Curious!

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it."

...as related to this: http://www.newsy.com/videos/it...sing-from-his-grave/

What sayest thou, philnic?

I just started reading, "The Cat's Pajamas," by Ray Bradbury. I've only read the introduction written by Ray and it made me sad. He talked about his wife's death and how his writing stopped for a while. Great that he got back into things eventually and finished with a flurry of activity.

Someday I will work up courage to read The Year of Magical Thinking, in which Joan Didion describes her personal journey following her husband's death. It is considered a masterpiece and must-read writing on coping with grief and loss.

VERTIGO, by the acclaimed suspense writing team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. The novel was originally published in France in 1954 as D'ENTRE LES MORTS, and was the basis for the brilliant Alfred Hitchcock film VERTIGO.

NEWS OF THE WORLD, by Paulette Jiles, an excellent novel that was made into a critically acclaimed film starring Tom Hanks. Interestingly, in the author's acknowledgments page, Ms. Jiles expresses her gratitude to her editor, Jennifer Brehl, who was also Ray Bradbury's editor during his days with the publisher William Morrow.

ROBERT B. PARKER'S PAYBACK, by Mike Lupica. I have read all of Robert Parker's mystery novels. They were like potato chips...once I started, I couldn't stop. After Robert Parker died in 2010, other writers were recruited to continue writing novels featuring the characters he created. PAYBACK features Parker's private investigator character, Sunny Randall. At one point in the book, Ms. Randall enters an apartment whose door was unlocked, begins to look around, and thinks to herself:

"I could hear my own breathing now. Something wrong here, I told myself. Something wicked this way comes. Who'd written that? Wait. I knew that one. Ray Bradbury."

I decided to find a thriller like book and came across "A MIRROR ABOVE THE ABYSS". I find it very intriguing, though I'm not really a history fan. You can find more about it here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094NMRWPJ

The Legendary Herman "Jackrabbit" Smith-Johannsen, by Daughter Alice E. Smith (312 pg. biography, 1993).

Jackrabbit Johannsen (1875-1987) believed, like Ray Bardbury, in living forever! His early life had hard work and then more hard work. So, the rest of his life, he did the same in the activities he loved the most, all related to Nordic Skiing, travels, and friendships. He was an amazing man who overcame the difficulties of WW I & II to become know as the person who introduced cross-country skiing in America and Canada.

A quick read of main biographic points in the following link may gain your interest to take in the short video that is also offered below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Smith-Johannsen

Enjoy!
https://www.nfb.ca/film/jack_rabbit/

fjp451, what an amazing story about a man of whom I had not been aware! Thanks for posting that video!

STRANGER AT HOME, a 1946 crime novel by Ray Bradbury's dear friend and mentor Leigh Brackett, and re-issued by Stark House Press's Black Gat Books. Interestingly, even though Ms. Brackett was the sole author of the novel, she initially received no writing credit, serving as a "ghost writer" for actor George Sanders, whose name was slapped on the book even though he did not author it. (Kinda like John Houston's writing credit on the film MOBY DICK.) And to top it all off, George Sanders wrote the following dedication, which appears at the beginning of the novel: "To Leigh Brackett, whom I have never met".

Well, that's one way of looking at it.

http://starkhousepress.com/brackett.php

Participating in my first group read, here: https://forums.abebooks.com/di...7?dbg=6&nav=messages

MAPPING THE INTERIOR, a novella by Stephen Graham Jones, who is also the author of the multi-award winning novel THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS. (It's awards included the 2021 Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction.)

The first sentence of MAPPING THE INTERIOR reads as follows: "I was twelve the first time I saw my dead father cross from the kitchen doorway to the hall that led back to the utility room."

Now that's an attention-grabber!

It's Your Ship, by Captain Michael Abrashoff, who took command of the worst-performing navy ship and crew in the Pacific Fleet (USS Benfold) and—within just one year—made it the best in the fleet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-mZW2VZZgY

A True Leader. Politicians should serve this way!!

SILVERVIEW, by John Le Carre, the last novel by this fine British author, who died on December 12, 2020 at the age of 89. Mr. Le Carre was perhaps the preeminent spy novelist of our time.

YOURS CRUELLY, ELVIRA, MEMOIRS OF THE MISTRESS OF THE DARK, by Cassandra Peterson. I've always been a big fan of Elvira's ..um..talents. And there on page 186 of her book, the following: "I received the 22nd Annual Count Dracula Society Award from founder Dr. Donald A. Reed and, while at the awards ceremony, spent a very festive hour in my limo drinking and chatting with FAHRENHEIT 451 author Ray Bradbury, whose books were among my favorites." Elvira is a Ray Bradbury fan! I knew she had great taste!