The article mentions 'the only bird known to hibernate' as a contest hint - this refers to the common poorwill, a fascinating biological anomaly that most readers wouldn't know about
(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)
I can’t believe it! Thanks Chris. I’ll take the two free years — only because I purchased the book years ago on my own, thinking I would never win.
Next stop, super sleuth? You never know.
You’ll get there. The A2 Team asks:
Am I noticing it just now, or is it a new kind of thread in the recent write-ups: taking care of aging parents? Seems to come up ever more frequently. I can relate: I’m currently in Germany to see my 90-year-old mother — still healthy and smart, but with failing short-term memory. Not a place you want to be in.
Here in Nuremberg, I get to go into town to buy Christmas stuff for all my children and grandchildren. Here’s a photo of the most famous Christmas market in Germany — Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt:
Too easy for a contest, I’d assume, but as a contribution to the regular reports on bookstores from the Brookline sleuth, let me note that this photo was taken from the bookstore of Korn & Berg, which happens to be Germany’s oldest bookstore, founded in 1531. Nuremberg has a couple of these institutions that go back to the days of the Reformation and the print revolution. For instance, the school I attended here for a few years has been around since 1526.
“Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash” also happens to be the title of a favorite album by the Pogues. It was produced by Elvis Costello, who said, “I saw my task was to capture them in their dilapidated glory before some more professional producer fucked them up.” The cover art is pretty choice as well, seen below. Here’s “Sally MacLennane,” a song built on a sort of double entendre:
It’s debatable whether drink or women were singer Shane MacGowan’s first love. Sally MacLennane, while no doubt lovely, is a brand of beer.
