Stepping in the Write Direction

The Birds of the Air by L. H. Arthur was compelling reading. I got a heads up about the Kindle edition being on sale for $0.99 from Ereader News Today, so listened to the Audible sample, then ordered the Kindle sample, and the minute the sample ended I immediately purchased the Kindle edition with Audible narration. I practically read it in one sitting, and barely did any highlighting of passages because I was turning pages so quickly to see what would happen next!  The story takes place in 1933. Two sisters are in the yard while mom makes a grocery run. The older sister is hanging out the wash to dry, and turns to see her younger sibling talking to a man near the street. She becomes alarmed and rushes over.  “The man stayed where he was, smiling in a way that looked almost friendly, but not quite. He was short for a man, and stocky; his face was red, with threads of darker-red veins worming beneath the skin of his nose and cheeks. An odd construction of sticks and wire hung o...

Regarding Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, one Amazon reviewer wrote, “Like Being Inside a Fun House That Wasn't Fun.” That comment made me want to revisit this author. Other reviewers have described Wise Blood as “‘low comedy and high seriousness’ with disturbing religious themes.” In the Author’s Notes to the 1962 edition, she wrote, “The book was written with zest and, if possible, it should be read that way. It is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui [in spite of himself], and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death.” She continues, “Does one’s integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen.”   I’ve always considered myself a fan of O’Connor’s work, but it’s been a very long time sinc...