The Morgan Library at 36th and Madison in NYC. Nearly my favorite place in the world.
Friday November 15, 2024
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton was totally illuminating. Women of Edith’s time were little more than manipulators of circumstance. Because they couldn’t vote, own property, or exist outside of marriage, they schemed and went to their dressmakers. Their main function was to capture a husband and move up the social ladder. Poor Undine was born into lowly means and spent her entire life trying to marry into society and money. Edith Wharton paints a picture of how difficult it was to be outside the circle of society and what it took to move up, which was Undine’s sole purpose in life.
Then it was on to Edith Wharton, the biography by Hermione Lee. The book is dense with accuracy and everything that can be known about Edith.
I took a break from social climbing to read This is New York by E. B. White who wrote about the rich in New York’s penthouses while the homeless lived on the streets below. Pretty accurate both then and now. Still, I’d like at least a small studio.
Then, it was on to The Photograph by Penelope Lively (Booker Prize winner and all time great).
Kath and Glyn
Elaine and Nick
Mesmerizing all the way through. Elaine should have made a different choice at the end...not because Nick was a cad but because Nick was childish. Alas.
Currently, it’s Intermezzo: A Novel by Sally Rooney. The chapters, according to my kindle app are over an hour long. Really? I may stick with it or not. Haven’t decided. It's a very different style of prose.
Up next is Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel by Nick Harkaway. Gary Oldman’s portrayal of George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is priceless and a permanent part of America's cinema.
Finally, speaking of the Booker Prize, James by Percival Everett should have won. Hands down.
Till next time.
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Thursday, October 31, 2024
Waiting for a next great read.
And in the meantime, I decided to reread Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. It was as good the second time around as it was the first.
Then there was an article about Andrew Clements in the NYT about his books Frindle and The Frindle Files. I read both and was taken with their pleasant view of life. No trauma, no doom, no apocalypse, no abuse, no scares, no screams…just kids being kids. And the salute to Strunk and White was a real treat.
Finally, the book I’d been waiting for was finally available at the library: The Life Impossible: A Novel by Matt Haig. It's gotten good reviews, but science fiction has never been high on my list (except for TVs Quantum Leap). Finding a math teacher who was 72 and who went to Spain to figure out the glowing seagrass and how it worked to save the planet was a stretch. I much prefer things like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act to fix the problems of modernity because magic seagrass will never be the answer.
And now, it’s on to Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell. I’m 50% into it and am disappointed. It reads like a poorly written dissertation. I’m waiting for cheap housing, Miami’s troubles, gangsters in the north, COVID,and a myriad of other seemingly unrelated events to coalesce. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I keep forgetting what the Lawrence Tract is and by the time I refigure it out, I’m on to the next thing I don’t remember. I need a running glossary of terms or list of events that he’s trying to connect. The book got a bad review in the NYT, and at the time, I thought, humph, this is Malcolm. But yeah, even Malcolm can miss the mark. I’ll finish it because I’m hopeful.
Then Up next is Edith Wharton: Ambassador Book Awards by Hermione Lee and then it’s on to The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton.
Footnote: One important thing from Malcolm's work. Five percent of cars and their unregulated exhaust account for fifty-five percent of all car exhaust pollution. I mention this as I followed two old trucks whose exhaust was exceedingly foul. Malcolm postulated that owners of such vehicles lack the money to fix the problem.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2024
I reread The Midnight Library by Matt Haig while I waited for his new book to become available at the library.
Nora is unhappy. She has regrets. She tries to end her life.
But then, she winds up with Mrs. Elm, the librarian, in a wildly changing library that allows Nora to enter through a book a life that she might have had.
She lives each of these lives for a while and decides whether or not she likes them better than the life she actually has/had.
“She had been a rock star, an Olympian, a music teacher, a primary school teacher, a professor, a CEO, a PA, a chef, a glaciologist, a climatologist, an acrobat, a tree-planter, an audit manager, a hairdresser, a professional dog walker, an office clerk, a software developer, a receptionist, a hotel cleaner, a politician, a lawyer, a shoplifter, the head of an ocean protection charity, a shop worker (again), a waitress, a first-line supervisor, a glass-blower and a thousand other things. She’d had horrendous commutes in cars, on buses, in trains, on ferries, on bike, on foot.”
In the end, as the magical library and librarian begin to break down and disappear, she returns to her real life and decides that’s where she wants to be after all (as soon as she catches up on her rent). And that’s the rub. She has a new way of seeing her now-chosen life, but she has no job, no money, no cat, and no dog.
Somehow, she’s optimistic.
It’s a bit romantic to think that being without a way to support oneself can work. Still…she’s gonna make it (she feels).
And the best part is that The Book of Regrets burned itself out of existence.
The Midnight Library is brilliant. Full stop.
And now?
I’m on page 1 of The Life Impossible. Hmmm. Starts Dark.
Till next time.
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Thursday, September 26, 2024
Rachel Kushner. Creation Lake: A Novel
How can a novel tell a story that includes so much science and philosophy? I don’t know how she did it. But she did.
The book’s overarching theme is the dichotomy between capitalism and nature.
A mega-corporation wants to pump groundwater (out of the ground) and locate it into a man-made mega-basin that will serve as a holding area for toxic chemicals that will then be evaporated into the atmosphere (at no danger to the planet, so they say).
The local farmers, their cattle, animals, grains, and livelihoods will predictably be destroyed over time, but the corporations (like the old GE ads say) will bring good things to life.
“Sadie” has been hired as a spy to stop the mega-basin from being built. Her plan is to infiltrate the local farmers, stir up opposition to the mega-basin, and stop it from being built. Who will win? The capitalists or the revolutionaries and what part will the local cows play?
Rachel explains the difference between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. Thals were built for ease. They were dreamers and star gazers while Sapiens are builders and conquerers. Thals died out. Too nice. Too easy. Sapiens are still here. Still building and conquering. Too competitive. Too aggressive.
One of the book's characters says:
“For nuance and verve, English wins. We took a Germanic language and enfolded it with Norman French and a bunch of Latin and ever since we keep building out. Our words, our expanse of idioms, are expressive and creative and precise, like our music and our subcultures and our street style, our passion for violence, stupidity, and freedom. The French might have better novels (Balzac, Zola, and Flaubert) and they have better cheeses (Comté, Roquefort, Cabécou). But in the grand scheme that’s basically nothing.”
Final thoughts.
I noticed an IRL mega-basin down the road.
Greenpeace is going bankrupt.
Three writers who explain capitalism:
Naomi Klein in The Shock Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Jane Mayer in Dark Money
Brooke Harrington in Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism
Rachel Kushner=Booker Prize, National Book Award, Wow.
Finally, as the Dowager Countess said,
“All this thinking…it’s very overrated.”
Not really.
Till next time.
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Monday, September 16, 2024
Finished The Italian Girl by Iris Murdoch. I’ve decided to vacate the genre of dysfunctional people for awhile especially when their dysfunction is being caused by the characters’ own dysfunctions.
Contrast that situation with Elena Ferrante’s four-volume series, My Brilliant Friend wherein the dysfunction was completely caused by external factors uncontrollable by the books’ characters.
The experts have spoken. The list of the NYTBR 100 Best Books of this century so far means I’ll be busy.
At this moment, I’m leaning toward rereading Persepolis by Maryjane Satrapi. I also just found the list of 100 Best Books as voted on by readers of the NYTBR rather than experts. There was a lot of overlap on these two lists, BUT the readers’ list seems to match my own list better than the experts’ list.
The following books are on my favorites list, the readers’ list, and the experts’ list:
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
There There by Tommy Orange
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
James by Percival Everett
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Finally, it seems odd not to have included the six volumes by Karl Ove Knausgaard by any group other than my own.
On the other hand, Elena Ferrante’s four volumes of My Brilliant Friend were chosen by all three groups. Very wise. At any rate, lots to read.
And in the end, maybe the best criteria for the best books are all about:
Black Beginnings
Stormy Middles
Cloudless Blue-Sky Endings
From Katherine Applegate referencing The One and Only Ivan
Till next time.
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Friday, September 6, 2024
One thing always leads to another.
I read Daniel Handler’s autobiography in which he mentioned his admiration for Muriel Spark. Off to the library. Found Muriel’s Not to Disturb…a wonderful study of “will it work?” Lister, who runs the house on behalf of the Baron and the Baroness, orchestrates a complex series of events that will ultimately end well…or not.
Thanks, Lemony.
And then, it’s on to The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch.
Lizzie, Rosina, Clement, Hartley…all love interests of the infamously fickle and main character Charles Arrowby. Women in the book come off looking indecisive, weak, out of control, or just plain dull. Charles wobbles, dominates, tricks, frets, sneaks around, and becomes somewhat annoying. I’ve not finished this book yet, but I am, indeed, vested in its outcome. It won the Booker in 1978 and still holds up. I keep picturing Kate Winslet and Judi Dench as Iris toiling away at her desk to produce this study in quiet desperation. How will it end?
And then up pops Amanda Jones…That Librarian. Featured in By the Book and in the NYT article about her efforts to resist book banning in her Middle School in Louisiana. She’s been a librarian for 23 years and has recently been falsely accused of harboring inappropriate books. She has a gofundme page where she needed to raise $75,000 to sue her defamers for defamation. It’s going well. So far, 3,200 people have donated over $160,000. This will allow Amanda and her lawyer (Alysson Mills who has expertise in First Amendment law) to take their defamation case to the Louisiana Supreme Court. If the world wants a hero, she’s it.
Again.
One thing always leads to another.
Energy begets energy.
I’m in.
Footnote: Amanda mentioned that a favorite author of hers is the wildly successful mystery writer for adults Karin Slaughter and also Barbara Dee who writes in the vein of books by Judy Blume.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Sunday, August 25, 2024
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
For the first third of the book, I considered putting this aside, but then…I didn’t.
It’s an extraordinary novel about the Long Island rich and their obsessions with themselves and their detachments from the lives of everyone else including those who worked for them.
The Fletchers began with Zelig and Chaim in a basement hiding from the Nazis. Four generations later, the trauma and damage of all that still lingers even if invisibly. It’s called inherited trauma.
In the end, there’s a scene of Kindness and Forgiveness that makes one hopeful.
Chaim
Zelig and Phyllis Fletcher
Marjorie
Carl and Ruth the kidnapping
Nathan and Alyssa fired and broke lawyer
Beamer and Noelle movie business
Jenny philanthropically misguided
Arthur cousin and attorney
Factory foreman Ike and his money
A surprising ending that clears up a lot of questions that actually weren't apparent until the last few pages.
“The Fletchers were gone for good now, and we never had to hear their terrible name again.”
“What was the opposite of a polluting, wealth-obsessed, productivity-obsessed family?” A good question.
Till next time.
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Friday, August 16, 2024
Finished Familiaris by David Wroblewski. An Oprah Book. Oprah is never wrong. I couldn’t put it down.
John Sawtelle
Mary Edgar (Gar) and Claude
The Beast (step-father)
Vi Gus Needles
Dogs…challengers and consolers and searchers and defenders and talent
Dr. Page Papineau, DVM.
Elbow John's childhood friend
Frank lost arm and leg in WWI and became a chef
So Jack Von Osten talented horseman and jack of all trades
Baby, Daddy, Granddaddy
Walter
Ida saved from the fire as an infant by Walter
John Lang a violent bully, unredeemable
“It didn’t take much for a person to be happy, he thought; certainly not the big things people expected. It was small things. Music, though it didn’t have to be fancy. Carnality, naturally. And good, crispy home fries. A person could probably add to the net happiness of the world just by running a restaurant that served perfect home fries.“
“Drencher closed with a straightforward directive: “It is your first and last duty in this life,” he wrote, “not to be an idiot”
Dog food “For Powerful Pups and Determined Dogs.’”
Mary said. “But I do believe that the place you live shapes your days, and your days shape your life.”
Footnote: The one disturbing thing about John and Mary is that they had a troubled child and couldn’t find the wisdom, time, or energy to help him. Their wisdom, time, and energy were spent on raising their thousand dogs over a thirty-year period. Their thesis was that each dog had a specific temperament…challenger. consoler, searcher, defender, or talented. I’d say that after having dogs, that dogs have all those characteristics to one degree or another. And Cesar Millan might boil it all down to two…leader or follower with the leader being the human.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Sunday, August 11, 2024
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A Novel by Garielle Zevin. A totally excellent novel and by someone so young.
Sam and Sadie turn out to be tech wizards over a 30-year or so period. Along with their friend, Marx, they live their lives as gamers, coders, friends, supporters, unfriends, and pretty much normal people who make lots of money.
The problem with gamers is that they could be doing something sooooo much better with their lives. IMHO. I know, I know. I’m out of touch with the exciting and riveting world of gaming except for Pac-Man and Ms. Pac Man or even Pac-Woman and Mr. Pac Woman.
Also, I was thinking about the four big essential areas of work that keep humanity civil including:
Teaching
Medicine
Law
Farming
Oddly enough, gaming is noticeably missing.
In other news.
I watched Sal Kahn interviewed on BookTV today, and he presented as a savior to the world of tech and schools.
He wants to fix education.
He’s working toward AI computer-based teaching supported by youtube, high tech, videos, and even more AI for world-class free schools…for the world.
So…evidently he’s got it all figured out.
Competency-based education. That’s what he wants. Non-negotiable. Everywhere.
He’s not a big fan of constructivist curriculum. Not at all, in fact. His lip slightly curled a bit in disgust when he mentioned it.
And yet, he told a story of his second-grade GT teacher who asked him what he cared about. After hesitating and trying to think of an acceptable teacher-pleasing answer at age seven, he eventually said, “Puzzles and drawing.”
So, that’s what she let him study for several years in his GT program. He loved it and learned a lot. He seems blithely unaware that this GT teacher had provided him with a constructivist curriculum and not the competency-based one that he is aggressively promoting 24/7/365 here, there, and everywhere including in Silicon Valley, the DOE, Congress, and the entire country of India.
To double check my negative analysis of his talk, I tested out his curriculum on his Academy website. His AI feature simply asks the same Socratic questions over and over. His skill teachings are simply electronic programmed-workbooks like the old Sullivan Readers. His focus is on facts. Science Facts. Math Facts. History Facts. His reading curriculum is focused only on critical thinking and vocabulary. Neat.
It all feels like a cult.
According to him, he and his competency-based curriculum are a world-wide phenomenon. For him, it’s all about stair-step learning with one skill at a time with no end in sight for the learner at the screen.
At first his optimism is contagious, and then his ego supersedes his ideas.
He has effectively ignored 100 years of research on the value of constructivism, creativity, self-directed learning, and hands-on activities using science experiments, math manipulatives, puppet shows, play writing, musical composition, art engagements, historical plays, and even community service (not to mention measuring flour for classroom pancakes).
He would benefit from starting with Rousseau, Mann, Piaget, Dewey, Vygotsky, and all the rest who know the value of discovery learning and cross-curricular interactions including his own second-grade teacher.
Learning from other kids through discovery-learning, social interaction, teacher feedback, and screen-free engagements is a world-class process and beats AI hands down whether or not it’s his new Kahnmigo or Kahnmiga.
If he really wanted to help education, he’d work on dramatic increases in teacher salaries and UBI for parents. Those two issues are the only two things that require immediate and sustained fixing in order for schools to flourish.
Not a happy ending.
Till next time.
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Friday, August 9, 2024
I tried. Once again. I tried. I tried to tackle Possession by A.S. Byatt.
But. It was too dense with unfamiliar people, references, and ideas. Sadly. I feel cheated. By myself. But there you go. Moving on.
To.
Finished rereading How it All Began: A Novel by Penelope Lively.
Her mugger was 14 and then he himself was mugged by older boys. She (Charlotte) broke her hip during the attack, and her daughter (Rose) had to step in and help her mom. During her convalescence, Charlotte tutored a talented immigrant who fell in love with Rose even though he had a wife back home. Meanwhile, the niece replaced Rose at the office by stepping in to help her aging uncle with a lecture he was to give and which he hoped would revive his academic career. It didn’t. After affairs, hurts, money woes, chicanery, and a good snapshot of the hardships of life in London, it all came to a satisfying ending.
And it all began with a 14-year-old who knew not the ripple effect of the $67 pounds he had procured and then lost from a random mugging.
Penelope Lively. A Dame. A Star. A Booker Winner. Unbeatable.
Currently, Familiaris by David Wroblewski. An Oprah Book. Oprah is never wrong. I can’t put it down.
Till next time.
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Thursday, August 1, 2024
I finished The Girl in the Castle by James Patterson. Very compelling.
A young teen is caught up in her own mind about whether she lives in the year 1347 with her starving family or whether she lives in the current modern-day world.
Her life in her village is one of hardship, starvation, rebellion, death, more rebellion, and more death. Right up until the very end, it’s very unclear about which world Hannah actually lives in. How does James do this? How does he take Hannah back and forth between 1347 and modernity without missing a beat?
He did build in a flawed character…Jordan who was an intern who got way too involved in Hannah's personal life. Boundaries are essential in all social-service professions. At any rate, the book was hard to put down.
It seems the big conflict in the book mirrors our current day economic disparities between the one percent of the population that owns ninety percent of the nation's wealth and the remaining ninety-nine percent of the population that divides up what's left. So, whether it's 1347 or 2024, how do we fix this disparity? Voting? Laws? Rebellion?
Was Occupy Wall Street really ten years ago?
Till next time.
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Thursday, July 18, 2024
There was a piece in the Times today about Judy Chicago’s work. I’d seen the Dinner Party one time in a traveling exhibition, and it made a permanent, visual imprint in my brain. There’s just something about a nice dinner party although I’m not sure I’ve ever been invited to one. I’ll have to think on that.
But then suddenly, I’m thinking of the photos of Cindy Sherman. I’d seen all her photos at MOMA in 2016 or so, and then I bought her book. She creates unbelievable self-images to the point that when I first saw the prints, I didn’t realize they were all of her. I never get tired of looking at the book. The only hesitant endorsement I have of her is that she owns a lot of property according to wikipedia, which is never wrong.
Footnote: I just remembered two different dinner parties. Elegant and simple as well as relaxed and yum. Two different hosts, two different cities, two different decades, but with a very similar coziness of atmosphere at each.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, July 17, 2024
I’m finishing a novel about women pilots in WWII. It's really too safe. It's a novel for readers who want a rather watered-down version of the war (although there are very real scenes where parents are waiting for phone calls from their sons who are missing).
This particular book is not nearly as interesting or engaging as the true-to-life, nonfiction book titled A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell. The hero of the book is Virginia Hall, (1906-1982). Her heroism is humbling.
Real life heroes are usually more interesting than characters in a book except of course for the characters in Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. The scene where the two girls (Lila and Lenu) (born in 1944 in Italy) are in the plaza as ten-year-olds reading Little Women is unforgettable.
Till next time.
Virginia Hall Time Magazine 1943.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
I suppose if the NYTBR interviews me and asks me who’d I invite to a dinner party, I’d say without hesitation:
Sonia Sotomayor
Tommy Orange
Colm Tóibín
Eleanor Roosevelt
Catered of course.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Finished Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.
ConaLee and her mother Eliza survive.
Civil War
1874
West Virginia
Building a life out of root cellars, wood, wagons, horses, and non-stop grit.
An asylum
Dearbhla is a remarkable character who is the most noble and resourceful of all. Her search for Night Watch is humbling. She just doesn’t quit.
Then and now, men of war and their perpetual attraction to violence are what? Disgusting, unbalanced, evil, unhinged, all the above?
Whadda ya gonna do?
The book requires a strong constitution to simply read it. How did Jayne write it. Thank you, Jayne. Winner Pulitzer Prize 2024.
Footnote: Oddly enough, as I recall, the father in this book was named Ephraim just like in The Frozen River. What are the odds?
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Finished The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Hard to put down. Lost sleep but gained perspective on what it took to be a pioneer.
In Maine, 1789, there lived a woman and her family, Martha Ballard, a skilled midwife. Ephraim is her husband. They have kids, a home, a saw mill, land, and a good standing in their Hallowell community.
And just like in reality, crooks, scoundrels, liars, cheats, and despicables sneak around and try to get their way…at any cost regardless of who dies, loses, or simply disappears.
When Martha is needed for a birth, for testimony, for standing up to bullies, and for her children, she’s there. And being based on a true story, makes it all even more important.
The murders and thefts that occurred as well as the judicial corruption that existed during that time required everybody to keep on eye on those in charge.
What a book. So reminded me of two other pioneering books:
1. Homestead by Melinda Moustakis.
2. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.
To survive on undeveloped land while hoping to build a life requires a tough constitution. Cooking, hunting, building, farming, surviving…all much beyond me, I’m sure.
As an added note, none of these three settlement-type books directly mentioned that the lands the settlers were trying to tame were already owned by the indigenous peoples who had been on the land for tens of thousands of years.
Maine,
Alaska,
Washington, respectively.
And this of course, is why we need Tommy Orange who wrote:
1. There There: A novel
2. Wandering Stars: A novel
Till next time.
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Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Finished Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius (2024) by Carrie Courogen.
The book has lots of details and lots of footnotes although they sometimes refer to obscure print sources. Still, it was a great education in how a very talented woman came to be so successful in brutal environments like Hollywood and Broadway.
It would be great to hear from her daughter, Jeannie Berlin, about how accurate a portrayal the book is. Jeannie starred with Anna Paquin and Allison Janney in the movie Margaret.
Elaine seemed to be devoted to her daughter and her daughter’s career.
One of the best videos out there anywhere, anytime, of anybody is a 4 minute youtube video of Elaine in salute to Mike Nichols.
Nice.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Quichotte (2019) was the first of Salman Rushdie’s books I’d ever read. But then after his recent attack at a book reading in Chautauqua, New York (2022), Salman published Knife (2024), which details the attack and his 18-month recuperation. Even after knowing how the ordeal ends, I couldn’t stop reading the book. Compelling.
Before Quichotte and Knife, there was his autobiography, Joseph Anton (2012), which I have just now finished. This book provided details about the entire publication process and subsequent decades-long race for his survival since terrorists were plotting to kill him over the book Satanic Verses (1989).
At any rate, Salman is alive and is now back under British and American protection. All three of the books of his that I’ve read are impressive and deserving of all their awards and respect.
Next up is Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius (2024) by Carrie Courogen, a thorough capturing of Elaine’s comedy and wit and where fatwas, christian crusades, kkk violence, nor salem witch trials are anywhere in sight.
Till next time.
Monday, June 3, 2024
Micah Watson gave a lecture on C.S. Lewis Saturday on BookTV.
How do we live a moral life?
Is it possible to live a moral life based on an intrinsic notion of right and wrong? Or must people be taught how to behave.
People need a sense of the Rule of Law so that everyone knows that even the powerful and ruling people can be subject to the same laws as all. I need to watch the lecture again.
Fareed Zakaria was interviewed about his new book by Tom Friedman on BookTV Sunday. The interview was splendid.
Fareed’s understanding of how the Dutch in the 1600s set the stage for modern banking, money, economics, and global trading connected all the dots concerning the current-day wars and revolutions that have been on the planet since the beginning of boats. I’m not sure that his book will be as good as his interview because the interview is hard to beat for an hour’s worth of a snapshot of the world’s transactions. He even thoroughly explained the relationships between Russia, China, India, and the US. He seemed optimistic that everything will work out. His parents as well as his Ph.D. from Harvard seem to account for his broad perspective of hope.
Finally, the 100th birthday of Simon and Schuster was celebrated with all their authors giving tribute to this giant of a publisher. Everyone was there from Jesmyn Ward to Bob Woodward. The current president and CEO of S&S is Jonathan Karp.
Maybe the real star of this house is Alice Mayhew (1932-2020). One in a million.
Jonathan told Bob, “We are behind you, no matter what.”
Till next time.
1230 6th Avenus NYC, NY
Saturday, May 25, 2024
There is nothing quite so discouraging as reading a book that all the critics claim to be a masterpiece only to discover that the book is incomprehensible, dull, plotless, and drowning in its own metaphors.
Is it me?
Probably.
But…a man driving around with a living corpse while his brother dies in hospice is too, too much.
Next is Table for Two by Amor Towles. And already by page five, I'm hooked on Pushkin the farmer and his industrious wife Irina.
Till next time.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a new podcast where she interviews wise women.
I’m going to listen to it starting with the first broadcast.
Till next time.
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Monday, May 20, 2024
Finished Long Island by Colm Tóibín. A great sequel to Brooklyn. He got it all exactly right.
The men of the novel either die too young, become too cautious, are too indecisive, or can’t be relied upon. Not all…but the ones who count.
It’s the women who hold society together and yet still earn 82 cents per every dollar earned by men while doing comparable work.
The novel is perfect by not ending with a rosy resolution.
Tough to be Irish.
Till next time.
The UK Times.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Books are an amazing invention.
Much better than papyrus or scrolls or clay tablets or smoke signals.
Colm Tóibín has written a sequel to Brooklyn titled, Long Island. I’m on the waitlist at the library. Can’t wait.
I started rereading Checkout 19, and once again, sort of gave up. Sadly, it may be that I need more of a straight-forward, high-velocity book.
I listened to Tim Egan talk on BookTV about his new book on the KKK titled, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. He’s one of my favorite people/storytellers. His book, The Immortal Irishman, was a straight-forward, high-velocity book of the highest order. Still on my mind.
I’m also on the waitlist for The Odyssey by Homer via Emily Wilson. All the reviews sing Emily’s praises for making this adventure accessible. Hope.
I also intend to read Joseph Anton and The Golden House…both by Sir Salman Rushdie. I’m almost caught up with the NYTBR but not quite. How is it possible to get this far behind.
Maybe it’s because I’m obsessing on the Wiener Rindsgulasch mit Spätzle (Viennese Beef Goulash) I had at the Neue Gallerie Café Sabarsky last week. Hands down…the best dish ever. The Michelin folks know of what they speak.
In between reading and obsessing, I’m watching on my new blue-ray player, the entire season of 30 Rock. I always think I’ll remember the one-liners…but I never do.
Till next time.
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Sunday, April 21, 2024
Today, I finished Knife by Salman Rushdie. Even though we all know what happened, I couldn’t stop turning the pages to see what would happen next.
The book is Salman’s story of his attack, his survival, his talent, his resolve, and his future.
Twenty-two books with more to come. The ability for surgeons, nurses, therapists, and family to piece together this broken man is what?…miraculous? stunning? unbelievable? a medical marvel?
Yes.
The book will be here forever. The A will not.
Till next time.
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Saturday, April 20, 2024
I know at some point I thought that The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy was the book that had impacted me the most. But after further thought, I think it actually may be Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi.
Although I read Stones long ago, it was the first real understanding I had of how intimidation, fear, and bullying can seduce, silence, and trick people into becoming an accomplice to prejudice and totalitarianism.
Two other books which shaped my thinking are:
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
and
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
So many others as well.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2024
I finished reading The Door by Magda Szabo. I kept thinking about Helen Mirren in a movie that was similar to this story. And then, lo and behold, the movie was The Door.
In the book, I was never convinced that Emerene was worthy of all the attention and deference offered to her by the village folks. She certainly seemed broken and demanding beyond what she accomplished.
And in the end, even though this Hungarian novel is well-respected, I never quite sympathized with Emerene.
I’ve also just finished James: a Novel by Percival Everett. It’s wonderful. Jim and Huck flee the South, risk their lives for freedom, lose their way, and wind up Just James.
A perfect book that documents atrocities, survival, ingenuity, tenacity, and the treachery of both the Mississippi and its would-be masters. The banality of evil, as it turns out, is actually anything but banal.
Till next time.
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Sunday, March 31, 2024
I recently watched a few episodes of Lessons in Chemistry, which I didn’t finish and which reminded me of five other books that also became movies.
Six books. Six movies. But IMHO, only two of those six books actually became great movies.
Can You Ever Forgive Me by Lee Israel starring Melissa McCarthy
and
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout starring Frances McDormand
So, of the six stellar books turned into movies, only two of the movies were terrific. The other four movies left out too much of the essences of the books, which is usually the case when transforming long books into short movies.
That means that of six wonderful, engaging, and unforgettable books, all six of them remain wonderful, engaging, and unforgettable books.
I’m almost scared to watch Amor Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow, but with Ewan McGregor playing the lead, perhaps all will be well.
Today, I’m finishing Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, Coincidentally, there’s a glowing review in the Times this very day about this book. But I’m going to postpone reading that review until I’ve had time to digest it all. Jude, Opal, Orvil and all those in-between generations who survived massacres, annihilations, and forced disappearings deserve reflection and respectful appreciation.
Tommy Orange is a talented storyteller, and that’s what it’s all about for him and for us all.
Finally, I’ve just chosen my next lighter read.
Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson.
However, without the Oxford comma, I’m merely cautiously optimistic, never the less, it should be great.
PS. There was an essay in the NYTBR recently about Chester Himes who was a novelist who survived all the slings and arrows of racism in America in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s and still managed to produce novels of significant worth and insight. Life should be easier. We all agree.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, March 27, 2024
What’s hard to accept is that we don’t have amongst us Hilary Mantel, Robert Gottlieb, and Glenda Jackson anymore...although we do still have their works.
Two others which are with us still and still after all these years continue to give us good works…
Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
Ferris is a young girl in an energetic family of mom, dad, aunt, uncle, neighbors, friends, and of course, Pinky, the independent little sister who appears to be out of control and in need of Super Nanny, Jo Frost. The grandmother Charisse and the ghosts play a pivotal role in the story and provide a perfectly haunted ending.
The Eyes & The Impossible by Dave Eggers
Johannes is a fast dog and partly coyote who is a friend with bison, a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican. They’re each smart and devoted to each other’s health and well-being. The goats show up just in the nick of time to stave off human interference in the lives of this troupe. But do they? Or does time simply tromp along?
Finished both of those and am in the middle of Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars: A Novel. Thought after thought, it’s a perfect treatise on survival colonialism, evil, greed, and the stars. Tommy was interviewed by Michael Silverblatt in 2018. He was also featured in the NYT after visiting a high school in the Bronx upon invitation from high schoolers who loved and needed his book. Quite a story.
Till next time.
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Sunday, March 17, 2024
Been awhile…
Word du jour: tidy.
There was a very nice review of Anna Quindlen’s new book, After Annie. The reviewer called Anna the anthropologist of domesticity.
Kate DiCamillo was featured in By the Book. I met her at a conference once and was out of money. That means I couldn’t buy her book and have her sign it. Lame. But true. Kate said the last great book she read was a story entitled, Treasure Island Alley written by Da-Lin. I’ll look for it. Kate also said she’d invite to a dinner party Isak Dinesen, Margaret Atwood, and Marilynne Robinson. Kate doesn’t cook so it would be a mere gathering. Mere.
I finished Abraham Vergesse’s two latest books, The Covenant of Water and Cutting for Stone. Arresting. Arresting. Arresting. And then he was interviewed on C-SPAN and is obviously a genius.
I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. A great story about a life in Hollywood’s spotlight right up to the surprise ending. Well done. Even at bedtime, the pages kept turning.
I’m finishing The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilivie. All thumbs up.
For some reason, I have returned to 70s musicals. On my mac and all my devices, I have a playlist of musicals that are mostly happy.
Cabaret (Liza and Joel)
Camelot (Vanessa and Richard)
Chicago (Renee and Catherine)
Fiddler on the Roof (Topol)
Gypsy (Bernadette)
A Little Night Music (Glynis Johns)
My Fair Lady (Vanessa and Rex)
My biggest regret is not dancing on stage with Alan Cumming during his revival of Cabaret. Why did I not? My purse was on the table and I didn’t know the people around me. Lame. Lame AND regretable. But true.
There was a nice piece in the NYT about Gertrude Chandler Warner and her Box-Car Children’s series. She wrote 19 of the series. Ghost writers wrote 100s after her. She died in 1979 and was born in 1890.
I’m on the waiting list for James by Percival Everett. I just watched Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction based on Percival’s book Erasure. The movie was totally excellent. I watched it twice.
At the end, there was a young actor dressed as a farm laborer. When Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown drove by him in their new, red convertible, the actor flashed them the peace sign. Jeffrey gave a slight and distant nod back. The movie is about the real life of Blacks in today’s America and that it’s not all about failure and oppression.
HOWEVER, the ironic thing is that the young actor playing the laborer is neither named nor credited. Really? His subtle and critical performance at the end will remain erased? Really? Yes? Evidently. I had to rewatch the ending a few times to get a better sense and a photo of that scene. He’s on for such a brief and shining moment. But he’s critical to the overall movie.
The actor is listening to his AirPods.
His performance? His demeanor? His message?
We’ve moved on. We’ve moved above.
We’ve got AirPods, a script, and a 401K.
Up next on my kindle are: I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness: A Novel by Claire Vaye Watkins. The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. Ferris by Kate DiCamillo.
There was a Senator on C-Span today talking about book banning. She read an excerpt from Audre Lorde’s work. Senator Laphonza Butler is fearless.
I miss Michael Silverblatt and his interviews of all book people. His health evidently keeps him out of public service.
Finally, I was thinking of the book that has most impacted me. Not sure. But it’s probably The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, fearless also.
But the play that has most impacted me most was The Piano Lesson with Charles S. Dutton. Broadway.
There’s nothing like it. Broadway. Fearless.
Till next time.
Broadway.
Uncredited Actor with AirPods.
Monday, January 1, 2024
The only resolution I have for the coming year is to read all the books by Simon Winchester and watch all his C-SPAN videos.
What will I do with the other 3 months?
Till next time.
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Sunday, December 31, 2023
Just finished Kate DiCamillo’s The Puppets of Spelhorst.
King, girl, boy, wolf, owl.
Is there anyone better?
Reading now The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilvie.
Samuel Johnson created the OED. But it was updated by thousands of volunteers who made it current-ish.
Till next time.
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Friday, December 29, 2023
Finished Karl Ove Knausgård’s The Wolves of Eternity. Karl’s an artist, genius, and an enlightened thinker. Through this book he wove the fields of classical music and science into the lives of many Norwegian and Russian families. I think.
Even complicated books with sophisticated subject matter should be written for average readers. It was unclear to me why Seva’s paternal grandmother was so hateful. And Seva was sort of unclear in his character.
Doing research on plants for a dissertation in the colds of Russia requires resilience and focus. This type of person doesn’t wander around the forest eating wild mushrooms. Yes, Alevtina, you.
Back in Norway, Syvert’s teenage angst was overwrought with, well, too much angst.
From the beginning of time, it’s been downhill…in novels and beyond. Starting with Syvert and Joar’s father who is also Alevtina’s father right on up to the low-life Stalin.
It’s a five-star book on Amazon and compulsively readable in the WP.
Till next time.
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Thursday, December 21, 2023
Good news.
AI can neither apply for nor receive a patent.
Unless, of course, it takes over the USPTO.
(United States Patent and Trademark Office)
So, AI, if you’re reading this, be aware…there are limits.
Conversely, the Apple Watch contains parts made up of 250,000 patents including, unfortunately, an oxygen sensor that belongs to someone else. Oops.
Till next time.
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Friday, December 8, 2023
Looking forward to some colorful Christmas cheer.
Till next time.
Friday, December 1, 2023
Finished Trust by Hernan Diaz. Quite a book. It won the Pulitzer. For the first half, it seemed too much like a caricature of a rich Wall Street family. Then in the middle, it changed to another fictitious family that was supposed to be the real family represented by the caricature in the first half. Very mirror like.
The whole book was about American business being a form of patriotism.
Other details:
Helen and Benjamin Rask
Mildred and Andrew Bevel
Marx vs Marxism
Property is theft
Stocks are a claim on the future
Captains of industry
Thieves of industry
“Business was a form of patriotism.”
“Our prosperity is proof of our virtue.”
“The time has come for action.
Mussolini crushing Italy under his boot,
Franco massacring Spain,
Stalin murdering his own with his purges,
Hitler getting ready to devour Europe.
Yes, the time has come for action.”
He looked out the window. “How did we get here? How? All we have left to choose is different forms of terror. Terror and imperialism. That’s all. Fascist imperialism. Soviet imperialism. Capitalist imperialism. Those are our only choices now, it seems. The time has come for radical action.”
“Church bells. D F♯ E A. Followed by retrograde response: A E F♯ D. The most conventional chime.”
"In 1929, everyone heard D F♯ E A and, listening ahead, thought A E F♯ D. But when I heard D F♯ E A, the response ringing in my mind was G C B♭ D.”
Till next time.
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Tuesday November 21, 2023
Just starting Michael Cunningham’s new book Day.
Plus, I heard the phrase False Comforts recently.
Till next time.
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Monday, October 30, 2023
Evidently, half the world is shooting at the other half.
In the meantime, Cynthia Ozick wrote Heir to the Glimmering World, a fictionalized novel about Christopher Robin Milne.
Colm Tóibín wrote The Magician, a fictionalized novel about Thomas Mann.
Zadie Smith wrote The Fraud, a fictionalized novel that included Dickens, Thackeray, and Byron.
Till next time.
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Finished The Fraud by Zadie Smith. There was a trial in the 19th century about a scalawag who tried to claim he was an heir to a fortune. Zadie included Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and William Ainsworth with the incomparable Mrs. Touchet. In an old, old interview with Michael Silverblatt, Zadie mentioned that reading a book should be challenging/hard and should require effort. I think reading a book should be easy. This book took a lot of rereading to keep everything straight.
And in the end, a reader really has to care about the characters.
Caring about the characters is what happened in the next book.
Finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This was a wonderful book. It told the story of oppression, meanness, tenacity, strife, victory, solidarity, and truth. “the seven requirements of Jewish life: wisdom, meekness, fear of God, love of truth, love of people, possession of a good name, and dislike of money.”
Moshe
Chona
Nate Love
Dodo
Monkey Pants
It was almost too much.
Too much emotion. Too much hardship. Too much truth.
But in the end, it only takes a few who do the right things for the smallest of reasons to eventually win the day…and more.
And once again, I am taken back to a great interview:
Sunday, November 11, 2018 BookTV.
James McBride and John Grisham.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2023
The Fraud by Zadie Smith. Started this book today and can’t quite put it down.
Till next time.
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Finished…just today.
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece: A Novel
by Tom Hanks.
It was delicious. Start to finish.
Bill Johnson, the director with Final Cut.
Al…his number two.
Ynez…PONY driver/film executive.
Knightshade…the superpower for good.
Flamethrower…the superpower for destruction.
Wren.
Ike, Thea, Ruby.
Robby, Stella, Uncle Bob, and plum trees in the backyard.
From carefree to drawing cartoons to WWII to a Harley to washing dishes to cooking to a bad hip to a wheelchair to a masterpiece movie.
The End.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Finished Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. The main accolades seem to focus on the quotes used by the author throughout the book to examine the life of a young mother and the colicky baby.
Also finished Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III. It’s a total explanation in novel format of how easy it is to fall from solid working class to living in one’s car. A hurt back, lapsed insurance, a house lost, a home gone. Easy, easy, easy to see. We are each one small step away from despair via multiple parking tickets, a towed car, an addiction, section 8 housing, and the loss of everything including hope. What the book got wrong is the joy of work. If only the main character could work, all the rest would work itself out. Not really. The book oversold this joy of work theme several times. Also, finding people to help you is not as easy as bringing a neighbor some doughnuts. But the book, by far, is a thorough and truthful examination of life’s potential pitfalls faced by all.
Finally, Act One by Moss Hart. This book is the autobiography of Moss Hart as he was growing up in the Bronx and in Brooklyn and finally making it on Broadway. It’s a study in talent, perseverance, and success. But as James Lipton said, “for every one person who makes it on Broadway, there are a thousand still waiting tables.” And another hundred people just got off of the train. Tony Shalhoub who starred with Andrea Martin in Act One at Lincoln Center stayed true to the book and true to the life of Moss. Nothing finer.
Next up, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece: A Novel by Tom Hanks. Can’t wait.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Finished Fatherland today. Where to begin.
The Treaty of Versailles seems to be part of the beginning. The treaty was punishment against the Germans for their part in WWI. But as with all these various punishments and sanctions against countries and governments, it’s always the common people who suffer. Poverty, unemployment, despair, lack of hope…these allowed the German people to become easy prey for evil men to control them and corrupt them and lead them straight into the death and destruction of WWII.
Burkhard Bilger’s maternal grandfather and family lived in Alsace, which is on the Rhine and which was historically French then German then French then German then French all because of geography.
To read this book is to understand how people can be manipulated and bullied into believing in symbols and ideology all based on tricks and lies, smoke and mirrors, misinformation and racketeering.
Nationalism, corruption, greed, fear, threats, secrets, lies, propaganda along with control of information, books, schools, music, art, and curriculum. That’s what it takes.
The book sought to discover and explain how people can fall into the wrong camp, the wrong side of history, and the wrong side of decency.
Fatherland is exhaustively researched and documented and leaves the reader with small (just small) flickers of hope.
In the end, there’s little reason to live large. Small flickers of hope should be plenty.
Till next time.
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Saturday, August 12, 2023
The National Book Festival in D.C. was held today. One of the many stars featured online and on BookTV was Douglas Brinkley.
His contributions to the scholarship on historical events are second to none. In fact, his analysis of Theodore Roosevelt’s setting aside of millions acres as protected lands is unique. His answers on various presidents were scholarly and were always illuminating.
He’s at Rice in Houston.
Footnote: 1998-2023. The 25th anniversary of BookTV will be September 12, 2023. That's a Tuesday. Twenty-five years with Brian Lamb and Peter Slen. Changed my life...almost as much as my public library, Michael Silverblatt, and Rainbow Books.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Sunday, August 6, 2023
First Sunday of the month. Must be time for a live interview with an author on BookTV.
S.C. Gwynne
He did a great job discussing his books. I’m still not sure about helium versus hydrogen, but he is and that’s good enough for me. He talked in depth about his book on airships. The problems they had were enormous and were ultimately unfixable. His stories were fascinating.
He graduated from Princeton with a degree in history and from Johns Hopkins with a master's degree in writing.
His research and writing are solid, and his ability to explain his books and their contents is superb. Time well spent.
Till next time.
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Friday August 4, 2023
i can’t stop saying wow.
I finished the extraordinary book by Michael Finkel titled The Art Thief.
Stéphane Breitwieser is a Frenchman who stole over 300 pieces of art from museums all over France, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium over a fifteen year period starting in 1991.
He’d simply walk in and walk out with his jacket, shirt, pants leg, sleeve, or duffle bag filled with sliver, paintings, sculptures, Roman coins, swords, or pistols.
Three hundred pieces. Two billion dollars worth of art. He got caught.
In the end.
Michael Finkel is the super-talented writer who tells this story as a thrilling, totally documented, page-turner.
The only thing left to wonder about is where is Stéphane right now… right this minute, and what is he up to.
Also.
I'm feeling the need to own a 17th century oil painting on copper.
Thanks, Michael, for researching and writing this book.
Wow.
Till next time.
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Sunday July 23, 2023
In The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, the characters are living in villages where the land, the water, and your neighbors are life. It’s a tale of generations who leave behind invisible threads that somehow never bring much balance beyond neutral gifts.
In the book, the author uses a quote from Nehru who said after independence from Britain, "now there will be a life of democracy, secularism, science, and technology."
I’d like to live in a place like that rather than what we have now, which is a world where money talks and does so in near silence.
Robert Rubin, former Treasury secretary was interviewed in By the Book. In answer to the question, “What book has had the greatest impact on you?” Secretary Rubin said, “That’s easy. “The Underclass,” by Ken Auletta. It follows a nonprofit organization as it attempts to improve the lives of some of New York’s lowest-income residents, and when I read it in 1982, it completely changed the way I think about poverty in America. This was during the Reagan years, when the notion was that Americans could simply “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” But Ken’s argument — which I found very persuasive — is that poverty is a vicious cycle, replicated over generations, and that being trapped in that cycle is far more the result of society’s failings than of the individuals’. “The Underclass” led me to believe that trying to break the cycle of poverty through policy and through private efforts is not just right for moral reasons, but is enormously in the interest of all of us, both because of the economic impact of lifting people out of poverty, and because of poverty’s negative effects on social cohesion.”
End quote.
For me: Democracy, secularism, science, technology, and social cohesion with books being a given is ideal.
And finally for today, Poverty by the Pulitzer prizer-winning writer, Matthew Desmond is the other book on my mind lately. These three books document through fiction, journalism, and science the topic of what it will take for everyone to have what is needed.
One more thought. In the HBO series, Succession, Brian Cox looks at his adult children and says to them, “You people are not serious people.” All the above are.
And even one more thought. If By the Book ever asks me what book has had the greatest impact on me, I would say, Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Dennis Lehane wrote Small Mercies: A Novel
Adrian McKinty wrote In the Morning I’ll Be Gone: Detective Sean Duffy, Book 3 and narrated by Gerard Doyle.
I just finished both of these books within a day of each other by reading Small Mercies and listening to In the Morning.
In Small Mercies, Mary Pat is the wronged and grieving Irish-American mother living in South Boston where Detective Bobby Coyne is working hard to keep gangs, drugs, guns, racism, and school integration in the 1970s from exploding. Frank and Marty are the murderers, kingpins, drug lords, racists, and criminals that keep South Boston full of rage, hate, misogyny, and violence. Mary Pat goes the ultimate distance to find out if Frank and Marty killed her son Noel and her daughter Jules and why.
In In the Morning, Mary Fitzpatrick is the wronged and grieving Irish mother living in Ireland where Detective Sean Duffy is working hard to keep the Catholics and the Protestants from killing each other on sight during the troubles in the 1980s. The killer of Mary’s daughter, Lizzie, is consumed by greed and money amidst all the bombings, religious tribalism, English oppression, misogyny, and class warfare. Mary goes the ultimate distance to find out who killed her daughter Lizzie and why.
Both of these books came across my desk at the same time with no planning…only coincidence.
They are each accurate historical novels (if history can be called history when it occurred as recently as the 70s and 80s), and each book thoroughly explores the inexplicable ways in which tribalism, religion, misogyny, power, and economic deprivation can keep people and their lives in perpetual prison with no way out.
The people in these books are long gone (particularly since they are in fact merely shadowy characters on a page). But there are millions of actual people exactly like them…all of them.
Good and evil, upstanding and dishonorable, generous and greedy, balanced and un.
Both books tell their stories flawlessly and include all the loss that humanity can possibly conceive.
Is the reward for greed and power greater than or less than the standard portion of a cup of kindness.
In the meantime, I’ve located for rereading The Seaman’s Journal by Patricia Reeder Eubank. I recall it as being uplifting…like all good dog books should be and are.
Footnote: Both books declare that we become what we are handed. Also, Gerard Doyle is the perfect Irish narrator for all things Irish.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Saturday, July 8, 2023
Finished:
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Von Drehle.
Charlie’s simple truths:
Work hard.
Spread joy.
Take a chance.
Enjoy wonder.
Tom Hanks certainly liked the book and gave it several recommendations.
The best thing about this book was not necessarily Charlie, it was that Charlie lived through major world events, which the author included within Charlie’s story thereby giving Charlie’s life context.
Life is always about context.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, June 27, 2023
A quick scour of the internet, and it appears that I’m the only person on the planet who is upset by Apple’s dissolution of My Photo Stream.
This Stream of free 5Gs of cloud space allowed my iPhone photos to move seamlessly from camera to cloud to all my devices for free.
And now?
Apple would like me to pay them $10.99 per month for this exact same service, which as of yesterday had been free.
And it’s not even the $10.99 per month…well, actually that’s a big part of it (and once you’re hooked on the cloud, they’ll conceivably go from $10.99 per month to $100.99 per month with no recourse), but mostly it’s the greed. The greed.
Plus, it doesn’t feel very Jobsian.
But.
I’ve found a work-around, which will save me the $10.99 and will thereby allow me to continue to buy my monthly frappuccino at Starbucks for said $10.99 including chocolate chip cookie (warmed).
In the meantime, I’m listening to In the Morning I’ll be Gone written by Adrian McGinty and read with the perfect Irish brogue by Gerard Doyle.
And because Tom Hanks recommended it, I’m reading The Book of Charlie by David Von Drehle.
Till next time.
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Sunday, June 25, 2023
Solito by Javier Zamora.
Finished this very difficult book with a renewed understanding for the chasm between those who have and those who don’t.
Outside of the book, I’m still slowed by people who can read the book and then feel unconnected to the causes and problems represented by displaced peoples around the globe.
Javier survived seven weeks of coming to La USA from El Salvador via determination, luck, help, and the innocence of youth.
He’s now looking for Chino, Patricia, and Carla, wherever they are, to say a decades-long thank you.
The most poignant parts:
Eggs and beans on tortillas.
The bodies of 30 people together for days in one room.
The need for a drink of water.
The high price for freedom charged by desert guides.
Simple rules for not getting caught.
Long-term results of US interference in foreign governments.
Grandparents.
Clean clothes and showers.
Toothpaste.
Dark backpacks.
Walking for hours.
Heat.
Cactus needles.
A drink of water.
Decency.
Resolve.
Till next time.
Friday, June 23, 2023
It’s so great to read a review that recognizes and endorses a great book.
And the latest review is one written by Dwight Garner about the book,
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig.
The book is a definitive account of MLK’s life and gives the reader hope that a divided country will somehow become smarter, more generous, more grateful, and more honorable.
The review concludes with a quote from Eig, “Here was a man building a reform movement on the most American of pillars: the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the American dream.”
Till next time.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano.
Oprah liked it, and I like Oprah.
Julia
Sylvie
Emmeline
Cecilia
Izzy
Alice
William
Kent
Rose
Charlie
I think Oprah liked the book because it was set in Chicago. But actually, the four main characters were quite ordinary. They made the usual number of life’s mistakes; and in the end, they were all headed toward a stable and easy life.
E. B. White gives sound advice on using semi-colons. They’re rarely needed, but when they are…
And now after Chicago, it’s on to El Salvador in a book titled, Solito by Javier Zamora. It’s a grueling story of immigration from the eyes and pen of a nine-year-old boy who remembers every life-threatening aspect of crossing the desert and making it to his parents in La USA.
Javier won the LA Times Christopher Isherwood Autobiographical Prose award, which was broadcast live on BookTV. This is too difficult a book to read right before bedtime. That award goes to the invaluable stories by P. G. Wodehouse who never misses a beat.
Till next time.
Yes, THAT E. B. White.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Glenda Jackson
Hedda to Member of Parliament to King Lear.
May 9, 1939 - June 15, 2023 (age 87)
Robert Gottlieb
Avid Reader throughout his life.
April 29, 1931 - June 14, 2023 (age 92)
Serious people.
Till next time.
The Independent.
NPR.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
The Lock-Up by John Banville
Rosa
Molly
Phoebe
Hackett
Strafford
Quirke
Good guys
Bad guys
English oppression, Archbishop bullying, German aggression, the arms race, Israeli strength, Irish resolution, it’s all there.
A murder, then another murder, then another.
This book gets everything exactly right.
Till next time.
La Gazette de Monaco.
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson I did finish it. It was probably an accurate account of the 1% who are engulfed in their own gated bubbles of angst and ennui. I kept waiting for it to get better, and it never did. The characters were shallow, the plot predictable, and the women were trapped in the darkness of their own hormones.
Therefore…
Next up is The Lock-Up by John Banville with characters who are lost, injured, sad, struggling, and on the brink (but mostly Irish). Good for John. No 1%ers for him. All oppression and bereavement.
After that?
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay simply because the book and topic were featured on This American Life, and who doesn’t remember the delight and excitement of their first bus ride.
It’ll take a while.
Till next time.
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Homestead by Melinda Moustakis. It has everything. I just finished it.
Marie and Lawrence are a young couple who try to make a life in the wiles of Alaska in the 50s. It’s brutal.
Animal attacks, freezing winters, potato blight, hunger, distrust, and danger.
In the end, this book is a careful examination of survival, skill, colonialism, corruption, graft, and the always-to-be-doomed interference with the rhythm of the earth and its indigenous populations.
Shem and Billy, Sheila and Sly, and other characters all trying to make it work.
It’s a novel, so it had to end with some sort of hope…even a little.
Till next time.
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Monday, June 5, 2023
Finally, today, the Apple WWDC 2023 arrived. In addition to various software updates for iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, and the plain and great, good ol’ desktop Mac, the VisionPro goggles were announced, explained, dissected, reassembled, and placed in an ad.
Hmmm.
Fortunately, I have the prototype that was smuggled out of Apple, Inc by an enterprising pirate and sold to me for $79.95 tax-free.
After using the goggles and watching the whole two-hour event, I’m afraid there is too much hype.
Critical Apple Theory finds that:
1. While Apple strongly advocates good mental health and handy apps (which are inevitably destined to be hacked by a Columbian drug cartel), the VisionPro goggles were shown primarily used in isolation to view movies and photos. Good mental health needs other good people all around rather than a single guy on a single couch watching action movies and playing action-packed (AKA violent) video games.
2. The benefit of humongous virtual screens is neither a research-based fact nor a huge draw.
3. Sitting on one’s couch watching pirate movies and wild horses evidently appeals to a particular demographic and this demographic was featured in all action scenes. All.
4. Following a half-second lag when one guy handed another guy an orange credit card, an Apple VP mentioned there was no lag time when using the goggles.
5. Playing ball with your dad in the kitchen while he’s wearing his goggles and chopping carrots is creepy.
6. The actual number of people in hotel rooms having business meetings while wearing goggles and seeing other apparitions hanging about in the air or on the wall is fairly low.
7. The single best use of these goggles will be educational. The best clip was seeing a beating heart apparition in thin air and 3D. The. Best.
8. Bob Iger bravely got on the stage and explained all about the partnership between Apple and Disney+. He talked about everything except the price, which is inevitably going to be too high.
9. What I really need is a Mac that is a one-piece 32-inch monitor with built-in card reader and CD player. I also REALLY need a one-price Photoshop CD that works natively on Mac thereby leaving Rosetta in the virtual dust. Otherwise I’m all set.
10. If Apple could actually do something extremely extraordinary, I’d have them invent a time machine so that we could go back and get John Muir, Dian Fossey, E. O. Wilson, Stewart Udall, Theodore Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, Henry David Thoreau, Dwight & Mamie, and of course, Albert. Leading and chairing the whole group will be current-day superstars Jane Goodall, Greta Thunberg, and Carl Zimmer. Tim and Bob can arrange all the first-class accommodations…personally. I’d also bring back Tim Pigott-Smith simply because he’s so great.
11. I also noticed that Apple has lost all touch with their icons of Think Different although a Goldman Sachs savings account could certainly fall under the category of different.
12. These Apple people are SOOOOO very smart. Their unwavering commitment to and success with end-to-end encryption is why I pay extra for all their devices. I trust them, and yet…these goggles. Hmmm.
13. Finally, I’m wondering if Tim is interested in my Critical Apple Theory thoughts. I’ll give him a ring.
Footnote: For the record, I’m keeping my pirated goggles.
End Footnote.
Footnote 2: I've loved Apple ever since I bought my first IIe including and through today.
End Footnote 2.
Till next time.
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Think Different
Sunday, June 4, 2023
Peter Slen interviewed David Quammen about all the books he’s written about viruses, the pandemic, and the relationship between the microscopic world and the human world.
He explained that so far viruses move from their world to the human world via birds and mammals.
This process is called zoonotic.
Till next time.
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Saturday, June 3, 2023
Live from the Metropolitan Opera.
Right there. Live.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Magic Flute
Die Zauberflöte
Including the glockenspiel.
In the 1700s, many operas were written in Italian. Mozart was from Austria and decided to write Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) in German rather than Italian for the benefit of everyone.
The Met staged this opera with an amazing group of singers, musicians, and stage crew who were responsible for the movable stage and all the props including a real-life glockenspiel played by Papageno under duress and under fire from the Three Little Boys.
The other amazing attribute of this Met presentation (basically about Beauty and Wisdom) was that online all the words were captioned in English.
Footnote: Galileo primarily wrote in Italian rather than Latin in order to honor common Italian citizens who rarely spoke and never understood Latin (according to Dava Sobel who wrote Galileo’s Daughter).
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Half-way finished with Maria Tallchief’s biography. Her life was extraordinary. From Oklahoma to NY to LA to Paris and back again many times.
At one point she was married to George Balanchine. She wrote about how difficult some of his ballets were. Even though I tried not to, I couldn’t help but think of the concept of passive/aggressive behavior.
And then, I’d like to see men on pointe every now and then.
Great book for the details of how music, dance, talent, and perseverance can create long-lasting beauty and comfort. And then including Stravinsky, Toscanini, Marlene, Jerry Robbins, and dozens of other accomplished compatriotes is a perfect example of essential, informative, and entertaining details.
Footnote: She even explained how some of the stages had wooden floors with splinters and slopes. (Hard to pirouette on a stage with splinters and slopes...particularly on your toes.)
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Saturday, May 13, 2023
Just finished The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
Nearly my favorite place in the world is the Pierpont Morgan Library on 36th and Madison, NY, NY.
And now I know why. Belle was hired by John Pierpont Morgan to build his personal library of the best books and art of Europe and beyond around 1900.
Belle did all that and more. Her expertise knew no bounds. This kind of expertise requires decades to accrue, and even though the authors documented her college degree, it’s still unclear how she actually learned all the historical, artistic, and technical knowledge that was always at her fingertips.
I remember thinking the same thing when reading all six volumes of Karl Ove Knausguaard’s work. When did he have time to acquire all that knowledge at such a young age.
It happens.
The book is perfect. Belle rose to the highest levels as curator, business woman, art historian, and formidable negotiator. An essential book to understand the foibles and heart of humanity and also the arts.
Till next time.
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Friday, May 12, 2023
Finished The Wager by David Grann.
When will all the warring stop? That’s one take-away. There are dozens of others.
The book is well written and gripping. It seems impossible that a ship can withstand hundred foot waves and being stripped of its sails while still continuing to find land, but it’s all there in the captain’s logs and in the journals of the sailors and officers.
Sailing around the world in the 1700s with the intent of conquering lands that actually were already inhabited by indigenous people seems too preposterous, but there you have it.
Humans at their most preposterous.
The book could not have been better. There's an absolute clear sense of living for months and years lost at sea on a ship that is literally falling apart. The storage, the food, the hammocks, the sailors' sea chests with their belongings, the torturous, mutinous, murderous thoughts and feelings of sailors driven to starvation and sickness...it's all there. Two thousand men and boys leave for adventure. Two hundred or so return to Britain for court martials, medals, promotions, book publications, and at long last, a paycheck.
Till next time.
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Charles, at long last is finally king. Which brings me to the play and the movie:
King Charles III
Starring Tim Pigott-Smith (1946-2017).
Till next time.
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Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Today’s disparate thoughts…must be spring.
Six-word stories:
Marley was dead. To begin with. Charles Dickens
For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn. Ernest Hemmingway
Found true love. Married someone else. David Eggers
To be, or not to be? William Shakespeare
It was dark inside the wolf. Margaret Atwood
Also, I'm wanting to read Hermione Lee’s biography of Virginia Woolf.
And I’d really like to read SPQR about the Romans by Mary Beard.
Additionally, a little wisdom from George Orwell as Jay Powell and Jamie Dimon are this very day shaping the world's money supply:
“We could do with a little less talk of capitalist and proletarian and a little more about the robbers and robbed.”
So, Jamie and Jay, if we could start the planet’s money and money-laundering systems all over again, how could we build in and ensure equitable resources and wealth for all.
Finally, I’m halfway into The Wager by David Grann. Soooo great. I’m so happy not to be a shipwright, a British Navy sailor (then or now…but especially circa 1740), a pirate, or a robber baron. The world will never recover from colonization, and we without a restart button.
Footnote: SPQR Senatus Populus Que Romanu, Senate and People of Rome.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023
One of the best parts of the NYT Book Review are the letters to the editor:
Felicia of Providence, Rhode Island wrote in to remind people that Elmore Leonard had advised never to open a book with weather.
She went on to say, “George Orwell knew better when he opened “1984” with “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Till next time.
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Sunday, April 23, 2023
Watched LIVE on BookTV the Los Angeles Festival of Books from USC.
To name a few, watched two panel discussions. Topics included censorship, intellecutal freedom, library funding, environmental issues, and narrataive journalism:
Angie Thomas
George Matthew Johnson
Erika Hayasaki
Kirk Wallace Johnson
Serious thinkers, writers, people.
The whole festival cost about a million+.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship is about three billion+.
Till next time.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Less than a minute ago as measured by geological time:
Gloves. Hose. Pearls. Hats. Bridge. A new Lincoln. Shopping at the Plaza. Boredom. Malaise. How was Your Day, Dear? Cocktails.
And then along comes Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Marilyn French, Angela Davis, Bella Abzug, and Woody Guthrie.
Taylor. AOC. Greta. All saying thanks, thanks a lot.
Till next time.
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Saturday, April 15, 2023
Coming up might be Oprah’s recommendation…Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano although I was just thinking, I don’t think it can possibly be as good as:
Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple
The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
I’m hoping to be wrong.
Till next time.
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Friday, April 14, 2023
Every Man a King
by Walter Mosley
From Manhattan to Brooklyn to Queens to Long Island to Staten Island to Yale to Canada and back and then on to Kentucky and back again.
I estimated five thousand miles. Perhaps six.
I also estimated about five thousand characters to keep track of. It was a lot.
Plus, Rikers Island is so beyond the pale as to be inhumanely incomprehensible.
The book reminded me of C.B. Strike by Robert Galbraith as played by Tom Burke in the series. Also reminded me of The Blacklist with James Spader.
The take-away?
Big Oil, Big Money, Big Corruption equals Big Moral Deficits.
A bit of counter-balancing good news is that Silicon Valley is investing a billion or so in the removal of carbon from the atmosphere.
Till next time.
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Thursday, April 13, 2023
Watched The Circle with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson.
It’s based on the book by the wise and astute Dave Eggers.
Dave got it all just right. Google. Amazon. Apple. Chase. He-who-shall-not be named. And all the rest.
Dave’s book took their services and surveillance to the next level so that every person on the planet was under constant and voluntary surveillance (for the good of us all).
Jaron Lanier is the guy to watch for keeping us all warned about Big Tech.
Till next time.
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Sunday, April 9, 2023
Understanding America is an impossibly big job.
The book Travels with Charley In Search of America by John Steinbeck is a very good start. And it’s a good finish.
I took a lot of notes.
In this book, Steinbeck was critical of embezzlers, uncontrolled corporate wealth, the degradation of land for the purpose of strip malls, and the racist attitudes he met along the way (particularly in the south)…but his admiration and connection with ordinary working people are evident on every page.
“The great get-together symbol is the cup of coffee.”
“I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.”
“...for man has to have feelings and then words before he can come close to thought and, in the past at least, that has taken a long time.”
“I haven’t seen anything but cowardice and expediency. This used to be a nation of giants. Where have they gone? You can’t defend a nation with a board of directors. That takes men. Where are they?”
He traveled throughout America from NY to ME NH VT Chicago ND MT WA CA TX MS GA home and through all places in between. He spent several months in a truck fitted with a camper, kitchen, bedding, typewriter, books, and Charley…the French poodle from France who said, “Fttt” when he needed something special.
As I finished, I thought of two other books: 1) Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America with the best French to English version completed by Arthur Goldhammer and 2) the unique Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon who said he revised his writing 39 times…40 times was lapidary.
And closely aligned to understanding America is Mastering the Art of French Cooking by our Julia. Serious thinking about America and beyond requires a few bites of a nice profiterole aka cream puffs, pp. 177-180.
As an aside:
What if the Fed raising rates is not the cure for America's inflation?
What if the cure for inflation is for consumers to simply stop buying so much stuff (excluding food and gasoline, of course)?
Producers will then start lowering their prices and consumers will have more time to visit their local libraries.
I wonder if Jay Powell has thought of this.
Till next time.
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Sunday April 2, 2023
Book TV with Stacy Schiff. Live. Two hours.
It was an abundance of riches.
She talked about most of her books and took call-in questions from all kinds of folks.
Her books feature Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, the Salem witch trials, Véra Nabokov, Cleopatra, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and all things in between.
Word for word…it was all perfect.
In her remarks about Cleopatra, Stacy explained that Cleopatra was Macedonian and Greek. Cleopatra ruled in Alexandria, Egypt as well as Rome. Alexandria ws famous for its international trade, its sophistication, and its library.
Leaders in Alexandria preferred to settle disputes through trade and discussion while Rome, famous for its military conquerors, preferred fighting and war.
Sunday with Stacy and Peter.
Till next time.
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Thursday, March 30, 2023
The past is not dead, it’s not even past.
The Magician: A Novel by Colm Tóibín is about Thomas Mann (1875 – 1955) and his family, his writing, and his life in and around two world wars.
Mann won the Nobel Prize for literature for his novel Buddenbrooks. Colm took the known facts about Mann and wove a probable story about the times and troubles through which Thomas and Katia (his very capable wife) lived. The book is a brilliant novel with all the truths and subtleties required. Colm never misses a beat.
Then it was The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland.
And then for the fourth time, it’s Allan Corduner reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
That’s three books in a row about war and the ways in which a few evil people can create an unlivable world for the masses.
So, it’s time for Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. I’ve finished chapter 1, and already my equilibrium is almost completely restored. That's Steinbeck.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Finished…
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
by Jonathan Freedland
Walter Rosenberg (1924 – 2006) renamed for protection Rudolf Vrba.
Alfréd Israel Wetzler (1918 – 1988) Fred renamed for protection Jozef Lánik.
Walter and Fred were from Slovakia. As young Jewish people, they were captured and sent to Auschwitz. They watched thousands of Europe’s Jews murdered by the Nazis. They escaped from Auschwitz in 1944 after surviving two years in torturous conditions.
After their escape, they wrote down everything they knew about the camps and went to leaders to have it published.
Walter and Fred assumed:
1. that the world did not know what was happening in these camps.
2. that after the world found out what was happening in the camps, the world leaders would step up and end the German aggression.
3. that after world leaders (and especially Hungarian leadership) found out about the camps, world leaders would start warning people (Hungarian Jews in particular) about the German plans to send them to Auschwitz.
None of those three assumptions were accurate.
The book is a revelation in every way possible. It contains historical accuracy of names, dates, cities, people, villages, and the men responsible for the six million deaths.
It’s easy to see this level of aggression and murder as an historical anomaly until the headlines about Putin and Ukraine are printed.
The past is not dead, it’s not even past.
The book is straightforward, clear, and well documented.
The book also references, of course, Eli Wiesel (1928-2016) (winner of Nobel Peace Prize 1986) and Primo Levi (1919-1987).
The book also documents the life of Walter/Rudi after the war: Ph.D. in neurology/chemistry, publications in scholarly journals, conference keynotes, honorary doctorate, husband, father of two, university professor in Vancouver, advocate for truth.
Related to this book is another Holocaust survivor who is 100 and who made a recent presentation at Gonzaga University.
Carla Peperzak, said “The fact I’d like you to take away from my presentation is simply this: The Nazis didn’t need raving anti-semites to help them carry out their mission. All they needed was people who are willing to follow orders without asking questions.”
Till next time.
Rudolf Vrba
Carla Peperzak
Thursday, March 9, 2023
I’ve read it.
Digitally.
I needed the hard copy.
It arrived today.
And now it’s on the shelf.
Waiting for the inevitable reread…right after lunch.
Till next time.
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Sunday, March 5, 2023
Jeff Guinn was live on BookTV today for two hours with Peter Slen at the Tuscon Book Festival.
Jeff talked about his 25 books and answered loads of questions from viewers who called in with good questions and positive feedback.
Jeff’s answers were given with a friendly and professional response. He mentioned Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck. This book is now on my to-read list as it is one that inspired Jeff to be an historian.
BookTV.
Till next time.
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Friday, March 3, 2023
Nearly finished with The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland.
Two young boys/men escaped Auschwitz miraculously and lived as witness to the horrible truth of Nazi cruelty and war crimes. For Walter to live through this horror and compose this book is a feat that few could accomplish.
Determining truth versus lies and facts versus propaganda requires constant vigilance, brave writers, a free press, and trustworthy publishers.
Till next time.
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Monday, February 27, 2023
Finished Lois Lowry’s The Windeby Puzzle. It’s a bog-people story during the time of Druids, myths, warring, poverty, strife, death, power, machismo, and a young girl who fought against it all (around 41 BCE).
Lois takes the history and science of the bog and combines it with separate probable stories of a young teen girl and a young teen boy. The preserved bog body is on display at The Landesmuseum at the Schloß Gottorf in Schleswig, Germany
In the meantime, photo below.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2023
I’ve started these a couple of times. They are great. Something else always popped up. Now is the time. For sure.
Bill Bryson
Simon Winchester
Where would we be without BookTV.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2023
I had a baked potato for lunch and immediately thought of Frank McCourt’s story of when he was a kid and had snuck into the kitchen and ate the baked potato that his mother was saving for dinner for the whole family. She was livid; he was ashamed. After all that time, the event was still with him. Just like Proust knew it would be.
And then I finished Peter Sís’s The Wall.
If it weren’t for brave artists and truth tellers like him, we’d never know. The Iron Curtain (Winston Churchill) is The Wall.
Peter tells what it’s like to be a kid and live in a totalitarian state ruled by Russian terrorists in Czechoslovakia after WW II. When he got older, he defected and made his way in the world as a writer and artist.
At the end of The Wall, he lists the attributes of a democratic government versus a totalitarian government:
Democratic Government:
Hope Inspiration Joy Dreams Respect Love Benevolence Spirit Pride Art Justice Integrity Liberty Dignity Morality Virtue Honor Trust Truth Freedom Wisdom Happiness Equality Knowledge
Totalitarian Government:
Stupidity Suspicion Injustice Corruption Terror Fear Envy Lies
Till next time.
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Monday, February 20, 2023
I finished an autobiography of a famous writer who is also much revered by the book world. But soft-bragging about one’s Ivy League education, family wealth, and perfect life is the opposite of Benjamin Franklin’s never-tiresome autobiography, which documented frugality, industry, practicality, and independence. For whatever reason, silver-spoons and soft-bragging seem unseemly.
In the meantime I’m between books, AND I’m four weeks behind in the NYT Book Review, which is beginning to feel more like homework instead of joy.
Speaking of which…Be joyful though you know all the facts.
Finally, I was thinking about my top ten movies. And after last night, I’ve added Tár to the list as number one and two and three as well. Cate will never be able to make another movie that will surpass her brilliant performance as Lydia Tár. Adam Gopnik will agree, I’m sure.
Till next time.
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Monday, February 13, 2023
“Good books make good people.” Patrick Modiano
Till next time.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2023
I caught Simon Winchester on PBS talking about his new book, Land. This man has a clear picture of humanity and its relationship to the planet. He also has an incredible curiosity and writing talent. His talks and conversations are even better than his books, which can't possibly be true, but tis.
And then, on BookTV, there was Chris Hedges from 2022. His study of and books on humanity, religion, morality, decency, fairness, and peace are based on everything from first-hand experience to a study of ancient texts.
Plus, they both obviously love what they do.
Till next time.
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Sunday, January 29, 2023
Almost finished with my signed copy of Liberation Day by George Saunders.
His short stories to a page capture the many facets of the characteristics of what it means to be a human being.
Of all those lists of personality types, personality disorders, human strengths, human foibles, good intentions, bad results, or just plain quirky types, he’s managed to show them all including the petty, the destructive, and the great within each story.
How’d he do all that?
Too good to be true.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. A significant book.
Through fictionalized real-type characters, the book shows how the opioid and addiction problems of the Appalachia region have overwhelmed every health-care agency and every government agency assigned to help.
From the medical sales reps, to doctors, to hospitals, to isolation, to poverty, and to toxic masculinity, it all works together to create addiction, abandoned children, orphans, widows, pregnant teens, black-market medicine, generational unemployment…it’s all there.
Damon Fields aka as Demon Copperhead is the main character who needed parents, relatives, housing, education, food, clothing, money, and instead got none of what is considered average/normal/sustainable for a life.
Barbara didn’t miss a beat in describing all these families and the exact moments when their lives started a downhill trajectory with no way in sight to make their lives good again.
Barbara portrayed the teachers as competent and always going the extra mile to keep the kids moving forward academically. She was too hard on the social workers, however. She was critical of their ability to keep track of and help the hundreds of kids that each social worker has on her/his roster.
Barbara has written the modern-day Charles Dickens story of want, despair, injustice, struggle, and random acts of kindness (which never seem to be enough).
Till next time.
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Friday, January 20, 2023
The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy. Long-listed for the Booker.
So, I finished but came away wondering why a man who was so quirky and many times inept, was so popular with so many different kinds of people.
Weepy, insecure, off-kilter, confused, and not very reliable are the characteristics that first come to mind. The place in time that caused all his problems is right before the Berlin Wall came down.
I was thinking during this reading, it’s time to rewatch Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleason in Alone in Berlin right before the wall went up. No one weeped or fell apart at least not in public. They simply went straight to work creating quiet resistance.
And also… It’s time to reread The Wall by Peter Sis. One of these days, maybe it will all actually be quiet on the Western Front.
Till next time.
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Friday, January 13, 2023
It’s extraordinary to write a novel as good great as Ian McEwan’s Lessons: A Novel.
Roland and Alissa…along with Jane and Stefanie (representing alpha and omega) as well as Daphne and Peter the bully. Where are they now?
To create characters that live, die, achieve, fail, falter, recover, transgress, assault, abuse, succeed, aspire, or just bumble around is a mirror of how most people on the planet live, die, achieve, fail, falter, recover, transgress, assault, abuse, succeed, aspire, or just bumble around.
And then to wrap it all up in piano lessons, the Nobel prize, child abandonment, books, music, poetry, power, and truth-seeking is extraordinary.
Thank you Sir Ian. To have this much talent, world knowledge, stamina, and work ethic is…I don’t really know what. But it’s nice to know that it’s out there.
Till next time.
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Friday, January 6, 2023
Still reading Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman. Almost finished, and I’m hoping for a hopeful ending. Will the author of a book featuring the Lumpsucker fish allow this very smart species to remain extant? Although the planet is nearing total degradation, Mark Halyard and Karin Resaint will surely prevail in their no-holds barred efforts to save one small fish and its habitat from the industrial-military complex known as winner-take-all capitalism.
Makes me want to immediately read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George and then invite her and her two brothers to brunch at Sarabeth’s on 59th and 6th in NYC.
I remember my dad and I talking about this Mountain book as well as Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. That may be the real reason to read books.
Till next time.
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Sunday, January 1, 2023
Live. BookTV. Today.
Chris Hedges did a wonderful job talking about his work as a journalist, professor, writer, scholar, minister, and humanitarian.
Peter Slen, as always, did an equally wonderful job of letting Chris answer complex questions in a timely and thorough manner.
I did text in a question that they didn’t get to: “If we as a nation want to keep capitalism as our monetary system, what needs to be done to clean it up and make it fair?”
Chris paid homage to Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, and Cornell West. He talked for two hours about ideas, data, writers, movements, history, governments, his family, and the books he has written. He did all this without notes, without missing a beat, and with a profound sense of purpose.
If we had a US Department of Culture, he’d be the one.
Till next time.
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Nothing like it.
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Clipping articles from the paper is a lost art. But my scissors are sharp and here’s the paper. So…
And then…
Chris Hedges is LIVE on BookTV on Sunday, January 1, 2023.
I can say without fear of successful contradiction that he has influenced my thinking more than any other writer, thinker, or activist other than, of course, my high school music teacher.
Till next time.
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Friday, December 23, 2022
In the first eleven pages, there are 17 characters…none of them main…all of them peripheral…or not.
I keep having the urge to create a spreadsheet/flowchart to keep track of everyone.
A Visit From the Goon Squad. Disappointing.
Proust…one main character. Just saying.
Plus, there’s a sequel. And it appears that everyone in the literature business loves both of these books. Something is askew. C'est probablement moi.
In the meantime, I’m moving on to Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead as soon as all the eggnog is gone.
Finally, Prue Leith in By the Book in response to the question, “What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?” answered “My first husband (he died 20 years ago) gave me a specially-bound-for-me little booklet of “Le Bateau Ivre,” a long poem by Arthur Rimbaud. I was studying Rimbaud and Baudelaire in Paris at the time, and I was 100 percent in love with Rimbaud. So, it was a good move. I still have it by my bedside.”
Moi again. I include this quote, because Arthur Rimbaud seems to be referenced in almost everything I read lately.
Coincidence?
Or nudge.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Finished reading Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee yesterday. I don’t remember how this book came across my desk. The Times Book Review? Probably. But then again. Maybe not. I’m not ready to read the reviews of this book before I actually decide what I think about it.
It wasn’t really clear until late in the game why the main character was on the run. And as it turns out he wasn’t a very competent criminal. Plus, who stole his money? That seems like a critical plot point that should have been made crystal clear. Autumn? Oscar? A neighborhood kid? Or did the guy just misplace it.
Also, at several points, it got a bit too Lolita, which made the guy VERY and SUDDENLY unlikeable. Up to that point, I was sort of rooting for him. Then again…a travel agent?
In the end, the book reminded me of the university administrator who abandoned his life by disappearing to Mexico from Wisconsin or Minnesota or someplace north as I recall. He took cash, stayed unknown, and tried to vanish. As I recall, this took place before internet, cell phones, tracking, surveillance, etc, and yet he still got caught. Hmm. Book’s name? Still looking.
In the meantime, something from long ago and probably very wholesome…The Hundred Dress by Eleanor Estes.
Till next time.
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Sunday, December 11, 2022
Instagram
TikTok
Youtube
Snapchat
Susan Linn published a new book, Who’s Raising the Kids? Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children.
Her thesis is that children are only ad revenue to the tech companies (the four listed above in particular) and that these four companies do not know anything about child development, brain development, or the social-emotional growth of young people in general. The tech companies (the four listed above in particular) care about children only to the extent that children relate to ad revenue. Seems like a shameful occupation. The term related to Linn’s book is ad-cultivated addiction.
Another book in the news is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. After reading the reviews, it seems obvious that I’m going to read The Passenger, but I’m almost scared to begin. Too dark? Possibly. But not as dark as ad-cultivated addiction.
Just finished Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel. Elizabeth, Mad, Harriet…all such interesting characters that the book was hard to put down. Supper at Six. “Children, set the table. Your mother needs a moment to herself.” I wish I hadn’t already read it, then I’d have the pleasure of reading it all over again.
Barbara Kingsolver’s new book Demon Copperhead is on the bedside table as is George Saunders’s Liberation Day, which I’ve started. But. The violence in the first story about Custer is really too much. I’m almost scared to finish it.
But then lined up are three back copies of The Book Review, which will undoubtedly point me in the direction of brand new must-reads.
And finally, I’m waiting for the Provensen Book of Fairy Tales by Alice and Martin Provensen. But. Wait. The release date is September 16, 2024. ?
In the meantime, the season is here with the 15th year-in-a-row of a Christmas card from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Busy Times.
Till next time.
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Thursday, December 1, 2022
Lessons by Ian McEwan. What a triumph.
Combining a young boy’s piano lessons with life lessons from beginning to end is a lasting work of genius and scholarship. Lessons reminds me of Tom Stoppard’s work and also of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s as well as Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl in how they each have addressed world wars, totalitarianism, and government oppression and how those factors influenced people’s daily lives without people even understanding their personal dilemmas and missteps.
Within all these books there exists a place for rock music, which sought to upend all the brutality and violence of those decades. The music never really succeeded on a permanent basis because here we still are… And yet, the music tried.
The characters were perfect and perfectly flawed in this book.
Roland needed better parents.
Alissa needed more humanity.
Daphne needed less competence.
Peter needed more maturity.
And Lawrence needed more stability and more support for his genius in maths.
The book is a success in every way. The sociological statements, the stories of the characters’ lives, and the representation of the subtle and direct impact of the world on the small details of daily life are all included.
After letting all of this resonate for a bit, I will read Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel, whose cover is comfortingly reminiscent of Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. Lots of lessons to be learned.
Till next time.
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Monday, November 28, 2022
It’s been a minute. Then again, it’s flown by.
And it’s obvious, I need the book critics to give me the best insight into what makes a good book good. Almost finished with Lessons by Ian McEwan, and I’m not sure about it. Maybe too soon to tell.
I’ve seen enough interviews with Sir Ian to know that he is not Roland, but wow…poor Roland.
Till next time.
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Saturday, November 19, 2022
Elizabeth Strout writes serious books. Just finished her Lucy by the Sea. It’s all about the pandemic, marriage, the wealthy, NYC, and Maine. I suppose excessive wealth that allows ownership of multiple apartments in NYC and then a subsequent purchase of a new home in Maine is not something one should take for granted. And yet, Lucy and William never discuss this aspect of their lives. This wealth.
A major thing that didn’t ring true about Lucy as an accomplished and savvy New Yorker was when she left Maine to go back to NYC to visit and was SO surprised to see so many homeless people in Grand Central.
Living in a bubble (whether it be wealth, ideology, privilege, or choice) is always risky.
Morning walks by the sea. Breakfast on the porch. A wealth-enhanced Maine cottage. Travel. A generous publisher. Nice! (Though not really a B dot Franklin lifestyle of frugality and industry.)
It was nice to read that Olive was volunteering in a nursing home. (Yes, that Olive.)
Onward.
Till next time.
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Friday, November 11, 2022
After serious books, something less intense…Patti Lupone: A Memoir. I’ve read it before and am reading it again. Julliard. Italy. Broadway. Italian. Perfect.
Veni, vidi, vici.
Till next time.
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Thursday, November 10, 2022
Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2022.
So, I just finished her Shame. The ways in which she combines her own stories with the qualities of good literature are Nobel worthy…without a doubt.
I was skeptical at first on the first page at the first line, but in a bit I was there…in a great book.
Till next time.
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Sunday, November 6, 2022
Texas Book Festival. Live. Today. It’s humbling.
Mark Updegrove is the Director of the LBJ Foundation in Austin. He was the keynote speaker and talked extensively about LBJ’s leadership in Texas, Congress, and in the White House.
Also included in his talk were historical facts and stories of how presidents from the last 100 years handled civil rights, voting rights, democracy, and education. He explained about Eisenhower’s interstate road-building program and his devlopment of NASA, Nixon’s Environmental Protection Agency, Truman’s life after the White House, and Johnson’s establishment of ESEA as well as funding for higher education in 1986.
Then it was on to Douglas Brinkley who has never uttered a wrong word, and today was no exception. He discussed conservation, environmental issues, specific sites that require attention, and various Presidents who established protections for the planet throughout the last hundred years.
Also on this panel was Maya Van Rossum who is saving the Delaware River and all its tributaries. She also spearheaded the effort through the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court to shut down fracking in Pennsylvania. The state Supreme Court agreed that fracking violated people’s constitutional rights to have clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.
The book festival was all live.
Another session was with Jeremy Suri and Nick Seabrook who identified the biggest current political problem: gerrymandering. Easy to see…hard to fix.
Finally, I was reminded of a glorious year of BookTV’s In-Depth interviews.
The Fiction Edition in 2018:
J David Ignatius
F Colson Whitehead
M Jeff Shaara
A Walter Mosley
M David Baldacci
J Gish Jen
J Brad Thor
A Cory Doctorow
S Jacqueline Woods
O Geraldine Brooks
N Jodi Picoult
D Brad Meltzer
All Live. All perfect. And, of course, Peter Slen orchestrated it and made it all possible.
Till next time.
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Saturday, November 5, 2022
Bookish People by Susan Coll…finished today, but I’m still wondering what happened to Clemi’s dad, why is Clemi’s voicemail always full, is a tortoise really a good pet, what was the smell in the store room, why buy such an unwieldy vacuum, what will happen with the secret nook, why did Florence set herself on fire, what happened to the guy who liked to drill holes, should one be so nonchalant concerning towed cars and missing vans, does Ann Patchett have this many simultaneous problems in her day-to-day Parnassus endeavors?
Next up? Still…Lessons by Ian McEwan.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2022
From time to time, I think about André De Shields who won a Tony in 2019 for Hadestown.
In his acceptance speech, he gave three pieces of advice for living a worthwhile life:
1) Surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming.
2) Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be.
3) The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next, so keep climbing.
His message was a gracious and picture-perfect performance. Brought to us by pure talent, unflagging perseverance, and a heart-healthy dose of…The Arts.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Today, I’m trying to finish The It Girl by Ruth Ware, but it so closely resembles that Italian story of the murder of a college girl that it’s hard to keep the two events separate.
Also, I keep comparing the It book to Cynthia Ozick’s book Heir to the Glimmering World in terms of depth, complexity, social commentary, history, imagination, and perfect word after perfect word.
A whodunnit versus a book to reread.
4-stars @13,242 versus 3.5-stars @221
And then finally, I think I'll just scoot on over to the next book queued up and waiting impatiently...Lessons by Ian McEwan.
Till next time.
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Friday, October 21, 2022
I was thinking about movies today and remembered these three actors:
Colleen Dewhurst 1924-1991 age 67
Geraldine Page 1924-1987 age 62
Maureen O’Hara 1920-2015 age 95
Till next time.
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Sunday, October 16, 2022
In 20+ years of watching BOOKTV (since it’s inception in 1998), I have never been disappointed in listening to the ideas and reviews of the thousands of people who have written books and been interviewed…both live and taped.
Today, four big thinkers talked about their books and did a flawless job, AND it was live:
1. Ben Raines
The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning (about Thomas Meaher’s human trafficking in 1860 and its ongoing trauma and damage to the people of Africatown, Alabama then and now).
2. Kristen Green
The Devil’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South’s Most Notorious Slave Jail (about Mary Lumpkin’s [1832-1905] life and extraordinary fortitude).
3. David Randall
The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T-Rex and How It Shook Our World (about the discovery of the first T-Rex which is now in the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh while pieces of the second and third T-Rex are at the AMNH. Barnum Brown (1873-1963) was the paleontologist extraordinaire who orchestrated all the digging in 1902).
4. Ernie Suggs
The Many Lives of Andrew Young (about his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership for civil rights and beyond…Andrew Young [1932- ]).
Till next time.
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Friday, October 14, 2022
Finished Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer. Had my doubts that I’d finish, but once Arthur set out on his across-America adventure as a Minor American Novelist, the book couldn't be stopped.
The phrase to remember, in addition to Minor American Novelist, is:
Know no no.
But will I remember what it means? Time will tell.
And now it’s on to a rereading of Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel (1952-2022). This book of essays is SOOOOO good because Hilary dissected and critiqued books for the LRB in a fearless and forthright manner.
Words, phrases, and perspective…all perfect.
Till next time.
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Sunday, October 9, 2022
Finished The Winners by Fredrik Backman.
There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and this meant remembering if the characters were from Beartown, Hed, or both (meaning some worked in one town and lived in another).
All the characters sort of looked alike in my head, which was okay because the book was about power, money, and violence via the stories of boys and men in sports (as well as the tangentially placed girls and women who were also part of it all).
As I finished the book, I was thinking about the education these young ice-hockey players had received. It appeared…not much.
And this led me to think about the autobiography of Louis L’Amour (1908-1988) who wrote about his own education. Power, money, and violence on one end of the spectrum versus education on the other.
L’Amour’s quote?
“If I were asked what education should give, I would say it should offer breadth of view, ease of understanding, tolerance for others, and a background from which the mind can explore in any direction.”
Sounded good when I read it 30 years ago and sounded good when I read it again yesterday.
The letters to the editor of the NYTBR are one of the very best parts of the Sunday NYT.
And on Sunday, September 18, 2022, page 6, there was a letter from Dorchen A. Leidholdt. Dorchen wrote in reference to a NYT photo of a group of women who were fighting for women’s rights in 1979.
She explained that the photo had been used in a book review without acknowledging the women by name. And then, guess what? Dorchen provided the names.
The women’s names are:
Dorchen herself on the far left and then moving from the left:
Barbara Mehrhof
Susan Brownmiller
Frances Goldin
Dolores Alexander
Is there anything better than these letters in the Book Review? Maybe (just maybe) the book reviews themselves.
Till next time.
Snapped about a minute ago.
Friday, September 30, 2022
The Winners by Fredrik Backman is almost too much (even at the 40% mark). It’s very dark and tells the stories of what happens in communities where violent sports are tolerated and applauded (ice hockey).
Strength, leadership, winners, manliness. Those are the only things that matter.
The book is about these human attributes and the damage they cause. But in the end, it’s mostly about money (at least in this book it's mostly about money, which so far reads pretty true).
Dissonance versus harmony. Which sells more tickets?
Till next time.
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Friday, September 23, 2022
Hilary Mantel
July 6, 1952 – September 22, 2022
A loss. And she without a coin.
Till next time.
Photo by Els Zweerink in the NYT.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
At first I was somewhat disheartened to read a book that was immediately confusing and jumped back and forth in time several decades for the first story/essay.
It was also somewhat disappointing that I didn’t realize that this was a book of essays rather than a novel. But because the book got such glowing reviews, I thought I’d continue.
And I’m glad I did even though I’m cautious about a person’s personal journey when it gets too personal.
But well done.
So, The Crane Wife by C. J. Hauser and two others are on my mind.
A Woman of No Importance: the Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell.
And
Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson
Next up: Andrew Sean Greer’s Less is Lost.
And
Ian McEwan’s Lessons
And probably
Ruth Ware’s The Lying Game
Footnote: I wish I had my books organized by Dewey decimal instead of by a timeline of when I read them. At least they’re not organized by color or size and are findable…eventually.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2022
On this bright, sunny day with rain nowhere in sight, I have three thoughts.
1. The It Girl by Ruth Ware. I am person number 165 on 45 copies of this ebook at the library.
2. I had a friend once who said that pizza was nothing more than a mound of grease and salt. Still. And. Never. The. Less. I’d like a slice.
3. Even though I’m in the middle of reading several different books, my mind still returns to specific books for their sheer impact:
Building Stories by Chris Ware,
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders,
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles,
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe,
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy,
The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq,
Mirrors by Eduardo Galeano,
all six volumes of My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard,
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman,
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt,
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and read flawlessly by Allan Corduner,
Dear Genius The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom by Leonard S. Marcus,
Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb (on which I have just now checked and found two copies of this exact same book on my shelves…why does this keep happening?),
and finally Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing.
Johannes Gutenberg in 1439 had no idea what his printing press was destined for.
Till next time.
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Friday, September 9, 2022
Jill Lepore has written an extraordinary book about Jane Franklin. Jill researched boxes of letters, documents, pamphlets, papers, flyers, newspapers, books, notes, paintings, and monuments in order to understand Jane’s life.
The takeaways?
Jane was as smart as Benjamin.
She did not receive formal education.
She used invented spelling and wrote a lot of letters (most now missing).
She had twelve children with one surviving.
She made soap and sold it.
She made embroidery and bonnets and sold them.
She understood industry and frugality as a goal of life.
She was a believer in providence.
She knew about the almshouse and mental illness.
She was there when tea went into the Boston harbor.
She loved books and was self-taught.
She was obscure in the eyes of history.
She should be on the back of the hundred-dollar bill.
She endured.
She endures.
March 27, 1712 – May 7, 1794 (aged 82).
Jill Lepore was on C-SPAN live for 2 hours with Peter Slen on October 4, 2020. The effort to write this book was significant. And yet it’s just one of many books that Jill has given the world of academe and history.
Book of Ages.
How does the world produce a Jane, a Jill, a Virginia, a Greta?
Till next time.
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Saturday, September 3, 2022
Two wonderful sessions among many wonderful sessions stood out at the LOC National Book Festival today (live on BookTV and thrilling).
Elizabeth Williamson
Her book explains the Sandy Hook tragedy and highlights the difference between truth and conspiracies.
In 2007, there were five million tweets per day.
In 2012, there were five million tweets per second.
That’s how fast lies can travel and change reality.
Edith Widder
She gave a brilliant talk about deep-sea life. She recommends spending ninety billion dollars exploring the ocean before Artemis is again scheduled to explore the moon. Hard to argue with that.
Juli Berwald
She researched coral reefs and explained that the coral is a little animal that produces an external skeleton, and in that external skeleton grow algae which are green. Coral must live near the top of the ocean in order for the algae plants to stay alive via sunshine. Millions of small fish live in these coral skeletons and provide the start of the ocean’s and life's food chain.
It was all hopeful.
Till next time.
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Barbara Ehrenreich
August 26, 1941 - September 1, 2022
I met her at a book signing. It was a wonderful conversation. She was very interested in and knowledgeable about everything. Ben Cheever and Michael Moore were there, too. Ages ago. But it was unforgettable.
Nickeled and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America.
An instant classic.
Till next time.
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Saturday, August 27, 2022
The NYTBR is getting the better of me. I’ll have to focus more deliberately if I’m to catch up on all the reviews of all the great books.
Making a start includes C. J. Hauser’s The Crane Wife.
Then, it’s Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime.
Also, it’s Path Lit by Lightning by David Maraniss.
Currently, finishing The Book of Ages by Jill Lepore and A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell.
I was reading Excellent Women by Barbary Pym, but then I discovered I had already read it in 2017.
Cued up on the ipod for an evening walk (yes, I know it’s been pronounced obsolete, but there you have it…the ipod not the walk) is A Little Night Music with Hermione Gingold and Glynis Johns.
Busy.
Till next time.
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Sunday, August 21, 2022
Finished The Maid by Nita Prose.
A brilliant book encompassing invisible worker bees, below-sustainable wages, autisim, drug cartels, cleanliness, betrayal, loneliness, companionship, and the exact right ending.
The autistic aspect of The Maid(although the word autistic was never used in The Maid) reminded me of the book/Broadway play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time starring Alex Sharp. It was the most extraordinary performance I’ve ever seen.
The other connection to this book is an interview on an NPR type show that featured an autistic man who had received medical treatment to lessen his symptoms. When his symptoms lessened, he was able to remember and understand all those people who had made fun of him, tricked him, laughed at him, and played jokes on him. Remembering those people and times was overwhelming for him.
The Maid Molly never received medial treatment but did get better at reading expressions, knowing whom to trust, and finding the right people, just by luck, who stood in her corner.
One of the best scenes in the book was when she and a dubious and supposed boyfriend took her to Olive Garden where she wanted to order the Tour of Italy dinner. That order never materialized, but she did plan right then that someday she would take this supposed boyfriend to Italy where they would go eat at Olive Garden.
The drugs, the police, the judge, the jail, the detective, the hotel manager, the immigrant, the drug lord, the hotel laundry in the steamy basement, the lawyer, the doorman, the gun, the wives, Molly, and finally, Gran.
It all works together for a perfect story.
Till next time.
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Saturday, August 20, 2022
Michael Pawlyn was on Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts podcast recently.
Michael is a systems analyst.
His life’s work revolves around planetary conservation.
He used words like:
marginal incrementalism
the pain of the possible
regenerative vs sustainable
carbon oxygen nitrogen hydrogen
One of the most interesting aspects of his talk was the notion that sustainable projects are inadequate (he cited the Bloomberg HQ in London).
The only action that will sustain and repair damage to the earth wind water and sky will be regenerative housing, farming, traveling, schooling, and everyday living. That is…putting more in than is taken away.
Carbon footprint? Not near enough positive results from this marketing ploy and is actually the wrong phrase.
Regenerative actions…the right way to go.
Michael Pawlyn.
Till next time.
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
True or False? True.
More than one million earths would fit into the sun.
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass.
Jeremy
His mom
Lizzy
Her dad
NYC
James the driver
Mr. Oswald the antiques dealer
Reminiscent of Quantum Leap wherein wrongs are made right and also Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close wherein a boy won’t use the subway. Also, a little bit The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.
Jeremy only eats peanut butter sandwiches. Nice touch.
And now?
One by One written by Ruth Ware. Suspense. Crime. Resolution.
Erin
Liz
Topher
Eva
Elliott
Finished this book today and found it engaging and suspenseful. Young, semi-educated people make a lot of money in the dot-com era, puff up, and then quickly lose it all. In the end, lots of damage.
FOOTNOTE: In this book, there was a lot of technical info about skiing in the mountains, which makes me think I will never be a skier, but a nice cup of milky coffee will always be welcome.
END FOOTNOTE.
Till next time.
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Monday, August 8, 2022
David McCullough (1933-2022)
He changed everything.
His books and his BookTV lectures are a testament to the pursuit of happiness.
His obituary written by Daniel Lewis in the Times:
“McCullough spoke of the founders’ notion of the pursuit of happiness — which, he said, did not mean “long vacations or material possessions or ease.” Rather, he said, ‘as much as anything it meant the life of the mind and spirit.’”
.˙. Happiness = the life of the mind and spirit
McCullough’s research was in depth and relied on libraries and librarians for Adams, Truman, The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, and all the rest.
He regularly paid tribute to the nation's five best research libraries and their librarians:
Harvard,
Boston Public,
Yale,
Library of Congress,
NYC Public Library.
Till next time.
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Sunday, August 7, 2022
Ruth Ware writes suspenseful crime novels. In a recent By the Book interview, she was asked which three writers she would invite to a dinner party.
If she wanted to impress people, she said, she’d invite Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Emily Brontë.
However, if she were being truthful, she said, she’d invite those who write crime novels.
If By the Book were to ask me who I'd invite, I’d invite Fiona Shaw, RBG (I know), Kate DiCamillo, Susan Orlean, Alan Bennett, and Robert Gottlieb.
Every Thursday.
Plus for the big picture issues, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Peter Higgs, and obviously, Jamie Dimon…to pick up the tab.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Finished The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott.
This book clearly captures the pain and suffering that women have endured since the beginning of time. The book doesn’t invite sympathy but rather it paints a picture of generational poverty that just won’t go away.
Statistically, most people live lives of noodle salad and warm slippers by the fire. The question is why can’t everyone?
This is a very brave book. I don’t recall how it came my way, but there you go. Worthwhile things abound.
Jim
Annie
Sally
Sister Illuminita
Sister St. Saviour
Sister Lucy
Sister Jeanne
Patrick
Till next time.
Alice and her book.
Saturday, July 30, 2022
It’s the oddest sensation.
You start the book and feel like you’ve seen the movie. But you can’t recall.
So, you think for a minute more, and voila. There it is. You’ve read this book before. Twasn’t a movie after all, but the book’s scenes were so well written that it imprinted as though they were movie images.
Totally.
Neat.
The book?
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott.
The brain is so handy.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022
So…James Patterson in his autobiography mentioned Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge, which are two novels by Evan S. Connell.
James said both of these books written in 1959 and 1969, respectively, were instrumental in James’s telling of his own stories. Short chapters, short sentences, fast action.
I’ve just finished reading them both. He’s quite right.
Evan established the short chapter, short sentences, fast action genre, and did it exceptionally well.
Published in the mid-century before civil rights and women’s rights were unquestionably the law of the land, these novels make the picture clear.
There was a lot to rebel against unless you were part of the country-club set.
Things are, of course, better now unless you read Banksy. The newest Banksy book is by by Stefano Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani, and I want it even though it's $40.
Throughout his works, Banksy illustrates with gorilla strength that the 50s simply are not that long ago. The past isn't over...it's not even past (Faulkner).
The Bridge family:
Walter-the long-suffering father…given the power to always know best
India-the perfect mother who had no life except to raise perfect children
Ruth-the eldest rebellious daughter
Carolyn-the middle daughter who married poorly
Douglas-the son who was privileged, argumentative, and lazy
Harriett-the hired help who ran the house
Julia-the hopefully sad office secretary
The book matches Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in terms of enough is enough.
These two novels by Evan Connell are works of sociological research presented as a story of quiet desperation. And even though Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward starred in the movie, the better movie about this era stars Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile, which made Jackson Pollack’s painting necessary.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Finished the Patterson book. The best parts were the beginning to the middle when he described his years growing up and getting started as an ad man, a writer, and finally an entrepreneur. He really hustled all through his life and is still hustling to support books and readers.
Nice.
The final best part was a list of meaningful books he’s read throughout his life.
Short chapters. Concise sentences. Lots of action. That’s his stated routine for writing his books. Also. He listed all of his cowriters who are each his favorite.
Sadly.
He endorsed a university reading program for kids without having even one ounce of knowledge about the literacy research of the past 70 years. And that research totally debunks the specific university and its research he embraced and endorsed. I wonder if he also has steadfast opinions about how surgeons should perform appendectomies.
Sadly.
And finally for the day and after catching up on the NYTBR, I’ve decided to study more about Barbara Pym and her work. I’m also interested in the philosophical writings of Iris Murdoch although I’m sure they’re way over my head.
I’m also interested in the new book by Thomas Piketty. He has the whole capitalism, inequality, participatory socialism, communism thing all figured out. It’s his mission as a thinker. How the world produces people like him is a miracle. And a good one.
It would be interesting for Lena Waithe (The Chi [shy]) to sit down wtih Piketty and share her insight into the economics of life as she sees it.
Then.
There are two new books on the nightstand:
Jill Lepore’s Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (Ben's sister)
And
Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour: A Novel
Also… At some point in the near future, it’ll be Susan Orlean’s On Animals.
Till next time.
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Monday, July 11, 2022
Starting James Patterson by James Patterson. The blurb in the NYTBR was hilarious, and who doesn’t need a bit of hilarity to start the week.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Elif Batuman recommended a couple of books from her interview in the NYTBR: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami is one I’ve just started. Hmm. I’m actually looking for books with less metaphor, fewer descriptions, and characters who are able to verbally communicate with each other without becoming smaller.
Amor Towles, Fredrick Bachman, and Iris Murdoch come immediately to mind…not to mention Christopher Paul Curtis and Wallace Stegner.
The other books in my cue are The Idiot: A Novel and Either/Or both by Elif Batuman, both of which may be beyond my grasp.
Plus, I’m getting back into Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of No Importance, which is a book close to another great book, Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson.
And finally, James Patterson by James Patterson is obviously a book by James Patterson…can’t wait on this one. It’ll probably jump the cue. Most likely.
A busy month.
Till next time.
July is always busy.
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
The NYT had an extended interview with John Grisham recently. The piece wasn’t all that flattering I fear. He started out his professional life as an underpaid lawyer. He wanted more money so he tried writing novels and has 30 years later been wildly successful.
This seemed like a good time to read a couple of his books. They aren’t quite as compelling as I’d hoped. Lots of characters…sometimes identified by their first names, sometimes by their last names. Maybe my attention is elsewhere.
The book is about corruption, casinos, judges, hit men, too much money, too few investigators, and ultimately, excessive greed. Next up? Still deciding.
Till next time.
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Monday, June 20, 2022
Between books today.
And. Per usual, behind in the NYTBR where I will undoubtedly find the next big book.
I’ve got The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson as well as A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell both partially read.
I’ve sort of set aside WWII books for the moment while I catch my breath.
Bill drew cartoons about Willie and Joe as they lived in mud-filled trenches in Italy and France in the 40s. Bill was anti-war, anti-slacker, anti-lazy officer, anti-graft, anti-corruption, anti-the rear echelon, and pro-medics, pro-front line COs, and very much pro-the enlisted man on the front lines.
The cartoons were published in the Stars and Stripes and other newspapers and helped keep morale and truth up front.
In this 1945 book, Bill adds the text that shows what war is actually like for the front lines. It’s never good. But he documented the camaraderie that made staying alive possible.
In Sebastian Junger’s book, Tribe, there is evidence of the same kind of comradeship that allows "sojers" to keep on.
I learned that trench foot is actually a disease of the foot from being in watery, icy, muddy trenches where the feet swell, skin cells die, and then the feet require either advanced treatment or amputation once the boots are removed.
It was a difficult book to write and difficult to read but necessary to understand the savagery and waste of war.
Professors at West Point teach all this and more. And yet...
Till next time.
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Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Karl Ove Knausgaard called it a masterful novel. So, it must be me. But, I didn't quite get it. The most interesting character was the minor character played by the Russian grocery-store shopper. I did finish the book and found it interesting in technique. It flowed back and forth over a twenty year period and didn’t miss a beat. Checkout 19.
And then In Defense of Witches was a treatise on the misused roles of women in history. I could have used more headings, shorter chapters, and less repetition. It did effectively compare the work of Betty Friedan with the work of Gloria Steinem. I’m not looking for a beach read, but I am looking for a book with characters who stick…always looking.
Next up on the kindle is A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell. Seems like quite a story. It’s a WWII resistance story, and who doesn’t need more resistance.
And finally
At last
Debunked
Lean In
and
Grit
Till next time.
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Sunday, June 5, 2022
Sam Quinones was live on BookTV today for two hours. His areas of expertise include immigration, drugs, communities, and people’s needs.
He’s an independent journalist and writer. He did a splendid job.
He understands the drug trade from Mexico to the US and stated that Fentanyl is the biggest problem currently. The production of this drug is easier than other plant-based drugs because it requires no land, no farming, no sun, and no tilling.
It’s a chemically made drug and so flies below the physical surveillance radar. It enters the US through various sea ports along the coast. He’s studied the drug problem and relates it to guns, shoplifting, sea ports, addiction, the economy, and lives controlled and lost.
Bleak.
But his commitment to documenting the problem is significant. When he was asked how closely the TV show Ozark is to reality, he indicated not much. Still, Laura Linney and Jason Bateman portray the money and illegality of it all to a high degree.
BookTV. Peter Slen. Always leading.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, June 1, 2022
It doesn’t seem quite right. Booker Nobel On and On.
John Banville’s The Sea is a blend of Proust, The Graduate, Humbert Humbert, Arrested Development, and the OED.
John Updike advised to critique a book on the basis of what the author intended to write rather than what the author wrote. I’m not sure. The sea plays a part…maybe that’s it. The ebb and flow of life.
Max, Anna, Claire, Chloe, Myles, Connie, Carlo, and finally Rose.
The book was not as compelling (although it does capture the grandly darker side of life) as The Map and the Territory or My Struggle, and the darkness of it did leave me wondering about the potential of humanity to rise.
There was quite a bit of press about Banville’s concern with prizes and money, which was all a bit untoward, but the press probably got it all wrong although writers must eat.
Reminds me of:
Sea Fever
By John Masefield
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
I bet Sea Fever reminds Banville of his book, too. All in all, a very fine read. One that will linger.
Till next time.
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Thursday, May 19, 2022
Could have been titled Where’s Ben?
Instead, it’s The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley.
Each chapter is a couple minutes long and revolves around only a few characters who each speak in first person in their own chapters.
Ben, Nick, Jess, the Concierge, Mimi, Antoine, Jacques, Sophie.
Poor Sophie can’t eat.
Poor Mimi can’t find a boyfriend.
Poor Antoine can’t be nice.
Poor Jacques can’t count all his money.
Poor Nick can’t tell the truth.
Poor Concierge can’t be treated right.
Poor Jess can’t find Ben.
Poor Ben can't be found.
Alas, there is no character named Beauregard, which sounds so very French.
Also, the City of Lights doesn’t seem so splendid anymore.
Half finished.
Footnote: TBA
For the record, best book ambassadors ever:
Mitchell Kaplan,
Ann Patchett,
James Patterson,
David Rubenstein,
Michael Silverblatt,
Brian Lamb,
Peter Slen,
Barbara Flanigan.
Till next time.
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Saturday, May 14, 2022
A day in traffic, five items out of stock, patron number 251 on a waiting list of 40 copies of The Paris Apartment, and I’m all set for the doldrumy hmphhhs. So.
Now’s the time to reread a vintage book by Jean Craighead George titled, My Side of the Mountain, which is just about my favorite book of all time besides:
The Lincoln Highway
Lincoln in the Bardo
The Book Thief
The Goldfinch
A Man Called Ove
My Struggle
The God of Small Things
The Map and the Territory
Max Perkins
Mirrors
Things Fall Apart
Avid Reader: A Life
Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom
And a few hundred others.
Till next time.
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Friday, May 6, 2022
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Finished this. Took awhile. Can’t say why. It’s a mystery.
What could have happened if Agatha Christie’s husband, Archie, had purchased their baby from a Catholic orphanage in Ireland in 1919?
This book convincingly portrays that event via all the usual suspects…intrigue, mystery, cruelty, justice, and the ravages of war.
Agatha, Archie, Nan, Chilton, Finbarr, Teddy, and the nanny Honoria.
Catholicism, WWI and then WWII, abandoned houses, tins of tongue, bottles of wine, various breads, cyanide, strychnine, and life goes on for better or worse.
Two small quotes:
“It was Hamlet, wasn’t it, who said, ‘One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.’”
“The world had offered no justice, so we made our own.“
Till next time.
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Monday, April 25, 2022
I don’t know much about Jennifer Haigh, but I finished her book Mercy Street: A Novel.
It’s dark. But it exactly captures current and past deliberations on the status of women in society.
Claudia, Tim, Anthony, Victor, Deb, Nicolette…
All trying to make it in Boston.
The book is centered around a women’s health clinic serving women who have been left to hold up their half of the sky pretty much on their own.
The characters’ situations are all pretty bleak and seemingly without end made worse by talk radio, dark websites, too many boyfriends, alcohol, drugs, poverty, limited educational opportunities (BU, Harvard…where art thou?), and general societal malaise.
I was reminded of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale which compares 43 stresses of life to the health of individuals.
The characters in this book experienced nearly all of these stresses and had little support except for themselves.
Support as defined by happiness research includes: family, friends, worthwhile work, health, and financial stability.
It all sounds pretty simple to live a stable life, and yet Claudia, Tim, Anthony, Victor, Deb, and Nicolette had little access to happiness.
It was a lot for one book. But. Glad it came my way.
And finally, I had a technical observation about writing as I made my way through the book’s many characters. It was somewhat difficult to keep track of the characters when they didn’t have stated physical attributes. The one person who did have a stated physical attribute was easy to visualize since she was described as having dark, angry eyebrows.
Till next time.
Monday, April 18, 2022
A quote from The Hidden Brain podcast:
Hunt the good stuff.
And now for some books:
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
The Shadow in the Garden by James Atlas
I is Another by Jon Fosse
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Till next time.
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Julia. HBO.
Sarah Lancashire
David Hyde Pierce
Bebe Neuwirth
James Cameron
Jefferson Mays
Judith Light
Isabella Rossellini
A cast of thousands.
The show’s a winner. And then both books. In my hands.
Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon…page 315
Judith’s Blueberry Soup…page 96
Delightful. Thursdays.
Till next time.
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Sunday, April 3, 2022
There couldn’t be any better live interview on BookTV than the one with Peter Slen and Noam Chomsky today for two hours.
He spoke at length about Ukraine, sanctions (legal ones and illegal ones), the role of the UN in legal sanctions, climate change effects, unions, civil rights, and the world’s immigrants. He also said that President Eisenhower was the last great conservative president in the original definition of conservative.
Noam’s memory about documents, leaders, governments, books, economics, the Great Depression, and totalitarian governments was flawless. He answered a dozen questions from viewers and gave concise and historically contextualized answers. It was really something to watch.
I located my copy. It is dense with theory, examples, explanations, and answers as to how language works.
Noam is a world treasure. He gave us his all. AND. He has two new books coming out this year.
Grateful.
Till next time.
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Friday, April 1, 2022
Bits and Bobs of This and That: Women’s Work
The real reason to watch Killing Eve is to see Fiona Shaw deliver flawless performances as a clever agent and savvy observer of human nature. Plus, she gets to deliver all the best lines.
And of course since "April is the cruelest month," Fiona and Alec Guinness in various online clips share T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”
Also, Fiona was interviewed by Al Senter for the National Theatre. It’s now a podcast but used to be a video, with said video seeming to have been scrubbed from the www. Hmmm.
And then there’s also another extraordinary talent who is everywhere…Sally Wainwright of BBC fame. Sally is a writer with out-of-this-world talent. She filmed a carriage scene in Gentleman Jack starring award-winning Suranne Jones (who resembles award-winning Phoebe Waller-Bridge IMHO, also Fiona is Phoebe’s character’s counselor in Fleabag…small world). In the carriage scene, the carriage supposedly and wildly driven by Suranne accidentally ran over a curb and nearly tipped. Sally used that exact scene in the episode and gave credit to the actual horse-carriage driver…Karen Bassett.
Karen has a horse carriage business in the UK where she is an International expert on all things carriage. She was singularly selected to transport the found skeletal remains of King Richard III to Leicester, England in 2012.
Fiona, Sally, Suranne, Phoebe, Karen
All in a day’s work.
Footnote: Al Senter’s interview with Derek Jacobi (similar to his missing interview with Fiona) is still available as a video and is totally splendid. Luck wins the day (according to Sir Derek).
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Monday, March 28, 2022
When Penelope Lively recommends a book, it’s a must.
Capital: A Novel by John Lanchester
It was all there…capital and the lack thereof running lives and ruining the world.
Petunia, Shahid, Roger, Quentina, Zbigniew/Bogdan…all on Pepys Road
London, Pakistan, London, Zimbabwe, Poland
“We Want What You Have”
And finally, someone dug out Linda Ronstadt singing Different Drum written by the late Michael Nesmith (1942-2021) of The Monkees and included it at the end of the episode (Mrs. Maisel Maybe?).
Apple, Click, Buy, Play
A good week. Fore and aft.
Till next time.
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Sunday, March 27, 2022
I’ve tried. Just can’t do it. I need the paper copy in my hands rather than online, and even so, I always seem to be weeks and weeks and weeks behind.
However.
I did find a chuckling anecdote online in By the Book…
Jeremy Denk, Concert Pianist, was asked:
How do you organize your books?
“I asked Alex and he suggested ‘towers of random and dangerous heights, reaching dustily toward the heavens, placed for maximum inconvenience and with no regard for rodent infestation.’ ”
One last thing. I know I should read more Alice Munro. And yet…
Till next time.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright died today.
Born May 13, 1937 in Prague, The Czech Republic.
Till next time.
Photo by Ruth Fremson for NYT.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
BookTV was live at the Tuscon Book Festival today. It was really something to watch as people with expertise came together on panels to discuss various topics. By far, the best was Alexander Vindman who is originally from Ukraine and who has been a US citizen for decades. His analysis was direct, insightful, accurate, and hopeful.
His book is Here, Right Matters: An American Story
UPDATE: Finished Persepolis…an extraordinary book. When power, oil, and religion mix, it never ends well. The book documents the life of Marjane Satrapi as she grew up in Iran and Vienna in the 70s and 80s. I don’t think I would have survived. Clearly, her parents were the glue that kept her safe and provided for her education throughout all the terrors of oppression and war of that era.
Till next time.
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Thursday, March 10, 2022
Between books, finished How It All Began, which ended too abruptly, perhaps.
Waiting for spring, and in the meantime, starting Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I’ve read it in the past, but it’s time for a reread.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, March 1, 2022
I’m well into Penelope Lively’s How It All Began. I’ve read it before, but luckily for me, it once again floated to the top of my desk, and I’m so glad it did.
Two noteworthy quotes from the book:
“she is like millions of others built by books,”
and
"you worry about the state of the nation, about sixteen-year-olds sticking knives into one another, about twenty-year-olds who can’t find a job, you worry about the absence of sparrows and the paucity of butterflies, about destruction of habitats, you worry about the decline of the language, about the books that are no longer read, about the people who don’t read. All of which is entirely unproductive—self-indulgent, maybe. Leave the knives to the police, the habitats to the environmentalists. If people don’t read, that’s their choice; a lifelong book habit may itself be some sort of affliction.”
These ideas are from Charlotte, a somewhat older and wiser character who has just been mugged and has had her purse stolen. She seems more or less to be the star of the show...or at least she's where it all began.
The book's other characters are normal people who are very busy with jobs, breakfast, shopping, work, rushing around, and staying busy. Love it.
Till next time.
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Sunday, February 27, 2022
I watched a splendid interview on BookTV today. It was one of the first to be recorded back in the C-SPAN studio rather than on zoom, and the difference in the quality of discussion was extraordinary. The difference between talking to someone face to face rather than on zoom is the difference between Tres Leches Cake and a Hostess Twinkie.
Laura Coates talked about her new book on justice in the legal system with Georgetown Law professor Kristin Henning.
In discussing the work of civil rights activism in the 60s and 70s, Laura mentioned a quote by Arthur Ashe,
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Laura is optimistic that full civil rights can be achieved soon even though there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. She stated that there are times in history when things can and do change quickly.
Words du jour: Informed optimism.
Till next time.
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Saturday, February 26, 2022
Olga Tokarczuk wrote Flights. She won the Nobel, the Booker, and others.
I did finish it out of respect. However, the book was and is too complicated for me to understand.
I've always understood the standard wisdom of novel writing to be:
characters = plot.
A character who eats porridge or grows beanstalks or milks a cow behaves and acts in certain ways. Therefore, the plot, like the porridge, will thicken as the characters heat up.
David Hare of Page Eight and Beat the Devil would agree, I feel.
In Flights, there were several plots and characters. And they were mixed in with monologues, soliloquy, partial monographs, train tickets, and bodies of water.
Also, to become invested in a book, readers have to care about the characters whether they be Ishmael, Jean Valjean, Huck, Hester, Dorothy, or even Jack and Jill.
In Flights, I had difficulty staying focused on the characters and their attributes as they were woven in and out of time and space. I would, for sure, benefit from rereading this at some point in the future.
Footnote: Next up?
Maybe just resting with Mrs. Maisel for awhile and rewatching the scene where Susie (Alex Borstein) gives the single best eulogy ever written for mature audiences on or off TV for her co-worker Jacopo “Jackie” Dellapietra (in real life Brian Tarantina [1959-2019]). Season 4, episode 3, minutes 37:05-41:26.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Thursday, February 24, 2022
After reading 3 books by revolutionaries:
The Happy Prince
The Little Prince
Persepolis
I suddenly began thinking about woodcut books and one in particular. It took digging, looking, searching, reviewing, giving up, and then at the last minute stumbling upon…exactly what I was looking for.
And then, of course, regarding Olga and Flights…Olga, I tried. But wow. Lectures in the midst of stories in the midst of time travel in the midst of characters that lack appeal, and I’m lost.
Sad. Sadder. Saddest. Sadly.
Till next time.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Flights is proving a challenge.
So, as a break, for some reason, I’ve dug out my copy of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde, which led me to The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which led me to Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi who has written the perfect book of revolution.
The Little Prince was published in the USA in 1943 by Reynal and Hitchcock. This 1943 version was translated from the French by Katherine Woods. Reynal and Hitchcock was purchased by Harcourt in 1948. The book was then republished in 2000 after havig been re-translated from the French by Richard Howard. Howard's is considered to be the most accurate. Or perhaps it's the Woods translation. Hmmmm.
There is also an online rendering of the book read aloud by Kenneth Branagh whose interpretation is perfect.
Saint-Exupery’s life story is one of the best around. Bigger than life and sadly lost.
Back to Flights. I wonder if the people of Nobel and Booker find it necessary to select books that are difficult.
Till next time.
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Sunday, February 20, 2022
You know, it’s like anything else…
Olga Tokarczuk won the Nobel and the Booker for Flights.
It’s philosophy. It’s existentialism. It’s a novel. It’s introspective. It’s extrospective. It’s difficult. It’s easy. It’s a miracle. It's too soon to tell.
Never.The.Less.
It’s in my hands, and it's a busy week ahead.
Till next time.
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Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Since it’s been twenty years since I’ve read it and since it’s been under scrutiny by politicians and the media as of late, I felt it was time to reread Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.
Update: Wednesday, February 9, 2022
All is well. Nothing to fear in this award-winning book. I do think that Gram and Gramps were a little too folksy and not all that reliable as grandparents and that Sal and Phoebe were too imaginatively independent compared to other young girls around their age, but the book was engaging and worthwhile.
Footnote: Not as good as Creech’s Love that Dog, of course. But there you go. Done and dusted.
End Footnote.
Till next time.
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Sunday, February 6, 2022
A delightful Sunday morning watching a live two-hour interview on BookTV with Georgetown law professor Sheryll Cashin and the incomparable Peter Slen.
