I just finished reading Skyline, by Gene Fowler. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The subtitle is A Reporter's Reminiscence of the '20's and the book is full of stories about W.R. Hearst, Damon Runyon (who fancied himself a judge of boxing talent) and Jack Dempsey (homemade fudge!).  Babe Ruth and Theodore Roosevelt wander through an anecdote or two.

The book belongs to my Dad and when Mom gave it to me, she told me Fowler was one of Dad's favorite writers.  I could see why immediately.  This is a book you have to read slowly, to savor not only the stories he tells but the way he tells them.  Fowler had a love affair with the English language, while most writers today treat it like a bimbo they picked up in a bar.  I can't tell you how often I read a book now where I pretty much skim every page just to see what happens next.  With Fowler, you don't want to do that.  You want to slow down and appreciate how every word flows into the next, how paragraphs are not just a brief explanation of an occurance, but a beautiful, musical story to be enjoyed both in the hearing and the telling.  For most of the book, I wished I had a highlighter to mark certain passages but it's best that I didn't since I have to give it back to Dad.

I definitely saw how Fowler's work influenced my Dad's writing.  What surprised me the most was the fact that Fowler was a reporter.  As I said, few novelists write like that anymore but newsmen?  Not one.

A few of my favorite lines;
    
   He learned at last, when in self imposed exile, that fame and happiness are total strangers.

  "There are only two kinds of people who dislike me: the ones who don't know me and the ones who do."

   I was either too lazy or too smart to lie to him.  A man should never lie to anyone but his wife.

  When critics sit in judgment it is hard to tell where justice leaves off and vengeance begins.

And it isn't just the style of writing that has deteriorated over the years.  He describes a news service used in NY in the '20's called City News.  He ends the paragraph with this:

   At election time the new service was at its peak of efficiency and accuracy.  It never elected the wrong candidate.

Is there a news agency in the 21st century who can make that claim?

 

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