Things I Didn't Expect to See When I was Twenty

Stem to stern tattoos! What about you?

ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

I've been honored by Bill Crider, who's passed the One Lovely Blog Award on to me. Bill's blog was one of the first I ever read and I look at it at least once a day-mostly for Texas news, which is crucial to someone in Detroit. Or alligator news-same thing. He's a fabulous writer and person. His blog is a model of positive postings and lending a hand to anyone with a story online.

It is now my pleasure to pass on this award. These are the rules for those individuals I choose. They are simple:

1) Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2) Pass the award on.
3) Notify the award winners.

As Bill said, I read so many blogs every day that to mention them all would take forever. I'm passing this on to a few of them, though I could list dozens more. Sandra Seamans, Kerrie Smith, Women of Mystery, and Ed Gorman. I am counting on them to pass it on to the other people I would like to list.

Aunt Agatha's Bookstore, Ann Arbor

From Aunt Agatha's in Ann Arbor
(Robin and Jamie Agnew)
Plan to join us at the store on Friday, September 18 at 7:00 when authors Megan Abbott, Theresa Schwegel and Tasha Alexander join us to talk about their new books. Megan’s is Bury Me Deep, Theresa’s is Last Known Address, Tasha’s is Tears of Pearl. Please browse the website for reviews of Megan and Theresa’s latest books, with a review of Tasha’s latest added this month.

if I miss a forgotten book this week or post someone who didn't do one, I'll fix it up on Sunday. Please excuse. Or alternately, let me know today.

MAD MEN

Eugene O'Neil reading.

Can anyone define what makes MAD MEN the best show on TV (IMHO)? Is it the enigmatic nature of the characters, the way the writers tinge each scene with what is coming soon in terms of societal change, the sadness that each character carries inside, the almost intuitive grasp of how arcs can be very small and still satisying. I especially admired the scenes with the prison guard in the waiting room, the scene with Pete Campbell interrogating the elevator operator in the elevator (loved his line about how all jobs have their ups and downs), of Betty in her twilight sleep wandering the hallways of her life, of Don making hash for his daughter. All of these were harbingers of changes to come in the next few years. Brilliant for me.

Two-Story Outhouse

Hattip to Andrea DiTomasso. The message might be anti-government but we all need a laugh sometimes. I prefer to think of it as a criticism of those pols who won't pass healthcare reform.

Say it in Blue

If you're in Detroit on Sept 17th

Please come see Megan read at the Honors College at Wayne State University this Thursday.

For those who expressed an interest, here is a nice interview done in Memphis in July.


http://www.events.wayne.edu/view/18221/date/88806/

http://wyplfmbooktalk.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-talk-podcast-megan-abbott.html

Love Story

Love Stories are pretty rare at the local cineplex. They don't pull in the big numbers. Often movies I look forward to as novels into movies--THE ENGLISH PATIENT, END OF THE AFFAIR, THE GREAT GATSBY, don't turn out to be very good at the theater. Although the film of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY was better as a movie IMHO.

I just looked over the list of forthcoming movies in the NYT and once again, I thought several looked promising. I'm not talking about movies with Jennifer Anniston or Sandra Bullock though. Not romantic comedies but real, gut-wrenching, passionate, knee wobbling films. Two of the ones that had these elements of late dealt with homosexual affairs-BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and BOYS DON"T CRY. Is romance still worth exploring in alternate life style films? Is it fresh there? Has it gotten too dull in mainstream films.
What was the last film that worked for you in these terms. Or are too cynical to care about love?

Playing Hysteria

I watched CAUSE FOR ALARM last Wednesday when TCM unleashed a bunch of noirish movies. I was scrubbing the floor, a ceramic one which takes two hours to clean, soon to replaced by fake wood. But anyway, her performance was 90 minutes of pure hysteria, fascinating mostly for how she was able to sustain it yet keep our attention.

There were other actresses then able to do this in the forties and fifties without making us tear our hair out. Bette, Joan C, Joan Fontaine, Vivien Leigh and a flock of B actresses. Can anyone do this today? Is there a recent performance where an actress played hysteria for a two-hour stint. Or has this type of thing gone the way of seamed stockings? I'm not really talking abouth horror movies here--I know it goes on in them. More suspense.

Medical Alert

Nurse reading.


I recently was prescribed an antibiotic (doxycycline) after some dental surgery. The label gave me lots of directions about taking it on an empty stomach and drinking water, but none about not lying down. I took it and went to bed, only to wake in pain. This pain continued for four days since my esophagus was damaged by the pill breaking up and depositing pieces along the digestive tract before it arrived in my stomach. It could have been worse. Some people need to have the pieces surgically removed. But really, you should never lie down after taking any medication. Stay upright for thirty minutes and do drink that full glass of water. That concludes the medical portion of the day's blog.

My review of TETRO is on Crimespree Cinema. If you've seen it, tell me why I am wrong about it.

THE SUMMING UP, Friday, September 11, 2009

This post takes me over 1000 posts. Yikes. I am doing this too much.










THE SUMMING UP, Friday, Sept 11, 2009 (Includes books from the two-week hiatus)

Paul Bishop, Assignment: Maria Tirana, Edward S. Arronsi, The Chic, Chick Spy, Bob Tralins

Bill Crider, The McBain Brief, Ed McBain; Manhunt is My Mission, Stephen Marlowe. Murder in the Navy, Richard Marsten

Cullen Gallagher, Texas Wind, James Reasoner
Martin Edwards, The View from Daniel Pike, Bill Knox
Ed Gorman, The Dame, Richard Stark
Glenn Harper, The Finner Faction, Bernard Share

George Kelley, The Anthony Boucher Chronicles, 1942-1947, Anthony Boucher; Wettermark, Elliott Chaze, Planets of Adventure, Murray Leinster

Randy Johnson, The Gunfighter, Richard Matheson
B.V. Lawson, First Cases: First Appearances of Private Eyes, Robert Randisi
John Marr, Hanover Square, Patrick Hamilton
Todd Mason, The Craft of Science Fiction, edited by Reginald Bretner
Natalie, The Collector, John Fowles
Juri Nummelin, Striptease Macabre, Leonard Gribble
Scott Parker, Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs
Eric Peterson, You Call it Madness, Lenny Kaye
Richard Prosch, Man-Size, William MacLeod Raine
James Reasoner, The Golden Widow, Floyd Mahannah
Mike Ripley, Solomon's Vineyard, Jonathan Latimer
Rick Robinson, Three Times a Victim, F.L. Wallace; Killer in the Rain, Raymond Chandler, Night Ferry to Death, Patricia Moyes

Kieran Shea, Jack Fish, J. Milligan
Kerrie Smith, The Mind Reader, Margery Allingham
R.T. The Patriots Club, Christopher Reich

Friday's Forgotten Books, Sept 11, 2009

A bit about Natalie from Book, Line, and Sinker: An avid reader, I’ve been blogging for two years and enjoy discussing books, authors, and topics related to reading or novels

THE COLLECTOR by John Fowles

A forerunner of the psychological thriller/horror genre that made its debut in 1963, John Fowles’s The Collector tells the story of Frederick Clegg, a socially inept man with an obsession for collecting objects of beauty. Initially, Clegg’s collection is limited to butterfly specimens, but after a windfall from the British pools relieves him from financial worry, his collecting takes a diabolical turn.

Miranda Grey is an art student from an upper class family who unwittingly becomes the object of Clegg’s obsession. He longs to add her to his cache, purchasing an isolated house and filling it with treasures he imagines she’ll love.

Clegg kidnaps Miranda, spiriting her away to the cottage. She fears the worst and is confused by Clegg’s extravagant gifts and promises. Miranda grows to pity Clegg and attempts to manipulate him on every level, but he proves to be a shrewd captor. She struggles to understand his motivation as her spirit withers.

Clegg is a sociopath, his perception of reality fractured, making him an unreliable narrator and character. Fowles utilizes dual narrative in the novel, Clegg telling Part I and Miranda narrating Part II, creating an connection between narrator and reader. While reading Clegg’s narrative, I felt pity for him despite his behavior. The sorrow I felt for Miranda was compounded with each failed attempt at escape.

Miranda’s desperation to leave the confines of the basement is matched only by Frederick’s obsession to keep her locked away. Will Miranda find the strength to outwit Clegg and escape, or will she remain like his treasured butterflies, pinned under glass for his viewing pleasure?

This novel was assigned as a Summer Reading book for my Senior English class back in 1991. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The dark themes and sinister storyline made it a riveting read—and how often do students say that about novels read for school? I often returned to The Collector over the years and it remains one of my favorites.

Fowles is more well-known for writing The French Lieutenant’s Woman--The Collector was his first novel. The Collector doesn’t seem to garner the attention I think it deserves and am delighted to showcase it here on Forgotten Fridays.

Ed Gorman writes crime fiction, westerns and edits anthologies. You can find him at http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com

The Dame by Richard Stark

Don Westlake used to say that he didn't like to outline, that he preferred letting the story take him where it chose to go. I suppose this was another way of saying what Theodore Sturgeon said a long time ago, that if the writer is surprised the reader will be surprised.

Well, Westlake was probably not only surprised by the various twists and turns The Dame takes, he must have been downright shocked in places.

Our old friend Alan Grofield, flush with money from a bank robbery, is intrigued by a message from a Latin American dictator whose friend needs help. Turns out the friend, the forty-something dragon lady Belle Danamato, lives in Puerto Rico and is seeking a divorce from her mobster husband. She is under the impression that he will do her violence rather than actually go through with the settlement their lawyers have come up with. She already has a bodyguard but he's too ugly to be seen with in public. Grofield hates her and her thugs and quickly departs. Only to return a bit later under duress.

All too soon--or not soon enough from Grofield's point of view--Belle Danamato is murdered. B.G. Danamato, mob boss and now widower, appears and decides that Grofield murdered her. He will be quickly tortured and then executed. But lest we forget, Grofield is a professional actor and he puts on enough of a show to plant doubt in Danamato's mind about the identity of the true killer.

For the next several chapters we have a whodunit. B.G. and Grofield interview each of the six guests, trying to see if one of them cracks or inadvertently reveals something he or she shouldn't. It's quite a crew, the most interesting being the brother and sister team Roy and Patricia Chelm. The lad is a gigolo of some kind and the sister an iron virgin of twenty-three.

But don't be misled. Sure we have a one act version of a whodunit but then we go back to some of the finest chase scenes I've read in a long time. Westlake makes the jungles menacing, fetid in heat and humidity and the decay of dead things.

As I read The Dame I thought of all the different genres of popular fiction Westlake touches on in this novel. A partial list would include screwball comedies, chase and adventure, mobsters, country manor whodunits and Agatha Christie clue planting.

One piece of business is, to me at least, unique. Grofield announces about fifteen thousand words before the end that he knows who the killer is but he won't share his surmise with anybody. Westlake uses it as a very nifty tease.

Couple things: I wouldn't say this is major Westlake but it is an example what the pro of pros could do to exalt a story even he wasn't taking too seriously. The writing is astonishingly crisp and vivid. Once a page he jars you with something, some little turn or piece of psychology that only Westlake could have come up with.

The other thing is Grofield himself. I've noticed over the years that every once in awhile Grofield comes off as a jerk. That's my reaction and maybe my reaction alone. He gets a little too full of himself and a little too coy and glib. Then he settles back down and he's an intriguing protagonist again.

I read The Dame in two sittings and enjoyed the super-charged plot and watching Westlake throw one fast ball after another straight across the plate.

Rick Robinson has written reviews and columns forThe Crime Record, Mystery News, Deadly Pleasures and other periodicals, and publishes his own commentary & review newsletter, Lethal Interjection. YOu can find him here.
http://brokenbullhorn.wordpress.com/

NIGHT FERRY TO DEATH, Patricia Moyes, 1985

I’m a Patricia Moyes fan. I’ve read them all, and for this Friday Forgotten Book it was difficult for me to choose just one of her mysteries featuring Inspector Henry Tibbett, frequently with his wife Emmy. It should make the level of my admiration clear when I tell you I once had two cats named Tibbs and Emmy. I enjoy these characters enough, and the recurring minor characters, such as Tibbett’s assistant, Inspector Derek Reynolds, reading and re-reading them is always an enjoyment.

This novel centers around a theft of diamonds from the Dutch jeweler Van Eck, which occurs while Henry and his wife Emmy are on holiday in Amsterdam. The thief takes the stones aboard the overnight ferry from The Hook to England, and is murdered on board, in the sleep- seat section. No diamonds are not found on the body. Henry and Emmy were in the sleep-seat section as well, and so at the scene of the murder. Later break-ins at their apartment convince Henry there is a connection, and when Scotland yard is called into the murder/robbery case, Henry takes it. As usual, interesting characters and the likable Tibbetts make for an enjoyable read. This is the 18th in the 20 book series, but you can’t go wrong with any of Moyes’ mysteries, which are out of print though used copies can be cheaply and easily obtained from the usual sources.

And more....

John Marr
Eric Peterson
Cullen Gallagher
Bill Crider
Kerrie Smith
George Kelley
R.T.
B.V. Lawson
Scott Parker
James Reasoner
Mike Ripley
Kieran Shea
Randy Johnson
Martin Edwards
Paul Bishop
Rick Robinson
Richard Prosch
Glenn Harper
Juri Nummelin
Todd Mason



There will be a day or so delay for the summing up while I try to remember who posted what the last two weeks. If I forget, let me know.

BACKYARDS

On the train to Toronto, I noticed backyards.

There is great diversity in backyards.

1) Full of flowers, shrubs, gardens, paths
2) Completely barren, grass mostly gone
3) Full of garden decorations-like windmills, Dutch boys, animals etc
4) Full of playground equipment
5) Full of spare parts: tires, car parts, metal things
6) The remnants of an earlier garden, now dead
7)Full of various things for animals: doghouses, chicken coops, runs, etc.
8. A swimming pool that takes up most of the room.
9. A huge garage, deemed more important than the rest.
10. A place for all the things that have no other place: a hodgepodge

Fiction doesn't often describe backyards. What kind of backyard would you most likely put in your writing?

Singers

(Blogger won't allow me to upload a picture so we are pictureless today)

There are some singers you can listen to at length and other just good for a song or two. Rufus Wainwright would be an example of the second for me. His style is so unique, so unvarying that I tire of his voice very quickly. And yet I like it for a song or two.
Joni Mitchell wears well. As do the Beatles, Jo Stafford, Madeleine Peyroux.
What singer can you listen to all day? Who do you get tired of quickly?

DURHAM COUNTY on ION

Was it just me or was this one of the creepiest TV shows ever. Those Canadians may seem like a civil bunch, but they really let it fly in this one. Even my husband had to cover his eyes once or twice. Anyone else see it? If you missed it, there are reruns all week on the ION Network, which is on basic cable. Five more shows to follow if you can take it.


Here's "Bella, The Fortune Teller" in the Chick Lit Review.

TV THEME SONGS

Walt Disney reading.

THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER took a look at TV theme songs a few weeks ago.

I guess the ones we like the most accompanied the shows we liked the most. My favorites would include THE ROCKFORD FILES, CHEERS, THIRTY-SOMETHING. Want to listen to some, go here.

What's your favorite?



PS. FRIDAY'S FORGOTTEN BOOKS RETURNS THIS FRIDAY. HOPE YOU HAVE A BOOK TO TALK ABOUT.

PPS If you have ION network, which is on our basic cable, DURHAM COUNTY premieres tonight. Supposed to be north country noir.

THE BELIEVER

Sara Gran and Megan Abbott, discovered a mutual teenage love of the novels of V.C. Andrews (FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC) and wrote an article for THE BELIEVER. You can sample it here.

Short Story v. Novel

It has taken me a while to figure this out, but here it goes. When writing a short story, I rely on my unconscious mind to write the story. In the editing process, I shape it into something more concrete, often editing it a dozen or more times. Every word goes under the scalpel.
You can't do this in a novel. You'd spend years writing it this way. Your unconscious is not going to come up with an entire novel. You can't edit a novel into existence.
So you have to either outline or have a pretty great memory. Thus far I haven't outlined my WIP, so I think it's still going to read too episodically. Does this happen to you and how do you deal with it? When you sit down, what percentage of what you're about to write is already in your conscious mind? How much of the time do you fly by the seat of your pants?

Book Review Club:OLIVE KITTERIDGE

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book review blogs
@Barrie Summy

Elizabeth Strout, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize, tells the story of a woman's life through thirteen stories in her masterful work, Olive Kitteridge.

The story focuses on the title character, a middle-school teacher in a small Maine town. What is most amazing about this work is how, often through the eyes of others, we come to know a complex woman, and one we do not always like.

Her behavior can be destructive: her husband and son are victimized by it. But she can also be sympathetic and most of all, human. In some of these stories, Olive plays a minor role! But by the end of the book, this approach gives us a very clear picture of the life of an ordinary woman, perhaps indicative of all of us. Strout is a pleasure to read and when you finish Olive Kitteridge, try Amy and Isabelle, her first novel. I love the idea of a novel in stories. It seems to have the advantages of both forms of fiction to me.

Things that Drive You Crazy.

W.E. Dubois reading.

This is not about purses or necks.

I was reading Nora Ephron's book I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK, (which I do, too, as well as most of the stuff that sits under it). I picked it up at a garage sale for $2.

In it, she tells the reader, (after criticizing a friend out for buying a ridiculously expensive purse), that the only handbag she herself carries is a $26 dollar plastic bag in blue and yellow. Sometime easily replaced, practical, non-destructible.

Now tell me what person making less than a bazillion dollars a year, and spending a million dollars on shoes and clothes, would feel as self-righteous and immune to criticism as Ephron in revealing this. Is this supposed to make the "little people" like her?

Only a rich woman can get away with carrying such a thing. The average Joanne, the plumber, wearing $30 jeans from the Gap, white running shoes, a sweatshirt and carrying an extra 25 pounds, cannot carry such a purse. I've tried it (using the Bouchercon tote bag) and it doesn't look good with a skirt and sweater, believe me. People did not congratulate me on my thriftiness even once.

A bag like Nora's only looks good with Dior. Or with those hard-to- spell shoes Carrie Bradshaw always wore.

I can't finish the Ephron book because I've lost all respect for her as an essayist and person. My husband advises me to give her a chance--that's she just being funny. That if Meg Ryan made this statement in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, I might have thought it cute. If Streep said it in JULIA AND JULIE, I would have been charmed. I doubt it.

Do statements like Ephron's drive you crazy? When reading a non-fiction book, does the personality of the writer sometimes get in your way? This happens to me a lot. Just like certain people would do better to stay off of talks shows, others should refrain from writing books about themselves. Be mysterious, be enigmatic, just don't open up.

I'm doing it now, aren't I? I'm one of those people who should keep her mouth closed.