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Category Archives: Retro reads

Genre authors and good reads from the past that I like

A master craftswoman

08 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by supalmer in creativity, reading, Retro reads, writing

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Edith Pargeter, Ellis Peters, Historical mystery

British author Edith Pargeter, who also wrote under the psuedonym Ellis Peters, does a masterly bit of work in the second novel of her fine Cadfael Chronicles. That book, One Corpse Too Many, is set in 1138 England and includes a scene pivotal to the plot of the story, but also meaningful for its glimpse into human tragedy. Following the hanging of more than 90 men who were in rebellion against King Stephen, the families of the fallen come to claim their bodies for burial. It’s quiet and sad:

Some dozen or so had been claimed by parents and wives. Soon there would be piteous little hand-carts pushed up the slope to the gate, and brothers and neighbors lifting limp bodies to carry them away. More of the townspeople were still coming timidly in through the archway, women with shawls drawn close over their heads and faces half-hidden, gaunt old men trudging resignedly to look for their sons.

Among the men hung by the orders of the king, is one murdered and then thrown in among the other dead and it falls to the series’ hero Brother Cadfael to both discern that one corpse is not like the others and then to discover the killer.

I found myself moved by the small detail of a horror of war — the trauma of reclaiming the dead — and impressed that this scene was also pivotal to the development of the plot.

I’ve been enjoying Pargeter’s Cadfael Chronicles, impressed with her diligence in creating a believable historical setting but also with her skill in building a compelling narrative. It’s one thing when a scene evokes deep emotion. It’s a mark of expertise when it serves the plot so well.

Place matters

12 Thursday May 2022

Posted by supalmer in Random, Retro reads, Story, writing

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describing place, Willa Cather, writing

willcather.org

I’m embedded in “The Essential Willa Cather Collection” and revisiting my profound appreciation for her work. Cather wrote in the early part of the 20th century, and among many accolades her novel “One of Ours” received a Pulitzer Prize in 1923. I had previously read her classic “My Antonia” but I wasn’t familiar with her other books, short stories and essays.

This collection includes many short stories, essays and critiques and her first novel, “Alexander’s Bridge,” as well as “My Antonia.” Cather is known for bringing alive the Nebraska prairie and the immigrants who lived there at the turn of the century. I am in awe of her ability to shape mood through descriptions of place.

Here’s just a bit from “Alexander’s Bridge” where Cather is describing Chestnut Street in Boston: “Wilson was standing quite still, contemplating with a whimsical smile the slanting street with its worn paving, its irregular, gravely colored houses and the row of naked trees on which the thin sunlight was still shining.”

I hadn’t read any of her short stories until now and just finished “On the Divide,” published in a shortlived magazine The Mahogany Tree in 1892. It’s an odd, rich story that does that thing at the end that some authors manage. With one last sentence, the entire story is perfectly knit.

Now that’s a metaphor

19 Wednesday Jan 2022

Posted by supalmer in Random, Retro reads, What they said

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great quotes, history of Lane County

Shout out to historian and newspaper columnist Patrician Ann Edwards for capturing this great quote in her history of Lorane Oregon, “Sawdust and Cider,” now sadly out of print.

She’s quoting farmer and former Lane County Commissioner Oral Crowe: “This soil is so bad that a man couldn’t raise hell on it with seven naked ladies and a barrel of whiskey.” 

I believe our local library has a copy and I will be tracking it down. Edwards’ blog also looks pretty delightful.

Impulse reading

03 Friday Dec 2021

Posted by supalmer in Retro reads, Story, writing

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suspense fiction, women authors

Browsing the fiction stacks at the local library, I stumbled on this collection of 1940s era crime novels by female authors. They are interesting products of their time, each story focused deeply on the inner life of the characters, and two of them told from the point of view of the criminal. World War II is a backdrop. Some characters are veterans, others are coping with the challenges of gas and food rationing, a thing I had forgotten about that complicated people’s lives at that time. In “Laura,” author Vera Caspary uses multiple viewpoints and a surprising twist on the mistaken-identity trope for a very satisfying read. In “The Blank Wall,” Elisabeth Sanxay Holding presents a morality tale where a criminal’s behavior has more to recommend it than the morally upright mother of two around whom the action swirls. I’m glad to know these authors and these stories. I like being aware of how narratives shift as culture shifts. Thanks Sarah Weinman for pulling these stories together. Weinman, whose web site is a great compendium of crime stories, has another anthology of ’50s-era novels that is also on my list.

Best bad guy ever

18 Thursday Nov 2021

Posted by supalmer in Retro reads, Story, writing

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best writers, detective novels, fictional bad guys, good reads

Cover of first US edition, from Wikipedia

British author Wilkie Collins turns up on many “best” lists for his fantastic mystery novels of the 19th century. He was among those who pioneered the detective genre. I consider “Woman in White,” published in 1859, to have one of the best villains in fiction. Count Fosco is compelling and complicated, the opposite of a flat character. The novel has a wonderful, deft hand at multiple points of view. “Woman in White” is considered Collins’ best work, but “The Moonstone,” is also fine.

A story about kids for adults

17 Wednesday Nov 2021

Posted by supalmer in Retro reads, writing

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author, good reads, westerns, writing

http://www.louislamour.com/aboutlouis/biography.htm

Western author Louis L’Amour, wrote a really fine book with two children as the protagonists. “Down the Long Hills,” published in 1968, won a Golden Spur award and I don’t know how his publisher marketed this book, but the cover design is more classic western than middle-grade reader. I stumbled on it in the 1980s and it’s one of those classics I like to re-read. I sometimes wonder about these genre labels focused on age, how much they help and how much they hinder those of us looking for the next good read.

Mystery writers and Delphi Greece

16 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by supalmer in Retro reads

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romantic mysteries, writers I admire

Photo by Claudiu Mazilu from FreeImages

Author Helen MacInnes: “Decision at Delphi,” published in 1960. I’m about halfway into this book, and it is very dense with people and plot. It’s also really interesting how she and her contemporary Mary Stewart (“My Brother Michael,” also set in Greece, also published in 1960) were so influenced by World War II. That war is a key backdrop for both of these books. Really enjoying seeing how MacInnes built her very complex story. But Stewart is the more lyrical writer, in my personal estimation. Their books are still in print and also available on Kindle. I have no idea if they knew each other, if they talked about the similarities in these two books.

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