Memoirs of a Noble Man by Raymond McGregor

I just finished reading Memoirs of a Noble Man by Raymond McGregor.

Jack Brown lost both his parents at a young age but continued to grow up understanding the meaning of respect and hard work thanks to a close family friend, Sam. Life for Jack is simple until a dangerous man comes to town seeking a high stakes poker game. Sam's lust for gambling leads the stranger to take Sam's money and his life. 

While collecting Sam's body, he learns that the stranger has also kidnapped a young woman. With nothing left to go home to, Jack decides to save the young woman, whom he finds himself growing attracted to and avenge his old friend's death. Despite his lack of life experience, Jack finds it increasingly difficult to do what he thinks is noble. 

Will Jack Brown find purpose in life or succumb to his fears and emotions?

When Jack Brown goes out to avenge his friends death and rescue a kidnapped woman, he finds himself quickly in over his head. Written from an entirely different perspective than usual westerns, it's a wonderfully told, fast paced story which kept me entertained throughout.

About Raymond McGregor

Raymond McGregor was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He turned his appreciation for literature into an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature at Laurentian University before attending Nipissing University in North Bay for Teachers’ College. He works as a high school English teacher and enjoys fishing, hunting, playing music, painting and reading in his spare time. Raymond has aspired to write for many years and his two children have been the biggest inspiration to pursue this dream. He hopes that they too will follow their lifelong goals. He now lives in Wawa, a small town in northern Ontario.

The Boy on the Bicycle by Nate Hendley

I just finished reading The Boy on the Bicycle by Nate Hendley.

On the night of September 15, 1956, seven-year-old Wayne Mallette, was brutally murdered on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The chief suspect was a “boy on a bicycle” seen pedalling away from the CNE. 

Investigators zeroed on 14-year-old Ronald Moffatt, a former CNE employee who had the poor timing to run away from home shortly after the murder. Moffatt was located, arrested and interrogated. He eventually confessed and was convicted. 

The problem was, Moffatt couldn’t ride a bike and didn’t commit the crime. The real killer abused and murdered two more children, using his bike as a lure. 

A shocking true story, about a coerced confession, fumbled police investigation, a miscarriage of justice, and the star lawyer who fought to free Moffatt from custody. 

A compelling story of 14-year-old Ronald Moffatt who was wrongly charged and convicted of murdering seven-year-old Wayne Mallette in 1956 Toronto. Nate Hendley weaves facts and narrative to cover all bases –flawed police procedure, the legal system, the hidden psyche of the real killer and Moffatt’s story of his childhood before and his terror during and after his ordeal.

When a friend told me about this book and the true story which happened only a couple of kilometers away, I had to read it. I could tell it was well researched. Told in chronological order, Hendley does an excellent job in telling the story. He explains all the details involved without bogging down the book. I liked the photos in the back of the people involved and of some of the various documents and reports he found while investigating this story. I enjoyed it.

About Nate Hendley 

Nate is a Toronto-based journalist and true-crime author who has written over a dozen non-fiction books about gangsters, wrongful convictions, cons and hoaxes, and illegal drugs, among other topics. His last book, The Boy on the Bicycle: A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto, was a finalist in the Arthur Ellis Awards for excellence in crime writing in 2019 and was longlisted for “The Very Best!” Book Awards 2018 by The Miramichi Reader. Nate also hosts a blog, Crime Story, devoted to crime-related topics.

Rendezvous With Raman by Arthur C. Clarke

Today I finished reading Rendezvous With Rama, an Arthur C. Clarke novel published in 1973.

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.

It's an intriguing story throughout. Not one of your alien vs mankind novels, but one of exploration of a massive alien created spaceship or maybe, an alien created world. As it was written 48 years ago I found it interesting that some of the technological challenges the crew faced in the 2130s have already been solved. 

The novel won the 1974 Nebula Award and the 1974 Hugo Award, both for Best Novel.  It's such an engrossing read, I can see why. 

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

Today I finished reading The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill.

One night, while lying in bed next to her husband, Claire Devon suddenly hears a low hum. This innocuous sound, which no one else in the house can hear, has no obvious source or medical cause, but it begins to upset the balance of Claire’s life. When she discovers that one of her students can also hear the hum, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship. Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of people who also perceive the sound. What starts out as a kind of neighbourhood self-help group gradually transforms into something much more extreme, with far-reaching, devastating consequences. 

This is a deep engrossing novel which went down a road I didn't expect. Definitely worth reading.

About Jordan Tannahill

Jordan Tannahill is a playwright, director, and author. His plays have been translated into multiple languages and honoured with a number of prizes including the Governor General’s Literary Award for drama and several Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Jordan’s films and multimedia performances have been presented at festivals and galleries such as the Toronto International Film Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Tribeca Film Festival. From 2012 to 2016, Jordan and William Ellis ran the influential underground art space Videofag out of their home in Toronto’s Kensington Market. Born in Ottawa, he currently resides in London, England.  

Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades by David Steinberg

I just finished reading Inside Comedy: The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades by David Steinberg.

From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for him) and four years later, entered the master's program in English literature at the University of Chicago, until he saw Lenny Bruce, the Blue Boy of Comedy, the coolest guy Steinberg had ever seen, and joined Chicago's Second City improvisational group, becoming, instead, the comedian's comedian, director, actor, working with, inspired by, teaching, and learning from the most celebrated, admired, complicated comedians, then and now--a funny, moving, provocative, insightful look into the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians--a universe unto itself--of the last half-century. 

 Steinberg, through stories, reminiscences, tales of directing, touring, performing, and, through the comedians themselves talking (from more than 75 interviews), makes clear why he loves comedy and comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years.

If you're looking for dirt on celebrities in this book, you won't find it. Steinberg has worked with pretty much everyone in comedy and has many great behind the scene stories to tell. I really enjoyed it.

About David Steinberg

David Steinberg CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States.

 

He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times (second only to Bob Hope in number of appearances) and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person ever to guest-host. 

Steinberg directed several films and episodes of television situation comedies, including Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Golden Girls, and Designing Women. Since 2012, Steinberg has hosted the interview program Inside Comedy on the Showtime network.