BOOKS THREAD

Kinda surprising nothing of Winslow's has been put on film.

All of his books that I've read are right in that vein that gets made into TV shows or movies over and over -- mafia, drug cartels, crooked cops. And all are enjoyable.

FX did announce they were turning his Power of the Dog trilogy into a series, but that was three years ago.

EDIT: They did turn Savages into a movie.

 

He had another early book turned into a movie and The Force was supposed to be turned into a movie.

I have found Winslow books to be more grounded, more focused on action and institutional problems rather than the odd characters and relationships of The Departed.

The drug war trilogy was straight ripped-from-the-headlines (or rumored to be true) stuff. Narcos: Mexico covers a lot of the same people and events.

There are some crazy and disgusting stories in the trilogy.

 

I bought the Kindle edition and am enjoying the first 25% of the book. Over the years I’ve developed a fascination with 1920-1960 era big American city societal ways. The ‘grit’ aspect via Blues, the Mob, the great industrial complex, the War effort, the development of modern sports as we know them, with an accent on boxing and baseball, have thousands of stories and they are all worthy of telling. I’ve always enjoyed biographies from this era.
After starting on the Ness book, it reminded me of the DesiLu produced classic TV show “The Untouchables”….the show that no parent wanted their kid watching. lol. The theme song, Walter Winchell’s narration and the list of guest stars that was a profile of the TV stars of the later 60s and early 70s makes that show so much interesting, to the point where I found and bought the complete series on DVD to be delivered tomorrow. Can’t wait to hear the Nelson Riddle theme song!

 

Any space fans; Apollo Murders set during space race: very enjoyable.

 

'The Woman's Hour" by Elaine Weiss about the passage of the 19th amendment is a great read. It focuses on Tennessee where pro-amendment("Suffs") and opponents ("Antis") converge to convince the legislature to ratify. All your favorite suffragists are here (Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt) and some you might not know. Also heavily featured are the two journalist-candidate for president that year Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox.

 

Love it! You and I share some of the same interests. Wish I had your skill to describe the television show. Happy viewing.

 

I am a big Winslow fan and just devoured this in two-plus days. Great stuff.

 

I’m a third of the way through this one and have a read two others of his. Juggling about 6 books right now. A shout out to all reviewers on this thread, I have read at least 50 books recommended here. I’m back into “Joe Dimaggio The Hero’s Life” after reading” Dinner With Dimaggio” for the second time. I set aside 90 minutes a day in the later afternoon as my book time.
For music lovers there’s a small series of books by Backbeat Books, a division of Hal Leonard, one of which is “Rolling Stones Gear” which details, and I mean that, each guitar, microphone, amp, drum set etc. the RSs used through their existence. The pics are astonishing. It’s a coffee table type edition, and totally worth the price, for instrument, music business and concert historians. Plus, of course, rock and roll fans. No detail is left out, a masterpiece.
I’ve been reading it, plus the Beatles edition with the same incredible research. I bought them from Amazon.ca bc the book stores here don’t stock it and they were delivered in, like, 2 days. Top echelon stuff.

 

I wish that book had a "Look Inside" feature on its Amazon listing. It sounds fascinating.

 

I had heard a bit about DJ Screw over the years, but didn't know a lot about him. I now know that he was a huge influence on the rap/hip-hop music scene in Houston, and that influence eventually spread throughout the South. This is written like an oral history, with paragraphs of quotes from more than 100 sources, including Screw himself, through past interviews, since he died in 2000, with writing from the author spread throughout. I really enjoyed it.

Joe Bob says check it out.