For readers who thought Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were too long, here’s a new short story collection that captures Mantel’s wit and writing style. Much of Hilary Mantel’s fiction have historical aspects to them, but these short stories are more contemporary. Mantel has fun in these stories, too. There’s a ghost story, stories about marriage, gender, sex, and culture. My favorite stories are “The Long QT” where a husband who is found groping a neighbor at a party has to deal with the unexpected consequences and “Offenses Against the Person” where a daughter discovers her father is having an affair with a secretary. If you’re a Hilary Mantel fan, you’ll be reading this book soon. If you’ve been wondering if you’d like Hilary Mantel’s work, here’s the perfect place to try a sample. GRADE: B
Table of Contents:
•Sorry to Disturb

•Comma

•The Long QT

•Winter Break

•Harley Street

•Offenses Against the Person

•How Shall I Know You?

•The Heart Fails Without Warning

•Terminus

•The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

After the debacle in Houston last week, the Bills benched rookie QB E.J. Manuel and installed ancient backup Kyle Orton as their “new” quarterback. Disaster awaits the Bills in Detroit. The Lions are a much better team. The Lions lead the NFL in defense. Kyle Orton hasn’t played a down in over a year. And, most disturbing, Orton lost his job in Denver to Tim Tebow. It feels like the wheels are coming off of the Bills’ season. I’m sure the new owner of the Bills can’t be happy with this situation. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Think what you like about Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl novel, but David Fincher’s movie version successfully distills the essence of Flynn’s convoluted story. I’m willing to give Rosamund Pike a Best Actress nomination for her role as Amy Dunne. Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, the Gone Girl’s clueless husband, with a convincing mix of doofusness and cunning. I also liked Kim Dicken’s as Detective Rhonda Boney who investigates the disappearance and Carrie Coon as Margot Dunne (Nick’s twin sister). I liked David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and his sensibility elevates his Gone Girl. This is a movie that will stay with you after you leave it. GRADE: B+

The Millennium Express is Volume Nine of Subterranean Press’s series of Robert Silverberg’s complete short stories. I’ve been reading these volumes and I’ve come away with growing respect for Silverberg’s talent and longevity. I was reading Silverberg’s work as a kid back in the 1950s. Silverberg’s work evolved over time. My favorite Silverberg stories are from the 1970s. But looking at Silverberg’s output for over 50 years, I’m impressed by his quality control and versatility. If you’re a fan of Science Fiction, the Subterranean Press Silverberg series contains several must-read volumes.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Diana of the Hundred Breasts
Beauty in the Night
Call Me Titan
The Tree That Grew From the Sky
The Church at Monte Saturno
Hanosz Prime Goes to Old Earth
The Millennium Express
Travelers
The Colonel Returns to the Stars
The Eater of Dreams
A Piece of the Great World
Against the Current
The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale
Defenders of the Frontier
The Prisoner
Smithers and the Ghost of the Thar

David Tennant plays a Big City police detective who investigates a murder in a small town. Nothing new here, you think. Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series followed the same template. But, no, Gracepoint is an American adaption of a British series called Broadchurch. David Tennant reprises his role from Broadchurch in Gracepoint. And, the producers say the American version will have a “different ending.” I’ve liked David Tennant since his stint as the 10th Doctor Who. I’ll be watching Gracepoint tonight.

The second season of The Bridge was less compelling than the first season. The Big Difference is that the second season had many more subplots than the first season. And that slowed the action down and focused attention on other actors. Diane Kruger, the German actress who plays Detective Sonya Cross of the El Paso Police Department, is brilliant. She plays a detective who’s autistic. Sonya Cross was partnered with another brilliant actor, Demian Bichir, as Juarez police detective Marco Ruiz. The rest of the cast is talented as well especially the druggie reporter, Daniel Frye, played convincingly by Matthew Lillard. This season’s focus has been on Mexican drug lord, Fausto Galvan (played menacingly well by Ramón Franco). If The Bridge is renewed for a third season, I hope the scripts become tighter and more focused.

Trishankupune recommended The Far Pavilions to me. I enjoy historical fiction and I haven’t read many books about India so The Far Pavilions sounded intriguing. Plus, I had a paperback copy of The Far Pavilions on my shelf for years. M. M. Kaye sets her novel in British Raj in India. She shows the sweep of cultures, religions, beliefs–and the conflicts that result. Kaye lived in India and knows what she’s writing about.

The British military is under stress. Change is in the air. Kaye also presents situations where chaste and religious beliefs separate people who the reader will want to get together. She tells her story through a character who was raised in the Indian culture for his first 11 years. Then, he’s sent back to England for schooling, and returns to serve on the frontier. When he accompanies a wedding party, he discovers his first love. Then things really get complicated!

After I read the novel, I watched The Far Pavilions DVD series (also on my shelf for years). The five-hour series was first broadcast in the States on HBO with Ben Cross, Amy Irving, Christopher Lee, Omar Sharif, and John Gielgud. The mini-series tries to capture the scope of the massive novel, but many of the novel’s subplots never make it on film. The film is a blend adventure, action, and romance. As it tells its story, the film offers a window into aspects of colonial India that I knew nothing about. If you’re a history buff, or want to learn more about India, I highly recommend The Far Pavilions, both the novel and the mini-series. Thanks for the recommendation, Trishankupune! GRADE: A

I’ve been an admirer of Joseph Epstein’s essays for decades. I first encountered Epstein’s work in the pages of The American Scholar. Epstein was the editor and wrote an essay for each issue. Many times, Epstein’s essay was the best piece in that issue of The American Scholar. What I like most about Epstein’s essays is that they are clearly written. No murky prose, no convoluted sentences, no head-scratching vocabulary. I always came away from reading an Epstein essay knowing more than I did before I started reading it. Epstein writes about literature, politics, history, and culture. Take a look at the range of his interests in the listing of essays below. If you’re in the mood for some sparkling essays, you’ll find them here. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Americans
George Washington
Henry Adams and Henry James
George Santayana
Adlai Stevenson
Henry Luce
Ralph Ellison
Isaac Rosenfeld
Saul Bellow
Bernard Malamud
Dwight Macdonald
Gore Vidal
Irving Howe
Alfred Kazin
Irving Kristol
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
A. J. Liebling
John Frederick Nims
Susan Sontag

Englishmen
Max Beerbohm
George Eliot
Maurice Bowra.
T. S. Eliot
Cyril Connolly
Isaah Berlin
Hugh Trevor-Roper
John Gross

Popular Culture
Alfred Kinsey
Charles Van Doren
W. C. Fields
Irving Thalberg
George Gershwin
Joe DiMaggio
Michael Jordan
James Wolcott
Malcolm Gladwell

And Others
Erich Heller
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
V. S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux
Xenophon
Matthew Shanahan
Index

After last week’s 22-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers, the Buffalo Bills need a win badly. It’s hard to win on the road in the NFL, but the Bills won their first game of the season on the road in Chicago. The Bills’ former quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, is now the starting QB for the Houston Texans. There will be riots in the streets of Buffalo if our old QB beats us today. How do you think your favorite NFL team will do today?

I read Lawrence Block’s A Walk Among the Tombstones when it was published back in the early Nineties. It’s the 10th book in the Matthew Scudder series. Scudder is a former cop who is a recovering alcoholic. He’s a private investigator who does “favors” for people who reward him with “gifts.” Scudder is asked to investigate the murder of a woman and discovers a series of similar murders. Liam Neeson plays an effective Scudder. A Walk Among the Tombstones is one of the creepiest books Lawrence Block ever wrote and the movie captures that creepiness very effectively. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Liam Neeson in another Matthew Scudder movie. GRADE: B