Go Down Together was bought immediately after I read and loved Jeff Guinn’s The Road to Jonestown, and was no disappointment. Prior to reading this, I knew the very basics about the pair – Depression era gangsters and snappy dressers, who went down together in a hail of bullets. After reading this, I feel I know the pair rather intimately – and was rather surprised to have some of the more popular myths about them demolished. Both hailing from incredibly poverty stricken backgrounds – the […]
Starting the new year off with a new face and an old (violent) dog learning new tricks
Gangsterland had been on my “to read” pile for some time. I am what I would define as a super fan of the podcast “Literary Disco.” This novel is the newest book by Tod Goldberg, one of the contributors of the podcast. If you haven’t heard it, you MUST. Here is their description of the shenanigans they get up to. We’re Julia, Tod, and Rider — three good friends who also happen to be huge book nerds. Scattered to the far reaches of Southern California, more […]
Immortals, Gangsters, and Bootlegging but no Capone
Baccano!: The Rolling Bootlegs is as the title suggests (‘baccano’ supposedly means ‘commotion’) a crazy story with a lot of characters and a lot of action. I have to admit, I’d seen the anime of this story already (I’m pretty sure there’s a manga too but I haven’t seen that), so I kind of knew who was who, but the novel version actually includes a lot of things that made more sense to me in this format, including the identity of the demon who provides […]
Diamonds, Dames, and Danger!
I’ve been reading the Ian Fleming Bond books for the last couple of years in order of release. Diamonds Are Forever is the 4th full length Bond novel and like its predecessors much more focused on tension and mystery than over the top action and unbelievable circumstances. This time out, the British secret service has tasked Bond with discovering the head of a diamond smuggling operation. This assignment pits Bond against a crime organization known as the Spang Brothers and puts him in the company […]