Thursday, March 07, 2024

The Great World and Timothy Colt

 

By Louis Auchincloss


Timmy Colt is a young lawyer with a law firm in New York City in the early 1950s. He has a wife, Ann, and two young sons. He works mainly with one of the partners of the law firm, Henry Knox. He is very good at what he does and so it is not surprising that another of the partners, Sheridan Dale, wants to use Colt on a legal matter with a client, George Emlen, who is a relative of Dale's. 

Colt doesn't want to do it because he doesn't like Dale. But Knox talks him into it. So Colt goes to work for Dale and Emlen and discovers that he dislikes Emlen even more than he dislikes Dale. Emlen doesn't like Colt either and so he double checks Colt's work and finds a mistake. At this point, Colt's dislike has changed to hatred and he finds Emlen intolerable. So after the legal case ends successfully, at the party given to celebrate the conclusion, Colt loses it and says some very unkind things to Emlen. 

This does not make either Dale or Knox happy. And they make it clear that Colt's career is in danger if he doesn't apologize to Emlen. But Colt remains stubbornly against doing so. Until his wife, Ann, talks him into it, for her and their children's sakes. So Colt eats crow and makes his apology to Emlen. But it rankles and he takes it out on his boss, Knox. The harsh words he said were the last words he ever exchanged with Knox, who died shortly afterward of a heart attack. 

So now that Knox is gone, Colt is stuck working for Dale. Colt knuckles down and does what Dale wants. His anger at being forced to apologize to Emlen still lingers and he takes it out on Ann, becoming cold and distant. He moves out and into an apartment alone. 

Of course, it doesn't take long until Colt has a new woman in his life, a society belle who is the opposite of his boring, ordinary wife. Eileen introduces him to the upper crust and to the finer things in life. He and Eileen seem really taken with each other. But then his nemesis, Emlen, is back again. This time Colt is charged with closing a trust and splitting it three equal ways between Emlen and his two sisters. But Colt figures out that Emlen is trying to pull a fast one. And a further complication is that Emlen is related to Eileen. Colt makes the mistake of telling Eileen about his suspicions of Emlen and she tells one of the sisters. And the whole thing blows up into a big deal that may mean Colt could lose not only his job but his law license and maybe worse. 


The novel starts out pretty slow but builds up quite a bit with the Emlen story. Colt comes across as a man who has ethics and principles who is probably in the wrong profession. His determination to be above board in his professional life is at odds with the requirements of being a lawyer, a profession that is not known for their ethics or honesty. Meanwhile he takes his discontent out on his wife and damages their marriage.

The novel was written in the early 1950s. The author has this to say about two upper class women Colt encounters working for Dale as compared to his wife, Ann:

Even when he [Colt] felt uneasily that she [Ann] might be right about his perfectionism, he still had his reservations about her own lack of curiosity. For was she not rather glorying in middle-class limitations? Was it so wrong to be amused? He was frankly fascinated by Mrs. Emlen and her younger, thinner, blonder sister, Mrs. Dale. He thought of them together because they were constantly together, the kind of women who found intimacy only in the easy sympathy, the unresented criticisms, the common presumptions of a sibling relationship. Their joint laps were complacently, indifferently available to the gifts of this world. That the witty should demonstrate their wit to them, the beautiful their beauty, the artist his most finished piece of work, they assumed with the unselfconscious complacency of Goya infantas. Yet this was not from any observed conceit. That anyone should have expected them to be amusing or beautiful or even artistic would have struck them as quite absurd. Nor did it seem to spring from any sense of class or money; Timmy [Colt] could never make out that they saw any difference between the fortune that had been partly inherited by the late Mr. Emlen  and the money earned by the self-made Dale. Such things were expected of men. It even occurred to him that they felt entitled to the world for the simple reason that they were women. If it was so, the Ann was just the opposite. She seemed to feel entitled to reject it for the same reason. 

 The copy I have is dated 1965 and is described on the back of the book as an "adult novel." Which is probably why I picked it up to read. Though after reading it, it is kind of puzzling why it was considered an "adult" novel. My guess it is because one of the characters is a homosexual man who fancies Colt. Other is the only sex scene in the novel where Colt and Eileen get together: 

In a moment he was beside her on the sofa, his arms around her, his lips hard on hers. And she who had been so still, so seemingly passive, came suddenly to life; her fingers were in his hair, her body pressed against his. There was an urgency to her that took him by surprise; it was as if to hide her from herself that he reached finally behind her to switch off the light. And he discovered in the hour that followed, bewildered in the very violence of his gratification, that Eileen's need for beauty was not confined to what she saw and heard. She was an artist in the act of giving herself.


Here is a review from Kirkus Reviews. 


Wednesday, February 28, 2024

An Excellent Mystery

 

By Ellis Peters


A Brother Cadfael Mystery


It 1141 and in Britain, King Stephen and Empress Maud are still at war. War which lead to the burning of the city of Winchester and refugees from the fire, two Benedictine monks, arrive at Shrewsbury and are accepted into the abbey. Brother Fidelis is a former soldier who retired from military service after being gravely wounded. His companion is young Brother Fidelis, who is Humilis' caretaker and attendant, as Fidelis never fully recovered from his injuries and is in declining health. 

Before Humilis became a monk, he was engaged to be married to a little girl named Julian. He went off to war, planning to return in about ten years when the girl would be grown. But returning maimed and dying was not part of the plan and he releases Julian from their promise to marry. He joins the brothers and Julian joins a convent.

Three years have passed and Humilis wants to find Julian to assure himself that she went on to have a good life without him. But upon investigation, it is discovered that Julian never reached the convent. What happened to her and to the treasure she took with her as a gift to the convent is not known. Amazingly, her family was not aware that she never arrived at her destination. Once they find this out, though, they are quite anxious to discover her fate! The fear is that she was murdered for the small treasure she took with her.

Humilis and a former associate of his, Nicholas, both want to find out what happened to her. Humilis, because he let her down by ending their connection. And Nicholas, because he was the one who met Julian three years ago to let her know that Humilis was backing out of their marriage. And Nicholas was quite smitten with the young woman and would like to get to know her better. The news that she is missing and her fate unknown makes him determined to figure out what happened. 

Meanwhile, back at the abbey, Humilis takes a tumble and his old wound breaks open. Due to Brother Edmund's and Brother Cadfael's and Fidelis' care, he makes a partial recovery but clearly his already fragile health is failing. It would be a comfort to the dying man to understand what happened to his missing former bride, Julian. Which makes the hunt for Julian even more urgent. But things are not looking good when a distinctive ring of hers turns up in the possession of a silversmith who bought it from a man who claimed it belonged to a woman he knew who had died. 


This was an okay story. It is not hard to figure out what is going on with Fidelis. So that was no surprise. What I never really understood was why Julian did what she did. I wish the author had gone into that a little more deeply because it really did not make any sense to me at all. 


Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.


Sunday, February 25, 2024

They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?

 

By Patrick F. McManus


A collection of funny hunting, camping, fishing and childhood antics stories. I don't know much about McManus, but I would guess that he was passionate about outdoor life. But he enjoyed looking at the funny side of it. 

In my opinion, his best stories are the ones he tells about his childhood. These are what I would call tall tales though I suppose they have some foundation in reality. His stories based on his adult adventures are still quite funny but I love the kid ones best.


This collection includes:

  • All You Ever Wanted to Know About Live Bait but Were Afraid to Ask
  • The Green Box
  • Skunk Dog
  • Cold Fish
  • The Rifle
  • They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?
  • My First Deer, and Welcome to It
  • The Crouch Hop and Other Useful Outdoor Steps
  • Meanwhile, Back at the B Western
  • The Education of a Sportsman
  • The Gift
  • The Sensuous Angler
  • And Now Stay Turned for "The Camp Chef"
  • The Heartbreak of Astigmatism
  • Sneed
  • The Hunter's Dictionary
  • Tenner Shoes
  • Reading Sign
  • Tying My Own
  • Psychic Powers for Outdoorsmen
  • The Fishing Lesson
  • The Hunting Camp
  • If You Don't Mind, I'll Do It Myself!
  • Useful Outdoor Comments
  • Journal of an Expedition

So far, every McManus collection I have read has been a real joy. All the stories are funny and some are plain hilarious. And you really don't need to be someone who hunts, camps, hikes, fishes to enjoy them. They are just such an enjoyable read!


Sierra

 

By Richard S. Wheeler


A novel of the California Gold Rush, aka 49ers


Ulysses McQueen is the son of a prosperous Iowa farmer. He is a newlywed and his wife, Susannah, is pregnant with their first child. But it is 1849 and gold has been discovered in California. Talk is of easy money, gold nuggets so easy to get you can just pick them off the ground. And McQueen has gold fever. So he packs up and heads off to western Iowa to join the hopeful men headed to try their luck mining for gold. Never mind the fertile farm he is leaving behind. Never mind the young wife preparing to become a mom. Never mind the disapproval of his parents and siblings. Off he goes, gonna get rich in California.

But things don't go quite to plan. McQueen joins up with another man, Asa Wall, a professional gambler. But their livestock get stolen and they have to join up with another group who doesn't like McQueen and makes life very hard for him until he becomes ill and collapses. 

Despite the struggles, McQueen makes it to California only to find that about a 40,000 men got there before him and all the best sites were taken. He joins a small group of miners and they manage to get quite a bit of gold. McQueen gets tired of mining and set out on his own only to lose everything to his old trail companion, Asa Wall, the gambler. Meanwhile, back home things are not going well either.

Susannah gives birth and gets into a disagreement with McQueens family. In spite, they evict her and the baby from the farm that they had let their son work. So she decides to head to California with her baby and track down her missing husband. She doesn't take the land route, she travels by boat instead. 

Before all that, in 1848, Stephen Jarvis in California, is a recently discharged soldier. He meets a young California woman, Rita Estrada, and they fall instantly in love. But he is a penniless soldier and she is the daughter of strict and old-fashioned Mexican rancher. Jarvis ends up at Sutter's Mill just before gold is discovered and he becomes one of the first miners to strike it rich. But mining is hard work and the more people who show up to mine, the more uncertain things become. Jarvis takes his gold and sets up in business instead, supplying food and necessities to the miners. Turns out he has a knack for business, knowing what people need and want and how to acquire it at a reasonable price. His plan is to return to Rita and show her family that he is a successful business man and ask permission to marry her. But Rita is no longer available. Due to family pressure, Rita married a local man instead of waiting for Jarvis. Jarvis is devastated. 


This was a pretty long book and I got rather bored with it in the last quarter of the story. The author keeps throwing road blocks in the young peoples' way and I found it rather tiring, the endless hard times. Here's another thing, I didn't really like the characters much. Only Jarvis, really. The young husband McQueen walks away from a good life without a second thought about his wife and the child she is bearing. He fails to respond to her letters and she often doesn't know if he is dead or alive. And Susannah, after being kicked out of the home she shared with her husband, and instead of staying with her loving parents, heads out with her baby on a dangerous trip to track down McQueen. It doesn't end well. And Rita, who loves Jarvis but lets her family browbeat her into marriage with a man she barely knows and who she doesn't love instead of standing up to their disapproval of her desire to wed a non-Mexican. I just found McQueen, Susannah, and Rita foolish and unappealing. 



Monday, February 19, 2024

My Life and Hard Times

 

By James Thurber


A collection of short stories based on Thurber's childhood and teenage years. 

In the introduction to the stories, written by John K. Hutchens, he claims that Thurber had an excellent memory and that the stories are all true, for the greater part. I don't know if that is the case or not, but they are all funny and amazing and worthy of being cherished and passed on to later generations. 

The stories are:

  • The Night the Bed Fell
  • The Car We Had to Push
  • The Day the Damn Broke
  • The Night the Ghost Got In
  • More Alarms at Night
  • A Sequence of Servants
  • The Dog That Bit People
  • University Days
  • Draft Board Nights
  • A Note at the End - a commentary by Thurber on his stories. 

The book is available to read online for free at Project Gutenberg Canada.


Kirkus Reviews has a review of the book, dating from when it was published in the early 1930s: Kirkus Reviews.


Night March

 

By Bruce Lancaster


Stedman is a captain in the Union Army when misunderstood or misleading orders leads him and his friend, Captain Pitler to being captured by the rebels and locked up in a building in Richmond, Virginia, called the Libby. It used to be general purpose building but was designated a prison for Union officers.

Like most prisons for enemy soldiers, life was not easy in Libby. Food was inadequate and disease was common and medical care lacking. And the guards were trigger happy. However, during a fire, Stedman and Pitler managed to escape and set out to find their way back to the Union forces to continue the fight. 

This required seeking out sympathizers who would supply them with shelter, food, and clothes and a guide to lead them on to the next stop and, hopefully to rejoin the Union forces in Tennessee. 


This story was a bit of a bust for me. The first part goes into great detail about the night Stedman, Pitler and the rest made their way toward Richmond only to be captured. This is detail that I cared nothing about. I skipped reading most of that. I picked the book because I thought it would be about their flight from captivity to freedom. Details of battles don't interest me at all. 

The story of their time in prison wasn't all that interesting either. I had already read Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor which was published a couple years before Lancaster's novel. So there was nothing new in the author's descriptions of the prisoners' suffering. And I found their escape a bit unbelievable. Anyways, I was glad they were finally on the road only to have a poorly written romance thrown in. Most stilted and ridiculous dialogue between two lovers I think I have ever read. I don't know  though. Maybe people in love back in the 1860s talked that way. The author was certainly closer to that era than I am so maybe he is correct. 


Even though this book was published in the late 1950s, there is a review of it online at Kirkus Reviews.


Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Yurth Burden

 

By Andre Norton


When the Yurth colony ship touched down on a new planet, it mistakenly landed in the middle of a small city, destroying most of the city and killing many of the native residents, the Raski. For which destruction neither the Raski nor the Yurth descendants themselves will forget or forgive. So the two populations live separate from each other, not at war but not a peace either. The native Raski occupy the arid lowlands and the alien Yurth make their homes in the mountains. 

When a Yurth youth enters adulthood, they traditionally take a journey into the valley of the destroyed Raski city to learn and understand why the Raski hate Yurth people so very much. This story concerns a young Yurth woman, Elossa, who undertakes her pilgrimage only to find her path being crossed by a Raski youth, Stans of Philbur. 

It is known among the Yurth that sometimes Yurth folks on pilgrimage never return home. What happens to them is not known. Having Stans on her trail alarms Elossa and she fears his intentions. They end up travelling together but never quite trusting each other as some mysterious force seems at times to be in control of their actions, much against their wishes. 

Arriving at the Mouth of Atturn, a place Stans declares sacred to the Raski, they venture into an underground maze where both young people experience strange episodes and disturbing visions or illusions. As they penetrate deeper into the maze, they are abruptly confronted by a vision of Attun, a Raski god of evil, who attempts but fails to kill Stans. Upon finding their way out, they are again attacked by the one who bears the face of Attun, who once again fails to kill Stans, due again to Elossa's quick interference. But two successes are followed by failure when Elossa and Stans are overwhelmed by the Attun lookalike's hideous, deformed minions and captured and bound and sent down the river.


This was an OK read. It never really grabbed my attention though. I think I have read too many of these Norton stories which seem to be the same story told over and over with a few changes made. Two young people find each other and end up traveling over empty lands inhabited by dangerous beasts, with part of the journey taking place in an underground maze of tunnels and caverns. And some kind of unnatural, deformed creatures working against them. And an old city and old technology always part of the journey. Plus the ever present mind powers that are a standard feature of a Norton story and a magical talisman or piece of jewelry. Formulaic, for sure.


The Sinister Pig

 

By Tony Hillerman


A Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Mystery


Carl Mankin was hired to investigate the disappearance of massive amounts of fossil fuels from the San Juan Basin area of New Mexico, a rich natural gas production area, among other fossil fuels. 

But as Mankin is just starting his investigation in New Mexico, he is mistaken for DEA, Drug Enforcement, and is shot dead. And when the FBI take over the investigation from the local police, they declare Mankin was accidentally shot by a careless hunter, case closed. 

Meanwhile, the drug lords have figured out a way to get drugs out of Mexico and into the US by using old pipelines that crossed the border. Pipelines are periodically cleaned by a device called a pig which travels through the pipeline removing rust and buildup. So the smugglers are using the pipeline pigs to haul drugs through the pipeline from Mexico and into New Mexico.

Bernie Manuelito, who used to be an officer with the Navajo Police, is now working for Border Patrol, when she spots some unusual activity on a ranch near New Mexico's border. Unfortunately, her harmless nosing around gets her put on a hit list. And in the cross hairs of a Washington DC sociopath who has brought his high-powered rifle to New Mexico to take her out. What the DC insider doesn't know is that his number one guy isn't the loyal tool he believes him to be. 


I found this mystery to be a bit disappointing. In that the first murder is never solved, other than the FBI coverup claiming it was an accidental shooting, nor is the mystery of the billions of dollars of missing funds. Yes, the bad guy DC insider is taken care of. But the take down of the corrupt Border Patrol agent is barely mentioned.  Seems to me the story was mainly used to get Jim Chee and Bernie back together. 


Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.


Sunday, January 28, 2024

Charity Girl

 

By Georgette Heyer


A Regency Romance


Viscount Ashley Desford is attending a dinner party when he accidentally meets young Cherry Steane. She wasn't allowed to attend the party because she lives with her aunt as an unpaid employee. Abandoned by her father, she was reluctantly taken in by her aunt, who treats rather unkindly. Desford finds Cherry interesting and spends a few moments talking to her in the hallway as she peers down into the room from the upstairs, hoping to get a glimpse of the festivities. 

Unfortunately, one of her cousins sees her chatting with Desford and tells the aunt who gives Cherry a severe scolding. Feeling she can't bear living in such a cold and unloving household, Cherry packs her few belongings and runs away, where Desford, who is traveling back to London, comes across her trudging alongside the road the next morning. 

When he finds out she has run away, he tries to talk her into returning to her aunt's home. But she flatly refuses and seems to be desperate to get away. So he offers to escort her to her grandfather's house in London. But when they get there, the house is closed up and none of the neighbors knows where the grandfather has gone. 

Not knowing what else to do with the girl, Desford takes her to a close woman friend, Hetta Silverdale. Hetta and Desford have been friends since childhood, and he views her as a sister and is depending on her to help him now. It takes a bit of persuading, but he gets Hetta to agree to let Cherry stay with her while he tries to locate the grandfather. 

Hetta does not live alone, she lives in the family home with her widowed mother and her younger brother, Charlie. At first, Cherry gets along with Hetta, the mother and Charlie very well. But then Charlie steals a kiss and the mother turns against Cherry and gives her a lecture on encouraging men to come on to her which Cherry certainly did not do.

Meanwhile, Desford is traveling around England, trying to track the grandfather down without any luck. He eventually finds him but discovers the grandfather has recently gotten married again and the new wife, the ex-housekeeper, makes it very clear that she is willing to take Cherry in as an unpaid employee, which is exactly the situation that caused Cherry to run away from her aunt.  And the grandfather refuses to give Cherry any financial support to help her out. 

Desford returns to Hetta only to find everyone upset because Charlie and Cherry are both missing. And Cherry's father, who everyone assumed was dead, has suddenly shown up at the Silverdale home, demanding his child and declaring Desford seduced her and ruined her. 

But things are not as bad as they seem because Desford's younger brother, Simon, has become involved and with his help, everything turns out as well as can be expected.  He tells Desford, at the end of the story, "But if you should get into any more scrapes, Des, just send me word, and I'll post straight back to rescue you!" 


For a romance novel, there is really no romance in this story. Mainly it is about Desford's efforts to help out Cherry.

Sometimes even a favorite author can be disappointing. 


Here is a review by Austenprose.


Friday, January 26, 2024

Never Cry "Arp!" and Other Great Adventures

 

By Patrick F. McManus


A collection of humorous stories about childhood, camping, friendship and hunting and fishing. The title story, Never Cry "Arp!" concerns two grade school boy, the author and his dear friend, Crazy Eddie Muldoon, who, "at the age of eight, was a sort of magnet to injuries. It was almost as though Eddie scheduled his injuries for the day when he got up in the morning.

8:00 Stub big toe of left foot.

8:35 Step on rusty nail with right foot.

9:05 Get stung over left eye by bee.

10:30 Run sliver in hand while whittling.

10:35 Cut finger while whittling.

11:00 Twist ankle jumping off pigpen fence.

11:22 Get tick embedded behind left ear.

12:00 Lunch.

1:15 Get stung by nettles.

2:00 Get bitten by the Petersons' dog."

 But the last incident recounted in the story that resulted in Eddie getting injured was when he and Pat were biking down a steep hill and Eddie's pant leg got caught in his bike's chain. He got so banged up that when Pat asked him if he was OK, all Eddie could say was, 'Arp arp arp.'

The other stories in the collection are

  • Skunk Dog
  • The Mountain
  • Reading Sign
  • Kid Brothers and Their Practical Application
  • Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!
  • Secret Places
  • A Really Nice Blizzard
  • Cubs
  • Muldoon in Love
  • Not Long for This Whirl
  • The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw
The stories in this collection are some of Pat's best, and all deal with his younger days, which are my personal favorite. Someone should publish a collection of all his tall tales from his childhood and teen years. They are always hilarious!