Reading The 1000 Books to Read Before I Die

  The Strangler’s Waltz by Richard Lord  Review by Jon Hanson The year is 1913; the place is Vienna, Austria. This bustling city sits at the heart of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It is a city renowned for its art, culture, and zest for life. But underneath the glamour lies a seedy underbelly of drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, and killers.  As in all cities, it is the job of the police to protect the city. While the partolmen walk a beat everyday, the detectives are the ones who investigate vicious crimes. Two of the best detectives in Vienna are Inspector Julian Stebbel and Inspector Karl-Heinz Dorfner who work in Homicide. They are assigned a case involving a local killer who is strangling women on the streets of Vienna. As the body count grows, the papers begin comparing the killer to the infamous Jack the Ripper and the population becomes more afraid to walk the streets. With pressure mounting from the commissioner and the mayor, can these two detectives solve the cr...

  “Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories.”   Wolf Hall A Review by James Romano For the first book I finished reading in 2021, our portal takes us to Tudor England during the reign of King Henry VIII in the historical fiction novel Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.   Wolf Hall is the first novel in a three-book trilogy chronicling the rise, the height of power and then fall of Thomas Cromwell.   Historically, Thomas Cromwell was a councilor to King Henry VIII and for a period of time one of his most trusted advisors.   The historical Cromwell had a storied career, he helped end the King’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon; overthrow the power of the Catholic Church in England; advance the English Reformation and beginnings of the Anglican Church; oversaw the sending of St. Thomas More and Anne Boleyn to their respective graves and engineer the King’s marriage to both Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. The last of those ma...

 The Night Before Christmas... A Retrospect by James Romano Hello 1000 Bookies!!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Our next stop on our travels through literature lands us at a classic poem— A Visit from St. Nicholas or as the poem is more recognized-- The Night Before Christmas .  This classic tale of a father spying on Santa Clause was written by Clement Clarke Moore and is the cornerstone of American Christmas literature, helping birth the holiday traditions we hold dear.  The poem led to the popularization of Santa Claus.  Moore was twice President of what is now Columbia University, where he was Divinity and Language Professor. Unfortunately, he also owned slaves which is a mark on his reputation.  His famous poem was published anonymously in 1822. Legend has it that Moore wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas as a Christmas present for his children.  However, the truth is far more interesting.  In 1822, the Christmas we know was a...

 A Christmas Memory Revisited by James Romano Hello 1,000 Bookies!!  Today on our journey through literature we stop in the southern United States during the Great Depression.  As we celebrate the literature of the holiday season, we will discuss today, A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.  Purchase any collection of Christmas literature (and believe me I have several) this tale is included in each.  Written by Truman Capote, who was an eccentric writer and celebrity— A Christmas Memory tell the story of his last Christmas living with relatives in rural Alabama.  Capote is known for writing the original true crime book, In Cold Blood (one of the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ).  In Cold Blood describes the true story of a murder of a family in the 1950s in rural Kansas.  Capote also wrote the classic story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s which because the film most associated with actress Audrey Hepburn.  A Christmas Memory is quite a cute...

 An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving A Review by James Romano Hey 1,000 Bookies!!   In honor of Thanksgiving today my blog post takes us to New Hampshire and the Louisa May Alcott children’s story, An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving.   In the 1880s, Louisa May Alcott wrote a series of short stories and publishing them under the title: Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag .   There were six volumes, and An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving is featured in Volume VI.   Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag had no connection to Alcott’s iconic character Jo March from Little Women , Little Men and Jo’s Boys although she seemed to use the popularity of Little Women to promote sales of her short stories. An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving is a cute tale revolving around one family and their preparations for the big day.   Thanksgiving is a holiday where history and legend collide.   As we all know a band of Englishman unhappy with religious persecution boarded a ship and headed to the New World, eventual...

" If the Devil is poverty, and hunger, and grief, then yes, I think they know the Devil.”  Fleetwood Shuttleworth, The Familiars   The Familiars A Review by James Romano Hello 1000 Bookies!  This week we open our portal and arrive in 1612 Lancaster, England.  The book we are reviewing is entitled The Familiars .  Written by Stacey Hall, this story is a historical fiction account of the Pendle Witch Trial, an actual historical event.  This was the October selection of my book club at work.  Book clubs are fantastic, and they expand our boundaries and horizons. Lancaster, England hosted these witch trials August 18 th and 19 th , 1612 where 11 suspected witches were tried.  10 were found guilty and hung, one of the group was acquitted.  This was 80 years prior to the more infamous Salem Witch Trials which swept through the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Yet as we will see there are several similarities which played a role in the ensuing hyst...

  “We were only a part of our time, it was our illusion that we were the most important part, but most Americans knew that we were not, and they were right” Murray Kempton Part of Our Time Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties Review by James Romano Hello 1000 Bookies!!  Our latest stop on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is 1930s America for a nonfiction book entitled, Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties , by Murray Kempton.  This book is a collection of essays about American Members of the Communist Party during the 1930s. Murray Kempton was a journalist and a social & political commentator.  Mr. Kempton started his career as a copy boy for the great H.L. Menken at the Baltimore Sun.  Kempton's career would eventually take him to the New York Post (twice), the New York Herald Tribune, the New Republic and the National Review.  He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for political and social commentary.  Part of Our Time...