Don’t be a Phoney

Remembering J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Catcher in the Rye “has never been out of print and has sold over 80 million copies around the world to date, not counting e-books,” according to the New York Times. And today marks the 75th anniversary of its publication. I first read it in around 1956, on the recommendation of a neighbor, Mrs. Rosen, who was a big influence on my reading at that time. I’m pretty sure my mother thought she was a BAD influence, because the books she introduced me to were often controversial, including this one. My junior high school teachers were definitely never going to recommend it and probably never read it. They were pushing Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm — I am not kidding.

According to the New York Times, the novel “struck a brash new note in American literature.”("Holden Caulfield, the Ultimate Adolescent, Is Turning 75") 

Here’s the famous first sentence of Salinger’s novel in the voice of his hero Holden Caulfield:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

I’m sure many writers will commemorate this anniversary, so I don’t have to say anything else, just that I’m still on the lookout for phonies just as Holden Caulfield was. I loved it when I first read it, and subsequently enjoyed the rest of Salinger’s stories as he published them in the New Yorker, and again when they appeared in book form. I was disappointed that he stopped writing.

Just published: this tribute to the novel: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/16/i-felt-holden-was-talking-to-me-alone-the-catcher-in-the-rye-at-75

New Little House Series

 

Publicity shot from the new “Little House” series, released this week.
We have watched the first episode.

 In the 1970s, our family read aloud the “Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, beginning with Little House in the Big Woods, set at the time when the narrator, Laura, was four to five years old. As we read through the series, we were captivated by the characters and by the way Laura experiences the frontier as her family moves onward. It’s impressive how the books reflect the history of the American West as it was is being settled. We were quite aware of the author’s negative views of non-white people, especially the original Native Americans who were being displaced by settlers of European descent. 

The first episode of the new TV series starts at the time of the third book in the Little House series. The TV script has depicted Laura as around 11 years old, which gives the entire story a different point of view. The new script depicts more clearly the author’s views about race, downplaying the mother’s hostility to Native Americans. Historically, the Black doctor who plays a large role in this episode was a real person, though I don’t think he was depicted in similar detail in the books. From Wikipedia: 

“Dr. George A. Tann: An African American physician and veteran of the Union Army, Dr. Tann ran a homeopathic medicine practice in Kansas and the Osage Diminished Indian Reserve. He became well known as a pioneer physician in the region and treated both Black and white families on the frontier, including acting as a neighbor to the Ingalls family.”

It seemed to me that the focus of this episode was emphatically turned to “Pa” — the father and head of the household. As in the book, Pa was a restless and ambitious man who wanted to move west and settle the frontier, while “Ma” was loyal but not happy to leave her settled life in “the big woods.” The TV family seems to have been forced to leave for the frontier, though in the books this was not the case. 

In sum, I see many differences between the characters and situations in the script and in the original books as I remember them. More importantly, I’m not sure the TV show captures the spirit of the original — and maybe isn’t trying to do so. There are a whole lot more episodes, which I may or may not watch.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

Afternoon Bus Tour of Slea Head Drive, Dingel Peninsula

 

Gallarus Oratory, Dingel Peninsula. This stone building, called a rubble monastery, is about 1300 years old. Settlements near the building were destroyed by later Viking and Norman invaders.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

Nobody

 Son of Nobody: A Novel by Yann Martel

“In The Iliad, not a single commoner speaks (with one notable exception). Homer’s omniscient perspective closely aligns with the point of view of the Greek ruling class. It is an aristocratic perspective. Whereas here [in the fictitious epic the Psoad], a commoner speaks so much he practically filibusters.” (p. 62)

Son of Nobody alternates between two stories, one modern in the US and England, and one in the ancient world of the Trojan War. The link between the stories is a classical scholar who has discovered a new epic about the Greeks at Troy, the Psoad, the history of a common soldier named Psoas. This scholar works at a library in Oxford, while his wife and child have remained in America. At the beginning of each chapter of Martell’s novel, we read an excerpt from the newly discovered epic (which of course exists only in the novel). Following each excerpt, we read the story of the scholar as he hears from his wife, who resents his absence from their home while he’s in Oxford.

Tragedy strikes: their child dies of a sudden infection. Martell suggests connections and similarities between the modern and ancient stories. I find the situation of a very sick child and remote father to be poignant, though contrived. Throughout there are vivid and significant details — such as the appearance of the pottery fragment where the previously unknown epic was recorded. Emotions like the suffering of the family, the grief of a bereaved father, and the fear of the mother all are vivid. But collectively, the descriptive passages somehow did not come together for me: I don’t think the book succeeds.

As far as I can discover, the character Psoas along with his name and the epic about him are the creation of Martel, not taken from ancient myth or history. There is an English word psoas, which refers to “a long, ribbon-shaped muscle in your back. It starts at your lower back and runs through your pelvis to the top of your femur.” (source) I see no connection between the word’s meaning and the character in the novel.

In short, I find the novel a bit puzzling and not entirely satisfying.

Artifacts from Homer’s Era

From our trip in 2025

As I read, I was thinking about the objects we saw last summer when visiting the Greek islands.

A pottery fragment from the time of the Homeric epic.

“The temptation is to see truth in the rational and mere embellishment in the myth.” (p.229)

Blog post © 2026, photos © 2025 mae sander

Easter Island History

 

Mike Pitts’ history of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and how it was understood 

and misunderstood was published January 27, 2026.

Island at the Edge of the World: The forgotten history of Easter Island primarily views the history of this very remote island in the Pacific Ocean through the history of one couple who spent several years there a little over a century ago. Katherine and Scoresby Routledge were well-known on the island, where they conducted a survey of the famous stone statues and collected oral histories from some of the older inhabitants of the island. Unfortunately, they only managed to publish a small part of their research. In the following decades a great deal of their material was effectively lost, and much misinformation obscured the actual facts about the native islanders and their accomplishments. 

This book is an effort to correct the errors that have accumulated. It’s interesting, though the author frequently offers more detail than an ordinary reader like me might want to absorb. In 1994, a popular film titled “Rapa Nui,” produced by Kevin Costner increased general awarenes of the island. In 2005, a popular book summarized the island’s history: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. I think this book will contribute to the overall understanding of the island’s history. 

Photo advertising tourism to Easter Island.

Beginning in 1722, when the first European ship stopped at the island, the enormous sculptures by the seemingly primitive inhabitants fascinated voyagers, including the famous Captain Cook and many others. One historic fact that I found very sad is that early explorers noted a variety of birds on the island, but now there are far fewer species — or so says the author. 

In the British Museum

In the British Museum: an Easter Island statue (photographed from various angles).

Fascination with monumental sculptures from Easter Island has lasted for centuries! The sculpture in the above photos was brought to England on the ship HMS Topaze, in 1868. 

The Movie “Rapa Nui”

If you are intrigued by historic mysteries, you might enjoy Mike Pitts’ book. And though I haven’t seen the movie, I found a review written in 1994 by critic Roger Ebert, who wrote: 

“Rapa Nui” slips through the National Geographic Loophole. This is the Hollywood convention which teaches us that brown breasts are not as sinful as white ones, and so while it may be evil to gaze upon a blond Playboy centerfold and feel lust in our hearts, it is educational to watch Polynesian maidens frolicking topless in the surf. This isn’t sex; it’s geography. … 

Concern for my reputation prevents me from recommending this movie. I wish I had more nerve. I wish I could simply write, “Look, of course it’s one of the worst movies ever made. But it has hilarious dialogue, a weirdo action climax, a bizarre explanation for the faces of Easter Island, and dozens if not hundreds of wonderful bare breasts.” I am however a responsible film critic and must conclude that “Rapa Nui” is a bad film. If you want to see it anyway, of course, that’s strictly your concern. I think I may check it out again myself.

Recent Watching and Reading

We watched Dr. No — the very first time that Sean Connery played James Bond: 1962.
Better than we remembered it. The script was pretty faithful to the book (unlike some of the later films).

 

I’m still in the middle of reading some of these books, but I hope to finish them soon.

A.S. Byatt, Ragnarok
I expected a better narrative from A.S.Byatt than this book offers.
Not much more than a somewhat tedious retelling of the myths.
This one, I did finish — it’s short.

Edward Berenson, Perfect Communities: Levitt, Levittown, and the Dream of White Sububia.
There’s a lot of good social history in this book, but it’s way too long.
I was very interested in the final years of Levitt and his giant subdivisions of affordable homes.
Speculation: The author never saw a note card that he could bear to omit.

Victoria Redel, I Am You — still reading
A historical novel about a woman artist in the Dutch Golden Age.

Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman: The Stoics
I didn’t read much of this book as it’s really more a reference work,
ho-hum summarizing what’s known of each philosopher.
I hoped for a readable account of these early philosophers’ thoughts.

Eskimo Folk-Tales and Memories

Eskimo Folk-Tales collected by Knud Rasmussen (1879 – 1933), 
a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist

Small sculpture of a Tupiak, a monster that plays a role
in the Greenlandic Inuit folk tales.
We bought this when we visited Greenland a few years ago.

Inuit art that we saw in the museum in Greenland.

From Eskimo Folk-Tales: “A tupilak frightening a man to death in his kayak.”

Illustration of kayaks from Eskimo Folk Tales.

Caption on above photo: “Hunters encountering Sarqiserasak, a dangerous troll, who rows in a half kayak himself, and upsets all he meets with his paddle.” p. 35

A kayak demonstration that we saw in Greenland.

Blog post and photos © 2026, 2022 by mae sander 

Must History be Repeated?

 

”From 1920 to 1938, the NAACP flew a banner outside its New York City office with the words, ‘A Man Was Lynched Yesterday.’ The words would have been jarring to passersby, but that was the point. It was a provocative graphic statement—something to stop the busy onlookers of Fifth Avenue in their tracks. The stark symbol meant to force the viewer into confronting the reality of the racial violence happening in America.” (source)

This week in Minneapolis: Protest and Death

Another death in Minneapolis this week as everyone knows. The provocative agents of our horrendous federal government are assuming more and more power with less and less restraint. Our leaders from Washington are reneging on commitment to the traditional American legal system. The goon squads can go wherever they like and murder whomever they wish, and they wear masks so that they are not held accountable: no masks is the legal norm. Comparisons with historic precedents (especially the early days of Nazi Germany) are too grim to think about.

(source)

Noval Noir’s memorial portrat of Renee Nicole Good

(source)

A Quote from an Interview with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey

I’m sure you’ve heard that a judge has said that ICE has violated nearly 100 court orders since its crackdown began in Minneapolis, which makes me wonder if you think you can enforce any agreement with Homan and the federal government? That’s the most dangerous question that anybody can ask because we are in a world of hurt that goes way beyond any individual safety if we are talking about a federal government completely ignoring court orders. This is a foundational principle of our Republic. The battlefield that we fight on as municipalities and cities around the country isn’t one of warfare. It’s one of the law. The battlefield that we are going to win on is the law, and a precondition of that necessary fight is that once the law has been determined and a court order comes down, it’s going to be followed. This is something that I get really intense and really pissed off about. This is not optional. You follow the law. We should have everybody, Democrats and Republicans, losing it. It should be deeply concerning, not from an ideological perspective but from an American one. (New York Times interview by Lulu Garcia-Navarro)

Previous Outrages, Commemorated in Murals

(source)

Minneapolis, 2020 (source)

Snowed In and Reading

Machiavelli by Ross King

After reading the very long history of the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, I decided to read a biography of one of the most memorable characters of the era. Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power by Ross King is a wonderful study of a complex man. Over time, politically motivated opinion-makers have converted his memory to a caricature, especially because of his notorious book The Prince and its most famous quote that isn’t really there: “The ends justify the means.”

I enjoyed learning the details of a highly accomplished political man and the complex forces in the many political entities in Italy in his time. Here is a long quote about what Machiavelli said about morality and the obligation one has to do good and follow moral principles:

Machiavelli … does not hold that this conventional morality is entirely practical in the brutal world of Italian politics. “The gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide,” he writes, “that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves toward self-destruction rather than self-preservation.”

Nostrums having to do with keeping oaths and showing mercy are all very laudable on paper, but the man who transfers these moral precepts into the political arena will find himself drastically compromised. Machiavelli offers a new approach to political morality: “The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this, or not, according to his need.” Qualities that the world considers virtues will lead a leader to ruin, while those regarded as vices will often bring safety and prosperity. Good leadership requires a prince to “know how to do evil.” (King, p. 156)

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly, the narrator of this novel, is a maid in a luxury hotel whose observations of the vast gap between herself and the very entitled guests create an amusing read. However, the gap between Molly and the people whose rooms she cleans is not just amusing, it implies that you should think about the way society privileges you (assuming that you sometimes are in the position of the guests). 

Molly’s  observations include lots of unflattering details about the guests and their possessions. I like this one: “Isn’t it interesting how luxury has an unmistakable scent, as unmistakable as fear or death?” (p. 141)

Is the US a class-based society? As I read The Maid, I found this question both directly and indirectly a motivation throughout much of the story. Both Molly and her recently-deceased grandmother felt that working as hotel maids was their vocation, and they had a commitment to doing a really good job. The other workers in the hotel were vividly described in Molly’s narrative, in contrast to the way they acted as if they were invisible — and were really unseen by the guests. 

The novel is not just a study of the work done by the employees of a hotel: it also tells a story about a rather dramatic death of a hotel guest, about a complex criminal network that took advantage of the hotel, and of how Molly (working with several of her co-employees) basically sleuths out the details of the criminal activities, how they happened, and who was responsible. Altogether, this makes the book hold one’s interest though it’s pretty long — to me it was worth reading.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

 

Overwhelmed by the Renaissance

A not-quite reading success…

“Every day of our lives we’re targeted by at least one lie about history.” (p. 25)

“The plague is as important as the Mona Lisa to our effort to understand this Renaissance, both terrible and great.” (p. 193)

“When you zoom in on a moment in the past, it’s always (A) messier than you thought, and (B) includes more women.” (p. 234)

“If you know only one thing about Savonarola it’s the Bonfire of the Vanities, the Renaissance’s darkest hour (nope), a mass book burning (nope) and art burning (nope), invented by Savonarola (nope) to exert the stifling force of Church and Faith against the broadening of art, science, and thought that he hated (still nope).” (p. 291)

“ I’ve looked through one of Galileo’s telescopes, it’s in Florence, and realizing it’s less powerful than the plastic Hamburglar binoculars I once got in a McDonald’s Happy Meal filled me with new awe that a cunning mind armed with the right questions can get a long, long way with simple tools.” (p. 570)

My Reading

I only managed to sort-of-carefully read the first 500 pages of Ada Palmer’s tome Inventing the Renaissance. I scanned the rest. It’s much much too long, and it has a number of flaws, the main one being that it is precious in the sense of being affected and self-congratulatory. Worse yet, it’s constantly offering rather ordinary and boring  bits of the author’s autobiography — mainly about her experience as a graduate student and her students’ reactions to the subject matter.

Inventing the Renaissance manages to cover several hundred years of humanist thought, to define many concepts, and to provide sketches of the accomplishments of dozens of thinkers of the age and many patrons of these thinkers. I’m a fan of Leonardo da Vinci, Isabella d’Este, Michelangelo, Lucrezia Borgia, Pico della Mirandola, Niccolò Machiavelli, several members of the Medici family, Benvenuto Cellini (“the Florentine goldsmith-sculptor-assassin-jailbreaker-necromancer”), and so on. It’s interesting to read a not-so-critical view of Savonarola. But eventually the level of detail seems brutal, especially when one’s boredom is amplified by details of the author’s academic career.

Of course the book provides a huge dose of historic narrative, character studies of many Renaissance figures, summaries of philosophical narratives, introductions to the major thinkers and interests of the age (both famous ones and obscure ones), a bit about the politics of art works like Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel, and much more. At the end, there’s even a brief history of printing — which in my opinion deserves more prominence: the author characterizes the introduction of printed books as “an information revolution: not new technology (we’re on the Gutenberg-type press until the nineteenth century) but a distribution network revolution.” (p. 587) I felt that her view was weak.

Unless you are a glutton for an extreme level of detail about obscure points, and unless you are a fan of the author’s fascination with her own life and academic achievements, I strongly doubt that you would enjoy reading this book. And although I have in the past immersed myself in some of the biographies of the same individuals featured here, I found it horrendously dense and challenging to follow, which is not a compliment. I say: leave the reading of this academic stuff to the professionals!

Thinking of Famous Art in the Renaissance

I enjoyed the art history, such as discussion of Michelangelo’s slaves.

Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel. One of the most amazing mural paintings in history:
the book has interesting historical info about this art work and its creator.
Shared with Deb’s Sunday salon at Readerbuzz.

Leonardo’s portrait of Cecelia Gallerani, mistress of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan was painted when Leonardo was “sent there by Lorenzo de Medici as something between an ambassador and a gift for his Sforza allies.” (p. 326) The ermine is shared with Eileen’s Critters!

Blog post © 2025 mae sander

Photos of art works from Wikipedia

Culinary Historians’ Dinner

The Culinary Historians meet for this December’s themed meal:
first each person describes the history and content of the dish they contributed to the feast!

My plate of delicious foods.

The Ann Arbor Culinary Historians was founded around 40 years ago, and has developed its own traditions, including a winter theme meal. The theme for our meeting this evening was “Food from the Gilded Age.” The 18 members and guests who attended made a variety of dishes, using a number of cookbooks published in the late 19th century, and the food was very interesting and also very tasty.

From the Literary Club website.

The group’s themed dinners, which take place twice a year, are held in rented space at the Ladies’ Literary Club in Ypsilanti (founded 1878). The club’s historic building is an enjoyable location for the dinner: it is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is considered to be one of the most important Greek Revival structures in Michigan. It also has a very modern kitchen and beautiful dining room for preparing, serving, and consuming the members’ contributions.

Gilded Age cookbooks on the buffet table.

Desserts

Trifle and chocolate cookies

“Russian Punch Tart” — a delicious layer cake.

Some of the Main Courses and Appetizers

Smoked salmon canapes.

Chicken in mayonnaise, made by hand.

A traditional dish: Kedgeree with cooked eggs. I associate it with breakfast buffets in Agatha Christie mysteries.

Our contribution: tomato and shrimp salad from a recipe in the cookbook La Cuisine Creole by
Lafcadio Hearn, 1885.

Photos © 2025 mae sander

TV and Books

Fun movie to watch — I love all the cameos by famous actors from that era.

 

Five Found Dead takes place on the Orient Express, and all the passengers are aware of the 
Agatha Christie plot. It starts well, but there are too many murders and not enough Christie-type characters.

Other Reading Last Month

I’ve been reading (or at times just sampling) several books about people and places well beyond my usual habits in reading or in socializing. I’ve enjoyed some, and I’ve been put off by others. I haven’t finished all of them, but I’m not sure I’ll be going back to them, especially as these are mainly collections of essays  that can be read separately.

NOTE: This book is not related to the TV series of the same name.

Blog post by mae sander 2025.