Friday's Forgotten Books, THE IMPERFECTIONISTS, Tom Rachman

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS, Tom Rachman

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS is a debut novel that reads like the work of an experienced master of the genre. Is it me or are first novels growing stronger all the time? Perhaps since Mr. Rachman is himself a journalist and editor he is following that sage advice to write about what you know.

More like a series of short stories than a traditional novel, THE IMPERFECTIONISTS tells the stories of some of the personnel at a small newspaper in Rome. Here we have the story of the copy editor, a reporter, a stringer, the editor in chief and various other personnel including a devoted reader. A sort of Canterbury Tales.

In between these delightful, insightful, humorous and sometimes painful personal and intersecting stories, we also get the story of the Ott family, the newspaper's founders and how the family eventually slid into obscurity and the newspaper folded.

It is hard not to swoon over such a elegant writer. Each story is original and very much written with its own tone. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

THE MALTESE FALCON

Of course, you all have seen this one. I never saw it on the big screen before and consequently never paid such close attention to it. Some observations: it was a lot funnier than I remembered, Bogart sure had a lot of tics, Mary Astor was very good and very beautiful, Lorre and Greenstreet were quite a team. I can see why they used them again in CASABLANCA. Hard to understand why Sam Spade was so attracted to a woman who was clearly up to no good. But I have never understood that about men, in general. The story is an exercise in how to tell a story with no let-up in tension. Was there ever a more minimal use of sets?  Amazing how little back story was necessary.

Things That Are Making Me Happy

It looks like the good weather is on its way out after two plus months of terrific days. I actually turned my heat on this morning, which was very self-indulgent. Something tells me the near future will not allow such actions.
Reading I LIKE TO WATCH by Emily Nussbaum, the New Yorker TV critic, which is loads of fun and also RULES OF CIVILITY by Amor Towles, I find the writing odd but can't quite say why. It's like there are two writing styles used. My book group chose it. They really loved A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW last year and were attracted to this  his earlier book.
Saw AD ASTRA, which seemed like an overly elaborate way to tell a withholding father story. I expected to like it more. I didn't expect to like DOWNTON ABBEY and I didn't much. I think I have made my feelings about rich people known more than once on here. Although I have to admit, Fellows used a clever device to tell the story and the downstairs group most got the better story here.
The third and best movie I saw was THE MALTESE FALCON on a big screen. It is part of a series called FLASHBACK CINEMA, which brings old classics to a big screen. It does a pretty poor job of publicizing it though. If you want to see if it's available in your area, it www.FlashbackCinema.net
I finally got Kanopy to work on my TV, which gives me access to what my movies my library has. You might want to check that out too. Quite an array of stuff on there.
And what are you up to this week? 

Forgotten Books, BROOKLYN, Colm Toibin

Brooklyn, Colm Toibin

This is a very fine novel that I was resistant to reading for a long time. It sat on my shelf despite the urging of several friends who loved it. But after seeing the movie, I wanted to read the book. And I am glad that I did. 
There are no jobs to be had in Eilis Lacey's hometown in Ireland. Reluctantly she sets sail for New York where a priest has secured her a job and place to live. She is nearly overwhelmed by homesickness--and I don't think I ever read such a great description of it--but eventually settles into her new life and finds a beau. A sudden death calls her home again and she must decide where her future lies.
What makes this novel work so well is how much inside the head of his character Toibin gets. And I am truly amazed at how well he does a female voice. And how well he seems to understand how a girl feels about a multitude of issues.
Eilis is utterly believable as a very nice girl with very nice friends and a very nice family. The descriptions of Brooklyn life in the fifties are terrific. 
If I found one flaw in the book, it would be there was so little conflict or strife for Eilis. I am sure an immigrant coming here with no friends of family to succor them would find life a lot harder. And the ending is perhaps too swift.
But this is a small flaw in a wonderful novel. 

Things That Are Making Me Happy

But now my garage door will not go down. 

Yay, My new tag and new Michigan registration arrive today. Somebody up there likes me.


Two days ago I wrote a cheerful post that said I was beginning to be happy, at least some of the time. That my fifty years of happiness with Phil had given me muscle memory to revert to happiness. That I was looking forward to new books, movies, TV, dinner and movie with friends, taking walks.

But yesterday a number of problems to be solved sent me back to my earlier state of anxiety. So I took that post down.

Lots of the issues concern the car I don't drive. My plate registration did not yield me the required tab for instance. It is lost in the mail, I guess. And I have to have the car serviced even though I don't drive it. And one credit card is still pulling money from the wrong account And at two in the morning, I woke up thinking I didn't know how to stop payment on a check should I need to.

And how do I feel about going to NY for Thanksgiving and staying at a friend's vacant place. Can I navigate NY on my own? Will I be nervous hailing cabs without a man beside me? Will I be able to handle walking back from the subway alone at night?

 Even though I was the one who always figured out where we were going and how to get there, Phil drove or was by my side in NY or wherever.  This is one of the selfish reasons for missing him. Another one: he looked at the mail and decided what to do with things. Now I must look at every piece of mail and determine what is to be done about it. Now I must open every jar, even if I use a wrench. I have to decide who to call about every problem. Selfish reasons but ones that occur every day.

I won't list the less selfish reasons. You know what they are.

Still it is better than five months ago. Some days. 

What's new with you?

Friday's Forgotten Books: Beautiful Ruins

BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jesse Walter does a very smooth job of juggling multiple narratives set in multiple time periods. We always know where we are and whom we are with. The prose is elegant, the scenes in Italy inviting. If that small village doesn't exist, it should thanks to the writing here.

The disaster that was CLEOPATRA was being made in the main narrative. A young actress in the film, believing herself to be dying, comes to a remote island where she is tended to by Pasquale, a young Italian hotel owner of a hotel so small that she is the only guest. Other stories intersect with this one.(Richard Burton is a minor player that we never see without a bottle in his hand. Surely we have something else to learn about him).Pasquale is being shaken down for protection money, but this story is also not developed.

Unfortunately many of the other minor characters in BEAUTIFUL RUINS didn't capture my interest and I was anxious to get back to the primary story rather than these less interesting ones.The book I would have loved would have focused on the young actress, the young hotel owner, and the circumstances of 1962. Of course it was not my story to tell.

We see the actress at various points in her life, but because they are not chronological it is often hard to invest in them. We also come to know her son, an producer's assistant, a writer trying to pitch a story, the producer himself who meddles again and again to disastrous consequences. Flash forward into the future and the romanticism of that small island in Italy is lost. If Hollywood is supposed to come alive, it never does. We know just how venal Hollywood is from so many other examinations. And the scenes in Spokane are even less involving.

This was certainly far from a bad book. But the pages didn't turn effortlessly.
I listened to this on audio. Perhaps that distanced me. Reading a print book always works best for me.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

Had a great week in DC visiting my brother and his wife in Virginia and old friends in Maryland. Loved both movies, liked the play (Sondheim) had several great meals, went to an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum on the Queens of Egypt, saw two old friends from my childhood (separately) went to Leesburg (mostly restaurants now) and got lost in a park. All great fun.

What about you if you are not tired of telling it?

See You Next Week

FFB-THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH, Dan J. Marlow

I had to do a little work to get myself a copy of Dan J. Marlowe's THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH (from the archives).  I just want to list what made it such a perfect book to me.

1) the complexity of the protagonist

2) the writing-lucid, tense, succinct

3) the way Marlow integrates a necessary back story into the plot. Now a lot of writers today would say, we don't need to know all of this about him. I disagree. Without this info, he's just a psycho. Now he's a psycho, yes, but with grounding.

4) the length of the book. Truly you couldn't take much more of this degree of excitement.

5) the atmosphere, which is just exactly right for the plot, character, etc.

6) the integration of the violent aspects with the prosaic ones

7) the motivation for what happens. Because of the back story, we get it.

8) the ending.

I could go on and on. What did you like about this book if you've read it? If not, what book would you nominate for a perfect little gem? And I guess what "little" means is under 250 pages.

WHAT THE EYES DON'T SEE, Mona Hanna Attisha

In 2014, virtually with no one looking or investigating the safeness of the switch, the state of Michigan shifted the source of Flint's water from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Almost immediately citizens complained about the color or the water, the taste, but they went unheard.

Dr. Mona Hanna Attisha took the officials at their word initially and told her pediatric patients' parents that the water was safe. But over a brief period of time, children were getting sicker and early studies began to trouble the doctor.

This book details her fight to obtain undeniable truth that the water was full of lead and to get city and state officials to admit it and do something about it. Time after time, people who should be on the side of the citizens, turned a deaf hear, preferring to either ignore or uphold the lies being bandied about.

This is a very disheartening book because you know similar problems exist in other cities (Newark) and are especially prevalent in black areas. When this was first noticed in Flint, GM and state offices received water that was not from the Flint River. So even here distinctions were made by state officials.

The dire nature of the story is somewhat lightened by Attisha's story of her own family and their trip to the US from Iraq. They are a family of activists indeed.

For more book reviews, go to Barrie Summy's blog. 

Things That are Making Me Happy

Happy Labor Day!

Enjoying HUNTING GAME by Helene Tursten. I am always amazed when a writer is able to present a milieu as successfully as she does with a hunting lodge and hunting itself in Sweden. Of course, maybe it is her scene. Will have to try her other series.

I am sad to be finished MINDHUNTER, where I liked the personal stories as much as the Atlanta Child Killer plot. Although it was pretty brilliant all around. Also enjoying TRAPPED on Prime. Thanks, Jeff.  Still enjoying SUCCESSION on HBO.

Had a nice family dinner Friday night. Kevin is getting taller by the minute. He is going to play hockey, soccer, cross-country and tennis this fall. As well as begin to learn the bass guitar along with the one he's been playing for years. The music teacher says most guitar players can play more than one thing. Today's parents, at least ones that can afford it because no school sports are free nowadays) are so busy getting their kids to various events.

What about you?

FFB: BLACKWATER, Kerstin Ekman

Blackwater, Kerstin Ekman

Long before the Scandinavian surge of crime fiction of today, a few Swedish writers caught my attention and one in the 1990s was Kerstin Ekman. In face, I think I came across this one the year we lived in England.

The plot centers on teacher and mother, Annie Raft, and is set in the 70s, and focuses on events surrounding, and following a double murder at the Blackwater lake in Sweden.

The victims of the murder are two tourists visiting Northern Sweden to explore its forested wilderness. They are discovered by Annie Raft, herself new to the region, as she and her young daughter Mia scrabble through the forest, searching for the commune where her lover awaits and where they are to start life anew away from the turmoil of their lives in Southern Sweden.

Things also deteriorate in the commune. Paradise is not what it seems, nor is Annie's lover. It is years later when this story concludes.

Ekman explores the degradation occurring to the environment at the same time she sets up this plot. The darkness of the land mirrors the darkness of the people who inhabit it. She also examines the animosity between Swedes and Laplanders in the region. From reviews on amazon, I see that this book was too dark for many readers, but we both enjoyed it at the time.

Movies, movies, movies. And the best of them was TOY STORY 4. Truly. But I also liked REMEMBER MY NAME, which was a doc about David Crosby. I can't believe his voice is still great at 76. I also can't believe he has lost all of his friends.
Lovely weather in Michigan. But the mold is killing me from all the rain earlier in the summer.
Kevin was here Saturday night and between us we managed to lose the sound on the TV. I have a new cable box and remote and have not mastered it yet. We finally fixed it and proceeded to watch six episodes of THE OFFICE. I understand board games are undergoing a revival and I should pick up a few.
As always thanks to my friends for keeping me busy. If it was not for them....
Reading THE HOUSE OF BROKEN ANGELS by Urrea, about a Mexican family in San Diego. Pretty impressive.
Watching SUCCESSION, the funniest show about a horrible family. Great writing. Also MINDHUNTER, which is very good but very scary.  Have watched four episodes of ELEMENTARY, which is not bad but probably best watched one show a week.
What about you?

FFB MY COUSIN RACHEL, Daphe DuMaurier

MY COUSIN RACHEL, Daphne DuMaurier

The story takes place in the 1840s in Cornwall. Philip's whole life centers around his Uncle Ambrose, his guardian, and their life in the country. When Ambrose begins to suffer health problems, he goes to Italy where he falls under the spell of Cousin Rachel. His letters home to Philip begin as odes of love but over time become dark. When he suddenly dies, Philip goes to Florence to ascertain the reasons for his death.


Initially suspicious of Cousin Rachel, Philip soon falls under her spell and alters his inheritance to make her the primary beneficiary of his uncle's estate. It is unclear for much of the book as he goes from complete suspicion, to devotion, to suspicion again whether he is falling ill from the same brain fever or disease that took his uncle or whether Rachel has a hand in both of their fates. (Much of her time is spent fooling with herbs and medicinal plants).
Is this a book about jealousy, disease or evil? I think you will come to your own conclusion by the end, but it may not be the same as mine.

This is a masterpiece of suspense. The type of book you will think about for many days following its ending.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

A friend has invited me to share an apartment with her on Treasure Island (FL) for a few weeks in Feb-March, which is very nice and I am certainly considering doing that. Getting out of Michigan that time of year is great. We have spent a lot of time together in Traverse City so we know we are compatible. We are both movie-goers, concert lovers and readers and walkers. I have even got her reading Jussi Adler-Olsen after seeing a movie from his work in TC.

Saw LUCE and really admired it. So seldom a movie tries to confront as many issues as this one did. Naomi Watts is such a great actress. I am reminded of my favorite movie with her, THE PAINTED VEIL.

Started MINDHUNTER on Netflix and am not sure I am interested enough. It seems even more like a documentary this year. And sadly these serial killers don't differ much one from another.

Has anyone watched ELEMENTARY? Is it worth the seven seasons?

I have a great brother who is helping me decide what to do with a pretty large amount of money. I was ready to invest it but last week changed my mind.  There is no point putting money in the market just as it is about to go down. Jeff is about all the family I have from my generation. And now it turns out we are only half-siblings so even nicer of him to help me.

Having lots of allergy-sinus problems. Instead of being nasal it goes to my sinuses. And then I am dizzy and now that I am alone here, I have to be more careful that I don't fall and crack my head or hip on all the stone floors. The police here suggest you install a box outside your house with a house key and your medical cards in it. Has anyone done this?

Great weather here. The first half of the summer it rained but the last six weeks or so has been terrific. 

What are you guys up to?

FFB: MAX PERKINS: EDITOR OF GENIUS, A Scott Berg

Richard Wheeler passed away in February. Events caused me to first miss it and then neglect to post it on here. Richard would write to me every so often about music he loved and the books he thought I might like. None of them were crime novels.  He liked uplifting stories.

 

Here is his obit.  

 

What a great career he had!!  The Western Writers of America honored him with six Spur Awards, the 2001 Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement and a 2015 induction into its Hall of Fame.

 

And this bio of Max Perkins is one of my very favorite bios. 

 

 

Richard S. Wheeler was the author of more than eighty contracted or published novels that largely deal with the American West. These include historical novels, biographical novels, and traditional western fiction. In recent years he's been writing mysteries, including some set in the upper Midwest, under the pseudonym Axel Brand. He also has written numerous short stories.

Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg

I've finished rereading Scott Berg's great biography of Maxwell Perkins, which won the National Book Award in 1978. It is a massive book and took a week to get through. I've often wondered why it is my favorite book, and why I return to it with renewed thirst and joy, every little while.

For a long time, I thought it was because I had been a book editor and found common ground with Perkins. Or perhaps it was because my family is rooted in New England, though I grew up in the Midwest. There was something in Max Perkins' shy, awkward, introspective nature that rang bells in me.

The truth of it is that I have no idea why that book stands above all others in that place of the heart where I build altars. It is largely a description of the way Perkins, a Scribners editor, nurtured several wayward authors and the result was the most sublime period in American literary history. The list of those he encouraged and published is too long for this posting, but they include Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ring Lardner, Edmund Wilson, Erskine Caldwell, Sherwood Anderson, John P. Marquand, S. S. Van Dine, Taylor Caldwell, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Alan Paton, and James Jones. No other editor has even come close to discovering and publishing a list like that.

Scott Berg writes tenderly. He had his hands full, because of the acrimony, the disappointments, the bitterness, the craziness, the hurt, that he was chronicling. Somehow Perkins managed to nurture each of his authors, supplied the specific criticisms that lifted their books to new heights, all the while trying to remain anonymous because he felt that editors should not take credit or be known to the public. He often said that a book belongs to the author, and it is the editor's task simply to bring out the best in the author and the book.

This great work by Berg shaped me. It deeply affected how I think about literature. It changed what I aspire to in my writing. I am not the same person I was before this book entered the place of honor on my shelf. I lost my father, whom I loved and admired, when I was young. All those authors he nurtured lost a father when Max Perkins died.

Forgotten Movies: DON'T LOOK NOW

Eesh-that will wake you up.

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in Nicholas Roeg's 1973 adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier's story. Venice has never looked less lovely, filmed almost entirely at night or on rainy days.

A couple loses a child in a drowning. Sometime later they go to Venice where the man is restoring a church. The woman meets two older women who seem to have psychic gifts and are in touch with the lost child.

The man, a non-believer in otherworldly information, is at risk again and again. A warning seems to come from the lost child.

This is a frightening movie from start to finish. Other than an extended sex scene, there are no happy minutes. Everyone seems vaguely threatening including the police, the priest, the hotel keeper, the two sisters. And yet only the final scene has any real violence in it. So cleverly done.

THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

Enjoyed ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD although the final scene in retrospect is strange. Don't want to ruin it, but he evokes some sympathy for the Manson girls by ending it the way he does.
Did not think much of THE FAREWELL. It was a nice enough movie but it was threadbare beyond its basic concept. There was not enough plot. Plus Awkwafina's glum, one-note performance was annoying.And how little we learned about the characters beyond their dislike of giving or getting bad news.A wedding banquet scene lasted as long as most banquets and I was reminded of Ang Lee's THE WEDDING BANQUET, which was a wittier and far better movie.
Reading a book about the Flint water crisis for my book group. I don't think it is a good discussion book. It will just lead to all of us bemoaning the state of our government, which has only got worst in the last two years.
Thanks to my friends I have been able to get out of the house every day this week. As long as I keep moving, I survive. Thoughts of the coming winter are frightening.
What about you?

Friday's Forgotten Books: A WIDOW'S STORY

This is the second time I have read this. The first time it was just because of its good reviews.
More than Joan Didion's book on her loss, JCO's book spoke to me. I think we were both married to men who excelled in taking care of us. Her loss was sudden; mine was long, but both had a lot in common otherwise. Living largely in the academic world, much of it was so familiar. And her early years were in Detroit, which resonated.

She struggled with insomnia, depression. She realized after Ray's death there was a lot of Ray hidden from her. I would agree with this. Do men keep more of their past to themselves than women. I am not sure.

JCO would  marry again within a year, but now her second husband has died. I can't help but wonder if the second time is easier for her. Has the first experience lessened or worsened the second?
And will she write about it? Of course.

Traverse City Film Festival 15

The festival continues to be better organized every year. You can park your car outside of town and take a shuttle (they run every 15 minutes) from venue to venue or restaurant to restaurant. The quality of the films continues to impress. And there are panels on most film-related topics if you need a break. Seven venues show films six times a day. There are hundreds of films, heavy on the docs but that seems to be what most of the movie goers like. Lily Tomlin was the special guest this year and lots of the directors and actors were there to introduce their films.

People come from all over the country, hungry to see movies but also to talk to like-minded people. I saw 15 films--not all were great but none were awful. My favorites were MOTHER'S INSTINCT (a Hitchcockian Belgian film), THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE (a film based on the Danish Jussi Adler-Olsen novel), C'EST LA VIE, ( a French film about a wedding planner), BALLOON, a German film about an escape from East Germany) and ROSIE, an Irish film about a homeless family. Two films I missed--one because Michael Moore talked so long at another venue it had already begun when I got there and the seats were gone. 

So clearly I go for the foreign films. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with friends or the cost would be exorbitant. The weather was great-mostly in the seventies although it was in the forties one night. Lots of good restaurants. A good time was had by all.