Ken Reads The Classics

Thank you for continuing to listen to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I hope you enjoy the episode.

In this episode, we meet the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion. They join Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and her little dog Toto too, as the journey to meet with the Wizard of Oz.

In this episode, I continue reading Frank L. Baum's classic tale The Wizard of Oz. You can find free, electronic form of this book at gutenberg.org. Enjoy.

In this season, I read Frank L. Baum's classic tale, a free electronic form of this book is available at gutenberg.org.

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of Ken Reads The Classics. As I mentioned, I will, from time to time, review a modern book and this is one of those times.

I just finished reading Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore. Razzmatazz is the sequel to his novel Noir but rest assured it stands on it’s own. I know this because I haven’t read Noir before but after reading Razzmatazz, I plan on picking a copy of Noir up and enjoying that.

Razzmatazz takes place in post-World War II San Francisco. Moore created a host of engaging characters like Sammy, Moo Shus, The Cheese, and Uncle Ho among the human ones and the Rain Dragon and Scooter among the non-human ones.

This book grabbed my attention from the beginning, and I mean beginning with the trigger warning. Moore uses colorful language throughout the book, including some racial slurs, but he uses them to show the ignorance of people vice engaging in racial supremacist apology or justification.

Sammy is the lead character who couldn’t serve in the war due to physical defects and now that the war is over, earns his living as a bartender. He dates a energetic, former welder now turned waitress that he calls The Cheese but doesn’t want her to know that. Moore surrounds this duo with a multi-racial, multi-cultural team of people with Asian and African ethnicity to solve a mystery, well several mysteries actually, like the figurative onion with Moore peeling away layer after layer until you reach the center - of the earth - well, almost.

His energetic writing style kept my mind engaged as the story raced along; I admit to re-reading several sections, sometimes because I wanted to laugh again - this book is very funny, and other times because my brain couldn’t keep up with Moore. I appreciated the challenge though and I think you will too. If you can handle the many off-color jokes and a great deal of immature yet somehow just for adults language, then Razzmatazz is for you.

Thank you for listening and please joining me next time on Ken Reads The Classics.

In this episode, we continued reading Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales. More specifically, we continue reading The Snow Queen, which is a tale about young Gerda looking for her long lost friend Kay. In this episode Gerda meets not only a kind prince and princess but also a kind robber maiden.

In this episode, we read Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen. We follow the adventures of Kay and Gerda and hope all turns out fine in the end. 

In this episode we learn a king is willing to give his daughter away as a prize to either a flea, a grasshopper, or a leap-frog, whichever can jump the highest. Ah, the horrors of being a woman back in the day. 

Also, we hear the tale of a young boy who learns about his future from a dryad. 

Enjoy!

I just finished reading P.T. Duetermann’s The Last Paladin, a book about the U.S.S. Holland - a sub-hunting surface ship during World War II. I picked this book because I have a friend who is stationed in Hawaii and talking with her reminded me of my time sailing around Diamond Head as well as sailing in Japan and other parts of the world.

In The Last Paladin, Deutermann writes a fascinating story about the Holland, a fictional sub-hunter sent to destroy Japanese submarines in the vast, and I mean vast, Pacific Ocean. He uses a technique I have never come across before, writing in the first-person but from two different characters points of view - the Captain and the Executive Officer. As I read this story, I found myself fully engaged in the sea battles between the Holland and the six different submarines they attacked and sunk. To be clear, the Holland takes on each sub one at a time and in most cases alone. Lieutenant Commander deTomasi, Deutermann’s fictional captain, is a consummate hunter, evaluating his prey and devising techniques to scare the enemy subs to the surface or boxing them in with a new weapon - the hedgehog.

One of the challenges for me was the harsh comments and derogatory terms the captain and crew understandably made towards their enemy - the Japanese. These comments jumped out at me because I was stationed in Japan for over six years early on in my Air Force career. I found the Japanese people to be just like people all around the world, kind and generous and fun to be around. And now, of course, the countries of Japan and the United States of America are allies.  What a difference a day makes. This all gives me hope we can find a way to make our current adversaries into our future friends - without a horrific war. I don’t fault Deutermann as he used the terms to create a very realistic experience aboard a wartime vessel facing a determined enemy.

Back to the book, Deutermann creates some very memorable scenes in The Last Paladin. The most salient of which for me is that of Chief Petty Officer Garcia sitting ten feet above an unexploded Japanese torpedo lodged into the side of the Holland. The Chief sits in a bosun’s chair, smoking a cigar, over the top of unexploded ordnance, as the Holland makes five knots in calm seas and lists to port.

If action packed, seafaring stories are for you, then I can highly recommend The Last Paladin. You can grab a copy at your local library. That’s where I got mine. Thank you for listening and I hope you join me next time on Ken Reads The Classics.

In this episode, we finish up The Shoes of Fortune and then learn a lesson about happiness from The Fir Tree. Enjoy.