FFB: THE BIRDWATCHER, William Shaw

 

When the neighbor and fellow birdwatcher of a police sergeant is murdered, Bill gets pulled into the investigation and also into the life of his new boss and her daughter. This was a very absorbing book with good characters,a nice ambience, and a past story that was as good as the contemporary one.  I was disappointed that although the series continues, it seems to be with the crime squad but not the police sergeant. But maybe I am wrong about that.

Short Story Wednesday: "Blythe Spirit" from NORMAL RULES DON'T APPLY, Kate Atkinson

 

‘Blithe Spirit’ concerns a ghost called Mandy who was formerly an assistant to a junior minister in the Department of Health. This is a ghost story, which I always enjoy and the writing is lovely. Mandy is a low level employee is the Ministry of Health and I won't tell you how she died. Actually she is not all that sure of that or anything. She is waiting for someone to mentor her in her new state and that doesn't happen. This is pretty delightful and has the happiest ending you can imagine for an English ghost. 

George Kelley

Jerry House 

Kevin Tipple

TracyK 

Casual Debris 

On what would have been my 58th anniversary.

 

The photographer didn't show up so these photos were from my aunt's brownie camera. It was a lovely day for January. We had the reception at Sunken Gardens Restaurant in Philadelphia. They has a house band, which saved us a lot of money.  No honeymoon. Back to school for Phil in a week. And I moved back to my parents until I could get transferred from Bell of PA to New Jersey Bell.

Monday, Monday

 

It is about to be very, very cold. A friend visited from Brooklyn. Well, she was actually here for a funeral but we had dinner. Her husband (now deceased) took writing classes with me in the 90s. I miss a lot of people nowadays.

I watched the four- part treatment of EMMA from 2009, which was excellent and am thinking of devoting myself to watching every version of Austen novels I can find online since there is not too much else. I did watch SEVERANCE and have still not make up my mind about it. A show like that has to stick the landing and will it? Also watching INSIDE NO 9, which is good enough. I don't demand too much from 30 minutes shows. I enjoyed BLACK TULIP but maybe not enough to watch a second series. Am enjoying ALL CREATURES.

Certainly the Lions didn't stick the landing. But man, it was a fun 17 games until that one. 

About to start YELLOW FACE for one of my book groups. I would like to read a second book by William Shaw but it looks like the central character in BIRDWATCHER doesn't come back. Am I willing to pay $13 on Kindle because my library only has BIRDWATCHER. Listening to THE YEAR OF LEAR by Shapiro.

Delta has changed our flight BACK from Sarasota three times now. We should have flown into Tampa, I guess. 

Going to see SING SING today. Been waiting for that to arrive here since the Fall. 

What about you? 

FFB: NORWOOD, Charles Portis

 Norwood, Charles Portis

This was Portis' first book and I can see the growth that took place in his writing between this and TRUE GRIT.

The book follows its protagonist on a misadventurous road trip (driving a car across country) from his hometown of Ralph, Texas, to New York City and back. During the trip, Norwood is exposed to a comic array of personalities and lifestyles.
Right from the get-go the dialog in this is terrific. Norwood is a likable character and his eventual romance a winning one. But somewhere along the line it ran out of steam for me. The desire to keep the ball in the air with humor and oddball characters and situation for the length of the book felt forced or strained.

If I had read this before reading TRUE GRIT, would I have enjoyed it more? I am sure I would have. But TG is such a tour de force that anything would pale in its wake. And this one did.

DOGS OF THE SOUTH awaits me but I think I will let it sit a while longer.

Short Story Wednesday:Hinges, Graham Swift

 (from 2022)

 

Graham Swift is one of my favorite writers. He won the Booker Prize for LAST ORDERS and was short listed for several other books. MOTHERING SUNDAY, WATERLAND, SHUTTERCOCK and LAST ORDERS have all been made into films.  

In this story, the two adult children of a man who died taking his golf clubs out of the trunk have gone to a minister to tell him about their father's life so he will have something to say, (about a man he didn't know) at his funeral. Funny how often this seems to happen in stories.

The woman thinks back over her father's life to an incident when she was nine and her father had called a carpenter to fix the hinges on their door. Although the carpenter was far from a young man, she is attracted to him--the first time she has experienced anything like this. And it becomes apparent that "Joe Short" is something of a Lothario in their neighborhood.

At the funeral, she considers telling this story, how her father held her hand while they waited to have their front door put back on. But in the end, she reads the poem that appears on the program. Of course, it is the writing that makes this story work. There is no eureka moment, no mystery solved, no problem overcome, just people going through a situation we have all gone through so its familiarity is soothing. And perhaps gaining some insight into their life (and ours). 

George Kelley

TracyK 

Kevin Tipple 

Jerry House