Tag: annie proulx

Book book, read it, read it

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Bob reading “icky stuff” – photo LW

Two days into a five-week pilgrimage to far North Queensland and back, I ran out of suitable reading material. I’d rapidly consumed two of the three crime thrillers acquired for the journey and gave up on the Jonathan Kellerman when the body count reached four in the first dozen pages. She Who Reads Literature meanwhile snaffled the collection of short stories by Annie Proulx I borrowed from the library.

When I discover a new writer, I usually binge-read two or three, which in this case was John Sandford’s series about an unlikely detective, Virgil Flowers. I warmed to Flowers, as he is portrayed warts and all, which in his case is a serious viral outbreak. He lies, bullies suspects, intimidates witnesses, ignores his superiors and, as with all maverick cops, goes about his dodgy investigative business with seeming impunity.

He’s a lanky fellow with long hair and a habit of wearing surfer attire (jeans and rock music themed T-shirts). As with many private eye/rogue detective characters (created by male writers), Virgil thinks he is God’s gift to women. When you consider the outlandish plot of the first Flowers novel, Dark of the Moon, and an ever-rising body count, it’s a wonder Virgil can find time for a hamburger, never mind a woman. When he’s on the trail of drug dealers, psychos, murderers and dog nappers in the State of Minnesota, he sometimes goes days with little sleep. He is a dogged investigator with a dark sense of humour, but so often misses obvious clues you feel like yelling – “Nooo, Virgil – behind you!”

Crime thrillers and spy novels are my preferred genre, although I  delve into literary fiction if I can find a writer who knows how to craft a narrative and invent believable dialogue.

I have read a few books by Annie Proulx, whose recent book Bark Skins has been turned into an online TV series. Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants, The Possibilities), was a revelation. SWRL and I both like Richard Flanagan (although agreeing that Gould’s Book of Fish was impenetrable).

I’ve read everything the superlative Canadian author Michael Crummey has written thus far. His historical fiction is usually set in Newfoundland, so to engage, one ought to have a passing familiarity with the Maritime Provinces. Crummey’s narrative flair, descriptive skills and occasional poetic flourishes keep the reader deeply engaged. Try River Thieves as an example of his fine writing.

In pursuit of a worthwhile holiday read (sans serial killers), I discovered a novel (long-listed for the Booker prize), by UK writer Max Porter, whose brilliant debut, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, won awards. The follow-up, Lanny, was available on Amazon for US$8.99. Armed with less than reliable WiFi in the coastal towns of Agnes Water/Seventeen Seventy, I managed to download it.

Now I can go from here to Cairns (probably via an inland detour), with an unorthodox book which is both intriguing and beautifully written.

SWRL sometimes asks why I read “violent, icky stuff”. I’m not alone. A survey commissioned by the Australia Council found that 49% of participants nominated crime novels as their favourite genre. Next came historical fiction (36%), contemporary literary fiction (33%) and science fiction/fantasy (32%).

The Australia Council partnered with Macquarie University on this  three-year research project: ‘The Australian Book Industry: Authors, Publishers and Readers in a Time of Change’.

The survey revealed that Australians read more than three books per month and spend five hours reading books each week. Frequent readers report reading six books per month and almost eleven hours reading books, with 80% of their reading time devoted to reading for pleasure. Does this sound like you?Another key finding that concurs with my experience is that readers are mixing new digital options with conventional ways of reading.

Australians value locally written books and the Australian book industry. Considering that the dominant genre is crime and mystery fiction, Australian authors stand out in this department. The late Peter Temple turned out nine well plotted thrillers that deservedly won major awards.He is best known for inventing Jack Irish, an accidental investigator, well portrayed in the TV series by Guy Pierce.

Temple has a worthy successor as Australia’s No 1 crime writer in Mornington Peninsula-based author Garry Disher, who has also written non-crime fiction and books for young people. He has a strong view about the crime novel (he has written 20).

He told The Age he believes the reading public is embracing good crime novels because they feed a hunger for engagement with social issues not being met by literary fiction. “Many literary novels are inward-looking or backward-looking,” he says. “They don’t engage with Australia as it is now.”

Interesting that Disher said this in 2008, because in the interim, there’s been an upsurge of interest in Australian ‘noir’. Former journalist Jane Harper’s novel The Dry was a best-seller and has already been adapted for the big screen starring Eric Bana and a cast of familiar faces.

Since today’s missive introduces you to authors you may not know,  66% of readers discover a new book/author by word of mouth recommendations. Browsing in bookstores is still popular, with second-hand outlets the third most popular source. These three methods far outweigh sources of information one might assume to be ranked higher. For example, writers’ festivals (6%) and book clubs (5%) are well down the list.

I took heart from the survey’s finding that just as many people borrow books from a public library as those who buy them. I was forced to delve into the e-reader when public libraries closed in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. Now that the worst has passed (or has it?), let’s quote the epidemiologist who said there is a low risk of contracting Covid when borrowing a library book. By all means wipe the cover, he said, but the virus can only live for a few hours on such a surface. And don’t listen to those who recommend putting library books in the microwave. It will make the pages curl and your microwave will smell funny.

Civica’s 2020 Libraries Index (based on 38 million books borrowed from 90 Australian and New Zealand libraries), revealed that 12 of the top 20 borrowed books were by Australian authors.  Lianne Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers was No 1. Two Jane Harper thrillers were in the top 20, as was Trent Dalton’s disarming Boy Swallows Universe.

Readers borrowed more audio books and e-books following forced closure of libraries. The lockdown also saw the advent of neighbourhood street libraries, just one of the ways in which Covid restrictions led to inclusive community activities.

The social etiquette for street libraries is the same as second-hand book exchanges in caravan parks – take a book and leave one in its place. The caravan park where we are staying for a few days before venturing a little further north has such a collection in the office (they are usually found in the laundry). It’s typical fare, including Janet Evanovich, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, four Jodi Picoult novels and (gasp) a hardback copy of Ian Molly A bio, ‘The never-ending story’.

Sigh, If only I’d had a book to swap.

Smile at the dentist

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Dentist Smile Photo courtesy of http://www.nationalsmilemonth.org/

So I’ve just been to the dentist for a clean and descale. It’s a must-do, twice-yearly chore.

As I walk back to the car I’m looking for suitably long grass to spit out the remains of the fluoride wash. As I near 70, I’m hearing dental horror stories from my peers. Most of these anecdotes involve four-figure quotes for implants, bridges or crowns. I still have most of my own teeth and a couple of implants that set me back $1,600.

Maybe 25 years ago, pain drove me to a dentist. Luckily, I picked a good one (out of the phone book). He packed the problem tooth with antibiotics, put in a temporary filling and booked me in for a proper filling in a week’s time. It was the start of a process, overcoming dental phobia and accepting an expensive course of dental remediation. Some thousands of dollars later, I was at a stage where I could safely book in for a six-monthly check-up.

I’m doing this on a regular basis now and it’s been a while since we had any issues. I did crack a filling once on a chunk of dark chocolate, but OMG, it was such a nice piece!

As we age, we are more prone to gum disease, our teeth more likely to crack or shatter, and more importantly, those large old fillings we had in our childhood start to fail. Some of our teeth may have been saved by root canal treatments, which permanently kill the nerve but preserve the tooth.

Put your teeth in the glass, Mr Wilson

My Dad’s generation had a quick but not entirely painless solution to teeth and gum problems – they had all their teeth extracted. After going around gummy for a number of months they were fitted with dentures.

I was reading Annie Proulx’s novel, Barkskins, which charts the history of two families of wood cutters, carving out a life in New France – 16th century Quebec. There are many things that could catch your attention in this 700-page, richly imagined generational epic, but this one stood out. Proulx’ character Charles Duquet suffers from gum disease and has had his teeth extracted. A vain man, he seeks out a denture-maker. Duquet’s new teeth are made from ivory. The French denture-maker explains that the teeth are ‘only for display, not for chewing’ and that he should take them out when eating. Also, they will turn yellow with exposure to sunlight, so perhaps Monsieur would like to order a spare set?

I figure the author of The Shipping News and other fine novels would be a peerless researcher, so I checked out the history of dentures. Then as now, dentures are a luxury poor people can rarely afford.

A full set of dentures in 2017 can cost from $2,000 to $2,500. Factor in about $150-$200 per extraction and it’s no cheap exercise. However, as those who replace amalgam fillings with porcelain or opt for caps and crowns can testify, dentures are a relative bargain.

The ever-informative Wikipedia (now banned in Turkey), tells us that dentures were available as early as the 7th century (usually partial plates made with human or animal teeth and held together with gold bands). The Japanese invited full wooden dentures in the early 16th century (and continued using them until the 19th century).

US President George Washington’s dentures were made with ivory from hippos and elephants as well as gold, rivets, spiral springs and even real human teeth.

As recently as the Victorian era, young men and women were offered dentures as a 21st birthday present.

Manifold improvements in dental care have seen demand for dentures dwindle over the centuries.

A 2009 survey in the UK found that only 6% of adults had no natural teeth, a big improvement on a 1978 survey when 37% were entirely edentulous.

An Australian government report (2013) said that 19% of adults aged 65 and over had no natural teeth.

Our generation at least went through childhood with regular dental care. In New Zealand where I grew up, every school had a dental clinic, staffed (usually) by one qualified dentist and a team of dental nurses.

The nurses did the inspections and de-scaling and also filled cavities under the watchful eye of the in-house dentist. As a result of a life-long craving for sweets and chocolate, a lack of fluoride (a subject for another time), and less than rigorous brushing, my mouth is full of mercury amalgam fillings.

Other things can do your teeth in, including facial injuries from traffic accidents, assaults, playing sports and other mishaps.

One of the biggest impediments to maintaining a healthy set of teeth is dental phobia. Almost half of UK adults surveyed for National Smile Month in 2009 said they feared going to the dentist and 12% of them suffered from extreme dental anxiety.

This Monday marks the start of the 40th National Smile Month in the UK, a dental health awareness campaign. Australia has a national dental care week in August, at which time we’d hope to have more recent data than 2013. Here some current UK figures.

  • One in four adults don’t brush twice a day, including a third of men;
  • One in ten admit they regularly forget to brush their teeth;
  • 42% use only a toothbrush and toothpaste for their oral care;
  • Less than a quarter of adults use dental floss regularly;
  • One in three have never flossed their teeth;
  • The UK spends £5.8 billion a year on dental treatments;
  • Half of adults visit their dentist every 6 months;
  • 25% have not visited a dentist in the past two years;
  • Around 2% of the UK population (about one million) have never visited a dentist.

An Australian report says that uninsured adults are more likely to have experienced toothache (20%) than insured adults (12%). I was too cheap to pay $17 for the whole report (with 2013 data), so I’m quoting the media release from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The report shows that of those who were eligible for public dental care in 2013, just over 20% experienced toothache, compared with almost 15% of adults who were not eligible. Only about half of Australians have some form of private dental insurance.

Expenditure on dental services (except those in hospitals) in Australia was $8.706 billion in 2012-13.

“The largest source of funds for this expenditure was individuals, paying directly out of pocket for 58% of total dental costs,” AIHW spokesman Dr Adrian Webster said.

Today’s children, flossing daily, their often near-perfect teeth the product of fluoride and orthodontics, are a reminder to the rest of us to make do with what we’ve got.

In my case, that means living with an undershot jaw; a genetic condition exacerbated by a face-plant motorcycle accident 40+ years ago. For a visual cue think dog breeds – Pekinese, Shih Tzus, Bulldogs (or Albert Steptoe).

When my current dentist first looked inside my mouth and asked me to bite he said something like “Holy Cow.” I know what he meant to say.

Last week’s FOMM − a reader wrote to say Dexy’s Midnight Runners may have been a one-hit wonder in Australia with Come on Eileen, but they also had another number one hit, Geno, in the UK.