Readers Anonymous - are you an addict?

Do your palms sweat at the thought of a new Stephen King hitting the shelves? Do you neglect your friends in order to curl up between the pages? Do you have to charge your Kindle more than twice a month?  Are there books in every room of your house?

 If you answered yes to any of the questions above then you may be addicted to reading.

This addiction is widespread and the side effects are a stronger vocabulary, an imaginative mind and a better understanding of what makes things tick.

Check out this article HERE by Tara Block which lists fifty signs that you may be afflicted with a reading addiction. If so you may be able to get help....but would you want it?

Tainted Stats

Weekly Stats Report: 14 Apr - 20 Apr 2014
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

Summary

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	171	184	153	134	191	146	146	1,125	161
Unique Visits	142	131	121	119	164	137	128	942	135
First Time Visits	130	115	110	115	146	131	121	868	124
Returning Visits	12	16	11	4	18	6	7	74	11

The Sad Death of Sue Townsend Aged 68 and a bit

Sue Townsend the creator of the mega successful Adrian Mole series died last week - I first  read the The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and Three Quarters when I wasn't much older than that myself. And I've  stuck with the books all these years, reading each and every one as they came out and aging with the character.


. Adrian Mole was a self obsessed teenager who took himself far too seriously and his diaries were comedy gold. The first book made Townsend a household name and propelled her to the top of the bestseller lists. The last Adrian Mole book was 2009's The Prostrate Years and it has been confirmed that Sue Townsend was actually working on another Adrian Mole book when she sadly died.


"We can confirm that Sue was in the middle of writing the book. Her editor had seen what she describes as 'a few wonderful pages'. It was supposed to be out this autumn and we are very sad that we won't be able to show it to the world."Publisher, Michael Joseph

Though given the way modern publishing works it is unlikely that the author's death will see the end of the series and expect to see the unfinished novel completed by another hand in the fullness of time.

RIP Sue Townsend


"One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met." Stephen Mangan who played Adrian Mole in the 2001 BBC TV series, The Cappuccino Years

Related Article - Sue Townsend and the Welfare State

Bond 24 new plot details revealed - The names Bond, James Bond, Guv

I must admit to being disappointed when it was recently announced the Sam Mendes will not direct the next Bond movie - after all Skyfall was a damn fine Bond movie, even if I'm still not totally sold on Daniel Craig in the role of 007. Still Skyfall displayed an understanding of the franchise and was a better Bond movie than either of Craig's other two efforts. Yeah, I know many people think Daniel Craig's first stab at the role in Casino Royale was a triumph but I am not one of those. Still the latest unconfirmed rumours are even more of a worry, and Guy Ritchie is being touted as the director of the next Bond movie. Daniel Craig's Bond is already too blokey and Ritchie's already given us a blokey Sherlock Holmes, both of which have been successful which fucking baffles me. Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is nothing like Sherlock Holmes and Daniel Craig's Bond is already too Bondlite so the combination of Craig and Ritchie is not something I'd savour.

Yes Guy Ritchie can direct action but he's not so hot with character development, and the latter was a high point of Skyfall.

The news is that the next Bond will be called Brown Bread Forever, Brown Bread being  cockney rhyming slang for dead, and that Bond will face a deadly criminal organization. The Archive can reveal that Leslie Grantham has been approached to play the lead baddie who manages the Five Finger Shuffle nightclub, which is in reality a front for the criminal empire that stretches from Walford  to the Isle of Dogs. The film will be made at various exotic locations including Brighton, the Costa Del Crime and a Scrapyard in London's East End.

Never mind here's a pic from a time when James Bond was still suave and sophisticated rather than rough and ready....and we still have the older, far superior, Bond movies to fall back on.

9 Books on Writing and Reading

I came across this article HERE which will be of interest to Archive readers.

Hardly anything does one’s mental, spiritual, and creative health more good than resolving to read more and write better. Today’s reading list addresses these parallel aspirations. And since the number of books written about reading and writing likely far exceeds the reading capacity of a single human lifetime, this omnibus couldn’t be — shouldn’t be — an exhaustive list. It is, instead, a collection of timeless texts bound to radically improve your relationship with the written word, from whichever side of the equation you approach it.

Fine the full article and list of books HERE

The Godfather Saga

Over the last few evenings I revisited the Godfather saga and watched all three films. This is only the second time I've seen the much maligned third installment, and to be honest it's a far better film than I remember. I recall hating it when I first saw it, but perhaps I was expecting a more straightforward mobster movie as delivered in parts 1 and 2, but I've come to the conclusion that whilst part three is not as good as one or two, it is still a great film and a fitting end to the trilogy.

Of course the movies are all superb and Marlon Brando's performance in Part 1 is nothing short of excellent, as is that of his son Michael, played of course by Al Pacino, who reluctantly takes over the family business and becomes  more of a monster than his father ever was. The second part shows Michael building up the empire, settling old scores and facing a senate committee into organized crime. Alongside this Robert De'Niro becomes a younger Marlon Brando for the flashback storyline which sees the original Godfather rising to power. The third is then set some years later and tells of Michael's attempts to legitamise the family business while his nephew Vincent played by Andy Garcia takes over the family business.

Many years ago I remember seeing the Godfather edited into a TV mini-series , and it was recut into chronological order so we started off with the young Vito (De'Niro) and then went onwards to old Vito (Brando) and onto Michael becoming the new head of the family. Watching the movies like this showed how seamlessly De'Niro had stepped into the boots of Marlon Brando. The third movie hadn't been made when this cut was made but I recall that this TV edit was unbelievably even better than the movie versions. Now I love these movies and wouldn't be without my movie cuts but I do wish the edited version of parts 1 and 2 were available on DVD. I believe the edited version was called The Godfather Saga but can find scant information online about the edit. The  WIKI states it was made for NBC Television but doesn't state of the edited -film ever had a DVD release.

Savage Blood by James Reasoner

Savage Blood
Author: James Reasoner
eBook

This book's been sitting on my Kindle for a few months, but until now I'd not got around to reading it . I was at a loss for something to read and fancying a short western I decided to give this book a try.

It' a short book. I don't like to call it a novella -I don't really like that term - and it's too long to call it a short story. So I'm going to stick with the good old fashioned term and call the book a novel.  Fitting really given that Savage Blood is a good old fashioned, action packed western.

Brodie is a one armed veteran of the Civil War. As well as his arm the war took his beloved Eva from him - well she actually fell into the two arms of another man but only after believing Brodie dead. However when Brodie receives a summons for help from Eva who is being driven out of her business by a ruthless town boss called Flannery, he has every right to ignore her. That's not the way it goes though and Brodie soon finds himself teamed up with the ex-wife's current man,Martin Caney and together they are heading for a showdown with Flannery.

At the root of this excellent story is a standard western plot of big business pushing around the common man, a plot I've used myself, but Reasoner's cast of three dimensional characters give the story a gravitas common to all of the best western fiction. The conflict between Caney and Brodie is handled well and never seems anything less than fully believable. You can imagine that this is how men in such a situation would interact, and this plot strand is used to create tension throughout the book.

An excellent western, skilfully told with an appealing lead character. The reader is immediately rootING for him. He's a cripple in a cruel world, where no allowances will be made for his handicap but even one armed Brodie is a match for most men.

Highly recommended and available at a low price for Kindle and other eReaders.