Elmore Leonard's Pronto

A TV show that was beloved by critics and fans alike, including myself, but never seems to be included in lists of the "best" is FX's Justified. The show is considered neo-Western crime noir and is about a U.S. marshal from Kentucky who returns home and has to deal with friends, enemies, and family he thought he'd never see again. Timothy Olyphant plays Raylan Givens, a man who has his own code of justice and would fit better in an Old West boom town rather than the modern world he has to navigate.

Wanting to do a rewatch of the show for several years, but never finding the time to do so, I instead decided to read the source novels from where the character came from. The first of the four books that feature Givens is called Pronto. It follows three characters, Givens, an aged bookie named Harry Arlo, and a mafioso hitman, Jimmy Bucks, also called The Zip. While the story starts and ends in Miami, the middle third of the book has all three characters travel to Italy.

Other than the characteristics of the cowboy marshal who fights by his own rules, the only element of the novel that is carried over to the television show is the showdown between Jimmy Bucks and Givens, which that is featured in the very first episode and is the catalyst to what sends Raylan home to Harlan County, Kentucky.

Elmore Leonard is mostly known for writing Out of Sight, which was made into a feature-length film with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. It is on my list to read after finishing up the Raylan Givens stories. However, he also wrote 3:10 to Yuma, which was turned into a film twice, Get Shorty and its sequel Be Cool, both which featured John Travolta in the film adaptation, and the original story that was turned into Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown.

Leonard is acclaimed for his gritty characters and natural-sounding dialogue. Having lived in Detroit, he sets a lot of his stories in that U.S. city, but according to the backstory provided in Pronto, Raylan grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky. He dug in coal mines and eventually got out of that place after serving in the military and then becoming a U.S. marshal.

Having watched the television show first, I can't see anyone else except Timothy Olyphant when I read the story and pictured Raylan conducting his business in either Miami or Italy. It is a role that Olyphant will most likely always be associated with.

The book was entertaining and I liked that it was a story I hadn't already seen during the television run of Justified. Although I knew how the climax was going to end being that it was part of the show, it still was a fun read and I'm looking forward to the next novel in series, Riding the Rap.

R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End

Something a little different with the next book I read. This time it was a three-act play set during the First World War. Similar to the previous book, Passage of Arms, I had at some point been recommended this story, but couldn't remember why. I think it might have been after reading or watching All Quiet on the Western Front, as they are both anti-war pieces displaying the psychological heartbreak of trench warfare.

The story was good, but I do prefer Erich Maria Remarque's German novel. What I found more interesting than the actual play itself was that Laurence Olivier starred in the first performance of the show in London's Apollo Theater. Olivier is a tremendous actor of Hollywood's Golden Age and to see him in a theater production would have been stupendous. I can picture him in the role of Captain Stanhope and I'm sure he was phenomenal, as he is in nearly everything he did.

There have been revival productions of Journey's End and even some film, television, and radio adaptations throughout the years. It took me only a day to read through the entire thing and the copy I received had notes written throughout by someone who was either studying it for school or performing it as a play. If you want to be reminded of the horrors of war, then by all means go ahead and spend a couple of hours going through this. However, I would still recommend All Quiet on the Western Front as a more insightful look into what the men of World War One went through and how it took a toll on those young men.

Eric Ambler's Passage Of Arms

I have a list of books I am always interested in reading if I can find them at one of my local Half Price Book stores, however, sometimes certain titles get pushed to the back of the line and don't get read for several months or years. And when that happens, the reason for my interest in that particular story can become lost to time. That is definitely the case with Eric Ambler's novel Passage of Arms.

At some point in the past it was suggested in an article or some other area of influence that Ambler's novel about arms dealing in southeast Asia would be a good read. I honestly can't remember why I felt this book would be interesting or in my wheelhouse of interest, but I have to say that I ultimately was not let down.

The little information I do know about Eric Ambler is that he generally wrote thrillers, and more specifically, spy stories. However, his protagonists were rarely professional spies. In Passage of Arms, the story has several characters involved in the selling of a cache of weapons and ammunition, however, the group we are with the most is an American husband and wife who are on holiday and get wrapped up in the scheme.

I had no expectations going into this novel and knew nothing about it other than the author's name. Coming out I was pleasantly surprised and found the story to be engaging, precise, and overall thrilling, despite it being a slow burn of a story. We start and end with an Indian servant, but the story expands as it goes along the line of people who become involved in the selling of the weapons. To modern audiences who expect a thriller to constantly reveal new mysteries and every chapter to end on a cliffhanger, this novel is not for you. However, if you want varied and realistic characters who provide relatable motivations and morally grey incentives, then I cannot recommend this more. Since nearly every character throughout is dealing directly with the arms deal, there isn't really a good guy to be rooting for. Yet, no person represented is a black-or-white type of character. There are sensible motives provided for everyone and it becomes understandable as to how each character is involved in the plot of the story.

I'm still not sure how Passage of Arms got onto my radar, but I'm glad it did. I would recommend taking the time to check it out. It is a short novel and not a huge investment of time.

Jim Dent's Twelve Mighty Orphans

My mom gifted me a book for Christmas called Twelve Mighty Orphans by Jim Dent. It is about a group of boys from the 1930s that competed at a very high level in Texas high school football. What makes the story so compelling is that the ballclub was made up of orphans from the Masonic Home orphanage in Fort Worth.

Having grown up in Arlington and very familiar with all the cities that are highlighted throughout the book, it was a pleasure to go through this book. The history that is detailed for the local residents was extremely interesting and I could visualize exactly what was happening as it was explained because I've been to all of these places before. I've driven past the Masonic Home and the stadium where the Mighty Mites played their games so many times and didn't realize how much that team during the Great Depression meant to the residents of this metroplex and the state.

The story of how good the team was able to be, considering they only had 12 kids each season, no funding, and were smaller than nearly every other player on the field, is an unbelievable tale. If you have any interest in sports, I would recommend the read. And if you are a resident of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it would be an even more fulfilling study.

Homer's The Odyssey

After reading through Homer's first epic poem, The Iliad, in about three weeks, I knocked his follow-up poem, The Odyssey, out in only about 10 days. Due to the upcoming Christopher Nolan film starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Holland, I wanted to refresh my memory of the tale of Odysseus' return from the Trojan War. I had studied this book when in high school or college, but I had not revisited the tale since that time.

While the themes in The Iliad were a little more interesting, I sometimes let my mind wander during the pages upon pages of violence and war during that book. With The Odyssey, it held my attention a bit more and I enjoyed the sprawling adventure and multiple locations of the story. Here are a few overall thoughts about Homer's epic poem featuring the "crafty" and "wise" Greek king.

I was surprised to find out the poem doesn't even start with our hero, but his son and the troubles he is having at home with men trying to woo his mother into a new marriage. It doesn't get to Odysseus until about the fourth book (chapter). Also a bit shocking, and spoiler alert if you plan to read this magnificent story, Odysseus makes it back home at about halfway through the story and the remaining books deal with him overcoming the suitors who are taking advantage of his family's hospitality.

The themes found in The Odyssey weren't as varied or interesting to me, but at a later age in life I did find the theme of homecoming hit a little closer to home (pun unintended) than when I was in my teens and 20s.

For the casual reader, I would highly recommend The Odyssey. It was a pleasant read and the tales of endless trouble Odysseus found himself in while wandering his way back home from Troy more than held my attention. It has given me great anticipation for the upcoming film and I hope Nolan stays true to the source material. With the recent announcement of the Academy Awards nominations, a disappointment I had with the inclusion of Frankenstein in several categories, including Best Picture and Best Writing, was that Guillermo del Toro completely corrupted the original story by Mary Shelley. The changes he made for his film, in my opinion, were actually to the detriment of the story and its great themes. I'm hoping Nolan doesn't do the same with Homer's classic tale.