Kate’s 2¢: “The souvenir museum: stories” by Elizabeth McCracken

“The souvenir museum: stories” by Elizabeth McCracken

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

“The Irish Wedding”

   This story demonstrates the angst a young woman has when she goes to her live-in’s sister’s wedding and how she can’t hold it in any longer. Her nervousness erupts at a rather inopportune time, just as the bride and groom are about to “cut the cheese”.  .

“Proof”

  A red-headed Jew, Lewis Levine, wants to wear a kilt to his wedding, but his Scottish wife-to-be says no. Now, all of his six brothers and his wife are deceased. His son, David, takes his elderly Dad on a boat trip to an uninhibited island to see the Puffins and other birds and natural rock formations. The son is worried about his Dad’s forgetfulness, but he is the one who panics and sits down in a very precarious place. The father and son return to the origian beach where the Dad shows his son the wonderful treasures of long-forgotten items that have been warn by the sea and brought up by the tide.  As Lewis ruminates within his forgetfulness, he understands that it was really all about the kilt.

“It’s Not You”

   A woman who is good at voice recognition, ids a call-in radio psychologist’s voice as they sit at a motel breakfast room. She is depressed and he tells her to be kind to herself, to the man who was mean to her, to be kind to everyone.  I don’t think the message gets through to her.

“A Splinter”

   Sixteen  year old Lenny wants to be a ventriloquist, so he follows the ship’s performer home to her London flat. His three older sisters had been raised in British boarding schools and Lenny always felt English, even though he’d been raised in Ithica, NY public shools. When two of his sisters force him to leave Lottie’s apartment, he steals one of the ventriloquist’s dolls.

“Mistress Mickle, All At Sea”

   Rotterdam was experiencing a black-out as the new year approached, lit only by fireworks. Mistress Mickles visits her 42-year old half-brother in his garrt flat. She experiences heart palpitations and bewilderment on a voyage back to her own home.  Strange story.

“Bird Song From the Radio”

   Leonora likes to nibble her children, literally. After they leave her, she nibbles baked breads that resemble her three children.  Weird.

“The Get-Go”

   Sadie was small, plump, and short, born to tall parents. Sadie brought Jack home to meet her mother, Linda Brodie, but they only adored Sadie.

“Robinson Cruso Aat the Water Park”

   The fathers, Bruno and Ernist, took   4-year old Cody, Ernists biological son via surrpgot and Bruno’s by adoption, to an indoor water theme park in Galvinston, Texas.. Provenence: the point was not to stay in one place, but to move along spectacularly and record every stop along the way. Cody’s fathers worry about everything. The artificial wave machine on the fake river swamped Cody in his tube.  Every bathing suit was an act of bravery.

“A Walk Through Human Heart”

   If they were Magpies, she might have counted them up to know what they foretold, but Grackles were just sea gulls dressed up in widow’s weeds…No surprised that the memorabilia of her childhood were all for sale…Georgia had not just wanted ‘Baby Alive (T), But knew it would make a difference…The call of a Grackle is known as a grackle. In the glomingthe Grackles grackled.

   “Two Sad Clowns”

   Even Punch and Judy were in love once…Jack and Sadie had met at a long ago parade in Boston…She liked to imagine him (the man who might love yer like her deceased Father) like a performer…Love was a spot-light that allowed him to preform…He was gregarious and she was a misanthrope of the purest kind, who cloaked it in manners. They delivered the drunk to his home.

“The Souvenir Museum”

   Perhaps she should have known she’d find her lost love, the Viking that left so long ago in The village, a vacation spot where you could wear a costum…Axel had left for Denmark…It was studded with little museums dedicated to misery and wealth… Her son, Leo, wanted to go to every one. The watch had a back panael that, when opened, showed a naked man with his private part wagging to the tick of the seconds. It was someone else’s private jobke.  Even a cartoon wife loved her rascal husband; she did.

From the WEB:

Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Boston University, an M.F.A. from the University. Of Iowa, and an M.S. in Library Science from Drexel University.

   Elizabeth McCracken is a Virgo. People of this zodiac sign like animals, healthy food, nature, cleanliness, and dislike rudeness and asking for help. The strengths of this sign are being loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking, practical, while weaknesses can be shyness, overly critical of self and others, all work and no play.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The souvenir museum: stories DB107134

McCracken, Elizabeth. Reading time: 7 hours, 42 minutes.

Read by Kate Reading.

Short Stories

A collection of short stories in which the bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A widower and his adult son ferry to a Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children’s game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half-brother. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

Downloaded: April 30, 2022

Download The souvenir museum: stories

Elizabeth McCracken

 Kate’s 2¢: “Quicksilver” by Dean Ray Koontz

“Quicksilver” by Dean Ray Koontz

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

A few take-aways:

–you can let a loss like that destroy you or you can do the right thing and be properly grateful for all that came before the loss.

— Delayed gratification leads to greater satisfaction

–The battlefield was the human heart. The spoils of war, the human soul.

–He made a new life for himself, but he couldn’t make a new man of himself.

–Everyone within its walls were traumatized. Hearts and minds heal with time, which is the grace of the human condition.

–Everything in the world, regardless of how humble it may seem to be, is more complex and fascinating than it at first appears.

–The path to the future that I’d envisioned , had withered away in the wild woods of recent experiences.

–The world had not changed, my perception of it had.

–The Screamers observed as civilization collapsed in a sea of fire.

–Nature is a place of constant competition.

–It is a mistake to presume to know anyone’s internal emotional landscape, based on what external emotional signals they may be sending.

— you can apologize for something you have done, but only a fool apologizes for things other people have done.

–Those who are not well anchored to the beliefs that allow a civil society, can be swept away , becoming part of the storm of madness  that lays waste to everything.

–Too many crave power over others.

–How strange is the world and all life in it…How wonderful that there is a world at all.

www.deankoontz.com

I didn’t find this website helpful in learning more about the man, writer, or professional. There is some biographical information at the end of the book.

From NLS/BARD/LOC                      :

Quicksilver DB107115

Koontz, Dean R, (Dean Ray). Reading time: 10 hours, 20 minutes.

Read by James Konicek.

Suspense Fiction

Raised in an orphanage, never knowing his parents, Quinn Quicksilver had a happy if unexceptional life–until the day of “strange magnetism.” Now Quinn is on the run from government agents, and who knows what else, fleeing for his life. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2022.

Downloaded: June 24, 2022

Download Quicksilver