CBR9 #6: Crystal Flowers: Poems and a Libretto by Florine Stettheimer

I love traveling alone, and one of the things I like to do on my trips is go to museums. I just dig learning things I didn't know, I guess. The problem--when it comes to cities I've visited before--is that I have often already seen the better-known museums. And when it comes to New York City, I've worked my way through MOMA, the Met, the Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, and several of the other most well-known institutions. So this last time I visited, I decided to branch out and visit a couple I'd never heard of before.

One of the three museums I visited on my last trip was The Jewish Museum of New York City. Now before you ask, I'm not Jewish. But like I said, I enjoy learning things, and this museum just happened to be near the location of a theater where I was going to be seeing a show in the afternoon.

It was a Friday afternoon in August, and when I arrived, I was informed that due to renovations, only one exhibit would be open. I was disappointed, but it was very hot outside, and the cost to see this exhibit would be minimal, so why not?

The entire exhibit was dedicated to the art of Florine Stettheimer. Florine was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1871. During her childhood, her father left the family, and once her two eldest siblings married, she was left to grow up with her mother and the other two youngest children, Carrie and Ettie. The four women traveled extensively, with Florine studying art both in the USA and abroad in Europe. Once they were adults, the Stettheimers became known in New York Society for holding a salon which was popular with modernist artists of the day. Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, and Gaston Lachaise were among the famous names who visited the Stettheimer home. Florine herself was a painter, though she refused to sell any of her art.

Wandering through the exhibit, I was delighted by Florine's work. She had a sense of whimsy and sly sarcasm that was clear among her group portraits and depictions of her New York social scene. But the thing that really caught my attention was her poems -- the museum had placed several of them on walls in among her paintings.

When I finally made my way to the gift shop, I discovered that they had a book of her collected poems for sale. Normally, I don't like to buy books at museums, because they're generally over-priced and annoying to carry around with me for the rest of my trip. However, this was a very slight volume, and a quick check of Amazon told me it would be cheaper to buy here and now. I continued to dither about it, until an unlikely lady named Ruth came over to start up a chat, and suggest to me that it was the universe that had brought me to this particular place at this particular time, perhaps even to buy this particular book!

There's really no arguing with that, is there?

Was I disappointed? Definitely not. Though it is a small book--poems collected and arranged by Florine's sister Ettie post-posthumously--there is quite a bit to see. Arranged by subjects, the breadth of Florine's opinions are on display. Some are deceptively simple (like the one above), many even child-like nursery rhymes with a sly undertone. Others hint at the societal conventions that couldn't be avoided during her time, even by a woman with the comparative freedom she enjoyed.

The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that I felt like I got to know the author a bit, and she was probably someone I would have liked a lot. Her sense of humor and passion for art would have made her someone who would be tremendously fun to know. In fact, I'm pretty sure we would be two of a kind.

CBR9 #5 Borgin Keep by Ron Ripley

I've read the entire Berkeley Street series, as well as the Haunted series, and I think this was definitely one of the better offerings. This time, former Marine Shane and his slowly growing band of willing (and unwilling) ghost hunting allies face their biggest challenge yet. While the ghosts of Borgin Keep are both very dangerous and very evil, Shane also must keep one step ahead of The Watchers, a ruthless and powerful organization who find him to be a threat to their shadowy goals.

As always, for me the best part are the characters. Shane and his ghost-hunting partner Frank (a former soldier/former monk) are joined once again by police detective Marie LaFontaine, who is a very tough woman determined to avenge a dead friend. I'm not as fond of Shane's girlfriend Courtney, but I understand her uses as far as character development.

The plot moves along quickly, and I found this book a little better fleshed out than a few of the previous ones in the series -- while I enjoyed Lake Nutaq and Slater Mill, I also found them just the slightest bit procedural. Borgin Keep has raised the stakes for Shane and for his friends. 

I also enjoyed, as usual, the epilogue chapters which give some details about the history of the ghosts in house. Since my favorite part of most ghost stories are the researching bits wherein the heroes find out who the ghosts are and what motivates them, these bonus chapters are a real treat.
This is a great read, but definitely requires reading the rest of the series in order to understand it.

CBR9 #4: Missing People: Disturbing Stories From The Last 100 Years: People That Disappeared Without A Trace by Roger P. Mills

I am a big fan of true crime books, and normally I'm pretty forgiving about the occasional typo or incorrect word, but this book unfortunately didn't make up in content what it lacked in style.

The book covered what could have been interesting ground, including the missing Malaysian Air flight, the Sodder family fire, and several other disappearances from both recent times and the distant past. However, none of them were covered with any depth, and it seemed clear that the author did not do any of his own research. These were basically brief summaries of the cases, sometimes with the addition of bizarre conspiracy theories as to what may have happened to the missing people. 

In addition, I found the tone perhaps too conversational for the subject matter. While I don't mind a slightly less formal tone (M William Phelps's work comes to mind) I found this to be uneven and distracting. 

I would also agree with other reviewers who complained that this ebook was only about 60% Missing People, and about 40% previews for the author's other two books, one about Ouija Boards and one about Bigfoot. (I didn't read those, so I can't vouch for their quality.)

On the whole, I'd give this book a pass.

CBR9 #3: Missing Wives, Missing Lives by JJ Slate

There's a lot of discussion these days about things that are dangerous to women--is it heart disease? Is it stress? Car accidents? Drugs? Serial killers? Trans women in bathrooms?--but it seems like one of the biggest hazards to women are the men in their lives.

This book details the cases of thirty women who vanished. Stretching back to 1976, and with cases as recent as 2007, the women featured in this book seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. For some, the legal system was able to prove a case against the men in their lives, but for others, the search for justice may never be resolved.

The amazing thing to me was the stories that the husbands gave upon their wives' disappearances. "So, you had a fight, and she just left the house--at 3am. In her pajamas. Barefoot. Without her purse, or her glasses, or her car, or her TEETH? Leaving her small dependent children behind. And you decided to say nothing for three weeks? And while she was gone you replaced your mattress and moved your girlfriend into the house?" It boggles the mind that many of them managed to get away with most likely murdering their significant others, despite there being a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing right at them like a neon sign.

Could some of these women have run away to start new lives away from their ostensibly abusive spouses? Could some of them have been snatched off the street by a predatory stranger? Perhaps. Is it likely? No.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this book--it's not exactly a fun read. However, it is important to remember these women, and know that these are only thirty cases among thousands. According to this report from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/06/us/dome...) an average of THREE women are murdered EVERY DAY in the United States by their intimate partners. The story this book tells is merely the tip of a terrifying iceberg.

ETA: Sorry about the weird formatting. I don't know what's even happening here.

CBR9 #2 - Southern Gods

I've had Southern Gods on my TBR list for so long I no longer remember why I put it there. Was it a recommendation from Amazon? From Goodreads? Did someone I know recommend it? Did it cross my path as a "If you liked __________ then you'll like this too!"

Maybe I heard it through the grapevine?

I only know that recently, I happened to come across it on my wishlist and decided to go ahead and splurge on it.

I'm glad I did.

In 1951 Memphis, war veteran and leg-breaker-for-hire Bull Ingraham gets a new assignment: a record company has lost one of their employees somewhere. Early Freeman set off to deliver new records to radio stations, and has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. His boss at Helios Records is anxious to find him...and also anxious to find a mysterious blues musician whose music can do terrible things to the living -- and to the dead.

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Sarah Rheinhart leaves her abusive husband and returns to her family home, where she hopes to recover, surrounded by her young daughter, her invalid mother, and her Uncle Gregor's books.

Both of these characters find themselves caught up in something that will shake their entire lives to the core, and rewrite everything they thought they knew about the world, drawing them together in the face of an ancient and immortal evil.

I liked this book a lot -- the plot was tightly wound, bouncing back and forth between Bull and Sarah's perspectives. While I preferred Bull, Sarah was a smart woman, though not particularly tough. Bull more reminded me of Russell Crowe's character in LA Confidential -- a tough guy who spends the majority of his time solving problems with his brawn, but isn't incapable of  using his brain, too. The story itself is, as some have said, a bit Lovecraft-meets-Faulkner, though it manages to mostly avoid the pitfalls of both. The descriptions are lush, and I found I really enjoyed the writing style.

On the whole, I'd recommend this to other horror fans -- it's pretty graphically gory in some places, so it's not for the faint-of-heart. Still, it's a good story written well.

Well, here goes nothing: CBR9 #1 - Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Another year, another attempt to complete a Cannonball Read. Last year I signed up and then didn't do a single review, which was pretty sad. Luckily, it's a new year, and I have a new chance to read and review and say "Fuck Cancer!"

So here we go!

Finders Keepers is the second book in King's Mr. Mercedes series, and is again more of a dectective thriller than the typical supernatural fare that you'd expect from a Stephen King novel. In this book, our heroes--former police detective Bill Hodges, anxiety-sufferer and super hacker Holly, and college student Jerome Richardson--are called in on a case by one of Jerome's sister's friends. They find themselves in a race against time, facing a dangerous and single-minded murder.

I liked the book a lot--the events unfurled in such a way that I spent much of the novel on the edge of my seat, watching as multiple groups of people converged in a suspense-filled climax. However, I wish we could have spent more time with Bill, Holly, and Jerome, whom I grew really fond of during their adventures in Mr. Mercedes. The new characters were pretty good, though, especially Pete, the teenage boy on whom the action hinges.

This is a great book for those who enjoy detective thrillers, though it definitely needs to be read after Mr. Mercedes, and is clearly setting up a final showdown in the third book of the trilogy, End of Watch. There's also a certain amount to be said about King's thoughts on literature and literary obsession, which he weaves into the story with a deft hand.

On the whole, thumbs up!