Yaps, claptrap, and coinkydences

In one of the most delightful, spontaneous combinations I have hit in years, this week I read Inside Job and A Man without a Country. If one doesn't get you, the other will. Of course, it was preaching to my personal choir.

Inside Story by Willis uses a professional skeptic to poke fun at channeling and the rest of the Dewey 133s (which I tend to think of as the hoohah section, but I do not vocalize that thought aloud). There's a boy-meets-gorgeous actress thing, and wonderful H. L. Menken quotes and factoids throughout. At 99 pages with plentiful white space, this is just a delightful romp of a novella. Of course, Willis interweaves everything masterfully. I spent most of the 99 pages thinking I knew where I was going, but still was surprised. A great short read.

And another! I read everything I could find by Kurt Vonnegut in the 1970s and 1980s. I would have said I loved Vonnegut. It turns out, I didn't know very much about him. Vonnegut and my parents were all born in the early 1920s, came of age during the Depression, and served in World War II. My father's response to that war was similar to that of Vonnegut. I think about what my father would have thought about our current war, the Middle East, and this President and administration. (Sometimes, death has its advantages?) It was good to hear from a kindred "no BS" person from his generation.

A Man without a Country gave me lots to think about. Some of it made me want to cheer. Of course, the little lovesong to public librarians warmed the cockles of my heart. But in general, although Vonnegut is very dark about mankind, the environment, human relations, war, modern "conveniences", I still came away uplifted. Like Willis, Vonnegut comes down hard on frauds, liars, and manipulators. Yet their warmth to our shared humanity is inspiring. I want to try to sit back a bit and say, "If this isn't nice, then I don't know what is" every chance I can.

It was a wonderful bit of serendipity to combine these two short works in one week. By coincidence, I also made settlement on my condo in Philadelphia. Amazing how the feeling of flush pockets makes everything seem better, even customer request for 1986 Sylvia Browne titles, and the fact that our beautiful blue spinning orb is sending us dire warning signals. I won't lose sight of the problems. I thought about the C. S. Lewis quote, "we read not to be alone." I am feeling less alone, thank you Connie and Kurt.