Diversions

Every time I set out to post a blog entry or look for comments, I see the introduction at the top of my home page. "An ongoing conversation with myself and others about a book I am writing..." and I feel an immediate thud in my stomach. "A book I am writing" should more aptly be "A book I started but pay scant attention to nowadays". There are many excuses. One of these is that I love to read books. So, the latest "diversion" is a tidy little mystery from Poisoned Pen Press, "The Coffin Trail" by Martin Edwards.

I read about this mystery on my favorite book blog, "Books Please". I looked for it in several used bookshops but no luck. A quick search on Amazon.com netted a used copy in good condition. So, earlier this week I took a little imaginary trip to England's Lakes District in an effort to slay the "blue mood" dragon (the bane of my existence, I am sorry to say).

From the back cover:

"When author/professor Daniel and journalist Miranda decide to abandon their hectic big-city lives for bucolic bliss at Tarn Cottage in England's Lakes District, they come under the spell of an old murder. Unbeknownst to Miranda, the alleged perpetrator of a bizarre, bloody killing involving the nearby Sacrifice Stone lived in said Tarn Cottage and was Daniel's friend.

Soon Daniel's helping the Cold Case Squad's Hannah Scarlett, who worked with Daniel's recently deceased estranged dad on the original case. With its twisty plot, atmospheric setting, and typical English-village characters, this new series from British crime novelist Edwards will appeal to Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill devotees."

So you see, we have the academic playing amateur detective with personal connections to the suspected murderer and to the investigating officer, all in a storybook setting. Perfect diversionary material! I was on to the murderer about halfway through the book but totally missed the motive. Actually, I think it was just a lucky guess on my part because the reason behind the murder and how it all played out was quite unexpected. I will definitely look for more books in this series and for Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill mysteries too.

A note about Poisoned Pen Press (I love the name!)...founded in 1996 by Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen a Mystery Bookstore and More in Scottsdale, Arizona, this publishing house is dedicated, according to their website, to "making available books, whether originals or reprints for today's mystery audience." Peters started Poisoned Pen Press as a response to consolidations in the publishing industry that, in her view, "represented a threat to cultural diversity and to the survival of the independent bookstore--ultimately becoming a subtle form of censorship. Besides, she wants to sell books she likes."

Good for her! If you are a mystery fan, you have probably already run across Poisoned Pen Press. If not, be on the lookout, I know I will.

So, another happy diversion. Perhaps, at this stage in life, I should not think of these as "diversions", but as "doing what I like". Is "writing the book" what I like? Good question.

It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

I am almost in Sardinia. I say "almost" because I am still slogging through the INTRODUCTION. Immensely helpful in theory, INTRODUCTIONS, especially if the author is an icon, as is D.H. Lawrence, can be tedious, overlong, insightful only if you have already READ the book, and frustrating due to the aforementioned. Nearly finished, I have given up the temptation to skip ahead to the actual book. By tomorrow, I should be in Sardinia.

It's Tuesday...Where Are You?

I am in Ireland and New Orleans/Washington D.C.

It's a bit of a writing exercise, actually. I thought it would be valuable to read through a few popular paperbacks to see what popular fiction is up to these days. I usually read "literary" novels and nonfiction so this is a departure from the usual for me. A sort of survey. I am looking for characterization, setting, dialogue, pace, how the book is structured.

One book has been made into a movie. I have read the book before and seen the movie several times. I picked this one because I wanted to understand how a "thriller" is put together. The other book is a "romance". I have never read it and doubt it has ever been made into a movie. Same deal here, how is a "romance" put together? My book has aspects of both genres, so like I said, this is a survey.

That said, I picked the wrong "romance" book. The opening chapter gives an overview of a small Irish village and introduces the main characters, most of whom are children at this point in the story. OK so far. Then, the following chapters (I am up to Chapter 6) are focused vignettes concentrating on one character. I can see where it is going...the life of the village is told through these vignettes. It is a fun read, but not really what I was looking for.

The "thriller" has been in the back of my mind since I started this project. At one point (while waiting for my first granddaughter to be born), I tried to deconstruct this book, line by line. It grew tedious and I put it away (M is 18 months old now). Now I am focusing on chapter by chapter, much more productive. This is not to say I will not come back and do the deconstruction later.

OK, here are the books.

Much of a Muchness

"They look much of a muchness." George Orwell, referring to a parade of mostly Senagalese soldiers on maneuvers, Morocco, 1939. From 3/12/39 Orwell Diaries.

Much of a muchness. Thinking of this phrase, I am wondering if there are other obvious examples. Human endeavors: Sports figures, cheerleaders (related to the sports thing), soldiers (very obvious, obviously), girl scouts, boy scouts, rotary, fraternal organizations in general, sororities, clubs of all kinds, generally groups of like-minded individuals. Animal kingdom: Any flock, herd, pride, infestation, on and on. Plant kingdom: Forests, wheat fields, tulips.

Much of a muchness.

Old Gourmet Magazines

Not only do I have stacks of books around the house (since all the bookcases are full), but I have stacks of old cooking magazines too. I use them for menu ideas, seasonal recipes, and what not. March 1986 Gourmet, "The Magazine of Good Living" does not disappoint. I love pre-1990 issues of Gourmet. Not only are they full of recipes, they also have interesting articles of all kinds. Here are a few samples from the March 1986 table of contents:

- Gourmet Holidays: Antwerp
- The Ballymaloe Cookery School
- Paris' Open-Air Markets

- Purim: The Festival of Lots
- Christie's Wine Course
- Cooking With Jacques Pepin

You see, the magazine is about more than cooking. It really is about "fine living". After about 1990 I noticed a marked change though. Fewer articles, more advertising, less real content...maybe the publishers decided to take "nouvelle cuisine" concepts and apply them to the magazine too. Probably it was just a business decision, but they lost me.

Back to the March 1986 issue...I have learned so much about the city of Antwerp. Having raced by it on a high-speed train a few years back, I'm now sorry we did not stop there to seek out some of its museums, diamond centers, and of course, chocolatiers. I learned about the history of the name "Antwerp". Ant is "hand" and werpen is "to throw". This is from the legend of the Roman warrior Silvius Brabo (whose statue stands in the square of the Grote Markt):

"...Silvius Brabo, the Roman warrior who freed the Schelde land from a reigning giant. The giant was an unpleasant bully who extracted exorbitant tolls from all who passed along the river and cruelly whacked off the hand of anyone who wouldn't pay. Brave and indignant Brabo fought the giant, cut off the ogre's hand, hurled it into the Schelde, and practiced posing while some clever Flemings translated his good deed into a suitable city name...Delightful reminders of the legend are also found in every bakery and chocolate shop in the form of delicious cookies and bitter, milk, or white chocolate Antwerpen handjes."

I also learned from this article that traditionally, until the middle of the fifteenth century, only images of the Virgin could be decorated with diamonds. The French Kings changed all that. And now Antwerp is (at least in 1986) the world's leading diamond city.

Besides Antwerp, I now want to visit Ireland and go to the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I wonder if it is still in business? Hmmmm...an internet research project. Stay tuned, I will let you know what I find out.

So, if you see a pre-1990 Gourmet magazine at a garage or library sale, buy it. I guarantee you will find a treasure trove of ideas for "fine living".




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Teaser Tuesday (on Wednesday!)

My favorite book blog, "Books Please" has this little challenge each Tuesday. I am a day late here, but thought it would be fun to do anyway. Here are the "official rules": Select a page at random in the book you are currently reading and pick two sentences between lines 7 and 12.

From Wallace Stegner's "Crossing to Safety", Penguin paperback, 1987. Page 95.

"If she could not persuade them, then she would have to extract a promise that they would wait until Sid finished his degree, assuming he went for a degree, and found a job. No more than Charity did she take seriously those nine beanrows."

This is Aunt Emily (Sid's future mother-in-law, called "Aunt" even by her own children) planning her next move...

I would love to read your "Teasers", even if it is Wednesday.

The Magus

OK, I like Fowles' ideas about writing, but this book? Not so much.

The 60s are so far away and this book dates itself, I think. Too much like a Fellini movie. I got about a third of the way through, and gave up when in one scene a mysterious man wearing a jackal's head mask appears and mysteriously disappears. We have satyrs and nymphs cavorting in the woods, Victorian ladies strolling on the beach (in the 1950s), talk of telepathy...you get the picture. It sounds kind of interesting, but was quite boring to me after a bit. I think I am jaded by the reality of now v.s. the 60s when this kind of thing was quite new and surprising (especially in film).

Well written, it is the story of a bored young Englishman who goes to an isolated Greek island to teach school and gets involved in the machinations of a local wealthy recluse. It sounded like something I might like but the fantasy aspects just turned me off.

I prefer literary realism.

Me Too

I am just beginning John Fowles "The Magus". Fowles is on the "must read" list in my writing notebook. No idea where I got the idea that he is a "must read" but wherever it was, all I can do now is throw out a "thank you" into the ether.

His foreword to the May 1985 Bantam Doubleday Dell paperback, on the very first page echoes something I have felt for a long time:

"A more objective side of me did not then believe I should ever become a publishable writer; a subjective one could not abandon the myth it was trying, clumsily and laboriously, to bring into the world; and my strongest memory is of constantly having to abandon drafts because of an inability to describe what I wanted. Both technique and that bizarre face of the imagination that seems to be more like a failure to remember the already existent than what it really is -- a failure to evoke the non-existent -- kept me miserably aground."

I am still not sure if "the already existent" does not really exist. Often, in that dreamlike state, just before actually being "awake" in the morning, words stream through my mind like water. When I wake up, the memory of the words is there, but not the substance. Is there, in my mind, a place where the words flow unaided? Is this the place I "go" when I sit down and write two thousand words so effortlessly it feels like floating? Am I transcribing, or creating? Is this the "muse"? If it is, why can't I access it at will?

John Fowles started The Magus in the 1950s. It was published in 1965.

Lunch

Still down with my back but feeling MUCH better. Yesterday's entry in my favorite little "book of days" describes a lunch party. Oh, wouldn't one have wanted to be a guest at this little soiree?

"1959 - In Nyack, NY, after a luncheon of souffle, oysters, grapes, and champagne, Carson McCullers puts music on the phonograph and invites Marilyn Monroe, then married to Arthur Miller, and Isak Dinesen to join her in dancing on the marble-topped dining room table." From "A Book of Days for the Literary Year".

Oh, Arthur was there too.

The Wine of Solitude

To lift such a heavy weight
Sisyphus, you will need all your courage.
I do not lack the courage to complete the task
But the end is far and time is short.

The Wine of Solitude
by Irene Nemirovsky for Irene Nemirovsky

The Classics and Fanny Hill

When I began writing my book, I encountered a major obstacle. The lack of a classical education. I am fairly well-read, but not in an "organized" way. I have never read the Greek classics except for Homer. I have read most of the Diary of Samuel Pepys, but little Shakespeare. 19th & 20th century English literature is well-represented but there are glaring exceptions. For instance, I have not read the Bronte sisters, but I have seen several versions of the movie, Jane Eyre.

So, I decided to fit the Classics into my reading plan. For years I have owned a small paperback copy of Wuthering Heights. It has languished on the bookshelf, unread, mostly unnoticed. With my new resolve to read the Classics, I pulled it out the other day and laughed out loud. As you can see from the picture, someone (I suspect a male high school student) has written "FANNY HILL" above the title. Wishful thinking on his part, I suppose! But hey, Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is a Classic too!

More on Wuthering Heights later...