One-Eyed Cat

 

I remember reading this when I was a kid and liking it so I felt like revisiting the book. One-Eyed Cat is about a boy who lies about borrowing a gun and possibly accidentally shoots a cat. The cat hangs around an old man called Mr. Scully so the boy befriends him. The book mostly is about the boy's guilt over the possible kill and the adults that surround him in his life for example the stern housekeeper.  This is more like a character study than a children's book.  I recommend this because the character's real and sometimes in children's books I feel like writers condescend the adolescent experience. This one doesn't thankfully. Paula Fox also wrote a few books for adults which I'm curious about.

Still Life with Iris

 

This was an ok children's play by Steven Dietz. Apparently, there are two versions of Still Life with Iris. One is shorter. That's what the library told me, and I went with the two act edition. This play is dreamlike. It's about a girl who lives in a place where they make everything in the world by night. All of your memories are kept in a coat and the girl loses hers. She is adopted into a family without her memories present. Yet she is determined to get back home to her original family. I originally had read Becky's New Car and liked it. I was more impressed with that one.  It stayed with me longer but this one was all right. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor

 

This was a pretty effective Shakespearean comedy. It's about Falstaff who tries to seduce two married women sending them the same letter. But the joke is on him for the women scheme to bring about his downfall. It's interesting how even the minor Shakespeare plays are worth reading. I bought a complete works two years ago and I'm surprised by how many I've read. I need to be more adventurous and go about reading the works like this which aren't as famous as say Romeo and Juliet. 

Hadriana in all my dreams

 

Goodreads raved about this during their Halloween reads. This certainly sounds like it would be awesome. A Haitian book about a woman who becomes a zombie on her wedding, and it talks about Vodou as well. I thought it was ok. I just wasn't wowed by it. Maybe I came in expecting more than I should have. The love story just wasn't compelling enough for me. I also thought it was trying too hard to shock at parts.

The Final Girl Support Group

 

Grady Hendrix is one of the best horror writers nowadays. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism. This was good too, but I didn't embrace the characters like I did in My Best Friend's Exorcism. This book is pretty much like watching a slasher movie. It gets its genre down right.  It's about a group of women who have survived unspeakable violence. They're basically like the last woman standing in a slasher movie. They have been meeting at a support group together for years. That is until someone decides to take them out one by one. I got done with this book pretty quickly.  It was a page turner, but I wanted more. 

Becky's New Car

 

This was an ok play about a woman's mid-life crisis. Becky is a car salesman who takes up an affair after a wealthy man Walter enters her dealership. Her husband figures out the affair pretty quickly. Everyone gets affected by her actions even her twenty-six-year-old son whose life gets tangled unexpectedly with Walter's as well. Eventually a new car and a disappearance of Becky happens as well. It didn't change my life, but I finished it pretty quickly.     

Mary Rose

 

I was curious about J.M. Barrie's other work, so I read this play of his. It was charming and intriguing. It concerns a woman who disappeared during her childhood on an island. As an adult she goes to the island again with her husband and disappears once more. When Mary reappears, she hasn't aged. I read that Hitchcock wanted to a movie of this, but it didn't happen. Now that would have been interesting.

Animal Farm

 

I just thought this was ok as a teenager. I read it today at 39 and thought wow this book is something else. Frankly it's kind of eerie and entirely original. It concerns an animal farm. The animals rebel and start out free. By the end they are worse off than they were originally. The animals' commandments for example do not murder and not to use money all get broken eventually. The animals on the farm are pretty stupid as well just accepting the little phrases that get changed to each rule.  I have to admit murder happened way sooner than I expected. Napoleon is one jerk. I found the ending perfect and utterly creepy. It proves you can pack in just as much in a novella as you can in an epic. This was a statement on Russia and totalitarianism. George Orwell was one fantastic writer. 

The Pearl

 

This was a pretty good novella by John Steinbeck. It concerns a family that is too poor to pay for their baby boy Coyolito's health. After finding a pearl the family starts to dream big thinking not only of medical help but for an education for their boy. Surprisedly this find isn't the answer to their prayers. Instead, the discovery of the pearl becomes a nightmare. People respond to them with jealousy lying and calling the pearl worthless. They come across thieves. Eventually the father has blood on his hands and the family is met with tragedy. The only John Steinbeck's books I have read have been short ones. One of these days I need to challenge myself to read The Grapes of Wrath. 

Celtic Mythology for Kids

 

When I was 15, I blew off my English class assignment of mythology. Now I've come to regret it. I wish I knew at that time how cool mythology could be. Now I'm 39 and I have to catch up with all of the mythology stories of tons of cultures. Anyway, this book for kids was pretty cool. It has good illustrations, and the stories are simply told. My favorite story was about the seal catcher who turns into a seal and realizes the error of his ways. I also liked the Lugh story about a man who tries to enter a kingdom but has to a master in a skill that only one person possesses, only to discover that being a many-skilled person is a rarity in itself.  

Chinese Myths and Legends

 

This was an ok children's book about Chinese mythology which I know little about. It was a pretty good introduction to the culture. Half the book is about The Monkey King who comes across as a stubborn creature who eventually learns wisdom from his experiences. I like reading mythology books from the children's section since they tend to get to the point.

Emma in Winter

 

I loved Penelope Farmer's Charlotte Sometimes. It should be considered a children's classic. I decided to try another one of her books and this was just ok. It's in the same Aviary Hall series that Charlotte Sometimes was put in. It's about two classmates who travel backwards in time together while they sleep. I liked how the friendship developed but there was nothing special about this book. It was just a pleasant read. 

My Best Friend's Exorcism

 

This is the first Grady Hendrix book I've read, and I enjoyed it a lot. I already was curious about Hendrix because I've heard great stuff about his book Paperbacks from Hell which discusses horror books from the 1970s and 1980s. Gretchen and Abby have been best friends for years. However, Gretchen starts to act funky and very rebellious. Her parents are embarrassed. For a time, Abby is the only one who will talk to Gretchen since she's angered their other friends. Even after Gretchen seemingly miraculously recovers only Abby knows she is still the same. She realizes her friend's possessed and even though everyone thinks she's mad she finds an exorcist. Only she ends up doing the whole work herself. The exorcist character was a blast. I also really like the cover art. VHS tapes did have some awesome art. (I'm approaching 40 so I guess I must be old if I remember going to video stores frequently as a kid.) This is more than a horror book. It's one of the best books I've read about the bond of friendships. Recommended.  

Alfred and Guinevere

 

This was an ok novella written by poet James Schulyer. It didn't blow my mind away, but its simplicity was kind of beautiful. It's about a brother and sister who go to their uncle and grandmother's house. It is told mostly through Guinevere's diary. The book tries to get into the mind of children and their attempts at understanding the world around them. Some of it was funny. I read from New York Review Books all the time. They really do uncover treasures from the past. I haven't found one of their books yet that wasn't worth reading. 

Beside the Sea

 

This book was just ok. It was suggested by a website as one of the best novellas ever written which is something I disagree with. It's about a mentally ill woman who ends up taking her children's lives. She tries to protect her children all the time, but it turns out their own home is where the trouble really lies. While the book was believable and written well, I didn't anything unique in its depiction. This plot has been written so many times.   

The Gold-Rimmed Spectacles

 

I loved The Garden of the Finzi-Continis so I decided to read another one of his books. This is about the friendship between a gay doctor and an Italian Jewish student. When the doctor's secret gets unraveled, he loses his clients, and he loses it committing suicide. While the book tackles homosexuality it also goes into the anti-Semitic behavior of the time. So, both characters are ostracized. At the end the only people really having sympathy with the doctor's death are his father and the student. 

Rock Crystal

 

This was good, another simplistic book given the New York Review of Books treatment. It's about two children who get lost in the mountains after visiting their grandparents. The village strives to find the children. The atmosphere in this book is quite lovely. I love how New York Review of Books finds these gems of lost novellas - an art form that is really not given completely its due. I actually bought this one. Usually, I just interlibrary loan these books and read them once. But I found something haunting about this one.  

The Hearing Trumpet

 

This is Leonora Carrington's best-known work. It's about a woman in her 90's who with a hearing trumpet discovers that her children want to put her in an institution. I like the first part of the book before she went to the institution more as I was just more involved. Leonora Carrington was also a wonderful surrealist painter. It's rare that someone can be this talented. 

Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music

 This play from the American playwright Lee Blessing was ok. It is the story of a man who has fallen for a woman who has just left the nunnery. Its subplot is about Jim, a man who has fallen for a woman who has a teenager that he finds a pain to be with. This play explores the struggles people will put up with in order to have a relationship. I thought it was good although I was hoping for more.  

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale

 This was Tennessee Williams' rewrite of Summer and Smoke, and it isn't as effective. While it's more laid back it lacks the fire of the initial play. The play is about an eccentric woman who is doomed to be a spinster and her lust after a handsome doctor. Summer and Smoke was an awesome play but it's a minor work since Tennessee Williams wrote so many great plays. This was just an ok play, read Summer and Smoke instead. 

Mr. Popper's Penguins

 

I haven't read this since I was seven. It was pretty good. Mr. Popper, a housepainter gets a penguin from a friend. Soon he is showing his penguins on the stage and there is quite a stir. It leads him to jail unfortunately but also an offer from Hollywood. I was sad to see there was no sequel as the book definitely ends on that note. It looks like his wife Florence finished the book after his death. I wish that she continued with the series. It was cute. I have no desire to see the Jim Carrey movie. 

Linden Hills

 

While I think Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place was her best this is pretty darn close. Both explore characters that are homosexual and poor. The difference here is that most of the characters are men and some of the characters actually live well. The main characters are Lester who lives in this upper-class African American neighborhood and Willie who doesn't. Meanwhile we meet other characters like the drunken reverend and Daniel Braithwaite. Daniel's father wanted him to leave Linden Hills and then bring something back. His choice of becoming a historian is definitely different than what I expected. Luther Nedeed is the main leader of the town, the one in power. His breakdown at the end is particularly chilling.  I love Gloria Naylor. I'm surprised she's not as known as Toni Morrison. She's pretty good.  

The Space Vampires

 

I read a bit of Colin Wilson in my early twenties. I love The Outsider and The Occult. They were pretty good. I have yet to find a fictional book of his that matches up to those books. I read Ritual in the Dark and that was ok but nothing really compelling. I decided to give this one a chance since it had an amusing story about it. John Fowles said that a movie based on his book The Magus was the worst movie made. Colin Wilson said that the movie Lifeforce just beat that. (Lifeforce was based on this book.) It's about a race of creatures who take over human bodies. It talks about vampirism and mentions how this the transfer is affected through sex. Colin Wilson spends way too much time philosophizing about the space vampires. In The Outsider philosophy was fine but come on this book is called The Space Vampires. It wasn't what I wanted. It runs of steam but at least the first 1/3 of the book is entertaining. 

Nordic Tales

 

This is a collection from Chronicle books that features folktales from Denmark, 0Norway, Sweden, and Finland. My favorite story was "The Honest Penny" which was about a boy whose honesty eventually granted him favors later on. The illustrations were pretty cool. Overall, this was very worth reading.  

A Lesson Before Dying

 

This was a great book about friendship. It's about an atheist teacher Grant who befriends a prisoner in jail about to go to the electric chair. Grant teaches at an elementary school. You get the impression he is working beneath himself that he is taking the only opportunity he has in that racist era. He comes across as quite intelligent. I like how his atheism isn't magically transformed by the end like I thought it was going to be. Religion is discussed though especially through the Reverend character. This book was pretty moving and definitely worth a read. 

The Death Notebooks

 

This is basically Anne Sexton talking about God. Cynicism and faith are battled against each other. I found the opening poem "Gods" the best where Anne searches for God and finds him at her house. I've read Anne Sexton's biography by Diane Middlebrook and a couple of Anne's books. I didn't know that Anne Sexton had a religious side. This was a nice surprise. 

Lupercal

 

This was another poetry collection yet again mostly about nature. Ted Hughes is ok, but he hasn't really stood the test of time well. I feel like he was kind of a one trick pony. I'm curious about Birthday Letters but I probably won't read more of him. 

Ted Hughes The Hawk in the Rain

 

I decided to read Ted Hughes' first poetry collection. I already read "Selected Poems" earlier. The best poems from this were in that collection like "The Casualty" and "The Thought Fox." This collection goes between nature and war poems. The war poems are just ok, but his nature poems are where he shines. I think Ted Hughes early period is worth reading. In "Selected Poems" the older he grew the less interesting his poems were. His poems from his youth are more full of ideas and there's more enthusiasm. I might just read "Lupercal", another one of his early poetry collections.  

An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales

 

This collection of fairy tales was ok. It involves Scottish creatures like brownies and selkies.  There are also retellings of known fairy tales like Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin.  I liked the stories that involved the folklore of Scotland more since it was new to me. I don't really know much about their culture. It's nice to learn something new. The illustrations were good too. I like reading mythology or folklore every day. When I hear a reference to a mythological creature on a tv show or movie and I actually know what the show is talking it makes me feel special.    

The Women of Brewster Place

 I love this book about a neighborhood of African American women. The characters are flawed but real, interesting, and likable. I liked the story about Cora Lee, a woman who has babies and doesn't see them as much different as dolls. I also liked the story about the lesbian couple. I'm already reading another book by Gloria Naylor. I love reading African American literature. I have a list I plan to read of them on Amazon. Gloria Naylor is pretty talented. 

The Firekeeper's Daughter

 

This was a pretty good young adult book. It's about a biracial Indian girl who discovers the meth problem in her tribal community. The people involved in the deceit include even people close to her. It's also about her love interest with Jamie who pretends to be a cute hockey star in the beginning. She finds he is actually an agent. At first his interest in her is fake going along with the assignment but then it develops into something. I feel like it ran out of steam by the end. I finished the book pretty quickly. It held my interest throughout. It was entertaining. 

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

 

I highly recommend Langston Hughes, one of the best writers to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. One of the reasons why Langston is such a good writer is the simplicity of his poetry. I'm new to poetry but it can be hard to understand at times. Langston Hughes doesn't need to be pretentious to make his poetry great. He's to the point but it doesn't feel like he's dumbing things down either. His poetry is mostly about racism, and it can be quite powerful. The only other poet I can say that was almost as good as him in this genre is Jean Toomer.  

The Prince's Progress and Other Poems

 

I read the second book of poetry that was released by Christina Rossetti, the author of the provocative "Goblin's Market." This doesn't have a poem that is as memorable as that. That's ok though because I still like Christina Rossetti's style. She had a lot of range. Despite the controversial nature of that poem most of the work in this book is about religion. I'm a religious person so I liked these poems. She is one of my favorite poets.

The Baltimore Waltz

 

Vogel's masterpiece is "How I learned to Drive" and I was curious about her older plays. The Baltimore Waltz is about AIDS. It's semi-autobiographical. Vogel's brother died of AIDS and this is about the vacation they never took. The plot is about a schoolteacher getting a virus called ATD (acquired toilet disease) which she got from her elementary school. Her brother and her take a trip to Europe. It isn't until the end we realized this has all been imaginary and that her brother has just died from AIDS. The play may be on a depressing issue, but it does have its comic moments. It's worth reading.

The Great Granny Webster

 

This book was semi-autobiographical in fact it was shortlisted by the Booker Prize but was refused because it wasn't fictitious enough. I just read a biography on Robert Lowell and Caroline Blackwood was his third wife. I read this out of curiosity not only that I love the books that New York Review Books selects. This book is about the monstrous great grandmother that Caroline lived with and also her insane grandmother. It was interesting but I wish that the book was more balanced. Caroline only says one nice thing about her great grandmother and that's towards the end. I feel there could have been more to say. 

Robert Lowell Setting the River on Fire

 

This was a good biography on the poet Robert Lowell. However, the first fifty pages or so aren't that good. The author rambles about his ancestors for far too long. I thought about giving up the book but once it got started it was pretty good. It describes the link between genius and madness very well. It also goes over his struggle over mania. As well it goes over his three marriages. I thought it was pretty cool that he married female writers specifically. Elizabeth Hardwick comes across as a saint. I got the impression that he took her for granted. I started reading Life Studies recently. I'm new to the author. Frankly I started reading this book because he came across as very likable in the Sylvia Plath biography Red Comet. 

The Shape of Thunder

 

This was an ok middle grade book about coping with death and tragedy. Cora's sister died in a school shooting in which her friend Quinn's brother was involved. The two haven't talked for a year. But the two decide that perhaps they should time travel to change the circumstances. The characters were likable and overall, the parents and the characters' reaction to the shooting is believable. I like how Quinn still manages to find love for her brother but still can't excuse his behavior. This made it on goodreads best of selection in the middle grade category. It didn't win the prize but I'm going to read more of the books that were nominated.

Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams

 

This is a collection of Sylvia Plath's short stories. It was just ok. I liked the short story "Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams" which is loosely based on her mental hospital experience. "That Widow Mangada" about an annoying landlord was cute. But Sylvia Plath's real achievements were in poetry and The Bell Jar. I got the impression from the biography Red Comet that these were stories that she didn't put her whole heart into. They were just stories that were written with magazines like Mademoiselle specifically in mind.  It shows potential but this isn't the first thing a Sylvia Plath newbie should read. 

Myths, Legends, and Sacred Stories

 

This was a pretty cool book covering the mythology of many cultures. It included stories of people I don't know much about like the Maori culture. It explains the stories behind many epic poems too which I thought was cool like The Mahabharata, Beowulf, and Ramayana. It was full of illustrations and chocked with a lot of information. I felt like I learned a lot. Definitely recommended.

Ted Hughes Selected Poems

 

I had a conversation with my older sister about the poet Ted Hughes and she said that no one talks about his poetry nowadays. He is mostly known for his association with Sylvia Plath. I was curious so I got this from the library. It was all right. The poems were mostly about nature. There were a lot of analysis of his poems on the internet until his book "Season Songs" so actually he is still remembered. I liked the poem "The Casualty" about a bunch of people who gawk and who do nothing when they see a plane crash. It's interesting how human nature acts like in situations like that. Also I like "Cat and Mouse" where God is the cat and the mouse. It was an interesting visual. "The Thought-Fox", his most famous poem about the writing process, was pretty good too. The poetry in the beginning of the book is best. Ted Hughes isn't my favorite but I'm glad I gave him a try.

The Goblin's Market and Other Poems

 

The trashy poem "The Goblin's Market" was mistakenly labelled as children's literature at the time. Christina Rossetti even went against it. Even today the poem still gets that label. I was mistaken and thought this fantastic poem was all that Christina Rossetti really wrote. This book she wrote in 1862 blew my mind. There are poems about women being tore between virtue and sex but there are just as many religious poems. Religion played a large part in Christina Rossetti's life. I'm going to read a biography of her soon. I'm fascinated to find out more about this woman. I think she's just as good as other favorites of mine like Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson. I didn't know it until 2021 but poetry can be fun.