Sometimes there are so many cultural events, it’s hard to decide what to see and where to go. Recently, after considering several, I opted to see a performance of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ staged at First Presb Theatre. It was worth seeing, and it reminded me why Tennessee Williams is considered one of America’s great playwrights. He also wrote “The Glass Menagerie,” which is studied in many high school lit classes, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Summer and Smoke” “The Rose Tattoo,” and many others. Between 1948 and 1959, he had seven plays produced on Broadway. He won two Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony Award, and three NY Drama Critic awards among other honors.
So, how did the performance go? Beautifully, with all the conflict, lies, contradictions, Southern accents, and summer heat making every character studied and a bit insane. Big Mama and Big Daddy, the hugely wealthy Mississippi cotton tycoon, face their sons with love, insults, hopes, and disappointments, all intermingled with the goings- on of Big Daddy’s birthday celebration. The plot is intriguing, but in my opinion the characters make the play.
Recently I read Omi, Mother Courage, a biography of Hertha Jurgens Schmidt, a woman born in 1910, in rural Germany. It was written by Lawrence Mazzeno, and in his account, I learned a great deal about the history of Germany and how the people viewed their country, their government, and the condition of their lives, and why, oddly enough, Hitler was able to convince them they had to fight. It was the history and the setting that Hertha experienced that spurred me along through the story.
In Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom, the story is held by the plot. In every chapter, the tension tightens, and the narrative is one that promises an unknown revelation, which may or may not be disastrous or tragic. The reader is carried along, anxious to find out what happens.
The last month has been a delight for me. My brother sent me five books to read. My daughter gave me a book to read, and friends have recommended other books. My niece is a writer, so I try to read her books. My Scribes’ friends are successful writers, so I read ML Rigdon’s historical western tales and Judi Lynn’s cozy mysteries. Book reviews in the Wall Street Journal continue to tempt me into visiting my local library.
How can I read them all? I stack them up and work down. If it were a cold March, , I would be able to get through a number of these books, but this year, winter has been mild, and as early as February, daffodils were shooting up. From now until summer, I have plenty to read. How sweet it is—or can be.
So, how did the performance go? Beautifully, with all the conflict, lies, contradictions, Southern accents, and summer heat making every character studied and a bit insane. Big Mama and Big Daddy, the hugely wealthy Mississippi cotton tycoon, face their sons with love, insults, hopes, and disappointments, all intermingled with the goings- on of Big Daddy’s birthday celebration. The plot is intriguing, but in my opinion the characters make the play.
Recently I read Omi, Mother Courage, a biography of Hertha Jurgens Schmidt, a woman born in 1910, in rural Germany. It was written by Lawrence Mazzeno, and in his account, I learned a great deal about the history of Germany and how the people viewed their country, their government, and the condition of their lives, and why, oddly enough, Hitler was able to convince them they had to fight. It was the history and the setting that Hertha experienced that spurred me along through the story.
In Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom, the story is held by the plot. In every chapter, the tension tightens, and the narrative is one that promises an unknown revelation, which may or may not be disastrous or tragic. The reader is carried along, anxious to find out what happens.
The last month has been a delight for me. My brother sent me five books to read. My daughter gave me a book to read, and friends have recommended other books. My niece is a writer, so I try to read her books. My Scribes’ friends are successful writers, so I read ML Rigdon’s historical western tales and Judi Lynn’s cozy mysteries. Book reviews in the Wall Street Journal continue to tempt me into visiting my local library.
How can I read them all? I stack them up and work down. If it were a cold March, , I would be able to get through a number of these books, but this year, winter has been mild, and as early as February, daffodils were shooting up. From now until summer, I have plenty to read. How sweet it is—or can be.
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