Top 20 Books

Got this idea from Becky's Book Reviews Blog

The rules: Top twenty favourite books in no particular order. Don’t think about it for too long. Take twenty minutes only to compile your list. Bold the ones you’ve read, or reread, since you’ve started blogging. Include novels, non fiction and plays. (No operas!) (I made that last one up. ) (The one about operas. Just a little dig at my friend Corey Crider, Baritone.)

Life of Pi, Yann Martel
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Blue Heaven, C. J. Box
Echo Park, Michael Connelly
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
Obedience, Will Lavender
Promise Me, Harlan Coben
Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
Oblivion, Peter Abrahams
Empire Falls, Richard Russo
Straight Man, Richard Russo
Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
The Devil of Nanking, Mo Hayder
Raise the Titanic, Clive Cussler
Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, Brady Udall
A Place of Execution, Val McDermid
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling

Question: How many people own a signed copy of a book on their all-time Top-20 list?
Answer: I have no way of knowing. But there's at least one. Me. (Will Lavender's Obedience.)

Have a great day. (That means you, Josh Harrelson. Sign with Kentucky. You'll have many, many great days once you do. Thanks.)

Unconscious Mutterings

Word association from another blog. I think I might have won...

1. Thug :: 6th grade


2. Slurp :: Ice cream


3. Alley :: Jason Parker


4. Sweater vest :: Prep school


5. Targeted :: recruit


6. Snazzy :: cat


7. Oy! :: Corey Crider!


8. Jury duty :: vacation day


9. Low fat :: yuck


10. Responsibility :: Corruptibility

http://subliminal.lunanina.com

Check it out and give it a shot.

No Time for Goodbye

Just finished this one this weekend. What a ride! Nothing earth-shattering here. Guy isn't gunning for any Pulitzers or anything of that sort. But if you're in the mood for a fun, fast, entertaining thrill-fest, I recommend this one.

I wish I could make the picture smaller, because I've said all I want to say about this book, but the post will look funny unless I can eventually get this text to "wrap" around the image.

Too bad Roderick Flemings decided to go to Hawaii. Kentucky could have used his scoring. With Bradley and Crawford both being lost to graduation, points may be hard to come by next season. Having a healthy Meeks and Patterson will be a great start, but teams that win championships often have five scoring threats on the floor at a time.

Made it!

But you don't want to stop just below the image, either. That'd be too obvious. So let's see....Paducah! Now there's a town that's just craving some publicity. The quilt show has been in town; could this be the last one ever? Who knows....tune in at a later time, more than likely on a completely different blog, written by a person who actually cares, to find out.

Nah, I'm not fake. Have a great day.

I've been Cobeninating (???)

Cobeninating? Another word that just didn't come across in type quite the way it did in the mind. Oh well.

Sorry for the lack of posts, all three of you that check this blog regularly. I've been busy with Carly's first birthday (awesome!) and reading several more Harlan Coben books.

Check this out. We got a "professional" cake-maker (is that what you call them?) to make a cake for Carly. This is what we got:


I wasn't too impressed, myself. Mind you, I've only made one cake (one!!!) ever before. I decided that I could do better. I don't want to boast too much, so I'll let you be the judge.


I came up with the design myself, too. (That's the "Cubs" logo, but with "-arly" inside the "C" instead of "-ubs". Clever, I know. )

The Harlan Cobenination of America

Silly title, but I just had to see what "Cobenination" looked like in type. Eh. Not as good as I had pictured while sitting in church this morning. [And no, I don't always think about books in church, just this one ti....er, maybe two or three times...today, but really, no more than two or three (or four) times a day, I promise.)]

Tell No One was the first Coben I read, and I loved it. It's exactly what I'm looking for in a good book at certain times: Fast read, interesting characters, an early hook, revelations throughout the book rather than the build-up to one final revelation at the end, etc. Went on to read Just One Look, No Second Chance, and Gone for Good in the next week or so.

The only fault....only fault....I had with those books was, after reading those four in a row...I could barely remember which characters were in which stories, and which situations they were thrown into. They all ran together. Those books were very formulaic, but I must say that the formula is good enough that I'd keep coming back for more. It works. It's safe. I buy a Coben, I know what I'm getting.

Until I bought Drop Shot, which I thought was the first in the Myron Bolitar series. This book was NOTHING like the others I had read. I couldn't believe it was the same author. Bolitar and his buddy, Win, did not come across as very likable characters upon first impression. Plus, Bolitar is a Dookie, and we all now how us Kentucky fans feel about Duke. (Not to mention that I figured out the major reveal in the first third of the book.) I pretty much gave up on the Bolitar series at that point.

Enter Promise Me, a book that I had not purchased because it was the "big return" of Bolitar and gang. Shame on me. Let me say that again with emphasis. Shame on Me!!!!

Finished it today, and the problem I'm having is where I'm going to squeeze it into in my Top-5 all-time list. WHAT....A....BOOK. Bolitar has matured over the years, but still has the smart-arse sarcasm that kept me in stitches when he was encountering trouble. Win, love him or hate him, is a guy that you HAVE to have on your side if you want to make it in the world Bolitar finds himself in time and time again. And being a parent, the story....wow, the story...really hit the spot. Many twists in this one, and I certainly DID NOT see the finale turning out the way it did. I had about five ideas, and not a one of them was even close. Kudos, Mr. Coben. All 6'4" of you. (Yeah, he's a tall author.)

Can't wait for Hold Tight to arrive this week.

Crittenden County Cool Club Constitution of Cool (Or...CCCCCC)

It's time to talk about the CCCCCC. It is this blogger's opinion that this conversation will best take place if we concern ourselves with just one Article of the CCCCCC at a time. (ala Mr. Thurman's Social Studies class....I'm sure.) So, for your reading pleasure...the first Article of the CCCCCC.

ARTICLE I:

THE ANNUAL MEETING

This meeting shall occur annually, and shall consist of the reading of the minutes, the song, and any challenges to office holders. Historical events will be discussed, and will be highlighted by Crider's telling of the "Lawson Belt Story". New members will be introduced. Prospective members will be discussed. The tally of the previous year's "Cool Points" will be read by Blair Effin Winders. The winner (also Blair) will be announced. Last place (Crider) will not receive a certificate. All-Time substitute Last place (L. Conrad) will receive Honorable Mention Last Place, and will also not receive a certificate. The AWSL will give its yearly awards. Blair will preside. Any trials that need to be held will take place. (Fairly, I might add.) ("I" being the Constitution of Cool.) (Yes, "I" have a personality.)

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So there it is. Pretty straight forward. Nothing too "out there" in this one. If you are curious, the AWSL is the "American Wedding-as-a-Sport League". (And for the record, we've been having "wedding winners" long before ESPN had the idea for that commercial.)

Obedience

Okay. As this blog is in its infancy, I've been going through the "archives", if you will, and posting things from e-mails past. Eventually, the rate of posting will slow down a bit and you will all have time to let the messages from these posts really, really sink in. But for now, bam bam bam bam, here comes another. This is a review I shared with my friends about another good book, this one written by an acquaintance of mine: Will Lavender, from Louisville, KY, whom along with his wife, Adria and I have gotten to know through a mutual love of all-things-Kentucky basketball. Enjoy!

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which you begin to question not only your surroundings, your senses, or your actions, but the actual reality of the situation itself? Perhaps you've had a dream that seemed so real that, while still in the dream, you convinced yourself that it wasn't a dream in the same manner in which you'd convince yourself of that reality while actually not dreaming, whether it be through pinching yourself, slapping yourself, or looking around for anything that doesn't belong….

If any of the above sounds familiar, you know how Mary Butler feels when she gets caught up in, and taken over by, the assignment (the only assignment) in Logic & Reasoning 204, taught by the mysterious Professor Williams at mid-western Winchester College. (None of the students taking the class had actually ever seen Professor Williams; pictures of him in old annuals were always of just a hand or an arm, though the caption indicates his presence. Had he just always been at the wrong place at the wrong time for these photos, or had he, as I like to imagine, always been successful at staying just far enough away, so as to never get "caught" by the camera?)

The assignment seems simple. Find Polly. Or else….she dies.

It's important to note here that "Polly", and the eventual "murder" of said Polly, is only a "hypothetical". Right? Because a teacher couldn't actually get away with kidnapping and/or murdering a young girl just so a few students could get a few hours of college credit. Right?

That is what Mary thought until strange things began happening. E-mailed clues, meant to provide hints to the students as to the TIME, PLACE, MOTIVE, and CIRCUMSTANCE, begin to hit a little too close to home for Mary. The line between reality and hypothetical-kidnap-in-college-class is suddenly blurred, and Mary finds herself in the middle of a chase for much more than just those college credits alluded to earlier.

Can she trust her Professor? Can she trust her classmates, Dennis and Brian, who are also experiencing the blurring of that reality line? Can she trust her best friend, Summer, who, much to Mary's surprise, appears in one of Professor Williams' photo clues? Can she trust the Professor's wife, who, as Mary is leaving a party hosted at his house, hands Mary a note saying "None of this is real. I AM NOT HIS WIFE".

Can you trust...me? (mwuhahahaha…) (<-- maniacal laughter, in case you were wondering.) Of course you can trust me. I'm Jody. The Road. You know me; have for years, many of you. But it is just that kind of "knowledge"...that which you tell yourself over and over that you know is real..that Lavender sets up just to bowl over in this EXTRAORDINARY tale about how far we (as humans) will go to help those in need. Read it. You will NOT be disappointed. http://www.amazon.com/Obedience-Novel-Will-Lavender/dp/030739610X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204393611&sr=8-1

The Devil of Nanking -- Finished.

Finished the book last night. And I must say, the end did not pack the punch that was being set up through the entire novel. I was ready from something far, far worse, and while it wasn't exactly a "pleasant" ending...I felt a bit let down.

Still, the words I used yesterday apply.

Intense. The author's prose builds up the events and puts the reader right in the middle of them. You feel what the characters feel, much to your chagrin at times. I'd rather read books like this. I don't want to be cuddled by my authors. If the character is in a nasty situation, then by all means write the scene as nasty as you can. Hayder does this, and does it well in this offering.

Gruesome. I don't want to go too in depth here in case you decide to read this one. I've read some books that could be described as gruesome, but nothing....nothing .... comes close to this one. I literally felt a queasiness in my stomach during several scenes.

Suspenseful. The plot jumps back and forth from present day (well, actually, "present day" in this book is 1990, but for the narrator it is "present day") and 1937. In the present, the "hero" is on a journey to discover if a film exists that would prove her correct. She read something in a book at a very young age, something that is not revealed to the reader until late in the novel, and everybody she talks to says that she imagined it. She is hospitalized. Told she is "crazy". She hears that a film exists that might prove her correct. Her search for the film leads her to Tokyo. The past, 1937, is set in war-torn Nanking, about the time the Japanese army overruns the town and commits, perhaps, the worst war crime in the history of the world. (Seriously. Look it up on wikipedia. Terrible.) As the author jumps back and forth in time, you can sense the build-up that will link the three main characters in ways that they never imagined being linked.

Revolting. Again, without giving away too much detail from the book I can't say much about this. But know this: It takes a lot to "shock" me. I was shocked by what I read in parts of this book. I chose the word "revolting" because "disgusting" just wasn't strong enough.

So read this book if you enjoy intense, gruesome, suspenseful, revolting reads. But like I said yesterday: I can not be held responsible. Read at your own risk.

The Devil of Nanking

Intense. Gruesome. Suspenseful. Revolting.

I can't recommend this book. If somebody wants to read it, I'd encourage them to but with a caveat: Don't blame me when you throw it across the room and run for the shower because you're in need of some serious cleansing.

I'll come back later and post a review. I should finish this book tonight, but I'll probably be away for a while having my soul scrubbed.

I've read things the past few nights that no human being should ever have to read. And... I've loved it.

http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Nanking-Novel-Mo-Hayder/dp/0802117945/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207744012&sr=8-2

The Jersey Reminder

Part 1: French Toast Interlude

Darkness...

They say it's the darkest right before dawn, but I've got front row seats to the event that will put that theory to rest once and for all. It doesn't matter that the event in question doesn't begin for another eight years. It doesn't even matter that the event will not even take place. You see, I made the whole thing up. There is no event that will prove that theory wrong, but you're missing the point. Darkness is the point.

I've been told that its the darkest right before dawn, and I challenge anybody to prove that theory wrong. I'll give you a hint --- you can't. Not now, not tomorrow, but especially not in eight years. Because in eight years, an event will take place that will prove, once and for all, that it is indeed the darkest right before dawn. And I've got front row seats. They didn't come cheap. I had to pay a lot of money for those tickets. It doesn't matter how much money. It doesn't even matter that I don't actually have the tickets. Because the event isn't real. There is no 'event' that could prove a theory like that. But you're missing the point.

It doesn't matter that you're missing the point. It doesn't even matter that there is NOT a point. That's the whole point. Eight years from now there will be an event that some will term pointless. Others will say that the event is the whole point. It doesn't matter who these people are. It doesn't even matter that these people don't even exist. I made them up.

Eight years from now is a long time. Not as long as ten years from now, mind you, but a long time nonetheless. But it doesn't matter how long from now eight years is. It doesn't even matter that the number "8" is a made-up number. What does matter is French Toast on Sunday mornings.

It was while eating a slice of french toast that Jersey Macintosh received a phone call that would change his life forever. He was but an ordinary man, hell bent on chasing one more tall locust out of this big tree of life, when worlds collided. (His world, and the world of the person who called.) But it doesn't matter who called. Because Jersey Macintosh doesn't even have a phone. I made that whole thing up.

Hanging up his imaginary phone, Jersey Macintosh pondered the words he had heard. Or, rather, the words he thought he heard. Because he has make-believe ears.

So I leave you with this. Based on what you've read thus far.....Is Jersey Macintosh real? Or is he a figment of.....wait for it....your imagination?

In other words, are you real?

Or did I make you up?

That, my friends, is the point of life.

The End

Seven Things You Might Not Have Known About the Opera "Samson et Dalila"

1) "Samson et Dalila" is French for "Samson and Dalila". "And" is an American conjunction meaning "in addition to", and can also be translated to Italian..."ed" or "e".

2) "Samson et Dalila", contrary to popular belief, is NOT about Ralph Sampson's career as a Virginia Cavalier, despite the fact that he was 7'4" and three-time college player of the year.

3) The album "Samson et Dalila" was released to rave reviews in the late-19th century, and co-authors Saint-Saens and Franz Liszt barnstormed Europe and North Africa as audiences went wild.

4) Most people know that Michael Jordan is probably the best basketball player ever, but not many realize that Franz Ferenczy, the actor/singer who first portrayed "Samson", is no relation at all to the great NBA star.

5) Placido Domingo leads Opera in career assists and falsettos, but is probably best known (as hard as it may be to believe) for his reign as "Samson" in 1981. Shirley Temple was Dalila. (True story.)

6) Historically speaking, "Samson et Dalila" tells the story of Samson and Dalila (see #1) as first told in the Book of Judges, Chapter 16, in the literary classic, Old Testament by God. Link

7) "Samson et Dalila" finished the 1877 season, it's rookie year, ranked #4 in the European AP, and #5 in the Conductor's Poll. The undisputed #1 ranked opera was "The Cunning Peasant", the surprise Czech hit by Antonin Dvorak.

Why "The Road"?

Nobody has ever asked me why I chose to call this blog "The Road". But I bet they've wondered. (And by "they", I am of course referring to the countless people who have yet to view this blog. And the many, many others who, much like myself, will one day stumble upon this blog completely by accident.)

My name is Jody. There is a history to that name, but that's for another blog at another time. (This blog is reserved for much more serious issues.)

My friends often get tired of saying my name. So, to keep it "fresh", they occasionally switch the first letter out with another letter. (Ex. "Pody". Or "Mody". Or "Wody". )

As you can imagine, one day Burbur (cool slang for "Blair") decided that "R" would fit in nicely in front of the "-ody", and "Rody" was born.

Believe it or not, but it didn't take long for one of us (probably Burbur again) to realize that "Rody" sounded remarkably close to "Road".

Then, one of us (probably me) decided that if we put "The" before it, it would sound much more "cutting edge" and, let's face it, cool. So I am now The Road.

There's been a book about me (Cormac McCarthy). There's been a book on me (Jack Kerouac). And, best of all, there's been a song describing me (Tenacious D).

The Road likes many things: His family, his church (Marion United Methodist), the Kentucky Wildcats, the Chicago Cubs, books. This blog may occasionally touch on some of those things. But most of all, it'll be a place where I'll come to write some pretty ridiculous and absurd stuff. (Like my poem entitled "Billy Gillispie" which I'll post later. )

(How's that for a cliff-hanger? Now you'll have to come back...)

The End