paul secor Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 I saw the New York premiere of Mountain Language as the opener to a bill that had The Birthday Party with Jean Stapleton. She was perfect! When I was in college I saw a performance of The Birthday Party with a very fine young actress playing the role of Meg. I can imagine that Jean Stapleton would have been great playing that part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 Larry Niven - N-Space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 I finished Walter Isaacson's book about Steve Jobs last week. I suppose that any idiot can say that a successful businessman is a genius. I wonder what people would have said about Jobs and his products if he had put out the same things but not many people bought them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 I finished Walter Isaacson's book about Steve Jobs last week. I suppose that any idiot can say that a successful businessman is a genius. I wonder what people would have said about Jobs and his products if he had put out the same things but not many people bought them. But that's not (obviously) what happened. Who's the "idiot". Certainly not Isaacson or Jobs IMHO. I liked the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 jlh, by no means am I saying that Isaacson is an idiot. But over the years I have seen very little analysis of the Apple products, and a lot of applause for their sales figures. Any idiot can do that. In fact, I learned a great deal from the book about why someone might want to be an Apple customer. By the way, I did feel that Isaacson glossed over the fact that Apple products are (relatively speaking) for those for whom price is no object. Jobs focused on making the best products, rather than offering the best value. Of course, it's for each consumer to decide for himself whether Apple (during his second tenure) offered the best items and whether the closed system offered the best value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 I've been delayed in finishing up The Engineer of Human Souls due to reading/browsing a lot of poetry for my (potential) anthology. I did manage to finish Pitouie on a ferry ride, and it was an entertaining read though it had some plot holes, which I can't really discuss for fear of spoiling the plot. I would recommend it for anyone looking for light entertainment. Hard to say what has really stuck out the most from all this poetry. In Cars by Kimmy Beach was pretty great - a book-length exploration of her teenage years in rural Saskatchewan where the only thing to do was drive around aimlessly and then go to the roller rink. (Not so different from my teenage years, though we had a mall and the roller rink had past its prime in my teenage years and video arcades were the up and coming thing.) I also found Mortal Arguments by Sue Sinclair kind of snuck up on me and I found myself thinking about it a bit after I had finished reading it (a good sign). She's even got a good poem in there about taxis (maybe I'll post in the poetry thread after this is all over). I've also just discovered W.H. New, who is a Vancouver-based poet. I particularly like his collections Stone | Rain and YVR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted September 16, 2012 Report Share Posted September 16, 2012 Finally reading some of that Sherlock Holmes stuff. I've been meaning to for the last 30 or 35 years or so, but somehow something always came up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Anouk Markovits: I Am Forbidden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 McEwan's latest. He's always readable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I've preferred McEwan's darker, earlier stuff to the more recent work, and I think he's become too self-consciously literary. I have the same problem with Peter Carey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I've preferred McEwan's darker, earlier stuff to the more recent work, and I think he's become too self-consciously literary. I have the same problem with Peter Carey. Yes, he was better then. He's become too much of a literary personality - too hitched to the marketing machine. You have a sense all the way through of his books being put together for a certain identifiable audience - all the right buttons being pressed. "Too clever by half", I remarked to my wife as I was reading and the final pay-off in Sweet Toothfully vindicated that remark. But, as I said in the last post, he's always readable and as the local public library always buys multiple copies of his stuff, why not borrow and read - the implication being that I wouldn't spend money on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 S.J. Watson: Before I Go To Sleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 25, 2012 Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 Jo Nesbo: The Devil's Star Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M. Banks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Back to this one, I put it down because it's hard going, very dense, but also very fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 I've been delayed in finishing up The Engineer of Human Souls due to reading/browsing a lot of poetry for my (potential) anthology. I finally wrapped this one up on a plane ride, appropriately enough a return flight from Toronto. I don't really know the problem, but this started stalling about halfway through. It is just too long and there is so little actual plot. The book flashes back and forth between the narrator's life in Toronto and his previous life in Czechoslovakia, and I naturally thought it would end with a scene describing how he managed to defect, but instead there were two letters from people describing a former bandmate's last days. So underwhelming. Maybe that is the worst -- a novel that starts strong and ends pitifully. I've picked out a couple of novels for my next flight (about a week away), but haven't decided what to read in the interim. I should pick something light and fun, but am not sure I have anything like that at hand. In a pinch, I might reread Read's The Freelance Pallbearers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 John Berger: Here Is Where We Meet Fascinating for the most part. Died toward the end for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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