Anybody read any good books lately?

Cruise as Reacher -- even without having read the books, just the synopses, as I saw the first film and was curious -- is just not right for the role.

Corpus -- if you haven't yet, check out Robert Parker's "Jesse Stone" books and the made for TV movies starring Tom Selleck as Jesse. While Selleck (like Cruise with Reacher) is nowhere near the physical description of Stone, he is otherwise the embodiment of the character brought to life (according to none other than Robert Parker himself, may he rest in peace).

Also of note, imagine hard-boiled film noir detective meets JRR Tolkien -- and then pick up Jim Butcher's "Storm Front", the first novel in his "Dresden Files" series about the cases and misadventures of Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, the only Consulting Detective/Wizard listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages (or any other Yellow Pages, I would imagine). It's great fun! And if you don't have much time for reading but do a lot of audiobooks (as Anna and I do), check out the Dresden Files audiobooks from your local library. Wonderfully narrated by American actor James Marsters (played English vampire Spike on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Brainiac on the TV show "Smallville", and other -- usually loveable -- miscreants), Anna and I give them our highest recommendations. We just love Marsters narration of these first person told stories. IMHO, Jim Butcher of Independence MO is the best writer to come from Missourah since Samuel Clemens.

If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes but have already gone through all the original canon by Sir ACD, we highly recommend Laurie King's Mary Russell series of historical mysteries, featuring Sherlock Holmes as Mary's mentor and later partner. Start with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", which, told from the perspective of Ms. Russell, starts with Holmes in his later years, retired to Sussex and his bees, and goes on from there. Great fun!