Now reading...

[A Lark Ascending]

A short set of interviews. Found in this wonderful second hand bookshop in Cromford near Matlock:

Also found three of the excellent BBC Music Guides for £1.50 each. Long out of print.

Now I've finished sailing the seas over the centuries with the British navy I'm on to:

Napoleon's just crossed the frontier and headed for the Prussians. A really good read - detailed but so far hasn't got bogged down in the minutiae of regiments etc. 

[ejp626]

There is some fine writing in Urquhart's The Night Stages, and some people will like it very much, but I did not like the book for a number of reasons.

I've just started Neil Smith's Boo.  It is quite interesting.  I can't quite tell if the audience is actually YA or adult (it's about an afterlife devoted solely to 13 year olds from the US!).  I am finding it to read very much like a mix of Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead.  I have a general sense of how it will turn out, but I definitely want to read this first to decide if it is appropriate for my son (and if not this year, then at what age level).

 

As an extra bonus, Smith counts as a Canadian author, so I can add him to my pile to be reviewed for the 9th Canadian Challenge.

Edited September 13, 2015 by ejp626

[erwbol]

Thomas Metzinger - Being No One, The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity (MIT Press)

[king ubu]

just finished:

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me: most impressive, and rather shocking, though much of it isn't really all that new ... it's been quite a while that a book has so deeply moved me.

David H. Rosenthal - Hard Bop: more an extended essay than a proper study, but not bad at all ... I like how he defines hard bop quite widely (incorporating Monk, Mingus, Andrew Hill, and to some extent even Ornette - his influence on "Blue Note avantgarde" etc.)

 

in progress:

Tom Perchard - After Django: extremely interesting and enriching indeed! And quite a shock, as it's positively the first book (text in general) on jazz I read that uses such scholarly language - which per se is nothing that would shock me, just never had the connection with jazz so far, was mostly busy reading on other topics in the past two decades, catching up some reading on jazz now ... and please don't take this as a negative critique - not at all, it's actually rather refreshing a read, and the language helps to keep it precise indeed ... and it's thought-provoking, that's for sure!

Garth W. Caylor - Nineteen +: very, very good! Not all chapters/interviews/portraits are on the same level, but the best indeed add a lot to the picture!

R. J. Smith - The One: The Life and Music of James Brown: started reading this quite a while ago (two years?) but got to pick it up again now ... didn't get too far yet, but found it very, very good.

[Leeway]

The Berlin Stories, by Christopher Isherwood

I've probably read more about Isherwood than I have read things by him. He has an urbane engaging manner. The rise of Hitler, seen indirectly through these stories, offers a continuing lesson on the rise of extremism. 

[ghost of miles]

I've always wanted to read that book, Leeway... have a copy but haven't gotten to it yet.

Right now, among other things:

[BillF]

The Berlin Stories, by Christopher Isherwood

I've probably read more about Isherwood than I have read things by him. He has an urbane engaging manner. The rise of Hitler, seen indirectly through these stories, offers a continuing lesson on the rise of extremism. 

Sitting on my bookshelf are Mr Norris Changes Trains, Lions and Shadows and Goodbye to Berlin, all read and liked a long time ago.

 

 

in progress:

Tom Perchard - After Django: extremely interesting and enriching indeed! And quite a shock, as it's positively the first book (text in general) on jazz I read that uses such scholarly language - which per se is nothing that would shock me, just never had the connection with jazz so far, was mostly busy reading on other topics in the past two decades, catching up some reading on jazz now ... and please don't take this as a negative critique - not at all, it's actually rather refreshing a read, and the language helps to keep it precise indeed ... and it's thought-provoking, that's for sure!

 

You will, of course, know that Tom posts on this forum as umum_cypher.

[HutchFan]

Slowly making my way through this:

[king ubu]

 

 

 

in progress:

Tom Perchard - After Django: extremely interesting and enriching indeed! And quite a shock, as it's positively the first book (text in general) on jazz I read that uses such scholarly language - which per se is nothing that would shock me, just never had the connection with jazz so far, was mostly busy reading on other topics in the past two decades, catching up some reading on jazz now ... and please don't take this as a negative critique - not at all, it's actually rather refreshing a read, and the language helps to keep it precise indeed ... and it's thought-provoking, that's for sure!

 

You will, of course, know that Tom posts on this forum as umum_cypher.

mais oui, bien sûr  

[BillF]

 

 

 

in progress:

Tom Perchard - After Django: extremely interesting and enriching indeed! And quite a shock, as it's positively the first book (text in general) on jazz I read that uses such scholarly language - which per se is nothing that would shock me, just never had the connection with jazz so far, was mostly busy reading on other topics in the past two decades, catching up some reading on jazz now ... and please don't take this as a negative critique - not at all, it's actually rather refreshing a read, and the language helps to keep it precise indeed ... and it's thought-provoking, that's for sure!

 

You will, of course, know that Tom posts on this forum as umum_cypher.

mais oui, bien sûr  

bien

[johnblitweiler]

A happy surprise - long ago I'd read an early Lethem novel, had no feeling for it, then dismissed him when I saw an interview in which he seemed to believe he wrote better than Philip K. Dick or J.G. Ballard. But this one works. A few stock characters but mostly original characters, an especially vivid narrator-protagonist (sensitive, smart, funny), a hard-boiled detective story with the idiom's virtues amplified - mean-streets atmosphere, suspense - and so far, not many of the idiom's cliches. Far less sentimental than genre writers like Lehane, Burke.

Recently, I read Yasmina Khadra's "The African Equation." The story grabs you. He is such a strong writer, in translation, that it's easy to overlook or miss entirely how conventional his conclusions are or what black-white (in literal and metaphoric senses) cliches he presents (a terrorist who is also a sensitive poet, yet). In fact, as much as I liked "the Swallows of Kabul, "The Attack," and (despite its dishonest ending) "The Sirens of Baghdad," maybe rereading them would reveal flaws.

[BillF]

The second William Trevor novel I've read and I preferred this one, set in his rural Ireland, to Felicia's Journey, with its English urban setting.

[ejp626]

I wrapped up We Need New Names.  I enjoyed it.  It was sort of in the same vein as Teju Cole's Open City, though focused on a slightly younger girl from Zimbabwe who eventually makes her way to the U.S.

I just read Clarice Lispector's Água Viva, and really disliked it.  I know this is probably her most avant novel, but I am now wondering if I should go ahead and read any of the other novels.  (5 were recently published in new translations by New Directions.)  Still, she is a bit of an acquired taste to be sure.

I'm currently reading a few collections of short stories: Russell Smith Confidence, Stuart Dybek Ecstatic Cahoots and Ivan Vladislavic 101 Detectives.  It's kind of nice to switch between them.

[Brad]

I'm just finishing up Transit by Anna Seghers, reissued by NYRB Classics.  Not sure how I feel about this book.  At times I've found it tedious but it presents a good snapshot of what it was like to be -- and still may be like -- to be a refugee trying to get out and the tedium that goes with it.

[Leeway]

Boredom (aka The Empty Canvas") by Alberto Moravia. 1960. Philosophically brilliant but not significantly emotionally engaging. Another NYRB reissue. 

[BillF]

Boredom (aka The Empty Canvas") by Alberto Moravia. 1960. Philosophically brilliant but not significantly emotionally engaging. Another NYRB reissue. 

Try the movie!

[jlhoots]

A happy surprise - long ago I'd read an early Lethem novel, had no feeling for it, then dismissed him when I saw an interview in which he seemed to believe he wrote better than Philip K. Dick or J.G. Ballard. But this one works. A few stock characters but mostly original characters, an especially vivid narrator-protagonist (sensitive, smart, funny), a hard-boiled detective story with the idiom's virtues amplified - mean-streets atmosphere, suspense - and so far, not many of the idiom's cliches. Far less sentimental than genre writers like Lehane, Burke.

Recently, I read Yasmina Khadra's "The African Equation." The story grabs you. He is such a strong writer, in translation, that it's easy to overlook or miss entirely how conventional his conclusions are or what black-white (in literal and metaphoric senses) cliches he presents (a terrorist who is also a sensitive poet, yet). In fact, as much as I liked "the Swallows of Kabul, "The Attack," and (despite its dishonest ending) "The Sirens of Baghdad," maybe rereading them would reveal flaws.

Lethem gets a lot of grief here, but I really like Motherless Brooklyn.

I also like Fortress Of Solitude.

[Leeway]

Thank

Boredom (aka The Empty Canvas") by Alberto Moravia. 1960. Philosophically brilliant but not significantly emotionally engaging. Another NYRB reissue. 

Try the movie!

Thanks, I was unaware of the movie, I'll give it a look. 

[Simon8]

[A Lark Ascending]

Finished Keith Richards bio. Very enjoyable. Incredibly narcissistic but then when you've been idolised since your late teens and had every bit of bad behaviour lauded for living the R&R lifestyle that's hardly surprising. Matches Michael Ashcroft for wanting to settle scores with colleagues and former lovers! I thought the best things were the early parts on growing up in the south Thames area; and the sheer love of music that gets communicated throughout. 

Half way through:

Just got to the morning of Waterloo with everyone hunting for breakfast. Superb book. Very, very detailed but draws on a lot of testimony from soldiers and other participants who were there giving a human dimension that can be missing from some tactics obsessed military histories. It flips back and forth between the simultaneous battles at Quatre Bras and Ligny over 16th June which means you have to keep your brain sharp. But it works.

Alongside, just started:

Which I'm enjoying. I liked studying Shakespeare at school (though I did what I suspect was the only English A Level ever without Shakespeare [we did Marlowe instead]) and have seen performances, films and read the odd play since. But I've never really got my head round it. Hope to correct that - off to see Henry V at Stratford next week. 

[BillF]

Finished Keith Richards bio. Very enjoyable. Incredibly narcissistic but then when you've been idolised since your late teens and had every bit of bad behaviour lauded for living the R&R lifestyle that's hardly surprising. Matches Michael Ashcroft for wanting to settle scores with colleagues and former lovers! I thought the best things were the early parts on growing up in the south Thames area; and the sheer love of music that gets communicated throughout. 

Half way through:

Just got to the morning of Waterloo with everyone hunting for breakfast. Superb book. Very, very detailed but draws on a lot of testimony from soldiers and other participants who were there giving a human dimension that can be missing from some tactics obsessed military histories. It flips back and forth between the simultaneous battles at Quatre Bras and Ligny over 16th June which means you have to keep your brain sharp. But it works.

Alongside, just started:

Which I'm enjoying. I liked studying Shakespeare at school (though I did what I suspect was the only English A Level ever without Shakespeare [we did Marlowe instead]) and have seen performances, films and read the odd play since. But I've never really got my head round it. Hope to correct that - off to see Henry V at Stratford next week. 

Just before my finals at Leeds University I had a binge on Shakespeare. For 20 days I stuck to this pattern - day 1: read Shakespeare play; day 2: read critical commentaries on said play, and so on. After 3 weeks I felt more into the bard than ever before or since. The course expected us to read all the plays; I managed 22 which proved to be quite adequate. I've always been keener on Shakespeare on the page than in performance - don't forget the Sonnets! If performed, my preference is for the bare, Elizabethan-type stage. I can't stand these modern productions with actors as Boy Scouts or SS officers! 

Edited September 28, 2015 by BillF

[A Lark Ascending]

Wow - 22 plays in 20 days! I'm thinking of 5 years! 

At school I did 'Julius Caesar' for 'O' Level - after some months of being irritated by having to dissect it line by line I came to really enjoy it (clearly because I'd been made to dissect it...but you don't know that when you are 15!). Remember enjoying 'Othello' and 'King Lear' in my first Sixth Form school where we did have to do Shakespeare. When I was about 13 we had to read 'Twelfth Night' which did not go down at all well!! 

In the late 70s the BBC did that complete Shakespeare series which I remember watching a fair few of.

Don't suppose you were a fan of the 'Richard III' film set in some sort of dystopian Mosleyite alternative universe? This sort of thing happens in opera too - I was watching a version of Handel's 'Theodora' a couple of weeks back and that was set in some imaginary totalitarian USA - Margaret Atwood meets Handel! I can live with these things but prefer a plainer approach, set either in Shakespeare's own time or the time of the events he is portraying (however anachronistic he might have been). 

Don't suppose you'll be rushing out to watch the new 'Macbeth' movie? The last one I watched was 'The Tempest' with Helen Mirren which I enjoyed. So much of that play has been mined by musicians down the years.     

Edited September 28, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Wow - 22 plays in 20 days! I'm thinking of 5 years! 

  

No. Read it again - it was 10 plays (largely revision) in 20 days and 22 was the score over the whole 2-year Shakespeare course.

[A Lark Ascending]

Wow - 22 plays in 20 days! I'm thinking of 5 years! 

  

No. Read it again - it was 10 plays (largely revision) in 20 days and 22 was the score over the whole 2-year Shakespeare course.

Oops! And there was me thinking you were the bionic scholar! 

[mjazzg]

Richard Powers - Orfeo

Powers writes beautifully about music (classical) and the frustrated composer's lot in a novel that also takes in bio terrorism and homeland security. Glad I picked it up prompted by remembering how much I'd enjoyed his "The Time Of Our Singing" (also music themed) many years ago