Monday, Monday

 Although I am still watching SUCCESSION, BARRY and a few regular shows, I have drifted into watching THE DOG HOUSE, a real tear- jerker about dogs and the people they rescue, JEWISH MATCHMAKER, and PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR. Oh, and COUPLES THERAPY. Am I losing the ability to follow a narrative?

I finished HELLO, BEAUTIFUL. And my dilemma on what to read next was solved when Megan's new book arrived. 

No movies, but I did go to see ALADDIN at the Fisher Theater in Detroit. Although the music was all new to me, I enjoyed it and most of all enjoyed the staging. Funny to see a musical where only one woman had a speaking part. When did staging become such an important aspect of these musicals. I also saw COSI FAN TUTTE, a student production, but very competent. It was in a brand new auditorium at Oakland University in Rochester where there were NO HAND RAILS. Are they kidding? Do they know the age group that comes to these things? 

How about you guys?

Happy Mother's Day

 

                                                        Miss you every day, Mom.

FFB: Dead ANYWAY, Chris Knopf (from the archives reviewed by Jeff Meyerson)

Chris Knopf, Dead Anyway (2012), Jeff Meyerson

People always ask (I know, I ask too) how you decide what to read next.  Might as well ask, how do you decide what to read, period?  I have a list of favorite authors whose books I read when they come out but for newer writers or ones I don't know I tend to lean on recommendations from friends, reviews here or on other blogs, plus newspaper and magazine reviews.  If they sound interesting to me, I'll check them out.

Chris Knopf had two earlier series set in the Hamptons, but this is the first in a new series.  Apparently Bill Crider reviewed it when it came out last year but somehow his review did not make enough of an impression on my brain until I read his review of the sequel a few weeks ago, linking back to his Dead Anyway review.  Then I thought, this sounds good. And it is.

 

How's this for starting with a bang?  Arthur Cathcart, an overweight 40ish guy working at home doing market research and other high end computer research, married to a gorgeous woman who owns a real estate firm near their home in Connecticut, comes home from a walk to find his wife sitting on the couch and a man holding a gun on her.  The man insists she answers five questions written on a paper, and to emphasize his seriousness, he shoots her husband in the thigh.  She answers the questions only to have the man, clearly a hired killer, shoot her in the head and kill her. Then he shoots Cathcart, who somehow doesn't die.

 

Now you may be able to resist seeing what happens next, but I sure couldn't.  Cathcart is gravely injured and decides (with the help of his physician sister) to stay dead and use his computer skills to discover who killed his wife and why, not easy in the post-9/11 world.  But first he has to recover enough physically and mentally to be able to act.  Along the way he gets some help from a woman named Natsumi Fitzgerald, who throws her lot in with his.

 

I really enjoyed this one and will be reading the sequel as soon as it comes in to the library.  Definitely recommended.

                                                                                                  

 

Short Story Wednesday: LOST IN THE CITY, Edward P. Jones

This is one of my favorite collections of stories, and I have written about it before. The stories are set in D.C. between the fifties and the eighties. Jones writes beautifully about ordinary people, enduring what Black people have for so long endured. This collection won the Penn Hemingway Award. Jones' novel, THE KNOWN WORLD, the story of a Black slave owner, won the Pulitzer Prize. 

"The First Day" is the story of a mother taking her six-year old to school for the first time. The mother takes her to a school near her church, and is told it's the wrong school. Reaching the correct school, the mother is asked to fill out a form. She admits she cannot read and asks for help filling out the form. She has brought all sorts of forms and paperwork with her, not understanding what will be needed, thinking she has to prove her daughter's right to attend school. It occurs to the reader what a deficit this must be in navigating nearly every facet of modern life. It is nearly impossible to believe illiteracy still exists but it's just more hidden, I think.

When she finally turns to go, the child notices her mothers darned socks and loud shoes, probably for the first time. The details in this very short story nail the tone and sadness so well. 

George Kelley

Kevin Tipple 

TracyK 

Jerry House 

Todd Mason

From the Bookreporter

What a wonderful Mother's Day Gift

Blog

May 8, 2023

Whodunit

• Mother's Day Author Blogs 2023

Megan Abbott is the Edgar Award-winning author of such novels as THE TURNOUT, GIVE ME YOUR HAND, YOU WILL KNOW ME, THE FEVER, DARE ME and THE END OF EVERYTHING. Her latest, BEWARE THE WOMAN, releases on May 30th and dissects the ongoing conversations about ownership and womanhood. Megan’s mother, writer Patricia Abbott, introduced her to countless books as a child and was the biggest influence on her reading habits. Patti gave Megan her first “adult” novel to read, which began her love of mysteries and thrillers, helping to pave the way for her career as a bestselling crime fiction author.

---

 

I come from a family of readers and a house stuffed with books --- great teetering piles of used books, library books, moldy paperbacks and plastic-sleeve bestsellers. And no one influenced by voracious reading habits more than my mom, Patti Abbott (now a writer herself). Through most of my childhood, she read as much as a book a day. In addition to her adult tastes (Philip Roth, Anne Tyler, John Irving), she would read books along with me, even reading them aloud while my brother and I washed the dinner dishes for our weekly allowance --- especially what would become one of my favorites: WHEN HITLER STOLE PINK RABBIT by Judith Kerr.

I have such vivid memories of my mom introducing me to the glories of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series, and later, LITTLE WOMEN, and still later, Norma Klein and, of course, Judy Blume. And no book was forbidden. She seemed to have an uncanny knack for finding the books that would be right for me --- stories about girls and young women, often loners, idiosyncratic, even surly (Francis Hodgson Burnett’s THE SECRET GARDEN) or far darker (Patricia Clapp’s JANE-EMILY).

But, as a crime novelist, perhaps the memory that looms largest is the moment she placed in my hands my first “adult” novel: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. My father and mother both consumed mystery series avidly: Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Georges Simenon and, of course, Agatha Christie. My mom must have sensed long before me that I wanted to be a part of their mystery-binging because she assured me that I’d never guess the ending of THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, and it felt like a dare. Now, I think of it as a Tom Sawyer trick to get me to make the leap from Encyclopedia Brown and the wondrous Harriet the Spy to the adult world. But fall for it I did, and so began my lifelong consumption of mysteries and crime novels.

The family lore became that I did in fact successfully guess Christie’s famous twist before the ending, but I now suspect even that was just a way of luring me on further --- to Daphne du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith; into adolescence, Thomas Harris and Caleb Carr; and then onto James Ellroy and the hardboiled master. I’m so grateful for it, and for her, and to everything she gave me --- a lifetime of books, including all the ones we still share.

Monday, Monday

 I enjoyed the Alan Pakula  (Prime) documentary. He directed a few of my favorite movies (All the President's Men, Klute). Did not know of his horrific death however.

Saw Are You There God, it's me Margaret? with a decent-size audience on a Friday afternoon. It was faithful to the book and charmingly acted. 

Still reading, Hello, Beautiful and various short stories. 

Listening to the new Julia Louis-Dreyfus podcast  (Wiser Than Me) in which she interviews older women (Fonda, Reichl, Allende, Darlene Love). At the end of the interview she calls her mom and they discuss it. Very likable. 

Watching Succession (Max), Barry, (HBO) The Dog House (Max), Israeli Matchmaker (Netflix), The Servant (Apple), Ted Lasso (Apple) A Small Light (Hulu, Discovery, Disney)

A Small Light is the Anne Frank Story told from the perspective of Miep who was the woman who took care of them.

What about you?

FFB-GASPING FOR AIRTIME: TWO YEARS IN THE TRENCHES OF SNL, Jay Mohr

Funny how you stumble on fairly obscure books once in a while. I was listening to a Curtis Sittenfeld interview about her new novel ROMANTIC COMEDY. The novel is about a writer working on a show modeled on SNL. She referenced several books that she read in order to understand the workings of the show and this was one of them. Jay Moehr was on the show from 1993-95 and recounts his experiences in GASPING FOR AIR. Apparently not having much success in either getting your scripts on air or on appearing on air quickly is very common. But Moehr doesn't seem aware of that and felt unsuccessful with the few appearances he made. The book details what various cast members and guests and the production wing of the show were like. At just 21, as many first-year cast members are, he was too immature to know how to hone his craft or wait it out. 

Sittenfeld also recommended a documentary SATURDAY NIGHT (Directed by James Franco) which documents the making of an episode in 2008. This was fun to watch too--to see all the jockeying that goes on to get a script accepted for the show. Men during that period certainly seemed to have the upper hand. Witness Bill Hader, Fred Armissen, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis

BEWARE THE WOMAN

View this email in your browser

Hey, you! Just dropping into your inbox to let you know my new novel, Beware the Woman hits bookstores on May 30. Scroll down for Preorder Links and Tour Dates below. Beware the Woman is the story of Jacy—newly married, with a baby on the way—and her new husband, Jed, embarking on a trip to visit Jed’s father, Dr. Ash, in a snug cottage in Michigan’s far-flung Upper Peninsula. Once there, Jacy has a mild health scare and her Edenic idyll turns into something far darker... I’m also going to be adapting it for a feature film—more on that soon! ADVANCE CRITICAL RESPONSE Time Magazine highlighted it in their "Best of May" list, noting "Abbott spins an enigmatic tale web of foreboding and unease as she delves into family secrets and gender politics" in a novel "brimming with suspense." Publishers Weekly named it one of the Best Summer Reads 2023. In their (starred) review, PW writes, “spine-tingling suspense… a masterful and provocative deep dive into desire, love, and gender politics. Readers will be left breathless.” Oprah Daily said, “With this bewitchingly creepy tale, thriller queen Megan Abbott keeps readers questioning whether this family getaway is the stuff of anxiety dreams or Bluebeard nightmares.” Booklist (starred review) called Beware the Woman “another knockout performance… A real treat for the author’s many fans and for everyone who treasures that sense of Gothic-tinged trouble both within and without. Think Rebecca in the UP. Abbott's a crime-fiction A-lister now.”  Kirkus Reviews: “Abbott masterfully builds a claustrophobic atmosphere of mistrust and insecurity reminiscent of Get Out.  An unsettling, nightmare-inducing morsel from a master of suspense.” PREORDER LINKS   Preorders are so appreciated! You can preorder Beware the Woman at your favorite bookstore or…  Bookshop Barnes & Noble Amazon Audible Powells  Hudson Booksellers Books a Million Target Walmart… and many other places. THE TOUR BALTIMORE, MD Tuesday, May 30 at 7 PM Greedy Reads – Remington store 320 W 29th St Baltimore, MD 21211 Register here.   PHOENIXVILLE, PA (near Philly) Wednesday, May 31 at 7 PM Reads & Company 234 Bridge St Phoenixville, PA 19460   BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY Thursday, June 1 at 7 PM Books Are Magic – Montague store 122 Montague St Brooklyn, NY 11201 Register here.   SCOTTSDALE, AZ Sunday, June 4 at 1 PM Poisoned Pen 4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101 Scottsdale, AZ 85251   DENVER, CO Monday, June 5 at 6 PM Tattered Cover – Colfax store 2526 E Colfax Ave Denver, CO 80206   WICHITA, KS Tuesday, June 6 at 6 PM Watermark Books 4701 E Douglas Wichita, KS 67218    HOUSTON, TX Wednesday, June 7 at 6:30 PM Murder by the Book 2342 Bissonnet Houston, TX 77005   ST. LOUIS, MO Thursday, June 8 at 7 PM St. Louis County Library – Grant’s View Branch 9700 Musick Rd St. Louis, MO 63123   DETROIT AREA Wednesday, June 28 at 7 PM Barnes and Noble – Detroit/Livonia 17111 Haggerty Rd Northville, MI 48168   PETOSKEY, MI Thursday, June 29 from 1-3 PM McLean & Eakin Booksellers 307 E Lake St Petoskey, MI 49770   QUOGUE, NY Sunday, July 16 at 5 PM Quogue Library Summer Series 90 Quogue St Quogue, NY 11959   I so hope you like Beware the Woman. And thank you. Your support means so much. Xo Megan

 

Short Story Wednesday

Some weeks I just can't find a short story I want to talk about--or even finish. Hope you guys did better. 

Jerry House

George Kelley 

Kevin Tipple 

TracyK  

Todd Mason

Monday, Monday

 

Heard a lovely cello concert Saturday night at the Seligman Auditorium, ten minutes away.  Why is the piano always backup to the cello? 

Friday night we listened via a link to Robert Jones, who wrote the amazing book THE PROPHETS. His talk at Marygrove Conservancy was about his experiences getting an MFA at Brooklyn College twenty years ago. He was repeatedly told if he want to be published he would have to expand his stories beyond the Black community. I remember Toni Morrison saying this too on the documentary about her on Netflix. 

The rage Black people must feel toward white people worldwide can never be addressed, no matter how large the reparations. 

Reading HELLO, BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano. Also short stories courtesy of Jeff Meyerson. 

Watching TED LASSO, SUCCESSION, BARRY, THE DOG HOUSE (Max), COUPLES THERAPY (Paramount) For a person who has never owned a dog, I love stories about them. Don't know why. 

How about you?

TURN EVERY PAGE: movie recommendation

Robert Caro, a biographer of Robert Moses, and Lyndon Johnson (4 volumes so far) and Robert Gottlieb, an editor, have been working together for fifty years and this delightful documentary gives you a sense of that relationship. Caro is working on volume 5 now and it's a race against time but he will not be rushed and ruin the gift he has left us. Phil and I listened to MASTER OF THE SENATE on a trip to Cape Cod once and he held us spellbound. This is available now on PRIME for $5.99 and I highly recommend it. (Gottlieb has edited around 500 books beside Caro's. Both men are feisty and interesting.

FFB: THE PLOUGHMEN, Kim Zupan

Kim Zupan, The Ploughmen (from the archives, reviewed by Ron Scheer) 

One reader has compared this novel to No Country For Old Men because of a murderous central character, John Cload, who brings to mind yet another dark work of fiction The Silence of the Lambs. Cload is more than a little like Hannibal Lecter, as he befriends a deputy sheriff who keeps him company from outside his jail cell through long, sleepless nights and escorts him to and from the county courthouse where he is under trial.

The deputy, Valentine Millimaki, has been encouraged by the sheriff to learn what he can about Cload that might help in the trial. But besides a single killing, for which there was a witness, the deputy remains unaware that Cload has bodies buried all over the rough Montana country along the northern shores of the upper Missouri River.

Not more than marginally interested in Cload anyway, Millimaki has troubles of his own. Cload correctly senses that they are woman troubles. As a schoolboy, Millimaki once discovered the body of his mother, who had hanged herself in a barn on the family farm. Now, his young wife has left him, weary and depressed by life in a backwater Montana town.

 

Missouri River, below Great Falls, Montana

Missoula writer Kim Zupan has a wonderful gift for lucid and sharply polished prose. As much of the novel takes place at night or in the waning days of autumn, there is an awareness of light and shadow through many of the scenes. You know as Millimaki walks the corridors of the jail or sits outside Cload’s cell exactly how the fluorescent lighting affects what can be seen.

His characters are strongly drawn and come alive in realistic dialogue. Most absorbing for the reader is the strange and fragile bond that develops between the two men. One has the calm clarity of a man who knows he is about to be convicted of murder. The other surrenders to a pervasive gloom as he is overtaken by loneliness, and his life slowly derails. Each needs the other, but for very different reasons, which do not become evident until the final chapters.

The Ploughmen is currently available in paper and ebook formats at amazon and Barnes&Noble.

 

 

Short Story Wednesday: INTO LOVE AND OUT AGAIN, Elinor Lipman

 

Jeff sent me three story collections. I picked up the Elinor Lipman one first because although I admire her novels, I had never read her stories. There are story collections where you can only read one at a time because they are so difficult, sad, or so thought provoking that one at a time is enough. Lipman's stories are so enjoyable you have trouble putting the book down, unusual for stories.

This collection is from 1987 but it seems completely contemporary and it's hard to put my finger on why. I think it's because many female writers still tell this sort of story. Stories about women struggling to find love, struggling with their families (especially their mothers) struggling to get the right balance of career, home, love, friends. Breezy stories for a rainy afternoon in Detroit. Light but not froth or trivial. Thanks, Jeff!

George Kelley 

Kevin Tipple

 Tracy K

Todd Mason 

Jerry House

Monday, Monday

So  much rain. The grass is neon.

Got to one movie this week. Despite good reviews, I didn't think much of this, often sour, film. The Italian family portrayed seemed so generic and the jokes did as well. I was happy to see a decent audience although too many of them forgot to turn off their phones. I think a better writer could have pulled a stronger script from the pieces left behind.

SUCCESSION is still amazing me. Talk about strong writing. There are at least three podcasts that have devoted themselves to an analysis of it. 

BARRY also seems to be going out on a strong season. 

I watched one episode of THE DIPLOMAT and Rufus Sewell seems to be stealing the show. Tried MRS. DAVIS but not sure it's for me. Because so many series are shot in New Mexico now that landscape seems more familiar to me than New York or LA.

SPIN on the Roku channel seems promising but a very short series apparently.

Enjoying HELLO BEAUTIFUL, which is an homage to LITTLE WOMAN, with Laurie becoming a more central character. If you don't remember him, he was the neighbor boy who eventually married Amy. 

Off to see a play today. What's new with you?

FFB-The First One:Desperate Characters, Paula Fox

FRIDAYS: The Book You Have to Read (Many years ago...)

This is the first of what I optimistically hope will become Friday recommendations of books we love but might have forgotten over the years. I have asked several people to help me by also remembering a favorite book. Their blog sites are listed below. I also asked each of them to tag someone to recommend a book for next Friday. I'm worried great books of the recent past are sliding out of print and out of our consciousness. Not the first-tier classics we all can name, but the books that come next. Here's my choice.And here were the first choices from other bloggers.

 City by Clifford D. Simak (Bill Crider)
The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler (Clair Dickson)
Scar Lover by Harry Crews (A.N. Smith)
Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen (Sandra Scoppettone)
The Dog of the South by Charles Portis (Patrick Shawn Bagley)
Dust Devils by James Reasoner (Sandra Ruttan)
The God Files by Frank Turner (Brian Lindenmuth)
Don't Let's Go to the Dog Tonight by Alexandria Fuller (Josephine Damian)
The Rock Orchard by Paula Wall (Travis Erwin)
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza (Ello)
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (Eudamonia for All)
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox (Patti Abbott)

Desperate Characters by Paula Fox

It's difficult to remember, thirty years on, New York in the seventies, The City was facing bankruptcy, the streets were dangerous, frequent strikes left unattended garbage for the rodents, buildings crumbled. Paula Fox's novel Desperate Characters perfectly captures that time along with the similarly disintegrating marriage of Sophie and Otto Bentwood. The story begins with an unexpected cat bite. "Because it's savage," Otto answers Sophie's puzzled, "why?" It was a cat she was trying to feed that bit her. This well-intentioned act, this McGuffin, sends the couple off on a weekend odyssey, where ominous events continue to haunt the childless couple. They find little solace in each other and there is no easy resolution at the end. The quiet desperation that suffuses their story is heart-breaking. The writing is haunting, lucid, and succinct.
Fox has also written two books about her life (Borrowed Finery and The Coldest Winter), a few other novels (The Widow's Children) and many children's books. But nothing is finer than this one for me.

 The links courtesy of Todd Mason

Short Story Wednesday: "Walk the Blue Fields" Claire Keegan

 

Is there any contemporary writer as good as Keegan at combining the earthy and the ethereal? I doubt it. I have read the first four stories (or listened to) in this collection and all manage to do this. First is the writer who is given a cottage to work in (and then doesn't) at least according to the priest who chastises her for living in Heinrich Boll's cottage and not taking the gift seriously. Or the priest who watches the woman he didn't marry get married and finds solace in nature. Or the girl leaving Ireland and the memories of her father's abuse behind. Many of these are online now and many are read aloud. She certainly rose to the top quickly and based on her great talent. 

Todd Mason

Jerry House 

George Kelley 

Casual Debris

Martin Edwards

James Reasoner

Monday, Monday

 

A quiet week with great weather. I wonder how many used bookstores like Charles Shaw in Grosse Pointe Park are still around. This huge collection of unusual books is normally only open on Saturday afternoons. We caught it on an April Friday and were so lucky to get inside. It doesn't have many mysteries or even that much fiction but instead has amazing collections of books about sea-faring, music, poetry, diaries, Michigan, Detroit, African-American books and on and on. I restrained myself but my friends who has extremely wide interests found a few books to take home. Saturday night another two friends and I went to hear folk music at the Unitarian Church. 

The greatest episode of SUCCESSION played last week. How can they top it? Trying to get into BEEF, but it's awfully unpleasant. Will stick it out for a while. Looking forward to BARRY tonight although another unpleasant show. I think I can take unlikable characters more in books than on TV.

Reading LONE WOMEN (Victor Lavalle), WALK THE BLUE FIELDS (Claire Keegan). Lots of podcasts. I like THE MARIS REVIEW, which interviews writers.

What about you?

FFB: THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN, Celia Fremlin

                                THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN, Celia Fremlin 

 

Louise Henderson is the mother of three, the last being a baby who cries too much, putting her into a state of constant tiredness and anxiety. Clearly she's the victim of an undiagosed case of postpartum depression.

Onto the scene comes Vera Brandon, a teacher who is eager to board in a third floor room. She is able to talk intelligently to Mark Henderson, (Louise's husband) a source of jealousy for Louise. The new boarder does not seem disturbed the infant's constant crying. Although she's supposedly employed, Louise begins to wonder just how often she actually leaves the house.
 

As Louise tiredness mounts, little things begin to go wrong, mostly issues with the baby. Much of the trouble seems to come from that quiet woman on the third floor--someone that seems vaguely familiar to nearly everyone.

Fremlin does a terrific job of giving the reader the domestic details that make this familial portrait come to life.This is a subtle mystery. At times, is is funny and at other times suspenseful. And Fremlin gets nearly everything right. This was her first novel, but it seems like the work of a seasoned professional. 

Obviously she mined a terrain familiar to her.
 

Fremlin won the Edgar for THE HOURS BEFORE DAWN in 1958. She went on to write 15 more novels.

 

AIR (or Podiary)

My original reaction to this film was fairly positive. It held my interest, the acting was good, the direction crisp. I knew a lot about Michael Jordan after watching THE LAST DANCE so I didn't need a movie that centered on him. But after a few days thought and after reading other reviews of it, I am less enthusiastic. Although I realized right away that it was far too positive about corporations and capitalism,  I thought the story was interesting enough to overcome that. But by now, I think it was basically one long commercial for Nike and their shoes. The movie made the corporate bigwigs far too noble, far too clever. Anyone else see it?

Short Story Wednesday: "Uncle Wiggily in the Country" From Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

 

Eloise and Mary Jane are two former college roommates, who are drinking the afternoon away in a suburban Connecticut town as a snowstorm builds outside. They are rehashing college days and the war that came soon after or at least men they knew that went to war. Eloise   remembers Walt, who died in an accident overseas and compares him with the man she married. Walt was the ideal man although one doubts he would have lasted with Eloise long.

Ramona, Eloise's small daughter comes into the room along with her pal, Jimmy, who turns out to be an invisible friend. The maid, Grace, a Black woman, asks if her husband can spend the night due to the inclement weather and Eloise turns her down cold. She is cruel to Ramona too and later cries at her bedside then asks Mary Jane if she was a nice girl in college. 

This story is a critique of the sort of women one found in the postwar suburbs. Eloise is given no good traits or moments in this story and Mary Jane fares only slightly better. Ramona's imaginary friend is much like Walt, the man her mother lost.

This is the only piece of work Salinger sold to Hollywood. It became a film called, MY FOOLISH HEART, which bore almost no resemblance to the story.

You do wonder when the war stopped playing such a big part in lives and in stories. I remember thinking the same thing about Vietnam. Such wars inhabit fiction as well as lives for a long time. 

(Uncle Wiggily is not the storybook character but instead the term Walt uses for Eloise's sprained ankle). 

George Kelley

Jerry House 

Tracy K 

Neer 

James Reasoner