what better time to read about music?
In addition to “Love Is a Mix Tape,” “High Fidelity” and “The Wishbones”, all of which I recommend, I just read a couple great reviews of “Perfect From Now On” by John Sellers. Sadly I have to work the night of his first reading in Chicago and already have tkts to something else on the 7th.
His book is definitely on my list.
NPR has a number of summer book lists up, this one has a lot of good stuff on it: new Michael Ondaatje!; book #3 in the “Bangkok 8” series (oops, I haven’t read #2 yet); Bruce Chatwin is definitely great summer fare, always making his way through steamy places; this is the second place today I’ve read about “The Dud Avocado”; “The Children’s Hospital” sounds good; and I’ve been a fan of Anne Fadiman for quite some time now.
Now if it weren’t for the two stacks of books I bought at the Printer’s Row Book Fair this weekend, as well as the two shelves of unreads I’ve lately been giving books away from in despair that they’ll ever find a reader….
Brocha holds the braided candle, and Isaac says the prayer marking the end of Shabbat. After he says the last words, Hamavdil ben kodesh lihol, Nina asks, “What do you think is the best translation for that?”
“Blessed be he who separates the holy from the profane,” Isaac says.
“The sacred from the secular,” puts in Elizabeth.
“The transcendent moment from the workaday world,” suggests old Rabbi Sobel in his quaverying voice.
“Mm.” they pause around the smoking candle.
–from “Kaaterskill Falls” by Allegra Goodman
I think I picked up this paperback after Goodman’s more recent book “Intuition” started being reviewed all over the place. And as to why I decided to read it now, I guess Michael Chabon’s latest got me in the mood for random outbursts of Yiddish (and/or Hebrew) and explications of Talmudic law!
The plot was somewhat meandering (no big climax at the end) and predictable — surely all intelligent people must struggle at one time or another with belief and the irrationality of restrictive religions — but the intelligence and integrity of the writing kept me interested.
Elizabeth was a wonderfully written character, I really enjoyed thinking through her thoughts.
And if you yourself are now in the mood for some yiddish, how about a list of ways to incorporate Yiddish into bedroom talk, via Josh Berg, a friend of a friend.
Un petit roman about a young ballerina who goes to Venice and blossoms. Sweet and light. But pretty inconsequential.
If you are interested in reading Rumer Godden, an author of some renown although you don’t hear much about her these days, I highly (HIGHLY!!) recommend instead both “In This House of Brede” and “China Court” both of which are easy to obtain, in my experience, at any decent-sized used bookstore.
I’ve told you this before, but FYI the author is the namesake of Bruce & Demi’s child.
Soooo worth it.
The most intelligent spoof movie I’ve seen. Completely enjoyable.
You know, it takes time. You can’t just have coffee and expect… There’s just so much to work through. Trust has to be built again on both sides. You have to learn if we’re even the same people we were, if you can fit in each other’s lives. It’s a long important process…
Can we just skip it? Can you just be kissing me now?
-Tara, BtVS, 6:18 “Entropy”
According to the poster, 18 vignettes (the picture grid at the beginning & end was 4×4 so suggested 16. Felt more like 30). All set in different Paris neighborhoods, some concerned with Paris, some not. Some realistic and true, some purely fantastical and nutso. Some I liked, some I hated, but all short enough that just hold out for a few minutes and you’re on to a new one. A couple random shots at the end linking some of the stories to each other, but not all. Lots of famous faces popping up, some in unexpected ways. Overall = enjoyable. But quite wacky.
And tell me the Elijah Wood segment did not totally steal all its coloration ideas from Sin City (which he was also in). I cannot tell him or Tobey Maguire apart and they both kinda creep me out.
I am becoming quite the Mark Bowden groupie, eh?
This book reveals the secrets of US government/military involvement in the hunt for and eventual murder of Pablo Escobar, former head of the Colombian cocaine cartel, and quite the terrorist. Bowden manages to take all these people’s memories and turn them into quite a page turner, it feels like you’re reading a story of what happened rather than a journalist’s report.
Good. Intriguing. But I would recommend both Black Hawk Down (love that book) and Guests of the Ayatollah over this one. This one feels a little stiff in comparison.
Either we missed Lou Barlow doing a solo set at the beginning of the night…or he decided not to when he came back on stage after Dinosaur and everyone started Booing because it wasn’t the encore they were looking for? (Jackhats!)
Great sounds. Really rocking out. The hair on the lead singer is like less-coiffed leftovers from a Ratt video. And it drove me nuts all night to try to figure out what was on his t-shirt. Dinosaur? Diamond? DeeWayne?