The Hound of the Baskervilles (copy)

Who knew a classic who-done-it could be this atmospheric! It has playfulness between the main characters, Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It has intrigue wrapped around every clue encountered. The backdrop feels ominous with its, “long, gloomy curve of the moor, broken by the jagged and sinister hills.” Finally, the story takes place in October.

Of course, I am alluding to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. I selected it for the Northwest Reading Roundtable, sponsored by Sycamore Bank, through a recommendation from one of our instructors. I did not have the opportunity to read this in school and thought it might be fun; in addition, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is over 400 pages where The Hound is short.

Doyle’s biography mentions Collins and Edgar Allan Poe as his inspirations. He was especially intrigued with Poe, going as far as to write a forgotten short story in the author’s style. It was his serial stories of Sherlock Holmes that granted him financial success. He teamed up with The Strand, a London based magazine, then released the Holmes’ stories for a monthly stipend.

Doyle considered these Holmes/Watson stories “commercial” and not literary. The magazine deadline demanded he write faster than normal with little time to flesh out characters. Each story is plot-driven but has literary elements such as symbolism and imagery. His “commercial” skills became our modern day mystery genre.

Doyle grew tired of the duo and killed off Holmes in The Final Problem. This infuriated fans and the magazine lost 20,000 subscriptions because of the fictional death. Doyle was rather pleased though and decided to try other ventures such as going off to war.

The Hound of the Baskervilles marks Doyle’s reappearance of Holmes 10 years later. Fans were ecstatic with his return and did not mind that the author gave no explanation for the miraculous resurrection within the story. Readers had more to focus on with the expanding clues and possible suspects.

If you have not read this classic, pick it up! Heck, I’ll share my copy. People need exposure to Doyle’s cleverness. Oh, and if you find a book signed Dr. John Watson, take it to the nearest Antiques Road Show. Doyle often autographed things handed to him in this manner.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/10/hound-of-baskervilles-copy.html

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (copy)

October is the perfect time for ghost stories. The crisp autumn night under the stars in front of a red-yellow glowing campfire, is the perfect setting too. Oh, the lazy teenage hours spent listening to anyone who would offer a creepy tale like “The One Armed Man” or “The Hook” looms large in my set of favorite memories.

I would listen to stories about the Bell Witch of Tennessee without blinking. Imagine my joy when I learned John Bell’s daughter moved to Panola County and is buried in Batesville. It is said that if you walk over John Bell’s grave you will disappear. Wonder if the same is true for the daughter Betsy Bell?

Someone handed me Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by Montague Rhodes James two years ago and I picked it up for a trip to the coast. I read the ghost stories to my husband as he drove. We made it there and back without any accident or weird incident, but I read it in the daytime hours and not surrounded by cloudy darkness.

M.R. James (1862-1936) is considered to be, “the finest 20th century writer of ghost stories.” Who? It is in print. Has to be true, right?!? The introduction continues, “Yet Dr. James was not a very prolific fiction writer. He wrote only four books of ghost stories.” Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, written in 1904, is considered his best.

All the stories began as parlor productions. He told one innocently at a party and then he was asked to retell the story at another. Once he perfected his delivery, he wrote it down for future reference. As I read some of the stories, I can picture a scholar standing in front of an intimate group with sherry in hand for this is how some of these begin. The tales have autobiographical elements.

Warning to those who do attempt to read this collection, have a dictionary within reach. Can you define these words: catarrhs, mezzotint, sacristan, missal, antiphoner, morphology, ophiology, and palaeographer? We read handfuls that were indefinable such as the word stupige.

I experienced some hair-raising moments during the reading, but I realize this is a rare book. Local libraries do not have the title on the shelf, but they have plenty of other selections. Drop by one and scare up a ghastly book.

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/10/ghost-stories-of-antiquary-copy.html

Homer's Odyssey (copy)

He felt like a little puff of smoke. At two-weeks-old he stretched barely four inches from the tip of his ears to his tail. His lungs were in perfect order though, and it wasn’t until he turned toward Patricia Khuly, VMD that she noticed his infection.

Khuly mashed some cat food and milk together and placed it in front of the howling fur ball. He started to eat and she got a closer look at his eyes. They were infected and beyond healing. In order for the little kitten to live the eyes would have to be removed.

This was an ethics question Khuly did not want to face in her new position. It would be easy to ask her boss for direction, but she no longer had a superior. She was now the sole owner and operator of the budding veterinary practice.

Who would adopt a blind kitten? She would love to take the little one on but she already had a dog and all her money was tied to the new business. She would also be too busy for the one-on-one time this disability would demand. Maybe, it was more humane to end the kitten’s life.

The lovely couple who brought him in did not want him, once they heard he would be blind. Khuly saw no reason to kill the perfectly healthy kitten just because it could not see. She hit the phones calling all her cat loving friends for help.

Gwen Cooper was Khuly’s last hope. Cooper was wishy-washy when Khuly called her. She had two other cats and was living with a roommate who might not want the extra boarder. She agreed to look at the kitten as a way of being nice, but all along she knew she would say no.

When Cooper arrived, Khuly felt a little trepidation as she handed him over. She waited to see the look of disgust in Cooper’s eyes. All the others had made the same face, but Cooper smiled. Cooper then whispered a greeting and the little one started to purr. To everyone’s surprise she uttered, “I’m taking him home.”

The little black fur-ball grows up to be Homer the well traveled. His personality is totally opposite what one would imagine. He runs directly to noise. He greets everyone who comes in the door. He takes all of 15 minutes to figure out the configuration of a room. He runs full on and jumps with abandon. He is a delight!

Calling all cat owners! Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is a must read. Each chapter opens with a picture of Homer and a quote from The Odyssey. He is truly a cat full of adventure.

Homer's Odyssey (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/10/homers-odyssey-copy.html

Promise Me (copy)

I thought I was seeing things. My legs were achy and I thought possibly my mind was going. It was the ninth mile in an 11 mile Sunday morning run when I looked up and saw a hot pink fire truck. I literally rubbed my eyes and looked again only to see another pass by on the interstate. No, I wasn’t delirious. The next one went by and on the attached trailer was a huge breast cancer awareness ribbon decorated in camouflage.

To my relief, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I was seeing something real! It was a short convoy of fire engines on the Pink Heals Tour. They were coming from Orange Beach, AL into Memphis for an event that day.

The Pink Heals Tour is a group of all male firefighters who travel the country raising awareness of the disease. Their Facebook page says, “These men honor those who can no longer fight, stand with those who can fight and inspire those who watch.”

I want to continue that spirit by introducing you to a new book on the subject. Before I begin, there are a ton of breast cancer books. Many are “how-to” survive or care for someone and then plenty of survivor stories. Sadly, our shelves bulge over.

I am excited to be holding the new book Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer by Nancy G. Brinker. Nancy is the founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and her sister, Suzy, was diagnosed in 1977 with the dreaded disease.

The two Goodman sisters were best friends who grew up in postwar Peoria, Illinois. They lived an idyllic life. The book jacket says, “The sisters shared makeup tips, dating secrets, (and) plans for glamorous fantasy careers.” All this future planning was cut short with Suzy’s death sentence.

It is thanks to Suzy and Nancy that the stigma associated with breast cancer is finally a memory. Suzy lost her life to the disease three years late at the age of 36. Nancy made the promise to look for a cure as she lay dying. She began the foundation two years after her sister’s death and two year before she too was diagnosed with the disease.

The book is filled with side stories such as the first documented case located in Egyptian papyri and Fanny Burney’s mastectomy. Oh, I cannot wait to read it!

Promise Me (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2010/10/promise-me-copy.html