Tom: I loved his apt characterizations, wrapped in beautiful prose. [reads the section starting on page 100: "In some remote past, similar metaphors - nothing lasts forever" ] The construct and fantasy allowed the author to make observations about society and human nature. His passion showed through. A

Rob: I liked the run-on sentences and the rolling style. Instead of "he said," "she said," just like McCarthy in No Country for Old Men, I got more caught up in the story without the crutch of dialogue source. The book grew on me, some whimsical commentary, more and more. Slow for me at first until they got out of the asylum and the doctor's wife started searching for food. Interesting at the end with the church scene where the vandal had covered they eyes of the statues - was this Old Testament retribution? Take off the blindfolds and people began seeing. Strange if the author is atheistic - why end with a church scene? Other books showed the thin veneer of civilization like "Lord of the Flies." This was better than "The Castle." B+

Joel: This story reminds me of Day of the Triffids (people see lights or asteroids in the sky, a meteor shower, and it makes them go blind.) Extremely interesting the way the author carried it out - "we don't go blind, we are blind." A-

Ed: I enjoyed reading the book - the story, characters. The doctor's wife was a heroic character. I didn't get what the author hoped to get across. B

Charlie: First it was rough going, such adversity made it difficult to turn the page as he showed how miserable these people were - but that was what he was trying to do. That said, I thought it was an excellent book. I liked his observations of human behavior and how we're built. I've never been very good al recognizing allegories but I give it an A- because of the people - it was tough going at first.

Mike: I must confess that I have not finished the book although I read the last chapter so I realize how it came out, and experienced the church scene. I found it very tough to keep on and keep on, like a writing assignment where the teacher gave the outline and said, OK, everyone goes blind - write about that. It seemed at times like a Saturday Night Live skit that was made into a movie (or here, a book) and couldn't maintain the essay structure. At this time I wouldn't recommend this book, however the discussion tonight encourages me to finish the book. At this time: C

Ken: I can't say I enjoyed it as it was tough to read - similar to what Tom and Charlie said. So interestingly written - believable for the most part in how they were fighting this unknown illness - I enjoyed the first part in the asylum, and the second part (outside) even more. I didn't enjoy the ending - I expected tragedy. I give it an A-

Dick: I read this over several days and each time I found it sort of guilt on itself, sort of sucks you back in. I thought the ending was weak - who will put the water back into the pipes? He had by nature Leaders emerge - in harsh situations, good and evil arise. The women came out better than the men - I would recommend this book to my wife. A-

And from well outside the asylum:

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin

Nine partially dissected barnacles clustered in the home of the eminent bio-evolutionist Mr. B and proceeded to cement themselves down for the evening. They learned "What Darwin Didn't Know" in the February 2009 issue of the Smithsonian [read it here].  They learned that David Quammen initially wanted to title the book "The Kiwi's Egg" - his publisher asked him can you please come up with another title? Rob suggested "The Barnacle's Penis." They learned of an interview with Quammen here: http://www.terrain.org/interview/21/ Quammen's previously most acclaimed book is The Song of the Dodo in which he states, "islands are where species go to die." Some of the barnacles spoke:

Ed: Quammen was trained at a Jesuit school, not unlike Tim Russert (Canisius); in the book I am currently reading, it tells of such prep schools having a Dean of Discipline who would have perps write an essay on an imaginative subject e.g., life inside a ping-pong ball. Thus I am not surprised at the imaginative names Quammen uses (or attempted to use) for his books. This book I was not able to obtain the audio version from the Library of Congress - pass.

Charlie: I really enjoyed the book - non-fiction and different - the subject matter provided a naturally fascinating story. A little too much colloquialism, a little too informal - A-

Ken: As a research scientist and a non-believer, I was fascinated with the story. Especially with Mendel providing 40 copies of his research which was "lost" for 30 years - who knows how many scientists published perhaps 10 copies of their work and it is lost to history. Wallace was in the same mode: not connected well to the scientific community. Overall, a most worthwhile book: A-

Mike: The two books I have just thoroughly enjoyed over the past year have been The Yiddish Policeman's Union in the fiction arena, and this The Reluctant Mr. Darwin in the non-fiction. Start to finish, I loved 'em both. The writer got a little corny at times, a little off the wall, as in "he shot that octopus out of the sky!" but overall he made it fun for me as the reader.   I loved his insight:  "He didn't foresee being swallowed up by barnacle taxonomy for eight years ... His study must have smelled like a pub, from the evaporation of pickling alcohol off his specimens." and his choices of Darwin anecdotes: Little son George asking his playmates, "Where does your father do his barnacles?"   A-

Rob: I second that.   From my earlier education I vaguely knew of the voyage of the Beagle and Natural Selection - I didn't realize twenty years transpired before he published. The author told the story well - however was the section on the barnacles going to last forever? I think he took some poetic license in the telling but he told it well: A-

Dick: The book was interesting to me as a non-scientist. I always thought Darwin went on the voyage, came back, and wrote the book. Well-written: A-

Tom: I liked it too. It could be too colloquial and personal, or too scientific - the author struck a nice balance. I have found there is no Eureka! movement in science - almost all of science is built upon what has come before, and much of it is accomplished little by little, as a team.   My personal favorite part of the writing was pages 117-121 where Darwin lost his beloved daughter Ann.  The author descirbed so well how Charles and Emma really enjoyed this little girl - very moving passages. A-

Keith: what impressed me is that Darwin spend most of his life dabbling in decimal places. Under the pressure of Wallace he moved to an integer. Secondly, I am interested in the Selling of America on The Theory of Evolution. Finally, I confess that in the Children's Section of the Ernie Pyle Library, I found a great book: "Charles Darwin" by Richard Milner which tells more of the story than was covered in Quammen's book: tells of his ghost-busting (anti-spiritualist), worms, etc. This book I give a solid A.

Ron: Same grade: A-    I thought the story was excellent - it wasn't a historical account of Darwin. The book read almost like his talk - it was highly readable, not written for scientific audience.

Keith: My report may be somewhat askew as I read The Poisonwood Bible.  However I will note that tonight is the National Spelling Bee which puts one in mind of the historic moment when Harvard faced off with Texas A&M in the finals of the Collegiate Spelling Bee. Timbuktu was the subject.  Each had to write a poem and here is the result.

Ron: This was another book about Africa but I'm glad we read it as it provided another view. The anecdotes were well done. And the book was timely with the elections in Zimbabwe during February of this year. The story was well written and interesting. A

Rob: I found it very interesting and moving - the story of a family was highly emotional. The author Godwin was watching his father die and his country die - what will it take (in time) to improve the situation in Zimbabwe? One of the characters (the father) said whites in Africa are like Jews anywhere - waiting for the next crisis to erupt. Mum was an heroic character. At times, my cynicism said, Is all this really happening? Or are we being taken like Oprah on her memoir? This was the best non-fiction we've read in years: A

Tom: I agree with all that - I read the book in two shifts, both on a Kindle, and for the first shift I didn't enjoy it as I was just trying to get through - kept hitting the page forward button as there is a slight lag before the page refreshes. Yesterday I read second shift: chapters 17-22 and it was wonderful. The author hit all of the great themes of the book - WWII, sister in London, Rhodesia, and his own achievements. I didn't do the first part justice. I would disagree with the individual in the book regarding whites in Africa: they brought colonization but were not persecuted like the Jews. A-

Mike: So many, many interesting and well written anecdotes under two or three main themes: Mugabe's power grab/racism, George Godwin's double life and escape from Nazis, Peter Godwin's numerous attempts to shield his parents from harsh realities of a changing world.   The book was very well written, I appreciated the author's clever writing/descriptions - he made a rather depressing journey worthwhile, highly informative, actually enjoyable.   A-

Joel: I enjoyed reading this but found it extremely depressing. Perhaps because I was also watching a movie that follows the body of a Marine from Iraq to Dubois, Wyo.  I will try not to break the string:  A    Well done, informative. Individuals within Zimbabwe were good people, as exemplified by the Hindu priest making the deceased Godwin father an honorary Hindu so that the body could be cremated, and helping throughout the cremation ceremony.

Dick: Like Tom, I didn't read the book in the best frame of mind, as I was correcting the proofs of a textbook at the same time. I didi find this book depressing - yet I told my wife that she should read it.  Beautifully written.  One thing that bugged me:  how many times we heard that the average Life Expectancy of a Zimbabwean is 35 years (or 37 or whatever)  -  the author felt he had to tell us that over and over. Very interesting story. Give it an A-

Ed: I also found it very depressing from a humanity standpoint. The characters were heroic. I had some issues with statistics in the book. It was depressing on what happens in a country - another example is the book Three Cups of Tea, where the theme is: the negative consequences of good intentions. I thought the Treblinka section was gratuitous (but I've read 10 books on the Holocaust).  I didn't see the connection with the detail in Africa. It did provide a good update of Rhodesia and begs the question: How to get out of this situation? B+

Charlie: A- Very good, good writer who went through extraordinary times.

Ken: I apologize for depressing a number of people. I enjoyed it a lot - the history. But at the end, Peter and his wife have a good life in New York, the daughter (and the mother we learn) are living in London and doing well - only Zimbabwe continues downward. A

Joel: I thought it was an interesting book. It took me a while to get into it. Very well written, however the subject matter was unpleasant. Characters reminded me of The Great Gatsby. References to "our level" and a complete lack of care for others in society. The hierarchical system, e.g., the protagoinist becomes a Captain just by showing up and knowing someone. I give it a B.

Keith:

Mike: I Cannot Avoid An A. This book reminded me of three or four we have read, particularly The Debt to Pleasure. I read this book with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.  Or head. So many fun episodes - the scene where Maskell has to confront Mrs. Beaver to ask for the hand of Baby is one of the funniest I have read in some time. The writing was superb - such as "a tracery of raindrops' and "Sodden sycamore leaves lolloping about the road like injured toads."  My only criticism was the author's/narrator's overuse of rhetorical questions - do we have to keep interrupting the narrative and asking questions? -  and his continued insertion of Carrickdrum. Overall: A

Ken: I thought the writing was great - many passages just wonderful. I had to decide to read 25 pages per hour without using a dictionary, or 10 pages per hour looking up words. I chose the former. The story was a bit long-winded at times. The first one third was show, not a lot of action for a spy novel. Too much coupling. B+

Dick: I told my wife I didn't know how I'd grade this book. Too much drinking and coupling. The protagonist was an A-hole - I've known people like this. B+

Ron: Good story for writing itself. It was not about spying but about relationships. Protagonist was a twit in the true English tradition - the English love upper class twits. The story was a B, the writing was A, overall an A for great prose which held my attention.

Bob W: I'd give it an A. I've been interested in the Cambridge Five for some time. The material was organized and well done. The author made you feel not at all sympathetic with the main character when usually if a story is written in the first person you tend to identify with the character. Clever piece.

Jack: I was intrigued by Victor as arrogant as he was. I found the prose to be beautiful. I hated him. I'd give it an A-

Tom: I'm on record that I don't care what the book is about if the prose is beautiful. This book tested my resolve. I did have a tough time with the main character - I couldn't even hate him. Lots of ambiguity. One of the reviews said the author is guilty of "overwriting" - I'm not sure what that is, however I agree. A-

Ed Duff: I'm clear that if I don't like the story, I don't like the book. This was much ado about nothing. No compelling message. No heroic women in the book - if it was a Jonathan Swift approch then some satirical value but no postive message. B-

Charlie: I give it an A-. As Tom said, it was extraordinary writing. If the writing is that good, then it is worth an A. The minus is for the story.

I did read Part 1 of The Untouchable before we left.  Unfortunately, I didn't find the book compelling enough to justify carrying it along to Hawaii and finishing it.  Too heavy, too bulky.  Too pretentious, too self-consciously artsy.  The author threw in all those literary references for the benefit of the literati, not to help the reader - at least a reader like me.  Also, the moral ambiguity of the Cambridge group who spied for the Russians has been well-covered, and better, I think by Le Carre and others, and I'm no longer interested in hearing more about it.  A pretty disgusting bunch -- as Part 1 illustrates, perhaps in ways the author didn't intend.  So, I'll give Part 1 a B-.

Really sorry my second year in a row to miss the opportunity to see Charlie's new house.  Maybe next year.

Rob

Tom: I have no idea what I think about the book. I liked the book - I liked the continuing push-pull tension. McCarthy wouldn't let you go too far with happy thoughts before he pulled you back into the misery of survival. I didn't like the ending (too hopeful) and yet - what else could it have been? A-

Rob: I picked up this book at the airport about a year ago and read it and liked it. I had to read it again. The 1st reading, I liked it, the second time not quite so much. I went to the movie this afternoon - well done visuals. Trees falling in the forest from the snow piling up. The Family they met at the end didn't look too good either. I liked the Father-Son relationship. I still choke up over a Bluegrass Father and Son group that sang a meaningful song, "He is My Own." (First the father sang it about his sons, then the sons added a verse to the father after he was diagnosed with cancer.) I don't think McCarthy's at his best in this book. I had a pre-disposition against journey/quest books. They had to make it, to the coast - why? I like the spare style of his writing. I don't like the awkward "He said, She said" interspersed in dialogue. A-

Ron B: When I started this book, I did not intend to finish. I thought I would read a chapter. Well, there aren't any chapters. So I read for an hour, and found myself one-third through the book. So I ended up reading the whole thing! I thought it was a good book - it held my attention. The writing was simple and effective. My grade would be from an A- to a B+ - it was not the greatest writing - but I liked the ending. B+

Dick J:   After reading the Border Trilogy, I vowed never to read another Cormac McCarthy. Then I ran into Ron at Mass, and he was reading the book (it fit nicely inside the hymnal) and so I thought I'd give it a shot. As I read it, I thought: this can't end well.   I did not like the ending McCarthy wrote, but I found the book very enjoyable. B+

Keith:   My comments are counterpoint:

I believe McCarthy wrote this book for pecuniary reasons.

Like The Road, the story was one-dimensional. No development of the characters, you knew nothing about them.

This road took me nowhere.

I now switch from prose to poetry:

The Road to Nowhere

Ken: I am not a humanities major, so for me, this was great writing. I liked All the Pretty Horses and I hated Blood Meridian. I liked this book, it was hard to read (the subject matter) but hard to put down. I enjoyed the father-son relationship. I will remember this book for a long time. I will have it an A- and note it was the shortest 279 pages.

Joel: There's a song: "The Road goes on forever but The Party never ends." This was a survival manual. Gold coins, canned peas, and a gun. Or that Minnesota LuteFisk. A very well done book. It was boring in a way - not like the yellow-brick road on the way to the Emerald City where interesting characters challenged Dorothy all along the way. B+

Mike: After the Club read Blood Meridian, I checked The Road out of the library, and read the first paragraph, and said, "Oh, no. I can't handle this right now." Then in 2007 (according to my notes) I read it, but I hurried through it, and I didn't really enjoy it. Thus it was with some apprehension that I took it up again. However, this time, I took my time, and the book moved along for me. I wanted to keep reading the story. My memory from my previous reading was that "Nothing happened." Well, not so - something happened on almost every page. This singular paragraph near the beginning of the story summarizes the struggle for survival and the true emptiness of the world:

"An hour later they were on the road. He pushed the cart and both he and the boy carried knapsacks. In the knapsacks were essential things. In case they had to abandon the cart and make a run for it.... Are you okay? He said. The boy nodded. Then they set out along the blacktop in the gun-metal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world entire." I award it the Genoni Pulitzer Prize: A

Jack: I was concerned I would be too sick to attend, so I wrote my review:

Although the dialog in The Road reminded me often of scenes from "Dragnet" and at one point of a Rowan & Martin routine (meeting the old man: What is your name? Ely. Ely what? What's wrong with Ely?), I nonetheless found the tale and the style spellbinding.  If Cormac McCarthy is anything, he is unconventional and he certainly reinforced the unconventional story by using an unconventional style.

Like Blood Meridian, the characters who people The Road appear violent and depraved, but unlike Blood Meridian it ends on a more positive note, alluding to a moral imperative which will live on.

I always find McCarthy's work haunting and thought provoking. A-

Eight once proud porters, now bent well past their prime, made their way through the Karakoram Range via the Montclaire Pass and stopped in the hut of the Village Haji, Sahib Ron. There they found an interview:  Bill Moyers interviewed Mortenson in January. You can see the video at

The old porters felt that Sahib David Oliver Relin was a neophyte in the book business: a contributing editor for Parade magazine and Skiing magazine. He has won more than forty national awards for his work as a writer and editor.

The old porters spoke:

Mike: This is an important story, an amazing story, a story that had to be told, a story that is hard to believe. What luck Mortenson had - not unlike the USA itself - Mortenson could have, perhaps should have, been killed half a dozen times. Yet somehow he stuck to his vision, he endured the unendurable. We would have been better served perhaps with a better writer, yet the story comes through. A-

Ken: Great story about a dedicated individual. I thought Greg Mortenson was not the smartest guy to ever come down K2 - but by listening and adapting the ideas of others, he did it. A for the story. B for the writing. A-

Jack: I thought it was a fascinating story - he had the energy and the vision and he carried through. Relin's writing style was frustrating at times - 50 word sentences were confusing. Because of that: B+

Bob Woods: As a book, I thought it interesting. The word-crafting was rough in places but the book was hard to put down. Moral: There is hardly any limit to what an individual can do. B

Charlie: I agree, an extraordinary story. He gets an A, the book gets a B.

Joel: After a few dozen pages, I wondered if I could make it through this book. Then it began to loosen up. The writing is not as good as it could be, but I'm glad I read it. B+

Keith: Americans love heroes, and they found one in Greg Mortenson. Having said that, it would be interesting to see some guy go into this country, visit the Indian reservations without casinos, and try to bring about the same program. Mortenson should have written the book himself. A for the story, C for the writing, brings it to B-

Tom: I think it has all been said. The writer made this story boring for me. Without all the meandering, it could have been more powerful. "And cheap wine which is always served by rich people at their parties" - the writer had it in for rich people! A for Mortenson, C- for Relin, B- overall.

Ron: I agree with the tone of the comments. Great story, gives insight into a culture. Each Chapter by itself was a good story, and the writing got better later on. A story, B writing, A- because I picked the book. Not great literature.

Dick:  I read this book several weeks ago – it didn’t really stick with me. I enjoyed reading it when I read it, but it was not memorable. I give it a B+   It didn’t have a great deal of effect on me, normally I would pick a book up again.

Tom:  I had a similar reaction.  It struck me as "this is clearly an unfinished work."  Fascinating from a historical perspective to see the exodus from Paris – I never read anything about that before. The individual stories were compelling, but the writing was not that great.  I consider it really difficult to judge a translated book, as you are just not reading what the author wrote.  B

Mike: I thought the author did an excellent job of creating characters that would lead us through the highs and lows of this turbulent time for France. What will stick with me is the overall image of this great rush of humanity from Paris, worrying about survival when these characters never had that worry before – where will we spend tonight? Tomorrow night? Where will we get our next meal?  Part Two (Dolce) worked more like a traditional novel, working the people’s lives into one another. Overall: A-

Ed: I’ve been doing a lot of traveling, and only was able to read the book these last couple of days. My wife recommended this book and was excited about it.   I won’t grade it, however I did enjoy what I have read so far.

Bob: It really is a series of vignettes or character sketches. I give it a B as a book, but an A as to its historical importance, as what goes on in the book gives a look at the culture in transition. Average grade: B+

Ken: I enjoyed this book thoroughly, both parts, especially the first section. The characters were well developed, gave a picture of French Society in 1940. Amazing that the book came out – the story of the 60 year delay in publishing is compelling. A- It would be interesting to see the five parts completed.

The eight once noble aediles of Albuquerque gathered at hora duodecima and discovered we owed much to the ancient Romans, including the origination of the middle finger salute.  Meanwhile, Robertus Sylvanius had scoured the food stalls and found that they were all out of rancid fish paste and hummingbird’s tongues. The aediles had to make due with various of those delicacies that the barbarians fancy. There was some question re the customary post-symposium orgy as his wife flatly vetoed the dancing girls.  What the Hades. The aediles spoke, and their words were recorded as follows - it is not for the scribe to say what is true and what comes forth from the lips of Bacchus.

Mike: I thought the author was most clever in covering this subject. I thought of Tracy Chevalier’s approach to "The Girl in the Pearl Earring" – there she was confronted with a mysterious painting by Vermeer, and imagined how that might have come about. Here we all know that Pompeii was frozen in time by volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius, and the author cleverly made the story about other characters, yet we all knew Vesuvius was going to blow. It reminded me of the interview with Alfred Hitchcock when he described how to create tension in a film – let the audience know what is going to happen, but not the players. I must state that the characters were a little heavily drawn – couldn’t Attilius have been a little desirous of the bribe?  Book was not a work of art, but definitely not written by an engineer: A-

Tom: I was very interesting in this setting and the aqueducts. As literature, not so much, not great writing or character development. From an historical fiction perspective: B

Keith: I liked the book, I enjoyed reading about the aqueducts – any relation to our acequias here in the Southwest? The Nile river, so many areas have irrigation determined by aqueduct-like systems. The book moved along, and then Hollywood took over: Atillius and Corelia consummated their affair under water and then rose like moles after the flow. This dropped the book to an A-

Rob: It strained my credulity. 1) you knew how it would end. 2) the characters verged on Pulp Fiction: corrupt, evil father; beautiful, brave daughter The story was conventional: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, (volcano erupts), boy gets girl. I did like the ending, how they avoided the volcano. I also thought of "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Didn’t think this historic novel was as good. B-

Dick: When I heard this was to be our book, I was not excited. However, it turned out to be more exciting than I thought. I liked the description of Pompeii. I hadn’t thought about the stock characters. B+

Ken: Since I’ve visited Pompeii, I found the book slow at first, then it picked up. I found the story ridiculous, far-fetched. Young girl to marry old geezer, falls in love with young aquarius. Overall: B

Ed: I enjoyed the book. We did visit Pompeii – the focus of the book on engineering and aqueducts was interesting. The love affair was incidental. I enjolyed it exciiting kind of adventure. It was interesting to include historical characters like Pliny, and realize Rome had the greatest Navy in the world sitting at Misenum. A-

Bob: Since I picked it, I enjoyed it. I thought Harris did a good job of fleshing out what happened pre-Vesuvius. He has a good control of the English language.  I don't think any book should be graded A so  A-

... and from safely beyond the magna flow ...
I am probably not going to be able to make this Thursday LTBC meeting; my elder daughter is to arrive from SC just about the time the meeting will start. She has two concerts here over the following 3 days so her time is at a premium.
She had lived for a year about two blocks from the Fontana dell' Acqua Paole, one of the most recent (1610) fountains (good picture on Wikipedia) which was recently cleaned up and is very impressive, being the terminus for a large branch of the water system. Good water, too, throughout Rome, and I assume throughout the larger cities in Italy.
Much better quality of work than Abq; last week's pipe rupture at Menaul and University is proof. No wonder Italy was one of the major engineering centers.
 Review: extremely interesting story/history. I enjoyed the short bio of Pliny the Elder. I would give the book a high B+, I am trying not to be biased by having the hero a civil engineer.
Joel

Ron:  I thought it was an enjoyable read. I wish I had read it in larger blocks. However, I read the whole book, and read the ending twice - and I would consider reading it again, which is unusual for me. A-

Charlie: A- This was high quality junk fiction - not art, but good junk.

Ken: Although I found the story line confusing, I really wanted to see the movie. I found Marlowe extremely fascinating. I liked the dialogue. A-

Bob W: Also an A-  in that genre.  I always confused Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961] with Raymond Chandler, so I was glad to learn that Dashiell preceded Chandler [in writing, NOT in life] by about 20 years and thus most likely was an influence.  I thought that the author was pretending to be low class, or write for that class. I'd like to see how he would write some 'real' literature. This was obviously a pot-boiler.

Ed: I enjoyed the book - it made me want to see the movie.  I noted some distinct changes [between movie and book].  I checked how old Lauren Bacall was at the time she made the movie, and found she was 22, although she appeared to be playing a much older woman. I enjoyed the movie. A-

Mike: This was a B-level book.  Having said that, I found the book captivating, the protagonist true, the characters colorful, the dialogue sparkling and sparking. Chandler probably produces more per capita similes and metaphors than anyone else we have read, all fun. I couldn't help but channel the voice and personality of Humprey Bogart as I read Marlowe's account. When I watched the movie with Bonnie, I was completely obnoxious, e.g., "Oh, they changed that!" Or "that wasn't in the book!" This was such a fun exercise, I have upgraded to A-

Dick J:  Since I retired, I have read a lot of murder mysteries - including a lot of Swedish and Norwegian murder mysteries. I read this in two days. I hadn't seen the movie but I could see who would star in it.   A-   I don't think it is as good as Steig Larsson.

Joel:  Clearly one of my favorite movies.  I had not read the book that many times.  Obviously it was not a perfect book.  Most feel that "The Long Goodbye" or "The Lady in the Lake" are better. I agree with the group here - not a great book but good enough fiction: A-

Email the LTBC via  Mike@Blackledge.co