Short Story Wednesday: "The Gay Old Dog" by Edna Ferber

 

"The Gay Old Dog" by Edna Ferber was first published in 1917 in the Metropolitan Magazine. It is the first story I read in 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, published in  2015, edited by Lorrie Moore and Heidi Pitlor.

The story starts out describing Jo Hertz as "a plump and lonely bachelor of fifty. A plethoric, roving- eyed, and kindly man, clutching vainly at the garments of a youth that had long slipped past him." He is quite well-to-do and he goes out at night in search of happiness. The setting is Chicago, Illinois.

Next we learn of Jo Hertz's more youthful years, starting when his mother was on her deathbed and he promised her that he would not marry until all three of his sisters were provided for.  The story relates how this promise affected the rest of Jo's life. He is a good man, he is a kind man, but not a happy one. 

I enjoyed this story, but I did not get emotionally involved with any of the characters. We often get stories of women forced to give up their lives and marriage for their mothers or their siblings, but this one shows a man doing that. The story of the hardships of Jo's early life and how his fortunes change is interesting. I also liked the picture of the times. Some reviewers described it as a "time capsule." 

This is a very good quote from the story:

"Death-bed promises should be broken as lightly as they are seriously made. The dead have no right to lay their clammy fingers upon the living."

The short story is available online here.

The story was adapted to film in 1919; it was directed by Hobert Henley.

A Cast of Falcons: Steve Burrows

A Cast of Falcons is the third book in the Birder Murder Mystery series by Steve Burrows. The author is Canadian and this is the first book I have read for the Canadian Reading Challenge. In this case, the books are set in the UK but the main character is from Canada.

From the description at the Simon & Schuster website:

A man falls to his death from a cliff face in western Scotland. From a distance, another man watches. He approaches the body, tucks a book into the dead man’s pocket, and leaves. 

When the Scottish police show visiting Detective Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune the book, he recognizes it as a call for help. But he also knows that answering that call could destroy the life he and his girlfriend Lindy have built for themselves in the village of Saltmarsh, in north Norfolk. 

Back in Saltmarsh, the brutal murder of a researcher involved in a local climate change project has everyone looking at the man’s controversial studies as a motive.

My thoughts:

Domenic Jejeune does not even like being a DCI, he would rather be focusing on birdwatching. But he is very good at his job and he had made a name for himself in his previous job in London. In the first book in this series, he was newly appointed to the police department in the small Norfolk town of Saltmarsh, located in the heart of Britain’s premier birding country. In this book, Jejeune is more comfortably settled into his job and his team of detectives, but the return of someone from his past threatens to upset the equilibrium in his work and home life.

I have always enjoyed this series for the bird watching tidbits and the setting. The mystery plots have been secondary for me. However, here the plot is related to climate change and environmental issues and is very well done.

Dominic is introspective or oblivious at times, off in his own world, and this characteristic causes problems in both his work and at home. Sometimes I find that behavior irritating, but it makes him more human too. I also like the secondary characters in this series and how they develop over time. 

This is one of two mystery series that I am reading primarily because of the inclusion of birdwatching and the depictions of the coastal areas where the birds thrive. I would caution however that some reviewers felt that birding was too much of a presence in the plot of this series. The other series that features birdwatching is William Shaw's DS Alexandra Cupidi Series.

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Publisher:   Point Blank, 2018 (orig. pub. 2016)
Length:       384 pages
Format:       Trade paperback
Series:        Birder Murder Mysteries, #3
Setting:       England & Scotland
Genre:        Police procedural
Source:       I purchased this book.

My Result for the Classics Club Spin #38

 

The  result of the Classics Club Spin was announced today, and the number was 17, so I will be reading My Ántonia by Willa Cather sometime in August.

This is the summary from my edition:

Ántonia Shimerda is the daughter of Bohemian immigrants struggling with the oceanic loneliness of life on the Nebraska prairie. Through the eyes of Jim Burden, her tutor and disappointed admirer, we follow Ántonia from farm to town as she survives hardships both natural and human, from hardscrabble poverty to a failed romance–and not only survives, but triumphs.

I am looking forward to reading this book. It will be the first one I have read by Willa Cather, and I have heard many good things about her writing.

Classics Club Spin #38, July 2024

The latest Classics Club Spin has been announced. To join in, I have chosen twenty books from my classics list. On Sunday, 21st July, 2024, the Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The goal is to read whatever book falls under that number on this Spin List by Sunday, 22nd September, 2024.

So, here is my list of 20 books for the spin...

1. Edna Ferber – Show Boat (1926)
2. Patricia Highsmith – The Talented Mr.Ripley (1955)
3. Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
4. Madeleine L'Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
5. William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
6. Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (1818)
7. John Steinbeck – Cannery Row (1945)
8. William Thackeray – Vanity Fair (1848)
9. Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
10. Virginia Woolf – Flush (1933)
11. Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)
12. Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
13. Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847) 
14. Anne Brontë – Agnes Grey (1847)
15. Albert Camus – The Stranger (1942)
16. Lewis Carroll – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
17. Willa Cather – My Ántonia (1918)
18. Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows (1908)
19. Graham Greene – Our Man in Havana (1958)
20. Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

This is almost exactly the same list as I used last time, so no surprises here. Are there any of these you especially liked... or disliked?

Short Story Wednesday – Valentino: Film Detective

This week I read three stories from Valentino: Film Detective by Loren D. Estleman, published by Crippen & Landru in 2011. The collection contains 14 short stories, all starring Valentino. He is no relation to the actor, Rudolph Valentino, but he does look like him and is constantly getting comments noting that resemblance. All of the stories in this book were originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine between 1998 and 2010.

On Estleman's website, Valentino is described as "a film detective for UCLA who inadvertently becomes an amateur sleuth." 

The first story I read, "Dark Lady Down," was a bit of a disappointment. It was one of the shorter stories, and it is solved too quickly. But the next two stories in the book were very good so I have high expectations for the rest of the stories.

In "The Frankenstein Footage" Valentino gets a call from an old friend, Craig Hunter, who is in San Diego. He assumes he is asking for money as usual and hangs up on him. The next morning two homicide detectives from San Diego come to see him. Craig Hunter was murdered the previous night, beaten to death. He answers their questions. After they leave he does some investigating on his own. 

In "Director's Cut" Valentino is trying to complete the Film Preservation Department's collection of Justin Ring's films. He is seeking a copy of the director's student film. The director insists that he burned every print and the negative years before. Months later Justin Ring's motor craft is lost at sea. Eight years later Ring's nephew shows up with a copy. This one got a bit confusing for me but it was interesting and entertaining.

The stories are told with humor, and Estleman reveals his love of movies and deep knowledge of film history. 

Loren D. Estleman is a very prolific and well-known author who has been publishing novels since 1976. He has published seven mystery novels starring Valentino since 2008. He is also the author of the Amos Walker series, the Peter Macklin series, and many standalone novels, including many Western novels. He lives in Michigan. 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry: Gabrielle Zevin

 

As the story opens, A.J. Fikry is a widower. His wife died 21 months earlier and left him to run their book store on Alice Island, Massachusetts. The book store is not doing well. And then his prized possession, a very valuable copy of Tamerlane, is stolen. Shortly after that, a small child, two-year-old Maya, is left in A.J.'s store, and that event changes his life forever.

Now this sounds like it could be a very smaltzy novel (and maybe for some readers it is) but because it is set in a book store and because the author is Gabrielle Zevin, I decided to give it a chance. I had not even read a book by Zevin at that time, so I don't know why that influenced my decision.

I loved this book. It is a book about books; the protagonist is the owner and manager of a book shop. There are many mentions of books of all types. The characters also talk about the types of books they like and why. 

A.J. is very prejudiced in his likes and dislikes at the beginning of the book, and in some cases will not purchase books for his book store unless he likes them. 

He is exceptionally rude to the new sales representative from Knightley Press, Amelia Loman. He gives her a long list of types of books he does not like. She tells him...

"Do you want my opinion?"

"Not particularly," he says. "What are you, twenty-five?"

"Mr. Fikry, this is a lovely store, but if you continue in this this this"—as a child, she stuttered and it occasionally returns when she is upset; she clears her throat—"this backward way of thinking, there won't be an Island Books before too long."

Each chapter begins with a review or description of a short story, sort of like diary entries, with notes. I loved that element of the book. The first chapter begins with a mini-review of "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. There were 13 chapters, thus 13 stories. I have only read three of the stories, and most of the others I would like to read someday.

It turns out that I enjoyed the book just as much for the development of the relationships in the book and the look at a community on a small island. A.J. Fikry is the focal point of the story, but other characters and their relationships are also important, and more and more about these characters is revealed as the story continues.

There is a lovely scene when A.J. meets Officer Lambiase after the death of A.J.'s wife. A.J. tells Lambiase that they are characters in a novel:

My wife and I,” A.J. replied without thinking.  “Oh, Christ, I just did that stupid thing where the character forgets that the spouse has died and he accidentally uses ‘we’.  That’s such a cliché.  Officer” – he paused to read the cop’s badge – “Lambiase, you and I are characters in a bad novel.  Do you know that?  How the heck did we end up here?  You’re probably thinking to yourself, Poor bastard, and tonight you’ll hug your kids extra tight because that’s what characters in these kinds of novels do. ”

They begin to discuss books they have read and Lambiase reads mostly crime fiction and especially likes Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series. Over time, Lambiase and A.J. get to know each other better, discuss books they like, and Lambiase begins to enjoy different types of books and other genres. 

This book has humor and some mystery and a bit of romance, and I am very glad I read it.

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Publisher:  Abacus Books, 2015 (orig. publ. 2014)
Length:      306 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Setting:      USA, Massachusetts
Genre:        Fiction, Books about Books
Source:      I purchased my copy in December 2023.

18th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

 

The Canadian Book Challenge was started in 2007 by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog (no longer available?). Now the challenge is hosted by Shonna at Canadian Bookworm. Between 2012, when I started blogging, and 2022, I participated in five Canadian Reading Challenges; now I am back for my sixth attempt.

The goal is to read and review 13 or more Canadian books in a one year span: from Canada Day, July 1st, 2024, to Canada Day eve, June 30th, 2025. Reviews posted online are required. (That is the hard part for me.)

What constitutes a Canadian book?

For this challenge, Canadian books are books written by Canadian authors (by birth or immigration) or about Canadians. The books can include any genre or form (picture books, poetry, novels, non-fiction, plays, anthologies, graphic novels, cookbooks, etc).

See the signup post for more information. 

What will I read?

I am currently reading a book for this challenge, A Cast of Falcons by Steve Burrows. Steve Burrows is a Canadian author but the books are set in the UK. 

Other books I plan to read are:

• Kelley Armstrong – The Poisoner's Ring: A Rip Through Time Novel
• Anthony Bidulka – Flight of Aquavit
• Gail Bowen – Verdict in Blood
• Louise Penny  –  A Great Reckoning
• Alexandra Pratt – Lost Lands, Forgotten Stories
• Robin Spano – Dead Politician Society
• Michael van Rooy – An Ordinary Decent Criminal
• L. R. Wright – Fall From Grace 
• Iona Whishaw – Death In A Darkening Mist

Other Canadian authors I have on my shelves (or on the Kindle) are:

• Vicky Delany
• J. Robert Janes
• Maureen Jennings
• Dietrich Kalteis
• Thomas King
• Emily St. John Mandel
• Margaret Millar
• Anna Porter
• Sam Wiebe
• Eric Wright

Books Read in May 2024

 

I read more books than I expected to in May, a total of nine books. Those books included a graphic novel, a book on my classics club list, a science fiction book, and a time travel book.

Graphic novel

The Book Tour (2019) by Andi Watson

This is a graphic novel with a Kafkaesque storyline. A man goes on a book tour with a suitcase of his books. The suitcase is stolen, so he has no books to sell or sign. He goes to book signing after book signing where no one turns up to see him. A confusing story, but I liked it, both the story and the art.

Fiction

The Lincoln Highway (2021) by Amor Towles

I started this book in April and it took me 10 days to read it. It was the only book on my list that I did not enjoy reading. It is about three young men, all 18 years old, traveling across the United States. The main character, Emmett, has a younger brother, Billy, who is traveling with them. Emmett's plan is to drive from his childhood home in Nebraska to Texas, but the trip eventually leads them in a different direction. All of that sounds good but I did not really grow to like any of the main characters. Yet I found the ending to be satisfying.

The Warden (1859) by Anthony Trollope

I read this for the last Classics Club spin, and I was happy to finally read something by Trollope. This one is the first book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire, and I will be reading more in that series. See my review here.

Science Fiction

The Kaiju Preservation Society (2022) by John Scalzi

This is simply a very fun and funny science fiction novel. The following quote is from the author's notes at the end of the book: “KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face. I had fun writing this, and I needed to have fun writing this. We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness.”

Time Travel 

A Rip Through Time (2022) by Kelley Armstrong

This novels spans many genres: crime fiction, historical fiction, and time travel. It is part of a trilogy and I will be reading the next two books. See my review here. 

Crime Fiction

What Was Lost (2007) by Catherine O'Flynn

A young girl, ten years old, lives with her grandmother; her goal is to be a detective, and run her own detective agency. She has few friends, hates school, and entertains herself with investigating cases that she has made up. The remaining portions of the book take place in 2004 and 2005, 20 years later, and focus on Kurt, a security guard in the Green Oaks Mall, and Lisa, an employee at a large record store in the mall. My review here.

Newcomer (2001) by Keigo Higashino

Translated by Giles Murray

This Japanese mystery seems at first to be a straightforward police procedural, but the structure of the story is unusual. The case involves the death of a woman who has recently moved to the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. Each chapter features a location (usually a shop) at which Kaga interviews various prospective witnesses or suspects, and each chapter reads almost like a self-contained short story. See my review here.

Corpse in a Gilded Cage (1984) by Robert Barnard

When the eleventh Earl of Ellesmere dies, Perce Spender, a working-class Londoner, inherits the title and the estate. He is a simple man with simple tastes and doesn't want to live in the huge family estate; he plans to sell everything, but it isn't that simple. His three children and their hangers-on come to stay at the estate for his 60th birthday party. Perce Spender is just about the only likable character in the book. I always enjoy books by Robert Barnard. This one is very, very funny, even with all the unsympathetic characters.

Salt Lane (2018) by William Shaw

I was very glad I read SALT LANE by William Shaw. I had been put off by DS Alexandra Cupidi in THE BIRDWATCHER, but in this start to a new series starring Cupidi, she is a more appealing character. It isn't that there a complete reversal of her behavior but that we get to see more of her background and her family and why she came to work in a small seaside town in Kent. One of the aspects of this book that I especially love is that Cupidi's teenage daughter Zoë is a serious birdwatcher and there are scenes describing birds and bird enthusiasts. And the setting is wonderful.

Currently reading and what's next?

I am reading A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. It is in the science fiction genre, the second book in the Wayfarers series. I am loving it.

After having two cataract surgeries in June, I am much behind in my blogging, and I am trying to catch up. I hope to review a few of the books I read in June and put up a summary post for that month and then get back on track to some extent by the end of July. 

 

The photos at the top and bottom of this post were taken in late May at the I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival. It was held at Mission Santa Barbara over the Memorial Day weekend, on May 25-27, 2024. Click on the images for best viewing quality.

Short Story Wednesday: the Juliet stories by Alice Munro

Recently I read three short stories from Runaway by Alice Munro. All of these stories are about the same woman, Juliet. Together they total about 110 pages, about the length of a novella. 

The first story, "Chance," takes place in 1965, and tells about how Juliet first meets Eric, the man she later moves in with. Juliet had been teaching in a girls school; Eric fishes for prawns and lives in a cabin in Whale Bay, north of Vancouver.   

In the second story, "Soon," set in 1969, Juliet takes her 13-month-old daughter Penelope to visit her parents in the small town she grew up in. Juliet and Eric are still together but have not married, and this embarrasses her parents. Although Juliet's family has never been affiliated with any religion, a minister visits her mother and lectures Juliet about not raising her daughter with any religious beliefs. 

The third story, "Silence,"  takes place about 20 years later. Juliet now has a job interviewing people on television. Eric died years before while he was out fishing during bad weather. Juliet is taking a ferry ride from Buckley Bay to Denman Island, to see Penelope at a spiritual retreat. She has not seen or heard from her daughter for six months. Penelope invited her to the island but when Juliet arrives, she is not there and no one can tell her where to find her. The issue of the lack of spiritual training comes up again in this story.

I liked all of these stories, but I did find Juliet to be an enigma. She seemed to keep her emotions under the surface, and worried a lot about how people viewed her. As is often true, other readers interpreted these stories differently.

I recommend reading these stories all at the same time (or close together). I read the first story, "Chance," two or three weeks earlier than the other stories. While writing this post I went back and reread "Chance" online. I had not remembered that one of the characters, Christa, had featured prominently in the first and last story. Each one of the stories are fine alone, but as a whole they are more meaningful. I am sure I will reread them again later.

"Chance," "Soon" and "Silence" were first published in The New Yorker in 2004.

The three Juliet stories have been made into a movie directed by Pedro Almodovar, titled Julieta.