Monday, Monday

 In case you guys want a place to communicate. Not really watching, reading or going. Just making a million calls and signing a million papers and trying to decide what will fit in the new place. 

Tell me about your week.

 

In honor of the coming baseball season, this is my dad (right) around 1922,

On Hiatus

 

Monday, Monday

 

I am in the middle of preparing my house to be sold so I have done little else. I rented a two bedroom, two bath apartment in Birmingham MI. I am able to walk everywhere: movies, library, community center, etc. I feel very relieved that I won't be such a prisoner of not driving.

Although I did hear a great concert at the DSO Saturday night with Beethoven's 7th and two shorter pieces. I did watch KIMI, which I liked if not loved. 

What about you?

FFB: CATASTROPHE PLANET, Keith Laumer

 From the desk of Bill Crider (not all forgotten books deserve remembering)

FFB: Catastrophe Planet -- Keith Laumer

This is a straight-up SF adventure novel.  Our Hero is Mal Irish, a guy about whom we know little or nothing and about whom we learn little or nothing more.  He's zipping across the post-apocalyptic landscape on some kind of hovercraft when he encounters a dying man in what's left of a small town in Georgia.  The man relates a wild tale of a lost race in the Antarctic and gives Mal a strange coin.  People try to kill Mal, and after that it's just one damned thing after another, with escapes and pursuits around the globe and deaths and a beautiful woman who's thousands of years old.  All this happens while the planet's crust is shifting and causing seas to rise and/or retreat, volcanoes to erupt and earthquakes to occur all the time.

None of it makes a lot of sense, though Laumer tries to tie it all up in the end.  It's part Puppet Masters and part Cthulhu and part James Bond.  And part other things, too, all in one big stew.  It's fun if you're looking for some mindless entertainment and don't mind plenty of coincidences and lots of implausible action, which I'm sometimes in the mood for.  Laumer writes with flair, and the story hardly ever slows down for more than a paragraph.  You might forget it all in a few hours, but it's entertaining for the moment.  You'll like it if that's the kind of thing you like.

Short Story Wednesday: "Livvie" by Eudora Welty

 

There are many discussions of "Livvie" online, especially of its similarities to the Greek myth Persephone. I was not one of those kids that read a lot of myths or fairy tales or even bible stories so I tend to read stories in isolation. And I was not an English major (history) so even there I am lacking context. But this was a great story no matter what your background and it is easily found as a PDF online. So too many articles about it. I am not sure a white woman could write a story like this now with cultural appropriation accusations. But Welty tells it with extreme sympathy and familiarity with Black life. At least to this reader.

Livvie is a very young black girl in Mississippi when Solomon, a very old man, kidnaps her and takes her home to his house along the Natchez Trace, which is hidden behind bottle trees. He is kind to her in every way but will not allow her to leave nor does he allow anyone to come near her. After a period of time, Solomon has grown even older and lies in bed all day. Livvie is still young and tends to him. 

Two events disturb this isolation 

A woman, with the great name of Miss Baby Marie comes to the house and almost magically gets inside where she tried to sell Livvie cosmetics. (This is surely a reference to Madame C.J. Walker. She was the first black female millionaire based on her cosmetic lines). Livvie loves the lipstick (which smells like chinaberries) but has no money to pay for it and won't ask Solomon for any. So Miss Baby Marie leaves, saying she will never come back. 

The second interloper is a young man (Cash) dressed in pink and green who she finds on the Trace. He follows her home and soon Solomon has ceded Livvie to him and dies, giving her his gold watch. Cash carries her off. 

This is a beautifully realized story. The descriptions of the Trace and their house there are terrific. So two the four Black characters are all drawn with loving care.

Kevin Tipple

Jerry House 

George Kelley 

Todd Mason

Monday Monday

 

 Freezing cold here but not a bad week at all. I got out to lunch with a friend, got out to see PARALLEL MOTHERS (excellent) with another. And had a

friend over for dinner Saturday night where we watched the extras from MILLERS CROSSING and a interview with Stephen Sondheim on you tube. 

I saw TWO FACES OF JANUARY in 2014 but enjoyed it again on HULU. 

HOME is a terrific UK show if you get HBO MAX.  REACHER is lots of fun on PRIME.

And today I am going to see BRIGHTON 4 at the Detroit Film Theater. 

Enjoying THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich. Also MY GRANDMOTHER ASKED ME TO TELL YOU SHE'S STORY (Backman). so-so. 

I saw my oncologist this week and everything looks okay although there is some blood work out there. 

So what's up with you guys?

FFB: THE JUGGER, Donald E. Westlake

 

From the archives, review by Ed Gorman

THE JUGGER BY RICHARD STARK

How this for an opener? I'm about to review the worst book Donald E. Westlake ever wrote. Don't take my word for it. Here's Westlake himself speaking.

"I spoiled a book by having him do something he wouldn’t do. The sixth book in the series is called The Jugger, and that book is one of the worst failures I’ve ever had. The problem with it is, in the beginning of the book this guy calls him and says “I’m in trouble out here and these guys are leaning on me and I need help,” and Parker goes to help him. I mean, he wouldn’t do that, and in fact, the guy wouldn’t even think to call him! (laughs)"

I found this quote on The Violent World of Parker website, a goodie.  Westlake has more than once cited The Jugger as a failure, and although I’ve never heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, I’ve heard he considers it the worst book he’s ever written. Well, Mr. Westlake, if this is the worst you can do after cranking out more books than I can count, I am in great envy of your abilities.

"Mr. Westlake is wrong about Parker acting out of character in The Jugger. He seems to have forgotten the details, which is perfectly understandable, as the book was written in 1965 and he probably has not had much reason to revisit it if he doesn’t care for it that much."

Me again: I frequently find myself liking books most other people don't and vice-versa. The Jugger's a good example. No it's not a great Parker adventure, but it's got a lot of early Sixties atmosphere, a cast of truly despicable characters, and a constantly shifting plot.

What we have here is a kind of psychodrama. We have a dumb but crafty Sheriff, a smart but unlucky FBI man, a dumb but uncrafty lady friend of a pathetic dead guy who'd been trying to find an imaginary sum of money hidden by Joe Sheer.

It goes like this. Parker and Sheer worked together sometimes and then Sheer got old and all he did was serve as a way station for Parker. If you wanted to talk to the big man you had to call Sheer who'd screen you. But when Parter got a nervous communication from Sheer he got concerned that maybe the old man was coming apart and would blow Parker's cover. He had to go to the small Midwestern city and make sure that didn't happen.

But when he got there Sheer was dead. And the (imaginary) enormous amount of stolen money was nowhere to be found--yes there;s money but it's modest compared to what others think. So Parker proceeds to deal with both problems. Under the name of Willis.

The Psychodrama: The Sheriff is a dope but a brutal one and Parker has to string him along in order to learn what he needs to. Watching Parter mislead him is a game worth watching. The Sheriff is a human pit bull. He's capable of killing Parker at any moment. But then Parker is more than willing to strike first. On the other hand the FBI man is slick and political. Mitt Romney could play him. Quoting Norman Mailer on a writer he didn't like: "He's as full of shit as a Thanksgiving turkey." But he suspects that this guy Willis is really a big catch under another name. He's already signing a book contract and learning to wave in parades.

So The Jugger ain't perfect and ain't gonna win none of them NYC awards but I don't care. I just enjoyed this particular take on Parker's world. I read it in two dazzled sittings.

Short Story Wednesday: WIFE-WOOING, John Updike

 

This is from the collection TOO FAR TO GO, which collected all of the stories about the Maple Family that John Updike wrote in the sixties and seventies. I know Updike is reviled by many today. I am not sure if it's his writing style or the people he writes about that angers readers. I love his stories. Yes, his writing is a little florid and he writes about the upper-middle class, but if he wrote about another socio-economic group he might be accused of cultural appropriation. Updike was a lower-middle class kid though. It is the college he went to and his career that brought him into a more Cheever-like world. 

 

"Wife-Wooing" is a very short story and the second in this collection. If you google it, you will find anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, English professors all weighing in on this story and what it tells us about sexual dynamics in young marriages of that era.  Lots of discussion of the first scene and its similarity to a prehistoric cave family. 

 

This story opens with   young family sitting in front of a fire eating hamburgers and french fries thae Dad has brought home. (Updike had four children in very quick succession). The husband finds his wife very attractive and is considering how best to approach her later for sex. He knows she is tired from caring for the three tots and yet is undeterred. He watched her read a book on Nixon and wants her to put it aside. Before he can pounce, she falls asleep and in the morning her charm has fled for him. But that night, she is the amorous one.

 

These are some of my favorite stories. You watch a marriage fall apart over the course of the collection. "Giving Blood" is my favorite. 

Favorite line. "Courting a wife takes tenfold the strength of winning an ignorant girl." 

How I wish he had used "innocent" instead of "ignorant."

Kevin Tipple

TracyK

George Kelley  

Richard Robinson

New DVD Criterion Edition of MILLER'S CROSSING

 For those who still own a DVD player, this is a lovely new print that comes out today. It includes an interview with the Coen Brothers and Megan. Also an interview with Gabriel Byrne and John Turturro. She had great fun doing it and did a great job (I think). Her Ph.D was in noir literature and film noir so she was primed for MILLER'S CROSSING. 

Monday. Monday

So very cold and snowy in Michigan. But we have had more sun than is typical for our location in the Great Lakes. I have not been out of my house in a week now and I am getting a bit squirrely. Are you guys playing WORDLE? I hope the NYT which just bought the game from its inventor is not going to start charging to play it like they did with Queen Bee. I will have to consider canceling my print subscription if they do that. 

Reading a book about the making of the movie ALL ABOUT EVE (Sam Staggs), Backmans's rather twee MY GRANDMOTHER ASKED ME TO TELL YOU SHE'S SORRY (for my book group) and David Lodge's DEAF SENTENCE. 

Enjoying REACHER (only watched the first one--I never binge), I also liked LICORICE PIZZA but I found it difficult to discern the dialog over the music. Which is why I am reading DEAF SENTENCE, I guess. Also watched WRITTEN ON THE WIND, a Sirk movie from the fifties. 

I got back my radon test and my house is fine. A relief that I don't have to find an honest radon mitigator. 

So what's new with you?

FFB, VENDETTA. Michael Dibdin

                                                   Vendetta, Michael Dibdin

This is the second in the series (1990) concerning the police work of Aurelio Zen. Inspector Zen is one of the more sophisticated cops and the Italian settings in this series always wowed me.

In VENDETTA, Zen investigates the assassination of a millionaire and all of his his guests at a posh location in the Sardinia mountains. Despite a sophisticated security system, no pictures of the intruders exists. A lot of pressure comes from Zen's higher-ups to solve this high-profile, seemingly locked room, type murder.

I liked this series a lot. Michael Dibdin died far too young. 

Aurelio Zen series

1. Ratking (1989)
2. Vendetta (1991)
3. Cabal (1992)
4. Dead Lagoon (1994)
5. Cosi Fan Tutti (1996)
6. A Long Finish (1998)
7. Blood Rain (1999)
8. And Then You Die (2002)
9. Medusa (2003)
10. Back to Bologna (2005)
11. End Games (2007)

 

First Wednesday Book Review: HAMNET, Maggie O'Farrell

 

Hamnet, William Shakespeare's only son, died at the age of eleven. HAMNET is Maggie O'Farrell's imaging of the event and the months that followed. In 1580, the Black Death was surging across England. A young Latin tutor, (never named) impregnates a woman several years his senior. Called Agnes in this novel, rather than Anne, she is a woman very much of the land, adept in mixing potions to cure whatever ailed the townsmen of Stratford. The two marry.  

This book is very much her story rather than her husband's. She bears three children, Hamnet is a twin to Judith and Suzanne is their elder sister. This is a story of grief, a story of learning to accept living with a husband who is gone much of the time pursuing his writing and stage career. Not until the end of the book does Agnes come to understand what it is her husband is doing in London. This allows her some peace.

There is much about William Shakespeare that is not known, including the reason for Hamnet's death. Situating it as a result of this plague makes perfect sense.  O'Farrell has taken some of what is known and made it come alive. 

Highly recommended. 

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

Short Story Wednesday: THE INVISIBLE DAUGHTER, Anca Vlasopolos

 

I just got this collection from Amazon and have only read the first four stories but had to include it today. I have known Anca for 25 years and have been amazed at her poetry, her incredible memoir (NO RETURN ADDRESS) and her novel (THE NEW BEDFORD SAMURAI). She was in my writing group for a decade so I got to hear her read many of these endeavors on their way to publication. About eight years ago, she and her husband, Anthony, moved to Cape Cod and although I have not lost touch with them, I have lost touch with her writing. And now this fine collection.

Because Anca has had an unusual life (escaping from Romania with her mother during the Cold War, watching her Greek father die as a result of his politics, adopting a daughter from Guatemala, her years as a professor of English and union official, a potter,  knowing more about plants and birds than almost anyone I know, she has a deep knowledge base to draw from. And the first four stories certainly put that on display. 

I will talk about them more when I finish the collection but bravo, Anca.

 

Kevin Tipple 

Jerry House 

TracyK 

George Kelley 

Todd Mason

Monday, Monday

 Megan was here for two days, which was delightful although she had to endure all sorts of delays, cancellations, etc. Travel with Covid and storms is pretty stressful. We opened all of our Christmas presents finally. We went out to three meals and all the restaurants were packed. Mask-wearing is on the decline in Michigan again, which was shocking to Megan. Also shocking to her that we didn't have to present vaccination cards. I took her to  a used bookstore where she was delighted to find some James Cain and Jim Thompson books with vintage covers. Actually my friend Kathy took us. I am so lucky to have a friend that is willing to cart us around for an afternoon. 

Reading DEER SEASON, by Erin Flanagan, which is great. Also Laura Lippman's short stories, SEASONAL WORK. 

Enjoying the new HBO series SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE with Bridget Everett, ABBOTT'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL and assorted British series on BRITBOX. Watched a bit of the Disney series on the Beatles, which is good. 

How about you?

FFB: COME CLOSER, Sara Gran

 

COME CLOSER is a slim horror novel about the demonic possession of a young architect, Amanda. Amanda is seemingly happily married to Ed and having a successful career. One day her boss calls her in to his office regarding some notes she has given him, which turn out to be a X-rated rant about his deficits rather than a work- related report. Things only go downhill from here as all sorts of changes take place in Amanda's psyche and life. Early on she seizes on the idea that what's happening is demonic possession and she researches the signs of it and gradually she exhibits all of them. 

What was both original and a bit troubling to me was how little she resisted or was worried by what was happening to her. She immediately fell into it. Perhaps a dull life was rescued by this diversion. Perhaps children that have imaginary friends are prepared for events like this later in life. A good and well-written book by any standards but not a great fit for me. I needed Amanda to rage against the dark but she embraced it.

Short Story Wednesday: "The Long Hall on the Top Floor," Caitlin R. Kiernan

 

This is another story from a wonderful collection a friend gave me  years ago, AMERICAN FANTASTIC TALES, 1940 to the present. I probably would never have picked this collection up were it not for short story Wednesdays. 

Deacon Silvey moved from Atlanta to Birmingham, AL after a robbery that scared him. He has substance abuse problems and is stuck doing shift work at various places. While working at a laundromat in Birmingham, a guy named Soda comes in and asks Deke if it's true that he has psychic powers. He asks him if he will use his powers to help a female friend of his. After some attempts to avoid this, Deke agrees. 

Sadie Jaspers meets up with Deke and she takes him to the top floor of a building. Deke advises her he just gets impressions so it might not be what she wants. He keeps trying to get her to tell him what she is seeing on that top floor but she insists, it's better if he sees for himself. At the very top, she points to a spot and it turns out the spot is about the way it makes you feel rather than any specific terror. It is not just cold but "indifferent, the freezing temperature of an apathy so absolute, so perfect" that Deacon vomits. He tells her the "thing" doesn't want to be seen. "It wasn't meant to be seen.'

It is hard for me to make this seem frightening here. But the writing is so sharp and these two characters so well fleshed out that we don't see what they don't see and yet believe in it. 

Kiernan writes other pieces about this twosome and has published novels as well. Good writing is a reward in itself. Deacon Silvey is a character to remember--just from a 5000 word story. And so too is Sadie Jaspers. If Kiernan had named them John Black and Sara Jones, we would not remember them nearly as well. Names are important. It is easy to forget that. 

Kevin Tipple

TracyK

George Kelley 

Richard Robinson 

Todd Mason

Monday Monday

Here is the place I am looking at.
 

 

 A pretty dull week. Although I did buy a Blue Ray DVD Player so I can play the new Criterion Version of Miller's Crossing and see Megan interview the Coen Brothers. I can't see I will use it much though with streaming what it is. Megan arrives for two days on Friday. Hope our weather is warmer by then. I am watching a friend's copy of all the Dick Cavett interviews from the seventies. Some horribly hard people to interview on there. John Houston was a complete bust until Cavett asked him about Ireland and that opened the flood gates. Marlon Brando was a complete boor and bore. 

Watching Abbott's Elementary School which is funny, profound, well- done in every way. A real pleasure. So the networks can still make a good show on occasion. Looking forward to the Gilded Age on HBO. Finished the second season of The Bay, which was so much better than the first. (Thanks, Jeff M).  Gave up on Apples Never Fall (Moriarity) after 300 pages.  So overly long for the subject. Rewatched Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader). 

A friend drove me up to see an apartment complex near my son and I liked it a lot. The timing is going to be difficult because I don't know how long it will take to sell this. I guess I could pay for a month or two rent while I see. I just don't want to be out on the street. But I cannot wait not to have to figure out how to get things fixed every week of my life. And also the taxes I pay here will pay three months rent at least. If I add in what I pay for snow removal and lawn service it would be four months rent. The community I live in has no businesses to support an elementary school, library and city services so it is steep taxes. 

What about you?

FFB THE LOST DAUGHTER, Elena Ferrante

 

 

After seeing the film version of THE LOST DAUGHTER on Netflix, I wanted to read the book. Although there are some differences, on the whole the film is very faithful to the book. 

Leda is a middle-aged English professor on summer holiday. In the book, all the characters are Italian and the holiday takes place in Italy. (The movie changes both of those things). Leda is attracted to and repelled by a large Italian family who spend their days on the beach near her. She is especially interested in a young mother and her daughter and the daughter's doll. In flashbacks, we learn Leda deserted her family for a three-year period to pursue her career and an attractive professor in early motherhood. 

Leda is also attracted to a much younger student hired for the summer to attend to the guests. She finds it hard to realize that she is just hotel guest to him and not a possible romance.

The doll becomes very significant in this story. Leda steals it and hides it even when the child is clearly hysterical over its loss. It is only through flash backs to Leda's time as a young mother that we see what the doll represents. Her lost daughters (although Leda is the real lost daughter, I think) are now grown and in Canada with their father and although they seem to have a relationship with their mother, it is clear Leda lives with some regret over her desertion. Leda is an extremely thorny character. I felt sympathy for her but also did not understand a lot of her actions.

But I thought this was a very fine novel. Not many books have examined the consequences of a mother deserting her children and the society is not very forgiving of it. I also enjoyed MY BRILLIANT FRIEND a few years ago.

Short Story Wednesday: "THe Blue Lenses" Daphne DuMaurier

"The Blue Lenses" is another story from DON'T LOOK NOW. a collection by Daphne Du Maurier. This story so much resembled a TWILIGHT ZONE episode I was convinced I could find it online. But the somewhat similar TZ episode was THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER and not this story.

Marda West is in the hospital following surgery on her eyes. At first her eyes are completely bandaged and she lies in bed with nothing to occupy her days. The doctor and hospital staff care for her, feed and bathe her. Her husband visits when he can get away. 

When the bandages are removed, her temporary lenses, make the staff and doctor looks like various animals from the head up. Her surgeon has a dog’s head. Her day nurse has the head of a cow. Nurse Ansel has the head of a snake and her husband Jim, that of a vulture with a “blood-soaked beak.” At first she thinks the nurses are playing a cruel trick on her, but eventually she comes to realize  she has been granted the  ability to see those around her as they really are. The lenses have removed blindness both literal and metaphorical. 

She is frightened, of course, especially when she sees that people on the street resemble animals too. Marda manages to insult everyone with her terror of their looks and eventually attempts to run away. She is captured and endures another surgery to correct the problem. This time she awakes to normal faces on everyone around her. There is one final scene you can read for yourself. You might guess what it is.

TracyK

George Kelley 

Steve Lewis

Monday, Monday

 

If you've never seen his yearly tribute (David Erlich: I hadn'T) here is 2021. https://vimeo.com/664072010

I enjoyed the Signature Theater's tribute to Stephen Sondheim's music this weekend. It was on you tube for two days and they did quite a number of his most famous songs. Especially from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, which was a flop when first produced. In Merrily the characters age from old to young and as we speak Richard Linklater is making a movie where just that happens. Unfortunately the movie won't be out until 2040 when the young cast (Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt) is old enough to play the older cast--must as he did with BOYHOOD. I saw one production at the Signature Theater (Arlington VA) in 2019 of ASSASSINS and enjoyed it but I knew very little about Sondheim then. The last two years have caught me up a bit.

Listened to GOODBYE COLUMBUS again. I have probably read this novella half a dozen times. It is a sort of touchstone to my youth. Also still reading HAMNET (excellent) and APPLES NEVER FALL by Liane Moriarty.

On TV I am watching the Jerry House recommended BEFOREIGNERS, which is very clever and YELLOW JACKETS, which I don't like as much as the reviews promised me I would. In my rewatch of CHEERS I am on the last season and after two great seasons, the last two have fallen off in quality. 

It has been very cold here but sunny and no snow in two weeks. Today it might be warm enough for a walk. I try to walk around my house to get some exercise but it is difficult. What do you do for exercise in the winter and what else are you doing? It must be great to be in FL or CA and be able to walk every day.