“F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I’ve proven him wrong,” Frank McCourt said, reported in The Washington Times. “And all because I refused to settle for a one-act existence, the 30 years I taught English in various New York City high schools.”
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Books about Men and the Moon
AbeBooks.com has the list, including Roverandom, a family story from J.R.R. Tolkien.
Starbucks Begins A Locale Blending Plan
Starbucks, which some people call “Fourbucks” because of the prices, will remove it’s name from one of its Seattle stores in an effort to appeal to the budget-minded coffee drinker. The well-established store will be labeled 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea and will soon offer beer and wine along with coffee and tea. I assume the prices will be the same, but maybe, just maybe, they will drop a bit.
In other vital news, July is National Ice Cream Month and this Sunday is National Ice Cream Day. So tell me, do you like floats, shakes, or malts? What are your preferences? I love shakes more than the others, though an icy Coke float with vanilla can be a nice, different treat. I don’t like malt enough to enjoy malts or malt balls, but I can make them. I have special training.
Radio: Trends in Christian Fiction
From Crossway Books blog: “Justin Taylor, Crossway’s Editorial Director, will be on the Albert Mohler Radio Program this afternoon [5:00 p.m. eastern]. Russell Moore will be guest hosting a discussion on Christian-fiction publishing trends and what they reveal about Christian culture.”
40 Years Ago
We Will Care For You or No One Will
Speaking of government-run health care: “The public option won’t be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care.”
New Books by Dead Authors
Slate’s Juliet Lapidos reports she has read the unauthorized sequel to Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and that we needn’t bother with it. “California’s allusions contain little charm, but his original material is far worse,” she says.
That isn’t really a book from a dead author. In fact, Salinger isn’t dead and doesn’t like the book. But a real dead author has a new book coming. An unfinished work by Graham Greene, newly discovered at the author’s archive in the University of Texas, will be released in The Strand as a serial, and someone is to be commissioned to write the ending. The Strand has published other lost works previously. (via ArtsJournal)
Art in the White House
The Obamas are asking for artwork to display in the White House, emphasizing “works by black, Hispanic, Asian and female artists.” (via ArtsJournal)
The Critic as Librettist
Terry Teachout writes about being a drama critic who has written an opera libretto, The Letter.
Crossing the Lines by Richard Doster
Sports reporter Jack Hall didn’t see any problem with black athletes, especially if they were good, but he didn’t want his friends to think he was chummy with them or any Negro person. That would be crossing the line. His friends felt the same way. Playing baseball was fine. It’s not like those people were sitting in the same classroom or dancing with our children.
And Jack and Rose Marie Hall had a personal interest in avoiding desegregation issues. In the previous year, 1954, their home had been bombed by someone who didn’t like Jack’s public stand in favor of the Negro player on the local team. Now, the Halls have moved to Atlanta, and Jack’s new boss, Ralph McGill, wants to look into the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott inspired by Rosa Parks. Jack is the only reporter at a meeting of community leaders who choose then-unknown-preacher Martin L. King to lead the boycott. That frontline position gets King’s house bombed within a few months, and the Halls feel a new link to a family they would rather not befriend.
Crossing the Lines is loaded with historical detail, even some casual references from the characters which are not explained to the reader. It lead me to wonder if certain characters I took as wholly fictional creations were actually based on living people. Continue reading Crossing the Lines by Richard Doster