Odds & Sods MK 2

ODDS & SODS Mk2, by Derek Robinson

 

ODDS & SODS MK2, as you might guess, is a follow-up on ODDS & SODS.  Strange title, and if you’re not English, even more odd you old sod.  Usually means a disreputable man, but sod is one of those broad terms that run the grammatical gamut through noun, adjective, and verb. Allow me to steer you in the general direction, with a hint. Not unusual to hear a bad guy in an English movie yell “Sod off!”  He’s not wishing anybody a Happy Birthday.

 

I’ve often written reviews of Derek Robinson’s works, which span everything from superb flying novels from World Wars I and II, espionage novels, and various books exploring the truths and falsehoods we know as history.  He and I have never met, but I feel as if we’re friends. Books will do that and I’ve read every one of his.  

 

(Go to the top of my blog and type his name.  That will lead you to all the titles I’ve reviewed, most of which are available on Amazon.)

 

His latest effort, ODDS & SODS MK 2 is short, but fascinating, with quick wit and twists and turns that take the reader behind the scenes of real events,  in prose, poetry, and history.  Need some teasers?

 

What’s the real meaning of the oft quoted lines from Shakespeare’s Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1?

 

This royal throne of Kings, this sceptered isle, … 

 

Or, how about the effectiveness of gliders in World War II and the much-celebrated use of paratroops?  What’s an easy way to tell photos of real dead people from the pretend corpses in cop movies?

 

You see, these are the types of questions that keep me up at night, and make me question damn near everything lodged in my agile brain.   Here’s something I recently found. It’s what Mark Twain said: It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. 

 

But, is that so? Scholars at the Center for Mark Twin Studies at Elmira College (Elmira, NY) say they can find no substantive evidence that Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) ever said it or wrote it!

 

See, that’s the kind of thing Derek Robinson examines.  But, Robinson’s palate is much larger than mine and more colorful.  He slaps new paint on old canvases of fiction, history, and folklore to bring to light things that just ain’t so! 

 

When I said ODDS & SODS MK2 is a short book, I meant it, but it’s 114 pages are fabulously interesting.  Every last one of them sparkles! 

 

For the past several years he and I have also corresponded in short chunks of emails.  And if you want this book or it’s predecessor, ODDS & SODS, you’ll have to write him, too.  Order both! Give yourself a treat and tickle your curiosity!  

 

delrobster@gmail.com

or

derekrobinson840@btinternet.com

 

You’re not just in for a treat, but a rollercoaster ride of history and clever writing.  And that IS so!

 

 

The Colllini Case

The Collini Case

by Ferdinand von Schirach, translated by Anthea Bell

A man walks into a bar…well, not quite.  A man walks into an apartment.  He’s Fabrizio Maria Collini and he’s middle aged and has never murdered anyone.  That’s about to change.  He kills with a rawness that turns your stomach and rakes your flesh.

This is rare novel grabs you and won’t let go.  Fiction based on truth.  The laws exist.  The characters do not.

Schirach tells Colini’s story brilliantly, through the eyes of the public defender.

Köhler is an advocate with a quick mind and a sparkling academic record.  What he doesn’t have is experience.  This is his first case.  On the other side, the prosecutor carries a streak of unbroken successes and a reputation for digging through overturned lives and using facts as skillfully as a sushi chef slicing tuna.

Köhler’s job won’t be easy. Collini tells him, “I killed a man.”  He doesn’t want to be defended and he doesn’t want to talk about his reasons.

Köhler’s own background also offers layers of both sweetness and sadness, dusted with unfulfillment.  Love. Relationships.  They wind and unwind in twisted strands throughout the book.

Like all good courtroom dramas, The Collini Case wriggles and turns like a snake impaled on a sharp stick.  The writing is brisk, lean and sharp, like strokes of a razor.  In something over 180 pages, the prose magically flutters past like clots of blood in a heavy wind.

I read a lot of book jackets, mining for those rare gems that will chain me to the plot and characters, leaving me sleepless and ravenous for just one more page.

The Collini Case is among the crown jewels.  The story is skillfully terse, with a pace that will suck the air from your lungs.  Why does one man simply walk into an apartment and kill another? How can you defend such indefensible and senseless brutality?  How do you defend a client who refuses to talk to you, or to the police?

The problem stands as impenetrable as a stone wall, but even a wall, if you look closely enough, is marred by cracks and fissures. They spread in all directions.  But, time grows short.

Fissures never reveal more than slender promises.  When you find what you think is a diamond of truth, it suddenly proves to be only sparkling ice on a summer sidewalk.

And yet, there are always more cracks and you soon realize eventually you will reach something sturdy.

The Collini Case surpasses simple, well-written entertainment.  It’s also education, of the kind that leaves you questioning the very fabric of society.  But, let me warn you, the answers do not rest on the well-worn saws of “it’s society’s fault” and “he wasn’t given enough love as a child.”  Those are cheesecloth, allowing any kind-hearted argument to drip through.

No.  The Collini Case rests on cold, solid facts and its telling will enthrall you and strain your confidence in right and wrong.