Third Quarter 2022 Update

Books: Twelve more books this quarter.

1. Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds. This was a best-seller back in the late 1970’s and was made into a TV miniseries. But I'd never read it before, nor had I watched the miniseries. It tells the story of the Cleary family and, in particular, the sole daughter amongst several sons, Meggie. She develops a relationship with the local priest, and that leads to inevitable troubles for both of them. I found the book absorbing, mostly in the “good beach read” mode. But I really wish that McCullough had not kept killing off characters I liked.
   
   
2. Ellery Queen (editor), Cops and Capers (reread). There are six stories in this anthology. “The Insomniacs’ Club” by John Lutz was my favorite piece, because it took an unexpected twist at the end. The weakest was “The Empty Birdhouse” by Patricia Highsmith, since it had a supernatural aspect that prevented actual detection. The main reason to read this book is that the stories range from 1935 to 1968, allowing for an opportunity to see the evolution of the mystery genre over that time period.
   
   
3. Elizabeth Friesland, Last Summer at the Golden Hotel. My book club was very divided over this book. I loved it, largely because it brought back amusing memories of the Catskills. My family didn’t spend entire summers at Catskills hotels, but we did go to the Homowack or the Nevele or the Concord for long weekends and the atmosphere of those hotels was captured very effectively in this novel. I also laughed out loud at his the millennial generation tried to modernize the hotel, including ideas like goat yoga. I suspect this book has a limited audience, but it was definitely up my alley.
   
   
4. John Gimlette, At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig. Paraguay is an interesting country, with a complex history, and Gimlette has several intriguing stories about that history, including controversial leaders, wars, and dangers ranging from piranhas to cannibals. Unfortunately, his writing is disorganized, making it hard to keep track of who’s who. At the very least, the book really needed an index.
   
   
5. Harold Robbins, The Pirate. A powerful Arab businessman, married to an American woman, exploits his oil wealth in ways that cost him good will with his family. There’s a lot of gratuitous sex and drugs, as well as a subplot involving terrorism. Overall, this is pretty trashy, but it did hold my attention.
   
   
6. Janice Nimura, The Doctors Blackwell. This was another book club selection. It tells the intermingled stories of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman to get a medical degree, and her younger sister, who also became a doctor. Elizabeth came across as rather unlikeable, frankly, especially in her exploitation of Kitty, the young orphan she adopted and made into a virtual slave. While she fought for her medical education, she was hostile to women’s rights in general, which was particularly interesting as one of her brothers married Lucy Stone, who was particularly famous for insisting on retaining her name after marriage. Emily doesn’t emerge as clearly, but she did appear to be the better doctor. The book is not especially elegantly written, but it was interesting. I can’t help but wonder if people reading about our medical system 100 years from now would react with the same horror at the primitivism of our times.
   
   
7. Rose Fyleman, The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book. I admit I read this only because it was the shortest book of poetry in the room I had at the Library Hotel in New York. It’s aimed at children and full of cute little verses about fairies in the garden and the like. Overall, a silly waste of time.
   
   
8. Alan Armer, Writing the Screenplay: TV and Film. This was part of a box of books I got from one of my mother’s neighbors. I am not sure why I bothered reading it, since I have no real interest in writing a screenplay. It does seem to be a good, albeit dated, summary of basic principles, e.g. plot, characters, dialogue, business tips.
   
   
9. Silvia Tennenbaum, Rachel, the Rabbi’s Wife. Rachel is not your typical rebbetzim. She’s more interested in painting than in Sisterhood luncheons, for one thing. She’s also pretty sure her husband is having an affair with a member of the congregation. I came away with the feeling that the author was trying to be deliberately shocking, but all she accomplished was showing that Rachel was human.
   
   
10. Kinky Friedman, The Great Psychedelic Armadills Picnic. This was supposed to be a guidebook to Austin, Texas, but it is a good 20 years out of date. If you just look at it as more of a guide to Texas culture than a useful tourist guide, it’s pretty amusing with some laugh out loud moments. For example, take this quote: “Don't make the most common mistake non-Texans make when they come down here - confusing Amarillo with the armadillo. Amarillo is a town in the Panhandle full of people who don't like being mistaken for armadillos. They're very conservative politically. The armadillo is a gentle creature. It tends to be much more middle-of-the-road.”
    
    
11. Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity Digs In. I really enjoyed the first couple of books in this cozy mystery series. This one, alas, didn’t have enough actual mystery to be satisfying. There are still interesting characters and I enjoyed seeing Lori get more insight into the British village she and her husband have settled in. But a missing document and a robed figure seen near the vicarage just don’t compare to murder in my book.
    
    
12. Matt Haig, The Midnight Library. This is the next book for my book club. I really enjoyed the concept of a woman who has attempted suicide having time to go through books which place her in potential other versions of her life, each determined by one different decision she made. Living through these lets her erase regrets and gradually understand who she wants to be. I think all of us have sometimes wondered how our lives would have turned out if we’d made some different decisions along the way. Though, I admit, I don’t have any significant regrets, because I firmly believe that I made the best decisions I could knowing what I did at the time. At any rate, I think we’ll have a interesting discussion at our meeting a week from Wednesday.
    
    

Movies: I saw two movies this quarter, both in theaters.

1. Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song: “Hallelujah” is definitely Leonard Cohen’s most ubiquitous song, though I personally prefer “Dance Me to the End of Love” and “Who By Fire.” Of course, I am also old enough to remember “Suzanne,” which I associate with summer camp. Anyway, this documentary tells some about Cohen’s life, some about Cohen’s eventual success with “Hallelujah,” and some about other performers who are as well known for it (notably Jeff Buckley, who, apparently, some people thought wrote it. I thought one of the most interesting stories about the song had to do with its use in the movie Shrek, for which it had to be censored, because lines like “she tied me to a kitchen chair” really don’t fly in a movie aimed at children. I was also interested in the insights into Cohen’s life, which I didn’t really know much about. For fans of the singer-songwriter who I think of as the poet laureate of clinical depression, this movie is a must.
   
   
2. 3000 Years of Longing. A “narratologist” (really a folklorist at heart) who thinks she is self-sufficient encounters a djinn, who needs her to make the right wish in order to gain his freedom. And, oh, yeah, they are played by Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, respectively. Of course, I found the whole thing enchanting. The Djinn tells her the stories of his previous masters and how he ended up trapped back in his bottle each time. There’s a fair amount of violence and lots of sensuality, but above all, there is storytelling. I knew I had to see this movie based on the trailer I’d seen a few weeks earlier - and I was right. Highly recommended.
   
   

Goals:

• I went to Nashville for the NPL con, to Niagara Falls for Loserfest, to New York for Lollapuzzoola and theatre binging, and to Cumberland, MD and Romney, WV for a train excursion. That was 4 trips which, added to the 6 I’d done earlier in the year puts me at 10, which was my goal for the year. (I have at least 2 more trips planned, too.)
  
  
• I am just short of 5/6 through my cross-stitch project. If I really am going to finish 2 cross-stitch or needlepoint projects, I’d better pick a smaller one for the second project.
  
  
• I’ve still done nothing about knitting or crocheting afghans, but I have reason to believe I will make some progress in November.
  
  
• I’ve done nothing about organizing photographs either.
  
  
• I have only about 4 non-crafts magazines to get rid of. I also have intentions to tackle at least some of the crafts magazines.
  
  
• I have a vague idea about a personal story, based on a recent memory I dredged up about my father having nightmares. I am not entirely sure this is an actual memory, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s really more a question about what we dream about and what we’re afraid to face in our dreams.
  
  I also did learn a third folktale, which I’ve only told once so far but think will become part of my long-term repertoire. Also, I did tell a science fiction story, which was a major stretch for me, and it went reasonably well.
  
  
• I haven’t really done anything about organizing my yarn stash, but I’ve thought about it, which should count for something. (And I have a specific reason to get rid of some yarn I know I’ll never use, so I expect I will make some progress in the next month and a half.)
  
  
• I’ve read 35 books (and will finish another one within the next hour or so.) So it’s just possible that I will manage to finish 75 this year, especially if I stick to shorter ones.
  
  
• As for language study, I’ve settled on starting with Duolingo and working on Spanish and Yiddish, though I have some reservations about their Yiddish dialect.