A few semi-salient thoughts every now and then about
reading, writing, books, and all things bookish.
The Morgan Museum and Library at 36th and Madison, NYC. Nearly my favorite place in the world.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Philip Roth died today. Manhattan. Congestive heart failure. Age 85.
The NYT obituary was a thorough accounting of his life’s work and could not have been written by anyone other than Charles McGrath.
Roth retired from writing in 2012.
The post-it note on his computer said, “The struggle with writing is done.”
What a life.
I actually wish he had pursued his initial plan when he was first starting out in college of becoming “a lawyer for the underdog.”
Then again, a good mind is valuable regardless of where it lands.
And his landed well.
Til next time.
Page 36 in Jill Krementz's The Writer's Desk.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Books aside today…time for planning to see a few good movies this summer:
The Seagull
Annette Bening
Boundaries
Vera Farmiga
Puzzle
Kelly MacDonald
The Wife
Glenn Close
And then there’s HBO’s Westworld, which has most recently been transformed into Shogun World.
Please send me the CliffsNotes/SparkNotes…either one. I’m having trouble following along. So. Thanks. But even if I do read the Notes, I may still not be able to figure out which character is a robot and which character is a human and why they are all massacring each other pretty much non-stop for an entire hour each week. Not good. On several levels.
And finally, speaking of real estate, David and Peggy Rockefeller’s home at 146 E. 65th sold for $20 million…down from the initial asking price of $32 million. The home was purchased by Doug Band.
I wonder if he’ll do the airbnb thing.
Probably not.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Three Things Today:
1. 100 million people between 1918 and 1920 died of Spanish flu.
One of those who died was the German sociologist Max Weber who created the idea of status theory and the discipline of sociology.
His three big sociological groups are:
a. Social class (owner vs. renter)
b. Social status (non-economic=honor, prestige, religion)
c. Political party
These three attributes influence ones chances at opportunities to improve your life. SO…Max Weber…further study is on the horizon…much beyond Wikipedia…even though that’s a totally great place to start.
2. Today, suddenly, it clicked. I saw the word contemporaneous and knew what it meant, which reminded me of a word that I NEVER remembered what it meant. That elusive word? Extemporaneous.
Contemporaneous=concurrent or existing in the same period of time. Extemporaneous=impromptu or done without preparation
This all leads me to my wish that I had taken Latin at some point in my formal education.
Not too late you say?
Oh. Yeah...well…right.
3. I read a piece about Leslie Manville in today’s NYTimes. Leslie is starring in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. I saw this play with Vanessa Redgrave and came away thinking that I would probably never see another play as intense as this one. Vanessa was joined on stage by Brian Dennehy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robert Sean Leonard. The piece about Leslie in today’s paper was less about the play and more about Leslie’s unceasing effort to continue acting in spite of all the ways in which it’s all been an uphill climb. I’ve loved her in everything I’ve seen. I’ll probably forego this rendition of Long Day’s Journey, but I’ll definitely be there for her next big movie role.
Okay. One more thing. Not Three Things Today. Four.
4. I think I’ve made a huge mistake. After purchasing six new bookcases in the past five years, I decided I’d stop buying physical books and start storing them on my kindle. That’s the mistake. The huge mistake. I want the physical book and not the virtual book. Looking at a book on a screen is just not the same as holding the book and getting a physical sense of its weight, its author’s efforts, and its place in the universe. So now I’m going to start a new budget for restoring my book-buying habit and buy all the books that are now mere flickers of light on a plastic device of a mere few ounces.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018
I finished reading The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. It was great.
It’s the prior story to the story of Lyra in The Golden Compass. The entire series is profoundly good.
But it was almost too much to believe that a fairly young boy could withstand floods, heavy rain, howling wind, bad guys, more floods, more heavy rain, more bad guys, and even more floods in scene after scene which mostly took place in a canoe with a broken paddle toward the end.
The text kept saying how exhausted and tired Malcolm was, and I totally believed it.
Pullman's use of dæmons to demonstrate the inner spirit of each of his characters is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. A lovely dæmon assigned at birth and completely committed to the welfare of its owner…is a lovely thought indeed.
This particular book is the first in his new trilogy. And I’ll absolutely be there for numbers two and three regardless of how exhausted Malcolm and I might become.
Much thanks to Mr. Pullman for fighting the good fight.
Til next time.
Photo from The Guardian.
Monday, May 14, 2018
In the unlikely event that I can’t get a ticket to Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, I’ve at least checked out the play from the library.
Public libraries…there wouldn’t be life without them.
You drink a lot of Starbucks and it's easy to forget that it was founded by a pretty decent fellow…Howard Schultz.
He was on BookTV today getting an award from the Atlantic Council for being a pretty decent guy surely but mostly for being a leader of leaders.
His award is called the 2018 Atlantic Council Distinguished Leadership Award.
His remarks and answers to questions were exactly the kind of thing the country needs to hear from all its leaders.
Starbucks has 28,000 stores in the USA and has 3,000 in China where the company is headed by Starbucks CEO, Belinda Wong (who evidently is a case study in drive, ambition, leadership, accomplishment, and unstoppability).
The Starbucks story is inspiring to hear. It’s such a unique example of how capitalism and servant-leadership can symbiotically co-exist and thrive. Howard was there with his wife and kids and was interviewed by David Ignatius of The Washington Post.
Along with food, music, art, literature, and gardening…there’s coffee to make life good.
Buon caffè.
Til next time.
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Friday, May 11, 2018
Really.
I’ve got to stop doing this.
But honestly, I probably won’t.
So what is it that I probably won’t stop doing?
I probably won’t stop zooming around as if on a plane collecting random snippets of book recommendations from various authors, critics, and publishers about what to read next.
For example, I just this minute read recommendations by Dambisa Moyo in her By the Book interview in The New York Times, and she said she liked The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol.
And since I’m a totally dedicated fan of Gogol ever since I saw that movie The Namesake starring Kal Penn and Irrfan Khan wherein Irrfan named his son after Gogol, and ever since I’ve read all the books by Jhumpa Lahiri who brilliantly wrote The Namesake, I went to Amazon. And there it was.
The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol available on my Kindle for ninety-nine cents.
What a gift.
Click.
So, yeah.
I probably won’t stop zooming around even though it’s probably MUCH better to settle on one or two authors and read their entire body of work. But wait. Maybe I’ve already done that…mostly.
Gore Vidal
Jhumpa Lahiri
Sherman Alexi
Kate DiCamillo
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Barbara Kingsolver
Toni Morrison
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Eduardo Galeano
Frank McCourt
Christopher Paul Curtis
Wow.
However, that still leaves on my radar for reading their whole body of work Italo Calvino, Salman Rushdie, Edith Wharton, Franz Kafka… And more.
All these thoughts?
Sponsored today by two cups of coffee.
Thanks, Starbucks.
But wait. A bit more random clicking around, and I’ve stumbled onto by predetermined fate and/or unavoidable accident a totally free copy of Memoirs of a Madman by Gogol on the Gutenberg site.
Gutenberg.net…priceless.
Here’s the Gutenberg creed, which Facebook should consider appropriately adapting and immediately adopting:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it…
Wikipedia...expanding knowledge one click at a time.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Finished reading a smidgin of David Baldacci’s book, One Summer. Got to the point where the father is almost dying, the mother is dead, the children are a mess, and the whole thing is just too depressing, real, troubling, and/or predictable…so…I moved on to…The Little Paris Bookshop, which had an equal number of deaths, mournings, and lost souls but which was outstanding.
The Little Paris Bookshop was about Jean, Max, Luc, Manon, and a host of other characters who each sought wisdom from books that were sold specifically to them from a barge on the Seine. Totally a great premise, and it ended just right.
Plus, Kafka and Lindgren were cozy companions and seemed extra smart for cats on a barge.
And finally as well as sadly, this tiny little postcard is one of my very, very, very few souvenirs from Paris. What was I thinking? Customs. Bah.
Til next time.
Me and Mona. Mona and Me.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
I finished reading The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn. The movie rights have been purchased. It’s a mystery thriller in the vein of Hitchcock and is very effective at featuring a woman who may or may not be stable. But my guess is that when they make the movie, they will not have her wandering around outside soaking wet in her bathrobe in the rain while tripping and falling down with virtually every stumbling step she takes. Just a guess. AND it was a really good read.
Also, I heard that Christie’s auctioned off 500 million dollars worth of china, porcelain, paintings, and jewelry that all belonged to Peggy and David Rockefeller.
Do two people really need that much stuff?
The answer is…maybe?
No. The answer is no.
In something unrelated, I heard Alan Bennett make the observation that there is a “childhood preference for the familiar.” I think that’s probably true, but it’s probably also true that the preference for the familiar is for all living creatures for their entire lifespans.
Familiar. Such a nice word.
And finally, I bought a shoe by Ralph Lauren. If only I could afford the other one. Ha.
Seriously. Ralph, Ralph, Ralph. Seriously.
Would you wear that shoe?
Could you wear that shoe?
Even more seriously. I thought the women’s movement had spoken.
Maybe next season.
Ralph, help us out here.
Til next time.
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My lovely Keds inspired by Jonathan Kozol.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Two Japanese writers keep popping up everywhere I look.
Haruki Murakami wrote The Strange Library. He lives in Japan.
Kazuo Ishiguro wrote The Remains of the Day. He lives in England.
Since there are plenty of youtube videos of them individually discussing their work, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot about each of them.
At any rate, their names are now here in one place so that I don’t have to keep looking them up as I try to remember the names of these two specific writers and these two specific books.
Thanks, Google. You are very helpful.
Til next time.
Google...old or new...consistently helpful.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Michiko Kakutani is a retired book editor for The New York Times. She retired last summer after reviewing books for 38 years.
For some reason I thought of her today and found a site that summed up some of her reviews.
But because some of these brief summaries seemed a bit harsh, I looked further and found what appears to be a link to all of her reviews in their completeness rather than in summary.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/michiko-kakutani
Seems like a great find…and it is.
Me and The New York Times…two peas in a pod.
NOTE TO APPLE IN CASE THEY’RE READING THIS: the nytimes.com site many times shuts down on Safari but never on Google Chrome.
Hmmm. So use Google Chrome you say? I do. But…I’m more suspicious of being tracked by Google than by Apple.
But then again, I bought a new purse yesterday, and now I’m being shown ads for even newer and better purses on both Safari and Chrome.
So since it doesn’t seem to matter how much one tries to avoid being tracked, I might as well be unmindful and go with Google Chrome at least for The Times.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2018
NPR put together a montage of the best books of 2017:
http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2017/
Can there be anything better?
Maybe.
How about twenty-five years worth of conversations between Michael Silverblatt and Kazuo Ishiguro who just won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017 and the Booker in 1989.
In the somewhat disturbing and sometimes slow-moving Justified on Amazon Prime, Patton Oswalt is a new character named Bob who absolutely and instantly steals every scene and holds it until the camera cuts away. Awesome.
And today’s two favorite lines from two other Justified characters:
“Not a word.”
“Not a problem.”
Til next time.
NPR...nothing quite like it.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
The Interestings. Finished reading this. But reluctantly. Came highly recommended. Beware recommendations. The reason? A book about the fictional lives of people on easy street who are blithely unaware of life outside their own insulated cohort is either too sad or too true or possibly both to read seriously.
On the other hand. Maisie Dobbs. Historical fiction. Journey to Munich. Fictional characters who view the world and their personal lives as connected and equally deserving of their attention are my cup of tea.
Then.
The Woman in the Window. Wow. Three pages in. I’m hooked. Totally.
Also.
Watching BookTV live from Maryland today. Decided to define two words:
Plutocracy = a society ruled by the wealthy.
Oligarchy = a society ruled by the few…as in Russia, China, North Korea.
Also.
Kai Ryssdal had jury duty in LA yesterday.
Chris Thile was live in NYC today.
All these live broadcasts allowed me to watch, learn, and listen while at the same time imbibe in online shopping via Amazon Prime. Go team.
And finally, I watched J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. Loved it. Once again, Amazon Prime.
And once again, due to Alan Bennett via Alex Jennings in The Lady in the Van mentioning J. B. Priestley, I found a new author as well as a new film.
Amazon Prime. Totally great.
HOWEVER, they are increasing their Prime price by $20 later this year.
Hmmm. Much to consider.
Til next time.
Rich Dworsky and Chris Thile doing what they do.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Today I’ve stumbled into a study of Edna St. Vincent Millay, which connected me to Zelda Fitzgerald with references to Sylvia Path.
Creative women. Bright beginnings. Harsh endings.
Burning candles at both ends without ever feeling the light.
Another thought. What is reality? That’s the question. What is reality?
Well, according to the TV show Westworld, reality is that which is irreplaceable.
Today the Dow dropped 424 points, and I bought a jar of Kikkoman Plum Sauce.
For real.
Mostly.
Til next time.
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Saturday, April 21, 2018
The theme for the day is self-reliance.
I was watching the LA Times Festival of Books broadcast live on BookTV today and watched an author talk about the real life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Evidently, Laura was a big believer in self-reliance to the extent that she was opposed to FDR’s New Deal. This was very surprising. I may have to read this author’s biography of LIW.
Caroline Fraser is the author. The book is Prairie Fire: The American Dreams of Lauran Ingalls Wilder.
This puts me in mind of the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin who was also an advocate of self-reliance. I may reread his book.
And then, also, Visionary Women is a new book by Andrea Barnet.
The four women featured are:
Rachel Carson
Jane Jacobs
Jane Goodall
Alice Waters.
When Andrea first started the book’s research, she mentioned that she had asked herself, “Am I one of those who has read Silent Spring and just thought that I read it?”
Et tu, Marsha?
And finally, Tracy K. Smith was live on livefromhere.org tonight reading poetry from Town Hall, NYC. I watched. I listened.
And one more finally from liverfromhere.org, I watched Fred Newman do a solo and soft shoe dance to “I’m sitting on top of the world.” I bet I’m the only woman in America who has an original copy of Zounds! with the original vinyl that still works like a charm (if you have a turntable that is…which…I do).
Quite a day.
Til next time.
Hip, Hip...
Hooray!
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Maybe it’s a Shakespeare Folio, a Mozart Manuscript, a Gutenberg Bible, or the dress of Charlotte Bronte, but whatever I find it takes my breath away at every turn and only at the Morgan.
These are a bit of springtime nostalgia from November 12, 2016.
Til next time.
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The Morgan library; the place where all the goodness resides.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Finished reading David Grossman’s A Horse Walks Into a Bar.
It won the Booker International Prize. I couldn’t put it down. It captured a man’s life from potential to demise all taking place on the stage of a comedy club.
I also begrudgingly finished reading The Wife Between Us, which got four stars on Amazon and oddly enough pretty bad reviews. I kept waiting for the two women characters to be described as other than shrinking, trembling, fumbling, or shaking. Never happened. Goodness, it’s 2018. Plus, there’s the Joan of Arc play coming up on Broad Way.
And now? I’m between books.
I hate when that happens.
But being between books allows me time to slowly ease into Justified. This show can become repetitive, but I'm giving it a bit of a go. But only a bit. The best thing so far is that I caught a screenshot of two long shadows just leaving prison. Not bad.
Two more tidbits:
Erasmus
Dutch Renaissance
born 1466 Netherlands
died 1536 Switzerland
and
Martin Luther
German Reformationist
born 1483 Germany
died 1546 Germany
Featured in Fatal Discord: Erasmus, Luther, and the Fight for the Western Mind by Michael Massing
Til next time.
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Monday, April 16, 2018
This week I’m catching up on old episodes of Nero Wolfe written by Rex Stout and played by the late Maury Chaykin (1949-2010).
Nero is a detective who is dedicated to the perfection of food and drink and is of the opinion that nothing corrupts a man so deeply as writing a book. Delicious.
Also.
Billions. This is a show I am VERY suspicious of. I put off watching it for three seasons, but I’ve finally succumbed to the possibility that it might be good. And it is. And I’m hooked.
However.
What if this is really the way it is on Wall Street?
Wait. There’s Condola Rashad as a key player in Billions and who I thought might be related to Phylicia Rashad. How many Rashads in show biz can there be? And she is. Related. AND she’s playing Saint Joan on Broadway. Quite a major talent. And quite a serious actress.
Saint Joan written by George Bernard Shaw in 1923.
GBS born in 1856 (Ireland);
died in 1950 (England).
Then there’s the music at the end of each Billions episode with my three favorites so far.
2/11
Even the Losers
Tom Petty
2/12
Homecoming
Josh Ritter
3/3
You Want it Darker
Leonard Cohen
Til next time.
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Sunday, April 15, 2018
After listening today to Howard Giles Unger on BookTV talk about Richard Henry Lee, it is my loss to not know more about Cincinnatus (military leader) and Cicero (statesman and orator).
It appears that the list of things I do not know is significantly (p < .05) longer than the list of things I do know. This is not good.
One thing I do know is that Humoresque was composed by a Czech composer Antonín Leopold Dvořák, and it’s played with aplomb by Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgAzqlIcs4k
Two more small things I know.
It’s called a stingy brim.
Walter Mosley’s hat.
I’m three weeks behind.
Really?
Yes.
This appears to be true.
Til next time.
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Saturday, April 14, 2018
Three writers at the San Antonio Book Festival via BookTV got it all just right. Class and poverty in America was their topic.
J. R. Helton…Bad Jobs and Poor Decisions
Bryan Mealer…The Kings of Big Spring
Jose Antonio Rodriquez…House Built on Ashes
It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from three open and honest writers about their lives, their struggles, and their successes.
While the internet is complete with gadgets, glitter, and glamour, NPR and BookTV always save the day.
Chris Thile streamed live from Town Hall in NYC this evening. His virtuosity on the mandolin is profound. And it was his wife’s birthday today.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Just when you notice something that is way cool and that seems to be real, you discover…it’s not. Real.
For example, I’ve recently started seeing the word amanuensis everywhere I look. And I started thinking, “Wow. Cool, a new word that I’ve never seen, and now it’s everywhere I look.”
But.
It turns out I probably have seen it and just didn’t notice it until BLAM, it just SEEMS to be everywhere.
This phenomenon of seeing something that you THINK is new and that is suddenly everywhere you look has a name.
The name of that phenomenon?
It’s called the Frequency Illusion.
It’s an illusion. An illusion. Unbelievable.
Everywhere I look, there it is. Amanuensis. An illusion.
Turns out that the word amanuensis has been lurking around here all this time, and I just didn’t notice it.
Therefore. This begs the question, “What else am I missing?”
At any rate, an amanuensis is a literary assistant who among other things writes from dictations or copies manuscripts. Good to know.
Also good to know…
The Frequency Illusion concept is part of a bigger list of things under the heading of cognitive biases.
In unrelated matters, in closing, and at day’s end, thanks to Kai Ryssdal, I now know:
A Harvard survey asked, “Do you trust Facebook to do the right thing?”
71% said no.
The same survey asked, “Do you trust Congress to do the right thing?”
79% said no.
Real. Not an illusion.
There may be trouble ahead.
Til next time.
Not an illusion...my favorite pencil box from the Met.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Finished reading two books this week, one short story, and saw a movie…Ready Player One.
1. Beartown: A Novel by Fredrik Backman.
I had no idea I was capable of reading a book about high school ice hockey. But there you have it. Total immersion and a total surprise. While the book was indeed about hockey, it was mostly about dominance, angst, missed opportunities, big plans, and the total randomness of the geographical placement of people on the planet. The teachers, coaches, players, kids, parents, fans, bar owner, male aggression…they all played a huge part in the plot of this story, which come to think of it, I’m not even sure that there was a single plot. Instead, there were overlapping plots with completely separate stories of the lives of the characters. And in the end, a four-year-old girl shows up to lead the cavalry with the promise to save the day…an alpha female who is completely unaware of her destiny. A great ending to a really thoughtful book.
2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
Poverty, strength, family, racial divides, financial divides, educational divides, drug wars, community, aggression, anger, decency. It’s all there. As I read, I kept thinking, oh my gosh, what else can go wrong for these characters. Drugs, prison, poverty, violence, death, injustice, riots, and nowhere to go but up. Maybe the worst part of the situations in which the characters find themselves is that it echoes life so realistically. And the saddest part of that takeaway? It doesn’t have to be this way. We could all do better. The fires and explosions at the end of the book are so unjust and maddening that it almost appears that there is no hope. However, because the book features a huge cast including Starr Carter, Tupac, and Kendrick Lamar, it’s possible that in the future, everything will be Alright.
Evidently, there’s nothing the man can’t do. The 3D impact of this movie established new heights for the flicks. And of course, Mark Rylance was better than perfect…if that’s a thing. And it is. And after watching the movie, I've decided I probably need to create my own avatar complete with dæmon, reading glasses, and an overstuffed chair with a nice side-table for snacks.
And now? Too much reading and not enough treadmilling.
Til next time.
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Monday, April 2, 2018
What’s better than arriving at your office and finding three new packages delivered from Strand Books? Not much.
Looks like the start of a busy month.
Other good news. Today…just today. I discovered that my habit of four-per-day Snackwells are ten times as good when refrigerated.
Who knew that a Monday could be so sweet.
Til next time.
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Hey Siri, can you spell product placement?
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Walter Mosley was live on BookTV today for three hours. Splendid. Every minute. He was generous, pleasant, supportive of all callers, wise, literary, and an all-around good guy. He seems very busy with his next book, his musical, his book-to-movie endeavors, and his favorite meal of blue crab gumbo with okra. He was a total pro with exactly the right amount of hospitality, advice, and encouragement.
Also.
For ten years, maybe more or perhaps a bit less, I’ve been wanting to make a really huge timeline that shows when certain people lived and died. I wanted to show overlaps between and within groups.
WELL…today was the day.
After days of planning and hours of effort as well as several different prototypes along with plenty of tape, I’ve completed a rough draft. And yet, sadly, after all this energy, the whole thing has turned out to be much less than I had hoped.
I wonder if Elon Musk ever feels that way. Probably not.
Back to my chart.
The purple represents artists, the green politicians, the orange scientists. All from 1300 to an optimistically 2050. I included Joan of Arc as a politician but erroneously left off a world hero known as Eleanor Roosevelt. So back to the drawing board and possibly square one.
Til next time.
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Saturday, March 31, 2018
It’s a hmmmm sort of a day.
An author today on BookTV said that the days of Walter Cronkite are over. That’s a shame because we need generous, independent, non-self-serving people who can gather, curate, connect, and explain news events so that they make contextual and historical sense.
On the other hand, there’s a man named Erik Hagerman in Ohio who has stopped all media coming into his life. He farms, buys groceries, visits with his friends, reads, makes art, and swims in his pond…all pretty normal stuff…but without the constant drip, drip, drip of the ubiquitous news.
Tempting.
But…
No BookTV? No New Yorker? No Bookworm? No TimesTalks? No Marketplace? No Dark Money?
Might be doable.
But then I would have missed out on a BookTV historian who studies the history of social movements and their impact on public policy. Nancy MacLean. Very compelling data and arguments.
So it looks as though I’ll be moving forward with media intact.
AND. I found a photo of the perfect reading environment that I may try to duplicate.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2018
I don’t know exactly how I wound up listening to a fifteen-year-old interview and then an eighteen-year-old interview with Harold Bloom. I just know that I did.
Oh, yes, now I remember. It's amazing what the mind will do when it's allowed to drift around here and there. I wonder if that's a bad thing.
At any rate over a period of a few days and several hours...I was watching (again) Frances de la Tour and Alan Bennett talk about the National Theatre in London and then decided to rewatch (again) The Lady in the Van and after that decided to rewatch (again) Alan Bennett and Alex Jennings talk about the whole thing…all over again.
And suddenly I thought, wait…Alex Jennings. What do I actually know about him? A quick Google shows Olivier Awards and on and on right up to Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. Then Harold Bloom pops up as an endorser of Peer Gynt…and then it’s off to the races.
Why is all this so thrilling?
I. Do. Not. Know.
But it is.
Thrilling.
Absolutely.
Truly.
Thrilling.
On the other hand, if I were an English major in grad school with a requirement to analyze Peer Gynt in the style of Harold Bloom, I know I would be apoplectically distressed.
But I’m not.
An English major.
So I am.
Thrilled.
Truly.
And it’s not even yet the week’s end.
So the short take-away from all this is Professor Bloom’s quote from 2000 when talking with Brian Lamb, “Either you believe that reading and teaching and thinking about the best that has been thought and written and said matters and does everyone a great deal of good, or you do not.”
And exactly what is the best? Well, that probably takes a lifetime of earnest searching to discover.
My new Keds arrived today via Amazon Prime, and even though they’re actually too tight to wear, they're very cute. And I’m sure they’re going to stretch a bit over time.
Right?
Til next time.
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Friday, March 23, 2018
Kai Ryssdal from Marketplace.
Tim, Hank, and Ben. It’s been amazing to listen to Kai interview Tim, Hank, and Ben ten years after the mortgage crisis of 2008.
Timothy Geithner…Henry Paulson…Ben Bernanke
After that, it was almost essential to rewatch the movie, Too Big to Fail. The parallels between Kai’s interview and the movie are nearly absolute. The take-away from Kai's interview is that these three guys with their smarts, their know-how, and their courage along with Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, and Nancy Pelosi did actually save the country from bread lines, unemployment, and inflation.
But why did it all happen in the first place? Good question.
The simple answer?
Home ownership.
Home loans were injudiciously made, mortgages couldn’t be paid, mortgage insurance companies had to pick up the tab, and everyone simply ran out of money.
Timothy Geithner… Billy Crudup
Henry Paulson… William Hurt
Ben Bernanke… Paul Giamatti
Hollywood got it just right.
Lessons learned?
It’s a jungle out there.
And?
Don’t spend more than you have.
And?
In the money industry as in much of life, consumers have to decide whom to trust. I trust Tim, Hank, Ben, Barney, Christopher, Nancy, and Kai.
Putin? Cambridge Analytica? Not so much.
Politics is the art of deciding who gets what. That’s why life can be so much more pleasant between the covers of a book. And speaking of books. Sheila Nevins executive produced a documentary on Arthur Miller’s work and life. I watched it this week. He, at age 41, testified on June 21, 1956 in front of U.S. Senator (R-Wisconsin) Joseph R. McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and revealed nothing. In fact, he was cited and convicted for contempt. He appealed and won his case with Washington’s Court of Appeals on August 7, 1958.
And…I was lucky enough to see Miller’s All My Sons with John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes in 2009. Quite intense and unforgettable. I kept my Playbill and ticket as souvenirs.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Grant Snider has reading goals.
Til next time.
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Monday, March 19, 2018
I’m getting through Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell…but rather more slowly than I had anticipated.
I’m actually bogged down with her recounting of three Hellenistic theories that guided Montaigne’s thinking:
Stoicism
Epicureanism
Skepticism
.˙. I’ve decided that rather than philosophy, I’m much more a fan of Jane Goodall, Dava Sobel, Jared Diamond, and Edward O. Wilson. Somehow, it’s easier to study nature and humanity from the vantage of what can actually be seen and documented. Empirically…seems to be the word I’m looking for.
So. I’ll have to do some serious reading at some point in the distant future about Hume, Locke, Aristotle, Socrates, and all those in between to actually come to a conclusion about the philosophy of living well.
Until then and even if I am pretty skeptical about it all, I might get back into Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein.
Until then, I’ve come across a definition that I quite like of what makes a successful civilization:
Self-Governing
Rule of Law
Democracy
That’s a lot for a Monday. Maybe time for a reprieve into something a bit lighter like Sheila Nevins’s new book…click click. Done. Kindle. Sheila.
I’m looking for a mind at work. And Sheila seems to be the one. She’s taken a hard look at it all. For forty years. Quite a legacy.
Til next time.
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Sunday, March 18, 2018
A lazy Sunday made less so with a couple of Double Espressos. And then of course it’s the NYT, Andrew Lloyd on the CD player, and then reading all about Sheila Nevins after watching her booktalk on BookTV this morning.
Then a couple more chapters in Sarah Bakewell’s Montaigne.
And later? Alan Cumming debuts in his new TV show but without his Scottish brogue. Such a shame.
Nevertheless.
A perfectly sunny day. Even in the rain.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Stephen Hawking died today at age 76.
The obituary in The New York Times was a well-written tribute to a man who understood much and gave us even more.
My copy of A Brief History of Time seems to be temporarily misplaced, but I will find it soon.
His work. His life. Indisputably good.
Til next time.
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Monday, March 12, 2018
At some point, readers must stop surveying the field, flying through genres, and browsing the stacks.
So for now and maybe for a long while. Maybe. John Banville.
I read Roger Rosenblatt's remarkable review of John's new book, Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir.
Then it’s just a few clicks here and there to get the big picture.
How have I missed this person all these years?
First, I found an interview IN DUBLIN from 2004 with Michael Silverblatt. John shared his thoughts on writing. Michael. Without Michael, I just can’t visualize what my mind would be.
And then it was on to a few youtube interviews.
He (John) is a post-humanist believing that humans are not the center of the universe. He wonders if humans will be replaced by a bigger virus. He thinks we are not as important as we think we are. He thinks all works of art are simply the result of trying to solve a technical problem. “Something comes into your head. How do I get this expressed. How do I express my amazement at the world and all its extraordinary phenomenon and bafflements.”
I may start with his book The Sea and work my way up to the present. Iris Murdoch also wrote The Sea, which I may reread.
But wait. I just now watched a youtube of John and his agent being interviewed at an Irish university in Cork. And I noticed that John was a bit quarrelsome with the interviewers. This reminded me that he was even a bit short with Michael.
Also, John talked quite a bit about wanting to make money, which in most circles is always considered bad form. Hmmm. Nevertheless, the sea, the sea, I must go down to the sea again.
Right after dinner.
One last thought. Michael also interviewed Seamus Heaney who quoted Yeats who said that a poet writes about his personal life but he is never, “the bundle of accident and incoherence that sits down at breakfast.”
Or even to dinner.
Til next time.
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Sunday, March 11, 2018
A remarkable sequence of events over several hours and a couple of days.
Started (again) reading How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell.
Going well.
Watched a Barnes and Noble video on BookTV by Steven Pinker about his new book on enlightenment titled, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
Perfect.
Picked up TNYTBR from March 4, 2018, and there’s Sarah Bakewell reviewing Steven Pinker’s new book.
Really quite cool.
The circle of books as well as the oddly unexpected sequence of random events can always be trusted.
Til next time.
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Saturday, March 10, 2018
Last week, Michael Silverblatt interviewed Dave Eggers and Mokhtar Alkhanshali about producing coffee in Yemen. As Michael was about to pronounce a word of which he was unsure, he asked for guidance from his guest from Yemen by saying, “I am very capable of error.” Which of course he isn’t. But it was a very sweet moment…among many.
An excellent interview.
Also this week, I learned the extent to which the advertisers on the internet are interested in mapping our individual thoughts and deeds according to our online searches.
Therefore, in order to control and confuse my internet psychological profile, I’m going to start googling odd things like:
Shoulder pads for geese.
Bovine balding patterns.
Mason Cache bowls used for road paving.
Spring flowers used for parachute construction.
Creating marshmallow pudding as fuel for tractors.
Handi-wipes made from diamond dust.
Conquering bricks with sunscreen.
Avoiding highway congestion with Febreze.
Bitcoin laundering procedures.
Things like these.
And now? How many copies of The Elements of Style does one person actually need?
Til next time.
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Friday, March 9, 2018
I finished reading Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. This book will forever be in my head. I wish it had ended with less magical realism since the rest of the book had only too-stark and too-real and totally preventable, absolute sadness with no magic in sight.
Also finished reading Lillian Boxfish by Kathleen Rooney. This book seemed to lack flambuoyance, which is evidently spelled flamboyance. It did, however, totally remind me of Leonard Marcus’s book Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, which I loved, loved, loved, and it also reminded me of The Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick who is a literary flâneur and a much admired thinker and writer.
And finally, I discovered I rather enjoy every now and then an Izze Sparkling Water Beverage of the Mandarin Lime variety…with its status as being USDA Organic a real plus.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, March 7, 2018
I don’t really think it’s supposed to work this way. Nevertheless, my mind and the internet somehow led me to a 1957 interview between Mike Wallace and Bennett Cerf of Random House. The interview is online and is housed at UT Austin.
Oh, yeah. NOW I remember. I was discussing the publisher Random House with someone, and in my head popped a need to do a bit of reading about Bennett who founded Random House in order to publish a few books now and again at random.
The Mike Wallace and Bennett Cerf interview was about quality literature, censorship, and television viewing. During the interview, Mike mentioned a group called National Organization for Decent Literature that sought to advise people about what should and shouldn’t be read.
Random House and Bennett Cerf are of course responsible for bringing the controversial and banned Ulysses by James Joyce to the US through a court case, which of course, Bennett won.
The decision of District Judge Woolsey in 1933 regarding Ulysses is very interesting and very readable…much more so, unfortunately, than the actual novel.
I finally finished the Knausgaard piece on Russia. He wrote it exactly right.
His stories of the people he met on his journey hold the secret of Russia, but the people from these stories are totally without the power or authority to orchestrate their own lives. They are, instead, the ordinary souls who inhabit a place that is large enough to contain them but that is not free enough to allow them to lead anything close to a contented life.
The three lively women on the train.
The young couple in Kazan with a baby on the way.
Sergei the truck driver.
The old, old woman in the village.
Those are the people of Russia. They live in a world of hardship. This is what totalitarianism brings...hardship with the hope and promise of a better tomorrow that never actually materializes. Masha Gessen writes about this situation and speaks passionately about Russia and its people.
Knausgaard refers often to Turgenev’s A Sportman’s Sketches, which is a collection of stories by Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883). The specific story Knausgaard refers to is about five boys telling stories by the campfire. I will read this soon.
The final reaction to the piece is that there seems to be an absence of educational opportunities in areas outside of Moscow…not only a lack of opportunity for education but also a lack of public libraries, trade schools, accessible universities, or even the simplest of human comforts for a modern life.
Based on this story, I’ve stolen someone else’s new year’s resolution:
Less procrastination. More gratitude.
Thanks, Karl Ove.
And then also today, I watched Jeff Shaara and Peter Slen on BookTV live for three hours. Mesmerizing. Totally. First-rate. Flawless. However, only one woman named Susan called in or emailed a question during the whole three hours. Hmmm. At any rate.
Thanks, BookTV, Peter Slen, and Brian Lamb. You’ve changed the trajectory of the nation.
One last anecdote from Jeff Shaara. During the filming of Gettysburg with Martin Sheen, Martin’s horse kept veering off course so that the director had to shoot the scene several times. During the final shoot when the horse was at last cooperating, a phone rang in one of the buildings in the background. An actor near that building called out, “Jeb Stuart is going to be late.”
And now? Moving on, in a bit, to less procrastination.
Til next time.
How you say in Swedish, "Hey Dude, you gotta stop smokin'."
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Saturday, March 3, 2018
Ever have that dream like when Bob Hoskins takes a baseball bat to defend himself against Liam Cunningham in the series The Street except that it’s not Bob and Liam, it’s you and Ken Howard with a hammer?
No?
Me neither.
Which makes this an excellent time to listen to all my musicals on CD.
No more Street for me.
Tomorrow? Jeff Shaara live on BookTV.
One more thing: Bob Hoskins (1942-2014) was a wonderful actor in The Street and was also particularly wonderful when he and Frances de la Tour starred in Flickers in 1980. Flickers is still in my head after all this time. I should buy it on DVD. I know it still stands up as great art.
And speaking of Frances, my favorite line of hers occurs in Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van when Frances’s character is talking to Maggie Smith’s character.
Maggie’s character is sitting in her van.
Frances walks by.
Maggie looks up and says, “You’re tall.”
Frances replies, “My husband was tall.”
SOOOOOO perfect.
Til next time.
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Friday, March 2, 2018
"A tall English man with good manners and a good suit."
That’s the description of Bill Nighy as offered by Christopher Walken in Turks and Caicos written by David Hare. At some point, I’m going to tire of rewatching this trilogy. But so far…it’s two thumbs up after more viewings than I’m willing to admit.
Also.
Finished reading The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead. Quite an elevating read with a great main character named Lila Mae who is just this side of perfect. I wish her life had been easier.
Halfway into Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. Unfortunately, she captured the plight of troubled folks all too accurately. I think you have to be very brave to write this kind of book. Actually, you have to be pretty brave to even read it.
I’m also halfway into An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. The book is a fictionalized account of the Frenchman, Alfred Dreyfus better known as the main character in the Dreyfus Affair. There are many colonels, generals, soldiers, characters, and spies in this book. It requires concentration. And concentration is made possible by a bit of rain, thunder, and a few ocean waves courtesy of Amazon Prime.
Although it’s a little early in the morning, is it ever too early for Knausgaard?
I do, however, wonder if it’s too late for
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Diary of a Madman
Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852)
We may never know for sure.
But.
Another coffee?
Yes, please.
Til next time.
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Friday, February 23, 2018
Speaking of hope…a slow steady read of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback is a good way to end the week.
Simms Taback, February 13, 1932 - December 25, 2011.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
I’m reading The Intuitionist: A Novel by Colson Whitehead. I love Lila Mae, and I will never take an elevator again without being more conscious of Mr. Elisha Graves Otis from 1853. And then let's not forget the nefarious dealings of all the competing elevator companies who were happy to cause trouble in the business of elevation.
Plus, this book is comforting in an odd sort of way because Colson injects humor, wit, astute observations, and cuteness throughout even though it’s a dark and mafia-laden book.
I’m also reading Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson who does these kinds of books better than anyone. A delicious read. Better than chocolate cake. Nearly.
Then next, I’m queued up to read...too many to choose from. There will barely be time for sleep.
And finally, I’m happy to report that Maggie from The Paris Spy survived although she is, at the end of the book, incarcerated. Book eight of the Maggie Hope series is due out August 27 2018, which of course means that Hope is in the pipeline for survival.
Til next time.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
A short road-trip this weekend.
Short enough but long enough to listen to all of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton for the umpteenth time. I’m so blown away by the story, the talent, the struggle, the duel, the loss, the rap, the rhythm, but mostly Eliza’s strength.
I visited the graveyard at Trinity Church last year. So now I need Einstein to give me time travel so that I can bring back Alexander and Eliza to show them what they’ve accomplished.
I would keep them semi-sequestered until they were acclimated to the idea that they were here in 2018. I’m sure they’d eventually ask (sooner rather than later), “What’d we miss?”
To allow time for acclimation, I’d show them around little by little until they could manage the subway, a credit card, and modern cuisine.
We’d shop at Macy’s, have lunch at Fairway Market, stay at the Hilton, stop by the Museum of Natural History, The Grange at 141st, his statue at 84th and East Drive, The Metropolitan, and then eventually… I’d have to call Ron Chernow, David McCullough, Jon Meacham, Douglas Brinkley, and Doris Kerns Goodwin. And of course Lin and Phillipa Soo would have to be included in that august group.
Then at that point, I’m sure that they would all take over the agenda, and I could only hope to be in the room when it happened.
Til next time.
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Friday, February 16, 2018
Today?
Yo Yo Ma, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer on Amazon Prime (still the best deal in America…Amazon Prime).
Coffee with cream and sugar.
AND
A new book. The Paris Spy.
It’s a Maggie Hope mystery. And it’s right in the middle of WWII.
Maggie is about to be questioned by the Gestapo all the while knowing that two of her British compatriots are being tortured and murdered by the Gestapo in the basement of a Paris mansion.
At this point in the book, the German occupation of France is complete except for the French resistance.
The French resistance…much to be admired and studied.
I can’t believe I’m reading this kind of book. But I can’t seem to put it down. One of the characters in the book who has sold out his British citizenship to be part of the German Third Reich has chosen to do so because he preferred Fascism to Communism.
Politics is complex and many times below the dignity of our potential.
The whole book is SO disturbing on practically every level and yet literary, historical, and spellbinding.
The ONLY reason I’m finishing it this weekend is that it’s part of a series of Maggie Hope books. So…I’m thinking Maggie has got to survive.
Then? Back to Danielle Steel? No. Probably not.
The thing about blogging is that nobody reads it and it doesn’t pay (according to Cheryl Strayed), which of course makes it quite fun.
At any rate, I hope this book ends well.
Oh yeah. It will. Winston Churchill.
“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
Til next time.
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Thursday, February 15, 2018
The Square by Ruben Östlund.
I just watched it twice in two days.
It’s a film about art analyzing art that analyzes society.
The film features the ordinary ennui of small groups of people woven into the completely preventable human-made disasters of all of society.
The Square is a fictionalized work of art in Sweden that consists of a square. Inside the square is where trust and caring are supposed to be absolute. Hungry? Need a swimming lesson? Need to talk? Help is inside the square.
Trust, caring, and moral courage are the themes of the square, of the film, and of the better angels of our nature.
The film’s writer has created something quite special. The film would make a good focal point for a university course especially if it were paired with a reading and discussion of Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell.
The syllabus would outline ways in which the book’s and the film’s truths could be unpacked (as they too often say) in terms of wealth, poverty, the roads taken to arrive at the world’s wealth and poverty, and then the comparison of our species to others that have not divided themselves into the haves and have nots. (This may be the connection to the chimp that is in two scenes with the American journalist played by Elizabeth Moss.)
Additonally, an analysis of Ave Maria performed by Yo Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin throughout the film would make a grand conversation.
I wonder if it’s true that 291 people own half the wealth on the planet. That’s a line from the film.
Final thought:
The Swedish writer and director, Ruben Östlund, has produced a really great film. And yet, I bet he’s on to his next big thing. He should take a rest…maybe for a while. He deserves it. How much more does he have to create? Seems like he’s done enough.
Best part:
The cleaner who cleaned up the excess gravel and then the museum director’s decision to redistribute the gravel as if nothing happened.
Most disturbing part:
The mean man who dragged a woman from the table and no one immediately helped.
Most questionable part:
The chimp who drew on his own nose.
The biggest commentary part:
Competition for money for art is fierce and unforgiving.
Oddest moment:
Christian and Michael are in Christian’s Tesla listening to loud electronic music by Justice.
Another oddest moment:
A bunch of people are wildly jumping around and appear to be dancing in the Swedish Palace.
The last scene:
The youngest actor wears a baseball cap, lowers her eyes, and holds the future. Will it be more of the same or will her generation fix the world’s inequities?
Stay tuned.
But so far, it’s not lookin’ too good even though there’s always tomorrow…
Til next time.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
As often sometimes happens, thoughts of missed opportunities bubble up on this festive day of flowers and chocolate.
Actually, my one and only real regret in all of life regards a sweet but missed opportunity to dance with Alan Cumming on the stage of Cabaret.
There I was (unbeknownst to me) sitting in the designated seat where Alan would come off stage and invite that particular occupant for a brief dance.
And I was the chosen one. Yes. Me. I had the magic moment. The golden ticket. The one and only. He offered his hand. I glanced away. The moment passed. He chose another. The show went on. Without me.
Why?
Why?
My purse.
I was seated at a table with two others whom I did not know. And my immediate thought as Alan walked in my direction was, “What will I do with my purse? I don’t know these people. Do I leave it on the table? Will they steal it? Will they steal its contents?” I just didn’t know. I had said hello to each of them prior to the show’s beginning. But what did that mean? Practically nothing.
And by then it was all too late. It was over. The moment had passed. The dance was complete.
But truthfully and mostly, while all that thinking about my purse had been happening at the speed of light, I was actually saying to myself, “I can’t really dance all that well especially in front of people especially on a stage especially with Alan.”
Missed opportunities.
It’s all about how to move on.
If you can.
Oh yes.
The purse? Prada. Ebay. Pre-Owned. I love it. To this day.
Still. I would trade it in a heartbeat for a waltzing moment with Alan.
Til next time.
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Friday, February 9, 2018
It really is. It’s really almost too much.
Here I am reading about a boy named Blue who was abandoned by his family, found living rough, and saved by Ginny, a human rights’ worker. Danielle Steel sets all this up in Blue. Quite a read. And to think I was ready to give up on her work after reading Property of a Noblewoman, which was about sad people winding up rich in New York City, Florence, and beyond. But in Blue, there’s redemption without a shallow character anywhere in sight.
Then a minute later…I’m reading a review of a book of critical essays by J. M. Coetzee who won the Booker twice as well as the Nobel, and I’m thinking that as a literary scholar he’d have a totally different reaction to both Blue and the Noblewoman.
It’s a great responsibility to be an official commentator of books. That’s why I rely almost entirely on Michael Silverblatt. What will I do if he ever retires? His author interviews are always perfect with an honesty and a gaze that never hesitate. He makes it all accessible for everyone, and isn’t that what the best curators do?
Yes. The answer is Yes.
One more little thing.
President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1975 awarded the French Legion of Honor to Paul Bocuse, a chef who achieved 3 Michelin stars.
And speaking of hero workshop, I saw these folks walking on the streets of NYC in the past few decades…always in midtown. I wonder if they saw me.
Saul Rubinek
Nancy Walker
Angela Lansbury
Alan Rickman
James Earl Jones
James Spader
Sarah Jessica Parker
Robert Wuhl
Yes. Cabs are expensive, but sometimes it’s simply faster to walk.
And finally. I bought a new book. Vivian Maier: Street Photographer. It’s just too, too perfect.
Til next time.
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Thursday, February 1, 2018
It’s a brisk chilly day on the first of February. And I’m finishing my first Danielle Steel novel, Against All Odds.
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get to this number one best-selling author, but there you have it. Better late than never. Not really. But let’s see what can be done.
I’ve also just finished The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott.
Oddly enough, in these two particular books, Danielle and Alice have each written about women who have been married and widowed. Each of their characters faces entirely different sets of trials and tribulations mostly because they are in dramatically different income brackets.
Danielle’s character named Kate loses her husband, opens a very high-end clothing shop in SoHo, and pretty much lives happily ever after (as do her four children named Isabelle, Justin, Julie, and Zach).
Alice’s character named Annie loses her husband, spends nearly the remainder of her life working as a laundress in a church basement in Brooklyn with several nuns, and pretty much does not live happily ever after (nor does her daughter named Sally).
Both books were compelling.
Danielle’s publisher was Dell.
Alice’s publisher was Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Danielle’s book feels better than Alice’s book.
Alice’s book is a better portrayal of reality than Danielle’s.
Danielle’s book would probably be considered a beach-read.
Alice’s book would probably be considered literature.
These differences are murky for me. Can a book be both beachy and literary? Are these two books in that bi-lateral category?
Not for me to say. Just for me to read.
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And finally for today, a book I can always count on is Fish Eyes. I’m such a fan of Lois Ehlert. What talent. She’s a national treasure from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I may go there someday.
Til next time.
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Monday, January 29, 2018
According to Kai Ryssdale from his Friday broadcast last week, after the housing bubble burst in 2008, the DJIA was at 6,547 on March 6, 2009. It’s currently at 26,439.
And now?
I just watched all 25 two-minute episodes on Amazon Prime of Alice in Paris, which inspired me to have three cups of coffee. What a day.
Til next time.
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Saturday, January 27, 2018
Wow. The New Yorker. It just keeps coming.
Til next time.
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Friday, January 26, 2018
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. Like Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van, I’m in two minds.
This book is a big undertaking. It travels through two world wars, several generations, and at least two coasts. And it gives a pretty accurate portrayal of navy ships, deep sea diving, prohibition, the Great Depression, and the mafia’s control of New York City in the 1930s.
I’m glad I finished it although there were several points at which I thought, when will the book’s characters become more unique. Each character seemed like an amalgamation of lots of generic types of people as opposed to admirable individuals.
In the end, it was as if each character’s survival, accomplishments, and achievements were more a product of when and where they were born rather than a product of their own personal efforts. Maybe that’s the way it actually is in life although I don’t think the author intended for that to be the book’s takeaway.
From an interview she did with Michael Silverblatt, who loved the book, I think she was very interested in that period of time, the war, and the Manhattan world of docks, shipping, and unions.
At any rate, done. Well done.
And next? Several nuns and a melancholy character named Sally in The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott.
Plus it’s the week’s end. And in the midst of winter, it’s nice to see a picture of a river from last August.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Ursula K. Le Guin died today. She was a writer and thinker of worthwhile ideas. I’m glad I know her work. In a By the Book interview in The NY Timeson August 6, 2015, she mentioned that The Cave by José Saramago translated from Portuguese by Margaret Costa was one of her favorite books. I’m going to read it. Her work will live on.
Til next time.
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Monday, January 22, 2018
I finished reading The Circle by Dave Eggers. It’s true. It’s all true.
Mae is the main character and is believably simple and naïve with big dreams of upward mobility (always a dangerous combination).
Mae comes to work for a company that sort of combines Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Google into one all-knowing, all-consuming, all-controlling mega-company called…The Circle.
And of course The Circle’s goal is to have all people on the planet logged in at all times so that the company can know every little detail about every little person right down to the nittiest grittiest elemental fact.
Fun and comedy do not ensue. However, group-think does.
I think Dave Eggers got it all just right with regard to the inevitability and danger of technology to control human thought, choice, and individuality.
At the same time, he does make a good case that maybe the planet would be better off if individuals did not possess thought, choice, and individuality.
I loved the book.
The movie? No…not enough power…even with Tom Hanks (with or without Wilson).
The Circle…it’s closing. And when that happens, it’s not that thinking won’t be allowed, it’s just that thinking won’t be necessary.
And now for a more immediate concern.
"Hey Siri, how do you spell /net neutrality/?"
Til next time.
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Saturday, January 20, 2018
Today.
A bit of reading.
And
Isabel Allende and Michael Silverblatt on Bookworm.
And
Chris Thile in New Orleans.
And
A few coffee beans.
All that.
More than enough.
Today.
Til next time.
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Monday, January 15, 2018
It’s a good day. Got a new book yesterday. Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast.
My second book by her. She’s terrific and just off-kilter enough to be perfect.
And then… Imagine you’re Muhammad Ali and you’re winning fight after fight year after year and you keep on going until there is no more fight. Then it will be time for Jonathan Eig to write the book of your life that will then be reviewed in The NY Times by Joyce Carol Oates. Unbeknownst to Ali, that’s what happened on November 28, 2017. An astonishing life that will be hard to surpass…ever.
Til next time.
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Friday, January 12, 2018
For learners, the question becomes one of process. Is it better to have a predetermined curriculum where “others” plan the learning, the method, and the outcome?
Or is it better just to stumble along and pick up things here and there.
I’ve done both.
It’s far harder to stumble along. But in the end, far more germane.
For example, I was just reading a recent By the Book column from TheNY Times, and Jorge Luis Borges was mentioned. Basically, I wanted to know how to pronounce his name. So. I Googled it, found a youtube video, and boom. A gem.
Not only did I learn how to pronounce his name, but wow. There’s more.
In 1977, William F. Buckley, Jr. was interviewing Mr. Borges on Firing Line. During the interview, Mr. Borges said he was educated in his father’s library. From this education, it is obvious that he became a man of letters…all from his father’s library. During the interview he said he was a man who found happiness in reading and writing.
Throughout his life, when he heard something of interest, he noted it. And after thinking about it, it became a novel, a story, a sonnet, a poem. He explained that when he began to write one of his stories, he knew the first sentence and the last sentence.
He went on to say that he preferred reading in English rather than his native Argentine Spanish because English had both Germanic and Latin roots and could therefore be understood in two different ways while Spanish had only Latin roots. For example, he explained that the phrase “holy ghost” in English was both Germanic and Latin in its origin while the phrase “holy spirit” in English was only Latin in its origin. He explained that “holy ghost” encompassed both secular and religious connotations (German and Latin) while “holy spirit” encompassed only a religious connotation (Latin).
Additionally, he mentioned that he taught himself German as a young reader so that he could read Schopenhauer from his father’s library.
During this Firing Line, 60-minute interview, Mr. Borges referenced Melville, Kipling, Poe, Whitman, Emerson, Cervantes, Neruda, Marquez, Twain, and a dozen others without preparation or prepared scripts. Clearly, his gifts abound.
Will I remember all this? Perhaps. And mostly.
Was I profoundly impacted when I heard all this? Absolutely. And most certainly.
Mr. Borges, without even trying…just by being himself…educated Mr. Buckley, who seemed to uncharacteristically and humbly realize that he was in the presence of someone who without an agenda to do so demonstrated what a genuine intellectual conversation looked like when it had no pre-determined outcome other than to have a conversation.
And in return, Mr. Buckley, to his generous credit, was gracious and appropriately respectful. It was the first and perhaps the only time he resisted his argumentative stance…he knew he had a rare opportunity to be intellectually engaged merely for the sake of intellectual engagement. Mr. Buckley gave a gift to the world through this interview…a profound gift…probably his best.
Why this interview brought me such joy is quite inexplicable. Clearly, I am much too easily moved...by just about everything. Or maybe just by poets and cobblers and strivers and others who...
Toward the end, Mr. Borges gives us a Persian/universal/timeless metaphor, “The moon is the mirror of time.”
Finally, Mr. Borges quotes, “I can not tell a true song about myself. I can tell about my travels.”
A thing of beauty is a joy forever (Keats).
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) was born in Buenes Aires, Argentina and died in Geneva Switzerland.
William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) was born in New York City, New York and died in Stamford, Connecticut.
Til next time.
Power and Truth...always a great outcome.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Three hours seem like a long chunk of time. However, three hours today of watching David Ignatius live on BookTV flashed by in the blink of an eye. And as always, I learned a lot.
I suppose the best parts of his remarks are two-fold:
1) he did an excellent job outlining the research and processes he uses to write his novels. He’s written ten so far and is working on his eleventh.
2) he is clearly an expert from his career in journalism on the international affairs of China, Russia, Pakistan, the Middle East, and the CIA. The insight he brings into the intersections of those entities and their subsequent clashes is nothing less than world class. He appears to be fairly optimistic that everything will work out. He seems to be both a reluctant pessimist as well as a cautious optimist. Not a bad stance.
BookTV. The best. And it’s all about…books.
Final thought. This is about the fourth time this year that someone has mentioned Anthony Trollope. He wrote. He worked at the British Post Office. He invented the red British mailbox.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Mr. Fred Bass of Strand Bookstore died today. He was 89 years old.
It’s a sad day for those of us who know and love his store and who love what he did for the book world.
Over the years, I've bought many books there. And I was never disappointed.
In his store, I always found exactly what I needed.
I was there one day and noticed him on the phone. There was no one between us. I quietly took his photo. And although he was looking in my direction over the top of his glasses, I never really knew whether he saw me or not. And I was too shy to acknowledge him or to ask his permission.
I made a print of the photo. But I never sent it.
I’ll keep it. For safekeeping.
Til next time.
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Monday, January 1, 2018
I decided to make a list of favorite books that I’ve read over the past few years and that are still rumbling around in my head. Seems like a good way to start the new year thinking about the past and looking forward to the future.
Til next time.
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Lincoln in the Bardo
by George Saunders
The Map and the Territory
by Michel Houellebecq
The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple
The Good Earth
by Pearl S. Buck
My Struggle
by Karl Ove Knausgaard
A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
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Sunday, December 31, 2017
Yuri Slezkine wrote the definitive book about Lenin’s repressive Russian government. He’s at UC Berkeley.
Two thoughts.
Scholarship and Activism are twins of truth.
A little revolution is a good way to start the new year.
If I were really, really rich, I’d hire a private tutor to teach me about history, art, science, and literature (I’d save math and chemistry for later…much later). And I’d start with Yuri.
Til next time.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
The Times had a piece this week about the extensive regulations that govern an apple orchard owned by a family living in Altamont, NY.
Evidently, there are approximately 5,000 rules and regulations that govern this 300-acre apple farm so that the owners can barely keep up. These apple farmers are governed by the EPA, FDA, DOL, and other state and national agencies. Seems excessive. And yet, we all want safe food.
The focus of the article is to analyze their situation and try to find the right balance between being able to continue living as a family farmer while still meeting strict and specific rules about how to sell family-farm produce at both the local and national levels.
Then later in the day, I was listening for the hundredth time to the CD Hamilton and was thinking about the arduous task of performing that extensively complex and intricately crafted Broadway show.
Which is more complex?
Growing and shipping apples or pretending to be Alexander Hamilton.
Each is certainly beyond me. But I do love them both.
And then suddenly today, I heard the name Tim Berners-Lee on BookTV. Rachel Botsman was giving a talk about her new book on the subject of trust at Cambridge Forum Live in Harvard Square.
At the end of Rachel’s talk, a questioner mentioned that Tim was the inventor of the internet. Really? How did I not know this?
Even Queen Elizabeth knows about this because she knighted him in 2004 for this very invention.
Way to go, Sir Tim.
Something else I just learned is that a quarter of an ounce of Chanel No. 5 parfum costs $130 (plus tax) whereas 30 ounces of Jean Nate can be purchased for $11.99. And even though I have to admit, I’ve always sort of liked Jean Nate, I do always covetously linger at the Chanel counter to take advantage of their free sample...and always parfum, never eau...
Apples, Hamilton, Botsman, Berners-Lee, Queen Elizabeth, Chanel, Jean Nate.
That’s quite a bit to consider for one day.
One more thing, I’m now hooked on Jo Nesbo’s books.
Looking forward to the new year, not a minute too soon.
Til next time.
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Monday, December 25, 2017
It’s breathtaking to listen to Yo Yo Ma, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer play Bach on their Bach Trios album. AND. It’s part of Amazon Prime.
BUT. It’s impossible to forget Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas.
Happy Listening and Merry Christmas.
Til next time.
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Saturday, December 23, 2017
I’m ready to find out what the ten best books of 2017 are all about according to the The New York Times Book Review.
Then maybe a coffee by the fire, a bit of low-cal eggnog (if such a thing exists), or even a few laps on the treadmill.
Anything’s possible.
Til next time.
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
Two bookish things happened this week.
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Cornel West have elevated their public dispute about race relations in America to the breaking point. Both men have strong views about politics, the economy, and civic discourse. Unfortunately, they have allowed themselves to be divided by fates and furies.
Which brings me to a book I just finished reading titled, Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff.
The main characters are Lancelot known as Lotto and Aurélie known as Mathilde.
The two meet, marry, live, and survive until they don’t. One turning point in their relationship involves Lotto as a successful NYC playwright. At one point, he was invited to be part of a panel discussion for a large, literary-type audience, and he made the comment that men were more geared to creating art while women were more geared to nurturing art. Whoa. He paid a price for this diminished view of women from both his wife and from other women in the audience.
This reminded me of Julia Kristeva’s work on intertextuality and feminism. Like Lotto, I think Julia got much of it wrong.
There were lots of characters in this book, and basically, not many of them were all that likeable. But the book as a whole is widely successful in depicting life’s many phases for a wide variety of people.
This leads me to the rules that John Updike used when he wrote book reviews. He relied on five guidelines in deciding the quality of a book:
1. Try to understand what the author wished to do.
2. Give the book enough direct quotation—at least one extended passage—of the book's prose so the review's reader can form her own impression.
3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long.
4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.
5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's ouevre or elsewhere.
In conclusion: This is a lot of heavy-duty thinking for the season.
So now…with hats off to the extraordinary achievements of Ta-Nehisi, Cornel, Lauren, Julia, and John, back to our regularly scheduled program of simple Christmas cheer and a great gift of Boucheron. Much appreciated.
Til next time.
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
It’s been a busy week.
Saw Lady Bird. Good.
Saw Murder on the Orient Express. Good.
Saw Victoria & Abdul. Good.
Saw Three Billboards. Great. Great. Great. Frances, Woody, Sam. I might see it again.
Finished reading The Sellout by Paul Beatty. He won the Booker Prize for this book. It was a difficult book to read. It’s about race relations and shows anger and rage in a way that keeps hope in the distance. The characters have little control over their lives in terms of the economy, politics, and ethnicity. I was going to put it down several times, but somehow, I kept reading because I wanted to see how it all ended. And of course, as with all great books, it ended in the way that it had to end.
I also finished reading The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro. It had lots of five stars on Amazon, and yet…My overriding thoughts were unsympathetic toward the main character who was a painter who copied great paintings. Claire was her name. She had specialized knowledge about how to make paintings look old by using ink, turpentine, an oven, and special paint. I didn’t have sympathy for her because while she feigned ignorance of a missing Degas (pronounced Degah), she still copied it and then was totally shocked when the FBI charged her with forgery. Well. It was a complicated story with sort of a romanticized version of the life of an artist.
Next up?
The Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman
Wonder Wheel with Kate Winslet
And then?
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson.
More busy times ahead.
One last thing. There seems to be way too much Christmas candy everywhere I look…where did all this come from…who bought all this stuff…oh, yeah…I remember…mum’s the word.
Til next time.
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Friday, December 8, 2017
For at least the thirteenth year in a row, I’ve received a Christmas card from Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter. And I just noticed on the back of the card is a note that says that the image on the front of the card is a painting by Jimmy. Plus, I’ve just now checked all the other cards (yes, I keep everything) and found more of his paintings.
I look no further than this Mr. President to find a principled and generous citizen, leader, commander, activist, humanitarian, and family man.
Merry Christmas, Mr. President and Mrs. Carter.
It’s a good day. All day.
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Sunday, December 3, 2017
It's a lovely day.
The tree is up, the stockings are hung, and yet what I would really like is a list of all English words listed in order of how many times each word is found in all printed books.
And of course, the list would be sortable and searchable.
This would help me understand why I know the meaning of adulation but can NEVER remember the definition of sanguine. (And yes, I watched Modern Family this week.)
Til next time.
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Saturday, December 2, 2017
Today’s modern holidays bring the intersection of art, commerce, science, and technology. It’s almost too much.
And yet…here we are with nearly all my weekly plans done and dusted and with a lovely collection of reminders and rejoinders.
Til next time.
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
This week’s to-do list:
1. Find a cassette player and listen to Eudora Welty read aloud her short story titled, Why I Live at the P.O., which is a GREAT short story that I’ve already read but which will be even greater when I listen to Eudora read the story aloud in her own voice.
2. Watch Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at the movies.
3. Finish The Golden House by Salman Rushdie.
4. Decorate the Christmas tree.
5. Go to Macy’s for some extra nice Christmas cheer.
6. Never watch Room 104 on HBO again. It’s just too disturbing although I’m sure it was plenty fun for the Duplass brothers to write.
7. Continue to perfect the perfect cup of peppermint coffee using
my Capresso conical burr grinder,
my 12-cup Cuisinart drip coffee maker,
my Evian and Cuisinart-filtered water,
my Starbucks French Roast whole bean coffee,
my International Delight French Vanilla Creamer, and
my Torani Sugar-Free syrup…all with a drop of McCormick Pure Peppermint Extract.
Whoa. This all sounds very excessive for just a tasty bit of caffeine. I may rethink this whole thing…less solipsistically. (A nice side note: The Jura company in New Jersey sent me a new lid for the burr grinder after I wrote to them and paid $7 for a new one. I lost the old lid because I accidentally threw it away when I was thoroughly cleaning the grinder for the season.)
8. Take a look at and consider reading some of the books on Scott Adams’s persuasion reading list. Scott was on BookTV today and did a great job.
9. On my kindle, read 14 Years of Loyal Service in a Fabric-Covered Box and I’m Tempted to Stop Acting Randomly both by Scott Adams.
10. Rewatch from decades ago, William F. Buckley, Jr. as he interviews Eudora Welty on Firing Line.
This seems like enough fun stuff for an impromptu to-do list. Plus, maybe I’ll catch a couple of youtubes of Malcolm Gladwell on income inequality and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on writing fiction.
Oh dear. This list actually appears to involve, except for Macy’s and decorating, a lot of sitting. Maybe a quick jog around the block or a fast game of soccer or a few lanes of bowling or a couple of miles on the treadmill…my prediction? Possibly a nap.
Til next time.
Eudora and me.
Friday, November 24, 2017
Friday…Schmiday.
Time to catch up on what’s happening with The Lion King not to mention the second half of Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House, which is engrossing and engaging in all the best ways.
To know and understand Greek and Roman mythology, economics, world culture, and national events and then to weave all that into a story with characters that are hard to put away is just a smidgen of the talent that Salman possesses.
With his fatwa lifted or at least in abeyance, Salman seems to be on top of the world, and I love his work.
With all this reading, that’s not to say that there’s not a bit of time for some online shopping and some leftover sweet potato pie (drats, I forgot to bake a sweet potato pie…oh well, there’s always next year).
And with regard to the pending doom of net neutrality by the FCC, I'm wondering if my slow wifi connection from AT&T is already a portent of things to come. Maybe it's time to switch service providers???? Are you there AT&T?
Til next time.
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Saturday, November 18, 2017
Gosh.
Chris Matthews
Norman Ornstein
Walter Isaacson
Khizr Khan
Salman Rushdie
Christopher Hitchens
“We need him, but we don’t have him,” said Salman with regard to Hitch.
Miami Book Fair. BookTV. Coffee. Chocolate cookies. Only in America.
And now to sit back and think about the day and then maybe to browse my Zabar's catalog to see if their Cavalli Balsamic Vinegar might be on sale.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Oh my gosh. I just checked. It's actually gone up $12. Hmmm. It sure is good though. Might be worth it. I'll have to think about it.
Til next time.
Decaf? No way. What would be the point?
Friday, November 17, 2017
It was an extraordinary book. The Changeling by Victor Lavalle. Victor combined magical realism, Norwegian mythology, feminist theory, two complex main characters, urban life, and two heroic NYPD officers who at the last minute saved the day and who didn’t even know it. How’d Victor do all that? Apollo and Emma married and had a child delivered on the A train in NYC. Shortly thereafter, everything went wrong. Actually, long before that, everything went wrong. The ending? It ended in the only way possible.
Another book? I’ve just abandoned Julian Barnes’s The Noise of Time. It was written as a novel, but because it was historically accurate and about Shostakovich, it felt like a very, very long Wikipedia entry. There were just too many things I had to look up to get a sense of time and place. Sorry. I’m just not the ideal reader for that book.
Which brings me to a book I had thought I’d really like but have set aside for a while until after I bake the Christmas cookies. The book? The Golden House by Salman Rushdie. Salman was great, by the way, on a recent Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David. Go, Salman.
Also, I just finished The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz and am planning on reading his other Lisbeth book, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye. These are continuations of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Stieg died November 9, 2004 in his native Sweden. The Swedish movies of his work starred Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist (who died June 27, 2017).
Today, the NYT had a piece on the Foreign Minister of Sweden, Margot Wallstrom. The Scandinavian countries seem to be flourishing with writers, stories, thinkers, leaders, and The Way Out. Must be all that snow and ice that keeps them indoors, out of mischief, and with plenty of time to debate, write, think, lead, and work.
Music? I just bought The Sound of Silence by Disturbed. This song was at the end of this week’s Blacklist with James Spader. It’s astonishing what good musicians can to do to revise a song and make it brand new…even after fifty years. It’s a great song and intense rendition. Still, I’m not adding it to my playlist of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday who are in spheres all their own.
And finally, it’s the weekend. Come on, Dowager. Let’s get you on board.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Why does eating any amount of chocolate seem infinitely more rewarding than even the tiniest bit of effort aimed at tidying up my writing table?
Don’t know, but ‘tis true.
And by the way? The last word in Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt?
‘Tis.
Til next time.
'Tis a grand and glorious mess with no end in sight...
Sunday, November 12, 2017
No rain in sight.
I’m between books and am three weeks behind in reading the NYTBR, which is where I usually find something that is in the must-read category. Good thing it’s a nice Sunday afternoon.
Six little things and one big thing to remember:
1. Dame Maggie or maybe Dame Judi or maybe just a normal mortal explained that whether to put the milk in first or the tea in first depends on the quality of the cup. If the cup is of a cheaper quality, put the milk in first to temper the heat of the tea. If the cup is of a high quality, put the tea in first and then the milk. It’s all about saving the cup.
2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri with Frances McDormand is on my must-see list.
3. Lady Bird directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf is also a must-see. An absolute must-see. I finally heard Saoirse’s name pronounced. It reminds me of the word insertion without the /n/ at the beginning and end. Ta-da.
4. Elmore Leonard wrote ten rules of writing, the first of which is never open a book with weather. The other nine are equally illuminating and brilliant and entertaining and explanatory and aspirational.
5. I found a recipe for Apple Crisp on page 134 of my favorite microwave cookbook. An apple a day…
6. David Maraniss and Doug Stanton discussed the Vietnam War yesterday on BookTV. It was a conversation about the past that could actually educate us all for the future. Their knowledge is total and complete.
Final thought from the American Book Awards:
Telling the truth is a matter of valor and bravery.
Til next time.
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Saturday, November 11, 2017
I just received a super-duper offer from Sirius XM for two years of satellite radio. For only $400+, I can have their radio service. Unfortunately, this offer is not for me. The reason? For the sake of due diligence, I actually feel compelled to read their ten-part disclaimer written in 4 point font, and frankly, I don’t have that kind of time nor that big of a magnifying glass.
So, it’s gonna have to be public radio for me.
Sorry, Sirius.
Plus, there's always BookTV. Just watched Jon Kerstetter talking about his book as a doctor and soldier and as a recovering stroke victim. He did a wonderful job. He talked about the Carlisle Mission School and the Oneida tribe. This reminded me of Sherman Alexie’s wonderful books based on his life as a member of the Spokane tribe in Washington.
Both of these men have an inner strength that manifests itself in one word…resilience.
And best of all? Their wonderfully written and profoundly good books are NOT written in 4 point font.
Til next time.
Yes, I met Sherman, he signed my book/his book.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
An assistant named Fantasia.
An investigator named Kalinda.
An attorney named Elsbeth.
A PB&J sandwich with pear, brie, and jambon (French ham).
A pumpkin-spice espresso.
An enjoyable afternoon with Several Short Sentences about Writing (by Verlyn Klinkenborg).
And the day moves forward.
It’s just so great what a little caffeine can do…not to mention my beloved Eric Carle wristwatch, which is SO much better than…well, you know.
Til next time.
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Sunday, November 5, 2017
Michael Lewis did a great job during his three-hour interview today on BookTV. I watched the whole thing and barely even blinked. His books are based on topics he finds interesting. And fortunately, his interests are universally interesting.
I’m even going to rewatch his The Big Short.
And an extra bonus is that The Big Short streams on Netflix.
Hurray.
Til next time.
A blink-free zone...almost.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Just got my catalog from Tiffany & Co. At a time when Sears and Kmart are closing stores, Tiffany is sending out a catalog of must-have items. This is the kind of thing a socio-economist would be interested in studying.
For me, I’m interested in the Texas Book Festival, which has been broadcasting live on BookTV all day. It’s been tremendous. The Texas Book Festival and BookTV are real gifts to the nation. And TOMORROW, Michael Lewis will be live for three hours. I’ll be there. And I might even flip through my new catalog although it will probably be very easy/difficult not to order/wish for anything.
Speaking of wishes, I just started reading Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. And by page three, I’m totally reminded of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. So, I know this is gonna be a great book.
I did also just finish Solar by Ian McEwan. Ian writes about a physicist named Michael Beard. Professor Beard is interested in saving the planet from global warming.
Professor Beard's first idea is:
1. Dumping iron shards into the ocean in order to feed plankton which will then absorb the earth’s man-made carbon thereby creating a planet that is carbon neutral.
His second idea is:
2. Harnessing solar power, separating hydrogen from water, burning the hydrogen, turning the turbines, generating electricity. As near as I can tell. The fact that this hasn’t been implemented in real world time, means that it’s a difficult and expensive process. But ultimately, non-polluting energy on a non-profit basis for the benefit of humanity and the planet is the goal. I have no doubt that this is going to happen. But in time? That’s the rub.
Ian McEwen is a genius. His ability to tell the stories of people’s messy lives while at the same time including great emphases on math, music, science, philosophy, religion, morals, and history is simply second to none.
What a week. Actually, what a week-end.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Done and dusted. I seem to be using this phrase a lot lately. Can't say why.
Saturday by Ian McEwan. A day in the life of a surgeon who lives his day with a game, a fight, a dinner, a hostage situation, and finally a reprieve. All in one day. On a very busy Saturday. There’s nothing better than a well-crafted story told effortlessly.
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. A woman dies and two old friends deal with the riches and spoils of her life. Music, politics, and the newspaper business all overlap in this story in a way that rings nothing but truth.
Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Brief essays about everything under the sun including the sun, the wind, the rain, and the stars. These are his gifts to his daughter. Karl Ove seems to live in a universe that is much, much beyond mine but which is viewable and appreciated.
Class Mom by Laurie Gelman. An older mom, Jen, with a kindergartener is talked into being a class mom for her young son. The book is a series of amusing anecdotes about the petty and profound ways in which schools, teachers, kids, parents, moms, dads, and life collide. In my mind I kept comparing Jen to Bernadette in Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple.
Next?
The Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell. Maybe. This book is one I should read but don’t necessarily want to read. I'm in two minds on this one.
I do know I want to read Wishtree by Katherine Applegate and can't wait to get started.
It’s a busy fall.
And to break it all up, I just rewatched Six by Sondheim for the third time. The music from Stephen is a gift like no other. And in the documentary when Dean Jones sings Being Alive from the 1970 production of Company, it’s heart-stopping. That song is in my head all the time. Before Dean sings, he says, “Well maybe there’s one more in me. Let’s find out.”
There was. And it was lovely.
Finally, I rewatched Alan Bennett’s film from 2015 titled The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings. My favorite scene is from Alan’s study in a little house in Camden Town, London. I like the books, the shelves, the desk, the window, the fireplace, the color of the walls, the lamp, the chairs, the carpet, the mirror, the paintings, the framing of the shot, and both the sparceness and richness of the scene. It's just perfect. Alan also wrote The Madness of King George in 1994. How prolific can one writer be?
Very.
Welp. Happy Halloween.
Til next time.
Maggie and Alex and Alan...and don't forget Frances de la Tour.
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Monday, October 23, 2017
It was on cable. I was flipping through the channels, and there it was…once again.
The question is. How many times is too many times to watch Beaches?
Two times?
Three times?
Five times?
Oh dear. Then again, x times over thirty years seems about right.
No worries. Moving on. BookTV does it again.
I watched Al Gore discussing his new book on climate change. A brilliant and instructive conversation. And then I also watched Hillary Clinton discussing her new book. Another brilliant interview.
Both leaders bring a strong intellectual gaze everywhere they look.
Then in the NYTBR I found a tribute to Larry McMurtry written by Douglas Brinkley. Writers are always at their best when praising other writers. And finally, Bill Clinton wrote a positive book review of Ron Chernow's new book on Ulysses S. Grant. Bill, Ron, and Ulysses. A good team.
One more thing. Three folks wrote letters to the editor of the NYTBR. They criticized Robert Gottlieb for dissing romance novels in one of his book reviews. Whoa. So. Based on those letters to the editor, I'm thinking of reading a Julia Quinn novel titled The Duke and I. Maybe. There's a lot on my nightstand at the moment including another Ian McEwan novel.
I hope Ian never stops writing.
Oh yes. Philip Pullman was interviewed in the Times about his previous books as well as his new book. Too good. Too good. Too good.
Til next time.
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Saturday, October 21, 2017
Randy Newman was on Prairie Home Companion tonight. It was a live video stream from The Fitgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Randy Newman and Chris Thile. Pretty good. Pretty...Pretty...Good.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The winner. George Saunders won the Man Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo. Nothing could be better.
Til next time.
The Booker Prize. How could the day be any more just.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Just finished Saturday by Ian McEwan. Totally brilliant. Instructive and engaging. I took notes. A day in the life of Henry. I love the book but will never, ever eat fish stew.
This book packs philosophy, modernity, morality, decency, rage, and societal collapse all between the covers of a normal singular life.
How'd he do it? Willpower, insight, talent, perseverance? All the above?
Another thought.
Medicine, Law, Teaching, Writing.
The four horsemen of whatever is the opposite of the apocalypse.
Til next time.
Monday, October 16, 2017
A few notes about Victoria & Abdul versus the British Empire’s subjugation of India as portrayed by the PBS broadcast of Indian Summers will have to wait for another day except to say that cultural suppression of one group by another will always end badly even when romanticized by Hollywood.
One other thought. Judi Dench was brilliant in this movie and actually portrayed Queen Victoria as insulated and out of touch with the rest of humanity. The movie illustrates the lack of a need for a system of royal monarchies.
The whole idea that societies need monarchies seems passé, counter-intuitive, unfair, illogical, aberrant, and unnecessary.
On a brighter note, I caught on C-SPAN Nicola Sturgeon giving her party’s conference speech this week. She’s the First Minister of Scotland.
The speech was brilliant. And Nicola is wicked smart…even smarter than Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting.
In short…Scotland…a new destination for consensus, democracy, education, non-profit energy production, equity, and financial stability.
Til next time.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
I’ve finished The Wonder. And then I caught Gangs of New York on TV.
Two big Irish-oriented narratives experienced in the same day.
Nearly too much reality. In both, there were themes of power, poverty, morality, struggle, death, confusion, injustice, and an ending. But there never really is an ending. There’s only repetition and recirculation of life’s familiar themes.
Learning from the past is a slow process it seems.
Next on the list is McEwan, Wilde, Knausgaard, Dreiser, or whoever somewhat miraculously appears in my sightline.
And after that maybe something like Victoria & Abdul. Or a quick trip to the beach. Or a slice of banana cream pie. Or a quick shopping trip to Pier 1. Or finishing the software upgrade to my old macbook. Or cleaning out the fridge. Or capturing the perfect selfie. Or…
Actually, I think I’ll tune into Bookworm. The beloved Michael Silverblatt is always so insightful about what comes next. The world of books world is lucky to have him.
Looks like a busy day after all.
Til next time.
The perfect selfie selfie.
Monday, October 9, 2017
I just finished A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré. What a brutal business is the world of spies and spying. There's actually plenty of evidence around to suggest that personal friendships over master spies are the way to end all cold wars. But, we seem to be a long way from those kinds of endeavors.
And now?
It was sort of a difficult choice to make because I already have some knowledge of the brutality of the Irish famine in the 19th century. Nevertheless, I've decided to read The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. And so far, it's got just the right amount of complexity and mystery topped with thoughts about the powers of religion and poverty and how those two phenomena interact and intersect. Ireland has come a long way. But the past is not past and must be regarded with care. So I'll read on and hope for the best.
Til next time.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
I don’t know why I’m always so surprised when I find something of value quite by accident as opposed to finding something because I specifically searched for it. But there you have it.
Today, I found quite by accident on BookTV a discussion of social economics led by Jeffrey Sachs who interviewed Nobel Peace Prize winner from Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus. It was a 90-minute gift.
Social economics is a movement wherein money is allocated from philanthropists and investors to entrepreneurs worldwide who do not qualify for regular bank loans.
This economic movement is supported by the United Nations under the auspices of the Sustainable Development Goals. There are seventeen of these goals.
They must be met according to the UN in order to sustain the planet. And there is no Plan B in case these goals don’t work out because there is no Planet B.
Goal 1: No Poverty
Goal 2: Zero Hunger
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
Goal 4: Quality Education
Goal 5: Gender Equality
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Goal 13: Climate Action
Goal 14: Life Below Water
Goal 15: Life on Land
Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals
This was a great find for a Sunday afternoon. Glad I was in the right place at the right time.
Jeffrey Sachs and Muhammad Yunnus…unstoppable.
Til next time.
A concise reminder of what needs to be done.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Michael Silverblatt recently talked to an author about his own (Michael’s) innocence as a person and as a reader. It was a sweet moment.
And on some level, it’s probably an innate universal aspirational achievement…to be innocent.
I've never listened to an interview on Bookworm that didn't strike me as profoundly worthwhile.
And also.
Louise Glück and Colm Tóibín discussed their work at the LIVE presentation at the New York Public Library this past May. Louise read from her newest book of poetry. Colm read from his book House of Hands, which is about Agamemnon. Louise mentioned Edith Hamilton’s children’s versions of Greek mythology.
Listening to the two of them talk to each other about their work, about Greek mythology, and about the art of writing was a brief liberal arts education.
They are heroic…in the best Greek sense of the word.
And now?
I’ve finished Glass Houses by Louise Penny and am putting aside Oscar Wilde for a bit because I want to start John le Carré’s A Legacy of Spies.
The Glass Houses book took me a little while to read. It was a bit disjointed in that it skipped from winter to summer from courtroom to bistro in the blink of an eye as if it were a screenplay written for TV. Plus there were lots of characters to keep track of.
So. I’m. Off. To the mysterious world of spies and espionage.
Til next time.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Lynne Olson was live for three hours today on BookTV. Her books feature World War II. She shared many facts about the war. 25,000,000 Soviets died. 400,000 Americans died. 6,000,000 Jews died. 400,000 Britains died. 6,000,000 Polish citizens died. 4,000,000 German soldiers died.
60,000,000 people worldwide died in this war.
And also.
The Vietnam documentary by Ken Burns is out.
The movie Dunkirk is out.
The series Occupied on Netflix is out.
It’s a lot for a Sunday afternoon.
The one and only upside of all this various media is that there are brave writers and thinkers out there who can dispassionately study all these historical details and thereby provide hope that principled leaders and everyday people will eventually come to consensus on the value, necessity, and honor of living in peace.
Everyday People with Sly and the Family Stone.
Til next time.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
I’m not meeting my goal of not reading two books at a time.
The only saving grace to the current situation is that one book is fiction while the other is not. I’m reading Glass Houses by Louise Penny and Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann.
Glass Houses is a mystery/crime/police/legal thriller and has gotten rave reviews. I find that I’m having to review in my head the new terms for the Canadian names for police, judge, chief, etc. This is slowing me down. But I’m assuming I’ll be up to speed soon. I’ve just started reading this book, but I already like the main character…Armand Gamache.
Oscar Wilde is a biography and is exceptionally thorough. The scholarship is trustworthy and the endnotes are plentiful. It’s sort of a slow read for me because I’m having to look up so many references.
Things I thought I knew have new contexts and include the work of Kierkegaard 1813-1855 (whose first name is Søren) and Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) (who is responsible for Palladian architecture and who was inspired by Roman and Greek architecture).
Wilde attended Oxford and understood a lot more about philosophy, art, architecture, and geography than is portrayed in his play (which I love with Dame Judi Dench) The Importance of Being Earnest.
My hat is off to Ellmann. His book and its documentation are quite substantial feats.
I’ve also selected the next two books after these two…
The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré
October’s gonna be a busy month.
Til next time.
A Photo Booth rendition.
Friday, September 22, 2017
It’s sort of a funny thing to remember on a Friday afternoon, but I do remember the first time, a long time ago, when I realized that the person who wrote Charlotte’s Web was the same person who wrote Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Elwyn Brooks White also wrote Here is New York and contributed in a major way to The New Yorker.
Not a bad memory with which to start the weekend.
And finally, here’s E.B. reading a bit from yet another of his books...
The Trumpet of the Swan.
Til next time.
E.B. White, 1899-1985.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
I was reading something recently about Ian Buruma. He is the new editor of The New York Review of Books. And then this morning I was watching the live broadcast on BookTV from the Brooklyn Book Festival, and there was Ian leading a panel discussion on refugees and immigrants.
The panelists were Darryl Pinckney, Masha Gessen, and Yasmine El Rashidi.
It was an outstanding discussion of America’s immigration process from writers and thinkers who have studied and written extensively about the issue.
In the end, Ian asked the panel what should be the process for immigrating to America. The panelists each had different perspectives, and there was no consensus. This lack of consensus was in itself instructive.
Masha suggested no criteria for those wanting to immigrate. Ian suggested there were pragmatic issues to be considered. Yasmine pointed out no one wanted to immigrate to Egypt. Darryl discussed whether citizenship was a right or a privilege.
And all too soon, the 2017 Brooklyn Book Festival came to an end.
Til next time.
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Friday, September 15, 2017
I should have been aware of Henry Fountain, but I wasn’t. Until this past Sunday that is.
Henry has written a book about the biggest earthquake in North America. The book is, The Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Everything.
He was at Politics and Prose Bookstore in DC, and of course BookTV was there to capture the event. The place was packed. Totally packed. Standing room only. Readers reside in DC. It was quite a sight.
But the book…the book…it stands alone as a testament to curiosity, scholarship, insight, and stick-to-it-tiveness.
And as great as the book is, the real star is Henry. Henry documented the 9.2 quake that took place in Alaska in 1964. A town and village were destroyed. And the entire region was permanently changed.
In the process of listening to him talk about his book, two big things were mentioned.
1. Henry met George. George Plafker. George was a young geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in 1964, and George personally investigated the Alaska quake. As George concluded and published the results of his study, he confirmed the theory of plate tectonics. It was the first conclusive evidence that the theory of plate tectonics was at the core of our planet.
All this in 1964. George is still alive. He goes to his office every day. And he loves geology.
This quake, George, and now Henry have changed everything we know about plate tectonics, earthquakes, and how the planet is structured. There are about 12 plates on the planet, and they’re constantly moving and bumping up against each other.
2. The talk that Henry gave was fascinating and informative, and lots of people at the end of the talk had lots of great questions.
One question in particular was about fracking and earthquakes.
Henry explained the relationship between fracking and earthquakes. For every one barrel of oil that is produced from drilling into rock and shale for oil and gas, fifty barrels of radioactive and chemically spoiled wastewater are produced. Because this wasterwater is radioactive and not easily disposed of, it is then forced into underground disposal wells…and voila. Earthquakes.
Fracking and wastewater disposal from fracking cause earthquakes. George and Henry. Two people who love science, pursued their scientific paths, and gave us The Quake.
Til next time.
~~~
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Jerry Pinkney created a beautiful book in 2000 titled Aesop’s Fables. He included The Rooster and the Fox on page 82.
The moral of the fable? Tricksters are easily tricked.
From Aesop’s Rooster to Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1390 A.D. Chanticleer, roosters and foxes have been around for quite awhile.
Til next time.
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Thursday, September 7, 2017
Books aside for the moment.
Today, I decided I needed a sugary treat.
How about an oatmeal cookie with raisins as well as a peanut butter and chocolate granola bar? Yes, please.
So off to the grocer I went.
But when I got home, I was in for a lesson in corporate packaging. I took photos.
And even with the slight discrepancies, they were both very deeeelicious.
Til next time.
Brought to us Partially Produced by Genetic Engineering by General Mills Sales, Inc. and The Quaker Oats Company. Verrrry Interesting.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
I finished reading Broken River and was impressed with how the book wove together such a wide and oppositional variety of events, characters, action, and circumstance. The book captured almost all of life’s normal foibles and had an ending that couldn’t and shouldn’t have happened any other way.
Currently, I’m reading Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. The book is readable and illuminating. AND it’s written by an historian who can be trusted to present the best historically-documented research available.
Also, George Saunders and Michael Silverblatt are back in my sightline as they discuss on KCRW's Bookworm Lincoln in the Bardo…an all-time great book that I am going to reread.
And finally, Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress was interviewed and featured several times live on BookTV this past Saturday at the 17th Library of Congress National Book Festival. She’s absolutely perfect for the job. I’ve heard her interviewed several times, and she is consistently pro-book, pro-library, and pro-reading at the level of 100%.
And really finally, I caught an interview with Jack Dorsey, Founder and CEO of Twitter. Very impressive young man. He spoke for over an hour and seems to be a respectable and conscientious businessman who is striving to increase his company’s capital while simultaneously striving to do good work and improve the world’s struggling and broken situations. I should probably check my twitter account more than once every blue moon. I feel like I’m missing out…
Til next time.
There are several Bardos but only one Lincoln.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
John le Carré has a new novel out. It got a good review, and I'm going to read it. Which brings me to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which I bought on dvd and have watched probably a dozen times. There's nothing in the movie that is not wonderful including Tom Hardy, which of course brings me to Taboo on BBC featuring Tom as a sea captain and shrewd businessman up against mighty and ruthless sea-faring forces and then the movie Legend wherein Tom simultaneously plays two twin brothers who run an illegal and gangster-oriented racket in London. Tom is great in all these parts. I wonder if he's a nice person. I bet he is.
What else?
I’ve finished reading two books by Andrew Sean Greer. Less…about Arthur who travels the world looking and writing and The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells…about, well, Greta, who travels from 1918 to 1941 to 1985 always as the same person living her life in difficult times. Totally excellent books.
And finally, I’ve just started reading Broken River by J. Robert Lennon, and I was hooked by page one.
A busy summer.
PS I was thinking of buying a small, small car for zipping around town. And I was thinking how nice it would be to be sold a small, small car for zipping around town by the salespeople at Lexus. They are so accommodating and pleasant. Then again, $$$$$.
A bicycle maybe?
Til next time.
A colorful day...
Monday, August 28, 2017
I learned really interesting things yesterday from BookTV, and I thought to myself, “Self, you should write those down. Nah, I'll wait till tomorrow.”
But now, I can’t remember what they were. Good intentions...
But wait. I just remembered. Hurray.
Robert Smalls
son of Lydia and Robert,
an enslaved person,
a sea captain,
a US Congressman, and
great, great grandfather to Michael Boulware Moore of South Carolina.
Robert Smalls lived from 1839 to 1915 (aged 75). He was a leader of leaders and could have easily been lost to history if not for the author’s efforts to document his life and achievements. The author was Cate Lineberry and the book is Be Free or Die. The event took place at Politics and Prose Bookstore in DC on July 10, 2017. It was really great. And the place was packed.
Always heartening.
I wonder if Brian Lamb is aware of the contributions he's made to the book world. I suspect not. I think he keeps too busy to reflect too much on the gift of books that he's given us. But maybe not. Maybe he's aware of how great BookTV is. Plus, the website and its searching capability are second to none. Thank you, Mr. Lamb.
Til next time.
Friday, August 25, 2017
This week has flown by. Karl Ove Knausgaard has a new book out, and Kathy Bates has a new Netflix series.
Karl Ove never stops writing. I think he should write a Netflix series for Kathy. Two great talents telling stories. I bet it would be a hit series.
I was listening to a conversation about the concept of Character Quotient, which is tangentially related to Intelligent Quotient and Emotional Quotient.
Because the best scholarship defines those kinds of measurements as highly susceptible to situation (situational dependency), I won’t worry too much about them.
What else? Might try the Elena Ferrante books again. Rave reviews. I tried the first one, but it didn’t take. Maybe I’ll give them another go.
Or better yet…maybe I’ll reread Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
Choices, choices.
Til next time.
What to read next...
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Today marks the day I finished reading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North/Catherine North.
How Claire invented this character and this book is a mystery. A miracle of a mystery.
It’s a book of morality supported by science, philosophy, religion, history, and geography. In the end, it concludes (for now) in a way that is a relief.
Also at the end of the book, the publisher has included a list of rather straight-jacketed questions for discussion. The questions were so plodding that I am now assigning myself the task of Forgetting them so that the magic of the book will stay with me.
It’s easy to believe that if I could live forever by repeating life over and over, I would engage in “putting things right that once went wrong,” which is something Harry consciously chose not to do except for keeping track of Victor.
If I were in a position to right wrongs, I would first have to consult with the Dalai Lama, Karen Armstrong, Noam Chomsky, Malala Yousafzai, Jimmy Carter, Lawrence Wright, H.W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Jared Diamond, E. O. Wilson, Janet Yellen, John Lewis, Angela Merkel, Arundhati Roy, and RBG. To start.
A gem of an idea made into a book. Probably even better than tomorrow's eclipse.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017
I’m a third into The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North/Catherine Webb, and I’m mesmerized.
Harry is a person who is reborn repeatedly with full memory of all of his past lives. By age three of every life, he is able to remember all his previous experiences as well as everything he has accumulatively learned in school and in life. In short, he has full awareness of everything he has ever encountered throughout all the hundreds of years of his existence.
He is also a member of the Cronus Club, which is a Club for people just like him.
This book is a cross between Quantum Leap and Tuck Everlasting while creating plausible situations where philosophy, history, religion, politics, war, life, purpose, and being all intersect. Harry is not a character who is out to do good like Sam in Quantum Leap. He is merely living his life and living in the world in pretty normal ways as a doctor, spy, professor, scientist, or groundskeeper among many.
This book is a whole new genre. It’s even better than the Harry Potter idea because there’s no magic involved…there are only ordinary people who live repeatedly.
And my best guess is that I don’t think Harry will ever come back as a giant bug, which is good, because that’s a whole different kind of story.
Til next time.
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Sunday, August 13, 2017
Wallace Shawn, son of William and Cecille, was interviewed this past week on Bookworm.
Wallace has written a new book, Night Thoughts. I’m going to listen to the interview again. And then, maybe probably even again.
His book is an analysis of the lucky, the unlucky, the haves, and the have-nots and is thoughtful, reflective, and unapologetic. His manifesto may not change the world but it certainly does explain it. And that’s not nothing. In fact, it’s quite significant. He’s in a unique position to document how we got here and what should happen in this uncharted new world. His writing and stance are brave. But then again, he’s in a position to be brave. Not everyone is.
And as Chris Hedges once said kindly, "You do what you can do."
Til next time.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Amazingly, today Kai Ryssdal of marketplace.org recommended seeing the movie, Wonder Woman. I’m gonna work that movie into my schedule. I’ve learned more about finance and economics by listening to his radio show than I did in my college economics course…Sadly, I wasn’t a good economics student, and even sadder is that I had a well-known economist as my prof. I should have stepped up, leaned in, rose to the occasion, took better notes, or simply paid more attention. It’s never too late.
Til next time.
Hollywood, call me. I'm in the book.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
I finished The Answers: A Novel by Catherine Lacey.
What happens when the world of science can reduce the essence of a human being to a mass of neurochemicals through which each person can be manipulated to need, feel, and want according to a specified and authorized set of criteria?
That’s what this book explores.
And in the end, this level of manipulation is what is actually taking place now in the perceived world according to writers who write about big data and its corporate use.
The book ends with the main character simply turning off her smart phone.
So…while computers with air gaps and apps that disallow tracking and novelists who switch off their phones might be the answers, none of those things appears to be happening any time soon.
Proceeding with caution is the answer.
But actually, it’s pretty exciting to think that the human brain is studying itself one brain at a time. Maybe it will reveal why chocolate is so good and why John Philip Sousa always sounds so wholesome.
But for now, far from the madding crowd as well as all things tech is a cookbook by Judith Jones who died this past week. I have her cookbook as a gift from Scot. Thank you again for sending this my way. It’s elegant, delicious, and free from all neurochemicals as far as I can tell.
Til next time.
March 10, 1924 - August 2, 2017.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
The Times had a piece today about the statue of Friedrich Engels.
Seems the twelve-foot tall statue has been restored and repositioned to Manchester, England from Ukraine where the statue had been cut in half and discarded.
The article mentioned Engels’s book published in 1845, The Condition of the Working Class in England. In this book, Engels documents the movement of people from farm life to city life to the industrial revolution to the capitalization of workers to the resultant reduction in the quality of life for these workers and their families…basically in perpetuity.
I found the entire book on Gutenberg.org and am up to page 99.
Also, based on the article in the Times, I remembered that some time back I had read Down and Out in Paris and London published in 1933 by George Orwell who documented much the same kind of demise and distress of the working class.
So I thought I’d revisit it. But as I began searching for Down and Out on my shelves, I couldn’t find it. I persisted.
And finally. Eureka. There it was. Housed between 1984 and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent. I suppose at some point in time that seemed a better location to me than say something based on…I don’t knoowww…maybe Dewey decimal.
At any rate, next time I need it, boom, I’ll know just where it is.
PS Note to AT&T. How's the whole net neutrality thing coming along? My internet wifi system lately seems w a y t o o s l o w. Thanks for checking on that for me.
Til next time.
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Thursday, August 3, 2017
A perfect ending with the tip of a hat for 65 years of consistent service to Queen and country captured perfectly and spontaneously by Hannah McKay for Reuters.
Til next time.
Prince Philip exits stage left.
Monday, July 31, 2017
November 5, 1943 - July 27, 2017 (age 73).
Sam Shepard died last Thursday. I saw his play Fool for Love at the Friedman Theatre on November 14, 2015. Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell were the leads. The acting was so intense and the plot was so desperate that the only thing that made it bearable was knowing that Sam, Nina, and Sam R. weren’t actually living those particular lives of quiet and not-so-quiet desperation.
Til next time.
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Sunday, July 30, 2017
Three big things.
Elon Musk released his new $30,000 electric Model 3 car. AND he's got deposits and orders for 500,000 more. Even though I love my electric golf cart, I'm still a bit cautious about the idea of zooming down the highway at 70 mph and suddenly running out of juice. But 500,000 people can't be wrong. Can they?
Garry Kasparov has a new book out. He's a world chess champ (he beat IBM’s machine). He was interviewed on BookTV. I believe his perspective on Deep Thinking can be trusted. But then again, maybe not.
Geoffrey West talked about his new book on Scale. Geoffrey is a theoretical physicist. To be as smart as he has got to be exhausting. Or perhaps exhilarating. Probably the latter.
Big things are happening. Even on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Til next time.
In the slow lane with two loyal companions...
Friday, July 28, 2017
How is it possible to live all this time without having Lorrie Moore’s books as part of my sensibilities? I Do Not Know.
But yesterday, after idly clicking around here and there and reading about various book reviewers and bookish type folks, there she was.
There she was. Talking on a youtube video with Deborah Treisman from The New Yorker’s book festival in 2010. Lorrie was serious, funny, witty, relaxed, accomplished, and much admired by her audience.
So a few more clicks on Amazon and done.
Dusted and done. Done and dusted.
She’s now on my kindle and in my sphere of all things good.
And even better?
It’s Friday.
PLUS.
On my totally awesome Bose speaker, Nick Cave is singing on a play, repeat, play, repeat…basis The Boatman’s Call (brought to my attention by Bill Nighy in the movie About Time).
And once again?
It’s Friday.
Plenty of time to read and then read some more.
Til next time.
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Thursday, July 27, 2017
As is my custom on Thursday, I tune in to listen to Michael Silverblatt. And whoa. There he is interviewing Arundhati Roy about her new book, which I finished yesterday. YESTERDAY!
Utmost happiness right here on my computer.
Michael said many things in praise of her novel as a work that stretches the frame for what a novel is. He also said specifically about the book that its portrayal of power shows that power tries to reduce life to dichotomies of two and then destroy one. He got the essence of the book exactly right.
Arundhati also talked about the novel as a work that is not a film or an essay or a history book. “The time when writers were dangerous has passed. And it must come back.”
The book she has written is not dangerous except for dreamers, idealists, and revolutionists who need a dangerous book. The book is an accurate accounting of dreams, hopes, plans, corruptions, meanness, broken hearts, and broken pieces that come together for a whole new heart. A perfect book.
Til next time.
Michael interviews Arundhati...today.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Today, I finished Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Novel. It seems both respectful and disrespectful of such a monumental work to write something here in my little journal. But letting the day go by without acknowledgment doesn’t feel like an option either.
So here goes.
How did she write such a book, such a big worldly book? At the end, she thanks a total of 91 people including friends, family, publishers, sustainers, and encouragers, and she does this with a light and sincere touch. But after writing this monumental book about power, war, poverty, loss, love, and hopeless hope, the acknowledgments feel far too generous. It was all her. Really. This book is all from her.
I love the book. Love the book. Love the book. The characters who survived. The characters who didn’t. The graveyard that became a home for the living. The births, the deaths, the absolute eye for truth, the courage to tell the story…it’s all there. And now it’s totally in my head.
So.
Here’s wishing utmost happiness to Anjum, Tilo, Musa, Naga, and Dr. Bhartiya. Not to mention Arundhati and her mom Mary.
Til next time.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Pamela Paul is the editor of TNYTBR. She led a panel discussion at the Miami Book Fair on November 21, 2015. She asked five authors the question, “Why read?”
For me, I read to find out what it’s like to be backstage with Patti LuPone or in Afghanistan with Sebastian Junger or in Delhi with Arundhati Roy or in Ireland with Frank McCourt or in the Galapagos with Jared Diamond or in Berlin with Markus Zusak or in the Gulag with Solzhenitsyn or with Harry in Hogwarts or in Ohio with James Thurber or with Toni Morrison in Paradise or in Latin America with Eduardo Galeano or in France with Michel Houellebecq or by the sea with Iris Murdoch or in NYC with Donna Tartt or on the Rez with Sherman Alexie or anywhere with Oliver Sacks.
If I couldn’t read, I’d just be stuck on the side of the road waiting for the dust to settle and the clouds to part.
Ooh, that was way too theatrical. Time for a dish of ice cream and maybe a little Gershwin. After all, it is summertime.
Til next time.
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Thursday, July 20, 2017
Gosh. Everywhere I look lately, there’s Henry David Thoreau.
I’ve even got two books on the shelf that I’ve had for a while and have not yet read.
Awhile? Okay. QUITE a while.
Henry Thoreau a Life of the Mind by Robert D. Richardson, Jr. and
The Annotated Walden
Walden; or, Life in the Woods Edited by Philip Van Doren Stern.
But MAINLY, Douglas Brinkley has an essay in the July 9 edition of the NYTBR, page 12, and that reminded me that July 12 is Thoreau’s 200th birthday.
Douglas Brinkley has done as much for history, the environment, and biographies as any writer can possibly do.
He’s a writer of writers. Thank you, Douglas.
Thoreau said, “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.”
Til next time.
Quite a bit of reading to do...
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Organizing photos today and found several I like from NYC.
Captured the Rockefeller Building in just the right light.
Took the bus to 155th and Broadway to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Love this sidewalk on 6th Avenue and in Thurber’s book and film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Popped over to MOMA to see Monet.
Went to Columbia University’s Rare Book Room to see FDR’s letter to Frances Perkins and Carl Sandburg’s Fog poem for Otto Harbach.
Finally found Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College.
Used the phone at the 42nd Street NYPL.
Hopped the train to Poughkeepsie to see the Roosevelt Presidential Library.
Caught Staten Island from the air.
Til next time.
...
American Academy of Arts and Letters.
50th and Sixth Avenue.
Monet at MOMA.
On the way to the rare book room at Columbia University.
Totally priceless.
Little cat feet.
Bronx Community College.
One of the last working phone booths in America.
From Grand Central to Poughkeepsie...a snap.
The miracle of Staten Island.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Saturday, October 25, 2014…MOMA…Lunch…Second in line…With my friend EWW…Right behind…
Lois Ehlert.
We couldn’t believe it. There she was in person, for real, in line, with her editor waiting for the café to open. It was glorious.
She spoke to us, and we to her. It was great.
And to make it even better, if that’s possible, I had just seen her latest work on display at the Society of Illustrators the previous Wednesday.
It was a totally fabulous experience. I have most of her books and love them all. Thank you, Madame Lois. From your number one fan.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, July 12, 2017
In November of last year, I saw the exhibit of 39 paintings by Max Beckmann at The Met. Because I can never remember his name, I’m including it here. So hopefully, the next time I need this info, boom, there it’ll be.
Brain researchers have cautioned folks against consistently relying on the web to remember things…nevertheless…
Til next time.
Perhaps Max would have loved this shot.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
I know it's problematic since she won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but I'm setting aside Alice Munro's short stories in favor of Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending, which won the Booker Prize. At least for now. The women in Alice's stories seem a little too sad. And I'm looking for women characters more like Tina Fey in 30 Rock, a show which still stands up to funny, funny, funny. And Netflix has all seven seasons.
So even though 30 Rock is old, the jokes are still good and buoyanty...if that's a word but which I'm pretty sure is not.
Til next time.
Playbuzz Image...
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Caught, quite by accident on C-SPAN today, President Obama receiving the Profiles in Courage Award from Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston.
It was a wonderful ceremony and an inspiring affirmation of national pride.
And I caught it just by being lucky.
Happy Birthday, America.
Til next time.
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Sunday, July 2, 2017
Herb Boyd was live on BookTV for three hours today. He did a wonderful job outlining his books, sharing the history of our country, and fielding questions from callers.
The three hours went by quickly. Too quickly.
His latest book is about Detroit.
David Maraniss has written about Detroit as well. Both men have talked about Marvin Gaye and the impact his musical abilities had on the nation.
Music, literature, art, and BookTV in one nice package.
Detroit. Right there in Michigan.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Suddenly today, I woke up thinking about three books:
A Tale of Two Cities
Crime and Punishment
War and Peace
I suspect this is not normal.
Nevertheless. I thought I’d do a bit of surfing in order to lock down these books, their authors, and related bits.
Charles Dickens
England
1812-1870 (58)
Oliver Twist
Nicholas Nickleby
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
Bleak House
A Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Russia
1821-1881 (59)
Crime and Punishment
The Idiot
The Brothers Karamazov
Notes from Underground
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
1828-1910 (82)
War and Peace
Anna Karenina
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
WOW.
I’m reading Colm Tóibín at the moment: House of Hands. Maybe this is somehow connected to the books above. Maybe not.
I’ve read Colm’s Nora and watched Brooklyn and after each am left practically on empty because of his all-consuming story-telling abilities.
I listened to Colm and Michael Silverblatt discuss House of Hands on KCRW’s Bookworm and then decided to read the book, which is about the Greek story of Agamemnon.
After I finish, I’m going to re-listen to the interview to make sure I got it.
The book is hard to put down and tells a story that does not speak well for humanity. But then again, I’m only half-way finished.
I do remember in a humanities class in college wherein the professor dutifully explained Agamemnon and his triumphs and tragedies to a group of us young and inexperienced college types. Bless his heart. He persisted.
And here I am. Again.
Reading. Reading. Reading.
Til next time.
Much thanks.
Monday, June 26, 2017
A big weekend for books.
Gay Talese was interviewed for nearly two hours by BookTV’s Peter Slen. Gay is 85, has written many books, and was named after his Italian grandfather Gaetano Talese. The whole two hours was instructive, historic, and maybe perhaps a bit too revealing. Mr. Talese seemed to think that the interview would be edited when in fact, BookTV does not edit. BookTV merely lets the viewers watch and form their own conclusions. At any rate, the interview was lovely, and I hope Gay and his family are pleased.
As of today, I’ve finished listening to Hamilton by Ron Chernow. And I’ve watched Oliver Stone’s four hours of interviews with Vladimir Putin. It’s quite alarming how much the conversations, issues, and actions between citizens, politicians, and governments have not changed in the last 240+ years.
Next? It’s Magpie Murders written by Anthony Horowitz and read by Allan Corduner. Atticus Pünd is the famous detective in the book and is probably going to solve a crime. The book is quite good and is a nice summery change of pace.
But first…a quick look at CR’s report on cable versus streaming. Why not both?
Til next time.
Always reliable...
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
It's hard to believe that a book as good as Joseph Had a Little Overcoat can actually exist. But it does. It's layered, beautiful, optimistic, and rich in life.
A favorite for the ages.
Til next time.
Simms Taback, February 13, 1932 - December 25, 2011.
Sunday, June 18, 2017
It’s hard to remember a time when there were Sundays without BookTV. Today, I very luckily caught the remarks of David McCullough as he spoke at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston.
David’s new book is a collection of 15 of his speeches that he has given around the country over the past several years.
But better than listening to him talk about his speeches was simply listening to his wisdom about the art of appreciating history.
An NPR reviewer said the book was a gift. Quite.
I also read a review in The New York Times Book Review about Stephen Fry who reads aloud the entire collection of the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.
The reviewer was right. I listened to Stephen read a bit on Audible, and yes, it’s a winner. The whole thing. Nearly 63 hours of a great set of stories. Almost irresistible.
And finally for today, Jeffrey Tambour gave a very sweet By the Book interview for TNYTBR on May 21, 2017. I’m clipping it, saving it, and storing it in my big green scrap book.
Til next time.
His favorite book? Lincoln in the Bardo. I totally agree. It's an astonishingly great book.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Identity politics was part of the discussion on KCRW’s Bookworm on December 15, 2016 discussion. Michael Silverblatt discussed with Rahib Alameddine Rahib’s new book. At the end of that conversation Michael said to Rahib, “The pleasures, the delights of this book, are not just the heartbreaking truths about how we live without equality but also the way literature elevates us and makes any one of us anyone’s equal.”
I know that professional research societies try to test and promote theories and hypotheses about the nature of human activity and behavior, but writers of fiction can many times better explain the subtleties of humanity through story better than a theorist who produces a collection of scientific observations.
I’m pretty sure that our species has evolved so that the power of story is what moves us the most.
So.
On a nice afternoon, a freshly brewed cup of coffee and an insightful story are the ingredients for time well spent.
Chris Ware wrote Building Stories, a book that rings true throughout all of its component parts. He's a genius.
Til next time.
Building Stories by Chris Ware.
Monday, June 12, 2017
The week has gone by quickly. In fact, it’s sort of a blur…at least the day-in and day-out duties of daily life are a blur. But the books…the books I’ve read and listened to…are each in sharp detail.
At the gym
I am listening to the incomparable Allan Corduner read the unabridged version of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. In fact, I’m finishing this book today. A young girl’s life is disrupted by the second world war in Germany. She finds protection in books and ultimately mourns the death of everyone she loves. Death is the narrator in this book. He tells the story of war and its costs. He knows his duty. And sadly and efficiently, he carries the souls of the departed respectfully away. Death ends the story with the statement that he is always “haunted by humans.”
During the commute
I am listening to Hamilton written by Ron Chernow and read by Scott Brick. The cost of establishing a new country after the Revolutionary War remains a debt to humanity even today. The deaths and destruction of so many and so much are well below the capacity of our species to work things out peaceably. And yet…it took a war. And of course after the war, Hamilton gave us our modern banking system and national treasury based on beliefs, laws, and practices of Dutch and English banks. The book is a masterpiece of scholarship, storytelling, and accuracy. From this book to Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, learning about Hamilton is an unforgettable experience.
In the evening
I am reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. In fact, I’m finishing this book today. A bardo is a place in the Tibetan religion where the departed go while they wait for the next part of their journey. Abraham Lincoln and his son Willie are the people in the book for whom the reader’s sympathies are focused. I’m going to relisten to George’s two interviews with Michael Silverblatt when I’m finished with this book. The book is a treasure in both content and contemplative value. The most surprising aspect of the book is simply the way it’s crafted with all the in-betweeners offering their perspectives on life in general and on their own lives in particular.
World War II
Revolutionary War
Civil War
I don’t know why these three books have appeared in my reading life all at the same time, but I’m taking the opportunity to consider the continuing value of what it means to be a reader.
Next book?
Something lighter I’m thinking.
Til next time.
Here we go...lighter and perfect...from beginning to end.
Monday, June 5, 2017
It was quite extraordinary to watch a live broadcast of BookTV yesterday.
Matt Taibbi was interviewed for three hours and was totally knowledgeable and pleasant. Callers knew his work and appreciated his writing.
His knowledge-base is well above average and is fueled by his abilities and training as a journalist.
He mentioned as an easy aside that when he studied in Russia as a college student, he read Anna Karenina…in Russian. He also mentioned he lived in Mongolia for quite a while and played basketball for the MBA.
The Tolstoy reference began at 1 hour, 39 minutes, 55 seconds. I’m sure there’s a way to write that more scientifically, but I don’t know what that would be. So, here tis:
Peter Slen asked, “Have you read Anna Karenina in the…?”
Matt says, “Russian? Oh yeah. Yes. That was one of the first books I actually read in Russian. I know how that sounds because it’s such a big book. But Tolstoy…one of the great things about Tolstoy…I can’t believe I just said that because it sounds so pretentious…but Tolstoy’s writing, you know, even in English, even in translation…it comes through that he has this incredible rare gift for the powerful simple sentence. Right? Like he finds the absolute simplest way to communicate the most complicated thoughts. And his prose has this kind of like, uh, pulsating force that kind of picks up speed over time. And even in Russian, he…my Russian is good but not fantastic…let’s put it that way...but he uses simple words and simple structure in a way that is just, I think, gorgeous.”
There we have it. An interview with a journalist who writes about international politics, finance, and world events but who can also discuss his understanding of Tolstoy, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky.
The entire three-hour interview is definitely worth a rewatch.
Quite a day.
And it ended with a caramel classic shake from Sonic.
Small.
After eight.
.˙. Half price.
With extra caramel.
They never seem to put enough in. Oh dear.
Til next time.
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Friday, June 2, 2017
I caught a bit of a BookTV interview with Hillary Clinton when she spoke at BookExpo in NYC at the Javits Center yesterday evening.
She was so well-spoken and strong.
She shared her ongoing commitment to environmental concerns, economic stability, education, equity in the workforce and in politics, and to encouraging people to run for local offices.
She discusses all these ideas in more detail in her new book, Untitled Memoir.
She was asked what she liked to read for fun. She explained her interest in mystery books and she listed four authors she likes:
Louise Penny
Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs
Donna Leon
Talk about a great endorsement!!!! Wow!!!!
Those are next for me after I finish Penelope Lively’s How It All Began which I love and which is breezing past me to the point that I barely know I’m reading.
What a treat. Lots to plan for.
Til next time.
She persists.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Today, I listened to Michael Silverblatt speak with an Italian writer, Claudio Margis who wrote a new book, Blameless.
Michael was his usual gracious and insightful self, and the author was grateful to have his work tended to so well.
In addition to the details of Claudio’s book, they discussed ancillary ideas and specifically ideas of Voltaire and Nietzsche.
Nietzsche (Germany, 1844-1900) as the writer of the concept of Ubermensch related to his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra was discussed.
Voltaire (France, 1694-1778), as the father of pessimistic optimism, was discussed with optimism being examined, rejected, and reposited. Even in hardship, Voltaire wrote there was still the possibility of growing a garden. Voltaire’s Candide was referenced.
The two men, Michael and Claudio, were conversant in all aspects of the writing of Nietzsche and Voltaire and their contributions to thought.
There is nothing more instantly and sustainingly humbling than listening to Michael and his writers. I don't know what we'd do without him. His nearly 30 years on the air with KCRW are absolutely unprecedented. Thank you, Michael.
I first came to know of the work of Amy through her 2005 book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. The book is one of my best possessions. I bought it, read it, and time passed in a blink.
And then I was thrilled to meet her at a conference in May of 2008.
She graciously allowed me to take a photo of her holding her wonderful book Cookies. I emailed her a copy of the photo. She replied with a cheerful greeting of thanks.
This past December of 2016, I bought a signed copy of her book Textbook at Strand. I read it in one big gulp and found it to be as profoundly inventive and comforting as I had anticipated. Time passed in another blink.
Amy’s life and perspective on life were and are as unique and engulfing as any person I’ve met. No more books from Amy’s hand seems inconceivable. And sad beyond words.
It’s more than I had hoped for. Listening to Allan Corduner read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is actually better than reading the book to myself. And that doesn’t often happen…for me at least…that a recorded book is better than reading it myself.
Allan Corduner of Topsy Turvy…of Gilbert and Sullivan fame…as well as countless other achievements is a treasure. With his German, Jewish, and Swedish background, he brings a profound realism to this particular book that makes not listening to him impossible.
But the real treasure is the book itself, of course. I’ve read this a couple of other times, and it still retains its power. Germany. WWII. A dark and perilous time. But a time not to be forgotten. And this book does just that by explaining life and struggle through the eyes of Liesel, Rosa, Hans, Max, and Rudy. Liesel’s story takes shape when she finds a book titled, The Grave Digger’s Handbook.
Markus Zusak. An extraordinary writer.
This book along with the film Conspiracy starring Kenneth Branagh and the book Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi clearly illuminate what made the rise of fascism possible in WWII Germany. These books and film also give insight into the values and actions of today's Angela Merkel. She's doing a good job.
The world is up against a lot.
But still, a garden can be grown.
Til next time.
A transcendent experience.
Monday, May 29, 2017
Penelope Lively recommends keeping the books one has read so that you'll have a record of what you value and who you are.
Done and done.
Til next time.
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Sunday, May 28, 2017
This past week, I’ve come across three separate things which explore the occurrence of coincidence in daily life.
Paul Auster’s book, 4321, is about life’s coincidences repeating themselves over and over in the life of his one main character, Ferguson. Ferguson appears, lives, dies, reappears at Princeton then Columbia and then at a city college. Ferguson weaves in and out of various coincidences involving writing, revolution, war protestation, love, riots in Newark in the 60s, and finally…the book ends.
And it all involves big plans and even bigger coincidences as in John Lennon’s “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.”
Then as a break from reading, I click on Amazon Prime’s American Pastoral by Philip Roth starring Ewan McGregor. The book and movie take place in the 60s sandwiched between the American Dream, revolution, war protestation, riots in Newark, and the American dream.
Scenes of Newark, NYC, life in the 60s, the revolt of youth via Paul Auster. Scenes of Newark, NYC, life in the 60s, the revolt of youth via Philip Roth.
The unplanned reading and watching of those two particular book/movie narratives during the same time period is quite a coincidence and perhaps poses a question of, “What does this coincidence mean?”
Probably nothing.
Except.
Then I’m reading about Penelope Lively in an essay about her life’s work. The essay, written by Charles McGrath in the May 7, 2017 issue of The New York Times Book Review, is a through and intriguing look at a writer who knows her craft and who will always write because…she’s a writer.
Her latest book is next on my list…How It All Began.
McGrath’s essay led me to several youtube interviews with Penelope who talked about the value and frequency of coincidence in life and in her books.
Imagine that. Coincidence as a theme of life.
I like it. As do Paul, Philip, and Penelope.
Til next time.
Penelope and Me...Me and Penelope.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Today, I was reading a pretty-recent book review of a book by Duff McDonald who makes a case for the failure of Harvard Business School to live up to its own published creed of producing MBA graduates who (paraphrasing) have a “heightened sense of responsibility to conduct their business lives in socially responsible ways.”
The book reviewer, James B. Stewart, says there is plenty of evidence to support Duff’s critical claim.
Interesting review and compelling book.
A quick look at the stats shows that there are around 9,000 applications to HBS each year. HBS rejects 80% of those and admits around 1,800 applicants.
According to the review, this means there are 1,800 HBS graduates each year who are less interested in solving societal problems than there should be.
Even if this is true, how much world repair can a mere 1,800 people do?
Perhaps a lot.
HBS was founded in 1908. That’s well over a hundred years of time to graduate lots of problem-solving folks who can contribute to the public good.
And currently, according to the HBS website, there are 46,054 living HBS MBA graduates…right this minute.
46,054 people should be able to put their collective heads together, solve quite a few problems, and thereby contribute mightily to the public good…almost immediately…as well as right on into the foreseeable future.
And because I’m sitting here, at the moment, looking at a book autographed for me by Jane Goodall while I listen to Kai Ryssdal on Marketplace via NPR, I’m thinking about two people who have solved many problems and who have nicely contributed past, present, and future to the public good...Jane Goodall and Kai Ryssdal.
Are they MBAs from HBS?
Jane Goodall, Ph.D., Cambridge.
Kai Ryssdal, M.A., Georgetown.
Sweet.
Til next time.
The day I met Jane...March 15, 2003.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
There’s something big and noble and grand about a group of people who gather information, talk it over, write it up, and distribute it for the rest of the world to read, ponder, learn from, and access.
Johannes Gutenberg (Germany 1395-1468) had no idea what The New York Times would do with the printing press he invented around 1450.
But to know that the Times’ German-made printing press churns out millions of pages every day on behalf of worldwide readers is humbling and aspirational. In every way.
I’d have to think really hard to come up with an entity that has given me more direction and insight than this group of folks. Every day for decades.
The photo of the actual press along with an article about the people who run it were in yesterday’s paper.
Photo by Andrew Renneisen. Article by Terence McGinley.
Kudos and much thanks for the nice work.
Til next time.
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Saturday, May 20, 2017
I started the day by watching the live broadcast of the Gaithersburg Book Festival on BookTV. The best one I watched was The Vaccine Race by Meredith Wadman. IT WAS GREAT!!!! She thoroughly explained viruses and vaccines in 45 minutes…on live TV. Whoa. Her expertise is phenomenal.
And then for some reason or other I wound up searching for a couple of Malcolm Gladwell youtube/presentations for The New Yorker. I listened to his lecture on genius and his interview with Michael Lewis.
Malcolm’s genius presentation focused on capitalizing on those who can and will spend 10,000 hours of focused practice on their interests.
Malcolm’s interview with Michael Lewis revealed that Michael’s father when Michael was a boy told him that their family crest said, “Do as little as possible and that unwillingly. For it is better to receive a slight reprimand than to perform an arduous task.”
Michael clearly has not followed his father's joking admonition. Michael's books have created these movies:
The Blind Side
Moneyball
The Big Short
Flash Boys
Time for a nap.
Til next time.
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Friday, May 12, 2017
When you have a slight head cold on a Friday night, there’s nothing better in the world than listening to Michael Silverblatt interview Paul Auster on Bookworm from past interviews in 1993, 1999, and 2002.
But then it does get better because I’m just in the middle of Paul’s new book, 4321.
Head cold? Schmed cold. I’m soldiering on.
I wrote Michael a fan letter a couple years back. I’m thinking of writing him again. Are you there, Michael? It’s Friday night. I wonder what you’re reading.
Michael is a writer’s perfect reader and a grand conversationalist. His perfect manners are at a level ten as is his intellectual virtuosity.
It’s very easy to obtain an entire liberal arts degree at both the undergraduate and graduate levels just by listening to him in conversation with all the best writers of today.
His work over the past three decades is unique and based entirely on two things: 1) Michael’s love of books and 2) Michael’s generosity. He’s had an enormous effect on my life. What a gift.
Til next time.
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Monday, May 8, 2017
Ever since yesterday, I’ve been thinking about Penelope Lively and Moon Tiger.
On October 23, 2013, I was at the Morgan in NYC viewing the exhibits…one in particular…Bookermania.
I took a photo of part of the exhibit which ran around three walls before I saw a sign that said no photos.
The Morgan had arranged for 45 books whose authors had received the Man Booker prize over a 45 year period to be elegantly displayed on a thin shelf that ran the length of three walls. The exhibit was stunning in its simplicity and profound in its honoring of authors and their work.
And today as I revisited that photo, I discovered Penelope's book.
As it turns out, I had inadvertently taken a photo of a book with which I was unfamiliar and that wouldn’t reappear in my mind until nearly four years later…today.
This is just one more reason among dozens and hundreds of why I love the Morgan.
It’s focused, cozy, sophisticated, complex, relaxed, easily accessible, and relentless in its pursuit of knowledge. The staff is a group of serious art historians who are dedicated and qualified at the Ph.D. level.
The whole place is a reprieve for the mind, and I bet the staff love their jobs. I hope so.
Every single exhibit I’ve ever seen there has left an impression on me of total goodness.
In a world of bumper to bumper traffic and big box stores where millions and billions of exact duplicates of stuff we all need are housed and sold, it’s lovely to go to a place of learning just for the sake of learning.
ON the other hand, the privatization of knowledge means that you have to have a ticket to get in and nothing’s for sale.
Nevertheless, there’s Penelope…in all her goodness…waiting for readers.
Til next time.
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Sunday, May 7, 2017
What a day!!
Started the day with reading a piece about Penelope Lively in The New York Times.
Penelope won the Booker Prize in 1987 for Moon Tiger. Her contemporaries are Margaret Drabble and A.S. Byatt. She’s working on a new book and has no plans to retire unlike two of her other contemporaries, Philip Roth and Alice Munro, who have announced their retirements according to the article by Charles McGrath who can absolutely be trusted to get the facts straight.
After reading this article and realizing I'm not familiar with her books, Penelope is of course next on my reading list.
And then…the big wait was over. Neil deGrasse Tyson was on BookTV and was interviewed live by Peter Slen for three hours.
Woohoo. Great and perfect and not nearly long enough.
The interview was totally engaging. Lots of great call-in questions and lots of great discussions about black holes, worm holes, speed of light, and good ol’ Albert.
If I could do any kind of time travel, it would be to bring forward Einstein just so that he could see what he’s given us. And then of course we would need him to advise us about what we should be doing for the future of the planet, humanity, and the subjects of physics, math, and science.
Lots to think about today. From Penelope to Neil to Albert. Including a book given to me by an old friend.
And finally, there are certainly all kinds of things to celebrate.
Til next time.
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Saturday, May 6, 2017
Tis a serious day today.
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm,” said Winston Churchill.
Three recent movies about him are:
The Gathering Storm with Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave
and
Into the Storm with Brendan Gleeson and Janet McTeer
and
Churchill’s Secret with Michael Gambon and Lindsay Duncan
Til next time.
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Tuesday, May 2, 2017
I can absolutely live without steak tartare and eggs benedict (if I must), but I can’t live without the Sunday New York Times even when I’m a dauntingly three weeks behind in its reading.
And now? Done. Just like a cake.
Til next time.
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
I just finished listening to Rod Pyle on BookTV as he explained his book Amazing Stories of the Space Age.
He talked for over an hour about all things space. He also explained the roles of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in their efforts to develop recoverable rockets and to colonize Mars.
This presentation was a totally mesmerizing collection of amazing stories.
I learned there’s water in meteors, twelve people have walked on the moon, 3D printers are being tested in zero-gravity, a 25,000 mile tether could be made that would allow an elevator-like conveyance for transport between earth and a geosynchronous point in space, and on and on.
Rod said that Jeff and Elon have passion, brilliance, drive, and love for what they do.
Til next time.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Today?
A word or two about physical books versus Ebooks.
For ease of reading print and having a well-lit platform on which words appear, it’s the kindle/ipad.
But.
For the actual physical experience of touching paper, turning pages, holding a physical collection of ideas, and flipping to the back of the book for a quick peak at the ending, it’s hands-down, the physical book.
Plus, also in favor of the physical book is the fact that flipping through pages is a great way to gauge the total value of the book.
And further, there’s something called eidetic memory (photographic memory), which for me doesn’t work on the kindle/ipad but which does work in the physical book.
Most importantly, I want a physical facsimile of every book I’ve ever read and loved on my shelf…visible, accessible, and ready.
Alas. It's probably way too late for that.
Finally and unrelatedly, I tried a hot fudge sundae at McDonald's. Not that great, but the service was attentive and professional. Maybe I'll give it another shot. They also have caramel.
Til next time.
My Next Big Read...
Thursday, April 27, 2017
My copy of The Wind in the Willows is nowhere to be found.
I’m sure I’ve read it at some point, but I can’t actually remember doing so. And because the book has been referenced at least twelve times by things I’ve been reading or listening to this past week, I’ve taken this as a sign that I should start searching for it.
No luck.
But, I have found Alan Bennett reading the whole book on tape online for the BBC.
I’ve also found the entire book online as an Ebook through the wonderful folks at Project Gutenberg.
Alan reads all four parts of Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toady, and he reads them with such consistent precision, that it’s easy to float down the river, enter the dungeon, and feast in Toad Hall with total comfort and wholesome believability.
Dulce, dulce libro. Thank you, Alan.
Til next time.
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Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Tidbits of mostly unrelated information:
Today, I heard Hearthrow pronounced HeathROW.
Yesterday, I heard Broadway pronounced BroadWAY by Fred Bass of Strand Books.
During John Adams’s day, it took six weeks to cross the Atlantic by boat.
Crispin Glover plays the lead in a film titled Bartleby based on the book by Herman Melville.
John Glover is an actor.
Savion Glover is a dancer.
Danny Glover is an actor.
Donald Glover is an actor.
Five talented people named Glover.
Til next time.
Friday, April 21, 2017
I discovered a new (old) book at the library...ArtfulReading by Bob Raczka.It's a book featuring works of art that feature books. It’s quite clever and well done, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it or even know that this book existed. But there you have it. A real discovery.
And thanks to Amazon, I now own three. Two for me and one for a friend.
Til next time.
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Thursday, April 20, 2017
It’s really hard to keep up with everything that’s published…fiction, nonfiction, news, fake news, essays, audible.com, and on and on.
At the moment, I’m making myself finish Karl Ove Knausgaard’s newest book before rereading Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea as well as reading George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo.
Karl Ove’s book is about soccer, letters, and life. But it doesn’t have the depth of his My Struggle series, all of which I read and appreciated.
Nevertheless, soldiering on.
Til next time.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2017
I’ve been enamored of late with Alan Bennett’s 1987 Talking Heads series from the BBC. He wrote a series of plays in the forms of monologues, which were acted out by Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge, Stephanie Cole, Julie Walters, Eileen Atkins, Penelope Wilton, Juliet Stevenson, and Thora Hird.
They are magnificent studies of human behavior and even better studies of…what’s the word…oh yes, virtuoso acting.
Alan is a national treasure, but he doesn’t want to be called that. He said he’s too shy for that type of fame. Still…he is.
Til next time.
Monday, April 10, 2017
It’s always a centering experience to listen to Alan Bennett read from his plays. It’s his accent, his cadence, and his consistency of values that is always so settling.
For the London Review of Books, he reads a few excerpts from his 2016 diary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYn2SwtoLOU
Moving on far from the world of Alan and his plays, is a scene from Michael Clayton wherein three horses gaze toward George Clooney as he walks up the hill toward them. The horses don’t seem to mind. They seem to be thinking, “Hey, it’s George. Wonder what he's doing here. Maybe he has a carrot.”
And FINALLY!!!! After all this time, I’ve learned how to read Roman Numerals beyond the normal XIV=14. I have no earthly idea why it took me so long. And furthermore, I have no idea why suddenly I've now become interested enough to learn. Actually, now that I think about it, last night I was watching an old movie copyrighted with the Roman Numerals of MCMLXXXVII. And that was the inspiration.
M=1,000
C=100
.˙. CM=900
L=50
X=10
V=5
I=1
1,000+900+50+30+7=1987
Presto.
Now it’s back to two new books I’ve started reading. Chaos by Patricia Cornwell. Not sure why I’m reading about chaos. The book feels sort of like a TV movie script with lots of descriptions about the river, cars, sirens, fish for dinner, etc. Maybe I won’t finish it or maybe I’ll give it a few more pages. And then it’s on to 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster. Not sure what this is about, but it's been acknowledged as good. .˙.
One more thing I learned today. I learned how to make a “therefore” in math.
Period Alt h Period
.˙.
Lovely.
Til next time.
...
Monday, April 3, 2017
Robert Benjamin Silvers, editor of The New York Review of Books died March 20, 2017.
It’s a huge loss. He was the engine that produced scholarly and readable book reviews on a fortnightly basis for his “paper.” And he did this for 54 years.
From a 1997 interview with Brian Lamb, Robert said that of the 10,000 books submitted to him yearly, his paper reviewed 600 of them.
Currently, the Review has 130,000 subscribers @ $80 per year for a subscription budget of $10,400,000 per year. This amount coupled with ad revenues has always kept “the paper” in the black.
Their offices are in downtown Manhattan at 435 Hudson Street.
All of these numbers are factual and critical but at the same time are incidental. Their only importance is that that they allowed Robert and his team to publish book reviews that were completely independent of outside rules, censorship, or interference.
Robert’s sensibilities were such that he was always in search of good writing and verifiable facts. Erudite and kind are two words that his writers have consistently used to describe him.
Robert Silvers made a gift of his intellectual commitments, wanderings, and wonderments to the world for its benefit. He made it possible for readers and writers to connect and think about the issues that the world needs to be thinking about.
In 2006, he received the Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2012, he received the National Humanities Medal by President Obama.
In 2014, he was named a Literay Lion by the New York Public Library.
In 2014, Martin Scorsese produced a film about Robert’s life and titled it, The 50 Year Argument.
Robert has received honorary degrees from Harvard, Columbia, and Oxford.
Two weeks ago today, Robert died at his home in Manhattan at age 87.
He’s gone.
But as he regularly said to his reviewers, “Let’s see what can be done.”
Til next time.
...
Friday, March 31, 2017
Swoosh!
A whole week just whizzed by.
Finished a highly acclaimed book by a Russian author. The book was touted as revealing and enlightening. However, I found it to be rather disjointed and dark. Maybe that best describes Russia. Disjointed and dark. But then again, it's really difficult to know what the Russian people really think about their country. We probably need more student exchange programs. That's where the future can best be shaped. Oh yes. The book? My Life As a Russian Novel.
Speaking of the future. Whoa. Elon Musk. SpaceX. Launched a reusable rocket yesterday. What a guy. Five hundred years from now, Mars might be a routine touristy day trip. I bet he has fun every single day.
Next book? George Saunders wrote Lincoln in the Bardo. I have no idea what it’s about, but it came across my desk. And I love George Saunders.
So. It’s a go.
Til next time.
Me and George.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Yea.
It’s the weekend.
Til next time.
A couple of these, and everything looks possible.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Finished Margaret Drabble’s new novel, The Dark Flood Rises. I think she got it all just right…not that Dame Margaret needs approval, but still…she might like to know that the book resonates with truth.
And the truth that Dame Margaret captured involves the cyclical nature of life and death.
To get to her truths, she included a lot of references to books and writers in much the same way that Michel Hoellebecq included references to books and writers in his book, The Map and the Territory.
And the truth is that when reading these two books in particular, I feel rich, which of course is not as good as being wealthy…but still…it’s pretty good.
The richness from these books comes from just simply knowing that Margaret and Michel crafted complex and bookish stories wherein their accomplished characters were ordinary and complicated but pretty much decent.
Can readers owe a debt of gratitude to writers?
Maybe…Probably…Undoubtedly
Til next time.
Much Much
Thanks
Sunday, March 19, 2017
According to my Kindle, I’m only 44% into Margaret Drabble’s new novel, The Dark Flood Rises. The book is about death, dying, aging, remembering, connecting, deciding, and living…not exactly in that order however.
I keep thinking, “No. I’m going to stop reading this book." But then, I keep coming back wanting to know what happens to all the characters she’s created.
The lives and stories of her characters intersect throughout time and place, which means it can be hard to keep track of who’s who. But in the hands of a writer like Margaret, there’s no trouble telling Fran from Claude from Christopher from Bennett.
So. Today with the encouragement of The New Yorker to spend time reading something that means something, I’m going to soldier on with Margaret’s crew because I know that this book is a book about something that means something. And when I get to the end, well...then I’ll know.
Also today, I have in my hands an actual book and not a digital facsimile. A writer in the NY Times mentioned this book as uniquely essential. So, voila, here tis. In my hand. Right this minute. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua.
Til next time.
A uniquely essential book by Sydney Padua, 2015.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
The beloved Sir Ian McKellen, as he plays Sherlock Holmes in the film Mr. Holmes, is talking to his young bee-keeping helper, Roger (played by Milo Parker).
Roger asks if one of the stories Mr. Holmes is working on is real.
Mr. Holmes replies, “Of course. Fiction is worthless.”
But respectfully, that’s totally wrong, because just today I’ve started reading Dame Margaret Drabble’s The Dark Flood Rises: A Novel. And by page two I’m sold.
So on this rainy, cloudy day, I’ll be sitting by the fire learning about Fran, her life, and the dilemmas which I am guessing she faces.
And after Dame Margaret’s book, which will take a few days of focused and all-consuming reading, I’m suddenly and inexplicably in the mood to reread The Sea, The Sea by Dame Iris Murdoch.
Then maybe I’ll be off to visit the sea, the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by (from Sea Fever by John Masefield).
A busy weekend. And very worthwhile.
Til next time.
The Sea, The Sea by Dame Iris Murdoch.
Friday, March 10, 2017
It’s possible and probable that there is way too much reading material available for any sensible person to process.
Nothing to do but soldier on. But then again...
Til next time.
A wordy life.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
I don’t really know why I feel so buoyant when I read the Arts and Leisure section of the NYTimes, but I do. There’s rarely an issue that doesn’t make me feel like I should be in my favorite seat on Broadway (left section, row C, aisle) or at the movies with a bottled water and medium popcorn.
This week’s feature of Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in the TV series Feud was perfect…as was the show. The show made it obvious what talent, strength, and perseverance Joan and Bette had to have just to be able to do good work. They had to be relentless...and they were...to the very end.
And then of course there’s Bette Midler on Broadway in Hello Dolly, which is going to be perfect when I eventually get there. The reviews and support are remarkably and appropriately positive.
In honor of International Women’s Day, I found an old photo of three trail-blazers in the fields of politics, business, and the arts.
And finally, I made a two-page list of women authors who are on my shelves and under my skin.
Lots of talent…everywhere you look…rising above it all.
Til next time.
Arts and Leisure...Always Available.
Hillary...Martha...Bernadette
Women
Write.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Dave Barry was live on BookTV today, but he wasn’t nearly as compelling as the MD, PhD who was on shortly after him.
Dr. Danielle Ofri has written a new book about physicians and how they do and don’t communicate well with their patients. Wow.
She was brilliant, accessible, and inspiring as well as being a scholarly practitioner of medicine.
She discussed what she had learned after completing research and publishing her latest book, What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear. AND she was at the best bookstore in the world, Strand at 12th and Broadway, NYC.
She has a clinical practice and treats patients at Bellevue Hospital. I am definitely going to get her book.
Click, click. Just did. AND it’s signed by the author. Go STRAND.
Strand Books also listed the rest of their calendar of author presentations, and that includes Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who will be talking about her new book at Strand this coming Tuesday.
Sure is a busy month.
Til next time.
strandbooks.com
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
After listening to Alan Bennett read aloud his book The Uncommon Reader on CD, I’m now reading the actual book for myself.
And I’ve again come across a reference to the book A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell (pronounced Pole, or so I’ve been told).
I checked on Amazon and low and behold (or is it lo and behold…I’ll have to check on that later), I bought the four-DVD, BBC filmed version of that book in September, 2007 at a cost of $49.99 even though now its price is $32.98.
I’m sure I watched it then, but now I think I’ll watch it again.
Til next time.
The box says, "The complete British miniseries based on the epic literary masterpiece." AND what can be better than epic.
Monday, February 27, 2017
From David McCullough’s John Adams, I learned that in 1812, the British naval forces burned Washington, D. C. This included burning all the books in the Library of Congress. Thomas Jefferson sold his personal 6,000 volume library collection to the LOC for $23,000 to help replenish the nation’s and world’s printed wisdom.
From Pat Conroy’s My Reading Life, I read for the third time ever the word amanuensis.
From Woody Allen’s Manhattan, I was reminded of his list about what made life worthwhile in 1979:
Groucho Marx
Willie Mays
The Second Movement of the Jupiter Symphony
Louie Armstrong’s recording of Potato Head Blues
Swedish movies
Sentimental Education by Flaubert
Marlon Brando
Frank Sinatra
Apples and Pears by Cezanne
The crabs at Sam Wo’s
Woody didn’t mention George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue…perhaps its worthwhileness is universally understood.
Til next time.
Woody Allen from the days of tweedy sports coats and cassette recorders.
Apples and Pears by Cezanne.
Friday, February 24, 2017
I finished Zero K by Don DeLillo. In this book, there are two almost parallel stories that eventually converge into each other. And this convergence is of course a reference to the eventual convergence of two actual parallel lines, which will ultimately converge into one due to the space/time continuum. As near as I can figure out.
Finished with Zero K, I've moved on to My Reading Life by Pat Conroy. I watched his widow on BookTV Sunday talk about Pat, his life, his writing, and his books. That was my motivation.
I’m also listening to William Hurt read on CD various short stories recorded at Symphony Space in NYC where William was introduced by Isaiah Sheffer, the founder of Symphony Space. What a blessing.
And finally, in the car, I’m almost finished with the 9th CD of Edward Herrmann reading David McCullough’s John Adams. For the second time. And still rivetting. I think I would not have made a good pioneer settler. Life was hard.
Oh, and even one more thing, I’m down to the last half-hour of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall via Amazon Prime. For the second time. I’m almost to the point where Anne Boleyn is going to be beheaded. Again for the second time. In addition to not being a good pioneer, I probably wouldn’t have made a good subject of King Henry either. Much too many beheadings…including Thomas Cromwell the King’s supporter and confidante.
From couch to car to computer to gym, there’s a lot going on.
Til next time.
The life of readers...
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Today?
A new word.
Calumny.
Haven’t ever heard of this word. And here it is…twice…in one week.
First, Paolo Sorrentino, the writer, gave this word to Jude Law, the actor, in The Young Pope when the Pope was talking about those who were critical of him.
Second, Abigail Adams used the word in a letter to a friend when she was writing about the newly passed Sedition Act of 1918 (of which she disapproved since it was an act that curbed free speech by making it unlawful to criticize the government). [Documented by David McCullough in his book John Adams as read by Edward Herrmann.]
But back to calumny.
It means…to defame or slander someone.
Calumny is a word that may appear very irregularly throughout the decades, but it’s nice to know it’s there. If needed.
Til next time.
9 CDs...flawless.
Friday, February 17, 2017
Just finished Paulo Coelho’s The Spy, a book about Mata Hari’s life and execution. Paulo certainly makes a convincing case for the criminal injustice she suffered. Even though his book is fiction, it is well researched and reasonable. I’m very glad to have read it.
Just started Don DeLillo’s Zero K. His interview with Michael Silverblatt was compelling and suggests that this book is going to be around for a long, long time.
Brilliant writers and books both.
And as I’m doing some spring cleaning…(basically a little bit of dusting), I find a gift that I received many years ago, and it’s a book that tops them all. And that’s not even counting the gift-giver’s inscription, for which I’ll always be appreciative.
The book?
Once I read it, it never left.
It’s Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. It's a river of a book with wave after wave of language that made me feel as though I were moving toward something that was magic. And it was.
Now finally a little thought about the wisdom of books.
According to Alan Bennett in the film he wrote about Marcel Proust and titled 102 Boulevard Haussmann, Marcel and his housekeeper, Celeste, had this conversation:
Marcel asks, “Celeste. Do you read novels?”
“Occasionally,” answered Celeste.
“Why?” asks Marcel.
“They take me out of myself,” she replied.
Marcel responds, “They should take you into yourself. Every reader while he is reading is a reader of his own self. A book is merely an optical instrument, a lens, which the author offers the reader to enable him or her to discern what without the book, they would never have perceived in themselves.”
Thank you, Alan, for finally explaining this book phenomenon to me in words that are insightful and clear.
Plus, I’m honored that it was Mr. Bennett…the man who coined the phrase “habitual cheerfulness.”
Til next time.
GGM...Like no other...1927-2014.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
For years and decades, I’ve never run across the word amanuensis.
And now in the last week, there it is.
Twice.
First, Alan Bennett used the word in The Uncommon Reader to describe a young man named Norman who helped The Queen with her books. Norman was referred to as an amanuensis.
Second, I was catching up on reading The Book Review from January 29, 2017, and there on page 13 was a review of a book about the poet Boris Pasternak, whose life inspired the movie Doctor Zhivago in 1965. In real life, Pasternak’s companion was Olga Ivinskaya…his amanuensis according to the book reviewer.
Two times in less than a week…a new word.
An amanuensis is a literary assistant who among other things writes from dictations or copies manuscripts.
I need one…or could even be one.
Finally and perhaps even sadly, lots of what I think I know about Russia comes from that 1965 movie, which according to the book reviewer still stands the test of time rather well. Thank you Мистер Pasternak.
Til next time.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Yesterday, I was five weeks behind in reading The Book Review of the NYT. Today, I’m only two. Yea.
However, I’m between books, which is always awkward. I’m between books not by choice but because I’ve finished my list and am waiting for my next big read to come my way...as it always mysteriously and without any real plan does.
I’m actually thinking of rereading Ozick or Houellebecq again or maybe even Thurber or Common Sense by Paine.
Something…just haven’t quite decided what, yet.
Til next time.
Choices from NYPL.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
I finished listening to The Uncommon Reader written and read by Alan Bennett. The book is a novella about how The Queen became a reader.
And it’s perfect.
It all started when the nearly 80-year-old Queen was led by one of her escaped Corgis to a mobile library parked by the kitchen in the back of the palace.
She found young Norman, a kitchen helper, on the floor of the mobile library reading a book. She hired him to be her literary assistant AKA an amanuensis.
The Queen and Norman read everything from Trollope to Proust to Thackery to Ivy Compton-Burton and beyond.
Toward the end of the book, The Queen reflects that reading is not enough for her. She also wants to be a writer.
Alan quotes the fictional Queen as thinking, “A reader was next door to being a spectator. Whereas when she was writing, she was doing. Doing was her duty.”
“And she’d always been very good at duty.”
As her reading progressed over time, The Queen said, “At the risk of sounding like a piece of steak, books tend to tenderize one.”
“You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated.”
“At 80, things do not occur, they recur.”
In the end, while the Queen’s Prime Minister was not enthusiastic about the Queen becoming a writer, he does try to encourage her to write nonfiction rather than fiction, which he fears will be too close to truth.
The Queen does not want to write nonfiction. She wants to write fiction. But not gossip.
The Queen knows that Lady Bracknell said that “a life is crowded with incident.” And The Queen wants to create a book crowded with creative incident.
Both Alan and The Queen have lived lives crowded with much more than incident.
What good company for a sunny afternoon.
Til next time.
I'm in the book.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Before today, my knowledge of Rancho Mirage, California was nearly zero.
And that’s not good.
But on BookTV today, the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival from January 28, 2017 was broadcast, and all my favorite writers, environmentalists, thinkers, and leaders were on stage talking about their books, the world, and the future.
Eureka. I struck gold. I just can’t stop smiling.
This festival certainly rivals the Miami Book Festival in quality and scope. AND they’ve already set a date for their next year’s festival in 2018.
Clearly, my knowledge of Rancho Mirage, California has increased a thousand percent. And it’s all good.
Perhaps the best tidbit of info was from a panel and was from the incomparable Douglas Brinkley who told the story of a meeting he had with Boone Pickens. According to Douglas’s first-hand account, Boone’s 60,000 acres in Texas have been restored to their original natural state while at the same time becoming a powerhouse for wind energy.
Brinkley and Pickens. It’s a new day.
The most profound lecture was from Lawrence Wright who always gets his facts exactly right and his wisdom exactly focused. His talk was brilliant. On all levels. World peace, liberty, safety, freedom of assembly. He addressed it all.
The other notable feature of this festival was the audience. Each session was packed with serious attendees who were keen to learn.
The Rancho Mirage Writers Festival…a jewel.
Til next time.
Keeping both eyes open for BookTV.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Where does the time go?
A new book titled, Now: The Physics of Time by Richard Muller was featured on BookTV over the weekend. The author explained his book, his theory, and his take on time.
I watched the entire lecture and still wonder, “Where does the time go?”
I just finished Alexander Masters’s A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in the Trash. Alexander is a biographer and has written about Stuart, Simon, and a Diarist.
Alexander is like a very respectful and respectable detective as he delves into the lives of ordinary people while slowly painting a picture of their journeys.
After finishing 148 Diaries, I've started reading Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo. A bit depressing...but I'll soldier on.
Then queued up are:
The Maples Stories by John Updike followed by
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen.
Not sure about Razor Girl, but I’ll give it a whirl.
At the gym on the treadmill, it’s Z with Christina Ricci on Amazon Prime.
Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. Jeff Bezos…how does he do it all?
Plus, I’ve found a thunderstorm CD on Amazon Prime, and it’s perfect for playing while reading. Thunder and lightning go really well with a good book.
And finally…here are five books I really like, recommend, and have read many, many times.
Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull
When Marian Sang by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
Ella Fitzgerald by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden
Til next time.
Krull. Ryan. Giovanni. Pinkney. Borden.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
I’ve started making a list of movies from the past that I’ve liked and have watched multiple times and will watch again a few more times.
In no particular order:
The Lady in the Van
Adaptation
Birdman
Ghostwriter
Postcards From the Edge
Doubt
Margaret
Iron Lady
Friends with Money
Welcome to Me
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Reign Over Me
The Soloist
Lovely and Amazing
A Most Wanted Man
About Time
Calvary
The Singing Detective (Michael Gambon)
Shooting the Past
Illuminata
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Cast Away
The Pianist
Memento
Amélie
Page Eight
Fracture
O Brother, Where Art Thou
The Darjeeling Limited
Midnight in Paris
The King’s Speech
Bridge of Spies
Sliding Doors
Sylvia
The Hours
The Royal Tenenbaums
Stranger than Fiction
State and Main
25th Hour
Moonrise Kingdom
The Martian
Good Will Hunting
Michael Clayton
The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Interiors
Iris
Oh. My. Gosh.
That’s way too many movies to have watched.
And those are just the ones I really, really like and have watched more than once.
Oh dear.
Til next time.
Five handy favorites.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
In Monday’s Times, there was an article about a scientist from the 17th century. She was a botanist and artist from Germany living in the Netherlands where they speak Dutch (people in Denmark speak Danish).
The Lannoo Publishers in Belgium (where they speak Dutch, French, and German) have reissued one of the books she produced.
The book is titled: Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium and is available on Amazon. The article is very thorough about the quality of Maria Sibylla Merian’s scientific work and makes it clear that history, science, and books are perfect companions.
JoAnna Klein wrote the article.
Til next time.
Maria Sibylla Merian, the greatest botanist of all time.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Yesterday started with a coffee.
And then for some reason, I was reminded of the film Page Eight by David Hare who featured Billie Holliday singing Fine and Mellow in his film. On the Fine and Mellow album (which I found on Amazon), Billie also sang I Loves You, Porgy among ten other songs on her Fine and Mellow Volume 6 album from 1954-1958. This led me to read about Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess which led me to read Robert Gottlieb’s literary criticism in the Everyman’s Library publication of Rudyard Kipling's work. From coffee to Kipling all in one day.
AND
SUPPOSEDLY, Louis Armstrong said, “Ah, swing, well, we used to call it syncopation, then they called it ragtime, then blues, then jazz. Now, it’s swing.” If he did, that’s a totally brilliant synopsis of the history of something I’ve always wondered about.
AND
I read a book review that referenced Pierre Bourdieu’s study Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.
AND
From the season finale of Sherlock, Mrs. Hudson was holding a cup of tea and dropped it. The tea did not fall as fast as the cup and saucer. I need someone really good in physics to explain that to me.
Til next time.
The drop begins.
A closeup of tea.
Friday, January 20, 2017
I was thinking about George Washington’s book that he created as a writing exercise when he was a young boy in school. His schoolmaster evidently had him practice his penmanship by copying from a 1595 manuscript created by Jesuit priests who penned a book entitled Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. I read all 110 admonitions and found them to be not bad advice.
Seems like a good way to start the week end.
Til next time.
George on the one.
Washington's 1785 life mask.
A very good beginning.
Thursday, January 19, 2017
I’m not giving up. But my goodness. I’m trying to get interested and stay interested in Montaigne, and I just can’t do it. Even Sarah Bakewell’s breakthrough and famously-accessible book that received rave reviews doesn’t hold my attention. I really just want to read Montaigne’s questions and answers. I prefer NOT to wade through parentheticals, addendums, historical footnotes, dictionary definitions, contextual underpinnings, and other sources that explain what I’m reading. I just want to read. I just want a readable translation of what the man wrote. I guess this means I’m not an ideal reader. Or I’m not an ideal reader of a 1560’s French philosopher’s writing.
But I’m going to stick with it. Probably. Maybe. Yes.
On a much brighter note, I’m well into Alan Cumming’s Not My Father’s Son. The book is great. Honest and truthful...with a world view of kindness and hope. I’m listening to it read by the author, and I’m actually starting to speak with a wee bit of a Scottish brogue. It’s totally grreat!
And still more brightness. I finished Amor Towles's Rules of Civility. It's about life in NYC in the 30s and 40s. And at the end of the book, Amor includes George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, a book which illuminates 110 brrilliant guideposts for decent living. Well done, George. And thank you.
Til next time.
Montaigne tilts the world.
Monday, January 16, 2017
I finished Avid Reader and am overwhelmed with the accomplishments of Robert Gottlieb. His life with Knopf, Simon and Schuster, and The New Yorker is unique and practically unbelievable.
Throughout all the years that I’ve been reading books, I had no idea he was the editor of so many of the ones that have shaped the life of my mind.
Unbeknownst to me till now, he’s been part of my life as I read everyone from Sylvia Ashton-Warner to Toni Morrison to Robert Caro. It’s a connection. A solid one. Unbeknownst to him. But essential to me.
Then, there’s TV. The Young Pope. Jude Law. Wow. He certainly captures the entire flavor of life in Vatican City as an actor, but it’s Paolo Sorrentino, the series mastermind, who created and directed such a daring tale. A ten-part series. Very brave…including an effectively bizarre connection to Cherry Coke Zero. Where will it all end?
Til next time.
Please recycle.
Monday, January 9, 2017
Very Cool
1. Ten years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone.
2. There was a really great line from Mrs. Hudson on Sherlock last night. A police office stopped her after a high-speed chase in her new, red Aston Martin, “Wait. You there. Stop right where you are. Do you have any idea what speed you were going at?” Mrs. Hudson replied, “Well of course not. I was on the phone.”
Til next time.
Ten years of connections.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Three Four Things That Came Up This Week
First Thing: Choices
Robert Gottlieb said, “There’s a need when you’re young, to announce your standards, your preferences; to identify yourself through your choices.”
IMO, these seem to be pretty good choices for forward-looking youngsters. AAUW
ACLU
Habitat for Humanity
Heifer International
LWV
Nature Conservancy
NOW
NPR
PBS
Planned Parenthood
Southern Poverty Law Center
Also, according to The Times, Charles F. Feeney just gave away most of his eight billion dollar fortune in support of four broad categories of very good choices:
Higher Education
Public Health
Human Rights
Scientific Research
Second Thing: Acting
I’ve seen Nina Arianda in six performances:
2011 Midnight in Paris
2014 Tales from Red Vienna
2015 Fool for Love
2016 Crisis in Six Scenes
2016 Goliath
2016 Florence Foster Jenkins
AND. She was featured in a nice article in The Times Magazine, February 17, 2012. I liked the part where she explains how Woody Allen wanted her to be holding a camera when shooting the Versailles scene in Midnight in Paris.
Third Thing: Conversations
William F. Buckley, Jr. said that he enjoyed conversations with people of intellectual curiosity and cultural diversity. Robert Gottlieb said he enjoyed eight or nine hour dinner conversations.
Gravitational Waves Detected February 11, 2016, The New York Times
What a day.
Til next time.
Monday, January 2, 2017
When two things—seemingly unrelated and separated by decades and events— intersect, should I pay attention to them?
And if so, to what extent?
So. Here are the two things.
Yesterday, I finished the book by Alexander Masters about Simon the brilliant mathematician, and then I started Robert Gottlieb’s memoir.
In Robert's chapter titled, Working-Simon and Schuster, Robert talks about the incomparable four-volume set of books published in 1956 and titled, The World of Mathematics put together by James R. Newman.
Math. There it is.
Two significant references to math, both new to me. And both within the space of a 24-hour period.
I looked up The World of Mathematics on Amazon.
Bingo. There they are.
Amazon has the used and aging four-volume set.
For sale. $12.96 plus shipping for $3.99.
Should I buy this set and protect them from obscurity? Are they, in fact, obscure? Where would I put them? Would I enjoy actually reading them?
I almost feel like Bill Gates when he felt compelled to buy Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific notebook for $30.8 million from Christie’s.
Almost.
Til next time.
The World of Mathematics edited by James R. Newman.
Leonardo's scientific notebook also called...Codex Leicester.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Wow. A whole new calendar year begins today…as do my new year’s resolutions.
I resolve to…hmmm. Can’t decide. I’ll put that off for later.
I did just this morning finish Alexander Master’s biographical book about Simon, who was and is a maths genius. And it is maths. After reading the book, I’m fairly certain that there are multiple kinds of maths. The book had pretty much just the right of mathematical formulas and explanations but was mostly about the unique, odd, and perplexing lifestyle of a genius. I’m glad I read it.
The book I’m starting today is Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb with publication by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, which is just about the best publishing house ever except for the fact that they don’t use the serial comma in their title. I wish they did. I’m a big fan of the serial comma.
And finally, I watched a live broadcast of BookTV this morning with two of my favorite book people. It was totally mesmerizing. I loved, loved, loved it.
I can’t even remember my life without BookTV.
Til next time.
Robert Gottlieb...a name you can trust.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
John Lithgow keeps popping up in my life at every turn. He brilliantly plays the part of Prime Minister in The Crown, which I watch for an hour each day on Netflix while I’m at the gym trudging along on the treadmill.
John and his book of poetry are on my shelf, which I just dusted. The Poets’ Corner. Perhaps the best book ever.
He was a NYPL Live guest along with James Shapiro as they discussed The Year of Lear. It was just such a meaningful discussion between two people who love Shakespeare and who understand his work.
And finally, he was on stage in Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons along with Diane Wiest, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes. At the end, the cast stood together on stage and took their bows with such an extraordinary amount of humility that I think I stopped breathing for a moment or two. Possibly more. January 7, 2009.
So, Mr. Lithgow, you’re on my mind. Maybe it’s time to rewatch The World According to Garp or maybe even Bill’s Lear.
Yes. I think so.
Til next time.
A perfect book.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
This season,
I have just remembered
That I am fond of ginger snaps,
And now I am
Consuming them with enthusiasm.
Til next time.
Snap!
Thursday, December 22, 2016
My. My. My.
Last night I finished reading Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters. It’s from 2004. I stumbled upon it based on a review of Alexander’s latest book titled, A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in the Trash, which I have queued up on my kindle for right after I finish Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen and another book by Alexander titled, Simon: The Genius in My Basement.
My life seems to be one long reading list.
Stuart: A Life Backwards was made into a movie way back in 2008 and starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Alexander, the writer and Tom Hardy as Stuart, the tragic hero of the book.
It’s not a holiday type of book, but I don’t really need a book for holiday spirit. I have coffee and fudge for that.
But Stuart.
Stuart. Stuart. Stuart. This book. It’s an exact replica of a life gone incredibly wrong. And even with multiple opportunities to right itself, Stuart’s life continued to beat him up and keep him from ever achieving even the smallest smidgen of happiness or contentment. Ever.
The book belongs on the shelf beside Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Both books should be required reading for all college freshman majoring in economics, social work, and political science. IMO.
And now on to Razor Girl which I actually started reading this morning. It doesn’t really feel like the kind of book to read after reading about Stuart’s life…now that I think about it. In fact, it feels a bit disrespectful. So I think I’ll save Razor Girl for a sunny or a rainy spring day.
And finally, I actually have one more book queued up on my kindle: Avid Reader: A Life by Robert Gottlieb. Can’t wait.
Busy. Busy.
But even so. I watched Florence Foster Jenkins with Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, and Simon Helberg last night. I’m ready to go to interior decorating school. Is there such a school as that?
Til next time.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Read something that means something. That’s The New Yorker’s motto.
So, that’s what I thought I’d do today now that I’ve finished some other must-do items including the fact that I've:
Had coffee.
Watched BookTV’s American Book Awards broadcast.
Organized a bit of music.
Had lunch.
Tried a new hairstyle.
Went back to old hairstyle.
Planned dinner.
Had more coffee.
Finished Mister Monkey
I finished just this morning, Mister Monkey by Francine Prose. My first two thoughts when I first started reading this book several days ago were plastered with yellow CAUTION tape.
Monkeys and chimps are two different animals. I learned this from Jane Goodall. And Francine seems to use the two terms interchangeably in this book. I wonder why. Poetic license? She’s unaware?
My second thought was “Oh, no. Each chapter is written from a different character’s perspective.”
I’ve always preferred novels over short stories because the characters have a longer time to develop and become real. So if each chapter in this book was going to be from a different character, that was a potential problem.
But then after the second chapter of Mister Monkey, I was hooked. And by now at the end, I’m glad I read the whole thing. It’s a work of art. The takeaway? I’m glad I’m not a Broadway play director, and it might be nice to be an ER nurse.
Francine Prose. Thank you. Very much. For writing something that means something.
Til next time.
A busy day ahead.
A few singers who always get it right.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
All you have to do is listen one time to Patti Smith singing A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall and you know that the Nobel Committee made the perfect decision when they gave the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan.
Imagine.
Being Patti. Being Bob.
It was such a beautiful moment to listen to Patti as she faltered, stopped, and asked to begin again. The conductor granted her request, and she was unconditionally loved.
The musicians behind her shined
and the audience pulsed
and it was all exactly right
and it's all right there forever
for the world to witness
whenever it needs a graceful boost.
Simple goodness.
Today's New Yorker.
She and her words.
His tune.
Her voice.
His poetry.
And all the images.
Right there…today. Forever.
"Could we start that section? I apologize. Sorry I’m so nervous."
The applause almost didn’t stop.
Til next time.
A moment for the ages.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Michel Houellebecq
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Amor Towles
It’s amazing to me how I just stumble on to stuff.
And I stumbled on to those three writers.
I just finished A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles, and I loved it.
The Count, in the 1920s, is a Russian aristocrat who is sentenced to living the remainder of his life in the Metropol Hotel in Moscow.
And although he is now living in much reduced circumstances and under house arrest, Count Restov retains his manners, his sense of propriety, and his dignity. This, of course, makes him the hero of the book.
And after four decades and right up until the very last page, the reader is unsure of whether or not he makes it.
Music, history, food, friendship, loyalty, and literature infuse the story with lovely details that are central to the values of the book’s characters.
There are even footnotes in the shape of endnotes that illuminate the significance of the book’s themes.
And the author? The author.
Amor Towles. He used to be an investment strategist of some sort, made a LOT of money, retired, and is now writing books. It is unclea
