Two By Robinson: Serial killings and a cold case.

 

Peter Robinson. Aftermath (2001) Banks is leading a joint task force trying to find a serial killer. It wears him out. The case is solved, but its effects spread like a stain through the community, among the police, among the families and neighbours of the victims, in the community at large. But the killings had their origin in horrific abuse within two related families many years earlier. The title is thematic.
     The backstory proceeds: Sandra is pregnant with her lover’s child and wants Banks to finally get on with the divorce. Annie Cabot decides that their affair should stop, but wants a continued collegial connection. Banks needs a holiday: that’s where The Summer that Never Was begins.
     Another good read by Robinson, but I felt somewhat detached from the story, perhaps because the plot was too obviously constructed to demonstrate the unknowns about serial killing. There was also a touch too much gore. **½

 The Summer that Never Was (2003) Banks is on leave enjoying a holiday in Greece after his leadership of a serial killer case left him exhausted. Reading the week-old English morning paper, he notices a story that revives a cold case: one of his childhood friends disappeared twenty-some years ago, and now his body has been discovered. Banks decides to offer what he recalls of that time, but also (of course) hangs around the investigation’s periphery, and uncovers not only evidence that he didn’t really know the boy, but also of corrupt social and political leaders and bent cops.
     Another well-done police procedural. Robinson is good at creating the ambience of long stretches of more or less futile lines of inquiry that eventually sift the essential information from the confusing detritus. Banks is left with the satisfaction of a case solved, and the loss of misleading memories of childhood innocence. The writing is merely workmanlike for too much of the book, but Banks and the other characters stick with you. ***

If you don't have space for a model railroad, read this book.

 

 Mat Chibbaro. Model Railroading in Small Spaces. (1998) The perfect book for someone living in a modern condo or apartment. Chibbaro covers everything. His Christmas Tree layout can be stored in a closet and taken out for occasional play with one’s children. A couple of N-scale layouts can be built into tables or bartops, under glass. The top of a row of storage cabinets is space for a switching layout. And so on.
     Chibbaro provides step by step instructions, beginning with the Christmas layout. Every project builds on skills learned in the previous one. He’s built every layout he describes, so we learn from his mistakes as well. The illustrations are good enough that an experienced builder hardly needs the text.
     Out of print, but worth a few dollars if you can find a copy. ***

Burgess Writes about Writing (mostly)

 

Anthony Burgess. But Do Blondes Prefer Gentlemen (1986) A collection of “other writings”, mostly book reviews, with occasional travel pieces and general interest essays. Loosely organised by topic, eg, there are several essays about James Joyce all in a row.
     Burgess has a lively, well-stocked mind, and knows his opinions well. His pieces are a pleasure to read, especially when you have some knowledge of his subject, and even when you disagree with him. I don’t think Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses are the greatest novels of the 20th century, but Burgess almost convinces me to take another read at them.
     He doesn’t like Orwell’s writing, but can’t help admiring his honesty, and his attempts to say things as truthfully as possible. I wonder what he would now make of Orwell’s insight into how surveillance generates paranoia, which kills empathy.
     He doesn’t think science fiction is really literature, because its focus on ideas prevents its being literary art. Literature as art is finally what attracts Burgess. Using language as the medium for creating – what, exactly? He’s right that what separates entertainment from art is style (for want of a better word), and that writers can use language to help or make us imagine what we could or would not imagine otherwise, which is the function of art in any medium. But I think he undervalues craft. There’s an irony in that. He’s is a superb craftsman. His essays are learned without being pedantic, entertaining without being superficial, and satisfying for both their ideas and the skilful exposition.
     The pieces are undated, and there is no index, both serious lacks. Nevertheless, recommended, if you can find a copy. I’ll probably keep this one for the occasional re-read. ***

 

Accidental Angel (collage, markers, adjusted scan)

 

 I scanned this with maximum Fade correction to brighten the colours, then adjusted gamma etc in the image processor.

Nobody wins wars

Illustration by The New York Times; Photographs by U.S. Department of Justice, via Associated Press and Srdjan Suki/EPA, via Shutterstock

A comment on a piece by Margaret Renkl about the conviction and deportation of 95-year-old Friedrich Karl Berger, who worked as a concentration camp guard in the last months of the war in 1945, when he was 19 years old. He emigrated to the USA in 1959, and lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The essay writer tried to find a satisfying answer to the question whether trial and conviction at this late date served any kind of justice. Renkl was uncertain, ending her essay “So which is it: real justice, or too little too late? I honestly don’t know.” Of the many comments, this one caught my eye.

John
California March 8

@Ronald Grünebaum My father was an infantry man in the Second World War and horrifically wounded as he crossed into Germany. Like most veterans, he didn't talk about it often and never at length. Except, that is, for one day he sat on the porch with my neighbor, Mr. Rupple, a navy veteran on the German side; they spent the afternoon in quiet conversation. My mother sent me to get my father for dinner and, as we walked home, I asked him if it was awkward talking with Mr. Rupple. He asked why I thought it would be awkward and I said, my 14 year old brain abuzz, that "we won and they lost." We walked a few steps then he said, "I'm surprised you still think people win wars."

Family Album on LensCulture (link)

 One of the photo sets on LensCulture. The backstory behind these photos is fascinating. A sample:

LensCulture: photo site worth visiting

I've kept this site bookmarked, always worth a look: LensCulture.

Some examples from different photographers: