Faith returns to the first person perspective of main character Bernard Samson (last book, Spy Sinker). It’s the the first of the final trilogy and I’m reading them one right after the other – like one, big, thousand page book – so maybe you can quit bothering me and let me get on with it.
Category: books
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Spy Sinker
Spy Sinker is the conclusion to the second trilogy of the Bernard Samson novels. It’s awesome. I have three more to go and I’m just launching in to them (the final trilogy is called Faith, Hope, and Charity). I’m making the final 1,000 pages my project for the next month and I’m fired up. This could impinge on the NBA Playoffs, but that’s cool.
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The Lean Startup
I’m hearing “lean” everywhere (I mean lean like no fat, not lean like lean in). Usually the word is used in a manufacturing context with products made of glass, steel and plastic coming off an assembly line, but this book puts it in a startup context where products are often web services or apps. The author is a tech entrepreneur named Eric Ries and he promotes something called the Build – Measure – Learn feedback loop.
I bought this book after the author, Jeff Pearlman, got a chance to push it on ChicagoSide. His plea to rethink the negativity and vitriol spewed out by John Kass and Mike Ditka inspired me to give it a whirl. I’m damn glad I did, for multiple reasons.
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Wise Mind Open Mind
I’ve taken a look back at the self-help I’ve read. Excluding business and excluding instructional stuff I’ve consumed a fair amount. It’s about a dozen over the last six + years, which puts me at a solid two per year. It seems like I should be doing a lot more improving and a lot less sliding back into bad habits with that type of volume.
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A Red Death
Easy Rawlins (Ezekiel to you) is just a guy in LA trying to make a better life for himself in Watts during the 1950s. He “came across” $10,000 in the first book and invested it in a few rental properties. He’s making a decent living. That cain’t last though.
In smack-dab in the middle of this nine volume set and wondering where things are going to go. I’m also wondering who says “smack-dab” any more, and whether it should be hyphenated or not. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the middle of this book that provided the pivot point for this epic story, almost structurally in the middle.
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Dixie City Jam
I really want to go to New Orleans. I’ve been through it a few times, but haven’t really explored things. James Lee Burke, through the observations of his main character Dave Robicheaux, paints a picture of New Orleans that is at times unflattering, but ultimately makes it appear to be a great place to visit.
I can’t get enough of Bernard Samson, Len Deighton’s beautifully constructed British spy person, so I’m embarking on the second trilogy (of three). I have a backlog of reading and I haven’t been doing much lately. Call it a reading slump. I was hoping this would shake some of the reading cobwebs free.
I have a friend who used to own a bookstore, the guy has read everything. So I’m wandering through Open Books with him and he’s casually remarking on books he’s read and he mentions something about Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim that makes me want to read it.