I FINALLY FINISHED this 776 page book! It is NOT a page-turner! I could only read about 10 pages a day. Very interesting, in parts, not so much, in others. I am NOT READING the Western and New England compilations!
Tony recounts the madcap life of a chef: sex, drugs, rock and roll, drugs, alcohol, and more drugs. Interesting, funny in parts, disgusting in others. Will read his other books. Two references to Lou Reed/Velvets.
Ok, let's get started: Reminded me of Heinlein's "The Moon Is Harsh Mistress". Page 296, "We should have this kloodge put together...". Shouldn't that be "kludge"? Page 317, "Main buss has cut out." My dictionary sez "bus". "Buss" is a brand name for fuses, I think. Page 296 again, "I've saved this freak for private conversations." I don't like "freak", but I found a dictionary that sez it's ok. I like "freq." instead.
QUOTE:
"Yep, I'm absolutely, positively certain. I might be wrong, but I'm sure."
BONUS QUOTE:
"I remember a professor of mine saying that if something scratches or bites, it's biology; if it stinks or pops, it's chemistry; and if...it doesn't work, it's physics."
Terrorists eventually use Dan Randolph's power generating satellite in an presedential assa....crap, too many big words. Technothriller. Sort of Clancyish.
Richard Michaelson finds out why German nationalists steal the Library Of Congress's copy of the Gutenberg Bible.
QUOTE:
"I wanted to have what they had even though I wasn't like them. I resented them for having what I didn't. My sin was envy, the most useless sin, the only sin that brings evil without pleasure or satisfaction."
I wonder if the first of two references to a baked potato was a foreshadowing. Good story. Too many brand names mentioned. Someone has an iPhone? How does that advance the plot. Sure wish my local library had all the series titles so I could read them in order!
Nate and Jack separately end up at a deserted sheep ranch to foil the plans of some terrorists who have take over a patriot's project to incapacitate the NSA installation in Utah. You know, THAT one!
Maria, a Scottish professor and writer, deals with her love and husband, and the death of her friend, while writing a book about George Sand.
Words I Had To Look Up:
girning over trifles (pg. 35) -- To complain in a whining voice. To contort one's face; grimace.
arrived in a caléche (pg. 129) -- A light low-wheeled carriage with a removable folding hood.
leave the door on the snib (pg. 164) -- A snib is a manually operated catch for the internal locking of Yale type locks.
practicing a phrase on the Pleyel (pg. 317) -- Not an instrument, as I first thought, a piece of music by Ignace Pleyel.
Story of a Southern girl during the Civil War, showing her relationship with the slaves and her growing social consciousnous. A very excellent story. QUOTE (As I remember it, too lazy to look it up.) "South Carolina, too small to be a country, too big to be an insane asylum."
Some Mafia gangs in Brooklyn shoot it out. And some other stuff. The book was OK, I hear the movie was not. Surely I saw it, back in the day. It had Leigh Taylor-Young, for goodness sake! I never heard of her co-star, some guy named Robert DeNiro...
But Sometimes Several Days Attack Me At Once. A Pot-Shots™ a day for a whole year. Some of them I liked, but mostly... meh. I guess you have to be in the mood for this sort of thing. I wonder if he did the illustrations, too, and if not, did he managed to copyright them, too?