October 31, 2019
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Whole Wide World

This computer is about 15 feet from the front door. It’s raining and still kids are out trick or treating. I’m surfing the YouTube machine between groups of kids……and I seem to be stuck on Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric tonight. This is what happens when you eat too many Hallowe’en candies.

I discovered that Amy Rigby has recently written a book, so between kids and videos I ordered it up online. I don’t know how many of their videos I checked out before I came across The President Can’t Read…… perfect.

One more….which I’ll send out to my friend who commented on the facebook that the Eagles were better than the Ramones (cough cough)…

October 31, 2019
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The Price of Salt

I just finished reading Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 masterpiece, The Price of Salt. How is it I failed to read this before now? Highsmith initially published this same-sex love story as Claire Morgan, then republished it many years later under her own name, but with the title, Carol. The book was made into a movie in 2015, called Carol and starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. I haven’t seen the movie, but will do so based on the strength of the book.

Highsmith is perhaps best known for her first novel, Stranger’s on the Train, adapted for film by Hitchcock, and the 5 Ripley novels, some of which have also been adapted for film (most notably the fantastic Wim Wenders flick, The American Friend). Bit by bit (in between other reads), I’m making my way through as many of Highsmith’s novels as I can.

October 30, 2019
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Pods

A lot of the honey locusts planted around here are male trees. We have one of those in our front yard. It deposits a lot of pollin on the garden each year. In Sam Smith Park there are several female honey locusts, notable for their distinctive and large pods.

October 30, 2019
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A new page – The Agency Reading List

I created a new page/menu item attached to 27th Street tonight, called The Agency Reading List. This page is simply a dynamic list of all the books discussed in various contexts during episodes of The Agency podcast. Documenting them here provides a reference for listeners to the podcast, as well as a reference for Candy and I. I’ll update it each time a book is discussed during an episode of The Agency.