Now reading...

[soulpope]

[Brad]

42 minutes ago, soulpope said:

The Clark book is pretty good. If you haven’t read it, I also recommend Margaret Macmillan’s The War That Ended Peace.  

[soulpope]

5 minutes ago, Brad said:

The Clark book is pretty good. If you haven’t read it, I also recommend Margaret Macmillan’s The War That Ended Peace.  

Thnx for the hint ....

[Brad]

20 minutes ago, soulpope said:

Thnx for the hint ....

I’d also recommend Sean McMeekin’s July 1914. 

[soulpope]

3 minutes ago, Brad said:

I’d also recommend Sean McMeekin’s July 1914. 

Noted, thnx ....

[ejp626]

On 2019-08-03 at 0:47 AM, Brad said:

The Things They Carried is the best O’Brien book but Going After Cacciato is pretty darn good.  If I Die in A Combat Zone is also very good; not fiction but autobiographical 

Agree that these are all strong.  One day will have to reread to see how they stand up (or rather how I react to them on second time through).  I had the privilege of hearing O'Brien read from The Things They Carried not long after it came out.

About 1/3 into Robert Stone's A Hall of Mirrors, and it is starting to grow on me.  Not sure if this will tip the balance and lead me to order the upcoming LOA volume of his later novels.

[jlhoots]

6 hours ago, ejp626 said:

Agree that these are all strong.  One day will have to reread to see how they stand up (or rather how I react to them on second time through).  I had the privilege of hearing O'Brien read from The Things They Carried not long after it came out.

About 1/3 into Robert Stone's A Hall of Mirrors, and it is starting to grow on me.  Not sure if this will tip the balance and lead me to order the upcoming LOA volume of his later novels.

Get the LOA. Also read Damascus Gate.

[ejp626]

On 2019-08-04 at 2:11 PM, ejp626 said:

About 1/3 into Robert Stone's A Hall of Mirrors, and it is starting to grow on me.  Not sure if this will tip the balance and lead me to order the upcoming LOA volume of his later novels.

I had no idea that A Hall of Mirrors was made into a movie (WUSA) with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins!  Why have I never heard of this movie? 

Anyway, I have a copy on hold at the library and will post in the Film Corner thread after I've watched it.  I should just manage to get through reading the novel first, which is my preference when watching films based on novels.

[kinuta]

7 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I had no idea that A Hall of Mirrors was made into a movie (WUSA) with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins!  Why have I never heard of this movie? 

Anyway, I have a copy on hold at the library and will post in the Film Corner thread after I've watched it.  I should just manage to get through reading the novel first, which is my preference when watching films based on novels.

WUSA was rereleased by Olive films in Bluray and is available on YouTube.

 

[Bluesnik]

On 02/08/2019 at 11:11 AM, soulpope said:

That one must be great.

 

On 04/08/2019 at 1:22 PM, soulpope said:

I read that one in 2014, with the anniveresary of WW1. It's called The Sleepwalkers. How Europe entered WW1.

But what I wanted to comment is that, after having it for a while, I'm reading Don Winslow's The Border (I like Winslow novels a lot and have many of them. My favourites are The kings of cool and Savages, which was made into a film.), which feels as a sort of continuation of The Cartel. It picks up where that novel left off. But I think it's more concerned with the new heroin epidemic that has hit the US and Europe too since 2016-17. In the eyes of Winslow that is because the Sinaloa cartel decided consciously to move back to their origins in the 70s. In the case of Europe, which is served through Afghanistan I think it's because of the bumper crops they are achieving lately.

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

That one must be great.

 

I read that one in 2014, with the anniveresary of WW1. It's called The Sleepwalkers. How Europe entered WW1.

Sleepwalker=Schlafwandler ....

[Matthew]

On 9/23/2018 at 9:08 AM, Matthew said:

The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis by Alan Jacobs. Very interesting book, with applications to the modern world and politics.

 

From the Amazon description:

By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear that the Allies would win the Second World War. Around the same time, it also became increasingly clear to many Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic that the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. A war won by technological superiority merely laid the groundwork for a post-war society governed by technocrats. These Christian intellectuals-Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others-sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.

Rereading this, it has a lot to say about today's world...

[Matthew]

The Rector of Justin: A Novel by Louis Auchincloss. Been reading this as my bedtime book and it's much better than I expected.

[ejp626]

On 2019-08-06 at 8:23 PM, ejp626 said:

I had no idea that A Hall of Mirrors was made into a movie (WUSA) with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins!  Why have I never heard of this movie? 

Anyway, I have a copy on hold at the library and will post in the Film Corner thread after I've watched it.  I should just manage to get through reading the novel first, which is my preference when watching films based on novels.

I have to say I didn't like the final third of the book very much.  There was some cheap surrealism, along with frankly unbelievable conversations between Rainey and Clotho and Rainey and Minnow.  An awful lot of the actions of the characters in the last 50 pages didn't make a whole lot of sense, i.e. weren't even internally consistent.  It's a shame, as I liked the middle section a fair bit, but this ending definitely downgrades my opinion of the book.  I do think the movie has a slightly tighter ending (including making Rainey a more decisive character), but I'll report on that in Film Corner.

I'm now reading FKA USA by Reed King (a SF road novel taking place after the fragmentation of the US) and will read Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing after that.

[JSngry]

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 1:17 PM, T.D. said:

Please post impressions.

As mentioned in some other thread, I've effectively read several excerpts from the book (Gann posted them, or talks based on book excerpts, etc. over the years). Not sure I'm a big enough Cageian to justify purchase, and it's not available on my interlibrary loan network (only Gann work thereon is American Music in the 20th Centur').

I'm largely finished with this now, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's like one of those Ashley Kahn "The Making Of..." books, only Gann is a lot more thorough in including backstories, influences, and antecedents. His writing style is a little "dry", but not harmfully so. And since he's talking about the "making of" a true event rather than a record...there's more meat on the bone to go into the soup. Mmmmm, SOUP!

He's also clearly advocating for Cage in general, and 4'33" in particular. I don't think there are any minds to be changed here, but I think he does an excellent job at laying out all the ways that the piece matters for those to whom it does matter.

Myself, I am very much an enjoyer of Cage's earlier works and find his later compositions to be inspiring as concepts, if not always in execution. Gann is very adept at pointing out how in Cage's world the concept is the music, in a really fundamental way. He makes his case quite convincingly, even if for me, it means that I don't have to actually hear it to hear it, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, no idea how this would rate in the realm of Cage scholarship, but it seems a very nicely turned general read. Recommended as such, without hesitation.

[T.D.]

41 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I'm largely finished with this now, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's like one of those Ashley Kahn "The Making Of..." books, only Gann is a lot more thorough in including backstories, influences, and antecedents. His writing style is a little "dry", but not harmfully so. And since he's talking about the "making of" a true event rather than a record...there's more meat on the bone to go into the soup. Mmmmm, SOUP!

He's also clearly advocating for Cage in general, and 4'33" in particular. I don't think there are any minds to be changed here, but I think he does an excellent job at laying out all the ways that the piece matters for those to whom it does matter.

Myself, I am very much an enjoyer of Cage's earlier works and find his later compositions to be inspiring as concepts, if not always in execution. Gann is very adept at pointing out how in Cage's world the concept is the music, in a really fundamental way. He makes his case quite convincingly, even if for me, it means that I don't have to actually hear it to hear it, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, no idea how this would rate in the realm of Cage scholarship, but it seems a very nicely turned general read. Recommended as such, without hesitation.

Thanks, much appreciated! The parts I've read are excellent. I originally had the wrong impression (rectified upon reading excerpts) that the book was generally about Cage, rather than specifically 4'33". That may render it too specialized for me, but will seriously consider.

Still, even the excerpts I've read have been informative. For instance, I had assumed that Cage had a well-developed sense of humor, and that (for instance) his stochastic pieces were disguised digs at Serialism and 4'33" was a joke on various levels. But reading Gann, Cage appears to have practically no sense of humor!

[JSngry]

I don't get the impression that he had no sense of humor, just that the one he had was rooted in Zen (both before and after he got into that), the "absurdity" of contradictions. Can't say he woulda' been a barrel of laughs at a party, though...

As far as it being "about" 4'33''...it plays a nifty, subject-appropriate trick by not really being about the piece itself nearly as much as it is about the people/place/things that surrounded it before/during/after. If the real purpose of 4'33" is about forcing an awareness of the music of our surroundings, then this book is "about" the "surroundings" that went into and came out of 4:33"...I'm not in any way an "expert" about any of those peoples, some, I've known only by name. This is a neat way to get more informed about all that and all them.

Again, the Ashley Kahn model is what sprung to mind for me, only done with more depth and therefore, ultimately, more rewarding. I think you could say the book is not so much "about" 4'33" as it is "built around" it.

[soulpope]

aka "The Hard Life" ....

[Larry Kart]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I'm largely finished with this now, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's like one of those Ashley Kahn "The Making Of..." books, only Gann is a lot more thorough in including backstories, influences, and antecedents. His writing style is a little "dry", but not harmfully so. And since he's talking about the "making of" a true event rather than a record...there's more meat on the bone to go into the soup. Mmmmm, SOUP!

He's also clearly advocating for Cage in general, and 4'33" in particular. I don't think there are any minds to be changed here, but I think he does an excellent job at laying out all the ways that the piece matters for those to whom it does matter.

Myself, I am very much an enjoyer of Cage's earlier works and find his later compositions to be inspiring as concepts, if not always in execution. Gann is very adept at pointing out how in Cage's world the concept is the music, in a really fundamental way. He makes his case quite convincingly, even if for me, it means that I don't have to actually hear it to hear it, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, no idea how this would rate in the realm of Cage scholarship, but it seems a very nicely turned general read. Recommended as such, without hesitation.

Al I can say, off the top of my head, is that  (for two) Cage's String Quartet and his Sonatas and Interludes work like crazy  for me in what might call the old-fashioned way -- as organizations of sound in time they are fascinating and beautiful. Later on, or eventually, I cleave more to Feldman, if comes down to that. Morty was an "ear" guy first last and always; Cage, after a while, seemingly was not or not so much.

[JSngry]

7 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

Al I can say, off the top of my head, is that  (for two) Cage's String Quartet and his Sonatas and Interludes work like crazy  for me in what might call the old-fashioned way -- as organizations of sound in time they are fascinating and beautiful. Later on, or eventually, I cleave more to Feldman, if comes down to that. Morty was an "ear" guy first last and always; Cage, after a while, seemingly was not or not so much.

I concur...that "early" Cage music is just beautiful, by any standard of "concept". Like you say, it works like crazy.

[T.D.]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

I concur...that "early" Cage music is just beautiful, by any standard of "concept". Like you say, it works like crazy.

I enjoy the String Quartet. My enjoyment of the Sonatas and Interludes palled after a certain number of hearings, and now they simply remind me of Schoenberg's famous verdict that Cage the student had no talent for harmony (granted it's probably unfair to judge the pieces by pianistic standards). I dig many of the "Number Pieces" - possibly (depending on realization) Feldman-like sound world, and the (somewhat limited) randomness works for me.

Re. Cage's sense of humor, this funny passage from Feldman's Give my regards to Eighth Street (essay within book of the same title):

John and I spent a lot of time playing cards. One afternoon my friend Daniel Stern came over with a pair of dice. John came down immediately, and we told him how the game was played. John made his first throw standing up and just dropping the dice to the floor. We explained the procedure was to bend your knees as far down as possible, then throw the dice. This he did. He also started to shake them (we hadn't told him to do that), and before letting them go he cried out, to our amazement, "Baby needs a new pair of shoes".

8 hours ago, soulpope said:

aka "The Hard Life" ....

 !!!

Big O'Brien fan here. I treasure the Everyman's Library edition of collected novels, though the late work The Dalkey Archive is not so good (possibly due to alcoholism). Have also read his short fiction and collected (under pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen) newspaper columns, though they're somewhat uneven.

Edited August 9, 2019 by T.D.

[JSngry]

16 minutes ago, T.D. said:

My enjoyment of the Sonatas and Interludes palled after a certain number of hearings...

for my money, the first recording (on Dial!!!, last on CRI) by Maro Ajemian is still the most satisfying. Later versions seem a bit "self-conscious" to me in a way that hers' does not. She doubles down on the "drum choir" concept and comes out a winner, baby got them new shoes, a whole closet of them!

[kinuta]

I'm enjoying this series about Bell Elkins, small town prosecutor.

Well written and atmospheric. This is the third book.

Edited August 9, 2019 by kinuta

[ejp626]

On 8/9/2019 at 8:05 AM, ejp626 said:

I'm now reading FKA USA by Reed King (a SF road novel taking place after the fragmentation of the US) and will read Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing after that.

I'm bailing on FKA USA, though I'll read it tonight on the train home, as I don't have anything else with me...

It's basically a cynical mash-up of The Wizard of Oz, The Road, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Ready, Player One, and it has just worn me down (the endless footnotes really grate after a while).  It definitely reads as if one eye was on the movie rights, and indeed, it has already been optioned...  While I had quite a few issues with Ready, Player One, that at least feels like it was written by someone who understood and loved video games/puzzle games/quests.  This feels like it was written by someone with only the most cursory understanding of or appreciation for dystopian SF as a genre.

While Thien's book is a bit of a downer, I still think it is more worthy of my time.

Not sure when I will actually get it in my hands, but I'm intrigued by the upcoming novel Quichotte by Salman Rushdie.  (Apparently, it comes out in Sept., and I'm pretty deep on the wait list...)  It sounds as if this would make a good pairing with his previous novel, The Golden House.  I do own that book, but I'll wait to read the two together this fall.

[kinuta]