Radio Belly: Stories

Marriage can be a real killer. 
   One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn. 
   On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 
   As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
   With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it’s not too late to start over...

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them. Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle. Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared has charmed readers across the world.

Jonas Jonasson is a former journalist and media consultant. He lives in Sweden.

Praise for The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared:

"[A] silly and wonderful novel. [The scenes] will just keep readers amused almost non-stop, and that's a feat few writers achieve. A great cure for the blues, especially for anyone who might feel bad about growing older."
--Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"[A] laugh-out-loud debut . . . Historical figures like Mao's third wife, Vice President Truman, and Stalin appear, to great comic effect. Other characters--most notably Albert Einstein's hapless half-brother--are cleverly spun into the raucous yarn, and all help drive this gentle lampoon of procedurals and thrillers."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred

"Eccentric, unusual and far-fetched in the best possible way."
--The Bookseller

"Scandi-crime's signature darkness is here dispelled by Allan Karlsson, the eponymous centenarian, who with unlikely sprightliness hops out of the window of his old people's home one afternoon . . . Fast-moving and relentlessly sunny . . . Like Allan, the plot is pleasingly nimble and the book's endearing charm offers a happy alternative to the more familiar Nordic noir."
--The Guardian

"Imaginative, laugh-out-loud . . . a brilliant satire on the foibles of mankind."
--The Telegraph

"A mordantly funny and loopily freewheeling debut novel about ageing disgracefully."
--The Sunday Times

"[A] witty caper. ***1/2"
--People

"The anti–Girl With the Dragon Tattoo . . . Jonasson's lighthearted novel shows the softer side of Sweden. . . . hilarious."
--Marie Claire

"This quirky novel is a sly, satirical look back at international relations in the 20th century through the eyes of an old man who has seen it all."
--Library Journal

Full of the trademark wit that can only be found in a Wodehouse story. I didnt have any of the laugh out loud moments I did when reading the Jeeves books though that fact didnt detract from each storys lighthearted look at lifes most serious love issues.

Contents: The Man Upstairs, Something To Worry About, Deep Waters, When Doctors Disagree, By Advice Of Counsel, Rough-Hew Them How We Will, The Man Who Disliked Cats, Ruth In Exile, Archibalds Benefit, The Man, The Maid, And The Miasma, The Good Angel, Pots O Money, Out Of School, Three From Dunsterville, The Tuppenny Millionaire, Ahead Of Schedule, Sir Agravaine, The Goal-Keeper And The Plutocrat, In Alcala

I enjoyed diving deeper into the Wodehouse repertoire through this collection of short stories.

Those who consider reading a welcome break from the usual rigmarole of life should read this. Those of us who are die-hard fans of Wodehouse know just how good it feels !!

The Classic Christmas tale that we all know and love.  Scrooge is a miserable miser with no friends, who has isolated all his family and passed up the best choices in life.  But he is about to get a second chance. Three nightly visitors are about to give him a final choice on how to view his life.  A great story of learning about some of the most important things in life, compassion and a giving spirit. Beutifully Illustrated wiht a compilation of illustrations by two different artists. 

These eight stories were better than I remembered them. In these stories, Wells wrote mainly about the time he lived in, and he is very capable of bringing the reader back to the time and helping them to see just what it was like. From a historical perspective, fascinating.

The plots are intriguing, and the characters are believable. Unlike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who I think was only able to bring Holmes and Watson to life and found it difficult to write about other characters, Wells creates numerous characters that come alive.

Even the Country of the Blind, which I never liked much before, was interesting not just as a story but as a provocative statement on culture, religion and science.

I loved this book and highly recommend it.

The first The Door in the Wall raises questions about the meaning of life and satisfaction. Wallace was very smart and in later life very successful. His mother died when he was young and his father was too busy to play with him. He was very lonely as a child. He saw a green door in a white wall when he was five years old. He opened the door, entered, and discovered a warm friendly world with weed-less flowers and two friendly animals that played lovingly with him. There was also a beautiful woman who walked with him, held his hand and talked with him. There were other people there who were friendly and children his own age with whom he played. The woman brought him back outside the door, although he was reluctant to return. He cried at his loss of the world behind the green door.

His father punished him when he returned home for being late and whenever he tried to tell his father about the world behind the green door, but he never gave up his longing to return behind the door.

He saw the green door again during his school days, but did not enter because he didnt want to come to school late. He told his school mates about the green door but they mocked him. When he was seventeen, he saw it for the third time, while driving to Oxford to college. He did not stop his cab and enter the door because the delay would have caused him to lose his scholarship. Similarly, he didnt enter when he saw it a fourth time because of a girl and a chance for job advancement.

He told his story to his friend when he was in his thirties. He also told him that he had seen the door again three times this past year. He said he was tired of work and saw no meaning in it. He wanted to enter the door the next time that he saw it. He was found dead the next day on the street.

Reading the tale, we ask, did he enter the green door in the white wall after leaving his friend? What really is behind the door? Is this a parable and, if so, what is its message? Does the ending tell us that the mans yearning was unnatural and only leads to death? What is natural? What did the man miss that made his life unsatisfactory? Can we gain insight into Wells tale by comparing it to Franz Kafkas Before the Law, another story of a man who stood all of his life before a door, which he could have entered?

The seven other stories are equally intriguing. In the last, The Country of the Blind, Nunez stumbles into a country that was cut off from civilization for centuries, where all the inhabitants are blind, where the people developed their own culture and had their own ideas about the world that derived from their blindness. He discovers that the proverb in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, is patently wrong. The opposite is true. Is Wells telling us that we live in a world of the blind that is turning us from what is proper, into slaves? Is there a relationship between the message of this last story and the first?