Tom Sawyer to me is on par with Huckleberry Finn--and one needs to read both together. The Sound and the Fury is one of my favorites. Faulkner really displays his skills as a writer getting into these characters from the dysfunctional Compson family told from each point of view. The Great Gatsby has no filler, for every word in the novel contributes. The perfect novel.
When I was about 10, Beth Marchi and I decided to cut class and go to the beach. It was Spring, and for San Francisco relatively warm. A glorious day. Anyway, when I innocently arrived to school the next day, the teacher came over to me in front of the class and lectured me for being such a juvenile delinquent. Beth was there, and yet she never got scolded. And I'll never know how I got caught. When my parents found out, I was grounded for a week. No playground, TV or the outdoors for me. Plus, on my report card I got improvements needed on every category, which in retrospect was ridiculous. I only was this "juvenile delinquent" once. Fortunately, I had a library/bookcase in my room, and there were a few books I hadn't read. So I spent that week reading and realized this wasn't much of a punishment. I recall one of the books was Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. Glorious. Although I was forced to stay indoors and didn't have a cold, but was just a juvenile delinquent, there is a parallel.
Take care, Lowell. I developed one too. But today in DC--where weather is bipolar--it is going to be 70. They opened a new bagelry in Cleveland Park, and I'm going over there--it is only a block away--and I'll have lox with a schmear of cream cheese and a chocolate egg cream. Gotta have onions on that bagel.
Have you ever tried writing fiction, Lowell? Have you ever wanted to? A man as well read as you and with as much writing experience as you have, you'd probably be quite good at it. With all the stories you've read, I bet you have one of you own you'd like to tell.
You probably haven’t read 3,000 Years Among the Microbes. It’s an otherworldly short story that reads like science fiction but in essence is a scathing satire on the human condition. Interestingly the protagonist’s name is Huck. Very hard to find; it’s included in the Iowa Press 11 volume The Complete Works of Mark Twain. I discovered it at, of all places, the Zürich Bibliothek (which has an extensive Twain collection), but it’s likely part of the Bancroft Library’s Mark Twain Collection. 45 years later and I still think about it. Worth a read if you’re ever there.
I’m in the latter stages of recovering from a cold as well. Hope you feel better.
Got my Ring Lardner stories mixed up. Just re-read them. The unreliable narrator is the "busher" in the "You Know Me Al" stories, told in the first person through his letters to his friend Al. Alibi Ike is told in the third person about a ballplayer who has an excuse for everything, even his successes.
Dude, read his book about Joan of Arc, and then reconsider your conclusion here.
Twain himself said that that was the best thing he ever wrote. (And it shows.)
Get well Mr Cohn …
Tom Sawyer to me is on par with Huckleberry Finn--and one needs to read both together. The Sound and the Fury is one of my favorites. Faulkner really displays his skills as a writer getting into these characters from the dysfunctional Compson family told from each point of view. The Great Gatsby has no filler, for every word in the novel contributes. The perfect novel.
When I was about 10, Beth Marchi and I decided to cut class and go to the beach. It was Spring, and for San Francisco relatively warm. A glorious day. Anyway, when I innocently arrived to school the next day, the teacher came over to me in front of the class and lectured me for being such a juvenile delinquent. Beth was there, and yet she never got scolded. And I'll never know how I got caught. When my parents found out, I was grounded for a week. No playground, TV or the outdoors for me. Plus, on my report card I got improvements needed on every category, which in retrospect was ridiculous. I only was this "juvenile delinquent" once. Fortunately, I had a library/bookcase in my room, and there were a few books I hadn't read. So I spent that week reading and realized this wasn't much of a punishment. I recall one of the books was Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. Glorious. Although I was forced to stay indoors and didn't have a cold, but was just a juvenile delinquent, there is a parallel.
Take care, Lowell. I developed one too. But today in DC--where weather is bipolar--it is going to be 70. They opened a new bagelry in Cleveland Park, and I'm going over there--it is only a block away--and I'll have lox with a schmear of cream cheese and a chocolate egg cream. Gotta have onions on that bagel.
Hope you are feeling better Lowell. Love that you are getting a chance to rest and read. Love reading your Substack posts. Cheers, Nan
Have you ever tried writing fiction, Lowell? Have you ever wanted to? A man as well read as you and with as much writing experience as you have, you'd probably be quite good at it. With all the stories you've read, I bet you have one of you own you'd like to tell.
You probably haven’t read 3,000 Years Among the Microbes. It’s an otherworldly short story that reads like science fiction but in essence is a scathing satire on the human condition. Interestingly the protagonist’s name is Huck. Very hard to find; it’s included in the Iowa Press 11 volume The Complete Works of Mark Twain. I discovered it at, of all places, the Zürich Bibliothek (which has an extensive Twain collection), but it’s likely part of the Bancroft Library’s Mark Twain Collection. 45 years later and I still think about it. Worth a read if you’re ever there.
I’m in the latter stages of recovering from a cold as well. Hope you feel better.
Oops, senior moment. Make that University of Iowa Press.
Hope you feel better Lowell
Speaking of unreliable narrators, Lowell, have you ever read the Alibi Ike stories by Ring Lardner?
love them
Got my Ring Lardner stories mixed up. Just re-read them. The unreliable narrator is the "busher" in the "You Know Me Al" stories, told in the first person through his letters to his friend Al. Alibi Ike is told in the third person about a ballplayer who has an excuse for everything, even his successes.