sister/sister pt. deux

Both Emma and Otilia from my previous interview, sister/sister, were chock full of book suggestions. They went into this harmonious discourse, finishing each other's sentences, about biographies on the infamous Collyer Brothers. The sisters were adamant about them!

Otilia led the way by giving me background information on Homer and Langley. "They lived in Manhattan and came from a wealthy family. Both of them were quite talented and well educated however they eventually became recluses who hoarded newspapers, furniture and trash in their home. They even had a Model T in their basement!" I paused and asked them to backtrack. "Wait, a Model T?! How in the world did they get one into their home?" Otilia matter-of-factly explained that Langley, the engineer of the two, took the car apart and put it back together in the house. Of course. Apparently the brothers stopped paying their bills so Langley rigged the Model T to generate electricity.


The brothers also booby trapped their mounds of garbage. These are the same booby traps that would kill Langley as he crawls through the rubbish to get food over to his blind and sick older brother. Emma chimes in, telling me that a pile of newspapers fell on him and then he got caught in the booby trap. Stories about how both bodies were found...eaten by rats...gah!

Next Otilia insists that I read books by Margaret Truman. "She's President Truman's daughter and wrote the 'Murder at the...' series. Her stories mostly take place in Washington D.C. Because she grew up there she has great insight on all aspects of the government." Both Emma and Otilia rave about Margaret Truman's descriptive and beautiful writing.

I noticed that both of their books were from the library. Who can miss the obligatory plastic wrap around the covers. "Oh we love to borrow books from the library. And our friends also borrow books for us. OUr favourite library in the city has to be the Pasadena Library." Otilia opens her copy of Mozart's Sister to look for the library's name. "We got this from the Will and Ariel Durant library right on Sunset. The Durant's are amazing people. Will Durant wrote the Brief History of Civilization collection. When you get a chance you must read them." At this moment Emma finishes off their sisterly song with a soft, "Yes...it's wonderful."