Book 47 - Elmore Leonard "52 Pickup"

Elmore Leonard "52 Pickup" (Phoenix)





A fairly predictable, easy reading blackmail thriller set in 70's America.

Harry Mitchel an American captain of industry gets caught with a bit on the side after 22 happily married years. The minor league punks who try and blackmail him run into the old problem with such schemes - how to make a safe pickup, and is there any honour among thieves?

Well written with good dialog and believable characters in a range of styles, but somewhat cliched in terms of plot. Very direct with one minor subplot, and few twists. Fortunately it's a short book where these deficiencies don't become too problematic.

Lots of sex and drugs which almost stays in character without being foist upon the plot - but doesn't add anything either - this is probably a reflection of the changing times, yet doesn't detract from the enjoyment.

Readable, but nothing special.

La Strada Monday

Yesterday GC and I had an evening  meal at La Strada in Brighton. We had to go back to the place as initially around 6 pm they had a problem with the gas and were not serving hot food. We decided to go the Marina one, not realising that the one down there closed down and been replaced by another restaurant. So then we took a bus back to the centre of town, after GC confirmed that they were serving hot food again. What a rigmarole just to have food courtesy of Tesco vouchers!



Yummy bread selection, puts La Tasca to shame.






GC had a succulent pork dish for the main course and i had a mouth watering lamb dish. The only downside to the evening was the very slow lethargic service. For that they score nil points.

My tweets

• Mon, 22:40: A Dr.Who related blog site http://t.co/wtjuJkeK
• Mon, 22:44: Great dinner at La Strada earlier tonight with GC but service was slow
• Mon, 23:34: Brighton Finds http://t.co/A6TyRBbQ
• Tue, 06:59: La Strada Monday http://t.co/mZq3d1gP
• Tue, 07:27: Now this is what i call an Italian bread selection http://t.co/A7vGc2DK
• Tue, 07:28: A cheeky take on ganja http://t.co/rnDGR09N

Cargo and Liszt

Another scorching hot day. Not complaining though as we have very little decent weather to talk about until now. Most of the time was spent in the garden topping up the tan. However, I did walk into Seaford during the day.

I needed some new shorts for travelling in and found a Marks & Spenser’s cargo pants in a charity shop for £3.50 .Just the ticket for travelling on a hot sticky day come Wednesday.

Also, found another classical CD going dirt cheap at an antiques shop that is relocating , a mere fifty pence -

Liszt “Piano Sonata in B Minor, Two legends, Scherzo and March” Nicolai Demidenko  (Helios)

Quality music.