Tag: Merle Miller

Lyndon: an Oral Biography

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Miller, Merle. Lyndon: an Oral Biography. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980.

Reason read: Lyndon’s birth month was in August. Read in his honor.

Merle Miller spent more than five years compiling Johnson’s oral history. The miles he put in, literally and figuratively, are astounding. Lyndon B. Johnson was a complicated man living in the time of the greatest society. Known for his aw-shucks attitude, he started out being a good ‘ole boy who voted against antilynching and antidiscrimination laws but ended his career as an instrumental advocate for federal aid to education, the creation of Medicare, changes in voter rights, and stronger civil rights. The death of Texas Congressman James P. Buchanan was a turning point in Johnson’s political trajectory. His campaigns were memorable – arriving by helicopter when running for senator. By the end of his political career Lyndon had weathered a tumultuous era: the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the march in Selma, Alabama, the Vietnam War.
As with any oral history, the chronology jumps around a bit. Case in point: the birth of Lyndon’s first child came before the purchase of the radio station, KTBC.
Miller provides an intimate primer on the inner workings of the United States government. Probably the most fascinating section was the hour by hour, behind the scenes account of the Kennedy assassination and the transition of power to Lyndon B. Johnson. He also peeled back the curtain on Lady Bird Johnson’s life as well. Just as Lyndon was thrust into presidency, Lady Bird became the First Lady overnight. There was no time for preparation but she acclimated to her position with grace. As an aside, her note of encouragement to her husband was beautiful.

Author fact: Miller died when he was only 67 years old. My copy of Lyndon was signed by him.

Book trivia: Miller does not leave a detail unexplored. By default, readers get glimpses into the personality of President Roosevelt and a short biography of Lady Bird (Claudia)’s life leasing up to meeting her husband, to name a couple.

Music: Lena Horne, “I’ll Be with You When I’m Gone,” “Kate Smith on the South,” “God Bless America,” “San Antonio Rose,” “Dixie,” “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You,” Beethoven, “Hello, Dolly,” “The Eyes of Texas,” and “Ruffles and Flourishes.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss” (p 155). If Pearl wanted, she could have included Lyndon in the “Presidential Biographies” chapter as well.

On Being Different

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Miller, Merle. On Being Different. Random House, 1987.

Reason read: Merle Miller celebrated a birthday in May. Read in his honor.

The prejudice one has for homosexuals borders on insane, yet it exists. Why anyone would see a link between homosexuality and communism is beyond me. Same with thinking marriage could be a potential “cure” for homosexuality. These are the beliefs of the ignorant. It took Miller fifty years to come out of the closet. That is an unimaginable length of time to hide one’s true self yet it happens all the time. Miller’s essay “On Being Different” is a valiant attempt to respond to the ignorant and expose the human side of love. He discusses the prejudices and fears without flinching. There is grace threaded throughout his anger.

Book trivia: the foreword was written by Dan Savage. Afterword One was written by Merle Miller. Afterword Two was written by Charles Kaiser. Acknowledgments were written by Carol Hanley. On Being Different is only a twenty-one page essay, but with all these other additions and appendices A through C is becomes a much longer book.

Confessional: I, too, like Halloween for all of its mask wearing.

Playlist: Paul Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Peggy Lee’s “Love Story”, Liberace, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, and “We Shall Overcome”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss” (p 155).

Gay and Melancholy Sound

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Miller, Merle. A Gay and Melancholy Sound. Las Vegas: Nancy Pearl Presents a Book Lust Rediscovery, 2012.

Reason read: Miller was born in the month of May. Read in his honor.

How to describe A Gay and Melancholy Sound? It is easy to dislike Joshua Bland. As a child genius his life has been the antithesis of his name. His mother always strove for fame and recognition through her son to the point of mental abuse. His father abandoned the situation, leaving Josh to be raised by a hostile and unhappy stepfather. When Josh crumbles under the demands and suffers his first major disappointment it sends his future into a tailspin of apathy and low expectation. He goes on to become a World War II veteran, a bestselling author and a successful producer without any accomplishment touching his life in any meaningful way. He is so disconnected from his feelings that he decides it’s time to commit suicide. Before he does he needs to write his memoirs as one last gift to the world from the prodigy who used to have lofty aspirations.

Soapbox Patter: In 2012 independent book sellers were in an uproar because Nancy Pearl partnered with online bookselling giant, Amazon, to republish a run of books long out of print. For years Amazon has been accused of running small bookstores into the ground with their cheap prices. The boo hiss for Pearl could be heard across the internet. As a librarian, I am quietly applauding “Nancy Pearl Presents a Book Lust Rediscovery” because Pearl has a whole chapter dedicated to the works of Merle Miller in Book Lust. As someone trying to read every book indexed in Book Lust, without AmazonEncore publishing A Gay and Melancholy Sound I don’t think I would have found it as easily as I did. And. And! And, I didn’t have to buy it from evil Amazon. I supported a reputable public library by borrowing it. Miller’s oral biography of Harry Truman (Plain Speaking) is everywhere, but try to find Melancholy. It’s not that easy. [Stepping down from the soapbox now…]

Lines I liked, “She gave the impression that if she hadn’t been able to get into publishing, she could certainly have found an opening in professional wrestling” (p 7), “Agreed, a good teacher is the best kind of human being” (p 190),

Author fact: Miller wrote 16 different books. I’m reading all but two, The Warm Feeling and A Day in Late September.

Book trivia: A Gay and Melancholy Sound is over 500 pages long. I was worried I wouldn’t get through it without an audio backup.

Nancy said: in Book Lust A Gay and Melancholy Sound is “wonderful” but “too emotionally devastating to read a second time” (p 166), But. But! But, this is untrue. In the introduction to A Gay and Melancholy Sound she admitted to “rereading it a dozen more times” (p vi), starting when she was seventeen.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in two different chapters: “Merle Miller: Too Good To Miss” p 155) and “My Own Private Dui” (p 165). You may have noticed I am reading two books from the same Book Lust chapter “My Own Private Dui” (very observant of you, if you did).

By May

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I thought May was going to be a disaster. The first two and a half weeks were nothing but rain and way cooler temps. I worried about my garden. I didn’t feel like running. It felt like a downward spiral. I ended up running only 28 miles and running away to Monhegan for a week so it ended better than it began. But…it’s still raining.

“…when May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in every hour” ~ Natalie Merchant, These are Days.

“I wanted to be there by May, at the latest. April is over. Can you tell me how long before I can be there?” ~ Natalie Merchant, Painted Desert.

Here are the books:

Fiction:

  • H by Elizabeth Shepard (read in one day)
  • Nerve by Dick Francis (read in two days)
  • A Gay and Melancholy Sound by Merle Miller

Nonfiction:

  • Good-Bye to All That by Robert Graves
  • Age of Gold by HW Brands
  • Lusitania: an epic tragedy by Diana Preston

Series continuation:

  • “Q” is for Quarry by Sue Grafton (finished the series)
  • As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (okay, so I didn’t know this was part of a trilogy).

Early Review for LibraryThing:

  • At the Broken Places by Mary and Donald Collins