THE UNIVERSAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATION, INC, J. HENRY WAUGH, PROP., by Robert Coover
With
the exception of CATCH 22, I don't know of another book that knocked me
out in quite the way this one did when I was young(er). Written in
1968, it overflows with creativity, humor, and pathos. Maybe it's not
forgotten, but I rarely hear it mentioned.
J. Henry Waugh is an
unhappy accountant who entertains himself by inventing a game that he can
escape to at the end of the day. Every action in the game is ruled by
the dice. Waugh does not get to intervene. He is, of course, no more in
charge of what happens in the game then he is in what happens in his
life. He finds this out when his star pitcher is killed by a pitched
ball. (Yes, his game even allows for such events; it's that complex)
This fictional event has impact on Waugh's real life in horrible ways.
Cleverly,
Coover allows the players, managers and baseball executives to come to
life, making the book much less static than this might sound. Is Waugh a
God? If so, he has little power over his invented world and even less
over his real one. It is chance that rules Waugh's game and his world.
Until....This is a great book.
Friday, October 17, 2025
FFB-THE UNIVERSAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATON-Robert Coover
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Short Story Wednesday, Hard-Boiled edited by Bill Pronzini, Jack Adrian
H/T Todd Mason
"Graveyard Shift" by James Reasoner; "The Long Silence After" by Ed Gorman
Browsing
in the Dawn Treader bookstore in Ann Arbor in January, I grabbed a book
from the shelves entitled HARD-BOILED. It was an anthology published in
1995, edited by Bill Pronzini and Jack Adrian, and published by Oxford
University Press. I took it home and was delighted to find stories by
two of our most faithful reviewers, but that isn't why I'm choosing
these two stories today.
Although the stories are quite
different, they share a theme: men attempting to redress the loss of a
wife through criminal action. Though the outcomes are different, both
stories are rich in atmosphere, tension, and character and a quality I
love: uxoriousness. They rise above many short stories that depend
almost totally on plot. Within a few pages, we know these men---or think
we do. I highly recommend both stories as primers on how to write a
short story as well as stories to be enjoyed.
Monday, October 13, 2025
Monday, Monday
The Jewish Book Fair began today at the Detroit Institute of Arts with Michelle Young talking about her book, The Art Spy, The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WW II Resistance Hero, Rose Valland who rescued much stolen artwork. The Festival goes on for a month. There must have been 500 people there.
Also saw Secret Mall Apartment and Roofman.
Watching Task, Low-Down, Baby Fever, Slow Horses. Has to be the best season of Slow Horses.
Sad that the Tigers are out of the series although they never played well after mid-July.
Still reading Black Cake, and trying to get started on Isola (Allegra Goodman).
Very sad about Diane Keaton. Certainly one of my favorite actors.
Still enjoying great weather. It's probably going to be gone with a thud.
Friday, October 10, 2025
FFB TRIAL AND ERROR, Anthony Berkeley
(reviewed by Casual Debris in 2012)
Its excellent premise is what attracted me to Anthony Berkeley's original, innovative and highly entertaining Trial and Error.
Mild-mannered Lawrence Butterfield Todhunter learns that due to an
aggressive aneurism he doesn't have much time left on this earth.
Wanting to commit a great, humanitarian act before he goes, he throws a
dinner party and tosses out a hypothetical, which leads nearly everyone
to declare that great can be achieved through murder, so long as the
victim is deserving of death. Hence Todhunter decides that before his
impending doom he must seek out an appropriate victim and commit this
terrible act.
Anthony Berkeley's novel has been out of print for some time, since the
late 1960s it appears, with the exception of a small print run in 2001
by House of Stratus. This is a terrible shame because Trial and Error
is an excellent read, a unique mystery that reads almost like an epic
novel as it spans various significant episodes, each one a small book on
its own, from Todhunter's seeking the perfect victim to the murder
itself and its eventual trial. The book is split into five parts, each
part dealing with a substantial leg in Todhunter's journey. There are a
number of twists and I won't reveal anything more about the central
plot.
The novel also boasts great characters, dialogue and attention to detail
that is simply riveting. The world Berkeley manages to create is very
real, and the geography of the various UK locations are clear; we always
know where we are and where the settings lie in relation to one
another. Moreover, the novel is filled with a good deal of humour
despite its premise and its incessant focus on death. Yet what elevates Trial and Error
from a good British mystery to a great novel is its notions of
absurdity. Throughout the novel is a pervasive sense that despite the
high dramatic aspects of life, both selfish and altruistic actions are
governed by nothing more than chance; no matter how we strive for
control the idea that we can influence destiny, our own or someone
else's, is ridiculous. It is clear that the universe has its plans and
the minutest element can thrust and thwart our plans in any seemingly
random direction. And in the final scene even these ideas are
challenged, as Berkeley twists the entire story into something
altogether different.
Trial and Error
is additionally a success due to its innocuous protagonist. Lawrence
Todhunter is barely a character, a simple man with simple ideas,
impressionable and easily influenced, harmless in every dimension of his
being. While it initially appears that such a character would
undoubtedly fail in maintaining interest in any kind of novel, Todhunter
succeeds in growing on the reader, not necessarily through his
altruism, but through his determination and particularly because he does
indeed transform. Not static at all, this Todhunter. Berkeley also
risks creating an over-sentimental character, particularly as he is
nearing death, and yet does a wonderful job in being direct with his
story and avoiding overblown sentimentality.
The novel's only weak point is at the early stage of the trial, when
Berkeley feels the need to restate details which the reader is already
familiar with. This portion of the work suffers a little in its pacing,
but once the cross-examination begins, the writing, particularly the
dialogue, is so riveting that we nearly forget the slow progress of the
previous thirty or so pages.
Anthony Berkeley's Trial and Error is a rare find that is absolutely worth seeking out
Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Wednesday's Short Fiction
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/13/coconut-flan-fiction-catherine-lacey
Did you ever read a story and feel the protagonist in the story could be you? This is the story of an extremely passive, dependent woman in Mexico who loses her passport. Every bit of description diminishes anything of note about her. Even her voice is referred to as "little." Nobody seems to see her or remember her. Frightening in its own way. My therapist would think I wrote this. How easily this woman could disappear in a crowd.
Monday, October 06, 2025
Monday, Monday
ONE BATTLE was the best movie I've seen in a long time. I am only occasionally a Paul Thomas Anderson fan but this one is right up there with PHANTOM THREAD. I also rewatched COLUMBUS at home. I can't say exactly why this movie works so well for me but I would love to go to Columbus, Indiana and see all of the great architecture.
Reading THE SUMMER HOUSE (Matsuie), a novel also about architecture and BLACK CAKE (Wilkerson).
On TV, watching THE LOWDOWN (HULU), TASK (HBO), LYNLEY etc.
It's been weeks since it rained. It is killing my sinuses.
How about you