This past Tuesday Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett released their new collaborative album, “Cheek to Cheek.”

I have listened to nothing else since then.

Ever since Gaga’s first Thanksgiving special a couple of years ago, when I first heard how amazing she could sound just sitting down at the piano and crooning, I have told everyone I know that she absolutely needed to put out a jazz album.

Seriously, ask them. I’m sure they’re all sick of hearing me gush about it.

And this album, which I have mentioned more or less once a day since its release was announced.

This is Gaga at her very best yet. There is no auto-tune here, just the Lady and the lyrics of the Great American Songbook.

And the ever charming, lovely Tony Bennett, who sounds as wonderful as he always has.

The two first collaborated on “The Lady is a Tramp,” and it is by far my favorite version of that song.

Now they’re together again and sounding better than ever. There are several fun numbers, like “Anything Goes” and “Cheek to Cheek,” and rather moving stripped down versions of “Sophisticated Lady” and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.”

This is music at its very best and most uncomplicated: a celebration of the beauty of the human voice.

Big band and jazz lovers will adore this, but its appeal comes mainly from this unlikely, wonderful friendship between Lady and Tony. Anyone with the ability to distinguish a good tune will enjoy this album for a long time to come.

It’s fast approaching that time of year when we all pretend to enjoy how spooky everything is!

Accordingly, I’ve been thinking about what “spooky” lit to read, or reread, for this year’s batch of Halloween blogs.

I’ve got a few fun things to throw into the mix, but for now the reading list, and I’m telling you all now so you can prepare to enjoy some Halloween reading in advance, is as follows:

1) The Quotable Doctor Who. This show is the most joyful on television, but it can also be really scary! Watch “Blink,” or anything at all featuring the weeping angels, and “Listen,” and then get back to me.

2) Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things. He’s always on my reading list anyway, but this collection contains “A Study in Emerald.” You’re welcome, Sherlockians.

3) An entry concerning a super special trip related to H. P. Lovecraft. And that’s all I’m going to tell you about that one for now.

4) I’m planning on being finished with Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf rather soon, and this is a pretty good monster story to throw into the mix!

5) We’ll talk about Prince Lestat, and how awesome it is that this book is being released on October 28th.

6) There will also be a new George R. R. Martin book released on October 26th!! No, it’s not the next installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I promise you it will be excellent, and we will certainly talk about it.

The only thing better than Masterpiece Classic is Masterpiece Mystery.

And this year has not disappointed.

David Suchet wowed with his final performances as Agatha Christie’s beloved Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. He has played the role for the past twenty-five years, and has now starred in a television adaptation of every single Poirot case.

One can only hope that if there is ever an adaptation of The Monogram Murders, that he will once more don the iconic mustache and Poirot will live and breathe before us once more.

The Monogram Murders is the new Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah. It’s on my Good Lord I Must Read This List, and I urge you all to pick up a copy at your local bookstore, but this summer I chose another Poirot tale for my perusal:

Death in the Clouds. This is the tale of a seemingly impossible murder that takes place midair during a routine Channel crossing. A woman is found dead in her seat, and everyone in the plane’s cabin is a suspect, except for dear Poirot of course. The only problem is, our beloved Belgian was asleep when the crime was committed! Poirot must put the pieces together without the aid of his own incomparable memory, and play a bit of match maker on the side, because he really can’t help himself.

I chose this book in particular because I recently rewatched the episode of “Doctor Who” called “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” where the Doctor and Donna help Agatha Christie solve a murder mystery. This book is featured at the end of the episode, when the Doctor explains to Donna that nothing is ever really forgotten, and that Dame Agatha certainly remembered their adventure, at least in her subconscious mind.

Masterpiece Mystery also recently concluded its mini-series “Breathless,” starring Jack Davenport. It was certainly well-acted, but rather too bleak for my tastes. Also on deck this fall season is another series of Inspector Lewis! It promises to be a good one.

Next time: Plans for the Return of the Halloween Blog! Have some fun ideas for this year.

Author: Robert Edsel

The Monuments Men ostensibly tells the story of “the greatest art heist in history,” and while that is true, to my mind the brave men and women who worked for the MFAA (Monuments Fine Arts and Archives). It was their job, amidst the chaos and destruction of WWII, to conserve, protect, and track down mankind’s greatest humanistic accomplishments. It’s very easy to destroy, but not so easy to protect and conserve. With the help of the armed forces, these men and women ensured that the legacy of the great individuals who came before them would be preserved.

What struck me most as I read were the lengths that these folks were willing to go to in order to achieve their objective. They put their lives on the line without a second thought, and some of them made the ultimate sacrifice.

With a combination of historical records, photographs, personal letters, and stories from the Monuments Men themselves, Edsel tells a story that we should all know. And yet, so few of us do. It wasn’t until I read this book that I learned any of this. Our school lessons were sadly lacking in this respect.

And Rose Valland should be as much of a French national hero as Joan of Arc. She never really got the credit she deserved while she was living, which was a shame. Rose Valland is the reason that many of these works were found at all.

Sadly, many are still missing. And, as Mr. Edsel says, all because one man thought certain people to be lesser than he was. Hitler’s actions in that era have ramifications even to this day. What makes him a monster is that he was the sort of man who was capable of ordering the deaths of millions of people, and yet proclaimed a vociferous love of art. To my mind, he hoarding these things because he was a greedy, small man looking to achieve the wealth and status he so craved.

When the Monuments Men at last reached the salt mine at Altaussee, and Neuschwanstein Castle, I wanted to cheer. All of the art work might not have been recovered, but what an accomplishment. These people fought to preserve the best of humanity, and we should honor them always.

Even today, the work continues for the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. Right now, cultural treasures are being looted, lost and destroyed in the Middle East, and not much is being done to recover these items or stop the damages. There are many stories from Syria and Iraq, and it is believed that the Islamic State is also guilty of cultural crimes, in addition to their already thuggish barbarism.

My point being, read this book, and then understand something:

There is work yet to be done. The mission continues, and we are all involved because if we lose the best of ourselves in the chaos, then, to quote Winston Churchill:

What are we fighting for?