Author Archives: Duff

Fiction: The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch

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The April challenge book. Certainly the toughest read so far, for both Dad and me.

The language is rich, gorgeous and elegaic; much like reading Virgil himself (or Homer. or Ovid). It’s dreamy and powerful and image-full. But…

Part 1: Interesting. Lovely imagery and prose. Nice.

Part 2: Interminable. Almost the death of ME, let alone Virgil. Sentences so long, you can’t remember where they began or if anything has even happened in them. And what? Did he just suggest burning the Aeneid? WHAT?!?!

Part 3: Hey, there’s some stuff happening again! Still a very high-toned literary experience, but now the drama with Octavian really pulls things along. Some very neat imagery, the landscape arising out of nothing (much easier to do in film than in prose). His yearning is so strong, you can really feel it. [According to Dad the slave boy and Plotia play a very similar role here to that of Jessica Lange in “All That Jazz.” I was then castigated for not having seen that recently enough to be able to agree (or not). p.s. just between you, world wide web, and me, I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen it all the way through!] Really enjoyable.

Part 4: Ugh, we’re back to part 2-like process again. Dad: “It’s like 2001 the Space Odyssey. At first it’s kinda cool and then after a while you just get really, really bored.” Me: Hard to know what’s happening here, when he’s actually dead, what is dream sequence vs. reality vs. post-mortem? (And in this part, hard to care. If this was written like Part 3, I’d be all over it!)

Glad to have read it, but certainly never going to need to read it again. Definitely a challenge.

Fiction: The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff

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Bought this one in an airport due at least partly to its paper-cut-out looking cover (Yo, Chicken, you would LOVE it, have you seen it????) and its Stephen King blurb.

Definitely fits into that “damaged girl comes home, solves mystery” genre (like Sharp Objects but a little less dark).

I have some misgivings: some of the characters made me a little crazy; I’m not sure the historical stuff ever really found its way IN to the story / didn’t quite coalesce; and there’s at least one character who I, and I would assume many readers feel this way, still have outstanding concerns about as the book ends.

But I liked the tone, I liked the focus on academia, the almost, but not quite, high-browed literariness of it. And I loved the contrast between the unmonstrousness of the actual monster and the metaphoricness of the Monsters of the title. Some stuff really well done. Very textured and tactile.

Fiction: Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos

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The second in a (somewhat loose) series about Cornelia (and, now, Teo). I liked the first book, but didn’t love it. I LOVED this one.

Less Claire in this book, although still importantly part of it. Dev was a great character, scenes with him really shone.

Easy, natural conversational tone that just sucked me right in, I could barely put it down. Laughed with it, cried with it. Ouch. Friendships, families, what makes them, what breaks them. Many similar themes to the earlier book. But, in my opinion, much better written and handled.

Definitely a step up.

Recommended.

Quote of the Day

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There is a fine line between a coffee break and a crack house.
-Harlan Coben “One False Move”

In somewhat related news, if you normally order a “tall” but then one day by accident you order a “grand” because you can’t remember what the stupid word they substitute for “small” is, well you may have a problem the next however many days later it is when you without realizing it order a “tall” again and then it comes and it’s gone in two sips and you think what the hell happened to my drink, why was it so SMALL. You know what they say: once you go […in this case “grand”]…

Banned / Not Banned

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Things I am definitely not allowed to buy right now:

  • Jackets. Spring jackets, fall jackets, winter jackets, any kind of jackets. I haven’t even worn two of the jackets I bought in the fall (yet)! Ridiculous!*
  • Bags. Handbags, purses, messenger bags, duffles. I don’t even have storage space for the bags I already have at this point, so they’re positioned around the house “decoratively” on door knobs. Yeah, how decorative. Ridiculous!
  • Socks. Serious shortage of storage space on these as well and honestly, if I start decorating the apartment with socks, someone’ll have to commit me. Totally ridiculous!
  • Yarn. At this point, I’ll be leaving it to people in the will. ‘Nough said.
  • Fabric, unless it’s specifically bought for (and used immediately as) backing. Backing yardage amounts = not my usual purchase.

Things I actually need to be buying right now, but never do:

  • Black Pants. WTF is wrong with me, how can I run out of black pants??? If you could see the ripped out lining of the pants I wear most often (most often = every other day? or almost) to the secondary browsing location… Let’s just say, hope none of the outside seams rip next…
  • Shoes. Am I the only girl in the world who, despite how many shoes she may try to buy, only has three pairs TOTAL (including running shoes which obviously don’t work for every occasion) that don’t hurt her feet and thus wears ONLY those? Pathetic!

*I say this as the new jacket I bought from Nau this week (Ridiculous!!) is keeping me warm in the frigidaire known as my “secondary browsing location”. It’s all Lim’s fault for posting about their going out of business sale!!!!

February Album Reviews

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Absolutely Love & Adore:

Missy Higgins “On a Clear Night” – Such an awesome husky voice. (JenG., a huskier Meg Nathanson? I hope you are listening to this album! You would love it!) Uncomplicated arrangements, quietly emotional. Particularly lovin’ “Angela”.

Nada Surf “Lucky” – Lovelovelove “See These Bones”. And “Ice on the Wing”. And… Yeah. The whole album kicks ass.

Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago” – If you aren’t already sick of hearing me talk about Bon Iver, then you must be here for the first time. This album takes my breath away, shreds my heart into tiny little pieces, and leaves me wanting more.

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – So Much Frakkin Fun. Various vocalists. Different styles to many of the songs. “I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way for a Boy” is their breakout but I love “Then and Not a Moment Before” and “Aspidistra” just as much.

Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):

  • “Forever Song” Josh Pyke
  • “Gravedigger” Willie Nelson
  • “Sing Along” Virginia Coalition
  • “Goodnight” Zox
  • “Grounds for Divorce” Elbow

Other Albums I Liked:

  • Clare Bowditch & the Feeding Set “The Moon Looked On” – Not sure why I had to email Australia to get someone to send me this album. She SHOULD be hitting it much bigger than she is.
  • The Magnetic Fields “Distortion” – Loud and buzzy and layered. Some really great lyrics on this album.
  • Mike Doughty “Golden Delicious” – Big fan of this album. (“I wrote about a song about your car”! Yay!) Subtract a few songs from it (another version of “27 Jennifers”. Really?) and add the one that’s missing and I’d be all over it. 😉 Still, do like a lot of it.
  • The Raveonettes “Lust Lust Lust” – Makes a good pair with the Magnetic Fields. Thick and dark and pulsing.
  • Coastal Chill 08 – Random (primarily Aussie) singles. Sweet.

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:
Huh. Looks like I didn’t buy any albums I didn’t like in February. Woot, score one for me!

Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:

  • The Mountain Goats “Heretic Pride” – Bought it toward the end of the month, just haven’t really wound up listening to it.

A lot of the songs mentioned here wound up on this mix.

Album: Jesse Malin “Glitter in the Gutter”

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I’ve mentioned this album a few times (here, here, and the single here) but in case you weren’t paying attention…

Great lyrics, insistent rhythms. Sometimes plaintive, sometimes demanding. A little Springsteen feelin’ (he even sings on a track). A little Eagles soundin’ (particularly the chorus of “Aftermath”: “Standing on the corner, watching people walk on…”) and he definitely has a little Southern Rock twinge to him (listen to his pronunciation when he sings “From the desert to this love-stained town, I still find comfort in the underground…” in “NY Nights”). He’s a bit more rockin’ than the average dude on my “melancholy boys” playlist…sometimes a bit more mad. 😉

Two to three months later (March purchase) and it’s still in pretty constant rotation. It’ll take something seriously magical to knock this out of my 2008 Top 10.