Out Today: PLAYING GAMES, edited by Lawrence Block

 

Monday, Monday

 Although colder than usual, and rainier than usual, we had a great time in La Jolla. It is such a gorgeous place it is hard not to. And showing it to two new people was fun. I did miss Phil--it was the first time I have been there since his death. But on the whole, it was tolerable after four years without him. We saw three musical events-the best being the Montreal Jazz Festival with Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater and three younger performers. San Diego is struggling with a homeless epidemic and we were wary of walking the streets near the theater-in fact, a man warned us not to. But La Jolla is a world away so we could forget real world problems a few hours later, which makes me ashamed off and on. Friends from DC came in for five days, she with a broken foot from a hike in Tucson. Saw a good series that played on BRITBOX-BROKEN. Watched AFTERSUN on VOD-terrific movie. Saw several movies at the theater-all good: LIVING, MISSING, WOMEN TALKING. After starting and putting down several novels, I am now reading THE SOLOIST by Mark Salzman.

How about you? 

 

MONDAY, MONDAY

MONDAY, Monday

Monday, Monday

Hiatus- See you in a few weeks

 

Short Story Wednesday

 Kevin Tipple

Jerry House

TracyK

George Kelley

Monday, Monday

 Although I will be in CA the next three Mondays, I am going to post the days so you can share what you are doing with me and each other. I am only taking my cellphone so I won't be able to do much without a laptop.

Three good movies this week-all streaming or VOD. I liked MY DOG STUPID enough to get the book called WEST OF ROME by John Fante. ETERNAL DAUGHTER was prettty amazing and Swinton should be nominated in both acting categories. DECISION TO LEAVE was a bit hard to follow. I really don't like subtitles on a complicated movie in a foreign language on a TV screen but it was terrific despite the struggle.

THE LYING LIFE OF ADULTS on PRIME is another good adaption of Elena Ferrante's novels. The dubbed version was a relief. WILL TRENT, streaming on HULU looks to be a decent crime show. It is based on the Karen Slaughter novels. Also sampling ALASKA DAILY with Hilary Swank. Yes, she is the white savior of indigenous people but I am hoping we get beyond that. I really like the cast. 

I hardly left my apartment this week. Lots of vague but annoying sinus and throat issues.  Josh and his family took me out for dinner to celebrate turning 75. What a nice family I have.

How about you?

 

FFB: THE CHILL, Ross MacDonald

Reviewing this book exceedingly difficult. The plot is very complicated and stopping at a point where not too many reveals have been mentioned is nearly impossible. So I will err here on the side of telling too little rather than too much.

Archer is hired by the callow youth, Alex Kincaid, to find his new wife Dolly, who has suddenly disappeared. Archer takes the case when it is clear the police are uninterested and finds Dolly quickly, but of course complications arise. 

A man from her past has shown up at their hotel. This and the death of her college advisor, Helen Haggerty, has sent her into flight. She claims, in fact, that she's caused Helen’s death. Archer puts Dolly into a rest home with a man who has treated her in the past for similar incidents. Kincaid hangs around to keep an eye on her.

It seems that Dolly is linked to a number of mysterious deaths over a long period. The dean of the college Dolly attends also figures into the story at multiple points. He is dominated by his mother although puts up less of a fuss than you might expect.

This is very much a story about family relationships and how children can be manipulated by adults. The past has the present in a stranglehold in this book. Try as they might, the characters in THE CHILL are helpless but to follow a path they sometimes had no hand in making. Although many characters in THE CHILL only appear on the page for a minute or two, they are each given the traits to be memorable. Archer himself is the least memorable and I think Macdonald planned it thusly. 

My favorite line, and one that sums up much of the plot, is "I'm beginning to hate old women."

 

Short Story Wednesday ANARCTICA by Claire Keegan

 

The award-winning Antarctica, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2001, and recipient of the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the William Trevor Prize, and the Martin Healy Award, is a haunting debut. "

After reading SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE and FOSTER, I wanted, of course, to see what Keegan's shorts were like. I have only read a couple, but I couldn't have been more surprised. The two novels concern the fate of children, the stories (so far) the desires of adults. In the first and title story, a woman decides she wants to sleep with another man before she is too old for such a dalliance. She finds him at a conference and shares an erotic evening with him followed by a very different morning. 

What is the same in both the novels and story is the sure-footedness of the writing.  Keegan never tells you things you don't need to know but lays the situation out beautifully. A discussion between the lovers that seems perhaps arbitrary in its topic turns out to mean everything by the end. 

I listened to this on Hoopla. What a wonderful resource our libraries gift us. 

Kevin Tipple

Jerry House 

Casual Debris

Monday, Monday

 Been a bit under the weather so I have nothing much to report but don't let that stop you for entertaining me.

Criterion's Room Tone

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8029-room-tone-2022 

 

Everyone maintains the required silence but one.

FFB: THE HUSBAND'S SECRET, Lianne Moriarity

At heart this is a domestic novel set in Australia. But Liane Moriarty was clever enough to put enough twists and turns to keep a reader who likes suspense engaged. It entwines several women and their respective families, all connected to the same school, and gives them stories rich and complex enough to allow them interact on several levels. They also all seem to eat pavlova for dessert a lot. Never have had it, you?

Of course, the very title seduces you.

One character, mother of three girls, and a woman who prides herself on being on top of things, finds a letter addressed to her from her husband with the warning it is not to be read until after his death. What she does with this letter forms the first part of the novel. But we also having a grieving mother about to lose her beloved grandchild in a move to the US,, and a marriage threatened from an odd angle.

The stories are all interesting enough to keep you turning pages in the second half of the book. And the first surprise is not the only one.

The strength of the book lay in its "what-ifs." The repercussions of human behavior, often the actions that occur without thought or notice,  is at its heart. I have read BIG LITTLE LIES by this author too. Also APPLES NEVER FALL. She is extremely prolific. 

 

Short Story Wednesday: I CANNOT TELL A LIE, EXACTLY, Mary Ladd Gavell

 

From the back cover. "When Mary Ladd Gavell died in 1967 at the age of 47, she had never published a story." At her death, she was the managing editor of the journal, PSYCHIATRY, which published one of the stories in their journal. They recalled her scribbling during her lunch hours. John Updike  included it in the BEST STORIES OF THE CENTURY. The stories in this collection are wonderful. Original, succinct, unusual. "Rotifer" is the one Updyke chose but he could have chosen any of them. I loved "The Swing" where a mother is able to revisit her son's youth at night on the swing he played on. 

TracyK

Todd Mason 

Casual Debris 

Jerry House 

 Kevin Tipple

Monday, Monday

 

We were so lucky to have Megan's airplane make it in before the floor fell out here. So nice to spend some time together, watching old movies on Criterion, watching the Sr. doc about Robert Downey Sr.  on Netflix, having four restaurant meals-all turned out well. Got two new books: Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson and The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty. It was too cold to be outside at all but my building has a gym, which Megan used. 

I am afraid to hear what George has been going through in Buffalo!

How about you?

Favorite Podcasts

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS

FILMSPOTTING

POD SAVE AMERICA

POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR

THE NEW YORKER RADIO HOUR

THE WATCH

FRESH AIR

(Washington) POST REPORTS

THE NPR POLITICS PODCAST

DETROIT TODAY/DAILY DETROIT

WTF (Marc Maron)

BAGMAN (Rachel Maddow)

BBC BOOKS AND AUTHORS

Runners up THE TREATMENT, THE NEXT PICTURE SHOW, FILMS TO BE BURIED WITH, THE BOOK REVIEW, ALL THERE IS (Anderson Cooper)

Ten Favorite Movies of 2022

Probably several of these would not have been on this list on a more normal year. But you work with what you have....

In no particular order

Tar

Mothering Sunday

The Banshees of Inisherin

Armageddon Time

Causeway

Top Gun: Maverick

The Fabelmans

God's Country

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Good Luck to Leo Grande

Runnersup: After Yang, The Wonder, The Glass Onion, Bad Axe

Ten Favorite Books of 2022/Short Story Wednesday

Mothering Sunday, Graham Swift

Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

Foster, Claire Keegan

Deer Season, Erin Flanagan

The Lost Daughter, Elena Ferrante

Ghost Light, Frank Rich

Taste, Stanley Tucci

Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrel

Life's Work, David Milch

The Sacrament, Olaf Olafsson

 

Kevin Tipple

TracyK

George Kelley

 

`

Ten Favorite TV Shows of 2022

 

THE BEAR

BETTER CALL SAUL

WHITE LOTUS: SICILY

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

ATLANTA

RESERVATION DOGS

THE DROPOUT

HACKS

SEVERANCE

BARRY

 

RUNNERS UP: PACHINKO, BETTER THINGS, FOR ALL MANKIND, SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, THE STAIRCASE, THE HANDMAID'S TALE, MO, ROTHANIEL, THE LAST MOVIE STARS

What about you?

Monday, Monday

 

 Go Lions!

Gray skies, lake effect snow. Who wouldn't want to live in Michigan in the winter? I have become quite worried about falling so I will not get out much in the next weeks.

WHITE LOTUS finished strongly. By the end, most of the characters had been allocated at least a bit of humanity despite being driven by unfulfilled lust and jealousy. The entrance of Tom Hollander, midway through, certainly injected more energy into the plot.

I am very bad at watching SLOW HORSES, why do spy dramas not hold my interest more.? I have no instinct for the genre, I think. Although FLEISHMAN IN TROUBLE doesn't draw me in much either. I am watching the old series DALZIEL AND PASCOE on Kanopy. Reginald Hill is missed.

The Saul Bellow doc on PBS did not put him in a very good light. Phil loved his novels.

Speaking of books, have enjoyed FOSTER (Claire Keegan) as much as SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE. And apparently there is a film adaptation of FOSTER already. It is called THE QUIET GIRL and it is winning awards in Europe. Also enjoyed LEONARD AND HUNGRY PAUL, a very sweet book about two misfit men in their thirties who prove a quiet, kind life yields its own rewards. Saw WHITE NOISE-a strong first hour and an interesting performance by Adam Driver but the last half was pretty bad. 

How about you?