Making Classic Lit Look Cool

It's not the most original idea for bookish humor, but this article from The New Yorker did manage to hit the nail on the head with its rebranding of "classic female-authored novels."  I wonder if a few high school English teachers might want to try this for some of their assigned reading when school starts back up in a few weeks.  

Here are a couple of my favorites from the piece:

"To Kill a Mockingbird

Six-year-old Scout Finch tells the story of her father, the woke AF lawyer Atticus. While her dad defends Tom Robinson, a black man who’s wrongly #MeTooed in the South, Scout discovers through her relationship with a mysterious neighbor that not all incels are bad. "

"House of Mirth

Lily Bart isn’t like other girls—she’s poor and, at twenty-nine, old as hell for a single lady! Even though she’s totally gorge and not just some basic thot, no one’s even tried to put a ring on it, not even her BFF, Lawrence Seldon, a broke-ass lawyer who works hard for the modern equivalent of what, like, maybe $70K, max? #Struggle. As Lily hobnobs with the New York élite, she’s increasingly drawn to Seldon in this classic Ross-and-Rachel romance." 

Other classics ranging from Little Women to Gone with the Wind are included in the article, so take a look to see if one or two of your favorites are there. It's fun.

Where We Come From - Oscar Cásares

Where We Come From offers a view of what is currently happening on America’s southern border through the eyes of those physically and emotionally closest to the situation.  Author Oscar Cásares grew up in Brownsville, Texas, just across the Mexican border and he himself is one of those people. The border is a dangerous place for those who live just north of it and for those who cross it every day to do jobs on its American side. But it is especially dangerous for those who cross it illegally with the hope of setting up a permanent home somewhere within the vastness of the United States for themselves and their families. 

Nina, the book’s main character, grew up in Brownsville and has never lived anywhere else.  Never married, and the only daughter in her family, Nina is now doing what is expected of her women like her by abandoning her own life in order to care for her mother for the rest of the old woman’s life.  That’s just what women like Nina do, and although she resents how readily her brothers assume that the job is hers alone, Nina has now been caring for their mother for eight years.   Although neither of them is much happy with the state of her life, Nina and her mother have more or less settled into a routine they can live with now.

Author Oscar Cásares

But all of that changes one day when Nina agrees to do a favor for someone from the Mexican side of the border, setting into play a chain of events that will forever change Nina’s life and how she sees her place in the world.  Now Nina is hiding something from everyone she knows, including her mother and the brother who very occasionally shows up to see if they need anything.  In the little pink house behind the house she and her mother live in, she is hiding a little Mexican boy named Daniel who is hoping to make it all the way to his father in Chicago.  It is hard enough to keep this secret from her mother and her brother, but when her Houston godson Orly comes to stay with her for a few days, it is only a matter of time before the boys become aware of each other’s presence. And when they do, Nina, her mother, and Daniel are in danger – Nina and her mother of being jailed or fined, and Daniel of being taken into custody until he can be deported.

Bottom Line: Oscar Cásares does a good job of humanizing the generic “illegal immigrants” so commonly seen on the daily news shows, and he reminds the reader that the fact that they are willing to risk their very lives to get here is the best indication of how desperate a life they live on their own side of the border.  They are willing to risk everything for a better life for themselves and their families.  Cásares uses some memorable characters to tell his story: Nina, who surprises herself by bonding with the little Mexican boy who depends on her to keep him safe; Orly, who was raised in a Houston white-collar neighborhood and barely speaks Spanish; Daniel, the little boy who escapes a police raid only to find himself all alone in a country he doesn’t understand; and Nina’s chauvinistic brother who will quickly turn Daniel over to the authorities if he ever figures out exactly what Nina is up to.

All of these are legitimate characters, but they tell only one side of the story.  Cásares barely addresses the drug smugglers, gang members, and serial criminals who come across the border with those seeking better lives.  And that is typical of the whole discussion about America’s border problem. Those on one side want to talk only about hardcore criminals and the fact that anyone having crossed the border without papers is here illegally; those on the other side want to ignore the cost of illegal immigration and the violent crimes being committed by serial criminals who come and go across the border almost as they please, and instead want to focus mostly on what happens in the hopelessly overcrowded government detention centers on the border. Until both sides are willing to have a serious discussion that includes all of the issues, people will continue to die, be abused by people-smugglers, and be forced to lived life in the shadows.  Where We Come From can be a conversation starter.

Book Number 3,417

Libraries Must Draw the Line on E-books - Sari Feldman, Publishers Weekly

Librarian Sari Feldman

Because so few avid readers can afford, or have the space, for all the books they want to read, they are highly dependent upon their local libraries to fill in the gaps. I have read an average of about fifty library books per year for the last ten years, so that’s most certainly the case for me.  And I’m not talking about just tree-books, I also check out e-books and audible books. Sometimes the titles I’m interested in are readily available; other times I find myself waiting for more than fifty others to read a copy of the book before my turn at it finally comes. That’s frustrating - but apparently, it’s not frustrating enough for Macmillan.

About a year ago, Macmillan placed a four-month library “embargo” on e-books published by its Tor imprint.  Now, it seems that the publisher has become convinced by its embargo that releasing new e-book titles to public libraries sooner than four months after publication depresses sales of the titles to the consumer, and it has indicated that the embargo is likely to be extended to titles released by any and all other Macmillan imprints. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the Tor imprint, anyway, so the Macmillan trick hardly impacted me.  But there are plenty of other Macmillan titles that I do want to read – and I don’t want to wait four months to read them just because I can’t afford to buy all the books I read in a given year.  I sympathize with the publishers, and I understand that they are searching for the business model that will maximize profits in an environment in which readers have wholeheartedly embraced e-books and audiobooks. I get it.  But I think that Macmillan is taking it too far.

According to librarian Sari Feldman’s recent article in Publishers Weekly, public libraries are already paying “three to five times the consumer price for two-year accessto e-books” to pretty much all publishers (but only Macmillan actually embargoes titles for four months). She gives the example of Elin Hilderbrand’s The Rumorselling to libraries for $84 per copy and to consumers for $14.99. At first, I was also against access being limited to two years, but I suppose that compares to something close to the average shelf life of a physical library book, so it does make some sense.  But those inflated per-copy prices are a big reason that I’m lined up behind 50-150 people on the more popular titles that I don’t jump on right away.  Do publishers make more money by selling fewer copies at five times the price than they would make by selling some higher number of copies to libraries at the consumer price? That sounds like a question out of Economics 101, but I doknow it would ease the pressure on public library budgets everywhere.

And now, according to Feldman, Hachette Book Group and Simon & Schuster have placed a two-year limit on copies of audible books sold to libraries for streaming purposes.  Can the other major publishers be far behind? 

That brings us to the super villain of retailing, Amazon.  Amazon, via its Audible service, is said to be aggressively pursuing exclusive agreements with publishers that would preclude those publishers from selling any copies at all to libraries of “the most highly desirable audio content, including from major authors such as Margaret Atwood and Michael Lewis.” The only good news in audio books that Feldman shares with us is that “four of the Big Five publishers – Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster – have thus far committed to a no-embargo policy for new release titles” (on audiobooks).  That’s something, I guess.

But between the usual evilness of Amazon and the greed of Macmillan, the cracks in the public library business model are starting to become obvious. Despite what politicians and retailers like to believe, there are millions and millions of people who love their local libraries and depend on them to provide the reading material they cannot afford to purchase for themselves.  Too, I am particularly concerned with publishers deciding to limit ready access to audiobooks because so many sight-impaired people depend on them for entertainment and access to current trends and thought.  (And since I have the beginning stages of macular degeneration in both eyes, this hits very close to home.)

Maybe it’s time for public libraries to ask for some help from the Federal Trade Commission before things get even worse for library patrons.  And maybe it’s time for library patrons everywhere to speak up for themselves.  This is what we pay all of those childish do-nothings in Congress to help us with, after all.

The Punishment She Deserves - Elizabeth George

Last year’s The Punishment She Deserves is the twentieth detective novel in Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley series, and the first addition to the series since 2015’s A Banquet of Consequences. Fans of the author’s Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers character will be pleased to learn that the novel is as much, actually much more, about Havers as it is about her boss Thomas Lynley.  Lynley, in fact, does not make a “live” appearance in the book until approximately page 200 of the 690-page novel. Prior to that point, he is either referenced to by other characters, or perhaps consulted from afar.

Barbara Havers has never gone exactly by the book when it comes to homicide investigations, an attribute that Lynley sees considerable value in if only he can keep her from being fired or transferred to the boonies because others in New Scotland Yard do not share his appreciation of Barbara’s methods.  But now it seems that Barbara is on the brink of having precisely one of those two things happen to her because she has been assigned, along with a superior officer who wants little more than to rid herself of Barbara’s presence, to a tricky investigation in the sleepy little town of Ludlow.  Just the two of them – and DCS Isabelle Ardery is hoping that if she gives Barbara enough rope, she will hang herself with it.

It seems that the church deacon, Ian Druitt, has been found dead while in police custody. Due to the circumstances of the man’s death, the police are of course anxious to have the local coroner’s characterization of the death as a suicide confirmed by the investigators from New Scotland Yard.  And Isabelle Ardery, who has personal problems aplenty of her own at the moment, is inclined to humor them – if only she can reign in Barbara long enough to make suicide appear to be the most likely possibility.  Well, good luck with that.  Barbara, instead, tries to walk the fine line between following orders precisely and letting the investigation lead her anywhere and everywhere it might. That’s not usually where DCS Ardery would like her to be.

Author Elizabeth George

The Punishment She Deserves is very much a police procedural, and it is fun to watch the wheels turn in the minds of Lynley and Havers as one small clue leads to another and another until some big piece of the puzzle finally falls into place.  The last few Lynley novels have seen the Havers character evolve into one of the better investigators in all of New Scotland Yard, and she more than holds her own when teamed up with Lynley in this one.  Despite still being as socially inept as she always has been, Havers and Lynley have by now managed a solid bond both on and off the job.  Lynley is probably Barbara’s best friend in the world, and the protective Lynley considers her a good friend, also.  When Lynley and Barbara are sent back to Ludlow to finish up the investigation into Druitt’s death, things finally begin to happen.

Bottom Line: The Punishment She Deserves will probably be more satisfying to long term fans of the series than it will be to those reading it as a standalone.  This is particularly true because of how adeptly the novel further evolves the Havers character into a truly impressive New Scotland Yard investigator. This is not so true of the Lynley character, however. Thomas Lynley reached a low point in his personal life several books back, and the character has changed very little since he stabilized and returned to the job. At 690 pages, the novel has somewhat of a bloated feel to it, but the same can be said for the last few Lynley novels (think Stephen King).  That said, I’m still a huge fan of the series and will most certainly buy the next one to see what’s going on in the lives of two of my favorite fictional characters. I just hope I don’t have to wait three years this time.

Book Number 3,416

Blood Ties - Barbara Fradkin

Blood Ties is the fourth in a series of what author Barbara Fradkin calls Cedric O’Toole Mysteries. It is my first exposure to Mr. O’Toole and his friends, and I’m still trying to figure out what I really think of the guy – and his friends.  Cedric (or Rick, as he prefers to be called) is so laid back about life that he doesn’t get very excited when a man shows up at his door claiming to be the half-brother Rick never knew existed.  Well, I figured, maybe this is just the mark of an overly cautious man.  But it turns out that even after Rick has decided to help Steve answer some key questions about the father they supposedly share, he is still not willing to approach the very people most likely actually to have the answers they are seeking. 

Then, just when I was ready to write Rick off as some kind of oblivious weirdo, I decided that he was probably just afraid of what he might learn about his family by asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. Steve, though, was not playing that game.  And that got Steve – and Rick - in a whole lot of trouble.  The book’s cover describes Cedric O’Toole as a “reluctant sleuth and unlikely hero,” but that description does not much hint at what Rick is capable of when a hero is required and he is the only one around even remotely fit for the role.  He can be a hero when he has to be one, Rick just doesn’t really want that job. 

Author Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin, who is also a practicing child psychologist in Ottawa, has set Blood Ties in a relatively remote Canadian village, and she uses that closed setting to emphasize how easy it is for a relatively small circle of adults to keep a life-changing secret from someone who was not even born yet when the event in question occurred.  Fradkin gives her readers plenty of action and plenty to think about in this novella of only 148 pages – maybe not enough to get me to look for the previous three books in the series, but definitely enough to get me to check out the other two series she is writing.  I would call Blood Ties a “cozy mystery,” because it shares most of the key characteristics that I use to define that mystery sub-genre: mild language, behind-the-scene sex and violence, and a community in which everyone seems to know everyone else. If cozies are your thing, this one might be just the thing for you.

Orca Book Publishers provided an Advance Reading Copy of Blood Ties for review purposes.

(Book number 3,415)

Stranger than Fiction - Will Ferrell & Emma Thompson

This is day number two of my no-reading week, but I did manage to find a fun, book-related movie today to help ease some of the pain of my book-withdrawal. I'm referring to a 2006 movie called Stranger than Fiction starring Will Farrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Queen Latifa. 

I suppose that Stranger than Fiction could be categorized as more of a romantic comedy than anything else, but its unusual plot is what really caught my attention. Will Farrell plays an IRS auditor who hears a voiceover in his head describing everything he does. The voice narrates his toothbrushing technique, his necktie choice, the speed at which he walks to the bus stop, etc., until it begins to drive him nuts.  His search for answers leads him, of all things, to a literature professor who recognizes that the narration described by Farrell sounds an awful lot like words from a novel.

And as it turns out, the Will Farrell character is actually the central character of a novel being written by the Emma Thompson character.  Farrell, of course, knows nothing about Thompson, but Thompson is equally in the dark about their situation. She has no idea that the character she’s in the process of creating is walking around in the real world. The scary thing for Farrell, is that Thompson has killed off the central character of all eight of her previous novels, so it seems to be just a matter of time before his own turn comes.  And then one day, Farrell hears the voice in his head say that, even though he doesn’t know it, his own death is fast approaching.

In the middle of all this, the Farrell character is falling in love with a baker he’s been assigned to audit, a rebellious young woman who purposely underpaid her taxes by 22 percent in protest of how the government uses its tax revenue.  So now that he knows that the novelist is about to kill him off, what is our friendly IRS auditor to do?

He starts with a visit to the writer’s apartment - and that’s when things really get interesting.

Stranger than Fiction is fun, but I think it chickened out on the ending it should have had, and that makes the movie’s attempt to pull hard on the heartstrings not very effective.  In the end this is kind of a throwaway movie, and I’m a bit surprised that actors like Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman were part of it.  But during this no-book week, I’m really, really glad that I found it.