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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Entertaining Read from Dennis Lehane: World Gone By (Joe Coughlin Series Book 3)

In World Gone By, it's the 1940s and Florida gangster Joe Coughlin is looking for financial opportunities that may arise from the war 'over there'. Joe is a rainmaker, and very good at this role. Although influential, Joe, who is of Irish descent, is no longer a big boss in the Italian crime syndicates. As threat to no one and a source of income, it comes as a great shock to Joe to learn that there is a contract on his life. How Joe handles the threat is the story of World Gone By.

Full of interesting characters and suspenseful plot twists, World Gone By is features plenty of gangster crimes but also philosophical reflections on the life. This novel can be enjoyed without reading the two earlier books in the series, The Given Day and Live By Night. That's what I did. Now, I will definitely seek out these other books.



As a side note, at this writing, the hardcover ($15.81) and Kindle copy ($14.99) of this book are practically the same price. If you buy the book, which format will you choose? Let's us know at the Facebook page.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: How Many Have You Read?

I was looking over this list of Pulitzer Prize winners and nominees and was surprised at how many of the books I had read. I seem to prefer books that are finalists rather than the year's prize winner. For example, I preferred Richard Ford's Let Me be Frank With You, a 2015 finalist, and Philipp Meyer's The Son, a 2014 finalist, over the books that were the winners in those respective years.

How about you: have you read many of these book? did you enjoy them? Check out the Facebook page and leave a comment!


Saturday, September 5, 2015

E-Book Prices

The Wall Street Journal reported on September 4 that sales of e-books have slumped for publishers who negotiated deals with Amazon to set the retail price for their books. There is debate as to whether the slump is due to higher prices or lackluster new titles.

My opinion is that buying a book is like placing a bet: you put your money down in hope of getting rewarded with a good read. Inexpensive e-books make it more likely that people will make those bets. I agree with the analysts who assert that when the price of an e-book is more than $10, people are going to slow down on taking a gamble on a good book.

And if e-books become as expensive as the hardcover edition of a book, keep a look out for the return of the used paperback pile in the office breakroom.