Random things

Glynis Johns passed away today :(  Of course I know her best from Mary Poppins, and she has a memorable turn in While You Were Sleeping, but I think I love her most for her narration of the Frances books by Russell Hoban and Garth Williams.  My sister and I listened to that record over and over as kids, and I can’t read those books (which I still do) without hearing her voice.  Bedtime for Frances is a classic in my estimation, in no small part to her contribution.

RIP, Ms. Johns.  Your legacy is secure.  

Sun House

Speaking of classics, Brothers K by David James Duncan will never come off of my bookshelf.  There are certain scenes in there that are absolute perfection.  I literally cried and laughed myself to tears with this book when I first read it.  So it was with eager anticipation that I started Sun House, published thirty-one years later.  

It’s not as good.  There are certainly moments that are just as transcendent; when Duncan is on, there’s no one better.  (Ray Bradbury, maybe.)  But he goes off the rails way too frequently with interminable essays about achieving oneness with nature that I ended up skimming, if not outright skipping, by the end.  I’m reminded of William Goldman’s imagined “long-parts” version of Princess Bride, which got a lot better after cutting out all the boring crap.  I can see a similarly improved Sun House that I would love to read again.    

Rachel Rising 1-42

I got the omnibus on sale at my LCS.  After the rom com/crime of Strangers in Paradise and the science fiction of Echo, Terry Moore tries his hand at horror.  It’s not bad by any stretch, but not really memorable.  (Kind of like Echo, where I literally can’t remember anything about it outside of the T-1000 suit.)  I wouldn’t mind reading it again, but it’ll be a while before I do.