Sunday, March 21, 2010

READING: The Blue Suit by Richard Rayner


The Blue Suit: A Memoir of Crime
1995, Houghton Mifflin Co.
From the dust jacket: "...is a story about the absence of identity. Born in West Yorkshire, Richard Rayner had a peripatetic childhood, until, it seemed, he found some sense of place when he attended Cambridge University in the mid-70s. But far from affording him security, Cambridge, combined with the study of philosophy and an obsession with books, was the setting for the start of a bizarre life of crime. Mounting debts propelled Rayner into a series of frightening, foolish, and hilarious adventures."
My comments: Rayner became a small time crook, following the footsteps of his father. I'd call his adventures 'madcap' or better yet, adventures of a mad person, and I didn't think them at all funny. Nevertheless, the memoir is worth reading, and the book kept my interest all the way to the last page. The writing itself is excellent.

Monday, March 15, 2010

READING: A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner


A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.’s Scandalous Coming of Age
2009, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Miraleste Library Book Club selection for April 2010.

A splendid read about L.A.'s dark side of the 1920's and 1930's. Included are also lots of references to and background on the people whom the streets of LA are named after, and descriptions of many familiar neighborhoods and famous buildings.

Web page: www.brightandguiltyplace.com