>Most recently I read 'The Eight' by Katherine Neville, 'Labyrinth' by Kate Mosse, 'The Mephisto Club' by Tess Gerritsen, and 'The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud' by Julia Navarro. All excellent books. I just finished a mystery set in Shakespeare's time 'The Quality of Mercy' by Faye Kellerman for lighter reading. Wow, I just noticed all of the books I've read during the past month were by women! That's unusual for me :o)

Not so odd really. If you read a lot of mystery (as I do), you'll notice that a very large number of mystery writers are women, so it's not hard to end up reading a bunch of books by female writers, one after the other.

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>>Not yet, but I am looking forward to it. I read the book. Cormac McCarthy is one of our best writers IMO. From everything I have read Javier Bardem (sp?) nails the part of the cold assassin.
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>>Lately I am reading old stuff, noirs, plus the new books about a couple of southern bad boys, Gram Parsons and Hunter Thompson. You?
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>>>Have you seen No Country for Old Men?
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>>>>This isn't exactly a recommendation because I know this movie wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. But it has been quite a while since a movie riveted me as much as the one I watched last night. It's called "This Is England" and is new on DVD. It is set in England in 1983, with the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher, and rampant unemployment as the backdrop, and revolves around a 12 year old boy named Shaun. Shaun is fatherless (for a reason we will learn) and falls in with a crowd of skinheads. The group at first becomes a surrogate family for him. These are not the cream of anyone's crop but they are all characterized with loving attention and are all basically decent people. Things take a darker turn with the appearance of one of the main character's old mates, who is just out of prison. I won't give away any more than that.
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>>>>Again, it's not for everyone. There are a couple of disturbing scenes of violence and foul language galore. In many ways it is far from uplifting. In a stealthy way, though, it is -- the power of family (however loosely defined), the power of the human spirit. The kid who plays Shaun is sensational and so are many of the others. Most of them are unknowns or little-knowns, at least to an American audience.
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>>>>Great soundtrack also, with lots of classic reggae. (This enthusiasm unfortunately extending to mischaracterizing the American classic "Dark End of the Street" as a reggae song).
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>>>>Put it this way; I watched it as a Netflix rental, based on critic's reviews, and have already put in an Amazon order. This one is a keeper for me.
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>>>>Any other movie recommendations?