Light Reading

What I wanted was light reading, so this weekend, that is what I read.

First, I read a first novel by Stephanie Kallos, called "Broken for You", published about two years ago. It was not bad, although I thought it went from barely believable to 'you gotta be kidding' towards the end. Basically, this young woman moves from New York to Seattle because her boyfriend walked out on her (and she knows he will wind up in Seattle) and takes a room with a very, very rich widow, who decides (in part because she has just been diagnosed with a brian tumor) to rent out a room and not live alone. The young woman is befriended by a young man she works with (they spend their time looking for the old boyfriend) and the older woman finds romance with an 80 year old man.

The young woman tells the old woman her story (parents each walk out on her, she is raised by an aunt) and the old woman tells the young woman hers (husband was a shipping magnate and importer of fine porcelain and glass). The young woman's father, a middle aged drifter, also winds up in Seattle working at a bowling alley, where he meets, among other people, an elderly Holocaust survivor.

The old woman learns that her husband's fine antiques were in fact stolen by Nazis from Jewish families in Europe, and on a trip to Paris, discovers that one set of porcelain belonged to an elderly Holocaust survivor, who turns out to be the woman who befriended the young woman's middle aged drifter/father. The Holocaust survivor dies.

The old woman discovers that a man who works at a bowling alley is the legatee of the Holocaust woman and invites him to her house to take the china service. He comes.

The house is now more crowded, because not only the old woman and the young woman are there, but also the young woman's new boy friend, and the old woman's new boyfriend. And a nurse (not registered) to take care of the old woman, and Kosher Katz, a caterer.

Oh, yeah, on one of the excursions to find the old boyfriend, the young woman gets hit by a car (her father, the bowling alley employee, witnesses the accident, but does not know it is his daughter). The daugher is paralyzed and in a wheel chair (but improves by the end of the book).

And, the old woman, discovering that her porcelain and glass is stolen property decides to replicate Kristallnacht and, over time, break it all, which the young woman helps her to do. The young woman, though, discovers she is an artist, and takes the shards of glass and porcelain and makes art work on Jewish themes (she is not Jewish)

Well, the father comes to the house to get the porcelain, meets the daughter and decides to move into the house, as well. Eventually, the father realizes he is the father, and the daughter realizes she is the daughter. And the old woman dies. And the young woman and the new boyfriend decide to get married, and Kosher Katz caters the meal, and they break a glass!!

When I finished that book, I wanted something even lighter, so I read, believe it or not, Maury Povich's memoirs, "Current Affairs", written about 15 years ago. If you thought that Maury Povich was a second rate host and newsman, the book will convince you that you are right. He was an indifferent student, who got by because his father was the sports reporter for the Washington Post and therefore he met everyone and because, as he says, he is very likeable.

The book details his early years as a journalist (when he realizes he won't ever be a network anchor). You note that he really doesn't get any stories (there is always someone else to do that) and he is just there being likeable. This continues, but his marriage disintigrates, he roams around city to city, meets Connie Chung, and eventually is hired by Rupert Murdoch of Fox fame and hosts Current Affairs, where they concentrate on the seemier (but not too seemy) side of things: crimes involving famous people and the like.

This is the story. I am sure that Povich is a nice guy. He does not seem to be an important individual, in that he was not the one who shaped the show, or anything else as far as I can see. He also shows that there were a lot of dirty tricks in his brand of journalism. Is that good? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

And did Current Affairs set the stage for the soft news shows we have today? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Did I ever see the show? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Have I seen Maury Povich on any subsequent shows? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Would I recommend this book to others? Perhaps. Perhaps not.