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Leeway
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Posts posted by Leeway
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The 4th and last novel in Mishima's Sea Of Fertility tetralogy. This novel is something of a throwback to his earlier novels in style. The quartet of novels are challenging to read.
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On 2/26/2017 at 10:31 AM, Matthew said:
The Ambassadors by Henry James.
Love this book.
On 2/26/2017 at 1:37 PM, BillF said:
I always find DeLillo since White Noise readable, though the best IMO remain the ones on my bookshelf: White Noise, Libra, Mao II and above all Underworld.
Still have to read Underworld. Don't know why I haven't. The others you cited are indeed superlative.
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The third novel in Mishima's Sea of Fertility tetralogy. No doubt an ambitious effort on Mishima's part, but the novel as a whole just fell flat for me.
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I used to enjoy watching Hitchens on America TV; his witty repartee (even when he was wrong) was refreshing in an often anodyne cultural landscape. His relatively early passing was unfortunate. The memoir is interesting, occasionally amusing, and occasionally plodding. I wonder if he's remembered even now?
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PM sent. Thanks.
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The 2nd novel in Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy. Perhaps not quite up to the mark of his Spring Snow, but clearly a major effort from Mishima. It's fascinating, if disturbing, to watch Mishima engage with the subject of ritual suicide (seppuku), knowing that's how he ended his own life.
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Another masterpiece from Mishima.
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Exquisitely calibrated revelations of an unreliable narrator. One can follow this narrative approach as it develops in Ishiguro's earlier novels, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World," which bear strong similarities to TROTD. The tone of these novels is serious, but it strikes me that there is a fair amount of covert, mordant humor in these stories, although it can be hard to tell given the ambivalence of the narration.
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Yukio Mishima - THE SOUND OF WAVES
A lovely, nearly fabulist tale of young love, but with the shadow outlines of some of Mishima's later preoccupations.
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Love the BAG and HAE recordings. An important figure in the music. RIP.
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Memoirs of a publishing giant (Simon & Schuster, Knopf, The New Yorker), with enough literary gossip to keep things interesting. Reading this reminded me of how similar Hollywood and publishing can be. Watching a book make it to publication is like watching how sausages are made--not always pretty even if the end result is tasty.
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3 hours ago, BillF said:
Have never stepped beyond Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go.
I have still to read Remains of the Day, but I might take a break before I do so.
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Another ambivalent, ambiguous, elusive fiction from Ishiguro.
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An interesting if rather baffling novel from Ishiguro.
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On January 9, 2017 at 10:22 PM, Mark Stryker said:
First edition of James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son." Fine condition with dust jacket. Got it at a great antiquarian bookstore I visit every year in Hallowell, Maine.
Nice find! Amazing how books circulate around, in their own inscrutable ecology.
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6 hours ago, BillF said:
Good jazz biography, stylistically divided between transcribed verbatim recollections by Stan and author's narrative. The latter are in a flamboyant style which recalls Mark Myers' writing in JazzWax. Is this today's jazz writing style? Curiously there are links with my other current reading, the novels of Saul Bellow. Stan speaks the language of Augie Marsh, which I suppose isn't surprising as both were mid-20th century, Jewish urban Americans who moved from low life to social respectability..
That's a nice connection with Augie.
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Part pulp Western, part political manifesto, part anarchist cookbook, part Vietnam War flashback, and more, this is an interesting gallimaufry. It's been a while since I read Abbey, and am still a fan of his Desert Solitaire, one of the great books of eco-literature. This one is more troubling, albeit entertaining.
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16 hours ago, ejp626 said:
I agree. I read his novels in chronological order, and they really started to sound about the same -- an uncle that cheated the narrator out of some large amount of money, one (or two) nagging ex-wives, generally some poking fun at the liberal sacred cow of the moment, etc. I believe Ravelstein, his final novel, does break the mold, though I never got around to reading that one. Of the late Bellow novels, the only one I really liked was The Dean's December.
I really enjoyed Ravelstein and would recommend it. I believe it's his heartfelt yet ironic tribute to his friend, philosopher Allen Bloom.
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2 hours ago, BillF said:
A strange book, with its African setting quite unlike any other Bellow novel. Come to think of it, each of Bellow's first six novels, from Dangling Man to Herzog, has its own distinctive character. After that - and I've only read the next two - he seems to be reworking a well-established furrow.
Not too long ago, I tried re-reading Henderson (I recall liking it considerably when I first read it several decades before) but gave up on it by page 50. I found it cringe-inducing, I think mainly for the African setting, but the whole novel seemed meretricious. I must have been in the wrong frame of mind, but am not sure I'm keen on trying again, even though one is always challenged by a Bellow work.
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Couldn't get to as many shows as I'd have liked but the ones I did attend were satisfying:
Ches Smith Trio with Maneri and Taborn
Content Provider- with Andrew Drury, Ingrid Laubrock, Brandon Seabrook, and Brigden Krause
Ken Vaandermark Made to Break
Universal Indian with Joe McPhee
Matt Shipp Trio
Bill Cole Trio
Nate Wooley Icepick, with Corsano and IHF
Ken Vadermark Solo
Dave Rempis Trio Gunwale
Kahn El'Zabar Ritual Trio with David Murray and Harrison Bankhead
Larry Ochs, Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver
Michael Formanek, Hank Roberts, Ches Smith
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11 hours ago, BillF said:
Wow! Another one that was on my university reading list. I didn't even attempt it!
VF is a funny book. If one catches the current of its humor, it's clear sailing.
Just finished:
A useful book, with a wealth of detail, but sometimes wearying. O'Brian also seems to share his subject's chauvinism, and he's a bit too John Bull at times. The lack of photos and reproductions is another drawback.
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A lot of great music Ubu! Amazing how Brotzman keeps topping lists. In fact many of the artists from the 60s and 70s continue to dominate the scene (Parker, Schlippenbach, Guy, et al).
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2 hours ago, Steve Reynolds said:
Tom Rainey Trio with Ingrid Laubrock & Mary Halvorsen
my second in a row 12/30 Cornelia Street Cafe show featuring the extraordinary trio:)
Listening to Hotel Grief now and it sounds great.Should be a top-notch show.
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Took in some shows while on a short trip to NYC this past week:
I'm a Beckmann fan and this was a very fine exhibit at the Met, not too small, not too large, nicely curated.
An artist new to me, but this exhibit at Met Breuer packed a punch. I'd rate it a must-see:
Incredible artifacts at Met:
I was not wowed by the Picabia at MOMA. I had nagging doubts about his artistry:
A Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde at MOMA. It's a dismal irony to think that Stalin erased this revolutionary artistic fervor, if not the artists themselves.
A lot of art worth seeing.
Now reading...
in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Posted
A strong novel.