Christine – Stephen King, 1983 ★★★½

Remembering My First Time with the King

Is Christine a clever chrome-plated gorefest a young and still-hungry Stephen King dashed off with deceptive ease? Or is it rather an early signpost of decline when the blockbuster horror writer was bottoming out on booze and coke?

Popular opinion favors the latter; I understand the argument. As for me, I love Christine.

This has little to do with it being a scary story about a demon car. For me, it’s something of a perverse nostalgia rush. I was in my last days of high school when I read this, my first King novel, and to say I related to the lead character, pathetic loser Arnie Cunningham, is an understatement. Every blow and insult directed at him echoed in my own memory well.

Cincinnatus: George Washington & The Enlightenment – Garry Wills, 1984 ★★

Unlocking the Washington Code

Do you know the many Classical allusions buried within artistic representations of George Washington? Are you interested in why Washington stands with his right (not left) arm outstretched in Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait, and what it says regarding how he was viewed by those he led?

Garry Wills lays out the meaning behind the iconography of our foremost Founding Father, in this hopping, learned, rambling analysis.

Anton Chekhov's Short Stories: A Norton Critical Edition – Edited by Ralph E. Matlaw, 1979 ★★★½

34 Stories, Many More Conclusions

Stuck in a baseball frame of mind with the playoffs underway and my team eliminated, I find myself pondering literary figures the way I do baseball stars. Some are known for home runs. Others are less spectacular but more consistent singles hitters.

After reading this old Norton collection containing 34 of Anton Chekhov’s short stories, I’m inclined to push against any Ruthian comparisons and place the famous Russian author with other great singles hitters; Eddie Collins, Rod Carew, Ichiro Suzuki, and Ben Jonson. Solid swing, but you expect the ball to stay in the park.