I will not be publishing any "Writer's Wit" or "My Book World" posts until July 18! Hope everyone has a fine summer and fine summer holiday! RJ

Tóibín, Colm. The Magician: A Novel. New York: Scribner, 2021.

There aren’t enough superlatives that can be ascribed to this novel, the author of which has published twenty-four other books. This fictionalized story of literary giant, Thomas Mann, is both riveting and sobering. The young Mann writes poetry exalting his also young lovers, all male. But in his Germany he cannot get out of marrying. And in fact, he does marry a woman he loves, and they produce quite a family. The novel traces their lives as they unfold in pre-World War II Europe, and as their lives extend to America, where the Mann’s take up residence. The book as well traces the processes or problems he incurs in writing some of his important works, including Death in Venice. It seems that Tóibín utilizes only the most important details or facts, or otherwise, his five hundred page novel might be twice the journey. A joy to read if you care about world literature and its important authors.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Lillian Hellman
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ian McEwan
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Adam Schiff
FRI: My Book World | Pat Conroy, The Great Santini

Gabor, Thomas, and Fred Guttenberg. With a foreword by Steve Kerr. American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence. Coral Gables: Mango, 2023.  

This succinct book is a must-read for every person in America. Gabor, a professor in criminology and sociology, and Guttenberg, father of downed Parkland Shooting victim, Jaime, have teamed up to appeal to our better senses about gun violence and gun safety.
 
First, the authors set the historical record straight. For much of our 247-year history, this country has regulated guns. It has only been during the last two or three decades that organizational leadership (not necessarily their members) of the National Rifle Associate (NRA) have sold Americans a phony bill of goods. Instead of concentrating on the formation of state militias only, certain NRA members have glommed onto the Second Amendment to push their gun-toting agenda.
 
Second, the NRA has failed to take the historical context into consideration (what so-called originalists claim to love to do when speaking of the Constitution), that the amendment was designed to help communities protect themselves collectively, not to promote individual gun ownership.
 
Third, the authors tackle, by way of eleven chapters, thirty-seven myths that the NRA et. al. have dreamed up through the years. Just a few of them. Myth 3: America Has and All-Encompassing Gun Culture. Nope. Only three in ten Americans personally own a gun. Myth 6: The Only Consequences of Gun Violence Are Murders.Nope. “Sadly, some victims experience life-altering injuries that have a profound impact on the quality of life. For example, when a person is shot and paralyzed in his twenties, his quality of life will be diminished significantly . . . [w]hen all the above financial costs are taken into account, it has been estimated that the annual cost of gun violence in the US is over $280 billion” (51). Myth 16: The Training Required of Concealed Weapons Permit Holders Prepares Them for Effective Defensive Gun Use. Nope, once again. The authors prove that the carrying of guns can lead to escalation of disputes. Gabor, in an earlier book finds “that ongoing or spontaneous disputes were the most common motives underlying mass shootings” (91). Moreover, “since May 2007, concealed carry permit holders have killed more than two thousand people and committed thirty-seven mass shootings, as well as many other crimes” (91).
 
Authors Gabor and Guttenberg conclude their book with suggestions for what Americans can do, for we all know it will take an upswelling of such citizenry to join the rest of what the civilized world has already accomplished, and that is to reduce and limit the amount of gun violence. From requiring gun owners to secure guns in their homes to leveraging the corporate world to cease doing business with the gun industry to voting, the eighty to ninety percent of citizens who want change can achieve it.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Fanny Burney
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jerzy Kosinski
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Amy Clampitt
FRI: My Book World | Colm Tóibín, The Magician

Loe, Nancy E. Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst’s San Simeon Estate. Aramark. Santa Barbara: Companion P, 1994.

I first visited Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, in 1978. The tour was conducted more like an informal swirl through a friend’s home. The lighting was poor, and items seemed casually thrown together. The second time I visited the park, in 1997, it had been acquired by the state of California and a visit to the new museum was divided into separate tours. My partner and I were so fascinated that we took all four, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We became so well acquainted with the docent that we later had drinks . . . that is not true . . . I wish. He was a handsome blond man. Anyway, by that time, the entire property had been curated and updated so that it looked more as it would have in its heyday, the 1920s and 1930s.
 
Loe’s book, which I bought on that latter trip, has remained on my shelf until now, but it is no less interesting. The content is as much about the original owner, William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate, and his architect partner, the renowned Julia Morgan, as it is about the property itself. In fact, the book seems more about Morgan, an early feminist and a rare woman architect at that time. Hearst may have liked her in part because she was able to create almost every feature he wanted, even if it meant destroying a newly built basement wall to widen his bowling alley to three lanes from two—a whimsy that he scarcely utilized in his lifetime. But he also respected Morgan’s opinion and taste, because she was usually correct in her judgment. I still find the idea fascinating that a mere mortal could make his every wish come true (except that wish to live forever). What it must do to one’s psyche to get one’s way ninety-nine percent of the time.
 
To some eyes, the castle is a mishmash (or is it now mashup?) of every major historical architectural period and every major culture in the world. To others it represents the hubris of the ultrawealthy. To me it sings of the creativity of two people rich with ideas and nearly unlimited resources. Late in life, Hearst would be forced to sell off certain assets in order to take care of his $126 million dollar debt. Now that’s living! And yet he would still hold onto his Casa Grande, as he so fondly called it, for a bit longer.
​Nice work if you can get it!

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Marian Wright Edelman
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
FRI: My Book World | Gabor and Guttenberg, American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence (School Safety, Violence in Society)