What Are You Reading the Week of 26 October 2013?

Fredric Brown (29 October 1906 – 11 March 1972) was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He is perhaps best known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form—stories of 1 to 3 pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a somewhat postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena," is officially credited for an adaptation as an episode of the landmark television series, Star Trek (the original series).

His classic science fiction novel What Mad Universe (1949) is a parody of pulp SF story conventions. The novel functions both as a critique of its genre and a superior example of it. It may have provided a model for Philip K. Dick when he later created his own stories set in alternate personal realities. Martians, Go Home (1955) is both a broad farce and a satire on human frailties as seen through the eyes of a billion jeering, invulnerable Martians who arrive not to conquer the world but to drive it crazy.

The Lights in the Sky Are Stars (1952) tells the story of an aging astronaut who is trying to get his beloved space program back on track after Congress has cut off the funds for it - an accurate prediction of the actual conditions for a space program, at a time when many SF writers still tended to ignore or downplay the financial side of spaceflight.

The "Deep Thought" episode in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams appears to be a parody of his short story "Answer".

Brown's first mystery novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, won the Edgar Award for outstanding first mystery novel. It began a series starring Ed and Ambrose Hunter, and is a depiction of how a young man gradually ripens into a detective under the tutelage of his uncle, an ex–private eye now working as a carnival concessionaire.

The books make use of the threat of the supernatural or occult before the "straight" explanation at the end. Night of the Jabberwock is a bizarre and humorous narrative of an extraordinary day in the life of a small-town newspaper editor.

Also highly regarded are The Screaming Mimi (which became a 1958 movie starring Anita Ekberg and Gypsy Rose Lee) and The Far Cry, powerful noir suspense novels reminiscent of the work of Cornell Woolrich, and The Lenient Beast, with its experiments in multiple first-person viewpoints, among them a gentle, deeply religious serial killer, and its unusual (for a book written in the 1950s) examination of racial tensions between whites and Latinos in Arizona.

Even more experimental was Here Comes a Candle, which is told in straight narrative sections alternating with a radio script, a screenplay, a sportscast, a teleplay, a stage play, and a newspaper article.

He wrote several short stories about Satan and his activities in Hell. Many of his science fiction stories were shorter than 1,000 words, or even 500 words.

His short story "Arena" was voted by Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the top 20 SF stories ever written before 1965. His 1945 short story "The Waveries" was described by Philip K. Dick as "what may be the most significant—startlingly so—story SF has yet produced." "Knock" is well known for its opening, which is a complete two-sentence short-short story in itself.

Ayn Rand singled out Brown for high praise in her book The Romantic Manifesto. The famous pulp writer Mickey Spillane called Brown "my favorite writer of all time". Science fiction and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman has also expressed fondness for Brown's work, having his novel Here Comes A Candle narrated by the character Rose Walker in the collection The Kindly Ones of The Sandman.

Brown also had the honor of being one of three dedicatees of Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (the other two being Robert Cornog and Philip Jose Farmer).

A complete bibliography of Brown's many, many works is available here.

As usual, text is cribbed from Wikipedia.

I am reading The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress and I am listening to The Orchardist. In between those two I am slowly working through Hellgoing.

Fredric Brown sounds interesting, richard. Thanks for the introduction.

He was a fascinating guy fuzzi. Very prolific!

I've just started At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón, my newest Early Reviewer book.

Finishing The lost traveler by Antonia White and liking it more than expected.

Thank you for yet another great start to the week, Richard! I hadn't heard of Fredric Brown, but what an interesting fellow! You must put in a lot of time looing for these treasures and sharing them with us, and I appreciate it.

I am still reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It isn't taking me a while to finish it up because the pace is slow, that's for sure! The fact is, it's over 800 pages, but it feels much shorter because the pace is so fast.

Another interesting bio-never heard of him (but then again, I'm not a huge fan of Sci-Fi)

Finishing up I Don't Know by Leah Hager Cohen-ER winner and The Crime of Julian Wells by Thomas H. Cook

Middlemarch. I think it'll take a while just due to its size, although it's surprisingly easy reading. I'm also going to start something else to trade off with, but I'm not sure what just yet.

I finished Margaret Drabble's The Pure Gold Baby early this morning. I found it fascinating. It required patience and a willingness to go where the author (rather than I) wished to go, but Drabble always pays off for me so I trusted her. Her prose is lovely and her choice of narrator unique.

Today I will begin reading John Williams' Stoner.

>7 bookwoman247: Why thank you! I enjoy looking for these doubtless-new-to-many writers. Maybe once in a while someone sees a book by one of them and takes a chance on it. I hope so!

>8 ollie1976: He was better known, in his lifetime, for his noir/mystery writing. Neither was "respectable" in midcentury Murrika, but he was a popular mysterian.

Thanks again, Richard, for the education. I am taking a poetry-writing class and there too, I get such an education on phenomenal writers who never seemed to gain any real notice ... and they are often better than much of what did gain fame.

I am well into Garcia: An American Life by Blair Jackson and thoroughly enjoying it. Why this Deadhead has not picked this one up sooner is beyond me. I found it for $1.00 at the local library "clear the shelves" sale. I am also reading Best New American Voices 2008 and wow, it's really good ... so far only one dud in the bunch (mostly, because it's about the Hollywood scene and that always makes me yawn and walk away - I don't find much original there because it is written about far too much). It is always fascinating to see who from 2008 got big, finished novels and who is quietly still writing really good stories. The story by Lauren Groff - "Surfacing" - is particularly incredible. I loved her book Arcadia (although a bit weird) and did not know she wrote any short stories!

Just submitted 3 poems to a state-wide multi-college writing contest! Cross fingers (and toes)! Happy reading, all.

I just finished Doctor Sleep, which was excellent, and am now continuing with One for the Books and just beginning Let Him Go.

>12 CarolynSchroeder: That's great, Carolyn! Fingers crossed for you!

I am about a sixth of the way through The Red Tent, and I've decided to keep reading, although I'm not really sure why.

>12 CarolynSchroeder: Good luck *whammy* for Carolyn

>14 rocketjk:

I read The Red Tent a few years ago because one of my friends raved about it, but it left me quite underwhelmed.

Interrupting my reading of Songs of Willow Frost (just can't seem to get excited about that one!) in favor of What Do Women Want by Daniel Bergner.

>12 CarolynSchroeder: Oops, I missed the poetry-entering part somehow. Keeping fingers crossed. Toes I can't do.

Still working on Crime and punishment by Dostoevsky, about 150 pages in and I'm very much enjoying it. I thought I would need something lighter to read justbefore bed, that's why I dug up Neverwhere, but it seems Dostoevsky is winning it from Gaiman, go figure. Dostoevsky is going on my read-more-by-this-author-list.

I finished and thoroughly enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni, a first novel by Helene Wecker. She takes these two other-worldly characters (a female golem built of clay in eastern Europe and a jinni stuck in a copper vessel from Syria) and plops them into 1899 New York. Her writing is exquisite and I felt for these two, trying to make sense of their new world and their own natures. It takes a while for them to meet and the characters who help and hinder them along the way are just as fascinating as the two main characters and the place in which they live. Turn of the century New York could almost be another character in the book, so vivid is Wecker's descriptions of roof tops, tenements and Central Park.

The book has its flaws: one man seemed to have been included just to service the plot and allow the resolution that the author desired. But it was a wonderful ride and reminded me of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in its ability to transport me to another place and time. (That one had a golem too, but not featured so prominently.)

I've still got a few stories left to read in A Good Fall by Ha Jin. I like the views it gives on the life of a Chinese immigrant but the rhythm of the stories is a little strange to me.

It feels like a failure but I've given up on The Sound and the Fury. I love psychological studies, have happily read other stream of consciousness books and other Faulkner but .... I was so confused I read Wikipedia's summary. That helped clear up the confusion but it still wasn't fun. And so I've quit.

Am taking it easy with Three Dog Life now.

I finished Barbara Pym's An Unsuitable Attachment and am now reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. The new Booker winner (at 800+ pages) is of the unputdownable variety and I'm really enjoying it.

I finished and loved Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first two books in the series.

Now I'm on to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. About 50 pages in, and so far, so good. It's not my ususal type of reading, though I have read a couple of Gaiman's books for children.

#24
Gaiman will test your knowledge of mythology. All kinds of mythology. Norse, Indian, Russian, etc., Really good stuff in there. And full of humor as well.

>9 ursula: ursula: Middlemarch is one of my favorite novels. I hope you enjoy it.
>10 mollygrace: mollygrace: I loved Stoner. It seemed a little slow in the beginning but then it really picked up steam. I also highly recommend his novel Augustus.

I'm enjoying Longbourn by Jo Baker very much. I alternate reading that with Elizabeth I by Anne Somerset. I've only got another 100 pages to go in Elizabeth I; I'm going to be sad to say good bye to this fascinating, compelling woman.

I am really enjoying a wonderful book of short stories by Australian author Olga Masters, A Long Time Dying it is set in 1930s in a small country town not far from where I live, oh so interesting as I can picture the description she gives, as the town has not changed all that much.

Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce. I have read this series out of order, but I am finally starting on the Circle Opens ones. I've enjoyed the others immensely, so I am very much looking forward to reading it.

Really busy with work and class, but I decided to slip in a read of John Hersey's A Single Pebble.

I started A Tale of Two Cities this morning, on the bus. I've never read this Dickens' book before.

Oooo, Fuzzi, that's one of my favorite Dickens books

I started World War Z for a second try. The first time I just could not get interested. Books that are set up as interviews are not usually a favorite of mine. Now that I have seen the movie the book is more interesting. Next up will be The Mayan Secrets by Clive Cussler.. do so love the Fargo adventures. :)

Being in the mood for a little YA dystopia, I started listening to Divergent, and am enjoying it.

>26 enaid: enaid: I am liking it so far! Lots of humor in it, which I'm enjoying.

>26 enaid: enaid: I am enjoying Stoner -- I appreciate your encouragement.

>27 hazeljune: hazeljune: I spent part of the morning reading about Olga Masters and now there's another author and book to add to my list! Thanks for introducing me to this writer.

My review of FOLLOWING TOMMY finally got posted at The Small Press Book Review and within minutes an email came from the author! He said it was a "thoughtful review...{it} was what I'd hoped for in a reader."

That is a nice compliment indeed.

>37 richardderus: Richard, I'm not at all surprised. Your reviews are almost always very thoughtful. I would think that you are an author's ideal reader. You almost always seem to understand the heart of what it is they are trying to say, and you share your insights with such sharp wit. Your wit, my dear, is priceless. I'm so glad you keep it honed!

>38 bookwoman247: *blush* Too kind, too kind. Thank you!

Another interesting start, Richard, I've requested From These Ashes from my library system.
Due to one of your recent bios I just finished The Klan Unmasked by Stetson Kennedy. It's a great, though disturbing, look at the influence of this right wing hate mongering American organization, and maybe gives me a little hope for people fighting repressive regimes like those in Egypt and Syria.
I also finished and loved Someone, a personal look at the life of an Irish American woman and her family, and A Beautiful Mind - which gives a fuller picture than the movie of the life of John Nash in all his complexity.
Nash's schizophrenia has lead me to begin listening to Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda whose mother was schizophrenic. Looked how well he turned out. Unlike Nash's son, Alda seems to have escaped the horrible gene.
On iPad I'm listening to Founding Mothers because I liked Cokie Roberts' book about mothers and daughters so well.
On paper I'm just about to start My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. I've had this on my to read list for a while, so now's the time.

Joyce, how wonderful that you've read The Klan Unmasked! His prose isn't sensational at all, and yet that book left me sweaty with fear. AND From These Ashes! I expect that will be a fun read. I've only read The Lights In the Sky Are Stars of his novels, and found it a lot of fun, but it's been years.

>41 richardderus: His prose is very simple and I think reads sort of like a regular spy novel. I suppose this was intentional, to present very powerful ideas and facts in a way that was accessible to everyone.

Finished The Mystery of Edwin Drood for book club tonight. Loved it even though it's unfinished (though I really, really want to know how he would have finished it *sigh*). The man was a master of plotting and characterization. Next up is The Illiad (war and mayhem couched in poetry) and something a bit lighter, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

>43 whymaggiemay: Maggie, I liked The Odyssey much more than The Iliad. The Iliad had some moments, but Odysseus fighting off all the monstrosities as he was struggling to get home, the stubborn men who would not listen to Odysseus, the capriciousness of the gods, and the ever-patient and clever Penelope .. what a story! It could only have been told by a Greek, of course.

>42 Citizenjoyce: It does indeed remind the reader of a good thriller! I hadn't thought of it that way before. Yes.

Just started re-reading Julia Spencer-Fleming's One Was a Soldier in anticipation of her new one.

I was surprised after reading The Klan Unmasked to find this article about the difficulties surrounding the move to change the name of a school named after a hero of the Ku Klux Klan: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/parents-want-to-rename-school-named-after-f...
Who knew such a situation could still exist in 2013?

Disturbing and disheartening.

# 47 and 48-if I may add another d-disgusting. I pray it doesn't happen

>47 Citizenjoyce:: That's horrendous.

I want to scream that we are in 2013, not 1913, some days. I can't believe we are still fighting for decency in these ways today, or that people are so willfully ignorant.

>47 Citizenjoyce: et al

I try to be fairly optimistic, but it's impossible to overlook so much hatred in the world. If I were one of the the parents fighting to change the name, I would refuse to send my child to that school. Sadly, there are still too many people who would be proud to send their kids to a school named after a KKK Grand *%$&*(.

PS - thank you for posting the link.

I agree, disheartening and disturbing. It is frightening how such prejudice and hatred underlies situations we erroneously think have grown beyond that. Just incredibly sad for humanity, society, all of us ...

I am almost done reading McSweeney's 43 which I picked up in San Francisco back in April. Wow, good - nice mix of short pieces of fiction and non-fiction (and anywhere that T.C. Boyle appears tends to make me happy).

>54 CarolynSchroeder: TC Boyle causes you a happy? Huh. I remember reading him first back when he was still "T. Coraghessan Boyle" and thinking ~meh~ then not bothering again.

#54 and 55 -Carolyn and Richard -tc Boyle had become one of my favorite authors I've read The Road to Wellville San Miguel and one of his short story collections. I have several more books on my kindle and his newest collection of short stories which I'll get to eventually. Sometimes I get lost in his stories and can't always figure things out but he's always entertaining

Hi, I'm back and trying to put the pieces together. Finishing Brothers Karamazov, a re-read, and also Galileo's Daughter. Will start writing reviews for the books that I have finished. One incredible one, The Encyclopedia of Margaret Mitchell, yes, I said encyclopedia! Yikes. Twin Cities Noir, I loved even though I am not usually a fan of short stories, and The Family Mansion that held my attention throughout.

>57 Travis1259: David! I'm pleased to see you. Healing from the loss of your life-mate is a process, and I'm very happy to see that reading and chatting with us readers is returning to be part of it for you.

Sending hugs!

Boy, you are great! Missed you. David

A day off from work and a day spent at home sick meant that I was able to read (and finish) The Haunting of Hill House and The Woman in Black in less than 48 hours. THoHH was a reread for me, but considering I was 12 or 13 when I first checked it out, it felt like I was reading it for the first time. And holy cow...now I fully understand why it's become the quintessential haunted house story. Absolutely brilliant.

Finished My Life Among the Serial Killers by Helen Morrison, which was fascinating and horrifically gruesome - a positive or a negative quality, depending on your reading tastes. It made my stomach turn and actually made me gasp out loud once or twice.

Still trying to cram in as much creepy stuff as I can before Thursday, so I'm reading Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann - a short YA mystery/suspense/horror novel, rereading Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi, and possibly going to squeeze in either Psycho or Rosemary's Baby because they're both short and both fantastically well written.

>54 CarolynSchroeder:, 55, 56 -- I'm another T. C. Boyle fan -- I've read many of his books and have always enjoyed them. The Women and The Inner Circle are favorites, along with San Miguel and the short stories. I liked his writing even when he was T. Coraghessan. Wish he hadn't changed it -- I made a point of learning to say it and spell it and then it was gone!

I was going to weigh in on how much I love T. C. Boyle because I am so impressed with The Woman Who Walked Into Walls. Then I looked it up. Right country (I think). Wrong author. Carry on.

55, 56, 61, etc. ~ I get why someone would not like T.C. Boyle, but that said, I would not judge him on his early early work(s) (e.g., Water Music), which IMO, tried to be too smart/witty DFW for his own good. He settled down considerably and just writes darn good stories. Do they always succeed? I don't know, he's pretty prolific, I imagine not all of his novels are great. I have not read some of his more famous stuff, but Drop City and Tortilla Curtain rank among my favorite reads - though neither easy subject matter. Also, every one of his short stories has been awesome - but there again too, I have not sit and read full volumes, just the ones I have stumbled onto in journals and the like. In the short stories, he just writes about people I get or something, and that one like really stupid decision we make, how it causes this world of trickles and effects. I recall two stories in particular, "Balto" and "Greasy Lake" - they stick with me today, years after I read them. He is the combination of smart (and affords thee reader some degree of intelligence) and interesting.

Welcome back Travis1259 and a big (((HUG))).

I finished Stoner today -- another of those books I imagine I'll be thinking about for a long time to come. A simple story in many ways -- at times I even thought it was predictable, but the telling of that story, the life story of a man, is quite wonderful, and beautifully told.

Next up: The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith It's been awhile since I've read one of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, but I've enjoyed the others, and my mind is in need of something gentle and familiar, so I'm off to Botswana for awhile.
"There is no Frigate like a Book/To take us Lands away," wrote Emily Dickinson.

>59 Travis1259: Thanks! I'm pleased to have brought a smile to you.

>63 CarolynSchroeder: A Friend of the Earth is the one I read...private-zoo keeper to a globally warmed singer is recolonized by his madcap ex-wife, hijinks ensue...and it was nudging me so hard and winking at me with such vigor that I thought the damn thing had Tourette's. I like Paul Quarrington's take on a similar topic, Whale Music, much more. It came across to me as authentically funny, not jokey-wokey.

For those of you interested in what was chosen by my Classics Book Group for 2014, here's the list:

Red Badge of Courage
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Ender's Game
The Merchant of Venice
Sula
Mary Poppins
The Scarlet Letter
West With the Night
Montana 1948
I, Claudius
Palisades Park (Not a Classic -- Community Read)

I received and reviewed the last gasp of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse.

This was a very kind gift from Mother Charlaine to her legions of fans.

Lucky, lucky you, Richard. I'm 47th in line at my library for the Stackhouse roundup. Can hardly wait.

I am reading July, July by Tim O'Brien.

Home sick with a cold today. A few pages from finishing Songs of Willow Frost, which got better as it progressed. Also reading What do Women Want By Daniel Bergner, which is very interesting and references recent scientific research.

>68 Citizenjoyce: It's not exactly a taxing read, and if I hadn't preordered a long time ago it wouldn't be worth the cover price of $18 to me. Liberry borrow is perfect, IMO, for this one.

I've also loved and reviewed Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea on my thread.

Finished Ghost in the Machine by Ed James. Figured out who done it and why long before the police did. Started Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian. Only one chapter read but it seems promising.

I'm starting Bitter Fruit tonight, hoping that it's a good one. I've started and stopped a few books lately.

Hello again, everyone! :) So, after starting The Hanging Tree: A Novella by Michael Phillip Cash on Friday night, October 25th, I finished it on Saturday morning, October 26th. For the length of the story, I found the plot and characters to be very well-developed. :)

On Sunday evening, October 27th, I started reading Going All the Way by Dan Wakefield and finished it Tuesday. October 29th. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it turned out to be - it was very funny, but I have to admit that the main characters friendship was probably not the most advantageous for either of them, at least in my opinion. :)

Anyway, right now I'm reading Cemetery Girl by David Bell, which I started reading yesterday, October 29th - so far, it has me at page one! :)

I was in a play kind of mood yesterday so started in on The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman.

Finished Shoes were for Sunday by Scottish actress Molly Weir yesterday and am now reading The crown of Mexico by Joan Haslip.

Started reading 'The Third Floor' by Stephani Hecht just the other day for this Halloween =)

>36 mollygrace: mollygrace..Please track down A Long Time Dying it is a collection of stories by Olga Masters, you will find it really special.

Far too much. Recently started Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer in ancient Egypt, terrifically written. Engaged in Kuraj, 1930s-40s Central Asia/Germany, fiction heavy on the ethnography (that's fine by me). An Italian 15thC romance Pulci's Morgante and to go with that, Of Giants: Sex, Monsters and the Middle Ages.

Near the end of The World Beyond Europe in the Romance Epics of Boiardo and Ariosto which I understand is the first book to look at knowledge of and attitudes to Asia in these Italian Renaissance romances. Eye-opening.

>78 hazeljune: hazeljune, I have it on order. Thank you for the recommendation.

I finished Alexander McCall Smith's The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party -- it was delightful, and quite touching.

Next up: Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father by Richard Rodriguez

I'm just starting Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers, the first in the Kurt Wallander series.

I started my ER book Vatican Waltz by Roland Merullo and The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble yesterday and still working on The Shining by Stephen King

A new week has begun in many parts of the world.

A little more Klan news. It's just all in fun, they say. Don't take it as racism or anything:
http://www.classwarfareexists.com/pa-men-dress-up-as-kkk-lynching-president-obam...

Nauseating. Oh hahaha, let's be racist. Ha.

It's one thing to dress up for humor like the scrubbing bubbles and jellyfish in last nights parade. It's another thing to show an act of racism and violence and hatred as humor. That was blatantly disgusting and horrific

Every time I think humankind is not so bad, something so hateful and stupid as this comes along, and destroys any Pollyanna thoughts i may be indulging.

Okay, maybe that is overstating it a little, but I just cannot understand this sort of hate masquerading as fun.

On a happier note, I've started listening to A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny, the second book in this series, and I'm enjoying it.