2022 Books in Review (Part 4)

 

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Synopsis: This is a series of anecdotes about a veterinarian starting his career in the 1930s in Yorkshire. The connecting theme being that treating animals is often related to understanding how to treat the people that own and care for them.

My Thoughts: This is probably Jodi’s favorite books series, and we have been watching the new series produced by the BBC on PBS. The story is based off the experience of Herriot (which is the pen name for James Alfred Wight), thus makes it an interesting study in nonfiction.

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Synopsis: This is the tale of humanity's survival on one of the Galapagos islands after a series of random events shipwrecks an unlikely group of people. As usual, in his unique and satiric style, Vonnegut delivers a commentary on humans, their behavior, and how it relates to the world around them.

My Thoughts: Vonnegut mixture of sci-fi, black comedy, and satire is really unlike anyone else that I’ve ever read. In this book, he pins the cause of the world’s problems on the too-large human brain, and then shows how evolution decreases the size of the brain and creates a more sustainable future for the planet.

I’ve also read by Kurt Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse Five

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

Synopsis: This book follows three generations of a fictional powerful American family, the Miltons. It begins with Ogden Milton buying an island in Maine to console his grieving wife after the loss of their oldest child. The island and its house become a symbol of White American isolationism, privilege and racism through the World Wars, Civil Rights and all the way to modern day.

My Thoughts:  A story about the secrets hidden in history and how social etiquette was just another way that barriers were built between races in America. I liked the book, still trying to decide if it was a little heavy-handed in its message, but it may be that it’s a message that needed to be delivered with a heavy hand.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Synopsis: Sal Paradise joins Dean Moriarty, a tearaway and former reform schoolboy, on a series of journeys that takes them from New York to San Francisco, then south to Mexico. Hitching rides and boarding buses, they enter a world of hobos and drifters, fruit-pickers and migrant families, small towns, and wide horizons

My Thoughts: Might be this one went over my head, but I just struggled to connect with this. I respect that the writing style was revolutionary for the time, and it encapsulates the beatnik movement, but much of the point was lost on me.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Synopsis:  The story of Kya, who is abandoned by her family as child and survives outside of society in marshland. This is both a discussion on how environment's influence on humans and a murder mystery.

My Thoughts: This book received quite a bit of positive hype, and while there’s an interesting mystery at its core, I found it to be a bit saccharine at parts with characters who were a little flat, either too good or too bad. More blurring of those lines might have elevated this tale for me.

2022 Books in Review (Part 3)

 

Field Recordings from the Inside by Joe Bonomo

Synopsis: This is a series of essays that explore the impact of music on our lives both personally and culturally. The music discussed ranges from Frank Sinatra to rock and roll, punk, R&B, and the Delta Blues.

My Thoughts: I took Joe Bonomo's creative nonfiction class at NIU (longer ago than I want to admit), and the things I learned really helped as I worked in journalism and continue to write. I enjoyed this collection of essays relating to music and how music shapes people and/or shaped the author. I've always wanted to write about music but have never been able to find the right tone. Hopefully this will help. Music lovers would enjoy this one.  

Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate

Synopsis:  This is the story of a young mother and her husband returning to the familial farm to take care of an aging grandmother. The young mother is put into the place of trying to decide upon continuing her career or returning permanently to her roots.

My Thoughts: While I appreciate many of the sentiments of this book, it was, at times, a bit too sentimental for my tastes. It also just played too much into tropes of the rural areas somehow being the answer for people failing personally in the big city even if they are succeeding professionally. I think stories like this tend to oversimplify the complexities of rural living.

In One Person by John Irving

Synopsis: Narrator, Billy, tells the story of growing up bisexual in the 1950s and 60s at a boarding school in New England. The story is about the mystery of his unknown father, and how all the people around him confront the realities of their own identities, sexual and otherwise.

My Thoughts: As has been the case for much of his career, Irving was ahead of his time with this book (written in 2012), as it's ultimately a discussion on sexual identity. His goal is to humanize those that traditionalists want to dehumanize.

While he denies his books are self-reflections, there are several of his common tropes - the male narrator who grows up without a father and with a strained relationship with his mother, amateur wrestling, the theater, a beloved stepfather who is a teacher, and plenty of behavior considered sexually deviant for the time period (this book ranges from the 1950s to 2000s).

I’ve also read by John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Widow for a Year, The World According to Garp, Until I Find You, The Cider House Rules, A Son of the Circus.

Ghost Country by Sara Paretsky

Synopsis: The worlds of Luisa, a drunken diva fallen on hard times, Madeleine, a homeless woman who sees the Virgin Mary’s blood seeping through a concrete wall, and Mara, a rebellious adolescent cast out from her wealthy grandfather, collide on the streets of Chicago.

My Thoughts: The backbone of this book is the debilitating effects of a domineering patriarchal society on women, other men, and institutions. I generally liked the book, although wasn't wild about a few of the writing style choices.

The Stephen King Companion by George Beahm

Synopsis: The recap and analysis of Stephen King’s work from his start in the 1970s to the mid-1990s.

My Thoughts:  While repetitive at times, it was also interesting. It gave good perspective on the changing landscape of publishing from the 70s to the 90s. An updated version would probably be even more enlightening. I also liked the academic look at each book in regard to structure and themes.

2022 Books in Review (Part 2)

 

Go Set the Watchmen by Harper Lee

Synopsis: Harper Lee's kind of follow up to "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a discussion on Civil Rights set in the 1950s Alabama. Having not read "To Kill a Mockingbird," it's hard to say how effectively it builds off the tropes and themes of that book. It's certainly a book with a message, and one that is relevant to today's world where people with opposing views struggle to communicate with each other in a meaningful and effective way.

My thoughts: Perhaps the most controversial part of this book is that it was released after Lee’s death by her publisher and lawyers from a draft novel she wrote before “To Kill a Mockingbird,” that was rejected by publishers at the time. Essentially, she rewrote this manuscript, and it became “To Kill a Mockingbird.” From a writer’s standpoint, it’s an interesting to think about how you might want unpublished manuscripts after your death. I guess my advice is that if you’ve had success, and don’t something published after your death, burn it.

 

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

Synopsis: This is a thorough recounting of the farming practices that led to the Dust Bowl, the governmental policies that funded these farming practices, the Great Depression that devastated the economic environment, and the continuing ignorance of humans who fail to realize that their actions have an impact on the world around them.

My thoughts: The Dust Bowl was always sort of one of those “terms” you learned in school with little real context for what it was and why it matters to people living fifty, sixty or a hundred years later. It’s a case study in environmental impacts of human behavior. The book is tough to read because of Egan’s research providing real-life accounts of how the dust destroyed families and left animals to die with their lungs filled with dirt.

 

Wicked River by Jenny Milchman

Synopsis: Natalie and Doug escape civilization for their honeymoon on a canoe trip in the six million acres of the Adirondack Forest. As it turns out, Doug has an ulterior motive for the trip, and then the two encounter a dangerous recluse.

My thoughts: This was a standard thriller with the expected plot issues, including Natalie’s sudden ability to hike/run vast lengths of distance near the conclusion of the book without really stopping or getting adequate water. Still, it built suspense and had a satisfying payoff. It’s OK for books to simply be entertaining.

Slade House by David Mitchell

Synopsis: This is the classic haunted house story, where a pair of twins ensnare unsuspecting visitors with illusions to feast upon the guest’s soul to maintain the twins’ youth. It even ends with a twist and a bit of a cliffhanger.

My thoughts: This might be my favorite book that I read this year. One, the story was easy to follow and well done. Second, it was told in an interesting way through the point of view of the guests, with new clues being provided with each subsequent guest.  

I’ve also read by David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

Synopsis: There was such a foreboding tone to this that I admit at times I didn't want to find out what happened to the town of Beartown (a nondescript Scandinavian town built around a factory and its hockey club), even though having grown up in a small town, I could guess the outcome. 

My thoughts: Backman has a knack of tackling complex and deep ideas and expressing them in simple, often heartbreaking sentences. This book handles the "team sports" mentality of civilization and how while this mentality can unite a community, it divides people just as much.
Here are a few quotes I really liked:

• “It's so easy to get people to hate one another. That's what makes love so impossible to understand. Hate is so simple that it always ought to win. It's an uneven fight.”
• “Death does that to us, it’s like a phone call, you always remember exactly what you should have said the moment you hang up. Now there’s just an answering machine full of memories at the other end, fragments of a voice that are getting weaker and weaker.”
• “He learns that people will always choose a simple lie over a complicated truth, because the lie has one unbeatable advantage: the truth always has to stick to what actually happened, whereas the lie just has to be easy to believe.”
• “The best friends of our childhoods are the loves of our lives, and they break our hearts in worse ways.”

I’ve also read by Fredrik Backman: Brit-Marie Was Here, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry, A Man Called Ove

2022 Books in Review (Part 1)

 

It’s back everyone’s feature that they forgot I did last year.

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Synopsis: This is a collection of Gladwell’s essays from the New Yorker. The topics range from the inventor of the birth control bill, the king of selling rotisserie ovens, to a dog whisperer.

My Thoughts: I admit that I don’t remember a lot from this book and that probably means I should just do these reviews after I finish the books next year. Long-form journalism is something not enough people read. The issues we face with disinformation would be less if more readers were tuned into what well-researched, well-sourced stories look like.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Synopsis: In 1941, a black, eleven-year-old in Lorain, Ohio, Pecola Breedlove, prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as loved as the other blue-eyed girls in the country. Instead, her life changes in painful ways.

My Thoughts: Morrison’s work is about the black experience in the 20^th century, and how that experience was built upon the centuries before that. I have also read Beloved by Morrison, but that was way back in high school and from what I remember from that and what you see here (her first published novel) is that she also is a master of the language and pushes the boundaries of style.  

I’ve also read by Toni Morrison: Beloved.

The Unseen by Heather Graham

Synopsis: This is a murder mystery tangled with a ghost story set around the Alamo. The hero is U.S. Marshal, Kelsey O’Brien, whose detective skills are conveniently enhanced by her ability to communicate with ghosts.

My Thoughts: I have a bad habit of picking up books at garage sales and not noticing that its like the fourth book in a series. This was the case here, although it didn’t really matter as it’s just a series where there’s a different case each book.

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across American by Elizabeth Letts

Synopsis: This is the interesting story of a woman in the 1950s traveling from Minot, Maine to Los Angeles, California on horseback. Set against the backdrop of a changing country and world, her ride illustrates the power of an individual will and the bond one can form with animal companions.

My Thoughts: I generally avoid anything titled the “True” story just because it almost always means what you’re going to read is probably not the truth. In this case, I think the story is fairly told, and it demonstrated the changing world of the 1950s, how methods of travel changed American society for better and worse, and the value of animals in our world.

The Best American Short Stories (2001)

Synopsis: I like reading at least one short story collection a year. I picked this one because it was edited by one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver.

My Thoughts: As I continue to write short stories, I always like seeing how writers approach the genre in different ways.

Publishing Update – Welter Online Fall 2022 – They All Saw Them

 

I am excited to be included in the Fall 2022 Welter Online edition with my short story, “They All Saw Them.” Welter is a literary journal produced by the University of Baltimore. My story is part of their online platform. They also publish a print edition every spring.

This story was born from a contest prompt to write a ghost story that features a brunch and a first-aid kit. After the contest, I expanded the story a couple hundred words to what you see here. My intent was not to write a traditional ghost story, but one with a purpose. It became an allegory on how history haunts us. In this specific case, it’s how a family living on a ranch confront, or fail to confront, the previous generations actions to get the land. My hope was to glimpse at how the conversations we are still having on this in this country were formed, and the continued resistance to facing the ghosts of the people that were here before us.

I think we all see these ghosts, but most of us are like the narrator, we acknowledge them and then continue to eat our steak.  I can’t say that I am any different.

To read the story, follow this link: They All Saw Them (ubalt.edu)

Next week there will be an online reading party at 5 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 6. I plan on attending and reading. Here is the link, if you would like to join:  https://ubalt.zoom.us/j/92989062027.

Write On Prompt: The Secret Teapot

 

Note: Tuesday Night’s prompt at Write On was to tell a story of finding a surprise in the teapot picture above. I admit that I spent a lot of time setting up and to get to a conclusion, I rushed a bit. I still like this as a decent idea.

 

The house was tucked into the back of a corner lot behind a line of evergreens and unkempt shrubbery at the intersection of Dent Street and Avenue D. Cars lined the ‘T’, parked for the estate sale of the late Ms. Bloom, a lifetime single resident of Jordan and a well-known buyer of everything antique. For years, she’d crept through garage sales or auctions in her floor-length denim dresses, her hair pressed straight to her bony skull, and her glasses slid just so on the edge of her nose. She’d stowaway with rare glassware, cradle animal figurines, lug books, grab small furniture, and even dirty her hands by grabbing rusty tools – a hammer here, a wrench there, maybe a jigsaw, and so on. You name it, Ms. Bloom was interested.

Then she died, and every collector, every hoarder, every curious cat in the town wanted a rare glimpse of her life’s work. Her collection. For no one could ever remember being in her house. She didn’t have friends to speak of, just folks she nodded at during sales, her only comment usually being “There’s weather today.” No one was exactly sure what she meant by that, but it wasn’t a lie. There was weather every day.

Jordan Estate Sales had first crack at the house and the treasures inside, spending two months sifting through countless boxes of heirlooms, emptying drawers, clearing off shelves, and looking under beds and couches to find every last bit. Pricing was another thing. Some of the stuff was junk, but most of it was valuable. The odd thing was that there wasn’t two of anything. She didn’t have sixteen dog figurines. She had one. And one cat. One goat. One zebra. One of pretty much every animal that stumbled onto the ark all those centuries ago. The same could be said for every other kind of item. One rare glass. A German-made cuckoo clock. A flashy motor oil sign. The list was endless, but each item unique.

Helen got wind of this sale from Patty, her only friend at the downtown bank office where both worked as tellers. Patty knew the folks with Jordan Estate Sales and said this was one sale not to be missed. Everyone needed to get something from Ms. Bloom’s unique collection. Helen decided, she might need more than one, and so she recruited her husband, Eddie, to go with her. They arrived ten minutes before the start of the sale, and already the line at the front door was down the small path that led between the evergreens to the sidewalk along the intersection. They waited patiently as a dozen folks were admitted at a time.

“I can’t believe you dragged me out of bed on a Saturday for this,” Eddie complained, his hands buried in his blue jean pockets, his ball cap turned backward.

“It’s 9 AM, you have no business still being in bed,” Helen said. They had been married for two years of bliss and three more years since then. Neither were unhappy with the marriage, but that was the best that could be said about it.

When they finally made the front door, they could see that tables had been setup through the house’s tiny rooms, each filled items, and the space left to walk was miniscule. It was a display of human bumper cars as people clawed through items, and pushed to get to the next room.

Helen and Eddie split up once inside, Eddie gravitating toward a table of tools while Helen floated from one room to another, filled with the bliss of discovery. Not one thing caught her attention at first, instead she was overwhelmed by the enormity of the collection.

Finally, in a back bedroom, hidden among a collection of glassware that included pig salt and pepper shakers, a huge platter with a cornucopia printed on top, and numerous other objects, she found the teapot. It was white with blue flowers and a black metal handle. It didn’t seem rare, or particularly unique, but something about it spoke to her. The tag said two dollars, and she snatched it into her hands. On the bottom was a pink Post-It note and scribbled in blue cursive was the words “The Secret Teapot.”

***

Eddie ended up buying more than Helen, she only had the teapot. He had a socket set, a wrench, a pair of jumper cables, and an old transistor radio. He piled it in the backseat of their Jeep. Helen held on to the pot, not wanting it to break.

As they drove, she held it with care, loving the feel of it in her hands.

“Did you open it?” Eddie asked.

“Open it?”

“Yeah, sometimes there are treasures inside.”

“Hmm.” She lifted the lid. Another pink Post-It was inside with the same blue ink. She read it once with unbelieving eyes.

“What does it say?”

“It says,” she began. “It says, ‘Eddie is sleeping with Patty instead of going bowling on Thursday nights.’”

Eddie slammed the brakes.

Publishing Update: FOLIO – Volume 37 – String Theory

I’m excited to announce I have a short story appearing in the latest edition of FOLIO – a literary magazine produced by American University in Washington, D.C. The theme for this edition is “Worlds in Flux,” and as the Note from Editors says, “nothing stays the same.”

I’d like to say I wrote “String Theory” with that in mind, but the piece has its roots from a prompt from First Line magazine. To me, all stories generally put characters into flux of some kind. The opening line provided a female character with a background in playing the violin and with limited parental supervision. The tale that evolved is about characters who had their lives uprooted at young ages by exposure to sexual experiences, and years later, are still recovering and reconciling the physical, emotional, and mental consequences.

Below is the opening scene, along with a link where you can purchase either a PDF or a print version of the magazine. I haven’t had a chance yet to read through the rest, but I am sure, if you don’t end up liking what I wrote, there’s a good chance something else will strike a chord. Plus, it’s a great chance support a literary outlet.

Follow this link to purchase Volume 37 of FOLIO and to read my entire story: Folio Literary Journal Submission Manager (submittable.com)