Middle Shelf of the Little Black Bookcase

Toward the Gleam, by T. M. Doran

“Toward the Gleam (2011) by T. M. Doran is a different type of story altogether. Instead of a re-creation of an actual milieu, it is rather like one of Lewis' "supposals": suppose that Tolkien's literary device of translating and publishing a lost work from an ancient world were literally real. Suppose that Tolkien adopted the pseudonym "John Hill" to investigate the legitimacy of this "Atlantean" tale. Suppose his investigations drew the attentions of Adler Alembert, an international Napoleon of Crime who believes the ancient but advanced knowledge of "Atlantis" will grant him incredible power. Can "John Hill" translate the unknown runes, keep Alembert and his agents at bay, protect his family, and come to terms with his obsession with his own "precious" object?
This book owes much to the detective mystery, but it is so much more. "John Hill" is confronted with the prevailing philosophies of nihilism and utilitarianism that grind away at the soul, often in the persons of Adler and his agents who seek to woo "John" (with his valuable knowledge) into their cause. It is the love of his wife "E.M.", his faith, and the help of his friends Jack and Owen (C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, "the forgotten Inkling"; being pre-WWII there is no Charles Williams yet) that keep him on track. There is also the example of the mysterious story he is translating, which seems to be a spiritual tonic and an aid against precisely the moral temptations he faces. This tale is referred to only in tantalizing allusions (some characters mentioned are the Hero, the Necromancer, the Burglar, the Grey Pilgrim), and part of the fun is identifying elements from Tolkien's work. Is the box the book is kept in made of mithril? Was a pteranodon recreated by the Necromancer with Jurassic-Park-like engineering? In the end "John Hill" experiences a strange saving grace that would not be unfamiliar to readers of Tolkien's published story.”

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Spiritual Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne.

A Norton Critical Edition. I used to have a grotty old foxed paperback, but this allowed me to upgrade. It was actually James P. Blaylock who got me to read this book, and C. S. Lewis’s allusions helped spur me on. Endlessly discursive, with a cast of eccentrics who love to talk, it is ostensibly the life story of Tristram Shandy, who can’t even get born until Part Three because of all the talk and explanatory story-telling that must get done. “Consequently, apart from Tristram as narrator, the most familiar and important characters in the book are his father, Walter, his mother, his Uncle Toby, Toby's servant Trim, and a supporting cast of popular minor characters, including the chambermaid, Susannah, Doctor Slop, and the parson, Yorick, who later became Sterne's favourite nom de plume and a very successful publicity stunt. Most of the action is concerned with domestic upsets or misunderstandings, which find humour in the opposing temperaments of Walter—splenetic, rational, and somewhat sarcastic—and Uncle Toby, who is gentle, uncomplicated, and a lover of his fellow man.” – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Humor. Classic. Novel. Softcover.

The Tripods Attack! and The Emperor of North America, by John McNichol

“The Young Chesterton Chronicles” Volumes I and II. Well, with a title like that you can see why I had to have them. Alternative steam-punk histories, using both real characters and some based on fiction. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Father Brown, and Martians inhabit the first; the scene switches to America in the second, where “Emperor Norton”, an eccentric bum in our world, wields actual power, and a young Tolkien and Lewis make appearances. Each chapter is headed by an actual Chesterton quote. A third volume was projected, but where is it? I see he’s started a kickstarter for it as of November 2019. I can’t give my whole heart to these books until I know how they end; in the meantime, though I have been entertained, I am in suspense.

Ranking: Keepers.

File Code: Fantasy/Steampunk. Alternate History. Novel. Softcover.

The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, by Edmund Spenser.

1903. On another page it says the Complete Works of Edmund Spenser. It has a portrait in the front with one of those filmy tissue-paper protectors. Bought it at Yesterday’s Warehouse. [The binding on my copy is red, not gray, but this is the closest I could find.]

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Poetry. Hardback.

The Oxford Book of Death, Edited by D. J. Enright.

Quotes, excerpts, and poems, examining Death in all its forms, victims, and attitudes, from the grim to the melancholy to the merry. A good browser. Not at all gloomy, but for more thoughtful moments.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Anthology. Quotes. Softcover.

Robert Graves: The Assault Heroic 1895 – 1926, Robert Graves: The Years with Laura Riding 1926 – 1940, Robert Graves and The White Goddess 1940 – 1985, by Richard Perceval Graves

“What I like particularly about reading biography is the history you can pick up as you go along, history as applied personally to a real sample case. The three volume biography of Robert Graves as prepared by his nephew is extremely good, not only well researched, balanced, and if I might say so, unopinionated, but also imbued with some of the vivid genius of description and presentation of the poet and author himself. To give one example: Robert Graves believed that the American poet Laura Riding was (at least for a time) an embodiment of the White Goddess herself. Perceval Graves presents this belief merely as a fact and does not give a judgement on whether he thinks it was true or not, or if Graves was imbalanced or merely applying a very intense metaphor to help with his writing. This is what Graves thought, and this is what happened because of it, and make of it what you will. One fact that tickles me is how Graves and his wife set up a shop in the back garden of the poet John Masefield's house after the war.” – Power of Babel.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Biography. Softcover.

Good-Bye to All That, by Robert Graves

Graves’s famous autobiography, and a memoir of his experience in the First World War. I, of course, was interested in him as the author of the Claudius books, but I soon became interested in this account of his early life, the people he knew, and the experiences that formed his outlook and talents. An ex-library book, in that old green library binding they used so much. Photos. [This is not my cover; I have a rebound ex-library copy.]

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Autobiography. Hardback.

Collected Poems, by Robert Graves.

Graves thought of himself as a poet; his ‘potboiler’ novels were only produced to help pay the bills or advance some of his eccentric ideas. He was constantly changing which poems he thought should be allowed in his oeuvre as his views about poetry changed. This is a 1951 edition. I found the results uneven at best, but sometimes he rises to real incantatory power. [Again, missing this jacket.]

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Poetry. Collection. Hardback.

Collected Short Stories, by Robert Graves.

I’ve tried reading them, but I cannot honestly say that any stand out for me. Nor do I find the style or subject appealing. Perhaps I just need to find a way in. Helps me as a reference to mentions made in the big Perceval Graves’ biography.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Short Stories. Anthology. Softcover.

The Long Week-End, by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge

“A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939.” In other words, the period between the World Wars. “It was first published in 1940, just after the end of the period it treats. Their story covers a wide range of popular and social themes, including politics, business, science, religion, art, literature, fashion, education, popular amusements, domestic life, sexual relations, and much else.” – Wikipedia. And a brilliant survey it is too. Valuable resource for a certain slice of time.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: History. Softcover.

The Dragon of Og, by Rumer Godden. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

“The Dragon of Og (1981), by Rumer Godden, is based on a legend of the Scottish Lowlands, and reads like a combination of The Reluctant Dragon and Farmer Giles of Ham. I love Baynes' dragons, and there is an ample showcase for her draconian style here.” Bought in 2012, and strictly for Baynes’s artwork.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Children’s Book. Hardback.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14^th Century, by Barbara Tuchman.

This book was very popular in my high school years, and I remember reading bits of its monumental bulk in school and over a summer. “The book's focus is the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages suffered by Europe in the 14th century. Drawing heavily on Froissart's Chronicles, Tuchman recounts the Hundred Years' War, the Black Plague, the Papal Schism, pillaging mercenaries, anti-Semitism, popular revolts including the Jacquerie in France, the liberation of Switzerland, the Battle of the Golden Spurs, and peasant uprisings. She also discusses the advance of the Islamic Ottoman Empire into Europe, ending in the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis. Yet Tuchman's scope is not limited to political and religious events. She begins with a discussion of the Little Ice Age, a change in climate that reduced the average temperature of Europe until the 18th century, and describes the lives of all social classes, from nobility and clergy to the peasantry. Much of the narrative is woven around the life of the French nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy. Tuchman chose him as a central figure partly because he lived a relatively long life and could therefore stay in the story during most of the 14th century. He was also close to much of the action, tied to both France and England.” Bought when I found an inexpensive copy in fair shape.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: History. Hardback.

W. H. Auden: A Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter.

After the interest aroused by his biography of Tolkien, I thought I would sample this work at the public library; after all, Auden was a friend and admirer of Tolkien, who praised his work. I found out quite a lot more than I was expecting. Besides being a poet, he was an almost renowned homosexual, a wanderer, and a bit of a sponge on his friends. His life is fascinating reading, at least in Carpenter’s hands. Checking just now I see that Carpenter died in 2005. Got my own copy years later. Awful purple dustcover, of that soft crumbly paper.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Biography. Hardback.