"Projections 13: Women Film-Makers on Film-Making" edited by Isabella Weibrecht & John Boorman. This is the 14th book in the series -- there was a volume titled "8 1/2" -- and I've read them all.
"Drummin Men: The Bebop Years" by Burt Korall. Gary Giddins, when he was still writing his Weatherbird column in the "Village Voice" gave this one a plug so I decided to buy it.
"Drummin' Men" turned out to be a compelling read. The writer, Burt Korall, knows his stuff and is a drummer so he bonded and knew his subject.
I'm about to start "The Biggest Game in Town" by A. Alvarez. This book is supposedly a classic of sorts and I learned about it from that book James McManus wrote about participating in the World Series of Poker. I don't know who A. Alvarez is, but he was portrayed in the film SYLVIA, the Sylvia Plath bio pic. He is some sort of British writer/critic.
I just started reading the Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night.
I had no idea what it was about at all. Just asked a friend to borrow it when they were done. I've read about 12 pages (just started last night) and so far so good. Very interesting protagonist. I'm thinking he's autistic. Very convincing.
Posts: 751 | Location: Nova Scotia | Registered: 31 May 2006
Originally posted by Il Mago: I just started reading the Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night.
I had no idea what it was about at all. Just asked a friend to borrow it when they were done. I've read about 12 pages (just started last night) and so far so good. Very interesting protagonist. I'm thinking he's autistic. Very convincing.
I couldn't get into it at all, but my wife liked it. I always have trouble with children narrarators in stories that aren't written by children(and there aren't many!).
Posts: 3130 | Location: FoCo | Registered: 07 January 2005
Originally posted by Il Mago: I just started reading the Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night.
I had no idea what it was about at all. Just asked a friend to borrow it when they were done. I've read about 12 pages (just started last night) and so far so good. Very interesting protagonist. I'm thinking he's autistic. Very convincing.
I couldn't get into it at all, but my wife liked it. I always have trouble with children narrarators in stories that aren't written by children(and there aren't many!).
I haven't even made it to a point where it's been determined he's a child. I honestly pictured someone in their early to mid 20's.
Posts: 751 | Location: Nova Scotia | Registered: 31 May 2006
Yummy. Books. I've been on the music forums, and thought I'd give this a go. A few starting thoughts. Underworld by DeLillo: Definitely worth sticking it out. A tough read, but ultimately very rewarding. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle: Best book written by an adult in a child's voice, imo. Runner up: Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, one of my picks for best of 2006 The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Best of 2006, but too harrowing to recommend widely. Runner up: The People's Act of Love. So creepy, but I can't shake it.
Currently reading Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart and Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. Anyone read/reading these?
--------------- I wonder if you're mythologizing me, like I do you
Posts: 1429 | Location: State of Disarray | Registered: 10 January 2007
Originally posted by kendocubano: Currently reading Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart and Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. Anyone read/reading these?
I have purchased Against the Day, but haven't started it. I have read all of Pynchon's novels, and I sort of have to get in a state of mind before starting a new one. Mainly, I need to make sure I won't be reading anything else. Pynchon's books really work better if you can devote all your time to it. If you are sharing it with another book, it's really hard to establish a rhythm.
Posts: 3130 | Location: FoCo | Registered: 07 January 2005
It's funny, I always read several books at once. Some of it is situational. My primary book is usually the one by my bed. A chapter or two every night. Then I usually have the book I haul around, read at traffic lights, pull out during down times at work. I always have a book on CD in the car (Currently The Mission Song by LeCarre) and usually, that is a book that is not of "serious" literary merit, but just fun. That way I don't feel like I'm wasting time.
As far as Against the Day goes, I'm about a third of the way through. It's perfectly entertaining. It's almost like a prose version of an Edward Gorey comic, or a Decemberists song. Lots of wry cameos (Tesla, Groucho Marx). But as far as I can tell, so far it doesn't actually seem to be about anything. It's almost like the bastard child of Ragtime by EL Doctorow and a work of any of the Latin American magical realists. The story doesn't seem to refer to anything greater than the "ripping good yarns" that it parodies in the episodes featuring the "chums of chance." He's been well serious enough in the past that I'm still withholding judgement. Gravity's Rainbow, in particular, impressed me as fulfilling the visions promised, but never quite delivered by Vonnegut.
--------------- I wonder if you're mythologizing me, like I do you
Posts: 1429 | Location: State of Disarray | Registered: 10 January 2007
It's almost like the bastard child of Ragtime by EL Doctorow and a work of any of the Latin American magical realists. The story doesn't seem to refer to anything greater than the "ripping good yarns" that it parodies in the episodes featuring the "chums of chance." He's been well serious enough in the past that I'm still withholding judgement. Gravity's Rainbow, in particular, impressed me as fulfilling the visions promised, but never quite delivered by Vonnegut.
Interesting. Pynchon and Vonnegut are about my two favorite writers ever. I've never really thought of promises that Vonnegut didn't cash in on, but that just means I'll think about it next time I pick up either of them. I like to think of Vonnegut as like Pynchon in miniature. Pynchon loves the zoom in, Vonnegut the zoom out.
Haven't gotten around to Against the Day. I meant to, but I'm bogged down in DF Wallace's Infinite Jest, which is currently taking up the '5 lbs or heavier' category in my reading diet.
My current reading list:
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace the Tin Drum - Gunther Grass If on a winter's night a traveler - Italo Calvino Writings on Music 1965-2001 - Steve Reich Being and Time - Martin Heidegger (for class) QED - Richard Feynman (also for class)
The list looks forbidding to me now. It makes me realize I am much better at starting books than I am at finishing them.
