Books 22-28
All but the first are Brothers Grimm stories:
22. Great Lakes: Shipwrecks and Survivals, by William Ratigan. I don't recall the last time I so looked forward to reading a book and was so disappointed. I'd heard this book referenced a few times by a couple of YouTubers that do documentaries on ships and shipwrecks, so, Great Lakes shipwrecks being an interest of mine, I wanted to check it out.
It's not a horrible book - a diehard local historian interested in this topic may find it valuable. All the information as far as I can tell is accurate and many of the stories were interesting. But it needed a firm editor with a steady supply of red ink. The most annoying problem for me was the lack of first names - or even names, period - with stories where I'm reasonably sure the full names were available (there was one story where the name of the person he kept referencing wasn't mentioned until the end, which was irritating). Given the author's journalism background, this is puzzling. This was especially an issue in the first couple chapters. The first chapters also were a bit scattershot, the narration all over the place. These issues became far less prevalent in later chapters. But then there was the copious amount of flowery language, and sometimes it bordered on tacky. The weirdest one was when he adopted the phrase "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" as the running theme/phrase in relating the story of the Eastland. Which... OK. But then I ran across a sentence, something about him not knowing what the songwriter was thinking (he knew it as a popular radio tune), which made me realize that he didn't know this song was written for the musical "Guys and Dolls," and the message is quite clear there. I know this book was written well before the advent of Internet search engines but still.
That said, there were many, many interesting stories I'd never heard of, such as how, on two occasions, there were people who thought it would be fun to send ships full of animals over the Niagra Falls (!!!) for fun. I have the updated version of Ratigan's book, which has a section on the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was good and had information I didn't know before. Also, the final 20 pages or so were dedicated to the efforts when the book was written in trying to extend shipping year-around, and the challenges with that. This was fascinating!
So, final verdict- not sure I'd recommend this for the casual reader with a nominal interest in the Great Lakes and its many, many stories. But for the aficionado with a good deal of patience, reading this could be worthwhile.
23. The Four Skillful Brothers. I've read a variation of this tale, except it was three brothers. I noticed how odd it was to use four brothers here- usually stories like this use odd numbers, especially three, five and seven. All that said, I did like this story. Apart from using four brothers, the ending was a bit unexpected. Here, the titular brothers have left home and headed from their town to learn a trade. They each pick up an unusual trade: one brother becomes a thief, one an astronomer, one an expert huntsman and one a tailor. Three of the brothers receive magical gifts that help them in their trade. Their talents are put to the test when the princess of their kingdom is kidnapped by a dragon.
24. The Fox and His Cousin. A very short story about a wolf who decides to make her cousin the fox godfather of her cub. After an adventure (or misadventure) with a farmer, the reader has to wonder if she regrets her decision at the end. Could lead to an interesting discussion!
25. The Fox and the Cat. I like to think that this story might be a continuation of The Fox and His Cousin but I don't know if it actually is. If it is an epilogue, then the reader sees the fox get his comeuppance. A cat meets an arrogant fox, who brags about all of his gifts and cunning, while the cat admits to only one significant talent. But when they encounter a pack of hunting dogs, the fox learns the hard way that sometimes, less is more.
26. The Flail from Heaven. This is an odd one, especially the title. A farmer exchanges his ox and some seeds with the local butcher, but he loses a seed, which grows into a tree that, when he climbs it, leads him to heaven where he can actually see the angels at work. He is forced to make a hasty climb down when he noticed someone is chopping that tree down, but takes two heavenly tools with him.
27. The Fisherman and His Wife. I've read variations of this tale, most of them shorter. Here, a fisherman spares the life of an enchanted flounder. But when he gets home and tells his wife his fish story, she berates him for not asking this flounder for something in return. Sure enough, the flounder can, indeed, grant wishes-- but problems start when the wife wants more and more.
28. The Drummer. A fun if meandering tale. It feels like a few other stories were mixed into this one. A young drummer goes on a series of adventures to rescue a princess, but forgets who she is when he forgets her warning when he sees his parents. The persistence of the princess restores his memory.