Can you really have too many books?

My answer to that is no. I will admit that I may have a teeny tiny ebook collecting problem. But it is nothing to be concerned with. I have always loved books and reading.

A good book will always be worth finding, no matter how long it takes you to get to it. So, you gather the books, leave them to the side and when the time is right, you and the book go on an adventure. Simple really.

I just can't seem to get my family to agree to that. As Always, feel free to leave a comment below.

RIP Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone's music was part of the soundtrack of my childhood. My brothers and I ran around to his spaghetti western scores. So, this is for you, Ennio.

Ennio Morricone (10 November 1928 – 6 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player who wrote music in a wide range of styles. Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as over 100 classical works. His score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His filmography includes over 70 award-winning films, all Sergio Leone's films since A Fistful of Dollars, all Giuseppe Tornatore's films since Cinema Paradiso, The Battle of Algiers, Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, 1900, Exorcist II, Days of Heaven, several major films in French cinema, in particular the comedy trilogy La Cage aux Folles I, II, III and Le Professionnel, as well as The Thing, Once Upon a Time in America, The Mission, The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, Bugsy, Disclosure, In the Line of Fire, Bulworth, Ripley's Game and The Hateful Eight. Morricone is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film composers of all time.

 After playing the trumpet in jazz bands in the 1940s, he became a studio arranger for RCA Victor and in 1955 started ghost writing for film and theatre. Throughout his career, he composed music for artists such as Paul Anka, Mina, Milva, Zucchero and Andrea Bocelli. From 1960 to 1975, Morricone gained international fame for composing music for Westerns and—with an estimated 10 million copies sold—Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the best-selling scores worldwide. From 1966 to 1980, he was a main member of Il Gruppo, one of the first experimental composers collectives, and in 1969 he co-founded Forum Music Village, a prestigious recording studio. From the 1970s, Morricone excelled in Hollywood, composing for prolific American directors such as Don Siegel, Mike Nichols, Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Warren Beatty, John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino. In 1977, he composed the official theme for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He continued to compose music for European productions, such as Marco Polo, La piovra, Nostromo, Fateless, Karol and En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait. Morricone's music has been reused in television series, including The Simpsons and The Sopranos, and in many films, including Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. He also scored seven Westerns for Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari's Ringo duology and Sergio Sollima's The Big Gundown and Face to Face. Morricone worked extensively for other film genres with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Roman Polanski, Henri Verneuil, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi and Pier Paolo Pasolini. His acclaimed soundtrack for The Mission (1986) was certified gold in the United States. The album Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone stayed 105 weeks on the Billboard Top Classical Albums.

 Morricone's best-known compositions include "The Ecstasy of Gold", "Se Telefonando", "Man with a Harmonica", "Here's to You", the UK No. 2 single "Chi Mai", "Gabriel's Oboe" and "E Più Ti Penso". In 1971, he received a "Targa d'Oro" for worldwide sales of 22 million, and by 2016 Morricone had sold over 70 million records worldwide. In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." He was nominated for a further six Oscars, and in 2016, received his only competitive Academy Award for his score to Quentin Tarantino's film The Hateful Eight, at the time becoming the oldest person ever to win a competitive Oscar. His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello, eleven Nastro d'Argento, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2010. Morricone influenced many artists from film scoring to other styles and genres, including Hans Zimmer, Danger Mouse, Dire Straits, Muse, Metallica, and Radiohead.

This was  Ennio Morricone. Bye.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

Jane Aiken Hodge

So, the other day I picked up a book, The Runaway Bride by Jane Aiken Hodge, on a whim. You can imagine my surprise to discover how much her book echoed that of Georgette Heyer. It felt like I had just entered a familiar room on a different planet. It wasn't Ms. Heyer's world but it was something close enough.  For the Heyer fans out there, she wrote an excellent biography of Georgette Heyer.

Her bio reads as follows: Born near Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second child of Pulitzer prize-winning poet Conrad Aiken and his first wife, the writer Jessie McDonald. Jane Hodge was 3 years old when her family moved to Great Britain, settling in Rye, East Sussex where her younger sister, Joan, who would become a novelist and a children's writer, was born. Their parents' marriage was dissolved in 1929.

From 1935, Jane Hodge read English at Somerville College, Oxford University, and in 1938 she took a second degree in English at Radcliffe College, USA, her mother's alma mater. She was a civil servant for a time, and also worked for Time magazine, before returning to the UK in 1947.

Her works of fiction include historical novels and contemporary detective novels. In 1972 she renounced her United States citizenship and became a British subject.

She died in 2009.

If you are looking for a book to escape into for a bit, consider one from her.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below.

Serena Jones Mystery Series

I recently read a series that I loved and I hope you all get a chance to check out. The author is Sandra Orchard and you just got to check her out.

A Fool and his Monet

Serena Jones has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art - one that's surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about who murdered her grandfather. She's joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother's pleas to do something safer - like get married - Serena's determined to catch thieves and black market traders. When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Serena leaps into action - and into a whole heap of trouble.

Another Day, Another Dali

When FBI Special Agent Serena Jones takes on the case of a forged Dali painting as a favor to her grandmother, she assumes it will be a typical investigation. Hopefully collaring the thief will also mean finally measuring up in her grandmother's eyes. But the deeper she delves into the forgery and the suspect surrounding it, the less typical it becomes.
The Dali isn't the only painting that's fallen prey to the forgery-replacing thief, raising the possibility of a sophisticated theft ring - one with links to dirty cops, an aspiring young artist,  and the unsolved murder of Serena's grandfather. To make matters worse, someone connected to the forgeries seems to be determined to stop Serena's investigation - no matter the cost.

Over Maya Dead Body

FBI Special Agent Serena Jones arrives on Martha's Vineyard with her family, ready for a bit of R & R and a lot of reminiscing as they celebrate the engagement of an old family friend. But when a suspicious death tied to an antiquities smuggling ring interrupts her picture-perfect trip, she's soon entangled in the investigation.
Propelled into danger, Serena must stay the course and solve this case before anyone else does. But just how is she to do that when the two men in her life arrive on the scene, bringing with them a boatload of romantic complications - and even a secret or two?




This first book had me so engrossed that I actually finished it the same day I started it. I started the second book immediately and finished that the next day. Then, I started the last book and I was not disappointed the the end. If you are looking for a good Christian romantic mystery series, then look no further. As always feel free to leave a comment below.

The Frame-up by Meghan Scott Molin

Meghan Scott Molin's The Frame-up is a fun, fast paced mystery that embraces the world of Geekdom. I loved the way Meghan casually tossed geek knowledge throughout the book while explaining things in a way that feels like a good friend has just let me in on the ubercool inside joke.



                                                  
Our main character is comic book writer/costume designer Michael-Grace Martin, who insists on being called MG because life is tough enough without being a girl called Michael all the time. She's spunky, funny, and a tad sarcastic. On a day when she's running late for work and the line at the coffee shop is long enough to make a man weep, she sees a picture of a crime scene that reminds her of a frame from an old classic comic. After she casually mentioned it to the hipster in front of her, she puts it out of her mind. That is, until the hipster turns out to be a cop who wants her help to him solve who is the "Golden Arrow". What MG didn't expect when she accepts is that she will be drawn into a decades old murder mystery, be framed as the "Golden Arrow", expose a corrupt cop/druglord, grow closer to her co-workers and fall in love with the Hipster cop who is totally not her type.

This book was a gem. I recommend it to anyone who is even just a little bit of a fangirl/fanboy. You don't want to miss it. Also, this book is going on my "Should be a Movie" list.