Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There was a time, several years ago, when I would not read anything by Stephen King. He had a reputation of writing horror books, and, well, I'm not into horror stories. Catching a glimpse of The Shining, the 1980 Stanley Kubrick movie based on King's book of the same name didn't help. If you've seen Kubrick's version, you understand; it's not something to watch if horror isn't your thing.

But several years ago, I viewed Dolores Claiborne (the 1995 movie featuring Kathy Bates as Dolores), and decided to read the book.

"Okay," I thought, "maybe it's time to give King a second chance."

That chance came with 11/22/63, back in 2017; this is truly an amazing book.

After recently watching the 2001 movie treatment of Hearts in Atlantis for the umpteenth time, and mentioning that I needed to read the book, my youngest handed me his copy.

"I think you'll like it," he told me.

Hearts in Atlantis is made up of five interconnected stories: "1960: Low Men in Yellow Coats," "1966: Hearts in Atlantis," "1983: Blind Willie," "1999: Why We're In Vietnam," and "1999: Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling". The first two stories - Low Men... and Hearts... - make up the bulk of Hearts in Atlantis. However, the other three stories fill in many gaps, tying up loose ends and giving closure.

For those who've seen the movie, featuring Anthony Hopkins, the movie follows "Low Men in Yellow Coats" fairly closely, with a couple of extra bits from the last couple of stories.

While reading Low Men, one can picture the movie (if one has watched it), seeing where the movie differs. The movie doesn't ruin the reading, any more than reading the book would ruin the movie. (Spoiler alert: at the end of this first story, Bobby gets into trouble, something not shown in the movie.)

The other four stories within the book follow other characters, with the last story (Heavenly Shades) bringing Bobby and Carol - who now goes by a different name, for reasons brought out in the other three stories - back together.

The paperback version of Hearts in Atlantis is 672 pages, not quite as long as some of Stephen King's other books, but not quite a quick one-day read. But if you're looking for a great read, this is it.

And, for the record, my son was wrong. I don't like this book; I love it.

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Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach

Note: This is a repeat of 2017's sole post, with slight changes. I should be back to writing here on a regular basis.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

During the early 1970s, it seemed everyone read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. I had read it several times, and had fond memories of it.

Several years ago, I received a copy of this slim book from two different people and decided to reread it to see how it stood up over the intervening years. Since then, I've reread it several times, usually during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull tells of a seagull who doesn't quit fit in and is banned from his flock as a misfit. Jonathan's misdeed? He loves to fly, loves learning how to improve on flight, how to fly faster, and knows that such learning is, itself, what makes life worth living. The flock, however, has come to the understanding that flight should be merely to be used for food-gathering. Thus, since Jonathan can't comply with living beneath what he is capable of, he is labeled a misfit and cast out of the flock.

It doesn't take long for him to reach a higher consciousness, learning from those who have gone on before him. However, those gulls who teach him soon admit that Jonathan is higher than they are, and that the student has become a teacher.

Soon Jonathan realizes that he must go back to his previous flock and start teaching the newer out-casts, several of whom call him the Son of the Great Gull.

This novella, with its photos of seagulls, can be considered spiritual in nature without being preachy. It shows the reader that we all need to be the best we can be, that we should be our truest self, and while we are learning from those more knowledgeable than we are, we are also to teach those coming up after us.

This is one book that I feel has held up well over the years.

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Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank

When Randy Bragg receives a telegram from his older brother ending with the words "Alas, Babylon," he knows disaster is near. The two words were Randy and Mark's code for impending disaster, whether trivial or horrific.

In this case, Mark, an Air Force Intelligence officer, fears that World War III is imminent, and wants not only to alert Randy of this real threat, but let Randy know to expect Mark's family's arrival in relatively safe Ft. Repose, Florida.

Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank (pen name of Harry Hart Frank), one of the "first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age" describes life in the fictional town of Fort Repose, Florida immediately following a full-scale nuclear strike on the United States, less than 12 hours after Mark's wife and children's arrival. The people in Fort Repose must learn to come to grips with their new reality: store shelves that are soon empty, no gas for the cars, meds for diabetes (and later, typhoid fever), and a government breakdown, where each person, each town is an island. The book follows the struggles of those living on River Road in Ft. Repose for that fateful first year.

A year after the devastation, the residents of River Road are visited an Air Force helicopter, carrying Randy and Mark's friend Paul Hart - now a colonel - along with his crew, bringing news from the outside. As Paul gets ready to leave, Randy asks the question on everyone's mind: "'Paul, there's one thing more. Who won the war?'

"Paul put his fists on his hips and his eyes narrowed. 'You're kidding! You mean you really don't know?...We won it. We really clobbered 'em!' Hart's eyes lowered and his arms drooped. He said, 'Not that it matters.'

"The engine started and Randy turned away to face the thousand-year night."

Although Alas, Babylon was published in 1959, it is still every bit as relevant as it was when it was published, and well worth the read.

Tampa Bay Noir, edited by Colette Bancroft

Tampa Bay Noir by Colette Bancroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are short story collections that are mildly interesting, and there are collections that grab the reader's attention and won't turn loose until the last page. Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the latter.

Edited by Colette Bancroft (the book editor for the Tampa Bay Times since 2007), Tampa Bay Noir is one of two books representing Florida in publisher Akashic Books's noir series. (Miami is the other Florida city.) As with the other noir anthologies, this book has all new short stories; these are based in different areas of the Tampa Bay area, mainly Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Michael Connelly's "The Guardian," set in Hyde Park, opens the anthology; Tim Dorsey, Lisa Unger, and a host of others add stories/mysteries to this quirky, dark collection, ending with Colette Bancroft's "The Bite."

While some of the stories here may not be for the faint-of-heart, I found the book difficult to put down. Each story, each writer, took the book to another level that ensured that I will definitely put this into my rotation of books-to-reread-and-reread, year after year. It also left me with a list of writers who novels will soon be in my to-be-read pile.

For anyone who has lived in the Tampa Bay area, thought about living here, or just plain wants a book to keep one captivated, Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the book to pick up and read, cover to cover.

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Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill a Mockingbird", by Mary McDonagh Murphy

Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Mary McDonagh Murphy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When one considers how popular Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is, it makes sense that someone would write a book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill A Mockingbird," by Mary McDonagh Murphy is that book.

Murphy explored To Kill A Mockingbird and asked others how Harper Lee's book affected them. While it might be tempting to compare the two books, this would be an injustice to Scout, Atticus, and Boo; it would be analogous to comparing an art appreciation book with DaVinci's work. But Murphy's book does help the reader understand how loved Lee's work is.

Definitely a must read for anyone who has loved To Kill A Mockingbird.

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This is a repost from July 14, 2013.

The Things We Keep, by Sally Hepworth

The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some books are great fluff-reads, to be zoomed through (happily) while at the beach, or otherwise taking a "me"-day.

Then, there are the books that wrench one's heart-strings, while staying with you in its profound telling.

The Things We Keep, by Sally Hepworth, is definitely in the latter category.

Thirty-eight year old Anna Forster has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, leading to being admitted to an assisted living facility. There, she meets Luke, who, at 41, also is suffering from the disease. Anna and Luke soon fall in love. While both slowly lose themselves to the disease, Anna tries holding on to the few things she know; this includes her love for Luke.

Eve Bennett suddenly finds herself as a single parent, and takes a job at the assisted living facility that Anna and Luke are in. While she finds their situation sad, she also tries to help the two keep their relationship alive, even as their families try to keep them apart.

However, a tragedy causes the families to try keeping the two apart, and Eve must decide if she wants to help the two remain together. This, too, has consequences, leaving everyone affected in startling ways.

Definitely a must-read, though maybe not as a happy beach-read.

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HardBall, by Sara Paretsky

I've been a fan of Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series for years. Recently, I decided to read them all in order (or, rather, all of the ones I own; I'm missing Indemnity Only).

Hardball is one of Paretsky's best, up to this point. In this fast-paced novel, V. I. (Vic) Warshawski is hired by two elderly African-American sisters to find missing Lamont Gadsden. The son of one of the sisters, he has been missing for forty years.

Vic also meets her young cousin Petra, a recent college grad who has come to Chicago to work on the campaign of one of her father's friends' son. The likeable Petra wants to connect with Vic, and learn about the Warshawski family.

Several problems arise when it is discovered that Lamont may have been murdered, and that it somehow has connections with local gangs, a murder of a civil rights volunteer, police, politicos, and a nun. At every turn, as Vic struggles to find the truth all the connections, Petra also disappears, and Vic's life almost ends.

Will Vic survive? Will she find Petra, Lamont, and who has left a trail of dead bodies while trying to silence Vic? Read it and find out.