P 116 of Tab Hunter's autobiography

After doing three movies, none of which were particularly good, Art (Tab) gets the chance to do his first stage production--Our Town!  Whew.  What a play to be the first!  But he learned a valuable acting lesson that he hadn't quite figured out before.  Other endeavors he had loved to this point had been horseback riding (he did steeplechase) and ice skating (good enough to work once with Dick Button--Olympic gold medal winner).  In both sports, he was used to individual effort with lots of practice producing excellence.   But, of course, this is not true of acting.  In theatre (and I'm sure movies), the team works together to make the whole thing into art....and by the team, I mean everyone...actors, crew, support....everyone.  Although in Gun Belt (his second movie) he learned this about stunt performers, he didn't really understand the whole dynamic until Our Town.

I find myself chuckling often while reading.  He is very forthright about his mistakes, naivete, confusions, and extreme guilt (associated with him mom, though there was nothing there he could have done better, given the circumstances) and I find myself identifying with his struggles quite a bit.  The book is very readable and enjoyable.

Reading Tab Hunter's autobiography

When I saw Tab Hunter promoting this book in 2005, I was delighted that Hollywood hadn't chewed him up and spit him out as I was afraid it had.  Although I am not very far into the book, he certainly has hinted that it tried.  He says Tab Hunter was an invention of the movie machine.  And, I certainly was manipulated by the same machine to have a mad crush on him as a pre-teen.

As it turned out, I did see him on the big screen since then in John Waters' wonderful movies.  I just hadn't recognized him.  Although, from the picture on the back of the book, he was still a very good looking man at 74.  (I figure he is probably about 81 now, and probably still great looking.)

He makes a good point early in the book about why so many great actors are gay.  Growing up gay teaches a child both quickly and well how to pretend to be someone they are not.  And what is acting?  Of course, there are other circumstances that could teach a child that, but none of them sound like they would make for a particularly happy childhood....

Finished People of the Lightning

Featuring complicated characters, relationships, and mythology, the plot of this book moves quickly and absorbingly.  It certainly has more of a plot than the Clan of the Cave Bear books which are also based on archeology.  This book was delightful and I highly recommend it.  So much so that I am bound for Amazon to get more books in this series.

I am now starting Tab Hunter, Confidential  The Making of a Movie Star by Tab Hunter.

Finished Cure

Well, as is usual with Robin Cook, I had to finish even if I had to stay up all night to do it. 

Robin is concerned with medical issues and with realism.  Although he does believe in justice, it is not his highest priority--realism is higher.  He doesn't kill off his main characters (usually), which allows for semi-happy endings, but I will withhold the fifth star on Goodreads because of a couple thread left unresolved (or at least unresolved to my satisfaction) and some preaching at the end.  But, this is a true thriller with a lot happening and, as I say, it can endanger your sleep... :-)

I have now started People of the Lightning by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear.  They have written a series of books with some similarities to Jean Auell's Clan of the Cave Bear series in that they are stories (epics, really) based on facts (some relatively recently discovered) by archaeologists.  Each of these books is a complete story to itself, each based in a different part of what was to become the United States, each in a different prehistoric time period.  This one is set in what is to become central Florida about 5-6 thousand years B. C.  It begins shortly after the end of the last ice age and the land is fairly similar to how it looks today except it doesn't have quite so many lakes. 

The book has two maps and a time chart at the beginning and a bibliography of reference works at the end.  I'm looking forward to the adventure.

3/5 through Cure, by Robin Cook

Well, now that I am on page 300, I finally figured out how to find Cure on Goodreads.  Normally, I just type the title into the space next to "Add a Book" and up it pops.  But this time the title Cure seemed to greatly confuse the program.  It kept coming up with "Quest."  So finally, today, I went to Explore and looked up books by Robin Cook and there it was...on the second page.  So, I am properly registered for what I am reading on Goodreads now.

Like Robin Cook's books, it started exciting and has just gotten more so.  I like Laurie and Jack Stapleton very much, especially Laurie, although both of them are delightfully pigheaded.  They both get into puzzle solving with their forensics (yes, I love Bones, too and I used to be a big fan of Quincy) to the exclusion of concern about most other things in their lives.  But now, Laurie has a new baby to be concerned about and that leads to further complications.

Finished Must Love Hellhounds

TR and I plan to spend much of Memorial Day weekend on the back porch with our books and a bottle of wine.  Since I last reported his reading, he read a Le Carre book on the advice of a fellow member of the Y.  He started another, but then quit reporting that he was bored by it.  He read a Jackson Brody (character) book having met the character in one of the Masterpiece Mysteries we watch.  He liked it and has said he will buy more when he can find them.  Now he is reading a John Jakes book.  There aren't many of those now that he has not read.

I have finished Must Love Hellhounds.  The last story was the best hellhound of all...certainly the most lovable.  I have just started Cure by Robin Cook.  Whew!  Jack and Laurie Stapleton and their new son, all the gang at the OCME, two stem cell patenting companies--one in New York and one in Japan...oh, wait...three--one in San Diego, four crime families--two in Japan and two in New York and I have only just started.  Thank goodness there is a character list in front to help keep everyone straight!  But, it has started with seven murders right off the bat, so...I'm looking forward to the week-end.  :-)

3/4 through Must Love Hellhounds

The good part about short stories is being introduced to new characters and authors.  The bad part about short stories is being introduced to new characters and authors.  There is an investment demanded by learning about new things that, in my old age, I find myself adverse to.  However, sometimes the characters are well worth the effort.

All four stories in the book find at least one side of the hellhounds in each story useful or even likable.  And, I've enjoyed all four of the main characters.  In "The Britlingens Go to Hell," two female bodyguards, Batanya and Clovache are hired to protect a thief as he goes to Hell on a retrieval mission.

In "Angel's Judgement,"  by Nalini Singh, Sara, a hunter and soon to be Hunter's Guild director is sent to kill/capture whoever is killing hunters.  In "Magic Mourns" by Ilona Andrews, Andrea Nash, a knight, enlists herself to help save the world from a necromancer who is controlling several vampires.

In "Blind Spot" by Meljean Brook, Maggie Wren is sent by her employer, a vampire, to rescue his nephew and niece. 

What I like about series is the ability to revisit favorite characters over and over.  I wouldn't mind revisiting any of these.