jim_p

Books: I read 8 books this quarter.

1. Colm Toibin, Long Island. An Irish woman, married to an Italian-American man and living in close proximity to most of his family, learns that her husband has gotten another woman pregnant and that woman’s husband plans to leave the baby on their doorstep. The Italian family plan to have her husband’s mother raise the child. She goes off to Ireland for her mother’s 80th birthday and rekindles an old flame. But she doesn’t count on what his current lover plans to do. Overall, this was readable if you suspend a lot of disbelief about human behavior, but it lacks a satisfying resolution. My book club concluded that Toibin was setting things up to write a sequel.
   
   
2. James A. Michener, Tales of the South Pacific. I read this for my travel book club and, frankly, found it a total slog for the most part. The best stories are the ones that were used for the musical South Pacific but I had to read through plenty of racism and sexism (which, alas, was realistic, though unpleasant to read) and far more detail about how tedious waiting for battle was to get to the good stuff.
   
   
3. Alison Espach, The Wedding People. I didn’t expect to like this book, which I also read for my long-standing book club. The premise is that a woman who has failed both in her academic career and her attempts to have a baby goes to a fancy hotel in Newport, Rhode Island to kill herself and fails at that too. Everyone else at the hotel is there for a wedding. She gets involved in the bride’s wedding plans and a lot of absurd things happen. Despite this ridiculous idea, I actually enjoyed it. The tone was light and the events were just plausible enough to keep me from wanting to throw the book into the river.
   
   
4. Felicia Day, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (almost). If you’re not familiar with Felicia Day, she reached a level of nerd fame via The Guild, a web series about a group of gamers. She also played Penny in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. This wasn’t a bad read, but I had expected it to be brilliant. Alas, it didn’t go into enough detail about the weirder aspects of her life, to be completely satisfying. However, I do recommend her chapter on GamerGate and being doxxed if you want to understand how scary being a highly visible woman on-line can be.
   
   
5. Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club. I was probably about 2/3 of the way through this book before I realized that the author is the same Richard Osman who has appeared on many British quiz shows. (It turns out that he also created Whose Line Is It anyway? and Deal or No Deal, as well as Pointless, which is one of my favorite British quiz shows. None of which really ties into this book directly.) Anyway, the premise of this book (and several follow-ups. which I haven’t read yet) is that a group of elderly people at a retirement community meets weekly to discuss the cold cases of a one-time detective, who is now suffering from dementia. Then a murder happens. And another one. And the discovery of an older one. They enjoy solving all of those. I mostly enjoyed this but I didn’t like that there were characters with similar names, e.g. Stephen and Steve and John and “Turkish Johnny.” You know, they sell books of baby names for a reason. That won’t stop me from reading more of the series.
   
   
6. Andrés Reséndez, A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca. I read this for my travel book club. The story involves a group of men who set out to colonize Florida in 1527. Due to a hurricane and navigational errors, only 4 of them survived - three Spaniards and a Moroccan slave. It took them almost 10 years to cross from Florida through what is now the American Southwest (e.g. Texas, New Mexico and parts of Mexico), including six years of enslavement by various native tribes. They learned to pass as medicine men and gain favor with some of the groups they encountered. This was a very interesting book and I appreciated learning about a part of the history of exploration that I had been entirely unfamiliar with.
   
   
7. Mary Janice Davidson, Fish Out of Water. Yes, I sometimes read paranormal romance. This is the third book in a series about Fred, a half-human, half-mermaid who is torn between a human man and the prince of the Black Sea. In the meantime, her father shows up and is trying to overthrow the royal family of the sea people. Overall, this is an amusingly silly book and a nicely diverting quick read.
   
   
8. Lisa See, Peony in Love. This complex historical novel follows the life of a teenage girl in 17th century China. Her family puts on a production of an opera called The Peony Pavilion and the female members of the household are permitted to watch from behind a curtain. Peony is overwhelmed by her emotions and leaves for a while, meeting a young man who enthralls her, even though neither of them knows that he’s the man who her family intends her to marry. This leads her to die of “lovesickness,” i.e. anorexia. Her ghost wanders the area and things get more complex when the man marries another woman, who Peony then induces to add to a commentary that she was writing about the opera. After she dies, Peony arranges a third bride, who also adds to the commentary. The commentary of the three wives becomes the first book written and published by women. I found this book a fascinating insight into traditional Chinese belief and culture, based on real events.
   
   

Movies: I saw three movies in theaters this quarter. I only had two flights that were long enough to watch movies on, but I think I was too absorbed was reading to bother.

1. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: I’d loved Alexandra Fuller’s memoir of her childhood on a farm in (then) Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. So I had to see the film version, which I thought was pretty true to the book. Lexi Venter, who played the 8-year-old Bobo, gave an impressive performance. You do have to be able to tolerate a fair amount of violence and racism, however.
   
   
2. Cat Video Fest 2025: This is an annual event, which consists of a curated collection of cat videos. In addition to live videos, it has memes and animations. The whole thing is less than an hour and a half, so not particularly good value. My basic conclusion is that, yes, the cats are cute and often funny, but it’s not really satisfying as a movie. However, part of the proceeds (admittedly only a little over 10%) do go to cat-focused charities, so you can feel like it wasn’t a waste of time.
   
   
3. Guns and Moses: Sal Litwak, known as the Accidental Talmudist and famous for his videos of old Jewish jokes, wrote, directed, and produced this movie, which tells the story of a small town rabbi who sets out to solve the murder of one of his congregants. The police are insisting it was the act of a neo-Nazi, but Rabbi Mo thinks otherwise. He investigates some shady goings on and learns to use a gun himself when he becomes a target. It was entertaining, though rather more violent than something I would normally watch. I also want to give the writers kudos for using the song “Kol Ha’olam Kulo,” which is a personal favorite, in its soundtrack.
   
   

Goals:

I made a lot of progress on my plans for a westward circumnavigation of the world. I still have a couple of hotel bookings to make, but I’m pretty close to having a complete itinerary.

I made it to two minor league baseball games. I was just too busy with other things to get more games in.

I’m not quite as far along on my Tunisian crochet afghan as I thought I was. I am, however, making a serious attempt to get that done this month. I’ve also got a couple of smaller projects in the works.

As of the end of September, I was only at 25 books. But I’ve already read three this month, and I expect to have a lot of quality reading time on my round the world trip in November.

Updating my life list should only take me an afternoon, but I’m the sort of person who starts my weekly to-do list with “write to do list” so decision making tends to move slowly.

I can sound out a certain amount of Hangul, but there are some letters that continue to confuse me. At least I now understand the “r” vs. “l” confusion that is common in many Asian languages. As for Korean more generally, at least I’ve finally figured out that the verb always goes at the end of the sentence, but I still find the syntax very non-intuitive.

I did nothing on going through my parents photographs and slides. Nor did I make any progress on organizing genealogy files. Nor did I make it to any national parks.

I had good intentions re: going through cassette tapes, but discovered that the little cassette player I found in the closet in my study doesn’t work. I need to try to remember how to work the tape deck on my stereo system.

Celebrity Death Watch - August 2025 Linda Hodes was a dancer and choreographer who was closely associated with both Martha Graham and the Batsheva Company in Israel. Loni Anderson was an actress, who was most famous for appearing in WKRP in Cincinnati. Paul Vincent Davis was a puppeteer. Jane Morgan was a pop singer, most famous for the song “Fascination.” Eddie Palmer was a pianist, composer, and bandleader. Antony Maitland wrote and illustrated children’s books. Gary Theroux was a rock historian. David Ketchum played Agent 13 on Get Smart. Bobby Whitlock was a singer and songwriter, who performed with Derek and the Dominos and with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Cool John Ferguson was a blues guitarist. Louis Naidorf was an architect who designed several significant buildings in Los Angeles, including the Capitol Records Building. Jackie Bezos was Jeff’s mother. Greg Iles was a novelist and was part of the musical group, Rock Bottom Remainders, with several other authors such as Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Matt Groening. Dan Tana was the proprietor of an Italian restaurant favored by Hollywood personalities. Joe Hickerson was the Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and is credited with creating some folk songs, including some of the verses to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Gene Espy was the second person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Maurice Tempelsman was a diamond magnate and the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Ruth Paine was a teacher who housed Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife, Marina, in her home for several months, and in whose garage Oswald stored the rifle he used for the Kennedy assassination. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote historical horror novels about the Count of Saint-Germain, a vampire.

Jim Lovell commanded the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions. He was one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice, but he never walked on it.

William H. Webster directed the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 through 1991. He was the only person to have held both of those positions. He was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 14 points.

Tony Saletan was a folk singer. He is credited with the rediscovery in the 1950’s of the songs “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Kumbaya.” He was also the first musical guest to appear on Sesame Street.


Celebrity Death Watch - September 2025: Graham Greene was a Canadian Oneida actor, most famous for appearing in Dances With Wolves. Darleane Hoffman was a nuclear chemist. Ken Dryden was a Hall of Fame ice hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens. Mark Volman was a founding member of The Turtles and later performed as Flo in Flo & Eddie, as well as playing with The Mothers of Invention. Rick Davies was the founder, vocalist, and keyboardist for Supertramp. Marilyn Diamond wrote books promoting a diet for longevity. Ann Granger was a prolific writer of mysteries. Philippe Goddin wrote several books of literary criticism about Tintin. Polly Holliday was an actress, best known for playing Flo in the sitcom Alice. Robert D. Maurer did not invent optical fiber but did develop it into a viable technology. Bobby Hart wrote the song “Last Train to Clarksville.” Charlie Kirk was a MAGA icon. Thomas Perry wrote thrillers. Marilyn Hagerty wrote a newspaper column for the Grand Forks Herald and became famous for her review of the food at Olive Garden. George Smoot was a Nobel Prize laureate in physics. Sonny Curtis performed with The Crickets and wrote the song “I Fought the Law.” Marian Burros was a food writer for The New York Times. Aaron Bielski (aka Aaron Bell) had been the last surviving brother of a family of partisans during World War II. Henry Jaglom wrote and directed very weird films, e.g. Eating. Claudia Cardinale was a movie actress. Danny Thompson was the bassist for Pentangle. Patricia Crowther was a British occultist. Belva Davis was the first African-American woman to become a television reporter on the U.S. West Coast. Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford. Chris Dreja played guitar for The Yardbirds. Russell M. Nelson was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lally Weymouth was the last member of the Graham family to be affiliated with he Washington Post, which helped her get a lot of high profile interviews, e.g. with Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi, and Benazir Bhutto.

Davey Jonson was a second baseman, primarily for the Orioles, and later managed several teams, including the Mets from 1984-1990 (which includes their 1986 World Series win) and the Nationals from 2011-2013, which includes their first division title since they moved to Washington, D.C.

David Baltimore won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for his work on reverse transcriptase. He helped establish the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He later became president of Rockefeller University and of CalTech.

Robert Redford was an actor and director. He was one of the heart throbs for my generation, particularly for The Way We Were. He also co-founded the Sundance Film Festival. In high school, one of my friends had a huge crush on him. A few of us went to a John Denver concert at Madison Square Garden, but her parents wouldn’t let her go. When we told her we had seen Robert Redford at the concert, she dropped the stack of books she was holding!

Ashleigh Brilliant was an epigrammist and cartoonist. His Pot-Shots were sold primarily in head shops during my teenage years. A few of my favorites of his epigrams include “I feel much better now that I’ve given up hope,” “Appreciate me now and avoid the rush.” and “I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.”

Celebrity Death Watch - October 2025 (so far): Edward J. Kennedy was a former mayor of Lowell ad a member of the Massachusetts Senate. Patricia Rutledge was an actress, best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances. Ivan Klima was a Czech writer and playwright. Silly Cooper was a romance novelist.

Jane Goodall was a primatologist who spent more than 60 years researching the lives of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. She wrote 32 books, including 15 for children.