Recording Just to Record

A spate of mediocre books.  I will admit it, I lapsed and took another JD Robb "in Death" book out of the library, the latest Thankless ...

Every time I do this, it just parallels my lack of will power to say no to a bag of chips in the cupboard or a container of ice cream in the fridge.  Neither leave me with a long term feeling of satisfaction or with a sense of doing something meaningful.  As I wrote after the last JDR popcorn, she hardly ever introduces any sci fi new features into her story.  It has long since become a riff on Dallas and Rourke and the crimes could have happened any time.

And as for my reading on tangent, I whipped through Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man today, a snow day, but the snow never hit double digits and I'm sure with a tad more dedication and drive, I could have made it into work.  Here is that rare example where the movies were better than the book.  I can easily imagine Powell and Loy as Nick and Nora, but the facial expressions aren't there.  The movies have such physical flirting tension that just is superficially introduced in the book.  In fact, it often could be interpreted as matrimonial sarcasm rather than fast paced repartee.

So on to Lillian Hellman's memoir.