Late Christopher Bean, The by Sydney Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From a review in Variety of the recent Broadway revival of The Late Christopher Bean by Sidney Howard, which hasn't been seen there since the original production closed in the early 1930s:

A forgotten member of the Eugene O'Neill-Robert Sherwood-Maxwell Anderson set of American playwrights, Howard was the first person to win both the Pulitzer (for "They Knew What They Wanted") and the Oscar (for "Gone With the Wind"). The latter was the first Oscar awarded posthumously; the 48-year-old gentleman farmer was crushed by a tractor in a freak accident in 1939.

I remember seeing the play in Philadelphia when I was growing up; and when I read that a new production had been mounted, I thought about it for a staged reading series I put together.

A New England country doctor and his family had at one time taken in the indigent Chris Bean. When he died, his paintings were cast aside. Now some years later, the art community has declared him a genius and the misunderstandings and greed take center stage. Only the housekeeper, Abby, seems to have genuinely appreciated Bean. The play is funny and pointed and contains many still held beliefs about art. Not perfect but a good play. 


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More Changes in the Book World

Author Erica Spindler from a random ALA Conference in my past

Reading one of my favorite writer book blogs today, I came across an article about changes in the way book tours are structured. Actually the article, which you can read HERE, was about a website that assisted with putting book tours together, closing shop.

Publishers have drastically cut the budgets for sending authors to book stores (are there still bookstores out there?) just to sell and sign a very few books. Instead events like the Kerrytown Book Fest with dozens of authors are taking the place of book tours.

This makes me interested in seeing what author Louise Penny will be doing when she visits Schuler's Bookstore in Okemos on Saturday, September 10 versus her appearance at the Ann Arbor Festival the following day.

T is for Trespass (2007)

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I actually have been enjoying my step away from heavy tomes. Thrillers and mysteries are just the comfort reading I have needed.

Set in the small southern California town of Santa Teresa, Sue Grafton's Private Investigator Kinsey Millhone and her friends always assure an engrossing story. This one is particularly disturbing.

"T is for Trespass, dealing with issues of identity theft, elder abuse, betrayal of trust, and the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent, could not be more timely." (from the fly leaf)

In the twentieth book in the series, has Kinsey met her match finally? I turned pages until way past my bedtime to find out. Now I have to get a copy of U is for Undertow and catch up since V is for Vengeance comes out in November!


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Oblivion (2005)

Oblivion by Peter Abrahams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a ride! This is everything I want in a thriller and well written and plotted to boot. Naturally it wasn't on my list of what I'm supposed to be reading this year. This is the third book by Peter Abrahams I've devoured in the last couple of years. Oblivion is actually from earlier (2005). Heck if I can remember who recommended it. Doesn't matter.

Shortly after Nick Petrov takes on a missing person case, he wakes up in a hospital bed with his memory of the last two weeks gone. There's a strong 'memento' feel about the book and watching Nick as he struggles to find answers turns this into a real page turner.

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The Accident (2011)

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Linwood Barclay has been referred to as the King of the 'suburban thriller'. His stories have hooks that are irresistible. No Time for Goodbye deals with a girl who wakes up to find her entire family has disappeared without a word. Never Look Away, which is my favorite so far, deals with a young father who loses his wife and young child at an amusement park causing his world to unravel.

In The Accident Glen Garber's wife is killed in an accident under circumstances he can't believe. Through his grief and an incident that occurs involving his eight year old daughter, he begins to suspect that the placid surface of his neighborhood hides terrible secrets.

All three of these books are highly recommended thrillers, perfect confections for a beach read or a treat anytime. Even though terrible things happen, and pain is inflicted, Barclay goes easy on the gritty details and good ultimately triumphs over evil. He also writes about people living in the same economic depression that the reader is experiencing.

If I haven't convinced you yet, watch the short video HERE.

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The Money Class: Learn to Create Your New American Dream by Suze Orman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Whether we speak about it or not, we are grappling with the frightening possibility, the fear, that we no longer live in a land where effort applied to opportunity produces a better life." - Suze Orman, The Money Class

Suze Orman takes the current financial environment and explains how to best handle your money so you can retire someday. Her advice steers us away from making destructive and impulsive decisions that can have massive negative effects in the future. She asks us to take responsibility for how we deal with money when we are being urged on all sides to spend.

The biggest lessons I took away are that it is important 'to stand in your truth' and "Live below your means but within your needs." Her new advice for families suggests your goals should be that:

• You do not have credit card debt.
• You have an eight-month emergency savings fund.
• You have a term life insurance policy.
• You are saving for retirement; aiming to set aside 15% of your gross salary.

The Money Class also has specific chapters for 20-30; 40-50; and those in retirement. There is also an on-line classroom with tools to help make financial decisions.

Even though I am retired, I read the whole book. You should too.



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The Lion in Winter: A Play (1966)

The Lion in Winter: A Play by James Goldman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm putting together a third season of staged readings and have just gotten started on reading the plays that will be part of the project.

The Lion in Winter may be set in 1183 but the struggles and intrigues will be familiar to today's audiences.


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Another One Bites the Dust

It couldn't have been a month ago when Jackson discovered it would lose it's last NEW bookstore. At that point, the newspaper pointed out that the Christian bookstore Agape would order books. Now they have announced they are closing too. As it turns out, the Book Exchange, our extensive used book store, can order books too. But that isn't the problem. People can 'order' books from lots of places. The problem is that we don't have a general bookstore with current material, a place we can browse, be inspired, and maybe exchange a few words about what we are reading. On the other hand, where is the profit to be made in that exchange? A word of advice to Jackson: Love your library and use and support it lest it too be gone.

You can read the article in today's Jackson Citizen Patriot HERE.

Long Drive Home: A Novel by Will Allison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This will sound odd but I was reminded of Scott Smith's A Simple Plan while reading this slim volume. In that book stolen money is found but there is no safe way to take it without being caught. Both are cautionary tales.

In Long Drive Home there was the same sense of dread from "a small unworthy" act that turned into a web that was ultimately inescapable.

The conceit in this story is that the narrator is writing to his daughter to explain his actions and finally tell the truth after a young man is killed in a car accident they witnessed. Our lives are governed by choices we make and choices made based upon untruths can unravel our world.

Will Allison writes a compelling story. This is his second book following What You Have Left (2007). What I was surprised by is that the beginning of that book is included with this one. Considering that it won several awards, I am guessing that the publishers think it could have a further life and I agree. I remember being impressed when I read it.

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Forgiveness

I have to ask for forgiveness. I just ordered two more books from Amazon.

In my defense, they weren't books I would be likely to find in my local library; and when I finally have them, I may not want to return them.

One caught my eye because it deals with cruelty and violence in the arts. I've already written about it. The other was the result of stumbling on a blog cataloging all the wonderful department stores that once existed. Jackson, where I live, was once home to both L. H. Fields and Jacobson's Department stores. One of my daughters worked at both having been 'shopped' away to Jakes.

 My grandparents both worked for Wannamaker's in Philadelphia and it was where I found a job for two summers after high school. My Mother's family is loosely connected to McCurdy's Department Store, which began its life in Philadelphia and moved to Rochester, New York before fading away.

If you remember a special department store, check out The Department Store Museum.

S is for Silence (2005)

S is for Silence by Sue Grafton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sue Grafton writes a solid mystery. How could anyone not enjoy time spent with private detective Kinsey Millhone? I haven't read one of Grafton's books for a long while and I did have a bit of trouble keeping all the male characters straight although that could reveal my lack of attention to details. I also suspect that this is the only book I have EVER read that used the word 'cattywumpus' in a sentence. That alone makes it special.

Still on my book shelf is T is for Trespass. Since V is for Vengeance comes out November 14, 2011, I probably should pick up a copy of  U is for Undertow. I may not have read ALL the books in the series but I know I am close. Since A is for Alibi appeared in 1983, Grafton has produced a new title in the alphabet series at the pace of about one a year, something for which her readers, no doubt, are thankful!

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The Bostons (2001)

The Bostons by Carolyn Cooke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I always forget how much I actually enjoy reading short stories. That said, I wish I could have been more comfortable with these.

Literate short stories demand more of a reader. Words have to be more carefully chosen because the author tells the story in just a few pages. Carolyn Cooke's sketches of people are poignant, depressing, touching, and insightful. I found them, on the whole, truthfully disturbing. If you prefer a story with a middle, beginning, and end, these stories will baffle you.


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