What Is On My Nightstand

I read a couple of great books this past year, but also a couple of clinkers. They are advertising hell out of Beneath A Scarlet Sky and making a movie about it but I thought it stunk. The story was about an Italian kid, seemingly with super powers, who is able to infiltrate the German army and become a spy for the Allies. It had about every possible cliché ever about WWII, Germans, and love. The kid is an expert skier at 15, a renowned spy at 17 and a great lover throughout. Gee, what a nothing burger. And the writing was terrible. I don't know how anyone could have kept a straight face with some of the blather. Don't get it - its nothing special. Maybe Hollywood can make it better but Mark Sullivan, its author, struck out.

Even worse, if that is possible, is this little book, Norwegian Night, I bought that I thought might be a good grandfather - grandkid survival story. It is the story of a cranky old codger who befriends a young boy after his mother has been murdered. The kid is from Kosovo so they don't have the ability to converse with each other. The old man is hiding him out in the woods to prevent those who killed his mother finding him and silencing him as well. Sounds good, right? Lot's of possibilities here, I stupidly thought. Too bad the author, Derek Miller decided to load it down with all kinds of silly plot twists that diluted what could have been a good coming-of-age story; things like the old man being a sniper in the Korean War, only his wife and son never knew about it. Things like his son dying a few years abacka nd they never had a chance to reconcile their differences. Things like his daughter just having a miscarriage, or that they are living in Norway and the old cranky guy has lost his wife and no where else to live. And that the old guy is Jewish and, oh, well, you get the idea. Like my buddy always says, "...keep it simple."

The best book this year was Gentleman From Moscow, by Amir Towles. I sure hope I find a couple of those this year.

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Flashback Friday

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Existing In BFE

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