I came late to the Stephen King party. His books first hit the national consciousness when I was a teenager and at the time, I decided they were bad. Not because of the subject matter; I’ve been terrifying myself with stories since I first picked up a book. No those early stories were poorly written, in my opinion, fiction man-handled onto a page by someone without subtly or regard for language. Except for the film adaptations, I ignored the man’s output until 1999 (which is a separate tale in itself) when I found the author everyone else had been yakking about for decades. I am sure some of Mr. King’s writing skill improved through sheer practice and I hope he’s had help from the best editors in the business but I’d guess the single greatest factor that improved the man’s work is his sobriety. His later books have a focus that was missing in his earlier work.. Nothing shows the change more than comparing the two stories of Danny Torrence: The Shining and Doctor Sleep. The Shining is, of course, the account of the Torrence family’s tragic adventures in the Overlook Hotel. Jack Torrence tries to turn his life around…
I nearly forgot I said this is a place to discuss, books, plays and short stories. As long as I’m finally getting around to plays, I’d like to start out with a favorite: A Moon for the Misbegotten. Every person has life-changing experiences. Some of these are obvious turning points like marriage or the death of a parent, some are not. One of mine was a play I saw at age fifteen, a modern drama. At fifteen, I couldn’t say why I identified with the characters or why it moved me so (other than it was a great performance) but the work and the author got under my skin for the rest of my adolescence. It is still a singular piece though now I understand it a bit more. It was written by Eugene O’Neill and it’s called “A Moon for the Misbegotten.” Few people outside of the theatrical world understand the impact of O’Neill but, to put it simply, he made American Drama human. Theatrical plays written in this country before O’Neill were either broad comedies or melodramas. I’m sure they were lots of fun to watch, containing virtuous heroes and dastardly villains but there was nothing an audience…
“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.” So says John Steinbeck, the twentieth century novelist teachers forced you to read high school and professors mocked in college. Steinbeck who preaches in The Grapes of Wrath and makes you weep in Of Mice and Men, did you know he could be funny? That man, so serious and biblical in East of Eden (except for the scenes with the car), also knew how to relax. You wouldn’t guess it but Steinbeck was a versatile writer who loved life. Of all things, Steinbeck cared about people and that shows up in Cannery Row. Cannery Row was and is a waterfront street in the town of Monterey and for a while was the hangout of Steinbeck. Then, it was a rundown place full of abandoned buildings and homeless people who sheltered there. Other impoverished people such as artists, prostitutes and rejects from society lived on the row but, most remarkably, Steinbeck’s best friend, a self-taught naturalist named Ed Ricketts lived and worked there finding sea animals for university labs and zoos. All…
Every kid who is lucky gets one or two teachers in their childhood who seem to understand them, teachers they respond to. All of my grade-school teachers were nice people and a few actually seems to care about me but my sixth grade teacher gave me the extra guidance I needed at that uncertain age. She had an intuitive understanding of all the “outsider” kids in her room and found activities that made us valued members of the class. During discussions, she treated us like we were reasonable adults and we responded in kind. And she brought a great book into our lives, reading it aloud after lunch. I will always be grateful for her introduction to Johnny Tremain. Johnny is the story of a developing nation but more than that, it’s the story of a developing man, Jonathan Lyte Tremain. In the beginning, Johnny is an apprentice in pre-revolutionary Boston, Massachusetts, a silversmith in training and one of those talented people you want to slap. Yes, he is gifted and smart, probably the mainstay of his employer’s business but he’s also sarcastic, arrogant and an intellectual bully. Some of this behavior comes from an over-inflated ego but part…
I love the crime thrillers of the last century and one of my favorite authors in the genre was Dick Francis. The man lived an incredible life (RAF pilot, champion jockey, best-selling writer, just look at his Wikipedia bio!) and if his novels run to a formula, each mixed a new field of information into an abiding love for horses and a solid block of principles. I’ve read all of them at least once, I give most of them house room and I can’t pick a favorite. So, I’ll give the first shot to one of his later books, Decider In Decider, Lee Morris salvages ruins. In today’s vernacular, he’s a flipper, one of those guys who buys distressed or damaged buildings and turns it into a marketable property. Lee’s an architect and he specializes in reclaiming “listed buildings,” those structures the British government protects from bulldozing and developers because they have historic or architectural interest. Lee’s business is to turn these often dilapidated buildings into marketable residences without destroying the characteristics that make the structure “listed”. Lee’s learned how to work with a variety of people in order to do his job and right now he needs these…