The Oscars vs. The O'scars

My thoughts on just a few of the categories up for grabs tonight:

Best Picture Nominees: Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight

I did not see Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, or Hidden Figures, so I cannot comment on these films. However, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, and Hell or High Water were numbers five, four, and three, respectively, on my 2016 O'scar List ©™. Sadly, neither of my top two, Love and Friendship and Sing Street, were nominated. 

I recently watched Moonlight, which some critics believe is chasing La La Land for the Oscar. While I found it to be a well-made film, after Moonlight ended, I felt as if the film were unfinished...not so much in the sense that I wondered what happened after the credits, but that the story seemed to be only partly told throughout the film. I wish the characters had been explored more fully (more about that below). As much as I liked La La Land and Manchester by the Sea, I believe that among this list of movies, Hell or High Water deserves the Oscar. The characters are fascinating and life-like, the story speaks to the times we live in, and Jeff Bridges is so solid in his role as the gritty Texas Ranger.

Best Actor Nominees: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic), Denzel Washington (Fences)

On principle, because I hated Captain Fantastic so much, I reject Viggo Mortensen's nomination. However, I do love Viggo in just about everything else. I did not see Garfield or Washington's films, so I cannot judge. I very much hope that Casey Affleck wins for Manchester by the Sea. I believe that this film makes him The Greatest Affleck. He was perfect for the role, and played all its emotional complexities with precision. Gosling shined in La La Land, but falls short of Affleck in this category.

Best Supporting Actor Nominees: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Dev Patel (Lion), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

First off, Jeff Bridges probably ought to be in the Best Actor category. But he's not, and so, in this category, he should triumph. His performance is, by far, the best of the year. Though I didn't see Michael Shannon's film, he is always good, so I don't doubt he belongs. Patel and Hedges were both very good. Hedges, a young and relatively inexperienced actor, should get extra points for his excellent work. Mahershala Ali's best work has been in Netflix's House of Cards, as the lawyer and lobbyist Remy Danton. He does a very nice job of inhabiting the "drug dealer with a heart of gold" character in Moonlight. He plays it with a sensitivity and complexity that the role deserves. But there just wasn't enough of the character in the film. Perhaps if there had been more Ali in this picture, it would be a different story as to this category. However, in my mind, it would be hard for anyone to equal Bridges' work in Hell or High Water.

Best Song or Best Original Score:

To not nominate Sing Street in either of these categories is a crime. Check it out. That said, La La Land should be a shoo-in for everything musical.

2016 at the Movies: A Retrospective

Ever since I was a little boy, my father and I have gone to the movies. Thanks to him, I have a love of great cinema. Here are the totality of my thoughts on this year in film, as posted on Facebook:

That's right folks, it's almost time for the 6th Annual O'scars...my list of the top films of the year. 2016 was a pretty good year for film. I saw 47 theatrically released films. Most were at least "aight" and 13 were top-notch.

A Special O'scar for Weirdest Movie of the Year: THE LOBSTER
Colin Farrell is a talented actor...and thank goodness he is, because The Lobster is absolutely bizarre. From the ridiculous plot to the intentionally stilted dialogue, this film challenges the viewer to keep watching. I stuck it out to the end, though I don't know if I can say that was rewarding. I enjoy "weird"...but I sometimes thought this film was weird merely for weird's sake. If there was a higher purpose, it escaped me. But it had John C. Reilly in it, so...REDEMPTION.

A Special O'scar for My Guilty Pleasure of 2016: MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES
Such a funny cast! Adam DeVine and Aubrey Plaza, in particular, added to my enjoyment of this ridiculous film. The great Stephen Root as the dad...Anna Kendrick, funny as always...Kumail Nanjiani in a hilarious small role. This movie won't win any Oscars, but it made me laugh, even when it was dumb.

A Special O'scar for WORST Film of the Year: CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
You know that person that thinks he knows everything? The one that has to be hipper than everyone...that corrects everyone when they are wrong...that thinks they know what's best for everyone? That person is the cast of Captain Fantastic...in particular the children of Viggo Mortensen's character. What a bunch of insufferable brats. I wouldn't wish these children on any parent. Viggo Mortensen is a great actor, but this film is so pretentious that it almost defies description. For the love of everything Holy, don't watch it. You'll thank me.

A Special O'scar for Superhero Movies: "Dr. Batman's Strange Civil War Against Captain Deadpool's Suicidal Apocalypse."

Around the beginning of the millennium, technology began to make comic book movies fun to watch. Without CGI, it just wasn't possible to make a realistic Avengers, Spider-Man, etc. Now, we are inundated with superheroes. We're on our third retelling of Spider-Man's story in 10 years, which seems a bit excessive. In a sense, it's an embarrassment of riches because the quality of superhero films this year was fairly high. But, they are beginning to run together in my mind. It doesn't help that Marvel and DC are running very similar plot lines in their respective universes. I liked just about every Marvel/DC movie this year, despite DC's obvious inferiority. Partly because I've reached my superhero saturation point, none of these films made my Top 13 this year. But here they are in order of my enjoyment:

Tier 1: Captain America: Civil War and Deadpool

Tier 2: Dr. Strange and X-Men: Apocalypse

Tier 3: Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad

In my opinion, Guardians of the Galaxy was the freshest, most interesting comic book movie of the last 10 years. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

A Very Special O'scar for The Movies That Didn't Quite Make the Cut:
THE ARRIVAL...so close. Probably was the best of the rest.
BFG...very cute film. Loved the giant serving Her Majesty.
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS...best (and only) animated film I saw this year.
CAFE SOCIETY...nice work by Woody Allen.
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL...Michael Shannon excellent as always.
GREEN ROOM...do you hate Nazis? You'll like this.
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE...John Goodman, 'nuff said.
EYE IN THE SKY...tense thriller about drone warfare.
THE NICE GUYS...Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe made a very good film that erred in a few critical ways that lost it a place among the Tier 1 movies of the year.

And now, the Top 13 Films of the Year...
#13: A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING
Tom Hanks is a movie star. He can carry a film all by himself, but he didn't have to in this offbeat film about an American businessman falling in love in Saudi Arabia. Both his love interest, a divorced Muslim woman (Sarita Choudhury), and his cab driver, played by the very funny Alex Black, make the movie worth seeing. I enjoyed the subtlety of the film's explorations of various themes surrounding a different culture. A fine piece of work by the writers, directors, and performers.

#12 Best Film of the Year: 
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME
Richard Linklater was widely heralded for his excellent "Boyhood." He follows that up with a look into college life for a group of baseball players in 1980's Texas. He cast a group of raw, young actors to play those parts. Though I was only 5 in 1980, I found the portrayals to be accurate and heartfelt. There is a certain sweetness to the film that I found endearing...despite the fact that much of it centers around the characters' attempts to find "romance" of a most temporary kind. The film is a reminder of how much has changed in my lifetime...especially our relationship to technology.

#11 Best Film of the Year:
PASSENGERS
Essentially, this film is a castaway story with the twist that you get to choose your fellow castaway. The plot is well-done, but it's the performances by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence that make this one of my top films of the year. Lawrence is already the greatest star of her generation, but I believe Chris Pratt is the movie star of the future. He's funny, a nice guy, and can play the "everyman." So, watch it, fall in love with Jennifer Lawrence or Chris Pratt, and enjoy the ride. Plus, Laurence Fishburne!

#10 Best Film of the Year:
SULLY
Hey, there's Tom Hanks again. It's no accident. He's the go-to actor for roles aged 45-65 for a reason. I love Aaron Eckhart in this as well. If you learn anything from this movie, it's to trust men with manly moustaches to make sure things will turn out just fine. I found the film quite moving as the plane was about to land...though I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Sully was so heroic. Maybe because it had a happy ending. Regardless, 3 Cheers 4 Sully!

#9 Best Film of the Year:
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
After The Force Awakens smothered us with wonderful nostalgia, it was time for a change of pace. Even though the plot was intricately wound up with the grand story of the original movie, Rogue One felt original and fresh. This tale of rebellion worked expertly at creating a fondness for the new characters (though we barely got to know them before they perished). I thoroughly enjoyed the ending scene. The way it connected the film with A New Hope was very satisfying. I look forward to future stand-alone Star Wars films!

#8 Best Film of the Year:
LION
Was someone cuttin' onions while I watched this movie??? Seriously, don't bring raw onions to a movie theater. It was hard not to get wrapped up in the emotions of a tale like this. A lost boy, separated from his family, endangered in an uncaring world...rescued from abroad, but still wounded by his experience. I think the story of Saroo's brother was an important addition to this film. It provided the plot with more emotional complexity. A boy rescued and living happily ever after would have been a little too neat. Nice work by the actor playing young Saroo. Maybe he'll become the next Dev Patel.

#7 Best Film of the Year:
THE WITCH
I contemplated moving this film further up the list. It might well deserve it. Daniel Day Lewis truly inhabited the character of a goat named Black Phillip. Just kidding...Black Phillip was played by a actor-goat named Charlie. But jeez, this movie was as about as spooky as they come. A Puritan too pure for his fellow Puritans moves to the isolated frontier with his family. And then the baby disappears. His eldest daughter Thomasin bears the brunt of the family's continued misfortune...right up to the end. It is unlike any other film I saw this year...in a very good way. This film helps us understand the superstitions and mythology of Puritan Christianity. Loved it!

#6 Best Film of the Year:
THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN

A high-quality coming of age tale is always welcome in my book. The 1980s produced so many of those kind of films, especially thanks to John Hughes. The Edge of Seventeen is a worthy heir to this tradition. This film features an outstanding performance by Hailee Steinfeld, whom you probably remember as the little girl from True Grit. The teenagers in this film were very true-to-life...very believable. It's not easy being that age, and Steinfeld shows us how difficult it can be. Also a great, understated performance by Woody Harrelson as her teacher. If you find that you don't understand teenagers today, give this film a shot. It might help.

#5 Best Film of the Year:
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Ok...YES, this film does have all the hallmarks of a 2-Kleenex box tearjerker. So much undeserved suffering! A lesser film would just ride that to box office success. But Casey Affleck shows off his filmmaking chops in this piece of deserved Oscar-bait. I know, it's hard to believe he transformed himself into a Bostonian for this role, but stick with it. I very much enjoyed Michelle Williams as his ex-wife and Lucas Hedges as the bereaved nephew. Though it is a very sad film, it is also hopeful and funny; and it isn't easy to do all those things in one movie. I think this film vaults Casey into the role of Top Affleck in Hollywood. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a shot. It's "wicked good."

#4 Best Film of the Year:
LA LA LAND
"City of stars...are you shining just for me?"

A beautiful film with a wonderful soundtrack performed by talented Ryan Gosling and ever-so-lovely Emma Stone. Honestly, you could just go see it for the music. But the story is such a great one that it earns all those accolades and awards it has and soon will be receiving. Grumpy Gosling (The Canadian Gos) is especially entertaining as the jazz purist forced to play lesser music. Great chemistry between the co-stars helps...as does Emma Stone's enormous energy and top-level talent. See Manchester first, and then this movie to give you a pick-me-up.

#3 Best Film of the Year:
HELL OR HIGH WATER

Jeff Bridges at his most irascible, gnarled, and feisty...a veritable human badger. West Texas, in all its stark glory...its inhabitants unique and raw and real. The grinding rural poverty that never lets up...and that keeps getting worse. A good man in a desperate situation...a much less good man by his side. Two lawmen, each representing different and legitimate faces of modern Texas. A great film that is easily worth the price of admission. A thinking man's thrill ride.

#2 Best Film of the Year:
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

Whit Stillman is the greatest writer/director you haven't heard of. "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco" are his two greatest works. In fact, "Barcelona" is probably my favorite movie of all-time. So, when I heard he was going to adapt the little-known Jane Austen novella "Lady Susan" into a film, I was both ecstatic and afraid: ecstatic because I love all his work, but afraid because I've never been a big fan of Jane Austen. My fears were without merit. I laughed more during this film than every other film put together this year. Kate Beckinsale is perfectly ridiculous as she attempts to scheme her way into a rich marriage at a time when this was one of the few ways a woman could achieve power and success. The dialogue in this film, adapted by Stillman, is absolutely brilliant and raucously funny. Tom Bennett provides great comedy as Sir James Martin, while Stephen Fry is the epitome of English sobriety and good sense. Chloë Sevigny, as usual, is brilliant. I absolutely loved this film. In fact, I feel like I need to watch it again, very soon.

And now, the #1 Best Film of the Year:
SING STREET

From the man who wrote and directed "Once"...a story about a high school boy in 1985 inner-city Dublin who decides to form a band to impress a girl (92% of bands are created to impress women). The music is fantastic, the young actors are brilliant, and the plot is loads of fun. The protagonist, Conor, is forced to attend a lesser school when his dad announces he can't afford to pay tuition. He struggles with bullies and creepy priests before meeting an older girl that lives across the street from school. To impress her, he tells her he needs a model for his band's music video. From there, he and his band steadily improve, making music in the various styles popular in the '80s. Conor's older brother Brendan is particularly enjoyable, giving advice on music and life, despite his slacker lifestyle. This film is funny and sweet and full of life. It's a great way to end this list...and a good way to start this coming weekend. So go check it out.

Cold War 2: Electric Boogaloo

In the past few months there has been an extraordinary amount of partisan B.S. about America's relationship with Russia. All of a sudden, you can find progressives manning the barricades against Russia and Vladimir Putin. They push for an aggressive foreign policy against the dangerous Russian Bear. Of course, in the Cold War, they could never quite decide who was worse: Reagan or communism. But now that Trump is president, they mysteriously become jingoists of the first order. On the other side, you have Trump supporters blowing kisses at Putin today, while conveniently forgetting their criticism of Pres. Obama for being weak on Russia just a few short years ago.

If you are thinking to yourself, "Tim, might this have something to do with our tribal politics?" then the answer is "Yes." Vlad, the Impaler of Syria, is an SOB. But he's not Stalin. And this isn't 1947. We should deal with him in a straight-forward manner: opposing him when he strikes at our vital national interests, but also understanding the limits of our power. In other words, not what Obama did.

Read this for more insight.

2016: The Best/Worst Year

Over on the Interwebs, lamentations abound on a positively terrible, no good 2016. The loss of beloved celebrities certainly did seem a bit excessive this past year. Nonetheless, Betty White survived and life is allowed to march onward. Much of the doom and gloom can be traced to the election of Donald Trump as King-Emperor. It is yet to be discovered whether he is the reincarnation of Andrew Jackson, Benito Mussolini, Ronald Reagan, or something entirely new. As I told Facebook in November, neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton met my minimum standards to be president. I had dreams of a Rand Paul presidency...dreams dashed by a primary process dominated by The Donald. My fall-back position was the always weird Gary Johnson, whom I knew had no real chance to win. Thus, I was destined to be disappointed. So, indeed, I can understand the "melacholia" that has descended on much of the country. Yet...

For me, 2016 was an outstanding year. How do you share that kind of news when so many others had such an unpleasant journey around the sun? Nobody wants another person's good fortune rubbed in their face. But for me, writing a book is something I had aimed for since I was a youngster. But I had failed to achieve that goal for the first 20 years of my adult life...and not because I didn't try. I'll be happy to show you the decomposed corpses of my unfinished novels, their pages wrinkled from the now-dried tears born of my abject failure. But this time, I wrote an entire friggin' book...and a bunch of people bought it, read it, and really liked it. I didn't even know whether I was CAPABLE of writing a thoroughly researched non-fiction history of this type. Failure, and the shame that would have accompanied it, was always a possibility.

They always say that hard work pays off. But, jeez, hard work is so...HARD. And between you and me, I was always a little skeptical of hard work. It sounded like the sort of thing that was good for OTHER people...not so much me. A nice theory, but to actually DO it?!? Despite myself, I discovered that it paid off. 2015 was the Year of Unending Labor. That's when 90% of the hard work happened: the dozens of interviews conducted, the scores of hours spent transcribing audiotape, the many days of organizing notes into a logical framework to tell the story of Roy Turner and the Wichita Wings...these were 2015 activities. And that led to 2016 becoming the Year of Grand Success. The spring brought the publication of the book, followed by media appearances, a wonderful sound portrait by NPR-affiliate KMUW, a positive book review in the Wichita Eagle, and a multitude of successful events culminating in what became a Wichita Wings reunion in July. But I don't live in a bubble. My book's success did not insulate me from the tumult in our society.

I wonder whether the widespread hatred of 2016 is a symptom of a bigger problem. In America, and the West in general, we are in the midst of a movement from the post-Cold War era to something new and yet undefined. The ideologies of conservatism and liberalism are becoming less meaningful. American identity is being challenged by racial, sexual, and tribal identity. The new era of industrial and commercial automation will be one with less employment. Self-driving cars mean unemployed drivers. Looking outwards, America's role overseas is uncertain. Are we here to make the world safe for democracy or to secure our interests like any other major power? These issues aren't necessarily something that the average American thinks about. But people are getting that feeling in their bones that something is off...and things are changing. I think all that hate towards 2016 might be related toward this uncertainty about the future. We would be wise to trust our collective gut.

A Bone to Pick...

Sometimes, a piece of writing just rubs you the wrong way. The Atlantic's Joe Fassler wrote the following words in what was an otherwise interesting and useful article dispensing advice to writers from writers:

2016 was not an easy year to be a writer. Not just because of the constant, concentration-wrecking pull of our devices, their glowing screens beckoning with the promise of fresh horrors. I’ve spoken with many writers, in recent months, who seem to be facing a deeper, starker crisis of purpose since the election of Donald Trump. They’re asking themselves: Is making literature an acceptable pursuit in a world with such urgent, tangible needs? And if so, how should I use my words? [emphasis added] 

Let us presume for a minute that Trump is indeed the second coming of Herr Hitler. During World War II, Camus, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, and George Orwell wrote, respectively, The Stranger, The Glass Menagerie, Cannery Row, and Animal Farm. Somehow, these authors managed to write great works of literature despite the presence of a totalitarian evil the likes of which the modern world had never seen. Surely then, literature will survive Donald Trump, despite breathless protestations otherwise.

The self-importance and vanity displayed by the statement is eye-rollingly obnoxious. "The great power of the novelist shall be turned against our sworn, orange enemy!" the assembled novelists of America might exclaim. While they're at it, perhaps they should ponder whether being a practicing barista, Uber driver, or iPhone factory worker is "an acceptable pursuit in a world with such urgent tangible needs?" Or are only novelists important enough to determine the fate of the Republic?

Should writers abandon literature in favor of street protests? Should they forsake their novels in favor of political screeds posted on message boards? Perhaps not. Perhaps, they might look to the example of Steinbeck and company...and just keep making literature. In fact, regardless of the times we live in, doesn't literature have a deep effect on the ideas and principles of a nation? Even non-political art can change the way people think. Literature will have a positive effect regardless of the topics covered. Some novelists will write explicitly or implicitly about contemporary politics. Others will write with other purposes in mind...even comedic ones. Is this new dystopian world too serious for comedy as well? Shall we abandon laughter in these dark times?

If George Orwell had taken the above passage to heart in the 1940s, would he have written Animal Farm? Surely the threat of Hitler ("in a world with such urgent and tangible needs") would have outweighed Orwell's implicit assault of the communist tyranny of Uncle Joe Stalin? Surely he would have abandoned that novel in favor of a direct assault on fascism? Maybe propaganda pamphlets for the war effort instead? If only Steinbeck had dumped Cannery Row in favor of well-written posters exhorting Americans to scan the west coast for Japanese submarines...

I predict that we will have no shortage of screeds against Donald Trump in the next few years. He'll probably deserve most of them. But I humbly implore the writers of America to continue writing non-Trump-related novels, plays, and poems. We will need an occasional break from the Trumpification of everything.

A Fictional Life: Part III - Living Inside the Page

Here are Parts I and II...

In the twilight of my twenties I made my way from Evelyn Waugh to P.G. Wodehouse. There are few reading experiences quite like an evening with Bertie Wooster, the laziest of aristocrats, and Jeeves, his almost supernaturally brilliant butler. I made my way through many of the Jeeves novels, always appreciating the humor that Wodehouse infused into the first-person ramblings of Bertie Wooster. Plagued by the machinations of his many aunts, Wooster always managed to find rescue in the dependable Jeeves.



Quotes from Bertie Wooster:

“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.”

“It is no use telling me there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof.”

“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season.”

These comic masterpieces led me to one of my favorite books in the world...

Actually written by King George VI's physician, this novel purports to be the autobiography of one Augustus Carp. As the dust jacket says, Augustus Carp, Esq. is "a deadpan comic account of a climb to the heights of mediocrity by a humorless, religious oaf in his own self-important sermonising tone." No matter how bad the humiliation or defeat, Carp manages to spin each life event into a lesson on his own goodness. One can only laugh at the absurdity of Carp's life.

Jeeves wasn't the only English butler I discovered in those years. If Jeeves were the butler as superhero, Kazuo Ishiguro's Stevens would be his more human counterpart. The Remains of the Day is a brilliant novel that explores the dying world of post-war aristocratic England. The tone is wistful and questioning. Anthony Hopkins plays Stevens brilliantly in the film of the same name.

King Rat by James Clavell took my Anglophilia to the POW camps of Japanese-occupied Asia. In those pages I experienced men laid bare by terrible circumstance...in a return to a sort of "state of nature" one might imagine an Enlightenment philosopher describing. And in that situation, one lowly corporal rises to rule his fellow POWs. For you Walking Dead fans, he could be Neegan's grandfather.

Going back in time to the Great War and its aftermath, I found myself following the fascinating life of American WWI vet Larry Darrell. The horrors of war were followed by a crisis of meaninglessness in his life, which the novel explores in depth. It held me spellbound. Incidentally, Bill Murray starred in a film version in 1984...an enjoyable role that few people remember.

As I advanced into my 30s, I was able to discover Dracula by Bram Stoker thanks to first reading Elizabeth Kostova's sequel, The Historian. The creeping horror of those books spiced up my bookshelf.

Thanks to Tom Wolfe, I finally overcame my prejudice of 20th century American literary authors. A Man in Full was my introduction to Wolfe's work. His novels are all BIG, not just in the sense of pages, but in the exploration of grand themes. I can thank that novel for my brief fascination with Epictetus and his philosophy of Stoicism. Though I thoroughly enjoyed I Am Charlotte Simmons and Back to Blood, it is A Man in Full that I loved the most. To my eternal shame, I have yet to read Bonfire of the Vanities or The Right Stuff (though I've seen both movies...the former forgettable and the latter wondrous).

It wasn't until around 2001 that I finally got serious about fantasy fiction. Another way to put that is that I read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. What can I say about the greatest fantasy novel of all-time? Its greatness helped lead me to other great authors. I discovered George R.R. Martin shortly thereafter and have spent most of my life since then waiting for the next book...and the next...and the next. In the meantime, I devoured all of China Mieville's New Crobuzon novels. The irony of this wasn't lost on me: Mieville stands in opposition to Tolkien, both politically and stylistically. But, of course, like all fantasy authors, he owes the Great One everything, whether he likes it or not. I embraced the weirdness of Mieville's world, even when it was hard to picture it in my head.

Sometimes a fella needs some derring-do. I found it in the work of a pair of authors. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora is so wickedly funny and brash that I found I couldn't read it in public without drawing undo attention to myself. Meanwhile, Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and its sequel both kept me enthralled until the last page. Rothfuss' Kvothe and Lynch's Locke Lamora are two of the most raucously enjoyable characters ever created. We learn the adventurous history of each, from childhood on up, and we enjoy every second.

And then there was the dark, gritty fantasy of Glen Cook and Joe Abercrombie. Cook's Black Company novels paved the way for a generation of GrimDark fantasy novelists. Cook showed how villains could become heroes and heroes weren't as heroic as you might think. His "everyman" hero Croaker, physician and eventually Captain of the Black Company, strikes the reader as the kind of guy that might be willing to hang out with you. Cook's writing is of a high quality, the stories are entrancing, and the characters become real people. Unlike some series, the grand finale was well worth it.

Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy takes the "hero as villain" idea and puts it into overdrive. Logan "Nine-Fingers," aka The Bloody Nine, is a hero...or is he? The wizard Bayaz is trying to save the world, right? Or is he just a greedy old conniver? The trilogy is followed by three stand-alone novels set in the same world, with appearances by many familiar faces. I reveled in all of them.

It's hard to do justice to the many books that have impacted my life over the years. The emotional impact of a book can often depend on at what point in your life you are reading it. The kinds of things that affect me certainly have changed over the years. But what hasn't changed is the need for a well-told story. No matter how precise the writing, or how fascinating the people inside the pages, it all depends on what the author does with those people. The truth is that a reader falls in love with a book...or he does not. He grows wistful at the end of a series...or he does not. He embraces the characters' humanity...or he does not. When I look at the books I have discussed on this blog, I see many different styles, themes, moods, and characters. Some of these books are character-driven accompanied by an intriguing plot...and some of them are plot-driven accompanied by intriguing characters. But they all took hold of my emotions and moved them this way and that. Like many readers I can sometimes be guilty of preferring these fictional characters to real human beings...these outlandish plots to the plot of my own life. But that kind of escapism is okay as long as you do not retreat into it completely. There is a real world out there to discover as well. Fiction can help you understand it, even if you don't accept it.

A Fictional Life: Part II - The Thirties in My Twenties

Click here for Part I

I wouldn't say that all my reading in high school was of a lesser quality. I can thank Mrs. Goodpasture for that. The Odyssey, The Illiad, and Dante's Inferno all had a positive impact on me. Romeo and Juliet intrigued me, but Hamlet made me appreciate the Bard. Hiroshima and The Good Earth took me to Asia and back again. A Farewell to Arms led to my bidding farewell to reading any more Hemingway. Perhaps I should give that dead bastard another chance. Twenty-five years is probably too long to hold a grudge.

If you are a reader then you know that there are moments in your life when you discover a piece of fiction that impacts you in such a way that it affects your reading life going forward. I had such a moment at the University of Kansas, thanks to a graduate teaching assistant. [As an aside, I must say that I had a series of fantastic English GTA's at KU that were just as good as any tenured professor.] I couldn't tell you that GTA's name, but she assigned the class Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.

Greene's "whiskey priest" traveled across 1930s Mexico performing his priestly duties despite the government having outlawed the Catholic religion. As I read this book, I not only became enthralled with the story, but began to experience a religious awakening that was quite unexpected. How funny that it took a Catholic communist writer to connect me closer to my Protestant religion! After finishing this book, I began to tear through Greene's oeuvre. I would read 16 of Greene's novels while in my 20s. I particularly enjoyed The Heart of the Matter and A Burnt-Out Case, both of which featuring an Englishman living in Africa. My fascination with the idea of the white man out of place in Africa would lead me to a number of non-fiction travel memoirs featuring that theme. One book always leads to another. Eventually, as I made my way through Greene, I found his communism to become more and more obnoxious and untenable. His later books were particularly infused with Marxist claptrap. It was sad ending to such a distinguished writing life.

During my senior year at KU I found myself in the happy position of having fulfilled virtually all my requirements for graduation. Thus, I could search the course catalog for classes that merely piqued my interest. One such course was Fiction Writing I, with Prof. Chester Sullivan. In his course, virtually the only thing we did was write short fiction and then analyze each other's writing. It was the best class I ever took. I wrote a piece about a Pied-Noir who left Algeria for the Caribbean. I shared it with the class and Prof. Sullivan and was quite proud of myself. A couple days later, at the beginning of class, Prof. Sullivan tossed a book at me and said, "Your piece reminded me of this." It was the 1930s comedy Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh.

Coincidentally, like Greene, Waugh too was an Anglo-Catholic. Waugh was a much better Catholic than Greene, and nothing close to a communist. His work is hilarious and I tore through it like I had done with Greene. Waugh's Brideshead Revisited showed great insight into aristocratic England, while his great WWII trilogy Sword of Honour gave the world a great character named Guy Crouchback. And one author leads to another...thanks to Evelyn's work, I discovered his older brother Alec's travel memoir Hot Countries.

Starting my senior year at KU and throughout my 20s, I began to make my way through the literary classics. Albert Camus' The Stranger and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment intrigued me with the view into the mind of the murderer. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness fed into my fascination with Africa. Nabokov's Lolita shocked me with its portray of Humbert Humbert. I delved into black heart of Soviet communism thanks to Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I shivered thanks to James' The Turn of the Screw, and I reveled in the insanity of Kafka's The Metamorphosis.

My life in fiction would take a few more turns in my 30s and 40s...

TO BE CONTINUED...