Martha Grimes

"The Winds of Change: A Richard Jury Novel" By Martha Grimes Signet: 2005


I have not read a Martha Grimes book for sometime and was not going to however as mentioned before I really don't have much choice here in Korea. In this instance, I am glad I did. I really enjoyed this book although some parts made me uncomfortable because the subject matter concerned the sexual exploitation of children and the author wrote about it convincingly.

Jury as a homicide detective is called to investigate the death of a child who was shot in the back. He begins a trail that leads to a cold case of a missing girl in another town. Soon other people are brought into the puzzle which includes Brian Macalvie of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Melrose Plant. Grimes does an excellent job describing the characters including children in a very convincing way. Murder is a terrible crime but the sexual abuse of children is the murder of their souls. Clues pile up but seem random until Jury begins to make sense of the mystery and solves it in the end although he risks everything including his own career to save those who are still alive and suffering.

In society, there exists a class of criminals who feel that they are doing children a service by introducing them to the so-called pleasures of sex and they will pay very handsomely to do so. Then there are those who work hard to defend the innocents from their depraved and sick behaviors. Unfortunately, those with money often win more than those who can protect the young. It is a constant battle to save the children and some will break the law to do it. "The Winds of Change" portrays this conflicts realistically.

I have every intention of reading Grimes again if this book is any indication of the quality and well plotted thoroughness of her writing. I don't remember why I stopped, but this book keep me reading well into the night.

George Gissing

"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft" by George Gissing

This is another thin red book that is in both English and Korean that I bought at Home Plus in Daejeon, Korea. I never heard of this writer or the book. I just took a chance on it. I have never been so pleasantly surprised as I was with this author. To think, I discovered this English novelist who lived from November 22, 1857 to December 28, 1903 in a country whose primary language is not English. He died at the age of 46 from emphysema from an ill-advised winter walk. He is buried in France.

"The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft" was the most autobiographical work of Gissing and it brought him much acclaim. He had been able to retreat to a more private life to write after receiving a late legacy. This is a story of that new beginning of his writing life.

In the book, the author writes as if he is writing a journal and he writes clearly his love of books, his home, the walks and nature and what he sees on them, his housekeeper and other things in such a way it is warm and comforting to the reader. I can see why Gissing is included in this series of books to help the Korean learn English for the book is easy to read but interesting and well written. The reader can readily see what Ryecroft is experiencing around him.

I looked up Amazon Books to see if any of Gissing books are in print and was happy to see quite a few of them are. I had looked up his name in Google Books and expected to see his novels sitting there forgotten since he had lived so long ago. Not so. He is read now and they are all in print. I can understand it. When I get to the USA in December of this year, I will buy one. I loved this book. What a wonderful mind and eye he must have had to have written the way he did.

J. & W. Grimm Part III

This is a third thin red book that is written in English and Korean on stories by the Brothers Grimm. This book contains the stories of "The Town Musicians of Bremen" and "The Sleeping Beauty". In contrast with the other two red books, there are small drawings in this book that illustrate the stories.

The first story is one that every senior citizen would love. In "The Town Musicians of Bremen" a man had a donkey that served him faithfully by carrying his sacks to the mill, however because the donkey was getting older the donkey's strength began to fail. The man thought that it was time to get rid of it. The donkey was no ass and left one morning before the man got up because he thought his days were numbered. The donkey thought he might become a musician in the town of Bremen or as he thought to himself: it couldn't hurt. After he traveled down the road he met a dog who was in the same position as he was. His master was thinking of killing him because he could not hunt as well as the younger dogs. He joined forces with the donkey to become a musician as he thought he could beat the drums. Then they met a cat who had a mistress who wanted to drown her as she was getting too old to catch mice like she did when she was younger. The donkey and the dog said she could join them and be the singer. Then they walked past a farm and found a cock who was looking at the real possibility of being in the soup that Sunday because he was getting too old to crow in the morning. He joined the group. Off they went to Bremen.

Since they could not reach the town of Bremen in one day, they looked for a place to stay and found a cabin in the middle of the woods that had a bunch of robbers who were sitting down to eat. They decided to sing and the robbers ran from the cabin into the woods. After a while and after the donkey and his friends went in and ate and went to sleep the robbers sneaked back into the house and tried to find out what was going on with the house. The cat scratched them, the dog bit them and the donkey gave them a good sound kick and the cock crowed. The robbers were convinced that the cabin was haunted by a witch and ghosts and left permanently and the musicians found a permanent home and lived there happily ever after.

The second story is "The Sleeping Beauty". Everyone pretty well knows this story of a king and queen who wanted a child and finally got one, a girl. They had only 12 plates of gold so could only invite 12 fairies to the fairy portion of the party following the birth of the princess. The one that was not invited came anyway and said that the princess on her 15th birthday would prick her finger on a spindle and die. Since the last fairy did not get a chance to make her wish, she modified this wish and said that the princess would only fall asleep and the kiss of a prince would awaken her. The king in an effort to make sure this did not happen outlawed all spindles although it was not known what his subjects did for clothes. Maybe they had Walmart Stores. Anyhow, on her 15th birthday, the princess found a spindle in a room that was locked. She had found a key and sure enough it pricked her and everyone fell asleep. This vine with horrible stickers grew all around the castle and another king took over the land for one hundred years. Many other princes heard of the legend of the sleeping beauty but could not get through the stickers and perished. Obviously, there was that darn surplus of princes again. Then one hundred years to the day a prince came by and thought he would try his luck. The vine parted for him and he found the 15 year old princess and kissed her and she woke up. These days he would have been arrested but he got to marry her right away after everyone woke up.
It is unknown whether the king got his kingdom back though.

I think I am more cynical during this re-reading of these fairy tales. In fact, I am sure of it. I see magic being more than some prince marrying someone and they living in some castle forever. I don't think I ever liked that part anyhow. I saw what marriage did to my mother and what it did to the ladies of the neighborhood. It was not such a great job. At least if one lived in a castle one had servants and time to read a book or go to a party ever so often. If one did not like the prince anymore, there were plenty of rooms to move into. That was not possible in a three bedroom ranch house in the suburbs or an apartment in the city. Since men make more money than women and in those days rarely paid child support, times were hard for women if they wanted to live without their princes and that was when I was younger. It is still hard for women now especially men and women running for office wanting to repeal some of women's rights or abolishing the civil rights act. However, these are fairy tales.

Still, we have to be very grateful for the Brothers Grimm for collecting these stories which may have been lost if they did not do this. They inspired others to do it and the tradition is strong and part of our cultural heritage no matter what part of the world each of us are from.

J. & W. Grimm Part II

"Grimm's Fairy Tales" by the Brothers Grimm

This is another one of those thin red books that are written in English and Korean. This book contains the stories "The Elves and the Shoemaker", "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats", "The Frog Prince", Rapunzel" and "Snow-White and Rose-Red".

The first story, "The Elves and the Shoemaker", is about a very poor shoemaker who lived with his wife and was left with just enough leather to make one more pair of shoes. With a sigh, he cut out the shoes at night so he could set to work the next morning and went to bed with his wife. The next morning, he got up and found the shoes were already made and they were excellent and he was able to sell them for a bigger profit than usual. He bought enough leather to make two shoes and cut them up at night to make in the morning and the same thing happened. Again, the quality was so outstanding he made a great profit and he had enough for four pairs and the same thing happened. Soon he found he was making a good living. One night he said to his wife that he wanted to stay up and see who was doing this for him so they both stayed up and found two naked little men coming in at midnight who were making the shoes. The shoemaker and his wife decided to make some clothes for the elves. The shoemaker made small shoes. They stayed up again to see how their gifts would be received and the elves put on the clothes and danced and said they were no longer cobblers and danced out the door. They were never seen again. Ever since then the shoemaker's business prospered as if they left some magic behind.

In "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats", there was a mother goat who had seven little goats who she loved very much. Since she was going to into the wood to fetch some food for them, she warned them to be on the watch for the wolf who had just moved in the neighborhood. Be careful, she warned them because he will try and get inside this house and eat you up, skin, bones and all. You will recognize him by his hoarse voice and black paws. Soon after their mother left, the wolf showed up and was sent from the door. First he disguised his voice with chalk and then he disguised his paws with flour he got from the baker. Well, this wolf really wanted to eat them and finally got in and swallowed them whole except one who was hiding in the clock-case. When the mother goat came home and saw the mess the house was in she was horrified and found the last surviving baby goat. She found the wolf asleep and saw his sides still moving and sniped his sides open and found her kids still alive. Then she put some stones back inside the wolf and sewed him back up. That wolf must have really been asleep. When he woke up, he felt like he had been under some deep spell and was very thirsty. He went to a stream to drink but fell in instead and drowned.

To me, "The Frog Prince" was very dissatisfying. The King's daughter had a favorite ball she lost and this frog promised he would get it if she would make him, the frog, her friend. She thought the frog as a nothing and readily promised just to get her ball back. He got it for her and while she was eating dinner that night he knocked at the door and said that he wanted to be her friend as she promised. The daughter was horrified when the king made her keep her promise. Now, the princess was the most beautiful woman in the land and figured she did not have to keep her promise to this ugly old frog. The king said otherwise. Finally, as she went to sleep and the frog wanted to be lifted into her bed, she flung him against the wall with all of her might. Instead of killing him he turned into a prince. Later with the King's permission they got married. If I was the prince, I would have thanked the princess and said goodbye and searched for a princess that had a heart.

"Rapunzel" was about a man and his wife who lived next door to a witch who had a wonderful garden. The wife wanted some rampion that grew in the witch's garden and the wife begged her husband to sneak in there and steal some for her. He loved her with all of his might and he was able to get some. His wife was happy with the rampion he got and wanted more. Unfortunately he got caught by the witch. She was going to do him in but he said it was for his wife. The witch said he could have all of the rampion he wanted as long as he gave her their first born child. The man thought he was safe because they had not been able to have a child. Well, as luck would have it they had a daughter soon after this and they had to give it to the witch who promised to raise it as well as any mother would. Witches in those days must have had a lot of power. Anyhow, Rapunzel was the most beautiful child in the world and when she was 12 years old the witch shut her up in a tower in the midst of a wood. The only way up was Rapunzel's long hair which shone like gold. A few years later as it often does, the prince of the land heard Rapunzel singing and saw how the witch got in and he got in too. The prince proposed to her and being a man also showed her a few other things. Rapunzel accidentally let the witch know of the prince and witch cut Rapunzel's hair and waited for the prince. She had banished Rapunzel in a waste and desert place where she lived in great misery as she was pregnant. Then when the prince came up to see Rapunzel, the witch told him that his love was gone and he escaped from the tower with his life by jumping from the tower but he became blinded from the thorns. He wandered but heard her voice and followed it. When they were reunited the tears from Rapunzel gave back his sight. He took Rapunzel and their twin children back to his kingdom where they lived happily ever after.

Out t of this book, "Snow-White and Rose-Red" was my favorite story. Snow-White and Rose-Red were the daughters of a poor widow who lived alone in her hut in the forest. They were very poor but pious, good, industrious and amiable children. Everyone got along well and the girls got along with the animals of the forest as well. They were kind to the animals and even a big black bear who came knocking at their door. The bear wanted to stay the night and although they felt nervous they agreed. The bear stayed with them until he had to leave so he could protect his treasure from the dwarfs. The young ladies later met a very rude dwarf but they were nice to him anyhow. They saved his life many times by snipping his beard and he just got mad at them for doing that. Finally, when they were helping him from being taken away from a large bird he gave them a bad time for ruining his coat by holding on to him so the bird would not take him away for a meal. The girls had gotten used to the dwarf not appreciating their efforts that they were getting reading to walk off when a large bear appeared and the dwarf told the bear he should eat the girls instead of him. The bear hit the dwarf and he fell down dead. The girls were afraid until the bear said that he was the bear that stayed in their house. His coat fell off and he told them that he was under a spell from a witch and could not escape until the dwarf that took his jewels was dead and that was the dwarf. He was a prince and married one of the daughters and his brother married the other. Everyone moved to the castle to lived including the entire hut where the mother could live on the palace grounds as she wished.

With all of these stories of witches, I could see why they were burned at the stake or women who lived by themselves and did not want to get married. As for princes, well they all sound like there were a surplus in those days and they were all looking for brides. If Princess Diana were alive today, she would not be so positive in her remarks about princes. Prince Charles was one stinker. In history, they were not so hot, but these are fairy tales except many women believe them and I have to admit I did to some extent many years ago. I loved this picture of Snow White I found on the Internet. (If you are a prince reading this blog, don't bother to contact me please.)

J. and W. Grimm Part I

"Little Snow White and Other Stories" by the Brothers Grimm

Just a note about the authors because there are several films about them that have no basis in truth. Jacab Ludwig Grimm (Also Carl) was born on January 4, 1785 and died September 20, 1863. Wilhelm Karl Grimm was born February 24, 1786 and died on December 16, 1859. They were both born in Hanau, Germany. They lost their father and grandfather at an early age and their mother had to struggle to support her children.

Both brothers graduated from the university and became collectors of tales but not the authors. Their tales were immensely popular at the time but were essentially a by-product of the linguistic research which was the brothers' primary goal.

The Brothers Grimm held several academic positions among them professors, librarians, court librarians, head librarians while doing linguistic research. They got along very well together even when one of them married and all lived in one house.

Their research in linguistics is well known. For instance, the relationships between words became known as Grimm's Law. Their last years were spent writing a definitive dictionary , The Deutsches Worterbuch, the first volume being published in 1854. The work was carried out by future generations. (Source Wikipedia)

"Little Snow White and Other Stories", a thin red book, has both Korean and English in it. I bought it from Home Plus and it is not the stories one associates with Walt Disney. The vocabulary is in Korean and the story is taken directly from the Brothers Grimm although there is no mention in English who translated it from German.

The stories in this book are "Little Snow-White", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", "Little Red Cap", and "Hansel and Gretel". When I was a child, I was allowed to go to the library unaccompanied as often as I wanted. My Aunt Sonia taught me how to use the library and when my own children were growing up, I took them to the library as often as they wanted which was not as often as I wanted. I still marvel at the long distance I was allowed to walk alone along a busy street. Still, I remember reading all of the fairy tales that were in that library and many of them were of the Brothers Grimm. It was a pleasure to read them in this book.

I have other red books that I will report on but this one is of the Brothers Grimm and the stories in it are well known to me. I mentioned that this book is not the version that Walt Disney filmed in movie. It is different.

Snow White was a young child when she was taken to the woods by the woodsman. She stayed with the seven dwarfs for a while before her step-mother found her. After she was poisoned by a deadly apple and placed in a glass coffin above ground, a passing prince fell in love with her and did not wake her up with a kiss but convinced the dwarfs to let him have the glass enclosed Snow White to take back to his castle but he dropped her and the glass broke and the poisoned apple fell out of her mouth. Heavens knows what he was going to do with her once he got her back to the castle so I could see why the Disney people changed that part of the story. The queen is just as evil in both stories but she goes to the wedding of the prince and finds out that the new bride is her own step-daughter. Bummer. I am glad they kept the magic mirror. Good touch.

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a story about a king who had 12 daughters who went somewhere at night and would not tell him where. They wore out their slippers and he was very frustrated. He let it be known that if any prince would find out where they went, then they could have any of the princesses for a bride and his kingdom after his death. However, if they failed in three days, off with the prince's head. Well, I guess there was a surplus of princes and not enough kingdoms so a bunch tried and none of them mysteriously could not stay awake and lost their heads. It came to be that a soldier, enlisted not an officer, was very kind and tired, decided that he would give it a try since he was unable to get a job doing anything else; so up to the castle he went but an old lady, they are very kind and trusting to soldiers, told him not to swallow the wine he is given and gave him a cloak like Harry Potter's that would make him invisible. He was very grateful and went to the castle and did as instructed. He was astonished to see that the princess's beds opened up and they all went below and danced all night. He grabbed some proof and did it for three nights. The princesses all thought he was sleeping and that he would lose his head, but they did not think about his being a peasant with common sense. He went to the king and told them what they were up to. Since the soldier was no longer young, he chose the oldest princess and married her and became king after the old one died. I wondered how he could marry a woman who was perfectly willing to see him separated from his head, but he did get a kingdom and that is a very good job.

"The Little Red Cap" is in reality "Little Red Riding Hood" and I am sorry to say both her grandmother and her got eaten by the wolf but the story teller did offer an alternative ending in which the grandmother and girl outwitted the fox. No one listening to this tale is fooled. The fox got a tasty meal. What is ironic here is that the girl who told the Brothers Grimm ended up marrying one of them. The other Grimm never married. Maybe she told him the alternative ending so his feelings would not get hurt.

"Hansel and Gretel" is about two loving brother and sister who live with their father and step-mother. Step-mothers do not do well in fairy tales and many people would complain about the Brothers Grimm that they hated women. They just collected the stories and recorded them faithfully. They did not change them. In the stories of domestic bliss in today's world, step-fathers do not do well in the police courts. In the stories of fairy tales, it was the step-mothers who wanted to get rid of the children of the dead first wife. This one wanted Hansel and Gretel to be taken into the forest where they would be eaten by wild animals and they would not have to feed them anymore. The brother and sister got lost and came to a witch's house and of course another subspecies of villain ,the witch. This witch was a cannibal. She lived in an eatable house which drew in children. While this pedophile serial killer witch was waiting for the boy to get fat, the girl gave him a bone to give to the witch since she could not see worth a damn. Then when the witch asked the girl to get in the oven, the girl tricked the witch to show her how and shoved her in and locked the oven door. They found some jewels in the witch's house and got home and everyone now had enough money to buy some food.

I loved fairy tales because women won. I didn't like what they won, but at least they won. They were the heroines in their own tales. When everyone was out to get them, they endured. I also liked magic because I was in a childhood that was full of dysfunctional adults. I wanted to believe that somehow I was going to survive. That there were some magic beans or some magical castle that would be real and would be a safe place for me. I could draw up the draw bridge and there would be enough food and clothes for me.

I used to think I was the only one reading the fairy tales. Now, as I read the stories that the kids read, I realize that other children were just like me and sneaking into the library and reading them as well. The stories that the Brothers Grimm collected were popular then and certainly still popular now.

Katherine Mansfield

Short Stories by Katherine Mansfield in an edition that is half Korean and half English. The short stories are:
" Bliss","The Garden Party", "The Stranger", "An Ideal Family", "A Cup of Tea", "The Fly", "Honeymoon" and "the Doll's House".

The first four short stories are taken from "The Garden Party" published in 1922 and the last four are taken from "The Dove's Nest" published in 1923.

I had tried to read Mansfield many years ago and had difficulty for reasons that escapes me. She was well thought of as a writer by D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Wolfe. I saw this book in Home Plus and decided to give her another try. For a woman who lived only 34 years, she wrote many short stories and I enjoyed the ones that were included in this book.

The stories seem to come onto the senses in one way but stay in another for they do stay long after they are read. The one story that has impressed me the most is "The Garden Party" which on its surface is about a pretty young thing that seems very impressible but the story is about life itself and how death can come unexpectedly to teach those of us still living how precious life is. Even that sense is a bit trite in describing this wonderful story. I don't think I would like the protagonist in the story but I like what she sees in life.

That is what all of these stories are. They sneak up on the reader and take one by surprise as being one kind of story but really are something else entirely. At least that is how I viewed them. I can see how I would not have liked them when I was younger and expected my fiction to be one way and not to change in midstream so to speak. I wanted more certainty in my life then and now I don't mind uncertainty at all. Some of the stories do not spell out what is happening and some do.

It is really quite sad that her life ended so soon. It would have been really interesting to have seen how her fiction would have changed through the years. It is really possible she was a genius in that she was just learning her trade when TB cut her life short.