Stepping in the Write Direction

About one third of the way into Queen Esther by John Irving, I was thinking to myself the characters were unique in a New England gothic kind of way. They didn’t represent the traditional great American family, as the Winslows eschewed religion,  most conventions of 20th century life  and loved reading and education , but on their behalf, their own blended family was strong, supportive, and bonded. As I entered the second third of the book, I began to think “Words, so very many words!” I wondered what the word count was for this book. The problem wasn’t the number of words per se, but the fact they didn’t serve as vehicles moving a compelling story forward in a way that kept me eager to turn each page. By the final third of the book I was praying for the end to come, as I am afflicted with a kind of OCD that compels me to read to the end of every book I start, and most often sticking to it is worth it in the long run.  One of Irving’s earlier books, The Cider House Rules,...

I started reading War by Bob Woodward on a Saturday afternoon, and continued throughout the night until finishing it the following morning. The glimpses of behind the scenes action starting with the earliest intelligence reports indicating Russia was primed to invade Ukraine, the disbelief this would happen on the part of Ukraine leaders, developing concerns as the invasion initiated and progressed, expanding into war, the strategies employed by Ukrainian fighters, later events related to Hamas’ attacks in Israel October 7, 2023, and both those conflicts continuing simultaneously, made for riveting reading, and I didn’t want to sit the book down! The thrust of the story concerned trying to avoid war on both those fronts, and once military engagements arose, the Biden administration efforts to minimize damages and prevent world wide global involvement. This was a much more interesting book than I’d expected with respect to these specific aspects of the narrative. Woodward states in his ...

Lovers at the Museum by Isabel Allende was published on April Fools Day 2024, and it feels a bit like a literary celebration of that holiday! Basically the story’s about a young couple found in an art museum where they have allegedly spent the night making love on every floor, completely unbeknownst to security which requires a willing suspension of disbelief. The young man is buck naked until someone covers his manhood with a hat, and the young lady is in a wedding gown (her new lover couldn’t work the buttons), having chickened out in the hours leading up to her scheduled nuptials because the groom just didn’t turn her on, unlike her new friend, who had the presence of mind to propose to her shortly after their meeting, although when investigators asked her lover’s name, she didn’t know what it was, but once she learned it, found it muy simpatico. There are some mystical elements involved in the tale, which reminded me a bit of Gabriela Marquez’s work. I did find the story humorous i...

Cry Havoc by Jack Carr does for the  Military Assistance Command, Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group  (MACV-SOG) what Kristin Hannah’s book The Women does for combat nurses in the Vietnam War. The “MACV-SOG organization and its members conducted some of the most audacious operations of the Vietnam War. SOG was a highly classified, multi-service U.S. task force established on January 24, 1964, to operate beyond the official boundaries of the conflict. Their mission was ‘to execute an intensified program of harassment, diversion, political pressure, capture of prisoners, physical destruction, acquisition of intelligence, generation of propaganda, and diversion of resources, against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) [North Vietnam].’” Carr continues, “Cry Havoc is a novel of brotherhood and betrayal, a novel of Cold War espionage set against the backdrop of a hot war in the jungles, mountains, deltas, and urban centers of Southeast Asia, a war fought by the men of MACV...

I guarantee you’ve never read a short story like Bog Girl by Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia and Antidote. Admittedly, it’s not for everyone, but I found it hysterically funny, poignant, and in some ways, horrifying.    A school age peat cutter approaches the bog one morning to commence his labors, only to be startled by the sight of a hand emerging from the bog. He manages to extract an intact young female body preserved by elements in the bog and estimated to be 2,000 years old (his uncle warns she might be 3,000 years old because women lie about their age). Her eyes are closed, but her mouth has a serene smile, almost Mona Lisa like, and her red hair entwines with a rope and noose, “black with peat,” dangling from her neck. “Cillian touched her hair, touched the rope. He was holding the reins of her life.”    He falls in love with her, names her Bog Girl, and takes her home to his family. Soon they are sitting together on the couch watching sitcoms, and he be...

Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell author, Ari Surdoval is the best book I read this year. I’m a graduate of the University of Florida spending time on campus during the years Tom Petty and Mike Campbell were creating their music, putting Gainesville, Florida on the map in the way no football team could ever do. It is a well written fascinating book, and every page exudes Campbell’s passion for music, and love for those who serve as its acolytes. There is unvarnished truth on every page, but despite man’s human frailties that often sink lives, there is an embracing grace and understanding that permeates the narrative.   I knew of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but I was not a fan at the time, as my interests fell to folk music. Not only am I completely immersed in Campbell’s deep dive into the evolution of the music industry during this extended time period, but able to discover their music in a literally highly annotated format. It is amazing how the technology of creating albums eme...