tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45575050363587787612011-12-20T09:36:41.326-08:00Loose term for a body of literature enjoyed mostly by men that includes but is not limited to two fisted crime and detective novels, books about war, spies and outdoor adventure, and sports writing.Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.comBlogger751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-19527324825399251132011-08-17T09:10:00.000-07:002011-08-17T09:11:26.596-07:00

This quote from a Sports Illustrated piece on Dustin Pedroia by Tom Verducci reminds us why sports writing is some of the best writing: Strip away the television ratings, the attendance figures, the merchandise sales, the gambling, the beer ads and the rest of the variables that measure the import of professional sports in our culture. Think about what's left: how we connect emotionally with

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-16770951500275833282011-05-07T16:51:00.000-07:002011-05-07T17:08:12.176-07:00

I finally got around to checking out the "historical espionage novels" of Alan Furst, starting with the one that usually comes most recommended, The Polish Officer. I was not disappointed and will be reading more Furst. In a nutshell, he covers the clandestine aspects of the Second World War with great depth and accuracy, which naturally unfolds intellectual and emotional aspects of the war that

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-92165671660362355592011-04-19T09:55:00.000-07:002011-04-19T10:01:08.894-07:00

I read Tom Sawyer last week. The last time I read the book was at least 30 years ago. I think we can make an argument that Twain's classic is the original "guy" book. Just think about what Twain covers in a relatively short book. Rebellion and disobedience Adventure travel A girl you can't live without Pirates! Murder FriendshipI could continue, but I've made my point. Twain essentially provided

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-16291870368681695152011-04-07T07:53:00.000-07:002011-04-07T07:56:54.470-07:00

A 2000 inning long baseball game.....check.Time travel......check.Native American mythology.....check.A slightly odd church that lives life 12 hours offset from the rest of the world....check.Finding the love of your life. Again. Or previously....checkLearning that getting what you’ve always wanted doesn’t necessarily solve your problems....priceless?This is just a fantastic book. I finished it

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-88853854887288340522011-04-01T11:53:00.000-07:002011-04-01T12:00:43.008-07:00

Richard Condon is my favorite writer right now. I just put down a fourth book by him (An Infinity of Mirrors) and started a fifth (Winter Kills) and I am convinced - was convinced after The Manchurian Candidate, Prizzi's Honor and Arigato - that I want to read every word this man ever wrote.So my iniative into "the Condon Cult" is well underway. And I'm actually a little thrilled to be in on the

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-82685980318972930562011-03-30T15:40:00.001-07:002011-03-30T15:40:54.457-07:00

I picked this up at a used bookstore and it's the best $3 I've spent in a long time. It's film noir, on paper, as the author really captures the feel of the times in this hardboiled crime fiction set in NYC in the months leading up to opening day, 1947, with Jackie Robinson playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It's a good story that moves along quickly, and would make one hell of a good

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-86174692881101869732011-03-15T14:36:00.000-07:002011-03-15T14:38:56.675-07:00

1070 pages, yet it felt like a quick read. How does Stephen King do that? I read it in about a week. The basic plot - an invisible force field cuts a small New England town off from the world. Imagine living in a snow globe. How would you react? How would other react? At one point about half-way through the book I almost quit. It was so dark, and so depressing, the evil in men’s hearts so

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-50538262296559173002011-03-15T14:01:00.000-07:002011-03-15T14:25:52.689-07:00

My consumption of Eric Ambler novels continues with The Schirmer Inheritance, an excellent novel. Ambler's gifts seem to include detailed knowledge about various places in Europe and their tangled history. In Schirmer, he is covering some of the same ground as his classic Coffin for Dimitrios in that his protagonist, a stable, unextraordinary attorney, is attempting to unravel what happened to

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-22992185584902224942011-02-03T07:20:00.000-08:002011-02-03T07:27:36.327-08:00

2nd Manassas is a somewhat overlooked battle in the American Civil War. That is a shame, because it provides a compelling drama in the brilliance of General Lee’s leadership, contrasted sharply with the utter incompetence of General Pope on the Union Side. This richly detailed account gets deep into the weeds of regimental level troop movements, but does so in a way that maintains a focus on

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-26610215820941837372011-01-23T19:52:00.000-08:002011-01-23T19:54:59.151-08:00

A 1974 book about an inter-stellar war that goes on forever, with an enemy we don’t understand, fought by soldiers that were drafted, and led by officers that are idiots. Vietnam anybody? Anybody? This parable of the follies of war is as relevant today as it was in 1974. By taking the never ending war to a ridiculous extreme and by applying the paradox of near light speed travel to the

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-69668180138017489082011-01-04T14:06:00.000-08:002011-01-04T14:10:53.466-08:00

The Lockhorns. When I was young I was horrified by this comic strip. Now that I am older and have been married a while I find the whole thing a lark. I mean it's obviously satire to me. Maybe because the characters are such caricatures of married people, I can look at the whole distortion and laugh. Even Wikipedia's description is funny:-Leroy Lockhorn - The man of the house who drinks a lot,

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-26920441336375336302010-12-22T06:40:00.000-08:002010-12-22T06:45:05.850-08:00

This is the definitive book on The Battle of Fredericksburg. Incredibly detailed, exhaustively researched, and vivid in its description of the horrors of war. In a lot of ways, it’s the ultimate anti-war book. I can’t imagine reading this and thinking the carnage is cool. Although it delves deep into the minutia of troop level movements and battle strategy, Frank’s writing style keeps you

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-62166254118698170612010-12-22T06:25:00.000-08:002010-12-22T06:29:35.449-08:00

I read Madame Bovary because of de Maupassant and I read de Maupassant because of Maugham. I was not disappointed in Bovary. I’m not sure if everything of Flaubert’s is like this but Bovary was everything I hoped it would be and some things I didn’t expect. Some observations.Madame Bovary is a surprisingly modern novel in that it identifies a problem familiar to modern readers. It’s about an

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-23995340471183780362010-12-22T06:14:00.000-08:002010-12-22T06:18:35.563-08:00

I have a well thumbed copy of the Collected Stories of William Faulkner, Vintage edition that I have spent time with sporadically for years. Every time I pick it up I read a little more, always planning to spend more time on Faulkner, explore the novels beyond As I Lay Dying, which I’ve read twice, and never quite getting to it. Time to change that.I guess my appreciation of Faulkner’s stories

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-7431053054622845502010-10-29T06:29:00.001-07:002010-10-29T06:58:19.708-07:00

For most of my young life I was a chronic hero-worshiper. I have been half-heartedly trying to determine if I was excessive in this and if I am still prone to it. Naturally, my heroes these days are more diverse. But when I was young they were fairly common and shared a number of traits in that they were all strong, erudite and principled men. These days, I number my mother, my wife and my

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-9358874653988395882010-10-25T06:18:00.000-07:002010-10-25T06:36:11.032-07:00

I suspect many of you have been anxiously wondering why I haven't updated the blog in a while. I mean, with everything going on in the world and your life, no doubt one of the priorities in your thinking has been, That guy that blogs excessively about spy novels and sports stories, what is he up to? I must know!!A bulleted list, if you don't mind, of a few things in my stew.-As titled, I haven't

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-8634235288060624312010-05-26T06:55:00.001-07:002010-05-26T06:55:31.935-07:00

Jim Bouton's Ball Four, a diary of his 1969 season in the majors and minors, was at its time a notoriously candid sports book that broke new ground by being honest about playing, drug use, women, and the personalities of the players. It reads a bit dated these days but is nonetheless fascinating to the fan of the sport or genre. For me, it's an anxious read, as Bouton is constantly evaluating

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-85986091594877843372010-05-26T06:46:00.000-07:002010-05-26T06:49:18.344-07:00

That erstwhile publication, Art of Manliness, has a great piece up today on vintage men's magazines. "MARCIANO IS SCARED OF ME says Archie Moore." "Sex Can Be Fun!" "Hooked to a Killer Shark." And so much more.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-49576702011903083452010-05-19T05:27:00.000-07:002010-05-19T05:31:35.754-07:00

Saxon Henry is a writer I know from my day-job professional life in PR. I just started reading a different project of hers, a blog in which she's developing a book. It's called The Road to Promise and it's about... well, I'm not sure yet, but it starts with her and her then-husband, newly ordained construction missionaries, setting out to build churches in under-developed areas.One month after

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-75889500264263517382010-05-11T11:26:00.000-07:002010-05-11T11:30:06.152-07:00

Last night I was working on my novel. I was re-reading it and revising it as I went. My revisions were few; I really like it, and I was pleased with the fact that, having set it aside for a while, I like it as much as or more than my last round of edits. I need to get back on the hunt for an agent; I'm very pleased with it and ready to market it.Today, I opened the fortune cookie that came with

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-60556267478148002052010-05-06T13:17:00.000-07:002010-05-06T13:22:20.768-07:00

Combing the web for ideas (oh, who am I kidding, I asked some guys at a message board) and this is what I'm getting so far:The Soul of Baseball, Joe PosnanskiBill James, Baseball AbstractTy Cobb, Ty CobbThe Umpire Strikes Back (author?)Ball Four, Jim BoutonThe Bullpen Gospels, Dick HayhurstBoys of Summer, Roger KhanWillie Mays, James S. Hirsch

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-72748974352171134962010-04-26T08:16:00.000-07:002010-04-26T08:22:07.951-07:00

A Drinking Life is the memoir of the writer, Pete Hamill. Devoured it. You see this, he said, where you say this is a tragedy? Yeah. I’m taking it out. And don’t you ever use the fucking word “tragedy” again. You tell what happened, and let the reader say it’s a tragedy. If you’re crying, the reader won’t. I see what you mean. You better, he said, taking a drag on the cigarette, then sipping

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-13417453871747515722010-04-21T10:28:00.000-07:002010-04-21T10:34:45.665-07:00

Man, I read Richard' Condon's Manchurian Candidate and was blown away. So I got around to another candidate, Prizzi's Honor, thinking, "They can't all be this good."Oh, my God.Now I'm going to read everything Condon ever wrote. But every time I drop into the used book stores I haunt the answer is the same: There's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I don't see his books so often anymore. I'll

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-59674404370479118292010-03-21T14:11:00.000-07:002010-03-21T14:18:59.320-07:00

Even though I devoured Ian Fleming's Bond books, I never was much for spy novels. I'm discovering them now with great delight. Naturally, I have my preferences - I haven't read a Bourne novel but I don't think I would like them. No, Ashenden showed me the way. Then I tracked down Eric Ambler. Rediscovered LeCarre - have since read the amazing Tailor, Tinker, Soldier, Spy. Richard Condon's

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-40605131839803256662010-02-17T10:26:00.000-08:002010-02-17T10:32:47.604-08:00

I have a piece up at Every Other Thursday on Chandler, Marlowe and me that really gets a lot of things off my chest on the subject.In Marlowe novels, Marlowe always gets a case that he takes more because doing so adheres to his work ethic than because it’s a legitimate problem for him to solve. Almost always it involves a woman in peril. Very soon, what begins as a simple matter of “find the girl

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-70326020161719441862010-01-31T16:12:00.001-08:002010-01-31T16:24:14.619-08:00

In Great Books, film critic David Denby returns to his freshman year at Columbia to re-read in a classroom setting the canon of Western literature. What ensues are thoughtful, interesting, enriching essays on writers from Plato to Woolf. Early in the book, Denby says the reader can skip around. I've been doing just that and finding it a rewarding experience.Denby delves into the experience of

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-75718421123769488162010-01-15T11:58:00.000-08:002010-01-15T12:01:03.873-08:00

Everybody should know a Sheridan. I’ve known mine for years. He’s the proprietor of Cross Street Books in Ypsilanti and I have been patronizing his little shop for more than fifteen years. Sheridan doesn’t have time to read all the books he buys and sells, but he absorbs a great deal about them and he has an instinct for them, one that guides him in recommendations he makes for customers he knows

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-19040602498011992702010-01-12T07:47:00.000-08:002010-01-12T07:49:20.895-08:00

For years I have been meaning to read Eric Ambler, often mentioned in connection with the great spy novelists of the 20th century as their progenitor. His novel, A Coffin for Dimitrios (1937), is usually held up as his masterpiece and on every short list of the greatest spy and suspense novels. For good reason – it is excellent.The protagonist of the book is Latimer, an Englishman, a former

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-19273216616686251452009-12-28T19:05:00.000-08:002009-12-28T19:12:43.153-08:00

On Christmas, each of the boys had a present they were focusing all their attention on, and I was no exception. I got Jake Adelstein's Tokyo Vice, and am devouring it.There are eight rules to being a good reporter, Jake.One. Don't ever burn your sources. If you can't protect your sources, no one will trust you. All scoops are based on the understanding that you will protect the person who gave

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-18512149619859002002009-12-22T12:03:00.001-08:002009-12-22T12:05:36.535-08:00

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-42412169314796068942009-12-18T07:40:00.000-08:002009-12-18T07:46:50.341-08:00

Don't get me wrong, the movie was a hoot, but I have a feeling McDonald's work has been passed over and largely forgotten outside of a devoted few. Sign me up for the devoted few. Just put down Fletch's Fortune on a round trip flight and it was satiating. McDonald's sharp prose and rhythmic, penetrating dialogue are terrific.The web site says some of his journalistic writing is available again.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-57595414409306737882009-12-15T10:06:00.000-08:002009-12-15T10:10:35.111-08:00

Thanks to Art of Manliness for pointing me to this awesome site - Badass of the Week! Check out an excerpt from Ben Thompson's description of Virile Lit. favorite George Orwell for Powell's:While cracking street thugs in the kneecaps with a billy club was fun and all, it was when the Spanish Civil War broke out that George Orwell really got a chance to get in there and start kicking some serious

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-34677227181566201922009-12-09T06:24:00.000-08:002009-12-09T06:27:26.616-08:00

I have been meaning to spend more time in the spy genre. This will include time spent with Eric Ambler, an investigation into Alan Furst, tracking down the (out of print?) novels of Richard Condon, and of course, sitting at the feet of the spymaster, John Le Carre.I read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold many years ago and picked up a fresh copy at Aunt Agatha’s for a re-read. I am no less

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-39511509280845919742009-12-07T11:35:00.000-08:002009-12-07T11:37:13.174-08:00

Between work, home, and various bloggy projects I have not been doing Virile Lit. justice! I apologize to you, my faithful readers. All three of you! May interest you to know that I blogged about blogging and Virile Lit. here, where I have been a regular contributor.But! More to come. Recent reads: history, biography, crime, spy genre.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-1199431501481836392009-09-17T10:45:00.000-07:002009-09-17T10:49:24.091-07:00

Just a quick post to shout out to some of the blogs I absolutely love and could spend way too much time on them. Most of them fit into the broad category of, I dunno what you would call it, retro lookit this! If you're like me, please spend some time withI'm Learning to Share (go through this guy's whole blogroll)RetrospaceOf course, If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger.... (someday I want them to

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-40053121545459869192009-07-31T12:25:00.000-07:002009-07-31T12:32:58.739-07:00

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a Thomas Pynchon fan - I mean, I read Crying of Lot 49 and would like to read more Pynchon some time but I'm not among his faithful followers. Anyway, The Wall Street Journal today reports that Pynchon has released a piece of, gasp, genre fiction that has got the literary blogosphere baffled. Why, everyone wonders, is this literary giant dabbling in such a

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-41713859093995282942009-07-22T13:49:00.000-07:002009-07-22T13:56:03.673-07:00

Some time ago, when I was first really getting into Maugham, I was asked which Maugham I would recommend to a new reader. At the time I suggested The Razor's Edge and the stories, especially the Ashenden stories and, if ambitious, Of Human Bondage.Recently got around to The Moon and Sixpence and have to say this really would be a great starting place for getting into Maugham. It has everything I

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-29670952990710740112009-07-22T13:37:00.000-07:002009-07-22T13:48:29.870-07:00

Several years ago - sheesh, it must have been the mid 1990s, like 95 or so? I read a novel by Daniel Woodrell. It was one of those occasions where I started reading the book over my morning coffee and, having nothing to do that day that couldn't be out off, I simply continued reading, all day, til I had finished the novel, in one sitting. I was absolutely floored by it. It was Give Us a Kiss.Ever

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-59507416840070533332009-06-29T08:33:00.000-07:002009-06-29T08:35:39.559-07:00

One of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness, has a piece up after my heart: 50 non-fiction adventure books, part of the Essential Man's Library.Been quiet here lately, for which I apologize. A lot of work and family life - but a lot of reading, too. More soon.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-64897746697138775642009-03-11T05:49:00.001-07:002009-03-11T05:54:13.437-07:00

I read Even The Rhinos Were Nymphos by Bruce Jay Friedman. A great collection of some of his magazine writing, and the title piece is worth the price of admission. In it, Friedman tries to give vivid portrait of what it was like to work on the sweats, who was reading them, and what kind of stories appealed to them.Along with death trek and survival stories, yarns about tough cops who had embarked

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-24683778607101474382009-03-11T05:30:00.000-07:002009-03-11T05:44:33.122-07:00

Hat tip to my buddy Rich for finding these gems, the Miller High Life TV spots by Errol Morris. I absolutely love these and, honestly, they made a High Life drinker out of me (that and the $5 price tag). A terrific celebration of characteristics of manly life that jive with me. They used to show these on ESPN Classic and the Vs. network and I was sad to see them pass out of circulation. But now

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-45089935966491002662009-02-04T11:05:00.001-08:002009-02-04T11:11:32.973-08:00

By CharlieBruce Jay Friedman is a novelist and screenwriter. I've become interested in his work since I learned the role he played in "the sweats."An interesting interview with Friedman at Pif Magazine provides further details.DA: One of your first jobs was as editor of several men’s adult magazines. What was that like? BJF: For roughly a decade in the fifties and early sixties, I was editor of

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-2362854783614811832009-01-19T18:27:00.000-08:002009-01-19T18:37:56.888-08:00

By CharlieIn between things, I took some time to re-read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.I used to read and re-read this a lot as a teenager. Like so many, I’ve always been under its spell - Through the Looking Glass, too. But it had been some time since I’d read it and I was curious to see if it would have the same enchanting effect on me.It did. Now that I am reading it as an adult, though, I

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-89661857005960026392009-01-16T09:55:00.000-08:002009-01-16T10:00:17.828-08:00

This is simply amazing. My friend Clayton over at The Diff sent me this. He writes:George Vlosich, the self-proclaimed "world's greatest Etch-A-Sketch artist," is back with his latest Etch-A-Sketch, this time as part of the MANIFESTHOPE: DC exhibit that’s running January 17-19, in conjunction with the Obama’s Inauguration. You may have seen some of the other Etch-A-Sketch works from George,

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-10969837984193891662008-12-04T06:48:00.000-08:002008-12-04T07:20:34.927-08:00

By Charlie KondekMy Uncle Frank recently gave me a copy of The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary collection, a CD with all the theme music from the James Bond movies, from the main Monty Norman theme to License to Kill. I had the earlier version of this record (and others) on cassette when I was growing up and listened to it frequently because I was a huge James Bond fan, and hearing this music

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-89771200548302221992008-10-22T12:55:00.000-07:002008-10-22T12:58:24.724-07:00

...if for no other reason than its amazing tribute to Lee Marvin.Here.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-63638994769896461852008-10-16T06:14:00.000-07:002008-10-16T06:36:47.741-07:00

By Charlie KondekIt was time for another McGee. I left off with Darker Than Amber, so I loped over to that venerable Ann Arbor institution, Aunt Agatha's, to see if they had a copy. They did. I had my choice between the slick 1980s edition paperback and the lurid 1966 edition. If you've read this blog at all I think you know that's no choice, really.Call this "used book pr0n" if you like. Used

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-78404028257225507572008-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:002008-10-15T12:35:12.315-07:00

By Charlie KondekBeen busy. But also enjoying some good reads. Just put down J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar. It was everything I had hoped for; page-turner, good prose. Moehringer, you may remember, wrote "Ressurrecting the Champ," which was anthologized in the Greatest American Sports Stories of the 20th Century. It's about a guy who grows up fatherless in 70s and 80s Long Island, and seeks

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-11854825591854673412008-09-12T17:11:00.001-07:002008-09-12T17:23:00.323-07:00

By Charlie KondekIn a roundabout way, Cavalier magazine came up in conversation the other day. (A colleague said the phrase "cavalier" had been ruined by the sedate car, and I said it always reminded me of the magazine.)I have never been clear on what Cavalier published, only that I see the occasional piece from the magazine's 50-some-year run in anthologies. So I looked it up and found that not

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-88363657596113476892008-07-30T05:24:00.001-07:002008-07-30T05:41:50.399-07:00

By Charlie KondekYesterday, by chance, I found myself headed to the bus stop with nothing to read, so I printed out some essays by George Orwell I had been meaning to get to. You can find them here.Orwell was a great writer. 1984 was a book I have read and re-read. He had a way with essays that is remarkable; his writing is clear and penetrating. Yesterday I read "A Hanging," "Shooting an

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-75300698530560786492008-07-24T05:57:00.000-07:002008-07-24T06:02:12.803-07:00

By Charlie KondekOften, as I encounter writers whose work is new to me, there's a moment when I know, based on the prose, that this is a writer I want to spend more time with. Sometimes I'm fooled by a novel's opening paragraphs into investing more of my attention into something that, ultimately, does not please me. But more often, as I have sometimes noted in this very blog, there are little "

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-39385004783880048482008-07-16T20:02:00.000-07:002008-07-16T20:17:15.261-07:00

By Charlie KondekMy love affair with Somerset Maugham's writing continues. I recently scored a copy of Ashenden, a collected work of spy stories set during the First World War and based on Maugham's own experiences in the British secret service. If I ever had any doubts that Ian Fleming owes Maugham a debt for content and style, I can erase them. But besides that, the stories, some of which I

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-66221797281617743252008-07-16T19:43:00.000-07:002008-07-16T20:01:31.497-07:00

By Charlie KondekI've for many years been a fan of the Shaft movies and the blaxploitation/exploitation genre in general, but I recently picked up and read a couple of the Shaft novels by Ernest Tidyman and was surprised to find how delightful they are. They are slick, violent, sexy and profane, and move with a grace not unlike the main character, who "uncoils like an animal coming out of a cave.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-29167234676907804862008-06-25T06:21:00.000-07:002008-06-25T06:38:48.236-07:00

By Charlie KondekThe Manival is a weekly round up of great blogging from around the manosphere. I highly encourage you to read it and, if you're writing yourself, submit to it. Simply put, this is great personal writing on fatherhood, marriage, money, character and more that really shows the depth and breadth of what seems to be a growing community of men bloggers. I'm constantly blown away by

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-36060827954470516122008-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:002008-06-23T05:47:10.825-07:00

By Charlie KondekThe nature of what my oldest son reads or, more accurately, likes to have read to him is changing. For the first time, the characters and stories that interest him have good guys and bad guys and he is trying to understand the motive and behavior of the bad guys.Stories are driven by character and conflict. There are many kinds of characters but only three kinds of conflicts; man

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-81035256850536809722008-06-17T08:00:00.000-07:002008-06-17T08:11:33.547-07:00

By Charlie KondekFollow my train of thought.Jason Miller played Father Karras in The Exorcist. He also starred in Blatty's The Ninth Configuration. I got curious about Miller and started reading more about him. Turns out he was a playwright as well as an actor who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, That Championship Season. Made into a movie in 1982. There's a play about him called "The

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-45564889209184601462008-06-13T13:16:00.000-07:002008-06-16T08:40:36.404-07:00

By Charlie KondekI'm hooked on the writing of William Peter Blatty.Blatty is probably best remembered as the author of The Exorcist, the novel and screenplay. I'd seen the movie a few times and for some reason I can't quite remember looked it up online a few weeks ago and began reading more about Blatty. I became curious about him, and drawn to the spiritual, theological and philosophical agenda

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-47107543009118352672008-06-04T11:00:00.000-07:002008-06-04T11:11:51.999-07:00

By Charlie KondekBeen kinda quiet around here lately. Sorry about that! Been really busy with work. But I wanted to bring this to your attention: a site that's new since May '08, and new to us, dedicated to the love of books and with a focus on young men. May I introduce GuysLitWire?Guys Lit Wire exists solely to bring literary news and reviews to the attention of teenage boys and the people who

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-51570613092604816782008-05-13T08:25:00.001-07:002008-05-13T08:34:53.169-07:00

By Charlie KondekWell, now I have a man crush on David Mamet, because of this Journal piece. I knew Mamet was a martial arts enthusiast but I didn't know he actually trained.Don't get me wrong, I like his work. I just think it sometimes feels forced and unnatural. Take Glengarry Glenn Ross, for example. Great, fun movie that maybe goes a little too far in pushing its theme: business as an arena

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-86297076453850293412008-05-08T05:51:00.000-07:002008-05-08T05:56:31.840-07:00

By Charlie KondekVirile Lit. made A Good Husband's editor's picks at the Manival, a blog carnival of posts from around the man-blogosphere. A lot of great writing over there from interesting bloggers. Reading all this could kill my morning. I'd like to buy a round for all of 'em.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-54942764979109531402008-05-08T05:37:00.000-07:002008-05-08T05:45:54.138-07:00

By Charlie KondekThe Garage Blog has got some posts up featuring the race car art of Paul Chenard. Not only can you get this attractive "wall candy" in prints but you can get them on greeting cards or a t-shirt. Is there a racing fan in your life that would appreciate one? Maybe someone we celebrate on, oh, I dunno, June 15? Click on over to The Garage and invest.What I like about these is the

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-23531114077827516072008-05-06T18:37:00.000-07:002008-05-07T05:54:09.364-07:00

By CODI read these two book consecutively. Ball Four by Jim Bouton is “the” baseball classic. The ultimate insiders look at what really happens in the clubhouse. Maybe it was controversial in 1970, but today, it all seemed pretty tame. Baseball players cheat on their wives and drink too much. Big news there eh? What I did find very interesting in this book was the average players struggle with

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-12011727696150934292008-05-06T17:38:00.000-07:002008-05-06T17:51:12.644-07:00

By Charlie KondekI have a very smart friend named Jerry, a poet and musician from New England who is older than me and is well read and educated and knows books and music and art very well. I used to see Jerry quite a bit when I was waiting tables and he would come in to drink coffee, work and smoke his pipe. Once I asked Jerry why Somerset Maugham’s work was not considered canonical literature,

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-90669612514171249112008-05-06T09:31:00.000-07:002008-05-06T09:36:56.649-07:00

By Charlie KondekI've been loving Square America for some time now and want to urge you to check it out. It's a web site wherein the curator chronicles the history of the U.S. in snapshots he has obtained by combing resale stores, estate sales, and other dusty archives for random, found photographs he then assembles into themed web-based exhibits. The results are simply fascinating. Text doesn't

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-42304737077637296262008-05-02T08:16:00.000-07:002008-05-02T08:40:52.565-07:00

By Charlie KondekI was explaining to someone what "the sweats" were and I came across a good write-up of men's magazines at this site. Apparently, Jahsonic is no more; they are now The Art and Popular Culture Wiki, but the archives are online.The sweats, as you may or may not know, refers specifically to the postwar crop of men's magazines that replaced "the pulps," and took on a different

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-24253314680903044892008-05-01T06:41:00.000-07:002008-05-01T06:57:26.508-07:00

By Charlie KondekJosh Wilker, the scribe of Cardboard Gods, has an interview with Cait Murphy about her book Crazy '08.Q: Besides the details, the most arresting feature of the book is the authoritative, salty, funny voice, which helps bring the past alive in ways that few historical books are able to. Did you have the voice for the book from the start of your work on it, or did you discover it

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-74923244161752406362008-04-28T11:37:00.000-07:002008-04-28T11:42:56.916-07:00

Great little piece in the NY Times by David Mamet about his new movie, Redbelt.Jean Renoir said he made movies for the close-ups. I didn’t understand what he meant until I made a fight film. There is little more beautiful than a fighter’s face. Audrey Hepburn was the face of beauty, but if wisdom is knowledge perfected by suffering, the fighter’s is the face of wisdom.I like Mamet. I'm not always

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-33663719555694239202008-04-28T06:32:00.000-07:002008-04-28T06:41:23.769-07:00

By Charlie KondekI've been working on and off on an article on my main physical activity, kendo. Working title is "Japanese Game." I haven't got a real game-plan for where I'd like to submit it. I'd really like to submit it to a men's magazine of some kind. Below is the intro.* * *Describing kendo to the uninitiated, I should do so from the outside in. After all, to someone who has never seen it,

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-13658788118683981122008-04-28T06:23:00.000-07:002008-04-28T06:50:28.350-07:00

By Charlie KondekSome people horde their literary prejudiceslike nuts are stored in a squirrelry.But I would just like to state for the record that I enjoy the poetry of Ogden Nash thoroughly.

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-55668868000193617762008-04-23T19:10:00.001-07:002008-04-24T05:38:13.046-07:00

By CODWil Wheaton has a talent for taking his past, and his present, and making it yours. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives is mostly about the past, and how it connects to the now. It’s about growing up as a D&D, fantasy role playing video game nerd that was more interested in getting high score on a game than scoring on a date. Well, maybe not necessarily more interested, but the game high score

CODhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16207776957256101693noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-29968577591968789132008-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:34:59.250-07:00

By Charlie KondekI write. I like what I write. I’m writing, now, the kind of stuff I want to read, which, the quality of your writing and your growth as a writer aside, is a pretty good standard for judging your writing. I also feel that, unlike my younger stuff, I don’t imitate as much anymore the writers I most admire or wanted to borrow from. I mostly write like myself. But I have come to

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-15019987082760092112008-04-22T06:51:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:37:46.325-07:00

Reviewed by Josh WilkerIf you could have the skills for one day of any athlete from any time in history, which athlete would you choose? Nolan Ryan and his 100-MPH heat? Lawrence Taylor and his ability to search and destroy? Muhammad Ali and his fast feet, faster jab, fastest mind?Me, I’d go with Pistol Pete Maravich.I can’t be alone in this choice, even though Maravich has, twenty years after

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-73045151510125915382008-04-17T14:13:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:36:29.396-07:00

By Charlie Kondekwas a Bogart fan growing up. My favorite movie, to this day, is Casablanca, and I make no apologies for that. I recently revived my interest in this actor and read a couple of books I had.The first was the coffee-table book, Casablanca: The 50th Anniversary by Frank Miller (no, not that Frank Miller). One of those books that seems commemorative and you got it as a gift (I did)

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-2401525249499224242008-04-16T13:41:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:37:19.494-07:00

by Charlie KondekI grew up reading Esquire, GQ, Details, People and my mother's Cosmopolitans. I used to really escape into these magazines, especially Esquire - they seemed to offer access to another world. Not just the world of adulthood, but the world of sophisticated adulthood, of adventure, romance, glitz.Esquire and GQ have really suffered lately, in my opinion, reverted to world-weary,

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557505036358778761.post-61803458085615608812008-04-14T10:09:00.000-07:002008-04-24T05:36:56.026-07:00

Review by Charlie KondekDavid Halberstam edits the annual Best of American Sports Writing anthologies and put this together with Glenn Stout in 1999 to commemorate the best of the previous century. There are some unusual choices in here, especially in the Writing on a Deadline section, but most of the others kept me up nights.Among the great reads in this tome is what lead me to the book in the

Charlie Kondekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05368260342655978942noreply@blogger.com2