ejp626

Midway through Banville's Ancient Light. I didn't realize until too late that it is the third book of a trilogy, though they are fairly loosely linked and I don't feel I missed too much by skipping the others. It reminds me in just a few ways of Robertson Davies's Deptford Trilogy, though I liked that considerably more. I don't think it is terribly likely I will read the other two.

Thanks! It's been quite the challenge doing this with such a small team, but exciting at the same time. Still, this will very much be a one-off, as producing theatre is clearly not my forte.

It's the end of an era...

About halfway into Philip Roth's The Professor of Desire. Not bad, though I preferred his Zuckerman novels. I'll read The Dying Animal next to close out the trilogy, then Banfield's Ancient Light. (Oops - Banville's Ancient Light)

For those of you in Toronto or visiting in early July, I thought I would mention that I have a play in the Toronto Fringe. What makes this particularly interesting is that this year there are some plays, including ours, which are outside the downtown core. This is the first year the Fringe has extended into the neighbourhoods outside the core. Final Exam is playing in South Riverdale (only somewhat coincidentally near where I live...). The basic set-up is that the audience joins a Toronto high school classroom where the students are basically evenly split between worrying about exams and an impending alien invasion! More info here: https://fringetoronto.com/festivals/fringe/event/final-exam Feel free to PM me if you'd like more details. Eric

Interesting list. I've only read 4. I quite liked Half of a Yellow Sun. Might be a bit of a missed opportunity for Costa Rica to be represented by Joan Didion.

Just got the shipping notice. Probably will arrive early next week.

Dickens' Hard Times. Not enjoying this at all. It is a total slog. Gaskell's North and South, while on the same topic, is vastly better. Philip Roth's The Professor of Desire next. That should definitely be more stimulating...

I'll get this, but I am definitely going to wait and see what the digital options are.

#1 The NYTimes piece on Coltrane's lost album is very tantalizing indeed. However, it is very odd that there is some speculation that one of the pieces is by Tyner (not Coltrane). Here's a thought -- why not interview him and just ask? (I do hope Impulse is doing this for the liner notes!)

The last track on Funk in France wasn't fixed as of yesterday, which is kind of frustrating. It may be worth noting that eMusic has added Slick, but not Funk in France (as of yet).

Checking out some of the albums on the Inner Circle label. Most, though not all, can be streamed through Apple Music. Right now, Pasos by Maikel Vistel. (Requires a second listen when I can pay more attention.) Later this aft, The Lucid Dreamer by Simona Premazzi. Greg Osby's on a couple of tracks, and Melissa Aldana (a bit of an Osby protege) is on 5.

Yes, some interesting artists, though the one that appealed to me the most strongly (not that I would likely have made the trek out to Guelph) is playing on Sept. 15, when I have a conflicting event. C'est la vie.

Slick seems complete on Hoopla, but the last track on Funk in France cuts out at about the 12 minute mark (it's supposed to be 27 minutes). I've reported it to them in the hopes they can reload it correctly.

Not sure they were supposed to get a digital release this early, but both titles are on Hoopla, so I'm listening to them that way. I didn't see them on any other platform, but I didn't look that hard either.

On the last story in Alice Munro's Friend of My Youth. I'd say she's starting to take a more Olympian view of all the various betrayals that men and women inflict on each other. Not necessarily a bad thing. Faulkner's The Unvanquished next. Then Hard Times by Dickens. I'd meant to read it in closer conjunction with Gaskell's North and South, but just couldn't swing it.

RIP. Definitely one of the masters. Later this month, I'll be reading the trilogy that includes Professor of Desire. Someday I'll have to get back around to Zuckerman Bound.

Just finished Melville's The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade. It has a certain interest, and is probably not well enough known. But at the same time, the second half really drags. Wrapping up my Mitford kick with The Blessing. Then Faulkner's Flags in the Dust.

Managed to score tickets to the hottest art exhibit in North America -- Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors at the AGO -- https://ago.ca/exhibitions/kusama It is interesting but it ends up being about 2 hours of queuing to get inside her Infinity Rooms for approximately 3 minutes. The staff have a stop watch and move people along every 20 or 30 seconds depending on the Room.

It was indeed a CD of just one track. I bought my copy used and it already came with the 11th disc, so I don't know when this was added (or indeed if it was shipped later after the missing track was discovered). I'm not sure why they didn't repress disc 10.

Wrapped up I.B. Singer's Enemies. I just couldn't get into it. I so thoroughly disliked the main character, who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but still was irresistible to several women. It was even more inexplicable than Woody Allen's magnetism in Manhattan. At least Woody was funny (then), which is attractive in its own way. I've been trying to read Musil's 5 Women, but have not made much progress. Maybe will shelve it for now and try again at some later date. A few random books on the horizon, but the one I am perhaps anticipating the most is rereading Melville's The Confidence-Man. I liked it a lot in grad school and wonder if I will still enjoy it (if reading just for pleasure).

Strongly disliked DeLillo's The Body Artist. I was tempted to just toss it, but it is so short (120 pages with wide margins) that I finished it. Will see if the used book store will take it. In addition to Vierci's The Imposters, I've got I.B Singer's Enemies on the bench.

More stories to go in White Walls by Tatyana Tolstaya. Right now am focusing on shorter works. Just finished Ethel Wilson's first novel (or really novella): Hetty Dorval. Then Lyudmila Ulitskaya's The Funeral Party (from Brad's list of 10 Russian novels, bringing me to 5/10). Also DeLillo's The Body Artist. Then Pablo Vierci's The Imposters.

Apparently, Terry Gilliam finally managed to shoot his Don Quixote film with Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver. It's in post-production now, so maybe released at the end of the year or next year. Hope it lives up to whatever vision he's had of it for all these years.

Every so often I check in on what is going on with my favorite cancelled show. There was some Futurama Android game, which I haven't played (yet). And relatively recently (last Sept.) there was a podcast with a new episode of the show and they managed to get the original voice talent back together. It's pretty funny. Podcast is here: https://nerdist.com/the-nerdist-podcast-new-futurama-episode/