August Words of Wisdom

 My life will be a continual voyage on an uncertain sea. (Nicolas de Stael)

 

At the beach - time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted. (T.S. Eliot)

 

For me the novel is character creation. Style is nice, plot is nice, structure is OK, social significance is OK, symbolism worms its way in, timeliness is OK too, but unless the characters convince and live, the book's got no chance. (Larry McMurtry)

 

A book is a gift you can open again and again. (Garrison Keillor) 

 

Find out who you are and do it on purpose. (Dolly Parton) 

 

 

July Words of Wisdom

Every morning you have two choices: Continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them. (Erling Haaland) 

 

Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks. (Dr. Seuss)

 

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. (Marcus Aurelius)

 

Man cannot stand a meaningless life. (Carl Jung) 

 

There is such a thing as evil, and if you do not fight it, it will eventually triumph. (Ann Widdecombe) 

 

Recent reading: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 

 

I'm still behind on #ReadChristie2026 and haven't been reading much the past couple of weeks, but I finally finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (June). 

 

Poirot has retired to the village of King's Abbott to grow vegetables and live in anonymity,  but the murder of a wealthy local brings him back to the detecting business. His next door neighbor, Dr. Sheppard, a personal friend of Ackroyd's, helps out due to his knowledge of the players and fills the Hastings role, as Poirot admits to missing his long-time friend, now living in Argentina. But Dr. Sheppard is no Hastings, and not only is Poirot's revelation of who killed Roger Ackroyd a shocker, but so is how he treats the guilty party. As usual, it's a treat to learn how Poirot unravels the mystery.

 

I first read this years ago, and knowing the identity of the guilty party made for a different experience than the first read. Once you find out, you'll want to go back and re-read it to see how Christie sprinkled hints and issues that lead the legendary Hercule Poirot to the killer. The book is rightly famed for its twist ending.

 

I do remember that when this story was produced for Poirot, for some reason the producers felt the need to turn the quiet, confessional ending into a chase that could not have been further from how Christie resolved the story, and it was quite a disappointment. So it was nice to go back and read this again. Just one of the best mysteries ever.

 

From the book:

 

Poirot, too, was smiling, and at the same time shaking an eloquent finger at me. "Have I not told you at leasst thirty-six times that it is useless to conceal things from Hercule Poirot?" he demanded. "That in such a case he finds out?"

  

Recent reading: "The God of the Woods"

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 

This book has received absolutely rave reviews and I recently picked it up at Barnes & Noble, although I found the length (558 pages) concerning. So how good is The God of the Woods?

 

I read it in one day. All 558 pages of it. I decided to take it with me yesterday morning to my hair appointment and was hooked from chapter 1. Later that day I read some more and then after dinner I went back to it, finally finishing at 11:30pm. The cover features a quote from Maureen Corrigan of "Fresh Air"": "Extraordinary. I barely came up for air." It had the same effect on me. I couldn't put it down. I had to know how things would play out, and play out they did.

 

It's 1975 and troubled thirteen year old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the Adirondacks summer camp owned by her wealthy family. To make matters worse she isn't even the first child in her family to disappear - the same thing happened to her brother, Peter Van Laar IV (nicknamed Bear) fourteen years earlier, and no trace of him was ever found. And this is just scratching the surface - there are webs of secrets, betrayals, and social machinations that will eventually be revealed, as well as the collision of the rich and powerful versus the often struggling working class.

 

The story is told from multiple points of view. Among them: Louise, a Camp Emerson counselor who becomes a suspect in Barbara's disappearance, Tracy, a lonely camper befriended by Barbara, Alice Van Laar, the emotionally damaged mother of the missing children, Jacob Sluiter, a recently escaped killer with a history in the region, Carl Stoddard, a gardener on the Van Laar estate who becomes a suspect in Bear's disappearance, and most prominently, Judyta (Judy) Luptack, a recently promoted young investigator who will become key in determining what happened to both Barbara and Bear. 

 

There is also a vast cast of additional characters - the Van Laar's and others of their elite social circle, attractive young men that many of the girls - including Louise, Tracy, and Barbara - are attracted to and invariably disappointed by, Vic Hewitt, the former estate groundskeeper and camp director and his daughter T..J., who has taken up her father's roles and grew up alongside the Van Laar children, and Denny Hayes, the investigator mentoring Judy.

 

The story also moves back and forth between timelines: Barbara and Tracy's blooming friendship in June and July of 1975, followed by Barbara's vanishing that August, all the way back to Alice's 1950's marriage to Peter Van Laar III, scion of a rich banking family, Bear's 1961 disappearance, and finally, Judy's day by day August 1975 investigation into Barbara's case.

 

The God of the Woods is in production as a drama series for Netflix and having finished the book I was interested in the casting. Maya Hawke is playing Judy. Kerry Condon (Oscar nominated for The Banshees of Inisherin and better known to me as Mike Ehrmentraut's widowed daughter-in-law Stacey in Better Call Saul) is Alice, and Tracy Letts is Peter Van Laar II, the grandfather Bear tells Carl he doesn't like (followed by Bear disappearing under his watch). The rest of the cast I'm not really familiar with, but it's looking like I'm going to have to start subscribing to Netflix again, at least for a while. Moore herself is involved in the writing and production and I'm really interested in seeing how this translates to the screen.

 

The God of the Woods is one of the best things I've read in years. It will reel you in and not let you go. Just an amazingly plotted thriller and I can't recommend it enough. 

 

Recent reading: "The Labors of Hercules" (Intro and Stories 1, 2 and 3)

The Labors of Hercules

by Agatha Christie 

 

I'm way behind on #ReadChristie2026. I'm currently still working on May's assignment, The Labors of Hercules, a series of short stories where Hercule Poirot accepts cases based on the Greek legend. Here are the introduction and first three cases: 

 

Introduction:

 

Dr. Burton expresses surprise that Hercule Poirot has not spent time studying classic literature and the discussion prompts Poirot to dive into Greek mythology. He isn't impressed, but it does give him the idea to devote the rest of his career to cases that correspond symbolically to the actual Labours of Hercules. 

 

1. "The Nemean Lion"

 

Hercules: Tasked with and succeeded in slaying a lion in spite of it having fur that was impervious to arrows.

 

Poirot: Sir Joseph Hoggin asks Poirot to look into the case of his wife's stolen Pekingese (Pekinese in the story) dog. The dog has been returned safely after a two hundred pound ransom had been paid, but Hoggin is angry at the fact that his wife paid it without consulting him and he wants his money back. Poirot discovers that this dog isn't the only stolen and ransomed Pekinese.

 

This is one of the cleverest short stories I've ever read. There's actually two cases at the end and the way Christie sprinkled clues and red herrings throughout was so not obvious, but when Poirot solves the case everything falls into place perfectly. It's a master class on how to do that. There's a reason she's referred to as the queen of mystery. There was an extra twist at the end that was just brilliant. This story was a great start to the series.

 

Symbolic relationship: One of the characters refers to the breed's origin myth, "...according to the legend, Pekinese were lions once. And they still have the hearts of lions!" Apparently during Christie's time period the Peke was a favorite of rich women, which makes them potential targets for ransom.

 

2. "The Lernean Hydra" (Lernaean in the myth)

 

Hercules: Tasked with slaying the multi-headed Hydra, a task complicated by the fact that every time he cuts off a head, two new heads grow back. 

 

Poirot: A year earlier and after some years as an invalid, Dr. Charles Oldfield's wife passed away, since then he has been beset by local gossip that he poisoned his wife. He feels helpless to refute the rumors due to the sheer volume and being outnumbered. He also doesn't think the police can't help him and so approaches Poirot as a last resort.

 

Poirot believes a jealous woman is involved and Dr. Oldfield finally admits that his relationship with his demanding invalid wife had been strained, and also to being romantically involved with his much younger pharmaceutical dispenser, Jean Moncrieffe. And while the guilty party was telegraphed a little more than usual for Christie, it was still, as always, fascinating to see how Poirot finally identified the murderer, and how he exploited the very town gossips that plagued Dr. Oldfield to solve the case. 

 

Symbolic relationship: As Poirot describes it, "Rumour is indeed the nine-headed Hydra of Lernea which cannot be exterminated because as fast as one head is chopped off, two grow in its place." Poirot solved the dilemma by explaining, "...my task, like that of my namesake Hercules, was to reach the first - the original head." In other words, "Who had started the rumour?" 

 

3. "The Arcadian Deer" (Ceryneian Hind in the myth)

 

Hercules: Tasked with capturing the Ceryneian Hind, a stag-like creature sporting golden horns that is so swift of foot it can outrun arrows shot at it. Hercules captures it alive by throwing a net over it as it sleeps. After he presents it to King Eurystheus (who gave him with the task in the hopes it would cause him to run afould of the goddess Artemis), Hercules thwarts the king by returning the beast to Artemis rather than letting him keep it for himself, angering the king and pacifying the goddess.

 

Poirot: Hercules Poirot's car breaks down in a small country village, where the handsome young mechanic who is repairing the car requests the great detective's help in finding the lady's maid of a Russian ballerina who was visiting a local estate, but who mysteriously disappeared seemingly without a trace.

 

The young mechanic, Ted Williamson, is described as, "...one of the handsomest specimens of humanity he (Poirot) had ever seen, a simple young man with the outward semblance of a Greek god." And this sweet, simple young man is desperately in love with the young lady's maid, in spite of only meeting her a couple of times. He doesn't even know her last name, just her first: Nita. Poirot takes pity on Ted and goes above and beyond the call of duty to track down the missing girl. When he does, we learn that Nita was no lady's maid, but someone putting on a performance.

 

Symbolic relationship: The obvious tie of Ted being described as a Greek god. Poirot having once seen the ballerina dance the role of a hunted hind. Nita's golden hair being described as flipping up on each side of her face "like wings" (the Hind's golden horns). At the end there is also the hope that "Nita" might return to Ted as the Ceryneian Hind was returned to Artemis, with Poirot suggesting, "And why should you not be the wife of a garage hand in a country village? And have children as beautiful as gods, and with feet, perhaps, that will dance as you once danced."

 

I have to say that although (at least so far) these stories have been pretty short, quick reads, Christie packs an amazing amount of information and red herrings in them. This is really the first time I've read her short stories and in addition to her amazing novels, she was also a gifted short story author. The woman really could do it all. Looking forward to the next batch of Poirot's labors.

 

June Words of Wisdom

To be good, and to do good, is the whole duty of man comprised in a few words. (Abigail Adams) 

 

The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous. (Frederick Douglass)

 

Being hated by idiots is the price you pay for not being one of them. (Jean Cocteau) 

 

Nothing but this gaunt quiet. (H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds)

 

I like being at home. My life is very simple. I read a lot of books. I watch a lot of movies, listen to a lot of music, walk the dog. Cook with my family. I am boring. (Cillian Murphy) (Note: Sounds like a good time to me!) 

 

 

Recent reading: "Mastering the Art of French Murder"

Mastering the Art of French Murder: An American in Paris Mystery

by Colleen Cambridge

 

This is the first in Cambridge's Tabitha Knight series, set in post-World War II Paris and featuring a young American woman who has been invited to the City of Lights by her French grandfather. Living on the same street are Julia Child, a student at Le Cordon Bleu, Julia's sister Dorothy, and husband Paul, who works at the American embassy in France. Although Tabitha is pretty inept in the kitchen, she's getting help in this area from Julia as the two women have become close friends.

 

I had a little trouble getting immersed in this story, which begins with Tabitha and Julia perusing a French Market. I don't know if I thought it was a bit presumptuous to use someone like Julia as a major character. Cambridge did a good job of writing Julia, at least as far as I know about her from Julie & Julia and her autobiography. Still, I don't know how Julia (or any other chef) would really feel if her chef's knife was used in a murder.

 

I took the book with me to a lengthy hair appointment yesterday (color/conditioning/cut/blowout) and that's when I really got sucked into the mystery and I finished it today. Tabitha herself, along with Julia, Dorothy, and a group of Dorothy's local American theater friends who had partied at Chez Child with the victim are all suspects, so like any good amateur sleuth Tabitha lets her curiosity get the better of her as she embarks on her own investigation to clear her and her friends names.

 

One thing that I did find really interesting is that as Tabitha's investigation continued, what seemed like a simple murder evolved into a much deeper espionage plot involving Paul Child's place of employment. It was really unexpected and really expanded the depth of the mystery. And of course, the title is a nod to Julia Child's famous cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

 

Mastering the Art of French Murder is the first in a series of historical mysteries with Tabitha and Julia. Cambridge knows her post-WWII Paris and this story worked well not only as a mystery, but also as a fascinating history of the beautiful city emerging from the throes of occupation. 

 

Agatha Christie lied to us

 

May Words of Wisdom

When I die, sprinkle my ashes over the 80's. (David Lee Roth) 

 

I want a book to take me to the place I want to be. (James McBride) 

 

It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. (Rene Descartes)

 

It's amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. (Thomas Sowell) 

 

When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals. (Edward Snowden) 

 

We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. (Lucy Maud Montgomery)

 

I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me...I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art. (Anais Nin) 

 

Even when I feel nothing, I feel it completely. (Sylvia Plath) 

 

Recent reading: "A Caribbean Mystery"

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie 

 

For me, this Miss Marple story was far superior to January's experience, and I think it's because she's away from St. Mary Mead and among people who don't know anything about her expertise in solving crime. Jane Marple is on vacation in the Caribbean when a mysterious death piques her interest. But to the hotel owners and other guests, she's just a pleasant old lady who likes to knit, not a potent amateur sleuth, and how Miss Marple exploits this in her investigation is part of the fun.

 

A Caribbean Mystery features the usual Agatha Christie colorful cast of characters/suspects/victims. The hotel owners are a young couple who have sunk their life savings into the venture and are desperate for it to succeed, and the last thing they need is a murder or two. Among the guests are a blustery, old-school British colonel who likes to regale others with wild tales from his glory days and who becomes the first victim, a pair of upper-class couples who travel together, but whose outer propriety hides two damaged relationships, and a very elderly (and very rich) man traveling with his masseuse and secretary. And how Miss Marple finally figured out the mystery was highly entertaining and very unexpected.

 

I'm still trying to catch up on #ReadChristie2026 (this was April's read). The theme for 2026 is "Biggest, Best, Beloved" and A Caribbean Mystery was chosen as "Beloved in Your Collection". For May we have The Labours of Hercules, a collection of Hercule Poirot short stories based on the mythological Labours of Hercules. If I can finish them by the end of the month I'll be caught up. June should be easy because it's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, one of my all-time favorites that never gets old. If I can get caught up maybe I can work on the other book club I committed to this year and which has totally fallen by the wayside. 

 

March Words of Wisdom

The wisdom, its numbers are dwindling... 

 

But oh my, this is a noisy world. (Mr. Fred Rogers) 

 

We're developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won't be able to think. (Rod Serling)

 

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. (Aldous Huxley) 

 

Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it. (George Bernard Shaw) 

NOTE: I love this one because my Dad once told me some of the best advice he'd ever been given (by a teacher) was that, "You'd be surprise how uncommon common sense is." Yup.

 

Ask me to show you poetry in motion and I will show you a horse. (Unknown)  

 

Recent Reading: "Riding for the Blue: A Celebration of Horse Shows"

 

Riding for the Blue: A Celebration of Horse Shows

By Cindy Hale

Photographs by Sharon P. Fibelkorn

 

I've had this book for years stashed in the old horse crazy girl stack that seemed more and more a thing of the past, books that seemed like an indulgence that I probably needed to leave behind. But I've had some recent revelations about what was really important in my life and I realized how much I've missed being around horses. Getting back into the saddle has always been something I thought was increasingly unreachable for a number of reasons (for one, the sheer cost of it in L.A.) so that particular realization that I've spent years away from the one thing that was always most important to me growing up was a jolt, hence the refocus.

 

Riding for the Blue is one part gorgeous picture book, and for me, one part nostalgia-fest of the shows I rode in during my younger years. Nothing major, just local stuff, but I still have my ribbons and some horse equipment that I've been unable to part with. Too bad I didn't take the hint sooner, I might be riding right now instead of typing a blog post. This book was published in 2003 and I'm sure shows have changed a lot since then, but even dated, Hale imbues the show life with a love of horses and everything about them, and I got caught up immediately and devoured this in one sitting.

 

Although it's a pretty quick read, Hale covers a lot of ground regarding various types of horses, riders, shows, and everybody involved with them: hunters, jumpers, dressage, western, breed shows, rookie riders, green horses, trainers, judges, show moms, sportsmanship and character building, and much more. Even though showing wasn't a big part of my riding life, it did bring back memories of early mornings, performance jitters, and just the sheer joy of partnering up with a beloved half-ton animal. I also got a kick out of the fact that Hale mentions that over time, blue first-place ribbons will fade to purple, which is ironic because in horse shows purple ribbons denote a seventh-place finish.

 

Cindy Hale is (was?) a long-time contributor to Horse Illustrated magazine (which I recently resubscribed to) and they published the first chapter as an excerpt, which you can read here. 

 

Some of the gorgeous images from the book:

 

 

Recent reading (Book Clubs): "The Body in the Library" and OMG "Lonesome Dove"

 The Body in the Library: A Miss Marple Mystery 

by Agatha Christie

 

I have to confess that I didn't enjoy this Miss Marple story anywhere near how much I did the first one, A Murder at the Vicarage (although I was happy that the Vicar and his wife made a brief appearance in this one). The ending felt rushed to me and how Jane Marple foresaw the second murder and figured it out seemed too much of a stretch. If I were to go back and re-read it I might find a few clues, but on the first reading there were few if any. Also, the police seemed a bit too fatuous and reliant when it came to Miss Marple.

 

Christie gets the action going right out of the gate. Colonel and Mrs. Bantry awake to the news that the body of a young woman has been found in their library. The victim sports heavy makeup and dyed platinum blonde hair, is dressed for a party, and is completely unknown to the Bantrys or any of their staff. 

 

The strangulation of Ruby Keene leads the police and Miss Marple, who is immediately summoned by Mrs. Bantry, to a local hotel where Ruby was a dancer, and to a wealthy old man who took a fatherly interest in her. There's the obvious suspect, a local louse with a penchant for bottle blondes. But how Miss Marple wrapped up the case, including discovering not one, but two secret marriages among the cast of characters, just seemed too much for me, unless Miss Marple is psychic. 

 

The good news was that up until the end, the story was a fast read as the investigation propelled forward. I started it in the afternoon and finished it that later that night. That's how good it was until the end, which is why I was so disappointed.

 

The theme for Read Christie this year is Biggest, Best, Beloved, and The Body in the Library was picked as Best Opening. Next month: Beloved Character (s) and the Poirot novel Mrs McGinty's Dead.

 

And then my copy of Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning Lonesome Dove arrived today and holy moly, I had no idea what I was getting into. Lonesome Dove is the January/February "Big Read" for the Hardcore Literature Book Club, emphasis on "Big Read". This baby is 858 pages. It's a brick. I could hurt someone with this book, just chuck it at their head in self-defense. Good thing I got the Christie reading done early, because I'll need to spend some serious time on Lonesome Dove. Wish me luck!

Reading resolutions on steroids

One thing I've been wanting to do is stop the time-wasting activities (looking at you internet and my personal laziness) and more time reading. With that in mind I've made a couple of big commitments this year. First up: taking another shot at Read Christie. I tried this in 2024 but didn't make it all the way through, but I'm hoping for better results this time around. 

The 2026 theme is "Biggest, Best, Beloved" and here is the monthly schedule:

 

January (Best Opening): The Body in the Library (Marple)

 

February (Beloved Character/s): Mrs McGinty's Dead (Poirot)

 

March (Biggest Impact on You as a Young Reader): Murder on the Orient Express (Poirot)

 

April (Beloved in Your Collection): A Caribbean Mystery (Marple)

 

May (Best Short Story Collection): The Labours of Hercules (Poirot)

 

June (Best Read in One Sitting): The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot)

 

July (Best-Kept Secret): The Rose and the Yew Tree (Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott)

 

August (Beloved Duo): By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Tommy and Tuppence)

 

September (Best According to Agatha): Endless Night (Stand alone)

 

October (Best Cold Case): Sleeping Murder (Marple)

 

November (Biggest Inspiration): And Then There Were None (Stand alone)

 

December (Best Seasonal Read): Hercule Poirot's Christmas

 

2026 (Best Book About Agatha Christie): An Autobiography     

 

This means we have five Hercule Poirots, three Miss Marples, one Tommy/Tuppence, two stand alones, one of the novels Christie wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and her autobiography. Of all of these, I've only read Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Were None, so this year promises lots of new experiences.

 

As if that wasn't enough, I also recently discovered the Hardcore Literature Book Club when the video announcing their 2026 schedule popped up on my YouTube feed. I was blown away by the sheer depth of materials they read and although it's hideously overambitious, I just couldn't help signing up.  

 

For January/February we're reading Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and some ancient Greek tragedies, most of which I already covered in my Mythology class earlier this year. So that will involve revisiting material I've already read including Oedipus Rex, which was my favorite out of everything we read (which was saying a lot - I loved pretty much everything in that class). 

 

Just some of the works on the 2026 schedule are The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, along with The Bhagavad Gita and Beowulf. There will also be short stories and poetry, and a TBA surprise Dickens novel for the holidays. 

 

Wish me luck. 

Happy New Year's and Happy Public Domain Day!

2026 is upon us! 

One thing that has become a NY tradition for me is checking out the works entering the public domain. You can find the complete list here, but here are a few that jumped out at me: 

 

Books:

• The Maltese Falcon (full book version) (Dashiell Hammett)
• The Murder at the Vicarage (The first Miss Marple story) (Agatha Christie) 
• The first four Nancy Drew books.
• As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
• Private Lives (Noel Coward) 
• Are you old? Would you like to feel older? The debut of Dick and Jane is now in the public domain: Elson Basic Readers (William H. Elson) 

Films:

• All Quiet on the Western Front (Director: Lewis Milestone, winner of the Oscar for Best Picture) 
• Animal Crackers (Director: Victor Heerman, starring the Marx Brothers)
• The Blue Angel (Director: Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich)
• Anna Christie (Director: Clarence Brown, starring Greta Garbo)
• Hell's Angels (Director: Howard Hughes, film debut of Jean Harlow) 

Music:

• Four songs by George and Ira Gershwin: I Got Rhythm, I've Got a Crush on You, But Not for Me, Embraceable You
• Dream a Little Dream of Me (Gus Kahn/Fabian Andre/Wilbur Schwandt)
• Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight (Al Lewis/Al Sherman)
• Just a Gigolo (first English translation by Irving Caeser) 

Characters/Comics/Cartoons: various Betty Boop, Pluto, Blondie and Dagwood cartoons and comics, along with some more Mickey Mouse cartoons and comic strips, and ten more of Disney's Silly Symphonies.

 

Some interesting stuff this year. 

December Words of Wisdom

I am still under the impression that there is nothing alive quite so beautiful as a horse. (John Galsworthy) 

 

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. (Oscar Wilde)

 

Don't waste time on anything that doesn't thrill you or bring you love. (Gil Gerard, RIP) 

 

I still remember the days of sitting at book signings, playing with my pen when no one would come, and still I even then thought I was living the dream, because I had a book out. (Harlan Coben) 

 

The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest imaginable thing, and you work off the resonance. (Richard Price) 

 

 

Recent reading: "Hollywood Hustle"

Hollywood Hustle: A Thriller by Jon Lindstrom

 

Actor (General Hospital, Bosch, True Detective) turned novelist Jon Lindstrom was the guest at our December Sisters in Crime LA meeting and not only was he a fantastic speaker, his first novel, Hollywood Hustle, turned out to be a fantastic read.

 

Lindstrom's acting career began in the early 1980's and he's worked steadily ever since (he's also done some screenwriting and directing) so he knows how Hollywood really works and how tough and unforgiving it can be, and at the meeting he mentioned how many people he'd seen give up over the years. Winston Greene, the protagonist of Hollywood Hustle, is one of the survivors. Once considered the next Kevin Costner, Greene's career was negatively affected by alcoholism and the tragic death of his wife in a car accident, but later in life he's sober and his career has settled into low-budget but steady work. The current dark spot in his life is his poor relationship with his grown daughter Clare, who shares not only a drug and alcohol fueled slovenly life with her loser husband, but also a six-year-old daughter Amy, who Win adores.

 

Hollywood Hustle starts off with a bang. Winston awakes to find Amy at his bedside. She leads him outside to the man who brought her there, and that guy informs Win that they have kidnapped Clare and will let him know about the ransom. In spite of not becoming the next Kevin Costner, Win is still famous enough to be recognized by the public and also famous enough that the kidnapping crew believes him to be movie-star wealthy. He's not, and that fact drives a lot of the drama as he desperately attempts to round up sufficient funds to save Clare. 

 

Lindstrom writes short, snappy chapters that help move the chaotic action along as it ricochets around Los Angeles, from Winston's home in Wrightwood, to Sylmar, Venice and various freeways, all introduced by their proximity to Hollywood. Lindstrom also does an absolutely amazing job of getting right into the action, then unfolding the story, doling out the colorful cast of characters, their backgrounds, and how they all reached the point where we meet them. As a writer who has struggled with this, I found it to be a master class in launching directly into the action while unspooling the backstory bit by bit as needed. The last time I was this impressed with this ability was Devil in a Blue Dress. Like the Walter Mosley novel, I'll be revisiting this one for both the story and for writing advice.

 

Lindstrom's next book, Hollywood Payback, will be released in April. I'm looking forward to it.

 

From the book:

 

Teddy took in a long breath and let it out. "This is a crew, Win. They've done it before. Maybe that's all they do, and they're usin' this car to let you know how far they'll take it. On a regular ol' sunny day I'd recommend callin' in the cavalry, but this time...I don't know." Faint sounds from the TV wafted through the floorboards. "What puzzles me is why they didn't just take her," he said, cocking his head downstairs toward Amy.

 

Recent reading: "We Did OK, Kid"

 

We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir

by Anthony Hopkins

 

This is a wonderful memoir of Sir Anthony Hopkins's life and times, as well as his career as an Oscar-winning actor. He was an only child whose parents despaired of what his future held as he was a middling, disinterested student and didn't seem to have any particular talent or ambition. In fact, at one point he announced he wanted to be a hobo when he grew up. But love of film, literature, poetry, and an innate gift for reading material out loud eventually led him to the theatre.

 

We Did OK, Kid takes us through Hopkins's childhood in Wales, into his acting career in film, television and theatre, and how he honed his skills to become one of the greatest actors of his generation. We see his early exposure to legendary actors like Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier and how they molded him. On the personal side Hopkins doesn't shy away from the disasters that his first two marriages devolved into and of course there's his battle with alcohol (he's been sober for decades and often speaks eloquently on the subject on social media).

 

Hopkins also spends time explaining how he crafted what is probably his most famous performance, Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. It says a lot about his preparation that even during the table read he managed to frighten co-star Jodie Foster. It's a fascinating behind the scenes look at what is considered by many to be the embodiment of one of the greatest villains in film history.

 

Hopkins managed to eventually settle into a happy third marriage in 2003. His only child is a daughter named Abigail from his first marriage. When he left that unhappy union, he walked away completely feeling it was best for everyone involved, resulting in estrangement from Abigail and he admits that he wishes he could have had a better relationship with her. But of all the ups and downs Hopkins has experienced over his long life (he'll be 88 on New Year's Eve) he seems to have made his peace with it all and now appears to live a happy, examined life with regrets accepted and dealt with.

 

I cannot recommend this memoir highly enough. I expected Hopkins to be fascinating based on what I'd seen of him on film and social media, and We Did OK, Kid didn't disappoint. 

 

Recent reading: "The Comfort Crisis"

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self

by Michael Easter

 

 

This book was used for my current English 2 class (critical thinking and writing) and we've spent the semester having to spot fallacies, strengths, and weaknesses in Michael Easter's thesis that modern conveniences and technology have made us weak, mentally, physically, and emotionally. A resident of Las Vegas, it seems that Easter's focus is Western society and while I agree overall with his point, I had a few issues with how they were presented.

 

The main issue I had didn't have anything to do with an actual fallacy or factual issues (so I struggled with those assignments) as I did with the extreme (and therefore unrelatable to the average reader) experiences he cited. I totally agree with him that we were fitter and sharper when life was harder and took more effort (or any actual effort). But Easter uses a month-long trip to the Alaska wilderness, where he learns to survive in a harsh environment in the same manner as people did before there were any modern conveniences. He lives and sleeps in a tent, learns to track caribou, and eventually hunts one down to provide by that time in the trek very welcome substantial food.

 

Easter seems to have unlimited resources to travel to meet with experts. As a writer for Men's Health, I assume that they paid for a lot of his travel expenses. Sending him to Austin, Texas, to meet with a fitness coach he'd already interviewed online didn't seem like too much of a stretch. But at one point, Easter embarks on a trip to Bhutan to see how they live a more enlightened life. He describes the trip as "four flights across 48 hours, 14 time zones, and 9.465 miles" and while the chapter is fascinating, the more Easter and others he interviews who have similar extreme experiences, the less and less relatable it becomes as he fails to offer practical examples to his readers of how to improve the effect of modern conveniences in their everyday lives.

I do recommend this book if you are interested in some pretty fascinating stories that give you the opportunity to live vicariously through people who have the ability to manage experiences that most of us would never have the opportunity to experience. In a way, The Comfort Crisis isn't just a book to help you shed your dependency on modern tech, but also a vicarious travelogue.

 

November Words of Wisdom

Traditions are answers that have been discovered to enduring questions. 

--Roger Scruton

 

Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves. 

--Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

To the degree you approach the truth, your solitude will increase...Keep going. Don't be afraid. --Michel Houellebecq

 

Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. --Albert Camus 

 

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. --William Wordsworth 

 

Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying? --Voltaire

 

How quickly we turn from damsel to dragon when we decide we've had enough of their shit. --Ann Marie Eleazer