Sunday Stealing

Art Historic

Classical: If you were an Olympian god, what would you be known for? Like Artemis and Diana, I'd be known for my love of animals.

Byzantine: Do you prefer gold or silver accessories? Silver

Medieval: Are you religious? In my way. I find myself disgusted by the way it's become fashionable to cloak hostility in my Christianity. (See post below.)

Gothic: What is your favorite historic building? Oh, I love so many old buildings! Since you're asking me for one, I'll go with JFK's birthplace in Brookline. This is where history was shaped -- the defining sibling relationships among Joe, Jack, Rosemary and Kathleen ... where Kennedy first picked up a book and fell in love with words and reading (if you visit, you'll see his well-worn copy of Billy Whiskers) ... the surprisingly small backyard where he learned to ride a bike ... I visited only once, more than a decade ago, but it's stayed in my heart.

Renaissance: Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt enlightened or changed? So many times! But, since an earlier question got me thinking about faith I'll go back to a sad Saturday night in the early 1990s. I had just ended a relationship with a man I loved very much. I was desolate, and that night felt like the longest one of my life. Sunday morning dawned and I went to church. Singing hymns as the sunlight streamed into that sacred place was a balm to my heart. I made the decision that morning to join the congregation. I wanted to formally show my respect and gratitude to the Lord for helping me heal.

Baroque: Do you enjoy the finer things in life? Not really. A typical refrain of my youth was my father admonishing me for not showing proper respect for my stuff: "This is why the Gal can't have nice things."

Rococo: Is your bedroom full or trinkets and pictures? If so, which pictures adorn your walls? I love this poster of Marilyn in Malibu, 1948. At the very start of her transition from model to actress. Doesn't she look happy? I respond to the uninhibited joy, and it reminds me to be careful what I wish for, because I just might get it.

Neoclassicism: If something came back into fashion, what do you hope it would be? I liked the big, satchel handbags of the 1970s. Let's see those come back.

Romanticism: Do you often see things in a positive light? I try. Not always successfully.

Pre-Raphaelite: Which book would you like to see turned into a film? The Astonishing Thing

by Sandi Ward. It's the tale of a family in distress as told by their confused cat. It's a moving and life-affirming story and I'd love it to reach a wider audience.

Impressionism: Do you look for details or take everything in at once? I get an impression, and then I drill down.

Art Nouveau: When were you last at the theatre? I saw The Old Man and The Gun back in October.

Surrealism: Why does the porcupine think it's a duck? Because it's quacking up.

Pop Art: Do you enjoy pop culture? Yes.

Contemporary: What did you do today? It's still morning, so not much yet.

It doesn't have to be this way

The passing of George HW Bush got me thinking ...

Presidents Bush and Clinton had an unlikely but authentic friendship. Barbara Bush said she thought her husband was Bill's "surrogate father." Similarly, George W. Bush once introduced Bill as his "brother from another mother."

The warmth between the Obamas and the George W. Bushes has always been on display -- whether it's Michelle embracing W. or the Bush daughters reaching out to Sasha and Malia.

The Kennedy and Bush families have been cordial for nearly 100 years now, dating back to the 1920s when Joseph P. Kennedy and Prescott Bush were amassing fortunes that would survive the Depression (and creating two of America's most influential dynasties). Here's JFK's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, with George H. W. Bush.

So clearly the Bushes, Obamas and Clintons are all willing to leave political battles in the political arena.

Donald Trump is the source of today's friction.

•. He insists that the Clintons are guilty of treason and should be prosecuted.
•  He maintains  that President Obama has gotten away with .... something. His blathering is a little hard to follow on this one.
•. He recently mocked George H. W. Bush's "thousand points of light" ("what the hell is that?") and then had the chutzpah to laud it when eulogizing Bush.

Politely put, our President is a jerk. It will be interesting to watch the grace with which he is treated by the Obamas, Clintons and Bushes next week when he finds himself seated among them in a pew at the National Cathedral.

It will also be interesting to see 40% of the country refuse to give the Clintons and Obamas any credit whatsoever for decency and civility. For some reason, 40% of the country embraces Trump's inappropriate personal attacks. Much of the time his supporters insist Christ is their guide in this and all things, yet I am sure Jesus will be more favorably impressed by the Clintons and Obamas this week.

We live in strange times.

Saturday 9

Call Me (1966)

Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) Chris Montez sings that you can always call him, regardless of the hour. Do you believe that it's ever too late to phone someone? Growing up, my mother always often told me that "polite people only call between 9:00 and 9:00." I still live by that.

2) He insists that you can depend on him, even when your friends desert you. Who is someone you can trust to have your back, no matter what? I'm pretty lucky in this regard. I have good friends. I was touched the other night when my friend Kathleen told me I should reach out and depend on her more.


3) Billy Crystal serenades Meg Ryan -- via answering machine -- with "Call Me" in When Harry Met Sally. Answering machines have been replaced by voice mail. Who most recently left you a voice mail? Lifesource wanted me to donate blood.

4) Chris Montez is a graduate of El Camino College in Torrance, California. The average daytime temperature in November in Torrance is 70º. How is the weather where you are today? Rain and mid-30s.

5) Today Chris actively promotes a healthy lifestyle to children. He was honored for his efforts by the group SOPA (Stop Obesity, Promote Activity). Do you believe you get enough exercise? HA! Hell to the no.

6) Released in late 1965, "Call Me" became a big hit in 1966, reaching #2 on the charts. Even though it sold millions of copies and was certified as a Gold Record, it never hit #1. Is winning, or being the best, important to you? Not really. I think I lack a certain killer instinct.
 
7) In 1966, when this was playing on juke boxes, kids were watching Batman and Star Trek. If you had your choice of watching an episode right now, which would you choose: Star Trek or Batman? Batman. Always. Adam West was freaking magnificent.

 

8) Also in 1966, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was born. Do you enjoy cooking? See #5

9) Random question -- You have the opportunity to perform in the circus! Would you rather be shot from a cannon, or put your head in the lion's mouth? I'd prefer to be ringmaster. But since that isn't one of my choices, I think I'll trust the lion.

This was a surprise

A happy and sad surprise. I slipped out at lunchtime on Friday, eating a little Chinese and heading for the bank. As I waited at the light on Michigan and Randolph, I saw a familiar face. Caleb! Napoleon's "dad." In almost exactly the same spot where I met him 18 months ago. Only today he was rolling toward me in a wheelchair, being pushed by a friend of his.

Last month I learned that Napoleon and his family were no longer on the street, and I was sure I'd never see them again. And here Caleb was ... in a wheelchair!

He is still driving a forklift, but he was promoted to days instead of the night shift. He and his wife and, of course, Napoleon, live and sleep indoors every night. His boss at the grocery warehouse has "rented" them the attic space above his garage. They're staying there for free now, in exchange for the work Caleb is doing to make it livable.

So Randi, a cancer patient, is warm and dry every night. That's good news! And Friday was her birthday, so Caleb and his friend had gone out to buy her a card.

But what about the wheelchair? He had a fall at work and tore a ligament. It was beginning to heal when he slipped on the ice and set back his recovery. So the doctor recommended a wheelchair when he's outside. Caleb hopes to be back at work "soon."

I told him I was sorry I hadn't gotten to say "goodbye" and his response surprised me. "Oh, you'll see us again." When the weather gets better, he fully expects to augment their income by panhandling, as time allows. His attitude is borne of having lived on the streets for years. Many of their friends are still homeless. He seems to see no stigma. I gave him $6 (for Randi's birthday).

And then we talked about the essentials. The two passions we share:

1) Napoleon is "a monster." He now weighs in at 14 lbs.! (The average house cat is 8 lbs.)
2) I'm reading Y Is for Yesterday. Caleb asked if it's "sad," since Grafton died before she could write "Z." I love that he knew that.

How can it take two weeks?

Nothing is harder than waiting for a phone call. Especially a phone call about biopsy results. And yet that's just what my oldest friend has to do.

Yesterday she had a biopsy, a response to something "suspicious" lesion found as she was treated for a tenacious UTI. I got a text from her today, saying that the procedure went well, but that her doctor rather dismissively said, "See me in two weeks."

This is not acceptable to me. The lesion was discovered back in September, but because she's on public aid, it's literally taken two months for her to get the approvals required for the biopsy. Compare this to how I was treated when my doctor suspected a DVT. In the space of one afternoon, I went from my GP's office to the hospital for tests and then home, and my tests cost me as much OOP as my LYFT rides. Of course, I have CIGNA, while my oldest friend is on Medicaid.

This is how we value human life here in the old US of A. All those people who protest choice and pontificate about the sanctity of life, where are they in situations like my friend's? Why is it a fetus in the first three months of life deserves greater protection than a friend and mother entering her 63rd year?

Sunday Stealing

HOOKED ON MEMES

1. How many states have you been in? 21

2. If a sexist Man is called a pig, what is a sexist Woman called? I think "pig" still works.

3. You see the one person who you absolutely despise. If you were guarentee'd that he/she couldn't say or do anything back to you.... What would you do?? Keep going. Life's too short to engage.

4. How many states are to the right of you? And don’t give us a map to look at. I don't really understand the question. But IL is bordered on the east by IN and KY.

5. You can go anywhere in the world for free. Where are you? London

6. HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP? Two. Duh.

7. Are you a boxing fan? No

8. What is the most disgusting thing you have ever eaten? I hated gazpacho.
9. Is it cloudy right now? Yes.

10. Someone gives you a $500 gift card to WalMart or Target. What are you going to buy? Groceries. It would feel like such a luxury to not have to budget for food.

11. When you were little, what did you want to be "when you grow up"? And, how much different is your occupation now from where you thought it would be when you were younger? When I was little, I wanted to be a singer/actress or a veterinarian. I am none of those things.

12. what was your favorite toy as a child? Lassie and I were inseparable.

13. What is the last place you had a good cry and why? It wasn't a good cry, but I welled up last week. Talking about the 2016 World Series, Game 7. I was telling my friend Kathleen what a privilege it was that I got to see the Cubs win it all. After all, my grandparents, my uncle and my dad all missed it. But I felt they were all with me at this moment:

 

14. Which Sesame Street Character do you relate with the most and why? Beaker. Because he's Beaker.


 
15. Did you ever make what you believed at the time to be a horrible mistake - that in hindsight turned out to lead you on the best path in your life? Not a horrible mistake, really. But there have break ups that broke my heart that I now know were for the best.

16. What’s your favorite show to watch on television nowadays? Lately I've started watching I Love Lucy reruns again. ADORE them. Not The Lucy Show, or Here's Lucy. Just Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel.

17. Do you believe there is life after death?  Yes

 

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Black Magic Woman (1970)

 

1) Black is this week's signature color because Friday, November 23, was "Black Friday," when retailers cut their prices and consumers flock to the stores. Did you score any "Black Friday" bargains? Nope. Didn't even try. By 4:00, when I ventured out, the sidewalks were pretty empty ... except for the line in front of the movie theater. It looks like Creed and Fantastic Beasts are very popular.


2) On busy shopping days,  carts often litter parking lots. After loading your items into your car, are you careful to return your shopping cart to the store or the designated cart receptacle? Since I don't drive, I never take a cart out of the store. HOWEVER, as I cross the Trader Joe's parking lot, I do take errant carts into the store with me.

3) Who on your gift list is hardest to buy for? My Cousin Rose. This year, though, I think I've nailed it. She's planning a return trip to Poland to explore her ancestry, and I'm getting her a pink (rose-colored, get it?) passport holder. Fingers crossed that she likes it.

4) Feasting and football are also popular Thanksgiving weekend pastimes. Do your Thursday-Sunday plans include enjoying leftovers or watching a game? Well, I got my Thanksgiving dessert (pumpkin pie) to go and ate it when I got home. Does that count?

5) Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is an annual event. It began in 1924 as a local event in New York. Today it's nationally televised. Did you watch it? I watched the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade, which passed in front of Macy's State Street. So that counts, right?
 
6) What did you give thanks for on Thanksgiving 2018? That Henry is still alive. That accident rocked my world. I'm happy to report he sounds a little better every time we speak, and I'm confident that someday he will be his old self again.

7) At the first Thanksgiving, there were no forks. Pilgrims ate with spoons and knives, and forks didn't become popular until the 18th century. Think about your Thanksgiving place setting. Did you have both a salad and a dinner fork? I had a "Thanksgivingwich" -- a turkey sandwich on buttery bread with cranberry relish instead of mayo. There was a scoop of dressing with gravy on the side, but I used my spoon for that. So no salad fork was required and I didn't even notice the place setting.

8) Pies are a popular Thanksgiving dessert. What kind of pie did you enjoy? Or did you have ice cream? Or did you skip dessert? Pumpkin pie.

 
9) This week's featured band, Santana, was named for its founder, Carlos Santana. He was born in Mexico. When at a Mexican restaurant, what do you usually order? The blandest thing possible. Spicy food irritates my gut.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May all your holiday wishes come true.

Happy Birthday to Me -- Part 3

Opened yesterday's mail this morning. My aunt sent me a box of teas (she worries about me being cold over the winter months) and two pair of earrings. A certain Snarkypants sent me sweet-smelling Perfectly Posh goodies. I also got a card from a friend of my mom's, a woman whose kids I babysat back in the 1970s. I love getting love over the miles.

Happy Birthday to Me -- Part 2

Beatles and Asparagus Spears. My friend Kathleen and her husband Martin celebrated me at a new local restaurant. The menu is Mediterranean fusion. I had the salmon stuffed ravioli, which was just OK (too many stewed tomatoes all over the place for my taste), but the asparagus spears! Oh! My! I don't know what they were cooked in, but they were divine! I only wish the portion sizes had been reversed. I would have preferred an asparagus entree with a side of ravioli.

My gifts were so thoughtful -- and Kathleen made a point of telling me she had purchased them over the spring and summer, when she came upon them. The first was The Fifth Beatle, a graphic novel about manager Brian Epstein. The second was a collage made of tiny pieces of paper, each a tiny Beatles photo. It's intricate and quite lovely.

I ended the evening feeling quite special.

First Born

I've finally seen the original A Star Is Born (1937)! It was screened at my movie Meetup. Judged on its own, it was OK. But in the context of film history, and seeing the movie that launched the three remakes, was fascinating.

The original is not a musical. With the benefit of hindsight, that was a mistake. The following Stars to be Born (Judy, Babs and Lady Gaga) are all so immensely talented behind the mic that you know what the established star (James Mason, Kris Kristofferson or Bradley Cooper) sees in her. Judy wasn't a glamour girl, and Babs and Gaga are both unconventional in appearance, but dear God, they can sing!

Janet Gaynor is a charmer who can do cute imitations of established like Katharine Hepburn and Mae West at parties. But based on that, Fredric March decides she has what it takes? In this movie, he seems more motivated by wanting to help a pretty girl than believing in, and connecting with, her talent. Nevertheless, you do believe they enjoyed one another's company and could fall in love.

So I liked it better than the Streisand version. Not for a moment did I believe that Babs/Esther even liked her leading man, much less loved him. Her performance is all (as Mad magazine referred to her) "Bubby Strident." She's too self contained, too self focused. And corny! It's got real cringe-worthy moments. She sings lead with two black chicks in a trio called The Oreos. Really.

So I stand by my fearless October ranking. Gaynor = good. Gaga = great. Garland = GOLD! Next time you have an opportunity to see the 1954 verison, grab it. James Mason is very touching, too.

Salad bag, meet Hefty bag.

I hate throwing food away. But according to the CDC, that bag of Italian salad I bought to eat healthier may actually do just the opposite.

I can't recall the last time I had something that was recalled. I feel quite a kinship with my fellow Americans right now.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing
 
1.What is your favorite animal?  My favorite zoo animal is the okapi. They are gentle, shy and look absolutely magical.

2.Your dream vacation? I'd love to visit Washington DC with my nephew.

3.Last person's house you were in? My downstairs neighbor Brian.
 
4.Worst injury you've ever had? Last month, I fell in a ditch, leaving my legs bruised and bloody. I don't know that it was the worst injury I ever had, but it was the most embarrassing.
 
5.Last play you saw? Escape to Margaritaville with my friend Barb.

6.Ever go to camp? Yes, often throughout grade school and junior high.
 
7.Were you an honor roll student in school? Never. You're talking to a solid C student.
 
8.What do you want to know about the future? Will I be moving in 2019?
 
9.Are you wearing any perfume or cologne? Not right now.

10.Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit? I am going to get my eyes checked next week. I need new glasses.

11.Where is your best friend? In a really bad place.

12.Do you have a tan? Nope.

13.What are you listening to right now? My cat Connie is trying to get my attention.

She thinks she's hungry.

 
14.Do you collect anything? Books

15.Who is the biggest gossiper you know? Me, I suppose.

16.Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over? 35 years ago. We'd just seen Superman III, I was more than a little drunk, and I felt the need to simulate flight through the sunroof of my date's car. As we drove up Lake Shore Drive. The police pulled us over and advised us that this is not advisable. However, since my boyfriend was the driver and he was quite sober, we weren't ticketed or anything. (Since I don't drive, this is my only "pulled over" story.)

17.What does your last text message say? WHAT ARE U DOING ON YR BDAY?

18.Do you like hot sauce? No

19.Do you need to do laundry? Nope. Did two loads on Saturday.

20.What is your heritage? 92% German, 8% Irish.

"See you in Hollywood!"

So read the confirmation that my four-day pass was on the way. I'm going to the TCM Classic Film Festival! Four days of old movies shown on big screens in Hollywood movie palaces, like the TCL Chinese* and the Egyptian. Four days of interviews and lectures about how these classics were made. Four days of getting my geek on with my fellow geeks -- including Will and Betty from my local classic movie Meetup. Yes, Chicago will be represented well represented in Hollywood this year!

Some of the big movies have already been announced -- Gone with the Wind, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and From Here to Eternity. I'm crazy about all three of them. But the one I'm super excited about is the restoration Holiday.

Holiday (1938) is my favorite Katharine Hepburn movie, which makes it one of my favorite movies of all time. And yet it doesn't get the love it deserves. Hopefully the spotlight it receives at the Festival will rectify that.

Kate plays Linda Seton. She's rich, sheltered, and confused. The alienated black sheep of a prominent New York family. She wants to do good in the world, but is confused about how. She just knows that she's not content with the way her family and their friends worship the almighty buck.

Her kid sister, Julia, brings home a most fascinating chap. Johnny Case (Cary Grant). Julia and Johnny met and fell madly, instantly in love on the slopes in Lake Placid. Now that they're home from vacation, Julia and Johnny have to deal with the reality of their lives. Julia is a Park Avenue heiress who (unlike Linda) loves her life of privilege. Johnny is a self-made success, who believes that money is the means to an end.

Now that he has some money socked away, Johnny wants to take time off and spend it. He wants to travel and meet people, learn the meaning of life.

Julia is appalled, but Linda thinks this is fantastic! Loving her sister as she does, Linda wants the wedding to take place. She believes Johnny is just what the Seton family needs. Susan wants Johnny, because he's clever and good looking, but she wants to change him into a Seton.

Oh, yeah. And Linda is falling in love with him. This causes her much pain, because he belongs to her dear Julia. I always adore Hepburn, but I especially adore her in this clip. Has unrequited love ever danced across anyone's face like it does hers?



The movie bombed at the box office because, in 1938, someone like Johnny turning down a bank job and money seemed foolish and insensitive. One in five Americans was unemployed, and a good job was considered the key to a bright future, not something to be scoffed at.

But this spring, Holiday gets another chance to enthrall audiences. I'm going to be there, sitting in the dark with my popcorn, watching Hepburn weave her spell.

See you in Hollywood this April, Kate!

*You know, the one with the footprints in front.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Sentimental Journey (1945)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Doris sings that she has her bag packed. Tell us about your luggage. Is your bag easy to spot on the luggage carousel? I love my suitcase. It's a Tumi hard side upright with spinner wheels. It's pretty. It's unique. It's indestructible. The wheels can easily follow me from pavement to floor. And it was FREE. I got it from Amazon in exchange for a review!

2) The release of this song coincided with VE Day, and so it meant a great deal to troops returning from Europe. What song has sentimental value to you. Why? "Gentle on My Mind" by Glenn Campbell makes me think of my favorite uncle. It was one of his favorites. When it first came out, he'd just come home from Vietnam, and I basked in his presence because I'd been so worried about him, in danger of being shot at in the jungle. Whenever I rode in the backseat of his car, and this song came on, he would turn up the volume as loud as it would go ... and laugh at my reaction because there were rear speakers. I was a little kid and sound in the backseat seemed like a wonderful innovation to me.

 

3) As a young girl, Doris was passionate about dance. Concentrating in the studio and performing on stage helped distract her from heartache and embarrassment over her parents' divorce. When you want to escape from what's troubling you, what do you do? I cuddle a cat.


4) Her dancing days came to an end when, at age 15, she was in a car accident and damaged her leg. During her recovery, she discovered how much she enjoyed singing with the radio, and was delighted to find others enjoyed hearing her. Tell us about a time you unexpectedly found happiness or success. This condo. I bought it in 2000 as my residence, not as an investment. Suddenly, this old neighborhood of mine is in demand and my apartment has appreciated considerably in value. I find this comforting, as my finances are challenging. It's good to know that if the situation presents itself, I can sell it for a profit.
 
5) She moved from singer to actress in the late 1940s and was a major movie star for 25 years. She was paired with the most popular leading men of her time -- everyone from Clark Gable to Frank Sinatra to Rock Hudson. If you could share a kiss with any actor or actress, who would you choose? I think it would be fun to kiss Pierce Brosnan. BTW, I was sorry to hear that his home was affected by the California fires.

6) 1968 was a terrible year for Doris. First, she suddenly became a widow. Then she discovered that her late husband and his business partner had squandered her money and she had to file for bankruptcy. Oh, wait! There's more! She also found that, in his role as her manager, her late husband had, without her knowledge, committed her to a weekly TV series. Do you have a 1968? What year you can point to and say, "Wow, I'm glad that's over"? 2016 was pretty bad. I battled c diff. Our building had a gross and expensive bed bug infestation. Donald Trump insulted and bullied his way into the Presidency. That's just what I remember off the top of my head. However, this happened, so it wasn't all bad. 

7) After retiring from show business, she became an advocate for animal welfare. She has said we should be more sensitive to the loneliness, sadness and guilt people feel when they lose a pet. Think of a time you were grieving. What words or gestures helped you through? Conversely, what's something no one should ever say to someone who is hurting? I actually had someone say to me, "I'm not good at hearing stuff like this." Yeah, my pain is about you. I think, "I'm sorry this is happening to you," is a good thing to say ... and a comforting thing to hear.

8) Doris' only child was her son, record producer Terry Melcher. Terry had a successful, years-long collaboration with The Beach Boys. Do you have a favorite Beach Boys song? This one. I'm not a big Beach Boys fan, but I like the opening line, "Off the Florida Keys" It reminds me of good times in Key West.





9) Random question: What's one thing you've never done, but have always wanted to try? Skydiving or maybe piloting. I suspect that those activities might help me overcome my fear of flying.

Tell it to someone who can help!

I talked to Henry for more than an hour last night. It wasn't pleasant. Being home, surrounded by his own belongings and his dogs, hasn't improved his outlook on life.

He began by telling me he's considered killing himself by jumping out the bedroom window. (It's only the third floor; he could hurt himself, but he wouldn't die.) Or maybe run away and live with the homeless under the bridge. (Hard to do in a wheelchair.) I let him rail, and then I asked him what brought him to this point.

He feels that everyone is trying to control him, and no one is explaining the why behind their actions.

He is worried that he will go to jail for being drunk at the moment of the accident, even though he insists he hadn't been drinking at all that night. I told him he won't go to jail without a trial -- he knows that -- and if he's innocent, his medical records will back that up. I reminded him that if he really, really wants to divorce Reg, he needs a lawyer, anyway.

I pointed out to him that he's not as his best right now. He just went through a cataclysmic experience.  Maybe he should concentrate on healing and getting past it, then worry about divorce and public intoxication.

He responded by saying this is not the biggest thing he's dealt with, and made repeated references to a sexual assault when he was 5. He acts as though we have talked about his before. We haven't. I think it's important that this brain injury has made this recollection so vivid for him again, after all these years.

I told him he needs help, and way more than I give. I told him he needs a psychologist right there in Key West -- not three hours away in Miami -- someone he can see regularly and confide in. Someone who can take the time to explain the whys to him in a way he can grasp.

I know he is in pain. I know I am not equipped to help.

Yet I am who he calls.

I am shocked by his lack of empathy for Reg, for his mother, even for his dogs. I am smart enough to know this is significant, but not smart enough to know what it means.

I am overwhelmed.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

WWW.WEDNESAY asks us three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here.

 

1. What are you currently reading?  

Y Is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton. Santa Theresa PI Kinsey Milhone is dealing with a thorny one. Parents hire her when their son is "timed out" of the juvenile penal system ... after murdering a classmate. But Kinsey recognizes that he was tried, convicted and served his time. This is the way the system works. She allows herself to be sucked into the family's drama. 

I'm not very deep into the story yet, but there is one thing I appreciate so far. Kinsey doesn't like the family she's working for. But they aren't asking her to do anything illegal -- at least not yet -- and their money is good. I'm not a private investigator but I work for an agency that assigns me to clients. I don't have to like them. This is life for us workaday stiffs.

 

PS I got this as a gift last Christmas, but I just couldn't read it then. I knew it was last Grafton, my last encounter with Kinsey, and that finality made me too sad.

2. What did you recently finish reading?  

And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce Henderson. This is really two books in one, and I enjoyed the first one thoroughly. It takes place on Palmyra, a tiny island south of Hawaii. It's officially "unoccupied," meaning no one lives there -- though US Navy personnel and conservationists stay for short periods. It's on this virtually deserted island that two couples meet. The first couple, Buck and Jennifer, show up on Palmyra in an old boat they rehabbed themselves. They're trying to live off the land, in hiding because Buck is evading law enforcement. The second couple, the Grahams, swoop in on their luxury sail boat, looking for adventure.

 

Somehow, Buck and Jennifer show up back in Hawaii onboard the Grahams' boat, and the Grahams are never seen alive again. What happened?

The second story is Jennifer's trial, with Vincent Bugliosi defending her. This is when it drags. Bugliosi and Henderson give us some great moments -- Vince describing voir dire was genuinely enlightening, and the passages describing one of the witnesses (the woman who discovered Mrs. Graham's remains), made me smile because he was so twitterpated by her. But murder trials are long, and this level of detail was mind numbing.

 

Plus there are very few good photos in the book. Jennifer is depicted as warm, attractive and able to charm anyone. Yet there's only one grainy picture of her. It's frustrating.

 

3.  What will you read next?  
Fiction? A biography?