JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

WHAT IS RUMPOLE READING?

Hot summer days and steamy summer nights require a large glass of iced tea, or a beer right out of the cooler with bits of ice running down the glass bottle, a comfortable chair or hammock in the shade, the sounds of the ocean lapping at the shore, and of course, a good book. Put a well played baseball game on the radio, and you have heaven. Or something close to it. 

Books we recommend:

1) "Whitey Bulger, America's most wanted gangster,  and the manhunt that brought him to justice. "
Bulger is much in the news these days as he grumbles and curses his way through his federal trial in Boston. Bulger has become for crime authors, a mini-industry, with volumes of work written by former associates, crime reporters, and wannabes of both genres. But the definitive work on Bulger was done by Kevin Cullen and Shelly Murphy, two Boston Globe reporters (Bulger hates the Globe, as you will see, he once attacked the building twice in two nights, shooting it up with glee over the Globe's support for mandatory school busing in 1974.) You can't really understand Bulger,  his pal- disgraced FBI agent John Connelly- convicted in our own REGIB for a hit on a witness- and their story without understanding "The Town"- as the locals call Southie Boston. The book is as much a fascinating history of Southie and the internecine fighting between the Italian Mafia, the various Irish gangs vying for power, the Boston Police, and the feds, as it is a history of James "Whitey" Bulger. This is a page turner that will have you dropping your "r"s in no time. 

2) "A Blaze of Glory" and "A Chain of Thunder" by Jeff Shaara.  Longtime and careful readers of the blog know that we are experts in, inter alia, the Civil War.  But don't even think of reading this book until you have read Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels" the Pulitzer prize winning novel of the four days of Gettysburg. Killer Angels is perhaps the best historical war novel ever written; it is certainly the best Civil War novel. Michael Sharra's is Jeff Shaara's father, and he died way too soon. But his son has done a fine job carrying on the tradition, and once you read Killer Angels, you can work your way through  "A Blaze of Glory" ( about the battle of Shiloh) and "A Chain of Thunder"  (about the siege of Vicksburg). 

3) "The Bookman's Tale- a Novel of obsession" by Charlie Lovett.  If you love books,  are interested in Victorian England, obsession, love, and mystery, then the story of a young bookseller who retires to the English countryside after the untimely death of his wife is for you.  After purchasing an 18th century book about Shakespeare forgeries, a watercolor of his wife- impossibly of his wife-comes tumbling out from between the pages, and the mystery is on. 

4) "The Yard" and "The Black Country" by Alex Grecian. The Yard is the first of Grecian's Scotland Yard Murder Squad mysteries. The Black Country is the second in the series. If you love England, and murder mysteries like we do, then you can't go wrong with these two books. 

5) "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene. A dense and at times thrilling explanation of the universe, and the physics and mathematics that explain it. For us, the challenge was reading it in German: "Das Elegante Universum", but only if you're really in need of a challenge. 

So there you have it. Load up your beach bag, or fill up your Kindle, find a shady area and a comfy chair and plop down with a cooler of your favourite beverage, and enjoy your summer. 

See You In Court. 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...



people with net jet status leave miami for the summers.

Rumpole never speaks of family.

Never jokes of sex.

Not a big drinker.

Great with computors for an older man.

Loves to gamble

Was a former prosecutor but very liberal.

Has two computor screens on his office desk.

Who is rumpole.


Anonymous said...

Dead on about "the killer angels" , try "Glory enough for all" about the battle of the crater at Petersburg, pretty good read. Also in WWII lit is a greatt novel titled "The forgotten soldier". Jason Grey

Anonymous said...

Rumpole- Cuban princess here dating a bit older jewish lawyer for several months now. Now he's talking about me meeting his family at some holiday in September but I am embarrassed to say that I keep listening closely when he mentions it. Something like Rush shashommer? Does that sound right? sometime told me that it was New years, but that sounds like a joke. Any help ?

Rumpole said...

Big exerciser- not a big drinker. No computers on my desk top at all. Not liberal- see email. And I never joke about something I am stupendously great at.

Anonymous said...

I've been given a bottle of wine that needs decanting. Please help- no idea what to do.

Anonymous said...

What do you think of Lew Wallace's performance at Shiloh? Screwup, or scapegoat?

Fake Tannebaum said...

6:37 PM. BRING THE BOTTLE TO ANY LIQUOR STORE. Hopefully you haven't opened it. If you have a wine that needs to be decanted and you have no idea, then the wine is way beyond you and you have no business drinking it. It will be wasted on you. Decanting is a very complicated process. You just can't open a decent bottle of wine like some diet coke or Budweiser and chug it. So don't make matters worse. Any decent liquor store will give you full credit and you can buy a red and white jug of Ernest and Julio Gallo and you'll be fine. If you have opened it, shove the cork back in and try and find someone you know who likes wine and maybe they'll take it off your hands for half price.

And stop fooling around with things better left for the experts like me.

FIU LAW said...

Rump. we enjoy the same books, have scintillating emails, I'm so attracted to you. Why can't we meet?

RFB said...

Well said FT, well said.

Anonymous said...

Runpole, you heard about the new pop-up phemom restaurant- Gaucho, Cindy, Rivera? GCR for short? Rivera is a 28 yr old cuban exile who trained at the sorbonne. Cindy was a sous chef for Daniel's and they have a contact who gets them grass fed, organic, Argentinian beef. It popped up Sat night at midnight at a cuban joint on coral way. I got an email about 11:30 and left a club with my gf. $250 per person at the door, cash, prix fixe, you cannot order. Had baby artichokes fried and stuffed with maryland soft shelled blue crab and and a glass of Stonestreet 2007 Broken Road Chardonnay.
Then had delicately fried sweatbreads and a local distilled vodka with some caspian sea caviar.
Main course was a deliciously grilled cowboy steak with fresh NY caught stripped bass wood grilled with a organic Johnson farm (Northern California) apricot and cherry glaze. The wine was a glass of the 05 Bodega Catena Zapata Malbec.
For dessert we had a small glass of Centropercento Terreblu Grappa, and a small chocolate souffle made with chocolate from Mama Ganache Artisan chocolates. Every soufflé was slightly different.
We were given a card when we left with the dishes and the wines, which is how I know about it. I paid $700 cash to get on the email list for the restaurant. Rumor is next serving is in two weeks on a Friday. You ever go to one these types of meals- where famous chefs take over a restaurant and open up, usually at midnight or so, and serve until 3-4 once or twice a month? Amazing food.

Anonymous said...

Didja know:
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers (or Ford-class) are a class of supercarrier for the United States Navy, intended to eventually replace the current Nimitz-class carriers. The new vessels will use a hull design similar to the Nimitz carriers in appearance, but many aspects of the design will be different, implementing new technologies developed since the initial design of the previous class (such as the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System), as well as other design features intended to improve efficiency and running costs, including a reduced crew requirement.The first hull of the line will be named Gerald R. Ford and will have the hull number CVN-78.

Well, didja? didja?

Anonymous said...

What are your thoughts about Rendezvous with Destiny by Michael Fullilove? WSJ gave it a glowing review.

The Prince of PIP said...

Loving the blog Rumpole.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes you're such a weirdo.

- Me

Rumpole said...

There's like two dozen people who leave comments signed "me".
Everyone thinks they're special.

ME said...

Rumpole, leave the gun......take the cannoli.

It doesn't take much Rump to see that the problems of three little people doesn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Plus....."you're gonna need a bigger boat."

special said...

mememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememememe.

me.


meme.

mememe.

memememe.

me.

Rumpole said...

I am somewhat insulted as no one has ever told me that I need a bigger boat. My boat is just fine.

FIU LAW said...

Rumpole, I love it when you chat with and respond to the comments of the little people who read your blog. You are surely a blogger of the people.