Of Wolves and Men – Barry Lopez, 1978. Nature and Enviro selection; quotes tbd.
Wine of the Dreamers – John D. Macdonald, 1951. Continuing my revisit of old SF by non-SF writers after Ira Levin; I went through a Travis McGee phase that I probably wouldn’t go back to, but I will likely go on to Macdonald’s other 2 SF titles (Ballroom of the Skies and The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything). This doesn’t hold up very well but I still enjoyed it without remembering it at all.
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma – Claire Dederer, 2023. Wow, I LOVED this combination of criticism, moral philosophy, and memoir. Compelling and surprising.
The Quiet American – Graham Greene, 1955. Great Books selection, which I had just read in April for the Second Monday group. I mostly hated it then, but found it much more interesting this time around. More quotes tbd.
Panther – Brecht Evens, 2016. The Atlantic led me to this; beautiful, weird, very creepy, but not as mind-blowing as I was promised. The artwork is amazing.
You Like It Darker – Stephen King, 2024. I keep reading King but sometimes I’m not sure why… many of these stories are second-rate. One is a sequel to Cujo which I’ve been thinking of re-reading one of these days. But I always think of Algis Budrys’ comment that the Pinto model in the book didn’t have the issue that the plot relies on. That sloppiness can be overlooked if the writing is good enough. But often something just feels amiss and the waking dream is broken – epitomized here in “Finn,” set in Ireland, where a grandma is quoted as saying “knee-high to a grasshoppper.” That sounds totally American, and research confirms. Did rather spoil the joke for me, I’m afraid.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain, 1884. Amherst Book Group selection; quotes TBD.
Otto: A Palindrama – Jon Agee, 2021. I love Agee’s palindrome collections (Go Hang a Salami! I’m a Lasagna Hog!, So Many Dynamos!, and Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!), but this is a step beyond and yet it really works.
O Genteel Lady! – Esther Forbes, 1926. A last-minute choice for the Mass Center for the Book challenge, which pulled from a much smaller set than usual for September: “A debut book by a Massachusetts author.” I wrote, “I still have never read Forbes’ most famous book, Johnny Tremain, so it was interesting to start with this one. A surprisingly feminist novel that gets off to a good start, but with a somewhat disappointing ending.” I enjoyed the local references – the protagonist is from Amherst – but mostly it’s set in Boston.