Wow, it is almost 2009. I know were December has gone, but it still feels weird, like the time continuum snapped somewhere. I have read many books this month, and I am taking a British literature class to plug the holes in my very lopsided liberal education. I read spy novels and mysteries for years, never the classics and certainly not anything old. So I am catching up. I still cannot get into fantasy and science fiction. I did watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was good, but not good enough to actually read the books. The Tale of Despereaux was a great movie and that book I will read.
I also saw The Hollywood Chihuahua which was dumb and cute, especially the rat and the iguana.
On Books. 1984 was this month's book club read. It was the best book for a political junkie. It was also very scary given today's political, educational, and economic climate.
Patricia Cornwell's 2007 Kay Scarpetta novel Book of the Deadwas a interesting sceed against President Bush and the war in Iraq. The Bush haters are completely deranged. Enough said.
Robert Cooley, an informant for the FBI against the Chicago mod in the late '80's, wrote a book about his experiences in putting away some of the most powerful mobsters in Chicago. I read it during November while I was writing my novel; then, on December 9 the governor of Illinois was arrested for trying to sell the president-elect Obama's senate seat. It is unbelievable. You cannot make these things up. The book is When Corruption was King, and it seems it still is. You have to love this state. The best way to keep up with Illinois shenanigans is www.nalert.blogspot.com