Tim Null > Recent Status Updates

So far all the stories are good, but Five Rooms is wonderful beyond belief. Sort of like a modern day Huck Finn that's a girl in a VW. No raft.

Reliving my past.

Quote: If everyone behaved like Donald Trump,   ...   Without a shared sense of responsibility to the common good, we would have to assume that everybody   ...   was acting selfishly, making and enforcing laws for their own benefit. Unquote

My current focus is on memoirs and autobiographies with emphasis given to people advancing either literature or liberal causes such as individual liberty, equality, and social justice. In the case of literature, my primary focus will be on authors with extensive short story collections.

Quote
England would have no slaves. And America would have no king.
Unquote

Quote [Our founders and ancestors] believed that truth is to be found in ideas about morality but also the study of history. Unquote p. xv of the Introduction

I've finished the first 18 days. Five star stuff so far!

I was first drawn to this book because Grover Cleveland is a second cousin many times removed. That is, according to my recollection, my paternal grandmother's father, William Dodge Cory (1840-1910), was a second cousin to Grover Cleveland (1837-1908). In other words, I share an ancestor with Grover Cleveland, Moses Cleveland. Obviously, Grover's connection to Moses is a tad more direct than mine.

Part 1: The Rail Split
"Allan Pinkerton ... is on the case." p. 149
Birth through presidential election of Lincoln. Causes of Civil War. Origin of the Secret Service.

I've been reading them in the order they were written: Linden Hills, Bailey's Cafe, and now onto Mama Day. From Bailey's Cafe: "When you have to face [life] with more questions than answers, it can be a crying shame." I liked Bailey's Cafe. Linden Hills, not much.

"..the disquieting affliction that [comes] over [me] when [I] read [Philip Roth novels]. p. 23

Story #2
Title: The Common Day
Notes: Resembles the very first episode of a TV show that introduces the audience to all the elements of the show, such as title, theme song, location, cast, and common sources of conflict between the characters.
Quote:
Their conversation was filled with diminutives, timidity, and vagueness.
Unquote
Rating: They Shoot [Coons], Don't They?

John Cheever Story #1
Title: Goodbye, My Brother
Cheever carries on a bit much. He doesn't transition from one scene to the next until he has almost completely exhausted my patience. He seems to have a sixth sense that enables him to know exactly when my patience will be exhausted.
Rating: 4plus

When I first read Goodbye Columbus, all those decades ago, my conclusion was: This only proves that Philip Roth can punctuate run-on sentences. So why am I reading it again? Why not?

The curse of the first person point of view!!!

Here we go!

Gonna set this book aside for awhile so my brain cells can regroup, and I can listen to Mark Sandman sing his song titled Patience.

"Lincoln's policy of helping every man work his way up had been jettisoned by his own party after only twelve years." (p. 152)

"By 1859,... Republicans like Lincoln were ready to adopt the idea that the government should actively promote individual economic advancement." (p. 40)

Quote: "We all have our phobias, " I say.

Ah-ha! The crux of the matter revealed on page 23.

This gonna take a while. So far, I've read the introduction three times. I didn't reread it because I didn't understand it. I reread it because I wanted to savor it.