Challenges
Strapped for something to read, I reluctantly selected a thriller, Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan, which a customer said was good. It met my page restriction, well below the 350 limit. I was pleasantly surprised. Born in Philadelphia, her parents circus photographers, Duncan had an impressive literary run, at times writing under the pseudonym Lois Kerry. There are more than 25 novels listed on her Wiki profile, five works of non-fiction, two poetry collections, and a number of picture and chapter books. She contributed hundreds of articles to magazines. Her most famous title is I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was adapted to film in 1997. Eight other of her works have made it to the big or small screen, including the novel in question. Published in 1978 — no cell phones or PCs — it’s the tale of five teens who plot to scare the bejesus out of a strict English teacher whose tough grading threatens their futures. I refuse to be a spoiler, so I won’t comment further on the story. It is well-told, the prose and dialogue solid, the 222 pages of the paperback edition reading like considerably less. The psychology of the characters is keenly portrayed. I particularly liked how survival mode kicks in. 435 users at Amazon have rated Killing Mr. Griffin, forging to a consensus of 4.6 on a scale of five. I wouldn’t go nearly that high, but I enjoyed it. In 2015 Duncan received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. She passed away at 82 in 2016.
I cling to the hope that the USA is not deteriorating, that my dismay is simply a reflection of my pro-capitalism, anti-socialism bias. Here’s something else going wrong, headline from nypost.com: “CIA sounds alarm over capture, killing of dozens of informants: report.” Maybe agents are concentrating too much on the domestic terrorism fomented by moms protesting school curricula and mask mandates… And this from an NYP op-ed by Jeff Sessions, the former Attorney General whose tenure was bizarre and disappointing: “From 2019 to 2020, the US murder rate rose by an astounding 27 percent, the largest annual increase in at least the past 100 years.”
And the last laugh goes to, headline from NYP: “Cuomo aides told Hochul she was off 2022 ticket before scandals.” That surely tickles her funny bone.
Donald Trump has fallen outside the Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people. He may be the only ex-president unable to cash in on his time in office.
Let’s hope this doesn’t catch on, headline from foxnews.com: “South Carolina elementary school student slaps teacher as part of new TikTok challenge.” Well, at least the kid didn’t kill her.
Here’s a cartoon that will probably prove true:
It would have been another session of above average return for the floating book shop if I hadn’t substituted a twenty for a dollar while making change for the first customer of the day. At least I think I did. The second twenty is MIA. C’est la vie. My thanks to the woman who did a swap of Russian books, and to those who helped close the money gap. Here’s what sold: a soft cover American history textbook; a pictorial of NY Times photos; Blood and Money by Tommy Thompson; five Harlequin romances translated into Russian; DVDs of Counselor (2013), Dark Shadows (2012) and The Best of Chris Farley from SNL; and a pictorial on the art of Frenchman Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. He specialized in landscapes and portraits. Here’s The Bridge at Narni, painted in the 1820's:
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