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martle
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« Reply #270 on: 12:26:25, 26-03-2008 » |
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That kind of thing has happened to me too, hh. I wonder if it's got anything to do with the confluence of two or more artworks, simultaneously experienced... Hmm. Pynchon and Norgard. Dangerous.  |
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Green. Always green.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #271 on: 13:17:09, 26-03-2008 » |
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 I can't remember whether this has been mentioned here yet. I've been having a wonderful time with it over the last few days. It's a collection of articles, talks, occasional pieces by the philosopher Bernard Williams that he was in the process of putting together into book form when he died and has now been published as he left it. Absolutely packed with wise and illuminating things about the art of opera generally and about particular operas by Mozart, Wagner, Debussy, Tippett and others. He puts his finger exactly (IMHO), in a way that had not occurred to me before, on why Puccini is so objectionable. Strongly recommended although it has to be said it is a bit pricey. £20 for 150 pages really is a bit steep but I suppose it could be argued that the unit cost per brainy and penetrating insight is quite modest. |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #272 on: 21:26:03, 26-03-2008 » |
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Just begun Gravity's Rainbow but it was only a small chunk last night.
 A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before but nothing compares it to now ...Let me know how you get on! Completely surreal experience yesterday on the train, reading the first 70 pages of the 2nd chapter, plugged into Nørgård's second symphony, suddenly I had no idea who I was or what I was doing. Totally bizarre. Maybe someone slipped something into my egg mayonnaise sandwich... Lol - maybe they did!  I have to say, Gravity's Rainbow and Nørgård sounds like a dangerous combination! And the Second Symphony of all pieces ... you did realise the irony of that, with the infinity series? ... Did I ever post about the time I was walking along the street with the take-off music from Nixon in China on earphones and an ambulance siren blaring past? I really did feel like I'd suddenly left the ground. |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Andy D
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« Reply #273 on: 00:53:05, 29-03-2008 » |
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thompson1780
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« Reply #274 on: 08:31:14, 29-03-2008 » |
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I've just finished reading  End Games, by Michael Dibden I've read all the Aurelio Zen Mysteries now. And I am sad to find from the intro to this book that there will be no more, as Mr Dibden died in 2007. I first read one as a 'holiday read' in Italy, and I think that memory stuck, so I always looked forward to a new Zen coming out. Not the greatest literature, but certainly much better written than many a mystery. The jot was not in the whodunnit aspect, but more in 'How is the detective going to spin a web to capture all this then?'. Provided me with many happy hours. RIP Michael Dibden. Tommo |
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #275 on: 18:55:44, 29-03-2008 » |
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Sad news that had passed me by too. I've read several of the Aurelio Zen books, apart from the detective story apsect they also gave little insights into contemporary Italian life and politics and gave a good feel of different regions of the country too in the wide ranging plots. Will have to seek out the swan song book.
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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John W
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« Reply #276 on: 19:56:47, 29-03-2008 » |
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This week, I have been mostly reading .... Teletext
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #277 on: 21:30:47, 29-03-2008 » |
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I've been reading Michael Dibden for about twenty years now...
I am muddled as to which ones I have read and which not. But a fine writer. His one set in a retirement home in the UK was impressive too.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #278 on: 21:50:39, 29-03-2008 » |
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I've been reading Michael Dibden for about twenty years now...
I am muddled as to which ones I have read and which not. But a fine writer. His one set in a retirement home in the UK was impressive too.
That was The Dying of the Light, wasn't it? I used to be rather fond of Dibdin's novels, but haven't read anything he's written for over 10 years now. Others I knew who liked him seemed divided over whether they preferred the Italian-set Aurelio Zen novels or the others (with various settings). I remember being particularly struck by Vendetta, Dead Lagoon (both Zen ones) and also Dirty Tricks (there was a really awful TV adaptation of it with Martin Clunes, though, which captured none of the atmosphere of the book). Don't think I ever read his first novel, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story - sounds interesting, is that any good? Oh, just looked up, hadn't realised he died last year. He once did an excellent episode of the Channel 4 J'accuse series, attacking Agatha Christie (other notable episodes of that included Jonathan Meades having a go at vegetarians, and Terry Eagleton bashing Philip Larkin (with which I'm in full agreement, but maybe this board at present isn't the place to open up that one  )). EDIT: Hadn't seen that tommo and BobbyZ had already commented on Dibdin's death. |
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« Last Edit: 21:53:07, 29-03-2008 by Ian Pace »
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #279 on: 22:19:03, 30-03-2008 » |
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Being the healthily cynical chap that I am, I don't necessarily expect too much from 'international bestsellers'; but I was given it for Xmas and have just read The Kite Runner by Khalid Housseni (now a major motion picture!).
Well. It's a knockout book. Afghanistan backdrop, gripping, beautiful, genuinely heart-rending, tough, exquisite and sometimes very funny. Extraordinary for a first novel. I'm told the film's pretty good too. Highly recommended.
At the time martle typed that, I hadn't quite finished the book, so did not go to see the film. I thought I'd missed my chance, but the local cinema are screening it again for the next few days, so I went along to watch it this evening. I struggle to think of a film adaptation which is as faithful to the original book; the feel-good opening in Kabul and the way that atmosphere is crushed after Amir's kite tournament victory right through to Amir's return to Afghanistan. Much of the dialogue was in Dari Persian. The child actors were superb, especially the lad playing Hassan. The only significant cut, for me, was in the political, red-tape wrangling to try and get Sohrab into the US and the boy's attempted suicide. Still a very powerful film. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #280 on: 20:29:48, 01-04-2008 » |
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B.S Johnson (this universe's) is on my 'to read' list after I finally get through Gravity's Rainbow (and after I read something a little lighter. If I were you I'd skip the Pynchon and cut straight to the quick. I mean the chase of course. (whatever that actually means) Well it's not that I'm not enjoying it (when I'm on a roll I think it's fantastic) but it requires more concentration than I can readily give up at the moment, and after last week's alarming experience on the train (which I'll probably be duplicating tomorrow lunchtime...) I suppose I've been putting off reading any more. I'm quite determined to finish it, and to try some Johnson later on (once I've located a library in Edinburgh that has any). |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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thompson1780
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« Reply #281 on: 19:53:11, 02-04-2008 » |
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I've just finished  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. Larsson handed in 3 novels to his publisher shortly before dying at a very early age (54?) of a heart attack. This is the first of the three, and it's a cracker. The second isn't out in English until January 2009, and as my Swedish isn't much good, I'm just going to have to wait  Tommo |
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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Antheil
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« Reply #282 on: 20:07:59, 02-04-2008 » |
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I have today been recommend Stefan Themerson's The Mystery of the Sardine.
I think I must buy it! Anyone know it?
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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richard barrett
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« Reply #283 on: 20:31:35, 02-04-2008 » |
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I have today been recommend Stefan Themerson's The Mystery of the Sardine.
I think I must buy it! Anyone know it?
Indeed I do. I think you'd like it. I've read most of Themerson's novels and this is by far my favourite. |
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Antheil
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« Reply #284 on: 20:40:55, 02-04-2008 » |
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Then I will forthwith hasten to Amazon and purchase it. If it's good enough for richard barrett then who am I am argue? I love a good cookery book |
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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