Tag Archives: Reviews

[Alternative Muse of the Month] Let’s Talk About Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill, or: Why Writers Deserve Silly, Media-Created Nicknames, Too

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I dream of a world where people care enough about writers to give them silly, unnecessary and catchy nicknames. Move aside JLo and LiLo, because here comes JAust (pronounced joust, because it just sounds better). Are you sick of Brangelina and, Lord help us, Kimye? Fear not, because SylT is here to make it all better. (For the record: I refuse to acknowledge the talented but dickish Ted with more than a perfunctory T.) I could do this all day (and probably will in some future post, because this is kind of fun, yes?) but I’ll stop after one more, the subject of this piece: KathMans. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 135: Writing Dramatic Nonfiction

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  • Title: Writing Dramatic Nonfiction
  • Author: William Noble
  • Year Published: 2000 (Paul S. Eriksson, Publisher)
  • Year Purchased: Probably circa 2000 or 2001
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: It’s nice-and occasionally necessary-to be reminded of the fundamentals. Most of us know that only by understanding the rules are we capable of breaking free of them. After awhile, it is easy to forget the basics; when the basics have been forgotten, it is all too easy to drown in your own hollow virtuosity. Beautiful but empty. It is smart to have instructional books like Writing Dramatic Nonfiction as part of your professional arsenal. Even if  rarely consulted, their very existence on your shelf is helpful. Whenever I look at the reference section in my studio, I am reminded that writing is not all style and instinct; it is a trade, a profession, a chore. It requires labor, skill, stamina. It is hard, technical work. This particular book is middle-of-the-pack. It doesn’t contain revolutionary advice; it will not change your life. You likely won’t find yourself turning to it again and again, until the pages are wrinkled and dirty, but it is solid and workmanlike; it serves the purpose of making you think, logically and clearly, about constructing your nonfiction using the pacing, demands and artistry of fiction. Noble deconstructs some of the most powerful passages from the nonfiction writings of Hemingway, Dillard and Capote, among others. That is what makes it worth the cover price.
  • Motivation: Oh, I’ve no idea. I honestly don’t remember how this book came into my life (which is extremely rare). Whether by accident or design, it doesn’t really matter. I’m a professional writer so it only makes sense that I own books about writing.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 30: “But the point is this: nonfiction or fiction, we can begin our conflict on the first page, and it will work just fine.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7

A Year in Books/Day 134: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew

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  • Title: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew From Fox Hunting to Whist-the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England
  • Author: Daniel Pool
  • Year Published: 1993 (Simon & Schuster)
  • Year Purchased: 1994
  • Source: A gift from an ex
  • About: This book is history-light. Don’t get your knickers in a knot, as that is rarely a bad thing! Although I love weighty, intellectually demanding tomes like a kid loves candy, lighter fare inhabits its own cozy corner of my heart. It took awhile for that to happen. Even as a pre-teen, I was (perhaps unnaturally) concerned with running out of time in which to read the world’s literary classics. Yes, I truly thought about such things as an eleven-year-old. As I thought that time was-a-wastin’, I wasn’t about to devote my precious allotment to “lesser” reading. Eventually, I discovered history books of the pop culture variety. I ate volumes whole, on a variety of history-related topics: fashion, art, film, photography. This led me down the lovely, informative and fun path that is littered with books like What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: well-researched, well-written and highly readable books devoted to popular and general history subjects. I have a preference for the Elizabethan and Victorian eras, with the Jazz Age coming in a very tight third. These are my idea of “beach reads”. Now, I’ll turn to the book at hand. Nearly every aspect of daily life that the average person could find interesting is discussed and dissected within its pages: etiquette, currency, society, marriage, kids, death, clothing, food, commerce, orphans, maids, “lesser folk”, crime, rural life, urban living, sex, balls, dinner parties, hygiene, occupations…..There is a handy glossary for those new to the era and its terms. Although not ground-breaking or revolutionary, it’s engrossing enough that it demands your attention from start to finish.
  • Motivation: It was a gift from someone who was trying to woo me. Unfortunately, it worked (for a time) because, obviously, books are a way to my heart. This gift was so perfect that it blinded me to all common sense and logic. Or, so I’d like to think.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 134: “In England in 1800 one could be hanged for sheep stealing, sodomy, murder, impersonating an army veteran, stealing something worth more than five shillings from a shop, treason, doing damage to Westminster Bridge, and about two hundred other offenses. (Killing a man in a duel, although murder, was considered socially okay for people of quality, so juries generally didn’t convict until the 1840s. Thereafter it became advisable to duel on the Continent, as Phineas Finn does.)
  • Happiness Scale: 9 1/2
    Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens (Photo credit: Wikipedia) has some things he would like to share with you.

     

A Year in Books/Day 133: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen

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  • Title: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen
  • Compiled by: Dominique Enright
  • Year Published: 2002/This Edition: 2005 (Barnes & Noble Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2005
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: I own nearly two dozen Jane Austen-related books, so it comes as something of a surprise that this is the first one being featured in my P366. I’m not sure how I managed to overlook them for so long but, fear not! They will get their full, fair due in future. I think that this nifty compilation volume is a natural starting point: the great writer is presented at her wittiest and liveliest, with excerpts taken from both her novels and personal correspondence with her sister Cassandra. It’s a truthful approach, as we are not spared the waspishness or vanity of the private woman or, far worse, forced to endure the sugar-coated spinster trope prevalent in so many biographies. Set beside snippets from her fiction, we are given a double-barrel blast of the “real” Jane (so far as such a thing can be accomplished): a powerful, candid wielder of arrow-sharp words and wit, a master of language perfectly controlled and aimed.
  • Motivation: Acerbic, perceptive and highly literate, Jane Austen is one of my favourite muses and guiding lights. Shocking, I’m sure.
  • Times Read: A few
  • Random Excerpt/Page 110: “I do not like the Miss Blackstones; indeed, I was always determined not to like them, so there is the less merit in it.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10
    Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait b...

    Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by her sister Cassandra, 1810 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 132: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series

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  • Title: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series Over 100 profiles of the most asked about personalities from television series, documentaries, and movies
  • Author: Richard Lamparski
  • Year Published: 1985 (Crown Publishers, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: 1990/1991
  • Source: Antique Barn vendor, the Ohio State Fair
  • About: The cover tag says it all, so I won’t rehash what you just read 5 lines above. The best thing about Lamparski’s series is who he focuses on: B-movie and television stars, flashes in the pan, and former A-listers who, through fickle chance, faded into obscurity instead of attaining permanent icon status.
  • Motivation: I was a teenager when I found these books at the public library. I was deep in the early rapturous phase of discovering old movies. I was also a theatre student. To this day, many of my favourite actors and actresses are the little-remembered also-rans.
  • Times Read: Countless
  • Random Excerpt/Page 74: “When her parents were cast in the touring company of No, No, Nanette Leila (Hyams) remained in New York City, studying dramatic acting while she supported herself by modeling. Oliver Clive, a noted artist of the time, called her “The Golden Girl” because of the delicate coloring of her skin and hair. According to the New York Times she was the first model to appear in advertisements for Listerine mouthwash.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9 (even in our IMDB universe)

A Year in Books/Day 131: After the Fall

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  • Title: After the Fall A Play in Two Acts/Final Stage Version
  • Author: Arthur Miller
  • Year Published: 1964/This edition: 1987 (Penguin Books)
  • Year Purchased: 1990/1991
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: No matter how hard I want it to be otherwise, After the Fall has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Although he’s not my favourite American playwright, I love Arthur Miller. I do. My love even survived not only reading Death of a Salesman (which I adore) in my high school AP English class, but watching multiple film and television adaptations over the course of a few days. That’s asking too much, yet my love and respect remained intact. After the Fall, based on his relationship with second wife Marilyn Monroe, goes a step too far for my taste. The whole enterprise, although undoubtedly cathartic for Miller, is tainted by the too-fresh dirt of his ex-wife’s grave. All writers write, to one extent or another, about people they know and experiences they have. (I’m no different.) I’d like to think that most of us are sensible or compassionate enough to do it from behind at least a slightly opaque veil, without dozens of raw and neon-bright references to friends and family. Especially when they were-and remain-one of the most famous people in the world. If you were to reduce the play to just Maggie’s lines, it would almost read like an autobiographical monologue by Monroe. Unless you do that to yourself, it’s a bit icky. Now here’s where I must pause and tell a tale on myself: if After the Fall was top-notch Miller, I’d probably be more forgiving. I know I’m a hypocrite but great writing gets me every time. This isn’t great writing; it’s a curiosity piece, an exercise in egoism, condescension and hand-washing. It’s not a good look for one of America’s best playwrights.
  • Motivation: I’ve loved plays for nearly as far back as I can remember; not just in performance, but in text. I would read aloud all of the parts, like some sort of egocentric table reading. I guess I was theatrically inclined even then, loving the interplay between words and action that is missing from straight fiction. I wrote my first play in the 5th grade. Even though the short story is my (near exclusive) fiction medium, I write with play craft in mind.
  • Times Read: 3 or 4
  • Random Excerpt/Page 84: “That decency is murderous! Speak truth, not decency. I curse the whole high administration of fake innocence! I declare it, I am not innocent-nor good!”
  • Happiness Scale: 6 for subject matter and over all execution/10 for the few passages where Miller’s writing soars
    Arthur Miller, American playwright

    Arthur Miller, American playwright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 130: Passionate Minds

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  • Screenshot of Mae West from the trailer for th...

    Screenshot of Mae West from the trailer for the film I’m No Angel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Title: Passionate Minds Women Rewriting the World

  • Author: Claudia Roth Pierpont
  • Year Published: 2000 (Vintage Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2002
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: This is a subject close to my heart, and one that I frequently write about: women writers. Especially dead women writers. Twelve women (with different view-points, strengths and contributions), twelve in-depth profiles: each chapter is a study in grace, perseverance, individuality and talent. The subjects present interesting juxtapositions, from the expected (Gertrude Stein) to the controversial (Margaret Mitchell, Ayn Rand); the forgotten (Olive Schreiner) to the unexpected (Mae West). It offers complexity where so often there is indifference or cliché; it’s uplifting and respectful without resorting to heroine worship. Brisk and engrossing, you’ll be hard-pressed to put it down without finishing it in one straight read.
  • Motivation: DEAD WOMEN WRITERS.
  • Times Read: 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 81: “Because there were no available acting roles for a woman who drove men wild and enjoyed them in bed by the dozen and gave as good as she got and didn’t want to marry and never suffered for any of it, Mae West had to become a writer before she could be a movie star.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 129: Little Bear*

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  • Title: Little Bear
  • Author: Else Holmelund Minarik
  • Illustrations: Maurice Sendak
Little Bear front cover

Little Bear front cover

  • Year Published: 1957 (Harper & Row, Publishers)
  • Year Purchased: 1957, presumably (I think it was purchased for my mom)
  • Source: My sweet Momma
  • About: Little Bear-a collection of four stories revolving around the sweet title character-was one of the first books I read for myself. I was barely three years old, and entirely mesmerized by Sendak’s illustrations. I especially loved his hat in What Will Little Bear Wear? The writing by Minarik is, of course, simplistic to the extreme (exactly what you would expect from something with An I CAN READ Book tag) but that is beside the point: Sendak is the reason I loved Little Bear and his tame adventures (real and imagined) and childish dilemmas. He is the reason the stories are classics. From the moment I opened the book for the first time-before I could read-I was a Sendak fan, lifelong and passionate.
  • Motivation: I read everything I could get my thin, little hands on. This book, it seems, was always there.
  • Times Read: Dozens or hundreds, I have no idea.
  • Random Excerpt/Page 18:
    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    • Happiness Scale: 10++++, with a side of warm fuzzies.
    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    *This is dedicated to the memory and brilliant mind of Maurice Sendak, who died today (8 May 2012).

A Year in Books/Day 128: Fast-Talking Dames

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  • Title: Fast-Talking Dames
  • Author: Maria DiBattista
  • Year Published: 2001 (Yale University Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2002/2003
  • Source: Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company
  • About: The best part of screwball comedies is, of course, the dialogue. The plots are usually superfluous and in soft-focus; the snappy writing and whirlwind performances are what make these staples of the 1930s and 1940s so entertaining and timeless. While the male performers were no slouches, the women killed it time and again, routinely giving some of the best comedy turns in film history. The actresses discussed include Claudette Colbert, Rosalind Russell, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy and Barbara Stanwyck. Whew, what a list! Are you interested yet?
  • Motivation: The title alone was allurement enough. Throw in the snazzy cover photo of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell from His Girl Friday (1940) and I was a goner. Oh, and then there is the subject itself.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 103: “Like Harlow, Carole Lombard is often impatient or unhappy with the way her life is going, but her comic response to her predicaments is more rambunctious than raffish. Her sexual morals are definitely higher, but she is also the more accomplished liar. Or should we say, in a more generous mood, that where Harlow makes candor her comic calling card, Lombard is the great pretender.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8 1/2
    Cropped screenshot of Carole Lombard from the ...

    Cropped screenshot of Carole Lombard from the trailer for the film Nothing Sacred (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 127: Heaven is Under Our Feet

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  • Title: Heaven is Under Our Feet A Book For Walden Woods
  • Edited By: Don Henley and Dave Marsh
  • Year Published: 1991 (Longmeadow Press)
  • Year Purchased: 1991
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: Heaven is Under Our Feet, a phrase taken from Thoreau, is a collection of environmentally conscious essays by leading writers, activists and assorted artists (including Jimmy Carter, James Earl Jones, James A. Michener, Sting, Kurt Vonnegut). Spearheaded by musician Don Henley, this book was part of The Walden Woods Project, a collective effort to save the non-protected parts of Thoreau’s stomping ground from developers. It remains an important contribution to, and meditation on, the environmental movement and why nature and our country’s wild places matter.
  • Motivation: As a school girl, I was obsessed with the very idea of this book. I was already a serious environmentalist (in that intense way particular only to teenagers). I loved Thoreau’s writing and had a humongous crush on Don Henley (don’t judge me, please!). So, in short: Environment + Thoreau + that guy from the Eagles=my hot pursuit of this volume.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 29: “When I first visited Walden as an adolescent more than thirty-five years ago-it was in 1955, or perhaps 1956-I was dismayed by what I saw. The place seemed forlorn, distinctly down at the heels, and not half as wild as I’d hoped it would be.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9