It’s National Book Week. It could not have come at a better time.
I’ve been reading. Of course I do that when I’m not sheltering in place too. But, since I am, I thought I’d offer some suggestions for the rest of us, while we’re staying home. I am recommending books I like, that you may not know. A lot of these are oldies, because oldies are going to be cheap to download onto your phone, tablet, kindle, etc.
Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop and anything else by Charles Dickens
Now somebody is saying, Dickens’ books are dull, because he was paid by the word. That isn’t true. Writers are still paid by the word. “True Confessions” magazine paid me three cents a word, for “Left At The Altar, Jilted Bride”. Then they edited the story so they could stiff me ten bucks. Editors are not now, nor ever have they been a generous breed.
Nineteenth century readers liked their books long and wordy. They had a lot of time to read, since there was no cable television or internet. Right now, we have a lot of time to read. So, it’s a good time to learn to appreciate the pleasures of nineteenth century literature. I would suggest starting with Dickens’ earlier works, written before his marriage went sour. They’re a little more upbeat.
Dickens’ books are about his characters. There are heroes and heroines you care about, and villains you love to hate. Since you’ve got some time on your hands, make the acquaintance of Mr. Micawber, Miss Pross, The Marchioness, and the Crummles.
The Moonstone, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Collins was a contemporary and friend of Mr. Dickens, but he wrote page turners. These books will keep you intrigued for hours, as you find out who stole The Moonstone, and what is the secret of the woman in white.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
Becky Sharp wants to move up the social ladder. He sweet friend Amelia just wants to stay where she is. Follow Becky’s climb to the top, and Amelia’s struggles, as a good woman in a bad world. Thackery isn’t Dickens. Good does not always triumph, and wickedness is nt always punished. That shocked the Victorians, of course. But I think you’ll be entertained.
Murder Must Advertise, Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
I love mysteries, and Sayers is my all time favorite mystery writer. I can re read her stories. Even though I know who done it. Because her books are more than just thrillers. They are character studies, comments on society, “Murder Must Advertise” involves the drug trade. “Gaudy Night” is about women’s choices . Through it all, Lord Peter Wimsey the English aristocrat, who seems so supercilious, and Harriet Vane, the hardworking mystery writer, search for clues, and solutions to difficulties, while they work out a complicated relationship.
Dorothy Sayers lived in Oxford, where she palled around with a couple of guys called C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. They drank together at two local pubs, and talked about each other’s work. She was never as prolific as Agatha Christie, but her books are much better.
The ScrewItape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Everybody knows that Lewis was a Christian writer. So, the Evangelicals claimed him as their own, even though he liked his beer, and didn’t believe God handed out Cadillacs. The book is a series of letters from a devil called Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, who is out to capture his first soul. It isn’t preachy. It’s clever, witty, wise, and wonderful to read. I consider myself a Christian, and, though I don’t see eye to eye with Lewis all the time, I enjoy it. A friend who practiced cookbook witchcraft and had a succession of lovers liked it too, because Screwtape is so deliciously evil. The book was written during the second world war, when people in Britain were sheltering in place, and worried about their survival. Reading it will take you an afternoon. I’m guessing you have one of those free. Spend it with Screwtape and Wormwood.
My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives, Fauna and Family by Gerald Durrell.
These are the books that inspired the series “The Durrells of Corfu”. The series is good. The books are better. Gerald Durrell’s chronicles of his boyhood, with a decidedly eccentric family on an island in the Agean are laugh out loud funny.
Durrell was a self taught naturalist, who revolutionized the way zoos are run. He was also a wonderful writer. You can enjoy his descriptions of life on the island, and what his family said when he brought home a mother scorpion and her family, put snakes in the bathtub, dissected a turtle on the front porch.
You will be laughing.
You will also enjoy his chronicles of collecting animals as an adult, and building his own zoo on the Island of Jersey. Look for “Zoo in my Luggage”, “Catch Me A Colubus”, and just about anything else he’s written. Right now we all need a good laugh, and Durrell’s books are hilarious.
Master and Commander, Post Captain, The HMS Surprise by Patrick O’Brian
Jack Aubrey is the original extrovert. Not the smartest man to ever command a ship, but outgoing, cheerful, boyish, and friends with Stephen Maturin, the ship’s doctor, scholar and definite introvert.
They meet at a concert, nearly wind up dueling, and become friends, sailing the world, and playing duets in the captain’s cabin.
Set in the early nineteenth century, during the Napoleonic wars, there is action. There is some humor. There is just about everything that makes for a good read. O’Brian was a wonderful writer, and he had a real feel for the period. You like his characters, despite their flaws. You may not be able to leave the house, but you can go to sea with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.
Cocaine Blues. Flying Too High, Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood
These are the first three chronicles of Phryne Fisher. a flapper in 1920s Australia, who solves mysteries, between lovers and good times. Phryne came from a wealthy family, but she wasn’t interested in making the rounds of parties and finding a suitable husband. She’s much happier living on her own, with Dot, her maid and Mr. and Mrs. Butler, the household help, not to mention Bert and Cece the cab drivers, and the rest of her interesting friends. You can find “Miss Fisher’s Mysteries” on Acorn TV. But the TV Miss Fisher keeps getting rescued. Miss Fisher of the books, is quite capable of rescuing herself and anyone else who needs rescuing. The books are serious fun, and there are plenty of them. Sadly, I’ve read my way through the series. Happily, you haven’t and you have plenty of time to get started.
A Free Man of Color, Fever Season, To Die Upon A Kiss by Barbara Hambly
More historical mysteries, these are set in New Orleans in the 1830s, and 40s. Benjamin January is a free man of color, part of the large African American middle class who were part of New Orleans in the nineteenth century. His mother was a placee the free Black mistress of a wealthy white gentleman. Benjamin is educated, a trained physician and a musician, who is part of the very active music scene in the city. His sister, Olympe, is a vodouienne, a voodoo priestess. His sister Dominique is a placee. Benjamin has adventures with the New Orleans Opera, the underground railroad, plantations, and brothels. He travels to Mexico, and the unsettled west.
Barbara Hambly keeps you turning pages. She gives you a feeling for the time and the place. Her characters are interesting, you care about them. Her plots will have you turning pages. Again, there are plenty in the series, including a new one, I haven’t read yet, since I can’t get to the library. (I would kiss Ivanka Trump for a copy!)
Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
The first book in a series of very funny mysteries with bird themes. A more than quirky southern family has two weddings going on, and one of the brides wants peacocks. These are really fun, good escapist stuff, and, once again, there are plenty of them.
In Camelot’s Shadow by Sarah Zettel
I was in this lady’s wedding, but I’d be recommending her books even if I didn’t know her, because they’re good. “In Camelot’s Shadow” is her take on the story of Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, and the first in a series of Arthurian novels. Her heroines are never damsels in distress. Her heroes are true knights.
You could also look for “Fools War”, “Sorceror’s Treason” “The Kingdom of the Cages” and any of her science fiction or fantasy books, because they are all good.
These Vampires Still Don't Sparkle from Sky Warrior Books, Unintended Consequences from Wolfsinger Publications, The First Class, How Many Remain by Jean Martin
These Vampires Still Don’t Sparkle is an anthology of vampire stories. Two of them are good. One of them, Miss Transylvania, is mine. Unintended Consequences is an anthology of science fiction stories, including, “Ernie the Spacebug Loves Korngeld Beer”, which I wrote. The First Class chronicles graduates of an exclusive Connecticut prep school in the early years of the twenty first century. How Many Remain, imagines a presidential assassination, and the violent reaction of that president’s way too loyal base. They’re both available on kindle, as are the anthologies. I don’t know how good any of them are, but damn it, I need the money! I can’t work right now, and Mr. Trump isn’t being helpful.
She Captains by Joan Duvett
Non fiction, which is often better than the anything anyone could make up. Duvet chronicles women’s lives at sea. Women who sailed with their husbands. Women pirates. Women who were transported to Australia. Lady Hamilton and Lady Nelson, two women attached to the greatest English admiral. There are stories of women light house keepers. An account of Captain Kidd’s wife, who was quite a remarkable lady. Stories of women who captained ships. This will keep you interested.
Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden
The true story of Dorothy Woodruff, and Rosamund Underwood, two young women from wealthy families and graduates of Smith College left Auburn, New York for the Colorado mountains, in the early years of the twentieth century to be teachers.
They were bored with the social whirl. They wanted to do something worthwhile. So, they took over a two room school in a small town in what was, still, the wild west. Both ladies were supposed to teach domestic science, though neither one of them could cook.
They weren’t prepared to ski to school in sub zero weather, or ride to school through thick mud. They weren’t prepared to see the grinding poverty their students lived in. But they kept on. They taught for a year, and gained experience for a lifetime. One of the ladies would marry a local man and remain in Colorado. This is a good read for bad times.
On The Burning Deck, the Road to Akron by Tom Jones
A chronicle of the author’s family in Kentucky and Ohio in the early years of the twentieth century. An antidote to “Hillbilly Elegy”, and other books that tell you that poor whites are lazy and dimwitted.
These people are hard workers. Decent, honest, as well educated as they could be given their times and circumstances. Another good book for now.
AND FOR THE YOUNGER READERS
Lord Chocolate Here I Am by Margaret Peacock
Samantha Sitlow is a feisty orphan who has lived in a series of quirky foster homes. Her new parents seem to want her to stay. While Sam deals with the idea of having a permanent family, she decides to head back to her old neighborhood, and revisit some of the places she went with her mother.
On her way, she finds a five year old with Down’s Syndrome, who has wandered out of his yard. His way of saying “More chocolate” sounds like Lord Chocolate, so that’s what she calls him. Lady Sam and Lord Chocolate have to make their way to the police station, so she can get the little boy home. On the way they meet a Russian pizza vendor with a dog called Ivan (The Terrible) that disposes of leftovers and protects the stand. The owner of a pet store called Adopt A Fish, and a wheelchair bound street magician, who likes to hide people’s hats.
Comet in Moomin Valley, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
I met the Moomins as a child courtesy of a Finnish babysitter. They are huge in Finland, but not too well known here. Moomins are gentle creatures who have their own way of doing things. As when they find a top hat, and, since none of them can wear it, they use it as a wastebasket, which wouldn’t really be a problem if it hadn’t been a magic hat. When you put something into it, it turns into something else, and you can’t really be sure what.
“Comet in Moomin Valley” introduces the Moomins, their friends, The Snork, the Snork Maiden, and Snuffkin, as they try to deal with a comet that may come so close to Moominvalley that they will all be burned up. Don’t worry, they survive into a long and lovely series. Very fun and very funny. Now is a great time to meet the Moomins and their friends.
Please note, there is no law saying adults can’t read kids books, if they want to. Even if you don’t have children, you can still enjoy these stories. I’m certainly not going to tell on you.
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Sweden is such an orderly, well run country, maybe that’s why it’s home to Pippi, the little girl who lives by herself with a horse and a monkey, and takes smart pills, so she doesn’t have to go to school. She has been a joy to generations of children, as she outwits adults who think they’re clever, and enjoys life in her own way. This is a good time to meet Pippi.
The Wizard of Oz, The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz etc. by L. Frank Baum et al.
Okay, you know the movie, where Dorothy had ruby slippers and Oz was just a dream. Those of us who know the books, know Dorothy had silver slippers, and Oz is a real place, because Dorothy went back there through a long series of sequels.
Oz was the Harry Potter of it’s time, and Baum knew a good thing when he saw it. So he wrote a lot of Oz books, and his admirers are still writing them.
So, visit Oz, where Munchkins are normal sized. Meet Professor H.M. Wogglebug T.E. Find out what happened to Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of the kingdom of Oz, meet the dastardly Gnome King, learn what happened to the royal family of Ev. Again, there are plenty in the series, and more coming. Oz has a life of it’s own.
The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
In 1986, the leaders of New York’s largest trucking companies conspired to take over the streets. Their first targets were the pushcart peddlers, led by Maxi Hammerman, the Pushcart King. The Pushcart Peddlers fight back, arming themselves with pea shooters that shoot peas with a pin through them, and give the trucks flat tires. (This doesn’t work. My sister and I tried.) Combat escalates, until the war is resolved with a peace conference.
This book was written in the sixties, during the Vietnam war, by a woman who wanted to explain how conflicts begin, and how they are resolved. That’s still relevant. The idea for the pea shooters comes from a Hispanic peddler. The pushcart general is a woman named Anna. This is a lovely fun book. It may come from a time before cell phones and social media, but kids will still enjoy it, and so will you.
Even Mr. Trump admits we’re stuck home for another month. So, we might as well enjoy it. Find a good book and have a good read.
I’m guessing, if anyone reads this, the comments section will be full of recommendations for books other people have enjoyed. I look forward to reading those comments. Maybe I’ll find something I want to read. I could do with a good book right now.