The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)

A man invents a time machine and travels to the future.

SF Review: The Time Machine is still today a worthy classic, combining an exciting action-hero adventure story with a basketful of ideas deserving of a couple pots of coffee or bottles of wine (depending on your bent). This was Wells' debut novel, more a novella, in which he invented the term "time machine," predating the TARDIS by 70 years. The writing reminded of Arthur Conan Doyle, similarly somewhat stiffly presented but still a quick and easy read for the Indiana Jones moments (our hero armed only with a box of matches). Even more intriguing in The Time Machine is the battle of ideas Wells presents through our adventurer, who is fallible and very human as he explores a world in which humanity may be no more. As with much of the best SF Wells adds a philosophical substrate to his fantasy, one such level being that he finds the battle between capital and labor still on-going and taken to an imaginative extreme, a warning for our future. Footage of the classic (if cheesy) 1960 movie with Yvette Mimieux and Rod Taylor kept playing in my mind while reading, both being entertaining and enjoyable. The Penguin book version is nicely annotated and helpful since I'm not a turn of the century Briton and didn't know what "plough you for the Little-go" or "eke out his modest income with a crossing" meant. The Time Machine is concise, to the point, and rewarding in every way.  [5★]

Savage Night by Jim Thompson (1953)

A hit man watches his plan and his life fall apart.

Mystery Review: Savage Night presents a typical Jim Thompson protagonist: he takes foolish risks, has little forethought but an evil temper, has little concern for others, and kills easily. Our anti-hero is a tubercular homunculus, and willing to kill a friend faster than a rational person would ghost them. This may be heresy, but Thompson's characters can get repetitive. They're diseased, twisted, stunted, soiled losers who fully bring retribution upon themselves. They get what they deserve despite all their constant self justification and self deception. They're not the classic noir character, an innocent who gives in to sudden and often minor temptation that then leads down a path of growing danger and desperation. But Thompson's genius is in getting readers to buy into his characters, to somehow root for them, and hope that they get out of their mess -- often with the idea that they'll give up their life of evil. But, as in Savage Night, no matter what a Thompson character tries: "It didn't make much difference. I couldn't win." Of course he doesn't deserve "to win" either. Thompson's books aren't for the suicidal, easily depressed, or those prone to serious anxiety. Bound to be exacerbated. So what's the attraction of this genre of books, noir and noir adjacent, about the seamy side of life, the sordid underbelly of society extolled by such writers as Nelson Algren, John Fante, Hubert Selby, Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, Denis Johnson, even Françoise Villon and Jean Genet. Tales of the lives of petty criminals, hookers, junkies, and alcoholics, often with an emphasis on twisted sex and violence. There must be a certain sorry voyeurism in watching the lives of those who are often unfortunate, unfulfilled, and ultimately unhappy. Shouldn't readers prefer to focus on something more positive. Perhaps the genre is considered somehow more real, daring, gritty. A slice of life many of us never get to see. Maybe there's something such writers can teach us, but beyond a few hours of uneasy entertainment, I'm unsure what Savage Night taught me.  [3½★]

The Paris Review Interviews, vol. I by the Paris Review (2006)

Sixteen interviews about writing with some of the notable authors of our time.

Nonfiction Review: The Paris Review Interviews is a treasure to the curious reader and a handbook for the aspiring writer. This phenomenal collection of interviews focusing on the art and craft of writing covers a 50 year period stretching from 1956 to 2006 with something for almost everyone who reads or writes. The company including some of the biggest names in writing such as Hemingway, T.S. Eliot, or Jorge Luis Borges, to personal favorites such as Dorothy Parker, Kurt Vonnegut, and James M. Cain, to writers I'd never heard of such as Rebecca West and Robert Stone. The book focuses on fiction writers and poets but also includes book and magazine editor Robert Gottlieb (unknown to me), legendary film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder, and essayist Joan Didion. Some interviews are more expansive or interesting than others, but all include valuable information, autobiographical or gossipy or insightful, about themselves and other writers (fascinating) and influences. The centerpiece of The Paris Review Interviews is the one with editor Robert Gottlieb, which is structured as a dialogue with some of the authors whose books he edited over the years, including Toni Morrison, Joseph Heller, Doris Lessing, John Le Carre, Cynthia Ozick. But all the interviews are valuable, each with a small helping of ego and a clear personality: Vonnegut's interview seems just like one of his books, Dorothy Parker is generous to others and immensely self-deprecating, Hemingway demands boundaries, Borges is more approachable than I expected, Elizabeth Bishop is shy and retiring, Richard Price talks about addiction and writing. Poet Jack Gilbert actually lived the life that Jack Kerouac wanted. The great film director Billy Wilder tells more war stories about Hollywood than secrets about writing. Just by the numbers, four of the 16 interviews are of female authors, and one, perhaps, is of a person of color. After reading the interviews it's clear that there are no rules for writing, or at least the rules are different for each writer. The Paris Review Interviews is a joy to read, a treasure on many levels. All these people are aware, intelligent, with an informed and individual perspective on life, books, and writing. And there are three more volumes in the series.  [5★]

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (1941)

A well-known actress is strangled on a beach, but which of the island's residents is a murderer?

Mystery Review: Evil Under the Sun presents Hercule Poirot once again on vacation, and once again someone is murdered in his vicinity. Perhaps M. Poirot needs to stay home. The events take place on an isolated island off the coast of Devon (the southwest of England, east of Cornwall) just as in And Then There Were None (1939). The plot makes the island the equivalent of a great manor house in the country, limiting the suspects to known residents. Of course several candidates are presented, seemingly none could have done it, but Poirot solves the mystery in good style. When asked late in the book who he suspected the little Belgian replies: "Madame, I reserve the explanations for the last chapter." Which he does. While most of the book seemed only average Christie (always better than average) the solution was a clever twist on an old trick and surprised me pleasantly. There are interesting attitudes toward women in Evil Under the Sun. For much of the story one character is widely castigated as an evil and wanton female, an actress not a lady, yet her married paramour gets only sympathy as the bewitched innocent. Christie straightens it out at the end. Another character is presented as a highly successful business woman with a rewarding career, who I took as a stand-in for the author. The character says she makes "a very handsome income out of my business ... it's my business ... I created it and worked it up, and I'm proud of it!" Yet out of nowhere and completely out of character Christie has her inexplicably give it all up in a second. I don't think Christie ever gave up her successful business. Despite this quibble, Evil Under the Sun is typical solid Christie with a better than clever resolution.  [3½★]

The Hot Beat by Robert Silverberg (1960)

A newspaper reporter and an actress try to prove a suspect innocent of the murder of a B-girl. 

Mystery Review: The Hot Beat is genuine of-its-time pulp fiction. Carefully detailed sexual pawing, sometimes verging on rape, is inserted into the story whenever possible, as part of a generally unhealthy obsession with women's breasts. No doubt that's what readers expected. Along with some sadistic violence. The plot is basic: our heroes try to prove their friend innocent of murder while the police railroad and repeatedly beat the suspect. The police don't come off too well. On their way to the big finale there are a couple of twists with clues subtly placed, but none of the characters are impersonating Sherlock Holmes. Ultimately, for me this raised the question of disposable entertainment: what's the difference between a book you'd want to read again and again, and one you'd never think of picking up again (like this). Both Raymond Chandler and Jane Austen are still in print long after their sell-by date, so both have something on offer beyond simple enjoyment. Also notable is that a science fiction grandmaster wrote pulp noir back in the day (during a downturn in the science fiction market), which is the only reason The Hot Beat was resuscitated. The book also includes three short stories by Silverberg: "Naked in the Lake" (1958), the longest of the three, is basic and predictable (I expected the twist to be better than the one Silverberg gave us); "Drunken Sailor" (1958), again predictable and just a few pages long with a trick ending that could be seen coming halfway through; and "Jailbait Girl" (1959), again just a few pages long with an unsurprising twist at the end. The stories are just brief entertainments, written well enough but with little depth or anything other than historical interest. The Hot Beat is a good diversion while riding the train or waiting in a doctor's office, but won't compel you to reread it later in life. On the other hand, a throwaway book from 63 years ago was just republished, so what do I know?  [3★]

Sleep with Slander by Dolores Hitchens (1960)

A child is missing and P.I. Jim Sader is going to find the kid even if everyone in Long Beach refuses to cooperate.

Mystery Review: Sleep with Slander effectively establishes a sense of urgency from the first page that carries through to the last. The second (and final) novel in the Jim Sader series follows the earlier Sleep with Strangers (1955), but here his partner is out of the picture, he doesn't fall in love, and at 50 years old everything is that much more difficult than before. Sleep with Slander is just as good and maybe a bit better than the first. Again there are surprise twists and turns, bodies appear unexpectedly, and every character introduced seems suspect and untrustworthy (though interesting and well-sketched). The witnesses often have competing motives and Sader hits many dead ends as the frustration and urgency mount. As in the first novel, it's only dogged persistence that pays off, though here there's an even heavier emphasis on artful psychological elements. Sleep with Slander would've been a good movie. As good as they are, the two Sader novels just don't have the existential dread and ennui of the best noir fiction, though they had the makings of an excellent series of detective novels, if we'd just had the chance to see where Dolores Hitchens might've taken her ideas.  [4★]

Sleep with Strangers by Dolores Hitchens (1955)

A young woman's mother is missing and an aging P.I. starts down a long, oily road.

Mystery Review: Sleep with Strangers, featuring P.I. Jim Sader, is similar to some classic hard-boiled detective novels, with a plot similar to The Big Sleep and the name of the client, Miss Wanderley, oddly similar to femme fatale Miss Wonderly from The Maltese Falcon. Set in Long Beach, California (as opposed to L.A. or San Francisco),  Sader is a mid-life, dry alcoholic, world-weary as Marlowe but not quite as tough as Spade. On the other hand, he falls in love more easily. His investigation into a missing socialite includes baby pigs, shady real estate transactions, oil wells, several people who lose their temper quite easily, a generous number of murders, and the requisite number of beautiful women. Engaging, compelling, with plenty of twists and turns, Sleep with Strangers has a few too many coincidences but that's par for the course and doesn't louse up the story. Hitchens also adds a psychological underlay unusual in tough guy detecting. Though P.I. Sader is actually more soft-boiled than otherwise (he loses his only fistfight), but that, his fatal flaw, and a mid-life crisis make him all the more interesting. This is a highly readable detective novel by the prolific Dolores Hitchens (1907-73) who's better known (under the pseudonym D.B. Olsen) for her "cat" series featuring little old lady sleuth Rachel Murdock, beginning with The Cat Saw Murder (1939). Sleep with Strangers is a reprint by The Library of America, as is the second and final Jim Sader mystery, Sleep with Slander (1960). Too bad there weren't more.  [4★]