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martle
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« Reply #30 on: 22:59:03, 18-07-2007 » |
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auto, repaet after me: it's BEER before the food, WINE with it, and SHORTS (according to taste) after. Got that?  |
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Green. Always green.
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Daniel
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« Reply #31 on: 22:59:28, 18-07-2007 » |
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Mother's Milk by Edmond St.Aubyn For me this writer has truly affecting powers of description, and a brilliantly hard- edged sense of humour. Does anyone apart from me think Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled is a truly great novel (and by far his best)?
Yes! One of my favourite novels. I had to keep stopping to check what I had read because I couldn't quite believe I'd read it. A fantastically intelligent and moving book.
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increpatio
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« Reply #32 on: 23:01:07, 18-07-2007 » |
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Dividing time between The Lamberts (Paul Motion), and The Trachtenberg system of speed mathematics.
hahah yeah; I have the latter book on my bookshelf. Think it'll stay there though; tried it out for maybe a week then got bored, and don't multiply enough in everyday life to make it worthwhile. |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #33 on: 23:01:36, 18-07-2007 » |
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Does anyone apart from me think Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled is a truly great novel (and by far his best)?
Yes! One of my favourite novels. I had to keep stopping to check what I had read because I couldn't quite believe I'd read it. A fantastically intelligent and moving book. I've heard a few people say that this is a very good novel. I've read An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day and didn't think much of either of them (just found them rather insubstantial), so gave up on Ishiguro - how would anyone say this is different? |
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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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roslynmuse
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« Reply #34 on: 23:02:55, 18-07-2007 » |
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auto, repaet after me: it's BEER before the food, WINE with it, and SHORTS (according to taste) after. Got that? Wine before beer, the end is near; Beer before wine, everything fine. Unfortunately I had a wine sandwich yesterday... |
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martle
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« Reply #35 on: 23:04:22, 18-07-2007 » |
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Unfortunately I had a wine sandwich yesterday...
 rm, my sympathy.  |
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Green. Always green.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #36 on: 23:08:30, 18-07-2007 » |
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That's why I like it Richard. Paul Davies says it all for me in the pre-publication praise - "This is a truly inspiring book, and a welcome antidote to the bleak nihilism of the ultra-Darwinists".
I do not know if any of the people who might term themselves "ultra-darwinists" (there are few) would consider their outlook in any way bleak or nihilistic! Of course they wouldn't! They would defend the status quo. Others may find them so however and therefore another type of scientifically-based argument will be very refreshing. I am finding it so at any rate. I don't like single-minded tunnel vision. I like to consider all possible options in an open-minded way. |
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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richard barrett
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« Reply #37 on: 23:12:23, 18-07-2007 » |
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Currently alternating b/t loving and loathing Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos.
IMO that book is a craven attempt to make a few more bucks off the back of his previous (rather interesting) book The Elegant Universe. Fabric doesn't really say much that a dozen other physicists haven't said more interestingly (Roger Penrose, Lee Smolin, David Deutsch, Martin Rees, to name but four) and I found it extremely disappointing. Paul Davies says it all for me in the pre-publication praise - "This is a truly inspiring book, and a welcome antidote to the bleak nihilism of the ultra-Darwinists". And we know exactly who he means by that of course. I find the science in Conway Morris' book indeed inspiring, but so is Dawkins' (having studied genetics at university I like to keep my hand in with these things) - though I wish the latter would concentrate on the science instead of his one-man crusade against a god he doesn't believe in. I've heard a few people say that this is a very good novel. I've read An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day and didn't think much of either of them (just found them rather insubstantial), so gave up on Ishiguro - how would anyone say this is different?
For a start, the principal character is a pianist who plays contemporary music! |
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martle
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« Reply #38 on: 23:16:38, 18-07-2007 » |
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For a start, the principal character is a pianist who plays contemporary music!
...which reminds me of the worst novel about a musician I've ever read - McEwan's Amsterdam. Anyone else been as cringed and writhed as I by the depiction of composerly angst and torment contained therein? Who on earth was he talking to, Michael Berkeley - again? |
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Green. Always green.
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Biroc
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« Reply #39 on: 23:17:11, 18-07-2007 » |
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auto, repaet after me: it's BEER before the food, WINE with it, and SHORTS (according to taste) after. Got that? Martle, I never wear shorts when drunk, never turns into a good evening! Currently (still) reading Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow' (as I have been for several years...), started Mazzola's 'Topos of Music: Geometric Logic of Concepts, Theory and Performance' (which I will NEVER finish) and just bought the following for when I give up on Mazzola: 'Georges Bataille' (biography) by Michel Surya, Bataille's own 'Literature and Evil' and also Bataille's 'Tears of Eros'. Wish I had time to actually get round to it all...  |
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"Believe nothing they say, they're not Biroc's kind."
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Daniel
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« Reply #40 on: 23:18:30, 18-07-2007 » |
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Does anyone apart from me think Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled is a truly great novel (and by far his best)?
Yes! One of my favourite novels. I had to keep stopping to check what I had read because I couldn't quite believe I'd read it. A fantastically intelligent and moving book. I've heard a few people say that this is a very good novel. I've read An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day and didn't think much of either of them (just found them rather insubstantial), so gave up on Ishiguro - how would anyone say this is different? It's completely different from Remains of the Day (which whether you like it or not seems a very unique book). It's about a concert pianist, who travels, and struggles to stay in touch with reality. If any of these three things ring any bells for you, I highly recommend you read it.  |
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« Last Edit: 11:47:51, 19-07-2007 by Daniel »
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #41 on: 23:19:52, 18-07-2007 » |
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Bataille's own 'Literature and Evil' A truly fantastic book, one which had a profound effect upon me when I first read it. Re the pianist in The Unconsoled - does he (or the music he plays) seem to be based on anyone/anything familiar? |
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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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roslynmuse
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« Reply #42 on: 23:23:34, 18-07-2007 » |
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Unfortunately I had a wine sandwich yesterday...
rm, my sympathy. Yep, that's me... |
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roslynmuse
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« Reply #43 on: 23:28:31, 18-07-2007 » |
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For a start, the principal character is a pianist who plays contemporary music!
...which reminds me of the worst novel about a musician I've ever read - McEwan's Amsterdam. Anyone else been as cringed and writhed as I by the depiction of composerly angst and torment contained therein? Who on earth was he talking to, Michael Berkeley - again? I quite enjoyed the bit where he responded to someone saying words to the effect of "oh yes, my daughter played one of your pieces for grade 3 piano..." I can imagine that might bring on a bit of angst and torment in the best of composers! |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #44 on: 23:30:00, 18-07-2007 » |
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I quite enjoyed the bit where he responded to someone saying words to the effect of "oh yes, my daughter played one of your pieces for grade 3 piano..." I can imagine that might bring on a bit of angst and torment in the best of composers!
In which case the composer in question may be able to be narrowed down - one of the contributors to Spectrum, perhaps? |
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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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