Once the Internet took over my life (both for work and for entertainment), the number of books I read annually dropped, like a rock. I do read eBooks regularly, but slowly. So I decided this summer I would begin reading actual books more often.
The first book I read was one I heard about on Dennis Miller’s podcast. It’s an autobiography by the actress Illeana Douglas called I Blame Dennis Hopper. I’ve seen her in a few things, including an episode of “Frasier” (one of my all-time favorite television shows), but I was primarily interested in her because her grandfather, Melvyn Douglas, was an actor during the Golden Age of movies, which is when most of the movies we watch were made.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have too much to say about her grandfather, so while her commentary on the making of different movies she was in was interesting, and I read the whole book, it’s not one I would recommend unless you’re heavily into movies of the 80s and 90s, or you’re a fan of Illeana Douglas, who seems like a very nice person.
Next up was Kent Haruf’s Our Souls at Night. I’m a great fan of one of his earlier novels, Plainsong, so I thought I might like this book, too. And I did; it’s a sweet story about two older people that I wouldn’t have enjoyed when I was younger, but now that I’m closer in age to the two protagonists, I can appreciate it. Haruf’s style is sparer than most, and the novel ends rather abruptly, but he died not long after he wrote the book so maybe he just didn’t have the energy to flesh it out at the end. Nevertheless, it was a good story. I’ve heard that it was made into a movie with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. I probably won’t watch it, though; I prefer to remember them as they were in “Barefoot in the Park.”
The third book I read so far this summer was The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. I’m old enough to remember Fannie on television game shows back in the day, but while I’ve known for years that she became a famous writer, I’ve never read any of her books. I greatly enjoyed this novel. Despite its overly descriptive beginning, it quickly evolved into a multi-generational saga that held my attention throughout and led me to fall behind on some chores in order to see what happened next. (My mother-in-law will be proud of me; despite the temptation, I didn’t read the ending in advance to make sure the book was worth the time investment, as I have been known to do in the past.)
As a bonus, Ms. Flagg’s research into the time period she wrote about included many references to life in mid-20th-century northeastern Wisconsin, including Sturgeon Bay, where I used to live, so I particularly appreciated learning about those days. I enjoyed this book enough that I’ve already chosen another of Ms. Flagg’s books to read next.