Rec. #195: Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles

What: Kira Henehan's debut novel is about Investigations, puppets, a snake named Lavendar, mimed bowling, yellow eyes, surf memorabilia, gravel, Assignments, marbles, red hair, contemporary art, memory loss, savage pocketry, Russians, baseball jerseys, framing, shrimps, Lolita, and golf carts. Finley is the painstakingly accurate --- but never reliable --- narrator.

Comparable to: It's a little bit like George Saunders and Jaclyn Moriarty went on a road trip with some Tom Robbins characters and then wrote a book about it. Which is to say, it's free-spirited, impressionistic, episodic, and highly stylized, but nonetheless often an incisive reflection of how people really do act and speak.

Representative quote: "It was all over gravel, but better than the last place. There was all over swampland and crocodiles."

You might not like it if: At its most self-indulgent, the book skirts the edges of impenetrability. So watch out for that.

How to get it: Look at me, recommending a fairly new book that's in print and everything! (And, yes, Kindle-able.)

Rec. #194 (abbrev.): Midnight

What: Screwball comedy, 1939, Claudette Colbert, showgirl, would-be gold-digger, stranded in Paris, taxi cabs, Don Ameche, evening gown, the Ritz, noses, party crashing, John Barrymore, fake barons and baronesses, railway station, missing luggage, Billy Wilder, millionaires, divorce court, Mary Astor, hats, taxi driver cafe

Representative quote:
"I landed a lord, almost."
"Almost?"
"Well, the family came between us. His mother came to my hotel and offered me a bribe."
"You threw her out, I hope!"
"How could I, with my hands full of money?"

Also: Claudette Colbert and Mary Astor reteamed for more screwball in 1942's The Palm Beach Story (Rec. #17).

List #11: 4 Books That Are Ostensibly For People Under 18, but Are Actually for YOU

1. Moominvalley in November, by Tove Jansson (Rec. #109)

"Meant" for: Late-elementary-age kids who love funny names like Mymble, Toft, Fillyjonk, and Snufkin.

Actually for: Thoughtful types who are vaguely and wistfully considering a move to Sweden, Finland, Norway, or Denmark.

2. Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, by Louise Rennison (Rec. #130)

"Meant" for: Young teens who relate all too well to Georgia's hilarious misadventures.

Actually for: Grown-ups who are looking for honest-to-goodness funny writing, and are not above laughing at a 14-year-old.


3. The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, by George Saunders (Rec. #18)

"Meant" for: Late-elementary-age kids who totally dig the way those gappers look. Plus, a goat on a table!

Actually for: Design nerds who want an excuse to read George Saunders out loud.

4. The Undertaker's Gone Bananas, by Paul Zindel (Rec. #16)

"Meant" for: Middle and high school students who feel like misfits.

Actually for: Everyone who never stopped feeling like a high school misfit. (So, everyone.)

Rec. #193: Laura

What: In the noir classic Laura, a police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating. The director is Otto Preminger; the detective is Dana Andrews; the woman is Gene Tierney; the suspects include Vincent Price, Judith Anderson, and Clifton Webb; the dialogue is sharp enough to draw blood; and the rest is critically-acclaimed film history.

Representative quote: "I should be sincerely sorry to see my neighbor's children devoured by wolves."

Bonus representative quote: "You'd better watch out, McPherson, or you'll finish up in a psychiatric ward. I doubt they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse."

You might not like it if: You are inexplicably anti-noir.

How to get it: Buy it, borrow it, stream it, rent it. Whatever you do, though, please don't get confused about which actors are playing which roles. Take note: Dana is the man, Gene is the woman, and Vincent Price is not the gloomy one.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Get more noir with I Married a Dead Man (Rec. #47) and Brick (Rec. #62).

Rec. #192: When Will There Be Good News?

What: Kate Atkinson's third novel featuring (ex) detective Jackson Brodie is --- without a doubt --- my favorite (so far, at least). This is almost entirely due to the introduction of Reggie Chase, a sixteen-year-old with a criminal brother, a dead mother, a missing employer, and (luckily) a skill set that includes CPR.

Representative quote: "Mum used to say, 'Billy may be trouble, but he's our trouble. Blood's thicker than water.' It was a lot stickier, too. The day the puppy went flying through the window was the second-worst day of Reggie's life so far."

You might not like it if: You're hoping that the answer to the title is "Now! Here it is, right here, all good news, all the time." It's not.

How to get it: Widely available in many formats. I still haven't seen the series adaptation starring Jason Isaacs. If they've gotten Reggie wrong, then when I eventually do watch it, I will likely fly into the sort of rage that hasn't been seen since someone cast Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet.

Three caveats: 1) If you haven't read the preceding Jackson Brodie books (see below), you may get a bit muddled. 2) In my opinion, many reviews of When Will There Be Good News? give away too many pieces of the plot. Avoid them if you can stand to. 3) Lest you fear that this is 388 pages of doom and puppy-throwing, let me reassure you that the whole novel is permeated by a rich, dark, clever humor.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Kate Akinson first presented Jackson Brodie in Case Histories (Rec. #3), which was followed by One Good Turn (Rec. #69). Both are excellent, even though they don't have Reggie.

Rec. #191 (abbrev.): Slings and Arrows, season 2

What: Halfway point of acclaimed Canadian television series, Shakespeare festival, dead artistic director, prepping for new season, Macbeth, broken neck, government grant, playwright, German-influenced Romeo and Juliet, audit, interns, funding, ad campaign, dark comedy (Stratford)

Representative quote: "You know me. I'm petty and bitter. There's a reason for that, OK?"

Bonus representative dialogue:
"This is my life. I live in a storage room. I eat soup with a dead man."
"It could be worse."
"How?"
"You could be the dead man. Did you ever think of that?"

Also (with more info): Slings and Arrows, season 1 (Rec. #127)

Rec. #190 (abbrev.): Colour Scheme

What: Ngaio Marsh, murder mystery, 1943, New Zealand, sulphur springs, Scotland Yard, foreign ships at sea, Maurice Questing, stage star, German agents, flashing lights, a boot, Septimus Falls, English exiles, poison, Maoris, letters, Harpoon Club, spies, death by boiling mud bath

Representative quote: "Dikon was an over-civilized young man. He belonged to a generation whose attitude of mind was industriously ironic."

Also: Death and the Dancing Footman (Rec. #37) and Night at the Vulcan (Rec. #102)

Rec. #189 (abbrev.): Fantastic Mr. Fox

What: Wes Anderson movie, Roald Dahl book, stop motion animation, animals, caper, farmers, George Clooney, apple juice flood, lab partners, Meryl Streep, bandit hats, cuss, Jason Schwartzman, mud, psychotic rat, Bill Murray, digging, bully, Michael Gambon, tree, supermarket, Willem Dafoe, blueberries, cellar, Owen Wilson, cider, tails

Representative quote: "If what I think is happening, IS happening... It better not be."

Bonus representative quote: "I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice."

Rec. #188: Metropolitan Life

What: Fran Lebowitz, author of the 1974 essay collection Metropolitan Life, has often been compared to Dorothy Parker. This comparison is trite, but accurate. Which, of course, leads us to . . . lots of quotes (below).

Comparable to: Dorothy Parker. I just said so. Also, all those collections of humorous essays that have been published in the last ten years? By David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, David Rakoff, and basically anyone else from This American Life? They all owe a heck of a lot to Lebowitz.

Representative quotes:
"Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publication." --- from "Letters"

"Children respond inadequately to sardonic humor and veiled threats." --- from "Children: Pro or Con?"

"He is audibly tan." --- from "My Day: An Introduction of Sorts"

"I love sleep because it is both pleasant and safe to use." --- from "Why I Love Sleep"

"There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death. Any attempt to prove otherwise constitutes unacceptable behavior." --- from "Manners"

You might not like it if: Like Parker, Lebowitz will go a long way for a pun. This can get exhausting.

How to get it: After the success of Martin Scorsese's documentary on Fran Lebowitz (Public Speaking), we got a rerelease of The Fran Lebowitz Reader. It includes both Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. It's also Kindle-able.

Connection to previous Wreckage: I suggested The Portable Dorothy Parker during Personal Wreck Week (List #3).

Rec. #187: Here Lies Love

What: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim join forces to make a concept album about Imelda Marcos. Because why not.

Comparable to: A list of the contributing artists should give you a good idea — Tori Amos, Theresa Andersson, Nicole Atkins, David Byrne, Camille, Charmaine Clamor, Steve Earle, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Allison Moorer, Sharon Jones, Natalie Merchant, Róisín Murphy, Candie Payne, Kate Pierson, Alice Russell, St. Vincent, Santigold, Sia, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch, Shara Worden

Representative lyric: "And if I bang my head on the wall for hours/ Then I won’t feel the confusion no more/ The New York doctor—bright yellow pills he gave me/ Remind yourself what you’re doing it for—"

You might not like it if: You choose to hold your breath until they mention shoes, which would cause you to pass out from lack of oxygen.

Rec. #186 (v. abbrev.): Hark! A Vagrant (the book)

It even has an index!

(Please see Rec. #95 for additional context.)

Rec. #185 (abbrev.): Spellbound

What: Hitchcock flick, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, 1945, amnesia, psychiatry, murder, skiing, handwriting, fork tines, mental hospital, front page of a newspaper, hidden impulses, violin case, dream analysis, razor, impostor doctor, snow, train tickets, impaled on an iron fence, absolutely nothing to do with a youth spelling bee

Representative quote: "My dear girl, you cannot keep bumping your head against reality and saying it is not there."

Also: Dream sequence by Salvador Dalí, (see below)

Connections to previous Wreckage: Rope (Rec. #5), Shadow of a Doubt (Rec. #78), Family Plot (Rec. #120)

Rec. #184: The Angel's Game, as read by Dan Stevens

A note on audiobooks: Up to now, all the book recommendations I have made on this blog have been specifically for print books. I make no promises as to the relative success of any audio versions. This is because, in my opinion, books that you read with your eyes and books that you read with your ears are very different creatures.

I'm picky about both, but in entirely different ways. For audiobooks, the reader/voice talent/narrator can be as important as the author. For example, does the reader seem to be constantly speaking on a sigh? Out. If the reader is male, does he do female voices by whispering? Out. Does the reader, at any time, make mouth noises? Definitely out, possibly with throwing involved.

What: The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, might actually be kind of annoying to read in printed form. The main character is one of those frustratingly dense individuals who do seem to keep cropping up in fiction (especially fiction involving melodramatic conspiracies). And, although the story is a first-person narrative, the book is almost entirely silent regarding the hero's motivation for anything he does. The plot as a whole does not seem to follow logic of any sort, not even its own.

And yet. And yet we have memorable characters (including Isabella, who isn't present nearly enough), thick melodrama, and some truly delicious lines. All of this is shown to its best advantage in the reading by Dan Stevens, who does not sigh, whisper when voicing a woman, or make unseemly mouth noises. Indeed, his precisely distinct voices save the listener, who might otherwise get a bit muddled about which vaguely menacing character is which. Plus, honestly, as I mentioned in Personalized Wreck List #1, the whole thing is worth it just to hear Stevens lovingly bite off the word "flesh."

Representative quote: "Nothing is fair --- the most one can hope for is for things to be logical."

You might not like it if: You do not have a long commute that lends itself to audiobook-listening.

How to get it: In case I haven't made myself abundantly clear, I am specifically suggesting the audio version of this book, as read by Dan Stevens. Try your library.

Rec. #183 (abbrev.): Death in Zanzibar

What: Mid-century British mystery novel, M.M. Kaye, retro camp, skipping out on London, convenient mumps, travel, Dany, awkward disguise, glamourpuss mother, Lash, stolen passport, letters, Mr. Honeywood, midnight intruder, fake secretary, the House of Shade, whiskey, malice, Gussie Bingham, stepfather, theft, spectacles, Amalfi, jealousy, scribbling journalist, brandy, Kivulimi, revolution, Nigel, house party, death, Zanzibar

Representative quote: "I'm not as polygamous as I look."

List #10: 4 Internet Crushes

Because that's what Twitter is for, right?

1. John Allison (@badmachinery)

I strongly suspect that the creator of Bad Machinery (Rec. #138) is himself an elaborate fiction, because he seems too good to be true --- except for the fact that he lives thousands of miles away. [Although I believe he does underestimate certain people's (my) willingness to relocate.]

"Baby I'm gonna be so nice to you. I'm gonna put all your hats in alphabetical order."

"If I'd married well, my calendar would be clogged with charity banquets. But I messed up, missed out on the good dowries."


2. John Darnielle (@mountain_goats)

Yes, yes, yes, he is the indie rock band the Mountain Goats. But, more importantly, he says things like this on Twitter: "I can only ever be the robber because absolutely no-one, not even songbirds or wordless beasts of the field, will believe me as the cop."


3. Richard Lawson (@rilaws)

Pop culture commentary, ahoy. This is pretty much the only bit of Gawker you need. He has pop culture guilt-gushes, is almost uniformly sarcastic, and even has a little back-and-forth going with Jennifer Ehle. (Plus, he replied to me once on Twitter, and that was fun.)

"Eddie Cibrian's Don Draper impersonation is the saddest thing since La Pieta."

4. Jay Smooth (@jsmooth995)

He is always, always the voice of well-reasoned, articulate, compassionate common-sense. Get thee to his video commentaries on everything from Rick Perry to the BET Awards.

"But by then, it's too late, because the 'what they are' conversation is a rhetorical Bermuda Triangle, where everything drowns in a sea of empty posturing, until somebody just blames it all on hip-hop and we forget the whole thing ever happened."

[Or, if you're usually more inclined the other way, may I suggest Sarah Haskins (@sarah_haskins), Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling), and Martha Plimpton (@marthaplimpton)?]

Rec. #182 (abbrev.): Party Down

What: Another TV series from Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), two seasons, Los Angeles, struggling actors, cater waiters, crisp white shirts, Adam Scott, alcohol, pink bow ties, Ken Marino, Soup 'R Crackers, helpful gay pirate, Lizzy Caplan, texting, spitting, crushes, Jane Lynch, singles seminar for seniors, prescription drugs, Martin Starr, Baja condos, prop gun, illegal drugs, Jennifer Coolidge, high school reunion, corporate retreat, Ryan Hansen, sun eggs, Uda Bengt, backstage party, Megan Mullally, funeral, company picnic, NFL draft party, wedding, the Gute, other guest stars galore

Representative quote: "It's not lying, it's... acting. Look, I was an actor; it's easy. You just use the true bits and you fake the fake bits. Most actors aren't bright, so it has to be simple."

Bonus representative quote:

"Hey Roman, Google me in ten years, that's going to be me."
"The only way I'm Googling you in ten years is if you get very creative in the way that you kill yourself."

Also: Veronica Mars (Rec. #168), and don't forget to visit Adam Scott on Parks and Recreation (Rec. #119)

And: Seriously, folks, it's time to get on this boat if you haven't already. We've already delved headfirst into the nostalgia phase of Party Down's life cycle.

Rec. #181: Told by an Idiot

What: In the satirical novel Told by an Idiot, author Rose Macaulay follows one family around the corner of the turn of the last century, from the last decades of the Victorian period to the end of World War I. Much like its primary heroine, Rome Garden, the book is jaded, amused, critical, perceptive, witty, and urbane.

Comparable to: It's like Virginia Woolf's Orlando in its cynical sweep, or like an Elizabeth von Arnim novel in its pointed and wry character descriptions.

Representative quote: "Stanley was like that --- enthusiastic, headlong, a deep plunger, a whole-hogger."

Bonus representative quote: "No teasing worried Una; she was as placid as a young cow."

[Note: Quotes were chosen at random. Roughly 80% of the novel is very, very quotable.]

You might not like it if: You're completely thrown off by the fact that the extreme specificity of the period detail is threaded with an absolute certainty that human nature is basically what it always has been (religious crises, fashionable radicalism, sex novels, and all).

How to get it: It's out of print, so check your library and used book sellers.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Macaulay presents a less sweeping, more personal societal satire in Crewe Train (Rec. #84).

Rec. #180 (abbrev.): Ghostwritten

What: David Mitchell's first novel, interconnected, episodic, East Asia, doomsday cult, jazz, money laundering, diabetes, tea shack, ghost, Russia, art heist, Mongolian hit man, UK, drummer/ghostwriter, world destabilization, men in suits, chance and destiny, casino, quantum cognition, on the run, goat, USA, late night radio, the Zookeeper, possible nuclear annihilation

Representative quote: "Perhaps in a few years some widower pig farmer might be persuaded to take me in as a mistress and nurse for his old age. If I was lucky. I resolved then and there not to be lucky."

Also: Black Swan Green (Rec. #72) and Cloud Atlas (Rec. #140)

Rec. #179 (abbrev.): Pleasantville

What: Remember when Pleasantville came out in (good grief) 1998? We quite liked it. It's still good! Modern teen siblings sucked into 1950s television show, Reese Witherspoon, innocence, complacency, irony, William H. Macy, jukebox, black and white, Tobey Maguire, nostalgia, censorship, Joan Allen, slow color, Mary Sue, painting, a bit of Jenny Lewis, courtroom, freedom of choice, bubblegum, Jeff Daniels, malt shop, Skip, rainstorm, poodle skirts, sweater sets, book burning

Representative quote: "Well, we're safe for now. Thank goodness we're in a bowling alley."

Rec. #178: The Half

What: The Half collects more than 300 photographs of actors backstage in British theaters over the past few decades. Photographer Simon Annand has captured the actors during the sacrosanct thirty minutes before curtain-up known as "the half." Here you'll find fascinating and revealing shots of dreamboats (Laurence Fox, Ioan Gruffudd, David Tennant), look-at-them-thens (Colin Firth in 1985!), stage goddesses (Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith), and thespian lions (Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen) . . . I could go on.

Representative quote (caption): "Dan Stevens, Hay Fever by Noel Coward, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2006. Leaping downstairs towards the stage, past Judi Dench's dressing room."

You might not like it if: You're looking at the book in my general vicinity and you get annoyed as I keep gasping about the presence of several of my personal favorites: Sinead Cusack, Anne Marie Duff, Jennifer Ehle, Stephen Fry, Romola Garai, Michelle Gomez, Richard E. Grant, Tamsin Greig, Damian Lewis, Joanna Lumley, Jonny Lee Miller, Maxine Peake, Rufus Sewell, Toby Stephens, David Suchet, Catherine Tate, Ruth Wilson . . . I could go on.

How to get it: Well, I just got it at the bookshop of the National Theatre in London. Not sure what you're going to do.