There are at least a couple of perfect moments in any life

The title of this entry is from one of my favorite short stories, “An Education,” by Cynthia Ozick. In Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, Laura Wingfield is about to have her perfect moment; whether she can get it to last is another thing.

The Glass Menagerie is Tennessee Williams’s first play, and it’s easy to understand why it became so immediately successful. The narrator and protagonist of the play is the 23-year-old son, Tom, who supports the family by working in a shoe factory, a job he hates. He longs to go to sea as a Merchant Marine, and it looks like he’s finally ready to take that step, since he’s paid his Union dues rather than the light bill for the month. The mother, Amanda, lives in a dream world, talking incessantly about an afternoon in the distant past in the deep South when 17 gentlemen callers all came to pay court to her on the same Sunday afternoon. Amanda wonders how many gentlemen callers are going to visit Laura this Sunday.

The answer is basically “None,” because Laura, who’s 24, is so shy she can barely even bring herself to speak to any other people. (Also, because the whole concept of Gentlemen Callers doesn’t exist in 1930s St. Louis.) Laura dropped out of high school, and her most recent failure was to drop out of a career college—probably a school similar to Lincoln—after throwing up on the floor before a typing test. Her only interests in life are listening to her father’s old records and playing with her collection of glass animals.

Well, she has one other interest, which is in a young man she knew in high school and has on some level been daydreaming about ever since. And now Amanda has asked Tom to find a “nice young man” and “ask him out for sister”! And now the nice young man is coming to dinner! But when the night arrives, Laura’s so shy she can’t even bring herself to come to the table. Then Amanda sends Jim out with a candle (the electricity is turned off during dinner) to keep Laura company while she and Tom wash the dishes. Things move slowly at first, but then all of a sudden Laura and Jim are dancing … . (That's the perfect moment.)

I first heard this play performed (on a 33 rpm record) when I was about seven, and I felt an immediate deep connection with the Wingfield children. Why was their mother Amanda such an obnoxious nag? Now, many years later, as a single parent of nearly grown children myself, I can think of a whole lot of good reasons why she’d want to get her children to act right, make money, and get out of the house.

‘Dead Reckoning’ by Charlaine Harris

The most recent installment in Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series has been eagerly anticipated by fans. This is likely due in part to the fact that HBO’s True Blood, which is based on the series, has become incredibly popular. Most of our recurring characters are back as we expect them, many with problems that we’re already familiar with, some with new problems.

Sookie Stackhouse, of course, is at the center of it all. The book begins with disasters at the bar, conflicts with the new ruler of Louisiana, and Sookie’s boy problems. Loyal readers will probably feel comfortably familiar with the plot and setting, as nothing much changes. Unfortunately, there were instances in the book in which Harris attempts to throw in some new slang – like ‘twoey’ for the two-natured shape-shifters – the result is completely underwhelming. But this is minimal. Most will finish the book wondering what will be next for everyone’s favorite cocktail waitress.

“Sent down for indecent behavior”

Decline and Fall (PR6045 .A97 D4 1993), first published by Evelyn Waugh in 1928, is one of my favorite comic novels. The protagonist is Paul Pennyfeather, an earnest theology student at Oxford University, who has the bad fortune to get in the way of the annual meeting of a group of wealthy upper-class alumni. The upshot is that the drunken club members take Paul’s clothes, and so Paul must run naked through the college quadrangle. So naturally, Paul is expelled for indecent behavior and forced to take a job teaching classics, English, mathematics, French, German, and the pipe organ (though knowing nothing about German or the organ).

Fortunately for Lincoln College students, Llanabba Castle School is nothing like Lincoln. At Lincoln, for example, no student has gotten shot by an instructor, and the school butler—Lincoln doesn’t even have a school butler—isn’t pretending to be a member of Russian Royalty. Paul fights despair but eventually finds some pleasure in his work, even the organ-teaching part. He becomes engaged to the mother of one of his students. Sadly—well, sadly, a lot of things happen, and Paul ends up in prison, framed on human-trafficking charges. Will Paul get out of prison? Or will he end up murdered by a psychotic cell-mate? Will the student who was shot recover from his wounds? Is Paul's fiancée being faithful? These questions don’t sound like funny ones, but in the book, they really are.

Those darn Hemingways! Is there anything they can’t do?

When we hear the name Hemingway, most people naturally think of Ernest Hemingway, the celebrated American novelist. And rightly so, for these people, Lincoln College of Technology has several of Hemingway’s books available:

The Old Man and the Sea

A Farewell to Arms

For Whom the Bell Tolls

A Moveable Feast

But this is just the beginning! There are, of course, many of his relatives who also have the last name Hemingway, and for the most part, they are glad if you think of their famous ancestor first. In fact, their various book deals depend on the link to the best-known Hemingway:

How it Was by Mary Welsh Hemingway

This autobiographical book by Hemingway’s fourth wife discusses life with Ernest Hemingway.

Finding My Balance by Mariel Hemingway

This memoir by Ernest Hemingway’s granddaughter tells the story of her self-discovery through yoga.

A World Turned Over by Lorian Hemingway

Lorian Hemingway’s non-fiction book tells the story of a tornado that devastated her hometown in Mississippi.

'Monster in the Box' by Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell has been writing detective novels featuring Inspector Wexford for many years now. I’d be lying if I said I had read them all, but I have read several, and they are typically enjoyable books. Wexford is the Chief Inspector in Kingsmarkham and has a memorable retinue to accompany him on his many cases.

In this book, Rendell incorporates cases from Wexford’s distant past with present day events. We learn quite a bit about Wexford’s history: an early murder case, his past love, and how the two intersect. The story is that of Eric Targo, a mysterious man who Wexford believes to be a murderer. Even though he has not previously discussed his suspicions with others, Targo’s reappearance inspires Wexford to confide in his coworker Burden and revisit the events of the past.

Rendell’s fascination with the British immigrant population is interesting to me. Most of her recent books include a storyline that involves special problems of the African, Middle Eastern or Asian communities in England, specifically problems that deal with issues of women’s rights. Monster in the Box discusses the problem of arranged or forced marriages, and other topics have included female circumcision and abuse. Rendell usually looks at these issues in a feminist light, but it does seem sometimes that she focuses a bit too much on these topics. (Not that it isn’t enjoyable, it just seems like these problems are coming up unusually frequently).

On the whole, this book was interesting, but I thought it was slightly less compelling than some of the other Ruth Rendell books that I’ve read. I’m sure there are those who have read all of the Inspector Wexford novels in the correct order, and for those people, this book is certainly required reading.

The Lost Art of the Short Story?

In theory, the short story seems like the perfect way for a person to read without making a big commitment. So why aren’t short stories more popular? It seems that hearing the phrase “short story” is an immediate turn-off to students who are browsing for reading materials. It may be that this is just the result of residual trauma from an unhappy high school English class. Or maybe you haven’t had the opportunity to read many short stories in the past. Whatever the case may be, short stories are an easy way to read even if you don’t think you have the time.

Regardless of the reason for this fear of the short story, Southwestern College owns some great collections. If you aren’t sure that this genre is for you, maybe one of these books can help to change your mind:
Freedom in this Village
Me Talk Pretty One Day
The Things They Carried
Flash Fiction
Points of View
The Thing Around Your Neck
25 and Under
Black-Eyed Susans

If you have questions or would like to check out one of these books, talk to your Librarian!

‘Club Dead’ By Charlaine Harris

Club Dead is the third book of Sookie Stackhouse’s vampire adventures. The book begins with Bill acting strangely distant then disappearing. Eric asks Sookie to travel to Jackson, Mississippi and use her abilities to figure out what might have happened. This trip involves more encounters with werewolves and vampires as well as more description of the vampire power structure that has been alluded to in previous books.

As I get further along in the Sookie Stackhouse series I keep finding reasons to dislike Bill. Given that, one of the best things about this book is the fact that Bill has a very small role and several other (better) male characters are developed. Although Sookie leaves much to be desired from a feminist perspective, her independence and determination are a welcome departure from other popular vampire stories (Twilight, anyone?). Rather than being totally dependent on the men who are romantically interested in her, Sookie looks out for herself and isn’t afraid to be without male companionship. Though we could certainly do better as far as female role models are concerned, we could also be doing much, much worse.