Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 10/29 - Sandy

I went out at 6:30 this morning. Stop n Shop had been boarded up. Fortunately, the new 7-11 on Sheepshead Bay Road was open. So was a newsstand across the street. I was able to get my daily fix of the New York Post. Knowing it would be a long day, all manner of time-fillers are appreciated. I vacuumed the rug, cleaned the fridge and reorganized a closet. It's just about 3:30 and I don't think we've seen the worst of the storm yet. My apartment faces the courtyard, so the weather has to be really bad for me to notice. I now hear the wind. Out of curiosity, I went down to the lobby. The trees and bushes are being whipped. I spotted about four people passing. A young man came running toward the entrance with his dog. I opened the door for him. There's a sign near the elevator, saying it will be shut down at 7PM. I hope the power stays on at least until bed time, and I hope we don't have to go through this again tomorrow.

Of course, one of the best ways to fill time is by reading. I just finished James Hilton's Random Harvest, which ends just as news of the Nazi invasion of Poland arrives. The protagonist is a WWI vet who suffers a head injury, is taken prisoner and treated by German doctors. Both his identity and memory are lost. After being discharged, he awakens on a bench in Liverpool and suddenly remembers who he is, but now has no memory of the time period from his injury to the moment of his awakening. The narrative moves back and forth in time, unraveling the mystery, and also from first to third person. The ending, which I didn't see coming until the penultimate page, is wonderfully romantic.The writing is smooth, although there are quirks unique to the British that a Yank might have difficulty understanding, which brings to mind that great quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw: "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." 

Hilton is a rare writer who found success immediately, his first novel, Catherine Herself, published at 20. He also wrote the enduring Goodbye Mr. Chips and Lost Horizon, which is said to have inspired the paperback revolution. He wrote 22 books in all, all but one fiction, The Story of Dr. Wassel. He also wrote the screenplay for Mrs. Miniver (1942), which won six Oscars. He did a few more, including adaptations of his own works, and doctored others. He did not do the screenplay for Random Harvest (1942), which would be nearly impossible to film as written. It received 7 Academy Award nominations but did not win any. Hilton served as narrator for the film, and did so on two others as well. I've added it to my list at Netflix. On a scale of five, I rate the novel three-and-a-half. (Facts culled from Wiki and IMDb)

Visit Vic's sites:

Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb

Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6

Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h

Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3