The Lost Language of Oysters by Andrew McCall Smith

 

I am particularly fond of Alexander McCall Smith’s Professor Dr. Von Igelfeld novels because they are imbued with delightful satire about college professors. These are the kind of people who can have long arguments about whether there is a case for the development of a new linguistic tense called the “past-trivial”, which would refer to things so unimportant that they should be forgotten immediately.  

The Lost Language of Oysters is set in a fictional hidebound German university, and the lead character is the good Professor Dr. Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, whose claim to academic fame rests upon the publishing of his seminal and highly regarded study of Portuguese irregular verbs. His coveted Chair is so august that it has no required teaching responsibilities and “almost unlimited funds for conference attendance.”

His friend, and also rival, is Professor Dr. Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer. Their coffee lounge sparring is constant, but goes astray when two female American scholars arrive for a visit. One of them is an avid motorcycle rider, and Professor Von Igelfeld develops quite an interest in her—so much so that he lets her take him for a ride on her rented bike. This unusual behavior is so out of character for him that Professor Unterholzer believes his colleague has gone insane. This allows him to suggest to higher authorities that Von Igelfeld should be sent to a rest home for treatment. This, by happenstance, would also allow him to take over Von Igelfeld’s plush and much envied office space.

These events could be the basis for major interpersonal warfare or even lead to a fine murder mystery,  but this is Andrew McCall Smith, and all the skirmishes end pleasantly amidst a full measure of amusement and gentle chuckles. Pick this little volume up for a quick, and enjoyable read.  There will be no need to ponder the great issues of life.   

I give it a solid four out of five

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 [JDY2]

Theater Kid by Jeffery Seller

 

Theater Kid is a newly published theatre memoir and Jeffery Seller is the almost perfect person to write this show business miracle story. He was adopted, ping ponged between a hard-working mother and a mentally unstable philandering father, and was gay. Although his early sexual awakenings were unrecognized, salvation came in the form of a love for the theatre and a literal worship of musicals. This culminated in a deep desire to make theatre happen.  

He goes to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan and gets a job in a booking agency. From there, he learns show business from the bottom up, finds boyfriends in spite of the scourge of AIDS, and ultimately captures the golden ring by producing Rent. That opens the floodgates of success and he follows up with Tony Awards for Hamilton, In the  Heights, and Avenue Q.

Yes, all this, can be in your future too, but little time is spent on reminding the myriads of wannabees that Broadway Roulette, like all gambling operations, produces far more losers than winners.   

4 out of five

 

Review: Andrew Shaffer, Hope Rides Again

 

It’s bit early for a beach trash novel, but Shaffer’s Hope Rides Again earns a spot on the list. As Joe Biden is feeling out running for the presidency, he visits Barack Obama in Chicago. Obama’s Blackberry goes missing and the two men set out to solve the crime. There are improbabilities galore and lots of inside political jokes about Chicago and both men. It is occasionally funny, but mostly it is confusing and lame. Save your money. Go swimming at beach and take this book in the water with you.

Review The Brothers of Baker Street

 

Since the expiration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s copyright, there have been numerous books that feature further adventures of Sherlock Holmes, his wife, his daughter, or one of his relatives. The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Robertson was touted as the first modern crime novel series to use a Sherlock Holmes connection to anchor a modern story. Robertson introduces the Heath brothers--Regie and Nigel. Regie is a Barrister and tries cases. Nigel is a Solicitor who offers up legal advice and recommends a Barrister if a case goes to trial. In a strange coincidence their offices just happen to be located at  221 Baker Street in London and letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes keep arriving at this address. In another coincidence, their lease contract includes a provision that requires the current occupant of the address to answer all letters to Holmes to the best of their ability.

In the modern day, brother Regie is having a problem keeping his girlfriend out of the clutches of a wealthy pulp newspaper owner and Nigel is advising on a case in which a London black cab driver is accused of murdering two American tourists. Regie takes the case to court and manages to clear the driver, but things get more dicey when that driver is murdered and Regie is accused of killing him. Nigel does manage to get Regie out of the pokey and now all that needs to be done is to figure out whether the real killer is another frustrated black cab driver or the inventor of a GPS system that could put London’s venerable black cabs out of business by eliminating the need to pass the so-called “knowledge” in order to qualify as a driver.

Meanwhile, letters to Sherlock Holmes keep piling up at the law office. Most are ignored until one until one arrives signed by someone called “Moriarity” who claims to be a descendent of Sherlock’s old nemesis Dr. James Moriarity. The letter also seems to reveal things about the Black Cab murders that have not been known before.

The plot is clever and moves briskly.  There is a good deal of sly humor along with information on the world of London taxi drivers and the British trash press. There is also some mild sexual language, although in the end, Nigel’s girlfriend, Laura, turns out to be more than a pretty face with a great figure.  

 I reported on the 2^nd book in the series a while ago--titled The Baker Street Jurors, and I enjoyed it enough that I searched out its predecessor.  There is a 3^rd book in the series and I may see if I can find it in the next month or so.

I give this one a nice 3.5 out of 5. (i.e., never going to compete for the Nobel Prize, but a good read within its genre.)  

The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

 

Book Review The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

We begin with a quote from the book. “The high ground can be defended only if we are actually on it.” The problem for this book is determining where the high ground is: in a Russian insane asylum, in the twisted mind of a rogue CIA operative, in the equally twisted mind of a Jewish “golem”, or in the modern research on the nature of Symbology, Noetics, and Cosmic Consciousness.  If this already seems crazy, I suggest you leave Mr. Brown’s latest novel unread. If you still want to take the plunge, welcome to the historic city of Prague, under whose sacred ground lies a darker realm called Threshold, which will, when activated, control the world. The Prague background works well, especially if you’ve been there, and the thriller portions are engaging, but this is still not much of a novel.

Enter Robert Langdon, professor of Symbology, who travels to Prague to hear a lecture by   Noeticist scholar Katharine Solomon.  Langdon has a thing for Ms. Solomon, but unfortunately, after a rousing sleepover on the night before the lecture, Solomon disappears along with the manuscript of her most recent breakthrough book about the nature of human consciousness.

From here on, Brown keeps you on pins and needles as Langdon engages in a frenzied murder filled chase through and under the streets of Prague to find her. Complications multiply and it gets harder and harder to determine who the good guys are. As Langdon notes, “Quis custodiet Ipsos custodes.” Who will guard the guards?

All this running around is punctuated occasionally by philosophic ruminations about ancient mysticisms and the nature of cosmic consciousness. You are peppered with multi-syllabic words and fears of what might be hidden in the dark recesses of American and foreign intelligence operations. I finally cried ‘ENOUGH’ when every new underground door required a different secret code for access.

If you are really searching for inner wisdom and how the brain works, I would recommend David Brooks’ latest essay on that topic in The New York Times. Mr. Brown tries very hard to put  depth into his work, but I’m afraid he only succeeds in making the whole enterprise more ridiculous.  

I give it a 3 out of 5.

Book Review: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

 

This gets my vote for "sleeper of the year" just past. It seems to have  grown to a lovable best seller month by month over time.  

An old man named Theo (no last name provided) turns up in a bucolic, picture-perfect southern river town named Golden. He goes to a local coffee shop called “The Chalice.” Think about that for starters. On the walls of the shop are pencil portraits of customers drawn by a local artist and a notice that they are for sale. Since sales of the pictures seem moribund, Theo decides to buy the pictures one at a time, search out the sitters, and then arrange a meeting with them on a bench by a fountain in a local park, where he gives them the portrait and chats with them about their lives. It is a clever structural gambit that gives the entire novel a beautiful narrative push. Right from the beginning, the past becomes something that the main character is artfully hiding.  

Theo last lived in New York City and the fountain in the book reminds him of the Bethesda Fountain in New York’s Central Park. It had particular resonance for me because it reminded me of the symbolic importance of cleansing waters in a major play of the 1990’s titled Angels in America. Both feature an angel with spreading wings looking over those seated or walking by. Take note—What do angels do?

The giving of the gift of each portrait becomes a blessing, a small act of kindness with no strings attached that begins to reveal the life and inner soul of each recipient.  They are a varied lot. Among them are Mr. Whitaker, the custodian with a crippled daughter, Basil the street musician, Simone the cello student, and most moving of all, a woman on the spectrum who sleeps under bridges or at the local mission and carries all her possessions with her on an old bicycle.    

Some of the sitter’s stories are happy, some lightly touched with humor, some full of yearning, and some carry a full measure of sorrow and pain. Each little bio adds to the texture of the town of Golden. And each new revelation from one of the town’s residents brings with it a reminder of Theo’s mysterious concealment of his own history. It is literally what keeps you reading. Why did this man begin this unusual project, and what was he hiding from those he befriended as well as from the reader?  What was the cross Theo was carrying?  

Theo loves the natural world and especially birds. At one point, he describes a sunset that reveals a cloud of thousands of starlings and red wings each flying “with synchronized precision, a dancing funnel, undulating in perfect union.”  This spectacle he recalls has a name. It is called a “murmuration.” The same word was used just last week in David Brooks’ NYT essay on the strange way the brain works. This swirling image of the complicated yet unifying nature of life was a new word for me and it neatly encapsulates the whole book right up to its shocking and violent conclusion.  It leaves a reminder to Theo that beauty and goodness can exist right alongside his own and others’ grief. A carried cross can be lightened by the long view that the town of Golden, in spite of the presence of evil, can still have a “prevailing goodness.”  

A definite 5 and I don’t give “A’s” out lightly.

 

 

Book Review Baker Street Jurors by Michael Robertson

 

Michael Robertson’s 2016 novel, The Baker Street Jurors, is a bit silly at times, but it has a clever premise and enough character development and wry humor to make a quick and pleasant read. A solicitor who, now happens to work at the world famous London address of 221 B Baker Street, finds himself on a murder case jury. The group is barely empaneled before some of its members begin having accidents. As the pool grows smaller, the judge and jury take a trip to the island home of the defendant, and the accidents begin to turn even more deadly. The twists now would surely have confounded even the Holmesian aphorism of “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, must be the truth, however improbable.” Some of the goings on do stretch credibility, but it’s all in good fun when Sherlock has a hand in it. There are few more titles listed on the slip cover and I think I will check for their availability at our local library.

I give it a good  3.5 out of 5