Short Story Wednesday: "The Best of Everything" Richard Yates

 

From the archives

Richard Yates wrote two of my favorite novels, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and THE EASTER PARADE, but he also wrote this fabulous collection of ten short stories (among others). Written in the fifties "The Best of Everything" almost seems like a story written earlier. Were people in their twenties this naive? This innocent? I have to assume some were.

It is the story of a couple on the day before their marriage is to take place in Atlantic City. The point of view switches between the two of them and you can't help but notice how drastically different they are from each other once you are in their heads. You also realize they don't know each other at all and that their marriage will probably fail quickly. 

The woman is a typical middle class young woman working as a secretary. She speaks well and is respected in her office. The man is a step or two down the socioeconomic ladder and has a poor grasp of English, which the woman's roommate makes her constantly aware of, calling he and his friends, "Ratty little clerks." 

But for whatever reason, Grace goes forward with the marriage plans although we sense her worry. Her roommate, feeling badly about the things she has said about Eddie, leaves her alone the night before the wedding and Grace plans an early consummation, feeling this will set things right.

But Eddie has been the man of the hour with his friends at a bachelor party and he is stunned by their good will. You get the feeling he has never been the center of attention before this night. He hurries to Grace's apartment to tell her he is going back to the party and her attempt to seduce him goes to naught.

We understand now that Eddie will always choose his friends over his wife and that will destroy their marriage quickly. She goes so far to put his hand on her naked breast. Nothing.

There is a lot of discussion online about this story. One teacher said it was the cause of a female student in his class dumping her boyfriend. Yates' real gift here is capturing the mind and language of both characters so clearly and with sympathy. Eddie is not a bad man and Grace is not a snob, but they certainly don't belong together. They seem to have reached an age when they believe it is time to marry no matter to whom.

Here is a nice piece by Stewart O'Nan pondering the fate of the writing of Richard Yates. He had an unhappy life and an undeserved disappearance from the shelves. His resurgence in the early nineties quickly died out. A real shame. 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

Happy Memorial Day 2026

 

FFB: NOTHING IN HER WAY, Charles Williams

 

Book Review: Charles Williams, Nothing in Her Way (1953)(From Noirboiled Notes 2009)

Charles Williams' Nothing in Her Way is a novel of the con game--one con involving mining sand for glass, the other involving horse racing--in which Cathy Dunbar and Mike Belen seek belated financial revenge on the men who ruined their fathers' business more than two decades before. A nice read with the obligatory twists and turns

Short Story WednesdayA Tangle by the Rapid River, Anthony Doerr

 I have always admired writers who can describe nature well: the sounds, the smells, the look of it, even the feeling. This is so well done. This is about a man going fishing. Sometimes his fishing is an excuse for meeting up with his lover. His lover is giving him an ultimatum. This day he is just fishing. First he gets tangled in his fishing lines and nearly drowns. Then he gets in a battle with a fish. Beautifully written.

 Jerry House 

Kevin Tipple 

George Kelley 

Monday, Monday

 Three good movies this week. An Icelandic film, THE LOVE THAT REMAINS

An old French film called SOFT SKIN by Truffaut that really shows Hitchcock's influence on him and the old Tracy and Hepburn film DESK SET, which was startlingly modern with the issue of people being replaced by machines. Finishing up HACKS, which was pretty mediocre, love WIDOW's BAY. 

Reading SMALL TOWN GIRL by Jayne Anne Phillips.Looks like spring has arrived. What's new with you?  

Short Story Wednesday: "Standings," Chang Rae Lee

 

Chang Rae Lee has always been one of my favorite writers, especially A GESTURE LIFE and NATIVE SPEAKER. This is a piece from his forthcoming novel. It takes place almost exclusively in a school yard atmosphere. Rather like LORD OF THE FLIES.  Our hero is Korean and he gets into a ongoing fight with a Jewish boy and some sorry names get thrown around. I don't know why it works so well because it is a familiar theme. But Lee is a terrific writer who makes it come alive. I remember fights like this so well from my schoolyard days. 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

TracyK 

Monday, Monday

 

                        A bit under the weather here, but tell me what you're up to. 

Short Story Wednesday: CAVES OF THE RUST BELT, Joe Kapitan

 (from Matt Paust) 

CAVES OF THE RUST BELT – Joe Kapitan

I've just finished reading Joe Kapitan's second fiction collection, Caves of the Rust Belt: Ohio Stories, and am virtually paralyzed with admiration. My reactions whirl at an unfathomable depth. Occasionally I have to remember to breathe. But my fingers still work, being less emotional, and are doing my thinking on the keyboard.

Kapitan is sneaky. A startlingly inventive wordsmith with a plain voice, innocent of the conventionally snarky tone so many young writers affect to advertise their cleverness presumably distinct from the herd. He seduces you to lay aside conditioned “smarter than thou” defenses, drawing you into a seemingly familiar narrative until of a sudden you’ve no idea just where in hell you are, where he’s taking you. This happened time and again when a story already was moving too fast for me to jump off with an oh, this is just too damned weird shrug, and find some Kafka or Lovecraft to calm the nerves.

His seduction starts at the get-go, with words like Ohio and Rust in the title. I heard earnestness there, the clang of labor, hard times, solid heartland humdrum. And then Caves gave me a peek at something unexpected beyond the abandoned factory’s dusty window. A hint of promise, teasing. Beckoning. Eyes wide, curiosity tugging my sleeve, I entered.

Well...Willie Wonka’s chocolate house Caves of the Rust Belt is not. Closer to a step through the looking glass with Wondering Alice. Moments of mystery appear in the commonplace and segue slyly from clever to profound. Involuntary chortles continue to burble from my throat with recalled abrupt comic ironies and turns of phrase, a particular the bawdy chanty gently redacted by dead mariners in deference to the boardinghouse landlady who summoned them from the depths hoping to find her lost son:

Hers is the reason we set out to sea,

And hers is the reason it burns when we pee,

And these are the three things we know to be sure:

A sailor needs tailwinds and whiskey and hers!”

Flashes of brilliance dance among steadier, darker reflections, challenging readers to accept life’s marriage of opposites with its attending happenstance and heartfelt yearnings. Though surprise is a constant in Caves, an occasional story’s title alone reveals enough for either laughter or gravity to cue up at the start. Most often each are in play by the end. Brothers of the Salvageable Crust is one of these. I had no idea what the title means (and still don’t), but somehow it suggested that I pee before reading and avoid sipping a hot beverage during the narrative. Trusting my intuition thus saved me from scalding pain and incontinent shame.

I’m not going to mention every one of the twenty-eight tales in this collection, despite how truly amazing each of them is. In the words of one of our most ludicrously quotable modern Presidents, it wouldn’t be prudent. I won’t be able to sleep tonite, however, if I don’t mention one of the most jaw-droppingly startling, sweetest little pieces I have ever come across. It is titled Mr. Foreclosure. And that is all I shall reveal. If you read nothing else in Caves of the Rust Belt, please please please...Mr. Foreclosure!

Oh, my, yes, and this one (do not be misled by the seemingly silly title—this piece is a definite contendah!): What We Were When We Drew What We Drew. Read it, or I’ll unfriend you forever!

You can skip How Cold Wars End. NO! WAIT! JUST KIDDING! (read it, but use the same precautions you do with Brothers of the Salvageable Crust).

Have tissues nearby when you get to Letter from a Welder’s Son, Unsent. Just in case...um, salt gets in your eyes.

My favorite of them all? That is a really rotten question, but right up there among the top twenty-eight is The Basic Problem with Interior Decoration. I think it’s the longest, too, although the astoundingly brilliant Brothers of the Salvageable Crust stretches out a tad, as well.

I suppose it might aid my credibility were I to use some of the standard critical literary language in discussing this collection, but I’m so uncomfortable with linguistic sophistication I’d likely get some of the requisite terms and phrases ass backwards, doing more harm than good. Maybe Michiko Kakutani can be lured out of retirement to do the honors. I’d kiss her feet if I thought it would work. Caves of the Rust Belt deserves no less.

Joe Kapitan

Clicking over to Joe Kapitan’s Amazon.com page you’re apt to see references to Rust as his “debut” collection. That is a lie. His brief bio there tells us he published an award-winning short-fiction chapbook in 2013. “He began writing short fiction and creative non-fiction in 2009, and has had more than 60 pieces appear online and in print in such venues as The Cincinnati Review, PANK, Wigleaf, Midwestern Gothic, Smokelong Quarterly, Booth and Notre Dame Magazine.”

“Ohio,” he tells us, “is like that weird uncle with the cheesy mustache and outdated clothes; the one who always has the best stories.”

And now we know where “weird uncle” gets those stories. 

 

Barry Ergang 

Monday, Monday

 

WIDOW'S BAY looks like a good one (APPLE)  Hoping it's not too scary for me. HACKS has been a disappointment so far. It had three good years and maybe that's all most shows with strong arcs have. It is hard to feel too sorry for a 75 year old who has reached the end of a lucrative career. 

Reading GHOST TOWN, but it's too soon to tell. I have liked most of Perotta's books thus far. 

Megan has an interview with David Chase (THE SOPRANOS) for any one who has Criterion Channel.  She also discusses a bunch of movies with him-none of which I have seen but are all on Criterion. 

It is still going down to freezing here at night. But at least it seems to have stopped raining.  

How about you?  

FFB; A PLACE OF EXCECUTION: Val McDermid

 

As I am suffering from a stomach flu, I will just say this is the best mystery I have ever read. What is your favorite? (You only get to pick one) 

Wednesday Short Stories: The Whimper of Whipped Dogs, Harlan Ellison

 From Randy Johnnson

 Forgotten Short Stories: The Whimper of Whipped Dogs – Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison is hardly a forgotten writer, but I’m working under the assumption there are people today that haven’t read him. They should go right out and find anything by the man. He’s a writer worth reading. I’ve written about him before HERE.

My selection for the first edition of Patti Abbott’s Forgotten Short Stories is THE WHIMPER OF WHIPPED DOGS, the story of a woman brutally murdered in a courtyard while residents watched, not one responding to her cries for help, not even calling the police. The story concerns the aftermath and the decision the young woman protagonist, one of the watchers, makes at the end of the story.

It was inspired by the true life murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. A news story two weeks later reported on the non-response of neighbors to the brutalization that went on only a hundred feet from her apartment door. Stabbed twice, the attacker left, only to return ten minutes later to continue the assault.

The report may have been in error, no one knows for sure anymore. Nevertheless, it inspired a powerful story from Mr. Ellison on the general malaise enveloping people living in the city, the constant violence on TV, the mind your own business attitude of to many of us. It won the Edgar for best short story in 1974, one of the many awards(to numerous to list here) his writing has won in a long career.

It’s easily available in numerous editions.

1. Bad Moon Rising, eidted by Tom Disch: first appearance and reasonably priced with a little search
2. Deathbird Stories: good prices
3: Dreams With Sharp Teeth: omnibus containing Deathbird Stories, Shatterday, and I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream. A nice introduction to the man’s stories for anyone new to Mr. Ellison’s work
4. The Essential Ellison: A 35 Year Retrospective and the expanded 50 Year Retrospective 

 Kevin Tipple

Jerry House 

TracyK 

Monday, Monday

 I have become quite fond of LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM, a reality show about people with autism trying to find love. All of them seem to have been raised to be very polite. Maybe things like manners are easier to teach than how to have a conversation. Anyway, you can't help but root for them. And their parents. 

Also watching ROOSTER, HACKS, MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES, and a show on PBS with people in the UK trying to find their parents (or children). Most of them were adopted during the time when those records were hidden. 

Reading SHE READ TO US IN THE AFTERNOON, Kathleen Hill and some short stories by James Lee Burke. 

The weather is still unpredictable.

How are things there?  

Went to an art show at Cranbrook. Cranbrook is a school, art museum and lovely grounds. We all find it hard to identify with installation art, which students mostly seem attracted to.  I know photography brought representational art to a crossroads but looking at a table full of broken pottery does not do much for me. Or the recreation of a sixties living room. 

FFB-NO RETURN ADDRESS, Anca Vlasopolos

 

Anca is a good friend of mine, but I didn't know her well when I read this wonderful, sad, intelligent book. It recounts her flight from post-war communist Romania, to France, to Belgium, and finally the U.S. It tells about the persecution and death of her father in that communist period too. It is an honest account of the good and bad she and her mother found in the Detroit area. This is an excellent text on how to write memoir. And how to tell the story beautifully even when the events are not. 

Short Story Wednesday: "No Pain Whatsoever" Richard Yates from HIGH INFIDELITY

A friend had this anthology in duplicate and gave me a copy. I don't remember seeing it before but it's from the nineties. Richard Yates was a favorite writer of mine, but I don't remember this story. Lots of the nineties most popular writers are included: Russo, Atwood, Updike, Banks, et. 
It takes place at a TB hospital. Do they exist anymore? A woman is visiting her husband who seems to have been there for a long time and through many surgeries. A friend has driven her there and she is having an affair with another passenger. This must happen often when your spouse is at a place like this for years. She has brought her husband some magazines, which he is anxious to read. She breaks down after her visit but then her lover cheers her up. What an odd story. 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

Kevin Tipple 

TracyK 

Todd Mason 

Monday, Monday

I went to see THE CHRISTOPHERS and could barely make out a word. I thought it was my hearing but at the end of the screening, a man rose and asked if anyone else had trouble hearing the dialog. So I guess it was not just me. Is it likely the film itself or the theater's equipment. This is not the first time this has happened. 

We still have had barely a day without rain. 

Watching HACKS, MARGO's GOT MONEY TROUBLES, THE STORE (Wiseman doc about Neiman Marcus.

About to start a new book, but what? 

What about you?  

El Dorado Drive Wins the LA Book Prize in Mystery-Thriller

 

                                                                Congrats, Megan

FFB: THE FOG, James Herbert

 

reviewed by Ed Gorman, the author of TICKET TO RIDE, THE MIDNIGHT ROOM and many other fine books. 

 

The Fog, James Herbert

Just after Stephen King created the horror industry back in the Seventies U.S. publishers began importing British writers who walked the same streets as the master. One of those was Brit superstar James Herbert. While he never quite found the audience he deserved over here, a number of his novels have stayed with me long after the more successful imports have faded completely from my memory.

My favorite Herbert is titled The Fog and it continues the long and heralded tradition of the British disaster novel. Sometimes the disaster is an alien invasion as with H.G. Wells and sometimes the disaster is unworldly seeming yet of our world as with the great John Wyndham.

In Herbert's novel a yellow fog begins moving across England causing much of the population to go insane and begin committing atrocities on family, friends and anyone else they can get their hands on. Even animals go insane; pets become killers. A group of scientists in a bunker race to learn why one of them is immune to the effects fog.

What raises this story to the level of a classic is not just the shock effects--Herbert can jolt the most jaded of readers--but the portraits he draws of his people. He cuts across all ages and all classes. Unlike most Big Bestsellers he makes us care about them and in so doing he gives the reader the race-against-the-clock story with the scientists and the anxiety of seeing real people face their fates.

Centipede Press has just issued a collector's edition of the novel complete with a beautiful cover homage to the U.S. paperback edition and a long, fine introduction by horror legend Ramsey Campbell.

Thought it's a lengthy novel, I read this new edition in two sittings. It's a thriller that truly belongs on the same shelf as H.G. Wells, the early catastrophe novels of J.G. Ballard and the classic work of the late John Wyndham.

A Private View, Douglas Stuart (The New Yorker)

 Although I did not read SHUGGIE BAIN, Stuart's breakout novel of a few years ago, it was widely reviewed and celebrated. This is a story of gay man going through an art exhibit with his mother.  He and his mother are from Glasgow but the museum is in New York where he now lives with his lover, a curator of the museum. Although his life has been difficult because of his mother's alcoholism, he is extremely forgiving and fond of her and trying hard to give her the good time she would want to have. This was a sad if lovely story. 

George Kelley 

TracyK 

Kevin Tipple 

Jerry House 

Monday, Monday

 MIROIRS NO 3 left a lot for the viewer to fill in but I liked it a lot. Enough to go back and rewatch his earlier film BARBARA. My poor neighborhood theater keeps trying to show foreign films but since there are no good ways to advertise, there were only four of us.

Went to a lecture on Immigration at my senior center, which was terrifying. As an immigrant you have many right but ICE doesn't give a damn.

Saw a fabulous production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with my son and family for his birthday. We had dinner at a new Greek restaurant, THE BLUE GOAT.

Watching the Harry Hole series, THE PITT, HACKS. I will certainly miss THE PITT. 

Reading a kindly book, THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS, Anne Hartnett.

Broke my garbage disposal but things like that get fixed in a rental. But then the guy broke the connection to the dishwasher 

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN

Going to see & JULlIET today.  

What about you?  

FFB: The Long-Legged FLy, James Sallis

 

The Long-Legged Fly is the debut novel by James Sallis, featuring Black private detective Lew Griffin in New Orleans. It was followed by several more novels, all having an insect in the title. (And many other novels like DRIVE that did not)

It follows Griffin as he searches for missing persons across four different time periods (1964, 1970, 1984, 1990), with the cases serving as a backdrop to explore his own struggles with alcoholism, loneliness, and a troubled past. The book is praised for its lyrical, blues-like prose and its focus on character over traditional plot, making it more a story about a detective than a standard mystery. 

 There are similarities between this series and Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlings books, which are set in L.A. 

Sallis died not long ago. Before his death, he published an anthology of his many fine short stories. 

Short Story Wednesday; Agatha Christie's Short Story Collection (Kerrie Smith from the archives

 

Forgotten Story Collections: Agatha Christie

This post is a contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books. This week the focus is on forgotten short story collections.

Many people who read Agatha Christie novels ignore the fact that she wrote some terrific short stories.
In my quest to read the works of Agatha Christie (novels and short stories) in the order in which they were written, I have identified 21 short story collections. So far I've read 82 short stories in this particular reading challenge.

Agatha Christie used many of the short stories to introduce, and develop the character of, a person who would later feature in novels.

Most of the short stories appeared in magazine format and then were later collected for publication.

This was certainly the case of Miss Marple who first appeared The Thirteen Problems- publ. 1932.

The first of these short stories was The Tuesday Night Club - Sir Henry Clithering, until recently Commissioner of Scotland Yard, tells a tale about tinned lobster that caused a fatal case of food poisoning. It was first published in December 1927. Miss Marple appeared in her first full length novel THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE in 1930.

While Hercule Poirot first appeared in THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES in 1920, by 1924 Agatha Christie had written (and mostly published separately) 11 short stories that elaborated his character and his abilities with the "little grey cells" that were then published as Poirot Investigates.

On the other hand some characters appear only in short stories, such as Mr Parker Pyne (Parker Pyne Investigates publ.1934), and Mr. Harley Quin (The Mysterious Mr Quin publ. 1930).

If you'd like to follow up on Agatha Christie short stories, then check my latest update post.
I am about to read the next The Listerdale Mystery

If you'd like to find out more about the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and the accompanying monthly blog carnival check here.

George Kelley

Kevin Tipple 

Not A Day Goes BY

Viengsamai Fetters - Associate Editor 10:56 PM (37 minutes ago) I get a letter like this about once every two weeks. Is it AI? I am assuming so. What does it mean? This fellow seems to exist, are they just using his name? to me Hello Patricia, I hope you’re having a great week. My name is Viengsamai Fetters, and I serve as an Associate Editor at Erewhon Books. I recently spent some time looking into your work, particularly your novel Shot in Detroit, and I found the concept and execution quite compelling. The way the story explores Violet Hart’s journey as a photographer navigating the darker corners of Detroit while wrestling with ambition, morality, and the psychological weight of her choices creates a very striking and memorable narrative. The premise alone immediately stood out as something both bold and thought-provoking. I was especially intrigued by how the novel blends psychological suspense with artistic obsession, placing the protagonist in increasingly difficult situations as she pushes the boundaries of her work. That tension between creativity, desperation, and the ethical consequences of Violet’s decisions gives the story a distinctive voice that is hard to ignore. Because of that, I would be very interested in learning more about your current writing projects and any forthcoming work you may have in development. I’m also curious to know whether you are currently represented by a literary agent. If you do have representation, I would of course be happy to continue any conversation through your agent. If not, I would be glad to outline how the process typically works should there be mutual interest in exploring the conversation further. Subject to reviewing additional material, there may be room for a broader discussion regarding potential alignment with the type of adult fiction we continue to explore and develop within our publishing program, particularly works with strong psychological depth and distinctive narrative perspectives. If this sounds of interest, I would be very glad to hear back from you and continue the conversation. Best regards, Viengsamai Fetters - Associate Editor at Erewhon Books Kensington Publishing Corp. www.kensingtonbooks.com/erewhonbooks kensingtonbooks@vfetters.co.site

Monday, Monday

Kevin came home for spring break with two assignments: attend a live poetry event and a live fiction reading event. We went to hear The Moth (an NPR live program) and the readers were doing non-fiction stories about sus, which I thought was suspicion but it turned out to be shady behavior. None of the stories were great but none were terrible either. The audience favored sad stories rather than violent ones. The poetry slam was in Ann Arbor.

Also went to Pompeii: Under the Clouds.  Every review was extremely positive but the four of us were a tad bored. 

The weather is still ugly mostly.

Watched Michigan beat Arizona.  Watched THE PITT, DTF ST LOUIS, THE ROOSTER

Listened to Bill Nighy's podcast "Ill-Advised"

What about you? Is it nice there yet?  

Happy Easter Weekend

 

On the Street Where You Live, from Wednesday's Child, Yiyun Li

 

This story reminded me a lot of the recent movie with Rose Byrne, "IF I HAD LEGS I COULD KICK YOU." It is also about a mother with a troubled child. In this case, her child is autistic and his disease is growing worse. She, and to a lesser extent her husband, is trying to find ways to help him: music lessons, art, etc. He is fearful of being alone in the world yet does nothing to prevent this (though he is only six). The mother is keeping a journal of people she meets that have an oddity too. When a burglar confronts her, she lets him take everything but asks him to return the journal. 

George Kelley 

Kevin Tipple 

Steve Lewis 

Casual Debris 

Monday, Monday

 

My fifth No Kings Day march although we just stand at my venue because there's no room to march. Does it do any good? I don't know. It's a good place to get people to sign petitions to get people or propositions on the ballot though.

Saw PROJECT HALL MARY, which was fun. I did not see it on an IMAX screen though. I am afraid it will make me dizzy. Maybe cleaves too close to ClOSE ENCOUNTERS and ET to be very original. 

Went to a lecture on India and Pakistan and a string concert at my Senior Center. We are lucky to have such a vibrant center with a lot of activities. There are many field trips too. 

Watching Harry Hole series, Shrinking, The Pitt, Bait, etc. 

Reading THE GUARDIAN AND THE THIEF set in the near feature. Also WHAT WE CAN KNOW by Ian Mcewan. 

Kevin is home and we are going with him to see THE MOTH, here for a night in Detroit, a requirement for his creative writing class. He also has to go to a Poetry Slam. 

The temps are up and down. Hard on the body. 

What about you?  

Friday Forgotten Books, TRIAL AND ERROR, Anthony Berkley

 Reviewed by Casual Debris

 

 https://casualdebris.blogspot.com/2012/04/anthony-berkeley-trial-and-error-1937.html

 

 

Short Story Wednesday: I'll Be Waiting, Raymond Chandler

 (From the archives)

Short Story Wednesday, "I'll Be Waiting" Raymond Chandler

Supposedly Chandler did not much like this story himself and regarded it as inauthentic, a story written for Saturday Evening Post rather than one of the pulps he usually favored. It has all of the elements of a typical pulp crime story: a house dick, a femme fatale, the man she is waiting for, the man who is waiting for him. But a heck of a lot of the story spends its time describing the hotel--in fact, we know more about the hotel than we do about any of the characters. Perhaps you need to read more of this sort of story to get it. I  have to admit though, I could draw a picture of that hotel from lobby, to bar, to elevator, to penthouses.  If I could draw, that is.

In their anthology of hardboiled fiction, editors Bill Pronzini and Jack Adrian regard the story as “a superbly atmospheric night-piece” and respond, “Chandler was a perceptive critic of others’ work, although less so of his own.” Indeed, still frequently included in anthologies, the story today is considered by many readers and critics as among his best and most polished (with a superb twist ending), and it has even been adapted for film twice, most recently in 1993 as an episode of Showtime’s Fallen Angels directed by Tom Hanks. 

From the website Story of the Week, Library of Congress.

 

Jerry House 

George Kelley 

TracyK 

Monday, Monday

 Although the temps were high, we had beautiful weather in Sarasota. We heard a lot of music at the Florida Studio Theater, the Van Wezel Auditorium and a play at a lovely theater. Our house was modest but adequate. We sampled various beaches and ate at many good restaurants. Some lovely gardens too. So much seafood. 

Sarasota is the vacation spot for a large group of Mennonites so the streets are filled with them on bicycles wearing their distinctive dress. I saw my brother and his wife, and went to a Tigers preseason game with visiting friends. Who could ask for anything more? Maybe a less hectic trip home. 

I enjoyed the movie TRAIN DREAMS but mostly we seemed to watch GRACE, which is on Britbox. I am not much for streaming night after night but my friends love to watch that way. Are you a streamer or do you prefer to stretch it out? I very much enjoyed reading THE CORRESPONDENT and one or two other novels. 

What about you? 

A Long Trip Back

Took two days to get home with our flight cancelled and another one hard to come by. I will be back in force by Monday but probably not till then. 

Monday, Monday

 

Monday, Monday

 

Monday, Monday

 

                                                Last Bookstore in LA

Monday, Monday

                                                La Jolla Sunset from the window
 

FFB: CITY OF NETS, Otto Friedrich

 

One of my favorite books about Hollywood, Otto Friedrich looks at it from 1939 until 1950. A very particular time because of the influx of Europeans fleeing Nazi Germany. Many of what would be the most talented directors and actors turned up to escape the regime and the war.  Blacklisting figures heavily in this period too. This is a terrific book for anyone interested in this era and the movie business, or the politics of that time. 

LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE NOMINEES in Mystery-Thriller Category

 https://www.latimes.com/events/festival-of-books/book-prizes#mystery-thriller

Short Story Wednesday, THE STORIES OF MURIEL SPARK

 Tracy mentioned reading THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE and I read this collection in 2020. 

I happened upon an article in "Ploughshares" discussing the ghost stories of Muriel Spark and I happened to have this collection (above) which had a number of the mentioned stories in it. I found them oddly appealing although more as pieces of writing than satisfying ghost stories. 

"The Leafsweeper" has the odd premise of being about a man whose obsession was putting an end to the celebration of Christmas. When enough people were bored and tired with his ranting about it, he was put in an asylum where he rakes leaves In the house where he formerly ranted, another ghostly figure takes his place at Christmas time although he does not rant and rave about Christmas.  The story ends with the two figures becoming one. One has to wonder what the man does when there are no leaves to rake. 

"The House of the Famous Poet" was even stranger. A woman living in the house of a famous poet is on a train ride when a soldier sells her "an abstract funeral" to cover the costs of his fare. The story ends with a bombing where people in the house of the famous poet die thus requiring a real funeral.

And finally "The Executor." A woman's uncle dies and leaves her his house and estate. She turns over his literary work to a foundation, holding back a novel about a witch with a chapter left for completion. As she works to complete it, little notes turn up each day, chastising her for not finishing the work and making disturbing accusations. The Foundation notifies her that they were in receipt of the final chapter and wanted the rest of it. 

None of these were satisfying to me as ghost stories but as I said, I enjoyed them anyway. Sometimes the conceit is more interesting than a satisfying conclusion. I always like Spark's writing and these were stories from a quirky mind. The best kind, I think. I have also enjoyed a number of her novels. 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

Monday, Monday

My movie group went to CRIME 101 this month. It was a movie that was much like so many series I drift through on TV. Lots of good actors, but it just didn't grab me. Most of the other people in my group liked it more, especially due to Mark Ruffalo being in the cast. Don Winslow wrote the novel it was based on. I know the novel was probably stronger. 

Finished BUCKEYE and it really was a great novel. I will look for his earlier one (Patrick Ryan). It reminded me of a novel from the last century in that it was chronological in its telling and was gentle on its characters. Also watching THE PITT, (more frightening than ever) and the GAME OF THRONES prequel, which I like too. Also DROPS OF GOD on APPLE.  And SHRINKING. Finished ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL. Emma Thompson's daughter looks just like her. That is such a calming show but I am glad the War is over. 

Weather here is improved. I go to FL for three weeks next Monday. I will put this up in case you want to stop by.  

What about you?  

FFB: THEY CALLED US ENEMY, George Takei

 George Takei, an actor who starred on STAR TREK, co-authored this graphic novel about his childhood in internment camps during World War 2. Although it has much in common with CLARK AND DIVISION (Naomi Hirahara) it also is an individual story that is different from hers. I am always surprised at how the Japanese people in California were so ill-treated for such a long time. Most of them were a generation or two into American life and many were citizens. None of this made much of a difference in what their four years on internment were like. This is a YA book, but so much of it was new to me so I didn't mind that. We have much to apologize for in our history. 

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY-"For a Long Time This was Griselda's Story" Anthony Doerr from THE SHELL COLLECTOR

                                                         Kevin, a long time ago.

                                     "For a Long Time This Was Griselda's Story "

 This is one strange story about a circus stunt I had never heard of. A man who can eat metal. And huge amounts of it. Esmerelda is a high school student who plays volleyball and one day goes to the circus with her sister and is mesmerized by an act where a very non-descript man  is able to consume metal. She is so enamored that she runs away with him breaking her mother and sister's heart. 

Over the years, she sends postcards from all of the places she has seen. Her sister does not show these cards to her mother and eventually the mother dies never knowing her daughter was okay all of those years. A lot of the story describes the act in great detail. Did you know their were circus acts like this one? 

George Kelley 

Tracy K 

Jerry  House 

Monday, Monday

 Another cold week. Hopefully this is the end of it. 

Did not do much outside the home. 

Watched STEAL, THE PITT, THE SEVENTH KNIGHT, Saw the movie SEASONAL VALUES again with some friends.

Had dinner at a great Chinese Restaurant.  

Read the graphic novel, THEY CALLED US ENEMY by George Takei and BUCKEYE (Patrick Ryan) 

How about you?  

FFB: CITY OF DRAGONS, Kelli Stanley

 reviewed by TracyK

City of Dragons: Kelli Stanley

Summary from the publisher:

February, 1940. In San Francisco's Chinatown, fireworks explode as the city celebrates Chinese New Year with a Rice Bowl Party, a three day-and-night carnival designed to raise money and support for China war relief. Miranda Corbie is a 33-year-old private investigator who stumbles upon the fatally shot body of Eddie Takahashi. The Chamber of Commerce wants it covered up. The cops acquiesce. All Miranda wants is justice--whatever it costs. From Chinatown tenements, to a tattered tailor's shop in Little Osaka, to a high-class bordello draped in Southern Gothic, she shakes down the city–her city–seeking the truth.

Miranda Corbie chooses to investigate Eddie Takahashi's death. She does pick up a second, paying case investigating the suspicious death of Lester Winters, and the disappearance of his daughter, Phyllis.

The handling of the setting in time and place is fantastic. Kelli Stanley makes San Francisco of the 1940's come alive, and she describes the tensions within Chinatown due to the war in Asia and Europe very well. I learned much about Chinatown and the US attitude toward the war at that time. I always enjoy a story set in Chinatown (of any city) but I don't think I have ever read one that was set before World War II.

Due to the writing style we are privy to Miranda's thoughts at times, and get glimpses of her background as a nurse in the Spanish Civil War, and the loss of her boyfriend in that war. She is clearly still suffering from these experiences, and seems to take out her pain on friends and foes alike.

Although the story is told from Miranda's point of view it is not in first person. Sometimes her thinking and reactions read like a stream of consciousness, with short sentences and choppy delivery. At other times, the writing is very beautiful, lovely descriptions and straightforward prose.

I will not pretend that this was the perfect reading experience for me. We are reminded too often about the unhappiness and confusion that Miranda is experiencing. Many readers complained about the many, many references to smoking, which did not bother me. And I should warn readers that there is a lot of profanity, although I felt it fit the context.

Nevertheless, I was involved with the story and admired the heroine. I want to follow her in her story and I plan to read the next book in the series. My husband has read all three books in the series and will be purchasing book 4 when it comes out.

  ----------------------------------
Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2010
Length:    335 pages
Format:    Hardback
Series:     Miranda Corbie #1
Setting:    Chinatown, San Francisco, 1940's
Genre:     Historical Mystery