I've mentioned my good pal Bart Baker on this pages several times -- often because of his Shakespearean rants when he writes out his complaints in an email or on social media, usually about politics though occasionally just something in society that gnaws at him.  And yes, I have been known to intentionally noodge him, guessing what is to come and looking forward to the tsunami.  But those great rants come because he's a great writer -- of screenplays, TV movies and novels, most notably the gem Honeymoon with Harry that I've written about.  (It's been sold to the movies, and come close to being produced several times, but...we're still waiting.)

Bart has a new novel which was just published yesterday, so I would be utterly remiss if I didn't at least mention it. The Virgin Daiquiri.  No, I haven't read it yet (six pages thus far doesn't count), so I can't give an authoritative view.  But from the past I've read enough of Bart's volume of work to know that all his previous books have been a joy, wonderful story-telling and lively dialogue, mixed in with humor.  This one tells the story of a cheerful, tropical island barmaid, cosmetic rep and (holding out for "memorable") still-virgin, named Daiquiri La Bouquet -- who is accused by her manipulative mother of attempted murder.  The young woman runs off for Manhattan, where she has two goals -- to find her biological father who her mother has always suggested is “the richest man in New York City,” and also to search for the man who one day soon will be "her first."

If you're interested in finding out more about it -- there's a much more detailed synopsis -- you can check things out on Amazon here.

Since Bart is a father with two kids, I think that that counts as making this a Father's Day posting, as well...

Here's the main story from last night's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.  It's a smart and scathing 20-minute look at Vice President Mike Pence.

And being John Oliver, it almost goes without saying the the whole piece ends with another one of his pretty-darn brilliant stunts.

Without giving anything away, I'll say that after watching the video if you want to follow-up, you can click the link here for more.

I've been reading Joseph Anton which is written almost like a novel in the third person, but it's a memoir by Salman Rushdie about his early life and time during the 11 years being under the fatwa.  It's quite good -- the title comes from the code name he used during that time, "Joseph" coming from Joseph Conrad, and "Anton" from Chekhov.  And amid it all, there's one particularly interesting, fun passage that stands out for being one of those things we refer to as unintended consequences.

It comes during a section on negotiations to find a publisher for his upcoming novel, The Satanic Verses.  There was no controversy at that point, so the issue was a case of advance money and what publisher would be best to handle the distribution.

He had been with a small publisher for a few years and had become close to the owner, and his agent  (with whom he was also close) recommended it.  However, other agents were involved, as were other, larger companies.  (One -- which made the best offer -- was owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, and Rushdie notes how thrilled he is that the offer was turned down, because he's certain they never would have supported the book after the difficulties began.)

In the end, for long reasons explained in the book, he went with one of the larger publishers.  In the process, though, it hurt his friendship with the smaller publisher, and with his agent and friend, who he lost when he took the other offer.

Rushdie notes that, as it happened, over time, his strong friendship with the small publisher and agent managed to build itself up again, and they became very helpful supporters during his time being protected, which he explains in detail later in the book.  But it was something else long in the future which he said likely never would have happened if he had stayed with his former publisher, and so it turned out to be the decision all for the best, even though it didn't seem like that at the time.

As Rushdie notes, because his former publisher was so small, it is not likely that they could have handled the pressures caused by the fatwa.  Even his large, corporate publisher had huge difficulties with it -- having to build extra security measures in to their headquarters and pay a great deal for extra security personnel.  Not to mention needing the cover of a large enterprise to be able to handle all the requirements of logistics that came crushing down on the company.  He says that if the small publisher had handled The Satanic Verses, it's likely that they would have been overwhelmed by it all, taken huge financial its, and gone out of business.

And if that had happened, he writes, the small publisher, Bloomsbury, "would never have survived to discover an obscure, unpublished children's author called Jo Rowling."

I had something else planned for today, but waking up I heard on the radio that it was National Winnie the Pooh Day -- though really it's a day for A.A. Milne, in honor of his birth today in 1882.  So, I figured we might as well have two Happy Birthday Days in a row.  And so, Happy 136th Birthday it is.

Rather than video from some Disney cartoon of Winnie the Pooh, I thought I'd go a different direction.  Instead, here are a couple of songs.

The first is the wonderful "House at Pooh Corner," written by Kenny Loggins, and performed by him and his partner Jim Messina.

And the second song is the utterly charming "Alexander Beetle," sung and co-written by Melanie, a very popular performer whose career began in the late-60s -- though she's still touring and performing.  The reason I include this and why I say "co-written" is because the words to the song here are from a poem by A.A. Milne.

(Side Note:  in 1989, Melanie won an Emmy for writing the lyrics to the theme song to the TV series, Beauty and the Beast, "The First Time I Loved Forever.")

I was going to include the album cut of the song, but found video of her singing it not only on The Ed Sullivan Show, but it was the very last Ed Sullivan Show in 1971.  Surprisingly it begins with her singing a bit of her big hit, "Look What They've Done to My Song," but then we do get around to the wonderful, "Alexander Beetle."

This is sort of remarkable. Back in 2005, Harper Lee, who famously wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, (and is from, of course, Alabama),  wrote a letter criticizing Roy Moore. Not about people who are “like” Roy Moore...but, no, about Roy Moore specifically.

In the letter to a historian friend, she wrote -- 

"It looks like to hell if we don't get some things changed. . . .  I dread the advent of Roy Moore's administration but its coming sure as doomsday. What is wrong with us? Are you old enough to remember when people were less ignorant? I am."

You can read an article on the story behind it, written by that historian, here.

 
 

At the age of 85, novelist John Le Carré has just published a new book -- A Legacy of Spies -- which is a sequel of sorts to his most famous book, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, written 50 years ago.  

This is his recent appearance as guest on NPR's Fresh Air, hosted by Terry Gross.   I didn’t listen to the whole thing -- it's about 45 minutes -- but did listen for 25 minutes, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  What I heard is mostly about his life as a spy and his analysis of politics today surrounding Russia and Trump. Thanks to Eric Boardman for bringing this to my attention.

I don’t know if he gets into his writing later, though he reads a few passages from the book -- and most-especially when he reads from the first page (about a minute in) he’s tremendous.  So good that you want to hear him read the whole book.  So, even even you have no interest in listening to the whole thing, or even any, it's definitely worth checking out the first two minutes, if only to hear what it's like when an author is magnificent reading from his own work.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has a new book about to be released on May 30.  It's not a book on policy, but the story of his race for the Senate in 2008 which he won -- after an eight-month recount and challenges -- by a whopping 312 votes.

While it promises to be a well-written and wonderful tale, particularly based on having read his previous books, it's the incredibly self-deprecating title and cover which makes the book so-especially worth noting.

​I just absolutely love that and keep laughing every time I see it.

(By the way, it's worth noting that when Franken ran for re-election in 2014, Minnesota voters were suitably impressed with the job he'd done during his first term, that they returned him to office with a significantly bigger margin -- just under 203,000 votes, or 53.1% of the total.  His next closest challenger only had 42.9%.)

You can pre-order the book here.  As I said, it gets released in only a week-and-a-half from today.  I'm not a fan of Audiobooks, I prefer reading though if one has long daily commutes, I can see the benefits, but if ever I was tempted to buy one, it would be this since it's "read by the author."  (Maybe after reading it, I'll try to find an inexpensive used AudioCD.)  This is the publisher's description --

Very interesting article in Vanity Fair by Sheila Weller about a new book soon to be published, The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson.  The focus of the article is how the author tracked down Carolyn Bryant, the woman who the 14-year-old boy allegedly whistled at, the "inexcusable" act which led to his brutal beating and death -- and how she says that Emmett Till never whistled at her, though at this point she doesn't recall all the other details of her exchange with Till.

No other author has ever interviewed Carolyn Bryant Donham, which took place 10 years ago when she was 72.  She's still alive at 82, though in seclusion.  The book doesn't say she specifically expresses regret for what happened, though she expresses great sympathy and tenderness for Till's mother and what happened to the boy, which the reporter notes comes across like close to the same thing.

The piece isn't very long and worth checking out.  You can find it here.