HooBoy Book Club: Now and Then

[Guest gentle guy]

When I wasn't watching Carol Burnett on TVLand this weekend, I decided to catch up on some fiction reading. About a year and a half ago, I bought Now and Then, by William Corlett (I believe it was on my amazon.com recommendations list), and I chose that one to read. Has anyone else read it? I thought it very well-written; in fact, it won a British award for best first novel and has received great reviews. I also got very emotionally involved in it (which isn't all that difficult for me, lol, but this book really got to me for all sorts of thematic reasons). Anyway, thought I would recommend it to you guys. My feeling after reading it was that it would make a great film--then I remembered that Corlett is a screenwriter.

 

Reactions from anyone else who has read Now and Then?

[HooBoy]

Read now and then? I did read once, but I edited most of what I didn't understand.

 

I think all that was left was Genesis 1:2.

 

But seriously folks, I cannot read a novel until I complete the entire thing... no sleep. "Roots" was a challenge but I made it in a few days. "Old Man & the Sea" was perfect. As are all of Rick Munroe's writings. That's my idea of a good book nowadays.

[+ Lucky]

So there aren't many books in the Hoobrary? Just the collected postings of R$ick Munroe, and, of course, the Lucky Atlas?

I think I'll stick to the Hooseum!

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

No Book Left Behind

 

The best light fiction I have read recently were the two books by Timothy James Beck, particular He's The One. While not as good as the Michael Nava mystery books and more of a suspense than mystery, I found Bourbon Street Blues by Greg Herren amusing and entertaining. Being that it is winter, even as that is defined here in Los Angeles, I am presently reading a book on Yoga, several cookbooks (including the very excellent Great Food Made Simple, one of several good cook books by Mark Bittman), and I am also reading the Ben Franklin biography by Walter Isaacson.

[Rick Munroe]

>"Old Man & the Sea" was perfect. As

>are all of Rick Munroe's writings. That's my idea of a good

>book nowadays.

 

Aww, shucks. Thanks. Ironically, I'm working on a sort of sequel to "Old Man & the Sea"...to be called "Young Man & the Semen (The Rick Munroe Memoirs).

[bigguyinpasadena]

RE: No Book Left Behind

 

Franco,please tell us about Boubon Street Blues.

If I might recomend FANNY by Edmond White.

[+ Lucky]

RE: No Behind Left

 

"If I might recomend FANNY"

 

Why not? More fannies have been recommended here than any other website!

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Bourbon Street Blues

 

This is from Amazon, where the book can be purchased. The book was released in the Spring 2003, by Kensington.

 

Personally, as someone who has visited New Orleans MANY times, I think unlike other pieces of fiction, it brings the place where it is situated very vividly to life without having to drip details. If you do not know the Quarter, you simply skip over the descriptions as you might in a book about an unknown place; if you do know the area, you realize the author has deftly sketched some places and types of people which are very similar to your own experiences. I did think the book had more "going on" in the sense that it felt like it was written as a potential movie script; then again, I nonetheless enjoyed The Bourne Identity, yet would never had sat down and read that or any other books of its ilk. I definitely recommend as well written but it is definitely light reading. You are not going to wake up the next day highly stimulated or intellectually curious than you were before you picked up this book.

 

If you (or anyone else) have any more questions about this or any other book I recommend, please feel free to private message me.

 

Editorial Reviews from Booklist

 

Bourbon Street Blues introduces Dick Dansoir, personal trainer and occasional go-go dancer at the boys' bars in the Big Easy. He is irresistible, especially for a guy whose real name is Milton "Scotty" Bradley. Of course, he keeps in shape, which helps as the book's wrong-man-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time plot unfolds. A friend and client turns up shot, execution style, in front of his place. Add a mysterious computer disk found in his dancing boot, an attempted mugging, an eerily attractive stranger who claims to be FBI, and his home being trashed by a Molotov cocktail--and a gorgeous go-go boy just must get help. He turns to his attorney brother, Storm (his sister is Rain), for advice, then risks everything by assisting the Feds in preventing the destruction of New Orleans, a horror Scotty has foreseen in visions (forgot to tell you: he is "gifted" with sporadic psychic powers, too). Dashing Dick saves the day, natch, and who could ask for anything more? Thoroughly engaging in every way.

 

There are two lengthy reader reviews on this site, but be cautioned they provide more detail than you might wish to know in advance of reading the book: http://www.entertainment-reviews.com/Bourbon_Street_Blues_0758202121.html

[Guest gentle guy]

Back to our original topic

 

AHEM

 

Has anyone read Corlett's novel Now and Then? Any reactions or opinions?

[Guest Michaelnc]

RE: Back to our original topic

 

I loved Now and Then, too. I thought it was very moving and powerful. It was especially good at capturing the intensity of love and pain when you're a teenager, and the difficulty adults have appreciating the depth and reality of those feelings. The main character's entire life is changed by a school romance, and no one really gets it.

 

I was so impressed by Now and Then, I went on to read another Corlett novel - Two Gentleman Sharing. What a disappointment! It is clearly intended as a very different sort of book, a light comedy, but it's just awful. Obvious, cliched, not funny - it was hard to believe it was written by the same person.

 

MichaelNC

[Trixie]

Right now I am reading "Aloes and other Lilies of Ethiopia & Eritrea" by Profs. Sebsebe Demissew, Inger Nordal and Odd Stabbetorp. You have to send to Addis Ababa to get it, but it's worth every extra penny in postage! If you've ever wondered about the madcap, whimsical evolution of monocots on the Dark Continent, then this is the tome for you. I haven't read such a thrill-a-minute book since "The Woody Iridaceae of South africa".

Trix

[bluenix]

>Right now I am reading "Aloes and other Lilies of Ethiopia &

>Eritrea" by Profs. Sebsebe Demissew, Inger Nordal and Odd

>Stabbetorp. You have to send to Addis Ababa to get it, but

>it's worth every extra penny in postage! If you've ever

>wondered about the madcap, whimsical evolution of monocots on

>the Dark Continent, then this is the tome for you. I haven't

>read such a thrill-a-minute book since "The Woody Iridaceae of

>South africa".

>Trix

 

Well, then, you may just be the person to ask. When I was in Costa Rica over the holidays we drove past rolling hill after rolling hill of Dracaenea. The guide told us that while this common houseplant is native to Madagascar, it grows very well in Costa Rica. So well that it has become a major export.

 

Can you verify this little slice of globalization?

 

And while we're at it, in case you know, how does a country export houseplants without also exporting all its topsoil?

[Trixie]

RE: HooBoy Botany Club

 

Yes indeedy, Bluenix, the genus Dracaena is from the Old World tropics (Africa, some in Asia) and not native to the New World. And if the Dracaena in question was D. marginata, then yes, it is native to Madagascar. Another native Madagascan you might have noticed in Costa Rica (and now sadly extinct in it's homeland) is the Flamboyant,

Delonix regia. This lovely tree with it's flaming orange flowers is planted throughout the tropics as an ornamental... many visitors to Hawaii assume it is native to there, because it's so frequently seen. In CR, it is also planted as an overstory tree on coffee plantations. It casts the perfect light shade for coffee plants, and it's root system fixes nitrogen in the soil.

 

The harvesting of Dracaenas for the houseplant industry does not involve digging up any plants on the ol' Dracaena ranch. (Transporting soil across int'l borders is a no-no anyway.) The stems root easily, thus they are simply cut, stuck in a box, and air-shipped to Florida. There, in the acres houseplant farms around Homestead, they are rooted in, 4-5 stems to a pot, and voila! Instant houseplant.

 

But rest assured that no Costa Rican Dracaenas were harmed in the making of your houseplant!

 

La Trix

[Guest gentle guy]

RE: Back to our original topic

 

Thanks, Michael, for your warning about the other book.

 

I thought the characterizations of both Kit and Stephen in Now and Then were exceptional, especially Kit. I felt that I truly knew and understood him. However, while I have very clear ideas of Stephen's physical appearance, I am not so clear on Kit, particularly as an adolescent. Interesting!

 

As I said, I really got emotionally drawn into this book. I thought it was powerful without being overstated.

 

The difference between the British and American covers is also telling. The (original) British cover shows a close-up of part of a class photo of British adolescents. The American cover shows a Belami model! (He does have the right look, however.)

[bigguyinpasadena]

RE: HooBoy Botany Club

 

Thanks for the info Trixie.Dracenas are a great-almost fail proof-house plant.I am very lax about te care of my houseplants and have grown to admire the various dracina's capacity to survive such poor treatment.Now if only I would give them the care they need-this place would be a jungle!

Talk about getting of topic!Sorry OP

[bluenix]

RE: HooBoy Botany Club

 

Okay, one more botanical digression.

 

I don't think I saw Flamboyant Delonix Regia in Costa Rica, but after a google image search I'm pretty sure I've seen it in Honolulu.

 

http://www.sementes.de/shop/images/medium/delonix_regia.jpg

 

One intriguing plant I did see in Costa Rica, growing in a yard beside the road, was what the guide called Angel's Trumpet or Queen of the Night. It was either a small tree or a large bush, I'm not sure, but it was absolutely covered with hundreds of huge, tent-like flowers.

 

http://www.kipapanursery.com/bella_donna_lg.jpg

 

http://www.biesanz.com/niteflower.jpg

 

He added that the Ticos will brew a couple of these flowers to make a hallucinogenic tea.

 

Can you tell us any more than this? Is it related to the nightshade family?

[Trixie]

RE: HooBoy Botany Club

 

The plants in the pics you included are Brugmansias, and are, as you said, in the nightshade family (solanaceae). It's certainly a flower that will stop you dead in your tracks the first time you see it! And at night, the blooms emit a quite powerful fragrance... to my mind, similar to those "Bounce" sheets some folks put in their driers. I don't much care for it frankly, and when the one outside my kitchen window goes into bloom, I prefer to keep the window shut.

 

Brugmansias are very closely related to Datura, the famous "loco weed". They are highly toxic, and indeed very hallucinogenic (sp?). Here in the Bay Area, one reads at least once a year about some teenager who ingests Brugmansia and, if not killed outright, suffers permanent brain damage.

I was given the recipe for correct usage by a native shaman in the Amazon (which I won't divulge here, for obvious reasons) but i've never tried it myself. The natives of the east slopes of the Andes feel it helps one get in touch with the spirit world. I really don't need any further help achieving a questionable reality...

Miss Trix