Sunday, March 31, 2013

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

1987, undated movie tie-in McGraw-Hill edition
Fannie Flagg
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel
Original price $7.99, purchase price $3.50
Slightly worn paperback
B-

Rather than tell the story from one perspective, as in her debut novel Daisy Fay, Flagg jumps around in time and space (although usually Alabama and Georgia), sometimes telling the story in first-person through newspaper clippings, more often as third-person, either inside a particular person's head, or more objectively and omnisciently.  As such, the book is a bit ragged, and it doesn't help that it is full of chronological errors, sometimes a few days, but more often years or even decades!  (A man born in 1917 can't be 80 in the 1970s.)  Since this ruins a joke in one case-- a man gets tricked into a marriage, but the timeline says 1950 when it should be the same year, 1940-- it really irritated me.  If I recall correctly, this was handled much better in Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, which we'll get to in 1998.

On the plus side, Flagg here does a good job of creating a little world, particularly the cafĂ© of the title (the book omits the accent mark throughout) and the surrounding little town.  The movie version simplified things, including combining the characters of Idgie and Ninnie, and those of Eva and Ruth, which makes absolutely no sense.  Also, Sipsey's family is just shown as servants, without the other dimensions they get in the book.  I also really like how Idgie and Ruth's romantic relationship is normalized --they're kinfolk and neighbors, not scary perverts-- and Eva's sexuality (bi but mostly warm and open) is treated sympathetically throughout.  The book isn't as funny as Daisy Fay, but there are lots of smiley moments.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Postcards from the Edge

1987, 1990 Pocket Books movie tie-in edition
Carrie Fisher
Postcards from the Edge
Possibly bought newish for $4.95
Worn paperback
C

This semi-autobiographical novel is sometimes compared to Ephron's Heartburn, although I think the main similarity is that they both got turned into Meryl Streep movies that I still haven't seen.  Well, OK, and they're both full of upper-middle-class people whining.  Like Heartburn, it's sometimes sort of funny, probably funnier actually, but with descriptions of drug abuse and withdrawal, rather than thoughts on food.  And Suzanne's life in Hollywood is very shallow, so even if Fisher is parodying that, it was hard to take with no voices of sanity for contrast.  (Her "sensible" grandmother advises her to marry a boring guy, any boring guy, and learn to love/hate him.  It's like Sheila Levine lived and almost-died in vain.)

I might've liked the book better if Fisher had stuck to one perspective, rather than switching the narrative for awhile to a couple of guys who are interested in Suzanne.  Even when she's focusing on Suzanne, she can't decide between first and third person.  Maybe the book is meant to represent the fragmentation of addiction and/or Hollywood, but that doesn't make it entertaining, or enlightening.  I nonetheless went on to read Delusions of Grandma, which we'll get to in 1994.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Oscar Wilde

1987, 1988 Knopf edition
Richard Ellman
Oscar Wilde
Original price $24.95, purchase price unknown
Hardcover in average condition
B-

This book most reminded me of Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, in that the biographer spent many years (about twenty in this case) researching a controversial writer, wrote a long book that at times includes day-by-day itineraries, but never quite succeeded in making me like the subject as well as the writer's own works.  To his credit, Ellman seems to have liked Wilde much more than Schorer liked Lewis, but then Wilde seems to have been a nicer, more charming person, despite the heartbreak he caused his wife and children.  On the other hand, Schorer's book was much funnier, which hardly seems fair considering the relative wit of Lewis and Wilde.  I do appreciate that Ellman recognises that Wilde's main "crime" wasn't that he was gay but that he didn't hide it (much) compared to most of his contemporaries.

Merlin Holland (now 67), Wilde's only grandchild, and Merlin's son Lucian (now 34) are proud to be Oscar's descendants, although I found out more about them from Wikipedia than in the brief mention Ellman makes of them towards the end.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

"And So It Goes": Adventures in Television

1987, Berkley [sic] edition with new material (originally published in '86)
Linda Ellerbee
"And So It Goes": Adventures in Television
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B

I used to love this book and I still have a soft spot for it, but Ellerbee doesn't seem quite as witty and insightful as she did back when I used to read this book a lot and watch her on Our World regularly.  (It was short-lived, like so many of her TV stints to that point.)  I haven't really kept up with her life, other than she survived cancer and turned to producing acclaimed news programs for children.  I still found the book better than Donaldson's.  (And so did he, judging from the quote, "I wish I had written this book.")  Not only does she talk more about her non-TV-life, but she tells better stories.  I've giving her the "television criticism" tag that I didn't give him, not only because she's more critical, but because she talks more about specific shows.  And, yes, I found her use of "so it goes," much less annoying than Vonnegut's, because she uses it sparingly and more meaningfully.

The update here is in some ways the best chapter, since it tells of the ups and downs that followed the first publication of the book, so if you get this, go for the paperback.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke

1987, 1988 Bantam edition
Patty Duke and Kenneth Turan
Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke
Original price $4.95, purchase price $3.95
Very worn paperback
B-

Duke tells of her more-troubled-than-Carol-Burnett childhood, not just poverty and an alcoholic father, but controlling, abusive managers.  She also reveals that she's manic-depressive (now more commonly called bipolar).  She of course discusses her career, what she's proud of (the various productions of The Miracle Worker in particular) and what she's not (Valley of the Dolls especially).  And she goes into her love life, including nonsexual affairs with Frank Sinatra, Jr. and Sr., and four marriages.  She says here that son Sean (now famous as Samwise Gamgee) was the product of a brief affair with future husband John Astin, during her relationship with Desi Arnaz, Jr., but Wikipedia tells me that in 1994 Sean's blood test revealed he was the son of the man Patty married for thirteen days, Michael Tell.  Even without that tidbit, there's a lot to digest here, and I haven't even mentioned her activism for liberal causes, which became ironic when she married a drill sergeant.  (They're still married, after 27 years, which surprised me.)  The book didn't quite jell for me, but it's definitely an interesting read.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hold on, Mr. President!

1987, 1988 Fawcett Crest edition
Sam Donaldson
Hold on, Mr. President!
Possibly bought newish for $4.95
Very worn paperback
B-

The odd thing about this autobiography is that Donaldson doesn't talk much about his life outside of his career, perhaps because he was, as he admits, a workaholic.  He goes quickly through the first almost forty years of his life (up until around the time of Watergate); and the short penultimate chapter, "Personal," is the main place he talks about his three wives and his four children.  So it didn't feel like a "life story" to me, more a series of anecdotes about (mostly) covering Presidents Carter and Reagan, along with occasional observations on journalism.  As such, the most interesting aspect of the book is the way that Reagan and his staff stage-managed the news, in contrast to the relatively open Carter administration.  Donaldson liked both men personally, and points out he never actually said the title phrase, but he knows that he was perceived as pushy and abrasive.  He seems to have a good sense of humor about his image, even including some comic strips that mock him.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Say Kids! What Time Is It?

1987, first edition, from Little, Brown and Company
Stephen Davis
Say Kids! What Time Is It?: Notes from the Peanut Gallery
Original price $16.95, purchase price $6.00
Good condition hardcover
B

This very personal look at The Howdy Doody Show was written by the son of one of the writer-directors, Howard Davis.  Stephen and Howdy were "born" the same year, late 1947, so by the time the show left the air in 1960, Stephen was an adolescent who had outgrown the show.  But as a little boy he adored the show, especially Judy Tyler, who played the beautiful Princess Summerfall Winterspring.  She died tragically young, shortly after costarring in Jailhouse Rock.  So this is a bittersweet reminiscence, and one I enjoyed more than I expected, considering I didn't grow up watching the show.  (In contrast, I'd catch episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club, the program that "killed" Howdy in the ratings in the second half of the '50s.)  I think I originally got this book because Baby Boomers were always referencing Howdy Doody.  And I clearly remember Jeff Greenfield's tongue-in-cheek 1983 article in TV Guide that claimed the show was responsible for the upheaval of the 1960s, with its effects on Baby Boomers.  The "Cowabunga" of surfers (and later Bart Simpson) did actually come from the program, although Abbie Hoffman denied being inspired by Clarabell's Yippie-like antics.

Davis talked to all the surviving cast and crew, including his father of course, and got some great stories, although some of them are unhappy, as with the firing of "untalented" Bob Keeshan, the original Clarabell the Clown, who later found fame and success as Captain Kangaroo.  Davis does his best to be even-handed, sometimes offering multiple versions of stories, letting the reader decide what really happened.  Yet, he also gives his opinion on what did and didn't work on the show.  He watched old kines (kinescopes), from the beginning to the end, sometimes remembering moments clearly, other times seeing things for the first time (as with the episodes from his preteens).

The Uncyclopedia of Rock

1987, first edition, from Ebury Press
Angus Deayton, Jeremy Pascall, and Geoffrey Perkins
The Uncyclopedia of Rock
Original price £4.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback
C+

This parody of rock music is definitely a case of something being lost in the transatlantic journey.  Too much of the book references British acts that I've never heard of.  Also, a lot of the humor is of the "It was very this, except that it was that" form, with a pun or reverse of expectation, which gets old.  My favorite jokes were the ones about Elvis movies and the Abbey-Road-gone-horribly-wrong cover, although it was nice to see the book include Live Aid.  The Michael Jackson jokes only got more ironic with time of course.

The Cat Who Played Post Office

1987, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Played Post Office
Probably bought newish for $4.99
Very worn paperback
B

The paperback of Brahms came out in June, while this was published in December.  Brahms was set in June, while this is set in July.  In fact, much of the book is a flashback after Qwill is run off the road while bicycling.  He has amnesia at first but Arch Riker visits and brings Qwill's memory back, allowing Braun to smoothly provide background information from Qwill's childhood to the recent present.  Qwill is described in the book as "fiftyish," but I think he doesn't turn 50 till a later book.

Qwill moves out of both the nameless city "Down Below" (in the lower, more urban half of the nameless state) and out of the forest cabin, and into Aunt Fanny's mansion in Pickax City, per the terms of the will.  He has to live in the county for five years, or lose his inheritance.  He's uncomfortable with wealth and his new luxurious lifestyle, so he plans to set up a foundation to distribute much of his money once he gets his hands on it.  (He's living off the not inconsiderable interest in the meantime.) 

During his brief visit to Down Below, he senses that Arch is unhappy, but Mrs. Cobb is the one to tell him that Rosie Riker is getting a divorce and buying Mrs. Cobb's antique shop.  Mrs. Cobb moves into the mansion and becomes Qwill's chef/housekeeper/Edwina-McMahon.  (She thinks he's hilarious.)  Arch pays Qwill a couple visits, and hits it off with cranky scene-stealing interior designer Amanda Goodwinter.  It's a book with a lot of Goodwinters, not just Amanda and Dr. Melinda, but Junior and his father Senior at the very Victorian local newspaper, and the brother and sister lawyers Alexander and Penelope.  There are a few shocking scandals with the last pair, partly to do with a missing housemaid named Daisy.

Five years ago, Daisy did a wild mural in the servants' quarters, including initials of men she was involved with.  One is R.R., which Qwill notes could be either a President or a movie star.  So this must be set at least in 1981.  Qwill points out that it's the last quarter of the twentieth century, and in the last book Aunt Fanny was a "donut girl" in World War I, but that doesn't really help narrow it down much.

Braun has a lot to juggle, but I don't see her phoning it in yet, even with two books in one year.  So far the move to the country and Qwill's wealth haven't done any harm to the series.  The title this time refers to Koko's habit of bringing Qwill pertinent pieces of mail, including a five-year-old postcard.

The Cat Who Played Brahms

1987, Jove Books edition from later that year
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Played Brahms
Original price $3.50, purchase price $1.95
Very worn paperback
B

Here it is, the game-changer, the book that moved the series to Moose County, although at first it just seems like Qwill is taking a vacation in the cabin that belongs to his "Aunt Fanny" (his late mother's old friend).  Back in the city, Qwill is starting to be bothered by changes, both at work and at the press club, apparently due to technology and women entering the work force.  Aunt Fanny herself is a go-getter, running the county because of her wealth and blackmail.  She dies-- murder of course-- and leaves everything to Qwill, although the inheritance isn't revealed until the end.  She's 89 and Qwill is about 40 years past 7.  It's June and he's been living at Maus Haus awhile.

Braun does a nice job creating the atmosphere, including hints towards future mysteries.  Koko plays audio cassettes, which has to be the most dated aspect of the book, even at the time.  (Tapes still existed but were rapidly being replaced by CDs.)  Love interest Rosemary is eased out of the series without being maligned, it's just clear that she doesn't have the sense of humor that Qwill needs.  Dr. Melinda Goodwinter is first referred to as plain, but then Qwill notices her stunning eyes and lashes, as well as her flirty charm, so she'll clearly be the replacement love interest, at least for awhile.  And there are lots of other new characters of course, yet it's no more obvious that we're going to be with them for awhile than that the Junk Street gang wouldn't become regulars.  We will, however, hear of an important sale on Junk Street in the next book....

The Firebrand

1987, 1988 Pocket Books edition
Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Firebrand
Bought newish for $8.95
Very worn paperback
C

While there were aspects of this book I liked, mostly the visits to Colchis, I found this much weaker than Mists of Avalon.  It's from the perspective of Kassandra, although since she's psychic, we often get modified POVs from other characters, mostly her thoroughly unlikable twin Paris.  I didn't really care about the Trojan War, so that was part of the problem.  (And, yes, I've read The Odyssey, The Iliad, and The Aeniad.  I was an English major after all.)  I actually got much more enjoyment and information total in the few pages Richard Armour wrote on The Iliad in The Classics Reclassified

Kassandra was definitely a less interesting character than Morgaine, although I found some of the supporting female characters intriguing, not just the Queen of Colchis, but Helen and Andromache, so that's an improvement over Gwyn-however-she-spelled-it in Mists.  The male characters are less memorable than in Mists, except for the deeply annoying attempted-rapist Khryse.  (It's not just that he's hardly punished for attacking Kassandra, it's also that he keeps stalking her and she ends up deciding she likes him platonically.)  This would've been a C+ if he were banished early on.  Oh, and there are a lot of timeline issues, especially with Troilus's age.

This book has some of the same problems with "fate" as in Mists, although perhaps more justified in the Ancient Greek culture than the Celtic.  I will say, Kassandra, although she does kill a few men in battle, is not the headcase that Morgaine was.  Ironically considering legend, she's pretty sane, although few believe her prophecies even before Apollo curses her.

Just as Long as We're Together

1987, 1988 Yearling edition
Judy Blume
Just as Long as We're Together
Possibly bought newish for $3.50
Very worn paperback
C+

At the time this book came out, I was older than Katherine in Forever, and it's possible that I didn't even read it till my 20s.  As such, I have no nostalgia for it, and I find that it's not even as interesting a glimpse of the '80s as Paula Danziger's two "Woodstock" books.  Yes, the main character, 12-year-old Stephanie, sleeps with a Richard Gere poster over her bed, and there are some references to '80s fashion and hair, as well as a subplot of her kid brother (10 years old but coming across more as 8) having nightmares about nuclear war, but otherwise it's pretty vague.  The RL (reading level) is 4.9 and the interest level is 8 to 12, and yet the book talks about body hair, menarche, "making out," "sexual experience," divorce, and adultery, so it's definitely more of a preteen book than one for 8-year-olds.

I thought the first half of the book was weaker than the second half and, despite the title, the friendship aspect is the least well done.  Part of the problem is that, although I can see similarities between myself and smart perfectionist Rachel, she's pretty unsympathetic, without any of the endearing qualities of Hermione Granger.  In fact, I thought that Stephanie's other best friend, Alison, was going to be a sort of Luna Lovegood, since she's introduced as weird and barefoot, but she turns out to be a giggly "popular" girl.  Stephanie's own characterization is inconsistent, since she claims to be an optimist but spends the entire book worrying (except about nuclear war).

There are some cute moments, but the story feels forgettable compared to Blume's '70s books, and I don't think that's just generational bias.  Nonetheless, I went on to buy Here's to You, Rachel Robinson, which is coming up in 1993.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Black Athena, the Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization

1987, 1991 Rutgers University Press edition
Martin Bernal
Black Athena, the Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization: Volume I, The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985
Bought new for $15.95
Worn paperback
C+

This book has a lot of flaws, although what bothered me about it is apparently not what bothers other people.  Let me start with what I thought was best.  His examination of the racist reasons behind celebration of Ancient Greece as the inspiration of Europe (and eventually of the U.S.) contains fascinating quotes, although I believe that similar material is handled much better in Ewen & Ewen's Typecasting (which I'll get to in 2008).  Whether or not what he calls the Aryan model (as opposed to "the Ancient Model" in which the Ancient Greeks themselves claimed to be inspired by the Egyptians and the Phoenicians) is plausible in light of more modern scholarship, it was launched at least partially for bad reasons.  (As was the concept of evolution, as Bernal points out.)

The worst part of the book is the first fifth, because of the confusing and dubious linguistics, which is ironic since Bernal is a linguist.  In fact, although he taught at Cambridge (U.K.) and Cornell, his grasp of English is shaky at times.  Not just phrases like "to the conclude" and "his conclusions are inconclusive," but a misuse of big words, from "numerate" (which does not mean "numerous") to "antidisestablishmentarianism."  (He says that a counter-revolutionary fought that concept, when in fact that would make the man a counter-counter-revolutionary.)

Unfortunately, most of Bernal's "evidence" for the Ancient Model is linguistic, so this is, not unlike Reign of the Phallus, most interesting for reasons other than the author intends, and I wish I could read a book about Ancient Greece that goes against the dominant images but is well researched, clearly written, and plausible.

I'm now on the next shelf, but since the books are going to have to be shifted around if and when I add 1991 to this bookcase, the divisions are temporary.

Monday, March 18, 2013

TV Turkeys

1987, undated later edition, from Perigee
Kevin Allman
TV Turkeys: An Outrageous Look at the Most Preposterous Shows Ever on Television
Bought new for $9.95
Worn paperback
B-

Allman was friends with the Medveds, so he not only applies their term of "turkeys" to the small screen, but he suffers from Medveditis in that sometimes his puns and other wording are a bit forced.  Nonetheless, I think this book does have more merit than the Cult TV book.  For one thing, Allman has a better grasp of his subject, although it is arguable that Chuck Barris is over-represented (five shows).  On the other hand, just as the late great jumptheshark.com understandably had a page dedicated to Ted McGinley, it's only fitting that McLean Stevenson is the "Mr. Television" of bad TV.  Allman's conclusion that despite all the flops, "some brave programming executive will no doubt be looking for a perpetually exasperated father character for some domestic sitcom and Stevenson's phone will ring," was prescient, since Stevenson appeared as the father on Dirty Dancing, during the 1988-89 season. 

Allman of course could not predict that Jerry "Son of My Mother the Car" Van Dyke would be redeemed on Coach (four Emmy nominations in the early '90s), or that the "aspiring actress whose star rose brightly and briefly in 1985 with a one-minute role in Bruce Springsteen's 'Dancing in the Dark' video," the year after her role in Misfits of Science, would go on to be one of the highest paid TV actresses of all time, as Monica on Friends.  So, yeah, part of the fun rereading this book now is rich irony unavailable a quarter century ago.

The Silent Twins

1986, 1987 Ballantine edition
Marjorie Wallace
The Silent Twins
Possibly bought newish for $3.95
Worn paperback with spine about to break
B-

Wallace tells of two identical British girls, of West Indian background, who were elective mutes, never speaking to most people, including their parents and older siblings.  They shared a rich but strange fantasy life, including writing novels, and eventually became petty criminals, before being put in an institution for the criminally insane.  Wallace follows their lives till they're about 20, then rushes through the past three years (at that point).  As such, there's definitely no feeling of closure.  The girls had an agreement that if one died, the other would begin to speak.  Wikipedia says that Jennifer willed herself to die in 1993, with a sudden inflammation of the heart.  June has become more communicative since then.

Wallace does her best to be objective, but I'm left feeling that no one-- Wallace, therapists, family-- knew why the girls wouldn't speak.  Their story is both frustrating and heart-breaking, so this definitely isn't a fun read, although there is a lot of irony. 

Friday, March 15, 2013

Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse

1986, 2001 Sunburst edition
George Selden
Illustrated by Garth Williams
Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse
Bought new for $5.95
Slightly worn paperback
C+

As the title suggests, this is a prequel, although the sixth of seven in the series published.  It's much shorter and not as good as Cricket in Times Square or even Tucker's Countryside, but it is interesting to see how Harry and Tucker met, became friends, and eventually found a home in Times Square.  The illustrations are a little weak-- Harry in particular is a victim of anthropomorphism, as when he stands on his hind legs and shows off his muscles-- but I've seen Williams do worse, like in some of the Little House books.  This is, by the way, the last of his books I've got and he certainly contributed much to the children's literature of the 20th century.  Despite his flaws, I'll remember him fondly, and know that even in his weaker efforts, he can produce touching pictures, like the one on pages 38-39 of the two animal friends camped out under a pier.

The Official Dr. Science Big Book of Science

1986, possibly first edition, from Contemporary Books
Dr. Science with Rodney
The Official Dr. Science Big Book of Science
Original price unknown, bought used for $3.95
Worn paperback
B-

This most reminds me of How to Regain Your Virginity (1983), with its parody of science and the 1950s illustrations (actual or similar).  I used to really enjoy the Dr. Science TV show (I've never heard the still running radio show), but I think this suffers a bit from not hearing his voice.  I kept being on the verge of laughter but never quite made it.  Still, the book provides a lot of smiles.  Also, it's got to be the first of my books to mention "cellular phones."

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Venus of Dreams

1986, 1990 Bantam edition
Pamela Sargent
Venus of Dreams
Original price $4.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback
C+

While not as bleak as Native Tongue or The Handmaid's Tale, this is another sci-fi novel that shows a female writer dealing with feminism in the 1980s, although like them it's set in the future.  The heroine Iris lives in a matriarchal commune on the Plains of what was once the U.S.  (Flooding caused by the hole in the ozone layer wiped out much of the land, I think.)  She doesn't want to be a farmer like her mother but instead dreams of living on Venus.  She becomes the bondmate of a Chinese man, Chen, although such bonds are against her more promiscuous culture.  They have a baby, Benzi, but then Iris gets a chance to study at the Cytherian Institute.  (She's been studying on her own with sort of a headband computer.)  Chen, Iris, and Benzi eventually settle on one of the "Islands" hovering over the not yet habitable Venus, but they are not a close family.

Iris is an unsympathetic character for much of the book-- selfish, unloving, and manipulative.  Chen comes across as a wimp who pines for her.  I particularly disliked the characterization of everyone during the section about the Institute.  The character of Anthony, and Iris's response to him, is troubling.  He essentially date-rapes her, but she has an orgasm, slutty Plains woman that she is.  Then later we're supposed to think he was an admirable rebel who said the unsayable.  If I remember correctly, there was also an issue with rape in the sequel, Venus of Shadows, which we'll get to in 1988.

What did I like about the book?  The terraforming of Venus and the impact of different cultures and subcultures on each other.  And I sympathized with Iris when she was a little girl who just wanted the chance to study.  Too bad she grew up so badly.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"

1986, Penguin edition, from later that year
Compiled by Scott Rice
Son of "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night": More of the Best (?) from the Bulwer-Lytton Contest
Original price $4.95, purchase price $3.25
Slightly worn paperback
B-

I forgot I had this sequel.  It's about as good as the first one, although I thought the earlier chapters were better.  The "Way We Live Now" felt less topical, although there was one sentence earlier where "Ron and Nancy" who live in "a white house" pretend that they're a sandwich in bed, which is somehow less smutty than it sounds.  This is my personal favorite, from the very good children's fiction chapter:  "'Calling all bunnies!' shouted Randy the Happy Wizard as he shook his carrot out the window of his jolly house in Old Mr. Oak on the edge of the Peppermint Stick Garden."

Meet Peter Rabbit: A Pop-Up Book

1986, first edition, from Derrydale Books
Meet Peter Rabbit: A Pop-Up Book
Retold by Corey Nash from the original stories by Beatrix Potter
Original price $7.95, purchase price unknown
Surprisingly good condition hardcover
C

Nothing remarkable here, other than the odd inscription, "Kathy, You're the bestest Lucy Babe!  Keep countin' those veggies Love ya, Fr. Tony."  There are only three double-spread pop-ups, and they just pop, no tabs, handles, dials, etc.  Nash does an OK job of adapting Potter, although the ending feels rushed.

Son of Golden Turkey Awards

1986, first edition, from Villard Books
Harry and Michael Medved
Son of Golden Turkey Awards: The Best of the Worst from Hollywood
Bought new for $10.95
Falling apart paperback
B

I don't think it's just nostalgia that makes this my favorite of the Medveds' books.  I won a gift certificate for a bookstore, as a writing award my senior year in high school, and this is what I got.  My then-future-ex-husband and I became bad-movie collectors as a result.  But this book has held up really well (except physically), and the Medveditis isn't as bad as it was.  (There are even moments when they're actually feminist, ironic in light of Michael's approaching "right turns.")  Their humor doesn't seem as forced, and I laughed out loud a few times.  Admittedly, some of the funniest bits are ones where they're just quoting lyrics, dialogue, ad campaigns, or titles.

As with their earlier books, there seems to be a bias towards more recent films, at that point including the likes of Sheena and Where the Boys Are '84, not just with the winners but the nominees.  On the other hand, they do have some categories that are dominated by the 1950s and/or '60s, among them the worst Biker Film, worst performance by Ronald Reagan (again, ironic in retrospect), worst performance as a Nazi mad scientist, and worst beach party movie.  Past winners, like Ed Wood, are renominated in new categories.  So there's a blend of old and new, as with the "rogues' gallery" at the end.

Yes, there are some errors-- Pia Zadora was not 8 in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), and in fact looks the 10 years that she was-- but it seems like fewer than before.  Maybe watching movies on VHS helped.

Monday, March 11, 2013

MAD, Volume 2

1986, first edition, from Russ Cochran, Publisher
MAD, Volume 2
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C

Well, this is better than the first volume.  There are still the pointless text-only stories (this time a series with "BVDs" as a parody of the "KGB"), and Kurtzman's drawn-as-well-as-written Hey, Look! comic strip (and the man is even less of an artist than a writer), but the artists, Bill Elder in particular, are hitting their stride.  Also the ads for MAD and its sister publication PANIC (by Kurtzman's successor as MAD's editor) have a nice satiric edge that's often missing from the movie and comic-book parodies.  By the time we get to #12, with not only the classic "Starchie" but a "high-class intellectual" cover, MAD is sometimes actually funny.  True, the parodies of "Mark Trail" and "From Here to Eternity" are pretty forgettable, but the 3-D piece has some good concepts.

If I haven't said anything about the constant sexism (and occasional racism of the "cannibal" sort) in both volumes, it's because when the writing is this mediocre, I don't really expect any sort of nuance or sensitivity.

MAD, Volume 1

1986, first edition, from Russ Cochran, Publisher
MAD, Volume 1
Bought newish for unknown
Worn hardcover
C-

Like I said back in the '50s, I think Harvey Kurtzman is over-rated, and certainly this collection of the first six issues of MAD shows why.  He seems to have almost no concept of how to set up a joke, some of the endings to the stories being particularly ham-fisted, such as "Yes, Dear Reader!  The machine did break!" and "For, you see...Bumble...Fumbled!", both in issue #1.  That said, he improves somewhat as things go along, although the text-only stories, like the Cosmo McMoon ones, never work.  It is nice to see the artwork in color, although it also is not great to start out with.  I like the interviews with Kurtzman and Gaines, including their memories of how the outrageous "Publisher of the Issue" profile got in the magazine while Kurtman was in the hospital.  It figures that the funniest piece in the first half dozen issues had to sneak in behind his back. 

"'I don' care if it don't gotta plot!  I don' care if it don't got grammar!  I don' care if the pitchers ain't from talent!  All I care is get into every story sadism, snakes, masochism, pyromania, snakes, fetishes, snakes, necrophilia, phallic symbols, snakes, and all the rest of that esoterica what I can't think of this minute.'"  Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I rest my case.

OK, OK, Exhibit B to follow....

Saturday Night: A Backstage History

1986, 1987 Vintage Books edition
Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live
Bought new for $8.95
Falling apart paperback
B+

In a way this is a follow-up to 1975's CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, since it not only covers the first ten seasons of SNL, but it provides background to the ratings madness that ensued when ABC shot to #1 and NBC fell to #3.  But unlike Metz making everything less interesting, Hill and Weingrad are great storytellers, so it doesn't really matter that I don't much care about SNL these days.  Growing up in the 1970s, it was the show that the teens and twentysomethings watched, and so when NBC started showing (edited) episodes in prime-time (in 1980 I think), I tuned in, and I watched new episodes fairly regularly through the '80s.  I believed "the show just isn't as good as it was," but there were moments that worked.  I stopped watching sometime during the Dana "Bush" Carvey years, although I'd later catch things like "the ambiguously gay duo" and the "needs more cowbell" sketch on Youtube. 

One thing that happened was when Nick at Night showed '70s episodes (edited down to an hour), I realized the show wasn't that funny to begin with.  Again, there were moments that worked, but it wasn't any better (or worse) than the '80s shows (the Doumanian season aside of course).  The "slash and burn" humor aged very badly, which is one reason that I ironically like the 5th season, when writer Michael O'Donoghue and Belushi and Ackroyd were gone, better than much of the first four seasons.

Anyway, although the book is very dated (Joe Piscopo did not exactly emerge as one of the cast members with long-lasting success), it's the first book where I can feel a definite time shift, as I did when I read The Ordeal of Richard Feverel.  That book was the first truly "modern Victorian" novel I'd read for this project, with trains and telegrams.  This is the first book where I feel some connection to the present, the sensibility of the humor (not just SNL's but Hill & Weingrad's).  That I bought it on my (first) college campus probably has something to do with this.  The feel is not yet contemporary but we're getting there, as opposed to Missile Envy, which despite its '86 revision seems more like '83.  On the other hand, it's hard to believe that Eddie Murphy was only 27 when this book came out.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies

1986, first edition, from Woodbury Press
Phil Hardy and company
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies
Original and purchase price unknown
Good condition hardcover with worn dustjacket
B

Considering how many books haven't lived up to my memories of them, it was an extra pleasant surprise to find that this book is the best work of film criticism I've read since Harmetz's The Making of "The Wizard of Oz."  It's even more remarkable considering that I'm not a sci-fi fan and only bought this book to help in my collection of bad movies.  Yes, there is a fair share of Plan Nine et al., some of which Hardy and his contributors greet with amusement, some with annoyance, but the capsule reviews are generally interesting, yes, even on the likes of A Clockwork Orange.  They take a chronological approach, from 1895 (Lumiere) to 1985, with films alphabetical within each year. 

Although this is a British publication (with such oddities as "blackman" as one word), most of the movies are understandably American.  Still, they do have films from around the world, not just their own U.K. and of course Japan (Godzilla etc.), but even such curios as De Lift, a Dutch film about a killer elevator.  (Weird, but maybe not any weirder than the American movie The Stuff, about killer yogurt.)  There are good insights into the changing nature of cinema, not just sci-fi, and the book held my interest, despite being 400 pages of tiny font.  And the book does capture that time when Star Wars had changed everything but computer animation hadn't yet come along.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII

1986, 1987 Ballantine edition
Margaret George
The Autobiography of Henry VIII, with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers: A Novel
Original price $9.95, purchase price $7.00
Worn paperback
B-

George fails in her attempts to make Henry more sympathetic, but the novel is otherwise an interesting (and long) look at the life and times of the controversial king.  True, there are some noticeable errors (misunderstanding of the intimacy of "thou," some anachronisms, including the age difference between Henry and his first wife doubling at one point), but she captures Henry's twisted heart and mind.  The use of Somers (Henry's real-life jester) is also a mixed success, in that he's supposed to be providing another viewpoint, but he too often either disappears from the narrative or sides with Henry, including on the absolute wickedness of Anne Boleyn.

I couldn't get into George's Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, giving up after a few chapters because it changes perspectives too often, but I like her The Memoirs of Cleopatra, which we'll get to in 1997.  No, I haven't read the sort of sequel to this, 2011's Elizabeth I, but I do have I, Elizabeth (1994).

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Missile Envy

1986, revised from 1984 edition, Bantam
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Missile Envy
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
C+

While I admire Caldicott's dedication to the anti-nuclear cause, I can only marginally recommend this book.  It's not so much that it's dated (it's not like nukes have disappeared from the face of the earth), but rather a combination of too many dry statistics (which of course are completely outdated now), and some conclusion-leaping on other topics, from "pacifist" Christianity to machismo to Valley Girls.  (Like, ohmigod, the Silicon Valley is not the Valley!  Don't be a lame Aussie, Helen!)  This would've been a C if not for the chilling but funny real-life scene where Caldicott meets a truly clueless Reagan.

I also own If You Love This Planet, which we'll get to in 1992.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

One More Time: A Memoir

1986, 1987 Avon edition
Carol Burnett
One More Time: A Memoir
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B

I've never been a huge Burnett fan but I grew up watching her variety show in syndication and I'm always pleased when she turns up (like as a voice in Horton Hears a Who).  Here she talks about her early days, mostly pre-success, with a lot on her childhood, coping with her parents' divorce and alcoholism, as well as poverty.  She doesn't seem to have held a grudge against them, or her tough but hypochondriac (yet Christian Scientist) grandmother.  She seems to have had both low self esteem and incredible pluckiness.  She's a good storyteller, not as funny as Rosalind Russell (one of the celebrities she idolized, growing up in Hollywood), but few people are.  She wrote this book for her daughters, so it's sad that one struggled with drug addiction and eventually died of cancer.  Burnett is still active at 79, and in fact wrote another autobiography in 2010.

Monday, March 4, 2013

The Cat Who Saw Red

1986, 1987 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Saw Red
Original price $2.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback with split spine
B

This is the last of the box set I wrote about back in July.  It feels like a longer gap than 18 years between Books 3 and 4, although it's set not long after the events of On and Off.  Mary Duckworth is leaving town, but she recommends Qwill move into the building owned by Robert Maus, so he leaves a tearful Mrs. Cobb (luckily not forever) and meets new people, including husband-hunting chubby Hixie, whom we'll also see more of.  (I think Mary disappears for good.)  Arch is around, as boss and best pal, which is good because Qwill meets up with his old girlfriend (from ages 17 to 20), Joy.  She's not too joyful though because she's a potter married to another potter who resents her greater talent, resents it enough to kill her.  He's pretty obviously the murderer, but the method, gorier than usual for the series, will probably surprise you.

I liked the glimpse into Qwill's past, as well as his realization that he's been in love with who she was, not who she grew up to be.  Also, Koko is further developing his mechanical aptitude, even typing!  It may be the 1980s in the outside world, but Qwill still hasn't given up his typewriter.  He's 46 in this adventure by the way.  This time his assignment is restaurant critic, which is a problem because his doctor has put him on a diet.  Yet he still manages to think unkind thoughts about Hixie's weight.  He always holds women to a higher standard, although he does get points for dating Rosemary, a woman with grandkids in college!

A few words about Yum Yum.  She's described on the back of this and many of the other books as "a lovable Siamese adored by her two male companions."  That's about it, no special talents or qualities.  Qwill calls her his "little sweetheart," and talks to her with (something like) "a tenderness that no woman in his life had ever heard."  Also, she and Koko can be jealous of human outsiders.  It's a weird dynamic.  And then you've got Koko pretending violence towards her to get Qwill's attention, and her usually letting Koko eat first.  I was grateful to Rosemary for pointing out that it might've been Yum Yum who boobytrapped the apartment with yarn.  Qwill replies, "I bow to your feminine intuition.  Forgive my chauvinism."

So he's at least moved into the 1970s, right?  We'll revisit the issue of chronology as the series goes on.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

A Midwife's Story

1986, 1988 Ballantine edition
Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman
A Midwife's Story
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.95
Very worn paperback coming loose from binding
C+

This is an autobiography, with help from Armstrong's long-time friend Feldman.  You'd think with two writers someone would've caught all the typos, but I had to mark this down from a B-.  As for the content, it's pretty interesting, with Armstrong telling of her experiences delivering babies in hospitals and in homes, especially for an Amish community.  I found her a bit gushy about the Amish at times.  Yes, there are admirable things about their lifestyle-- kindness, hard work, etc.-- but the conformity bothered me.  She points out that the Amish people aren't "cookie cutter," but I couldn't help wondering, what about the people who really don't fit in, like gays?  Are they among the teens who leave and never return?  Also, while it's great that the women give birth without technology and (generally) surrounded by warm, supportive families, it is disquietening how close together the births are, with Armstrong referring to the "babies" and "toddlers" in plurals for a couple.  Not that Armstrong is there to judge, but she seems to accept their lifestyle with almost no questioning.

I will say that this is one of the books that I read in my 20s that convinced me that I would employ a midwife if I ever had kids.  The hospital births in this book, like those in the '50s women's fiction (The Group, Lessing's novels) are disgustingly dehumanizing.  Perhaps they aren't always that bad, but I knew I would rather be in a warm, comforting environment, with people I cared about.  At 45, it's increasingly unlikely I'll ever give birth, but I haven't changed my mind that it's not something I'd want to do hooked up to machines, and treated like a machine myself.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Once Upon a Time: A True Story

1985, 1986 Fawcett Gold edition
Gloria Vanderbilt
Once Upon a Time: A True Story
Original price $4.50, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
D+

This is easily the worst biography I've read so far, which is a shame because Vanderbilt has led an interesting life.  I never thought that I'd wish an autobiography had been written by someone else, but her annoying style kept making me want to scream, or slap her.  She's covering from ages one to seventeen, so she seems to be trying to write from the perspectives of a baby, child, and then adolescent, but this means that she repeats phrases several times in a row (maybe because she had a stutter, although this happens even when she doesn't) and calls everyone by a cutesy nickname.  Her beloved nanny isn't just "Dodo," she's "Big Elephant."  Friends and enemies in her teens get "The" in front of their names.  She adopts her mother's habit of calling people "Pooks."  And so on.

On top of that, because she can't tell us anything she didn't know at the time, we never quite learn the juicy details of The Custody Battle.  (I had to go on Wikipedia to clear up things up for myself.)  Her mother seems to have been bisexual and was accused of a lesbian affair, so Gloria, who just wanted to stay with Dodo, grew up with her emotionally distant paternal aunt, mostly without Dodo.  Gloria didn't know anything about this accusation until her date at a dance was expelled for being a "pansy."  And Gloria herself had a butch friend who tried something (again, vague) with her and they could never be friends again.

The title suggests she led a fairy-tale life, and indeed she often gets lost in fantasies of love, romantic as well as filial, all of them over the top with little or no pay-off.  I was far from enchanted, and this is also the worst book of the 1980s so far.