1. What are you currently reading? Kickback: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins. I loved Robert B. Parker's creation so much that I was skeptical when Mr. Atkins took over the Spenser series. But he does Spenser justice. This is the fourth time I've picked up an Atkins-authored Spenser, this one about a high school student who lands in juvie, and his mother turns to Spenser to help. I've just begun it, but I know that things will get very complicated, and very dangerous, very fast.
2. What did you recently finish reading? American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping,Crimes and Trials of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin. Oh, this book! Frustrating!
Toobin does a terrific job at laying out the facts of Patty's case in the trippy, violent, cyncial post-Watergate, pre-Internet world of the 1970s. He brings some colorful characters -- particularly Ms. Hearst's fiance, Steven Weed, and father, Randolph Hearst -- to life. He is also masterful at explaining the complicated legal issues Patty faced -- which is to be expected because he's an accomplished trial lawyer and a familiar legal analyst on CNN.
But I disagree with the conclusions he draws. He has Patricia willingly joining the SLA and holds her responsible for the crimes she committed. Unfair! The 19-year-old girl was kidnapped at gunpoint and kept first in a closet for more than a month. She was told her parents were not fully cooperating with the kidnappers to gain her release, and that the FBI considered her a fugitive. The second was true, the first was not, but no matter -- she believed both. She didn't think she could return to her former life, and she was too famous and too notorious to just slip back into society. She felt she had to stay with the SLA. Perhaps she even came to accept their Marxist mumbo jumbo. Again, no matter -- she was a crime victim, not a criminal.
Which is not to say I don't recommend this book. It was entertaining and educational, and it makes me want to buy Toobin a drink and explain to him why I think he's wrong about Patty.
3. What will you read next? Maybe another biography? Or a mystery. My TBR pile is stacked dauntingly high with both.
I can't remember if I've read any of the Spencer books. I remember the TV show.
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