Monday, June 17, 2024

What I'm Reading This Week (June 17, 2024)

 


If the weather holds steady this week, and the potential tropical storm that seems to be developing somewhere around Guatemala doesn't come as far north as the Gulf Coast, I'll be shifting into road trip mode on Saturday morning (the 22nd). That in mind, I'm not sure how much reading I'll be doing, or how much posting, if any. It all depends on the availability of trustworthy wifi connections in the evenings - and how much energy is left in my tank at the end of each day. 

That said, I did finish three books last week (Butterfield 8 by John O'Hara, James by Purcival Everett, and Deliverance by James Dickey), and I have two others in progress to start the new week with (Look for Me There by Luke Russert and The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh). As usual, I managed to stray considerably from last week's plan, this time by reading Deliverance sooner than I'd anticipated and by adding The Big Door Prize, a book I had forgotten I even owned before unexpectedly coming across it again one afternoon.

Whether it deserves it or not, Deliverance holds classic status in my mind. James Dickey, a well respected poet, published the novel in 1971 and it was made into a smash hit movie in 1972 starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beaty, and Ronny Cox. It was quite a shocking story for its time, especially when it came to homosexual predatory sexual behavior and preempting violence by killing another before they could harm others. I read the book early on, but that was over fifty years ago so I wanted to see if it is as good as I remembered it to be. It is.

I very seldom go into "Dollar Stores," but a few weeks ago I popped into one to pick up a small tube of super glue and stumbled upon a shelf with few books on sale for a dollar. The Big Door Prize was the only one that sounded remotely good to me, so I ended up spending a whopping $2, plus tax, on the store visit. It's all about a little town in Louisiana whose grocery store adds a machine charging $2 to sample and interpret the customer's DNA sample to "tell you your life's destiny" and what you are capable of achieving. Now I see that someone turned it into a TV series.

I haven't yet figured out exactly who Luke Russert is. I came into the book with a lot of built-in respect for Luke based simply on how much I admire his father. And during the early chapters, during which Luke recounted the horrible experience of so unexpectedly losing Tim, my respect only increased. But then Luke seemed to go a little overboard on his idea to regroup personally by traveling around the world. Even his mother was concerned about him. Now, I see indications in the chapters that Luke is beginning to figure out that he has an unhealthy addiction to social media, but I'm still unsure whether some of what he is saying is self-directed sarcasm or if I'm giving him more credit than he deserves. Can't wait to find out which it is.

Because I'll be on the road for most of two weeks beginning June 22, I'm hesitant to even guess whether I'll get to any new books the rest of the month or in early July. At the very least, I'll probably keep it to relatively light reading choices, so those dark books I mentioned last week are going to have to wait a bit longer. I'm considering these as carry-alongs for the trip:
A book about a road trip



Another road trip book

I'll also be throwing the latest Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in the suitcase in case I only have time to read a few short stories. 

You guys have a great week. It's definitely going to be a busy few days around here while we pack up all the "essentials" for the trip (in my case, that's books; in my grandson's that means music to drive by). 

14 comments:

  1. Good books and music are essential for any road trip! As are yummy road trip snacks. I hope the weather your way is kind this weekend and doesn't mess up your trip.

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    1. Absolutely, Lark. Thankfully, because he grew up in our house, we share a pretty similar musical taste. It's looking this afternoon like the rain may clear out of here sometime on Tursday, so we may be OK except for the added humidity when all that water starts evaporating.

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  2. Deliverance goes down in history as one of only two movies Peter and I ever walked out of. (The other was Alien, which I have since seen on TV several times.) I must've been a sensitive little flower aged 19! LOL! Three Years a Traveller looks interesting, I will look that up.

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    1. I remember being more than a little bit squeamish in that movie, too, Cath. The book does a better job than the move exploring the morality of striking first when you know that someone is going to kill you if you don't take it upon yourself to stop them first. It's actually a fairly thoughtful exploration of what good people are capable of doing when cornered.

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  3. I hope you two have a great road trip. It sounds like a lot of fun. I recently got a copy of Piglet ... I think it was a $1.99 ebook special ... it looks interesting but I haven't thrown it into my mix just yet. Quite a book cover though right? You know something is not going to be good. Enjoy your time away.

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    1. Thanks. Still preparing for the trip a little at a time. My wife is preparing to spend a long weekend up in Dallas with our only granddaughter to begin wedding dress shopping. Consequently, the house looks like a tornado has hit our clothes closet. ha

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  4. I couldn't bring myself to see (or read) Deliverance, but in its way, it is a classic.
    Have a great road trip, Sam!

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    1. Thanks, Jen. Deliverance is a little bit "wordy," but I was happy to find that it holds up well to my memories of that first read back in the early seventies.

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  5. It is only two days after my first cataract surgery, and I am doing pretty well and was even able to read a book for an hour or so last night before bed, which surprised me. But for some reason working on the computer is much more challenging, but I still wanted to get at least one comment in before you leave on your trip.

    I am looking into The Big Door Prize but I will wait and see what your experience is. Have a great trip, and be safe. The reading you have chosen sounds like fun.

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    1. That's great. I'm really happy to hear that your first surgery went so well. I would advise you, though, not to overdo the reading for the first few days, because your eye will really fatigue quickly. My doctor would let me do anything other than watch TV a couple of hours a day for the first two days, and she really didn't want me to read anything, especially on a screen, at all for the first week.
      I really appreciate you dropping by and taking the time to comment before we get out of here...thanks for that.

      The Big Door Prize is turning out to be a pretty good comedy up to this point. I'm pleasantly surprised by the author's prose style, and his characters are mostly fun ones, too. So far, so good.

      Take care of yourself.

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  6. I'm looking up Off the Books right now, even tho I'm not taking a road trip in this heat. Have fun.

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    1. I managed to read this one while on the trip...not overly impressed with the writing, but it makes for an interesting enough story.

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    1. It was fun, Constance. I did learn...or was reminded again...that I don't tolerate the heat and humidity nearly as well as I used to. But it was a great time with my grandson with lots of conversation and observation along the way.

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I always love hearing from you guys...that's what keeps me book-blogging. Thanks for stopping by.