Shout Out

Aargh! I’m all ready to start back into Camp FUNdament, but I can’t access the file. Microsoft hasn’t heard of me. I went around and around a variety of sites, chatting with digital helpers, changing passwords, opening new accounts, and I still can’t access the file Way To Go Erin sent me.

My fault, of course. Pilot error is always the likeliest cause of a crash, and I am not a skillful pilot. I’m not a real pilot at all – I’m flying this thing by accident. (Where are you, Leslie Nielsen?) Ah well. Maybe Erin can find another way to send me the ms.

I’ll distract myself by talking about a friend. Elliott Milstein and I have known each other for over 30 years, and have a casual easy sympathy that belies the infrequency of our emails or messages. A few weeks ago I saw him on Facebook holding a book with his name on it. I congratulated him, we went back and forth a bit, and he sent me a copy, which I opened with, I confess, a bit of trepidation.

That’s how I open all my friends’ books. I want to like it, but I might not. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t want to make a friend feel bad, and I feel I should say something insightful, or at least positive.

Of course, if my friend is a NYT bestseller, I don’t feel trepidatious at all. They don’t care about my good opinion. But Elliott is not yet a celebrated author. He wants to know what I think of his book. So I’ll tell him, and you. It’s good. (There, that was easy.)

The Griffin & The Lyre is a series of stories linked through the theme of work. Americans from 1904 through to today and even tomorrow work out their identity and how they think of themselves through examining what they do.

I liked it. I found myself looking ahead, wondering how he would address the next kind of job situation. He stretches a bit – not as much as Egan in Goon Squad, but some. And his stretches are easier to follow than hers.

This is not a review site, so I won’t say much more, but I am happy to give a shout out to a pal. If you want a copy of The Griffin & The Lyre … uh … you can find it by Googling the title. (Have I mentioned my aviation skills?)

And when Erin gets the latest version of Camp FUNdament to me, I'll get back to talking about praxis and pronouns.