I heard an interview of Kondo a few days before Christmas, and a day later saw this little book in my favorite bookstore. As I leafed through it, a headline popped out at me: “Storage experts are hoarders.” I liked this book immediately. Kondo describes her obsession as a child to clean up at home. (I was not this type of child) She was always trying to throw things away, including her family’s belongings which did not go over well. She found herself always beginning […]
No Change Please, we’re British
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is very British, in a good way. Major Pettigrew, an elderly widower, lives in Edgecombe St. Mary. It’s a small town full of small minded people. Tradition is cherished; outsiders are shunned. Pettigrew is a retired military man, values king and country, good manners and British traditions. He treasures two military rifles passed down from his father who had been in the colonial army, one of which he owns, the other is held by his brother. He golfs. Widows and spinsters […]
Solving the Mystery of Edwin Drood is dangerous stuff
The Edwin Drood Murders is a great escape. Imagine a little town in the Northwest corner of Oregon, nestled up to Astoria, called Dickens Junction. The town’s founder set up this village to recreate the look and feel of Dickens novels. Of course it doesn’t include the tenements, poor citizens and horrible air quality of 19th century London, rather it substitutes Dickens for Disney in creating a cozy little tourist town. This is the second of Christopher Lord’s Dickens Junction mysteries, the first: The Christmas […]
Watching It All Slip Away
A Friend of the Family is narrated by Pete, a successful internist, living in a well-to-do suburb in New Jersey for over twenty years. At the opening of the novel he is awaiting the result of a lawsuit for medical malpractice and being physically threatened by his patient’s brother as he passes time at a beach. For some reason, he is living in the studio above the garage, separated from his wife and son, marking time with his elderly mother and very few patients. What […]
Bleak and more Bleak
One of the reasons I won’t hit my goal of books this year is the collection of short stories: Dear Life by Alice Munro which I read six months ago. The writing is terrific, and yet, the stark reality of these stories put me in a funk. Most of us live insignificant lives, the small details, the dramas, don’t add up to much in the end. Munro’s characters don’t learn lessons, their stories simply reminding us how small life is. Leaving Maverly is set in […]
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
As I read Great Expectations a lot of questions popped up for me. Do people struggle through some of this old language like I am doing? Is this book still relevant, or is it a quaint morality tale belonging to 19th century England? What was Dicken’s own stance on class? And, was Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Miss Haversham over the top? (I haven’t seen the film adaptation, a friend described her performance as contained). I actually had a heavily annotated edition of the book, […]
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