Latest book report- mostly O. Henry
That last post was longer than I expected and I have a lot of books, so I figured I'd break things down with a separate post for the books I've finished. Included are two books I've been working through for a while now (both were excellent, just had limited time to read them- one was the book I kept for lunch hour at work, the other until recently I had in my car in case I had a down moment while out on the road).
The following are O. Henry short stories:
78. The Poet and the Peasant. Not sure I liked this one. Here, O. Henry combines two stories in one and (I think) tries to connect them through a lesson(?). Haven't decided if this was clever, or an attempt to be clever. Leaning towards the latter the more I think about it. One story is about an effort to trip up a local editor who rejected a poet's work as being too artificial. The other concerns a country fellow visiting Manhattan who is trying to make connections without success.
79. The Plutonian Fire. An editor is trying to help his friend come up with a successful piece to submit. A story about love. The results are not what he expects. Pretty funny and I like the ending, didn't see it coming.
80. The Pendulum. This one was OK, but I read another similar to it a month or two ago. Here, a man married for two years gets a shock when he finds his wife has gone to visit her sick mother, leaving him all alone for the first time in their two years and despondent. The ending was predictable.
81. The Octopus Marooned. Another tale featuring the hijinks of Jeff Peters and Andy Tucker. I'm really liking O. Henry's pair of n'er-do-wells. Here, the two decide to stop in a small town during a rainstorm. Andy notices something and the two decide to take their advantage in a clever scheme. Of course that scheme gets derailed- but not in a way I saw coming! Absolutely hilarious!
82. The Missing Chord. One of O. Henry's more serious short stories, but incredibly sweet. Here, a visitor at a modest home out in the country is surprised to hear sweet music playing from a piano in such an unlikely place. The owner of the house tells him the story behind it, and it's a touching tale.
83. The Marry Month of May. While O. Henry often writes about couples falling in love, this one is refreshing in that its two main protagonists are older. An old man has fallen for his servant but they both have an obstacle: his daughter. Funny story; while O. Henry frequently breaks the fourth wall, he really uses it well here.
84. The Making of a New Yorker. This is a love letter from O. Henry to New York City. A writer, who has traveled to many cities to get a feel for their personalities, has stepped into New York. For once his is flummoxed. He can't get a clear read of this metropolis and isn't even sure he likes the place. But then something happens and he sees the humanity under the steel and glass facade. Really like how O. Henry gives the various cities personalities, the descriptions are both amusing and accurate, from what I can tell.
85. The Lost Blend. Mildly amusing, although unlike fine wine, it hasn't aged well. Two men accidentally wind up making the perfect alcohol, and try to recreate the recipe.
86. The Last Leaf. I remember reading this in high school, and The Last Leaf is another favorite. O. Henry is known for his humor and twists, but this is certainly one of his more serious tales. Here, a young woman falls ill and is convinced she will die when the last leaf from a scraggly vine outside falls. Can her roommate convince her otherwise?
87. The Lady Higher Up. This tale needs to be better known. Here we get the point of view about New York from Lady Liberty herself while she talks to another statue. Funny but sweet, and I love how it ends.
88. The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson. Didn't care for this story. One, there are terms that haven't aged well. Two, while when this was written, age differences of 15, 20, even 25 years or more weren't uncommon between couples, the overnight relationship that developed here came off as squicky. Here, an older man, semi-retired, has dedicated his life to his strawberry gardens. One day, while chasing away some marauding neighborhood kids, he falls for the oldest sibling, who is 19.
89. The Higher Pragmatism. One of O. Henry's more insightful stories. Here, a young man runs across a homeless man at the park. The young lad is interested in hearing the older man's story but winds up sharing as much information about himself-- and learning something about himself in the process. Also, there's a heavy theme of things happening for a reason.
90. The Harbinger. Did not like this one. In fact, this is one of my least favorite stories so far. O. Henry's stories that have women in them tend to be a bit misogynistic but this one was on a level that was off-putting. A shifty group of men realizes the wife of one has a whole dollar that she earned. They want the husband to get that dollar, and at any cost (including beating her up...ugh). They want to go drinking on that dollar. Now, the husband does not do anything that drastic and in fact winds up staying with his wife for the night. But the recurring thread that he could made me cringe.
91. The Hand That Riles the World. Our intrepid unheroes Jeff Peters and Andy Tucker go to Washington D.C. to help a friend get a much-coveted federal post. This is actually a pretty honest job for the grifters (in fact, their commentary on D.C. is funny). Of course, it doesn't go according to plan but to say much more would give away the fun twists.
92. The Halberdier of the Little Rhinschloss. When the owner of a German-themed restaurant decides he wants to hire someone to wear armor he had assembled and play the role of halberdier, he finds an unlikely but perfect candidate. The Halberdier is put to the test one night when a group coming to the restaurant recognize him. This was a fun story, even if I did see the ending coming.
93. The Green Door. One of O. Henry's better known and better-written tales (although warning- some words and phrases have not aged well). Here, an adventurous man is given a business card with three words "The Green Door." This card takes him on an unexpected journey.
94. The Girl and the Habit. This was hilarious! A young woman, who has worked for years as the cashier at a popular restaurant, is informally adopted by an older, wealthy couple and given the best in education and training. However, some habits die hard, as she finds out to her chagrin.
And now for the two that are NOT by O. Henry
95. The Future of the Mind, by Michio Kaku. A very dense read, but worthwhile. Here, Kaku goes into the technology that is already out there to improvements that are possible when it comes to dealing with the brain, with mental disorders and even with AI. This book was published in 2014, so I'm curious to see if there's an update. What technologies are measuring up to their potential? Which ones had to be scrapped? I was astounded at what can already be done, such as recording simple thoughts. Kaku brings up the possibilities - and the potential dangers - of technology and the mind.
96. Akron's Daily Miracle, by Stuart Warner and Deb Van Tassel Warner. This is a collection of essays from former Akron Beacon Journal staff (plus material from former staff of a local radio station and the former local television station.) This is not going to be an unbiased review since I know (or at least know of) most of the people who wrote columns for this collection. It's a bittersweet read. One, you get a look at what used to be versus how things are now. Reading about what newspapers used to be able to do and the staff that used to run the paper is depressing. Also, several of the writers here have since died- one of them, Art Krummel, died earlier this year. I've known him and his wife Char for several years. I've also worked with a couple of the writers (albeit only briefly). This is a wonderful and unique perspective of Akron's history from some of the area's best storytellers, people who often had a front-row seat in covering the major events in Akron (and even beyond). My overwhelming thought reading this was that if someone is putting together a time capsule, this book needs to be included. The overarching book tells the history of the Beacon Journal, from its days when it was owned by the Knights to the present day. I do like the addition of information regarding the now lost radio station and local television station. It was also a trip down memory lane for me- I recall a lot of the signature pieces and work when it first came out, such as A Question of Color. Anyone interested in Akron's local history should get this book.