Recommended Reading: "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga

Aravind Adiga's excellent novel, The White Tiger, is set in India during the economic expansion it has enjoyed in recent years. The story takes place where the economic boom has not brought prosperity and highlights a vast gulf remaining between the haves and the many desperate have-nots.

The story's protagonist is Balram Halwai. Balram runs a taxi business in Bangalore. His business operates at night, transporting employees home from their jobs at area call centers. Over several nights at the office, he writes a letter outlining his life story to the premier of China, who is scheduled to visit India. This may seem like an odd activity for a small businessman, but a cat may look at a King. Balram, egotistical and worldly-wise from achieving success grounded on criminal acts and resulting in the sacrifice of his family, wants to communicate what he believes is the real scoop on India.

Balram, who is alternately droll, sarcastic, dark and angry, tells an interesting story. He is born into a poor family in a poor village. Although smart, he must drop out of school to start earning money. He soon begins to calculate how to get out of what he calls "the Rooster coop", the metaphorical cage in which the poor are trapped in their station, held hostage by threats from the powerful and loyalty to family.

He starts his climb in the world by figuring out a way to get a job as a chauffeur for the family of a landlord/businessman. The employer is rich and corrupt. Balram is little more than a slave. Ambitious, he wants a piece of the pie for himself. How does one get out of the Rooster cage? It turns out that spying, blackmail, eavesdropping, and a spot of violent crime are the answer.

The White Tiger is an engaging story set in an important area of our 21st century world. It won the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Holiday Music: Yo-Yo Ma

Someone recently asked what is my favorite holiday music. My instant answer was Bing Crosby's White Christmas, an album we listened to throughout the holidays when I was a kid.

My new answer is Songs of Joy and Peace by Yo-Yo Ma and Friends. On this CD the outstanding Yo-Yo Ma is joined by Alison Krauss, Spanish guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad, Cuban saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and others. Great music.

I still love to sing along with Bing, but there is something about a cello . . .

T.G.I.F.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the bossa nova and Chris McGowan, writing for Slate, discusses this music's origin, development and current popularity.

Click through the Elis and Tom Amazon link below and listen to some samples of the bossa nova; perfect Friday afternoon music:

T.G.I.F.

Free Books from Bleakhouse Books

Here is an appropriate item for today, St. Nicholas Eve: Wisconsin State Journal columnist Doug Moe reports that Madison-based Bleak House Books, an independent publisher of literary and crime fiction, is giving away free books.

For the holidays, Bleak House is offering for free over 100 different titles published by Bleak House and Intrigue Press (you pay shipping and handling). Included in the Bleak House catalog are the Edgar-nominated titles Head Games by Craig McDonald and Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman. Soul Patch also won the 2008 Shamus Award for Best Hardcover.

Food and Drink: The White Russian

Yesterday's story in the New York Times about the resurgence of Kahlua and cream, a.k.a. "a White Russian", as a hip beverage must give people of serious purpose pause: Should a beverage be created from booze mixed with a dairy product?

On initial consideration, some might say no. Alcohol and dairy conjures up images of dipsomaniacs swilling Scotch and milk (with apologies to dipsomaniacs who do not imbibe this mixture, non-dipsomaniacs who do, and Joyce Randolph). Of the White Russian, David Wondrich, drinks correspondent for Esquire, says in the NYT's article, “'When I first encountered it in the 1970s, the White Russian was something real alcoholics drank, or beginners.'”

Wholesale condemnation of the drinks-and-dairy combination should be avoided, however. Eggnog, for example, spiked with a bit of brandy or whiskey, is a fun holiday treat (and according to Wikipeida, a excellent source of magnesium).

Perhaps a drink like eggnog, or a White Russian, simply requires the right context. It's not for every day, or for drinking at the bowling alley (unless you are either a character in a movie or between the age of 21 and 32). But late in the evening, lingering after dinner and enjoying a fabulous view of a city or the ocean, a celebratory round of a sweet drink like Kahlua and cream may just suit perfectly.

Cheers!



Another wrinkle from dairy products: Who wants bovine growth hormone in their holiday drink? Not I. This brand of eggnog is rBST free.

Book Cover Design

From Boing Boing: Joseph Sullivan, blogging at The Book Design Review, identifies his favorite book covers of 2008.

A few examples from Mr. Sullivan's list:

Recommended Reading: "The Brass Verdict" by Michael Connelly

I've been reading lot of first novels by new authors, and there have been a lot more misses in this group than hits. So when Michael Connelly's book, The Brass Verdict, appeared at the top of my reading pile, I smiled and thought, 'Yee-Ha! This should be good!' And it is.

Michael Connelly is the author of many detective novels featuring Los Angeles Homicide Detective Harry Bosh. In 2005, Connelly introduced a new character in The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller. Haller is a criminal defense attorney in L.A. who prefers to runs his legal practice from the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car. In The Brass Verdict, Mickey Haller returns, and his legal practice jumps from nonexistent to smokin' after a colleague, another sole practitioner, is murdered.

Haller becomes responsible for sorting out the dead lawyer's clients. The police, including Connelly's famous Detective Harry Bosch, suspect that somewhere in the client files is the answer to not only why the lawyer was murdered, but also whether Mickey, too, is now in jeopardy.

Mickey moves quickly to handle representation issues for the clients. Briskly and with humor, Connelly has Mickey, his secretary and investigator do the work that must be done, including putting out some immediate legal 'fires', contacting clients about their now-former lawyer's death, and giving the clients the option to seek new representation or stick with Mickey. One client Mickey want to hang onto is a movie mogul, a man with the substantial financial resources to pay Haller's fees, and who is the defendant in a high profile double-murder case scheduled for trial in a matter of weeks.

Finding out how Mickey copes with client problems and trial pressure, the truth about the lawyer's murder, and corruption within Los Angeles County, is a fun ride and makes The Brass Verdict recommended reading.