The Exiles

The Great Depression

I learned from this short history book that there was a lot about The Great Depression I didn't know about. Because of The Great Depression social security and disability payments were added. Also the United States was not the only country impacted by The Great Depression. I like Billy Wellman's books because they informative and they're pretty quick to read through.

Thursday

This was an ok Catherine Storr young adult book. Bee is on the hunt for her missing friend Thursday. She finds out that he is in a place where his mental problems are being taken care of. There's also a subplot about faeries. The handling of the mental problems was ok. It wasn't an exaggerated portrayal. Marianne Dreams is still my favorite book from her though.

The Ivy Tree

This is the first book I've read from Mary Stewart. It was entertaining. A girl is approached by someone who says she's her cousin. Apparently she looks exactly like a girl back home. Would she pretend to be the girl for the slice of a dying man's inheritance? Or is she actually the girl herself? Secrets come forward. The truth has to be revealed because of the circumstances of the girl's past lover. This was written before The Crystal Cave which Mary Stewart is mostly known for.

The American Civil War

I read this book to remind myself of the history of the Civil War. I was surprised how much I remembered still from school. What surprised me about this book was how much it didn't progress the African American movement. After the Civil War African Americans still weren't able to serve on juries and people were finding loopholes to keep people in slavery. So there was still a long ways to go.

The Roaring Girl

This was an interesting play from the 1700s where a transvestite Moll is the hero. Sebastian can't marry the woman Mary of his choice so he asks Moll to help him out. Moll pretends to be his partner. At first the father is relieved just that it isn't Moll that Sebastian wants to marry. In the end the father respects both women. This was kind of groundbreaking but I just thought it was ok. There were bettter plays from the 1700s.

A GIrl in Winter

I've now read Philip Larkin's two novels. His work as a poet, which he is known for, is much better but still it was worth reading. I prefer his book Jill since it was more imaginative. In this book we meet Katherine. She spends time with her pen pal/boyfriend Robin and his sister. In the first part you see her job at a library and her boss who has a confrontation with her towards the end. There's also an eerie dentist scene. I felt it was a quiet pleasant read.

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures

I really liked this children's book that I got from the library. I enjoyed it so much I bought my whole copy. It's a beautifully illustrated book that goes over shape-shifters, tricksters, and other popular creatures. Werewolves, vampires, and the loch ness monster are discussed for example. I think it is a perfect book to give to a child with an eager imagination.

Dune

I watched the recent movie of this and found it to be a snooze fest, a nearly three hour long movie of desert shots. Then I read an internet review where they called the book unfilmable so I decided to give it a shot. I liked it. It's not one of my favorite books but it was good and it makes the list of one of the longest books I've read. It influenced Star Wars that much is clear. It's an epic about a boy named Paul, his family, and an addictive spice that rules their desert world. It took me a couple of months to read it and I had to throw it away since it was in way too poor condition to keep by the end. It was intriguiing enough to keep me interested throughout it's 700+ pages. I can see why it's one of the most popular science fiction books of all time. It is well thought out and imaginative. It's one of those science fiction books that will be labeled as literature an hundred years from now.

The Robber

I found Robert Walser's last novel to be kind of hard to follow. It wasn't my favorite of his. A robber has a couple of relationships but he can't win the attention of his indifferent lover Edith. It's written by a narrator who may or not be the main character, This wasn't published during Walser's lifetime and written before his stay in a sanatorium.

Pornografia

I really wish the author came with a less shocking title. It threw me off for years and made me not wish to read this 1960s Polish classic. Eventually I caved in. During World War II two old men experiment with two teenagers, a boy and a girl. After failing to get them to fall in love, eventually murder replaces their plans. This isn't Gombrowciz's most famous book. Rather Ferdydurke is. The novel is dreamlike and you often question what is really going on. It's not for everyone but I liked it.

Peppermints in the Parlor

This is another Wallace book about an orphan but she does such a good job at it. Emily comes to live at a mansion only it doesn't have the memory she once had of it. She becomes a servant at what is now an old folks home. She and a boy Kipper begin to form friendships with the old folks and yes there is a subplot about peppermints. This wasn't my favorite Wallace book but it was all right. People compare it to A Little Princess a lot on the internet but come on so many books are.

Maurice

I watched the movie when I was a teenager. I also read A Passage to India when I was 14 but it's been a long time since I've read Forster. It's always been something I've been meaning to do. Maurice is crushed when his lover decides to go straight. Eventually Maurice finds happiness in a person of a lower station. E.M. Forster didn't get this book published when he was living. It would have destroyed him but it's one of best homosexual love stories I've read. You can tell that this all probably happened to Forster. The feeling involved hardly seems like fiction. The movie did a good job adapting the book.

Girlfriends, Ghosts, and other Stories

This is a collection of 2-3 page short stories from Robert Walser. They're more of a writing exercise not much happens. When I first attempted Jakob Von Gunten in my twenties I didn't finish it. I didn't care for the book. I tried it in my forties and I liked it. Things change. His dreamy writing style embracing monotony is interesting. I have to give it to New York Review Books for releasing his books. What I really would like to do is read a book about his life.

The Chrysalids

This book about mutants kind of reminded me of the Netflix show I just watched Sweet Tooth. (Sweet Tooth was more sentimental though.) This is a book about a group of mutants who eventually have to run from their community. Nothing stops the hatred of them. Even their own blood turns against them. The book begins with a boy seeing a girl with six toes and then he gradually realizes he has a mutation too except it is one in his mind. His father is a psychotic religious figure and terrorizes even family that breed mutants. Soon he and his friends have to run from the place where they live into the fringes. I felt the book dragged when they went to the fringes. It's a good book but not as good as Wyndham's other books like The Day of the Triffids and especially my favorite Chocky. Wyndham and Theodore Sturgeon are my favorite science fiction writers from the 1950s.

The Book of Mysteries, Magic, and the Unexplained

This was a fun juvenile book with great illustrations. It simply goes over aliens, witchcraft, fairies, Bigfoot, and other unexplained phenomena. It's basically just an introduction to the world of the weird for kids. Still there were somethings I didn't know about and it was a quixk page turner.

Mermaids by Skye Alexander

This was an ok book with some information about mermaids. It was better than the Among the Mermaids book I read earlier. It discusses how mermaids have gone from from the image of being terrifying sirens to sex symbols. I'm still looking for a mermaid book though that isn't new agey.

Dealer's Choice

This is Patrick Marber's first play. He is most known for Closer. It was ok. It deals with Carl, a compulsive gambler who has a debt to play. So he lets Ash, a professional gambler into his father's poker night. The tension is high as a group of men already want to deal physically with Carl. Ultimately this play is about family. I didn't like the use of coarse language involved but then the word of poker is not a friendly one. It was ok for a debut and showed promise.

After Miss Julie

I read Miss Julie last week and was looking forward to a modern adaptation but this was a let down. Marber is most known for Closer. This was a cruder adaptation of Miss Julie except it takes places in the 1940s. There were less options for women in the 1800's so Julie was far more trapped and this wasn't taken into consideration. I also read Marber's Dealer's Choice which I thought was ok. I'll review that next week. I think he has talent but not here.

Miss Julie

I haven't read this play since I was a child. I was more impressed this time around. Maybe because I understand the social structures of society better. It's about a wealthy woman who has a brief relationship with a servant in her household. He is bethrothed to the cook of the household. Although the two discuss plans to be with each other it becomes clear that it could never really happen. The play explores themes of the social structures of society and feminism. Miss Julie comes across as desperate and a coward at times. The characters aren't one note. It's a short play that packs a lot of punch. I remember liking the 1950's movie of this as a kid as well and I need to revisit it.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

This was a pretty cool science fiction book that received mixed reviews in its time and has gone on to become a classic. It's post-apocalyptic but this was before it became a cliche since this was written in 1959. The four stories are concerned with the writings of a saint named Leibowitz. They're all very different stories though. I have to say the last part Fiat Voluntas Tua was a page turner for me. It was about a nuclear fallout and the fight between a doctor and a priest for the destruction it caused. It was very against euthanasia, a controversial topic. I think it made its argument well. The author didn't write much after this becoming a recluse which I think makes this book even more fascinating. This isn't your standard bestseller. This is one that actually has thought to it.

House of Bernarda Alba

I wonder if Thomas Cullinan, the writer of The Beguiled, read this play. I actually liked it just as much as Lorca's Blood Wedding. It concerns a controlling widow whose husband has just died and her household of repressed spinster daughters. Eventually a few of them go crazy about a guy in town and it eventually leads to tragedy. It took me a while to get into it but I found the play entertaining. Lorca was a pretty good playwright whose life was cut short by an assassination. It's terribly tragic since the man was so talented. I need to give his poetry a chance now.

Robinson Jeffers

When my twin sister was in the sixth grade her class was doing a poetry unit. She had a poetry phase for a while. My sister had to memorize a poem and she chose a poem by Robinson Jeffers. His poetry is mostly about nature and how people should stop what they are doing and look at its wondorous nature. My favorite poem here was Roan Stallion about a woman in an abusive marriage and her relationship with a horse.

Yerma

This was an ok play by Federico Garcia Lorca. It means barren. It's about a barren woman whose desperation leads eventually to tragedy. It's her obsession and the only function in society she can think of. She resorts to witchcraft, pretty much anything. It's sad because the ending was nearly a happy one.