When I started writing it, the first part of today’s post was going to be really personal. Alas I just chopped the most personal part out of it, Maybe next time…
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” – Maya Angelou
I love writing and I have enjoyed writing the “Things I Promised Not to Tell” posts that appear on occasional weekends and are typically more personal than book club, movie club or any of my photography how-to posts, But recently I ran into a wall. I hesitate to call it a “block” because, like my late friend Ernie Mau, I don’t believe in “writer’s block.” Ernie used to say, “Writers write, that’s what we do.”
It happened when I was writing two different “Things I Promised Not to Tell” posts. The topic of first one was about a time that I consider the most creative period of my life and occurred in the mid-seventies. The second post was about how I became a writer. People often ask how I did it because they would like to be a writer but what I’ve discovered is that many people want to have written while finding it difficult to actually write.
caption: Here’s photograph of me from the 1970’s. In looking back at this image, I’m struck by how much I resemble my late brother, Michael, who I’ve written about before.
As I wrote it, the post kept getting longer and longer and more personal, so I stopped because it became too uncomfortable. I want to apologize for bending your ear about all this because this blog is. for me, mainly therapy and a way to exercise my brain as I get older. It seems to me that some topics are just too difficult for me to write, so these posts won’t see the light of day. The stuff below is less Jungian for those people who read The Book Club for information about books…
Mary’s Book List: An Update
If you read the last edition of the Book Club, you know that Mary is fond of buying me books. In October, 1984, one of her most interesting book purchases was Tom Clancy’s first book, a first edition of The Hunt for Red October that was originally published by the Naval Institute Press. which just might be worth a few bucks today. This was also made into a terrific movie and the 4K Blu-ray version is spectacular,
More recently she ordered me a copy of The Waiting by Michael Connelly which should be arriving any day now. Last night she ordered for me two Nero Wolfe paperbacks and I don’t remember both titles but I think
Review: We Solve Murders
I didn’t even cry even crocodile tears when reading We Solve Murders, which covers the father-daughter adventures of Amy and Steve Wheeler. He’s a retired copper from the Metropolitan police who is leading a quiet semi-retired life while his Amy is a tough bodyguard for a big time detective agency. What follows is a story involving a series of murder threats against a celebrity and the mysterious disappearance of Amy’s boos that the pair work on separately before finally getting together as a team. It’s a convoluted but exceedingly original written plot that’s populated with interesting characters down to a cab driver they run into in the Caribbean all of which are amusing and in keeping with what you expect from a writer of the Thursday Murder Club. But, and you knew there was a but, it feels that Mr, Osman is trying too hard and is throwing everything he has at this book but it lack the warmth and soul of his previous series.
Don’t get me wrong; the book is highly entertaining and would the perfect beach read, although I haven’t read a book on the beach since my trip to Nantucket in the seventies. As with my review of The Mercy of Gods, this opinion seems to be in the minority and all of the big-time reviewers have lavished praise on the book. I’m also not saying that I won’t read the next book in the series, while, at the same time, anxiously awaiting the fifth Thursday Murder Club edition. What I am saying is that I have moved We Solve Murders from my purchase list onto my library list. I’m gonna read it but I’m not willing to buy it.
Review: Spirit Crossing
By contrast, Spirit Crossing
is a more sensitive and sometimes moving story. This is the twentieth novel by William Kent Krueger and left me wondering, why did it take me so long to discover this writer? Spirit Crossing is a book I recommend. to fans of the late Tony Hillerman or the Dark Winds TV series but at the same time Krueger’s style is different, while the milieu is not.
The book follows the life of ex-sheriff and now private detective Cork O’Connor and his extended family that includes many Native Americans, including an adopted grandson. nicknamed Waaboo or “little rabbit.” While picking blueberries, Waaboo discovers the hidden grave of Native woman and has visions about who it may be, including her name. This is just the first of two murders that Waaboo uncovers and creates problems for him and the family that forms the crux of the story and mystery.
The search for the murderers and details about the victims all play out against a Native American protest against a pipeline being built across sacred land, including the title-named Spirit Crossing. There is also some family drama involving O’Connor’s daughter who recently returned from missionary work in Guatemala. It is interesting that both of the books reviewed involve father-daughter dynamics; I didn’t think of that until just now. Krueger, by comparison, is more realistic in their relationship but there is a smaller, though no less important, mystery about her that gradually and sadly unfolds. That’s because this writer makes you care about the characters and, at the same time, I think you will be fascinated by the spiritual life that many of them—villains excluded—have.
Krueger is a skilled writer and a wonderfully inventive story teller and Spirit Crossing takes you deeply into the Native American culture of Minnesota while at the same time educating you about the real life problem of missing and murdered indigenous people. PS: I loved this book so much that I want to read more of Krueger’s work, starting with Iron Lake that he wrote in 2009.