The King of Torts (audiobook) by John Grisham

Grisham continues with a trend previously established

Published by Random House Audio in 2003.
Read by Michael Beck
Duration: 11 hours, 43 minutes.
Unabridged.

Grisham's The King of Torts continues the trend that he started in other books such as The Chamber and The Runaway Jury. The book isn't really about the characters or the plot. Instead, it's a easy to swallow education into how the legal system actually works.

In The Chamber the reader sees how death penalty cases work in detail. In The Runaway Jury the readers sees how a civil jury trial works in detail - from selection of the court venue to clothing worn by the attorneys to jury selection specialists.

In The King of Torts we learn all about how the class action lawsuit works. Ever wonder how former presidential candidate John Edwards made his money? This book well give you a good idea. Grisham argues all sides of the class action lawsuit as he tells the story. It can help and hurt the little guy. It can enrich an attorney, but that's not entirely a bad thing since he's put money into telling people about bad products that injured them with no promise of an actual payoff. It can wipe out businesses, but if you've put a bad product out there why shouldn't you be hurt? Then again, wiping out a bad business still puts a lot of people out of work through no fault of their own.

Grisham argues all sides and leaves the reader to make up his or her own mind. It was a wonderful education, well-read by Michael Beck who created dozens of voices for his narration. However, the actual story was less than satisfying. The plot seemed to meander around with pointless interludes that did little to advance the plot but did take up lots of time. I gave it 3 stars - 5 for the education averaged with just 1 star for the plot. It's worth a listen, but only for the education.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The King of Torts. 

Reviewed on November 29, 2008.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

An enjoyable read but does it do what it claims to do?

Published in 2005.

Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is an enjoyable read - I breezed right through it and found it to be a book that I would look forward to opening up. Gladwell does a masterful job of weaving together 3 or more points at the same time without losing the reader and frequently leaving me amazed at his organizational skills.

That being said, does Blink get the job done? Does he prove his thesis about "The power of thinking without thinking"? Yes and no. He starts out with a great example of a supposed piece of Greek art that may or may not be a real piece of ancient art. His thesis plays out well there, with his comments on why certain musicians make it and others don't and his comments on police and the need to think quickly are all strong.

His arguments about Paul Van Riper and the war game he won, however, were more about the power of de-centralized decision-making versus centralized planning, in my opinion. Nonetheless, it's a good read and well worth your time.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Reviewed on December 6, 2008.

"J" is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone #10) by Sue Grafton

Hits the spot

Originally published in 1993.

So, here I am reviewing an old Sue Grafton novel. What does this tell me? It could be telling me that I need to find more current things to read, but I remember 1993 just fine so this book did not feel old to me. What it really tells me is that I have not come anywhere near reading this series in alphabetical order and have never went out of my way to find them. Not that I don't like them - I have liked all but a couple. It is more like they have been my backup books when I'm needing something that I know is going to be solidly written and interesting.

In this case, I am knee deep in my summer reading marathon in which I feel I need to catch up on a bit of some of my more difficult reads in my to-be-read pile. Now, wait. I know that the Kinsey Millhone series hardly qualifies as difficult reading. This book was an easy one in the middle - dessert, so to speak.

Sue Grafton

"J" is for Judgment features Kinsey Millhone's search for a man who was presumed to have committed suicide because of a horrible financial situation by throwing himself off of a boat at sea. But, years later, he is spotted at a resort city in Mexico. Kinsey Millhone is hired by the insurance company to go and find him, if she can so that they can get their money back - you don't pay out a life insurance policy for a guy who is not dead.

Kinsey heads off to Mexico and, of course, opens up a whole can of worms. She also, incidentally, gets herself involved in one of the funnier scenes that I have read for a while in a neighbor's hotel room. In a separate storyline, this is the book in which Kinsey discovers her long lost relatives.

Rather than insert a lot of spoilers, let me say that "J" is for Judgment hit the spot - a good mystery, a chance to re-connect with Kinsey Millhone and a couple of good laughs along the way.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: "J" is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone #10) by Sue Grafton.

Reviewed on June 27, 2011.

Where Lincoln Walked by Raymond Bial

Great introduction to Lincoln for children

Published by Walker Childrens in 2008.

Where Lincoln Walked is a wonderful little history mostly about Lincoln's pre-Presidential life. Lots of beautifully shot full color pictures of such places as Lincoln's mother's home in Kentucky, Lincoln's boyhood home in southern Indiana and his law offices in Springfield. The author, Raymond Bial, took most of these pictures himself. He has a good eye for photography and does a great job with the text and the captions.

Recommended for budding young history buffs, classrooms and the hardcore Lincoln collectors.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Where Lincoln Walked.

Reviewed on December 6, 2008.

Angels Flight (Harry Bosch #6) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Race is THE issue in this great mystery

Published by Hachette Audio
Read by Dick Hill*
Duration: 10 hours, 55 minutes.
Unabridged

Angels Flight, an early installment in the Harry Bosch series, is as good as the rest in the series meaning, at least in my mind, it is a proud member of one of the best set of detective novels currently being produced.

Michael Connelly's books are usually deep and gritty and this one is no different. The lead character is Harry Bosch, the leader of a 3 detective team in the LAPD that is assigned an unusually sensitive case. A well-known civil rights attorney that has successfully sued LAPD over and over again for violations of federal civil rights laws has been murdered on the eve of an especially notorious case against the LAPD. Of course, everyone inside LAPD and out believe that a police officer killed him in a fit of revenge and the city is seething.

Set just a few years after the Rodney King riots and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Los Angeles is racially tense, to say the least. This works well with one of the main themes of the entire series - Harry Bosch's name. Harry's real name is Hieronymus Bosch. If you are not familiar with Hieronymus Bosch let me explain. The real Hieronymus Bosch is a Renaissance painter that painted detailed and fanciful paintings of the torments of hell, including demons, strange creatures and their victims. Connelly often presents Harry Bosch as a man walking among the sites and smells of hell - torture, betrayal, riots and the literal burning of parts of the city in protest are the backdrop of this moody, brooding book.

Michael Connelly

Connelly deftly handles the tricky topic of racial discrimination and issues of black and white in this book. While the case is being worked race tints every aspect of the case - Black vs. White vs. Blue (LAPD) is a frequent topic that is discussed - not overtly but neatly inserted as conversations that flow quite naturally in the context of the story.

I heard this book as an audiobook and it was truly a joy to hear Dick Hill's narration*. He's done several of Connelly's novels and I've never been disappointed with any that he's narrated. He is as good as it gets.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Angels Flight by Michael Connelly.

Reviewed on December 19, 2008.

*Note: This audiobook has been re-recorded. The version with Dick Hill as the narrator can be tricky to find. 

The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat by Bob Drury

A slow start - but don't let that deter you

Published in 2009.

Although I am a history teacher, I have to admit that I am woefully under-informed on the Korean War - at least when compared to our other wars. Sadly, I am not alone in this fact - there's a reason why the Korean War is called "The Forgotten War".

Drury and Clavin start off slowly, in part because there is no context as to why the soldiers are marching around in the subzero weather in northern Korea. However, once they explain the purpose of this particular campaign in the war as a whole and show the reader a few maps I got a lot more comfortable with how they were telling the story and appreciated it a lot more.

Marines during the Chosin Campaign
 in the Korean War

The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat is not a fancy history - it is told from the ground level perspective of the the Marines on the hill and is full of tales of bodily fluids, men too young to actually join the Marines, frozen toes, poor equipment and a command structure that not only failed to realize the Chinese Army had entered the war, but failed to realize that a few thousand Marines were up against tens of thousands of those same Chinese soldiers.

Highly recommended for those who enjoy a "Band of Brothers" type perspective on the war. This book is not a general history but I'd suggest it as a companion to any general history in order to get that gritty feel of the front line perspective - the point of view of the men who actually fought the war.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat.

Reviewed on December 19, 2008.