Now reading...

[Matthew]

5 hours ago, Aggie87 said:

I've read that book a couple of times, though it's been a few decades now.  But I always enjoyed it. 

In contrast, the film trilogy is a waste, in my opinion, despite the effort that went into it.  I've watched the LotR films many times, and love them.  

 

3 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I was telling someone at work I might just have been convinced to watch 2 films - There and Back Again - but a trilogy was such an abuse of the audience's time and wallets that I couldn't stomach it.  I have no intention of ever actually watching the Hobbit trilogy.

I was wondering about the movies, there's no way from what I've been reading that you can get three movies out of the book. I bought the first part of the Hobbit trilogy, it was on sale at Amazon Prime for $4.99, probably skip the second part, and wait for the third movie to come on sale. 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Matthew

[T.D.]

[ejp626]

I finally, finally finished Musil's The Man Without Qualities.  (I would have finished sooner except it was much too heavy to take to the gym and read at the stationary bikes...)  The last 50 pages of rough notes (it's an unfinished novel) were particularly challenging.  On the whole, I'd say it wasn't worth it.  Interestingly, NYRB is going to be publishing a big chunk of Vol. 2 as Agathe.

Fairly close to wrapping up Park's Personal Days, and I am waiting on a copy of Achebe's Arrow of God to turn up at the library.

[medjuck]

I read it and liked it a lot more than you do.  But I didn't know much about him -- especially his pre-Elvis days so I found it al interesting.  One of his artists (can't remember whether it was Carl Perkins or Jerry Lee Lewis) sure has bad things to say about him. 

[Dan Gould]

8 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll by Peter Guralnick

 

Don't know about distribution to other but this showed up at the Dollar Tree store about 4 weeks ago, grabbed it without hesitation. Probably get to it after my current book - bought at the same time. Anybody else haunt the Dollar Tree for cheap reads?  I must have 15 or more stacked up. Pretty much anything that looks decent I'm gonna grab for a buck.

[T.D.]

On 6/3/2019 at 7:08 AM, ejp626 said:

I finally, finally finished Musil's The Man Without Qualities.  (I would have finished sooner except it was much too heavy to take to the gym and read at the stationary bikes...)  The last 50 pages of rough notes (it's an unfinished novel) were particularly challenging.  On the whole, I'd say it wasn't worth it.  Interestingly, NYRB is going to be publishing a big chunk of Vol. 2 as Agathe....

Thanks for the comments! A while back, I read an article (forget where) that discussed The Man Without Qualities and thought I might enjoy the novel. Then I perused a used copy of Vol. 1 in a bookshop and held off because it looked like very tough sledding. Will definitely skip it now.

[Matthew]

1 hour ago, T.D. said:

Thanks for the comments! A while back, I read an article (forget where) that discussed The Man Without Qualities and thought I might enjoy the novel. Then I perused a used copy of Vol. 1 in a bookshop and held off because it looked like very tough sledding. Will definitely skip it now.

 

1 hour ago, T.D. said:

On 6/3/2019 at 4:08 AM, ejp626 said:

I finally, finally finished Musil's The Man Without Qualities.  (I would have finished sooner except it was much too heavy to take to the gym and read at the stationary bikes...)  The last 50 pages of rough notes (it's an unfinished novel) were particularly challenging.  On the whole, I'd say it wasn't worth it.  Interestingly, NYRB is going to be publishing a big chunk of Vol. 2 as Agathe....

 

I took a class at UC San Diego (way, way, back when) by a prof who actually wrote a book on "The Man Without Qualities", despite his best efforts, I still don't get the "Theory of Essayism" as a way to live a life. Even he admitted that the book falls apart at the end.

Now Reading:

The Memory Room by Mary Rakow. Intense read.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Matthew

[kinuta]

[ghost of miles]

Revisiting Raymond Carver after many years:

:

[Matthew]

On 6/4/2019 at 2:58 PM, Matthew said:

 

Now Reading:

The Memory Room by Mary Rakow. Intense read.

Just want to say that The Memory Room was one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time, a story of survival of childhood abuse, told in a creative manner. Highly recommended.  

[kinuta]

[Brad]

On 5/25/2019 at 8:31 AM, Brad said:

I finished reading this and the problem with the book is that although you learn a lot about the Chicago newspaper business, the literary movements at the time, Hollywood and his activism during WW II on behalf of the Jews of Europe and Israel, you don’t learn enough about Hecht. It’s more about them than Hecht himself. 

[medjuck]

7 minutes ago, Brad said:

I finished reading this and the problem with the book is that although you learn a lot about the Chicago newspaper business, the literary movements at the time, Hollywood and his activism during WW II on behalf of the Jews of Europe and Israel, you don’t learn enough about Hecht. It’s more about them than Hecht himself. 

You might try his autobiography "Child of the Century". ( I read it many years ago and don't remember much except some funny anecdotes.)

[mjzee]

4 hours ago, medjuck said:

You might try his autobiography "Child of the Century". ( I read it many years ago and don't remember much except some funny anecdotes.)

Recently read this article about Hecht:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/11/the-great-hollywood-screenwriter-who-hated-hollywood

[Brad]

Based on my reading of the Gorbach book, the New Yorker article strikes me as unfair and generally ignores his role as an an activist in the 1940s to help European Jews and resist the British in Palestine after WW II.  In that regard he was a great propagandist in keeping the plight of the European Jews alive.  He helped groups that wanted to rescue the Jews and get them to Palestine, efforts which the mainstream Jewish groups opposed vehemently. Similarly, he raised a lot of money for Israel, albeit groups that were considered criminal like the Irgun.  

In addition, he was not only a great script writer but acted as a script doctor on many films and some of his films like the Frontpage and Scarface are epic films that stand the test of time. 

A more nuanced and balanced review is the New York Times review, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/books/review/adina-hoffman-julien-gorbach-ben-hecht-biography.html

[Matthew]

The Stories of J. F. Powers

[Larry Kart]

33 minutes ago, Matthew said:

The Stories of J. F. Powers

[ghost of miles]

7 hours ago, Matthew said:

The Stories of J. F. Powers

I bought that years ago but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  

[Matthew]

12 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

I bought that years ago but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.  

I can only take Powers in small doses, one or two stories a week. His stories are very finished, if you know what I mean. Though, I will say, he is, to my mind, with out a doubt, the best writer on the priesthood I've ever read. The character and thoughts of the priests are spot on.

[ejp626]

35 minutes ago, Matthew said:

I can only take Powers in small doses, one or two stories a week. His stories are very finished, if you know what I mean. Though, I will say, he is, to my mind, with out a doubt, the best writer on the priesthood I've ever read. The character and thoughts of the priests are spot on.

I do have this volume of his short stories but haven't cracked it yet.  In the next month or so, I plan on rereading Morte d'Urban, which I enjoyed quite a bit 15 or so years ago.  I suspect I'll still like it on the next go round.

[ghost of miles]

38 minutes ago, Matthew said:

I can only take Powers in small doses, one or two stories a week. His stories are very finished, if you know what I mean. Though, I will say, he is, to my mind, with out a doubt, the best writer on the priesthood I've ever read. The character and thoughts of the priests are spot on.

Merton read and commented on some of his work, correct?

[Brad]

With all due respect and no insult intended to anyone, but reading stories about priests doesn’t sound overly exciting to me, but, then again, reading stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer might not be exciting to others. 

[Matthew]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

Merton read and commented on some of his work, correct?

Correct, but it wasn't a close relationship, one of the many writers Merton had a passing acquaintanceship with, but nothing deep. In fact, if I remember correctly, they met when Merton when to Minnesota for a psychology workshop on formation, and it was at the workshop that he was ambushed and "diagnosed" by Dr. Gregory Zilboorg. It was Abbot James Fox set up the meeting (with Zilboorg) and never told Merton about it -- Merton never forgave Abbot Fox for that.

 

1 hour ago, Brad said:

With all due respect and no insult intended to anyone, but reading stories about priests doesn’t sound overly exciting to me, but, then again, reading stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer might not be exciting to others. 

Hey, I get what you're saying!

Edited June 10, 2019 by Matthew

[Brad]

An interesting tale:

What Happened After P.G. Wodehouse Was Captured During World War II

As told through the pages of the New York Times. 

[Shrdlu]

That paper is one of those sulky sites that block you if you have an ad blocker. I just leave their page when they do that.

Anyway, I know the full story about Wodehouse in WW II. He was a guy who was above the grubby world of politics. He made at least one non-political broadcast from Germany, and some stuffed shirts griped about it. At the war's conclusion, he was arrested by the Brits, but fortunately, he was interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge, who was an officer at the time. Muggeridge had a brain and soon realized that Wodehouse had done nothing wrong. He was just unlucky to be in Europe at the time. The stupid Brits boycotted him for decades, and it was only just before he died that they finally honored him for the brilliant writer that he was. He was not a N.A.S.D.A.P. member or sympathiser.

So, let us enjoy his superb books and forget about that sad business.