What Are You Reading

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Ladislas Farago's Broken Seal was course syllabus reading for Intelligence Corps officer basic and there were
others surrounding the American code breakers of the Japanese Purple system. Cannot summon any names
or readily mind titles but these concerned Pearl Harbour and the Midway battle.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Small General by Robert Standish originally published in 1945


Robert Standish lived in and traveled through China, Japan and other Far East countries in the "between the war" years of the first half of the twentieth century. His enjoyable page-turning novels explore the different cultures of the region in a way that will surprise modern readers.

Standish, one of several pen names of Digby George Gerahty, was an Englishman, a "dead white man" in today's obnoxious piety, whose respectful writing about the people and cultures of the Far East refutes the modern narrative that almost everything old had one bias.

The Small General is set in the early twentieth century when a revolution established a Republic in China in 1912. Standish's tale, though, is not about a revolution, but how one Chinese family succeeded in the silk trade despite intense pressures from Japan.

Standish uses the story of this one family, a family whose mulberry tree leaves produce the worms whose cocoons are turned into silk, to examine the business of silk farming and, more broadly, the culture of family, business and friendships in China at that time.

The silk business, as is almost every business, is complex and competitive. In that slower moving period, though, the experience and knowledge of the older generation is valued. One's elders and ancestors are respected and, often venerated, at least on the surface.

Women have few rights, with even wives and mothers treated as nearly indentured servants. Except there are those few women, who through brains and will, carve out roles in business, families and even politics where they have real power.

There is a lot to chew on in this thick story that explores a father-son dynamic, decades-long friendships and the elaborate way the Chinese structure a conversation to say a lot of pleasant things, first, before the real purpose of the discussion begins.

Woven in is China's view of foreigners who they see as having taken advantage of China's weak governments, first the Qing Dynasty and now its Republic, to strike business deals that "steals" China's wealth and honor.

The Japanese, in particular, are hated as they are seen not just as foreigners trying to take monetary advantage of China, like the British, but as conquerors who want to turn China into a vassal state.

There's also much honesty about China's faults at that time. These include an inveterate resistance to modernity and a cultural acceptance of bribery that runs so deep even its judges all but openly accept bribes, which turns justice into a mockery.

Author Standish clearly likes and respects the Chinese people. He sees their greatness as being held back by a feeble and corrupt government and an insular culture that accepts, even defends, self-defeating practices.

The Small General can be read as simply a good story about one family's silk business in China in the early part of the twentieth century. But Standish, counter to today's generation's arrogant belief that it alone discovered an open, unbiased mind, shows much more.

He thoughtfully explores the culture and people of China in a way that reveals their strengths and weaknesses in neither a triumphant nor condescending manner. If anything, he is harder on the British Empire and, even more so, the aborning Japanese one.

No book, no author, no newspaper or other source of information, contains the absolute "truth" about a complex time and culture, but books like The Small General are valuable contemporaneous accounts of a period free, at least, from today's modern dogmatic beliefs.

 

[Tiki Tom]

You have a broad range of interests. I recognize the name Robert Standish, but didn’t know anything about him. I really should read something about the Chinese, if only because about 30% of Hawaii’s population is Chinese or part Chinese. Anyway, great review… and I imagine the characteristics of Chinese culture have only changed somewhat in the last eighty years.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Okay, I admit it: it was pretty good.
I just finished “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway, originally published in 1929. Back when it came out it got great reviews. It was also banned in a few cities due to its Frank (though not explicit) discussions about sex and prostitution. It has been claimed that A Farewell to Arms is the best American book to come out of WWI, which is a little strange because it deals with the Italian front where the US did not fight. The book was banned in Italy until 1945 because of its negative portrayal of the Italian army. A Farewell to arms was a bestseller and, according to one source, “guaranteed Hemingway’s financial independence.“ (Although I suppose the fact that his second wife was rich didn’t hurt.) Many of the positive book reviews praised Hemingway’s destinctive modernest style.

Good stories often contain elements of character development. In AFTA, when we first meet American Ambulance driver Frederic Henry, he is just a young and shallow man out for a good time. Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, plays her vulnerability to both keep Henry at arms length and also to slowly establish a more firm relationship with him. Her backstory (spoilers ahead!) is that she was engaged to be married to another man for quite a long time and was saving herself for their wedding night, but —heartbreakingly for her— her fiancé was killed in the war.

When Henry gets himself blown up by an Austrian mortar and finds himself in a hospital in Milan, Catherine gets herself transferred to that hospital and, possibly so that she doesn’t make the same mistake twice, jumps into bed with Henry perhaps more quickly than was proper in that long-ago decade.

The couple then gets put through the wringer. She gets pregnant. He gets sent back to the front and finds himself in the middle of the retreat after the battle of Caporetto. He almost gets killed a couple of times. Because it’s the ITALIANS who are trying to kill him, he figures that it’s okay to desert. He then sweeps up Catherine and they sneak across the border into Switzerland.

By this point, both of the main characters have transformed into responsible, likeable people and the reader wishes them the best. In fact, they actually seem to be in love. The tragic final chapter therefore comes as a shock and conveys the feeling of hopelessness and hollowness that Hemingway was aiming for.

Despite Hemingway’s reputation as a warmonger, this book is subtly anti-war, though it does not hit you over the head with it. Similarly, Catherine is played sympathetically and Hem shows none of his supposed misogyny. In AFTA, the famous “Hemingway style” sometimes sings as it is perfect for the action being described. On a few occasions it makes you roll your eyes as you are anticipating the self-conscious “Hemingway style“ attempts of some of his later works.

One final note: in real life Hemingway was blown up on the Italian front and fell in love with the nurse who treated him. When he proposed to her, she rejected him!
In the fiction version that we find in A Farewell to arms, the nurse not only wants to marry him, but then dies in childbirth. As one English teacher put it: “Talk about cauterizing an emotional wound!! That, my friend, is What literature is for!”

 

[Fading Fast]

You have a broad range of interests. I recognize the name Robert Standish, but didn’t know anything about him. I really should read something about the Chinese, if only because about 30% of Hawaii’s population is Chinese or part Chinese. Anyway, great review… and I imagine the characteristics of Chinese culture have only changed somewhat in the last eighty years.

You might recognize the name Robert Standish because he wrote the book "Elephant Walk" that was turned into a very good movie by the same name in 1954. And, yes, after eighty years, most of them under communist rule, the Chinese culture is much changed from Standish's time. Still, even today, you can see some threads that connect the two eras.

Okay, I admit it: it was pretty good.
I just finished “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemingway, originally published in 1929. Back when it came out it got great reviews. It was also banned in a few cities due to its Frank (though not explicit) discussions about sex and prostitution. It has been claimed that A Farewell to Arms is the best American book to come out of WWI, which is a little strange because it deals with the Italian front where the US did not fight. The book was banned in Italy until 1945 because of its negative portrayal of the Italian army. A Farewell to arms was a bestseller and, according to one source, “guaranteed Hemingway’s financial independence.“ (Although I suppose the fact that his second wife was rich didn’t hurt.) Many of the positive book reviews praised Hemingway’s destinctive modernest style.

Good stories often contain elements of character development. In AFTA, when we first meet American Ambulance driver Frederic Henry, he is just a young and shallow man out for a good time. Catherine Barkley, an English nurse, plays her vulnerability to both keep Henry at arms length and also to slowly establish a more firm relationship with him. Her backstory (spoilers ahead!) is that she was engaged to be married to another man for quite a long time and was saving herself for their wedding night, but —heartbreakingly for her— her fiancé was killed in the war.

When Henry gets himself blown up by an Austrian mortar and finds himself in a hospital in Milan, Catherine gets herself transferred to that hospital and, possibly so that she doesn’t make the same mistake twice, jumps into bed with Henry perhaps more quickly than was proper in that long-ago decade.

The couple then gets put through the wringer. She gets pregnant. He gets sent back to the front and finds himself in the middle of the retreat after the battle of Caporetto. He almost gets killed a couple of times. Because it’s the ITALIANS who are trying to kill him, he figures that it’s okay to desert. He then sweeps up Catherine and they sneak across the border into Switzerland.

By this point, both of the main characters have transformed into responsible, likeable people and the reader wishes them the best. In fact, they actually seem to be in love. The tragic final chapter therefore comes as a shock and conveys the feeling of hopelessness and hollowness that Hemingway was aiming for.

Despite Hemingway’s reputation as a warmonger, this book is subtly anti-war, though it does not hit you over the head with it. Similarly, Catherine is played sympathetically and Hem shows none of his supposed misogyny. In AFTA, the famous “Hemingway style” sometimes sings as it is perfect for the action being described. On a few occasions it makes you roll your eyes as you are anticipating the self-conscious “Hemingway style“ attempts of some of his later works.

One final note: in real life Hemingway was blown up on the Italian front and fell in love with the nurse who treated him. When he proposed to her, she rejected him!
In the fiction version that we find in A Farewell to arms, the nurse not only wants to marry him, but then dies in childbirth. As one English teacher put it: “Talk about cauterizing an emotional wound!! That, my friend, is What literature is for!”

This is an outstanding review; it is really well done. It's been a long time since I've read AFTA, but you now have me thinking about giving it another read.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Ernest Hemingway went to Spain for source material background for his novel For Whom The Bell Tolls,
starring Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper, meeting Errol Flynn whom supposedly wanted a bordello residence.

A film I've not seen, nor read its book. Definitely bucket listed.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

With The Breeders Cup soon upon Nov 3-4th Halloween and All Souls wake with us typically unprepared,
today sure set I meself to devil's work handicapping the lot. I favour Equibase, Daily Racing Form, Horse Racing Nation, and America's Best Racing. Right At The Wire, and Beyond The Wire with a few other general practioners together with the Vegas lads. But the Daily Racing Form with past performance is must read paper.
American thoroughbreds are the best on dirt with English horse and French turf lords. Yet not always either or,
so each horse needs thought and some more than others. Then Japanese and South American bred.
China racing has spread beyond Hong Kong, where it's fierce indeed.

 

[Fading Fast]

Moss Rose by Joseph Shearing originally published in 1934 (Joseph Shearing was the pen name of Gabrielle Margaret Vere Campbell)


Moss Rose, set in late 1800s London and Germany, is prolific author Joseph Shearing's imagined version of the events of a real-life unsolved murder of a prostitute. Shearing spins an intriguing yarn centered around a quietly but frighteningly psychotic female protagonist.

Belle Adair, a fallen "lady," is living in a London bordello next to a chorine and prostitute who is violently murdered late one Christmas Eve. Adair sees a man leaving the prostitute's room and then quietly rifles through the murder scene bringing evidence back to her room.

Most normal people would be horrified at the murder, awake the house and call the police, but Adair is already strategizing about how she can use this knowledge and evidence to her advantage. She's so calm about it, you at first, almost miss how insane it is.

Adair then does some sleuthing to acquire even more evidence against the putative killer, whom she has learned is a German "gentleman," Maarten Morl, of wealth and position in his own country. When Morl is subsequently arrested, Adair sees her opportunity.

That setup leads to a tale of one of the oddest blackmails ever as Adair doesn't use her evidence to get money (well, a little, but that's not the point), as she wants Morl to, effectively, use his influence and standing to place her in society as a "lady" in Germany.

If it sounds a bit nuts, that's because it is. But Morl is in a tight spot as he can either appease insane Adair or probably hang for a crime he may have or may not have committed.

The tale then moves to Germany as Morl, with his fiancee and her father in tow, takes Adair back to his home. Morl explains Adair to his family as a woman who did him a "great favor.” In Germany, she lives with his mother on her isolated, well-run but modest German estate.

Adair slowly realizes two things. One, that even having complete power over this man doesn't mean she can really get what she wants and, two, that her power over him is weakening as distance and time make it unlikely she could use her evidence against him.

The story then takes a strange twist. Adair, truly a crazy woman, but one who is also young and pretty and one who can make her thoughts sound logical even when they are spinning into orbit, tries to win Morl away from his devoutly religious mouse of a fiancee.

The climax, no spoilers coming, solves both the mystery of the London murder and Adair's fate, but the strength of Shearing's book is the singular character she created in Belle Adair.

Everything normal people respect, or at least try to respect - the law, the sanctity of life, other people's religious beliefs, their own religious beliefs, marriage vows, funerals, etc. - have no meaning to sociopath Adair other than as tools to manipulate others to get her way.

Written in 1934 and set in the late 1800s, Moss Rose's Belle Adair is a very modern solipsistic character as she would fit right into our era where some believe they are entitled not only to their own opinions (which they are) but to their own facts (it doesn't work that way).

Shearling is an excellent storyteller. He turned a real-life unsolved murder into a character study of a psychotic young woman who draws you into her crazy mind. Plus, Moss Rose is wonderfully evocative time travel to a world of gas lights and horse-drawn carriages.


N.B. For fans of the movie Moss Rose (comments on it here: #31,025 ), know that the book is very different. Both the book and the movie start off with the same murder, but each then goes off in a very different direction with the book being a much darker tale.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

''Moss Rose''sounds like a thoroughbred entrant in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
I've a 04.35 post Breeders' Cup Saturday-Sunday morning handicapper-hangover but starting in
on Taylor Marshall's Antichrist and Apocalypse with black coffee.

A profitable two day binge however none of my superfecta thrown darts struck corkboard.
All a day's work what with the awesome talent for wager, yet my preferred method singling key horses
out and structuring a bet flies the bloody crow Breeders' Cup. I limit myself mainly to Win-Place heavy pence
poker and rake in a few pots be that pedestrian poker or not it works.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles published in 2021


Amor Towles knows how to tell a story. He showed that in his debut novel Rules of Civility and again in his engaging follow-up The Gentleman in Moscow. Now, in his third book, he has proven himself to be one of the premiere storytellers of his generation.

In The Lincoln Highway, Towles wraps so many small stories and characters, with their own stories, inside several larger tales, which are all driven by the age-old story of a journey, that the book feels like you're sitting around a campfire listening to Towles spin wonderful yarns.

The framing of this Matryoshka-doll style of storytelling involves a young man, Emmett, just released from a juvenile work farm and returning to his home in Nebraska.

A year before, goaded to an emotional extreme one night, an angry punch had tragic consequences for Emmett, resulting in this usually calm boy doing time for involuntary manslaughter.

With his father having passed away while he was in juvenile workfarm and his mother having abandoned the family years ago, a now-free Emmett wants to move with his eight-year-old brother, Billy, from Nebraska to Texas to get a new start.

Just before taking off on this journey, he discovers Billy, following an old clue, wants to go to California in search of their mother, while two "stowaways" from the workfarm, Dutchess and Woolly, pop up with their own travel plans for all of them.

Along with Emmett's lifelong friend and neighbor, Sally, who cared for Billy when Emmett was away, the main characters are set. While each one has a distinctly engaging personality and history, this is a journey story with many other characters dropping in and out along the way.

Set in 1954, part of the beauty of the novel is its meandering through much mid-century cultural ephemera and experiences: Howard Johnson, a circus attached to a brothel, riding the rails, vaudeville's embers, Harlem, FAO Schwarz, a Catholic orphanage and on and on.

The beauty is also in all the people they meet along the way: Ulysses, a wandering black man with a kind soul and a broken heart; a venal preacher; an alcoholic down-and-out actor; a charming professor who writes compendiums about epic historical journeys and on and on.

It adds up to a tapestry of engaging characters and many big and small adventures that Emmett and team take on as their journey is buffeted by many surprising twists and turns. But keeping up is not a challenge; it's a pleasure to simply get absorbed in the amble.

There are overarching themes of honor, friendship and integrity in The Lincoln Highway, but Towles also sprinkles in his philosophy about character, revenge, forgiveness, money, responsibility and more in tiny vignettes that pleasantly accumulate.

The main story, told from each character's perspective in alternating chapters, has Emmett and his brother Billy's move to California heading off in the wrong direction as Woolly and Dutchess all but shanghai the brothers on a treasure hunt to New York.

Their ten-day odyssey climaxes at an old Adirondack family retreat built during the Gilded Age where truths are outed, scores are settled, "soldiers" die, honor is restored and the heroes wearily walk into the sunset.

Towles, in The Lincoln Highway, employs a modern approach to the classic fables and myths of Western Civilization by layering stories and characters, one on top of the other, to take the reader on an engaging and page-turning trip through 1954 America and human nature.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I LOVED Gentleman in Moscow. it was one of the few books that I’d force on friends and tell them to read it. I loved it so much. i will definitely take a look at his latest effort. Thanks for the heads up and the great review.

Well, I’m now going to attempt to review a book that is very hard to wrap words around.

Yesterday I finished reading Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (589 pages). Published in 1851. It is arguably the most daunting of all American classics. D.H. Lawrence called it “one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.”

Is it really worth reading? YES.

Go ahead and read chapter 1 in the aisle at the bookstore. I was immediately hooked. The chapter tells of a young man’s urge to go to sea and travel afar. On one level, Moby-Dick is a straight forward adventure story about crazy Captain Ahab chasing his whale. During the first 150 pages I was constantly asking myself “where has this book been all my life?” Ishmael is a very sympathetic and open minded narrator.

The writing is beautiful. It is poetry written as a narrative. In places it is almost Shakespearean. That takes some getting used to. Give yourself some time to get into the rhythm of the language.

The tale very quickly sails into deep water. There is symbolism written into almost everything. Sometimes the symbolism is too tangled to figure out. Sometimes Melville tells you exactly what it means. Don’t be intimidated by all the symbolism. You don’t need to decipher every weird reference. They just pile on and, by the end of Moby-Dick, the meaning somehow sinks into your brain and soul and you get it in an inexplicable way. In addition to symbolism there are omens, parables, archetypes, and biblical-historic-mythical references galore. Melville also weighs in (with a gentle touch) on race, religion, Homo-eroticism, slavery, etc. He frequently makes under-his-breath funny comments about peoples self-contradictory religiosity. His views are probably about 100 years ahead of his time, which helps to explain why the book was a flop when first published.

So, what were some of these symbols? The good ship Pequod is said to represent America. Her captain and officers are white puritans, but her crew is made up of all nationalities, races and religions. The biggest mystery is what does the whale, Moby-Dick represent? Worthy contenders include: M-D represents the meaning of the universe; M-D represents chaos, M-D is the ambiguous point where good and evil meet; M-D is the indifference of the universe towards humanity. This list is not exhaustive.

But what an image Moby-Dick is! An immense albino sperm whale prowling the oceans with ancient and new harpoons sticking out of his back and trailing long mossy ropes behind him. He destroys any whale boats he comes across.

Captain Ahab is also a quandary. Did you know that, in addition to having lost his leg to the whale in a previous encounter, Ahab also Carries a scar from a lighting strike?

So, does the book have a deep meaning about man’s relationship with the universe? Arguably, yes. But I’ll leave that to you. I’ll just say that —on one level— Captain Ahab and Moby-Dick are almost mirror images of each other. And aren’t all of us wounded creatures swimming about the ocean with very old and very new harpoons stuck in us? Beware when you decide to take on the self-destructive task of doing combat with the universe.

But even if you put all its deeper meaning aside, Moby-Dick is a heck of a good sea yarn. warning: it is sometimes criticized for harboring yet a third book: a detailed factual account of the workings of the whaling industry. Some critics found the inclusion of this third book, interspersed among the other chapters, boring and tedious. I did not.

The final chapter of Moby-Dick May we’ll be the finest closing chapter of any book in the English language. Even for me, that’s a whale of a claim. Reading Moby-Dick might have been part of my own effort to chase my own Great White Whale.

 

[Woodtroll]

Moby Dick is a classic for a reason. It's not a casual read, but it's worth it, as your well-written review reveals. Thanks for sharing this!

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Yesterday I finished reading Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (589 pages). Published in 1851.
The writing is beautiful. It is poetry written as a narrative. In places it is almost Shakespearean. That takes some getting used to. Give yourself some time to get into the rhythm of the language.

All boys should read Moby Dick because a first-person sea narrative that delves so deeply inside self teaches
much while holding nothing back.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro published in 2013


Sometimes you need a book to read while you're deciding what you are going to read next. These interregnum books should be mindless, entertaining fluff that do not distract you from the serious work of choosing your next real book to read.

The Perfume Collector, a period novel, almost fits the bill and would have done the job if it could have resisted the obnoxious need to inject our strident modern politics into a light book set alternatingly in, mainly, 1920s New York City and 1950s Paris.

One wonders if authors today are truly so uniform in their political views, which is possible, or if they simply bend to the demands of the, mainly, New York City publishing houses that determine which books get published through the traditional channels.

If you can step away from all that, The Perfume Collector is an okay silly book about a young English woman, in 1955, in a failing marriage (guess who's at fault there) who receives a letter from a lawyer in France informing her she has been named in a will.

This sets her off on a journey to Paris where she meets a young handsome French lawyer as she tries to solve the riddle of her mysterious inheritance. Her search leads her to an abandoned perfume shop in present day (1955) Paris.

It also has her learning about her benefactor in a story that takes her and the reader back to 1927 Jazz Age New York City. There we meet a lonely fourteen-year-old waif working as a maid in a luxury hotel for wealthy "artistic" types and their hanger-ons.

The story, no spoilers coming, is one of an "illegitimate birth," clandestine adoption, the genius of perfume creators (a five-standard-deviation sense of smell plus access to expensive raw ingredients are required), a WWII deal with Nazis and a few failed relationships.

The plot's reverse engineering shows in its obvious construction of an oft told tale. It also shows in its pandering to so many modern political pieties that you'll think the author had a checklist.

A woman, who's brilliant at math, has her confidence undermined by an overbearing man. An alcoholic aristocrat guilts a young woman into partnering with him in a gambling scam. A mother sacrifices her identity to be with the baby girl that was taken from her by a man.

Check, check and check and on it goes. Even the small details - the man measures the square footage of an apartment for sale, while the woman cares about the aura of the place - aligns to modern politics: the man's calculated greed (bad) versus the woman's artistic "feelings" (good).

The men almost all have fragile egos in constant need of stroking from younger women who would shine on their own if not for the men holding them back. Heck, there's even a petite heroine who can outdrink men twice her size. Is it possible, sure, but good grief.

Had Tessaro read a few novels or newspapers from the era of her story, she'd have met many impressive women. But these women, as opposed to her characters, were strong and independent in a way consistent with the norms and social construct of that era.

An author concerned with period verisimilitude would create characters like women that actually existed, characters at the vanguard of their era's advancement. That, though, wouldn't please today's insane need to have historical characters align perfectly with modern ideology.

Away from the anachronistic politics, the novel also lacks enough historical details and atmosphere to make it a book that transports you to another century. Tessaro did some research, put in several historic details, but she didn't create a true time-travel experience.

Books like The Perfume Collector are churned out like Hallmark movies as their plots are only slightly more complex than those feel-good cookie-cutter pictures. For pure escapism they are fast easy reads if you can tolerate the goose-stepping political obeisance.

For readers looking for a real period experience through fiction, reading novels from the actual period is a much more rewarding historical experience. Plus, those often much-better-written books can be had on used book websites for a fraction of the cost of these new novels.


N.B. With Thanksgiving kicking off the Christmas season, look for a review or two of a Christmas book coming in the next several weeks.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Aw Fast, the trend like class itch here and films over correct there are admitted ticket price with books
shelved accordingly. My favourite paper of record, the New York Times Sunday edition I cannot part way with
so accommodation requires occasional letter to editor or jigsaw puzzle scratched upon principle.
I've a long weekend and insomnia has me on prowl for a film. No war or finance Wall Street corporate suite
though The Big Short is tempting the devil keen. There's a Heddy Lamarr docu floating about but I'm thinking
horses and tracks or some more crime noir.

 

[Fading Fast]

Aw Fast, the trend like class itch here and films over correct there are admitted ticket price with books
shelved accordingly. My favourite paper of record, the New York Times Sunday edition I cannot part way with
so accommodation requires occasional letter to editor or jigsaw puzzle scratched upon principle.
I've a long weekend and insomnia has me on prowl for a film. No war or finance Wall Street corporate suite
though The Big Short is tempting the devil keen. There's a Heddy Lamarr docu floating about but I'm thinking
horses and tracks or some more crime noir.

You might have seen my recent comments on "Experiment in Terror," which is mainly crime drama not noir, but it might fit the bill for you. Also, have you ever seen the movie "Wall of Noise" (comments here: #29,098 ) as it might scratch your thoroughbred itch. Finally, if you want to go full noir, have you seen "The Dark Corner?"

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

None but I did catch a few possibles last night. Persistence pays. And will mark these down sure. Thanks.

 

[Tiki Tom]

View attachment 563057
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro published in 2013


Sometimes you need a book to read while you're deciding what you are going to read next. These interregnum books should be mindless, entertaining fluff that do not distract you from the serious work of choosing your next real book to read.

The Perfume Collector, a period novel, almost fits the bill and would have done the job if it could have resisted the obnoxious need to inject our strident modern politics into a light book set alternatingly in, mainly, 1920s New York City and 1950s Paris.

One wonders if authors today are truly so uniform in their political views, which is possible, or if they simply bend to the demands of the, mainly, New York City publishing houses that determine which books get published through the traditional channels.

If you can step away from all that, The Perfume Collector is an okay silly book about a young English woman, in 1955, in a failing marriage (guess who's at fault there) who receives a letter from a lawyer in France informing her she has been named in a will.

This sets her off on a journey to Paris where she meets a young handsome French lawyer as she tries to solve the riddle of her mysterious inheritance. Her search leads her to an abandoned perfume shop in present day (1955) Paris.

It also has her learning about her benefactor in a story that takes her and the reader back to 1927 Jazz Age New York City. There we meet a lonely fourteen-year-old waif working as a maid in a luxury hotel for wealthy "artistic" types and their hanger-ons.

The story, no spoilers coming, is one of an "illegitimate birth," clandestine adoption, the genius of perfume creators (a five-standard-deviation sense of smell plus access to expensive raw ingredients are required), a WWII deal with Nazis and a few failed relationships.

The plot's reverse engineering shows in its obvious construction of an oft told tale. It also shows in its pandering to so many modern political pieties that you'll think the author had a checklist.

A woman, who's brilliant at math, has her confidence undermined by an overbearing man. An alcoholic aristocrat guilts a young woman into partnering with him in a gambling scam. A mother sacrifices her identity to be with the baby girl that was taken from her by a man.

Check, check and check and on it goes. Even the small details - the man measures the square footage of an apartment for sale, while the woman cares about the aura of the place - aligns to modern politics: the man's calculated greed (bad) versus the woman's artistic "feelings" (good).

The men almost all have fragile egos in constant need of stroking from younger women who would shine on their own if not for the men holding them back. Heck, there's even a petite heroine who can outdrink men twice her size. Is it possible, sure, but good grief.

Had Tessaro read a few novels or newspapers from the era of her story, she'd have met many impressive women. But these women, as opposed to her characters, were strong and independent in a way consistent with the norms and social construct of that era.

An author concerned with period verisimilitude would create characters like women that actually existed, characters at the vanguard of their era's advancement. That, though, wouldn't please today's insane need to have historical characters align perfectly with modern ideology.

Away from the anachronistic politics, the novel also lacks enough historical details and atmosphere to make it a book that transports you to another century. Tessaro did some research, put in several historic details, but she didn't create a true time-travel experience.

Books like The Perfume Collector are churned out like Hallmark movies as their plots are only slightly more complex than those feel-good cookie-cutter pictures. For pure escapism they are fast easy reads if you can tolerate the goose-stepping political obeisance.

For readers looking for a real period experience through fiction, reading novels from the actual period is a much more rewarding historical experience. Plus, those often much-better-written books can be had on used book websites for a fraction of the cost of these new novels.


N.B. With Thanksgiving kicking off the Christmas season, look for a review or two of a Christmas book coming in the next several weeks.

My interregnum book was “Mastering the Art of French Murder” By Colleen Cambridge. It takes place in postwar Paris in 1949. The books unique twist is that the protagonist happens to be neighbors with Julia Child and is a good friend of hers. A murder occurs in the building and —gasp!— it was committed with one of Julia’s cooking knives!

The author does a good job of capturing Julia’s unique voice. Don’t get me wrong, the book is totally a piece of fluff and doesn’t require much work. However, it is silly and fun. If you like Paris, cooking, Julia Child, and a Detective in a Fedora, it is a nice and quick diversion. And best of all, the author (to a very great degree) avoids burdening the book with all kinds of modern political tropes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, although this book is clearly written for a female audience, it does not beat you over the head with over-simplified political agitprop. My jaw even fell open when several men in the book, including Julia’s husband, Paul, turn out to be decent, smart, and kind.

Again, the book is a lightweight piece of fluff while I’m thinking about my next reading project. But I thought it was fun.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

A decade past tense I bought a second hand Julia Child reminisce interg, centered post war Paris
and Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Having seen Ms Child several times on tele but otherwise knew little
about her, I found her memoir both reasonable interest and informative. Spur of moment book buys can
prove memorable worthwhiles.

 

[Fading Fast]

My interregnum book was “Mastering the Art of French Murder” By Colleen Cambridge. It takes place in postwar Paris in 1949. The books unique twist is that the protagonist happens to be neighbors with Julia Child and is a good friend of hers. A murder occurs in the building and —gasp!— it was committed with one of Julia’s cooking knives!

The author does a good job of capturing Julia’s unique voice. Don’t get me wrong, the book is totally a piece of fluff and doesn’t require much work. However, it is silly and fun. If you like Paris, cooking, Julia Child, and a Detective in a Fedora, it is a nice and quick diversion. And best of all, the author (to a very great degree) avoids burdening the book with all kinds of modern political tropes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, although this book is clearly written for a female audience, it does not beat you over the head with over-simplified political agitprop. My jaw even fell open when several men in the book, including Julia’s husband, Paul, turn out to be decent, smart, and kind.

Again, the book is a lightweight piece of fluff while I’m thinking about my next reading project. But I thought it was fun.

I will be ordering a copy today, especially since that is one my girlfriend - who loves Julia Child and cooking - will read too.