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.