Ponder: Still Life

Still Life by Louise Penny ©2005 is the first book in a series of murder mysteries featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Quebec. Normally murder mysteries are not my favorite book genre but I enjoyed Still Life much more than I anticipated. The plot line was engaging; a murder existed, of course, but it was not gruesome. Description of the corpse contained enough detail for purposes of investigation but did not wallow in grisly minutia for the sake of shock value. The dead body was quite tidy actually. A concise overview of the storyline from Amazon reads

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods.

What I enjoyed most from this book was the character of the chief investigator, Armand Gamache, who was competent, experienced, psychologically savvy, and observant but above all kind and stern and strong at turns when each demeanor was required. In training new agents, Chief Inspector Gamache  tells them the four sayings that can lead to wisdom – four sentences his own mentor taught him. They are: "I was wrong, I'm sorry, I don't know, I need help". The crime takes place in Montreal and I gained more insight about the culture there. Having recently visited Montreal in October of 2016 as a tourist (hmm... on second thought maybe that is not so "recent") I was oblivious to some subtleties of the spoken language there and the book enlightened me. In Canada, being by law a bilingual nation, there is, in Montreal, an undercurrent of resentment between the francophones and anglophones. Apparently bilingualism is not the panacea of compromise I was led to believe. I learned that a surêté means the criminal investigation department of the French government. Quebec's interference in Montreal's local affairs was not welcomed with open arms. Although these of patches friction peeked through, they were not overall influences on the general ambience of the setting, but did give it dimension. Little dabs of local humor were injected throughout. One example is the village being described as crime free, where neighbor trusts neighbor, and the only time folks lock their door is during the peak of harvest season to prevent unwanted baskets of over abundant zucchini being dropped inside their home. The website GrowaGoodLife.com accompanies the following photo with the phrase.

Ah zucchini… It’s the crop that just keeps on giving.

The small village of Three Pines is an artist community and I absorbed some information about painting, art judging, and shows. I also became aware of the double entendre of Still Life, the title of the book. We typically think of still life as "a painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects, typically including fruit and flowers and objects contrasting with these in texture, such as bowls and glassware". In Chapter Seven, Myrna, a former psychologist, gives a different interpretation. She states her observation that a minority of her clients got better quickly because they worked at it, wanted to change. They were not her patients for long.

"The others said they wanted to get better, but I think, and this isn't popular in psychology circles," – here she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially – "I think many people love their problems. Gives them all sorts of excuses for not growing up and getting on with life." Myrna leaned back in her chair and took a long breath. "Life is change. If you are not growing and evolving you're standing still, the the rest of the world is surging ahead. Most of these people are very immature. They lead 'still lives', waiting".

I think the previous passage is also a cleverly-worded and discretely-placed clue as to "whodunnit". I struggled a bit in the early chapters because so many characters were introduce among the villagers and I felt my own paranoid need to commit each and every one to memory. I had to, right? Otherwise how could I meet the challenge of solving the mystery and discerning the killer before the novel revealed who it was? But the characters' personalities came out as I continued to read, and my initial concern lapsed into a comfortable knowledge and recognition of each, including their quirks, strengths, and weaknesses. The plot held together, the clues were solid and doled out at a reasonable pace, and the ending was satisfying. Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery was a 2013 made-for-TV movie based on the book. It has an IMDB rating of 5.4 out of ten, not stellar; but I am still curious enough to seek it out and watch it. The list of awards for Still Life the novel is long and impressive. 

• New Blood Dagger (annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association (CWA) for first books by previously unpublished writers)
• Arthur Ellis (an annual award from the Crime Writers of Canada that recognizes excellence in Canadian crime writing)
• Barry (a crime literary prize awarded annually since 1997 by the editors of Deadly Pleasures, an American quarterly publication for crime fiction readers. )
• Anthony (literary award for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986)
• Dilys (presented every year from 1992 to 2014 by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. It was given to the mystery title of the year which the member booksellers have most enjoyed selling)

For a good sample of the author's style, the entire first chapter of Still Life is on Louise Penny's website. Still Life was close to 300 pages long with fourteen chapters. Since I tend to use a chapter end as a natural breaking point, reading seemed a long time between breaks. My paperback version was printed in what I think must have been 9 or 10 point font. It took me a while to get through the book. I give Still Life 4 stars in my rating system with translates to Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience. I liked this author's style. I have requested her second novel from the library and am on a wait list. Louise Penny so far has published fifteen Chief Inspector Armand Gamache murder mysteries. The order of the Gamache books, from first to most recent, is as follows:

1) Still Life ©2005, 2) A Fatal Grace/Dead Cold (same book, different title), 3) The Cruelest Month, 4) A Rule Against Murder/The Murder Stone (same book, different title), 5) The Brutal Telling, 6) Bury Your Dead, 7) A Trick of the Light, 8) The Beautiful Mystery, 9) How the Light Gets In, 10) The Long Way Home, 11) The Nature of the Beast, 12) A Great Reckoning, 13) Glass Houses, 14) Kingdom of the Blind, 15) A Better Man ©2019.

I will not be whizzing through her list of fifteen anytime soon but it is comforting to find an internationally best selling author whose works I can intersperse with my other "Books to Read" choices.

Alex Night To Shine 2020

A couple weeks ago on Friday, February 7th, Alex went to Night to Shine, a prom night experience, for people with special needs ages 14 and older along with his housemates. He went last year, dapper-looking with a red bow tie and matching cummerbund, regaled in blog post dated 2/24/2019. This year, when I took him for his tux rental, I mixed it up a bit and opted for royal blue with a vest rather than a cummerbund. We tried his outfit on in the store a couple days before the event. The clerk and I told him how handsome he looked... especially after I convinced him to remove his ever present hat.

Alex is really into using the dust pan and broom in his home. On the night of prom, in his tux with vest, bow tie askew and minus jacket but with hat and bandana, he is passing the time, waiting for the ladies to finish up their dressing and primping. It may be a cliché but nevertheless it is true; women really do take longer!

He giggled when Marian put hairspray and pomade on his hair. Then he posed alone, with me, with Frank, and with both of us.

I took some more photos outdoors as the crew was getting ready to leave. Doesn't Alex look stately? He and Jamie wore the biggest smiles.

Frank plays the role of the noble prince as he helps one of the gals don her magic slipper.

Alex strikes a regal pose outside before his departure. A tuxedo really brings out the handsomeness in a man. See what I mean? He rivals Remington Steele or James Bond. 

At the Night To Shine festivities Alex was paired with a cute girl for the evening. We were told he had a great time... and ate a lot!

Ponder: Love Story

Fifty years has gone by since Erich Segal published that ever popular novel Love Story. The book was accompanied by the release of the 1970 movie of the same name starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw. This being February, the month of valentines, I thought I would re-read the book. Actually, I believe I have never read it and I wanted to.

I borrow the 50th Anniversary Edition from a sister library of my local Livermore one. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick read – my paperback version was only 131 pages long.

The opening sentences of Love Story contain a spoiler.

What can you say about a twenty-five year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.

The introduction to the 50th anniversary addition is written by Francesca Segal, daughter of Erich Segal. She succinctly describes the book as

... a simple love affair between Harvard hockey star Oliver Barrett IV and the wise-cracking working-class music scholar Jenny Cavilleri.

In the introduction (oddly enough not in my book copy but available on the Amazon Look inside⤵︎ feature) Francesca Segal goes on to explain an aspect I had not truly appreciated from seeing the movie many years ago.

Part of its enduring appeal, half a century later, is that it is really two love stories – the first between a man and a woman, the second, no less poignant, between a man and his son.

I also learned from that introduction that at the time he wrote Love Story, Erich Segal was a young professor at Yale and had just learned that a former student of his from Harvard has lost his wife to cancer at age twenty-five.

I immensely enjoyed the banter throughout between Oliver and Jennifer. Here is a sample from their first meeting.

"You look stupid and rich, " she said, removing her glasses.
"You're wrong," I protested. "I'm actually smart and poor."
She was staring straight at me. Her eyes were brown. Okay maybe I look rich, but I wouldn't let some 'Cliffie – even one with pretty eyes – call me dumb.
"What the hell makes you so smart?" I asked.
"I wouldn't go for coffee with you", she answered.
"Listen – I wouldn't ask you."
"That," she replied, "is what makes you stupid."

This book made me laugh and yes, it made me cry. Some books do deserve a re-read, especially when your stage in life has changed and, along with it, your perspective. Now I am going to re-watch the movie and probably cry again. Per the Wikipedia article on Love Story 

The novel was an instant commercial success despite scathing reviews. It was nominated for a National Book Award, but withdrawn when the judges threatened to resign. William Styron, the head judge for fiction that year, called it "a banal book which simply doesn't qualify as literature" and suggested that even by being nominated it would have "demeaned" all the other novels under consideration.

Talk about snobbery! I believe Love Story by Erich Segal is an oldie but goodie, worthy of five stars.

Ponder: Sold on Monday

Along with the shocking title, the illustrations on the front and back covers fueled my desire to read Sold on Monday ©2018 by Kristina McMorris. I read it with relish and highly recommend it to others.

Ellis Reed is a rookie newspaper columnist relegated to writing fluff articles for the society column. He takes photos as part of his assignment, but to allay his boredom he periodically takes drives in the country, idly taking photos of nature and other items more interesting than the society events he covers. He comes across two young boys sitting on a porch of a rundown home near the following hand painted sign.

The novel's story starts with that photo and speeds on, unfolding a whole slew of unexpected turns of events. The newsroom's secretary, Lily Palmer, plays a key role in what follows. What is expected of her as a women in the workplace – and what she is believed incapable of – is fitting for the era of the 1930's time setting. For the newsroom editor I pictured the gruff Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

The plot is not predictable in the least. The characters are multifaceted. Relationships between Ellis and his parents and Lily and her parents are complicated, enigmatic, but steeped in love. There are few stereotypes, but those that there are, serve the purpose of setting a tone that gives credence to the reactions of the main characters and their thought processes. Yes, I realize I am being vague in this review, but there are so many unexpected, yet logical occurrences that I do not want to ruin the read for anyone who picks up this book. That goes for the author's note at the very end, also. It contains spoilers.

Ellis and Lily often act out of fear – fear of losing their jobs, or their reputation, or even their lives – but forge on because of what they believe to be morally right. Being afraid is not a weakness. I kept recalling the quote from the 2000 movie Bounce with Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow.

It's not brave if you're not scared.

I rate this novel 5 stars. There was a brief interlude in a few early chapters where I was losing confidence in the main character Ellis and I was disappointed with some of Lily's choices, but I pushed on. Nothing is black and white, and the gray shadows within gave the book depth. I am really glad I persevered to complete the tale. Kristina McMorris's Sold on Monday was great! Read it! Also, read the author's note after you've finished the book.