The Only Thing Constant in Life is Change
It’s been a notable month!
I do love horse racing. We went up to Saratoga for some good horse watching which included the very important Whitney, the winner of which got an automatic spot in the Breeders Cup out at Santa Anita later this fall. And Saratoga is such a gorgeous spot. It was all lots of fun. If it moved, we bet on it! Did OK too.
Then came home for three nights and then back up to Canada, to historic Quebec City for some history and luxury and then a few days later west over to Bromont (home of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Equestrian Competition) for some eventing-dressage and the like-horse trials.
A great friend, the mighty Caitlin The Cake, was competing on her beloved ALLY K GO and it was a treat to watch and visit with so many. Then over to Montreal to fly out. I had grown a bothersome summer cold.
The weather was very chilly, the airport was frigid and the two flights down to Dulles and Charleston were ‘morgue’. ‘Luckily’ I had my heavy jacket and a down vest so I just burrowed in. They were my early friends and at the end my aggressive enemies.
When I arrived in Charleston, I got my keys and out the door I popped…into a heat index on 115! Ouch! In short order I was soaked, hot fevered and disoriented. Knowing I was suddenly in no shape to drive, I slumped down onto a bench. (PS…No alcohol for those past two days…let’s hear it for me).
Some nice folks from one of the car rental desks randomly passed by, took a hard look at me and inquired if I was alright. I knew I wasn’t and told them so. Then the Charleston Airport Police and North Charleston P.D. arrived, assessed me and called EMS. They hung hydration and rolled me to East Cooper Hospital ( I asked if they would turn the siren on…no such luck…damn!) where I was admitted for lots of rehydration and a good night’s rest after a Cat scan, lots of labs and the ever-present humiliation of the never-fitting hospital gown. Early on, got swabbed and was told I had Covid which had made my heat exhaustion and dehydration basically an equation of 2 +2 equals 10.
I was very weak and it was as though my leg muscles had cramped up and locked down. Went home the next morning where I quarantined for a week.
It was so hot outside, I was delighted to stay inside, get horizontal on my couch, watch the Braves and Netflix, nap and read a lot and do some desk work. Never needed supplemental oxygen, medicine, never lost my sense of taste or smell.
Everyone was so nice to me; from the policemen to the EMS folks to all the hospital personnel. And Lord! My family and friends were so generous with their time and brought goodies and newspapers round the clock. Daughter C.C. served yeoman’s duty and thankfully, did not get sick hanging around me.
Quite a run of time! Looking back, all fun (well, almost all), interesting and instructive.
Now back in the saddle. So, let’s get to it.
Again, I have books I will comment on, hopefully briefly and to the point.
GANG LAND by Chuck Hogan
Good read. Fiction.Based on true stories of the mob in Chicago. Terrific character and plot development. Page turner.
DISRUPTIONS by Steven Millhauser
Highly acclaimed Short stories. All over the lot. Some predictable, some dead ends, some real good, some Twilight Zone, some. What’s the point?
Disappointing.
LET US NOW PRAISEW FAMOUS MEN by James Agree (Photographs by Walker Evans)
Dismayingly depressing. A thorough and elegant broad look (sometimes overly so) of poor whites and some blacks-sharecroppers- in the Cotton Black Belt of Alabama in the mid 1930s. Prose often twisted, convoluted Faulknerian and then often, searingly straightforward. Sometimes meticulously detailed, often painfully so. Was hard to, sometimes, not skim.
STORM by George R. Stewart
Stewart, a weather obsessive, after prodigious study and research (and I do mean prodigious!) invents out of fictional whole cloth, the birth and growth and devastating spread of a storm he names Maria. Starting as a ‘dot’ in the far Pacific, it grows and grows and tracks to San Francisco and beyond. Released in 1941, the book is both detailed and lyrical with a captivating look at the human element. A fascinating look. Enjoyed it.
A QUIVER FULL OF ARROWS by the acclaimed mega-best seller, Jeffrey Archer
He may be great with his book-length work but his short stories are basically too cute by half. That so often adored and acclaimed British understatement is not well served here. Each story, only mildly interesting from the get-go, just fizzles out like a very damp, undercharged roman candle. Dull. Pass.
THE RED HOTEL by Alan Phillips
The true story of the denizens of Moscow’s famed Metropol Hotel from 1941, including lots of ‘true believer’ western correspondents and lots of Soviet apparatchiks and mysterious characters. A lot of wandering about tying loose ends up which often leads to the sigh of ‘Now, where are we..?’ but it’s a spot-on look at the Stalin Era public relations manipulation; the last 100 pages will curl your hair at the extent of Communist cruelty and depravity. Stalin was a mobster and monster killer just as is current place holder, a fellow by the name of Putin.
BONUS RECOMMENDATION - A movie that came out in 2018.
THE DEATH OF STALIN starring Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, Jeffrey Tambor among others. Based on history with between the rails imagination. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 88%. I give it 95%. Highly recommend. Plenty of subtle humor and so much that we just don’t think about. Hulu and other streaming vehicles. Go get it. Highly entertaining.
HOWARD HUGHES - THE SECRET LIFE by Charles Higham
It is almost prurient to read portions of this book. Often cringeworthy but always fascinating, interesting. Hughes was an enigma. Weird to the point of Twisted. In one way a top-shelf aviator and brilliant businessman, in another a cheap crook and political schemer and manipulator. Talk about Mommy Issues! Sometimes, this book makes National Inquirer and People Magazine look like My Weekly Reader. Get it, read it, you need this bucket of cold water in your face.
NORTHERN ARMAGEDDON by D. Peter MacLeod
The crucial battle in Quebec on the Plains of Abraham and the Makings of the American Revolution.
This is very fine, precise and thoughtful military history. Well written. A lynchpin event-Had Montcalm and the French won the fight, it is quite probable we would all be speaking French now. The culmination of the often ignored French and Indian War. Vitally important. Changed the international balance of power. (Recently (see above), I spent a day walking the battlefield, overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence River and studying the dirt, the topography, the fort Citadelle and the old town of Quebec City. I had already read this book in anticipation of my visit. So helpful.) Absolutely riveting. Highly recommend.
WHITTAKER CHAMBERS by Sam Tanenhaus
One of the best books I have ever read. Encapsulates the Red Scares of the late 1940s and 1950s. Reads like a classically superb spy and mystery novel. The high stakes duel between the urbane and Ivy League Alger Hiss and the rumpled eccentric Whittaker Chambers. Evil Communism, Democracy under assault. Espionage, Politics, Courts, Trials, Drama everywhere- Twists and turns galore and it is all true. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, it stands at the top of the mountain that things do not always appear to be what they really are. Again, highly recommend.
This provocative quote (which I agree with) from the literary critic Leslie Fiedler is a key to this amazing story.
“The implicit dogma of American Liberalism inflexibly assumes that in any political drama, the liberal per se is the hero.”
Other observers go on to say, “…there is no magic in the words ‘left’ or ‘progressive’ or ‘socialist’ that can prevent deceit and abuse of power.”
And that ought to do it for this day. Keep reading, keep thinking and stay safe.