Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Dec 11

6

A Wagner Matinée by Willa Cather

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on December 6, 2011
Posted in Short Story Read in 2011  | 3 Comments

 
I was away visiting my mom with very limited internet access, alas no short story reviews during that time.  I’m glad to be back.

Margot of Joyfully Retired reviewed A Wagner Matinée  back in August and being the classics fan that I am, I had to read it as well.

Clark was from Nebraska but studying in Boston.  He got a letter from his uncle telling him that his Aunt Georgina is coming to Boston to settle an estate.  As a young woman, Georgina had an accomplished music teacher at the Boston Conservatory.  However she met a Nebraska homesteader and married him, ending her career.  
Clark arranged to take his aunt to a Wagner concert.  She had been so kind and a great influence on him as a child, he wanted to treat her to something special.  It had been quite a long time since Georgina had beeen to a musical concert and her reaction want quite what Clark expected.
It becomes quite clear in the story that Georgina has regrets.  You will have to read the story to find out more.  You can read it here.

I loved the way Cather displayed Georgina’s regret.  It wasn’t spelled out but you can glean from Georgina’s reaction to the music, her feelings.  It was beautifully done.  I have several of Cather’s novels in my TBR and this short story has me wanting to read more.

Did you review this short story?  Please leave your link in the comments.

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.  Tweet

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Nov 11

15

The Ballad of the Great Yukon Puke On by Noodleepoodlee

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on November 15, 2011
Posted in Short Story Read in 2011  | 5 Comments

I can’t for the life of me remember how this story came to my attention.  It was written on the noodleepoodlee website, which I had never heard of.  If you brought it to my attention, I would love to give you credit.

The sub-title to this story is “Special Correspondent’s Report Hobo Joe Goes Rogue: Off the Bus, On the Wagon and Hitting the Highway”
Let me start off by saying that this is a strange story.  Not that that’s bad, in fact it was just so different, that it was refreshing.

Here is how it starts out: “Call me Hobo Joe. Yeah, I know… another Joe; it’s one of the few names Mrs. Palin can remember. Like Joe O’Biden … or Joe Arpaio or Joe Miller. Until recently, I was Joseph Campbell Sales, history advisor and image consultant (i.e. handler of opposition research, subtle pressure, veiled threats, rumor and innuendo), one of many clowns riding sidecar in the Palinpalooza Traveling Road Show and Political Action Circus’ motorcycle fleet.“
Joe met Noodleepoodlee in a bar along with some other people.  They got quite intoxicated and when the bar closed went to Noodlepoodle’s place to eat and sleep.  They next day they all continued the party but they also developed a cover operational plan that Joe doesn’t quite remember following through on.   He does remember waking up in a jail cell and being fired, it sounds like it was Sara Palin, herself.  

Joe goes on to tell us what happened and the results are pretty funny. I can’t help wonder if this story has any basis of truth to the events described.  You will have to read it for yourself, to see what happens.  I would love to know your thoughts on it.  You can read it here.  

The Ballad of the Great Yukon Puke On seems to be a series on noodleepoodlee.

 Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set. 
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Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Nov 11

7

Twelve Strangers in the Night by Elizabeth M. Bisgood

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on November 7, 2011
Posted in Short Story Read in 2011  | 9 Comments

Back in August, Twelve Strangers in the Night was The Library of America Story of the Week.  Read Handed reviewed it back in August and now I finally got to it last night.   

Elizabeth M. Bisgood wrote this in 1933 when air travels was still in it’s infancy.  I makes for great comparison to how far it has come since then.
The plane she described was a 12 single seat plane. Iit was 12 isle seats with windows.  That too me would have been great.  I like to look out the window bit I usually ask for an isle seat because I have to get up a lot and don’t like crawling over people.  LOL!  However, if you were traveling with someone you could not sit together.  
The plane was so noisy that it made having a conversation pretty impossible.  In fact, most of the passangers wore cotton in their ears.  One passenger yelled to Ms. Bisgood asking if she minded if he smokes.  She didn’t mind, in fact, she had one too.  I remember clearly when there were smoking sections on air planes.  It didn’t matter how far you were seated from the smoking section because the entire plane reeked!  I always had to take a shower and wash the clothes I had been wearing as soon as possible.
The plane rode a lot lower to the ground than we do now, which made for a bumpy ride.  They started out in California and a cross country flight took two days.  They made a lot of stops.  Ms. Bisgood didn’t explain why but I am guessing they had to re-fuel a lot.  She also did not say if there was a bathroom on board, my first question.  LOL!
Ms. Bisgood explained about how she felt sitting apart from the other passanger, yet feeling united with them because of the experience.  Even for the passengers who had been on a flight before didn’t know quite what they would experience.  Fear seemed to be quite common.
“The man across the way is rigid with fear. Any course seems terrifying to him. As we dive up into the soft mass of cloud he looks at me, shakes his head, and closes his eyes. Now that we are in the cloud all sense of motion is stopped. We seem to be suspended in a universe of cotton wool. Perhaps we are a toy aeroplane filled with stiff figures and packed in cotton for shipping.”
“The fate and the fear of any one of us is the fate and the fear of the other eleven.”

I really enjoyed reading Ms. Bisgood’s flight experience from 1933.  It made me realize how far we have come.  However, it seems there was one other thing that was better back then besides having a single seat, she described the food as “very good”.  I don’t remember ever having a good meal on a plane and now, you usually don’t get anything in economy class except a beverage and a small package of chips, pretzels, or peanuts.  I do remember getting free alcoholic beverages way back when, including free champagne.

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set. 

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

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