No. 002 – June 2025
Quotes for the month: (For information about the authors go to Google)
"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Cicero
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies." - George R.R. Martin
Book of the month: LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL by Thomas Wolfe
One of my half dozen favourite novels from over 6,000 books read. Below is my review of a new audio recording narrated by the great Stefan Rudnicki.
Movies / TV Series:
THE KOMINSKY METHOD (2018 – 2021). It is a sheer pleasure to watch Michael Douglas, a famous actor of years gone by, now acting coach, interact with Alan Arkin (Norman Newlander), his best friend and agent. They meet life’s challenges head on, or try to avoid them, as do most of us, and we found a touching aspect was periodic appearances of Eileen, Norman’s wife of 46 years, who died in episode 1, offering comfort and advice, at least in his own mind.
SHADOWPLAY (2020) (Alternative title: The Defeated) – For someone well read on 20th century history and World War 2 this will be of particular interest. Written by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, it places Max McLaughlin (Taylor Kitsch) NYPD detective in Belin in 1946 to aid in setting up a new police force to cope with burgeoning crime and the criminals and survivors. Max is also trying to locate his older brother. The recreation of the period and the sets are outstanding.
In Memoriam: Robert Benton – (29 Sept., 1932 – 11 May, 2025).
Benton was most proficient at both writing screenplays and directing, winning three Oscars, first for KRAMER vs KRAMER (1979) – Best Adapted Screenplay and as Director, then for PLACES IN THE HEART (1984) for Best Original Screenplay. PLACES IN THE HEART is a perennial favourite that Norma and I re-visit periodically. An Academy Award winning performance by Sally Field, who, as Edna Spalding, a recently widowed mother of two, takes us to Depression Era Texas and the challenges of a declining economy, cotton farming and surviving natural disasters. Other notable movies are BONNIE AND CLYDE, NOBODY’S FOOL, STILL OF THE NIGHT and TWILIGHT.
LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL by Thomas Wolfe
5.0 Stars
A wonderful new reading of a literary Classic
This is a review of a long-time favourite. A book I re-visit periodically to immerse myself in the luxuriant, exotic prose written for the author’s own satisfaction above any thought of future readers. However, above all, it is a review of a new audio edition narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Since 2000 I have listened to over 2000 audio books, mainly on Audible. Without doubt Stefan has become my favourite narrator for a variety of reasons: he reads the prose in his rich deep voice, moving the novel forward in an easy progression, but with the characters, he is a veritable marvel, capturing the subtleties and nuances of ALL the characters, male, female, young, old or child,
In ANGEL he excels himself. I can close my eyes and listen to the dialogue, the exchanges between Eugene Gant, his parents, Oliver and Eliza, and his siblings, Stevie, Luke, Ben and Helen, then other characters from the various levels of the Altamont society. You are there in this richly diverse community at the beginning of the 20th century, viewing the vicissitudes of the lives of the citizens and being shown a carefully hand crafted tapestry that reveals the souls in torment and joy, or just the mundane.
LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL was Thomas Wolfe’s first novel, written in the 1920s when he was only in his 20s and first published in 1929. It follows the fortunes and misfortunes of the Gant family as they navigate their way through conflicts, alcoholism, disease and dysfunction. Initially we meet them as W O (Oliver) arrives in Altamont, meets and marries Eliza and has a family. The remainder of the book is depicted largely through the eyes of Eugene, their youngest child, as he comes of age with the century, and he strives to cope with the dysfunction of his family.
One of the things that greatly impressed me when I first read it over 50 years ago was the depiction of the lives and interactions of the citizens of Altamont. We are there with them through the seasons, their business failures and successes and their challenges. It is a microcosm of the greater world shown in wondrous prose.
Probably if you asked a hundred good readers the three best “coming of age” novels of the 20th century the majority would nominate two as LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL (Eugene Gant) and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (Holden Caulfield).
If you are an audio book listener I hope my extolling of the virtues of both Thomas Wolfe and Stefan Rudnicki encourage you to turn on the “Play” button for hours of pure literary joy.
Where the idea came from:
THE MUSHROOM CLUB - FIR Vol 2. It seems to me that a big percentage of young people today are not cut from anything like the same cloth as say 18 to 30 year olds in the first half of the 20th century. They might be competent with IT but they are sorely lacking in common sense, and they certainly do not have the same ethics, values and patriotism of their forebears who went off to the First and Second War for King, Country and family. Would those young men and women, who died in those conflicts, or were damaged in mind, body and soul, feel they had lain down their lives in vain if they could see the citizens of Australia 70 or 80 years later? And that was the start – a microcosm represented by one family who had served their country across the years. I hope you enjoy it, or it makes you think.
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May you enjoy good health, fulfilling days, and, rewarding reading.
Eric