Category: BookLust I

What You Owe Me

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Campbell, Bebe Moore. What You Owe Me. Read by Caroline Clay. New York: Recorded Books, 2001.

What You Owe Me begins in Los Angeles in 1945. Hosanna Clark is working as a hotel chambermaid when she meets Holocaust survivor, Gilda Rosenstein. Gilda and Hosanna become fast friends, bonded by their experiences with prejudice: Gilda for being a Jew and Hosanna for being African American. Once Gilda and Hosanna are bonded in friendship they embark on a business venture producing cosmetics for black women. Until suddenly, Gilda has disappeared taking every cent Hosanna put into the venture with her. This portion of the story is compact. The majority of the story focuses on these two women. Fast forward 40+ years. Hosanna is dead and Gilda is a successful business owner with a closet full of skeletons. This portion of the story is vast. Campbell sets out to juggle four or five different stories involving multiple relationships and families. There is a reason this book is over 500 pages long.

Reason read: October is breast cancer awareness month and even though Campbell did not pass away from breast cancer (she had a brain tumor), I decided to honor her all the same. Cancer is cancer is cancer in my book. Also,  Campbell died in November so I am allowing myself to keep this book longer than the month of October to honor her passing as well. Let’s face it, I needed the extra time to get through all 20 cds.

Author fact: Campbell won the NAACP Image Award.

Reader fact: Caroline Clay has appeared on “Law and Order.” As an aside, she can’t do accents like Russian very well!

Book Audio trivia: My copy of What You Owe Me was over 22 hours long because it also included an exclusive interview with Bebe Moore Campbell.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “African American Fiction: She Say” (p 12).

Real Cool Killers

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Himes, Chester. The Real Cool Killers. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. New York: Library of America, 1999.

Ulysses Galen is shot dead for no apparent reason. Detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones need to figure out how a supposedly important white man wound up dead in Harlem. This story was a jumbled mess of contradictions. While there is over the top violence the cops are bumbling and almost slapstick. Coffin is suspended for killing a boy after being “perfumed.” He thought the boy was throwing acid in his face and overreacted. Digger’s main suspect in the shooting is a man they managed to handcuff before he was rescued by a gang of teenagers dressed as Arabs. You would think the police would watch for someone wearing cuffs when they search the neighborhood but they don’t think of it when they interview a man wearing huge gloves and a heavy overcoat. It gets even funnier when they don’t notice a man tied up in a sack in plain sight. They question it but accept its a bag of coal on a bed. As for the story itself, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. No one is really as they seem.

The names in this story are pretty funny: Inky, Choo-Choo, Sheik, Camel Mouth and Bones are all members of the Real Cool Muslim gang.

Disclaimer – this story is loaded with violence. In the very first chapter a knife yielding man gets his arm chopped off and two people are shot dead. At one point two detectives are rolling around, wrestling & arguing. Their scuffle takes place over the body of one of the dead men. It seems almost slapstick.

Line I liked, “I marked this one down as D.O.E. That means dead on arrival – my arrival, not his” (p 763). A medical examiner with a sense of humor.

Reason read: October is National Crime Prevention month.

Author fact: Chester Grimes was familiar with crime. He was arrested twice for armed robbery when he was 19. Convicted of the crimes he was spent eight years in prison (paroled in 1936).

Book trivia: Real Cool Killers is part of a series featuring Detectives Gravedigger and Coffin.

BookLust Twist: The Real Cool Killers is in a True Crime compilation I am reading for the challenge. From Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crimes Noir” (p 65).

Pick-Up

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Willeford, Charles. Pick-Up. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. New York: Library of America, 1999.

Harry Jordan, 32, is a down-and-out alcoholic working as a counter man in a diner when he meets 33 year old Helen Meredith. There is an instant attraction. While Harry doesn’t relish the idea of being a drunk, he can spot one a mile away, and Helen is just his type. They soon strike up a pitiful relationship. Both are out of work, both have severed ties with family and friends. The only thing they have together is a love for the bottle. When Harry decides suicide is their only way out things go from bad to worst. Deep down, Harry is a decent man who feebly attempts to do the right thing and never succeeds.

Lines I liked, “Love is in what you do, not in what you say” (p 423), “you watch them overshadow you until you are nothing except a shadow within a shadow and then lost altogether in the unequal merger” (p 445) and “Tears in a bar are not unusual” (p 567).

Reason read: Pick-Up  is one of the stories in Crime Novels which I am reading in honor of National Crime Prevention week.

Author fact: Charles Willeford is a war hero of World War II. He received a Purple Heart.

Book trivia: Pick-Up was originally written in 1955. Willeford’s writing is so clean you can just picture the era perfectly.

BookLust Twist: from Crime Novels: American Noir listed in Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crime Noir” (p 65).

Star Trap

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Brett, Simon. Star Trap. Boston: G.K Hall & Co., 1999.

Something is going on with the musical production of Lumpkin! They have barely started rehearsals when things start to go wrong. The rehearsal pianist has a shooting accident and can’t play the piano. Then a main actor literally breaks a leg. Both of these incidents happen within the same week. Is it a coincidence? Actor/amateur detective Charles Paris is hired to find out. He conveniently takes the part left vacant by the actor with the broken leg so that he is able to get up close and personal to the drama (pun totally intended). Only, Charles shrugs off the rumors of sabotage as mere coincidences until he is directly affected. As soon as he opens his eyes to the possibility of sabatoge he starts noticing strange things really are happening – deliberately. Will he find out before opening night or will he be cut out of the script before the mystery is solved?

Be forewarned: Brett introduces a lot of names in the first few chapters (21 people and 14 places and 6 plays, television shows and/or songs). There’s a lot to take in and at first it is hard to decide which names, places and productions are really important.

Post script: somehow I ordered the large print version. This is funny because I was just told last month I should purchase “readers” (although my husband calls them “cheaters”). My optometrist assures me I don’t really need them yet. Riiight.

Quotes I like, “…he felt in need of a red-hot poker to burn out the rotten bits of his brain” (p 74) and “Charles felt a great swoop of despair, as if all of his worst opinions of himself were suddenly ratified, as if his thoughts that infected him at his lowest moods had suddenly been classified as gospel” (p 96).

Reason read: Brett’s birthday is in October

Author fact: Simon Brett has his own website. His biography page is really fun.

Book trivia: Charles Paris is a reoccurring character in Brett’s books. As far as I can tell you don’t need to read them in order of publication.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love A Mystery” (p 118).

Talented Mr. Ripley

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Highsmith, Patricia.The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1999.

I think everyone has seen the 1999 movie, but here is a brief overview: Tom Ripley reminds me of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello in the way he is able to manipulate any situation to his advantage. Tom comes from poverty and loneliness having grown up without parents. His formative years were shaped by an overbearing aunt who belittled him at every opportunity. Tom learned early on he would need to con his way through life in order to survive it. When the IRS begins to close on him concerning a check cashing scheme, Tom is approached with a business proposition by the wealthy father of an acquaintance he cannot refuse. The opportunity is simple: Mr. Greenleaf has hired Tom to travel to Italy to convince his son, Dickey, to come home. He pays all of Tom’s expenses for the trip including an allowance. Only, Dickey has no intentions of ever coming home. Realizing he has failed, he can longer be of use to Mr. Greenleaf and the money will soon dry up, Tom decides he needs a new angle – to steal Dickey’s identity. Tom is a strangely likeable character. Told from his point of view, you can’t help but root for him. He’s not a psychopath because he has the ability to imagine the suffering of others but he thinks nothing of killing someone if it is the only way to get out of a jam.

Quotes I took with me, “You go out of your way not to hurt people who’re in love with you, you know” (p 229), “If you wanted to be cheerful, or melancholic, or wistful, or thoughtful, or courteous, you simply had to act those things with every gesture” (p 321).
Reason read: October is National Crime Prevention month.

Book trivia: As mentioned before, The Talented Mr. Ripley has been made into a movie twice – once in 1960 & again in 1999.

Author fact: Patricia Highsmith was born an American but writes about Italy as if she lived there all her life. I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of Venice.

BookLust Twist: The Talented Mr. Ripley is in a True Crime compilation I am reading for the challenge. From Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crimes Noir” (p 65).

White Devil

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Webster, John. The White Devil. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960.

I have to admit, anything written in the early 1600s is a chore to read. Especially if there isn’t a 19th or 20th century translation around. The White Devil was no exception to this belief. I found it tedious and tough. Three words: Bored. To. Tears. I’m sure the plot was racy in it’s day but I couldn’t get beyond the language. There is rumors of adultery, exile, fake deaths, corruption and family drama.

Reason read: with all of its revenge and corruption it should be perfect for Halloween. I wouldn’t know because I couldn’t finish it.

Author fact: John Webster was a contemporary of William Shakespeare. I have to wonder what their conversations would have sounded like. Competitive?

Book Play trivia: when this was first introduced to the English public it bombed. Webster blamed it on the weather because turnout was low. However, in more recent years it has been reintroduced and adapted.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 216). Pearl lumps The White Devil in the horror category but I wouldn’t know. It’s definitely a tragedy, but not I’m not sure about horror.

Southpaw

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Harris, Mark. The Southpaw. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953

From the very beginning of The Southpaw you know you are in for a treat. Just read the dedication to know why. Then, for further evidence, move on to the “Special Warning To All Readers!!!”
Henry Wiggen is a left handed pitcher reflecting on his career in baseball. Although Henry is obsessed with the game from the very beginning there is a real defining moment when, at sixteen, he replaces his father on the mound during a game against the Clowns. After that, he tries out and is subsequently signed to play for the New York Mammoths. During spring training in Florida Henry learns what its like to be a ballplayer in the big time – competition, women, egos. The only “criticism” I have of the book is that one must love baseball in order to really love The Southpaw. There is a lot of play by play action that can get a little tedious at times.

I’ve read a few reviews where people were bothered by Henry Wiggen’s uneducated manner of speech. It didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I thought it added realism to the character.

As an aside, I was a little bothered that Mark Harris used a C. Marlowe poem (“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”) but doesn’t give credit where credit is due.

Quotes to mention, “I was a terrible kid for flinging things at people” (p 25), and “But throwing a baseball and throwing a hand grenade is 2 different things, and I am at my best with 1 and scared to my toes of the other” (p 37), “That first night I had the regular blues, lonesome as the moon and not a soul to talk to” (p 137),

Reason read: The world series is in October.

Book trivia: The version I read boasted of “punctuation freely inserted and spelling greatly improved.” Whatever that means.

Author fact: According to the back of The Southpaw Harris wanted to be a ballplayer but his stature of only 5’7″ deterred him.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (p 229).

One By One in the Darkness

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Madden, Deirdre. One By One in the Darkness. London: Faber and Faber, 2003.

Three sisters have gathered at their childhood home in Northern Ireland for a visit. Cate, a journalist for a home/fashion magazine in London, is early for her annual visit; a detail that is not lost on older sister, Helen. Helen, a solicitor in Belfast, comes home every weekend, and Sally, the youngest and a teacher, already lives at home with their mother. None of the sisters are married. The story bounces between present day and the three sisters’s childhood in alternating chapters. Madden uses clever clues like the spelling of Cate/Kate to indicate past or present. When Kate became an adult she changed her name to Cate. So for chapters in the past it is Kate while for present-day chapters it is Cate. [As an aside, it reminded me of the movie ‘Sliding Doors.’ In one scenario Helen has cut her hair short and dyed in blonde while in another she leaves it long and dark. The difference helps the viewer tell the difference between the two story lines involving the same character.] Cate, Helen and Sally grew up in the 1960s and 70s during the Troubles and it’s this historical background that drives the present day story of the mid 1990s and the IRA ceasefire. There isn’t a plot to speak of, just the coping of four women after the death of the head of the household during the troubles. The only present day drama worth noting is Cate’s pregnancy.

Line I liked, “But she gained a dark knowledge that night which would never leave her” (p 130).

Reason read: I have read it somewhere that October is the best time to visit Ireland.

Book trivia: One By One in the Darkness was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 1997.

Author fact: Madden won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1987. The conditions of the prize? Write Irish lit (obviously) and be under 40 years of age. Interesting.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter simply called “Irish Fiction” (p 126).

Last Supper

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McCarry, Charles. The Last Supper. Read by Stefan Rudnicki. Blackstone Audio, 2006.

Paul Christopher is a CIA man who was raised around dark secrets. His parents smuggled Jews out of Germany via boat to Denmark during World War II when he was just a child. As a teenager he remembers he and his American father being removed from Germany while his German mother was held behind. This separation and the need to find her prompted Paul’s father to join the CIA. Following in his father’s footsteps after his murder, Paul also joins the “The Outfit.” The Last Supper spans all of the major conflicts between World War I and the Vietnam War. Stay on your toes because this is fast paced and involves many different characters who may or may not be spies.

Can I just say I love Stefan Rudnicki’s reading voice? He and his accents are great!

Edited to add: I didn’t get the opportunity to quote anything from The Last Supper because I experienced it in audio form. But, there was a few lines about running that I wanted to remember so I borrowed the book specifically so I could find the passage and quote it properly. So, here it is: “Only a bourgeois fool doesn’t know instinctively the deep spiritual meaning of running…It’s tremendously ritualistic. You put om a sweat suit and tennis shoes with funny soles that cost a hundred dollars and are all wound around with dingy adhesive tape, and you run through the public streets, dripping with sweat. It gives you shin splints and snapped Achilles tendons and wobbly knees but in compensation you build up your state of grace and these marvelous muscles” (p 288).

Reason read: the Cold War ended in September.

Author fact: According to the back of The Last Supper McCarry was an intelligence officer working deep undercover during the Cold War.

Book trivia: While McCarry wrote Paul Christopher as a series character the chronology is not based on publication. I read The Last Supper (published in 1983) before Tears of the Giraffe (published in 1974), but I don’t think it matters.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Cold War Spy Fiction” (p 61).

Light Infantry Ball

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Basso, Hamilton. The Light Infantry Ball. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1959.

Basso takes an entire South Carolina community and brings it to life during the Civil War era though the story revolves around John Bottomley. He has been educated in the North (New Jersey) and had plans of becoming a writer when family duty obligates him to return to his family’s rice plantation. His life during this time is one of isolation because he is in love with a married woman and no one can understand his “pro-North” views. It doesn’t help that he is confused about his feelings concerning slavery. He grows more and more aware of his surrounding society as time goes on especially when it comes to the married woman. Later, after a stint in government, Bottomley finally joins the military to aid in the war. Guilt had finally gotten to him. Parallel to these life changes is the story of Bottomley’s brother and his mysterious disappearance after a murder.

Lines I liked, “He worked long, read much, and spoke little” (p 22), “…he had the sense of a door being thrown wide open and of looking into a stale, closed-off room strewn with the debris of a hundred bitter quarrels dragged across the years” (p 252-253) and finally my favorite, “War was war, yes, but even in war there were civilized standards to maintain” (p 324).

Reason read: Basso was born in September.

Author trivia: Basso wrote 15 books before his death. I am only reading a handful of them.

Book fact: The Light Infantry Ball is a prequel to The View From Pompey’s Head.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Hamilton Basso: Too Good To Miss” (p 32).

Child That Books Built

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Spufford, Francis. The Child That Books Built: a Life in Reading. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.

The Child That Books Built is an explanation for an addiction. Francis Spufford’s addiction. Right up front Spufford admits to his insatiable need to read, starting when he was a young child. He would explain his relationships with books as such, “Reading catatonically wasn’t something I chose to do…the stopping my ears with fiction was non-negotiable” (p 2). Once he gets his explanations out of the way he goes on to explain how all the reading he had done as a child shaped his world as an adult. Drawing on psychology and philosophy to make his points Spufford connects the world of Narnia to that of religious adoration; the Little House on the Prairie to that of family and community.

Quote that caught me off guard for its timing: “No addiction is ever explained by examining the drug. the drug didn’t cause the need. A tour of a brewery won’t explain why somebody became an alcoholic” (p 11). Wow. Wow. Wow.

Reason read: The Library of Congress National Book Festival is in September. This year it is the weekend of the 21st.

Author fact: Spufford also wrote I May Be Some Time for which he won the Sunday times Young Writer award in 1997.

Book trivia: Despite being short (only 210 pages) this book packs a punch. Be prepared.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Books About Books” (p ) and from More Book Lust in the introduction (p ix).

Nobody Knows My Name

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Baldwin, James. Collected Essays: Nobody Knows My Name. New York: Library of America, 1998.

Nobody Knows My Name is a collection of essays continued from Notes From a Native Son. While the essays are less biting than those in Notes they are just as honest and clear about the Negro condition at the time of Baldwin’s writing. He has a sharp eye for the social and economical position of the time. As he was frequenting Paris I find it interesting that for Baldwin the question of color did not exist in Europe whereas in America he was afraid to listen to Bessie Smith or even touch watermelon. It is in Europe that Baldwin discovered what it mean to be an American.

Interesting quotes, “I love to talk to people, all kinds of people, and almost everyone, as I hope we still know, loves a man who loves to listen” (p 140) and “No Negro in this country has ever made that much money and it will be a long time before any Negro does” (p 173). Baldwin wrote those words in the early 60s. I wonder what he would think of Oprah…

Reason read: Baldwin was born in August.

Author fact: Baldwin was born a New Yorker but died in Paris.

Book trivia: This isn’t really a book, but a short (150 pages) essay.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two different chapters. The first called “African American Fiction: He Say” (p 10). Not entirely accurate since this is nonfiction (another example of Pearl filling space in a chapter). The second time Nobody Knows My Name is mentioned is in the chapter called “Essaying Essays” (p 81) which is the more accurate place for this to be mentioned.

Burning the Days

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Salter, James. Burning the Days: Recollection. New York: Random House, 1997.

I think I would only have enjoyed this more if James Salter had read it to me. His writing; his way with words is intoxicating! In reality, Salter could have written separate two books about his life. The first being about his time serving in the Air Force as a pilot. His descriptions of war are frightening and exhilarating all at once. The second book could have covered the time in his life as a New York writer.  As an accomplished writer his world was opened up to film deals and movie stars. Again, terrifying and exciting all at once. Both are fast paced lives but so very different! The second section seems to be a who’s who in the entertainment industry.  Salter makes coy references to the passions he shared with lots of women, “We sat on the couch and studied. The vocabulary was not that of school” (p 245). Salter could have written a third about his friendship with Irwin Shaw. You could tell from the tenderness in Salter’s words that he truly enjoyed Shaw’s company.

Lines worth mentioning: “There is your life as you know it and also as others know it, perhaps incorrectly, but to which some importance must be attached” (p 3), “Nothing is as intense as unconsummated love” (p 121), and “There is a feeling Faulkner probably had – I have had it myself – that somewhere the true life is being lived, though not where you are” (p 182).

Reason read: August is aviation month.

Author fact: Salter also wrote A Sport and a Pastime which is also on my list. I’m looking forward to it.

Book trivia:  Despite this being a memoir it does not contain photographs. Bummer.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Above Clouds” (p 90).

Ox-Bow Incident

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Clark, Walter Van Tilburg. The Ox-Bow Incident. New York: Signet Classic, 1968.

The Ox-Bow Incident was first published in 1940 but its premise could have been about modern mob mentality. It is the story of a rumor and what happens when a community is whipped into a frenzied need for self-righteous justice. In Nevada someone has been rustling cattle. When two men are pinned for the crime the mob cries for retaliation. Then they find out one of their own has been murdered. Now, they want the men lynched. While this is a western it could take place anywhere a collective group of angry people let their emotions get the better of them. It’s the story of what happens when this group takes the law into their own hands. Clark’s character development is brilliant. Each man in the story is a study in emotion. The tension that builds due to violence and bred by hate and suspicion rings true.

Lines I liked, “Whenever Gil gets low in spirit, or confused in his mind, he doesn’t feel right until he’s had a fight” (p 15), “There is a kind of insanity that comes from being between walls and under a roof” (p 50), and “He’d got beyond me again, chasing his own hate” (p 103).

Reason read: For some reason July is the best time to go to a dude ranch. Not sure why. This doesn’t take place on a dude ranch but it’s a western so…

Author fact: Clark was born in Maine but became Nevada’s best known writer of western fiction.

Book trivia: The Ox-Bow Incident was made into a movie in 1943.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Western Fiction” (p 240).

Home Before Dark

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Cheever, Susan. Home Before Dark: a Biographical Memoir of John Cheever by His Daughter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984.

With this help of her father’s diaries and journals, Susan Cheever is able to put together a personal and detailed biography of her father, famous author John Cheever. Unlike third party (clearly outsider) biographies Susan is able to insert her own recollections and feelings into the memoir. She makes no excuses for the love/hate battle she waged with her dad. As a biographer writing about a loved one it is tempting to gloss over the not so pretty aspects of one’s life but Susan tackles the tough material with grace. She does not shirk from her father’s early failures as a writer not does she make excuses for his volatile marriage and heavy drinking. What she presents is a snapshot of society and her father’s successes and failures in it.

This is the second memoir I have read about fathers this year. I was fascinated with the writers’ retreat where Cheever spent some time. Since it is in Saratoga Springs, a place I have been to before, I had to research a visit.

Quotes I liked, “Places he could enjoy without owning them” (p 32) and “Without a novel, there could be no solid literary reputation” (p 99).

Reason read: Susan Cheever’s birth month is in July (the 31st).

Author fact: Susan has a brother named Ben who also wrote books.

Book trivia: Home Before Dark is only one of Susan’s biographies about her family.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “All in the Family: Writing Dynasties” (p 4).