Every Picture Hides a Story

Cane, William and Gabrielle, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story: The Secret Ways Artists Make Their Work More Seductive. London : Rowman & Littlefield 2023. Print.

First Sentences:

Each year 11 million people trek to the Louvre to gawk at the Mona Lisa. Many visitors clutch guidebooks in hand describing the painting. For some, it's the experience of a lifetime, one they'll talk about with friends and family for decades.

 

Yet modern researchers say that the vast majority of people will never recognize the hidden messages in this painting. That's because those hidden messages are subliminal.  

Description:

I picked up this unexpectedly wonderful art book because I wanted to learn more about Berthe Morisot, the woman painter featured in the hisgtorical novel, The Lost Masterpiece which I had just finished reading. She was considered the first female Impressionist artist, living in the 1870s and painting alongside Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cassatt, and other revolutionaries during their earliest days when their work were so radical, the artists were completely disdained and not shown at the famous Salon exhibition in Paris. I just wanted to view some of her paintings and understand more about her life.

 

First the book itself. It is printed on heavy, glossy pages which make the accompanying paintings for each artist appear as the highest quality. Each painting is crystal clear, allowing readers to see and easily understand the subliminal messages the artist portrayed in the piece. Details rendered so clearly help readers finally understand both the background and message behind the works.  

 

Second, the book covers a wide variety of artists, including short chapters on Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Eakins, Degas, Klimt along with those artists mentioned above. And, of course, there was a section on Berthe Morisot, her life and works, and her possible relationship with Edouard Manet, the focus of The Lost Masterpiece historical novel. 

 

Third, the book is addicting. While I started out only wanting info on Morisot, I could not resist poking into the works of other favorite artists, captivated by the glossy paintings and soon engrossed in reading about the backgrounds of the artists' lives along with details about their most famous works. The authors' research into each artist is thorough and yet succinctly written to captivate readers with fascinating details without forcing them to slog through more than five pages for any artist.

 

I learned:

• The Mona Lisa's smile is fascinating because Da Vinci used scientific optics to change a viewer's impression based on what part of the painting the viewer's eyes focused on and what is seen out only of the corner of their vision;

• Several contemporary art critics considered Berthe Morisot the finest of the Impressionist artists. She created nearly 400 paintings; 

• Marie Cassatt, in contract to her reputation as a painter of domestic scenes of families, mothers with children, and other domestic scenes, was a fierce advocate for women's rights, rejected the institution of marriage, and had no family or children of her own. "I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work";

• Van Gogh based his startling use of bold colors after researching a book that proposed there is a psychological process at work in which when the viewer's eye perceives adjacent colors, it intensify the other colors, such as putting red next to green. (Also, his ear-cutting episode was a result of Van Gogh's manic personality after he several times threatened to kill his roommate Gauguin with a razor;

• Sargent's masterpiece, Madame X, scandalized the female model and her family by depicting her gown's strap as having fallen off her shoulder. Sargent eventually repainted the strap to be on her shoulder, but the damage had been done. Unable to show or sell it, Sargant kept it for himself for years.

• Klimt's father was a gold engraver, giving the artist a familiarity with this glittery material which later became an integral part of his paintings, such as The Kiss.

History after history brings these artists, their paintings, and their world vividly to life for even art novices life me. I was captivated and therefore read all the artists' chapters, learning a wonderful amount of fascinating information about works I was familiar with as well as those I knew nothing about. The accompanying glossy reproductions of these paintings made clear all the points the authors referred to.

 

Whether you are an art connoisseur or just someone interested in creative people and the works that made them famous, this is definitely the book for you to skim, study the paintings, or read cover to cover as I did. You won't be sorry, and it will bring you great pleasure whenever you encounter one of these famous pieces or artists again. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Shapiro, B.A. The Lost Masterpiece

Historical fiction about the life and masterpiece of Berthe Morisot, one of the original Impressionists, as well as the struggle for a modern day woman who inherits this masterpiece to hold onto it against pressures from others who claim it. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Lost Masterpiece

Shapiro, B.A. The Lost Masterpiece. Chapel Hill, NJ : Algonquin Books 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

I hate spam. Well, obviously everyone hates spam, but I hate it with an admittedly unwarranted ferocity. When I see it, my blood pressure rises, my fingers curl inward, and my jaw throbs. A bit excessive, I know....Unwanted emails and phishing texts are bad enough, but when spam hits my voicemail, my nerves migrate to the outside of my skin and I'm ready to scream. 

Description:

When Tamara Rubin repeatedly receives multiple voice messages on her phone urgently asking her to call for important news, she naturally becomes enraged and deletes them. Finally she returns the call to berate the spammer, only to find out he is a legitimate person from a legitimate organization whose purpose is to recover artworks stolen by the Nazis and reunite them with their rightful owners.

 

Tamara learns she is the inheritor of a long lost masterpiece painting by Edouard Manet. The painting had been newly-recovered from a Nazi storage location. Further research showed it had been given by Manet to Tamara's great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Berthe Morisot, a fellow Impressionist painter who was rumored to have had a love affair with him.

 

So what does one do with an inherited masterpiece worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Of course, Tamara hangs it in her modest apartment to view its engrossing scene of a picnic in the park of ordinary people laughing, playing, embracing, and generally enjoying themselves. 

 

But there are problems. An unknown cousin descended from Manet, informs Tamara that actually he is the rightful owner of the painting and has Manet's will to prove it. Tamara hires a lawyer to fight this claim and cement her own right to the painting.

 

But is it safe hanging in her apartment, without insurance, guards, proper temperature and humidity, and a host of other complications? When her cousin offers staggering amount of money to purchase the painting outright from her to avoid legal battles, how can she refuse? 

 

But the painting speaks to her. She often feels she is part of the figures depicted in the painting, especially her grandmother who is a prominent figure in the work. She even imagines her grandmother winks at her from the painting.

 

Thus begins a dual narrative, one offered by Tamara living in the current age, and one narrated by Berthe herself from the 1800s. Berthe reveal her privileged life, her struggles as a female artist, and her fellow artists and family, some of whom encourage her work while others are shocked by her profession and subject matter. She also reveals her attraction to Edouard Manet which grows daily as she paints in his studio alongside Degas, Renoir, and others attempting to create a new form of art full of color, abstract figures, and unusual settings. They were mockingly referred to as "Impressionists," a name they gradually took on as a badge of pride, and thus started a new movement away from the staid art of the time.

 

This is historical fiction, meaning the characters in Berthe's era are real, as are many of the situations depicted. Beyond that, this is a story imagined by author Shapiro, one which seems perfectly reasonable as it engulfed me the people and era of France in the late 1800s.

 

I loved the story, the creation of the masterpiece painting contracted with Tamara's fight to protect the piece. It is a totally engrossing novel on so many levels, I highly recommend it for art lovers and just anyone who loves a fight for independence and a romance or two set 150 years apart. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Cane, William and Gabrielle, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story: The Secret Ways Artiss Make Their Work More Seductive.

Fascinating insider research on the background and hidden messages in the works of Berte Morisot as well as Michelangelo, Raphael, Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Cassatt, Kilmt, Van Gogh, Sargant, and many others,

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

The Strange Case of Jane O

Walker, Karen Thompson. The Strange Case of Jane O. New York : Random House 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Jane O. came to my office for the first time in the spring of that year. She was thirty-eight years old. Her medical history contained nothing unusual. This was her first visit, she said, to a psychiatrist....What I remember most about that first day is how lonely this woman seemed. I am not talking about ordinary loneliness. This was something else, a kind of loneliness of the soul.


Description:

Three days after that opening paragraph meeting, Dr. Byrd, the psychiatrist, received a call from the local emergency room. A woman had been found unconscious in a park by a maintenance worker who brought her to the ER. She had no wallet, no keys, no identification at all. She told the ER staff her name was Jane. She said her doctor's name was Dr. Byrd and thus he was contacted by the ER staff.

 

But strangely, this woman had no memory of anything that had happened to her in the previous 25-hour period of her life, nor how she arrived at the park where she had been found.

"The last thing I remember," she said, "is filling my teakettle with water." This was her habit, she said, to make a cup of tea right after dropping her infant son at his daycare.

She begins to see Dr. Byrd professionally to try to understand what caused her blackout and what had occurred in her life during those missing 25 hours. Turns out, she had already briefly met Dr. Byrd 20 years earlier, but she would not reveal to him why they had met. 

Through their new sessions, he learns she has hyperthymesia, a perfect memory that forgets nothing seen, heard, or experienced. He is astonished to learn she is able to recite the names of every book on his office shelves, the miscellaneous items on his desk, newspaper headlines, weather conditions...from their only session 20 years ago. 

Although her memory is faultless, she does relate to Dr. Byrd a few stories that he knows are untrue, such as Jane memory of discovering her upstairs neighbor dead in her apartment, seeing and talking with a man she knew was dead, or her fear about an unusual disease that was currently sweeping the country. Dr. Byrd had met her neighbor (in good health) and had no evidence that any disease currently in the world. Yet Jane swore these were true events she experienced.

[Jane thought] I guess I should consider whether [Dr. Byrd's] right, that my conviction that [my neighbor's death] is meaningless is evidence of its meaning. Once a mind begins to question itself, there is no bottom to its questioning. In one sense, I am conducting an investigation with a flawed instrument. 

With no medical abnormalities or injuries after being found in the park, Jane freely resumed to her life, her work as a librarian, and her sessions with Dr. Byrd. That is, until one day she misses her appointment with him. It is soon discovered that she and her son are missing, unable to be found anywhere.

What and who to believe? Jane is so sane, so calm. Yet she has seemingly told lies about her life and now is somewhere unknown, moving with an infant son and occasionally briefly caught on surveillance cameras in stores and restaurants in scattered places.

Gripping, puzzling, sympathetic, solid, and full of hidden secrets leading to unexplainable behaviors pulls readers along page after page. Narrated alternately by Jane and Dr. Byrd, we glimpse their inner thoughts and questions as we slowly unravel who they are and what causes their actions. 

And best of all, readers will not know the final outcome until the final sentences. What is better in a story that that? Highly recommended.

What might it mean for a life, [Dr. Byrd] wondered, if one's memories were never subject to alteration or decay, if one's most precious experiences glowed permanently in the mind, always intact, forever whole?....[But] a mind like Jane's would preserve not only the treasured memories but also the loathed ones. Every old joy would remain forever at hand -- but every sadness, too, every terror, every shame. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Watson,S.J.. Before I Go to Sleep.

The narrator has a memory that lasts only one day, then forgets everything about herself and life by the next day. But she has doggedly determined that someone may be trying to kill her. So she must figure out a way to remember who is to be trusted and who to be suspicious of. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

 

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

Special Post: My Forever Books

My Forever Books. October, 2025. Print

 

First Sentences:

To build up a library is to create a life. It's never just a random collection of books. --Carlos María Domínguez, The House of Paper 

A [book] collection is a reflection of who we are and what we love. It is a testament to our passions and the things that bring us joy. -- Unknown author and source 

Collect with your heart, not just your eyes. Choose items that speak to you on a deeper level. --Unknown author and source 

Introduction:

I am in the process of giving away or donating most of my current library. Why? It's certainly not due to a lack of space as there is plenty of room on the shelves the cosy reading room in our house. It's not that I have grown tired of scanning over the titles of loved books from my reading past. That is a sight I will always enjoy. I do, however, still love getting books as presents as well as recommendations from friends and family. Maybe they'll will become part of my "Forever Books" collection (see below).

 

So why donate them? 

• I don't plan to re-read most of these soon-to-be-eliminated books, although they do give me pleasure to see them lined up on my bookshelves, reminding me of their stories, the worlds they opened to me, their language, and even the circumstances I came to possess them (gifts, funky second-hand bookshops, online used books sites, library sales, and sometimes actually even purchased brand new;

• I can easily acquire from a library any of those books I might possibly re-read;

• I had once thought I would loan/give my books to friends and family when they wanted a recommendation and I would be able to steer them to something great from my collection. Never happened. I was very rarely asked by someone to borrow one of my books, so that dream eventually faded;

• I felt there may be other people, unknown to me, who might enjoy discovering a new, offbeat book that caught their eye and then picked up at a library book sale, Goodwill, or Little Library box (and, of course, read its first sentences).

So I am gradually, sometimes reluctantly, donating books to my local library book sale, dropping them off at the nearby Volunteers of America resale shop, and placing them in Little Library boxes I walk by in my neighborhood. Safe travels and enjoy your new homes.

However:

 

There are some what I call "Forever Books" that will remain with me until I die, never ever to be given away, and only begrudgingly loaned (with blood-signed promises to return them). These will be placed proudly in full view on my bookshelves. 

 

Why keep these particular books?

• The plot, characters, writing, and setting of these specific books' remain fascinating to me even after multiple readings. These elements may be familiar to me, but somehow always seem new, like meeting up with a lifetime friend who continues to entertain, surprise, and confide in you;

• I plan to re-read and immerse myself into the worlds of these books until my eyes won't focus anymore, and then will tell my long-suffering care-giver to read them aloud to me;

• Just seeing the spines of these favorites continue to give me great pleasure and memories. They make me tingle in anticipation of the next opportunity when I will be able to immerse myself into their worlds and characters. Whether through their plots (which never get old and always provide new elements, as well as teach me something about the world, people, and myself); their writing (unique, clear, humorous, clever, wise, or all the above); the characters (brave, silly, noble, skilled, thoughtful, open, honest, self-deprecating, or just likeable); or the setting (challenging, gorgeous, natural, imaginative, violent, or serene), these volumes have a special place in my mind and heart.

 

My Forever Book Titles and Description:  

 (* = Click on these titles to read my reviews)

 

[Note: There will probably be a few more that I simply cannot part with, but here is today's list.] 

* 5 Simple Steps to Perfect Golf  - Count Yogi

My father's short, ragged book with simple, clear, solid instruction by and demonstrative photos of the flamboyant character, Count Yogi, a wonderful golfer who set many golf records on the Los Angeles courses, but refused to join the PGA circuit as he didn't want to get up for early tee times.

* Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare - Isaac Asimov

My go-to reference book for understanding any Shakespeare play. Probably the book I use most often, allowing me to best understand the language, nuances, history, humor, and unique writing of The Bard, especially to bone up on the piece before watching any performance 

* Asimov's Guide to Science - Isaac Asimov

Finally I have a book I can search to understand anything in the world, from the universe to Earth, to biology, the body, evolution, atoms, and so much more, written in highly-readable, clear, sentences for a layman like me. 

The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham - W. Somerset Maugham

Two hefty volumes of the most remarkable, unpredictable, beautifully-written short stories ever, full of fascinatingly human characters and unique tales in Maugham's lovely prose. I've donated away this collection for years, but keep repurchasing used copies because these stories are always fresh, unpredictable, and wonderfully written, stories that will reach me no matter my mood. Guess I can't quit them.

* Cowboys Are My Weakness - Pam Houston

Short stories powerfully and sincerely written, narrated by courageous, outrageous women and their relationships with questionable men in the gorgeous settings of remote towns in the back country of the Western mountains.

The First and Last Freedom - J Krishnamurti

Given to me by a close friend, this unique book of philosophical questions in dialogue form are continually grounding and deeply thoughtful, always forcing me to challenge any easy answer to life and relationship, and search for the truth amidst the reality of living. 

A Gift from the Sea - Anne Morrow Lindbergh 

Crystal clear, quiet thoughts and exquisitely delicate writing on various aspects of love and relationships using sea shells as her metaphors.

* The Golf Omnibus - P.G. Wodehouse 

My absolute favorite, book for cheering me up or just offering escapist fun through a world of goofy characters doing outrageous activities in the stiff-upper-lip language and manner on the golf course.  

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

A book I have loved for years, re-reading it for my own pleasure and to our son from an early age, as well as to young tennis players in India while traveling on long-distant train rides. My copy was a special edition given to me by our son, so I will never part with it and will continue to read it alone and maybe even with a future grandchild.

* The Housekeeper and the Professor -  Yoko Ogawa

There is something about the story of an aging mathematics professor with a memory of only 80 minutes and his humble housekeeper and her son that compels me to re-visit their quiet, challenging world over and over to reclaim their individual struggles and peaceful co-existence.

* Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson

A strange, compelling tale of a wandering transient aunt who is unwillingly given the responsibility to settle down and raise two young girls in a bitter cold environment. Always captivating, unexpected, challenging, and loving.

 The Importance of Living - Lin Yutang

Another book introduced to my by a close friend on the value of noticing small things, not taking everything seriously, enjoying the humor of everyday life, loafing, appreciating details of home, nature, travel, culture, and the art of thinking. Challenging, humorous, and thoughtful on every topic.

 * In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson

Who knew a travel account about Australia could be so outrageously funny? Always something new in this book to learn about this interesting country, always something funny to make me laugh out loud every time I read it.

Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace

I will probably never read even a small portion of this book. But it was given to me by dear friends when I had Stage 4 cancer, along with the note that said they had confidence I would live long enough to read this tome. That meant a lot to me and I will never forget their confidence in me regaining my life and health, as symbolized by this book. 

* Kayaks Down the Nile - John Goddard

This author was a life-long adventurer who at age 15 compiled a list of 127 actions he wanted to accomplish before he died. One of these was paddling from source to mouth of the Nile. My sister gave me this book because Goddard used to come to our high school twice a year to show slides from his latest death-defying exploration. He therefore has a deeply-embedded place in my heart both for his fascinating narrations and for getting the entire school out of class for his semi-annual assemblies. 

Keeko - Charles Thorson

This children's book by the extremely talented illustrator of Bugs Bunny cartoons was the first book in my life I remember, with its lush pictures I drooled over long before I could read. A wonderful story of a young Indian boy trying to find an eagle feather.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

I just love everything about this book's plot, writing, characters, and setting. Seems to offer me something new and changes my opinions with each re-reading, the marks of a great book

* The Lord of the Rings  - J.R.R. Tolkien

Simply the best epic story ever. These volumes were given to me by a close friend which we read aloud several times, and which later I read to our son. He later carried his own thick volume version to his elementary school class as he read it for himself. Unmatched in every aspect of a great novel.

* The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat - Oliver Sacks

Can never get enough of this volume of very human, unique, fascinating accounts of people with unusual behaviors caused by previously undiagnosed brain disorders 

* Manners from Heaven - Quentin Crisp

Simply a wonderfully witty, barbed, sarcastic, and insightful view of the world, why humans should be well-mannered (not just following stiff rules of etiquette), and how to achieve this highly agreeable personality.

* The Martian - Andy Weir

I simply never get tired of the ingenious bravery of the main character and the setting of his lonely world. Wonderfully concise, precise, funny writing as well. Any books that opens with the first words "I'm pretty much f**ked" promises to be a wild ride ... and delivers on every page.

* The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

These timeless stories about the exploration of Mars, along with the nature of man's ingenuity, emotions, greed, love, and dreams in a unique setting show a mirror of the face of humanity and consequently never grow old for me. 

Moment in Peking - Lin Yu-Tang

Introduced to this book by a man I admired, this sprawling novel is a powerful, yet intimate introduction for me into the world of pre-Mao China, the lives of wealthy and poor people, and the culture of that era. 

 * Never Cry Wolf  - Farley Mowat

Another book that always makes me laugh at the misadventures of the narrator and the natural world he finds himself in, forever confused by his misconceptions about wolves and men. 

* The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - Thad Carhart

Just a delightful memoir about piano restoration in a hidden store, where the author learns about pianos, their history, their tones, and their personalities, as well as the men who bring them back to life. 

* Plainsong - Ivan Doig

My wife introduced me to this gentle, thoughtful book which I return to often when despairing of the lack of kindness of humans towards each other. This book never fails to restore my faith that there are gentle, quiet people out there doing good for the benefit of their fellow humans. 

A River Runs Through It - Norman MacLean

A beautifully-written memoir about a family fishing, and living life in the backwoods of Montana. It never fails to inspire a warm glow about nature, nor evokes such sadness at the foibles of human nature. 

Roughing It - Mark Twain

A book that continues to make me laugh while learning about the untamed West through the eyes of a young "secretary" (Twain) who has free rein to explore and describe whatever catches his fancy, whether odd people, unusual sights, or wild adventures.  

* Shakespeare Saved My Life - Laura Bates

Memoir of a teacher who entered a prison's solitary confinement cell block and, by pushing books, questions, and notes through the men's food slots, leads discussions of the Bard's writings among prisoners sentenced to years of solitary confinement. These men, through lively conversations, eventually re-wrote some of Shakespeare's plays to better express the criminal's point of view behind the action, and then had other prisoners perform these revised versions, performances the solitary prisoners could never attend. Inspiring.

* Tennis for Life - Peter Burwash

The absolute best, simplest tennis instruction book written by the former pro and president of the tennis management company I worked for which changed my life. This company sent me to teach these techniques from this book at tennis facilities on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Chennai (India), and The Woodlands (Houston), Texas where I met my beautiful wife.

* To Serve Them All My Days - R.F. Delderfield

A shell-shocked WWI soldier is hired by a boys' school to teach for the first time and by this experience, hopefully achieve some recovery and encourage his re-entrance into the world. Warm, funny, insightful, and always full of characters I would love to meet. 

* Total Immersion - Terry MacLaughlin

My reference book on how to swim efficiently. I return to it often to improve my stroke and understand the body's relationship to the water to swim more "fish-like" and efficiently. 

* We Took to the Woods - Louise Rich 

A wonderful memoir of life in the isolated woods of Maine by a woman who, in each chapter, answers the most common questions she received about living alone in the woods. Inspiring, funny, clear-sighted, and beautifully written. Always a book for me to bring calm to a frantic world.

* The Whistling Season - Ivan Doig

Small Western town novel about a widower and his sons who hire a housekeeper (who can't cook) to organize their home and life. She and her brother who joins her are whirlwinds of new ideas, strong personalities, and challenges to the widower, his family, and the community. Always new, unexpected, and delightful. A book I recommend to more people than all the other books I have ever read. 

* Why We Swim  - Bonnie Tsui

Inspiring essays on the history and wonders of swimming that continue to remind me of why people are fascinated by and thus lured to enjoy the water. 

So there you have my list. I might have a change of heart over some other books of mine before I donate them, but for now these are the books that continue to inspire and entertain me. Each book makes me wish I were a better, funnier, braver, more thoughtful, or admirable person, or at least a better writer. And I wish I were reading each one for the first time again.

Hope you find something here to interest you. Please me know your own "Forever Books." Just reply to this email. I'd be very interested to read about your choices and your reasons behind each selection

 

Happy reading.

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964

Silverberg, Robert ed.. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964s. New York : Tom Doherty Associates 1970. Print.

 

First Sentences:

This is as nearly definitive an anthology of modern science fiction stories as is likely to be compiled for quite some time. Its contents were chosen by vote of the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America, an organization of some three hundred professional writers whose roster includes virtually everyone now living who has ever has science fiction published in the United States.


Description:

For science fiction fans like me, you probably got hooked on the genre in your youth and in school classes, reading short stories by the great writers of the previous and current eras: Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein,Keyes, Leiber, van Vogt, and many others.

 

Well, here in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 (edited by Robert Silverberg) you can read the best of the best of these great writers. These were selected by chosen by the National Science Fiction Writers of America from stories published in America during that period. This era was before the SF Nebula Awards for science fiction were started, so this book preserves what SF writers felt were the stories and authors which should be honored. 

 

Sure, the book is 560 pages long, but you don't have to read it cover to cover (although I did). Chronologically arranged with selected stories first published in 1934 and ending 1963, you can wallow in the visions of these writers of what the future might look like.

 

Here is a sampling of the stories offered in this wonderful collection:

• Nightfall (Isaac Asimov) - A planet with multiple suns has never seen a darkened sky....until scientists predict a coming total eclipse. It is said that if Asimov had never written anything after this, one of his first short stories, he and his reputation would be lauded forever;

• Mars Is Heaven (Ray Bradbury) - The third expedition to Mars, after the first two were mysteriously lost, reveals to crewmen that their families and hometowns are now located on this planet;

•  Mimsy Were the Borogoves (Lewis Padgett) - A box of toys transported from the distant future falls into the hands of two children, and their lives, and the lives of their parents, are changed dramatically;

• Arena (Fredric Brown) - A lone space traveler, scouting ahead of Earth battleships facing an equally-strong alien fleet about to do battle in the far reaches of space, suddenly finds himself trapped in a large sandy enclosure and facing an unknown alien. Their one-on-one duel to the death will determine the fate of both fleets of ships overhead as well as that of the civilizations of the winners and losers; 

• The Nine Billion Names of God (Arthur C. Clarke) - A remote lamasery of monks, working for three centuries on a complete list of possible names for God, now employs a computer to reach their goal ...but what will happen then?

• Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes) - Probably everyone has heard of but not actually read this wonderfully-written story of a mentally retarded man who undergoes an experiment which makes him super-intelligent.  

Each story captures a vision of the future along with its machines and people who attempt to reconcile themselves to their landscape, government, society, and dreams. Each is a unique vision full of challenges, questions, humanity, technology, and just plain old interesting situations and characters.

 

You will not be disappointed by any of these tales. If you don't like one, just skip to the next. There are many choices for any reader's tastes and dreams of the future. Well worth your time to experience these creative stories for the first time or re-visit old favorites by the masters.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Silverbert, Robert ed. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A and B

Expansion of the original Volume One short stories, now featuring novellas (short novels) during the same period, and equally great for any science fiction lover.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

I Leave It Up to You

Chong, Jinwoo. I Leave It Up to You. New York : Ballentine 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Waking up is an easy thing to do. To be asleep, then not. To be a mind out there in the dark with no ground underneath, no legs or arms,no chest, no blood pumping in rhythmic bursts up my neck,no body at all, no hands, no hair or eyes, no ass or dick. Yes, sir, just your eyeless, handless, assless, dickless self just handing out there in space for forever until suddenly, you're not. Because suddenly is in fact the best word I can think of to describe it.


Description:

Jinwoo Chong's captivating novel, I Leave It Up to You, has a simple premise. After a man unexpectedly wakes up from a coma after almost two years, how does he put his life back together? How does he understand a world that has experienced COVID and he has not? How does he reconnect with friends, family, lovers, and his own past? And where will these questions and answers lead him as he tries to move forward with his life?

 

Jack Jr., the narrator, is a Korean twenty-something man who, in the first pages, suddently, unexpectedly wakes up in a hospital room from a two-year, medically-induced coma. Struggling to figure out what happened to bring him to this place, how long he has been away from the world, and what this all means to the reality he now faces is fascinating to watch unfold from his point of view. Ironically, he finds he can remember everything about his past with the exception of the exact events which landed him in the hospital and his ensuing coma.

Why did my entire body feel like vibrating air? Like Jell-O? Like it was broken in every conceivable place and hastily put back together again by someone with only a loose understanding of the human body and which of its parts fit into each other?....Thinking coherent thoughts felt a little like trying to juggle a pack of angry puppies that didn't want to be anywhere near me... 

Jack Jr. remembers his partner Ren, but wonders why he has had no contact with that very personal friend since awakening. He also senses a hesitation from his family and hospital staff when asked about Ren. Jack Jr. does recall a rift with his family that made him move from their home in New Jersey ten years ago and his refusal to have any dealings with them for the past ten years. And he remembers a strong rejection while working in the struggling family sushi restaurant run by his elderly, highly skilled father. 

But now he knows he needs to move forward as well as recreate his past. Upon leaving the hospital, he tries to find Ren, work to understand his father and the sushi restaurant that consumes him, and explore new relationships both with his family and new people who become important figures to his growth.

 

This is a quiet novel, an introspection of the world and people as seen through the mind and eyes of a conflicted, confused, but wondering individual. It is also a vision of how once-close people react and adapt to someone who was taken from them for years and has suddenly returned to be a part of their lives -- or to reject them again.

[For the people waiting for him to wake from the coma]  It was not a tight, quick wound that hurt the most in the first few seconds. I bet it was slow. I bet it was like putting your hand in a  pot of cold water and turning on the stove.

I was completely absorbed by this book and the detailed characters it presented. The challenges they all faced, from family and friends trying to deal with Jack Jr.'s return and state of mind, to Jack Jr. himself and his attempts to understand the world and his newly restored life, make every page one of discovery, growth, failure, communication, uncertainty, and questions. For readers, it is a very interesting, challenging way to spend a few days, introducing you to complex people while making you wonder from page to page how the characters will fare and what roads they will take.

It was a beautiful, lucky place to be, to know someone as well as you possibly could, to know what to do to make them better. And for now, in the universe of things we had left to say, this would have to be enough. 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Feeney, Alice. Sometimes I Lie.

The narrator wakes up in a hospital room, unable to move any part of her body or respond to her husband and sister who visit. But, unbeknownst to them, she can still hear and unbeknownst to them listens in on their conversations. Through these overheard talks, she tries regain her memory and puzzle out the situation that brought her to this condition. Twists, turns, lies, deceptions, and mysteries abound in this delicious novel. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

I See You've Called in Dead

Kenney, John. I See You've Called in Dead. New York : Zibby 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

The good news, of course, is that someone died today. That came out wrong. My name is Bud Stanley. I am an obituary writer. 

 

Description:

For starters, my wife loved this book and laughed out loud frequently while reading it, a very good sign that this would be a story worth it for me to dive into. The clever title to John Kenney's novel, I See You've Called in Dead, was also enticing. Most importantly, from the first few sentences, it seemed to have an interesting, quirky narrator with an unusual job (obituary writer), who was facing a turning point in his life. I was hooked.

Bud Stanley, the obituary writer, has been having a bad time getting serious about his writing assignments and living his life in general. His boss and friend at United World Press, an international news supplier to the world's newspapers and information outlets, likes Bud but is discouraged by Bud's recent work. His examples of Bud's slipshod obituary details sums up Bud's distraction and indifference to his work. 

Wrong age of deceased...Nine times last year...Wrong spouse and children's names. Fourteen times....Wrong affiliations. Twenty-one times. Wrong birthplace. Twelve times. Here's my favorite: Wrong cause of death. Four times. You claimed an eighty-one-year-old grandmother of five who died peacefully in her sleep had, instead, died by suicide by leaping off a bridge.

Bud's background: a sad miscarriage for his wife, a failed marriage, and a disastrous blind date (where the woman, after one look at Stanley, brought her ex-boyfriend into the bar and told Stanley she and her ex were getting back together). These numbing experiences are recalled by Stanley as the stream-of-consciousness narrator with black humor, sarcasm, and overwhelming sadness. These events lead him to a drunken night and his subsequent writing of a fake obituary for himself on the highly password-protected news service's wire service.

Unfortunately, a awkward drunken motion at the keyboard caused him to accidentally post his obituary to the world. This leads everyone he knows (and doesn't know) to believe Bud is dead. In this ill-conceived obit, the world learned that during his lifetime Bud accomplished a great many unusual feats:

Bud Stanley, forty-four, former Mr. Universe, failed porn star, and mediocre obituary writer, is dead.

But ironically, because Stanley is now considered dead in the international news data bank, he technically cannot be fired from United World Press. One cannot fire dead people, it seems. 

So the company's HR Department puts him on leave while they try to figure out what to do with him and how they can legally terminate his employment with them. Until then, Stanley is free to walk around the streets and try to figure out who he is, his purpose, and what he will do with his life.  

What he learns about himself and society drive the rest of the plot forward through many twists and turns, misdirections, revelations, friendships, and life's quirks.

Like most black humor books, this is not necessarily a comedic book. It is, however, certainly one that might make you feel a wee bit guilty for laughing at the characters, their rambling dialogues, and the many awkward situations and odd characters they face.

So, for a complete change of pace read, full of unexpected turns and curious plot lines, I highly recommend I See You've Called in Dead. I guarantee it will captivate you and in the process brighten your day. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 West, Nathanael. Miss Lonelyhearts.

A newspaper columnist who writes an newspaper advice column similar to "Dear Abby," comes to realize that the people who ask for help have genuinely heartbreaking situations they (and now he) cannot address easily or dispassionately. Highly recommended.

Happy reading.

 

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

Asimov's Guide to Science

Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's Guide to Science. New York : Basic Books 1960. Print.

First Sentences:

Almost in the beginning was curiosity....There comes a point where the capacity to receive, store, and interpret message from the outside world may outrun sheer necessity. An organism may for the moment be sated with food, and there may, at the moment, be no danger in sight. What does it do then?....[The] higher organisms, at least, still show a strong instinct to explore the environment. Idle curiosity we may call it. ....The more advanced the brain, the greater the drive to explore....[Curiosity] for its simplest definition is "the desire to know."


Description:

This is a first for The First Sentence Reader. I am recommending a book that: 1) I have not finished reading yet and therefore will only review the first 100-page section; and 2) It is a book I don't expect anyone else to read (although I would hope someone out there would be interested enough in some content to at least flip through it and maybe even get caught up enought o read a section or two - or the entire book as I will certainly do.)

Behold, I enthusiastically recommend Isaac Asimov and his thrilling, all-encompassing, wonderful, 945-page Asimov's Guide to Science. 

As a very poor student of any science class but still an interested outsider, I finally wanted to try to understand the world around me. Asimov to the rescue! In his Guide to Science, Asimov covers in separate sections and chapters:

• What is science?
• The Physical Science (The Universe, Earth, Atmosphere, Elements, Energy, etc.)
• The Biological Sciences (Molecules, Proteins, Cells, Microorganisms, The Body, The Mind, etc.)  

Already I can sense your feeling of being overwhelmed by this vast amount of information. Maybe you've never really been interested in science in general. But Isaac Asimov is the most gentle, understanding, clear-thinking, and readable non-fiction author you will ever find. Pick a random subject in any field of science that interests you and he will give you the background, historic figures of relevant scientists in this field and their discoveries, the current advancements, and the plans for the future. 

 

And it is all delivered in easy-to-read sentences chock full of fascinating details that pull you along from paragraph to paragraph until you find you have read 20 pages (or even more) on this scientific topic - and miraculously you've understood it. And you'll also find that you cannot wait to bend the ears of friends and family with fascinating scientific tidbits from Asimov about the world around us.

So as I said, I have only started this tome, finishing the first 100+ pages on "What Is Science" and "The Universe." Both were absolutely riveting. What did I learn?

• What separates humans from most other animals and drives science is curiosity, the "need to know" and to find answers;
• How to measure great distances, such as miles from the Earth to the Moon, to the Sun, to other planets, and far-flung stars as well as determine planetary and other astronomical orbits;
• With the naked eye, we can see about 6,000 stars on a clear night;
• Galileo's telescope showed for the first time that the Milky Way was composed of millions of stars and was flat-shaped;
• A light year is 5.88 trillion miles, i.e., 186,282 miles per second (the speed of light) x 31,536,00 (the number of seconds in a year);
• The unsolved question whether the universe is "evolutionary" (continually expanding and contracting), or whether it is "steady-state" (density of galaxies remains the same);
• A nova is not the death of a star but simply its sudden expansion (sometimes "a millionfold in less that a day") before settling back into its usual brightness;
• Clear explanations and examples of white dwarfs, red giants, super novas, comets, quasars, interstellar gas, dust clouds, telescopes, spectrum photography, radio waves, and so much more)

 

Hope I haven't bored you already. If so, I am very chagrined to have done so. For me, it's so exciting to finally be able to understand scientific terms and the descriptions of the universe I see or read about daily, and in words and examples I can comprehend. I found every page, almost every paragraph, fascinating, informative, and very entertaining. And although I have a lot of the book to go, I cannot wait to dip into its treasures with Asimov as my patient, understanding, and wise guide.

[P.S. I just noticed Asimov wrote an updated and expanded version of his Guide to Science (see below). This new text was written 22 years after the original Guide, so covers new discoveries in fields of computers, AI, robotics, astronomy, biology, etc. Looks like I have my lifetime To Be Read list filled up for the near future. FR]

[N]o one can really feel at home in the modern world and judge the nature of its problems -- and possible solutions to those problems -- unless he has some intelligent notion of what science is up to. But beyond this, initiation into the magnificent world of science brings great esthetic satisfaction, inspiration to youth, fulfillment of the desire to know, and a deeper appreciation of the wonderful potentialities and achievements of the human mind.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's New Guide to Science.

Updated version (written 25 years later in 1984) of the original Guide to Science, and covers new discoveries in physics, robotics, biology, astronomy, computers, artificial intelligence, and other fields.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]