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I know people can get worked up over just about anything, and this is no exception. Some people feel it is disrespectful to medical doctors that Ph.D.s also get the title. I think Ph.D.s do deserve the title, though one is a prat if one insists on it in non-academic settings. I have very mixed feelings about honorary doctorates, however. I really don't think they should be called Dr. no matter how much they busted their ass in "the school of life," but maybe that's just me.

It's pretty rare for me to read a book in the year it comes out, but The Girl Who Was Saturday Night was published earlier in the year. It's good, but nowhere in my top 10 for the year. Probably the best book I read for the first time was Dostoevsky's Demons, followed by Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia Trilogy, while the best I reread was Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. I'll have to go back through my reading list to see what else I tackled. The main things were novels by Molly Keane and Barbara Comyns and finally making it through Proust. I also liked Hotel Savoy by Joseph Roth quite a bit (it would be in top 5), but I can't recall if I read this in 2013 or 2014.

That's interesting. I enjoyed Cloud Atlas, but I just see Bone Clocks as too much of the same again. I don't plan on reading it.

As far as Herzen goes, he was quite important in pushing for liberal reform and published a newsletter/magazine that was quite influential (though of course banned) in Russia. He may well have helped bring about the Tsar abolishing serfdom on an earlier schedule than he would have otherwise. In later years, particularly after 1848, Herzen became far more skeptical of sweeping political movements and he definitively rejected communism. He hoped for countries to arrive at socialism through a democratic process (perhaps not too different from Orwell's stance several decades later). Turgenev, for his part, thought this just a fantasy that would never come to pass, and he thought Herzen totally romanticized the Russian peasants. I thought his autobiography was pretty interesting, though I just don't see where or why Isaiah Berlin keeps calling it a masterpiece on par with War and Peace. I wrapped up Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia trilogy on these figures (primarily Bakunin, Herzen and Turgenev) and really enjoyed it. I had the privilege of seeing it on stage in Berkeley, but I think I'd go again if another company decided to tackle it. I'll probably blog about this next week. I'm about halfway through a recent Canadian novel -- The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill. It's sort of a mirror into a lower class neighbourhood populated by artistic types. The setting is not dissimilar to the ones Barbara Comyns wrote about or Tess Slesinger's The Unpossessed or some of the novels set in Greenwich Village in the 70s or the Lower East Side in the 80s and very early 90s. I believe this novel is set in the very early 90s (before the 1995 Referendum) but I am not entirely sure. It's one of those novels where the characters are interesting, but I'd want to stay 100 feet away from any one of them in real life.

I agree -- that statement about no software makes absolutely no sense. I decided a while ago to pass and nothing I've heard since makes me reconsider that decision. I need to save up for the Beehive set(s) anyway.

Hmm, that's too bad, though I have Jaipur from another source -- Impressed (the Gilles Peterson compilation) -- so at worst I could piece the two together.

This is kind of embarrassing. I remember thinking that I probably ought to get the full Beecham. According to Amazon, I did buy this (the 1992 CD set -- I don't think it has been remastered since), but I doubt I have listened to it straight through. Well, something to go look for tonight, I guess.

It does seem somedays like almost anything was thrown onto vinyl back then (almost like the Youtube of its day). I'd probably listen to Skal though.

Really not sure -- perhaps the last movement of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Does that count as hedging my bets too much?

I'm really not sure, but it would perhaps be One Step Beyond and Destination Out. Though Jackie's Bag would be a strong contender too.

I'm sure a few are spoofs or art works like the one Daniel referenced. And the most disturbing dolls are clearly home-made. That said, I could see buying the Avenging Narwhal, but only if it was bundled with BiPolar Polar Bear (with the baby seals that it alternatively nurtures and devours).

I doubt it was me. I've read Sundiver, but that's pretty much it. I basically no longer follow SF. The one author I semi-follow is Ian McDonald. I actually had to make an effort to get some of his books as several were never published in North America. Anyway, I wrapped up Fathers and Sons. It remains such a great book, but this time around I was far more intrigued by the secondary characters, who are quite well-drawn. I didn't dislike Bazarov, but I really wondered what it was that made so many people think he was destined for greatness. He was a stiff-necked truth-teller who wouldn't bow to convention. And that's pretty much it. He wasn't even a particularly good doctor, managing to cut himself pretty badly while doing a pointless autopsy. Obviously that boldness and unconventionality meant a fair bit back then whereas now professional contrarians of all stripes litter our airways and the internet. However, I did grow up in a fairly self-satisfied suburb that went all in for Reagan, and I often got into arguments over religion and such as a teenager, so Bazarov really did strike a chord with me back then. I remember thinking that the great are often ground down, while it is the mediocrities, such as Arkady, that thrive. I don't feel that way at all now, and it is clear in hindsight that isn't even what Turgenev meant to convey. I also did not realize that Pavel was essentially a stand-in for Turgenev, who had a very unhappy love life. I'm 2/3rds through Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. It's brilliant stuff, but you need so much additional information to really understand all the side references. I only knew a little bit of this when I saw the plays (it's certainly a case where program notes are essential pre-performance reading). Reading the plays now, I am understanding so much more. It's certainly an open question if the whole trilogy will ever be staged again, though I have a bit of a running bet where they might pop up next. It would probably be Chicago, Toronto or Minneapolis but with Seattle as a dark horse. Anyway, I am nearly finished with my long journey through Russian literature and its offshoots. Probably one more month. Next I'll be reading Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, followed by Platonov's Happy Moscow and Soul.

Given shipping prices to the Great White North, I may opt for the Kindle version, but I need to test that I can read on my home machine as well. Congrats again.

Congrats, Mike! Looking forward to this. Any idea when the dls will be ready? Early 2015?

Absolutely. Right now I am feeling very pressed for time, and I kind of resent long books unless they are truly great. Every long book that I've reread recently I've liked less than the first go-around (Pickwick Papers, Atwood's Cat's Eye, Findley's Headhunter, Rushdie's Midnight's Children). Doesn't mean I dislike them, but they didn't seem as worth it. But I might have a very different relationship with time (and long novels) when I retire, if I ever do... That's not a problem with short books where I am definitely picking up other things than the first go-around. I'd say I'd still prefer Dostoevsky over Tolstoy, but I might actually choose Turgenev over both... I'm actually surprised at how quickly Bazarov gets embroiled with Madame Odintsov. Turgenev has a much more tightly plotted book than most the other Russian authors.

The Fresh Sounds site lists Colpix SCP433, which is the stereo version, but frankly that doesn't mean much. They might well have used a mono source.

Itzhak Perlman was in town with Rohan de Silva on piano. He seems to have some mobility issues, as he went around -- and even played from -- a little scooter. The music was good though: Vivaldi's Violin Sonata in A, Beethoven Violin Sonata No 7 and Ravel's Violin Sonata #2. The Ravel was interesting, as it was so heavily influenced by Gershwin, but I liked the Beethoven the best. They played a number of short pieces after that, mostly transcriptions done by Kreisler or Heifetz, with many of them being transcriptions of Rachmaninoff, though they ended with Poulenc and Albeniz. Not sure how much longer Perlman will be touring, so I'm glad I went.

These line-ups are quite incredible. I think the Soviet Jazz Themes, helmed by Vic Feldman, looks fascinating. I may have to order this.

This sounds like a good bet then. Same thing, I have a decent starter flute for $100 that my daughter is learning on. If she ever gets serious, then we can upgrade. (I should add it was bought used for $100 in 1986 (for me) -- no idea what it would run today.)

I think I started on a Bundy clarinet. It is a good starter instrument. Eventually I upgraded (in my mind at any rate) to a Selmer.

I'm reading Sketches from a Hunter's Notebook at home (epub file from Gutenberg.org -- these are pretty sweet) and Fathers and Sons on the train. Both are quite good. In particular, coming back to Fathers and Sons is so rewarding now that I am more in line with Turgenev's balanced world view. In my youth, I sympathized too one-sidedly with Bazarov.

I debated weighing in a day or two ago, but your comments on Bend Sinister really struck a chord. I've disliked every book I've read by Nabokov, including Lolita, some quite strongly indeed. I think you've pointed out several good points about Nabokov -- it's always about how smart he is and he can hardly be bothered to write an interesting plot, let alone meaningful characters. I feel he wants to rub it in our faces how he is writing from Mt. Olympus and we should be grateful that he ever took the time. I suppose this is more than a little ironic, as I often am camped out in the "high art" bleachers, but Nabokov really takes it to extremes. I may eventually get around to reading the rest of his novels, but life is short and I have about 300 novels that are higher in the queue... The truth is I'm no longer very good at reading something when it just feels like an obligation.

Now this is some great news. I have Starfingers on LP, but otherwise don't have or have even listened to the rest of the catalog. Some great looking sessions. I haven't been doing a lot of pre-ordering from Mosaic lately, but this might be an exception.

Just back from the Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life show in Toronto (only Canadian stop on the tour). Pretty amazing band -- two of almost everything -- backup keyboards, guitarists, drummers, percussionists. 6 back-up singers, including his daugher (the one that Isn't She Lovely is dedicated to). On some stops, Indie Arie is the opening act and then joins the show. Here she just joined in on 5 or so songs -- 4 costume changes (off-stage). Great concert, though I wish he had started more or less on time -- it was 45 minutes late. Thus, we had to split as he was getting ready to do an encore. Really wanted to hear that (on some stops it has been Superstition), but it was past our bedtime (and more to the point the baby-sitter meter was ticking...).

I really think most of us overvalue our collections. I just see a complete collapse in resale value aside from a handful of things like the Mosaic box sets (and even there most of those don't have the same value they had 5 years ago). Unless you have an extremely unique collection, you are putting a huge burden on your friends and family in expecting them to extract a great value from the collection. I've already come to terms with the fact that all the books in my collection are going to be donated to interested family members and then to a library. It was bad enough when I went around with boxes of books only to have 3 or 4 taken by a bookseller; I don't want friends or family to face up to the same. It's too depressing and too much work. I'm giving myself another 15 years, and then I need to start paring down for good.