Quote from a Fictional Character #37

"Shiny clothes help. Men are like crows --- they like to pick up bright things, take them back to their nests, and poke at them with their beaks."

--- Maggie, "The Husbands,"

Come Up and See Me Sometime, Erika Krouse, 2001

(Rec. #122)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #68: Black Books

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Like most avid readers, I've toyed with the idea of owning a bookstore. Like Bernard Black, the bookstore owner played by Dylan Moran, I see that the downside to this is, clearly, dealing with the annoying people who interrupt your reading because they want to buy some books. Jerks.

Bernard deals with this by being an openly hostile malcontent who drinks and smokes while loudly and elaborately insulting people. It's very funny. Black Books also features Bill Bailey as Bernard's hapless but sweet assistant and Tamsin Grieg as their hapless and usually bored friend Fran.

Comparable to: Other misanthropic British comedies, plus the surrealistic-adventure-time plots of Spaced.

Representative quote:
Customer: Look, there's no other way to say this, but I didn't come in here to be insulted.
Bernard: Well, I didn't ask for the job of insulting you. In another life, we could have been brothers. Running a small, quirky taverna in Sicily. Maybe we would have married the local twins instead of wasting each other's time here in this dump. But it was not to be. So hop it.

You might not like it if: You have no pent-up aggression that can be released through the cathartic exercise of watching Bernard insult people.

How to get it: You can get the complete set, which includes all three seasons, or you can occasionally switch it up with something where people are nice to each other and don't drink much.

Connection to previous Wreckage: I said Kyril Bonfiglioli's Don't Point That Thing at Me (Rec. #31) was like someone let Dylan Moran loose in a P.G. Wodehouse novel. Now you have a visual for that.

[Originally posted 3/8/11.]

Rec. #347: Social Studies

What: In the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary Public Speaking, Toni Morrison describes Fran Lebowitz as (almost) always right, but (almost) never fair. Toni Morrison is not wrong.

Social Studies is Lebowitz's second book of essays (after Metropolitan Life), and in it she continues her cold, cutting, witty (wit is cold and cutting) assessment of modern life.

Representative quote: "Don't bother discussing sex with small children. They rarely have anything to add." (from "Parental Guidance")

Bonus representative quote: "I myself find many --- even most --- things objectionable. Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one's home." (from "When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes . . . Shut Them")

How to get it: Enjoy it, because since this book's publication in 1981, Lebowitz's self-described "writer's blockade" has gone on for thirty-odd years.

It's out of print as a stand-alone, but the entirety of Social Studies is part of The Fran Lebowitz Reader, which is in print and also Kindle-able.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Metropolitan Life was Rec. #188.

Quote from a Fictional Character #36

"I used to think you were a swell guy. Well, to be honest, I thought you were an imbecile. But then I figured out you WERE a swell guy... A little slow, maybe, but a swell guy. Well, maybe you're not so slow, but you're not so swell either."

--- Amy Archer,

The Hudsucker Proxy, 1994

(Rec. #106)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #38: What's Up, Doc?

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: A perpetual student, a musicologist, a government agent, and an aging debutante happen to have identical plaid suitcases and are all staying at the same San Francisco hotel. The farce that ensues leads to many things, including mistaken identity, an electrical fire, a shootout with the mob, and an elaborate car chase sequence involving a Chinese dragon.

My favorite scene takes place under a table in a convention hall. Bonus: Early crazy Randy Quaid appearance.

Comparable to: It's a good, old-fashioned screwball comedy, and a very effective one.

Representative quote:
Howard: Good morning.
Mr. Kaltenborn: No, I don't think so. I'm Mr. Kaltenborn, the manager of what's left of the hotel.
Howard: I'm sorry about this whole mess here. Usually this doesn't happen.
Mr. Kaltenborn: Dr. Bannister, I have a message for you from the staff of the hotel.
Howard: What is it?
Mr. Kaltenborn: Goodbye.
Howard: That's the entire message?
Mr. Kaltenborn: We would appreciate it if you would check out.
Howard: When?
Mr. Kaltenborn: Yesterday.
Howard: That soon?

You might not like it if: Sorry. You are legally and morally obligated to like a movie whose opening credits include the words "introducing Madeline Kahn."

How to get it: Buy it, borrow it, or rent it. Then consider buying a plaid suitcase.



[Originally posted 2/6/11.]

Rec. #346: The Towers of Trebizond

What: Rose Macaulay's most famous novel was published in 1956, but you might find yourself double-checking that date as you read because in some ways we still haven't caught up.

The Towers of Trebizond follows the narrator across Turkey, encountering camels, High Anglican clergy, a feminist doctor, competitive British travel writers, and disappearances into the Soviet Union. And then there's Aunt Dot.

Opening lines (famous opening lines, by the way): "'Take my camel, dear,' said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass."

You might not like it if: That ending throws you for a loop that you don't quite recover from.

How to get it: It's in print, but not currently Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Rose Macaulay's other works include Crewe Train (Rec. #84) and Told by an Idiot (Rec. #181).

Quote from a Fictional Character #35

"She came leaping towards me, like Lady Macbeth coming to get first-hand news from the guest room."

--- Bertie Wooster,
Joy in the Morning, P.G. Wodehouse, 1946

Friday Flashback: Rec. #75: Miss Pym Disposes

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Lucy Pym, a renowned psychologist, comes as a guest lecturer to a small college and soon finds herself embroiled in the day-to-day dramas and grievances of the students' lives.

Miss Pym Disposes is an acknowledged classic of the mystery genre, but the "mystery" part doesn't actually kick in until two-thirds of the way through the book. The in-depth character study becomes crucial, however, as the delayed suspense rests all of its significant weight on a single, fateful decision.

Comparable to: Like Ngaio Marsh, Tey is an excellent writer, period. Some of her characters just happen to be murderers. Also, Miss Pym Disposes is a good, early-ish example of psychological suspense --- there's a reason Lucy Pym lectures on psychology.

Representative quote: "Very well, Miss Pym, I give you Dakers. But I remind you that it is their last term, this. And so everything is e-norrrmously exaggerated. Everyone is just the least little bit insane. No, it is true, I promise you."

You might not like it if: Character studies do not interest you.

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able. While you're looking at Tey's books online or on the shelf, you might as well also pick up a copy of Brat Farrar, my favorite of her novels.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Ngaio Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman was Rec. #37. Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar was Rec. #200 and The Daughter of Time was Rec. #228.

[Originally posted 3/15/11.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #34

"Walter, you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way."

--- Hildy Johnson,

His Girl Friday, 1940

Also: More newsroom-frantic screwball comedy is to be had with Libeled Lady (Rec. #229).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #1: The Good Thief

(Such flashback! Very flash. Very back.)

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Have you been wanting a new Dickens novel, but one that's set in the U.S.? With orphans making good, con artists who are intermittently trustworthy, dead murderers who don't stay dead, and a deaf landlady who speaks in all caps? Well, here it is. Hannah Tinti's debut novel can be deep, dank, and dark, but it's also surprisingly fun.

Comparable to: The orphans-on-the-streets bits in Oliver Twist, but with a strong underpinning of the absurd, macabre humor that seeps in from the edges of Bleak House.

You might not like it if: You hate orphans. Or Dickens. Or both.

How to get it: It's fairly recent, so it should be readily available at your library and most bookstores.

[Originally posted 12/31/10.]

Rec. #345: Children of a Lesser God

What: Children of a Lesser God features twenty-one-year-old Marlee Matlin making her big-screen debut (and getting an Oscar for her trouble) alongside William Hurt. The film is based on a Tony-winning play and was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture.

These are serious credentials! But the movie itself isn't as cerebral as the poster suggests. It is angry and sexy. (Not exactly a funny, lighthearted romp, though.)

Representative quote: "Yelling at the back of a deaf person --- very good, James."

How to get it: Available to stream through Netflix and Amazon.