I’ve had some of Barbara Pym’s novels on my shelves for decades. My resolution to deal with books that have been patiently waiting for years for me to read them finally brought me to Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women (1952).

One of my favorite poets, Philip Larkin, was a huge fan of Barbara Pym and her novels which caused me to buy Pym’s books…and then not read them until now.

The New Yorker published an article on Barbara Pym that provided some context: “Pym published six novels between 1950 and 1961, before her work fell out of favor. Through the nineteen-sixties and most of the nineteen-seventies, she continued to write but was unanimously rejected by publishers; these were not years receptive to comedies of manners set around a parish or an anthropological society. ‘It seems as if nobody could ever like my kind of writing again,’ she wrote in a letter in 1970.”

“She was wrong. In 1977, the Times Literary Supplement asked a number of figures in the field to name the most underrated writers of the previous seventy-five years. Pym was the only living writer to appear on the list twice, chosen by the biographer Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, the latter praising her ‘unique eye and ear for the small poignancies and comedies of everyday life.’ Almost immediately, Macmillan agreed to publish her next book, Quartet in Autumn. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Sweet Dove Died followed, in 1978; Macmillan reissued all her previous novels. That same year, Dutton began bringing out her books in the United States. Pym died in 1980.”

Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women reminded me of the novels of Anthony Trollope who also could capture the life of characters involved in community and church activities like Pym’s lead character, Mildred Lathbury, a clergyman’s daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. Mildred is one of those “excellent women,” the smart, supportive, repressed women who men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors—anthropologist Helena Napier and her handsome, dashing husband, Rocky, there’s the complication of Julian Malory, the vicar next door, who Mildred is ambivalent about.

Pym captures the arid life for women in Oxford in the 1950s. Mildred lives her quiet life…but is it much of a life? The reader will have to judge. GRADE: B+

I’ve been a Lionel White fan since I first read his work in Gold Medal paperbacks in the 1960s. Stark House has reprinted much of White’s work and I’ve reviewed them on this blog (check the links below).

Stark House’s latest Lionel White omnibus is Invitation to Violence (1958) and A Party to Murder (1966) collects two of Lionel White’s most innovative crime novels. Invitation to Violence puts an insurance adjuster, Gerald Hanna, in a unique situation. An armed man jumps in Hanna’s car and orders him to drive. The man dies from a gunshot wound and Hanna finds a case filled with jewels from a robbery. Does he turn the jewels in…or does he keep it and change his life forever? GRADE: B+

A Party to Murder involves a Christmas Party where one of the attendees is found dead from a gunshot wound after midnight. Who murdered her? Why? All the participants at the party have secrets that they narrate chapter by chapter, taking turns telling their stories. Detective Goodwin knows that everyone attending the party is hiding something and lying to him. But, little by little, the investigation reveals what really happens. GRADE: A-

If you haven’t read Lionel White’s cunning storytelling, Invitation to Violence/A Party to Murder is the perfect place to start.

STARK HOUSE OMNIBUS VOLUMES OF LIONEL WHITE:

To finish off my binge of listening to live concerts, this Blu-ray from 2010, Pretenders: Live in London, seems a good way to wrap things up. I’ve been a fan of the Pretenders since I heard “Brass in Pocket” back in 1979. Over the years, I bought Pretenders CDs and enjoyed them. This concert in 2010 captures the energy of the band and the vocal artistry of Chrissie Hynde.

The sell-out London audience reveled in the Pretender’s concert. The group performed many of their hits (and my favorite songs) like “Talk of the Town” (1980), “Back on the Chain Gang” (1982), “I’ll Stand By You” (1994), and “Love’s a Mystery” (2008).

Things got pretty heated–literally–during this concert because Chrissie Hynde’s eye shadow started running down her face a la Rudy Giuliani. Are you a Pretenders fan? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

I’m usually on top of Stephen King’s output but somehow this story from 2018 slipped past my radar. Elevation looks like a chapbook with B&W drawings by Mark Edward Geyer, who previously illustrated King’s first editions of Rose Madder and The Green Mile. There’s plenty of white space.

This novella concerns an incredible situation. In Castle Rock, Maine, Scott Carey faces a mysterious illness which causes bizarre effects on his body and makes him rapidly lose weight, even if he appears healthy on the outside. Carey goes from about 250 pounds to under 200 in a short time with no clue why this is happening to him.

While Carey battles this strange disease with his trusted doctor, he also tries fixing a dire situation involving a lesbian couple trying to open a restaurant surrounded by a disapproving, conservative public.

I’ve read several of Stephen King’s mammoth novels, but I prefer his shorter work like Elevation. Are you a Stephen King fan? GRADE: B

A Strange Loop is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. It won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony for Best Musical.

A Strange Loop follows Usher (Jaquel Spivey) a black, queer writer writing a musical about a black, queer writer writing a musical about a black, queer writer. The title refers to a cognitive science term coined by Douglas Hofstadter, as well as the song by Liz Phair.

Remember the Pixar movie Inside Out where within the mind of a young girl named Riley are the basic emotions (aka, Thoughts) that control her actions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. 

A Strange Loop adds a couple more Thoughts like Self-Contempt and Denial to the mix to show how a young man struggles to establish his identity in a hostile world. I thought Jaquel Spivey was incredible in the role of Usher–who is on-stage 95% of the time. The depiction of making choices (some bad) after debating the Thoughts in his mind makes A Strange Loop a provocative, memorable musical. GRADE: A

Musical numbers:

• “Intermission Song” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Today” – Usher, Thoughts
• “We Wanna Know” – Thoughts
• “Inner White Girl” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Didn’t Want Nothin'” – Thought 5, Thoughts
• “Exile in Gayville” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Second Wave” – Usher
• “Tyler Perry Writes Real Life” – Usher, Thought 3, Thoughts
• “Writing a Gospel Play” – Usher, Thoughts
• “A Sympathetic Ear” – Thought 1
• “Inwood Daddy” – Usher, Thought 6, Thoughts
• “Boundaries” – Usher
• “Periodically” – Thought 4, Usher
• “Didn’t Want Nothin’ Reprise” – Thought 5
• “Precious Little Dream / AIDS Is God’s Punishment” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Memory Song” – Usher, Thoughts 2-6
• “A Strange Loop” – Usher, Thoughts

It takes a certain sort of person to write a history of the Index and Dennis Duncan is the right kind of guy to write it: he’s smart and snarky! The subtitle to Index, A History of is A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age. Duncan takes the reader on a chronological adventure from the early times of scrolls to today’s ebooks.

Along the way Duncan shares plenty of juicy facts. Did you know the first English work printed on a printing press was William Caxton’s Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye in 1473. Did you know that William F. Buckley sent Norman Mailer a complimentary copy of his The Unmaking of a Mayor and in the Index next to Mailer’s name, Buckley wrote “Hi!” knowing Mailer would check his name first. Snarky, indeed!

Along with the history of the development of the Index, Duncan spices things up with references to how authors used the Index in various works. Vladimir Nabokov played plenty of Index games in his Pale Fire. Duncan shows where the Index is a key factor in “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Irene Adler outwits Sherlock Holmes.

Duncan deals with contemporary indexing by quoting Google engineer Matt Cutts who explains that “The first thing to understand is that when you do a Google search, you aren’t actually searching the web. You’re searching Google’s index of the web” (p. 1-2).

There was an old saying in Graduate School that if you could master the use of the Index, you would have access to all knowledge. That not far from true. Index, The History of is a great book filled with knowledge and fun! GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Introduction 1

1 Point of Order On Alphabetical Arrangement 19

2 The Births of the Index Preaching and Teaching 49

3 Where Would We Be Without It? The Miracle of the Page Number 85

4 The Map or the Territory The Index on Trial 113

5 ‘Let No Damned Tory Index My History!’ Sparring in the Back Pages 136

6 Indexing Fictions Naming was Always a Difficult Art 171

7 ‘A Key to All Knowledge’ The Universal Index 203

8 Ludmilla and Lotaria The Book Index in the Age of Search 230

Coda: Archives of Reading 261

Notes 273

List of Figures 299

Acknowledgements 303

Appendix: A Computer-generated Index 307

Index 313

Diane decided that her deck needed an awning to protect her from the sun. She chose a local awning company and a crew arrived to install the piping that would support the awning. Now that the piping has been installed, the material Diane chose for the actual awning is being sewed and fitted. Another crew will show up in a couple of weeks and install the finished awning. What do you think?

Just when you think things couldn’t get worse…the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Sure, we all knew this was coming since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion a month ago. But, now it’s Real.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggests this opens the door to overturning gay marriage, contraception, and transgender rights. With their super majority, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett can do whatever they want.

There are Dark Days ahead, my friends. Real Dark!

John M. Ford died in 2006 of a heart attack. He was 49 years old. Aspects, with a brilliant Introduction by Ford’s friend Neil Gaiman, consists of a 480 page novel that Ford’s death left unfinished.

John M. Ford won the 1983 World Fantasy Award for his novel The Dragon Waiting. Ford also won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1993 for Growing Up Weightless.

Aspects is being marketed as a fantasy novel, but it is much more than that. The main character, Varic, Coron of the Corvaric Coast, opens the novel with a duel. The politics of this world Ford invents is complicated with many factions including sorcerers.

As you might expect, there’s plenty of action, conspiracies, and skullduggery. I have other John M. Ford books and now I’d like to drop everything and read them. Have you read unfinished books? GRADE: B+

I’m still in the mood to listen to live performances on CD that I’ve had on my shelves for decades. VH-1 Presents Donna Summer Live & More Encore! came out in 1999. I bought it and never listened to it until last week. This live CD presents most of the Donna Summer hits like “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Bad Girls.” Some people hate her rendition of “MacArthur Park” but I think it’s okay. The final song, “I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)” sounds a lot like “Time To Say Good-bye” to me. If you’re a Donna Summer fan, you’ll enjoy this concert version of her hits. GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

Diane loves Carole King and James Taylor which explains why I bought Carole King & James Taylor at the Troubadour. But, for some unknown reason, the CD/DVD set from 2010 remained unopened until last week. There’s some overlap with songs on both the CD and DVD. I tend to like Carole King’s songs better than James Taylor’s songs, but the two artists seem to be having a good time singing together. GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

I’m sad to admit I’ve had Neil Young Unplugged since 1993. I have no credible reason for not listening to this CD (or the other dozen Neil Young CDs on my shelf) before now. Unlike the two other CDs in this blog post, this Neil Young CD is NOT a greatest hits compilation. Neil Young includes “Harvest Moon” and “Helpless” but many of his other song choices must be personal favorites. In this MTV concert, the vocals, the acoustic guitar, Young’s harmonica have never sounded better. GRADE: A

TRACK LIST: