The Story of Crime- Mystery Series by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo

Sure one can read "The Girl Who"... books by Stieg Larrson, or the Wallander Series by Henning Mankell but the classic work that they both are definitely heirs to is The Story of Crime by Sjowall & Wahloo.

The series of ten books are basically police procedurals that follow detective Martin Beck and his co-workers at the Central Bureau of Investigation is Stockholm from mid sixities to early 1970's. The period during which the books were written.

Wahloo states that they were trying to "use the crime novel as a scalpel cutting open the belly of the ideological pauperized and morally debatable so-called welfare state of the bourgeois type." Even though the authors had a more socialist philosophy, this critique through story provides much more a view of society that shows that societies ills are fairly immune to well meaning half-baked solutions we frequently throw at them. Good people do good, but society not so much. Regardless, the politics lose out to the stories and the characters themselves. People with problems. People with ideals, fighting with the pragmatism that life forces on us all.

The First book is "Roseanna" and deals with a murdered of a young woman. Like many great mysteries, it is less about the mystery of the crime than the mystery of how we face life.

The Laughing Policeman is probably my favorite and won the Edgar Allen Poe award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1971. But you really need to read the first three to appreciate it.
Although they definitely take place in a given time, they still resonate today which really is the definition of a classic.

Packing For Mars by Mary Roach

"Give me a napkin quick. There's a turd floating through the air."
-Mission Commander Thomas Stafford, Apollo 10 Transcript.

What is it like to go into space? Not as science fiction puts it, not as the glorified news stories that one reads from NASA. What is it really like? What are the little details that astronauts face? What is the yucky stuff they don't want to really talk about?

Mary Roach, author of such books as "Stiff", "Spook", and "Bonk" decided to find out the answers to these questions. The answers she came up will, according to AJ Jacobs author of "The Year of Living Biblically", make you "...cackle like an insane person."

Covering the mental fatigue, eating, drinking, and all the bodily functions in graphic, yet hilarious detail. You will even want to read the footnotes on Dolphins. Even if space flight isn't necessarily your thing, this book for general audiences will interest you from the first to the last page.

At the very least it will make you appreciate your floaters so much more.

Sterling Archer- Codename: Duchess.

Sterling :.. and speaking of lame...my code name...
Mallory: Was chosen at random by the ISIS computer.
Sterling: Random? It was your dog's name.
Mallory: Oh, Duchess (looking at a glamour shots photo of Duchess and Mallory nude) I loved her so much.

How would it be if you worked for a Spy agency for your mother?
ARCHER is an animated TV series on FX that is very funny but definitely for ADULTS ONLY.
The series follows Field agent Sterling Archer and his fellow employees at the spy agency ISIS. Here they practice the Israeli martial art Krav Maga (because "Karate is the Dane Cook of Martial arts." ) and have interoffice problems that no amount of HR mediation can hope to solve.

Is the humor politically incorrect, yes. Are there times you find yourself laughing when you feel like you shouldn't, definitely. This is Sarah Silverman sort of humor. It is what happens when one combines the Office, James Bond and South park. It probably isn't for everyone, but I am sure I know some people ( I'm lookin at you Captpuffypants) who probably would enjoy it.

Season one is available on the FX website and Netflix Watch Instantly. Season two start on Jan. 27 at 10pm on FX.

If you watch it, remember to "Call Kenny Loggins cause your in the Danger Zone."

Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a movie that was assembled by the artist Banksy who is best known for his street art though now has gallery art that sells in hundreds of thousands of dollars. This movie is a documentary (though its authenticity has been questioned) that follows Thierry Guetta and his desire to make a documentary the entire Street Art movement of which Banksy, fellow artist Shepard Fairey (of Obama Hope poster fame), and others are a part. Thierry's documentary was supposedly unwatchable and Banksy took the footage and reedited it into this movie while Thierry started a career as a street artist himself.

Yes it is a possible documentary about a guy making a documentary and his switch from follower to artist. Complex, Crazy and really quite funny, this movie will have you questioning the values of Art culture and what it means to sell out.

It very well could be nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary just to see if Banksy (which is a pseudonym) would actually show up. Regardless it is out on Video and Netflix Watch Instantly. Metacritic gives it a strong 85% favorable rating average from critics.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Amelia got several books for Christmas that I've swiped and begun reading. I just simply could not put down "Revolution" by Jennifer Donnelly (given to Amelia by Uncle Doug and Aunt Hazel). I love a good Young Adult novel and this one was one of the best I've read recently.

It's the story of a teen girl, Andi, an mentally unstable girl from a highly gifted private school in Brooklyn. She is suffering the death of her little brother in which she thinks she's to blame. To avoid being expelled from school, she must complete the outline of her Senior thesis. Her father insists that she go to Paris with him to complete the dreaded task. In Paris she discovers the diary of a revolution-era French teen and their stories weave together in a suspense-filled tale.

Although I did get a bit irritated at Andi's depression, I found the character to be very relatable and the story especially struck home for me having an almost teen girl and a younger son. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Paris in the late 1700's and the horrors that people experienced in those times.

I'd give this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars for it's originality, great descriptions and suspense.

Cape Dory by the band TENNIS

Cape Dory is the debut album by the Denver band TENNIS. TENNIS is the husband and wife team of Aliana Moore and Patrick Riley. The Album is sort of a soundtrack to a seven month sailing trip they took down the eastern coast. It sort of reminds me of the sailing version of Vampire Weekend (the high register guitar work) and the band She&Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward).

One of their songs is available for free on iTunes or check out their myspace page at www.myspace.com/tennisinc.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This fantasy novel is one of my very favorites. My best friend, Tom, is currently listening to the audio version. He told me today that he was actually enjoying time he spent driving on the DC beltway because it gave him more time with this book.

It's Rothfuss's first novel, released initially in 2007. I don't know how I missed it--it was a critically acclaimed NY Times bestseller--but I finally read it last year and loved it.

On amazon, the author Robin Hobb entitled her review "Well worth your precious reading hours". I completely agree with her review:

It seems to me that every year there are more books I want to read and less time for me to read them. Because my time is limited, I'm guilty of picking up the books by my favorite authors first, and fitting in new authors only when it's convenient.

Due to a stroke of luck, I've had an advance copy of The Name of the Wind by my bedside for over six months, just waiting for me to open it. Unfortunately, deadlines of my own kept getting in the way. But in a way, it's lucky that I didn't crack this book until just a few days ago. If I'd had this tale to distract me, I'd have been even later getting my work done.

I loathe spoilers, so I'm not going to discuss the plot of this book. I will say it has all the things that I demand of a book. The characters are real, the action is convincing and it has a compelling story to tell.

One of the things I like best about this book is that the magic is absolutely rooted in the book's world. Nothing seems contrived; the consistency is excellent.

The characters are very well realized. That means that when the protagonist does something clever, it's believable. And when he does something youthfully dumb, it rings just as authentically true. Because the characters are real and the magic is true to its own world, I closed this book feeling as if I'd been on a journey with an entertaining new friend, rather than sitting alone looking at words on a page.

This one is well worth some of your precious reading time.

Sharing is Caring

This blog is inspired by a gift request from my brother, Chris. He said something to the effect of "I have enough cash to buy a what I want, but what I don't have is time to find what to buy. For my birthday what I'd really like is a list of what movies, tv shows, internet sites or books I should see."

When I told other friends of this idea, everyone agreed that this was a fantastic idea! They wanted our list and we wanted lists from them. So, this blog is an area where we can post quick reviews of things we've enjoyed and think our friends and family would like too.

There are no limits on what you can post, but please be aware that children may see it and that I will kill you if my kids see something that I don't want them to see. (Are you listening Ted C and Russ?)

I hope everyone will have something to post in the near future. I'll add anyone you request to the list of contributors. Just send me an email with the person's email address and your promise that they're copacetic.

Take care!
Meg