Youth, A Narrative – Joseph Conrad “He [Conrad] could not write badly, one feels, to save his life” - Virginia Woolf She also said that there was "no humour, at least of the English kind" in Conrad. But parts of this story are quite funny, something I had not noticed when I read it before.
I don't know if this is confession or not, but I'm reading the Golden Compass for the first time. It was after my youth, but everyone of an age says it is excellent. Also, it is in fashion for full grown and functioning adults to read good quality youth fiction, so, there, I'm doing it, too.
Well, I am all for that, and I am sure that I post more YA selections here than anyone, which probably only makes me look juvenile. And I got two sets of His Dark Materials and I just found it to be tedious. I finished the trilogy just because I had two sets of relatives asking me how much I liked it, but I've long since given both sets away. Unfortunately, it also in fashion for full grown adults to read poor YA fiction, and this is at least a quality work. I hope you enjoy it.
Actually, I knew most of the stories in the book, but i still enjoyed reading it. When you mixed sex, drugs and violence with a celebrity, you cannot go wrong.
Robert Klein, The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue, a pretty decent memoir covering his life from childhood through college and the early years of his career on Broadway and in Improv, before becoming a major figure on stand up. Not quite as good as Steve Martin's Born Standing Up, (a lot of this book reworks his old routines, which is something 1) most books by comics do and 2) something Martin's book did not.
The past three and a half months have been quite terrible work-wise, with 65-70 hour weeks common, and I really, really miss reading. I read the first couple of Jack Reacher novels because they seemed easy and entertaining, and were. This past weekend we were in Portland for the RSL-Timbers game and of course spent a good chunk of time and money at Powell's Bookstore. Worth a pilgrimage to be sure. Picked up a bunch of books, and am starting with the new Arkady Renko novel from Martin Cruz Smith:
The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus by John Dominic Crossan "...John Dominic Crossan shows us how the parables present throughout the New Testament not only reveal what Jesus wanted to teach but also provide the key for explaining how the Gospels’ writers sought to explain the Prophet of Nazareth to the world."
I finished Tatiana and quickly another, Neil Gaiman's new novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane. This sort of straddles the line between novel and novella. The first chapter sees a middle aged fellow wander back to his childhood neighborhood and end up at the house where the Hempstock women live. The bulk of the book is him remembering a series of events that took place when he was 7 - some pretty scary stuff for a child, which is a peculiar specialty of Gaiman's - and then the final chapter has him returning to his real life, poised to forget again. It was good; I was left not quite satisfied.
Now I am sort of previewing this as a possible gift for my Mom - Toy Time by Christopher Byrne: Far from academic in nature, it briefly looks at specific toys (organized by category), at their appeal, at their comparative success or failure vis-a-vis other toys in the same category, and their demise (if their was one). Pretty interesting and accessible, especially in short bursts.
Diva, a new-wave noir novel by French writer Daniel Odier, under his pen name Delacorta. Good, face paced, and well plotted. knocked off the 144 pages in under three hours. On to the next in the series...
The Hunger Games novel, have been for 6 months. I'm not sure if thats a good or a bad thing. I told myself i'd be finished before the release of Catching Fire, still only up to Ch6. It's a decent novel nonetheless.
In light of the extended discussions of my students about the Hunger Games series (which I enjoy), was suggested this book (and series) and want to see if it is any good. Just 3 chapters in, an easy read, but seems fun.
I hoped to start on this a bit more comprehensively, but I have a whole series of 10-12 hour days facing me, so it may take a good long time to finish. It's the newest novel from David Brin - Existence. No idea how it will turn out; I've liked much of his other work (especially the Uplift series, Kiln People, and The Postman) so I am hopeful.
Martin Cruz Smith was on the Diane Rehm Show yesterday. http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-12-02/martin-cruz-smith-tatiana
Bulding Great Sentences -- Brooks Landon I was going to take the Great Courses version, but thought I should just read the book first, and I'm glad I did. While Landon has a lot to say, man o man, is he in love with the sound of his own voice. I don't think I could take 15 hours of listening to him talk. Still, he's got a lot to say and hopefully it will help me...
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-12-02/martin-cruz-smith-tatiana/transcript The transcript, for those who have a hard time with Diane Rehm's voice.
Looks like I made the wrong choice, then. Building Great Sheds by Danielle Truscott is a memoir of one woman's mid-life sexual awakening that reads like a market-research-driven mash-up of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying with Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. While the plan seems to have been to increase sales by cashing in on both the market for women's erotica as well as the market for narcissistic 21st century spiritual memoirs, a better strategy might've been to call it Eat, Pray, Fly. Frankly, the shed-building metaphor wears out its welcome early on in the book, leaving this reader to roll his eyes and to turn ahead to the next illustration.
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad “Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop of unextinguishable regrets.”
Experience the power of Joseph Conrad's classic novella, Heart of Darkness, in this uniquely-illustrated version. Witness Marlow's story through the eyes of LEGO® minifigures. http://www.blurb.com/b/53173-heart-of-darkness "Preview" shows the entire book
have i visited upon you my endless rant on Men are from the Marsh and Women are Venous? if ever a book was written with the designed intent to pander to a particular audience ( cue focus group clip ) such was the case with Mars/Venus. at the time the book was published did we have any positive associations with the planet Mars? oh, War of the Worlds was from the distant past, but the sense that Martians are not nice and want to make us into food or house pets was still pervasive, i think. hence being from Mars cannot be viewed as a purely neutral label. and everyone with any background in early R n R knows that Venus is the female life force that brings girls to boys. Oh Venus Venus if you will Please send a little girl for me to thrill A girl who wants my kisses and my arms A girl with all the charms of you I rest my case...
Made that into a good movie in 1981 (especially if you like opera in your soundtrack). First saw it in French class.
Saw it on the big screen in Grad school, which is how I tracked down the book series. Speaking of which... Part II This is a prequel which goes back and introduces Alba, the main character's underaged side kick. Nice bit of mocking French psychotherapist Jacques Lacan (I assume that's who the character Jacques Alcan is supposed to represent).