THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE -- Philip Pullman

The Sally Lockheart Trilogy -- Book One
Alfred A. Knopf -- pb
New York -- ©1985 -- 230pp
ISBN: 0-394-89589-4

A young girl, in Victorian England, learns of her father's death and a rare, cursed ruby that seems to be a the center of a murderous mystery.

I like the way Pullman weaves his tale, and I often enjoyed reading this book, though it's certainly not one of his better books. There were plot points and character movements which seemed to have no purpose.

While I feel that a weak Philip Pullman book is probably better than many others' best, this is not one I'd recommend, and I'm while I'll likely read the other books in the trilogy at some time, I'm not eactly eager to get in to the next book.

CHILDREN PLAYING BEFORE A STATUE OF HERCULES -- David Sedaris, editor

Simon and Schuster paperbacks -- tpb
New York -- ©2005 -- 344pp
ISBN: 0-7432-7394-X

A collection of short stories. Sales of the book support 826NYC, a non-profit tutoring center in Brooklyn, NY. Contents of the book are:

"Introduction" -- David Sedaris
"Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired" -- Richard Yates
"Gryphon" -- Charles Baxter
"Interpreter of Maladies" -- Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Garden Party" -- Katherine Mansfield
"Half a Grapefruit" -- Alice Munro
"Applause, Applause" -- Jean Thompson
"I Know What I'm Doing About All the Attention I've Been Getting" -- Frank Gannon
"Where the Door Is Always Open and the Welcome Mat Is Out" -- Patricia Highsmith
"The Best of Betty" -- Jincy Willett
"Song of the Shirt, 1941" -- Dorothy Parker
"The Girl With the Blackened Eye" -- Joyce Carol Oates
"People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk" -- Lorrie Moore
"Revelation" -- Flannery O'Connor
"In the Cemetery Where Al Jolsen Is Buried" -- Amy Hempel
"Cosmopolitan" -- Akhil Sharma
"Irish Girl" -- Tim Johnston
"Bullet in the Brain" -- Tobias Wolff
"Epilogue: About 826NYC" -- Sarah Vowell

I like reading short stories, and I like collections such as this to expose me to the works of other authors I might not normally look for. Unforunately, while most (if not all) these stories are well told and interesting in some way, none of them has made a lasting impression with me. Never did I go back to double check an author's name because I wanted more by that person. And some of these authors are "big name" writers!

A worthy cause and a decent collection make this a worthwhile purchase, but the forgettable nature of the works suggest that I don't recommend it.

A NEW THEATRE -- Tyrone Guthrie

McGraw-Hill Book Company -- hc
New York -- ©1964 -- 188pp
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-22458

An exploration of the reasons behind Guthrie's building of a new theatre in Minneapolis, MN, and his reflections of the first season.

I am very impressed with Guthrie's thoughts and reflections on theatre in general.

"Great drama," he writes, "always adds... some philosophical comment or allegorical overtone, not necessarily -- or even frequently -- with a conscious didactic purpose, but always with didactic possibilities."

Twice he defines "drama," both accurate and succinct. "Drama is...the re-creation by actors of a group of persons and a series of events." And, "Drama is the telling of a story in the most vivid possible manner."

And here he seems to put his finger on what is precisely right...and wrong...with theatre today (the today of forty years ago and still the today of now):"The theatre exists to entertain. Entertainment can be educative; but it is a regrettable fallacy that a serious theatre must be consciously instructive. The fallacy has been fostered by theatre people, because we have learnt, by bitter experience, that public bodies will give you funds if they can be persuaded that you aim to Educate. But if, more truthfully, you admit that your first aim is to Entertain then you won't get a cent."

This certainly hasn't changed one iota. In fact, as the arts continue to struggle to survive, the "education factor" for each project seems more and more vital. When do we get to play?

Guthrie wraps up his book with this thought:"The three greatest periods in the history of the theatre -- the Athenian stage of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; the Elizabethan stage in England which produced Marlowe, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and half a dozen lesser but significant poets; the French stage of Racine, Corneille and Moliere -- all these could not have happened if the writers, actors and craftsmen had not been fortunate enough to live in an age and place where a highly intelligent, lively and demanding audience had helped to create a theatre which was far more than a commercial business and far more than a frivolous pastime. Neither the artists and craftsmen nor the audience can do this alone. It is a shared process of creation, a fruitful union."

I'm not sure that this has been recognized or acknowledged any better than the way Guthrie puts it in this book. It is certainly food for thought for those of us who look to produce Art. We can only do so much without a cooperative audience.

THE BARNUM MUSEUM -- Steven Millhauser

Phoenix - The Guernsey Press Co., Ltd -- tpb
Great Britain -- ©1990 -- 237pp
ISBN: 0-75380-466-2

A collection of short stories by a Pulitzer Prize winning author.

"A Game of Clue"
"Behind the Blue Curtain"
"The Barnum Museum"
"The Sepia Postcard"
"The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad"
"Klassic Komix #1"
"Rain"
"Alice, Falling"
"The Invention of Robert Herendeen"
"Eisenheim the Illusionist"

Mostly these stories are forgettable and in many cases, a struggle to read and enjoy. In fact, I felt that most of these weren't even stories, but rather, long treatise on subject, or location, or mood.

Only the last story, "Eisenheim the Illusionist" struck any chord in me. It was as if all the other pieces were working up to putting the various elements together and producing "Eisenheim" -- though even the story of "Eisenheim" is not worthy of such a long preamble.

I love the short story as a literary form, and Millhauser seemed to be pushing the boundaries of what makes a short story, and for that I give him credit. Unfortunately, most of his attempts seem to fail.

I would not recommend this collection.

THE WHITE ISLE -- Darrell Schweitzer

Owlswick Press
Philadelphia,PA -- ©1989 -- 139pp
ISBN: 0-913896-26-8
illustrated by Stephen Fabian
autogaphed by Darrell Schweitzer

A warrior, wizard, prince challenges the god of the underworld, rescues his unborn daughter from his dead bride, and rules a land where nothing but he and his daughter can live.

I actually quite enjoyed the first half of this book, wherein the prince goes mad upon learning of the death of his bride, throws himself in to the study of wizardry and commences on the journey in to the underworld to steal his bride back. It was exciting and disturbing (this vision of the underworld was well described and unsettling -- a world in which ALL the dead retreat to no matter what god they worshipped in life, and no matter what goods they offer to entice the god of the underworld to provide favor).

The second half of the book, which had the prince, now mad, living on his own island with his daughter whom he held prisoner, fell flat. It was boring and seemed to have no purpose. What was the drive for these last 60+ pages? Where was the story going? Nowhere, it seems.

It felt like an exciting short story that had been extended.

Not a recommended book.

ANNA IN THE TROPICS -- Nilo Cruz

Theatre Communications Group
New York -- ©2003 -- 84pp
ISBN: 1-55936-232-4
Winner of 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Two Act Play

Set in 1929 in a Cuban-American cigar factory, a new lector arrives to read Anna Karenina to the workers. His arrival touches off a debate of the old versus the new as the struggling cigar factory looks for new ways to keep the old ways alive. The passions and longings of the employees come to life under the words of Tolstoy.

A beautifully written play. Poetic and intriguing. However, in a reading there were many more questions asked than answered, and I wonder if a production would hekp smooth that out somewhat.

Recommended.

TRAVEL TEAM -- Mike Lupica

Philomel Books
New York -- ©2004 -- 274pp
ISBN: 0-399-24150-7

A twelve-year-old, gifted basketball player doesn't make the local "travel team" because he's too small, even though he is unquestionably the best passer the league has ever seen. With the help of his father, a divorced, alcoholic, former-pro basketball player, they put together a team of misfits and rejects like himself to make a run for the travel team title.

I was really intrigued with the idea of this book -- short kids can play basketball and be great at it. Unfortunately the writing itself is sub-par.

The actual writing is so clumsy and poor it is almost unreadable at times. Had I turned in even a paragraph of this writing during an undergraduate writing class I would have received low grades and comments such as "Show -- don't tell!"

Unfortunately for readers, this book was published most likely because readers might be familiar with Mike Lupica's name and associate it with sports. But where was the editor? Was the writing so bad that even the editor couldn't make headway with this?

To add insult to writers and readers who know what they are doing, the publisher has done a fair amount of advertising -- more-so, I think, than the average new book.

It infuriates me when a poorly written book is so heavily promoted, and all because of a celebrity name. In truth, the book does not serve anyone well. Not the youthful reader who won't understand why they don't like the book so much. Not the publisher, who looks like they don't know a quality book. Not the writer, of whom others will not be eager to read again. It does, I suppose, serve the book seller who has nothing to lose. The publisher pays for the promoting and the seller can return the book if it doesn't sell.

Sadly, a book to avoid.

TOOTH IMPRINTS ON A CORN DOG -- Mark Leyner

Harmony Books
New York -- ©1995 -- 216pp
ISBN: 0-517-59384-X

A collection of short stories/essays.

"to merci pinto leyner"
"young bergdorf goodman brown"
"hulk couture"
"just happy to see you, chula"
"bassinet mattress day"
"immoral allure"
"the mary poppins kidnapping"
"the (illustrated) body politic"
"great pretenders"
"the good seed"
"dreams girls usa"
"the making of "tooth imprints on a corn dog""
"thoughts while listening to mahler in the afternoon"
"dangerous dads"
"eat at cosmo's"
"oh, brother"
"mi di"

Mostly the works seemed extremely pretentious. "the good seed" had me laugh out loud, and I was amused by pieces of "eat at cosmo's" and "the making of ...", but the amusement was much to rare in coming and not worth the trip. Here's a random sample of Mr. Leyner's writing (truly, I opened the book and this is the first sentence I read):

"The exemplary dad was an intermittent figure -- a Heroic Evanescence -- disappearing every morning into a mythic world of commerce, leaving behind a vestigial nimbus of aftershave, that ghostly olfactory proxy of the ever-departing father. But no longer. Proportional caretaking and quality time are the rules du jour."

Leyner's prose weighs heavily on the tongue. My university creative writing teachers probably would have written on my paper (if I had written such sentences on an assignment): "Interesting images. Over-written."