Liars and Saints

 One neighbor makes me think of Norma Desmond, in "Sunset Boulevard." You reach a certain point in life, and things seem "settled"; the substantial changes now seem to be in the rearview mirror. But my neighbor divorced at fifty, assumed sole custody of his children, and began dating an unemployed (and essentially adolescent) bartender. My neighbor likes drama. His bartender drives too fast on the back road, and when this causes a furore, my neighbor does *not* quietly apologize. Instead, he sends an email blast: "The allegation of speeding is false. It's not even possible to speed, if you're going up a hill that steep..." Also, my neighbor regularly evicts the bartender--but then a tearful reconciliation occurs--and housing arrangements are readjusted--and the cycle begins once again. There is some thoughtless groupthink in my neighborhood; when one family requested GoFundMe contributions to help with a small "property issue," several pe...

 Richard Osman's plots tend to fly over my head, but Osman is so clearly enjoying himself, I just keep reading. Osman's special talent is to exaggerate certain qualities we all have--while still making his characters recognizably human. In Osman's new novel, "We Solve Murders," Rosie, a ninety-year-old novelist with an insatiable appetite for sex, seduces various handymen while defending her own life against an assassin (and while, also, investigating a mystery). Rosie's sole moment of weakness seems to occur at an airport bookstore; if you watch closely, you might spot her hiding a Lee Child novel behind a title of her own. Elsewhere, Bonnie, a young woman, dreams of a career as "an influencer." She sees an opportunity: She could sit poolside, in swimwear, while advertising the virtues of "organic paint." ("I hadn't even known that paint could be inorganic ...") Bonnie rehearses her lines, in private: "Color brings happi...

 "Will and Harper" is an unusual movie because its subjects are constantly aware that they are on camera. It's not as stagey as "reality" television, but it's still stagey. Because of the cameras, you're frequently wondering if various people are "performing." For example, when the subjects enter certain bars, and they're surprised to find the locals on good behavior, you might ask,  Is this plausible reporting? Or are the locals behaving themselves *because* of the cameras ? Also, in the main "conflict" scene, when some Texans behave very badly, I (at least) had a queasy feeling; I felt that the filmmakers were pumping their fists, in triumph.  We caught some people acting in a thoughtless way! That said, the movie has smart moments. In one powerful scene, Harper, the subject of the film, shows her friend a house that she bought. It's in a crummy town in California. Before making a gender transition, Harper had purchased this...

  As a tutor, I know how challenging it is to stay "plugged in," to dial up one's own interest in an unchanging curriculum, hour after hour after hour. So I have great admiration for the behavioral coach who works with my son; to me, she is like Chita Rivera, dancing each night with her damaged leg, refusing to "phone it in." "You need a rubber duckie app, to serve as your potty training aid. The app is called 'Countdown,' and it can be your stopwatch. There are other apps called 'Countdown.' Beware. You want the image of the rubber duckie." I nod, but I worry that my eyes might lack a sense of earnestness; they might look like they're "performing" (because they are). "The volume on the stopwatch might soothe your son, as he poops, but it seems to upset your daughter. So be thinking about that. Be thinking about  volume controls ." I feel I've entered the set of a Christopher Guest movie. Our new books are: *...

 "Guys and Dolls" is--like "The Sopranos"--about two semi-separate worlds. One world is the disreputable universe of gambling. The other is the "domestic front," the turbulent world called Loveland. What makes the show extraordinary is Frank Loesser's gift for language. Loesser was not a gambler; it's not clear that anyone in history has ever been anything like the characters in a Damon Runyon story. But Loesser absorbed Runyon's influence and had fun with words. In Loesser's vision, an aggrieved girlfriend shouts, "Take back your mink!" Elsewhere, a Paulie Walnuts type tells his friends about a promising horse on the tracks: And just a minute, boys: I've got the feed box noise. It says the *great-grandfather* was  Equipoise ... Shows class! Shows class! This guy says the horse shows class.... Most famously, a troubled soul addresses the goddess Fortuna, right before a craps game: You're on this date with me. The pickings ...

  At times, I detect little errors in "The Sopranos." For example, when Gloria Trillo drives Carmela in a car, Gloria blatantly mocks Carmela: "So great that your daughter is getting a Columbia degree. Looks like *she* won't have to rely on a man for support. Some people aren't in the same boat." Carmela--who generally seems shrewd to me--misses this insult. Is that plausible? Also, the writers want us to believe that Meadow spends a full summer reading Mary Higgins Clark novels. As far as I can recall, we in the audience never see Meadow reading a book for pleasure. What does she think of Mary Higgins Clark? Does she discuss the Clark novels with friends? To me, the Clark reference feels lazy, undercooked. All that said, I love the Meadow stories. In season four, the feisty undergrad decides to take a year off, to mourn the loss of Jackie Jr. Her mother fights this in a helpless way, but the battles go nowhere. Tony throws up his hands and says, "Fine....

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...