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[ejp626]

12 hours ago, medjuck said:

Both have many footnotes that are easy to access because the page numbers they refer to are listed at the top of the pages in the footnotes chapter.  Is this a new practice or just something I haven't noticed before (or don't remember). 

I've definitely seen this before, though this sounds like you have a long section of endnotes rather than footnotes per se.  Generally this is something that would be done if you have more than 1 page of endnotes per chapter.  Otherwise you just navigate through based on chapter numbering.

[Big Beat Steve]

14 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

I've definitely seen this before, though this sounds like you have a long section of endnotes rather than footnotes per se.  Generally this is something that would be done if you have more than 1 page of endnotes per chapter.  Otherwise you just navigate through based on chapter numbering.

Yes, what Medjuck said sounds like endnotes at the very end of the book (not at the end of each chapter).
Quickly checking my music books, I have seen such endnote chapters with references at the top of the pages to indicate the pages in the main chapters that the endnotes refer to in "Lost Chords" by Richard M. Sudhalter, "Record Makers and Breakers" by John Broven and "The Jazz of the Southwest" by Jean A. Boyd.
OTOH, "After Django" by Tom Perchard and "Jazz Diasporas" by Rashida K. Braggs", for instance, do not have these top-of-the-page references in their endnote chapters, which makes them annoying to use as when you want to read the notes of the main chapter you have to flip and search much more through the endnote pages to locate the section you need (and bookmarks tend to slip out at the worst moment ).

[medjuck]

7 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I've definitely seen this before, though this sounds like you have a long section of endnotes rather than footnotes per se.  Generally this is something that would be done if you have more than 1 page of endnotes per chapter.  Otherwise you just navigate through based on chapter numbering.

Yes, both books have many pages of footnotes.

[Matthew]

Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter by Jeremy Arnold. Nice book just to pick up and read at your leisure.

[Brad]

A newly discovered Hemingway story, Pursuit as Happiness, that appeared in the New Yorker.

Here’s an interview with Sean Hemingway, Hemingway’s grandson, Ernest Hemingway’s Grandson on an Unpublished Story from the Author’s Archive

Edited June 18, 2020 by Brad

[Bluesnik]

I've always enjoyed Gioia. Wether on West Coast Jazz, the History of Jazz, or the Blues (and I still have an unread book about Standards). But this is something else. Here he reflects on the subversive role of music before being assimilated into the mainstream and becoming recognized. I quote from the introduction:

"When we celebrate the songs of previous eras,  the repectable music of cultural elites gets almost all the attention, while the subversive efforts of outsiders and rebels fall from view. The history books downplay or hide essential elements of music that are considered disreputable or irrational (...). They whitewash key elements of a four thousand-year history of disruptors and insurgents creating musical revolutions, instead celebrating assimilators within the mainstream power structure who borrowed these innovations while diluting their impact and disguising their sources. (...). The real history of music is not respectable. Far from it. Neither is it boring".

A bold mission statement.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Bluesnik

[jlhoots]

Megha Majumdar: A Burning

[ejp626]

11 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Megha Majumdar: A Burning

In queue at the library.  Let us know what you think.  Thanks.

Finally buckling down and finishing Camus's The Plague.  Probably will wrap up tonight.

[Brad]

2 hours ago, ejp626 said:

Finally buckling down and finishing Camus's The Plague.  Probably will wrap up tonight.

Sounds painful. If so, why bother?

I’m making another run at Berlin Alexanderplatz. If it won’t take off, I will probably sell my copy. 

[sgcim]

Halfway through "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace. It's great reading, but the hundreds of footnotes can make you lose your place consistently. I read Mason and Dixon before this, and while he's not as great a writer as Pynchon, he is easier to read. That doesn't mean he writes for retards, like Dan Brown or someone of that ilk, it just means that he doesn't use as many allusions as someone like Pynchon or Gaddis does.

And if he does, there are always the footnotes!

[ejp626]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

Sounds painful. If so, why bother?

I’m making another run at Berlin Alexanderplatz. If it won’t take off, I will probably sell my copy. 

I've actually enjoyed it when I've sat down and read (despite it hitting a bit too close to home) but have been very distracted by work creeping into all other aspects of my life (Zoom calls ending at 7:30, etc.) as I do my part in planning to help the recovery up here.  The two places I do the most sustained reading (while riding transit or stationary bikes at the gym) are both off limits for time being.

[Brad]

12 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

I've actually enjoyed it when I've sat down and read (despite it hitting a bit too close to home) but have been very distracted by work creeping into all other aspects of my life (Zoom calls ending at 7:30, etc.) as I do my part in planning to help the recovery up here.  The two places I do the most sustained reading (while riding transit or stationary bikes at the gym) are both off limits for time being.

When I used to commute to NY by train years ago, I got a lot of reading in.  The bikes are for music!

[ejp626]

5 minutes ago, Brad said:

When I used to commute to NY by train years ago, I got a lot of reading in.  The bikes are for music!

I used to live in Brooklyn almost at Coney Island.  I always had a seat coming in to work, so often used that for writing (pretty sure I finished a couple of dissertation chapters on the inbound train) but stood all the way going home, so would read then.

In Toronto I virtually never get a seat on the bus or train (except for weekends) back when I was still taking transit, so that was generally fine for reading (unless the bus was really crowded).

[sidewinder]

Don’t recall the TTC being over-full much back in the day but I guess Toronto is a busier and much more crowded place these days. Population at several million was hardly sparse even then though.

[ejp626]

23 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Don’t recall the TTC being over-full much back in the day but I guess Toronto is a busier and much more crowded place these days. Population at several million was hardly sparse even then though.

Subways are (well, were) just incredibly packed in rush hour.  When transferring at Bloor-Yonge you can expect to have to wait for three trains to pull in before actually squeezing onto one!  Fortunately trains are every 1.5-2 minutes in rush hour, though this is still annoying (and didn't feel safe even pre-COVID).  This is driven by huge downtown office growth.  Very different from my memories of Toronto in the early 90s.

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

Subways are (well, were) just incredibly packed in rush hour.  When transferring at Bloor-Yonge you can expect to have to wait for three trains to pull in before actually squeezing onto one!  Fortunately trains are every 1.5-2 minutes in rush hour, though this is still annoying (and didn't feel safe even pre-COVID).  This is driven by huge downtown office growth.  Very different from my memories of Toronto in the early 90s.

Totally different by the sound of it - I don’t recall even the likes of Bay and Bloor being that packed, even during busy times. The 80s/early 90s were probably a golden period, in retrospect. Always a damned expensive place to live though !

The ‘Urban Toronto’ Forum has some very interesting photographs taken of sites back then and what they are now. Quite an eye-opener. Back in the 1990s the old Victorian era downtown landmarks were somehow hanging on, although rapid growth was already evident. Skydome was the latest and greatest new thing (and I even saw a cricket Test Match Friendly there with the legendary West Indies Team v Rest of the World ).

Edited June 24, 2020 by sidewinder

[porcy62]

On 18/6/2020 at 6:40 AM, Brad said:

A newly discovered Hemingway story, Pursuit as Happiness, that appeared in the New Yorker.

Here’s an interview with Sean Hemingway, Hemingway’s grandson, Ernest Hemingway’s Grandson on an Unpublished Story from the Author’s Archive

By coincidence I am rereading  Hemingway in these days, I found Farewell to Arms quite naive but For Whom the Bell Tolls a strong novel.

[jazzbo]

Re-reading this series in order of publication. This one is from '42. Fun series!

[Brad]

2 hours ago, porcy62 said:

By coincidence I am rereading  Hemingway in these days, I found Farewell to Arms quite naive but For Whom the Bell Tolls a strong novel.

I have to confess I haven’t read Farewell to Arms, although I do have it. His booms about Spain are my favorites.  

[Brad]

12 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I used to live in Brooklyn almost at Coney Island.  I always had a seat coming in to work, so often used that for writing (pretty sure I finished a couple of dissertation chapters on the inbound train) but stood all the way going home, so would read then.

In Toronto I virtually never get a seat on the bus or train (except for weekends) back when I was still taking transit, so that was generally fine for reading (unless the bus was really crowded).

I would commute to New York City from Stamford, Connecticut on the Metro North, about a 50 minute ride. Lots of time to read. My hats off to you for reading on the subway. Too distracting for me. 

[Brad]

On 6/23/2020 at 4:08 PM, Brad said:

I’m making another run at Berlin Alexanderplatz. If it won’t take off, I will probably sell my copy. 

Don’t have to worry about reading this. Turbo took care of it.

[ejp626]

Wrapped up The Plague only to discover that the university library isn't processing returns after all. 

Oh well.  If I had known I had another month to return it, I probably would have procrastinated some more.

Currently a chapter into Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I've meant to read for the longest time.  Will also be starting The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga.  Apparently this was made into a movie, though not sure I'll watch that (have to get through the novel first...)

After this, most likely I will reread Don Quixote.

[felser]

Excellent writer, very entertaining read:

And my current inspirational read is:

[medjuck]

I first read many of these stories 60 years ago.   Most of them hold up.

Edited June 29, 2020 by medjuck

[Matthew]

40 minutes ago, felser said:

And my current inspirational read is:

I like Keller also, I found his book Preaching very good.