Blog - www.richardjespers.com

Toy Boy

5/29/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Born May 29, 1917

JFK

New Yorker Fiction 2017

***—Excellent
** —Above Average
* —Average

Ben Newman

***May 29, 2017, Samanta Schweblin, “The Size of Things”: Enrique, a wealthy young man who lives with his mother, is abruptly cast aside and begins to live in a toy shop he often patronizes. ¶ For his keep he reorganizes the store for the owner, arranging toys by color instead of type. Business booms! The author seems to withhold as much as she reveals about Enrique. Why has he been kicked out by his mother? Why is he so child-like? Why are his unconventional methods so successful? Readers only know what the store owner knows, and though an omission of detail would normally be a storytelling sin, it seems to work here. It allows me to imagine. The author’s book, Fever Dream, recently came out in English.
Illustration by Ben Newman

NEXT TIME: My Book World

Surreal Love Story

5/22/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
You can't tell a millionaire's son from a billionaire's.
Vance Packard
Born May 22, 1914

V. Packard

New Yorker Fiction 2017

***—Excellent
** —Above Average
* —Average

**May 22, 2017, Samantha Hunt, “A Love Story”: A northern California mother of three in her forties takes the reader on an almost surreal journey in which she tries to reconcile her roles as mother and wife with society’s perceptions. Hunt’s most recent book is Mr. Splitfoot.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

Book-TV Update-Baker's 'Rigged'

5/19/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
Gay teenagers are four times as likely to attempt suicide as straight ones. I wish they knew that there's nothing wrong with them; that they are just a different shade of normal.
Jodi Picoult
Born May 19, 1966

J. Picoult

My Book World

Each weekend I try to view selected portions of C-SPAN’s Book-TV, forty-eight straight hours of recorded author readings of nonfiction now hitting the shelves, and sometimes six- or eight-hour segments covering book festivals around the US. C-SPAN, by the way, is supported by most cable and satellite TV providers, so check your listings. You can also view at any time any reading at Book-TV’s Web site. And if you do wish to tune in, you can view, download, and print a copy of the weekend’s schedule off the Web site. Please find below a presentation I believe to be of interest to a broad audience.

Dean Baker. Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the
Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer.
Washington DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research,
2016.

In this book Baker “argues that government policies, not globalization or the natural workings of the free market, have led to the upward redistribution of wealth seen around the world over the past four decades.” His logical and comprehensive lecture offers one of the most compelling arguments I’ve ever heard on the subject. First aired January 17, 2107.

Click here to view Baker's presentation at C-SPAN's Book-TV.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

On Not Flying

5/15/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
In London, Equus caused a sensation because it displayed cruelty to horses; in New York, because it allegedly displayed cruelty to psychiatrists.
Peter Shaffer
Born May 15, 1926

P. Shaffer

New yorker FICTION 2017

***—Excellent
** —Above Average
* —Average

**May 15, 2017, Etgar Keret, “Fly Already”: A man out with his five-year-old son attempts to talk a man out of jumping from a building while his son, believing the man can fly, encourages him to do so. Which one wins in this very short but significant story? The author’s most recent book is The Seven Good Years.

NEXT TIME: My Book World

A Mother's Recipe

5/14/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood.
Isadora Duncan

I. Duncan

Pfeffernüsse

Pfeffernüsse are tiny spice cookies popular in the Netherlands and other northern European countries.

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon cardamom(n)
1 teaspoon anise seeds
½ cup candied pineapple
2½ Tablespoons grated orange and lemon peel (from 2 oranges and 1 lemon)

Directions:
Sift and mix all dry above ingredients together.

Then mix in a separate bowl:
2 Tablespoons butter
5 egg yolks (beat egg whites separately)
Cream butter and yolks and add
2 cups sugar
¼ cup molasses
Stir until smooth.

Add flour mixture and fold in well-beaten egg whites. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour, maybe longer. With floured hands shape dough into small balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Let stand uncovered for 12 hours at room temperature. Bake cookies at 350 for 15 minutes. Let cool. Glaze with confectioner’s sugar blended with milk. Instead, if desired, toss in sifted confectioner’s sugar.

“Makes about 83. First used successfully 1960. This is my own—using from 2 other recipes." -Norma Richards Jespers

Because Mother's heritage was partly German and because my father was Dutch she felt compelled to make Pfeffernüsse at Christmas time. No one ever asked her to stop.

Norma Richards Jespers and Son, 1982

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

Uncovered Ground

5/13/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
I always thought the saddest feeling in life is when you're dancing in a really joyful way and then you hit your head on something.
Lena Dunham
Born May 13, 1986

L. Dunham

MY BOOK WORLD

Whitehead, Colson. The Underground
Railroad. New York: Doubleday, 2016.

The tight structure of this novel is based on twelve chapters—six named for characters and six named for states or regions in the US. Each one shifts readers to where they need to be to follow the life of a runaway slave, Cora, in the pre-Civil War South. Cora’s grandmother, Ajarry, was a slave, and so was her mother, Mabel, who abandons Cora when she’s eleven. Rage governs Cora’s life, fuels her temper and her senses, both of which serve to save her life as she shapeshifts to fit varying situations above ground. The unsuspecting reader who learned in elementary school that Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad was not literal is in for a fantastical ride as Whitehead brings it alive, with stations and steam engines and schedules, even a pump handcar that serves as Cora’s final vehicle of escape. The author’s grasp of history, his simple yet elegant prose, and his understanding of the complex humanity of master and slave serve to create a novel that is worthy of all the praise and accolades it has received.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

Match Girl Revisited

5/8/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! But wait, there's more!
Thomas Pynchon
Born May 8, 1937

T. Pynchon

New Yorker Fiction 2017

***—Excellent
** —Above Average
* —Average

**May 8, 2017, Yiyun Li, “A Small Flame”: A Chinese-American woman reviews her would-be match-girl life in which adults consistently betray children. Li’s most recent book is a memoir, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life.

NEXT TIME: My Book World

Book-TV Update: Clavin's Dodge City

5/5/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
How can a doctor judge a woman's sanity by merely bidding her good morning and refusing to hear her pleas for release? Even the sick ones know it is useless to say anything, for the answer will be that it is their imagination.
Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran Seaman), Ten Days in a Mad-House
Born May 5, 1864

N. Bly

My Book World

Each weekend I try to view selected portions of C-SPAN’s Book-TV, forty-eight straight hours of recorded author readings of nonfiction now hitting the shelves, and sometimes six- or eight-hour segments covering book festivals around the US. C-SPAN, by the way, is supported by most cable and satellite TV providers, so check your listings. You can also view at any time any reading at Book-TV’s Web site. And if you do wish to tune in, you can view, download, and print a copy of the weekend’s schedule off the Web site. Please find below a presentation I believe to be of interest to a broad audience.

Tom Clavin. Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West. New York: St. Martin’s, 2017.

Clavin’s reading, held at Watermark Books and Café in Wichita, Kansas, is one that holds your attention throughout, as he reveals the real history of Dodge City, this infamous town of the Wild West. The author digs deep to dispel all the myths. The players—Earp, Masterson, and others—are neither all bad nor all good. With the dogged pursuit of a fine journalist Clavin uncovers the truth, and it is more interesting than the myths! Tune into find out. This first aired March 8, 2017.

Click here to view Clavin's presentation at C-SPAN's Book-TV.

NEXT TIME: New Yorker Fiction 2017

Mesmerizing story

5/1/2017

A WRITER'S WIT
I'd like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private individuals.
Joseph Heller
Born May 1, 1923

J. Heller, 1961

New Yorker Fiction

***—Excellent
** —Above Average
* —Average

**May 1, 2017, David Means, “Two Ruminations on a Homeless Brother”: In this mesmerizing story of the homeless, one ragged man is viewed first from afar by way of one long sentence; in the second half, another man is viewed by his own brother who visits him in a mental hospital. Means’s novel, Hystopia, was published last year.

NEXT TIME: My Book World