jwbblog: June 2006

Friday, June 23, 2006

The Foreign Correspondent

I finished Alan Furst's latest, The Foreign Correspondent--which, our regular readers know, I've mentioned a few times--and it's very good. It's about Carlo Weisz, an Italian journalist forced to flee Italy for Paris in 1938, on the run from Mussolini's fascist bully boys. The book focuses on the various risks (including getting yourself killed) involved in running an opposition newspaper as well as a love affair with an ex-flame who gets herself in some hot water. Some of our favorite Furst characters make cameos--including Count Polanyi, Lewis Fischfang (what a name!), and the Pravda correspondent Andre Szara (who seems to have his own blogger account--see here, at the bottom of the page--which seems odd since he is both a fictional character and must be long dead by now).

Anyway, I have noticed that the scope and style of the books has changed in the more recent books. The early books are quite long--often more than 400 pages, if memory serves (I've loaned my copies to others and they have, alas, not been returned)--and often epic in scope. The last three books--Blood of Victory, Dark Voyage, and The Foreign Correspondent--have been notably shorter (in terms of page count) and the stories themselves are, if not exactly less ambitious, smaller in scale. (I recall reading something along these lines elsewhere recently--I thought perhaps here--but can't seem to find it.) The more recent books still have Furst's pitch-perfect voice, amazing characters, and gift for atmosphere. They are just as brilliant. But I guess I miss the scope and size of the earlier works. There's nothing quite like getting wrapped up in an incredible novel--so good it's hard to put down to go to bed, even at two in the morning--for several weeks. I suspect those of us--I assume there are others--who love the bigger Furst books will simply have to go back and re-read the earlier ones.

Since we're on the topic--it's a stormy, muggy Friday afternoon here in Boston, and little else is likely to get done at this point--perhaps I'll say a bit about his earlier books. My favorite--and the longest of the bunch, I think--is Night Soldiers, about the NKVD agent Kristo Stoianev, whose loyalty to the cause of international communism isn't quite as robust as his (considerable) abilities as a secret agent. I also love Dark Star, which features Pravda correspondent (and blogger) Andre Szara. Kingdom of Shadows, set in Paris in 1938 and 1939--war is coming and everyone who's paying attention knows it--centers on the Hungarian aristocrat, Nicholas Morath, and his uncle, Count Polanyi. World at Night and Red Gold take place 1940 and 1941 in a Paris under Nazi occupation, and feature the French film producer Jean Casson. Blood of Victory--which, technically according to the distinction I made above, is latter, smaller-scale Furst--features the Russian writer I.A. Serebin and gobs of atmopshere in an Istanbul overflowing with sketchy characters. The one book that didn't quite click with me is The Polish Officer--the main character and plot are very fuzzy in my memory, though perhaps I ought to give it another shot.

That's all for now. Happy weekend.

Note to Bram: These books, in my opinion, would make amazing graphic novels. However, I should admit that Queen and Country is the first graphic novel I've read since, well, Frank Miller's The Dark Night, so what do I know.

Posted by jwb at 11:45 AM · 0 Comments

Thursday, June 22, 2006

He hated irony

This is priceless: Via Golden Fiddle, The Bill Brasky Quote Archive:

"Bill Brasky is a son of a bitch!"

"His poop is used as currency in Argentina."

“He hated Mexicans! And he was half Mexican! …….And he hated irony!”

“I once saw him scissor kick Angela Landsbury.”

"Bill Brasky was a two ton man-mountain who could palm a medicine ball!"

“Bill Brasky had a four day heart attack…a day for each chamber. At the autopsy, they said his heart looked like a basketball filled with riccotta cheese.”

"He killed Wolfman Jack with a trident."

"Bill Brasky was a 10 foot monster who slept with all our wives! And punched us all in the face! And we loved him for it!"

"We once had a bachelor party for Brasky. He ate the entire cake before we could tell him there was a stripper in it."

“He framed Roger Rabbit.”

More here. And if you don't know who Bill Brasky is, well, I don't really know what to say.

UPDATE: I got a sharp comment on this post from my wife, who fancies herself an SNL afficianado and did not know who Bill Brasky is. For the uninitiated, click here. (I'm channeling Andy Rooney here, but have you ever noticed that you can find bloody anything on Wikipedia. Amazing!)

Posted by jwb at 12:45 PM · 2 Comments

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Good Night and Good Luck

I've been wracking my brain, and I just can't remember that scene from "Good Night and Good Luck". Must have fallen asleep or something.

Note: Image borrowed from Defamer.

Posted by jwb at 7:10 PM · 1 Comments

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Raphael is in the news

Congrats to Raphael--friend and occasional commenter of this blog--for giving good interview in an important story in today's Washington Post. Raphael is an expert in nuclear nonproliferation issues (and the modern novel, but that's another story). Here goes: "'The extension of the umbrella agreement is critical,' said Raphael Della Ratta, a weapons specialist at the Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council. Without it, 'nuclear weapons delivery systems would not be dismantled, chemical weapons would remain unsecured and undestroyed and biological pathogens would remain unsecured as well.'" I have no idea what that means--umbrellas?--but it is obviously important. Keep up the good work, Raphy!

Also, while we've stayed away from political controversey on this blog of late, I would like to opine that I think it's a disgrace that a story like this--which deals, after all, with keeping nukes out of the hands of nut jobs like Osama bin Ladin--ends up on page A11 while the central story on page 1 is about shopping in PG County. Argh!

Back to our regular programming.

Posted by jwb at 12:56 PM · 2 Comments

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Great Novels about the CIA

In comments to the previous post, Bram points us to Robert Littell's great, sprawling saga about the CIA, The Company. I agree with Bram that it's a wonderful book and well worth reading if you like books about espionage and the Cold War. A little Googling reveals that Ridley Scott has signed on to direct a six-part miniseries of the book for TNT, to begin shooting in Toronto in August and to be shown on TV next summer. Can't wait.

If you like fiction about the CIA, the apex of the genre in my opinion is Charles McCarry's series of books about CIA agent Paul Christopher. The series runs as follows: The Miernik Dossier (1971), Tears of Autumn (1974), The Secret Lovers (1977), The Last Supper (1983), Second Sight (1992), and Old Boys (2005).

The Miernik Dossier is the least interesting of the bunch and Christopher doesn't really come into focus until the end of the book. You might skip it and start with Tears of Autumn, an astonishingly good book featuring (among other things) a surprisingly convincing alternative history of the Kennedy Assasination. (Alan Furst excerpted it in his recent anthology of great espionage fiction, The Book of Spies.*) The others are also terrific. McCarry fans had been under the impression, I gather, that Second Sight was the last of the series. (The cover of my paperback copy says, "The Last Paul Christopher Thriller.") However, without much advance warning, a new one, Old Boys, appeared in 2005. It's difficult to single out any of them as clearly superior to the others. If you have the time and energy for it, I'd start with Tears of Autumn and read through the rest.

The McCarry books were difficult to track down for a while, but the kind and generous people at Overlook Press are now putting them back into print. Thus far, they've put out The Miernik Dossier, The Tears of Autumn, The Last Supper, and Old Boys. The Secret Lovers is available in November. More please.

*Speaking of Furst, his new book, The Foreign Correspondent, is just out. Don't argue with me. Go buy it now. You can thank me later.

Posted by jwb at 8:28 AM · 1 Comments

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Best Record You Must Stop at Nothing to Possess

From Uncle Grambo:

Guster, "Ganging Up On The Sun"
— This utterly amazing LP is proof positive of what happens when record labels adhere to the oldest of adages, "Patience is a virtue." By recognizing that Guster is the type of band that would flourish when given the freedom to decide what pace to till their creative soil, everyone's gonna come up a winner when this record hits shelves on 6/20. This time around, the band has managed to evolve from granola-y college rock to a formula that's probably best described as "vintage". They still retain the catchy, jangly guitar sound that got them signed in the first place, but the addition of multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia has allowed them to stretch in ways they were never able to before before. Songs like "The Captain", "One Man Wrecking Machine" and "Manifest Destiny" will plant themselves firmly inside your noggin' upon the first listen, a place they're likely to stay for years and years. Trust your Uncle Grambo on this one folks, this is THE album of the year.

Wow!

Posted by jwb at 5:48 AM · 3 Comments

Friday, June 02, 2006

World Cup Roundup

Having an outbreak of World Cup mania? No? Typical.

Anyway, if you're not sure who to root for (aside from the US, of course) here's a handy--and very funny--guide that some blogger put together. (It's still worth reading even if--like my wife--you think soccer is really boring.) (Via Double Viking.)

Also, if you're wondering who that hairy guy in the Nike ads is, it's Eric Cantona (aka Le Nutter, because, well, he's nuts), who played for Man U in the 1990s. The New York Times WC blog has a discussion.

Not much of a roundup really, but it'll have to do for now.

"Everybody shut up and pay attention to me."