Gulping Down Books One of the reasons the OED is so wonderfully and excruciatingly long is the thoroughness with which it treats almost every word. Nowhere is this more apparent than in S, which stretches across four of the twenty volumes and takes up more than three thousand pages . . . Though a relatively short book, it will take you longer than sesquihoral to read, but if you have sitzfleisch you will find it to be a swasivious read. I had begun The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder earlier, but left off at some point until this past week when it called my name. I’ve long been fascinated by Poe, and this particular story intertwining the real life death of a young woman and the story of Poe’s detective, Auguste Dupin who made his first appearance in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and continued his appearance in the story, Poe based on the Rogers case, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt.” This true crime mystery and its role in Poe’s sad and odd life gripped me this time around and didn’t let go. There is an art to eating this specialty, which takes a little practice: tip the head back and open the mouth wide, then hold the long white stalk high above you and bring it down between the teeth. A napkin should be tied around the neck before commencing, and this will soon be smeared with blackish trickles. A roof tile serves as a plate . . .The image of the onions on the black grill with the flames shooting up around them is nearly irresistible, and the accompanying recipe for the sauce of almonds, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, vinegar and oil into which the onions are dipped is, well, also irresistible. Breads, cheeses, coffee, wines, sherry, waters, meats, herbs, vegetables, seafood, sweets, fruits, olives and olive oils—each region’s specialties are presented in a cacophony of color that bursts forth in a mouthwatering display. Reading through this—half-reading, half-skimming actually—reawakened, at least temporarily, my interest in making calçotada when we fire up the grill next weekend. Isn’t that what a good cookbook should do? The last two books, both of them begun and still in progress came in for review. Kate Field: The Many Lives of a Nineteenth-Century American Journalist is the story of one of the first celebrity journalists. Normally I hate celebrity anything. I have no idea who is the current darling and who is the current “baddie” of today’s personality-obsessed media. In the nineteenth century, of course, celebrity had a different meaning because celebrities of note then had achieved something worthy. This woman would have turned up her nose at George Clooney. The book itself, a university press book, seems a bit slow at the start but it still has my attention. Let’s hope it keeps it. The second one begun is not a read as much as a guide, specifically a travel guide. Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West is a rather intriguing look at places connected to books and authors in a variety of ways. Though all of the information is no doubt available online, this book has brought much of it together in a delightful format that I will talk more about in my editor’s letter next week. Finally, another start. I’ve barely begun—in fact I am only on page three—of a mystery I picked up at BEA. I’m not much of a mystery fan but this one’s cover intrigued me. It’s a lovely B&W photograph of a Paris street corner with a building on the corner lit from inside. Large windows frame the quiet scene. A bicycle on the opposite corner leans against a tree trunk. With the exception of what appears to be one man in the building, no one is around. The title, Murder in the Rue de Paradis, spills across the top in what appears to be black on white, but is actually, when the book is turned just right, purple. I have hopes for a fun read. It has been a fantastic week, this one of gulping books. I don’t feel I missed anything because I don’t feel I rushed. It was not a speed-reading session. I wasn’t meeting some self-imposed goal or someone else’s. Rather, the sensation I had (and may still have since it is nearing bedtime, but the unfinished books are still calling out to me) was one of ecstasy, of wanting to inhabit the books, the stories, the places and the people. I wanted to feel what I was reading, to know intimately and in every way possible the books I chose. It was, I suppose, an ultimate reading adventure, one that satiates even as it creates an appetite for more. This Week . . . Mercury Theatre on the Air is most closely associated with Orson Welles and his infamous 1938 production of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The story of the panic this radio show caused among those who didn’t realize it was only entertainment is well known, but how many have heard the actual broadcast or those of other Mercury Theatre shows that were popular fare at the time? According to Art Pierce, the Mercury Theatre was the result of the collaboration of John Houseman and theatre “boy wonder” Orson Welles. Its reputation for quality was based on several factors, most notably that stories chosen for the air were based on their “suitability to the radio medium.” But the sound effects and music as well as Welles’ excellent performances and those of the cast (chosen not for names but for their ability) enabled the excellence. The opening presentation was Dracula, and other classical stories followed. When terror broke out during the War of the Worlds presentation Welles offered apologies later, but the resulting national and even international attention gained him a corporate sponsor (the name changing to the Campbell Playhouse), a better time slot and more money. When Welles moved on, the Playhouse continued for a while with Houseman. Welles even later produced and starred in more radio series, but none reached the quality of the original Mercury Theatre. Now it is possible to enjoy those original Mercury Theatre on the Air productions online thanks to Kim Sacrborough and others. Do listen, to all of them. It is an extraordinary experience to hear, as your parents or grandparents did, these original radio dramas that are not only important historical audio records, but brilliant entertainment. Until next week, read well, read often and read on! Lauren |