuade a gold digger to unleash her grasp from the millionaire's adopted son. Marlowe then gets a lesson in ichthyology when he goes to the Great White North in search of some stolen pearls. Jewelry is once again the subject, this time as an object of blackmail, when Marlowe witnesses the murder of a man in a speakeasy in 'Red Wind'. Then in a story that has to have influenced Roman Polanski's Chinatown, Philip is given the choice to take the fall as the 'Finger Man' or let an innocent woman take the rap for the murder of a two-bit hustler in a mystery that revolves around a crooked politician who controls all of the gambling dens in Los Angeles.

All 4 stories were fun reads. 'Goldfish' was perhaps my favorite because of the fish out of water quality to it with Marlowe being in the Vancouver area instead of sunny California. I also really liked 'Red Wind'. While each story had a sultry femme fatale as a character, 'Red Wind' was the only story where I felt that Marlowe was going to get burned by getting too close to the flames of passion. Also, it's the only tale where Marlowe never enters his detective agency office. It's dive bar, apartment, out in the field; solving a case he never even agreed to a fee to in a single night.

Don't neglect to read the opening article written by Raymond Chandler himself. It's a well known essay in which the author admits his works are far from literature. But that doesn't in any way detract from the artistic quality of his writings. Ironically, among fans of mystery noir and the pursuit of the great American novel, the case files of Philip Marlowe, P.I. are among the pinnacles of mid-20th century lit. 

A must read for murder mystery enthusiasts. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Sky Island: A Trot & Cap'n Bill Adventure (Family Comic Friday)

Trot and Cap'n Bill and Grandpa are back! 

In their first adventure, the trio traveled the briny depths to end a war between sea sirens and sea serpents. This time around, they stick mostly to dry land by exploring a mysterious abandoned amusement park called Sky Island. One of Trot's Sea Siren friends has gone missing. The only clue is a boat patrolling the area bearing the logo of the old park. With help from old allies and a new friend, the search is on!

I really loved this book. I had forgotten that the sirens had presented Cap'n Bill with a special gem that gives him the ability to talk. Bill is such a hilarious character. And writer Amy Chu (Poison Ivy: Circle of Life and Death) does such a fantastic job writing him. I can very much see my household of cats doing some of the silly things he does, like get distracted by a small critter when they should be performing a major task.

I've got to make a confession. I skipped to the end of the book to make sure Bill survived. I just hate it when sweet little anthropomorphic animals get hurt or killed in a comic or graphic novel. It just rips my heart in two; probably because it reminds me of my guys. But I didn't spoil the ending!

Trot and Cap'n Bill is a modern remake of a pair of little known L. Frank Baum novels. Only in those books, Bill was an old sailor with a peg leg instead of a cat. Trot is still a brilliant little girl. But in the remake, both Trot and her grandfather are Vietnamese refugees living in coastal California. 

As much as I have loved both books, I fear that I might not be a third book. While Trot and Cap'n Bill appeared in about half a dozen books, most of them are part of the Oz series. I'm not sure if those Baum books are under public domain or the licensed property of MGM or some other company. But if they are, is this the end of Trot and Cap'n Bill adventures? I really, REALLY hope not.

Sky Island was an adventuresome read that made me laugh several times. The artwork is brilliant and lively. Those sea serpents are so cute. Janet K. Lee's (Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome) art almost makes me a fan of snakes. ALMOST...

Another aspect that is rather enjoyable is how real things are. I'm not talking about the mermaids or sea serpents. I'm talking about how frank and honest Amy Chu is about Grandpa's dementia or the hardships Trot's new friend encountered when she lost her father's property after he passed. Amy Chu is a realist but she's not a fatalist. I think kids need to know that while life is hard and not fair; it's also good and full of hope. And Amy Chu delivers this message perfectly!

A must for fans of cats, the ocean and L. Frank Baum! Here's to a 3rd book in the very near future!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Dragon Hoops (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Oakland, California. It's the start of the 2014-15 school year and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang has just finished the book tour of his 2 volume account of China's Boxer Rebellion Boxers and Saints. Ready to begin another year of teaching computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School, Yang is also feeling the stress of following up his recent critically acclaimed works. 

Yang is afraid that he's out of ideas. But a chance encounter with members of the O'Dowd Dragons boys basketball squad brings forth inspiration. Gene has never really been great at sports. More of a nerd than a jock, the part-time comics creator really doesn't even understand that game of basketball. But after meeting with O'Dowd's coach, Lou Richie, Yang thinks he's got the idea for his next book.

O'Dowd lost in the state final last year. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride seems to follow the boys of Bishop O'Dowd. But with the state's top prospect, Ivan Rabb along with seniors Paris Austin, Alex Zhao, Isaiah Thomas and Jeevin Sandhu, O'Dowd has a very good chance to finally win their first championship!

From pre-season practices all the way to the California High School big dance, Gene Luen Yang will travel with the Dragons to chronicle their season. Along the way, Yang highlights the team seniors, diving into the depths of their past histories. What is it like to be a young black basketball star in Oakland, America, the world? How does a Sikh Indian immigrant handle the pressure when the opposing fans brand him an Islamic terrorist? How does a Chinese basketball prospect live abroad in the United States with a host family? Can you thrive in basketball as the little brother of a superstar women's basketball prospect? These are just some of the questions about culture Yang will explore as he also takes the reader on an early history of the game of basketball.

I found Dragon Hoops a fascinating read. It's what Friday Night Lights is to football. Yang basically has to do 3 things in this book. He's got to educate us on the origins of basketball. He'll need to introduce us to all of the major characters of this book. And he has to guide us through an entire season of high school boys basketball. Gene Luen Yang balances all 3 segments of this book extremely well without once being boring or repetitive. 

Dragon Hoops is just over 440 pages long. I did not want this book to end. I've been all smiles as I've Googled many of the characters in this graphic novel to see how they've fared since the end of the 2014-15 season. Yang berates himself for not being good at drawing likenesses. But I think he did a really great job at this book.

Gene Luen Yang no longer teaches. Right after this book, he devoted himself to comics full time being tasked with a run on Superman before creating a line-up of Chinese legacy heroes in the pages of New Super-Man. After both successful runs, it was nothing but up, Up and UP for Yang. But don't be surprised if we see a return to Bishop O'Dowd. Not that I think Yang is going to go back to teaching or anything like that. But I really could see this biographical graphic novel becoming a movie or TV series.

And if that happens, you read it here first! 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #39 (Featuring the LGBTQ+ or different ethnic group) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. 

San Andreas

 

So, yesterday, I didn't get much of a chance to type up a review and that's for good reason. I spent my Saturday with my beautiful wife at the movies. The film we choose to see was the disaster film, San Andreas. Starring the Rock, Carla Gugino, and Paul Giamatti, I almost expected this film to be a disaster unto itself, but I was pleasantly surprised.

    The premise of the film is simple: California which is long overdue for a giant earthquake, experiences the biggest earth shaker in recorded history. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) is a chopper pilot for the LA Fire Department and must rescue his estranged wife and daughter from a pair of quakes in the City of Angels and San Francisco. Meanwhile, a professor at Cal Tech played by the always great Paul Giamatti, has developed  a new system for predicting earthquakes and uses the new found knowledge to alert the general public thanks to an intrepid reporter played by Archie Panjabi of the Good Wife. 

   It's pretty standard disaster movie fare as everything that the expert warns about at the beginning of the film must occur (and does) before the end of the film. Throw it a handful of helpful survival tips, some incredible bad luck and even more unbelievable good luck and you have San Andreas. Oh, and don't forget the cliches such as the highrise door that plummets to nowhere, scientists yelling 'nobody is listening to me" and at least one super-heroic adrenaline filled toss of a child and/ or girl from impending doom!

   Now here's what surprised me: The Rock actually wasn't that bad of an actor in this movie. He was intelligent enough for me to believe that he could actually save the day. However, there was a couple of scenes, like one where a guy tries to carjack him that I was ready for the former wrestler to lift his trademark eyebrow and give the gunman a flying elbow. 

  Another thing that surprised me was that despite a recent commercial giving away the ending, mostly in particular who lives and who dies, I actually did not feel like that trailer ruined the entire movie. Plus the stunning visual effects were realistic enough for me to forget that blasted commercial and enjoy myself. Sadly, whoever was in charge of photoshop didn't do such a great job as old photos of the Rock's family looked like superimposed heads on a 1980s nuclear family.

    I had mentioned earlier that the Rock's acting wasn't so bad and it wasn't but who stole the film for me were the duo of Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson who play English brothers in San Francisco on holiday (that's British for vacation) and end up befriending the daughter of the Rock's character during the melee. I expect to see much more of them in the future, especially younger Parkinson whose already gained some fame as Rickon Stark from Game of Thrones.

   More of a feast for the eyes and that part of the brain that enjoys guilty pleasures. If Jurassic World is sold out, this isn't a bad alternative to turning around and going back home. 

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.