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