Merry Christmas!

 Details on my holiday festivities to follow ... hopefully!

What I Read -- Lost Treasures of St. Louis

I don't recall where I heard about Lost Treasures of St. Louis, but it sure was a fun look back at the St. Louis that once was.  Probably about 10% of the "lost treasures" were things that I actually remembered, but most of them were gone long before I made my appearance. Regardless, it was a fun journey through the history of town.

The content is divided into categories, so if for some reason you have a particular interest in shuttered department stores, bars, or movie theaters, you can tailor your review to your interests.

What I Read -- Morning Poems

My 2023 Reading Challenge is still substantially behind schedule, but I have not thrown in the towel just yet.  As a quick way to tick another book off the list, I have elected to read the shortest one remaining to be read: Morning Poems, by Robert Bly.

I am, as a rule, not much of a poetry reading.  It's challenging reading, and frankly I'm just not that into making my recreational reading difficult.

One thing I can say for Bly's poems is that at least some of them are reasonably approachable, which is nice.

The other thing I can say about them is that many of them are quite dark.  Some samples:

The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog
I never intended to have this life, believe me --
It just happened.
...
Sparrows in winter, if you've ever held one, all feathers,
Burst out of your hand with a fiery glee.
You see them later in hedges.  Teachers praise you,
But you can't quite get back to the winter sparrow.
Your life is a dog. He's been hungry for miles,
Doesn't particularly like you, but gives up, and comes in.

A Family Photograph, Sunday Morning, 1940
They've gathered on the farm lawn, ten people, all ages.
...
One boy smiles---it is me---and looks down.  He seems glad,
But his sweater sleeve is too short. The men's hands,
None placed in pockets, all hang down.
...
The men smile, but their eyes say hard things.
'The world pulls at me---it tore my father
Away already.  That forty-acre farm he bought
By Marietta is still black.  I have to go now.'
...
Two old women who guard the group on both sides
Take nothing on trust. "I trust my hands, and that's all."

For a Childhood Friend, Marie
She knew a lot about life on a farm: wagon
Poles that sometimes broke, and grown men
Pinned against the fencepost by a bull.
Sometimes you tie a favorite lamb
To a tree so that the old bucks will not kill him,
And he hangs himself from the rope.
...
Marie, thirty years old, still loved
The high school, the tall boys, gossip
About the teachers, the proms. She also
Loved our lives that were not going
So well.  She married the hired man---
My grandmother told her not to---and he drank.

Wanting More Applesauce at a Conference
It's something about envy. I won't say I'm envious,
But I did have certain moods when I was two.
Now of course I can't remember any of that.
I'm happy if another receives some attention
That's really mine.  ...
This is hard to bear.  ...
And I am no longer small.  Let's call it a mood
When we can't remember.  Let's call it a habit
Of opening the mouth when we, who have
Much, want more, even what belongs to the poor.

My Doubts on Going to Visit a New Friend
I have to ask myself what kind of friend I can be.
...
I am afraid there'll be a moment when
I fail you, friend; I will turn slightly
Away, our eyes will not meet, and out in the field
There will be no one.

Perhaps my favorite, because it is truly inspirational and not super dark:

Things to Think
Think in ways you've never thought before.
...
When someone knocks on the door, think that he's about
To give you something large: tell you you're forgiven,
Or that it's not necessary to work all the time, or that its
Been decided if you lie down, no one will die.

Kindred -- Take 2

I owe thanks to K for picking out Kindred as our postal book club book. I had been meaning to read it for quite some time, and I sure am glad that I finally did.

It's a difficult book to read, in the way that all books which are about slavery are difficult, especially when they are intensely personal.  But it's also incredibly well done in that the characters, though there are "good" and "bad" people, are almost all complicated.  Very few of them are entirely good or entirely bad; just when someone is approaching despicable, there is a scene that evokes just enough empathy to give you hope for a turnaround.

It also made slavery -- which seems to most of us like a nearly-ancient historical circumstance -- seem suddenly not so far away.  I give huge credit to Octavia Butler for that.  So many books which talk about difficult and embarrassing historical circumstances suffer from the collective volume of their brethren; it can quickly become tiresome to read more than a few books about slavery, Nazi Germany, persecution of any kind.  This one provides a new and interesting perspective which keeps the topic fresh.

What I'm Reading Now -- Kindred

I'm pretty substantially behind on my 2023 Reading Challenge, but I have to take a break from it to read my next Postal Book Club book.  When there are these conflicts, what's a girl to do?

The book on offer, chosen by K, is Kindred, by Octavia Butler.  I've been wanting to read this one for a few years now, so I'm glad it's up next!

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXXII -- The Biopic Edition

I have to give Spencer credit for being better than I expected.  It was intensely psychological and Kristen Stewart performed extremely well.  I don't typically care for her as an actor, but she was exactly the right amount of dark and moody and whiny to tackle this role.  I will say that I didn't realize it covered such a limited timeline in the Charles-Diana story, but regardless, it was well done.

I was on a flight when I saw House of Gucci.  I was disappointed.  It had such potential to be good, so many good actors, such a wild story, but it just ... wasn't good.  Compared to paying attention to the people around me on the airplane, it won out, but in other circumstances it would have been painful.  Also, I just don't like Adam Driver; I don't know why.  I recognize that he's a pretty good actor, but he just seems like sort of a slimy human and I can't get over that; maybe it's the hair.

It's hard not to love a movie like Hidden Figures.  It's a forgotten piece of some of America's favorite history (the Space Race), and it stars a trifecta of today's Black lady stars in Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monae -- who of course save the day.  Of course there are also Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst, and Mahershala Ali.  When you put that many phenomenal people in a movie, how can it not be good? (Unless it's House of Gucci.).

As a random Hidden Figures aside, it's based on a book.  During the Pandemic when nobody could see anybody, E ordered me a delivery from a local bookstore.  The package had a book, a coaster, a postcard, some pencils, and other gifts.  The book that was included in my package was Code Girls.  For a while, I thought that this was the book the Hidden Figures movie was based on; it's not.

I'm predisposed to like anything Amy Adams does, and Hillbilly Elegy is no exception.  I can't give this film credit, though, without also giving credit to Glenn Close, who's grumpy-old-lady persona was something for the record books. She really is the star of this show.

I have been wanting to watch All the President's Men for years, and finally got around to it. The good thing about the details that are portrayed in the film is that they were minute enough that I had overlooked them in the broad stroke histories that I had learned in school.  That meant that, even though I knew broadly how it was going to go, I didn't know the ins and outs that the movie would follow.  It was a win.

I didn't know quite what to expect from Colette.  I like Keira Knightly and Dominic West, so I watched it.  I like a good period drama.  And generally I liked the movie, even more once I realized that it was based on a true story.  I loved Keira's character, who was a total boss lady, not to mention a writer and actress to boot.

What I Read -- Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore

When I travel, I like to read a book about or set in or somehow related to the place where I am going.  S and I recently spent a week in Baltimore.  We were working remotely during the day, but we had afternoons, evenings, and a weekend to explore the city, specifically Fells Point, where we were staying.

I love walking.  I miss having my downtown condo and being able to walk to the dry cleaners, the grocery store, the library, and restaurants. 

Imagine my delight when I discovered that my library had a book all about walking around Baltimore: Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore.  I started out reading it thoroughly, and the introduction gives some good background and city history.  I got through the first or second chapter when I realized that I wasn't really enjoying it.  It felt like I should be enjoying it, but I just wasn't into it.

Rather than giving up entirely, I skipped ahead to the chapter on Fells Point and the Inner Harbor.  That was a good move.  All the sudden, it was interesting again and I was fascinated to hear the details of the neighborhood in which we were staying.

I only skimmed through the rest of the book after that, but my experience with the Fells Point chapter made me believe that if I had more experience with Baltimore, I might have enjoyed the whole thing the way I enjoyed the Fells Point chapter.

I was interested to learn that this book is part of a series about walking.  I can't recall the name of the series now, but I added several other books from it to my reading list: On Island Time: A Traveler's Atlas: Illustrated Adventures on and Around the Islands of Washington and British Columbia, Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg, and Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket.

Brave New World -- Take 2

It was a long time coming, but I finally finished reading my May 2023 Reading Challenge book, Brave New World.

In case you also managed to skate through life without reading it, here's a brief synopsis: we're in a future in England where people are genetically modified from birth to fall into certain predefined roles in society.  Because they are conditioned, they are happy with their lot in life and unwilling to challenge the status quo.  Along comes The Savage, who grew up on a reservation in America for reasons you'll learn in the book.  It is through his eyes that we get the critical analysis of the governing social order.

I found this an easier read than I expected; in the way that so many "classics" are sort of tedious, this one was not. I did not, however, do the full scope of possible background research that I could have done.  Though I don't have a substantial enough base of knowledge to appreciate the full depth of naming various characters after famous totalitarian dictators and thinkers -- Marx, Lenina, Benito, Bonaparte -- I certainly did pick up on use of their names and the references (and reverence) conveyed thereby.  And of course, there's Ford.  The whole society is built on and continues to be inspired by the efficient mechanization of Henry Ford's assembly line, only now they're doing it with people.

The luddite in me loved much about the critique advance in this book. I feel for The Savage, just wanting a simpler, slower-paced life and not a fan of the forward march of "progress."

Also, What Happened to September?

How are we in October already?  Time to get out the Halloween decorations, I suppose. 

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXXI -- All About the Characters

Still Life is set in London, so I was of course predisposed to like it.  Eddie Marsan plays a low-level civil servant whose job is to track down friends and family members of people who died alone.  It seems a thankless task, but it's one he takes seriously and treats with the respect it deserves.  A great little hidden gem, sweet and sad, which I loved.

In Croupier, Clive Owen plays an aspiring novelist who, in lieu of success as a writer, takes a job as a dealer in a high-end casino.  A visitor to the casino piques his attention, but she may be a bit more than he bargained for.  In a very Stranger Than Ficton-type realization, his life becomes his novel.  I enjoy the noir-style filmmaking, and I was surprised that this movie is as old as it was and I had never heard of it.

Jake Gyllenhaal turns The Guilty into a one-man-show as a police officer who is demoted and has to work a job as a 911 dispatcher.  He takes a call from a woman who has been kidnapped by her estranged husband.  Their telephonic interactions are brief and tense, and most of the movie plays out in the responses of the disgraced officer.  (Overall, the movie was less than the character that Jake played, but it's worth seeing just for him.)  This is a remake of a Danish original, which I have yet to see, but I'll let you know if I can track it down!

The Tomorrow Man is a weird little story about two weird old people.  It stars John Lithgow and Blythe Danner as a pair of sweet, weird old people.  His quirk is that he's a disaster prepper; hers is that she's a bit of a hoarder.  Their families don't understand them, but they can understand each other.

I don't know what you know the lead actor in Saint Ralph from, but I bet you'll recognize his face. His name is Adam Butcher, and he plays -- you guessed it -- Ralph. Ralph is a boy who gets the wild idea that he's going to race in the Boston Marathon ... and win.  Ralph's motivation is to save his mother, who is in a coma; Ralph is living alone, under the ever-closer radar of social services.  Ralph gets support and coaching from one of the priests at his Catholic high school, and I appreciated the references to all of the obscure patron saints.

The Good Shepherd stars my boyfriend, Matt Damon, so I'm going to love it.  And it's set in England, so I'm doubly going to love it.  The styling is fantastic.  Really, this movie could do no wrong after these two points were established.  But the tension that is conveyed, the stress of living every day in the early days of the CIA, is so well-portrayed that I felt like I had aged 20 years just for watching the movie, much less living that life.

A Man Called Otto is another sweet, sad, darling little jewel.  It stars America's favorite good guy, Tom Hanks, as an old curmudgeon.  The cast of characters who surround him in this film are simply wonderful, and it's a reminder that there are deep, touching, human stories in every little corner of every little town.

Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain are excellent in The Good Nurse.  Jessica begins to suspect that her co-worker has caused the death of several patients, but has to put her own career and health at risk to find out the truth.  It's especially horrifying when you realize it's a true story.

What Happened to August?

All the sudden, it's September.  The heat wave has broken.  It's not yet cool in the mornings, but it's no longer stifling; the hints of cooler weather to come hang in the air with the morning fog.  Labor Day is in a few days.

What, may I ask, happened to August?  There was one lovely (albeit hot) weekend when my family was in town for my cousin's wedding.  Other than that, much of the month was lost on me.  I (yet again) blame work for taking over all my free time and then some.  And I give big thanks to S for picking up the slack.

But I am reminded, yet again, of the wonder of the change of seasons.  It's one of my favorite things about living where I do.  Each season brings new adventures.  It may also bring a new list of to-do items (many of which will wait around again until next year), but who cares?  For now, I'm just going to enjoy the optimistic moment that exists right now. 

The Song I'm Loving Today

Older (Ben Platt)

I don't remember where I heard this song, but I wrote down the singer and the title and set them aside.  As is often the case with little notes jotted down, I couldn't remember what exactly "Ben Platt Older" meant or why I had written it down.  Finally I decided to search the all-knowing internet and see what I could come up with.

The first result was a link to the YouTube video (also linked above):

I heard the first couple of lines and knew immediately why I had saved this little scrap of paper. 

Music's ability to evoke emotions is astonishing.  The idea of looking back on life as you age is certainly not a rare subject, but every now and then something just hits you in the right way -- perhaps because of how it's written or conveyed, perhaps because of where you are in your own life, perhaps just because you're having one of those days.  This song did that for me.

A selection:

"When you are younger, you'll wish you're older;
Then when you're older, you'll wish for time to turn around.
...
Have I killed my thoughts right before their prime?
Have I bit my tongue one too many times?
Have I said it all the way I really meant to?
If I wait 'til my tomorrow comes,
Is the waiting all I've ever done?"

What I'm Reading Now -- Brave New World

Brave New World is one of those books that I can't believe I made it all the way through school without reading.  This is all the more true because the particular edition I have (not the one pictured here, but I couldn't find a good version of the one I have) I bought as a summer reading book when I was in my teens.  I ended up reading something else instead, but I've been toting Brave New World around with me ever since, trusting that I would get to it eventually. 

All of that made it the obvious selection for my 2023 Reading Challenge book for May: a book you should have read in high school.

Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology -- Take 1.5

In my life, I have been reluctant to give up on books once I start them.  This is a psychological hangup I'm trying to break myself of.  There are too many books out there to keep reading one that just isn't doing it for me for whatever reason.  

Our Own Devices, like Jack last year, is one I decided not to finish.  This one seemed like it was going somewhere that I could eventually have gotten on board with, but it wasn't getting there fast enough to keep me interested.  Will this be an ever-more-common hangup for those of us who are members of the internet generation, used to tiny blurbs and sound bites rather than long-form prose?  Probably.  And I'll try to keep that in mind rather than just closing a book on page 3.  I made it nearly 100 pages into this one before I threw in the towel.

So much for my February 2023 Reading Challenge selection.

What I Read -- Outlander

In an adventure which deserves a post all its own (one that hopefully I will get around to soon), K planned an excellent trip to London and Edinburgh last month.  I skipped ahead a few months in my 2023 Reaching Challenge to read my August book, Outlander, because its setting matched my travel destinations.

I admit that I have previously watched all but the most recent seasons of the television version of Outlander, and I'm not sure I intend to read the remainder of the books in any short order.  That is not to say that it wasn't an enjoyable read.  It has to be enjoyable to get through 850 pages, but I have lots of other things to read and the show is an easier, quicker, and multi-taskier way to take in what amounts to basically the same material.

For those who have managed to avoid the basics of the plot since this was first published a generation ago, it tells the story of Claire Randall a/k/a Beauchamp a/k/a Fraser.  The story opens in 1945, shortly after the conclusion of WWII.  Claire spent her war years nursing the British wounded.  She's taking a much-needed vacation with her husband Frank to Scotland, where Frank is ensconced in his family's genealogical research.  Claire, left somewhat to her own devices, finds a doorway through time and travels back to the Scottish Highlands of 1743.  She must learn their manners and customs, and navigate a country which is hovering on the edge of war with her own English ancestors. And then, of course, there's Jamie.  He's the swarthy, unbreakable Strider of his day, if you're into that sort of thing.

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXX -- The Rewatch Edition

Our internet was a real pain in the butt in July, so instead of streaming a bunch of new stuff, we picked through some DVDs to find oldies to watch again.  Here's what we found:

Catch Me If You Can is, in a weird way, inspiring.  Of course what happened in the movie could never (okay, almost never) happen again.  There's just too much technology out there these days to allow someone to get away with this kind of identity change.  But I have said before (and I will say again) that I think all this technology which prevents us from becoming new people is really problematic.  Most people wouldn't take it to the extent that the main character in this movie does, but what if you just want to move past some stupid things that you did or posted when you were in high school?  Or you want to move to a new town without your ex being able to track you down so easily?  No longer.  But back to the matter at hand, this is a pretty entertaining movie.  Given the era, I do think the soundtrack could have been better.  Also, Tom Hanks. And also including Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Jennifer Garner, Ellen Pompeo, and Elizabeth Banks.  Worth watching again.

The Cutting Edge is straight out of the 1980s (actually 1992).  The hair, the outfits, the lead actors (Moira Kelly and D.B. Sweeney).  The latter plays a top-notch hockey player who has to quit playing when he loses his peripheral vision; the former is a miserable pairs figure skater in need of a new partner.  The witty banter at the beginning was fun, but was supplanted by all the sap (and then some) one would expect towards the end. 

S actually had not seen Apollo 13 before, which I couldn't believe.  A few days prior to picking this, we watched the new Apollo 11 documentary that popped upon one of the streaming services.  This seemed like an appropriate follow-up.  This is a good movie.  I have read Jim Lovell's book and of course had seen the movie before (mom and I even saw it in the theater, as I recall), but it was tense viewing nevertheless.  I expressed that to S, and his response was, "you can't kill Tom Hanks!"  I'll spare you the plot details since everybody already knows them.  Lots of people, including Hanks (or Hanx, as he calls himself) were well cast; this might be Ed Harris's greatest role.  Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly is the movie's tragic hero. The whole thing is a truly incredible story.

Sometimes I forget that John Corbett has played anyone other than Aidan Shaw on Sex and the City, but he surely was.  One of his most adorable roles was as Ian Miller in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which, incidentally, came out concurrent with his run on SATC).  The story, in case you it isn't obvious from the movie cover or title, is the love story between Ian and the very Greek Toula Portokalos ... and her very large Greek family who disapproves of the decided non-Greek Ian.  The totally adorable Ian eventually wins them over.  (Most of the fame for My Big Fat Greek Wedding was directed at Nia Vardalos, who had done some acting prior to that, but MBFGW was her first writing credit, and of course she played Toula as well.  I think, in addition to the writing props, she deserved credit for her excellent facial expressions!)

When it came to light that S had never seen Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin version), especially since we happened to be together with mom, K, and J at the time, there was simply no choice but to watch it.  What a spectacular movie this is!  The three of us sisters routinely quote from it, but those little vignettes don't do justice to the whole shebang.  Totally, fully, one hundred percent, worth a re-watch.  (Side note: S slept through some of it so still hasn't seen it in all its glory!) (Fun fact: Kimberly Williams, who played Annie, is married to Brad Paisley.)

I didn't say it above, but Tom Hanks is am American treasure. If you disagree with me, you're simply wrong.  Another recent re-watch was Cast Away.  As with so many of his movies where he just plays a guy who makes the best out of whatever situation he finds himself in, Hanks' marooned, lonely (other than Wilson), mostly silent character just seems like some version of himself.  And he's awesome.  Truly, I had a hard time looking away from the screen, despite having seen this one before.  Some of that may be because there's so little speaking that you really do have to watch to know what's going on, but that's also a testament to what he can do as an actor without speaking.

What child of the 80s did not grow up watching The Goonies?  Well, in case you didn't know, it's available on HBO Max.  You're welcome.  I grew up wishing I could go on wild adventures with Mikey, Mouth, Data, and Chunk.  Even though I never found any pirate treasure, it turns out I can still have all the fun I used to thanks to the wonder of the internet.  This movie certainly isn't for everyone, but it is for people of a certain age. 

Another movie that will date me, but I will post about it nevertheless, is Empire Records.  If this movie didn't want to make you work in a record store, you weren't a teenager in the 90s.  The movie chronicles a single day in the lives of the employees of an about-to-go-under store, and their struggle to stick it to the man.  But really it's just a good movie about accepting people for being the weirdos they are.  And, as any record store movie should, it has an amazing soundtrack.

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared -- Take 2

Back before Christmas, I started reading The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, which was part of my 2022 Reading Challenge.

Prior to S and I leaving for our most recent trip, I had to skip forward several months in my 2023 Reading Challenge to find books that were available as e-books.  What I did find, while I was searching my library databases, was an audiobook version of The Reading Promise.  Several hours on airplanes gave me the opportunity to spend some time listening to this book, which I finished up shortly after we returned home.

During the paper book portion of this read, I found much of the author's writing to be somewhat trite, but I handled that just by skimming through the offending portions.  One of the wonders of audiobooks is the ability to listen to them at an accelerated pace, which I very much did in order to speed through the remainder of this book.  It's a very sweet story, and for a 22-year-old author, quite an accomplishment.  Occasionally I found her innocence and perspective to be endearing, but more often I had enough of it and just wanted to move to the next chapter.

Having said that, I cannot overlook the book's unabashed championing of reading for reading's sake, which is a message I can get behind, wholeheartedly and unreservedly.

What I'm Reading Now - Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

Since I needed to move on to a new book while we were on vacation (and I didn't want to take any paper books), I was limited to books that were available as e-books from one of my libraries.  The next book on my 2023 Reading Challenge which I could find as an e-book was Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz.  It's the June book on my list, but one of the leeways I allow myself is to go out of order.  I'll have to go back and catch the missed books later in the year.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls -- Take 2

While S and I were traveling recently, I finished up my March book for the 2023 Reading Challenge, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. 

It's a coming-of-age story about young Thea Atwell, cast out of her home during the depths of the Great Depression and sent to the titular camp.  She excels as a rider, and the reason for her being cast out is revealed as the story goes on.

I like the conceit, where you learn little bits of the past as the story goes on.  For the most part, though, the revealed story is pretty much what I expected it to be, at least once I learned who the major players were.  There was one twist which I didn't quite see coming, but it was minor in the grand scheme of the backstory.

I don't really have a complaint about the book, but generally I'm past the point in my life where coming-of-age stories do much for me.  The writing was fine, the story was fine, I love a good historical drama, but I couldn't get invested in the characters.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

I'm really struggling with my February book for my 2023 Reading Challenge (obviously, since it's halfway through March).  Though I haven't fully given up on it yet, I have decided to move on to my March book, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiSclafani.

I'm a couple of chapters in, and it's every bit the easy read I was hoping it would be -- and that was before my work went completely sideways in the last couple of weeks.  I just wish I had more time to read!

Return to SLSO -- Part Two

I used to write about each symphony I went to.  It's been a while since I've done that -- partially I got busy with life, partially symphony performances were interrupted by the pandemic.  I saw several virtual shows, which was convenient but lacked the all-encompassing nature of an in-person performance.  The latter started up again last season, and have continued into this season.  Due to other conflicts, my attendance so far this season has been lighter than normal, but I have tried to swap out my tickets when I've had a conflict to go to a different show.

Such was the situation this past weekend.  I had swapped some other tickets for the Saturday morning coffee show.  I like it's "countries of the world" motif.  When we arrived, we discovered that a Wynton Marsalis violin concerto, which had been written with his wife, Scottish violist Nicola Benedetti (of Italian heritage, obviously) in mind, was being postponed.  The reason was that Ms. Benedetti herself was supposed to be the featured violinist, but she had taken ill.  After the programming changes, here's what we saw and heard:

Claude Debussy, March econssaise sur un theme populaire (Scottish March on a Popular Theme) - complete with opening bagpiper!
Ernest Chausson, Poeme, op. 25 - inspired by a Russian love story
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane - inspired by Hungarian gypsies
Claude Debussy, Iberia from Images - seven years in the making after the composer spent one afternoon in Spain.
Maurice Ravel, La Valse - the composer set out to compose a waltz as an homage to Johann Strauss, but ended up with something both bigger and darker.

Both S and I liked every piece, which doesn't happen often, so I thought I'd share.  Maybe you can take yourself on a musical journey around the world!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

If this isn't romantic, I don't know what is.

 

Happy Birthday, E!

(And also Abraham Lincoln.  I hope he has a happy birthday, too.)

What I'm Reading Now -- Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology

The February category for our 2023 Reading Challenge is "a book with red on the cover or spine."  Newer editions of Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology have either a tan or white cover, but it just so happens that the 2003 edition which I inherited from K has the red cover.

Please note that my edition of this book is 20 years old.  I have to imagine that -- based on the subtitle -- it's high time that this book get a rewrite (if it hasn't already).  A lot has happened, technologically speaking, in the last 20 years.

We'll see if the first version holds up over time, and just how prescient our author was back then.

House of Sand and Fog -- Take 2

I won't give any specific spoilers, but suffice it to say, House of Sand and Fog is dark.  

Kathy Niccolo, a newly-single recovering addict, loses her house to the county for unpaid taxes.  It's bought at auction by Massoud Behrani, an Iranian immigrant, formerly a colonel in the Iranian military.  It turns out that the tax sale was an error, but Kathy didn't know that because she couldn't be bothered to read her mail.  The third major character is Les Burdon, the police officer who initially puts Kathy out of her house but later can't seem to leave well-enough alone.

The structure is interesting; it's told in the first person from the perspectives of Kathy and Massoud, and third person regarding Les.  This arrangement leaves it open to the reader to pick a side as between Kathy and Massoud.  I know who I picked, and if you read it, I'd be interested to know your selection. 

If you've seen the movie, it it worth watching?

Overall, I didn't love the book though.  I usually don't mind dark material, but this story just had such a miserable, hopeless quality to it that it wasn't terribly enjoyable.  But, despite that, I'm now 1/12 of the way through my 2023 Reading Challenge, so that's something.

What I'm Reading Now -- House of Sand and Fog

Here I am, starting my 2023 Reading Challenge with my January book: House of Sand and Fog.  It's another dark pick right after reading Dracula.  I didn't think about that when I picked my January book, but I didn't have too many choices with a "home" word in the title (my January category), so I don't know that I could have picked something else if I wanted to.

I remember hearing about the movie of the same name based on this book when it came out, but I haven't seen it.  However, because of it's publicity, I have some general idea that this book is about two people who think they own the same house.  I'm about to get the full story.

2023 Reading Challenge

K and I are in it for another year of reading!  (It helps to have a buddy.)  I'm sticking with the same rules that I have previously identified for my picks:

1. It has to be a book I already owned;
2. It has to be a book I had not read yet (or at least haven't finished yet);
3. Though I can go out of order, some of the months are clearly themed (e.g., February, December), so I will try to read those books at least close to the month they are selected for; and
4. As with last year, I had initially planned to carry over some books from last year, but didn't.  But it remains a possibility for the future.

Here's the list that we picked for the year, as well as my selections:

January: a book with a "home" word in the title
House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III

February: a book with red on the cover or spine
Our Own Devices, by Edward Tenner

March: a book recommended by a friend
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton DiScalfani

April: a book with at least five words in the title
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers

May: a book you should have read in high school
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

June: a book with an animal on the cover
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, by Alexandra Horowitz

July: a book that starts with the first letter of your first name
Morning Poems, by Robert Bly

August: a book in a series
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

September: a translated book
If On a Winter's Night A Traveler, by Italo Calvino (translated from Italian)

October: a book set in a country other than your own
Ali & Nino, by Kurban Said

November: a book with a night scene on the cover
After Henry, by Joan Didion

December: a book with a winter element on the cover
Solo Faces, by James Salter

I have to say that I didn't pick many short books or gimmes this year.  My shortest book is a book of poetry, which makes for complicated reading in its own right.  It's going to be a tough go to get through this list, but I will give it the old college try.  Wish me luck!

2022 Reading Challenge Recap

2022 was a good reading year for me!  I finished nine of the books on my 2022 Reading Challenge (plus a few others), started and quit on one, and started but have yet to finish another one.  Here's the run-down:

January: Winter Wonderland (set in a wonderful place - somewhere beautiful, with a rich culture, or magical)
The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey
READ

February: Seeing Red (with "red" in the title or a red cover; bonus points if it has both)
Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier
READ

March: Sub-Genre Sound Off (a sub-genre of your favorite genre)
Jack: A Life Like No Other, by Geoffrey Perret
Note: I struggled with what my favorite genre was.  Eventually I fell back on history, because I was a history major in college and at one point it was definitively my favorite.  Plus, it was the category I could easily divide into sub-categories on my bookshelf: history >> American history >> the Kennedys.
STARTED AND QUIT.  JUST NOT GOOD.

April: Classics or Currents (published before the year you were born or within the last year)
The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Note: technically, the edition of this book that I have was not published before I was born.  However, the original was, so I'm going with it.
READ

May: Author Introduction (an author you've never read anything by)
The High Adventure of Eric Ryback, by Eric Ryback
READ

June: Name or Number (with a name or number in the title; bonus points if it has both)
The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley, by Jeremy Massey
READ

July: Around or Out of this World (set in a country other than where you live, or by an author from another country, or set in space or on another planet)
Muddied Oafs: The Last Days of Rugger, by Richard Beard (British)
READ

August: Creature Feature (has a creature - mythical or real - on the cover)
Good Dog. Stay., by Anna Quindlen
READ

September: When Text Isn't Enough (includes more than just text - a map, illustrations, a family tree, letters, etc.)
The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Note: I picked this one because it has so many special additions: maps, six family trees, a pronunciation guide, and an appendix.
HAVE NOT STARTED

October: Thrills and Chills (ghost stories, haunted houses, true crime, murders - anything that keeps you on the edge of your seat)
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
READ

November: Dynamic Duos (with characters that make the perfect pair)
The Reading Promise, by Alice Ozma
STARTED BUT HAVE NOT FINISHED YET

December: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice (holiday themes, love stories, happy cries, comedies - anything that makes you feel good)
The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford
READ

K and I have selected a list for next year's reading challenge as well, which I will post soon!

Dracula -- Take 2

I am proud to announce that, upon my third attempt, I have read Dracula in its entirety!  Any, as I expected, I liked it. It's dark and creepy, but well-told.  I can see why it became a classic, any why it has inspired so many later iterations in other forms of media.  Maybe next year around Halloween I will undertake to watch some of the films inspired by the book.  Among the better ones appear to be Nosferatu, the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, the 1979 version starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier, and the 1992 version starring Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. 

Back to the book though.  I very much enjoy stories that are told in an unconventional fashion.  Dracula comes to us in the epistolary style, mostly through journal entries of the team that's fighting the vampire, plus a few letters, telegrams, and other documents.  I wonder when I read a book like this if the author knew all along that it would take this form, or if the tale began as a straight narrative but the author later decided that a different telling would be better.  And this is not just one person's journal; several of the characters journal entries are incorporated, as well as correspondence with other folks who play only a small, passing role but which is vital to move the story along.  This multi-voice format requires the reader to integrate each person's perspectives in order to put together the full picture on the appropriate timeline.

I'm not sure that this is one that I'll go back and read again, but I sure am glad that I gave it the third try after so many years.  Highly recommended!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

 

Happy New Year