Forgotten Favorites: The Collected Raffles Stories By E.W. Hornung; Brilliant Adventure Stories About A Gentleman Thief

Forgotten Favorites: The Collected Raffles Stories By E.W. Hornung; Brilliant Adventure Stories About A Gentleman Thief 


By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
I'll bet many don't know that Sherlock Holmes has a criminal in the family. Well sort of. 
Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law,E.W. Hornung, was also a writer and in 1899, he created a character who was to thieves what Holmes was to detectives: A.J. Raffles! 
While Raffles is not as well known a name now as Holmes is in the early 20th century, Raffles' name was a synonym for thieves and his sophisticated tastes and elegant and sometimes brutal demeanour was the inspiration for such characters as The Saint's Simon Templar and To Catch a Thief's Jon Robie. The stories are fun, exciting adventurous stories of a duo of loyal scoundrels. 
The stories are collected in three anthologies, The Amateur Cracksman, The Black Mask, and A Thief in the Night, containing Raffles' adventures from his first meeting with his loyal friend and chronicler, Bunny Manders all the way to their final adventure in the Boer War. 
Raffles and Bunny are similar to the Trickster figures in folklore, how they plan various schemes and make fools of authority figures. The earlier light-hearted stories are more adventurous tales of derring do and clever escapes. Many of the stories involve ludicrous schemes such as when Raffles steals form an arrogant billionaire practically because he begs a thief to, then has to get poor Bunny out when things go awry.
 However, the later stories right before their end "In the Arms of the Gods", takes a darker approach as they live on the run in various disguises, and have to face serious consequences of their careers as criminals as they become the target of secret societies and reunite with ex-colleagues and fiancees, many of whom want them arrested or dead.
The two are a study in contrast. Raffles is the engaging gentleman-about-town on the outside. He is a well-known cricketer, the last person one would suspect of being a thief. It is during his robbery attempts that he explores his sinister nature. He steals when he is hard up for money, but also for pleasure
. "Why work when you can steal?" he tells his partner, Bunny Manders. "And the distribution of wealth is wrong anyway." Besides his doings, he also possesses a violent nature which he displays in the story, "A Willful Murder" when he contemplates killing a rival and "The Fate of Faustina," when he prepares an almost Poe-like ending for his girlfriend's murderer. Despite the dark turns in his character, he does have a personal code that he would never steal from his host, nor betray Bunny.

Raffles' partner, Harry "Bunny" Manders  is naive and gullible to the point where he doesn't believe that Raffles is a thief in their first encounter, "The Ides of March," until they arrive at the jewelry shop even though his friend drops obvious hints beforehand. However, he is very lovable in his own way, particularly in the touching story "The Spoils of Sacrilege," where the duo rob Bunny's childhood home and he becomes racked with guilt when he encounters his childhood memories. However, he is a loyal companion to his more self-assured friend and never gives him up, even though he becomes the captive of various law enforcers and robbery victims.
Raffles and Bunny are an engaging duo in both the early stories as they have a jolly time on their escapades having fun at authority figure's expense. However, the later stories reveal their senses of loyalty towards each other as well as the consequences of their actions which are dealt with in meaningful and touching ways.

Monthly Reader: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon: Classic Historical Novel Takes Us Into The History of Comic Books

Monthly Reader:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay By Michael Chabon: Classic Historical Novel Takes Us Into The History of Comic Books

By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
For right now I am reducing my Weekly Readers to once a month,  Monthly Reader instead. Mostly because I have been getting plenty of New Book Alerts so it's kind of hard for now to put others in. So I am doing one Classics Corner, one Monthly Reader and possibly one Forgotten Favorite for now anyway

Here is the first Monthly Reader: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay one of my all-time favorite novels. 
When 17 year old, Sammy Klayman, later Clay, meets his Czech cousin Josef Kavalier, for the first time in 1939 Long Island, it's a match made in comic book heaven. Recently escaped from Prague during the Nazi oppression, Josef finds an immediate friend in Sammy as the two share mutual interests in common such as a love of magic and escape artists like Harry Houdini and an interest in drawing. The love of drawing turns into a career in the comic books industry as Sammy talks his way into getting the two a job in a novelty products-turned-comic book company. 

The boys ultimately revitalize the comics industry with their characters The Escapist, a mysterious individual who with his group, The Sacred Golden Key conspire to help people escape from Nazi Germany and Luna Moth, a female librarian turned superhero. The two reach success but not without the usual problems and difficulties. 

Josef falls in love with Rosa Saks a bohemian artist (and the inspiration for Luna Moth), while trying to help get his family out of Prague. Sammy meanwhile is struggling through the ashes of a failed literary career and discovers his own sexuality after falling in love with radio actor, Tracy Bacon. 

This story is a superb work of historical fiction combining a history of the Golden Age of Comics with the harsh difficulties of WWII- Europe and America, and the comfortable ennui of post-War suburbia in the later chapters. Of particular notice in the book is the history of the Comic Books industry. All of the high points are there including the 1938 creation of Superman which was followed by various other superheroes many of whom like Supes are still around to this day to the 1954 Kefauver Senate Hearings in which comic books and graphic novels were cited as reasons for juvenile delinquincy. Any comic book fan would delight in the references and cameos by some of the Golden Age greats as Jerry Siegal, Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Stan Lee and many others. Joe and Sammy are themselves possible stand-ins for Superman's creators, Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster. Like Joe and Sammy they too were young Jewish teenagers when they created a character that had instant success and just like their fictional counterparts, they were swindled into selling the rights to their characters and being deprived of its residuals and royalties. 

Joe and Sammy are wonderful characters throughout the book and their many struggles which make The Escapist's fights against Fascism seem minor by comparison. Joe is driven by his hatred of the Nazis and his motivation to rescue his family. The chapter when he discovers his little brother's fate and the chapters that follow are moving as they show a man who has reached his breaking point and teeters on the edge of sanity as he withdraws further into his fantasy world of magic and daring escapes.

Sammy too comes across as a strong character, particularly in his romantic scenes with Tracy Bacon. He is alternately flirtatious and charming with his lover and fearful of the consequences of being a homosexual, as in a striking scene when Sammy is a witness to an FBI raid at a gay club. This incident leads to years of self-denial and bitterness as he attempts to build a typical suburban life with Rosa leading only to frustration and despair. 

Kavalier and Clay is the type of book that describes both a world of fantasy and a world of reality and describes them both very well. 

New Book Alert: Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure: Stoic Exercise For Mental Fitness by William Ferraiolo; A Helpful, But Sometimes Difficult Guide For Everyday Living

New Book Alert: Meditations on Self-Discipline and Failure: Stoic Exercise For Mental Fitness by William Ferraiolo; A Helpful, But Sometimes Difficult Guide For Everyday Living




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Of all the Philosophies, Stoicism is probably among the most necessary but also one of the hardest to practice in times of stress. The philosophy began by Zeno of Citium taught that virtue was based on knowledge and wisdom could be obtained by Reason, and that it's practitioners should withstand pain, pleasure, and fortune.

Nowadays people are described as having a stoic personality when they endure hardship without expressing much outward emotion. They are not always incapable of feeling. They just prefer not to display it. Instead they just keep going.



Dr. William Ferraiolo, professor of philosophy at San Joaquin Delta College, added to Stoicism by creating this book of meditations that put this ancient philosophy into a modern setting.




In his introduction, Ferraiolo wrote that he was greatly inspired by the works of of philosopher-king, Marcus Aurelius and the stoic, Epictetus. However he is less interested in writing about the past than he is about the present. The history of stoicism isn't as important as what the modern Reader can obtain from it. The meditations are in the second person, “you” so every Reader can feel like Ferraiolo is writing to them directly. It allows for the Stoic practice of (as Ferraiolo explicitly illustrates) “Think for yourself.”




The meditations are very simple, filled with common sense advice, and free of flowery language. One meditation talks about success and failure:

“Success and failure do not in any way down on states of affair that lie beyond the direct control of your will. Your performance is largely up to you (providing your body does not fail to your will.) Another person's assessment of your performance is entirely beyond your control…..Do not lie. Tell the truth and do not concern yourself with anyone who says that you lie. Do not commit adultery. Ignore those who accuse you of committing adultery. Be conscientious about your work. Do not concern yourself with those who question your diligence. Be a good person. Be an honorable person. That is enough.”




The meditations are deceptively simple. They make suggestions like “do not lie” that seem easy but allows the Reader to question how often do they not do these things and how they can change following these suggestions.




While the meditations seem easy, stoicism is a complex mindset to manage because it runs contrary to human nature. Humans are emotional complicated beings and advice that suggests to repress those emotions can be very difficult to heed. Advice like telling someone not to despair after a friend dies can backfire and leave the Reader feel like they are being insulted even when they are aware Ferraiolo is trying to help.




That is what makes stoicism such an intriguing philosophy and one that can benefit the Reader as this book shows. The philosophy allows its practitioner to step back and analyze their reaction to exterior problems and improve on their behavior towards them. The book is not suggesting an avoidance of emotion just obtaining stronger control over them.




Dr. Ferraiolo's book gives an ancient philosophy a modern twist. While it can be difficult to master, no one can deny that it is sorely needed.