The Center Square

I've been watching a lot of older films on TV lately, and I happened to see "Bye Bye Birdie" for the first time a few weeks ago. In my (not so very humble) opinion, Paul Lynde was the star of that film, and I wondered why I hadn't seen more of him. A quick Google search (God bless the internet) told me he was the voice of Templeton in "Charlotte's Web", which I remembered watching as a child, and he was on "Bewitched", which I saw a few episodes of in reruns. But what he was really known for was being the center square on the popular game show "Hollywood Squares". It was before my time (fewer and fewer things I can say that about these days, so I relish the chance) but I found some funny clips on YouTube (God bless the internet). It was disappointing to learn that his seemingly ad-libbed quips were actually scripted, but he delivered them so beautifully. Paul died in 1982 at the age of 55 from a heart attack. It's a shame he isn't more well known, he was truly very funny.

Voyage for Madmen

One of my sailing instructors recommended this title to me (it's so funny when you tell people outside of the library that you're a librarian, most of the time they say "Oh! Have you read this book?". I get a lot of fun recommendations that way). It was really good. Back in 1968, the London Sunday Times published a reward for the first solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. Nine men jumped in to compete. A few dropped out right away, discouraged by the rough weather in the Southern Hemisphere. Others toughed it out for as long as they could. To spoil it, one sailor so enjoyed being on the ocean he declined to "return" and win the race, instead choosing to keep sailing. Another had such trouble with his boat he ended up faking his logistical reports back to land and stayed in the Atlantic Ocean the whole time. Daunted by the prospect of returning and having his logbooks scrutinized, he ended up jumping overboard and drowning. Another sailor was almost home when his boat was damaged beyond repair and he had to be rescued, which had to be heartbreaking. It was amazing to contemplate the idea of spending months at sea, without seeing land, never being completely warm or dry...surely not for everyone.

King Edward VIII

Powell makes the case that Edward's love affair with America began long before he met Wallis Simpson. He visited the North America as a young man, and was so enchanted by the wilderness in Canada that he bought a ranch. Even though his visits were few and far between, he enjoyed both Canada and the U.S. He was treated differently in America, where he was a celebrity. People were excited to meet him, but they weren't deferential like they were in the UK. He was able to be himself at little bit more without being chastised. It was well written, I enjoyed it.

Wild Bill; French Exit

I really liked "Dodge City" by Tom Clavin, so I was excited for his biography about Wild Bill Hickok. It was a little disappointing, actually. I can't exactly pinpoint why. There were moments I really enjoyed, Clavin's writing style is fun, and even though it was a subject I was interested in, it just didn't hold my attention. James Hickok (who knows where "Bill" came from, nicknames in the Old West often didn't make sense) fought in the Civil War, fought Indians, was a peace officer, and when it became clear the Old West was disappearing he joined up with his friend Buffalo Bill Cody and joined his wild west show. He hated it and quit, moving to Deadwood, where he spent his final days gambling. He was killed by a coward who approached him from behind and fired a shot, not giving Wild Bill a chance. It was a sad way for him to go out.

I really loved "Undermajordojo Minor" and "The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick DeWitt, so I was looking forward to this one, too, and again, really disappointed. I know why with this one: it was just thin. The characters weren't very well fleshed out, the story wasn't executed very well. It was a great premise: Frances has lost her fortune through willful neglect. Her friend Joan offers her use of her Paris apartment, since Frances and her son Malcolm are being kicked out of their Manhattan penthouse. They take her up on it, sell everything that isn't nailed down, and sail for France. In France they meet several curious characters and have some strange things happen to them and then it ends (I don't want to spoil it, but the ending was predictable). At least it was a quick read, so I didn't feel like I wasted too much time.

Bibliophile; Cabin at the End of the World

"Bibliophile" by Jane Mount was a fun little illustrated collection of miscellaneous things book related. There were sections on cool bookstores and libraries from around the world, book recommendations from librarians and bookstore owners, even a section on authors' pets. I was glad that I've already read most of the books she talked about, otherwise my "to read" list would have grown exponentially.  It was a nice celebration of all things books.

I was disappointed by the ending of "The Cabin at the End of the World" by Paul Tremblay. It started out quite good: Eric and Andrew are vacationing in a little cabin in Maine with their daughter, Wen. Four strangers show up and break into the cabin, demanding that they choose one of their family to sacrifice in order to stave off the apocalypse. Of course they are horrified and appalled and refuse to kill one of their own. I don't want to spoil it, but it was one of those books where you're never *quite* sure what's going on, which, when it's done correctly, is great ("Gone Girl" comes to mind as a good example of this). This book had me hooked until the end, when it just sort of fizzled out. It felt like he wrote himself into a corner and didn't really know how to get out of it. It was too bad, it was a good premise.

Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood

I went through a Howard Hughes phase about 15 years ago, where I read everything I could get my hands on about the eccentric billionaire. Some were pretty good, some were awful, like Terry Moore's book that Longworth hilariously lambastes towards the end. I really enjoyed her writing style, she had a bit of snarky sarcasm that, when done correctly, is delightful. What caused Howard to go off the rails and become a recluse? Was it having to sell RKO? Was it all the car and airplane crashes? I mean, he was weird in the beginning, super possessive, spying on his girlfriends and whatnot. At any rate, he certainly led an interesting life and his death is still mysterious and sad.