Rough in Ways Never Intended

One of the pleasures of bookselling is no matter how up to date you think you are on the new releases there are still surprises. A recent one for me was The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Rough Guide series they are, as the name suggests, a kind of quick and dirty guide started in the UK in the 1990s when the series founder couldn't find a travel guide for Greece that strayed at all from the traditional tourist beat. These days the series covers a broad variety of topics, the latest of which is crime fiction.

Now I have been reading mysteries for years and after 16 years of bookselling I'm definately not the intended audience for this book. It's meant to offer suggestions to the novice, the literary equivalent of a knowledgeable bookseller. I will also say up front that of course the only book of this kind that would completely please me is the one I wrote my own self but, regardless, I find I must quibble with the editor, Barry Forshaw, on one particular entry.

From the chapter on private eyes, page 72:

"Pelecanos has written cogently before about the cycle of violence that cripples the potential of so many young men, and his anger has a keen personal edge (the author has a black wife and son). "

Hats off to Mr Forshaw for recognizing Hoyden fave George Pelecanos (not just once either) but I'm not really sure who the author is married to should come into play in legit criticism of fiction. As my friend, Mike, put it, "What does it have to do with anything? Would Elmore Leonard write better Westerns if he were married to a cowboy?"

(Not necessarily Mike, but wouldn't you want to read that book?)

I would say any author who wants to write modern urban crime stories must by necessity address the question of race and by doing so Mr. Pelecanos accurately represents the city he so obviously loves. I don't know of any science fiction writers who've actually been to space-good writers make their topics personal through their passion and talent. And though I realize we're talking about a single blurb in an overview book, as a fan I hope that my favorite artists and writers' motivations could not be so easily summed up. To paraphrase the Leonard Cohen quote I used a few entries ago, I stand by my original astonishment.

What's Up Hollywood?

Hollywood is really bugging me this week. First, it was "Feast of Love" (see "Where's the A2 Love?") then today I read that Josh Hartnell has been cast as the sheriff in the movie version of the vampire graphic novel I love, "30 Days of Night". (see "Roles to Play")

Josh Hartnell?! Really?

Now I only lived in Alaska for 2 years but I find it impossible to believe that the people of Barrow, AK would elect Josh Hartnell dogcatcher much less sheriff. And after suffering through "Hollywood Homicide" (I swear it was the only thing on) and "The Black Dahlia" I feel pretty confident that he does not have the stuff to realistically play a law enforcement official of any stripe.

This book has the potential to make a great movie but now, because of this boneheaded casting decision, I'm more fearful than excited.

The Casting Game

You know the game, I think we've all played it-who would play you in the movie of your life?

Myself I have had some bad experiences playing it-I get Mary Stuart Masterson a lot, which is okay but then, twice now, I have gotten Amanda Plummer who, though she can act, has to be one of the homeliest actors around and I was terribly offended. When I proposed Emily Watson for the writer Laura Lippman on her Memory Project blog, she scoffed saying too young and too pretty but I think that's the fun of the game (besides the insight into how others see you which can, as already stated, backfire) and of course how Hollywood really works. (After seeing "Talk to Me" I looked up a photo of the real Petey Green and he did not look like Don Cheadle.)

So I have come up with a not so modest proposal for my own casting. After spending some time getting to know her new record, "Translated from Love", I propose Kelly Willis. Yes, she is thinner, prettier and taller but she's a blonde with a round face. I think her Oklahoma by way of Tennessee accent could stand in for my Kentucky one (which dochwcesn't come out except on certain words anyway) as long as she could learn to talk a whole lot faster and wear brown contacts. And of course she can sing beautifully, though the movie of my life probably wouldn't be a musical perhaps we can throw in a few numbers. You know, for Oscar bait. As long as I'm dreaming.


You can check out Kelly's picture at her superfancy website at www.kellywillis.com.

Later

My best friend, Marla, who takes these sort of games very seriously, heartily endorsed my choice. And not just because I agreed that Kate Winslet is the perfect choice to play her.

All Things Cohen

1.

As I believe I have said here before, I am a Leonard Cohen fan. I was first introduced to his music when I was being bad, as bad as I have ever been. We're talking shame your momma bad here. So, for it to later be a tipping point for my current sweetheart's initial interest was one of those great full circle moments that would strain credulity in a novel or film but actually seem to be fairly common in real life. And yes, I do take it as some sort of sign.

2.

A few days ago I was waiting on a customer looking for some Cohen, specifically the soundtrack to the documentary "I'm Your Man". When I found it for her she was dismayed that the Rufus Wainwright's cover of "Hallelujah" featured in the movie was not included. (I myself prefer the Jeff Buckley one, Joe swears by the John Cale.) While I was finding it for her elsewhere we chatted about the movie. I said though of course I could listen to Mr. Cohen for hours, I found it a bit disconcerting to hear him speak so prosiacally about how some of his songs came about, especially his explanation of "Suzanne". To hear he didn't sleep with her at all and that the tea in question was actually just Constant Comment kind of took the mysteriousness away I had always attributed to that song. The customer looked at me and said, "I think you can still think about it that way. In fact, I think you should."

I thanked her for her permission.

3.

The Jennifer Warnes Cohen tribute "Famous Blue Raincoat" was finally released today on CD for the first time, 20 years after its original release. I was still listening to my cassette copy recorded for me back in the day by a co-worker, Henry Karpinski. I had no idea that a release was even planned so it was a very welcome surprise. It was a great drive home with me turning it up loud and perusing the liner notes. (I had no idea Stevie Ray Vaughn and David Lindley played guitar on it!) There are also some very charming thank yous from the man himself (not surprisingly, being a poet and all, he gives great thanks)

"dear jenny
the way you sing
and the way you handle the english language
these gifts are not widely
or democratically distributed
i stand by my orginal astonishment

thank you for affirming our friendship
it has been precious to me too
your encouragement has been critical
to my survival

much love from your old friend
leonard"

And this in response to Warnes' 1956 B+ grade school essay, included in the notes, on St. Bernadette ("Song of Bernadette" is one of the songs on the tribute):

Dear Jenny,

It is quite clear that your imitation of St Bernadette, praying the rosary, and your belief in Our Blessed Lady, did save the world from Communism. A special Papal Commission has been convened to study your case, and the rumor in the Vatican is that your grade will be elevated to A+. I hope that you will keep on praying for the safety of the world. To tell the truth, I depend on your efforts.

Much love,
Leonard

How nice it is to discover new things to love about a record I knew so well already and what a treat to have music to enjoy that speaks so easily and deeply to my heart and head.

Where's the A2 Love?

I was very disgruntled when I found out today that the movie version of Charles Baxter's novel, Feast of Love, has moved its setting from here in Ann Arbor to Portland, Oregon.

What the hell!?

Feast of Love is a stunner of a book, if you have not read it you should get your hands on a copy, well, now. It's a (very) loose retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream that functions as a valentine to love, yes, but also to Ann Arbor, where Baxter was a professor when he wrote it. The city is as much a character in the book, with as vital a heart, as any of the human characters. For those who haven't read the book, it would be like making a movie of A Tale of Two Cities and changing the cities to St. Louis and Duluth. I mean in the opening scene one of our protaganists who is suffering from insomnia and walking the night streets witnesses a couple making love on the field of the Big House (University of Michigan's football stadium for those non Big 10 folks). Now I am sure Portland has many fine attractions but they do NOT have the Big House.

I repeat

What the hell?

That August Feeling Again

Around this time of year when the back to school stuff comes out I get that anxious August feeling again, I haven't swum enough, eaten enough melon or seen enough baseball. Summer is fleeting, never so much then when you're staring at the end of it.

So, I'm going to follow my niece Vivian's example and use these last few weeks to relax and chill out.

Wendell Berry Kicks Ass

in-a-Kentucky-farmer/poet-been-married-to-the-same-woman-forever kind of way. All good poetry is about seeing, but his poems are frequently use seeing as an overt theme. To wit;


"I found them here at first without hunting,
by grace, as all beauties are first found."

from"The Lilies"


Or this one, as comforting and concise a picture of heaven as I know.

"In a dream I meet
my dead friend. He has,
I know, gone long and far,
and yet he is the same
for the dead are changeless.
They grow no older.
It is I who have changed,
grown strange to what I was.
Yet I, the changed one,
ask:"How you been?"
He grins and looks at me.
"I been eating peaches
off some mighty fine trees."

"A Meeting"


Not surprisingly another favorite subject is the pleasure of commitment and long lasting love descriptions I, who have never had that, read with longing and more than a little awe.

"The forest is mostly dark, its ways
to be made anew day after day, the dark
richer than the light and more blessed,
provided we stay brave
enough to keep going in."


"We are more together
than we know, how else could we keep on discovering
we are more together than we thought?
You are the known way leading to the unknown,
and you are the known place to which the unknown is always
leading me back."

from "The Country of Marriage"


Or my absolute favorite;

"Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart,

suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only a shade,

and once more I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before."

"The Wild Rose"

Important Summer Safety Tip

Otto says Stay hydrated!

Accidentally Trendy

From my recent shopping excursions I have determined that fleur de lis are big this fall, I have seen them on many things. So since I have one on my body in permanant ink (it's our sibling tattoo, my brother has one too) I figure I am so in. Though it feels good to be at the forefront of a trend, I have to say I have been here before.

I liked sunflowers for years and had many sunflower things then they got popular in the early 90s and I looked hip for about a season then was left with what looked like last season's leftovers. The same thing with the whole Shackleton thing (though I would characterize my admiration as more an enduring driving passion than a trend-after all I do have a shrine to the man in my home) I had read all the books years before and looked smart. Then the interest waned and people weren't really impressed by my mastery of those particular facts anymore. (He didn't lose a man people!)

So I'll ride this one out too and enjoy looking trendy while I can.

Other Hoydens

Joe gets extra special bonus points for finding the word hoyden in another place besides this blog. From George MacDonald Fraser's Flash for Freedom!:

"I had champagne with it, too, and a very passable brandy, and finally topped the whole thing off with a buxom little cracker girl in my cabin. Her name was Penny or Jenny, I forget which; she had dyed gold hair whch went vilely with her yellow satin dress, and she was one of your squealing hoydens, but she had tremendous energy and high pointed breasts of which she was extremely proud, which made up for a great deal."

Obviously Penny or Jenny had never read any of the previous Flashman books or else she would have known about his lowdown dog ways and stayed the hell out of that cabin.