GRAY MATTERS by William Hjortsberg

Finished Mo 12/5/22

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought at The Book House on Sa 3/24/01 and I finished it on Mo 3/26/01.

A note on the flyleaf says that the author of this novel also wrote the film 'ANGEL HEART' with Micky Rourke and Robert DeNiro. I wonder how I found this out since I don't even know if I had my first computer in 2001.

The novel takes place a few hundred years in the future and it had been decided that humans must pay more attention to their spiritual advancement and human bodies had become superfluous. Brains are kept alive without bodies. The 'brain/minds' were kept active with dreams and fantasy.

3 BODY TYPES:

1) Tropiques- People from the tropics? Black, Brown

2) Nords- Aryan people. Blue eyes, blonde hair

3) Amphibios- Humans evolved from dolphins

There is a rebellion in the brain storage units. The 'brains' against the robots that provide maintenance for the facility. 

3 CHARACTERS:

1) Skeets- he was only a 12 year old boy, but he is the oldest 'brain'.

2) Vera- An Hungarian film star

3) Obu Itubi- He's the rebel that broke free of the robots  

From the book's page at GoodReads:

WWIII has devastated most of the world, but life is still good for the lucky & rich few hundred who had their brains preserved in an automated conservatory. Altho they have no bodies to move around with, they're free to mentally visit any of the other residents, & engage in all the emotional, intellectual & pseudo-sexual congress that they desire.

This is the story of a projection of life in the 25th century. People have been reduced to Cerebromorphs--disembodied brains stored in tanks in huge Depositories & wired up to computers, memory files & mammoth study programmes. In the tanks they're supposed to pass thru various levels of understanding before they are liberated, implanted in hatchery-nurtured perfect bodies & sent back into a pastoral paradise flourishing outside. The novel follows a small group of these brains: that of a 12-year-old boy killed in an air crash; an ex-movie queen, fastidious, rich & lethal; a former Nigerian sculptor & the last of the great humanists."

MR. MURDER by Dean Koontz

 Finished Fr 12/2/22

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought at the library sidewalk sale on Sa 6/14/14 and I finished it Mo 6/30/14. That was the day that I bought a laptop from BLH.

MR. MURDER is typical Dean Koontz. It takes off like a rocket and never lets up. Not much character development, but the action never wanes. 

A writer is living in Mission Viejo, California with his wife and two daughters. Out of nowhere, he begins to notice a sense of dread and he doesn't know what's causing these feelings. 

At the same time, a hired killer has finished a job in Kansas City, Kansas and this man feels a strong pull that's pushes him toward the west coast.

The killer is convinced that the writer is really him. He must get back to California to 'save' his 'real' family. 

The killer is a 'killing machine' that has been genetically engineered to be the 'perfect' murderer. 

And the book leads to a showdown with the Martin Stillwater's family and 'the deluded' killer.

From a description of the novel at Goodreads:

"Martin Stillwater has a vivid imagination. It charms his loving wife, delights his two little daughters, and gives him all the inspiration he needs to write his highly successful mystery novels. But maybe Martin's imagination is a bit too vivid...

One rainy afternoon, a terrifying incident makes him question his grip on reality. A stranger breaks into his house, accusing Martin of stealing his wife, his children - and his life. Claiming to be the real Martin Stillwater, the intruder threatens to take what is rightfully his. The police think he's a figment of Martin's imagination. But Martin and his family have no choice but to believe the stranger's threat. And run for their lives.

But wherever they go - wherever they hide - he finds them..."

BREATHING THE SAME AIR- A Memoir of my Time with XTC during the making of The Big Express by Andrew M. Stafford

 Finished Mo 11/21/22

This is an eBook that I borrowed on Kindle. I've been enjoying all of the records by XTC. I used to like this band but now I love them. They should have been as big as THE SMITHS. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

" In the spring of 1984, I was nineteen and had just been diagnosed with a lifelong illness. I wasn’t in a good place. Then something came along, which temporarily kicked the disease into touch. XTC were recording their seventh studio album not far from me. I decided to be brave and drive to where they were recording what would be The Big Express to see if I could say hello to my musical heroes. At best, I expected to take up no more than ten minutes of XTC’s time and come away with their autographs. But what I ended up with was more than I could ever have hoped for. Breathing the Same Air is an account of the two months I spent with Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory at Crescent Studios in Bath."

It was a short book and it's really just a recreation of a fan's chance to have complete access to the band of his dreams. 

The making of the record 'THE BIG EXPRESS' 

He meets Bob Dylan in a joke shop

On one release of the song 'Respectable Street' the band is singing 'abortion' and not 'absorption'.

The accent of people from 'West Country' is different from the rest of the country. This is where the hayseeds live.

WASHINGTON DC by Gore Vidal

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I first read and finished on Mo 4/24/95 and I skimmed to the end of the novel. 

This time I finished the book on We 11/9/2

The book covered some of the more turbulent eras in American history- 'The New Deal' & 'McCarthyism'. The reason that I didn't really love the book was the historical aspects were downplayed and the characters in the novel were given center stage. I would have liked to have more of the real history more prominently blended into the story.

Fun Fact: The Republicans tried to impeach FDR because they blamed him for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I don't know if this is true. 

And very little of the actual events of  McCarthy's reign in congress is in the novel. 

I would read more books by Gore Vidal but I would vote for more history and less soap opera. 

 From the book's page at Amazon:

"Washington, D.C., is the final installment in Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire,his acclaimed six-volume series of historical novels about the American past. It offers an illuminating portrait of our republic from the time of the New Deal to the McCar-thy era.

Widely regarded as Vidal's ultimate comment on how the American political system degrades those who participate in it, Washington, D.C. is a stunning tale of corruption and diseased ambitions. It traces the fortunes of James Burden Day, a powerful conservative senator who is eyeing the presidency; Clay Overbury, a pragmatic young congressional aide with political aspirations of his own; and Blaise Sanford, a ruthless newspaper tycoon who understands the importance of money and image in modern politics. With characteristic wit and insight, Vidal chronicles life in the nation's capital at a time when these men and others transformed America into "possibly the last empire on earth."

"Washington, D.C. may well be the finest of contemporary novels about the capital," said The New Yorker, and the Times Literary Supplement deemed it "a prodigiously skilled and clever performance."

A link to an excellent overview of the book at the New York Times archives:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/vidal-washington.html

THE TESTAMENTS by Margaret Atwood

 Finished Th 11/3/22- 'THE TESTAMENTS'

I got this as an eBook from the library because I loved 'THE HANDMAID'S TALE' (the book and the series). 

A link to the book's review at The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/10/the-testaments-by-margaret-atwood-review

The book won The GoodRead's Choice for 2019

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"The novel alternates among the perspectives of three women, presented as portions of a manuscript written by one (the Ardua Hall Holograph) and testimonies by the other two.

Lydia, a divorced judge, is imprisoned with other women in a stadium during the establishment of Gilead. After enduring weeks of squalid conditions and solitary confinement, she and a small group of other women are handpicked by Commander Judd and Vidala, a pre-existing supporter of Gilead, to become Aunts—an elite group of women tasked with creating and overseeing the laws and uniforms governing Gilead's women. The Aunts use Ardua Hall as their headquarters and enjoy certain privileges that include reading "forbidden" texts, such as Cardinal John Henry Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua. In secret, Aunt Lydia despises Gilead and becomes a mole supplying critical information to the Mayday resistance organization.

Fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, a girl named Agnes Jemima is growing up in Boston as the adopted daughter of Commander Kyle and his wife Tabitha. Agnes has a loving relationship with Tabitha, who later dies of ill health. Agnes and her classmates Becka and Shunammite attend an elite preparatory school for the daughters of Commanders, where they are taught to run a household, but not to become literate. Once widowed, Commander Kyle marries Paula, the widow of a deceased Commander, who despises Agnes. Desiring a child for herself, she acquires a Handmaid, who successfully conceives but later dies giving birth to a son. Agnes is arranged to be married to Commander Judd, now a high-ranking official in charge of the Eyes and surveilling the population of Gilead.

Learning that she is the daughter of a Handmaid, Agnes manages to escape her arranged marriage by becoming a Supplicant, a prospective Aunt. In that pursuit she joins Becka, whose father—Doctor Grove, a prominent dentist—has been sexually abusing her and his other underage female patients for years. Later, Agnes is anonymously provided with files highlighting the corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of Gilead, specifically evidence of adultery between Commander Kyle and Paula and their plots to murder their respective spouses since divorce is prohibited. She also learns that she is the half-sister of "Baby Nicole", a girl who was smuggled out of Gilead to Canada by her Handmaid mother when she was young (and whose return the government of Gilead has been demanding).

Meanwhile, a girl named Daisy—several years younger than Agnes—grows up in Toronto's Queen Street West with her adoptive parents, Neil and Melanie. The couple owns a second-hand clothes shop serving as a front for Mayday to smuggle women out of Gilead. On her 16th birthday, Daisy's adoptive parents are murdered by undercover Gilead operatives. Daisy is spirited into hiding by several Mayday operatives, who reveal that Daisy is actually Nicole. The Mayday operatives enlist her in a mission to infiltrate Gilead to obtain valuable intelligence from their mysterious mole. Nicole poses as a street urchin named Jade to be recruited by the Pearl Girls (Gilead missionaries who lure foreign women to Gilead with the promise of a better life), who take her up and bring her into Gilead.

The disguised Nicole is placed under the care of Agnes and Becka, who are now respectively named Aunts Victoria and Immortelle. Aunt Lydia confirms that "Jade" is Nicole through a tattoo and discloses her true identity and parentage to Agnes and Becka. Revealing herself as Mayday's mole, Aunt Lydia enlists the three young women to smuggle incriminating information about Gilead's elite into Canada. Nicole is tasked with carrying the files inside a microdot on her cruciform tattoo. Agnes and Nicole are to enter Canada disguised as Pearl Girls, with Nicole impersonating Becka. The real Becka, disguised as Jade, is to remain at the Hall and provide a diversion once Nicole is found missing. Forced to hasten their plans when Commander Judd learns about Nicole's presence and intends to marry her, Agnes and Nicole set out early, where they hospitalise Aunt Vidala in the process. They travel by bus and on foot, then by boat along the Penobscot River. This boat takes them to a larger vessel which brings them into Canadian waters. Agnes and Nicole manage to reach Campobello Island by an inflatable and are picked up by a Mayday team. Meanwhile, Aunt Lydia, to buy Agnes and Nicole some more time and to secure her own position at Ardua Hall, tells Aunt Elizabeth that Aunt Vidala accused her of attacking her, expecting Elizabeth to kill Vidala.

Using the information inside Nicole's microdot, the Canadian media leaks scandalous information about Gilead's elite, which leads to a purge that in turn causes a military coup, bringing about the collapse of Gilead and the subsequent restoration of the United States. Agnes and Nicole are reunited with their mother. Becka dies while hiding in a cistern to perpetuate the ruse that "Jade" had run off with a plumber. Lydia, the author of the Ardua Hall Holograph, closes her story by describing her plan to commit suicide with a morphine overdose before she can be questioned and executed.

The novel concludes with a metafictional epilogue, described as a partial transcript at the Thirteenth Symposium on Gileadean Studies in 2197, presented by Professor James Darcy Pieixoto. He talks about the challenges in verifying the authenticity of the Ardua Hall Holograph and the two witness transcripts by Agnes and Nicole. He also speculates that Agnes and Nicole's Handmaid mother could be Offred of the previous book, though he himself admits to not being sure. He concludes by mentioning the statue that was made commemorating Becka for her actions, its dedication having been attended by Agnes and Nicole, their husbands and children, their mother and their respective fathers."

10,000 SAINTS by Eleanor Henderson

 Finished We 10/27/22

I bought this book from Amazon because I saw the movie that was released in 2015 with Ethan Hawke, Emily Mortimer, and Emile Hirsch.  

An excellent coverage of the 'Straight Edge' movement of the late 80's. 

This was taken from the film's page at Wikipedia:

"Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini became interested in adapting the novel after Berman read it. She remarked, "I read the book and I loved how human the characters were and how flawed, yet well-meaning, they were, which I think is a very truthful thing about most people. I loved that era in New York. I thought it was such an exciting time for me, so there was a personal connection. It was this time when New York was really scruffy and dangerous, and there was crime, violence, crack, and AIDS – a lot of very horrible things, but also excitement and creative opportunity. You could be an artist and live in Manhattan in a squat and pay no rent. It seems inconceivable right now."[9] In addition, Berman also was interested in the parenting aspect of the story, adding, "One of the things in the book that’s so interesting – and I had friends like this – are people who were raised by parents who were hippies and didn’t give them a lot of rules and boundaries. The question is, how do you rebel against the people who invented rebellion? Because youth is about rebelling. I think there’s an element of that in straight edge, which became very popular around that time with young people who were rebelling against what they thought was screwing up their parents. There was something seductive and rebellious about being sober and not being promiscuous ."

Hailee Steinfeld was announced to be in talks for the role of Eliza in October 2013, and was cast in December of that year. Asa Butterfield and Ethan Hawke were cast earlier before Steinfeld. Emile Hirsch, Julianne Nicholson, Emily Mortimer and Nadia Alexander were cast in early 2014. Avan Jogia was cast as Teddy in early February 2014. Filming started in New York City on January 27, 2014 and ended on March 3, 2014."

Link to the review in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/25/ten-thousand-saints-henderson-review

I loved the book and would most definitely read more by Eleanor Henderson.

JULIAN by Gore Vidal

 Finished Mo 10/17/22

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. It was really a treat to 'discover' this lovely novel.  A light approach and an interesting format.

Julian is the Roman emperor who tried to restore Hellenism to the empire. The emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion. 

Julian does not refer to the followers of Jesus as 'Christians'. He calls them 'Galileans' because Jesus was from Galilee. 

The Council of Nicea was in 325 and this meeting established the overall thrust of Christianity. What books would be included in the bible and they tried to settle the controversy of 'the three headed god'. If god was 'the one and only god', where does Jesus fit the equation? 

Most of the historical novel is 'first person' in Julian's voice. Frequently, the narration is broken up by two commentators, Libanius & Priscus, two friends of Julian's. 

All of Gore Vidal's historical novels are chock full of interesting details; Julian declared a tax exemption for families with more than thirteen children. He did this because some Romans believed that the Gauls would 'replace' the indigenous population.   

Here's the book's page at Wikipedia: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(novel)