All posts by Phil

Fiction, Reviews

The Murder Room, by P.D. James

Leave a comment



I recently finished P.D. James’ The Murder Room (2003) beautifully read by Charles Keating. It is a straight-forward detective novel with enjoyable depth, but not really twists and turns. I see The Complete Review has reviewed it more, um, completely than I plan to here.

The story reveals the three siblings who are trustees of a small, unique museum named Dupayne in the London area opposing each other on whether to sign a new lease and allow the unprofitable museum to continue. Several others associated with the museum are walking around, and, of course, someone gets torched. No, it isn’t an accident, even though some characters want to believe it was suicide.

As I listened, I kept thinking about how the second murder yet to come would change the way I interpreted the details. I thought two or three people could have murder the first person, having motive and opportunity, but why would they kill someone else? I didn’t figure it out ahead of time.

I wonder if James’ mysteries have more to offer in the side trails than on the main road. The Murder Room has a warm chapter with the two of the detectives interviewing one of the fringe couples out of routine. It was a young couple with a baby, the husband being connected to a Paul Nash painting in the Dupayne museum. James’ choice of words in this chapter impressed me as geared toward highlighting the life of the child and this poor couple. They had very little, but they were tied to the past by the husband’s father and grandfather’s interest in that painting, and somehow it seeded hope for them. More so, some words appear to be inspire the reader to reflect on what is being aborted when that ugly choice is made.

Detective Inspector Kate Miskin’s wrestling with British class conflicts and arguments about the nature of girl’s education enrich the story as well.

Uncategorized

Re: Sausage

2 Comments

So my encyclopedia of word origins has informed me the word sausage comes from the Latin salus, meaning salted or preserved. (Hmm, perhaps that is incorrect. Webster’s online has the Latin word as salsus.) It’s says it was invented by the Chinese (I can’t verify that), and it gives the recipe used to make The Great Scunthorpe Sausage, which was the longest sausage ever made for a long time. It reports the 1998 world record came from Canada for a “continuous sausage” 28.77 miles in length.

The current Guinness World Record, which may not be for exactly the same thing, is measured by weight. The 2008 Guinness report states: “The record for the largest sausage weighed 18.98 tonnes (41,859 lb) and was made by J.J. Tranfield on behalf of Asda Stores Plc, at Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK on 27-29 October 2000.”

Oh, look. Here’s an entry on “Scandinavian words in English.”

Bookselling

Where Do You Buy Used Books?

15 Comments

Do you prefer to buy used books online or at a store?

We have some good used bookstores in Chattanooga, and I took all of the children to the large one nearest to us, which was still a good drive away. (I don’t know why my favorite used bookstore isn’t on that list, but we didn’t go to it because it was much farther away and may have been closed.)

I wanted to trade a DVD and some books and perhaps find an etymological dictionary (see Mr. Smith’s post linked earlier this week). I walked away with the QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins for $4. There were a couple other books which looked good, but I didn’t now how much I would get in trade and the girls wanted to take books too. I got about $15 in trade and walked out with almost $6 left over.

Even though browsing the book-lined aisles can be fun, I usually don’t like it. I can’t remember what I wanted to look for, or worse I can’t find it. Last night, I tried to hunt down something by Frederick Buechner. Where should I look for his non-fiction, memoir-like stuff? I didn’t see a memoir section. Maybe non-fiction essays? Will I find something by that other guy I’ve tried to find before, what was his name–Joseph Epstein?

I’m usually disappointed at this place because I can’t find what I want and after a while everything looks cheap. What about you?

Fiction, Writing

Ten Rules for Writing Fiction

10 Comments

Earlier this year, the Guardian asked several writers for ten rules for the craft, similar to the ten rules Elmore Leonard published this year. I abide by this particular rule of Leonard’s, which was taught me by my journalism professor:

Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But “said” is far less intrusive than “grumbled”, “gasped”, “cautioned”, “lied”. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated” and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

Here’s another good one, this time from Geoff Dyer:

Beware of clichés. Not just the ­clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are ­clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

This is good stuff. Care to argue over any of these? They aren’t all golden.

Authors, Non-fiction

Why Can't Black Men Think On Their Own?

Leave a comment

Anthony Bradley, author of the book Liberating Black Theology, writes about how difficult it is to be respected as a black man and an independent thinker. “Independent black thinkers are expected to ‘groupthink’ in ways that usually lead to rejection and isolation by multiple communities,” he says. For example:

To point out the unchallenged racism in some socially conservative circles renders the charge, “angry black man.” Pointing out that big government has never really helped black communities in the long-term while promoting economic empowerment within the context of markets as a sustainable mechanism for socio-economic mobility, invites the charge of being “a sell-out.”

Music

Great Concert with Peterson, Peters, and Concerning Lions

Leave a comment

My wife and I caught a wonderful benefit concert with Andrew Peterson, Eric Peters, and Concerning Lions last Saturday. I wish I could share some of it with you. I saw a couple video clips of the Chattanooga-based Concerning Lions on their site, I believe, and you should be able to catch songs from the other great musicians through The Rabbit Room and elsewhere on the inTerweb. I wanted to introduce myself to Mr. Peterson and shake his hand and if possible bless him in some way (Mr. Peters too, who looked like he could use a shot in the arm) but I didn’t take the opportunity. I didn’t want to talk about myself for 30 seconds, and what else would I talk about.

The concert was to raise money (and attention I suppose) for a very good counseling center in our city, Richmont Community Counseling Center, which is dedicated to helping those who cannot afford counseling from other sources. If you can’t tell from the website, they do some great work. May the Lord continue to bless them and others through them.

Bookselling, Publishing

The Publisher is Dead! Long Live the Publisher!

Leave a comment

Joel Miller talks about what author Seth Godin gets wrong when he announced his rejection of traditional publishing:

“Trying to sell books to people who don’t like them is hopeless—it’s like hawking lentils the day after Easter. . . . Literature is like running. It’s not for everyone, but for people who love it stopping after four blocks fails to satisfy.”

Writing

Smith on Words and Wangerin

2 Comments

Our friend, S.D. Smith (but you should refer to him as Mr. Smith), wrote a little something about the word amazing. At least, that was my take-away.

By way of Mr. Smith’s post, I have learned that the great Walter Wangerin Jr. has a new novel. Out this month is Wangerin’s book, Naomi and her Daughters. Publisher’s Weekly calls it a short, but profound biblical tale come live.