Another part in a... series? This is another batch of books that have been on my "already read" shelf for a long time. Once again, I don't remember much about most of them, which itself is a review in its own way. I'm doing a major purge /reorganization and need to free up the shelf space, so off we go.
The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Part of my long-term intention to read all of Steinbeck's fiction works. This short novel may be the best example of one of his most common themes - that there's just no way for the poor to catch a break. The Pearl is the story of an impoverished fisherman who finds an extraordinary, huge pearl that's worth a fortune. On the surface, all his financial problems seem to be solved. However, things are far from that simple. How does a poor man turn such a asset into cash? How does he protect it in the meantime? And how do those around him react to his apparent turn of good fortune? Without going too far down the road of spoilers, suddenly becoming rich in theory is far from the blessing it may have seemed.
On a far different (and certainly less tragic) scale, in recent years I've lost interest in owning "collectibles." I've gotten rid of the last of my comic books, and the Magic cards I now own are primarily for playing with, not sealing away in plastic to preserve their "value." Investing in collectibles takes a lot of expertise and resources (time, storage logistics, effort to sell, etc.). Although it's much less fun, I'd rather divest myself of such things and keep my investing in a brokerage.
A few years ago I consciously decided that since Wizards of the Coast consistently and blatantly make decisions that favour Hasbro shareholders over Magic players and collectors, I'd purchase fewer cards and instead buy stock in the company. That turned out to be a good financial decision. I've since sold the stock for a considerable profit. On a percentage basis, at least - the absolute numbers are small.
A friend recently told me that his son, having just entered the workforce and having some money to invest for the first time, had decided on silver. Literal small bars of silver, which he orders from various sources and tucks away. He's only starting to realize, after several months of this, the burden of storing and protecting actual tangible assets. It may turn out to have been shrewd if civilization collapses but silver somehow manages to maintain value (unlikely; if the world turns into The Walking Dead, I expect canned goods, batteries, and firearms to be far more valuable than "precious metals"). In any other scenario, he should probably be buying metals-based stocks and mutual funds.
Anyway, he should read The Pearl.
The Short Reign of Pippin IV by John Steinbeck. Another short novel, and one I'd never heard of before finding it in a library book sale. I didn't start checking actual bibliographies until after I'd read everything of Steinbeck's that I already had. This is a comedy that works very well. It's baffling that it hasn't been adapted as a movie.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. This is a short story collection. I used to read a lot of horror short story collections, but I don't care anymore. This collection includes the title story, of course, which is a classic. I remember virtually nothing about any of the other stories. I vaguely remember that they tend to have little plot and just relate mundane, uneventful slices-of-life. I found it odd that several of the stories included a character named James Harris (which reminded me of Randall Flagg and his aliases showing up throughout the Stephen King universe), until I saw that the original title of this collection was The Lottery or, The Adventures of James Harris.
Quiet Horror by Stanley Ellin. Another horror short story collection. I remember zero about this one.
Terror: Murder and Panic in New Brunswick, May-November, 1989 by Rick Maclean and Andre Veniot. This is the story of a time when a multiple murderer named Allan Legere escaped from prison and was on the loose in eastern Canada. I bought and read it out of a morbid nostalgic curiosity. At the time of these events, I lived right in the middle of where it was happening, just a few doors down the street from someone who was considered one of Legere's probable targets. I had met Allan Legere a few times before his first (confirmed) murders, and knew his co-convicted from occasionally playing neighbourhood softball and such with them, although they were a few years older than me. During Legere's escape I was there for the curfews, event cancellations, and paranoia. What I don't remember is anything particular about this book. At this point my own first-hand memories blur together with it. Unlike most of the books in these entries that I no longer remember, I'll probably keep this one,.
C.S. Lewis, My Godfather by Laurence Harwood. One of my last purchases, and I assume it was cheap, before I realized that there was no compelling need to read biographies of everyone whose own work interests me. I knwo more than enough about C.S. Lewis's life from third parties. Sticking with reading his own books is more than enough. I won't be keeping this book.
NYPD Blue: Blue Beginnings by Max Allan Collins. I used to be a huge NYPD Blue fan. This book was a long-sought artifact; I assume it came from ABE.com, although, unusually, I didn't write the date, price, and source inside the front cover like I usually do. Anyway, once I found out this book existed, I needed it. Apparently Collins also wrote a second one, Blue Blood, but Blue Beginnings includes the only "meeting" between John Kelly and Bobby Simone, which makes it essential reading for an NYPD Blue fan.
Or, in the real world, it makes it crossover fanfiction.
Anyway, I don't remember this being very good. Competent but not particularly impressive, par for the course for media tie-in books. I know enough about the publishing industry to know that little is expected from these sort of books on the quality axis; they're product, pure and simple. Competent but unspectacular writers churn them out quickly for a decent page rate, then move on to their next project. Good for them, and good for the fans who enjoy them until they reach the inevitable point of deciding that either (a) they don't care about the franchise anymore, or (b) they still care about the franchise, but not about the ancillary products - like tie-in novels - that they now see as diluting and devaluing what they enjoy about it.
Famous Crimes Revisited by Drs. Henry Lee and Jerry Labriola. I used to read a lot of these kind of books too. I don't care anymore.
Hell House by Richard Matheson. This is a very well-written, creepy book. I found it particularly disturbing because I read it late at night, when I was travelling for work and staying alone in a strange place.
Although I enjoyed the book, the ending shares a stupid aspect with the movie It, Part Two (which I hated): the formerly very powerful monster being defeated by.... hurting its feelings Insults and personal attacks save the day by damaging the villain's self-esteem. That wasn't enough to ruin Hell House, but It, Part Two had already been at least an hour too long, so the dumb ending drove the last nails into the coffin.
The 1973 movie adaptation (which was miles better than It, Part Two) not only needed to soften the title to The Legend of Hell House, but also had to tone down the sexual content, not least because there's some expression of lesbian attraction. How times have changed. Imagine a movie adaptation now "erasing" same-sex elements - the purple-haired basement dwellers would be gathering torches and pitchforks. Or, more realistically (because it requires much less effort), posting nasty tweets next to their blue checkmarks.
Stopping here for this one. Still lots and lots of books left in the stack.
Enough rambling. Here's a picture of my cassette copy of Paul Shaffer's Coast to Coast.
